‘Now?!’ Fred yelled, getting up from the bed as Hermione stood in the doorway with her hands planted firmly on her hips. He wore simple pyjama trousers with his hair sticking up on all ends, ‘not now, Hermione! I can’t do this!’

‘Right now, Fred!’ Hermione yelled at him. The look she gave him could turn his red hair into fire, in fact it could turn all of him into a fiery blaze. Fred glared at her with anger and Hermione glared right back stubbornly, ‘do not dare turn your back on this! We are leaving for Switzerland in a week! You said we would tell your parents about us!’

‘Hermione, stop this! We are not going to march over to my parents house uninvited! I’ll be surprised if they don’t close the door on our faces,’ Fred shouted, knowing he would never be able to win since she was so stubborn. Of course her pregnancy made her even more so. Fred glanced around the room when Hermione fixed her steely gaze on him. The bed was unmade and the sheets were nearly on the ground. Clothes were strung across the chair like confetti. The perfect scene for a couple to fight, Fred thought. He would chuckle at his joke but Hermione advanced towards him.

‘Let me remind you of something so you can stop being such a coward!’ Hermione shouted and poked his chest. Fred stood his ground, towering over her, staring her down but Hermione continued, ‘Percy. Your brother? Do you even remember him? He left your family for work and even I remember how... distraught your mother was.’

‘I don’t have time for this! I have work to get to!’ Fred yelled in her face, leaning over her slightly, and Hermione clenched her jaw as he started to move around and find his shirt, ‘do you think I can stay here all day and listen to your nonsense? Some people have to work to go to!’

‘I know you are stressed, Fred, but that does not give you the right to talk to me like that!’ Hermione ran a hand through her hair, at which point her hair was just a mess, ‘my point was that you gave Percy hell for leaving his family. Why? Because you care about them! You care that your mother was crying over Percy. I don’t want her to be upset because of us. I don’t want to lie to her after everything they have been through!’

‘After everything they have been through? What about me? I want to be happy and I am since I found you but they are going to be so against us, Mia! She won’t be able to take it if I told her I’m going to be a father! The first thing that my parents will think is “poor Ronnie kins” not about how we’re going to cope with a bloody baby!’ Fred groaned loudly as Hermione clenched her jaw tighter, getting impatient with him, ‘so stop this foolishness. I have work to go to because I have to do everything I can to provide for you!’

‘Nobody asked you to take care of me, Fred! I can move out and you can spend all your money on yourself!’ Hermione shouted, angry tears fell down her cheeks and Fred rolled his eyes at her, ‘I’ll tell them myself!’

Hermione turned on her heels and tried walked out of the room with as much dignity as she could muster but Fred grabbed her arm and spun her around. They came face to face and nose to nose. Hermione’s eyes were hard and void of sympathy, they mirrored Fred’s. Both panting slightly, stared the other off.

‘You will not, understand?’ Fred asked quietly and his hold grew tighter as Hermione tried her very best not to wince in pain, ‘do you understand?!’

‘You can’t stop me,’ Hermione said and winced slightly. She tried to push Fred but he wouldn’t budge, ‘you’re hurting me!’

Fred’s hand loosened instantly and he took a step backwards, ‘sorry... I didn’t... I didn’t mean to...’

‘But you did, Fred! You did mean to! You always do!’ Hermione massaged her arm, the skin was red already. Fred was strong, she gave him that, but it didn’t give him a right to hurt her, ‘I’m going over to your parents house and you just try to stop me. Don’t expect me back home tonight.’

‘Where will you stay? With Harry and Ginny because that would work out so well!’ Fred said sarcastically.

Hermione didn’t answer as she walked to the cupboard. She rummaged around for a few seconds and pulled out a dress. It was a dark green one with spaghetti straps. Not too formal but not for a night in either. Fred sighed impatiently as she ignored him.  

‘This won’t even fit me,’ she muttered to herself before chucking the dress back into the messy cupboard. She grabbed some jeans and a t shirt and then turned to Fred, ‘I’m just going to change and leave.’

‘Hermione,’ Fred walked behind her but she closed the bathroom door in his face. He banged his palms against the door in anger, ‘come on!’

‘How about you talk to me when you’ve finally realised what a coward you are!’ Hermione grunted as she pulled her shirt over her head, ‘how does it feel that your girlfriend – ex girlfriend if you don’t come with me – is brave enough to tell your parents that I’m pregnant but you aren’t? Who really wears the pants in this relationship?!’

‘Ex-girlfriend? Are you serious?’ asked Fred, trying the door knob but the door was locked, ‘open this door!’

