~Doubts That Complicate Your Mind~

Hermione was the first person Luna told.

The two were not as close as Hermione was with Harry, of course, but after everything they had been through it was easy to look past minor differences and become friends. Luna's talk of Nargles and Wrackspurts (among other creatures) still rattled Hermione to the core, but she found that debating with the other girl about certain topics was…fun. While they didn't always see eye-to-eye or come to an agreement, they did respect each other's views and found their arguments both interesting and stimulating. There was a reason Luna was in Ravenclaw; her easy confidence in debate was proof of that. The blonde was extremely smart and Hermione appreciated that. She took time to research and really thought deeply about the reason she believed in what she did. Hermione had come to the conclusion that she would never personally put any faith in such conspiracies, but actually Luna had a lot of very solid reasoning behind her ideas that she could not refute.

The two women were currently in a booth at a local café waiting for their orders to be brought out. Hermione was wearing her favorite beige pea-coat and had tied her unruly hair back with a red ribbon. Luna sat across from her with her back to the window wearing an odd assortment of pinks, baby blues, and yellows underneath a large, forest-green coat. She had recently cut her hair to her shoulders so it was much curlier than usual with the loss of weight. She refrained from pinning it up despite it being the windiest day of the year on record. It was now wildly strewn about her shoulders and most definitely tangled in several places.

Hermione debated whether or not to point this out to her, but her train of thought had been completely derailed. Luna had just told her – in the calmest and most matter-of-fact manner – that she was pregnant.

"Are you going to tell Harry?" Was all Hermione could manage after the initial process of the information.

"Probably," Luna said.

Hermione raised an eyebrow and smiled, "I meant have you told him. I'll take that as a no, so I'll as a different question instead: when are you going to tell him?"

"Hmmm…" The waitress came by with their drinks and Luna took a sip of her tea. It sounded to Hermione that she hadn't yet considered the prospect of telling Harry the news.

"I'll tell him when the time is right, I suppose," Luna said. "Anyway, what do you think about it?"

"What I - am I supposed to have an opinion about this?" Hermione asked. Never mind Luna's bizarre sense of timing – she needed to tell her husband, not her husband's best friend!

"I would hope so," was Luna's reply, "You have an opinion about everything."

Hermione didn't know whether to feel flattered or embarrassed. Was Luna asking for advice? If so she was going about it in an awfully strange way.

"I didn't know you were trying for a baby," Hermione said slowly.

Luna frowned, "We weren't. I mean, we've talked about it in the past but not recently." She took a sip of her drink and turned her bright eyes to a picture of a cow on the wall.

The staring into space wasn't what rang the alarm bells in Hermione's head, at least not exactly. It was her nervous energy. She could almost feel Luna's barely-contained twitching from across the table.

"How are you feeling about it?" she asked, switching focus. Luna didn't say anything for a bit. She sighed and brought a nervous hand to her face and Hermione noticed that her shoulders had gotten very tense.

"I don't know." Luna's voice was soft when she finally answered. Breathy. Not unlike normal, but there was something off about it.

Hermione's original opinion changed. Not drastically, mind you (the idea of Harry being a father had always been endearing). But where before she may have treaded with caution and asked all sorts of questions about if the couple was ready or not, she now spared no expense at putting her friend at ease. Luna very rarely asked for help and even when she did so it wasn't directly. Hermione took the nervous twittering as a silent cry for help.

"Oh, Luna, I think it's absolutely wonderful!" Hermione reached for the pale, shaking hands across the table. "I couldn't be more excited for you and Harry."

She squeezed Luna's hands and felt a squeeze back. "How far along are you?"

"About eleven weeks," Luna said.

"Eleven!" Hermione exclaimed, "No one could tell to look at you, you're so thin!"

"I can tell." Luna's voice was still uncharacteristically low. "Harry might be upset that I kept it from him for so long."

That's what she was worried about?

"He won't be upset!" Hermione shook her head, "He'll be thrilled! We both know he'll be a great father!"

"He will." Luna smiled and a twinge of pink dotted her cheeks but there was still that anxiousness that Hermione didn't understand. Hermione took a sip of her coffee.

"You'll be a good mum, Luna."

"Oh." The muscle in Luna's face twitched and she drew back her hands. Hermione realized that she was getting closer to the root cause.

"All new parents are a little nervous for the first baby, but you learn it along the way. Nobody is perfect at first."

"No," Luna said, "but what if my…what if the bean ends up being strange? What if they're less like Harry and more like—"

She didn't finish but Hermione was already inwardly slapping herself. Yes, Luna was different. Yes, she was odd. But that was only bad when her peers made it so. The poor girl had been positively tortured in school and while she never showed it, scars had definitely been left. While it was a little surprising for Luna to be so conscientious, it was natural that the mother in her wanted to spare her child from that kind of pain.

"Of course they'll be strange," Hermione said, "Just like you." She leaned forward for the last bit, "and just like me."

"Like you?" the tension had risen from Luna's shoulders and now she sounded close to laughter.

"Yes," Hermione said, "Because you're just as sane as I am."