Awww thanks guys for all coming back, I know it was a lot to catch up on and again I'm sorry D: but hopefully this relatively quick update will please you all to a certain degree. The ending might not please you so much but I have to admit, I am rather evil muuhahahahaaaa. So enough blabber, read on and enjoy xx

Disclaimer: Somewhere out there in an alternate universe I own Harry Potter, but in this one sadly I don't...

The Unexpected Baby

Chapter Twelve: Caught off guard

"Pregnant?" Hermione nodded her head as her mother and father looked at her with their mouths open.

"How?" Bruce asked her as he gripped his wife's hand. Hermione felt her temper bubble. Why did people ask that question?

"Not to be rude dad but how do you think?" she asked heatedly wiping the expression off her father's face. Martha, who looked to be in a state of shock suddenly shook her head and smiled broadly at her only daughter.

"Oh darling that's wonderful!" she exclaimed happily as she got up from her seat and went to hug the confused Healer. As her mother embraced her she felt a sense of relief, she really had thought that her parents would have completely lost their minds when she told them. However she failed to realise as she hugged her mother with all of her might that her father had lapsed into a worrying silence. Charlie picked up on this and was immediately concerned.

"So how far along are you?" Martha asked eagerly as she patted Hermione on the stomach.

"I'm 13 weeks now," Hermione told her making her mother gasp in amazement. They started to talk about her mother's pregnancy and how Hermione had experienced terrible morning sickness and how if Hermione was anything like her mother, which she was, she should hopefully develop a weird craving for seaweed and pickles.

"Who's the father?" Bruce asked suddenly, getting up from the chair he sat in. Hermione couldn't read his face so she didn't know whether to tread carefully or not.

"Well you may not believe it but there was an alternate reason for me bringing Charlie along with me." Martha looked at her daughter thoughtfully and once she'd finished speaking Martha knew exactly why Charlie was here and a huge grin spread across her face.

"Charlie is the father of the baby," Hermione said gently taking Charlie's hand as he too stood up from his seat. Charlie smiled weakly at the Grangers and waited patiently for them to respond.

"Congratulations to the both of you," Martha said in elation as she hugged her daughter again and then hugged Charlie. Charlie, surprised at getting a hug from Mrs. Granger, hugged her back hesitantly but grinned nonetheless.

"Are you a couple?" Bruce asked seriously. Hermione frowned at her father.

"No we're not, but we are living together in my flat," she explained. Her mother made an interested sound and patted Charlie on his shoulder.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Hermione asked her father who was staring at Charlie intently. After a moment of thought Bruce seemed to relax a little bit but not completely.

"No sweetheart. Congratulations," he muttered as he went to his daughter, hugged her and left the living area completely. Hermione frowned deeply and turned to her mother who was standing with Charlie.

"What's his problem?" she asked feeling her eyes start to tingle with expectant tears. Martha rushed to her side and embraced her before she started letting the tears slip.

"He's just a little shocked. You know your father, always a stickler for tradition. He'll come round just give him a while to think about it. Anyway I'm as pleased as punch for the both of you. I'm going to be a granny can you believe it!" Hermione giggled wetly into her mothers' shoulder. She was glad she had such an open minded mum. She remembered when her cousin David had told the family he was gay, her mother was the first one to rush up and give him a great big hug.

"Come on let's finish our tea and chat a bit more about this wonderful news. Don't mind your father he'll come back in before you leave."

Hermione arrived back in the Burrow with Charlie just after 8 o'clock. When they had left Hermione's parents house they had gone back to the flat and made their own dinner. They chatted about Hermione's father's attitude for a while and then decided that it was time to go to the Burrow for supper.

"Hermione dear!" Molly exclaimed as she left the dough that was kneading itself to come over and help her dust off.

"Are we in time for supper?" Hermione asked eagerly, feeling her stomach grumble. Molly chuckled and nodded her head as Charlie landed beside them.

"Hey mum what's cooking?" he asked as he sniffed the air with enthusiasm.

"I'm baking cookies at the moment and as soon as that's done I'm going to bake some shortbread. Take Hermione into the living room and tell me all about your visit with the Grangers when I come in with the tea."

When Charlie and Hermione entered into the living area they were greeted by Bill, Fleur and Victoire and Fred and George. Arthur was still at work but he was expected home at any minute.

"Back from your adventures in the muggle world I see," Bill said jokingly as Victoire pulled his hair and babbled something in French. Fleur was teaching her well, Hermione smiled.

"If you can call it an adventure," Charlie grumbled taking a seat beside his older brother. Hermione sighed and went and sat on the armchair. Fred and George were beside her on another smaller sofa and they looked at her with concern in their eyes.

