Right, my Fredilicious readers, here's the next chappyter. Now, you've all been so terribly wonderful, reviewing and all, and I wanted to give something back. Therefore, I have made you a very special chapter where no one storms off. Isn't that exciting, dears? It's amazing that you've read this much, but if you could keep on reading, reviewing and enjoying this story I'd be forever grateful.

Thanks

Em

"Hey, Harry?" Hermione whispered, placing her book on her belly and squinting at him in the darkened room.

He looked up from his coffee and saw her lying sideways on the sofa, head by the fire but facing him, with pursed lips and pink cheeks from the heat. He knew other people had said she'd grown up, but he couldn't see it; she was just regular little Hermione, his sister. Perhaps you could say her hair was a bit smaller and she was definitely over 5ft now, though she was still tiny compared to anyone they knew but Teddy.

Harry chuckled at his train of thought, but realising he hadn't answered her, he said, "Hi Hermione."

"Hello. Are you terribly busy tomorrow?"

"I assume I'm about to be," he said, "What do you want me for?"

"Well, tomorrow I have to go to a doctors appointment for the baby."

"You're going to a muggle doctor then?"

She nodded, hoping he wouldn't object to her decision like she knew some of the others would've if they'd known.

"I know I can trust the healers, I mean for god's sake I am one, but they aren't specialised in pregnancy like gynaecologists are," she said.

"I wouldn't know," Harry shrugged, "If we're going to London tomorrow, what're you going to tell Sirius?"

She still hadn't told Sirius about the baby, even though she'd been living with him for over a fortnight. To be quite honest, she was just about ready to break and tell him; he was asking constant questions about the continued trips to the bathroom she'd been taking to throw up her breakfast, and it was getting harder to hide the reason why she'd suddenly bought new trousers when usually she would only shop out of necessity. The moment when she couldn't button up her oldest and comfiest pair of jeans had been a little depressing, but she had know that it was coming. Hermione'd moaned to Luna for a while until she conceded and took her to get her a new pair of the same jeans, but looking at the bigger label still didn't feel quite right. Sirius hadn't questioned her on the wardrobe changes, probably because Hermione would just replace whatever didn't fit.

"I'm telling him we're going to see my grandparents," she told him, "But don't worry, we aren't actually going to see my grandfather."

"Thank god," Harry sighed, wiping his brow sarcastically. Hermione shot him a glare but he just held his up, "Even you have to admit he's crazy!"

"I don't care if he's the Queen of Sheba," she frowned, sitting up, "After my parents, I'll take what family I can get."

"Hey! What about me," he pouted, frowning at her giggle, "I am your brother, you know."

"I know, I know, but it can't hurt to have more." she nodded, pressing down the pain of her parents, "So you'll come tomorrow?"

"Yeah," he agreed, before remembering, "What about Fred?"

"What about Fred," Hermione said, raising an eyebrow and neglecting the book she'd gone back to reading.

"Well he's the father, shouldn't he be taking you?" he asked, "Or are you still avoiding him?"

"I'm not avoiding him!" she cried indignantly, though at the pointed look from Harry rolled her eyes, "I just haven't happened to see him for a fortnight, so what?"

"You also haven't responded to the three owls he's sent you," he raised his eyebrows, "The only reason he's not apperating over here is because he doesn't know you live here."

"Well he doesn't deserve to know, shouting about our personal life like that," she huffed, biting her lip subtly, "I've seen those letters you get from Ginny; I know what Molly's saying about me whilst I'm not there."

Harry didn't want to admit that Luna might have been right about Ginny and her hatred of her brother's lovers, but he hadn't actually seen any other Weasley but her since the incident, and that combined with what Ginny was saying, left a bitter taste in his mouth and gave her no one to verify what she'd said. If what Luna had said was right, then perhaps things weren't going as terribly at the Burrow as Hermione had read.

"That might not be true, you know how Ginny can be," he said forcefully, not willing to let her wallow in self-pity, "But when you invite Fred to come, you can ask him at the appointment."

"I guess," she sighed, rubbing her slightly drooping eyes, "Will you owl him for me, please?"

"Fred? Of course," Harry smiled, taking in her sleepy voice, "You just get yourself to bed, sis."

"Bed sounds euphoric right now," she nodded, standing up.

"Even tired, you don't speak like a normal person," he chuckled, "So Hermione!"

She just shrugged him off, muttering something about the the fire making it hot and tramping up the stairs to her bedroom, flopping straight onto her bed without changing into her pyjamas.

"God, pregnancy is tiring," she said, exhaling slowly as she clumsily pealed off her socks using her toes, "As long as I don't throw up though, I really don't mind at this point."

