Hermione dressed herself in a beautiful red dress that reached her knees, with black boots and a matching black sweater over the short-sleeved dress to keep her warm. Her hair was pulled back in a stylish ponytail and she had put light make-up on, it was doing the trick of making her look like she felt great but really at one in the afternoon she already felt completely drained and wanted nothing more than to go to bed. She knew that she was going to have to make a Healer appointment sooner rather than later but that also meant that she would have to tell Tony and she planned to tell him in the morning so she suffered until after the holiday. They apparated to the burrow and Steve stood with Hermione while she fought to keep the meager breakfast she'd eaten that morning in her stomach.
"Tony!" Hermione ran up to him, it would be the first time that everyone (Steve, Luna, Jarvis, Banner, Ginny, Tony and Thor) would be at the burrow and there was just one tiny, little thing she forgot to tell everyone "You guys, wait up...stop, let me warn you..."
"LOKI!" Thor thundered, the slim, dark-haired man stopped what he'd been doing which was rolling around in the snow with the red-haired man from the store laying beneath him, his gaze was worried "What are you doing here?!"
"That's what I was trying to tell you guys" Hermione said, she hadn't told Tony that every single Sunday night dinner at the burrow he declined going to had been with Loki in attendance "Loki is going to be here"
Tony and the guys all stood there glaring at the God of Mischief, while Luna, Ginny and Astoria walked into the house and Hermione walked over to George and Loki. George perked right up as she walked over and he hugged her tightly, playfully berating her for not visiting the shop. Then Loki swept her up into his arms in a big hug and kissed her cheek, she knew that he was just trying to get a rise out of Tony and a part of her was okay with that, as immature as that was. He put her down gently on her feet and placed his long-fingered hand against her stomach and smiled at her.
"Coming along nicely" He whispered to her "Have you told him yet?"
"Tomorrow" She whispered back to him.
"I have missed you" Loki said a bit louder "I haven't seen you since last Sunday at dinner" He grinned at her devilishly before he and George walked into the house followed by the others though wearily.
"Hermione" Tony said "You've been having dinner with Loki every week?"
"I've been having dinner here, every week" Hermione corrected softly "Loki is dating George and therefore he's been here, you'd have known had you ever wanted to come here but apparently being with the poor is beneath you"
"That's not true and you know it" Tony snapped "I've been..."
"Busy" She finished for him, she was angry but also wanted to cry, she wanted to hit him and yell at him for no reason all the while wanting him to hold her and kiss her "Funny, you're not too busy to play video games with Banner or to crack jokes with Jarvis but you're always too busy to come here with me"
"Hermione it's just..." He started to tell her, but he noted that she was almost crying "What the hell is wrong with you, you're acting insane freaking out and crying one minute, screaming and yelling the next...what is wrong with you?!"
"I'm..." Hermione took a deep breath and calmed herself "Nothing, I'm just tired okay?" She turned and stormed into the house with the rest of her friends and loved ones, Tony joined them a few minutes later.
Hours later everyone was finding a place to sleep, Ginny and Luna brought all the presents over from the apartment and they decided to spend the night with the Weasley family. Hermione was laying on Ginny's old bed with the redhead, Luna and Astoria looking at the ceiling, they were talking about all the times in the past when they'd done the very same thing. This was where Ginny and Hermione had spoken about their problems, secrets and of course their fantasies. This would be the first time that Luna and Astoria was joining them but it was awesome having them there.
"You guys" Hermione said "I have to tell you something"
"You're sleeping with Loki" Ginny said and the other two girls laughed "I would"
"No" Hermione said with a snort "I'm pregnant" They all stopped laughing, there was only their breathing before Astoria broke the silence.
"Me too!" She called out, they all burst out laughing because she was now sporting a rather large pregnant belly and everyone could tell.
"Oh my goodness!" Ginny screamed "You are?!" She stood "We have to tell everyone" She opened the bedroom door and called out "HEY EVERYONE...ASTORIA IS PREGNANT!" They heard laughter coming from everyone on multiple floors and Thor called out 'You're welcome, Astoria!' which made everyone laugh again. There was a knock on the door, Ginny opened it and stepped aside to reveal Tony who was looking at the floor sadly.
"Can we talk, Hermione?" He asked her "Please" Hermione looked at the clock as noted that it was only thirty minutes away from midnight and she sighed, standing and said goodnight to her friends before heading to the bedroom Tony was assigned to.
"Hermione!" Ginny hissed down the hallway "You can't sleep in his room, mum will lose her friggin mind!"
"I am old enough to sleep in the same bedroom as my boyfriend" Hermione whispered back to her.
"Unless you're married" Molly stuck her head out of her own bedroom "You sleep in a bedroom with the other single girls!"
"Okay, Mrs. Weasley" Hermione rubbed her eyes "Tony and I had a fight earlier and we need to talk it out, please let us talk and then I will go back to Ginny's bedroom, I promise"
"I'll check on you at 12:30...see that you're at least on your way back to bed by then" Molly narrowed her eyes at Tony before closing the door. Hermione smiled and followed him to Percy's old bedroom and she closed the door quietly.
