A/N: I've never known a pregnant person. I'm making it up. That's about it.
Chapter 16
When we walked into the kitchens, Dobby, one of the house elves, bounded over with a small silver platter.
"Good evening, miss! We was wondering when you was coming!" I took the plate and opened the silver top. Inside were two triangle-shaped turkey sandwiches.
"Thanks, Dobby! This'll be great. I'll see you tomorrow!" Hermione took a plate and we walked back up to the common room.
Hermione and I sat down in the big comfy chairs in front of the fireplace, and Ron and Harry sat on the floor next to us.
"Herm? Are you going to stay with me when the baby is born?" I asked.
"I guess so. I'd like it a lot, and I doubt the whole of Gryffindor tower will want to be woken up in the middle of the night by a baby."
"Or babies." I said, remembering what she had said about twins.
"Or babies." She agreed. Ron looked puzzled, then shocked, and then amused.
"You mean, twins?" He looked at her. She just smiled and ruffled his hair.
Harry looked sad. "What's wrong, Harry?" I asked.
"Well, you guys are all happy, but I'm not getting any kids."
"Harry, you know you will one day. Be happy." Hermione said cheerfully.
The next morning, a holiday for some reason, Hermione and I went to Dumbledore. He seemed to be expecting us.
"Ms. Granger, Ms. Weasley, I have been expecting you." I know how cheesy. I'm starting to think this guy can read minds…
"Professor, Ms. Granger is also expecting, and I was wondering if she could share a room with me?"
"Of course, by all means, Ms. Weasley! I was hoping you'd say that. You are expecting a visitor, I remember. I think you're mother is coming…yes, yes, that's correct. Your mother should be here oh, right about…Now!" There was a knock on the door. Okay, I'm really starting to think he's psychic or something.
"Come in!" The professor called. The door opened, and my mum was standing there.
"Oh, Ginny! I am so glad to see you!" She picked me up in a big hug.
"Mum! The baby! Remember!" I gasped for air.
"Oh, right, sorry about that." She looked over and saw Hermione.
"Um, hi, Mrs. Weasley. Ginny, I'm going to go…Goodbye Professor." She disappeared behind the big oak door.
"Well, I should go too. Where are you going to stay, mum?"
"I'll be staying in Hogsmeade. Right now I just wanted to visit and check up on you." We thanked Professor Dumbledore (who was smiling like a maniac) and left for the common room.
When we reached the Fat Lady, she cried, "Molly? Molly O'Connor! Is that you?"
"Yes! It is! It's nice to see you again! How have things been going?"
The Fat Lady rambled on about Vi and a few other portraits, when she was interrupted by someone swinging it open and climbing out.
It was Ron. He helped Hermione (who was laughing and giggling) down and turned to see mum. He looked like a deer in the headlights.
"Mum!"
"Hello, Ron."
"Uh, Ginny, can we talk to you for a minute? It's just really quick." I nodded hastily and followed them around the corner.
"We're getting married!" Hermione whispered excitedly.
"Oh my gosh! That's so great! When?"
"After the twins are born. In the summer, we think." I hugged them both.
"We'd better get back to mum." We walked around the corner, grinning broadly.
"Is there something I should know?" Mum asked suspiciously.
Ron and Hermione looked at each other. "We're getting married!" Mum grinned and hugged them both. When she hugged Hermione though, she whispered something. Hermione blushed and nodded.
"Twins." I heard her say. Mum glowed with pride.
Nothing really happened over the next couple of months. Christmas was coming, and that always got everyone excited.
I guess the only thing that happened was that Hermione and I started showing. People in the halls pointed and whispered, but they didn't have the courage to actually talk to us.
Christmas morning came. I woke up in the morning to find a large pile of things stacked up at the foot of my bed.
"Wake up!" I yelled at the other girls.
Tamara threw a pillow at me. "It's Christmas! Get up!" I threw back the curtains in the window, and light flooded the room.
Diana yelled. "Get up!" I sat down on my bed and began to open my presents. Before I could get started, however, the girls crowded by my bed.
"Ginny, we want to talk to you." Tammy said.
"Okay, shoot."
"We noticed that you're getting kind of, well, fat. We wanted to know why."
