"I have to go away again at the end of the week," George commented offhandedly.
The ginger man was spread out on the long sofa, long lithe limbs stretching to the other end without a care, his ankles sitting crossed on the opposite arm rest. George's head was Hermione's lap, and the space there for him to prop his head was getting increasingly smaller as the weeks passed by.
"Again?" Hermione pulled herself away from her book, letting the hand balancing it on her belly drop to the armrest at her side.
"Mmm," George answered absently, not fully committing his concentration to the conversation. Hermione bristled; he seemed to be spending quite a lot of time away on 'business' these days and he never seemed to have a sufficient answer for her when she asked how his latest venture had gone. "Did you read the article about Nott and Yaxley?"
"What?" Hermione startled. "No!"
George flipped the page and handed her the paper he had been thumbing through, noting that he had been looking at the 'properties for sale' section when he had spoken up.
"They were sentenced..." Hermione skimmed the paper quickly.
"For life," George nodded, his head wiggling on her thigh. "That means there aren't many left to put away."
"Wow, that's..." Hermione trailed off, continuing to skim.
"Yeah," George hesitated. "So, your parents..."
"Mhm," Hermione relaxed into the couch when she was finished and folded the paper up. "I'll have to start getting organized and thinking about bringing them back to England."
"Right. Do you think that's something that you can really do between now and the baby and finishing the book though? Might be better left for after, don't you think?" George asked lightly.
"Yes, I suppose. It'll be a long process. Getting them a place to stay, setting it up, getting their memories back and probably quite a lot of check ups at St. Mungo's along the way..."
"Mmm."
"I'll start looking into it; I just don't want to get my hopes up too soon," Hermione commented. George shifted and opened the paper again, turning to the properties page.
"So, do you think we should discuss the subject of moving versus staying here in the flat?" he suggested, tilting his head toward her to observe Hermione's face now that she had calmed down a bit from her discovery.
"Well, I've been thinking about it too..." Hermione nodded. "You remember you said that with the spare room acting as my office, we wouldn't really have room?"
"I did say that, yes," George laughed, his temple resting comfortably against her belly.
"I think you're right," Hermione have him a look that was half-grimace and half-smile.
"I know," George said, pleased with her confession. "It's far too small for us plus a baby and all the things that go along with a baby."
"And then if we have more..." Hermione said thoughtfully and George's eye lit up. "Not right away," Hermione clarified hastily. "Maybe a few years from now. Maybe."
"Definitely," he assured her in a playful voice before the smile dropped off his face suddenly and Hermione frowned.
"What's wrong?" she asked, confused.
"Your belly just kicked me!" he proclaimed, shifting his focus to the roundedness next to his head. "I mentioned more kids and she kicked me!"
"He must not want siblings," Hermione reasoned with a straight face. George grinned widely up at her, and Hermione struggled to push the annoyance away from their earlier conversation. One day she would demand a clear answer from him, but today was not the day.
"So we'll start looking?" George asked and Hermione nodded. "I'll get in contact with a realtor this week."
The first day after Hermione entered into her sixth month of pregnancy, she was eating a leisurely breakfast at her desk and riffling through her papers there to get organized for the day when her fireplace burst into life with green flames.
"Hermione!" called a frantic voice, and Fred's head popped through into her sitting room.
"Fred? What's wrong? Is George okay?" Hermione jumped up from her seat and wrapped her robe closer around herself. She dashed around the sofa nimbly and Fred spotted her.
"He's fine, but Angelina - she's in labour - I can't get a hold of George - I don't know -" Fred's eyes were wide and panicked and Hermione would have laughed at the comical facade if her heart had not also taken off at a gallop.
"What do you need? Who's at the store, Fred?" Hermione cut right to the chase.
"Just Verity - Ron and Ginny are on their way - It's Saturday - busy -"
"I'll be right over, Fred - just let me get dressed!" Hermione rose and dashed off in the direction of the bedroom. "Just get yourself ready to go and you can leave as soon as I get there!"
"Oh, Merlin -" was his last words before Hermione heard the floo call fizzle out. In a whirlwind of pyjamas and clothing, Hermione whipped her hair up into a messy bun, brushed her teeth and pulled on her shoes awkwardly around her belly. What a way to start the weekend!
Fred had probably tried George first to call him back from wherever he was for business; he couldn't reach him, which was odd. Heaving a sigh, Hermione threw a handful of powder into the flames and shouted for the flat. Belatedly Hermione regretted not having breakfast a little earlier, leaving her avocado on toast sitting half eaten at her desk.
"Morning Verity, where's Fred?" the brown-haired witch asked quickly as she barrelled into the shop from above, her cardigan flying behind her and one of her hands braced under her belly as she moved faster than she had in the last two months.
"In the office!" Verity called over the heads of customers from the front desk.
"I'll be right out to help!" she called back and Verity beamed at her. Trotting hastily, Hermione made it back to the office and pushed the door open to find Fred frozen in one spot with a frenzied look on his face, an edge of dread evident.
