Chocolate & Pumpkin Ice Cream

"You are such a saviour, Hermione," Katherine told her handing baby Alexander to her. He smiled at Hermione and she smoothed his hair.

"You're actually lucky I have the day off. This merger business is taking it out of me. Sometimes I get so tired I feel like I could sleep for a week." Hermione had agreed to looked after Alexander for the day while Fred was at work and Katherine went to visit her sister who was at St. Mungo's due to being hit with a very nasty curse. She was recovering, though, and could eat solids.

Alexander twisted his small fingers into Hermione's hair and Hermione tried to pry him loose while Katherine watched. "Are you in love with him?" she asked.

Hermione almost dropped Alexander. "Excuse me?"

"I may be short-sighted," said Katherine, tapping the side of her glasses, "but I'm not blind. You'd have to be an idiot not to see there's something going on with you and George."

"Ron doesn't know."

"Like I said, you'd have to be an idiot not to see there's something going on with you and George." Katherine smiled. "I have to say this, though, you have very good taste; he's very attractive."

"You have to say that; you're married to his identical twin."

Katherine shrugged good-naturedly. "I suppose so. Are you ever going to tell everyone? You do realise how happy you'd make Molly, don't you?"

"This isn't about Mrs Weasley!" Hermione said sharply. "This is about us. We don't have to tell anyone if we don't want to."

"I don't think I'm the first person to get suspicious," Katherine told her honestly. "I was wondering if it was true, then Fred started talking in his sleep, so that kind of confirmed it for me. Amanda was asking me about you two the other day." Hermione bowed her head, little Alexander once again latching his small fingers onto her hair. "What exactly are we supposed to say to people? 'Oh yeah, by the way, we've secretly been seeing each other for the past two months. I don't think that's going to go down well."

"You can't keep this a secret forever, Hermione."

"We can try."

"Suit yourself. I'll be back at three o'clock to pick him up," Katherine said. She kissed the top of her son's head, then Disapparated.

Hermione looked at the baby in her arms. "You're not going to tell anyone about me and your Uncle George, are you Alexander?" He gurgled, looking up at her. "I didn't think so," Hermione said smiling. There was something about the youngster that made her smile, even though he couldn't talk yet.

"So what shall we do today, Alexander?" she asked, taking him into the living room where she and Katherine had set up his playpen. "Do you want to go and see your Grandma Weasley?" He gave her a blank look. "What about your Uncle Harry?" All of the Weasley children referred to Hermione as 'Auntie Hermione' and Harry as 'Uncle Harry'. A smile spread across his small face. "I'll take that as a 'yes', then," she said, placing him in the play pen with his toys.

She grinned at him. "If I ever get the urge to eat your Uncle George's cooking, please remind me not to," she said in the same bright tone she always used when talking to him. "Because right now, Auntie Hermione has to go and throw up."

"What are we doing here, George?"

George Weasley grinned at Hermione's question. "I just wanted some time alone with you. Is that a crime?"

"Depends what we're going to do," she replied with a smile as her took her hand in his. Out of the blue, George had come into work on his day off and taken Hermione out to a spot a few miles from their house. There was a small wood with a river running through it and the peace and quiet there was a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley.

Even though the leafy trees provided a lot of shade, it was still hot, and they had both shed their robes, preferring the less-suffocating confines of Muggle clothing. Dressed in a denim skirt that fell to just below her knees and a pale yellow blouse, her hair loose and just slightly curly, George thought that Hermione was a vision of loveliness, no matter how sappy that sounded.

"Why are you staring at me?" she demanded, almost angrily. "Have I got something on my face?"

"Only me," he told her.

"Huh?" He replied to her question with a soft kiss and she smiled. "What was that for?"

He shrugged as they continued to walk beside the river. "Just for you being you, I suppose," he said with an air of innocence.

Her smiled widened. "Well, if I get a kiss for being me, you definitely get one for being you," she told him. She kissed him and when she pulled away, George said:

"I think I'm going to have to be me more often."

"That would be nice," agreed Hermione. She sighed. "It's really nice here," she commented.

George nodded his agreement. "You know," he said slowly. "We could do thing like this more often if we didn't have to be so secretive."

