Chapter 10

Harry opened his front door that evening to find Hermione sitting on his sofa with her arms folded and a cup of tea lying on the table in front of her.

"Hey Hermione!" he said curiously. "What are you doing here? I thought Ginny was out at some work thing tonight…?"

"Yeah, she is," Hermione said moodily, "so I just let myself in and made some tea. That's not a problem, is it?" she added tentatively.

"No, that's fine!" Harry said breezily. "Is there any tea left in the pot?"

Hermione handed him a mug from the side table. "Sorry there's no sugar in it, but I made it for Ginny- I thought she must have just nipped out or something."

Harry took the mug and sat down opposite Hermione. "So what's up? I'm guessing that Ron's done something stupid again?" He smiled wryly.

"Urgh! He is such an idiot!" Hermione seethed. "He was treating me as though I was some helpless little child who couldn't do anything for myself! And it's not the first time either! He keeps telling me to "sit down, dear", "take a break", "don't wear yourself out"! Honestly," she sighed, " you'd think that I was recovering from a heart attack instead of just being pregnant!"

Harry took a deep breath. "You do realise that he's probably only doing this for your own good?"

"My own good? How is treating me like an invalid for my own good?"

"Well, let's face it Hermione, this wouldn't be the first time you've tried to take on too much," Harry said carefully, aware that anything he said could cause Hermione to explode into a fiery ball of rage. "Like in sixth year, when you tried to go without sleep for two days straight just so you could pack in as much revision as possible for the Transfiguration exam? And what happened then?"

"Oh, it wasn't that serious!" Hermione said irritably. "Everyone totally overreacted about that!"

"Hermione, you collapsed halfway through the test! You spent the next three days in the hospital wing recovering from the exhaustion! No offence, 'Mione, but you do have a tendency to wear yourself out. Ron's just worried you're going to do the same just now and end up damaging yourself and the baby."

"But still…" Hermione protested. "Why does he have to be so patronising over it?"

"He only does it because he cares." Harry said slowly. "He just wants what's best for you, even if it means you get really annoyed with him. It's just who he is, you know- act first, think later. Like, remember that time at the end of seventh year, when we were in the Hog's Head and that massive guy was hassling you?"

"How could I forget?" Hermione said, shaking her head. "That was a pretty impressive punch that Ron threw at him."

"Yeah," Harry said reminiscently. "You know, it took Madam Pomfrey six hours to fix all of the damage that guy did in return?"

"I know!" Hermione sighed. "He doesn't really think, does he?"

Harry shrugged. "For him it was a pretty simple decision. 'Hermione isn't happy, therefore I will remove the cause of unhappiness.' It's pretty typical male logic- I wouldn't try to understand it if I were you," he said with a smile.

Hermione rolled her eyes before looking at her watch. "I guess I should go home now. It's pretty late," she said, standing up.

"Sure- I'll see you soon, okay? And try not to be too hard on him, Hermione… He may be a tactless idiot, but he loves you."

"I know," Hermione sighed. "And I love him too. Guess that makes me just as big an idiot as him!" she said, grinning, before she Disapparated.

Harry picked up the mugs and walked towards the kitchen. That kid's going to have a very interesting life, he thought with a smile.