Chapter 7 - Family developments

Molly Weasley bustled about her kitchen, preparing a large meal for her family. They hadn't had a family dinner in several weeks and tonight she had finally gotten all of her children and their significant others' schedules to mesh. As she thought about each of the partners her children had chosen, she was happy for them, but she would be much happier if a few of them would formalize their unions. Just last week she had made the accidental discovery during a floo connection that Alicia was now living in Romania with Charlie. Angelina was living George, Ron and Hermione had been living together for almost a year and then two months ago, Ginny had promptly moved her things to Grimmauld Place. Bill and Fleur and Percy and Penelope were the only ones who had made their unions official, even though Molly was fairly certain that the others were well decided. She sighed and pushed aside her concerns as she focused her wand on a pie and began making fluffy meringue.

Before long, sounds of apparition announced the arrivals of her family. She hugged each as they appeared and everyone started to help with the final setup. Dinner was soon served and conversation lagged as everyone began stuffing themselves. As the last bites were taken and groans from the overstuffed began, the conversation picked up. At one point, Mr. Weasley took a sip of his butterbeer and a moment of quiet descended. Then four voices sounded in almost unison.

"I have an announcement.."

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked at each other as those around the table chuckled. There was a bit of back and forth on who would go first when Charlie spoke up and declared that they all go for it on the count of three. Charlie then counted down..1..2..3 and four voices shouted.

"'We're pregnant…grandparents...bit of a surprise...married soon…pregnant...going to be married."

It all garbled together, but the realization suddenly hit Mrs. Weasley and she passed out. Mr. Weasley caught her quickly, although he didn't look too steady himself. Percy immediately summoned the first aid kit from the kitchen, extracted an invigoration potion and then waved it under Mrs. Weasley's nose. She came to quite quickly and glared around the table at the many sheepish faces. Unable to speak, she nudged her husband and Mr. Weasley took over.

The chorus of announcements hadn't been entirely clear, so he asked all pregnant women to raise their hands. Immediately five hands went up: Fleur, Hermione, Ginny, Alicia, and Angelina. Mr. Weasley paled. Looking at Fleur's large belly, he told her to put her hand down as she was quite obvious. Then he looked at the other four.

"All of you, really?"

The hands went down as each nodded their assent. Then the men jumped into the discussion and each assured the Weasleys that they planned on marrying as soon as possible.

None of the four couples had shared their news with each other prior to dinner, but as they made their announcements they began to whisper amongst themselves. As Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stared at them palely and Percy grimaced at everyone, a decision was made. Why not a quadruple wedding? In a month? Yes, that sounded good. Mom? Dad? Mr. and Mrs. Weasley? A month, here at the Burrow? Too stunned for words, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley both nodded their assent. Then Mrs. Weasley stood up with a choking sob and left the table.

Ginny immediately got up and went to follow her. Hermione also stood and called for Ginny to wait. Next, Alicia and Angelina joined them as the four of them went in search of one distraught mother. They found her in the living room, sitting, staring at a wall. Ginny began with assurances that this was unplanned, but that the baby was not unwanted and that she really was in love and that she really wanted her mother to be happy for her. The other women made similar assurances and when they finished, Mrs. Weasley finally found her voice.

"How could every one of you allow this to happen? You're all smart, well educated, how in the world?"

Each of the women in turn confessed to different failures, each blushing in turn. Mrs. Weasley just raised her eyes to the ceiling and muttered something about education. Then she looked around at them and nodded resolutely.

"Well I guess we should get busy planning a large wedding."

Meanwhile outside, Mr. Weasley looked around at his sons and at Harry. He loved them all, but Merlin's beard, how had they all managed to be so dumb? Harry was the first to speak up, figuring he was the one who most needed to prove himself since he was marrying the only Weasley daughter. He detailed everything he loved about Ginny and promised he would do everything to be a good husband. Mr. Weasley looked at the young man and he was deathly pale under his dark hair. The scar on his head was even more obvious. Mr. Weasley loved the boy and had figured this day would come, but not so soon. Ginny was just eighteen. Then he realized that he had only been a year older when he married. At least there hadn't been a baby on the way to hurry a wedding. He muttered a few words at Harry, assuring him that he wasn't going to get violent, but that he just needed some time to adjust.

After that, the garden became quiet for several minutes until the women came out of the house. Arthur stood up and went to Molly. She had a bit of color back and seemed to have regained her senses. All of the women had been in discussion and a date was planned. Each woman looked to her fiancé for approval and they all agreed. The sooner the better, especially since Angelina was starting to show just a tiny bit.