'To be perfectly honest, I couldn't stand up to puke,' she admitted to herself, rubbing her slightly protruding stomach lazily, 'I'd probably just throw up on my work robes then fall asleep. Jesus, that's disgusting. No wonder women trap their husbands with wedding vows before they try to have children - this process is horrifying. Fred is never going to stick around for all this.'

It was a thought she hadn't wanted to concede to, but she'd been worrying about it since he'd kissed her. She wasn't going to be pretty and reasonably slim forever. She was going to be massive and Fred could easily find himself a newer model to fall in love with and either leave her alone with the kid, or take it into his new life without her. Fred had all the power, all the freedom. She couldn't take it away from him and so far he hadn't abused it, he hadn't left, but that didn't mean he couldn't infuriate her.

"Your daddy's got a special way of making me more furious than anyone else ever could," she told her stomach, "I hope you don't inherit that. Although hopefully you will have his eyes; he has wonderful eyes."

Harry had told Fred to meet him at the pub in Diagon Alley, where he would side-long him to an alley near the doctors to meet Hermione there, because neither of them had wanted to trust Fred on muggle transport, especially in London. Walking toward the clinic, Harry was fearing for Fred's bollocks because Hermione hadn't woken up in the best of moods, and him getting another letter from Ginny hadn't helped.

"There you are! Come on, get a move on," Hermione said, waving them towards the door of the building, "We're going to be late if you don't hurry up. Where've you been?"

"Don't blame me," Harry grimaced, "Fred just got caught up at work."

Hermione saw his eyes widen and frowned, whipping around to see Fred looking suspiciously innocent, his hands up. Her eyes narrowed as she saw him motion to the door with his head but he quickly came back to looking at her.

"Hello, Hermione," he said, sending her a disarming smile, "How are you?"

"To be honest I'm feeling quite randy today," she said seriously as Fred's eyes widened, "Are you feeling strong today, your reflexes okay? Because I think you might need to hold me back because if I see any men in there; I just feel like getting off with someone today."

"What?"

"I'm just going to go inside and sign us in," Harry said, uncomfortably shuffling away to the door, neither sure nor bothered whether they'd actually heard him.

"You know I can't help myself - at least that's what Molly thinks. I saw what Ginny said your mother has been calling me - a streetwalker, a lady of pleasure, a trollop, a slapper," she leaned in closer to him, "You know, I'm surprised that she even knows that many rude words, but apparently I've been called all of them over the past two weeks."

"What! Mum hasn't said any of that," he assured her, thoroughly confused, "Ginny said that she was saying that?"

"She sent Harry a letter with all the details about what happened once we'd left," Hermione said haughtily, "Apparently your mother had nothing nice to say about me and you wouldn't defend me either!"

"That's not true!"

"Why wouldn't it be? It's not like she hasn't done this before - you do remember the Triwizard Tournament, right?"

"Mum didn't say anything like that! Ginny was definitely lying to you. The only thing Mum has been saying is that she's-" Fred paused, scratching his neck awkwardly, "She's very glad that we're finally… together. She keeps on bugging me to get you back to family Sundays."

"You told her we're together? As in together, together?" she snapped.

"Everyone else knows we're not together," he rolled his eyes, trying to get her to tone down the dramatics, "That's just what she decided must've happened, and you know it'll be easier on everyone if we just let her pretend for now. God knows what'll happen when she gets wind of this, but still, why is the idea of being my girlfriend so bloody awful?"

"Being someone's boyfriend is not the same as snogging in the back garden, Fred," she clucked, thinking to his Hogwarts reputation, "You wouldn't know the first thing about it - all you ever do is take girls out and then mysteriously forget to floo them afterwards. Plus, I don't think she'll be very happy when she knows that you knocked me up."

"That's not fair, but we don't have time for this right now. Look, I don't want to stuff this up more by making us late, but I wanted to apologise to you 'Mione, for acting so, what did you say-"

"I didn't say anything, I just jinxed you - but you should know not to be so casual about your family finding out about our child," she huffed, both of them knowing she'd forgiven him, "It's going to be a big deal when they do and I want to know that you'll take it seriously."

"If that's what you'd like to know, then of course," he teased, "But what I'd like to know is that you will answer my owls when I send them and where you live now, and that you won't ignore me for two weeks until Harry forces you."

"I'm in Grimmauld Place and the only reason I wasn't answering was because I was so angry with you," she said, rolling her eyes, "Don't worry, I'm wasn't running planning on off into the sunset with my spanish lover Fernando and leaving you behind."

"Good, because I happen to have heard that his tango is a shambles compared to mine," he winked, pushing through the door.

