Chocolate & Pumpkin Ice Cream

"Is he going to be all right?" asked Hermione, looking worriedly at Ron. Amanda looked up from her husband's unconscious form. "He'll be fine. The same thing happened when I told him I was expecting."

"Yeah, but this is a double shock," Ginny reminded them.

Fred frowned. "That was a really horrible thing to do to them, Gin," he told her.

"Especially as we were going to tell you all about us anyway," added George. He placed an arm around Hermione, who had regained some of her colour, and she leaned against him.

"Stop making me feel bad!" pouted Ginny. "How was I supposed to know?"

"She has a point," agreed Hermione. She sighed, and looked slightly happier. "Well, everyone knows about us now," she said, looking up at George.

George winced. "Not everybody." Hermione looked puzzled, but a second later it sunk in. "Mum and Dad," he confirmed. Neither of them looked too happy at the prospect of telling Mr and Mrs Weasley that they were not only dating, but were expecting a baby.

Ginny grinned. "Oooh! I have to be there when you tell them! This is going to be so funny!"

George glared at his little sister, and at this moment Ron decieded to come round. He sat up slowly, and rubbed his eyes. "What happened?" he asked groggily.

"You fainted," Amanda informed him, handing him a glass of water.

Ron looked bemused at this, but a second later his eyes flicked to George and Hermione and he looked quite faint. "So you two..." he started. They nodded. "And that means that he's..." Ron looked at George. Hermione nodded. Ron blinked. "My brother and my best friend."

Hermione and George smiled at each other and Ron groaned. "Since when?" he asked, almost fearfully.

George answered this, looking slightly uneasy. "Since the wedding."

"Whose wedding?" Ron demanded, and Amanda put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to try and calm him.

In a small voice, George answered, "Yours." Ron turned bright red, and he opened and closed his mouth as though he wanted to say something but couldn't quite put it into words.

"Relax, Ron," Amanda told him gently.

"Relax?" he exploded, standing up and started to pace the room. "They were doing it at my bloody wedding! How am I supposed to relax?"

Hermione sighed. "Subduo," she murmured, pointing her wand at him. Ron stopped pacing instantly and stood on the spot, a relaxed and peaceful expression on his freckled face.

"I'd better take him home," Amanda announced, standing up. "He might do something drastic if I don't." She took hold of her husband's arm. "I'll see you all soon." With this goodbye, she Disapparated with Ron in tow.

"Let's just hope your mother doesn't act like that," Hermione said quietly, to George. Fred, however heard this and snorted.

"Hardly! She's going to be estactic! She's all ways said you're like one of the family," he told them. This seemed to reassure Hermione slightly, though she still wasn't looking forward to telling Molly and Arthur.

Harry and Laura, who had been talking quietly while Ron had been having his little rant, stood at this point. "We'd better get going," said Laura, as Harry slipped an arm around her waist. "I'm doing an early morning slot tomorrow and I want to get a good night's sleep!" They had Disapparated with a 'pop' before anyone could say goodbye.

Ginny pulled a face. "I'm not even going to ask," she muttered under her breath.

Katherine looked at her watch. "What do you reckon, Fred? Should we relieve Grandma Weasley of her baby sitting duties?" she asked.

Fred shrugged. "Why not?" He walked over to George and shook his twin's hand. "Congratulations, George," he said with a grin. Leaning closer, he added, "And good luck with Mum!" Fred hugged Hermione and kissed her cheek before walking over to his wife. "See you later, everyone!"

When they had Disapparated, Ginny turned to George and Hermione. "Are you angry?" she asked nervously.

"I'm over anger," said Hermione seriously, but with a wicked smiled she added, "I'm on revenge now."

"I don't know what scares me more," said Ginny. "The fact that George is going to be a father," George grinned broadly at this, "or the fact that I can't tell whether you're serious or not." Hermione merely smiled.

"So how do you think Mummy and Daddy Weasley are going to react to this news?" Hermione asked. George merely shrugged. The day after Ginny's 'party' had been spent just the two of them reflecting on everything and spending some time together. Now, the day after that, they were preparing to go to the Burrow and explain themselves to Mr and Mrs Weasley.

