Hello, darlings! I have wrangled my muse and reminded her just because we know how it all ends, we still have to write it. For those on AO3, I posted my first Flintmione Bingo spot. I'm not sure just how many chapters are left, as sometimes I get inspired to flesh out something I intended to gloss over and vice versa. As always thank you so much for reading. I adore all of you! I also own nothing.
Chapter 62 And Baby Makes Three
During the last two weeks of her pregnancy, Hermione agreed to stay at Lestrange Hall. Marcus had training and matches. He offered to take a leave of absence. He took the shoe she threw at her head as proof of her refusal. As a concession, she made an emergency portkey to St Mungo's. "That way you can get there as soon as you know. And do not just blink away. Tell someone you are going."
"Yes, ma'am."
Everyone took turns with 'Hermione Watch' as she called it. She helped Esme with wedding planning, helped Cressida select outfits for dates, and talked about her relationship with Sloan. Neville showed her his latest plant project. Harry obsessed over every party detail. Luna had been her favorite companion so far. The serene blonde did not feel the need to entertain Hermione. They spent their time in the garden enjoying the afternoon sun. Luna confided her twins were boys. "Graham will be pleased with how much they will like quidditch." Hermione simply smiled. "Who is coming tomorrow?"
"Fred and George, they want to troubleshoot a new product before they present it to Malfoy Potions."
"Understandable," Luna nodded. "Marcus will be at the press junket then?"
"Yes, he will," Hermione said primly. "I have my babysitters so he will go to work." She laughed, "Oh that sounded horrible. I don't mean that like it sounded. I'm just ready to get to the finish line."
"I understand completely, I have further to go than you do."
Anxious to get started, Fred and George arrived before Marcus had even left. Hermione rubbed away an ache in her back as she kissed her husband goodbye. "Don't let them wear you out."
"I have been Weasley wrangling for years. This is not my first rodeo. Muggle expression, means this is not my first time. I know what I'm doing, go, have a good day," she ordered. "I love you."
"Love you, too." he kissed her one last time.
He hated these events. Seated by themselves, flashbulbs going off constantly. Journalists asking the same questions over and over. Same smile, same answer. He'd much rather be home rubbing Hermione's feet, counting down the hours before the birth of their baby. He fought to keep his eyes from rolling as the hundredth person asked if he'd been pleased with their winning season. A brief ruckus at the door interrupted, but it ended as quickly as it started. Marcus turned back to answer when Coach Mathers approached. He whispered in Marcus's ear. The large man nodded, "Excuse me, more important places to be." He stood, "ADES! It's go time!"
Adrian jumped to his feet, "Yep, time to go. Sorry to disappoint, but pressing matters. More later, I promise." He hurried over to Marcus, grabbing the portkey.
At St. Mungo's the receptionist directed them to labor and delivery on the third floor. Adrian patted him on the back and headed for the waiting room. A mediwitch stopped, "Are you daddy?"
"Um, yes, looking for Hermione Flint."
"Right this way, everyone will be happy to see you."
Marcus felt confused as she showed him to his wife's room. She opened the door revealing Hermione clutching the hands of one of the Weasley twins, her face contorted in pain. "Please tell me the pain potion is coming," begged the twin. "Mione has a very firm grip."
She panted, "Sorry, Fred, I really am."
"If it helps you through the pain, it is worth it. But now you can break Marcus's hand."
She smiled weakly at him trading hid hand for Fred's, "Adrian didn't come with you?"
"Of course he did. He's in the waiting area. He doesn't want to risk seeing something gross," He brushed her hair back from her face. "How bad is it?"
"It only hurts occasionally, but when it does it's bad. And they say that it only gets worse."
Fred smiled at her, "And that is why the nice mediwitch is bringing the pain potion."
"Right," Hermione smiled. "Thank you for everything."
"Yes," Marcus agreed, "thank you so much."
