Chapter four

Hermione seemed frozen. Not a single eyelash batted, nor did a finger twitch. Several minutes dragged by before she seemed to awaken from a daze.

"Harry," she said, sounding frightened as she turned to face him. But Harry couldn't help but break into a face- splitting grin of joy.

"Fantastic," he breathed, excitement spilling from every pore in his body. "Hermione, this is fantastic!"

"Harry, I understand- wait, what?" she said, aghast. "But aren't you- upset? I mean, this is twins, Harry, this is a big deal!"

"I know, right?" Harry said, turning to the nurse expectantly. "Do you know the genders?"

"Well, sure I do," she said kindly, smiling at Harry's elation. "One boy, one girl."

"It's perfect, Hermione, don't you see? This is just what we needed!"

"Well, I mean-"

"Come on, Hermione, this is great! This is a family, it's exactly what we wanted!"

"I guess... I guess so," she said, the fear slowly fading from her face as she realized that Harry was not, in fact, angry. "Oh, Harry, twins! Can you believe it? Twins!" she cried, throwing herself into Harry's arms. "We must tell everyone, at once! We can tell Teddy and the Weasleys, Ron'll be so delighted!"

"Slow down, there," Harry said, chuckling. Hermione righted herself and brushed stray curls from her face before grabbing Harry's hands and dashing from the room. "Thank you!" he called after the bewildered nurse, who lifted her hand in a timid wave before Harry rounded the corner. A smile was plastered on Hermione's face as she practically skipped down the hall to the lobby.

"Twins, Harry, twins," she sang. They entered the lobby and she dragged him to the grates full of flames. "We're going to take the Floo network, I'm sorry, but apparition is not healthy for pregnancy. Twisting up the baby and all, yes, here we go..." Hermione pulled a handful of Floo powder from the pot near the crackling fireplace waiting in the lobby. More whispers echoed around from her not- so- softly spoken words, and she whipped around to face the small crowd. "Oh, shut up, the lot of you," she hissed. "I'm pregnant, alright? Big deal! I'm having bloody twins, if you must know!" And with that, Hermione threw the powder into the fire and muttered a few words. She was gone.

"Right, well, I'll just be going, then," Harry said, addressing the stunned crowd and barely suppressing a smile.

For the rest of the evening until dinner time, Harry was busy contacting friends, friends of friends, cousins twice removed, and any other form of family Hermione could think of. Harry stuck his head into fireplaces while Hermione hurriedly wrote letters on separate pieces of parchment, her quill whipping about like a tornado. Eblos, the family owl, watched nervously as letter after letter piled up. Hermione had insisted on writing letters to those on the Muggle side of the family, claiming they "wouldn't take much to heads sticking out of their fires."

After an hour or so, a disgruntled Kreacher came in to inform them their dinner was ready, cuing James and Rose to tumble down the stairs in their fight to reach the dining room first.

"I won, obviously," proclaimed a cocky James as he strutted into the room, a grumpy looking Rose behind him.

"Nuh- uh," she whined. "I put my toe over the line first."

"The line was closer to the door, I told you!"

"Only cause you moved it after I WON!" Hermione glanced at Harry, a smile playing on her lips. The two continued arguing as they took their places at the table, but ceased almost simultaneously as they caught the smell of beef, potatoes, corn, and bread.

"First to fill their plates wins! Onetwothreego!" James dove for the potatoes as Rose scrabbled for some green beans. Soon enough, everyone was fighting to grab rolls and meats and any food they could grab, causing Hermione's eyebrow to get covered in butter and for Harry to get broccoli in his hair.

"I WIN AGAIN!" roared James, his plate overflowing with any and all food he could fit. They all laughed at the wildly triumphant look on his face, gazing at their own plates with amusement.

"Hermione, I didn't know you were into eyebrow dyeing," Harry remarked, struggling to keep a straight face. A bean hit him in the side of the face and Rose snickered before stuffing a roll in her mouth.

After some silent eating, Hermione cleared her throat, nudging Harry in the ribs. Clueless, and with a mouth full of potato, Harry turned to face her. She gestured with her head to the oblivious kids, then made a motion towards her stomach. In his haste to swallow, Harry burned the back of his throat and gagged on mashed potato. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Kids," Harry said, finally, with watering eyes. "Your mother and I," he said, gesturing towards Hermione, who pinched the bridge of her nose. "Right, well, we have something we wanted to tell you. It's not something bad, not at all," he continued, clearing his throat and pretending to ignore Hermione putting her face in her hands."Well, your mother and I have been very busy, and we've been doing some stuff, and..."

"What your FATHER means to say is that we have some very special news," Hermione said, cutting across Harry's feeble attempt effortlessly. Two eager faces looked up at them.