"Oh yeah, that's why no one would dance with you at Bill and Fleur's wedding," she added, following him in.

"No, no one would dance with me at the wedding because they were scared of getting pranked," he replied.

Turning the corridor into the waiting room, the reminder of his childishness was not what she needed to hear when she saw the parents and children dotted around the room.

'He's probably as grown up as Fred,' she grumbled to herself, spotting a smirking child poking his mother incessantly. She turned to him, a scowl on her face, and said seriously, "And doesn't that say something about you?"

With that, she flounced off to sit beside Harry, leaving Fred confused again.

"These mood swings are really starting to annoy me," he said aloud, scratching his head. Suddenly, Fred jumped as he felt a hand on his arm, and looked down to see an elderly woman rocking what must've been her grandchild.

"You'll get used to them, dear. It's a mother's prerogative to be as crazy as she wants to be," she beamed, ignoring Fred's bewildered look, "And it's all worth it in the end."

"Right," he nodded, smiling placatingly and walking over to Harry and Hermione, who were discussing something he didn't quite get. He couldn't see a seat next to them, or in fact, an adult seat anywhere in the room, so he decided on a bright green children's chair next to a pile of plastic bricks. He wasn't too bothered about not sitting with them, because it seemed Hermione wasn't going to speak to him anyway.

The one thing Fred didn't understand was why Hermione, a healer, had decided to go to a muggle doctor. She knew St. Mungo's healers personally and could get appointments or private wards with no trouble at all, but instead she'd decided to go to a muggle she didn't know and undergo their wacky technological procedures. Luckily, Harry had said in his letter not to mention it, so he'd escaped that fight before it'd started.

"No, I play with pencils now!"

Fred turned to see a young boy wrestling with his mother as she tried to grapple something from her. After a few more seconds, he gave up and ran over to the table Fred was sitting at, jutting his lip out and crossing his arms.

Fred frowned; he didn't like to see children upset. Suddenly, he remembered that he'd been in the lab that morning and started to fish through his pockets to see if he could find anything to cheer him up.

"Whey hey!" he laughed, holding out the moustache shaped liquorice, mumbling to himself, "This is definitely the one we put nothing in."

He looked to the kid, who was still pouting, "Hey kid."

"Yeah?" the boy whined, not looking up to Fred.

"Do you want a sweet?"

The brown-haired boy finally raised his gaze to meet his, "What?"

Fred passed him the liquorice, "Here, it's just a little something."

"Er, okay."

Fred grinned as he popped it into his mouth, chewing heartily and lightening up a bit at the treat.

"Thank you," he said once he'd swallowed, picking up some bricks and starting to play.

"It's what I do," he shrugged, happy to have brightened someone's day.

Fred fiddled absently with the bricks before hearing a muffled yelp. He looked up, only to see the same boy he'd helped feeling around his face frantically, which was was now covered in hair. He had a rather ridiculous handle-bar moustache that was curling at the ends and a goatee, that seemed to be only the start of his beard. His eyes were wide, but the people around them hadn't noticed.

He remembered what they'd been testing now, the Magical Moustache Miracle Stubble Grow, for wizards with an itch to itch.

Trying not to panic at accidentally breaking the international statute of secrecy, he discreetly pointed his wand in the direction of the boy, sending a concealment enchantment over to the stubble he was now sprouting around his chin, watching as the facial hair disappeared from view of the muggles. He glanced around to the other people in the reception, but none bar Hermione and Harry, had even looked up from their magazines, the former glaring at him and the latter trying to hold down a laugh at the sight of a little boy with a beard.

Hermione was jerking her head to the corridor, her eyes wide. Fred held his hands out, furrowing his brow, before gesturing to the now normal-looking boy to show he was fine. Hermione shook her head and leaned forward in her seat, as if to get up, but their silent conversation was interrupted when her name was called. They both stood up, as did Harry, but Hermione laid a hand on his shoulder and he sat back down, a knowing look in his eyes.

'Oh great, he understands what she's saying,' he bit his nails, moving her to the hallway to follow the nurse, 'I don't get anything about her.'

"It'll wear off," he said hesitantly, only to be met with silence.

The nurse opened a door and they both walked in, Fred sitting in a spare chair and Hermione being instructed to lay on a large doctors bed.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Opal, you're Hermione, right?"

"Yes," she nodded, biting her lip.

"And this is our daddy?" the doctor smiled, looking expectantly to Fred.

"I'm Fred," he said, holding out his hand for her to shake.

The doctor smiled at the two, and begun to question Hermione, "So, you've determined you're pregnant. Do you know how many weeks along you are?"

