Chapter 5: Could It Be? Yes it Could.

Two years had passed since Ron and Hermione's wedding. To both of their surprise, everything went off without a hitch and nothing went wrong. Ron had taken Hermione to a wizard resort in the Swiss Alps. It had been an amazing time, a time neither of them would ever forget, because they had loved each other so much then. And now…

"RON!"

"I SWEAR HERMIONE, YOU ARE OVERREACTING! WHAT DOES IT EVEN MATTER?"

Hermione's face was a hot, angry shade of fuchsia which matched the color of Ron's ears. It was one of their legendary fights, the kind Harry had remarked upon during his best man speech at the wedding.

"To all those in Gryffindor with us, I would like to apologize on the behalf of these two, for quite often, despite their best intentions, often disturbed the peace around the Common Room."

And now they would have been raising many complaints from their apartment neighbors if it wasn't for the Muffliato charm Ron had cast.

"RON YOU KNEW I WAS SAVING THAT! EMILY AND GREG FROM MY OFFICE ARE COMING OVER TOMORROW NIGHT FOR DINNER AND THAT WAS WHAT I WAS GOING TO SERVE!"

"WELL YOU COULD'VE TOLD ME THAT!" Ron bellowed. "YOU HAVE TO TELL ME THESE THINGS, HERMIONE."

"AND YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO JUST KNOW!"

Ron turned his back on her, gripping his hair in frustration. Hermione was confused as to what had even started the fight. It had been a good day and then all of a sudden she had just felt so upset, like she had to take out her anger on someone. And Ron had just been there, eating a piece of the pie she had baked for dinner the next day. In truth, she wasn't all that upset, it would be extremely easy to just make another one. But she felt like she had all this anger just bottled up inside her, and it came from absolutely nowhere.

"URGH! RON JUST, JUST….UCH!" She couldn't even finish her sentence, but grabbed her purse and stormed out the door. She stormed through the dark, dank streets of Muggle London, rain pouring down and soaking her face already wet with tears. She purposely stomped through puddles, just for that feeling of breaking the peaceful tranquility it held.

After a few minutes, she arrived at Ginny and Harry's place, knocking at the door. She waited a few moments before Ginny answered, cloaked in her gold dressing gown.

"Hermione! What're you doing here? Is Ron ok?"

"Ron's fine." She huffed, motioning at the door. "Can I please come in?"

"Yeah, yeah of course!" Ginny said, moving aside and drawing her sister-in-law in. As Hermione stumbled in, shivering from the rain, she heard Harry call, "Who's there, Gin?"

"It's Hermione!" Ginny called back. Harry emerged from his home office as Hermione was drying herself with a quick wave of her wand. Harry's eyes were puffy from lack of sleep and his hair looked even more messy than usual.

"Good god, Harry, how hard have you been working?" Hermione questioned, shedding her sweater and giving her friend a hug.

He chuckled. "Pretty hard, to be honest. Gotta support my family, though."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "He's working too hard to be honest. We're doing just fine."

Harry and Ginny had had a little boy the year previously, and they had named him James Sirius. Hermione thought he was just one of the cutest things in the world. The first time Ron, James's godfather, had held him he had looked mighty scared, worrying that he might drop him or he might make him cry.

Harry rolled his eyes back. "Anyways, what're you doing here, Hermione? Anything happen to Ron?"

Hermione sighed. "No, nothing happened to Ron. Let's just say…remember sixth year?"

"Oh God."

"Yeah. Sort of a blowup. Can I stay here overnight?" She asked pleadingly.

Harry and Ginny glanced at each other, looking a little unsure. "Hermione, I think you need to go home and talk it over. Knowing you two, it was something stupid and knowing you it'll blow over fast." Harry said.

Hermione sighed. "Are you sure?"

Ginny looked at her with fake disappointment. "Hermione, you two are grown up now! Please, try acting like it."

Hermione pursed her lips. "Fine, fine. You're right." She gave both of her friends a hug.

"Good luck Hermione. And go easy on him, ok?" Harry said.

She just gave a frown as she left, quite upset. She didn't feel like going easy on Ron. She wasn't even really angry at him, but there was something inside her that just kept making her go off like crazy lately, and she had no idea what it was.

At home, Ron was in bed, reading for a change. He glanced up when Hermione entered, but didn't say anything. She almost felt better at him reading and was ready to make up until she saw the title of the book. Quidditch through the Ages. Did the guy ever stop thinking about Quidditch?

Hermione slipped out of her slacks and blouse and slipped into a lilac nightdress. She lay down next to Ron and slid under the covers, picking up her own book from the bedside table. They lay there side by side in complete, awkward silence, and that's how they both fell asleep.

When Hermione woke up, she felt completely different. She just felt so, so sorry for lashing out at him for practically no reason. She opened her mouth to apologize but Ron, sitting up in bed next to her started first.

"Hermione, I'm sorry. And I don't even know what I'm sorry for, but whatever you're upset about, I'm sorry."

She smiled. "I'm really sorry, too. Honestly, I don't even know what happened. Something just kind of blew up…so I'm sorry."

Ron leaned over and gave her a huge hug, wrapping her in his enormous arms. She was so much smaller than him. She was no taller than five foot six, and he was a towering six foot four. She smiled and hugged him back until she felt a sharp pain.

"Ouch!" She exclaimed, pulling out of his embrace.

"What's wrong?" He demanded, looking at her with concern.

She shifted her arms uncomfortably. "My…my breasts hurt." She grimaced uneasily, looking down. "And…and they feel larger."

