Sometimes It Be That Way

...Tell Them

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'When I told my parents that I was pregnant, it was the only time they ever looked small to me.'

~ Lorelai Gilmore, Gilmore Girls (Rory's Birthday Parties)

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The confrontation was inevitable. Sooner or later, Ginny's parents would contact Hermione on the whereabouts of their daughter or to ask her if she would like to come over to their home for the rest of the summer holidays.

That summer, the two of them came personally, Molly and Arthur. It was around lunchtime, about a week and a half since Ginny had first come over, and both of Hermione's parents were out working. Hermione was reading Good Magic while Ginny was watching a Charmed rerun, the one where the three sisters each lose one of their senses and have to protect Piper's baby from an evil hag.

The doorbell had rung and Hermione put her book down to answer it, giving Ginny an encouraging smile when she saw that Ginny looked a little apprehensive. Hermione went into the foyer and opened the door, surprised at seeing Mr. and Mrs. Weasley on the front step. She was even more surprised that she was surprised about something she knew was bound to happen.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," she greeted cheerily, trying to make her voice loud enough so that Ginny could hear it in the living room. "What are you two doing here?"

"May we come in?" Molly asked anxiously.

Hermione opened the door wider. "Sure, sure," she said. They walked awkwardly into the foyer and each gave her a weak smile, but she could see the unmistakable signs of worry lines around their eyes and mouths. She caught Arthur trying to soak in every detail of the foyer, his habit of wanting to learn everything about Muggles kicking in. "What can I do for you?"

"We actually came by to see if you knew where our daughter is," Molly explained, holding onto her purse so tightly Hermione thought for sure that the material would break underneath her fingertips. She could tell that Molly was distraught, even though she seemed to be forcing it down.

"Um..." Hermione started, unsure of whether she should tell them the truth. A sneaked glance into the living room behind her told her that Ginny was gone, but then her eyes focused on the anxiety in Molly and Arthur's eyes and she decided it was time to come clean. "Yes, I have," she said, keeping her voice steady and calm. The two Weasleys seemed to brighten up and she noticed that the tenseness in the room had lessened a little. Now, she could only feel herself tense.

"Is she here?" Molly asked immediately, shakily smiling in joy and happiness that was mirrored in Arthur's face. They looked as if they wanted to dance around for joy but had thought better of it out of sheer politeness. "I want to see her."

Hermione nodded and went into the corridor that led to the bedrooms, the two Weasleys following her. She knocked on her own door, announcing her arrival to Ginny and said through the door, "Ginny, you have to tell them. Better do it now rather than later." When no sound came, she slowly opened the door and looked inside. Ginny was on her bed, the blanket covering her completely. "Gin..."

No sound came from the bed. Hermione looked behind her and saw Molly and Arthur looking at her in askance and confusion. She sighed and went to sit on Ginny's bed. She gently shook Ginny's shoulders and said, "Ginny, you need to tell them." Nothing still. "If you don't tell them, I will, but I think it would be better if you told them yourself."

Still, no peep out of Ginny. She looked under the blanket to make sure that it was actually Ginny under there and found that it was. She shook her head and replaced the blanket back over Ginny before ushering Molly and Arthur out of the room and into the living room, leaving Ginny to sleep. Molly and Arthur sat on the couch and she sat on a chair across from them.

Molly looked concerned and asked, "What's happened? What does Ginny need to tell us?"

Hermione took a deep breath and looked at their concerned faces. The pair of them were preparing themselves for the worst. Their faces were anxious and Molly looked as if she knew what was going to happen next and she didn't like it. Hermione let out the breath that she had been holding and started, "Uh... I don't know how to tell you this but--"

She was cut off by Ginny who had appeared behind her parents in the entrance from the corridor to the living room and said, "I'll tell them, Hermione."

Her parents turned around on the couch, hope on their faces. Molly looked so happy to see her daughter up and okay that she jumped off the couch and enveloped her in a big hug. Arthur was not far behind, and in all the confusion, Hermione discreetly got off the chair and went into the foyer before going through the entrance into the kitchen, closing the swinging door behind her silently.

She went over to the stove and filled the teapot on it with hot water before letting it boil to make herself tea. She got an herbal tea bag out of one of the little boxes Caroline kept in the cupboard and put it into a mug, her body tense and waiting for any sign that would tell her to go back into the living room to support Ginny. Once the water was properly boiled, she filled her mug with water and took a teaspoon. Stirring the tea bag about brought out the herbs and she took it out and put it in the garbage, slamming the cover back on it a little roughly in her tenseness.

After adding any milk and sugar that she wanted in her tea, she sat on a stool at the counter and waited. She could just make out muffled voices from the living room, some low and some high and anxious. However, she stayed where she was and let Ginny have her time with her parents to give them the news, sipping her tea.