Chapter 9 A Future Marauder

The morning after Ginny had sent the owl to her mother, a howler arrived for Ron. What a howler it was! Everyone who had heard it thought Mrs. Weasley was in rare form. They had never heard her yell that loudly before, even at the twins. She yelled for fifteen minutes about how Ron was a disgrace to the Weasley name, for being jealous of Harry, and for plain stupidity. She then told him that she wouldn't blame either Harry or Hermione if they never wanted to speak with him again, let alone renew their friendship. Although as future family, through Ginny, she hoped that they would. For some reason the howler only got Ron angrier than before and he was given detention for two weeks and a loss of fifty house points for hexing Colin Creevey, who happened to be passing by.

That was how the entire school now knew that Ron was jealous of Harry and Hermione and that they were now a couple, thus the fight on the train. Also somehow Ginny was going to be a part of Harry's family. How she was going to do that no one knew. Most people knew that Harry had no family. The news spread through the school like wildfire. By the time the first set of classes were done, everyone knew the entire contents of the howler and the reason for the falling out of the golden trio. This made Ron more angry and a little unstable. No one from Gryffindor house would speak to him, eat with him, or even sit with him. Those that did sit with him in classes did so reluctantly and drew lots to see who would do so. Professor McGonagall thought that it was poetic justice. If it were possible she would have removed him from being Quidditch captain, but there really was no one else qualified so she left it alone.

A week had gone by and Ron was no closer to calming down than when he first exploded. His treatment from the Gryffindor's had now moved to the other houses. Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws went out of their way to avoid him. The Slytherins were worse than ever, although the new Head of House did try to stop it when he was around. It was Quidditch that had started to unnerve him. He had barely put together a team. No one had really tried out. He blamed Harry for that, not accepting that he was to blame because of his attitude. Those that had made the team only spoke to him when necessary and followed his strategies. Even Ginny, although she was dying to tell him off.

Ginny joined the extra lessons that Hermione had requested. Since they both wanted to learn the same things, basic child care and healing. Both knew that they were destined to be mothers and felt that they could use all the preparation that they could get. Madam Pomphrey was more than happy to pass on her knowledge and teach them all that they wanted. She even told Hermione that in learning this she might be able to keep Harry out of trouble. Both Ginny and Hermione laughed.

"I doubt that. He seems to find it more when I'm not there. I swear that Harry's parents should have given him the middle name of 'Trouble'."

It was during these lessons that Ginny confided in Hermione that she was trying to take her NEWTS early as a surprise for Nicholas. She made Hermione promise not to say a word to anyone, even Harry. A schedule was formed for the determined witch with all of her professors so that she could complete two years of schooling into one. She had given up her prefects badge and had almost refused to play Quidditch with her idiot brother but Hermione convinced her not to realizing that she would need an outlet. Hermione also offered to help her with her homework, which had increased to a staggering amount.

Nicholas sent Ginny a long letter every three days. It didn't take the female population long to figure out that Ginny's new love was outside the castle. Many a bet was placed as to who this mysterious lover was. Every time she received a letter, every female eye watched the emotions on the redheads face. They also watched as her brother glare at her when she did get one.

Days passed and most of the students settled into a routine. For Hermione's birthday, Harry snuck the both of them out of the school grounds and apparated them to London. They had dinner at Hermione's favorite restaurant. Later that night, as they made love, Harry actually bit her, drinking her blood. Afterwards he was so apologetic, but she told him that she found it highly erotic and that she had loved it. He didn't look convinced. For her own personal reference she marked the episode in her diary.

September blended into October and it was soon time for the first Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. A week before the game Hermione and Ginny were in the infirmary trying out a new spell, one that would tell if someone was pregnant or not. Hermione preformed the spell on Ginny and as expected it was negative. But when Ginny preformed it on Hermione it came out positive. Madam Pomphrey confirmed Ginny's findings, telling Hermione that she was about a month along. Hermione was beside herself with joy. She and Harry were going to have a baby. She made both women promise not to say a word. She wanted to tell Harry herself, in a special way, when the time was right.

The day before the game Harry received a letter from Andrew. In it he said that all was well within the castle and village. Some of the scouts had found what they believed to be the cup that Harry was looking for. Nicholas would be bringing it to the school for Harry to verify, under the guise of coming to watch Ginny play in the match. Harry wondered if Ginny knew that Nicholas was coming.

Hermione had decided to wait until after the match to tell Harry about the baby. Once she told him, he would treat her like glass, fulfilling her every wish and desire. Part of her loved the thought and part of her didn't. So far she had managed to not be around him when her symptoms flared. A bout of morning sickness had taken place in the infirmary, during her healing class. A dizzy spell had happened when she was in the library. Thankfully she was already sitting down when that had taken place. Other than those two incidents she felt fine. But the baby seemed to be very aware of what was going on around her. While in the library, about an hour after the dizzy spell, a sudden burst of magic came. Undetected from Hermione's stomach, the magic preceded to change each of the library walls a bright different color. Hot pink, burnt orange, neon yellow, and neon green seeped onto the walls, while the bookcases themselves were transformed into carved animals, similar to a carousel. Madam Pince placed the blame on some second years and ordered them to reverse the spell, which they couldn't do. It wasn't until Hermione left, that the room returned to normal. Most thought that she was mumbling to herself, not that she was telling the unborn child to behave itself.

After all who knew what the future marauder had in store for all of them.