Igniting the Flames

Chapter Seven

Hermione clutched the seat of the chair tightly, taking even, measured breaths. The council meeting seemed to be dragging on, and for the first time, she was paying absolutely no attention to what was being said.

Instead, her focus was on the roiling in her stomach as the familiar nausea washed over her.

"Ms. Granger Weasley, your thoughts?" Kingsley Shacklebolt turned to her, and everyone else in the room followed suit.

"Well, Minister, I believe it's an excellent point, however..."

Her stomach twisted uncomfortably, and she knew with dread that she couldn't finish what she was saying.

"I'm so sorry, if you'll just excuse me..." her hand flew to her mouth and, as quickly as possible without drawing much more attention to herself, she rushed out of the room.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, Hermione was racing as fast as she could to the nearest wash room.

Her stomach lurched again dangerously as she reached her destination, only to find that it was closed. Hand still clamped over her mouth, Hermione looked around until her eyes landed on Harry's office.

The door was propped open, and she could see a bit of his figure sitting at his desk. Knowing that it was only a matter of time before she lost the battle with her stomach, she pushed into his office.

"'Morning Hermione, how are yo-" Harry began, cut off my Hermione falling to the floor and getting sick in the waste basket from beside his desk.

"Oi! Merlin, 'Mione, are you ill? Should I Floo Ron to come pick you up?" Harry scrambled from his chair and knelt beside his best friend, gently pulling her hair out of her face and gently rubbing her back.

With one final spat into the trash bin, Hermione sat back with a groan.

"M'fine Harry. Though the bloody bathroom was closed for cleaning," she grumbled. "Shit, I ran out of a council meeting."

"I think the contents of my waste basket would argue that you're fine," Harry cocked an eyebrow at her, concern still etched in his face. He glanced up at the open door and scowled at the nosy secretary that was peering in at them. Waving his hand at the door, he wandlessly closed it.

"Trust me. This is becoming all too normal," Hermione confided. She and Ron had decided that if the need arose, they could tell a few select people. However, for the most part they wanted to keep the pregnancy under wraps until the second trimester began.

Knowing that this was one of the 'necessary' times, Hermione sighed. As much as she didn't want to tell anyone this early about the baby, she knew Harry wouldn't let up on this and would somehow end up dragging her into Mungo's to get examined.

"Normal? You just ran in here, out of a council meeting, and got sick. Even at Hogwarts, you never left a class no matter how sick you felt. Remember when you got ill in charms and managed to hide it from all of us, include Flitwick?"

"Don't remind me," she groaned as her stomach flipped at the memory. "I didn't plan on telling anyone this soon, but I'm pregnant."

Well that was blunt, she thought with a grimace.

Harry's face lit up. "Oh 'Mione that's wonderful! Congratulations! Does Ron know?"

"Of course Ron knows!" Hermione gave Harry's arm a light wack.

"Well I didn't know! You said you didn't plan on telling anyone so soon, so I wasn't sure!"

"Telling 'anyone' and telling my husband, the other parent of the baby, are two different things," Hermione bantered.