"I'm pregnant, of course." Lizzy gasped, Tammy's mouth dropped, Miranda turned the color of milk, and Diana swooned.
"What?" I asked. "You should be happy for me." Lizzy snapped out of it and hugged me.
"Of course we're happy for you! At least, I am." She said.
"Me too!"
"Me too!" This continued for some time before I shushed them and began to open my presents.
The first was from mum, who sent some homemade fudge, and a Weasley sweater. Along with my sweater, there was a small little baby sweater. We all 'aww'ed for a while, and then I continued with my presents.
Fred and George got me a book called 'How to Potty Train Your Toddler-A Book of Inside Jokes' and some fireworks.
Harry got me a gold necklace with two people on it.
Ron gave me a little brown teddy bear with 'I Love New York' on it's tee shirt.
Hermione gave me some maternity robes (something I also gave her), and dad got me a muggle night light in the shape of a star.
Bill and Charlie gave me some sheet music, and Percy gave me an agenda. How like him.
Lizzy gave me a diary, Miranda gave me a pair of hoop earrings, Tamara gave me a fake nose ring and belly button ring, and Diana gave me some make-up.
When I got down to the common room, I was wearing my nose ring, by belly button ring, my earrings, the necklace, some of the make-up, and the robes Hermione had gotten me.
The girls, Ron, Hermione, Harry, and I were the only students in Gryffindor who were staying. Ron gaped at me when I went in. My nose ring was working, I see.
I laughed and took it out. "Check this out." I smiled and lifted up the shirt I was wearing to show the belly button ring. I laughed again and lowered my shirt.
Hermione's stomach was getting bigger than mine, of course. I think Ron was afraid that if it got any bigger it would explode. She had a plate of toast resting on top of it. It was really funny. She'd walk around nonchalantly with a plate on her stomach, just eating from it.
"Hermione, either you have huge twins, or you have triplets." I giggled again. She walked over to me and stuck out her belly. "Toast?" She asked. I burst out laughing.
Tamara came down wearing the millions of scrunches I gave her. She modeled around for us. I couldn't stop laughing. And then I did.
"Oh, cool." I said dazedly, and I felt my stomach.
"What?" Harry asked concerned.
"She's kicking! Feel." Tammy beat him there and said, "That is so cool! You have a little being in you!" Harry pushed her out of the way. "Aww, that's so neat! Ron, feel this!" Ron felt my stomach. The baby kicked out violently.
"I don't think he likes me."
Draco stayed for the Christmas holiday. I walked into the hall arm-in-arm with Hermione and Tammy, and invited him over to the Gryffindor table. He reluctantly joined us, and sat between Lizzy and Hermione.
I don't think I've ever eaten so much.
After breakfast, the boys and my roommates went out to have a snowball fight. Hermione and I could only watch, but later on Fred came down to visit us.
"So how are my two favorite sisters in the whole world doing?" Hermione laughed. "Fred, I'm not your sister yet, but we're doing fine. I'm getting a bit cold though, so I'm going inside." She got up and called to Ron, "Ron! I'm going inside!"
"Wait for me! I want to talk to you!" He ran through the snow and followed Hermione up the stairs inside.
"I'm going in too!" I called.
"Wait for me!" Came Harry's anxious voice. So, the boys abandoned the snowball fight.
"Yeah?" I asked as the warmth of the castle replaced my chills.
"Have you and Draco talked about any names?"
"No, but we should do that soon." He nodded. "I'm gonna go look for him." So I marched off to the Great Hall, and found he wasn't there. I went into the Entrance Hall, and to my surprise, found him there.
"Draco?" I asked.
"Yeah?"
"We need to talk about names for the baby. Just thought I'd let you know. I'll leave you alone. See you." I left for the common room.
Later that day, Draco and I met in the Great Hall with a piece of parchment and a quill. We sat at the Hufflepuff table and started thinking.
"What about Ariana?" I asked.
"Maybe." I wrote it down. "How about Sean?" he asked.
"Sean Malfoy? It just doesn't sound right. What about…Mariah?"
"Cute. Kathryn?"
"I thought I had the girls names."
"Well it's my kid too. Kathryn?" I wrote that down too. Fred came into the hall and saw me.
"Gin!" he ran over. "I figured out where the auditions are. They're in Hogsmeade in three days. Do you think you can do it?"
