sick
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 crouched 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 fine,' 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 more the thing of seeing Ginny suffer like that 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 dark circles 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 grumpily, 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 inevitable 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 get it,' 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?' he asked.
'Hey, I was supposed to pick up the sunscreen potion for Hermione and me 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 anyway? You guys had a pretty good time- Holy shit Ginny! You look like shit!' said Ron startled when he caught sight of his sister.
'It's nice to see you after three weeks 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 with a laugh.
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 of all times that it wasn't food poisoning that made her look like a zombie and made her throw up almost every hour thank you very much, but his future nephew or niece.
'Then I guess you won't be with Mum and Dad tomorrow,' Ron concluded, to which Harry nodded.
'Probably not.'
'Well, it's a good thing you've got another week off and don't have to go straight back to training,' Ron said, giving his little sister a sympathetic look. '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 nodded his head. 'Hermione couldn't shovel 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 one day,' 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 wanting to get higher in her career, not further down.' Ron shrugged his shoulders. 'I wonder if we should ever have children under the circumstances.'
'Hey, you're only twenty-three, you're so young you've got ages to do this 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. That irony. 'And it gets better and you know it or you wouldn't have married Hermione,' Ginny continued.
'Well, you're right. At least I hope so,' Ron then 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. 'Merlin, Ginny! Stop it!'