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"Mione…" The way that Fred said Hermione's name, it was almost as if he was purring it, but it was enough to stir the girl from her slumber. She was curled up in the armchair in the nursery with a blanket draped over her, and she knew for a fact that the blanket hadn't been there when she had fallen asleep, not that she had intended to fall asleep in the first place.
She'd been doing better on the exhaustion front. It was no longer constant and she was glad that she had managed to leave that all behind in the first trimester. She was now twenty-five weeks pregnant though and she often found that on days that she was particularly busy she was likely to fall asleep wherever she dropped. Today was definitely one of those days.
They'd only just moved into their new house a week ago and Hermione had found herself wanting to start decorating the nursery immediately, even though they still had four months to go until their baby would even arrive. Hermione hadn't even started to unpack her own room - the bed was almost completely covered in boxes, not that that was a problem considering that she spent most of her nights in George's bed and when she wasn't there she was in Fred's. She was still determined to create her own space before the baby arrived, but it didn't seem to want to be a priority just now.
"Dinner's ready, love," Fred said softly as he swept a strand of her wild hair away from her face and pressed a kiss to her temple. Food was probably the only thing that Hermione would forgive anyone for waking her up for nowadays. She often joked that if she wasn't absolutely positive that this was Ron's biological child before then she was now as she always seemed to be hungry.
Hermione gave him a small smile before she removed the blanket from her lap. "Who cooked?" She asked as she allowed him to pull her to her feet. She was extremely lucky to live with three of Molly Weasley's sons, all of whom had inherited her talents in the kitchen. Neville wasn't much of a cook, but then neither was she so they mostly just left the Weasley men to it.
"Georgie. We're having Carbonara. Apparently, you tried to make him get you some in the middle of the night?" Fred raised an eyebrow slightly with a laugh as the pair of them headed out onto the landing.
Hermione gave him a sheepish smile in return. "Not for me, for the baby."
"You're going to use that excuse all the time now, huh?" Fred hummed, squeezing her hand before letting go and heading down the stairs in front of her.
"It's not an excuse." Hermione rolled her eyes as she followed him. "It's the truth." She didn't care if he believed her or not, she supposed that he hadn't had much experience of being around pregnant women - she hadn't either. Fleur was pretty much the only person that she was able to talk to about it who understood.
"Whatever you say, love." Fred flashed her a grin and Hermione just shook her head. She adored the man with all her heart, and she knew that he was just trying to get a rise out of her, which she realised was working.
She decided not to respond as she headed into the kitchen and sat herself down between George and Neville. It was her usual seat for reasons that she didn't even quite understand, logic would dictate that she should sit between the twins after all, but it never seemed to work that way.
**
After dinner, Hermione felt as if she could just fall back asleep again but she forced herself to stay awake. She couldn't spend her whole life sleeping, or at least that was what she told herself as she helped Neville to clean up and enjoyed some time with one of her best friends, even if it was just doing a menial task.
Hermione's work schedule was still pretty busy so she didn't really get a lot of time at home and when she was here then Neville was visiting his gran's - or to be more precise the greenhouse she had there. He was quite secretive about what he was doing there, but Hermione figured that it was all in his plan to secure a teaching position at Hogwarts.
"You should be putting your feet up." Neville chastised her when she brought him the last plates from the table. "Take some time to rest for once."
"I already had a cat nap." Hermione pointed out with a small shrug. She wasn't made of glass so she wasn't going to let him or anyone else treat her in such away. She also knew that she couldn't spend her entire life sleeping or she would miss out on far too much.
Neville shook his head slightly but gave her a small smile as he continued to wash the dishes. Hermione wasn't ashamed to admit that she enjoyed washing up with Neville - he wasn't keen on the idea if breaking anything if he got a spell wrong so he would wash them by hand. Hermione dried them by hand in a show of solidarity, but also because it reminded her of when she was a child and when her whole family would band together to get them done. It had been a much simpler time, that was for sure.
Just as they were finishing up, Ron came into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Neville from behind. Hermione saw his press a kiss to the back of Neville's neck and made herself look away. There were no residual feelings left over for Ron but that didn't mean that she didn't find the public displays of affection somewhat awkward. Ron had never been this openly affectionate with her, after all. Though now she knew why that was, it didn't take the sting of it away.
