Alright everyone, here's another chapter. Thank you for all your reviews thus far, i hope they all continue. Enjoy this chapter, there'll be another update soon!
Cheers!
The weekend comes quickly and before I know it it's our coming out dinner. Everyone is again gathered at the Burrow and this time we decide that since we got there early enough, we'll make the announcement before dinner. Everyone is in the backyard aside from Molly, who is in the kitchen slaving away, so I go inside and ask her to join us for a few minutes and I can tell she knows something is up. Once everyone's outside I ask for their attention and let Ron start off.
"Okay everyone Hermione and I have an announcement to make," he pauses and nods at me, signalling for me to continue, "I'm pregnant, again." But before everyone can start celebrating, Ron holds up his hand, asking for silence and adds, "With twins."
The next few minutes are basically a blur of red as everyone congratulates us; I notice that George hasn't said anything but instead let all the others congratulate us. I think they sensed his need for privacy because they all went inside afterwards. When it was just me, Ron and George standing in the backyard, he came over and gave Ron a huge hug, and kissed me gently on the cheek.
"Congratulations, this is something really special," he said to us gently and then squatted down next to my stomach and said softly, "Okay you two, you better really embrace the Weasley twin reputation. I'll teach you everything I know of course, and I know that Fred will guide you as well, but you have to remember to love each other more than anything else and stick together. Having a twin is a gift, and I never want you two to think anything else of it."
When he stood he had tears on his cheeks and wiped them away sadly, he may be in his late thirties, but George Weasley would never forget the brother he lost all those years ago. I could feel myself tear up a bit, and then George said quietly, "I just need a few minutes, you two need to get in there and celebrate."
Ron and I go to leave him to collect his thoughts for a few minutes but he quickly grabs Ron's arm, "don't worry little brother, these are happy tears. I'm going to teach those two to torment you guys really, really well."
Ron and I both chuckle and give George a nod before going inside to talk to the rest of the family. When we go inside Angelina looks at us and smiles, and then glances outside towards George.
"He still out there?" she asks.
"Yeah he said he just needed a minute," I respond and she nods. I've always wondered how much George and Angelina talk about Fred; he was her boyfriend and his twin; a huge part of both of their lives. After a few seconds of quiet reflection, I decide to shake off the sad thoughts of Fred and focus on the set of twins in my stomach. I smell dinner and hear a growl come from my belly. Unfortunately Ron heard it too and shot me a 'ha-ha' look before pulling out a chair for me and sitting down next to me.
Dropping James off at Platform 9&3/4 is surreal and strange for me; I can't imagine how Ginny and Harry must feel. Next year when Rose and Al go seems so close now it makes me cringe at the thought. Ron and I decided to join Harry and Ginny while they drop off James, we let the younger kids come too to see their older sibling and cousin off.
At least James will have some cousins there though; all of Bill's kids will be there now, Louis is just starting this year as well, and Percy's daughters are both there now, and Teddy plus Neville is teaching there now. He'll be okay. God I sound more like his mother than an aunt, but I guess seeing James go is sort of like seeing the first of all our kids grow up, its strange to think in a couple months I'll be giving birth to twins.
"Don't worry Al, we'll be there together next year," James says to his little brother. Ron and I walk away from the Potter family a few feet to give them a few minutes to say a private goodbye to their first son. I watch as Harry hugs James and ruffles his hair, then as Ginny does almost the same. As he boards the train he turns to wave goodbye and I can tell Ginny is crying, and I smile to myself as I see Harry gently place his arm around her shoulders. I feel Ron's grip on my hand tighten and once the Hogwarts Express is away from the platform and around the first corner of its journey, Harry and Ginny walk towards us and I give them both hugs.
"They grow up fast," Harry says to us as he picks up Lily and balances her on his hip, "You're never going to leave me though, right Lils? You would never do that to daddy." He smiles as he says it, and laughs out loud when he hears, "but I wanna go to Hogwarts daddy," in return. We all chuckle a bit and head back to our house.
I open the door first and rush to go to the toilet; twins seem to have a way of sitting on your bladder basically around the clock. As I wash my hands I can hear the kids starting to play in the living room and I notice that I have tears running down my cheeks a bit. It really was hard seeing the 'trio's' first born child go off to Hogwarts where he'll become a part of his own circle of friends. He'll never be a little kid again. In just one year that same thing is going to happen to my oldest girl, and then she won't be my little girl anymore, she'll be the top of her class at Hogwarts and be destined to do great things. I can't believe how old we've become.
I take my time drying off my hands and slowly make my way down the hallway back to the kitchen where I join Harry and Ginny at the table. Ron is putting some food out, probably for me, and Harry and Ginny are talking about getting sorted into houses.
