spreading the news
The sun was just rising over the sea, but Ginny and Harry were already on their feet - but rather involuntarily. While Ginny knelt in front of the toilet, Harry squatted beside her, holding her hair out of her face with one hand and stroking her back soothingly with the other.
"I guess that's karma kicking in now," Ginny said glumly. "For fourteen bloody weeks I haven't thrown up once but now I'm throwing up so much you'd think I was making up for everything from the last few weeks." She looked at Harry with her face even paler than usual. "I didn't want our trip to end like this!"
He looked at her pityingly. "Hey, it's all good," he assured her.
"Nothing is fine! How am I supposed to get home tomorrow if I feel like I'm going to throw up every hour? And I thought morning sickness really only happened in the morning."
"You can take the potion the healer prescribed for you while we fly back. That should give you a couple of hours rest," Harry said, his eyebrows furrowing as Ginny threw up again. He didn't have much of a problem being here, holding her hair back and supporting her. Merlin's beard, he'd seen far worse things than vomit. It was rather seeing Ginny suffer like this that made it bad for him.
Harry reached for the roll of toilet paper and tore off a few sheets to hand to Ginny. She wiped her mouth and slowly stood up. She went to the sink and looked in the mirror. Three times that night she had woken up and run to the bathroom to throw up. So much for a relaxing holiday. She had bags under her eyes and her hair looked like it hadn't seen a brush in weeks.
"And I thought being pregnant was beautiful," she said sullenly, brushing her teeth, for the fifth time that day.
Harry's eyes and hers met in the mirror. "At least you're beautiful. And cheer up, it can only get better really."
Ginny narrowed her eyes. "Not helping, Harry!"
~
"Hello, baby," Harry said softly as his hand slid over Ginny's stomach. "Only about twenty-four more weeks and you'll really be between us."
Ginny smiled wearily. "Actually, he or she is already between us," she said, pointing to herself. She was lying on her side, half on top of Harry's rolled up bedspread. It was imperative that she bought a nursing pillow so Harry could sleep with a blanket again. She already wouldn't be able to sleep without his blanket as a pillow substitute - and she was only fifteen weeks pregnant.
"Ginny, Harry?" a voice rang out in the living room. It was Ron.
Harry sighed. "I'll go," he said quietly to her and stood up. Ginny instinctively pushed her top back over her stomach and pulled her own duvet up to her chest as well.
When Harry entered the living room of his and Ginny's flat, Ron was standing there and looked up when he noticed Harry. "What's up?" the latter asked.
"Hey, I was supposed to pick a sun protection potion up for me and Hermione from Ginny," Ron said.
Harry nodded slowly. "Ginny's in our bedroom."
Ron left the living room with Harry following him. "How was your holiday by the way? You guys had a pretty good time- Holy shit Ginny! You look awful!" said Ron startled when he caught sight of his sister.
"It's nice to see you too, Ron," Ginny replied quietly, smiling slightly. "The potion Hermione wanted is there on the dresser." She pointed her finger at the object.
"Does this potion really work?" asked Ron sceptically.
"Do Ginny and I look burnt?" asked Harry laughing in return.
His best friend shook his head. "No, but Ginny looks horrible enough, which leads back to my initial question. What happened to you, Ginny?"
"I must have caught something on holiday. Maybe it's food poisoning," Ginny lied. She didn't feel like telling her brother now that it wasn't food poisoning that made her look like a zombie and made her throw up almost every hour, but his future nephew or niece.
"I take it you won't be at Mum and Dad's tomorrow then," Ron concluded, to which Harry nodded.
"I suppose not."
"How fortunate that you have another week off and don't have to go straight back to training," Ron said, looking at his little sister sympathetically. "I hope you get better quickly." He stroked her forehead with one hand and gave her a smile.
"Thank you, Ronny!" she replied, smiling too. "We'll definitely be back at the family dinner next week."
"Yeah, Hermione and me too," her brother replied, rolling his eyes.
Harry raised his eyebrows. "You'll be on your honeymoon for less than a week?" he asked his best friend incredulously.
The latter shook his head. "Hermione couldn't take off more than five days. She promised me we'd make up for it sometime. Well, at least you had a nice holiday for the most part."
"You'll have your great honeymoon," Ginny assured her brother.
"I rather doubt it. If Hermione can't take more than five days off now, I don't know when it's going to get any better. After all, she's always so focused on her career, that sometimes she just abandons everything." Ron shrugged his shoulders. "I wonder if we should ever have children under those circumstances."
"Hey, you're only twenty-three, you're young, you've got ages to have them and you should give yourselves that time," Ginny countered, slowly sitting up in bed as she made sure the duvet didn't slip and continue to cover her stomach. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Harry trying to stifle his laughter. Yep, Hermione and Ron (who were both older than Harry and Ginny) should still take their time with children because they were so incredibly young. uite ironically. "And it will get better and you know it or you wouldn't have married Hermione," Ginny continued.
"Well, you're right. At least I hope so," Ron replied. "Thanks for the potion and all. I'll see you at Mum and Dad's next week then."
"Have a lovely honeymoon," Ginny said, grinning mischievously at her brother.
Ron laughed. "By Merlin, Ginny! Stop it!"