"Almost ready for bed?" She heard Ron ask him against his neck and she shook her head slightly before she dried the last dish and decided to step away. She wasn't going to intrude on their private time together for any longer than necessary even if they had started said private time in the kitchen.
She headed through to the living room where she found that something was standing in the corner that hadn't been there that morning. She blinked a couple of times as she wondered if she was hallucinating or if the Christmas tree was actually there and already decorated. There wasn't much in the way of other furniture in the living room other than the tree though.
"Is it really that time of year already?" She asked aloud, not really expecting anyone to answer her but just then a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind.
"Time does this weird thing where it's always travelling forward." Fred hummed, giving her a gentle squeeze before Hermione pulled away to turn and face him.
"I really don't think you need to be telling me that." Hermione laughed, glancing down at her bump which always seemed to be growing. "I just forgot what time of year it even was. It doesn't seem all that long ago that I was able to sunbathe while reading a book."
"No, I suppose not, but summer also feels like an entire lifetime ago." He said softly, cupping her cheek in the palm of his hand and running his thumb over her skin. "You two doing okay? You look -"
"Please don't say tired." Hermione groaned before she turned her head to press a kiss to the base of his palm. "I'm perfectly fine. We're both fine." She told him with a soft smile. "Though I won't argue with you if you'll come and hang out with me in bed." She added, her fingers interlacing with his as she took his hand into her own.
"I have a couple of things that I need to do first, but I'll join you soon, promise." He said softly, squeezing her hand before he carefully pulling away.
Hermione couldn't help the sigh that escaped her. She knew that he had a business to run, but she couldn't help feel like she had the right to be selfish just now and expect him to spend time with her. "Okay, can't promise we'll still be awake though."
Fred pressed a kiss to her temple by way of a reply and Hermione watched him as he headed out of the living room, presumably back into the dining room which often doubled as his office in the evenings. Hermione closed her eyes tightly for a moment before she regrouped and headed up the stairs to George's room where she hoped that he was hiding out.
He preferred to spend his evenings up there rather than in the living room, which Hermione thought was fair enough. She liked to bother him up there anyway, though if she framed it that way, he often got upset about her phrasing.
"Want some company?" Hermione asked from the doorway, unsure if she should just walk in when she was the one that she had made such a big deal about them all having their own space.
"Hey, beautiful. Of course, come on in." He was sat in a chair in the corner, hunched over a sketchbook but as he looked up at her, he closed it and put on the windowsill.
Hermione made her way into the room and sat on the edge of his bed, her eyes flickering over his face as she tried to figure out whether he actually wanted her there or if he was just being kind, but it didn't take long before he joined her on the bed, bumping his shoulder against hers gently.
"Why the long face?" George asked, his head tilted to the side slightly side in a way that reminded Hermione so much of a puppy-dog that she couldn't help but give a small laugh.
"Just feeling weird, I guess. It's Christmas, somehow? And I dunno. Christmas… it's…" She trailed off as she realised what the problem was. It was another Christmas without her parents. She couldn't even remember the last Christmas she had celebrated with them and it was starting to take its toll on her. "I miss them." She whispered as she moved back on the bed, crossing her legs underneath her. She knew that she didn't have to tell him who she meant - George understood her, had always understood her better than anyone else.
Instead of saying anything patronising, he pressed a kiss to her cheek then kissed along her jaw to her lips. He understood her, but also knew when to push her into talking and when she would rather be distracted. And he knew exactly what buttons to press to get her to relax.
She let out a soft noise as she wrapped her arms around his neck and let him lie her down on the bed. All her worries seemed to melt away into the pillows as he kissed back along her neck. His lips soon found her ear and her back arched ever so slightly. The ear was a new place, but she couldn't say that she disliked it at all, in fact, she would say the exact opposite. Her heart hammered in her chest as she let her emotions take over, and let George take all of her worries away.
**
There was something about waking up in the middle of the night for a snack that had started to appeal to Hermione. She knew that it was another side effect of her pregnancy, but it kind of felt right to be able to get up when the rest of the house was asleep. Tonight something felt off, however, and as Hermione made her way down the stairs, she couldn't quite put her finger on it. At least not until she saw a soft blue light coming from under the living room door.
