Author's Note: I apologise wholeheartedly and once more for the delay in posting this chapter, but I anticipated that it would be tricky to write and I am desperate to achieve a very precise tone for this chapter as it is the most pivotal chapter in A Great Deal of Bravery. Thank you so much, everyone, for the support that has been shown for this story. It's blown my mind! Enjoy this chapter and keep on telling me your thoughts. We're just over halfway to the end!
DAENERYSTARGARY3N
"Finally, you two are here!" Ginny Weasley's sharp voice screeched at her boyfriend and Hermione as they arrived at the Burrow.
"Sorry, Gin," Harry apologised, a mite irritated at the overreaction to their twenty minute tardiness, "Teddy wouldn't settle to apparate."
"Don't worry about it, dear," Mrs Weasley piped up, "Ginny's just been missing you is all. Come and sit down, both of you, and give me the little one for a cuddle. Lunch will be ready soon."
Harry nodded curtly and handed off his sleeping charge to the older woman careful not to rouse him.
"Is that them? Are they here?"
Hermione managed a gentle smile as she heard her boyfriend's voice thunder from upstairs.
"Yes, Ron, we're here!" Harry called back just before Ginny took advantage of Teddy's absence and launched herself into his ill-prepared arms.
The redhead bounded downstairs and enveloped Hermione in his arms, picking her up and swinging her round whilst peppering her face in kisses.
"Put me down please, Ron, I'm getting dizzy." Hermione requested breathlessly, wishing that she could have told her boyfriend about her new...situation so that his treatment of her could have been less boisterous, but that would be like opening the doors to her own personal brand of hell.
Harry saw the colour drain slightly from his best friend's face and wished she'd have stayed in the hospital wing or at least at the castle. He knew how stressed they both were about this social engagement with the Weasley clan and with her recent indisposition that was still an enigma to him, he was worried for her.
"Let me get you some water, 'Mione." Harry offered, shooting her a knowing and concerned glare.
She nodded in thanks and sat down while she regained her breath and colour. It was all Hermione could do to keep her cool and not blurt out her news to the room and land both her and Harry in deep shit.
"Thanks, Harry," Hermione said to her retreating confidant before turning to Ron, "so how are you getting on? I've missed you."
At her last words, Ron seemed to brighten up. He said giddily, "Great! Life's so much better now. Every day is amazing. I read Quidditch magazines, I hang out with Ginny, I swap ideas for jokes with George, I even helped Fleur pick out stuff for the baby the other day. Life is sweet!"
Hermione smiled, "So, have you thought about work or what you're going to do now?"
She tried not to pose her question so as to offend her fiery friend but as he reeled off his activities, it was impossible for her not to make comparisons. She had been so snowed under by the castle restoration and preparation to teach the school's entire Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum despite having skipped her final year of formal education that she hadn't even had time to read a leisure periodical or visit her friends, even Harry, who resided a stone's throw away. It was dawning on her that the split that was nearing every day between her and Ron would have occurred without the impediment of the child thriving in her womb. Her life blossomed on hard work and study and purpose. Ronald's appeared to flourish with easy living and recreation. They were too different.
"No, not really. It's still too soon after Fred to think about moving away for me and we're doing alright out of my Ministry stipend, WWW and Fred's death allowance. I'll probably end up helping out with George at the shop further down the line but after spending a year in a sodding tent saving the world with you and Harry, I just need some R&R."
Hermione had to bite her tongue at his ludicrous statements and actually thanked Merlin, Nimuë and Zeus that this unambitious, idle, aimless twit was not the father of her unborn child. All that had to be done was to work out how on earth she was going to make the cut separating her and Ron.
"Here you go, 'Mione." Harry said, interrupting her reverie as he presented her with a tumbler of water.
No sooner had she taken a much needed sip, Molly called everyone to the table for lunch. The spread she had laid out was vast. It was a lunch for a king and all his court. There were succulent meats to choose from, potatoes cooked five different ways, fragrant steamed vegetables and piping hot gravies to top things off atop the table. Hermione had never seen such a spread outside Hogwarts and certainly not for six (and a half, if Teddy woke up) people.
"This looks divine, Mrs Weasley, thank you." Harry complimented.