"Fred, I'm here. Do you need anything?" Hermione came to a halt and caught her breath, grinning. "Who else did you call?"
"Don't need anything... Oh Merlin Hermione, she's in labour and the baby is coming and I don't know if I'm going to be a good dad! What if I'm not a good dad?" Fred looked up at Hermione with an expression that suggested he may not have thought of this before now, however false Hermione knew that to be.
"You'll be a wonderful father, and that starts by you being with Angie right now, okay? So tell me what the plan is, or if you even have one," Hermione grasped his arms firmly and gave him an earnest look. When he focused and took a deep breath, Hermione smiled. Excitement bubbled under the surface along with anticipatory tension and her grin widened.
"Right, Ginny's with Ange right now but we'll trade places when I get there, she said she'd come and help handle the store since -" since I can't get a hold of George, Hermione saw run across his face guiltily, "And Lee will be here in a few hours, he's just caught up with something, but he said he'll relieve you, or whoever needs a break when he gets here. Ron is... Well to be honest, I caught him in the middle of a row with Lavender so I don't know what's going on with him but he knows to come in..."
"Right, here's what you do. Go home and get Angie's things together while Ginny's still there, have her help you to the hospital and then send her back here. Just stay with Angie and listen to whatever the healers say. It'll be fine, Fred. You'll be fine," Hermione reasoned for him. "And don't worry about the store; we'll be fine."
"Right," Fred nodded. "Home, Angie, Mungo's, baby."
"Yes," Hermione laughed. "Baby."
Once he had taken a breath, Fred whirled back into action and grabbed his things, disappearing up the stairs with a shouted farewell to Verity and an assurance to pay her handsomely for her work today. Grinning, Verity shuffled him on his way and told him to concentrate on not ending up in a different country on his way to getting home.
Hermione plucked some magenta robes off one of the hooks in the office and slung them about her shoulders, wiggling around to make it comfortable. Of course they wouldn't button over her stomach, but that was to be expected and Hermione made her way out onto the floor.
Being a Saturday morning, the shop was pleasantly filled with people. Hermione hoped desperately that it would become crazy until Ginny, Ron or Lee showed up, as it was just herself and Verity for the time being. Verity managed the register for which Hermione was grateful; if she had had to do it she would be much slower at ringing customers through. Sticking to the shop floor, Hermione spent the next hour showing customers around the shelves and recommending products for their needs. Luckily, no one required a lot of in-depth information and everyone was easy to please as a whole. Hermione constantly tried to push thoughts of where George might be out of her mind, replacing them with thoughts for Angelina and Fred. The couple was likely at the hospital now, and in capable hands.
It was strange thinking that by the end of the day, she would be an aunt for the second time in two weeks. Not that she didn't adore Victoire, but Fred's baby would be a little different considering it was her husband's twin's baby that was entering the world.
"I'm here!" Ginny breezed in through the front door and made for the front desk, near which Hermione was just pointing someone in the right direction.
"How are they?!" Hermione turned and inquired, excitement bubbling again as Verity and her shared an anxious grin.
"Well, Fred's hand will probably be broken by the end of it, but they're doing fine. I got them out the door and checked into St. Mungo's and forced a shot of firewhiskey down Fred's throat. You know, I thought that man did well under pressure," Ginny laughed, shaking her mane of red hair.
"So where's Teddy today?" Hermione asked after a laugh herself.
"I dropped him off with mum so that I could come in and help out until Ron and Lee get here," Ginny answered, fishing a set of robes out of the office for herself. "I'm guessing Verity could use a break; you want register, or shall I take over for her?"
In the end, Ginny had subbed in for Verity so that the blonde could go get a bite to eat and have a sit down and the two of them handled things just fine, however breathless Hermione managed to make herself trying to help everyone that Saturday afternoon, though once Verity was back things were a lot smoother.
Ron stomped in a bit later, looking rather tense about whatever he had been arguing with Lavender over and he quickly set to work on the floor. When Lee showed up, Verity left and the four of them managed the front counter and stocked the shelves up for the next day. As business wound down, Hermione busied herself with some cleaning charms and straightening out the front window.
"Let me do that, Hermione," Lee scared her by sneaking up behind her as she was shifting a display around to get at the glass of the front window that faced into the Alley. "George would have my head if he saw you cleaning."
"Thanks Lee," Hermione waited while he took over and she cast the dust-eradicating charm over the general area and set a bucket of soapy water and a sponge to wipe fingerprints from the wood trims around the front door.
"You're looking rather round in the baby area these days," he chuckled as she bent to pick up a stray flyer and put it back on the stack of like ones by the opposite display.
"6 months can do that," Hermione laughed. Somehow a comment like that was not offensive from Lee. "Just round enough, at any rate."
"So everything's good?" he continued, shifting his focus back to shuffling the display in place when her sponge was done.
