Author's Note: Sorry about this, guys. I thought I'd posted this ages and ages ago. I am sooooo sorry.
Defying Gravity
Chapter Five: Secrets Revealed
Hermione took a deep breath once the well of tears had dried up and looked to Bill once more, her eyes wide. She shook her head in reply to his question and found herself looking at the ground when she finally spoke. "No one knows," she whispered. "Just you, me, and the classroom walls."
Bill squeezed her shoulder again. "It's going to be okay, Hermione. You've got friends. You've got a great support system. You've got people who love you… Lots of people. But if… If you don't want anyone to know right now, that's okay. They'll figure it out eventually, right?" He chuckled.
"Of course they will. And then I'll be a harlot and the person who killed Ron and Harry." She mumbled.
"Hey," Bill snapped, and Hermione found her gaze locked on his again. "I thought you weren't letting that bull that the Prophet has been printing get to you?" There was a certain sternness to his voice that Hermione hadn't heard before. "Don't worry about what the damn Prophet says. No one with a good head on their shoulders believes that trash, anyway. We all know they're so desperate for a good story. They can't even bother themselves with facts, so it's not something to worry yourself over, especially in your condition."
"In my condition?" Hermione countered. "Really, Bill?"
He shrugged. "You know what I mean, Hermione. Sorry. I'm not trying to sound like I…" He took a deep breath. "I'm just saying, your secret is safe with me for as long as you want it to be a secret. I'll even take the death glares and howlers from mom. I'm a good friend like that."
"You are," Hermione nodded. "You have been a really good friend, Bill. Thank you." There was a long silence, and Hermione let out a sigh. "I'll owl Molly. Maybe she can come visit before Monday comes and we all get swamped with classes…" She pushed herself up from the chair and started for the door. A moment later, she was walking in step with Bill toward the next staircase.
"Are you feeling better now?" Bill smiled. "I imagine that was a lot of weight to carry…"
"One more comment about my weight, Bill Weasley, and it won't be your mother that you should have to worry about." Hermione joked, punching him lightly in the arm. She fell silent a moment and then took another deep breath. "Do you think you could be there? When I talk to her, I mean?"
"You think she'll be angry with you?"
"Of course not," Hermione shook her head. "I mean, maybe a little? For hiding it, maybe. I don't know. I just don't want to have this conversation alone. You don't have to if you don't want to. It's okay. I just figured I'd ask and see if—''
"Alright. I'll come with you." Bill laughed, interrupting her. "It's okay. Everything is going to be fine."
Hermione rested her hand on her hip and glared at him. "How many more times are you going to say that?" She asked.
He shrugged his shoulders and offered her a winning smile. "I see no reason to stop saying it until you start believing it. Now come on, Miss Granger. We're out past curfew. We could get in trouble, you know."
"You really are twelve, aren't you?" Hermione giggled. "You're a big kid in a man's body. We work here now, Bill. We can be out after curfew. In fact, we can't catch students breaking curfew if we aren't."
"Yes," Bill nodded. "Well, it just seemed like more fun that way."
They didn't stop by Bill's classroom, and as they climbed the staircases together, Hermione couldn't help but feel a little tinge of guilt gnawing at her. The Gryffindor common room wasn't a short walk from his classroom or his quarters, and yet Bill continued on with Hermione until she reached the portrait entrance, joking and carrying on as though he had nowhere else to be. Another part of her wanted to smile, though. He really had been a good friend.
"Hermione?" Bill's voice pulled her out of her own thoughts. "We're here, and this lovely lady has asked you for the password three times now."
"Sorry," Hermione mumbled. She turned to Bill and smiled. "Thank you for walking me up here. I'll send Molly an owl before I turn in tonight…"
"It was nothing," Bill insisted. "Just get some sleep. You know how my mother can be, anyway, and she'll probably be so excited to hear from you. Good night, Hermione." Bill whispered, and Hermione watched as he descended the stairs before turning back to the portrait and finally revealing the password. The door swung open, and Hermione glanced back one last time before stepping inside and pulling it shut behind her.
The next day came all too soon, as it tended to do every time Hermione had trouble sleeping at night. She groaned as she swung her feet over the edge of her bed and stretched her arms up over her head. Sunlight was peeking through the window, and Hermione basked in its warmth a moment longer before she finally stood and readied herself for the day.
Molly's reply to her owl came as she was absentmindedly nibbling on her breakfast in the Great Hall. In fact, the owl dropped it right into her cereal. She hurried to scoop it out and unfold the parchment. Molly's handwriting was so familiar. Hermione scanned the note three times before sliding it across the table to Bill as nonchalantly as possible.