Ron could barely speak as his mouth was already full before his arse made contact with the chair between Harry and Hermione. Yet the rest of the table nodded and spoke their assent.
"So, what have you children got planned for after lunch?" Arthur asked innocently.
"I have to get Teddy home, I'm afraid."
"I need to get back to the castle and do some research." Harry and Hermione replied together.
"No, come on, you two," Ginny whined, "you haven't seen us in months and then you're going to run away straight after eating. I don't think so, Mr. Potter, and I'm sure my brother would say the same to you, Miss Granger, if his mouth was free!"
Both non-Weasleys grimaced at her condescension but Harry said, "I'm sure we can stick around for a bit, but we cannot stay long."
"I can't wait until we can all be close again, like it used to be. I can't wait to start school again. I can visit you all the time then, Harry. Then, after I graduate, I'll be a proper godmother to Teddy once we're married."
Though Harry had infinitely better table manners than his friend, Ginny's out-of-the-blue statement had him spewing his roast beef and potatoes. They had only really been together since the battle's end and even then, Harry was certain he could count the days they had spent as a couple on one hand. Now, the crazy girl was talking about marriage and parenthood in the same breath with him?
Before Harry had the opportunity to swallow what remained of his food after claiming a bite of beef went the wrong way, Molly Weasley added her two pence to the 'discussion'.
"I'm glad you're going to finish school, dear, and you'll make such a good mother to Teddy...and, of course, any little Potters that come afterwards."
Ginny beamed at the prospect, "I know. We want to have children soon. Harry's never really had a proper family and we want one soon so we can have maybe four or five children. I mean, he's got Teddy for now, but he's not a Potter and he won't be ours, we want our own children and it's going to be amazing being a stay-at-home mum. It'll be like all our dreams come true, and after we fought so hard and suffered through Riddle, I think Harry and I deserve it."
While Ron, Arthur and Molly were nodding along to the youngest Weasley's absurd statements, Harry and Hermione had stopped eating and were spellbound by Ginny's words. The object of her desire was wondering what was going through the young witch's mind that with barely any time spent together or discussion with him, she had dismissed his godson while insinuating herself in his life as his godmother and planned out the next fifteen or twenty years of their lives together. It was nigh on psychotic. The mother of his child was wondering what exactly had happened between Harry and Ginny to put such dreams in her head. Harry had led her to believe that he did not anticipate his relationship with Ginny lasting much longer than hers and Ron's would and yet, here Ginny was utterly in love with a future as Mrs and Mother Potter.
"That'd be cool. You and 'Mione could keep each other company then. With my Ministry pay for being instrumental in defeating Voldemort, along with hers of course, we don't have to work so she'll be at home with our children too. Wouldn't it be cool if we all had a double wedding and then our children all ended up in the same years at Hogwarts together?"
Hermione physically balked at her own boyfriend's addition to the great plan. Not work? Stay at home and just look after children and cook his meals and tidy after him as he lazed about all day? No, that was not her life and it never would be but in her worst nightmares now.
Mrs Weasley, naturally, had a reply to her son as well, "That would be lovely and the papers would make a double wedding such an occasion too. That could bring in a tidy sum for all of you too. Ron, you would live here with Hermione and your children, though, wouldn't you?"
"Yeah, I reckon, Hermione will need help with the first couple. Children have never really been her thing. That's more books and homework. Golly, our kids will be smart and athletic - what a combo!" The buffoon guffawed.
As everyone with red hair grinned like clowns and congratulated them on painting the picture of a future that satisfied all, Harry and Hermione seethed, unable to see the same loathing in the other or console each other, separated as they were by Ron.
"If the lot of you have quite finished," Hermione smouldered, her vibrant brown eyes simmering with implausible choler, "can I have just a small say in my own future? Or is that too much to ask?"
"Course, love," Ron responded offhandedly, "don't know why you had to ask though."
