I am so sorry for how I left the last chapter! I scared quite a few of you out there, I'm sorry! If you had faith in me, you will have returned. Welcome back. I hope this chapter lives up to standards!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter

The Unexpected Baby

Chapter Eighteen: Confronting Ron

Charlie paced up and down the hall outside of Hermione's examination room. He'd brought her to the hospital as quickly as he could, but he was afraid he might not have been quick enough. His stomach was in knots, his mind felt like a hive of angry bees and his nerves felt frayed and hot. He chewed on his thumb nail as he paced. Was Hermione alright? Was the baby alright? What could he have done that would have prevented this from happening?

"Mr. Weasley?" came a calming voice from the door to Hermione's room. Charlie's head snapped up so violently he was shocked it didn't break.

"You can come in now, the main exam is over, we are just waiting on some results," said the Mid-Healer on call. Charlie bit his lip hard. Hermione hadn't wanted him in the room while the tests were being carried out, but he could now hear her calling his name very softly.

He entered the room and rushed to her side. She was lying on a thick, comfortable looking mattress, propped up on several pillows. She had changed out of her old night clothes and into new ones provide by the hospital. Her skin was sallow and she looked like she hadn't slept for weeks. She smiled weakly at him and held out her hand.

"How are you, how's the baby?" he asked gently, taking her hand in his and giving it a light squeeze. She squeezed back and closed her eyes for a moment.

"I'm fine. I think the baby is fine. There is still one test that needs to be done, but they will do that when they come back with the other results. I want you to be here for that one," she explained weakly. Charlie felt his eyes brim with tears. He raised Hermione's hand up to his lips and kissed it tenderly. She smiled and closed her eyes again.

What felt like an eternity passed in the room waiting for the Mid-Healer to return with the test results. Charlie looked at the watch still on Hermione's wrist and realised only five minutes had passed. He felt ill. He felt powerless. He sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped an arm around Hermione's small shoulders. She felt as fragile as a tiny bird. The door to the room opened and the Mid-Healer on call came back into the room.

"I wanted to check the results with another Healer, you understand Healer Granger," the Mid-Healer began as she clutched a clipboard to her chest. Hermione nodded her head slowly, and Charlie bit the inside of his cheek with worry.

"Thankfully the bleed occurred outside of the uterus, so baby is perfectly fine. You said you felt movement earlier today, and that instantly, to me, was a good sign."

Charlie let out a huge sigh of relief and felt the weight of the world lift from his shoulders. Hermione looked up at him and smiled weakly, her eyes glinting with unshed tears. He squeezed her lightly and looked back to the Mid-Healer, who was also smiling.

"Bleeds like this can happen during a pregnancy, and yours in particular Healer Granger had a cause," the Mid-Healer continued in a more serious tone. Charlie felt Hermione try to sit a little straighter in the bed.

"What is your diagnosis Healer Phillips?" Hermione asked seriously. The Mid-Healer didn't answer at first and chewed her lip slightly. Hermione frowned and tried to be more assertive.

"What was it Julie?" Healer Phillips took a deep breath. Having fellow Healers as patients was never an easy task.

"Stress, Hermione. This was brought on by stress." Charlie felt Hermione grip his hand even tighter.

The Burrow was oddly calm. Charlie knew this was because of his mother. Once she'd been told about what had happened to Hermione, she had insisted that they come and spend a few days with them. Charlie knew his mother's intentions were good. The fresh country air would be very beneficial, as would calming, gentle walks in the fields beyond. Molly was doing all of the cooking, all of the cleaning, and even taking care of Socks and Shadow who were allowed to roam the house as they pleased.

"You're on sick leave?" Charlie heard Martha ask Hermione from the living area. He heard Hermione mutter her response. She wasn't happy about being off work, she loved her job, but it was the best thing for her.

"Good! This will allow you to finally get some rest and not worry about having to get up at stupid times in the morning," Bruce said firmly. Charlie walked into the living area where Martha and Bruce Granger were sitting with Molly and Arthur. Hermione was sitting on a sofa with her feet up, wrapped in a blanket.

