Sometimes It Be That Way

...No Ella Cree Que Está Embarrazada

*

'So there's no simple explanation

for anything important any of us do

and yea the human tragedy

consists in the necessity

of living with the consequences

under pressure, under pressure.

Courage, my word, it didn't come, it doesn't matter,

Courage, it couldn't come at a worse time.'

~ Tragically Hip, Courage

*

The routine of the Granger household changed throughout the next week. Everyday, Hermione taught Ginny more about the Muggle world in case Ginny had to bring her child up in it. They watched old reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and watched new episodes of Charmed. Hermione used these TV shows to show the fact that they weren't real, and most Muggles didn't have to deal with vampires from Sunnydale or demons from San Francisco.

But these shows also taught life lessons. You can't always get what you want. You have to work hard in order to get the things you want, and sometimes they didn't actually come. Sometimes in order to get the things we want, some other preoccupation has to be dropped and it was important to decide what was more important to have: friends or a successful career as a witch. And usually when Hermione persisted that Ginny understand these lessons, Ginny complained that she already knew them and the two girls would fall back to watching the episode.

As the week wore on, Hermione noted that Ginny was eating twice as much as she usually did. Amused, she watched as Ginny gobbled down two chicken breasts, four whole potatoes, a couple of teaspoons of corn and nearly a jug full of water at dinnertime.

Caroline noticed this too and decided that she would have to cook bigger dinners so that her husband, Richard, could also eat the same amount of food like he usually did.

"I better make the grocery list," she observed as she got up from the dining table, bringing her plate and glass with her.

"I'm so sorry," Ginny quickly apologized. "I don't mean to intrude so much."

"Ah, nonsense," Richard said as Caroline went into the kitchen with her dishes. "You're part of the family now. What's our food is yours as well."

He excused himself from the table then and brought his plate into the kitchen as well. Hermione sighed and continued eating. As per usual, she was the last one finished eating and the last one to get up.

A small 'humph' came from Ginny. Hermione looked up from her plate to see Ginny staring up at the ceiling sadly.

"What's the matter?" Hermione asked.

Ginny sighed and shook her head, her eyes not leaving the ceiling, a sign that she was close to breaking down. "It's nothing," she said, her voice shaky. After a moment, she explained. "It's just I have to keep reminding myself that I'm eating for two now. Every time I eat like this, I keep thinking about cutting down to keep my figure and I forget that I'm pregnant." She shook her head again and looked down at Hermione. "It still doesn't seem real to me."

Hermione put down her fork and listened, realizing that this was important to Ginny. The younger girl looked away and concentrated on her nearly-empty glass of water. She frowned.

"Just knowing that I'm pregnant doesn't help," Ginny said. "I have to believe it, but it still comes as a shock to me when I remind myself to eat for two, you know? When I wake up in the morning and realize that I'm here, in your house, I always ask myself, 'What the hell am I doing here?' Then I remember I'm here because I'm pregnant. I'm here because I chickened out when I was going to tell my parents, and I ran away to someone I could trust to handle the situation better than I could."

"I don't know if I can handle that," Hermione told her, propping her elbows on the table and laying her chin on the top of her hands. "I mean, if I had been the one who had been pregnant, I would have freaked out."

"But you would have handled it better than I have," Ginny protested. "You would have gotten yourself on your feet and done something with your life while taking care of your baby. But now that I'm pregnant, I can hardly function. I don't know what to do anymore."

"Well, you got yourself here, didn't you?" Hermione pointed out. "You made it this far without a lot of help. That has to count for something."

Ginny's face softened a little. She took a deep breath. "I don't know," she said. "I don't know what to think anymore." Hermione saw tears finally form in her eyes. Ginny was frowning in thought and was trying hard to keep the tears at bay. "Can you bring my plate into the kitchen for me? I think I'll lay down."

Hermione nodded, and Ginny got up from the table, half-running to the bedroom. Hermione stayed at the table, looking at the door through which Ginny had disappeared through. She decided that Ginny needed a bit of space and went back to eating her supper. She was going to kill Harry the next time she saw him.

*

A/N: The title, 'No Ella Cree Que Está Embarrazada' is Spanish for 'She Doesn't Believe That She's Pregnant'. It's the best translation into Spanish I can do with only a year of Spanish lessons in high school, which is not a lot to go on, but I hope that the title is correct.