Hermione bit her lip. "I don't know... I'm not sure if I'm ready to tell people about us."

"You do realise that half the Weasley's already know and the other half are starting to get suspicious." George looked at her pointedly.

"I know," Hermione said sullenly. "Can't I keep you to myself a while longer?" she asked, looking at him with large eyes.

"So we can tell everyone?" George asked hopefully.

"Are you sure you want to?" Hermione asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

George looked at her seriously before saying, "I love you more than I ever thought possible. I want to tell everyone how much I love you and to be able to shout it from the rooftops. I want to be able to go out on normal dates with you Hermione instead of those fake dates we had to fool Fred and the others."

They had gone out on a couple of dates to mess with Ginny and Fred's minds. The first date had involved George using a series of glamours to change his appearance, the second with Hermione using the glamours.

"I want to be able to kiss you like this in the middle of Diagon Alley," he kissed her with an intense passion and then said, "And I don't want to have to hide any more."

Hermione licked her lips. "If you kiss me like that every single day then you can tell the Minister of Magic for all I care."

"I can?" George asked in amazement. Hermione nodded. "When?"

"Well," said Hermione thinking. "Ginny's having that party tonight..."

"You're a genius!" George exclaimed. Hermione smiled.

"Do me a favour," she said.

"Anything."

"Kiss me before I change my mind," she ordered.

"Gladly," he told her, before pressing his lips to hers in a long, lingering kiss.

"So what are we celebrating?" asked Ron, accepting a drink for Ginny. She shrugged.

"Life," she said with a grin.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "This is just an excuse for you to get drunk, isn't it?"

"No!" protested Ginny, putting down her wine glass. "Anyway," she added. "I don't need an excuse." For what seemed to be no reason whatsoever, Ginny had invited her younger brothers (i.e. Ron, Fred, and George) as well as their spouses (at least, in Fred and Ron's case) and Hermione, as well as Harry and his long-term girlfriend, to her house (the one she lived in whilst in the UK).

Her boyfriend, Peter Orion, was there as well. Peter worked at the Daily Prophet as a journalist. He mainly worked on sports stories, though every once in a while he would break a major story which made it onto the front page.

"What would you do if Mum heard you talking like that, Virginia?" warned Fred, finishing the last of his pint.

Ginny considered this for a moment. "Run?" she suggested.

"She'd still find you," pointed out George.

"I'd just keep running," Ginny said confidently, sitting down next to Peter, who put him arm around her shoulders, almost by instinct.

"Are you ever going to get married?" Harry asked the couple.

"You're a fine one to talk!" pointed out Ginny. Harry blushed, and his girlfriend, one Laura MacAllister, giggled at his discomfort. She worked as a radio presenter for WWN (the Wizard Wireless Network) and was well-known for not being shy.

"Leave him alone!" she protested. Her eyes narrowed mischievously. "So are you ever going to get married?"

"We haven't really discussed it," clarified Peter. "Hang on a sec," he said holding up a finger. She stood, then positioned himself in front of Ginny. He bent down onto one knee and pulled a small box from his robes. "As cliched as it sounds, Virginia Weasley, will you do the honour of becoming my wife?"

Ginny's eyes widened in shock on disbelief, and she wasn't the only one who was surprised by this sudden development. The collected group seemed to hold their breath, waiting for Ginny's answer. She nodded, unable to say anything. Peter grinned and slipped the ring onto her finger. He kissed her then took his seat again.

"I'm glad we got that sorted out," he said, decidedly more relaxed than before.

Ron cleared his throat. "If anyone else is weirded out, raise your hand." Everyone else raised their hand, including Peter and Ginny. "Just checking," said Ron with a nod. "Would you come with us, Peter?" he asked as he and the twins stood.

"Uh, sure," said Peter, looking at Ginny. She smiled slightly and nodded. Reluctantly, Peter followed the three Weasley's into the next room.

"Where've they taken him?" asked Harry uneasily.

Amanda laughed. "Don't worry about him. I have it on good authority that they've been planning this speech since Ginny turned sixteen."

"Speech?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah. It's their 'You break our sister's heart and we will hunt you down before disembowelling you' speech."