"Your mother is coming to visit," she said with a small smile. The news was good, of course, but Hermione couldn't help but be a little nervous under the circumstances. She had kept this hidden for a reason, even if it seemed silly now. She knew that neither Arthur nor Molly would really be mad, but the upcoming meeting was still a source of great anxiety to her.
"I'll walk you to Hogsmeade after breakfast," Bill nodded, and Hermione found herself smiling again. "Mom will throw a fit if I don't say hi, anyway."
"Molly is comin' to Hogsmeade?" Hagrid's voice carried easily over Bill and Hermione both. "You tell 'er I said hi? I wonder what she's comin' all this way for?"
"Shopping trip," Hermione answered. "And to harass Bill, of course."
That wasn't the truth, but in that moment, the lie rolled off of her tongue easier than perhaps any words she'd ever spoken. Hermione took a deep breath and did her best to calm her racing heart. She picked at her breakfast. It was a momentary distraction, but just enough that Hermione felt herself relax a little bit. She'd told Bill that she was going to tell Molly, and soon, very soon, she'd get that opportunity. And that terrified her more than she liked to admit.
"If you're not hungry we can always get something with mom in Hogsmeade?" Bill suggested.
Hermione let out a breath she didn't even realize she'd been holding. "That might be nice," she agreed after a moment. Hermione's gaze moved down to her plate, and she pushed the food around with her fork a moment longer before pushing it away. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought that she saw Bill give her a strange look, but she brushed it off. Instead, she stood, offered him a small smile, and held out her arm. "You want to go ahead and go?"
Of course, Hermione was in no real hurry. Perhaps it was the butterflies in her stomach that amplified the anxiety, or the various thoughts running through her mind faster than she could begin to process them, but the need to move was too great to ignore, and as she waited for Bill with an outstretched hand, she also found that her foot was tapping impatiently against the stone floor. Bill cleared his throat and smiled back at her, his chair screeching against the floor beneath it as he stood.
"Alright," he nodded. He looped his arm with hers, and Hermione took a deep breath as he led her from the Great Hall, out into the courtyard, and down the dirt path that led to the small village of Hogsmeade.
"Thanks, Bill," she whispered again as they passed Honeydukes.
Bill shrugged his shoulders. "I got the feeling you were getting a little—''
Hermione coughed. "Just a little," she said before he could finish his sentence.
Their early departure meant an early arrival, and Hermione and Bill sat side-by-side in two chairs facing the door as they waited for Molly Weasley to enter it. With her fiery red hair and brightly colored shawl, she was hard to miss despite her short stature, and Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat when she finally laid eyes on the familiar woman.
"Maybe this was a bad idea?" She breathed out.
Bill laced his fingers with hers, and Hermione felt the reassuring squeeze of his hand under the table as Molly smiled at them and took a seat at the table across from Bill.
"It's good to see you, Hermione," she said. Her jovial tone betrayed any image Hermione had in her mind about their little meeting. Her eyes were bright, her expression genuine. It should have helped her to relax, but instead, Hermione felt the butterflies in her stomach fluttering about with renewed vigor. The urge to stand and run was trumped only by the fact that her legs felt like gelatin dangling loosely from her torso.
"You too, Molly." She managed. "Bill and I got here a little bit early. I guess we were just excited to see you."
"I haven't seen you in so long. Since…" Molly stopped, and Hermione thought for a brief moment that she saw a flash of something familiar in the older woman's eyes. Sadness?
"I know," Hermione choked out. "I'm sorry. I've just been so busy, and I didn't want to bother you with everything."
Hermione felt another squeeze from Bill's hand, and she squeezed it back almost automatically.
Molly shook her head. "You know you'll never be a bother to us, don't you, Hermione?" Molly continued on. "You're family. You'll always be family. We miss you. We've been worried about you since… Since what happened." Molly said, her voice dropping so low that Hermione almost had to strain to hear it. "I'm glad we're here now, though. Are you two hungry? My treat, okay?"
"We might have skipped out on breakfast at the castle," Bill revealed, and Hermione caught him glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. She nodded in agreement.
"Well then," Molly nodded. "Get yourselves something to eat. Go on, now."
"I'm not really hungry," Hermioe started. "I'll probably just have a pumpkin juice, actually."
"You need to eat something, 'Mione." It was Bill's voice. For a moment, Hermione considered kicking hi beneath the table, but her legs still felt like useless lumps, and instead she simply turned her head and glared at him.