"Do you think they'd let a pregnant person in? I'll be ready, don't worry? Are you going to take me?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. I'll practice tonight." He kissed me forehead and ran out of the room. "Alright, back to names. Kyle?"
"'kay. Lindsay, Cari, Lisa, Kristen…Ali?" Draco rattled.
"You can't just have Ali, you have to have a name before it. What about Hunter?"
"No way. Corey?"
"That could be a girl or a boy's name. Jonathan, Taylor, Thomas, Devin?"
"Jonathan and Devin. Jacob?"
"I like that one." I wrote it down. "So have we got enough?"
"Yeah, I guess so. We just need to choose one. I really like Mariah. Is that okay?"
"I like that name. I like Jacob."
"Okay. I have to go. I'll talk to you later." I gathered up my things and went to the common room.
"So," said a very anxious Hermione, "What did you decide?"
"If it's a boy, Jacob, and if it's a girl, Mariah. I love that name." I felt tired, and told Hermione to wake me up when it was time for dinner.
I was already awake when she came to get me. The baby was hungry, apparently, and had woken me up.
"Time to eat?" I said.
"Yup. I'm starving. You know, if I get fat after I have these kids, it's their fault. I couldn't eat this much anyway. Come on, let's go to the Great Hall." We walked out of the portrait hole where Ron and Harry were waiting for us.
We arrived at the feast just before the food appeared on the golden plates. There were only a few people staying for the holiday, so there was only need for one table. All of the professors, the girls in my dorm, Harry Hermione Ron, Draco, and I sat down and began to talk and eat.
There were some crackers, and I ended up getting another teddy bear, a purple quill, a tall hat with some pink feather boa's on it, and some little mittens I knew I'd never wear.
The next morning, Hermione and I asked Professor Dumbledore if we could paint our room with some muggle things.
We were able to take Ron and Harry to Hogsmeade with us to order some stuff, and while the boys were waiting for that, Hermione and I went to look for clothes. We got some overalls and jeans and old raggedy shirts from a few nice ladies in one of the stores.
There was no doubt that the boys wanted to help us, but Hermione scolded them by saying, "It's our room, and we're perfectly capable of painting it. All you have to worry about is carrying that paint."
The school was back to the normal hustle and bustle just after New Years, and that meant more classes.
I felt bad for Hermione, because she couldn't help Professor McGonagall anymore. I was still able to help Madame Pomfrey, but I would have to stop soon because it was getting harder and harder to get up stairs.
Nothing more exciting happened at all. I did go to the auditions, but they hadn't chosen someone yet. I was sort of disappointed, but at that point I don't think it mattered much.
About a month before the babies were due, Hermione and I were no longer able to go to classes, so we had to do our lessons in our room-which we had decided to paint light blue-and take our exams.
Madame Pomfrey came by almost everyday, as did most professors. They gave us homework, and came to talk to us about how we were doing and if we needed anything.
Time flew by fast, and before we knew it, school was ending and it was almost time for the babies to arrive.
One night, Hermione was checking over my exams and she was checking her N.E.W. T. s, she said, "Well you see, Ginny, you could have just said-oh, my gosh. Ginny, this is not good, this is not good at all."
"What," I asked alarmed.
"I think my water just broke." She gasped.
"Oh, hold on, Hermi, I'll get Madame Pomfrey," I said heading for the door.
"Get Ron!" She cried.
I ran as fast as I could, which wasn't very fast, down to Professor Dumbledore's office and said the password, "squiggly newts," and up the staircase.
"Come in," He called. I burst in.
"It's Hermione, she's having her baby right now." For a man so old, he jumped up and ran down the staircase.
"Ginny," He instructed. "Go stay with her. I'll get Mr. Weasley and Madame Pomfrey."
I hurried back up to where Hermione was laying on her bed. "Don't worry, Professor Dumbledore went to get Ron." I comforted. She clutched her stomach.
I was scared, I admit that, where were they? It didn't help when I saw three figures in black cloaks heading across the ground. Did I mention stress can bring on labor?
"Hermione," I said. "I think my water broke."
"Oh, hurray. What a lovely night this will be." She sat up against the headboard of the bed.