"He'll be a Gryffindor, that much is obvious," Harry states with conviction.
"Well of course, but if he's not we have to make sure that no one gives him a hard time. Imagine the son of a Weasley and Potter ending up in Hufflepuff," Gin replies, giggling as she says it.
"Hey a Hufflepuff can hold their own," Ron replies, "Tonks always could anyways, but I guess she was above average in skill for a Hufflepuff."
We all go a bit quiet at the mention of Tonks, and then I ask Harry, "So Teddy is starting his sixth year now right?" Harry nods and smiles proudly.
"Now there's a good kid," Ron adds as he sits down with us and puts a plate down on the table.
"Well he had great genes, and of course a very dedicated godfather," we all smile at Harry who grabs a sandwich off the plate and doesn't comment at all.
"I guess that means we'll be having a big graduation ceremony for him soon then… and a lot of years after this," I pause, oh my gosh, so many Weasley's will be graduating AND leaving Hogwarts in the next few years, "Wow you guys do you realize that we're going to be dropping at least one new kid off at Hogwarts for the next 4 years and we're going to be seeing at least one leave for the foreseeable future?"
We all sort of take this in slowly, until Ginny speaks, "How on earth did we get so old?"
Chuckling, I go to reach some food from the plate and then the conversation moves to Quidditch so I take the opportunity to zone out and let the others discuss their favourite sport.
On the day of my 35th birthday I came home to a huge surprise party that I can only assume was orchestrated by Ron and Ginny. I haven't actually gotten a chance to ask yet, I'm still sitting on the couch surrounded by presents and people I love, completely too fat to move and not really trying very hard to do so. Molly had my favourite dinner made and Ginny and her had made my favourite cake and now we're onto presents which I assume will mostly be for the twins or books but I can always hope for something special for myself as well.
"You guys really didn't have to do all this, it's just a birthday after all," I smile, and I hope they know how happy I am that they did throw me a huge party… Ron and I have been through a lot in the past few years, and even though little Harry is getting old enough to crawl at 10 months, it really is a lot of work to be incredibly pregnant with twins AND be raising a new born.
"Oh come on Hermione, you needed a celebration in your honour, after these twins are born you're probably never going to have enough energy to remember the date ever again," we all laugh at Harry's comment and from the look of confirmation on Molly's face I can tell that he might be completely right.
I open a bunch of gifts that include cute outfits for twins of either sex, but I have to give Ginny credit when I open the package from her to find a bottle of my favourite wine- imported from Italy.
"I figured that you could drink it to celebrate New Years… in like 10 years or something," we all laugh, knowing that I'm going to be breast feeding for a long time, but I really do love the sentiment of getting something that she knows is a favourite of mine, "Ginny I want to hug you but I really can't move so come here." Chuckles are heard throughout the room and Ginny gives me a hug which I return and whisper in her ear, "We'll drink this bottle together someday sweetie."
A few presents later and I'm getting handed a package from Ron that is definitely a jewellery box of some kind. I must have looked very curious because as he saw my eyes light up he started inching towards me slowly just to give me a hard time. "Oh come on Ronald, just give me what I want," I laugh and he hands me the package.
In the other end of the room I hear a "That's why you're pregnant," from George, but I ignore him and waste no time in tearing off the wrapping and open the box to find a necklace with a diamond pendant in the middle. It's absolutely gorgeous, and when I turn it over, I find it engraved "Love" and I know there are tears running down my face because I absolutely do not have words for how amazing this necklace is. It must've cost him a fortune.
"Ron," I look up at him and he's smiling down at me, "Do you like it?" I can't really form words right now, so I reach for his shirt and tug him down and push my lips to his, not caring that we're in the audience of his entire family and my parents. I laugh as I hear George's comment behind Ron, "You two really never stop do you?" and we break apart.
Giggling still, Ron helps me put on the necklace and just as he does up the clasp I feel a shock run through my body and can feel a totally different type of tears run through my body. Something isn't right; my due date isn't for a month.
"AHHH," I wail, and suddenly everyone is at my side and Ron's right in front of me, the pain won't stop, "Ron… something's" I get cut off from pain as it rips through me like a knife, "not right." I finally finish my sentence and hardly notice the panic going on around me. Suddenly I'm being picked up in Ron's arms, and I hear him give people directions.
I'm having a hard time not screaming out in pain, I'm worried about my twins and I feel as though the world is spinning. Vaguely in the background I hear Ron's solid voice, "Harry help me apparate her to St. Mungo's, please someone watch the kids, or meet us there… HARRY HURRY WE HAVE TO GET HER THERE NOW," I hear his voice crack and then everything is dark.