Chapter 22: Room with a View

Authors Note: As per usual, thank you very much to everyone who commented/ reviewed on the last chapter. I agree with a lot of the views that you mentioned in the reviews and also to ChelseaLovesFood – I'm definitely going to check out that article you mentioned, thank you for recommending it to me. I had a lot of trouble coming up with a title to suit this chapter, and then I remembered that this is a film and a book I think (correct me if I'm wrong) and I really hope it fits as I name the title before I write the chapter. Anyway here is chapter 22!

9th December 2005

They hadn't heard from their friends in over a week. Nobody had. After Harry had left their house a week ago saying he was hoping to change his wife's mind about the whole baby scenario. At the time, Ginny only had a week left to make a decision. It had now been a week and two days. They had heard nothing on what had happened in the end. For all they knew, she could have gone ahead with the abortion. But then again, she might not have. They didn't have a clue and although they respected the privacy of their two best friends, worry was starting to take over.

By now one of the two decisions must have been made, and as much as they were both tempted to make some sort of contact both Ron and Hermione believed that all would become clear in good time. Ideally sooner than later. They had not even turned up when everybody had gathered at the Burrow the previous Sunday, and despite the fact that only Ron and Hermione knew how the situation currently stood it was at that point that even Arthur and Molly were beginning to become concerned but Ron quickly decided to cover the whole circumstance up with a lie that they had gone to see Luna for a week where she was currently living in Northern Ireland with her boyfriend Rolf Scammander. The reality was that they would have a lot to go along with in the piles of lies once they returned to the land of the living.

"Hermione?"Ron said softly. She was currently stood in the room that was soon to be their daughter's bedroom. So far, they weren't doing that great when it came to preparation. They had the tree painted on the wall, and curtains but other than that, they had no furniture for the baby, including no cot. They regretted leaving things this late, but it seemed like they had longer than what was really real.

She turned to look at her husband, a quiet expression worn upon her face.

"Ginny's here." He continued and Hermione looked at him almost questionably in somewhat shock.

"Where?" Hermione questioned

"She's in the living room." Ron replied, reaching for her hand and pulled her out of the bedroom before following his wife down the stairs. Before they could reach the bottom though, Hermione turned on the spot to face Ron, immediately stopping him in his tracks.

"Are you sure it is her? You're not hallucinating are you?"She asked and Ron chuckled although his laugh was a lot quieter than it would have probably been if the situation was not as serious as it was.

"See for yourself..." He trailed, guiding her into the living room where Ginny stood. She was quiet and pale. Paler than usual by any means. There was not anything noticeably different about her. She was still wearing clothes that she would have been seen in before, but her body looked thin, slight and small. Whether to take that as a good or a bad sign was not apparent to either Ron or Hermione.

"Well?" Hermione asked hardly making a sound, looking directly at her friend for the first time and everyone remained quiet.

"I didn't get rid of it." Ginny said and both Ron and Hermione visibly sighed before Ron stepped forward to hug his sister tightly. "But that doesn't mean that I am happy about it." Those words caused Ron to slowly pull away. He looked like the light in his eyes had died. The light that had just been ignited had been quickly extinguished and all that remained were ashes from the flame.

"Harry came home, and he talked to me about it, he cried." Ginny croaked. "He persuaded me to not go ahead with anything because although he understands that it is pretty soon since we had James, it is still a child and that I would never forgive myself if I killed it. And he was right. But it doesn't mean that I want another child. I don't. I don't want this child and I don't feel like that will change."

"Do you not think that perhaps once they are born that things will be different?" Hermione asked

"I know that could be a possibility but I couldn't wait for James to be born and I adore him to pieces now... this... this is completely different. I don't feel the same way as I did last time." Ginny responded.

"Do you not just think that this is because it was unexpected? And that maybe once you grow used to the idea again, it might feel different to the way you feel now?" Ron questioned

Ginny looked at him. She looked like her eyes were going to fill with tears. But they didn't. She just remained holding her gaze on her brother. "I don't want to feel like this. Honestly I don't, but that is just how I am feeling."

"I know it is difficult but try thinking of it like this. James and the baby will be closer in age so might be close to one another. Both of our children will be in the same year at Hogwarts and everyone will love them so much, as they do with everyone." Hermione suggested and Ginny nodded although they weren't too sure whether that was a positive or negative thing.

She looked between them both, fumbling with the right sleeve of her long, stripy cardigan so that it was wrapped around her fingers. "Neither of you will mention the abortion thing to anyone will you? Especially not Mum and Dad." She asked

"Of course not." Ron nodded and Ginny smiled acceptingly at her two friends.

XXXXXXXXXX

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Helena asked as the car came to a halt in the muggle car park. It was quite and frosty, only a few people could be seen entering and exiting the shops located there, almost as if it were the perfect day to go. At Robert's suggestion, he and Helena had arrived at their daughter and son in law's house at midday. Hermione had already agreed to go shopping for a few last minute things whilst Robert had offered to help Ron paint the second bedroom.