Oh, ouch, yes, this hurt. And this was just a contraction!
I groaned and Professor Dumbledore came in along with Madame Pomfrey, Ron, Harry, Fred, and Draco.
"It's about bloody time you got here, Ron!" Hermione hissed. He looked kind of scared, and ran over to her.
"Harry," I said, "Get my bed and push it next to Hermione's." He ran and pushed it over, and I clumsily got into it. I grabbed Hermione's hand and said, "We're going to do this together okay, Hermione." I clenched my teeth.
"Yeah, okay Ginny."
Madame Pomfrey was helping us and tending to our every need.
It was Hermione who started first. Almost at that same instant, however, I started too. Our hands tightened as Madame Pomfrey shouted, "Push!" It took us four hours to get our children out, well, the first one.
"Hermione," Ron kept telling her. "If you need to scream, just do it." She shook her head and said, "The first thing my child is going to hear is not going to be my screaming!" So she bit her lip. I followed her example and bit my lip.
"Almost there," Madame Pomfrey said. "Just one more push, okay?"
"Just get the damn thing out of me!" Hermione cried.
"One, two, three!" We pushed as hard as we could, and at the same moment, my little girl and Hermione's little boy were brought into the world. Professor Dumbledore-who had obviously done this sort of thing before-took them away and cleaned them up.
I laughed. An old professor was cleaning up my little girl.
"One more, Hermione, one more!" Madame Pomfrey said. Hermione definitely wanted this one out of her, and pushed as hard as she could. It took only a half-hour for her second little boy to be born.
But when it came out, it didn't cry like the other two. Madame Pomfrey smacked its back three hard times. Still nothing.
Hermione was terrified. Madame Pomfrey tried once more, and this time, the little baby cried.
Hermione broke down right here. It would have been more traumatic for her if the youngest didn't live. She sobbed into Ron's shoulder.
Five minutes later, the nurse and the elderly professor brought our children to us.
For the first time, I got a good look at my baby girl. She had a thick patch of fiery red Weasley hair. Her eyes were green like mine, but they had gray around the pupil. She had a small little nose, and lips like mine. Mariah Ann Weasley was definitely her mother's daughter.
Chapter 16
When we walked into the kitchens, Dobby, one of the house elves, bounded over with a small silver platter.
"Good evening, miss! We was wondering when you was coming!" I took the plate and opened the silver top. Inside were two triangle-shaped turkey sandwiches.
"Thanks, Dobby! This'll be great. I'll see you tomorrow!" Hermione took a plate and we walked back up to the common room.
Hermione and I sat down in the big comfy chairs in front of the fireplace, and Ron and Harry sat on the floor next to us.
"Herm? Are you going to stay with me when the baby is born?" I asked.
"I guess so. I'd like it a lot, and I doubt the whole of Gryffindor tower will want to be woken up in the middle of the night by a baby."
"Or babies." I said, remembering what she had said about twins.
"Or babies." She agreed. Ron looked puzzled, then shocked, and then amused.
"You mean, twins?" He looked at her. She just smiled and ruffled his hair.
Harry looked sad. "What's wrong, Harry?" I asked.
"Well, you guys are all happy, but I'm not getting any kids."
"Harry, you know you will one day. Be happy." Hermione said cheerfully.
The next morning, a holiday for some reason, Hermione and I went to Dumbledore. He seemed to be expecting us.
"Ms. Granger, Ms. Weasley, I have been expecting you." I know how cheesy. I'm starting to think this guy can read minds…
"Professor, Ms. Granger is also expecting, and I was wondering if she could share a room with me?"
"Of course, by all means, Ms. Weasley! I was hoping you'd say that. You are expecting a visitor, I remember. I think you're mother is coming…yes, yes, that's correct. Your mother should be here oh, right about…Now!" There was a knock on the door. Okay, I'm really starting to think he's psychic or something.
"Come in!" The professor called. The door opened, and my mum was standing there.
"Oh, Ginny! I am so glad to see you!" She picked me up in a big hug.
"Mum! The baby! Remember!" I gasped for air.
"Oh, right, sorry about that." She looked over and saw Hermione.
"Um, hi, Mrs. Weasley. Ginny, I'm going to go…Goodbye Professor." She disappeared behind the big oak door.