"What am I going to do? I've never had this much time off work," Hermione muttered, more to herself than anyone else in the room. Charlie sat on the arm of the sofa and handed her a glass of icy water. She accepted it with thanks and took a long sip.

"You're not going to do anything," Molly said sternly, "In fact if I catch you doing anything there will be trouble!"

"Thank you for doing this Molly," Martha said kindly, turning to the matriarch of the Weasley family. Molly blushed lightly and tittered to herself.

"Bruce, Martha, you're more than welcome to stay with us too," said Arthur, leaning forward in his seat. Molly smiled widely at Hermione's parents, almost as if her expression might persuade them to do so.

"Thank you, Arthur, that's very kind of you but no. We will head back to our own house. We don't mind coming here every day, as long as we can get one of those portkeys, or that strange bus. Hermione is better in a wizarding house at this point, where there is better and easier access to the hospital and magical treatments," Bruce said, reaching over and shaking Arthur's hand in his own.

Charlie looked down at Hermione, who was now ignoring the other adults in the room and focusing on the image of their baby that they had received the night before. The final test after Hermione had been told to take time off work had been the Mid-Healer bubble charm. Charlie knew it had a proper name but couldn't remember what it was. He was too tired. Hermione ran her fingers along the image of the baby's body and he could hear her murmuring sweet nothings to it.

"Can you feel our baby now?" he asked quietly, bending close to her ear. She shuddered visibly and he smirked slightly. Now was not the time.

"I did about an hour ago. In my medical opinion, I would say the baby is asleep now," she whispered as she continued to stare at the image.

"Don't you think you should be asleep too?" he asked, slipping the piece of parchment out of her tired grasp and setting it aside. She looked up at him and agreed.

They excused themselves from the group of parents and Charlie led Hermione to Ginny's old bedroom. This was the room where this had all began, and this realisation wasn't lost on him. He stayed in the room as Hermione took of her dressing gown and climbed into bed. She snuggled down and pulled the duvet up to her chin. She looked at Charlie with watery eyes. Her emotions were amped all the way up, and she was finding it hard not to let them leak out.

"Charlie?" she asked mutely.

"Yeah?" he replied, equally as quiet.

"Will you stay with me?" she asked in a voice that quivered with unshed tears. Charlie felt something melt inside him and he closed the door softly behind him.

Hermione threw the duvet over so that Charlie could get in beside her. As he pulled the duvet over himself he felt her arm wrap around his abdomen. She raised herself up so she could rest her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and together they both fell into a peaceful sleep.

Over the next two weeks Hermione and Charlie remained in The Burrow. Hermione's parents came to visit every day. Some days they stayed for dinner and some days they arrived early enough for breakfast. The Grangers enjoyed being at The Burrow because magic was unbridled here, and they couldn't get enough of the many magical artefacts. Arthur Weasley was especially enjoying their company as he also got to explore his love of muggle culture. He and Bruce were firm friends by the end of the first week.

Hermione received many visitors, not just from the family, but from work colleagues and other friends. Kelly had spent the better part of an afternoon with her one day, relaying all of the office gossip. Hermione couldn't help but feel vindicated when she found out the board of governors of the hospital had reprimanded the senior Healing Consultants over their treatment of a pregnant woman. Many of Hermione's work colleagues had come forward to detail how much work the seniors had unloaded on her, and how they had expected her to not only do that, but all of her other duties and classes as well.

Currently Lavender was sitting with Hermione on cushioned chairs in the garden, allowing Hermione to get some fresh air. Hermione had been surprised to see her, but was in a way, glad of her company.

"Are you looking forward to the barbeque?" Lavender asked her as she wrapped a blanket around her shoulders for some added warmth.

"I am," replied Hermione honestly. She had been granted with plenty of time to think about her situation with Ron, and how she was going to tackle it. She was trying to develop as many plans and strategies as possible. She wasn't going to divulge this information to Lavender though.

