AN: If I was JK Rowling I would not be working right now...
The next few days passed quickly. I had gone out with Tonks and Ginny one of the days to get Sirius a present. It hadn't been easy trying to figure out a gift for him. What do you get the guy who has everything? In the end Tonks had helped me with an idea. It had taken some work but I had a feeling Sirius would be excited when he found out what I did.
"Baby you almost ready?" Sirius called up the steps. I looked at myself in the mirror and nodded. We had been invited to stay Christmas Eve so we could open up presents with everyone else the next morning. My parents would be coming over some time on Christmas day.
"Yeah I'll be down in a minute." I called adjusting my light blue sweater. It was hard for me to find clothing that fit these days. I seemed to be gaining weight. Sirius kept telling me it was all in my mind but I knew he was wrong. I was definitely bigger around the middle.
I ran down the steps and tossed my hair over my shoulder. Sirius was standing at the bottom of the steps and pulled me into his arms. He burrowed his face into my hair and breathed in deeply.
"You smell amazing Hermione." He whispered against my neck. I shivered and pulled away smiling.
"You smell pretty great too Sirius." I said taking a step back from him. He smiled at me flicking a strand of wavy black hair out of his eyes.
"Ready?" He asked holding out his hand for me. I placed my hand in his and we walked over to the fireplace.
He sighed grabbing a handful of floo powder. I knew he wanted to Apparate but it made me sick the few times we had done it.
"The Burrow!" He yelled clearly and stepped through the flames. I followed a moment later keeping my eyes tightly shut.
"Hermione!" Ginny and Luna called the moment I stepped out of the fireplace. They squeezed me between them holding me tighter than we usually did.
"What's wrong?" I asked immediately looking between Luna and Ginny. Both had slightly reddened eyes and looked pale.
"Hannah just sent both of us an owl. You must have barely missed the one she sent to you." Luna said in a hushed voice. I froze bracing myself for the worst. "Her mum was killed in a death eater raid. She's been pulled out of Hogwarts by her aunt." I took a pained breath and looked at the ground. Poor Hannah.
The rest of the day was slow and monotonous. Sirius tried to cheer me up but I was utterly depressed. Things were changing so fast and I didn't like it one bit. Ron asked me to play a game of wizards chess. He beat me in only fifteen minutes and I was twice as depressed than before. Sirius eventually led me away to Percy's old room where we would be spending the night. Mrs. Weasley had burst into tears when she had told us.
"Sweetheart please talk to me." Sirius said the moment I closed the door. I slowly slid to the ground my back against the door. He knealed in front of me and carefully wiped a tear from my cheek.
"I just," I sighed and blew out a breath. "I don't like how much things are changing. What happened to my childhood? I mean look at Harry as an example his childhood stunk." He wiped the tears from my cheeks and smiled at me sadly.
"I know its not fair to you and your friends." He said maneuvering himself next to me. "But that is one of the things we're fighting for. So no one else has to go through what you and your friends have. I hate the thought of having to teach first years how to defend themselves because their lives are at risk. But I do it because I would rather them know how to defend themselves rather than sitting listlessly in class unaware. They deserve better than that.
"So do our future kids," I flushed and Sirius pecked my cheek. "I want a world where we can have children who will be safe from the chaos of war. Where there won't be death eaters or crazy sociopaths. I want to change this world for the better." He said stroking his fingers through my hair.
We went to bed a little bit later and he held me in his arms. We had a whispered conversation about our future children. We had always seemed to avoid things that seemed taboo. Kids fell into that category.
"You want how many?" I gasped sitting up quickly to look at him. He could not be serious.
"Five is not that many." My mouth opened in shock and Sirius bit his lip to keep himself from laughing. "I'm only kidding I wouldn't want any more than three."
"Not funny." I said smacking him with my pillow.
"I thought it was." He said a grin spreading across his face.
"Easy for you to say you don't have to carry the child for nine months." I said smacking him with the pillow again. He fell back with a grunt and leapt at me pinning me to the bed. I shrieked and he nipped my neck playfully.
"SILENCING CHARM!" Sirius pulled away from me his eyed widening in shock. I flushed and covered my face with my hands.
"Oh Merlin." He whispered trying not to laugh.
"I won't be able to face them tomorrow." I said burying my face in the pillows.
"You have to its Christmas." He whispered then nuzzled my neck and actually bit me this time. I moaned deep in my throat and Sirius flicked his hand putting up a silencing charm.
The next morning when Sirius and I went downstairs it seemed everyone had a hard time making eye contact with us. I was wearing my pink Weasley sweater and was sporting diamond earrings Sirius had given me for Christmas.
"What about my present?" Sirius asked pulling out a chair for me.
I sat down and smiled. "After breakfast." Mrs. Weasley set a huge stack of pancakes in the middle of the table and I grabbed three.
"So," Remus said sitting at the table a cheeky smile spreading across his face. I blushed and quickly ducked my face. "Have a nice night?"
"It was fine." I muttered shifting uncomfortably.
"Is that a hickey?" Ron asked loudly. I blanched and dropped my fork.
"Tactful Ronald," Luna said smacking his shoulder. I held up my spoon to look at my reflection. Sure enough there was a nice mark on the side of my neck. I quickly pulled out my wand and tapped it against my neck.
