April arrived quickly, signifying that Hogwarts would be letting the students out on Easter Holiday.
Hermione had lost track of time during her stay at the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley devoted all of her time to dote on Hermione and the welfare of the unborn twins.
The constant attention, large meals, and loneliness from missing Harry were driving Hermione mad.
As she sought solace by staring into a Wizarding photo of Harry, she heard Ginny burst through the front door downstairs. The young Weasley's presence alerted Hermione as to what month it was.
"Mum!" smiled Ginny, hugging her mother excitedly.
"Oh, Ginny dear! How've you been? I've been worried sick about you at that school!" said Molly, beginning to examine her daughter for any visible injuries.
"I'm fine. Hogwarts has definitely changed, and not for the better," replied Ginny.
Hermione debated about going downstairs to greet her. After all, Ginny must have heard the news about her condition.
"Is anyone else home?" asked Ginny.
"Your dad's still at work, as is Percy. Fred and George are at the store…" replied Molly.
"Oh," Ginny frowned in disappointment.
"But…we do have a guest upstairs," interjected Mrs. Weasley slowly. Raising her voice towards the stairwell, "I expect her to come down and say hello anytime now!"
Hermione sighed, closing her eyes in defeat.
Accepting that she couldn't escape, she climbed slowly out of bed. Quickly dressing in a form fitting, long-sleeved button-down plaid shirt and jeans, she made her way downstairs.
Mrs. Weasley agreed that the Undetectable charm was a great idea, so Hermione still appeared thin. When in reality, she was now 6 months pregnant; and her growing bump was now huge.
Finally reaching the bottom step, Hermione located Ginny in the living room.
"Ah, here she is!" gestured Molly in Hermione's direction.
Ginny turned to face Hermione as she made her way further into the room, but kept a safe distance between them.
"Hello Hermione," acknowledged Ginny.
"Hi Ginny," replied Hermione cautiously.
Molly excused herself to begin preparing dinner before everyone returned home.
Minutes passed by in awkward silence.
Hermione, weak from her inability to sleep properly and added weight of the twins decided to sit down. Ginny stood, frozen; watching Hermione move slowly towards the couch, grasping her lower back for support. Absentmindedly resting her left hand on her stomach to soothe the babies from kicking, a gleaming light reflecting from her large diamond ring caught Ginny's eye.
"I heard, ya know," said Ginny bluntly.
Hermione met her gaze. She knew she would have to deal with this sooner or later.
"Ginny," Hermione began.
"Don't," interrupted Ginny.
"Who told you?" asked Hermione.
"Mum sent me an encrypted letter at Hogwarts. That, plus as soon as you entered the room you moved like a pregnant woman. You may not look it, but it's obvious," replied Ginny.
Averting her gaze, Hermione nodded slowly, "…Oh."
Ginny joined her on the couch.
"Hermione, you were always my best friend. How could you do this? You knew how I felt about Harry," accused Ginny. "You know how much I love him. And you not only sleep with him the first chance you get, but you allow yourself to become pregnant?!"
"Ginny, I don't know what you've heard exactly, or how much you know about what happened…but we honestly didn't plan for any of this to happen," pleaded Hermione.
"Right, you two just HAPPENED to become naked and you tripped and fell on his penis," seethed Ginny, realizing the level of her voice, quickly lowering it to avoid her mom overhearing their argument. "Let me guess, you two did it to 'stay warm'. Merlin knows a simple 'Incendio' spell couldn't possibly help with that."
"Gin," said Hermione.
"Don't call me 'Gin'. Friends call me that," interjected Ginny bitterly.
"Look, I can't tell you much about why it happened, but we believe it was caused by You-Know-Who," replied Hermione softly.
Ginny stared at her, studying her for a moment. Suddenly she burst out into laughter.
"That's the best you can do? Merlin, Hermione, if you were gonna make up some rubbish excuse I'd think you could do better than that!"
"It's true! Harry saw Vol-, You-Know-Who, plotting this with his followers at Malfoy Manor," Hermione persisted.
"Why would He want you and Harry to have kids?" scoffed Ginny.
"We think it was done to ensure that Harry wouldn't be able to continue fighting if they threatened not only me, but his unborn children. He knew Harry wouldn't continue to fight if we were to die."
Ginny sighed, considering this for a moment.
Gesturing her head towards the engagement ring, "And that? You two are..."
"...engaged," finished Hermione slowly.
"I see..." replied Ginny distantly, lowering her head and averting her gaze.
Approaching her next comment carefully, "I love him, Ginny. With all of my heart," assured Hermione sincerely.
"Well, I'm not thrilled about what's happened between you and Harry, but like Ron, I think I can learn to accept it....eventually," said Ginny.
Hermione offered her a small smile in return. "Thanks, Ginny. I've had no one else to really talk to about all of this."
Ginny took a moment to steel herself, "Well, I'm here. You can talk to me."
"Really?" asked Hermione uncertainly.
"Really," assured Ginny.
Both girls smiled, recalling the past few months to each other.