"Then let me clear that up for you as well while I'm at it, Ronald," she spat, her usually silken voice dripping with venom as she stood up, throwing her napkin down into her plate of food, "because I have to ask to give my own opinion because whilst you, your sister and your mother have been spouting off about what the future holds for me - and Harry, though I will pay him a courtesy none of you have paid either of us and I won't speak for him - none of you asked our opinions and I know for a fact neither of us gave you and Ginny the impression that the life you've just envisioned is what we see for ourselves. So what? You all are just expecting us to play along quietly and sacrifice our lives, which we earned in war and battle, for the rubbish you want. Let me disabuse you of your notions this minute and make myself perfectly clear. I will not be marrying you now, or at any time in my life, Ronald Weasley. I will never be your wife or your fiancée and let me tell you now, in front of witnesses, that as of this moment, I'm not even your girlfriend and shan't be ever again! I cannot believe you know me so little as to think I would ever quit my job or not work for a living and be content to stay at home and be a housewife, and a housewife in another woman's home, no less! Do you think I have no pride or sense of self? I am the only one who has a say in how I lead my life or what my future holds. Because I am Hermione Jean Granger. Learn what that means, you utter wanker, and once you have, find someone to love who has nothing in common with me and you'll have your perfect woman because over the past few months but especially the last few minutes, it's become clear to me that I am not the perfect woman or even a decent woman for you to spend your life with!"
After her rant and losing her breath in her temper, Hermione collapsed into her seat and tried to calm down, forgetting that getting herself riled up did have consequences now...consequences that she did not want to face.
"Oh, and by the way," she continued callously from her seat as everyone looked at her with wide eyes, "I'm pregnant."
"But how? We haven't slept together yet!" Ron bellowed.
"I should have thought that that would answer your question. I slept with someone else and I'm now carrying another man's child. Another reason we cannot be together."
"Whose is it?"
Hermione sighed, unwilling to land her best friend and only ally in the room in deep shit, "It doesn't matter. You don't know him."
In other circumstances, she might have felt guilty for the lie, but upon hearing the Weasley's ideas of their future, Hermione thought it entirely true that none of the family knew Harry, not really and certainly not in the way that mattered.
"You cheating, adulterous, slutty, no-good, conniving, manipulative whore," Molly screeched at her, "how dare you sit at my table and eat my food and insult our family, all the while being knocked up by some other man! Get out!"
"Gladly." Hermione replied, rising wholly resigned and completely willing to quit the Burrow and never look back.
"Stop!" A strong male voice called out just as Hermione was about to push her chair under the table.
Harry rose, and for the first time since Ginny had started imagining their future together out loud, he met Hermione's eyes. He asked her a question then, one he was desperate to have answered since she uttered the words "I'm pregnant". When he caught the subtle nod, a thousand, overwhelming emotions coursed through his brain, every synapse in his head straining to keep up. He didn't know how long he remained speechless, but finding out his firstborn was in being and part him, part Hermione was more than he could process.
"I was part of that 'discussion' if you can call it that, so I believe my thoughts are long overdue too. Firstly, I apologise for what I am about to say right after Hermione's words but I that is only for the moment I have chosen to speak, not for the things I'm saying. I am not going to be a part of this family either. You have long treated me, us, as if we were and it was never your right to do so. Hermione and I were orphaned by the fight against Voldemort and it was never your place to decide our futures for us in pride of place. I first let you do so when Sirius let the Order use Grimmauld Place and I should have spoken up then, but I was weaker than I am now. Ginny, what you've been planning is completely mental. I have never given you any indication that I want any of the rubbish you've been spouting! I am completely happy with my life as Teddy's godfather and should I ever find the right woman for me, I'll be stoked but it is not you. Not with the way you talk about Teddy or what I want in life. I'm sorry you'll never have the celebrity of being Mrs Potter but I hope you find that life you dream about with someone else who wants it too. Now, you and Ron please stop claiming you fought hard through the war and were 'instrumental' in the war effort. Let's be honest. It is an insult to myself and Hermione. Ron, you abandoned us for your mother's cooking in the middle of nowhere and basically left us to die. Ginny, you simply weren't there, through no fault of your own, but that changes nothing. Oh, and one more thing, before I escort Hermione and take Teddy home. If I see it in the Daily Prophet or any other publication or media that you have been riding on my or Hermione's coattails and taking more than is your due for your deeds in the war, I'll have you up on charges in front of the Wizengamot!"
Harry then kicked out his chair and went to fetch Teddy from where he was surprisingly still fast asleep in his nest of pillows on the sofa before taking Hermione's hand and pulling the three of them out of the Burrow for the last time, leaving four stunned and furious Weasleys in their wake.