Good Evening to you all!!!! I'm so sorry for this slow update, but there have been freak storms where I live and so my computer had to remain off for a while (crazy father's you know lol). However the weather seems to be clearing up and so I am now able to use the computer again! WOOT's all around lol. I would like to dedicate this chapter to blazepotter who gave me a very lovely comment which made me so giddy that when I seen my best friend after she was slightly scared hahaha!! Thanks to you blazepotter ;). I hope you all enjoy this chapter xxxx

Disclaimer: I was told that I owned Harry Potter once...but it was a LIE!

The Unexpected Baby

Chapter Three: Telling Dad

"Charlie's the father?" Ginny asked in disbelief as she set her glass of orange juice on the kitchen table. Hermione who was nursing her own glass of orange nodded briefly and let another tear seep down her already soaked cheek.

"This happened at the party I take it," Ginny said softly placing a caring hand on Hermione's knee. Again Hermione nodded and let yet more tears drip from her eyes.

"I don't know what to do," she mumbled, her voice barely audible. Ginny grimaced and thought. Hermione was close to being 6 weeks pregnant with her elder brothers' child. This was the worst possible outcome of a one night stand.

"I don't know what to do either. I know you should tell Charlie but I honestly don't know how he'll take it and you know the whole family will eventually find out," Ginny said more to herself than the distressed witch in front of her. She absentmindedly rubbed her stomach with the hand that wasn't resting on Hermione's shaking knee. Suddenly the Fred and George in Ginny sparked up and before she knew it she said something totally inappropriate.

"You haven't seen him for 5 years and he's barely in the door before the two of you are copping off with one another." As soon as the words were out of her mouth she bit her tongue in embarrassment and stared at Hermione waiting patiently for her punishment. However Hermione cracked half a smile and looked at Ginny thoughtfully.

"You know I can't even remember what happened. All I know is that something happened to result in this mess," she said as she pointed towards her womb. Ginny snorted unladylike and then apologised for her lack of restraint.

"You know it's bad when you can't remember anything. You don't even know if the sex was good or not!" Hermione nearly choked on her orange and set her glass down hurriedly, "Ginny that's not really appropriate and how can you think about that right now?"

Ginny shrugged and chuckled again, "I just think it's funny that you can't really remember the conception of your first child but it's too early on for this kind of chatter we need to think about what you should do."

"You're pregnant?!" exclaimed Molly as she dropped the plates she'd been holding to the floor. Hermione winced in vexation and repaired the plates Molly had destroyed.

"I am," Hermione then said feebly as she, Ginny and Molly took a seat at the kitchen table. Molly opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water for a moment or two and then stuttered out, "W-who's the f-father? Do we k-k-know him?"

Hermione and Ginny glanced at each other and shared a look which told each other that this next part was going to be hard, but that it had to be said.

"Charlie is the father," Hermione said in a low whisper. Molly stared at her for a second and then asked in disbelief, "I'm sorry what?"

"Charlie is the father of Hermione's baby mum," Ginny said strongly as she grabbed Hermione's shaking hand under the table. Coming to Molly had been Ginny's idea as she knew her mum was always good when it came to solving difficult problems.

"CHARLIE?!" Molly shrieked causing Eric, who was nestled precariously on his perch to squawk and fly out of the nearest window in shock.

"Mum please!" Ginny hissed as she gestured for her shocked mother to keep quiet. Charlie was out in the back garden with Bill, Fred and George playing some sort of weird game involving bludgers, a snitch and other precarious objects; if Molly shrieked any louder he'd hear and would come in to investigate.

"At the party?" Molly managed to choke out after she'd taken a couple of deep breaths. Hermione nodded slightly and gripped onto Ginny's hand. "I guess you could say that we both had too much to drink," she added as Molly started to breathe deeply again.

"That didn't mean that the both of you should have jumped into bed together!" Molly's harsh, but true words caused painful tears to sting in Hermione's eyes but suddenly Molly seemed to lose her cold disposition and turned suddenly back into the warm and caring mother that she was.

"It's alright dear. I'm sorry I said that too harshly, but you do know that what I said was true. Why did you come to me?" she asked softly passing Hermione a handkerchief from one of the pockets in her apron. Hermione took the cloth and dabbed her eyes. "We didn't know what to do and we knew if we told you you'd be able to help us," she said in a watery tone.

Molly smiled and got up from her chair to go and sit beside Hermione. She hugged her for a little minute and then looked straight into her shimmering eyes. "There is only one thing you can do dear. You have to tell Charlie the truth. If he doesn't know then this will make the whole matter worse. Oh I'm so pleased for you, there is nothing better than having a baby but for you to enjoy this you need to inform him. You are both adults and you need to take on the responsibility together."

Hermione gulped heavily, it felt as if there was a dead weight in her chest and as she glanced out of the kitchen window she spotted Charlie running after Bill with a huge smile on his face. Would he still have that smile when she told him about the baby? What would he do? Would he freak out and abandon her or would he be completely different? She sighed and felt the weight get a little heavier in her chest.

"We'll be right there to support you," Ginny said tenderly as Hermione got up from her chair resolutely. Her knees shook as if someone had put a jelly-leg jinx on them, her palms were starting to sweat profusely and her nausea was starting to get a little worse. She made her way slowly out into the back garden which she'd spent so many summers in and looked around. This summer was just like every other one before it. It was humid but there were grey clouds in the sky. The air smelt clear and fresh and the pollen from the flowers floated merrily on the breeze. Charlie was close to her and he was throwing something at George who was trying to hit Bill with something else. Hermione couldn't help but smile as she watched him enjoy himself.