"Ah. So it's similar to their 'Do anything to make our sister cry and we personally hang you from the ceiling by your ankles' speech," said Harry, nodding.

"Exactly," said Katherine. "They're very protective of Ginny."

"Don't I know it," said Ginny, glancing towards the door. "They're too protective sometimes."

"It is sweet, you'll have to agree," said Hermione.

The four men re-entered the room a few minutes later, Peter looking slightly shaken, but smiling nevertheless. "So what else have you got planned for tonight, Gin? Pregnancy?" asked Fred with a grin.

Ron obviously didn't see the funny side of this joke. "You shouldn't joke about things like that," he grumbled, sitting next to Amanda, who patted him on the arm.

"He's only joking, Ron," she said soothingly. She looked up at Ginny. "He is, isn't he?"

Ginny nodded hastily. Then she suddenly remembered her ulterior motive for bringing them to her house; she wanted to confirm her suspicions about Hermione. She stood up quickly, almost making Peter spill his Butterbeer. "Does anyone want another drink?" she asked.

Most of them declined the offer, but Katherine requested a glass of wine and Hermione asked for a glass of water. 'Perfect,' thought Ginny, hurrying into the kitchen to prepare the drinks.

The conversation about Ginny and Peter continued while Ginny was gone, and when she returned, Fred and George were discussing which of them got to be Best Man for the wedding. "Neither of you," Ginny told the both sharply. The twins pretended to look hurt, but Ginny could tell they were pretending - she had known them too long to fall for any of their tricks or acting.

Hermione gratefully accepted her tall of glass of water, and began to sip it. The water had a strangely metallic taste, Hermione decided, and she looked at the water to see if there was anything in it. She raised an eyebrow. "Ginny?" she asked. "Why is my water blue?"

Ginny smiled triumphantly. "You're pregnant," she said happily.

Hermione's face dropped, as did her water. The glass landed on the floor with a thud, but luckily didn't smash. Standing up suddenly, Hermione raced into the kitchen. It was then that Ginny realised what a monumental mistake she had made; Hermione hadn't known.

She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "I think someone should go and talk to her," she said quietly, ashamed of her mistake.

"I will," volunteered George after a moment, noticing that Fred and Harry were staring at him pointedly. He rose from his seat and walked quickly out into the kitchen where her found Hermione stood by the sink, another glass of water in her shaking hands.

"Hermione?" he asked quietly, shutting the door behind his so no-one could hear the conversation. "Are you all right?"

She turned to face him, looking pale and fighting back tears. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"For what?" he asked in confusion, approaching her and taking Hermione into his arms. She rested her head on his chest and took a deep breath.

"For getting pregnant," she told him tearfully.

"I'm not upset."

She looked up. "You're not?" He shook his head.

"How could I be?" he asked. Slowly, he placed a hand on her stomach. Hermione inhaled sharply. "I love you with all my heart and now this..." He trailed off, looking into her deep brown eyes. "I think my life is complete," he told her in a whisper. Hermione smiled.

"No matter how many times you tell me you love me, it still feels like the first time," she admitted. "I love you, George."

"Have we finished with the sappy stuff? Because I want to kiss you now," George announced with a grin.

"Be my guest," Hermione told him, allowing herself to be swept up in one of his long, passionate kisses.

In the room where the others were, it was a mixed-bag of emotions. Ginny was being comforted by Peter, who was convinced she had made the biggest mistake of her life. Katherine and Amanda were discussing how all the signs were there and that they should have realised sooner. Fred and Harry were talking in relieved tones about how George and Hermione couldn't keep their relationship a secret anymore, while Harry's girlfriend Laura listened attentively.

Ron, however, looked simply furious. "Okay, will someone please explain to me what's going on?" he asked angrily. "And who exactly is the father? I know for a fact that pregnancy isn't a one-person job."

There was an awkward silence. No-one was quite sure how to break it to him. After a moment, Ron got to his feet and marched towards the kitchen, intent on finding some answers.

He pushed the kitchen door open, and stood there in shock. His eyes widened, seeing Hermione and George in a passionate embrace. He fainted.