"Look" Tony said, turning to look at her from the middle of the room "I don't come here because I feel bad...I want to help them out of their current situation but I know that they would never accept that"
"They wouldn't" Hermione agreed "Why didn't you just tell me that, you made me feel like what I wanted to do wasn't as interesting or important as what you wanted to do"
"I'm sorry, my love" He walked over and put his hand on her cheek "I've been really worried about you recently, you've been sick for weeks and you keep acting like it's nothing and I know that it is...I just don't know what it is" He kissed her deeply and then handed her a small wrapped box and kissed her again "For the one present to open on Christmas Eve, it's only 11:48pm...still counts"
"Thank you" Hermione said, opening the box and she looked at him some confusion "It's a key...to what?"
"The new house" He answered "I bought one, for you, a few weeks ago. It's huge, three floors in the middle of no-where and its got loads of windows and the others will likely move with us but its yours...ours, I guess"
"Thank you" Hermione jumped into his arms and kissed so passionately that he started to move back to the bed, hoping that the kiss would lead to more active activities "I have something for you too and I hope you love it...if not, well, we'll talk then"
"Alright" He smiled when she gave him a box about the same size as the one he gave her "If it's the key to a house this will be awkward" She smiled and motioned for him to open it, then she watched him nervously. His brow furrowed as he looked at the muggle pregnancy test for a minute or so then the realization of what she was telling him, giving him for Christmas, dawned on him and he looked back at her "You're pregnant?!"
"Yes" She answered, smiling wearily "Is that...are you mad?"
"Holy shit" Tony whispered "I'm going to be a father, holy FUCK!" He stood up so suddenly she had to move quickly to get off his lap so she wouldn't fall on to the floor. He ran to the door and flung it open, he ran into the hallway then screamed out "HOLY FUCK YOU GUYS, I'M GOING TO BE A FATHER!"
Hermione heard doors being ripped open on all floors, people were milling out of thier bedrooms with questions, compliments and just plain shock. Molly was in tears when Hermione walked out, she pulled the young witch into her arms muttering about how wonderful the news was, Arthur hugged her but said nothing and Hermione was sure that was because of the emotions she could see playing on his face. Lavender offered her a small smile, not unfriendly just seemed a bit forced, and Hermione was sure that it was because she'd planned on being pregnant first but wasn't. George whispered that he'd known all along and she reminded him that was because his boyfriend could tell from the moment of conception and he laughed but never disagreed.
"So" Came the silky voice of Loki from behind her "When are you going to tell him its mine?" He was grinning "We both know you wish it was"
"Oh yes" Hermione rolled her eyes "Just what I always wanted, a baby with a man that reminds me too much of my old potions master"
"God, Granger" George made a gagging motion "Never say that again...I may never get it up now"
"That's depressing" Hermione answered, Molly was walking back towards her so she had no clue what it was that Loki was whispering in George's ear but judging from the hurried process back to their shared bedroom, it was something rather kinky.
"Oh Hermione" Molly said, taking both her hands in her own "If I'd known you were pregnant I would never had pressured you into sleeping in Ginny's room...I wish you were married before pregnant but fate can't be tamed" She looked around "Oh, I'm never going to get to sleep now...I'm going to make a cake for you!"
"You don't have to..." Hermione started but Molly was already gone. She turned and looked at Tony, his eyes locked on hers and the smile that was on his face brough tears of happiness to her eyes. He was happy.
~~~/ /~~~
By the time they got back to the apartment the next day the sun was setting. Molly made sure that before she left, Hermione knew how to keep from losing all her energy at once, how to get rid of the morning sickness quickly and what to take the night before to make sure she didn't get sick in the first place. Most of the tricks and remedies were muggle things, Molly told her that back in the day in the muggle world witches were usually mid-wives or ran the apothecaries and often gave advice to pregnant women both muggle and magical. She also informed her that no matter what she did, she would inevitably lose a lot of her magical energy because magical pregnancies were very draining. Hermione went to bed immediately and the next morning she made an appointment to be seen later that day.
"A healer?" Tony asked, doubtfully "Why don't we get a non-magical doctor, I can get the best one"
"A muggle doctor isn't going to know the things that a magical healer will" Hermione answered "I am a witch, there is a 50% chance that this child is going be a witch too...we need a healer not a doctor"
"Can't we see a muggle doctor, too?" He asked.
"No" Hermione snapped "It makes no sense. A healer is going to be able to show us and tell us more, even if the child turns out to be a muggle...you'll love it, believe me" Hermione opened a package that came through the window with an unknown owl "Fluer sent me something"
"Who is that?" He asked "And what did she send?"
"She's Bill Weasley's wife" Hermione answered "You never get to meet her, she's too beautiful...she'll steal you away" She looked at the book before her happily "What To Expect When You're Expecting A Magical Baby"
"I'll want to read that too" Tony said "I need to know what I'm up against..." They heard a crash come from the other side of the apartment, then a whoosh and Jarvis was flying out the window leaving a sobbing Luna behind "What's going on there?"
"Jarvis is becoming increasingly aware of his limitations in the relationship with Luna" Hermione answered with a sad sigh "He wanted to break up with Luna so she could find someone who could give her a baby when she wanted one"
"And what did she say?" Tony asked.
"That they could find a donor when she wanted a baby" Hermione answered as she stood up "I think he broke up with her"
"Too much stress here" Tony smiled at her "Get packing, remember, we're going to Paris tomorrow"
"I will" She promised "I'm going to talk to Luna now"
A/N: Please review this!