"They'll be fine about it. Just be careful Mum doesn't break your ribs when she hugs you." He grinned and Hermione scowled. She had been subject to one of Molly Weasley's bone-crushing hugs before and knew exactly what George meant by this.

"Good. They can't be any worse than my parents." Rather than go to Hermione's parents, who were currently backpacking across Australia, Hermione had managed to get hold on them on the telephone. Needless to say, the conversation between Hermione and her mother had lasted over an hour.

"Are we Flooing or Apparating?" asked George as Hermione collected up her coat.

"Apparating," Hermione confirmed. "Flooing makes me feel even sicker than I do already."

A couple of moments later, the couple were stood in front of the Weasley family home, the Burrow. Hermione smiled, thinking about how the place hadn't changed since the first time she had been there after her first year at Hogwarts. Her smiled faded as she remembered what they were about to do. George gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and he smiled down at her. He kissed her cheek and together they went in.

Molly Weasley was busy in the kitchen. Cooking seemed to be her way of dealing without any children to look after, and there was always the smell of something baking lingering in the air.

"Good morning, Mum," said George brightly. Molly turned, a smear of white flour across her cheek. She wiped it off and took George into a hug.

"George!" she cried. "How's my favourite son this morning?"

"Hey!" protested a voice. Until then, neither George nor Hermione had noticed Charlie Weasley who was sat in the corner of the kitchen reading the Daily Prophet."

"Sorry, Charlie. You know I love you boys all the same. And how are you, Hermione? I wasn't expecting you or George."

"I'm as well as could be expected," Hermione told her simply. "Actually me and George came to tell you something."

"Really?" Molly looked slightly surprised, but with George anything was possible. "Sit down first. Would you like a cup of tea?"

George nodded, but Hermione requested a glass of water. They sat down at the table, opposite Charlie. Charlie looked at Hermione, a curious expression on his face.

Placing the drinks on the table, Molly took a seat, drying her hands with a tea towel as she did so. "So what did you want to tell me? It is something about 3W?"

"Not exactly," said George. "It's about Hermione."

Molly looked worried. "What is it? You're not ill, are you dear?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, definitely not ill," she said.

"Then what?"

"George knocked her up!" cried Charlie suddenly, looking amazed.

The expression on his face was nothing compared to that of Hermione's or George's. Hermione turned a very pale shade of her normal colour, even looking slightly green. George of the other hand look half decidedly embarrassed and half incredibly frustrated and annoyed with his brother.

Charlie was astounded. "I was right?" he asked weakly, looking at the two of them.

"I think we were going the phrase it differently," said Hermione slowly, regaining some of her colour after the initial shock.

She was cut off, however, by Molly Weasley who practically smothered her with a hug. When she finally released Hermione, she began bombarding them with questions.

"How long have you been dating?"

"Since Ron's wedding," Hermione admitted.

"How far along are you?"

"We have no idea," George told his mother, realising that they honestly didn't know how long Hermione had been pregnant for.

Then, a while later came the question that both of them had been anticipating: "Are you going to get married?"

Both George and Hermione looked rather uneasy. "Not yet," Hermione said.

"We're not ready," George continued.

Molly didn't look too happy about this. "But you're ready to have a baby?"

"They never actually said that," pointed out Charlie. His mother gave him a dark look but he shrugged it off. "I'm only telling the truth," he said honestly.

"We weren't exactly planning for this to happen," admitted George, and Hermione nodded her agreement. "We hadn't even officially announced our relationship before we found out."

Although it was obvious she wasn't completely satisfied with this answer, Molly nodded. She turned to Hermione, a mischievous glint in her eyes, reminiscent of the twins when they were about to do something they weren't supposed to. "Would you like something to eat, Hermione. I've just got some ice cream in."

Hermione perked up slightly at this. "Yes, please. Um, do you have any chocolate and pumpkin flavour?" she asked.

Mrs Weasley's eyes widened. "Chocolate and pumpkin?" she repeated. Both George and Charlie gave their mother a funny look, wondering why she was acting so strangely about this request.

Hermione nodded. "Yes. Is there a problem, Molly?"

"I think I need to sit down," Molly told her weakly.

"You are sat down, Mum," Charlie whispered.

"Oh, good, good," she said weakly, staring at Hermione in awe, while the others all looked at her, completely bemused by her behaviour.