"Well, I should go too. Where are you going to stay, mum?"
"I'll be staying in Hogsmeade. Right now I just wanted to visit and check up on you." We thanked Professor Dumbledore (who was smiling like a maniac) and left for the common room.
When we reached the Fat Lady, she cried, "Molly? Molly O'Connor! Is that you?"
"Yes! It is! It's nice to see you again! How have things been going?"
The Fat Lady rambled on about Vi and a few other portraits, when she was interrupted by someone swinging it open and climbing out.
It was Ron. He helped Hermione (who was laughing and giggling) down and turned to see mum. He looked like a deer in the headlights.
"Mum!"
"Hello, Ron."
"Uh, Ginny, can we talk to you for a minute? It's just really quick." I nodded hastily and followed them around the corner.
"We're getting married!" Hermione whispered excitedly.
"Oh my gosh! That's so great! When?"
"After the twins are born. In the summer, we think." I hugged them both.
"We'd better get back to mum." We walked around the corner, grinning broadly.
"Is there something I should know?" Mum asked suspiciously.
Ron and Hermione looked at each other. "We're getting married!" Mum grinned and hugged them both. When she hugged Hermione though, she whispered something. Hermione blushed and nodded.
"Twins." I heard her say. Mum glowed with pride.
Nothing really happened over the next couple of months. Christmas was coming, and that always got everyone excited.
I guess the only thing that happened was that Hermione and I started showing. People in the halls pointed and whispered, but they didn't have the courage to actually talk to us.
Christmas morning came. I woke up in the morning to find a large pile of things stacked up at the foot of my bed.
"Wake up!" I yelled at the other girls.
Tamara threw a pillow at me. "It's Christmas! Get up!" I threw back the curtains in the window, and light flooded the room.
Diana yelled. "Get up!" I sat down on my bed and began to open my presents. Before I could get started, however, the girls crowded by my bed.
"Ginny, we want to talk to you." Tammy said.
"Okay, shoot."
"We noticed that you're getting kind of, well, fat. We wanted to know why."
"I'm pregnant, of course." Lizzy gasped, Tammy's mouth dropped, Miranda turned the color of milk, and Diana swooned.
"What?" I asked. "You should be happy for me." Lizzy snapped out of it and hugged me.
"Of course we're happy for you! At least, I am." She said.
"Me too!"
"Me too!" This continued for some time before I shushed them and began to open my presents.
The first was from mum, who sent some homemade fudge, and a Weasley sweater. Along with my sweater, there was a small little baby sweater. We all 'aww'ed for a while, and then I continued with my presents.
Fred and George got me a book called 'How to Potty Train Your Toddler-A Book of Inside Jokes' and some fireworks.
Harry got me a gold necklace with two people on it.
Ron gave me a little brown teddy bear with 'I Love New York' on it's tee shirt.
Hermione gave me some maternity robes (something I also gave her), and dad got me a muggle night light in the shape of a star.
Bill and Charlie gave me some sheet music, and Percy gave me an agenda. How like him.
Lizzy gave me a diary, Miranda gave me a pair of hoop earrings, Tamara gave me a fake nose ring and belly button ring, and Diana gave me some make-up.
When I got down to the common room, I was wearing my nose ring, by belly button ring, my earrings, the necklace, some of the make-up, and the robes Hermione had gotten me.
The girls, Ron, Hermione, Harry, and I were the only students in Gryffindor who were staying. Ron gaped at me when I went in. My nose ring was working, I see.
I laughed and took it out. "Check this out." I smiled and lifted up the shirt I was wearing to show the belly button ring. I laughed again and lowered my shirt.
Hermione's stomach was getting bigger than mine, of course. I think Ron was afraid that if it got any bigger it would explode. She had a plate of toast resting on top of it. It was really funny. She'd walk around nonchalantly with a plate on her stomach, just eating from it.
"Hermione, either you have huge twins, or you have triplets." I giggled again. She walked over to me and stuck out her belly. "Toast?" She asked. I burst out laughing.
Tamara came down wearing the millions of scrunches I gave her. She modeled around for us. I couldn't stop laughing. And then I did.
"Oh, cool." I said dazedly, and I felt my stomach.
"What?" Harry asked concerned.