"Me too, it will be great to just be with family. I honestly still don't know whether I'm coming or going since the engagement. It's been a whirlwind, but it's been great," Lavender said happily as she gazed out into the garden. Hermione glanced at her and noted her smile. Did she know the extent of Ron's feelings?

"Ron has already organised some of the wedding and honeymoon you know," Lavender said, turning on Hermione and beaming at her. Hermione quirked an eyebrow, and Lavender took this as a sign to continue speaking.

"He has already organised for us to go to America on our honeymoon, and to New Orleans of all places. He knows me so well, I've wanted to visit there since I was a little girl. It's such a wonderful place."

"Wow that sounds incredible," Hermione stated, begrudgingly impressed with what Ron had managed to do.

"We also set the date for the wedding," the excited, blonde witch said with a squeak. Hermione made a slightly shocked noise and Lavender nearly burst.

"We're getting married in one year!" she shouted, bouncing in her seat.

"Oh Lavender," Hermione began. She wanted to tell her that it was a terrible idea as it didn't give her long to get things organised. She wanted to tell her about what Harry believed was wrong with Ron in regards to his older brother. She wanted to grab Lavender by the shoulders and ask her if she really knew what she was letting herself in for, but the look of abject joy on the other woman's face stopped her from doing this.

"I'm so happy for you," she finished with a warm smile.

The smell of sizzling burgers filled the garden of the Potter household and Hermione sniffed the air hungrily. Her mouth filled with saliva as she watched Harry flip the meat on the barbeque, much to the delight of Arthur who had only seen this particular muggle invention used once before. Hermione's father stood close by, as did several other men. There was something about cooking meat over and open flame that spoke to the primal nature of the male of the human species.

"Hermione," moaned Ginny from the seat next to her. Hermione looked over at the redhead who looked severely uncomfortable. She was now 35 weeks pregnant and looked like she would pop at any moment. The difference between her and Hermione, who was 19 weeks pregnant, was astonishing.

"Yes Gin?" she asked sweetly, reaching for a glass of her mother's freshly made lemonade. She sipped and took comfort in the familiar biting taste.

"I have to go to the bathroom…again! That's three times in ten minutes. Does this child think my bladder is a play toy?" Ginny groaned as she hoisted herself up from the chair. Hermione shrugged her shoulders, and continued to sip her drink.

"I'm sorry Gin I can't help you. I'm starting to get into the same predicament. You only have a few more weeks to deal with it. You're on the home straight as they say."

Ginny glared at Hermione as she left the table and went to use the facilities in her home. Hermione glanced around the garden. She had been put on permanent chair rest for this barbeque, until she got her chance to speak with Ron. Her mother was chatting with Fleur and Victoire, Harry was still at the barbeque and Percy and Audrey were mixing drinks for Bill and Ron.

"How are you feeling dear?" asked Molly as she slid into Ginny's empty seat. Hermione stared at Molly for a moment, assessing how she felt.

"I'm feeling good. I'm glad we're doing this. I think I'll be able to speak to Ron properly tonight," she said confidently, which caused Molly to smile widely.

"Excellent. I will be glad when this nonsense is over. You have no idea how hard it has been for me not to scold him." Hermione laughed at the older witch and took her hand and gave it a quick squeeze.

"Thank you for holding back. You can scold him all you like after I speak to him," she said, trying to stifle her laughter. Molly didn't laugh but instead muttered something that sounded an awful lot like "I plan to."

"Your food is served my lady," Charlie said in a pretend posh, upper-class accent. Hermione wrinkled her nose at him.

"Charlie don't do that you sound like Lucius Malfoy!" she chided, taking the plate full of food he handed her. Charlie winked at her and then planted a kiss on the top of her head. Her heart fluttered and she stared at him as he walked away.