"You're both welcome. Georgie is rounding everyone up. Now that Marcus is here I expect he's told your parents or Harry. I'm going to go keep Adrian company in the waiting room." He hugged Hermione and left the room.
In the wee hours of October, 10th Marissa Nicole Flint arrived. She observed her parents with somber eyes. She blinked when Marcus gently caressed her auburn curls. "Rodolphus will be pleased she got his coloring."
"And Eleanor's coloring. Also, Bellatrix and my curls, poor thing," she smiled.
"Ready to let the mob in?" he asked.
"As I'll ever be," she brushed her hair from her face.
Moments later the room filled with friends and family. Narcissa, Esme, and Cressida beelined for Marissa, while Rodolphus, Rabastan, and Luna went to Hermione. "Darlings, she is beautiful." cooed Narcissa. "Look at those curls. And that red hair."
"All Lestrange," laughed Rabastan. "Where's Flint? Or the Black?" Marissa chose that moment to let out a shrill cry that filled the room. "Found the Black." Several people chuckled as Narcissa handed the baby back to Hermione to swat him.
"You can ignore Uncle Bad, monster. He's being silly. If you want you can pee on him later." At the sound of her mother's voice the infant calmed. "Did you meet Aunt Esme and Aunt Cressida, too?" She looked over at Harry standing nearby. "What about Uncle Harry?" He walked over and peered down at his goddaughter.
"I can hardly remember the twins being so tiny," he chuckled. "Then again, they may not have been so tiny. Their egg donor comes from a family of large babies," Harry added.
Luna smacked him playfully, "Hush you." Everyone laughed.
As predicted Bee, Maisie, and Varl doted on Marissa. Though all three respected when Hermione or Marcus wanted to care for her. "You know have to release a photo or something, right?" Nora asked when Hermione invited her and the boys over to meet the baby. "Marcus and Adrian left a press conference rather dramatically."
"Such drama llamas," Hermione rolled her eyes. She sighed, "You're not wrong. Hmm, I have an idea." She went to the closet and pulled out Malcolm's camera. "Can I interest you in a photo shoot of the Falcons' youngest fans?"
"Huh?" Nora looked confused.
"We take pictures of Ethan, Nathan, and Marissa. Release them to the press. It gives the journalist what they want, a shot of her. It gives the team good press and keeps the focus off just her. Plus they are all so cute."
"With all that logic, how can I say no?"
"You can't that's why I said it," Hermione laughed. She went to change Marissa's Falcon jersey, while Nora ran to get the boys'. They spent the afternoon taking shots of the three of them together before printing them. Together they took the children to the stadium to catch the end of training.
The childless WAGs gave them the briefest glances and moved on. Most had learned not to engage Hermione in battles of wit. She always won. "OUR BABY!" Adrian rushed to Hermione collecting the infant from her. "Hello, gorgeous, did you come to see Daddy?" He danced away from Marcus, twirling the delighted baby. "Well, you can see him anytime. It's Uncle Ades turn."
"Hello, little Dove, what brings you here?" Marcus ignored Adrian's antics, glancing at Oakley greeting his family.
She handed him the photos. "Images for the press since you ran out on them. With the other youngest Falcon fans." He flipped through the images. "And before you ask I made us copies and Nora copies."
"These are adorable," Marcus said sharing them with the coach. "Hermione and Nora made us some publicity shots."
The coach glanced at her, "And the vultures can take them or
leave them?"
"Correct," she grinned. "Though they are always welcome to discuss their disappointment with Mummy Dearest."
"Sounds good to me. I'll pass these along."
Two weeks before Christmas Harry begged Hermione to help him finish his shopping. They met at the Leaky Cauldron. "Not here," Harry said by way of greeting.
"Lovely to see you, too. Well, let's into London shall we?" She held open the front door for him. "Where to, Chosen One?"
"Well, um, it might be cliché, but I want to propose to Britta when we go to Bulgaria for New Year. So, ring shopping and decoy present, please."
"Wow, Harry, just wow." she hugged him, "I'm so excited for you."