With a small frown on her face, Hermione carefully pushed the door open to see Fred was standing under a string of Muggle fairy lights that he hand fixed to the ceiling. He seemingly hadn't heard the door open as he didn't look around or even move, just stood there with the light reflecting off of his face. Hermione let herself watch him for a few minutes before she moved forward to touch his arm and then wrap her arms around him from behind.
"What are you doing up?" Fred asked without looking round at her. Hermione could feel him tense under her touch which only caused her concern to rise. She didn't know what was going on with him but it seemed to be serious.
"I could ask you the same thing." Hermione hummed, loosening her arms slightly but deciding not to pull away from him. He didn't pull away from her after all, which had to mean something. "Are you okay?" She asked slowly, somewhat nervous about his answer.
"Yeah, of course, I am," Fred answered her, though his tone seemed to suggest otherwise.
Hermione tried not to push him into what was going on, it wasn't like him not to just come out and tell her the truth, so whatever it was she knew was pretty serious to him. She did, however, end up letting go of him after pressing a kiss to the side of his neck. She headed through to the kitchen to grab herself a snack, deciding that the best way to go is to not at all alter her course.
Hermione sat alone in the kitchen for a little while before she heard the chair next to her scrape along with the tiles and felt someone bump their shoulder against hers. She didn't need to look up to know that it was Fred. She could feel his presence. She didn't know why his presence was something that became tangible, but she supposed that that was something that she should be used to by now.
"I have something to show you." He said quietly when Hermione didn't speak and instead continued to eat her bowl of cereal. He still sounded serious, but slightly less so and that at least partly made her relax a little.
"Something to show me?" She turned her head to look at him, her eyebrow raised ever-so-slightly as she wondered what he was up to and started to realise that maybe nothing was wrong but that he was trying to do something nice for her and had just gone about it in the wrong way.
"When you're finished, come with me?" He asked as he took his hand into her own and gave it a small squeeze.
Hermione paused for a moment before she gave a small nod. "Okay.." She didn't know what to expect but she decided not to think about it too much as she finished the last spoonful of her cereal and then stood up. "Lead the way?"
Fred gave her a smile and a soft kiss before he lead her back through to the living room. He turned the light on this time, however, and Hermione was able to see inside there better. She blinked rapidly as she saw the room, as if for the first time ever. In addition to the Christmas tree which stood proudly in the corner, she saw that the fireplace was decorated as well. It had tinsel along the mantle from which six stockings hung.
"Is that…?" She trailed off as she stepped forwards and let her fingers run over the soft fleece of the lemon-yellow stocking that hung in the middle.
"Yeah. It didn't seem right not to hang one for the baby. This is their home too, even if they're not going to be here in time for this Christmas. But they'll be here next year, and then when we decide on a name we can have that sewn on, just like our names are."
"Fred… This is beautiful." She whispered, her fingers still stroking the material until she managed to make herself turn to face him. "This was what was wrong before?" She asked him as she reached up to cup his cheek in her palm. "You just didn't want me to see what you were up to?"
"You know I'm no good at keeping secrets from you, Mione." He said with a laugh before he pressed a kiss to the palm of her hand and pulled her close. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, keeping her as close to him as possible.
Hermione let herself practically melt against him, her eyes closing for a moment as she took the comfort from him that she didn't know that she needed until that very moment. Thinking that he was mad at her had taken it's toll on her, even with the reassurance that she had received from George in the meantime. She adored both of them - that went without saying - but that didn't mean that she wanted either of them to be mad at her. She wanted them both to love her, and they did, both in their own way.
She was lucky and she knew that. She had Fred, she had George, and she had their baby. The baby was even more lucky because they had Ron and Neville too - not to mention Harry who had already declared himself godfather and offered himself up to babysit whenever they needed one, not that Hermione thought that a babysitter was ever going to be needed when the baby had this many parents but she had decided not to dash Harry's hopes like that. He was excited and she couldn't blame him. Everyday that this child grew inside her, she found that she loved them even more.
Fred pressing a kiss to the top of her head drew her back to the present and Hermione tilted her head back slowly so that she could look up at him. His eyes were twinkling, the light from the Christmas tree reflecting in them. If this was how she got to spend this Christmas and every Christmas from now on then she was happy. In fact she was more than happy.
Hermione leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to Fred's lips as she looped her arms around the back of his neck and let him draw her closer still. She was sure that George would understand when he woke up why she was no longer in his bed.