Even though she had all the free time in the world at the moment, she still hadn't talked to Charlie about how she was feeling. They were spending nearly every minute together and he was making sure she didn't go out of her mind with boredom. She'd beaten him at Exploding Snap so many times now, it wasn't even funny. They walked in the fields and talked about what they thought the baby would be like in the future, and what they hoped they would go on to achieve. Charlie was convinced that with his athleticism and Hermione's brains, their child was going to go on to win the Quidditch World Cup singlehandedly and be the Minister for Magic.

This was all progress for their relationship, but it wasn't going to go anywhere properly if she didn't try and talk about what she was feeling on the inside. She'd taken to sleeping with him in his bed at night. The reasoning she gave to people like Molly and her mother was, so that he would literally be right there in the middle of the night is she needed him. They'd accepted this excuse of hers, but in reality, she just liked sleeping beside him. His presence soothed her, and his body heat helped her to drift off to sleep. Physically Hermione may have been feeling fine, but mentally she was a mess. She promised herself that once she sorted out her Ron problem, she was going to sort out her Charlie problem.

"Harry!" yelled Fred from the barbeque. Hermione looked over to see what was going on. She shook her head and laughed.

Fred was standing fifty yards away from Harry and was holding an open burger bun. Harry was standing at the barbeque with a burger levitating above the tip of his wand. Fred was goading Harry into trying to aim the burger for the bun, and people like George, Bill and Charlie were goading him too. Harry smirked and took aim at the burger bun in Fred's hand. Just as he was about to throw, he was interrupted.

"Harry? What are you doing?" Ginny said incredulously as she came out of the house. Harry lost focus as he bent his arm back, resulting in the burger flying behind him to hit Ginny squarely in the face. The garden was silent. No body dared laugh.

"I'm sorry Ginny!" Harry grovelled as he vanished the fallen burger and started to wipe Ginny's face with a napkin. Ginny growled and grabbed a bottle of ketchup that was sitting on a small table beside the backdoor and squirted it in Harry's face. The garden erupted with laughter.

Hermione rubbed her swollen belly as she set her finished plate of food onto the garden table. Charlie made a satisfied noise to her left and copied her motions. He glanced at her, and then exaggerated his motions even more causing her to chuckle. Ginny, sitting opposite Charlie, growled. Still not happy about having a burger thrown in her face, her mood had only soured. Ginny was considerably grumpy these days, but Hermione was used to it.

"Get a room will you?" the red-headed witch growled as she wiped her hands on her napkin.

"Oh we plan to," Charlie said in a seductive tone, making Hermione flush so furiously she was sure she'd just taken all the blood from her body and dumped it into her cheeks.

"Charlie!" she exclaimed loudly. He winked at her and leaned back in his chair, scanning the garden. He then sat up straight and inclined his head towards the drinks table. Ron was by himself, so now was the best time to confront him. Hermione took the hint and pushed herself out of her chair.

Each step she took, she ran over her thoughts, theories and words she would like to say to him. She had ample time to think about it and now was the time to strike. No more idiocy, no more making each other feel like garbage. She had all the plans she needed to make this work.

"Ron?" she asked innocently as she reached the drinks table. Ron tensed, and then looked at her.

"Yes?" he said in a tone that was neither friendly, nor hostile.

"Could I have a word with you?" she asked sweetly, trying to lull him into some form of comfort. He was clearly immune to her "buttering up" techniques but shrugged his shoulders nonetheless and followed her as she led him to the bottom of the garden, away from prying ears. She wanted to remain in Charlie's line of sight in case anything drastic happened.

"What is it?" Ron asked in a somewhat dour tone. It was almost as if he knew Hermione was going to have a serious talk with him.

"I wanted to talk about your attitude towards Charlie and myself. I just want to know what's going on with you? We were so close before all of this happened, and I would like to have that back again," Hermione said as strongly, and evenly as possible.

Ron's ears turned pink and he looked around. The family were far enough away that they wouldn't hear them talk, but he was aware that he was being watched. By who he wasn't entirely sure, but he knew they were looking. He glowered at Hermione.

"I think my attitude is just fine," he said firmly, shoving his hands in his pockets. Hermione felt her blood pressure rising but took deep breaths to steady herself. She couldn't get stressed, it was bad for the baby. She had to keep herself as collected as she could.