"Oh yes, all normal. Can't catch my breath half the time, but that'll only get worse over the next four months."
"Can you still see your toes?" he asked jokingly.
"Yes," Hermione answered. "I'm not that big yet."
"I'm going to go fetch more product for this, but call if you need anything else moved, yeah?" he laughed, and disappeared after she nodded in agreement.
"So where is George?" Ginny asked delicately as she wiped down the front counter, only a few customers left in the store at the later hour.
"To be honest, I'm not sure," Hermione shook her head, somewhat dejected. "He seems to be away on business an awful lot, and sometimes even Fred can't get a hold of him right away."
"You don't think he's..." Ginny shook her head incredulously at her friend. "Hermione, he's not cheating on you, you know that right? That's ludicrous."
"It's not," she replied quietly. "He always avoids telling me where he's going, just saying when he'll be back. He could easily be meeting up with another witch if he wanted to."
"Hermione, I know that might seem like the only explanation, but I swear to you there must be something else going on. George would never do that!"
Hermione hadn't fully believed the notion of George going behind her back and having an affair, but the seed had planted itself and Hermione could do nothing as evidence seemed to mount against him in her mind. Though she knew the idea of it was indeed ludicrous, she couldn't help the niggle in the back of her mind that something was wrong.
"Here I am! Sorry I'm late! Any babies born yet or is Ange still in trying to rip Fred's hand off?"
George entered the shop in a dapper suit, robes over his arm along with his breifcase swinging at his side. His cheeks were pink, as if he had been rushing before finally coming to a stop. Hermione took in his appearance cautiously, considering the conversation she had just been having with Ginny. He seemed normal.
"Oh no, no news yet so I assume she's still crushing him to a pulp," Ginny answered, dropping the sponge back into the warm water with a splash. "I'm going to go dump this and lock up."
"Thank for coming in to help, Gin," George gave her a one-armed hug as she passed by which she reciprocated. "And you love, you're brilliant," he directed at Hermione, to which she gave him a small smile. "All right?" he asked at her underwhelming reaction to his arrival.
"Mhm," Hermione gritted out smoothly. "Just tired, and thinking of Angie and Fred."
"Well, why don't we close up and I'll change, and then we can head over to the hospital and see what the situation is." George proposed, leaning down to press his lips to her hairline.
A time later, Lee left them with instructions to pass on his congratulations to Fred and Angelina for him and he used the floo to get home. George suggested that Ron change out of him WWW uniform and into fresh clothing considering they didn't know how long the wait at the hospital would be, but Ron just grumbled about not going home before visiting the couple.
When they arrived at St. Mungo's they found Arthur, Ginny, Percy and Audrey, and Charlie and Alyssa already there. The group was quickly joined by Molly who had just taken Teddy home for the day and Harry, who had raced over after training as soon as he was free.
"Any last bets? We're coming to the end of it here, I expect," George had grinned. "What'll it be?"
"One more on girl," Harry had slapped a galleon into George's palm.
"Two more on boy," Charlie countered with the same.
"It'll be a girl!" Harry insisted, Ginny laughing at his side and shaking her head.
"It'll be a boy," she insisted and pulled another galleon from her own pocket.
"We have Victoire, it would be nice to have a boy," Molly nodded enthusiastically.
"Girl," Percy piped in and Alyssa and Audrey nodded with grins.
From down the hall they heard a door swing open and Fred came out beaming, with his hand wrapped in a bandage.
"Quickly, this is your last chance, you lot -" George riled them up and they were all calling out to Fred and waving and tearing up at the expression on his face.
"Ten on boy!" Hermione called over the crowd of Weasley's and George couldn't have looked happier.
"Twenty on girl -"
"Twenty?! Are you mad, Harry Potter -"
"Another five on boy -"
"I'll have ten on girl -"
"Quickly now, before he says -"
"Five on boy -"
"Mum!"
"What? No harm in making some money off the stupidity of others -"
Fred drew up to them and waited for the haggling, betting and shoving to stop and fall silent. His face was tired but he was beaming with a happiness that couldn't be disguised in the slightest.
"Mum and baby are perfectly fine. Happy, healthy, and screaming; 21 inches, 8 pounds one ounce, 6:32pm -"
There was an uproar at the good news which quieted suddenly as everyone waited to hear the magic words.
"Rhys Odysseus Weasley -"
Loud cheering filling the silence again quickly, hugs were passed around and many slaps on the back to Fred were given, the man's shoulder sore when they were all through.
"He would like to say thank you all for waiting on him, but he'd rather fall asleep on his mum's chest, which I don't blame him for," Fred laughed and blinked tears from his eyes. "But come back tomorrow for a visit!"
A/N: Another baby born! We are drawing to a close here, so if you have any moments you would like to see, let me know.
Also, I published the first chapter of a short Neville/Luna the other day, so if that is your cup of tea, go read it for me.
As always, leave a review!
Cheers!