"They look larger." Ron remarked. She threw him a dirty look.

Ron didn't love her just because she was beautiful, he loved her for who she was, and Hermione was so grateful for that. She knew so many people whose husbands or boyfriends only liked them for their bodies.

"No, Ron, seriously. This is weird. I feel like I'm changing, and my mood is always shifting and…." Her voice suddenly trailed off. A sort of glazed look came into her eyes.

He took her by the shoulders and shook her a little. She looked completely out of it. "What, Hermione? Tell me what's wrong, I'll fix it."

"Ron, if it's what I think it is, I don't think it's something you can fix." She gave a nervous laugh.

He looked utterly bewildered. "What is it?" He asked again.

"I—I have to go. Go to work, I'll tell you later." She gave him a short, sweet kiss before hurriedly changing into her work clothes and Apparating out of the room, leaving her husband looking completely lost.

Hermione didn't Apparate to the heart of London to the Ministry. She rushed instead to Ginny's house again, banging on the door on her arrival. Harry answered this time, dressed in just a loose shirt and boxers.

"H-H-Hermione," he said between yawns. "What're you doing here again?"

She barged in. "Is Ginny here?" She demanded. "I have to talk to her."

"Yeah, she's in the nursery feeding James. Why?"

But Hermione was already hurrying up the staircase.

"Ginny!" She yelled, bursting through the door of James's nursery. James, who was suckling from Ginny, started wailing at the loud noise. This earned Hermione a sharp glare from his mother.

"This better be good Hermione! Do you know how long I've been trying to calm him down?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. Hey, Ginny—"

"Did you make up with Ron? I'm not talking to you unless you've made up with him."

Hermione looked at her with disdain. "Oh, way to act 'grown up', Ginny. Listen, what were the first signs you had when you were…pregnant?"

She sat bolt upright and James started crying. Ginny adjusted his position on her but her gaze remained fixed on Hermione. "You don't think—"

"Just. Tell. Me."

"Well, I stopped having my monthly, and I would be really cranky one second and really happy and loving the next. I started gaining weight—" She stopped at the look on Hermione's face. "Hermione…are you…"

"I can't be sure." Hermione croaked out. "But…given the signs…"

Ginny yelled downstairs. "HARRY! THIS IS YOUR SON TOO! COME UP HERE AND CALM HIM DOWN! I'M GOING OUT WITH HERMIONE."

She pulled James off her, covering herself with her shirt and standing up with James cradled in his arms. When Harry finally came up the steps she handed him over. "We'll be back soon." Was all she said, and she grabbed Hermione's arm and with a pop they disapparated.

"Ginny, what're we doing?" asked Hermione, looking around. They were in front of a Muggle drugstore in the North of London. "Aren't we supposed to go to St. Mungo's?"

"Well, you should do that afterwards, but I found that Muggle pregnancy tests work just fine on witches, and they're pretty reliable." Said Ginny, marching her into the drugstore and straight to the aisle that stocked these things. She threw a few in a basket, Hermione looking rather confused.

"Why more than one?"

"Just to check the accuracy." Ginny replied. "Come on, I want to get this done as soon as possible. Oh my gosh, if you are, that would be—"

"I'm not betting anything." Said Hermione firmly. "Don't count your O.W.L.s before they've arrived."

After they'd checked out, Ginny looked at Hermione. "Your place or mine?"

"Yours." She replied firmly. "If Ron is there, I don't want him to know yet."

Ginny shrugged. "Fine by me."

With another pop, they were back in front of the Potters' house. Ginny took Hermione's wrist and pulled her inside, past Harry who was sitting, bouncing his son on his lap trying to get him to stop crying.

"Hey! Where're you—" He tried asking as they rushed up the stairs.

"Nothing, Harry!" They both called.

They scrambled into Ginny's bathroom and ripping open the plastic covering the pregnancy test boxes.

"Do you want me in here with you?" Asked Ginny nervously.

Hermione shook her head. "No, it's ok. Wait right outside, though."

Ginny nodded and stepped out, immediately starting to pace excitedly. Fifteen minutes later, Ginny was almost sweating with a mixture of emotions. Hermione finally emerged, throwing her arms around her sister.

"Oh my God! Are you-?"

"YES!" Hermione cried. "Oh, isn't this great! Ginny, I'm going to be a mother!"

Ginny hugged back, almost crying tears of joy. "Hermione, this is absolutely amazing! You'll make a wonderful mother! This is so much to think about…baby showers and shopping and—"

"Ginny let's focus on the health stuff first!" Hermione cried. Tears were leaking out of her eyes, and Ginny could tell she was unbelievably happy.

"But wait…" Hermione pulled away, suddenly a little nervous. "Remember how Ron acted around James the first time he met him? How is he going to take the news?"

"I…I don't know." Ginny replied truthfully. She knew that Ron was nervous around small children. "But…don't worry…we'll figure it out…"

A/N: Yayyyy a nice long chapter! I would like to give credit to icarlyfreak for the line about Hermione's breasts as a sign she's pregnant. I thought it was very funny! And for any of you who thought Ron's reply was a little…I don't know, but you know what I'm talking about…then I'm sorry, again borrowing from icarlyfreak because she's an amazing writer, and I wanted to throw a little humor in there. Thanks for the reviews, glad you all liked the last chapter! Keep 'em coming, God knows I hope and pray to see more reviews there every time I open my email!

XOXO Love always

Sparkshine