‘Oh,’ Hermione opened the door to reveal herself in a long sleeved, puffy blue shirt and some jeans, ‘I am totally serious, Fred.’

‘Stop! Stop this!’ Fred grabbed Hermione for the second time that morning. His grip was secure but not so much that it hurt her. Fred pulled her back to him and hugged her, stroking her hair, admitting defeat  ‘I’m going with you.’

‘Yes, you are,’ Hermione said, pushing him away from her. She stared into the familiar blue eyes that she loved, ‘no hugging. No affection. Get ready in five minutes.’

Hermione walked over to the dresser where her perfumes, bobbles and make up lay scattered on one side. On the other side was Fred’s cologne and hairbrush. Hermione applied eyeliner and some light blue eye shadow that happened to match Fred’s eyes. She wore no lipstick but put some foundation on her skin. Fred, on the other hand, was buttoning up his white shirt and pulled jeans on his long legs. He came to stand beside Hermione and brushed his hair and sprayed some cologne.

‘Oh!’ Hermione dropped the hairbrush which she was using to put some order into her curls. Her hands covered her mouth and she backed away from Fred, making the sound that suggested she was about to puke, ‘what is that horrible smell?!’

‘Um...’ Fred looked down at the cologne bottle in his hand and raised it so Hermione could see, ‘I guess you don’t like the smell of it then?’

‘I’m going to be sick, Fred! Please get changed, get that smell off you!’ Hermione nearly shrieked as she walked out of the room, hands tight around her mouth and nose, ‘I’m sorry! I can’t...’

Fred, thinking the whole situation was sort of amusing, got into the shower. He cleaned himself up in a few minutes and was dressed in a new dark green shirt and some jeans. He wore the usual cologne and threw away the bottle that made Hermione sick. Pregnancy, Fred though with a roll of his eyes.

‘Um, Fred?’ asked Hermione from the other room as Fred was brushing his hair, ‘what’s the man’s name that we’re going to buy the property from? The one in Switzerland?’

‘His name is Alexander Grey, why?’ asked Fred, appearing at the kitchen doorway.

‘He sent us plane tickets for the 17th for Switzerland,’ Hermione held up two plane tickets and Fred frowned.

‘Wow, that’s... great, I guess,’ Fred said, ‘I’ll need to thank him-’

‘Later. We have to leave now. Come on,’ Hermione stretched out her hand and Fred hesitated. She gave him a glare and he took her hand. Together they spun on the spot and were wrenched into the hole of travel until their feet hit the comfortable ground underneath them, ‘the burrow. How long has it been?’

They set off towards the front door of the burrow. Memories flooded back to Fred of his childhood. He had grew up here with his brothers and with... George. It seemed so hard to think about his twin, harder then before. A heavy thud in his chest started and gained full speed when they were at the front door. Hermione raised her hand to knock on the door but Fred grabbed it.

‘We’re going in, whether you like-’

Fred kissed her, pulling her closer. He felt the bouncy curls brush through his hands and within seconds Hermione was kissing him back. They pulled each other closer and kissed for so long that they were both panting heavily when they pulled back. Fred kissed her cheek once before leaning his forehead onto hers.

‘I swear, Hermione, I will not leave you. No matter what they say against you, our child or against us... I will always stay by you until the end. Until you realise how much better you can do,’ Fred chuckled slightly and Hermione shook her head.

‘I can’t do better than you, Fred,’ Hermione whispered, kissing him and lingering on his lips, ‘I love you too much and you try and do so many things for me. How can I leave someone who loves me as much as you do? I’m sure no one could love me more.’

‘That’s true, love,’ Fred whispered, forgetting his problems as Hermione arms wrapped around his neck and her smile lit up his insides, ‘I do love you, darling.’

‘I know you do and I love you too,’ Hermione pecked him and pulled back, taking his hand, ‘let’s do this together.’

Hermione knocked on the door. They waited, breaths coming back to normal and holding each others hand for support. The lock on the door clicked and it was opened by Mr Weasley who, at first, had a smile on his face. The smile dropped suddenly but he didn’t look angry. He looked confused.

‘What are you kids doing here?’ he asked and noticed Fred roll his eyes at the word choice. Kids.

‘Who is it, Arthur?’ Molly Weasley appeared behind her husband, wearing a flowery apron over her body. She had the same expression on since Harry’s second year when Fred, George and Ron had broken him out of the Dursley house. Only this expression was doubled and aimed at Fred. Hermione’s hand tightened around his, ‘Fred.’ Mrs Weasley nodded to them.