"She's kicking! Feel." Tammy beat him there and said, "That is so cool! You have a little being in you!" Harry pushed her out of the way. "Aww, that's so neat! Ron, feel this!" Ron felt my stomach. The baby kicked out violently.
"I don't think he likes me."
Draco stayed for the Christmas holiday. I walked into the hall arm-in-arm with Hermione and Tammy, and invited him over to the Gryffindor table. He reluctantly joined us, and sat between Lizzy and Hermione.
I don't think I've ever eaten so much.
After breakfast, the boys and my roommates went out to have a snowball fight. Hermione and I could only watch, but later on Fred came down to visit us.
"So how are my two favorite sisters in the whole world doing?" Hermione laughed. "Fred, I'm not your sister yet, but we're doing fine. I'm getting a bit cold though, so I'm going inside." She got up and called to Ron, "Ron! I'm going inside!"
"Wait for me! I want to talk to you!" He ran through the snow and followed Hermione up the stairs inside.
"I'm going in too!" I called.
"Wait for me!" Came Harry's anxious voice. So, the boys abandoned the snowball fight.
"Yeah?" I asked as the warmth of the castle replaced my chills.
"Have you and Draco talked about any names?"
"No, but we should do that soon." He nodded. "I'm gonna go look for him." So I marched off to the Great Hall, and found he wasn't there. I went into the Entrance Hall, and to my surprise, found him there.
"Draco?" I asked.
"Yeah?"
"We need to talk about names for the baby. Just thought I'd let you know. I'll leave you alone. See you." I left for the common room.
Later that day, Draco and I met in the Great Hall with a piece of parchment and a quill. We sat at the Hufflepuff table and started thinking.
"What about Ariana?" I asked.
"Maybe." I wrote it down. "How about Sean?" he asked.
"Sean Malfoy? It just doesn't sound right. What about…Mariah?"
"Cute. Kathryn?"
"I thought I had the girls names."
"Well it's my kid too. Kathryn?" I wrote that down too. Fred came into the hall and saw me.
"Gin!" he ran over. "I figured out where the auditions are. They're in Hogsmeade in three days. Do you think you can do it?"
"Do you think they'd let a pregnant person in? I'll be ready, don't worry? Are you going to take me?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. I'll practice tonight." He kissed me forehead and ran out of the room. "Alright, back to names. Kyle?"
"'kay. Lindsay, Cari, Lisa, Kristen…Ali?" Draco rattled.
"You can't just have Ali, you have to have a name before it. What about Hunter?"
"No way. Corey?"
"That could be a girl or a boy's name. Jonathan, Taylor, Thomas, Devin?"
"Jonathan and Devin. Jacob?"
"I like that one." I wrote it down. "So have we got enough?"
"Yeah, I guess so. We just need to choose one. I really like Mariah. Is that okay?"
"I like that name. I like Jacob."
"Okay. I have to go. I'll talk to you later." I gathered up my things and went to the common room.
"So," said a very anxious Hermione, "What did you decide?"
"If it's a boy, Jacob, and if it's a girl, Mariah. I love that name." I felt tired, and told Hermione to wake me up when it was time for dinner.
I was already awake when she came to get me. The baby was hungry, apparently, and had woken me up.
"Time to eat?" I said.
"Yup. I'm starving. You know, if I get fat after I have these kids, it's their fault. I couldn't eat this much anyway. Come on, let's go to the Great Hall." We walked out of the portrait hole where Ron and Harry were waiting for us.
We arrived at the feast just before the food appeared on the golden plates. There were only a few people staying for the holiday, so there was only need for one table. All of the professors, the girls in my dorm, Harry Hermione Ron, Draco, and I sat down and began to talk and eat.
There were some crackers, and I ended up getting another teddy bear, a purple quill, a tall hat with some pink feather boa's on it, and some little mittens I knew I'd never wear.
The next morning, Hermione and I asked Professor Dumbledore if we could paint our room with some muggle things.
We were able to take Ron and Harry to Hogsmeade with us to order some stuff, and while the boys were waiting for that, Hermione and I went to look for clothes. We got some overalls and jeans and old raggedy shirts from a few nice ladies in one of the stores.