"What happened? Did it not go well with your parents?" they asked in unison. Hermione ran a hand through her hair and sighed again. Fred and George guessed from her reaction that things hadn't gone as smoothly as she had hoped.

"Wait until mum comes in she's going to want to hear this too," Charlie said softly as he looked at Hermione who was looking glum. Even after their chat back at the flat Hermione's hopes about her father still hadn't lifted.

"Uncie Charwie!" Victoire shouted happily as she jumped from her father's lap onto Charlie's. Charlie chuckled lightly as Victoire went on to pull at his hair and babble to him in French. Hermione watched him silently from her chair. He was messing up her hair causing her to yell and giggle like crazy. When she continued to babble in French he lifted her up by her waist while she grabbed on to his hair. In his hands he gently rolled his niece from side to side while she let go of his hair and pretended to fly. A smile graced Hermione's lips; Charlie really was good with children. Subconsciously she placed a hand on her stomach which had still yet to expand so that it looked like she was actually pregnant.

"Here we are!" Molly said happily as she entered into the room with a tray of tea floating behind her. Victoire, who was now playing with a fake 'child friendly' wand Fred had given to her, dropped it and ran to her granny.

"Gwannie!" she shouted happily as she hugged Molly's leg. Molly chuckled and picked up the little girl.

"I've got a special drink for you," Molly cooed as she grabbed a glass of warm milk from the tray. She then proceeded to hold the glass gently as Victoire drank.

"She will be ready for bed soon," Fleur muttered to Bill in her heavily laden French accent.

"Good evening Weasley's!" exclaimed Arthur as he strode into the living area and kissed his wife. Everyone greeted him enthusiastically and waited for their tea to be passed around by George.

"So what's the word on today?" Arthur asked as he took his warm tea and grabbed a seat. Molly, who was still holding the glass for Victoire, glanced at Hermione.

"We invented a new love potion," Fred and George said in unison.

"Another one? How many kinds of love potions are there?" Charlie asked as he grabbed his tea and a cookie which was still warm. George winked at him causing him to immediately understand. To the twins there were potentially thousands of love potions and they intended to make every one of them.

"This new one make's your intended target recite a soppy love poem to you upon meeting," the cunning twin of Fred told them all in a secretive tone. Hermione rolled her eyes; Fred and George were always playing around with love potions all because they were under the impression that desperate girls were sure to buy them. She couldn't fault them in their logic but it was horrible to think that they were exploiting vulnerable girls like that.

"Fleur and I bought a new fireplace for the cottage today," Bill informed them all with eagerness. Hermione chuckled, if only she could get that excited about a fireplace. Bill and Fleur had needed a new one since last year after the 'accident'. Hermione had only heard this via a letter but one day everyone was at Shell Cottage and a wild animal had gotten into the house. Harry and Ron had gone after it and by accident Ron had cast a spell at the poor animal to try and trap it but it missed, hit Harry and sent him flying backward into the fireplace. He'd been so injured that he'd had to go to the hospital however Hermione hadn't been working that night to be the one to treat him.

"How was the trip to your parent's house Hermione?" Molly asked as soon as everyone had stopped discussing the new fireplace. Hermione, who had been in a world of her own, snapped back to reality to find every eye on her.

"It was good…and bad at the same time." Her voice was flat and tired. Molly grimaced and Arthur frowned slightly. Charlie got up from his place beside Bill and went and sat on the arm of the armchair that Hermione was occupying. He placed a hand on her shoulder tenderly and urged her to tell them what happened.

"When we got there it was all fine. They were happy to see me and Charlie and dad even got to remove one of Charlie's teeth," she started but was interrupted by Fred.

"Bruce removed one of your teeth?" he asked in awe. Hermione laughed regardless of her mood, Fred had always shown an interest in her parent's occupation. The thought of removing people's teeth without the use of a wand fascinated him, in fact it fascinated him so much Hermione was worried that some day he might actually try and remove someone's tooth without the proper knowledge of how to do it.

"Yeah it was interesting to say the least. He got Hermione to numb my jaw and then he pulled out my tooth with some sort weird metal object. I didn't feel a thing and I was only sore afterwards for about 40 minutes." Fred and Arthur looked at Charlie as if he was some sort of God and immediately wanted to ask him questions about it, however Molly stopped them.

"You can tell us about the tooth later, what happened when you told your parents?" She really was keen to find out. Did she know that something wasn't quite right?

"I told them after Charlie had cleaned up from getting his tooth out. They were silent for a moment and then mum immediately got up and hugged me and everything. She was really pleased and probably even more pleased to find out that Charlie was the father. However my dad wasn't as accommodating. He's really old fashioned when it comes to relationships and he started to ask questions about our relationship with each other and then went all quiet and left the room. He didn't even come back down to say goodbye to us. I could tell mum wasn't impressed with him and she said she'd have a talk with him." The room was silent for a moment or two after Hermione had finished speaking. Bill glanced at Fleur who was looking uncomfortable to say the least. Fred and George had identical grimaces on their faces and were trying their very best not to look in Hermione's direction.