‘Can we come in?’ asked Hermione and, as if she thought she was being rude, she added, ‘please? We have something important to tell you.’

Molly and Arthur shared a look of wide and fearful eyes. They communicated silently together and Fred noticed as his father’s hand supported his mother’s back as though she would fall down. Instead, without a word, they moved away from the door to let them in. Fred went in first and Hermione followed. His hand was sweating slightly but Hermione was too nervous to think about that as she held their hands close to her.

They walked into the living room followed by Mr and Mrs Weasley. Fred turned around and Hermione nearly bumped into him. She looked into his eyes and silently asked him “what’s the matter?” Fred gulped and shook his head. Hermione shot him a confused look and Fred gestured to look behind him. She did and saw lots of family pictures. From the time they went to Egypt, their photo in their Hogwarts uniforms and Percy with his prefect badge. Hermione finally noticed the one Fred was freaking out about. There was a photo in the middle of the shelf with Fred and George. They had slung their arms around each other carelessly and were laughing into the camera, gold was twinkling on each of their chests and Hermione watched as the twins in the picture both picked up their necklaces to show to the camera. George with his “G” necklace and Fred with his “F”. Hermione turned back to Fred, who had gone ghost white, and she lay a hand on his cheek and silently offered her comfort and sympathy.

‘Hermione-’

‘What’s the news?’ Mr Weasley asked, taking a seat on the very old chair that Fred could remember they had since he was a child. Mrs Weasley stood beside him with a hand on his shoulder, ‘we didn’t think you would come to see us at all.’

‘You didn’t really make the effort to visit us, Dad,’ Fred said, sitting on the sofa. Hermione sat beside him and squeezed his hand.

‘You made it very clear to us when you forbid your family to visit you in the hospital. The only person allowed to visit was... hmm,’ Mrs Weasley shot a glance at Hermione but didn’t say her name as though it was a bad word.

‘Hermione. Her name is Hermione,’ Fred said dangerously and Hermione glanced at him. The glance was a warning to not fight with them. Fred sighed and said, ‘we have some news.’

‘You’re not getting married to her, are you?’ asked Mrs Weasley sternly, ‘she’s a young girl and needs to find other men in her life to find the right one.’

‘Mum, why can’t you just let me be happy?’ asked Fred, raising his voice slightly, ‘I’m sure the only thing that would make you happy would be that I marry some girl you like and then I’d be stuck in the most boring and forced relationship!’

‘That is not true, Fred. I know for a fact that she does not make you happy. She is younger than you and you have never had any chemistry from what I have seen when you were together. I’ve noticed nothing that would suggest you may make a couple,’ Mr Weasley said, his voice was getting louder. Fred realised that his dad had never been the one to shout. It was always Mum. Dad had always stood by them and now he was against his relationship. The next words out of his fathers mouth nearly made Fred stand up, ‘how could you do this to your brother?’

 ‘My brother?! As in Ron? If I told you the things he did in order to create a wedge between Hermione and I-’

‘He was fighting for her love. They obviously love each other. If anyone is the wedge, Fred, it’s you!’ Mrs Weasley said angrily, ‘now Ron doesn’t visit us anymore either. Who knows where he is or if he’s safe?’

‘I’m sure I can make my own decisions. I’m also sure of how much I love Hermione and she loves me,’ Fred said, glowering at his parents, ‘why does everything have to be about Ron? If it’s meant to be, it will happen and it did happen. We are together and you can’t change that.’

‘Then why did you come here?!’ yelled Mrs Weasley, advancing towards them with anger evident on her face. Mr Weasley tried to hold her back, ‘If you love her so much, go and tell that to your brother who is probably in pieces!’

‘Just hear me out!’ Fred yelled, standing up and pulling Hermione to her feet, ‘just... hear me out.’

Mr Weasley go to his feet so that they were all standing, facing each other. Fred stood in front of Hermione slightly while she held onto his arm as if trying to hold him back. Mrs Weasley stood in front of Mr Weasley and was getting held back too. Fred’s parents were staring at them with a mixture of anger, disappointment and something that resembled care but Fred was blind to it.

‘Fred... I’ll tell them,’ Hermione said timidly and Fred turned to her. He cupped her face in his hands and was aware as Mrs Weasley’s eyes flashed at the contact. Fred pulled back and grabbed Hermione’s hand, ‘Um... I... I’m... pregnant with Fred’s child.’