"Yeah," he rubbed the back of his neck. "We've talked about it a lot lately. She's ready when I'm ready. And I'm ready."
"Hence the need to shop incognito. May I suggest a necklace, bracelet, or perhaps earrings? That way if she sees a jewelry bag or box she won't be disappointed."
"Have I ever told you how brilliant you are?"
"Not today," she joked. "Now onto the sparkly things."
They browsed the cases while waiting for a shop clerk to be available. "The other girl will be back shortly," promised the heart-faced blonde.
"Oh, help them, love," said the other patron. I'm clueless, I'll wait for her." The older man gave her a wink.
"You just want to flirt and ask her out again," laughed the girl.
"Guilty."
She laughed again and turned to Harry and Hermione, "Hello, my name is Gwen. How can I help you?"
Hermione nudged Harry forward, causing him to stumble forward, "I need a Christmas present for my fiancee. Well, she isn't my fiancee, yet. I have to do that, too. An engagement ring, I mean. I'm babbling. Hermione, I'm babbling."
She laughed, "You are. We're here for an engagement ring and a Christmas present."
Gwen grinned, "Oh, how exciting. Which would you like to look at first?"
Harry looked about
uncertainly, "Let's start with Christmas."
Slipping into the backroom, Gwen's coworker closed the door as silently as possible. She was late coming back from lunch. Not that Gwen would complain, but the owner had been known to pop in this close to Christmas to help out if they were busy. And she caught sight of Creepy Steven on her way back. The older man flirted and asked her out constantly even though he was older than her father. He made enough purchases that the owner insisted they play nice. And Steven wasn't gross, just so old, too old for her. She heard Gwen declare something exciting, which meant she was with a customer, not Steven. She sighed, once more into the breach. At least this paid her bills, even if just only. She emerged from the backroom, "Gwen, I'm back and the storeroom is done." Her heart dropped into her stomach at the sight of Gwen's customers.
"Ginerva, my fiery rose!" Steven called out drawing more attention.
Harry and Hermione glanced up and kept their expressions neutral. They returned to browsing bracelets. Ginny greeted Steven and began the usual dance of feeding his need for attention and his ego. Despite knowing she shouldn't, she kept one ear on Gwen's sales. "Oh, Harry, look at these tiny bracelets," exclaimed Hermione.
"Those are for infants," Gwen informed her. "Would you like to see them?"
She nodded, "Yes, please."
"Hermione, do I need to remind you to focus?" teased Harry.
"No, you have your purchases and I have mine. Jamie was just lamenting he need pressies for Merrie and Rissa."
"Because they both have one for him?" Harry arched an eyebrow.
"They do, or rather they will."
"Tell me, does Marcus ever win an argument?"
She laughed, the sound grating against Ginny's nerves. "He knows better than to even try."
"Smart man," said Gwen.
"He really is," agreed Hermione fondly.
Ginny wondered who Jamie, Merrie, and Rissa were. She suspected Jamie could be James Potter, but why wouldn't Hermione buy a bracelet for Lily? Ginny admitted she purposely avoided reading any articles about them, not wanting to read about horribly her gambit had failed. That daft bint, Lavender Brown, had tried to compare their situations. She got knocked up being careless. Ginny planned everything perfectly. Ron, the git, ruined her plans with his greed. It wasn't enough being the Boy-Who-Lived's best friend, he had to be Harry's sole focus. She frowned.
"Everything okay, my flower?" asked Steven.
Ginny shook her head to clear it, "Yeah, sorry got a lot on my mind." Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Hermione select two bracelets while Harry debated his purchase.
Gwen debated offering an upsell. Nothing about these two screamed money, yet neither seemed too fussed about prices. "Without prying into your price range, which I acknowledge we haven't discussed, would you be interested in a matching set? This would include several pieces, a necklace, earrings, and perhaps a bracelet. Then you can make two decisions: a set or not, and which one."
"That sounds like a good idea," Harry admitted. "And don't worry about the cost."
