Chocolate & Pumpkin Ice Cream

Strolling in from the garden, Arthur Weasley looked around the kitchen of the Burrow in bewilderment. "Molly, dear, what's going on? You look a little... flustered."

Molly looked up at her husband. She had gone a bit pale, but her cheeks were very red. "George," she managed to say after a moment. "And Hermione..."

"Are dating?" Mr Weasley finished. "Yes, dear, I know."

"How did you know?" asked George in amazement.

"I have six sons, George. I can tell when one of them is in love."

"Hermione is pregnant," Molly managed to say, sounding helpful.

"Well, that's nice, dear."

"You're not shocked?" asked Charlie, sounding disappointed. He had obviously been hoping that Arthur would be angry about the situation, but it seemed that he was coping with it very well.

Busying himself with the kettle, obviously to make a cup of strong tea for his wife, Arthur answered, "Not at all. It was rather inevitable, wasn't it?" As he poured the hot water into the tea pot, silence fell over the kitchen until a meek voice asked:

"And which flavour ice cream is she craving?"

Charlie's wife, Meredith, was stood at the kitchen door, looking slightly tired. Of course, she had been baby-sitting for her sister-in-law Shannon, Bill's wife. Baby-sitting for young Wizards was hard enough, but when you're a Muggle it makes things a little tougher.

"I think she said it was chocolate and pumpkin, honey," said Charlie.

Meredith looked thoughtful. "Chocolate and pumpkin. Molly, isn't that the flavour you craved when you were expecting..." Molly nodded, and Meredith's eyes widened. "Oh."

Molly nodded again, and looked at Hermione who was looking bemused, to say the least. "What exactly are you on about, Molly?"

Charlie answered this. "I think I know. Well, sort of. Apparently a woman having a Weasley baby always craves ice cream. Oh, and the flavour is different depending on the baby." He looked at his wife for confirmation of this, and she nodded. "But I don't know where the chocolate and pumpkin comes into this."

"That's the flavour your mother liked when she was expecting Fred and George," Arthur said, placing a hot, sweet cup of tea down in front of his wife. He passed another cup to Hermione who took it gratefully.

"Oh," said George. Then the full implication of what his father had just said sunk in and his eyes widened in shock, his eyebrows almost disappearing into his hair. Hermione went very quiet and stared deeply into her cup of tea.

"Um, I think I should get going. I really wanted to go and see Ron before we went home," she gabbled quickly.

"Oh, he's upstairs," Molly told her, understanding why she wanted to get out of there.

"I'll go," volunteered George.

"No, I will. He'll probably be the cause of some serious bodily harm if you go, and I want you in one piece," Hermione told him with a small smile.

She stood up, and left the kitchen quickly, making her way up the rickety stairs to Ron's old room. 'Ronald's Room' was still proudly displayed on the door, and she knocked twice before going in. Pushing the door open, she was greeted by the vivid orange wallpaper, which was still there from Ron's childhood.

Ron was sat on his bed, looking rather morose and flicking through what appeared to be a photo album. "Can I come in?" she asked timidly. Ron shrugged indifferently.

Hermione sat on the end of his bed, sitting in silence for a moment, before saying; "So. What are you doing?"

Ron said nothing, but passed her the photo album. It was full of Wizard photos of him, Harry and Hermione during their years at school. They were grinning and waving from every page of the book. The page it was currently on was a picture of a large group of Gryffindors, obviously taken by a young Colin Creevey. Hermione was stood between the twins who had their arms around her. They were dressed in their Quidditch robes, meaning that the picture was probably taken after Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup in Harry, Ron and Hermione's third year.

She smiled at the memory, then looked at Ron, who was staring at her, a curious expression on his face. "Why didn't you tell me about you and George?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know. I... think that it was because me and George had been such close friends, we didn't know how you'd react."

"What about everyone else? You told them before me," said Ron angrily.

"Actually they found out by accident. Harry found out when I accidentally kissed him," Ron looked at her, a confused expression on his face, "he looked like George," she explained. "Fred... I can't remember how he found out. And Ginny kind of came around to our house one morning and, uh, heard us."

It took Ron a couple of seconds to comprehend this, but the moment he did, he turned bright red and pulled a face.

"Yuck! I have a nasty mental picture now." Hermione scowled, and Ron laughed at her. "Sorry, but you and George. It's a bit strange, you have to admit."

Hermione shrugged. "I suppose."

Ron suddenly looked excited. "Can I be godfather? Please?"

At this request, Hermione looked rather sheepish. "Um, well, I suppose you can be for one of the babies."

"Come again?"

"Well, your parents have come to the conclusion that we're having twins."

Ron fainted.

"I don't know how you're going to cope," Shannon said, sympathetically. "One baby is hard enough to look after, let alone two!"

"And remember who their father is," Amanda reminded her. Hermione smiled.

"It won't be too bad," she said. She looked at Molly, who nodded in agreement.

"When the twins were babies all they did was sleep and eat," she explained.

"Not much has changed then," muttered Katherine.

Once again, all the Weasley women, now including Hermione, had been invited around to the Burrow by an excitable Molly Weasley. The news that she was expecting two grandchildren, well, three actually, and her only daughter was getting married had only been surpassed by the news that Penelope had gone into labour earlier the previous day and given birth to a baby girl, whom they had named Anastasia.

A midweek visit to St. Mungo's by Hermione and George confirmed that she was nearly (though not quite) two months pregnant, which meant that it must have happened either on the day of Ron's wedding or shortly afterwards. The doctor also confirmed Molly's suspicions that Hermione was having twin, although George and Hermione had decided against using a spell to detect the babies gender. Of course, it was still too early for that spell to be cast, anyway. Both Hermione and Amanda were being bombarded with pregnancy and child care tips, much to Hermione's chagrin. She had only just recovered from the initial shock that she was expecting, and it was all becoming a little too much for her to take in.

"Oh, I can't believe one of my daughters-in-law is having twins!" Molly exclaimed.

"She's not your daughter-in-law yet," pointed out Ginny, and Hermione glared at her.

"Why is everyone so fixated on us getting married?" Hermione groaned. "Amazingly you can have a relationship and not be married. It's not exactly a sin anymore."

"My parents didn't get married until I was five," said Shannon. "I was a bridesmaid."

Molly didn't look too happy about this, but if she was going to say something she couldn't as she was cut off by Hermione. "Exactly. Anyway, even if we started planning now it will take a few months for us to get organised and I'll be huge by then! I'm not walking down the isle with my stomach straining against the dress!"

Ginny smirked at this, and was obviously trying not to laugh at this particular image of Hermione. Hermione elbowed her in the ribs and said, "Don't laugh, Miss Weasley, you'll probably be next."

The redhead scowled, sending a ripple of laughter around the table. "At least I won't be pregnant when I'm going down the isle."

Hermione shrugged. "If and when George and myself do get married I shan't either. Can we now turn the attention to Amanda?" she asked. "After all, she was pregnant before me."

Amanda, who had been sat quite quietly until then, pulled a face. "Thanks, Hermione. You know how much I like all the attention on me." Amanda was notorious for sinking into the background when she wasn't involved in the conversation. Not that she minded; she was a wallflower by nature rather then choice.

"So has Ron started picking names yet?" teased Katherine. Amanda nodded miserably.

"He's convinced that it's middle name, regardless of gender, is going to be Chudley," she explained.

"Are you going to let him down gently?" asked Ginny.

Amanda snorted. "Hardly. If he dares suggest it again I know some pretty good curses."