Everyone froze. Everything was silent. The air seemed not to move in fear. Hermione bit her lip so hard that they went white. Fred’s eyebrows raised as he waited for the storm. The soft tick-tock of the clock went on. Mr Weasley’s grip tightened on his wife and his face went empty of colour. On the other hand, Mrs Weasley’s face turned bright red and she let out a huge gasp. Hermione clung tighter onto Fred’s hand that he nearly groaned.

‘YOU STUPID BOY!’

Now Fred was frozen with shock. For the first time – since he was younger and turned the table on fire whilst everyone was eating – Arthur Weasley was shouting at his son. He let go of his wife and walked forwards to Fred threateningly. Now it was Mrs Weasley’s turn to hold him back but he wouldn’t let her.

‘Dad!’ Fred shouted as Mr Weasley nearly breathed fire on him. Hermione pulled Fred backwards and nearly fell herself. Fred caught her just in time and they turned to face Mrs Weasley who was standing in front of Arthur.

‘I THOUGHT WE RAISED YOU BETTER THAN THIS!’ shouted Mrs Weasley, equally as angry as her husband but she still tried to hold him back, ‘we are so disappointed in you, Fred.’

‘When did this happen?’ Mr Weasley asked, he made no effort to disguise the disgust and disappointment in his voice.

‘Three...’ Fred’s voice was quiet. He coughed and said in his usual voice, ‘three moths ago, Dad.’

‘Before my daughter’s engagement?’ asked Mrs Weasley, outraged at Fred. She turned to Hermione and gave her the most foul look, ‘you were with Ron at that engagement. You slept with Fred and stayed with Ron?’

‘I’m sorry-’ Hermione said but was interrupted.

‘Does Ron know about this?’ asked Mrs Weasley, turning to Fred who shook his head.

Silence followed them around the room. Hermione clenched tighter onto Fred’s hand. Mr Weasley was staring at them with foul looks on his face. Finally he spoke.

‘What in Merlin’s name were you thinking?!’ he yelled, it seemed like he would lose his voice if he kept it up.

‘Before or after?’ asked Fred, frowning at his parents, ‘or during it? I could tell you what I was thinking during it, Dad, or what we did but I'm sure you don’t want to know that.’

‘Don’t be smart with me,’ Mr Weasley growled at his son, ‘I thought we raised you better than this. Percy or Charlie would never do this to-’

‘I’m sure if it was Ronnie kins who slept with her, everything would be fine, wouldn’t it, Dad?! But since it’s me, all hell has to break loose!’ Fred retorted and Hermione leaned on his arm to get his attention but he wouldn’t look at her.

‘Ron, Percy and Charlie would have more sense to use protection but you had to get the girl pregnant! Even George wouldn’t do something as stupid as this!’ Mr Weasley pointed at the shelf with the pictures. Mrs Weasley seemed to be fighting tears. Something inside Fred’s heart seemed to sting and later on, he would know that something was his heart.

‘DON’T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HIM!’ Fred said, shaking and feeling a lump form in his throat. He felt his eyes burn but he promised himself, he would not cry in front of his father.

‘Don’t raise your voice at your father! Haven’t we taught you anything?!’ Mrs Weasley yelled, ‘is the only thing you’re capable of is getting your brothers girlfriend pregnant so she has to stay by you? How dare you come into our house with news of an illegitimate child?!’

‘How dare you call my child illegitimate?! Were you and Dad married when you had Bill?’ asked Fred, even Hermione stopped trying to stop Fred when she heard that word. Her face went white and Fred shook with anger.

‘As a matter of fact, we were married!’ Mr Weasley said, glaring at Fred, ‘you’ve ruined her life with a child!’

‘Forget this! Let’s go, Hermione!’ Fred grabbed her hand and nearly dragged her outside.

They left the Burrow but did not disapparate. Fred let go of Hermione’s hand and stalked off while she tried to follow behind him. Everything seemed so peaceful outside as though nothing had happened.

‘Are you happy now?’ asked Fred, stopping suddenly so Hermione bashed into him. He turned around to face her, ‘an illegitimate child?! Who-’

‘Stop talking,’ Hermione said and Fred frowned at her, ‘the thing is, we told them. That’s all. I expected this to happen, Fred. At least they know. They just need some time. You needed time to digest that you were going to become a father.’

‘But-’

Hermione put a finger to his lips and he stopped talking. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on his tip toes. Her stomach pressed into his and she kissed his cheek.

‘We are going to Switzerland and will have the time of our lives. No buts, no worries, no frowns. Just us, okay?’ asked Hermione. Fred sighed and she raised her eyebrows.

‘Fine, love, just us,’ Fred said, pressing his lips to her. He pulled back suddenly and rubbed her stomach, ‘and our baby.’