"Hey girls fancy joining in?" Charlie called over to the three women who were standing watching them intently. Molly chuckled and told him to not be so silly and Ginny patted her baby bump and shook her head. Charlie then looked at Hermione, who for some reason looked as if she may burst into tears at any moment.

"Can I talk to you for a bit Charlie?" she called out to him. His brow furrowed as he went over to the stressed looking witch whom he hadn't seen in nearly 6 weeks. "What's wrong?" he asked gently as she took him by the hand and led him over to a nearby tree so that no one could hear them.

Molly and Ginny watched the two people converse fixedly. Ginny was ringing her hands together and Molly was fidgeting with her apron. Charlie seemed to be doing fine, but maybe she hadn't told him the news yet. He laughed out loud and put his hand against the tree. He looked as if he was trying to charm the intelligent Healer, but he was having no success. She was smiling too so they must be talking about something else.

"How will we know when she's told him?" Ginny asked her mother in a hushed voice as she watched Hermione say something.

"We'll just know. Think about how Harry reacted when you told him about your baby. It will either be something like that or something the complete opposite," Molly whispered as her other sons that were present walked over to them.

"What's going on?" Fred asked as he and George peered over at Charlie and Hermione. Bill wiped some sweat off his forehead as he too watched.

"You'll find out soon enough," Molly said rather edgily as Hermione and Charlie laughed once again. All of a sudden Hermione stopped laughing and she looked like she was about to say something serious. Molly and Ginny waited with baited breath and the other men stood and looked at the two people perplexedly. As Hermione said something the smile faded from Charlie's face and he seemed to turn as white as a freshly washed sheet. Hermione seemed to ask him something but before she could question him any further, Charlie dropped to the ground with a thud.

"Oh no! He's fainted!" Ginny exclaimed as she and Molly hurried over to Hermione. Hermione had already gotten down on the ground and was getting him into a recovery position and was starting to mutter spells under her breath.

"What did you say to him?" Ginny asked as she watched Hermione care for the fainted Dragon Keeper.

"I told him the truth! What more could I have said?" she snapped aggressively as she peered into Charlie's eyes.

"What did you tell him exactly?" laughed Fred and George as they watched Hermione. Without even looking up from what she was doing Hermione stated bluntly, "I told him that I was pregnant."

Silence engulfed the gathered men as they stared at Hermione in shock. Bill was the first one to break his silence as he asked in absolute and total shock, "This is a stupid question but is he by any chance...the dad?"

"Of course he is you idiot! Why do you think he fainted?" Ginny exclaimed loudly as Bill's face fell.

"You two did the dirty?" Fred and George asked in a stunned manner as they finally brought themselves together. Hermione glared up at the astonished twins and practically yelled, "This is not the time for stupid questions! What do you bloody think?"

Fred and George winced slightly as Hermione went back to caring for Charlie. She got up steadily and pointed her wand at the collapsed man. His body seemed to go ridged and started to levitate. It appeared that he was on some sort of invisible stretcher. Hermione started to walk towards the back door of the Burrow and Charlie seemed to follow her like metal drawn to a magnet. Everyone else was then left standing in the garden looking at each other.

"Should we go in there?" Bill asked with a fearful tremor in his voice. Molly sighed heavily and started to walk towards the door and soon after the rest of the group followed her.

Charlie's eyes fluttered open. He was lying on the sofa in the living area of the Burrow. Why was he in here? The last thing he could remember was being out in the garden and Hermione was telling him...oh right. He felt someone sitting on the edge of the sofa at his feet so he glanced down to see who it was.

"Hermione," he mumbled spotting the agitated looking Healer sitting deep in thought. She turned to look at him and suddenly smiled.

"You're awake...finally. I was beginning to worry," she said evenly as she turned to face him. Charlie sat up and stared deeply into her chocolate eyes.

"You're pregnant," he stated softly as a small smile appeared onto her lips. Her eyes remained connected with his as she whispered, "Yeah."

"I can't believe it," he muttered more to himself than to Hermione, however she heard him. "You can't believe it? How do you think I feel?"

"Pretty awful I guess." He took Hermione's hands and squeezed them tightly. He couldn't quite get his head around what he had just been told but somehow it didn't feel as terrible as it sounded.

"Not awful, just scared. I wouldn't be as scared if I knew I had you to support me," Hermione said to him gently as she squeezed his hands back in return. Something inside Charlie snapped and he suddenly became more confident about what was happening.

"Of course I'll support you! What sort of person would I be if I didn't?"

"A rather large jerk."

"Damn right. You have no need to be scared anymore because I promise I will be there for you 100 per cent!" Charlie said strongly as he stood up from the sofa and brought Hermione up with him. She looked at him in confusion for a second.

"We're having a baby!" Charlie shouted joyfully as he wrapped his arms around her in a huge hug. Hermione was stunned for a moment; she really hadn't expected this sort of reaction. She grinned happily into Charlie's jumper and hugged him in return.

"I'm going to have to get more time off work."

A/N: Any good then? Did you at least laugh? I thought the prospect of Charlie fainting was quite funny hehehe. REVIEW and tell me everything ;) xxxxx