"I swear Ron, if you'll drop just one bag I'm going to kill you," growled a 7 month pregnant Hermione Granger-Weasley. "And if it's the bag that has the eggs in it, you're sleeping on the couch,"
"Hasn't he been doing so for the past week?" the 24-year-old Harry Potter grinned, while balancing three bags in his arms. "Can't you take it easy on him?"
Hermione stopped walking and frowned at Harry. "He isn't the one 7 months pregnant, lugging a load around and experiencing back pains everyday is he? Do you see him pregnant? Do you? Do you?"
Harry chuckled nervously and feebly raised his hands in submission. "I get your point 'Mione,"
Both Ron and Harry watched Hermione continue on walking down the sidewalk towards their home. The two men continued walking once they believed the young woman was out of ear shot.
"See what I have to live with?" grumbled Ron, juggling 4 bags. He adjust the two he was carrying in his right hand. "It's a nightmare,"
Harry gave him a weird sideway glance. "We all live in the same house Ron. I know what it feels like,"
They passed Number 5 of Mellitus Street (1) - which only meant their house was only two more houses down. They could no longer see Hermione, most probably she already went inside.
"Ah, but your room is downstairs which is a completely different world from upstairs. Sleeping with Hermione is just horrible these days," grumbled Ron.
"That's a sentence that I just don't want to hear from you," Harry's frowned in disdain and shook the mental picture out of his head.
"That's why I advice you if ever you actually plan to marry my sister or if you actually plan to date her again, don't get her pregnant," Ron continued as they entered their driveway. "And you better get her not pregnant while you two aren't even married," The redhead frowned deeply.
Harry laughed. "I promise," Both of them entered their home and he closed the door behind Ron. "Thought I don't think both of us will ever get married,"
"Never marry who?"
Ron stumbled over as Ginny popped into the foyer from the living room. He lost his footing over a discarded shoe and fell onto his rear end. He lost his hold of the third bag, which fell onto the floor and its contents spilled everywhere. Thankfully, nothing was broken (except for Ron's pride, once again.) since all that was in there were toilet rolls and paper towels.
"Bloody hell Ginny!" cried Ron from the floor while trying to get his bearings together. "Would you just stop popping up everywhere!"
"Stop acting like a baby," snapped Ginny, while retrieving the discarded objects. She turned to Harry, who was slowly making his way into the kitchen. "Never marry who?"
Harry flushed. "Never mind. Ron and I were talking about a girl in our department," He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. "It's nothing really. I better get these to 'Mione," he quickly ducked into the kitchen.
"He dropped a bag, didn't he?" asked Hermione as Harry placed the shopping bags onto the counter. "I knew he'd drop one,"
Harry helped her unpack. "It was an accident. Ron got startled and he tripped. Besides it was just the bags that held the paper towels and toilet paper. Nothing's broken." He placed the canned goods into the cupboard. "You should be a bit easier on him,"
"Like hell I'll be," muttered Hermione. She pulled out her wand and tapped it against the other shopping bags. Their contents flew out of the bags and into their respective cupboards, drawers and the refrigerator.
Harry chuckled and shook his head. "I'll be in my room for a while. I still have a report to write for the department." Ron and Ginny were coming into the kitchen as he made his way towards his room. He grinned at the frowning Ron before he walked through the foyer and living room and into his room.
"Hey Hedwig," Harry greeted his owl. He changed her water and gave her a bit of food. She nipped his fingers in appreciation before turning towards the sterling bowl of food. Grinning Harry petted her for a second before turning towards his cluttered desk.
"Now, about that report," he shuffled through the parchments, trying to find the right one. "Right. Deatheater: Mclean." At 22, two years ago, he and Ron finally became Aurors. It took a lot of studying and a lot of time but it was worth it. Though working for Rufus Scrimgeour still wasn't Harry's cup of tea, he still enjoyed working with their department head Alastor Moody.
Knowing how much Moody required paperwork Harry quickly set off to start his report of the recent capture of one of the remaining Deatheaters. While scribbling on his parchment, Harry thought back 8 years ago when the idea of actually working for the Ministry as an Auror looked bleak for him. 8 years ago, Harry Potter saw only hell.
After finally turning 17, Harry continued with his plan to find the remaining Horcruxes. It wasn't a easy thing to do, but with Ron and Hermione at his side they were somehow able to make it. It took them nearly two years to find all of them. They traveled all over England, upturning every rock and getting so close to death more than they could ever imagine – but they did it. Every single entity of Voldemort had been destroyed.
Killing Voldemort was a whole different ordeal. That night, Harry was sure he'd die but miraculously he pulled through. Perhaps it was because of Ron and Hermione, but he was able to make it. He, no they, killed Voldemort and successfully disabled Voldemort's army of killing millions of muggles all over the world.