"Well I don't, and Charlie doesn't. He was very hurt by your speech at the engagement party, and I've just been hurt by your attitude towards me in general. I mean you haven't even asked me how I'm feeling after what happened," she explained as if she were speaking to a particularly difficult patient. Ron clenched his teeth and looked at the ground.

"Do you still love me?" Hermione asked in an unassuming tone. Ron's gaze shot back up to meet hers.

"What? No! I love Lavender, I thought that much was obvious," he said, a truly puzzled look on his face. This made Hermione pause for a moment. The hormones in her body were causing her to have some severe "baby brain," and she couldn't remember what she had planned for an answer such as this one. Maybe she had over-thought the situation and had planned too much to say. Then it came to her.

"Then why are you so upset about me and your brother?" she asked.

Ron hesitated, and he thought. When he had found out Charlie and Hermione had slept together and were expecting a baby he had been furious. He had never expected Hermione to get involved with one of his brothers.

"It's weird," he answered bluntly.

"Why?"

"Because he's my brother!" Ron snapped. Hermione stood her ground. She knew this was progress and she let him continue.

"Of all the people, in this whole entire world that you could have gotten together with, it had to be my brother Charlie? Why? It's weird. You and I were together. You have known him since you were eleven. He is my older brother. It would have been just as weird if you'd gotten together with Fred, or George. It's humiliating. Imagine having to tell people "Oh yeah, my ex-girlfriend is now dating my brother!"" Ron ranted, throwing his arms in the air as he talked. Hermione smiled at him and then placed a hand on his shoulder. Ron stared at her, bewildered by her actions.

"Ron I understand where you're coming from, but you have to realise that we're all adults here, we are capable of making grown up decisions," she explained softly.

"I don't think getting knocked up was a very adult decision of you," he grumbled. Hermione slapped him hard on he arm and he flinched.

"Mistakes happen Ronald. You have to stop being a git. You're marrying Lavender, the love of your life. Yes, I am your best friend, and yes, you have my best interests at heart, but you don't need to worry about who I sleep with, or intend to have a baby with," she said sternly. Ron went to speak again but Hermione cut him off, wanting him to really understand.

"You also have to think of it this way. Imagine this had happened to me with some stranger. They may not have been as brilliant as Charlie and could have decided to have nothing to do with me and the baby, leaving us all alone. Charlie has more than stepped up to the mark," she explained, turning slightly red in the cheeks. Ron pulled faces as he mulled over what Hermione was saying.

He could admit that he had been irrational at first. The thought of Hermione with anyone had always made him uncomfortable. In a way he thought they would have eventually gotten back together, their riotous past forgotten. He had never expected to have the type of relationship that he had with Lavender, one that he wanted for the rest of his life. Hermione had been his safety net. He looked her up and down. She was in that stage of pregnancy that made her almost glow. She looked happy, and she looked healthy. He shot a quick glance to Charlie further away in the garden and could see him trying intently to not look like he was trying to listen to them.

"I'm sorry Hermione," he said after a long period of silence. Hermione let out the breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding and grinned.

"No more being an idiot?" she asked. Ron rolled his eyes and laughed.

"No more being and idiot. I'm sorry, I was being irrational and only thinking about myself," he explained as he held out a hand for her to shake. Hermione swatted his hand away and stepped in to give him a hug. Internally she was thanking her lucky stars that this had gone so well. She hadn't needed to shout and scream at him, she had managed to avoid getting too stressed out about the situation. She had thought she would have had more of a fight on her hands, but was glad they had managed to talk civilly.

"Are you feeling alright after what happened?" Ron asked into her hair.

"I'm fine Ron thank you, now you'd better go and hug your brother. He's practically hanging off the edge of his seat over there."

A/N: Probably not the Ron-blasting you were hoping for but Hermione can't stress or get too angry now! Molly can though...Let me know your thoughts in a review and don't forget to follow and favourite the story ;)