Gwen glanced at Hermione who simply nodded and directed him to another case. "Does she have a favorite gemstone or color?"
"Her birthday is April," offered Hermione, "you could get her diamonds. Or combine yours with hers and get diamonds and rubies."
Ginny fought to ignore the inner turmoil roaring through her listening to her former lover buy expensive jewelry for his new one. She never got expensive gifts from him, even before they were sleeping together. She tried to focus on the nice commission for Gwen, something they only got on large purchases. Steven purchased cuff links for his nephew and a money clip for himself. "Don't forget my offer for dinner and dancing still stands," he winked.
"The answer is still no," she smiled to soften the sting of her words.
"Ah, well, hope springs eternal," he sighed. He waved farewell to both shop girls and left.
Harry settled on a diamond choker with matching earrings and a bracelet. Gwen placed them in black velvet silk-lined boxes. "Ready to look at engagement rings?" she asked in a bright voice.
Spots appeared before Ginny's eyes, and her stomach flip-flopped. Before she could stop herself, words fell out of her mouth, "You're getting engaged?"
Gwen looked startled and confused. Hermione looked bored, and Harry annoyed. "Not that it is any business of yours, but yes, I am preparing to propose."
"To who?" demanded Ginny.
Gwen gasped at her, scandalized, "Ginny, you can't ask that?"
Harry gave her a sympathetic looking before turning back to Ginny, "That is absolutely none of your business. You gave up any right to know anything about my life when you did what you did. I'm not going to rehash this with you. We had no idea you worked here, otherwise, we would have never come in."
"Speak for yourself, Harry," Hermione said. "I might have come in to flaunt wealth weekly, still might. But I've decided to stop fighting. They want me to be the bad guy, fine I'll be the pettiest bitch I can." Harry gave her a look, she responded by shrugging, "If you want to leave and finish shopping elsewhere, we can." Gwen frowned at her behind Harry. She looked at Ginny, "You aren't the victim here, stop acting like it."
Ginny hung her head, retreat was the best idea here. "I'll go straighten up the storeroom while you finish up here." She didn't want too many questions. She slipped into the back. She considered listening at the door but decided that would be too painful to listen to the man she always dreamed she'd marry buy another woman an engagement ring.
Gwen began showing Harry rings. Perhaps driven by his desire to leave Ginny behind again, he quickly selected a square-cut diamond ring flanked by two smaller triangle rubies. "This one, please."
"This exact ring is size 7, does that work, or do I need to order you one?"
"Size 7 is perfect. I'll take it." She rang him up, several times wanting to ask what had happened between them, but knowing it was unprofessional.
Ginny often portrayed herself as the lovelorn victim, but it didn't sound like that was the case. Ultimately, she decided to leave it alone.
"Sorry you were caught in that unpleasantness," Harry apologized. "And if Hermione decided to continue being petty."
"There is a distinct possibility. Might even bring Mummy Dearest. She'd get a kick out of it."
"See? We're sorry."
"More like sorry not sorry," retorted Hermione. "but I promise we will never be an issue."
"Thank you, and I know it isn't any of my business."
"The York Notes version is this: We dated, broke up because I was leaving the area. She manipulated me into getting back together. She cheated and then tried to trap me into marriage with a pregnancy, so we've broken up for good."
Gwen glanced at the back of the shop, "Ginny's never mentioned having a baby." And Gwen figured she would have used being a single mother for special treatment and sympathy.
"She doesn't," Hermione replied flatly. "And that speaks for itself, doesn't it." The girl nodded.
Once the duo left, Gwen went to collect Ginny, "They're gone. Thanks for letting me finish the sale."
"It's fine." She moved one of the stacks of boxes to another shelf.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked in a soft voice.
Ginny considered the question. There was no way she could spin the story to make herself the victim after what Gwen saw and heard. "Not really. For a time he was my older brother's best friend. I loved him always, we were together. Things happened and now we aren't together. He's marrying someone else, so we'll never get back together."