That night still haunted him.
Thunder…Lightning...The Rain…The corpses…blood…Avada Kadavra…Death…Pain…
"Harry?"
Startled, Harry looked up and saw Ginny looking at him worriedly. She leaned against his doorframe and frowned. "Are you alright?"
He touched his scar unconsciously before nodding his head. "Yeah." He sighed.
Ginny gave him a worried look before continuing. "Hermione wants help with dinner. She's too tired and wants us to cook. Ron's out, you guys forgot to buy soda at the store,"
Harry smiled. "Sure, I'll help. Ah, just let me finish the report and I'll join you in the kitchen,"
Ginny nodded and smiled. "Ok. Now, I'm off to fix 'Mione a weird snack – something only pregnant women will eat." She scrunched up her nose and disappeared out of view.
Harry chuckled and turned back to his report. Just a few more lines and he'd be done. While writing, he thought back to Ginny and what Ron said. Marriage.
Ron and Hermione got married 2 years ago, right after Ron started working for the ministry. It came to no surprise to Harry when Hermione eventually married 'Won-Won'. During that time, he and Ginny had been dating on and off. It was pretty obvious that what they had during their Hogwarts years was just a teenage hormone induced romance.
Over time, both dated different people but still Harry would end up asking Ginny out once in a while – though both knew that things would never be more than that. It was awkward really, more so since it was his best friend's sister.
Sighing at the problem of his relationships, or lack thereof, he stood up and made his way to the kitchen. His report was done and his single life status was still, and most likely, forever will be, single.
"Might as well become a priest," muttered the wizard, passing through the living room. Hermione was sprawled across the couch, her pregnant belly looked like a mountain. He eyed her skeptically. "You OK?"
"Does it look like I'm fine?" Hermione glared. "I'm fat, my back hurts, my boobs hurt and I'm dog tired. I'm a pig – no, scratch that, I'm a cow." She sniffed.
'Hormones,' Harry thought. "You're pregnant," he stated the obvious.
"I'm still fat. See?" she poked her hips. "I'm ugly!"
"I think I hear Ginny calling me," Harry excused himself, as Hermione continued to rant. If there was one thing he couldn't handle, to which every testosterone driven man would agree, was the 'I'm fat' talk of women. It only meant trouble if they gave the women a wrong answer.
When dinner was nearly ready, Ron arrived with a bag filled with various soda products. "We have a new neighbor," he announced, while dumping the heavy load unceremoniously onto the kitchen counter. "Somebody moved into the house across of us,"
Harry looked out the window as he set the table. Across the street, the lights inside the two storey house – identical to their own, and everybody else's for that matter – were on. "Hey, you're right,"
"Of course I am," Ron grinned. He tried to swipe a piece of chicken away from Hermione, but quickly decided not to when he received a fierce glare. "When am I not?"
"A lot of times," answered Ginny matter-of-factly.
Hermione sat down and filled her plate. "We should pay the family a visit," she stated – more of a command than anything else. "It only seems right,"
Ginny happily agreed. "We could buy them a 'welcome to the neighborhood gift' or something like that," She chewed thoughtfully for a moment.
Hermione nodded. "That'll be nice," She looked thoughtful for a moment before turning to Ron. "Which reminds me," she frowned disapprovingly at the male redhead. She gave him a withering glare, which made him stop eating. "You bought the wrong soda,"
"All of 'em?"
"All of 'em."
"But—can't you—?"
"Out!"
"But—"
"Out!"
There was a clattering sound and a soft whimper from the redhead, before Harry watched Ron disappear through the door and most likely out to buy hopefully the correct soda drink. If that was what it was like to be married, then he knew it would be a long time before he'd ever get hitched. His gaze went to Ginny briefly before back to his food. Then again, who knew?
…………………
Notes:
Number 5 of Mellitus Street – The house actually exists. Well, not that number, but the house is real. I had to research the place and location and a good looking neighborhood for Usagi and the others to live in. It took me a long time to find a good place in London. The residential area is located in Hammersmith, right next to Central London. The complete address is Mellitus Street, London W12, complete with a terrace and garden. All houses look alike and have the same features, since they are semi-detached houses (Sharing the same walls). How much does the house cost? £285,000
Hopefully I'll have both parties meet in the next chapter. Or I might just stick with a Usagi-centered chapter. Who knows. Sorry for the long wait though, I had a very busy schedule for the past few weeks. (I headed a team of writers for a website, then I also had to do a 15 minute feature documentary for my radio production class, plus I had to write 6 articles in one week. Now, I'm busy editing articles for our school paper and get things ready for our layout session on Saturday.)