"Nonsense," Molly waved her hand. "We've got a lot of catching up to do. Don't you worry about a thing, okay? Just order whatever you want. Arthur's been doing so well at the Ministry. It's really not a problem at all. Go on."
If Hermione knew one thing about Molly Weasley, it was that she could be as stubborn as a brick wall and rarely took no for an answer. Hermione glanced towards Bill again before letting out a soft sigh and relenting with a small nod. "Alright," she said. "But I don't really know what's good here, anyway. Surprise me?"
Hermione felt Bill tense slightly, and she chewed her bottom lip.
"Molly," she squeaked out. "I didn't just owl you because I wanted to have lunch. There's something… There's something really important that I need to talk to you about."
Across the table, Molly's expression faltered. Her smile fell away and a look of intrigued confusion rested in its place. She folded her hands in front of her on the table and leaned forward. "Oh?" She finally said. "What is it? And don't think you're getting out of having lunch, either. We're all going to hve a nice meal. I won't forget."
Hermione looked to Bill as though trying to gather strength from his mere presence. It helped a little, although she imagined it helped in the same way that a shot of fire-whiskey might have, had she been able to drink the stuff. It was momentary courage. It was fleeting, but it offered her a small window with which to make her confession and wait for what she was sure would be the inevitable fallout afterwards.
"I owled you because I wanted to tell you something, Molly," Hermione began, and she felt a wave of nausea hit her like a punch to the stomach as she held Molly's gaze. "There was something… There was something important. Something that I meant to tell Ron before he…" She paused, blinking furiously against the stinging in her eyes.
Molly reached across the table, and when Hermoine opened her eyes again, she was somewhat surprised to see the other woman's hand covering her own. There was a strange sort of concern and a deep understanding staring back at her from Molly's eyes, and Hermione took a deep breath as she held that gaze.
"Just before it happened," she continued. "Just before it happened, I found out that I was pregnant. I waited. I meant to tell Ron that morning, but he was so distracted with work, and then I thought I'd just tell Ron and Harry that evening. They were like brothers. I thought it would be nice to surprise them. But then they got that assignment, and I… I didn't tell him. And I should have. I should have told him not to go, and I should have told him why, but I didn't. And I keep thinking… I keep thinking that if I had told him before they decided to leave, that maybe they would have stayed, and maybe they'd still be here today, and I'm sorry—''
Hermione was too busy crying and far too busy rambling to notice the expressions that played across Molly Weasley's face. First, there was shock. Bewilderment. Pain. And then something else entirely. Bill, sitting across the table from his mother, recognized the signs all too clearly, but then he was perhaps the only one sitting at the table who wasn't emotionally compromised by the news.
"Mom…" he started.
"Stop it," Molly snapped.
Hermione blinked, feeling for a moment as though she had been slapped in the face, and looked to Molly once more, wiping at her cheeks with the back of her hand. "Sorry," she repeated, her voice nothing more than a whisper. "I meant to tell you ages ago, but I couldn't bring myself to visit or…"
"I don't ever want to hear you say anything like that again." Molly finished, and Hermione was almost certain in that moment that the nausea would completely overtake her entire being and she'd vomit right then and there.
"Mom!" Bill nearly yelled.
"I… I understand," Hermione choked. "I shouldn't have lied to you."
Molly's gaze danced back and forth between the two of them, and her jaw dropped as she shook her head. "What on Earth do you two think I'm talking about? What happened to Ron, what happened to Harry… It wasn't your fault, Hermione. Understand? It wasn't." Her voice cracked, and Hermione felt her heart break a little bit. "It wasn't your fault," Molly repeated. "And you can't very well raise my grandbaby if you die from undeserved guilt, now can you? So you stop that right now. I don't ever want to hear you say such awful things again, because they aren't true, not even in the slightest." There was a pause, and a moment later, Hermione noticed the droplets of water pooling in the corners of Molly's eyes, and her mother-in-law cracked a smile that soon overtook her entire face.
Hermione heard Bill let out a breath, and she found herself wondering just how long he'd been holding it.
"You're sure you're not mad?" She asked.
Molly shook her head. "No," she said. "Although I might be if you don't get yourself something to eat. You're eating for two now." Molly gestured for a server and then looked back at Hermione once more. "I'm glad you've got a friend at the school, Hermione," she gestured to her son. "But you better remember you're still family. You always will be. And we'll be here for you, no matter what."
Author's Note: To the reviewer that caught on that the news from Hermione's message had not yet been revealed, good catch! Thank you to everyone who has favorite and reviewed so far. Y'all are awesome and it makes writing these things even more fun!