"Oh dear," Molly muttered as Victoire finished her warm milk, burped lightly and then giggled. Molly set her down and she toddled over to her mum and climbed up onto her knee.

"How're you feeling?" Arthur asked solemnly. Sighing again Hermione glanced up at Charlie whose hand was still resting firmly on her shoulder.

"Well I was really upset when it happened and then upset once again when he didn't say goodbye to us but I have every faith that mum will talk him round to the fact that I'm pregnant and that he is going to be a grandfather whether he likes it or not." Charlie squeezed her shoulder gently and gave her a small smile. Something inside her fluttered and she swallowed a lump in her throat. He was going to be there for her through this whole misunderstanding with her father. Looking around the living area she then realised that the people who were and were not present here would also be supporting her and she felt her heart squeeze with joy.

"Well don't worry a thing about it dear I'm sure your mother will be able to win him over to the idea," Molly stated firmly, "Trust me he'll be back to normal and excited about being a grandparent sooner than you think."

Hermione grinned and thought about her father. She still felt saddened by his reaction but thinking about him being an excited grandparent lifted her mood ever so slightly. She knew in her heart that he was going to be a very doting grandfather who gave her child sweets every chance he got, although if she knew her father the sweets would all be sugar free.

Upon entering into the flat Hermione and Charlie were met with the same tiny ball of fur shooting towards them. Charlie bent down and picked up Shadow who started meowing at him enthusiastically. Giggling Hermione went into the kitchen and made Charlie a cup of coffee and poured herself a cool glass of apple juice. When she brought the coffee out into the living room she found Charlie lying on the floor with Shadow balancing on his chest.

"What are you doing?" the chuckling Healing Consultant asked as she set Charlie's coffee on small table and sat down on the comfy sofa.

"Playing," Charlie said lightly as Shadow pawed playfully at his chin. He laughed happily and tickled the kitten under its chin. Without warning Shadow bit Charlie's finger, obviously in a playful way, but as Hermione had never seen the kitten do it before she jumped suddenly.

"Shadow! Bad kitty stop biting Charlie!" The jet black kitten stared at her with wide eyes, clearly confused as to why she was shouting at him.

"Don't worry Herms, he's just playing, he can't hurt me. I've had baby dragons bite me before so having a kitten bite me is a relief to say the least. If anyone ever tells you a baby dragon can't hurt you they are very wrong," Charlie explained to her calmly as he very gently batted Shadow round the ear. The kitten stopped looking at Hermione and happily meowed at Charlie and batted at his hand.

Hermione sat back into the sofa and sipped at her juice. Charlie eventually put Shadow back onto the ground, got up and went to get his coffee from the table. As he got up from the floor his t-shirt had bunched around his middle, leaving his midriff completely bare. Hermione choked rather hardly on her juice as she took in his toned back and lean, smooth, incredibly defined stomach. The last time she'd seen Charlie's six-pack had been the morning they'd woken up together just over 13 weeks ago. As her hormones flared and she began to feel a little hot around the collar Charlie pulled his t-shirt down, grabbed his coffee and sat down beside her. She had to hide her flush from him, he couldn't see her like this so she reached for a book that was lying on the table beside her and buried her face into it.

"Your dad will come round you know. Mum is always right about these things and I do have a good feeling that your mum will give him a good talking to." Hermione peeked up from the words she was barely reading to find Charlie staring at the front door.

"I know he will," she said calmly, touching her cheek to make sure it had stopped glowing red and radiating heat. "I think he was just a bit shocked. He always thought I'd have a baby with…" she cut herself short; she shouldn't say anything that would make the atmosphere turn stale and awkward.

"Ron?" Charlie finished the sentence for her. The Healer nodded her head slightly, surprised that Charlie had actually mentioned his youngest brother.

"Well you guys did go out with each other for a long long time." Hermione swallowed hard, she'd like nothing more than for Charlie to change the subject. She didn't like talking about Ron at the moment as he was being such a prat towards her.

"We did," she mumbled, trying to get back into her book. Charlie remained silent and Hermione mentally sighed in relief. For a good 10 minutes they sat in a silence which was neither comfortable nor awkward. Just as Hermione felt herself start to wonder what Charlie could possibly be thinking he spoke and what he said caught her completely and totally off guard.

"We should go on a date tomorrow night."

A/N: Yes that is right...a date :D! I think it's going to be a really good chapter too muuhahahahaa, I'm really excited about it! I hope you enjoyed chapter 12 and please tell me what you thought about Hermione's dad's reaction in a REVIEW xxxxx