"Sirius!" I hissed turning to my husband. He had a mouthful of pancake and looked at me innocently.
"What?" He whispered once he had swallowed. I glared at him but finally shook my head and went back to my pancakes.
"So my present?" Sirius asked once he was finished. I stood up slowly a smile spreading across my face. Ginny and Tonks squeaked and jumped up smiling. Harry looked at Ginny longingly but shook his head.
"Come on Honey." I said grabbing his hand and led him outside.
"Is that –?"
"Yeah its your motorbike. I got it back from Dumbledore and –" Sirius pulled me into his arms and slanted his lips against mine effectively cutting me off.
"Want to go for a ride?" Sirius asked a moment later.
"Can we go slow?" I asked looking at the large motorbike nervously.
"Course." Sirius and I spent the morning on the bike. He kept asking to go in the clouds but I absolutely hated flying. We eventually made it back to the Burrow. My parents were just pulling up when Sirius and I got off the bike.
"Mum!" I gasped looking at my mother her stomach was huge! She smiled at me and pulled me into her arms.
"Sweety you look fantastic. Marriage suits you." I smiled but a moment later I felt a strong kick.
"My gosh was that the baby?" She nodded smiling. Dad and Sirius shook hands and made their way to the house. Mum and I followed my arm wrapped around her waist.
"Jean you look fantastic." Mrs. Weasley said jumping up.
Everyone sat at the table smiling at each other accept for Ginny and Harry who were pointedly not looking at each other. We started in on the food and Tonks, Fleur and I talked about weddings.
"Do you ever feel nervous you might end up pregnant?" I asked them in a hushed voice.
"Sometimes." Tonks said her eyes flicking to Remus who was talking to Sirius.
"What would you do if you did become pregnant?" I asked shifting nervously.
"Deal with eet. Bill and I haven't talked much about it yet but if eet happens you can't really change eet." Fleur said tossing her hair over her shoulder.
"Hey Tonks I wanted to ask you something." Harry said suddenly. "Why did your Patronous change?"
"Well it was because I fell in love with Remus. An emotional up-heaval can change it and love is very emotional. Your parents had complimentary Patronouses or so I heard." A strange look passed over his face and he turned to Ginny. She was pointedly looking at her plate. Did Ginny's Patronous change?
"Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley said suddenly. She had risen from her chair; her hand was pressed over her heart and she was staring out of the kitchen window. "Arthur — it's Percy!"
"What?" Mr. Weasley looked around. Everyone looked quickly at the window; Ginny stood up for a better look. There, sure enough, was Percy Weasley, striding across the snowy yard, his horn-rimmed glasses glinting in the sunlight. He was not, however, alone.
"Arthur, he's — he's with the Minister!" I gasped and grabbed Fleur's hand. Before any us could say anything the back door opened and there stood Percy.
There was a moment's painful silence. Then Percy said rather stiffly, "Merry Christmas, Mother."
"Oh, Percy!" Mrs. Weasley said, and she threw herself into his arms. Rufus Scrimgeour paused in the doorway, leaning on his walking stick and smiling as he observed this affecting scene.
"You must forgive this intrusion," he said, when Mrs. Weasley looked around at him, beaming and wiping her eyes. "Percy and I were in the vicinity — working, you know — and he couldn't resist dropping in and seeing you all." Percy showed no sign of wanting to greet any of the rest of the family. He stood, poker-straight and awkward-looking, and stared over everybody else's heads. Mr. Weasley, Fred, and George were all observing him, stony-faced.
"Please, come in, sit down, Minister!" Mrs. Weasley fluttered, straightening her hat. "Have a little purkey, or some tooding… I mean —"
"No, no, my dear Molly," said Scrimgeour. "I don't want to intrude, wouldn't be here at all if Percy hadn't wanted to see you all so badly…"
"Oh, Perce!" Mrs. Weasley said tearfully, reaching up to kiss him.
"… We've only looked in for five minutes, so I'll have a stroll around the yard while you catch up with Percy. No, no, I assure you I don't want to butt in! Well, if anybody cared to show me your charming garden… Ah, that young man's finished, why doesn't he take a stroll with me?" I froze. He was looking at Harry a strange gleam in his eyes. The atmosphere suddenly changed.
"Yeah, all right," said Harry into the silence. "It's fine," he said quietly, as he passed Remus and Sirius, who had both half risen from their chairs. "Fine," he added, as Mr. Weasley opened his mouth to speak. The door shut and everyone turned to Percy.
"What are you really doing here?" George asked his voice dark.
"He came to see his family!" Mrs. Weasley snapped putting a plate of food in front of him. Percy looked down at it then his eyes snapped up above everyone's heads.
"What does Scrimgeour want with Harry?" Sirius asked his voice dark. Percy shifted uncomfortably but didn't say anything.
"You did come to see us right Percy?" Mrs. Weasley asked her voice wavering.
"Of course not he doesn't give a damn about any of us!" Fred said darkly glaring at Percy.
"He only cares about advancing his career." Bill said snidely.
"You're nothing but a backstabbing git!" Ginny said her eyes flashing. Everyone was staring at her shocked.
A moment later Percy was spluttering spitting out mashed parsnips. Ron was still holding up the spoon glaring at Percy. Percy glared at him and marched out the door his cloak billowing behind him.
AN: Please review! Tell me what you love, what you hate, ideas, anything.