~OOooOO~
Harry wasn't surprised to receive an invitation to the Burrow that night; Charlie seemed to also know what the invite meant, but wasn't going to say anything. By now they had all figured out that Sirius' and Lucius' pregnancies were a result of the excess of magic on the night of his inheritance; it only stood to reason that, as Molly and Arthur had been there, they would be affected as well. The invitation was for Sunday dinner; Charlie grinned when he read the letter. All important news that affected the Weasley family had always been shared at Sunday dinner; apparently, this was going to be no different.
They flooed into the Burrow, Charlie holding Harry in his arms; Harry's chair was in Charlie's shoulder bag, just waiting to be re-enlarged. Bill flooed in from Egypt just as they were all sitting down to eat; he took the chair on Harry's other side and relaxed into the seat. It had been a hard day and he was looking forward to just being near his family for the night.
Molly and Arthur stood in the doorway, looking over their family. Bill, still single, sat next to Harry, who had Charlie on his other side; Ron and Hermione were facing them across the table with Fred, George and Percy next to them; Ginny sat next to Charlie, at her mother's right hand; Molly sat at one end and Arthur at the other; their whole family was spread out before them. Now, how to tell them that they would need another chair soon?
Arthur held Molly's seat for her, a move that didn't go unnoticed by any of the males at the table; even though they knew that Arthur loved Molly to distraction, he wasn't in the habit of holding chairs for her. Since Harry and Charlie already had an idea of what was going on, and had their own news to share, they said nothing; Bill, however, couldn't keep silent. The last time his father had been this solicitous of his mother, she had been pregnant with Ginny...(wait for it!)...Pregnant!
"Mum? Something you want to tell us?" Bill smiled down the table at his mother and then looked back at his father. Molly blushed brightly, surprising most everyone at the table.
"Mum?" Ron's voice was quiet, almost scared; he had never seen his mother blush before...flush in anger, yes, blush, no.
"Everyone, your mother and I have something to tell you. It may shock you, but we hope you will like it." Arthur looked at Molly, who nodded back at him. "In about eight months, give or take a little, you will have a baby brother or sister to welcome home."
Absolute silence reigned...no one knew what to say. Bill was the first to get up and circle the table to hug his mother. "Congratulations, Mum!" Everyone else jumped up to converge on Molly, hugging her gently and kissing her cheek; Molly just sat and cried. She had hoped that her grown children would be supportive but, since it had been so many years since there had been a baby in the house, she hadn't been sure. Harry was the only one who hugged Arthur first before wading through his siblings to get to his Mum.
"I'm so happy for you, Mum...is everything alright?"
Molly sniffled a bit before replying. "We only found out yesterday, so I haven't been to a healer about it yet. I'm just so happy that you lot are all accepting of it; it's been sixteen years since the last time I was pregnant, so I wasn't sure how any of you would take it."
Ginny hugged Molly again, keeping her arms around her, just holding her mother. "Mum, I'm so excited! I get to be a big sister!"
Harry and Charlie stood back from the rest of the family; they looked at each other and nodded. Their news could wait until the following weekend; they just had to make sure that Bill was home for that again. Charlie pulled his older brother aside and asked him to come back the following Sunday; Bill gave Charlie a look and then looked at Harry.
"Yeah, but we're not about to spoil Mum and Dad's news. We can wait 'til next week." Bill nodded, agreeing with their reasoning.
~OOooOO~
The following Sunday happened much as Harry had expected; like Molly, he had been swamped by a sea of red-heads and one brunette. He actually had to have Charlie practise crowd control on them.
"Guys! Back off a bit; give Harry some room to breathe, alright?"
Both Molly and Arthur had wanted to know if Harry had known the week before; Harry was reluctant to say anything. Charlie finally took over, letting them all know that, yes, they had known the week prior. "We decided that we could wait with our news; everyone expected Harry to come out of this pregnant. Just so you know, we think it had something to do with the residual magic from our joining."
Molly gasped as the implications struck her. "Is either Sirius or Remus pregnant, too?"
Harry nodded, smiling at the memory. "Yes, Sirius is also pregnant; we're figuring all of us are probably due at the same time."
Bill sat back and thought about some things; Charlie had told him who had been present that night...Severus had been in the group. He still wasn't convinced that Lucius Malfoy wasn't somehow alive; Severus had been a spy for far too long to make a mistake like he had, talking about Lucius as if he was still alive. Granted, Severus had been very emotional at the time, but still...he didn't think the man had said that mistakenly. Bill wondered if there was a fourth baby also due to arrive with his new sibling and niece or nephew.
~OOooOO~
Voldemort's eyes glowed bright red with anger when presented with the information that Harry Potter-Black was expecting; trust the brat to do something that hadn't been done in several decades. This blew his plans completely out of the water; he wasn't willing to attack the child while he was pregnant, he wanted to prove that he was stronger than the boy. The Brat Who Lived wouldn't have access to all of his magic as the babe would be pulling magic from him as it grew; this definitely meant that the rumours he had heard upon his revival were true, Charlie Weasley was the boy's soul mate. He was going to have to be much more careful about when he chose to attack and who he chose to attack; if they were mated, they would be able to access each other's magic, even from a distance.
He looked about at the few loyal Death Eaters he still had; he didn't know if he could count Severus in that number anymore. Nott had told him that Severus had been forced to have the dark mark removed and that he had protested with shouts and screams. He didn't know how the Ministry had removed the mark, but he was willing to guess that it had been quite painful; he knew that it caused a great amount of pain to have the mark placed on his followers' arms. Nott had also brought word that Severus was essentially being held prisoner in the hallowed halls of Hogwarts; he had a guard of no less than two Aurors at any given time.
Voldemort was extremely upset by this news; he had had plans for Severus. The man, while most definitely a dominant in a relationship, would have been his submissive; he was to have borne his Lord's child. Even though they weren't mates of any kind, there were pregnancy potions for that; sometimes it paid to have the youngest Potions Master as your follower. Now, that option was beyond him; if the Ministry and Aurors were watching Severus, and he could be assured they were, there was no way that Severus was going to be able to get away from his guards.
~OOooOO~
Sorry, I lied...it's not longer. Real life and severe writer's block caught up with me after the last chapter. I'm hoping that the next chapters will be easier to get out than this one was...it was horrendous! Again, my apologies!