There was no doubt that the boys wanted to help us, but Hermione scolded them by saying, "It's our room, and we're perfectly capable of painting it. All you have to worry about is carrying that paint."
The school was back to the normal hustle and bustle just after New Years, and that meant more classes.
I felt bad for Hermione, because she couldn't help Professor McGonagall anymore. I was still able to help Madame Pomfrey, but I would have to stop soon because it was getting harder and harder to get up stairs.
Nothing more exciting happened at all. I did go to the auditions, but they hadn't chosen someone yet. I was sort of disappointed, but at that point I don't think it mattered much.
About a month before the babies were due, Hermione and I were no longer able to go to classes, so we had to do our lessons in our room-which we had decided to paint light blue-and take our exams.
Madame Pomfrey came by almost everyday, as did most professors. They gave us homework, and came to talk to us about how we were doing and if we needed anything.
Time flew by fast, and before we knew it, school was ending and it was almost time for the babies to arrive.
One night, Hermione was checking over my exams and she was checking her N.E.W. T. s, she said, "Well you see, Ginny, you could have just said-oh, my gosh. Ginny, this is not good, this is not good at all."
"What," I asked alarmed.
"I think my water just broke." She gasped.
"Oh, hold on, Hermi, I'll get Madame Pomfrey," I said heading for the door.
"Get Ron!" She cried.
I ran as fast as I could, which wasn't very fast, down to Professor Dumbledore's office and said the password, "squiggly newts," and up the staircase.
"Come in," He called. I burst in.
"It's Hermione, she's having her baby right now." For a man so old, he jumped up and ran down the staircase.
"Ginny," He instructed. "Go stay with her. I'll get Mr. Weasley and Madame Pomfrey."
I hurried back up to where Hermione was laying on her bed. "Don't worry, Professor Dumbledore went to get Ron." I comforted. She clutched her stomach.
I was scared, I admit that, where were they? It didn't help when I saw three figures in black cloaks heading across the ground. Did I mention stress can bring on labor?
"Hermione," I said. "I think my water broke."
"Oh, hurray. What a lovely night this will be." She sat up against the headboard of the bed.
Oh, ouch, yes, this hurt. And this was just a contraction!
I groaned and Professor Dumbledore came in along with Madame Pomfrey, Ron, Harry, Fred, and Draco.
"It's about bloody time you got here, Ron!" Hermione hissed. He looked kind of scared, and ran over to her.
"Harry," I said, "Get my bed and push it next to Hermione's." He ran and pushed it over, and I clumsily got into it. I grabbed Hermione's hand and said, "We're going to do this together okay, Hermione." I clenched my teeth.
"Yeah, okay Ginny."
Madame Pomfrey was helping us and tending to our every need.
It was Hermione who started first. Almost at that same instant, however, I started too. Our hands tightened as Madame Pomfrey shouted, "Push!" It took us four hours to get our children out, well, the first one.
"Hermione," Ron kept telling her. "If you need to scream, just do it." She shook her head and said, "The first thing my child is going to hear is not going to be my screaming!" So she bit her lip. I followed her example and bit my lip.
"Almost there," Madame Pomfrey said. "Just one more push, okay?"
"Just get the damn thing out of me!" Hermione cried.
"One, two, three!" We pushed as hard as we could, and at the same moment, my little girl and Hermione's little boy were brought into the world. Professor Dumbledore-who had obviously done this sort of thing before-took them away and cleaned them up.
I laughed. An old professor was cleaning up my little girl.
"One more, Hermione, one more!" Madame Pomfrey said. Hermione definitely wanted this one out of her, and pushed as hard as she could. It took only a half-hour for her second little boy to be born.
But when it came out, it didn't cry like the other two. Madame Pomfrey smacked its back three hard times. Still nothing.
Hermione was terrified. Madame Pomfrey tried once more, and this time, the little baby cried.
Hermione broke down right here. It would have been more traumatic for her if the youngest didn't live. She sobbed into Ron's shoulder.
Five minutes later, the nurse and the elderly professor brought our children to us.
For the first time, I got a good look at my baby girl. She had a thick patch of fiery red Weasley hair. Her eyes were green like mine, but they had gray around the pupil. She had a small little nose, and lips like mine. Mariah Ann Weasley was definitely her mother's daughter.