"I'd put it at about seven or eight weeks," she said hesitantly, biting her lip.

"Right, so at the moment, all we need to do is to take a blood test and do an ultrasound so you can see your baby," she said, picking up a tube, "The blood test will be administered later this week by a nurse if we can get you to come back, but if you could just pull up your t-shirt, we'll get started on the ultrasound."

"Okay," Hermione said, looking over to Fred before doing what the doctor had asked.

"Now, this might be a little cold," she said, taking a strange device attached to a monitor and coating it in blue jelly, "Here we go."

She placed the device onto Hermione's stomach, spreading the gel and smiling at her as she wiggle on the bed from the tickling sensation, "Now, you look like you've grown quite a lot for just two months, so if I'm right, when we get the image on the display, we should see…"

Hermione gasped as she saw a fuzzy grey image appear on the computer screen, and Fred quirked his eyebrow at her dramatics.

"Yep, as I expected," she pointed to something neither of them could make out and said, "This is your baby."

"Oh Fred look," Hermione sighed contentedly, grasping his hand without thought.

"Is it that little thing wriggling around?" he asked, leaning forward to see the screen better, "He's going to be a handful, isn't he?"

"No, the wriggling is just me moving the machine, the baby's very small so it seems like it's moving, that's all."

"Oh," Fred said, "So why does it look like he's in two bits?"

"Er, well what I was trying to say before was that," she paused, watching them warily, "Is there a history of twins in your families?"

"Twins? Are we having twins?" Fred demanded, watching the monitor to see if it would reveal what the hesitant doctor wouldn't, "That second blob is another baby?

"Yes," she nodded, "It would seem that you are not just having one child, but two."

"Two? Definitely?"

"Holy Merlin on a motorbike," Hermione cried, looking down at her glistening stomach then back up to the doctor, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, we've got two clear heartbeats and unless you're having a baby with four legs," she laughed lightly, clicking away at the keys, "It can come as quite a shock for young mothers, but it's nothing much to worry about, I assure you."

"We're having twins," Fred said slowly, watching Hermione's reaction carefully, "We can handle that, right? Right Hermione?"

"It really shouldn't complicate the pregnancy," Dr Opal assured Hermione, who was looking down at her belly again, "This isn't something to be afraid of, it's something to celebrate. We can't determine the genders, but at least you've got some more info. Would you like a print out of the scan?"

"Y-yes," Hermione said, nodding, "That would be lovely, thank you."

"Right, one sec then," she said, walking out.

Hermione turned to Fred, her lips pursed, "You gave a six-year-old a moustache."

"I guess you're okay with the babies, then?" he asked, hoping to avoid the question.

"Multiple babies I can deal with, you pranking muggle children, I cannot," she barked angrily, before deflating, "Just tell me why you did it."

"I don't know, I was nervous," he shrugged, "I-I was worried."

"Worried about what? The doctors appointments are perhaps the easiest part of this entire thing. You just have to sit there," she said, "How in the world did you manage to screw that up?"

"I was worried about the doctor," he said, scratching his neck, "I know muggle doctors are brilliant, I mean, no healer can take pictures of a baby in St Mungo's, but what if it does something magical? If we don't go to a healer, then how will you know what to do and what not to do? What potions you can take?"

"Fred, I don't know if you know this, but I am a healer myself," she said, looking at him expectantly, "I do understand these things."

"I know, but I'd feel better if we just went once, so I could know all the things you know," he told her, "I don't know everything you know - not everyone's as smart as you, you know."

Hermione bit her lip, "I guess it wouldn't hurt."

"What? You're going to appease me?"

"Well, just this once," she smiled, "And I'm sorry, I know you're trying your best. Just don't give any more wizarding sweets to muggle children please."

"I really didn't mean to, I thought it was a spare piece of liquorice."

"Right."

"We're having twins," he raised his eyebrows, "You know they're going to be boys don't you?"

"What?"

He smirked at her, "Well, there's me and George and my uncles, Fabian and Gideon. Twin boys run in my blood."

"We'll see," she said, "I have a feeling there's definitely one girl in there. That'll even the playing field, because I'm not about to get outnumbered. Our house won't be be testosterone filled, Fred, mark my words."

"Oh, our house, ay? Rethinking my suggestion to move in?"

"No, I was just-" she huffed, crossing her arms, "It just slipped out."

"Well, at least I know I'm on your mind," he smiled smugly, letting her wipe off the gel on her stomach.

"Alright Fred, lets not get ahead of ourselves," she rolled her eyes.

She smiled softly to herself as she pulled her top down, 'At least we're getting on better now.'