"Everything." Hermione laughed as she closed the car door and they walked into the shop. There was a very clean smell in the air and everything was brightly coloured. You could tell that this shop was specifically for children and babies with all of the toys and children's books. Given that they had already found out the gender of their child luckily some parts of their search for items was easily narrowed down however Hermione had not exactly told her mother that they had yet to buy anything.

"Well, what have you already bought?" Helena questioned putting a different angle on the first enquiry she had made.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Hermione said cracking a small smile when Helena chuckled.

"You're joking, right?" Mrs Granger said to which her daughter shook her head, "Okay well we will start off at the basic things, by which I mean furniture and anything other than nappies because you can acquire them closer to the time. What colour is the bedroom going to be?"

"Lilac, we went out and bought the paint yesterday, the only colour we could agree on." Hermione smiled, knowing that this was something that would have typically happened in their teenage years at Hogwarts, never agreeing on anything, "We were hoping to get white furniture to go with the walls though."

"Well, let's just hope that we find what you need. So long as it will fit in the boot and the back of the car, I don't mind what we get." Her mother informed her as they reached the cots.

"Are you sure you and Dad don't mind helping out with the cost? I mean it is really kind of you but are you sure you are okay with doing so?" She said feeling concerned as she picked up a pair of curtains along the way to where her mother had pushed the shopping trolley to. Her parents had recently offered to help out with paying for all the stuff they needed to get before their granddaughter was born, this would turn out to work well in the long run but Hermione couldn't help but question their certainty in the offer.

"Hermione, darling, you are our only daughter and she will be our first grandchild. We know you and Ron are more than fine as you repeatedly say if we ever offer you any money but this is one thing that we are not taking no as an answer for. We are more than happy to help and so we will get as much as that can possibly fit in the car from the list that Ron wrote and then the pair of you can come another day and get whatever is left." Helena told her

"Thanks, Mum. Really, thank you." She responded and Helena reached for her hand squeezing it kindly.

"No problem." Helena smiled, walking between the sequences of several cots that stood before them. "Now, let's get started."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Here, I can get that." Hermione said climbing out of the car with difficulty once again and heading to lift something out of the boot, before she could do anything though, Helena reached for her forearm as if to stop her in her own tracks.

"Oh, no you don't." Helena said her dark brown hair falling over her face as she reached to stop Hermione.

"Why not?" Hermione asked folding her arms questioningly and her mother laughed kindly.

"Hermione, even you have to admit that there is no way you are going to be able to carry anything in the state you're currently in are you?" Helena said.

"Surely there is something I can take in..." She trailed as Helena handed her a bag.

"Yeah... you can take this, but that's pretty much it." Her mother informed her passing over the strong plastic bag consisting of several blankets. "If you think otherwise then you have no idea how wrong you are, trust me, I know from the experience of having you. Any chance you could ask either Ron or your Dad if they could help instead?"

Hermione nodded and headed inside placing the blankets on one of the sofas in the living room so that they would not smell of the strong scent of paint. Slowly she went up the stairs and to the room at the end of the left hand side corridor. She could hear chattering and laughter in low voices, automatically making her smile. After the war when Ron had offered to come with her to find Robert and Helena in Australia, one of her biggest worries had began. Apart from having to find her parents, and then telling them about what had happened, one of her main worries was that Ron would not like her parents and that her parents wouldn't like Ron. She was more concerned about her father in this situation than anyone else. Ron was a very different person to Hermione, back after the war, they shared very few of the same qualities and she was very concerned that her parents would feel that perhaps she had made a mistake.

But she hadn't. She hadn't made a mistake. They were now seven years down the line and she and Ron were married and were about to have a daughter. And on top of that, Ron had gotten on with Hermione's parents immediately. Ron had grown surprisingly close to both Hermione's parents and she was extremely relieved about that. It was the reason that such a situation as the laughter escaping into the hallway where she was stood was happening right now.

"How is it going?" Hermione asked as she stood in the doorway of their soon to be daughter's bedroom. Much to her surprise, they had painted the room completely and be the looks of it with a paint brush in Ron's hand and lilac paint on his and her father's face, it appeared that magic had not been used.

"Hello, love." Ron said getting up from where he was sat on the floor next to her father. "We finished about half an hour ago. What do you think? There is still the mantle piece to do if we want to, but we can do that some other time."

She stepped fully into the room, turning her head to look around it completely. Although the room was bare, it seemed completely perfect and once they had added everything to the bedroom, it would really feel like a baby's bedroom more than ever before.

"It's lovely. It really is. You did a great job." She smiled before Robert got up as well, looking at her questionably.

"Where is your mum?" Her father asked curiously and Hermione's eyes widened remembering what she was meant to come in and ask.

"Oh! She wouldn't let me carry anything in so she asked if one of you two could go and help. She is out at the car I think." Hermione told her husband and father before immediately after she had finished speaking Ron sprang up and headed for the door and the sound of feet hurrying down the stairs was clearly apparent even before he said "I will go." Which he called from the bottom of the stairs.