~
She slipped a loose hoodie over her head, which actually belonged to her husband, and looked at herself sceptically in the mirror. Good, nothing was visible from the side. She reached for her jeans and pulled them up over her trained thighs.
"Bloody hell!" she cursed loudly, looking down angrily.
"Are you all right, Gin?" a voice asked and she looked up to discover her husband standing in the doorway looking at her questioningly.
Ginny shook her head. "No, there's nothing wrong at all! My jeans won't zip up. This is the fourth pair I've tried on and none of them fit me anymore. Five weeks ago they fit!"
Harry dared to laugh softly. "Five weeks ago you didn't have such a visible baby bump either."
"I don't have a big belly! I'm only 16 weeks pregnant!"
"I never said you had a big belly either. But compared to how you've always had a very flat stomach, it's clear your trousers don't fit anymore," Harry replied, stepping closer to her.
Sighing, she leaned back against him. Their eyes met in the mirror. "What am I supposed to wear?"
Harry seemed to be thinking. "Isn't there a spell that can make your trousers wider at the top?"
"I don't know. My mum would be the one who knows something like that but I can't ask her because we're just telling her today that such a spell is even necessary!" she replied desperately. "You know what! I'll just put on a pair of leggings. Then I'll have to hear from my mum first that I look like I've just crawled out of bed, but then I can say, 'No mum, I only look like this because your grandchild is taking over my body right now and I can't decide for myself how fat my tummy is going to be!'"
Her husband laughed. "That sounds like a plan."
~
To her surprise, Molly said nothing about Ginny's style of dress as they entered the burrow. Molly seemed to be more interested in how her daughter was doing.
"Ron told us you've been ill. Are you feeling any better? It must have been really bad if even Ronald noticed you weren't feeling well," she said, eyeing her daughter critically.
"I'm fine again Mum, don't worry. I've been able to recover well over the last week and I'm fit enough now to start my training again the day after tomorrow."
Molly put a hand on her back and ushered her and Harry into the living room where all of Ginny's brothers were already present. "You should take another week off. Not that you'll get sick again and be all miserable."
"I'm fine, Mum!" retorted Ginny again.
"Really? You still look very pale," Bill remarked, stepping closer to his sister and eyeing her sceptically.
"I'm healthy! There's nothing wrong with me!"
At that moment Harry stepped up beside her and gently placed a hand on her lower back. "Maybe you'll just tell them," he said quietly, which did not go unheard by the Weasleys.
"Is there something wrong with you Ginny?" asked Ron worriedly.
Ginny heaved an exasperated sigh. "There is nothing wrong with me," she assured them. "Just please let me finish now and don't interrupt me all the time!"
She took a deep breath and looked at Harry, who nodded at her. "Okay." She paused for a moment. "A few weeks ago we found out something that was very unexpected-"
"Are you changing your Quidditch team? Are you moving to another country?" asked Molly.
"Molly, let her finish," Arthur reminded his wife.
"Thanks Dad. No, it has nothing to do with Qudditch and we're not moving to another country." She took another deep breath. "I'm pregnant."
Silence. No one said a word. Instead, everyone stared at Harry and her with wide eyes.
George was the first to regain his composure. "Haha, good one. For a brief moment you had me for real, Gin-Gin."
His sister, however, shook her head. "It's not a joke, Georgie. I'm sixteen weeks along and the baby's due in October."
"Really?" asked Molly quietly, to which Harry and Ginny nodded. "Oh, sweetheart! I thought you were going to wait!" She walked up to them both and hugged them.
"We were going to, but nature had something else in store for us."
"Are you happy then?" asked Molly cautiously.
Harry nodded. "It was hard at first because we are both so young, but yes now we are happy."
Molly let go of them both and as Ginny turned to her brothers she could see shocked faces. Waiting, she raised her eyebrows. "What do you think?"
"Wow," George replied. "The youngest of us is the second to have a child. Wow."
"I'm happy for you, Ginny," Bill said softly, pulling his sister into a hug.
"But- but how could you keep it a secret for so long? You- you don't look pregnant at all." Ginny broke away from Bill and looked at Ron, who stood with his mouth open.
In response, Ginny turned to the side and pushed her hoodie up a little so that her belly could be seen. "Do you believe it now?" she asked.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner, sweetheart?" asked Arthur as he hugged first his daughter and then Harry.
"We found out about two weeks before Hermione and Ron's wedding. We had to process it first and decide what to do. Then we didn't want to steal Hermione and Ron's thunder and then we were on holiday. Last week I got hit full on with nausea so I could barely move out of bed." Ginny shrugged. "There was always something that came up."
"Actually, I should be giving you a lecture on contraception right now, since you're only twenty-one and you always said you didn't want to have children until you were thirty. You shouldn't be so careless with that. Even if you forget once, something can happen." Molly sighed, "But I'm just way too happy for you." Her features softened and tears came to her eyes. She spread her arms and hugged them both again.
When she had regained her composure, she took a step back and surveyed Ginny. Instinctively, Ginny put a hand on her stomach and looked into her mother's eyes. She had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. Not here. Not in front of her brothers and sisters-in-law.
"I'm glad too Mum."