"He is such a lovely guy Hermione." Her father said once they were in the room alone. The room was empty apart from a few pots of paint and some of the muggle rolling brushes that they had found they had in the cupboard under the stairs. They had used them years ago when they had moved in, Hermione saying she wanted to do that part of decorating as she called it "the muggle way" which Ron had surprisingly enjoyed a great deal. There was a window in their soon to be daughter's bedroom, it looked over the garden which was currently covered with snow and although it was at the same height as a regular window would be positioned it also had a purple window seat. They had had no idea that this was hear until they properly looked into the bedrooms after they had bought and moved into the property.

Robert sat down on the window seat and put his arm on the cushion beneath his hand in the hope that Hermione would come and sit next to him to which she came and joined him there. She could picture this. She could picture her daughter sitting there with a pile of books next to her as tall as she was filling up the rest of the window seat. She imagined either she or Ron coming into see her, telling her that dinner was ready or that she needed to get ready because they were going out somewhere and her not moving and just continuing to read. She hoped she liked books. She really, really hoped she liked books.

"You have done well, Hermione, you really have. Especially with Ron..." He laughed and Hermione smiled.

"That was one of the things I was most worried about with you two." Hermione told him.

"What? That we would not like Ron?" Robert exclaimed, and his daughter nodded "We love Ron. Not in the same way that you do but we really do. We think of him like a son. Even if it was not Ron that you had fallen in love with, we would have always have tried to be happy with your judgement. Although we are particularly pleased that you made the choice that you did."

"It was never a choice, it just had to happen. Do you know what I mean?" Hermione asked and her dad nodded in agreement. "He really loves you both you know. He is so glad that he gets on with you both. He was so pleased and relieved after he had met you both that it had not gotten of the a rough start."

Robert reached for Hermione's hand and squeezed it gently in reassurance. "I am really happy for you both. Your mum as well. We really are." She rested her head on her dad's shoulder as he kissed her forehead gently. "We are so proud of you."

XXXXXXXXXX

Once again for the second time in twenty four hours, Hermione Weasley was sat in her daughter's bedroom. This time it was considerably darker than it had been in the later hours of the previous morning. After muttering a quick spell of "lumos" the only light she could see from was that of her wand and the crescent shaped moon outside. With all the fumes and pollution in central London, even in the residential parts of the enormous city, it was very hard to see the moon at times. But it was peeking out from the grey thing clouds ever so slightly, and she knew, she was certain that it was there.

She hadn't intended on staying up this late. Ron was fast asleep in the next room, but sleep seemed to elude her tonight leaving her purely exhausted. They had placed the furniture into the room, most of it at least, but there was still some things that they needed to assemble which George had offered to help them both with this the next day. Nothing had been sorted into how they would like all the things into the room to be positioned, but right now it was starting to look like a nursery or a little girl's bedroom, exactly how they had hoped.

The tree and owl painting was on the wall opposite the window so it was behind her. Hermione had glanced at it a few minutes before and smiled. She really hoped that their daughter would even once she had gotten a little bit older, maybe she would want to keep that painting on her wall. She really hoped she would. If their child was anything like her, then they probably would want to.

"Hermione, sweetheart?" Ron's soft voice came into the room from behind her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, love. I just can't seem to sleep." Hermione replied turning in his direction.

"Insomnia again?" He croaked approaching his wife and coming to stand next to her.

She shook her head, her bushy brown hair falling forward as she did so. "Not exactly." She sighed, "She just keeps kicking a lot."

"I thought that was supposed to decrease at this point?" Ron returned looking concerned.

"Well, you never know. Perhaps she doesn't like the colour of the walls and that is why she is kicking. In anger." Hermione joked and Ron laughed

"I'm sure she will love the colour, Hermione." Ron smiled wrapping his arms around her from behind. She reached for his hand and pulled it forward towards her stomach as their daughter kicked. Hermione could practically feel his smile as they stood there silently. "We've done okay you know? We really have." Hermione wondered if her dad had said the same thing to Ron as he had to her.

"Come on, let's go back to bed..." Ron said softly leading a sleeping Hermione away from their daughter's bedroom.

Authors Note: As it has been for the last few chapters, I am really sorry that I haven't managed to post this sooner. Even though it is currently the half term holidays it has taken me three weeks (I think) to get this chapter up. I found this chapter really difficult to write and not because it consisted of any difficult subjects, I've gotten used to writing about Ginny's situation, but because I've just found it really hard to get the words onto the page and write what I have to say. Maybe it was just "one of those chapters". I've not told you this but I suffer from Anxiety and Depression, and recently I've found my anxiety has got a lot worse, so I've spent a lot more time away from the computer than I would've liked to. Last night a friend contacted me from my past, over the past year she has been bullying me to an extent over the internet after I wrote a post on bullying which you can see here. I was convinced it had stopped but then she's started to talk to me again and I can feel myself getting worse. Anyway I'm back and hopefully another chapter will be up soon. PLEASE REVIEW!HHH