Nova's Universe

Chapter 4 (1995)

Nova

A mischievous glint sparked in Charlie's eyes as he raised an eyebrow at me as I was sitting on the sofa, both legs shaking.

"Nervous about telling the girls you're pregnant, or are you just wrestling with the maid of honour dilemma again?"

"It's not funny, 'mister I have a perfect brother who is ideal to be my best man'." I stuck out my tongue at him.

"You want Bill to be your maid of honour?" Charlie giggled. "I bet he'd look just dashing in a dress."

"Don't tempt me, Weasley," I mused, "you wouldn't want to be left without a best man not even a week before the wedding."

"Seriously, what's got you so worried?" Charlie asked gently, stroking my hair.

"I love them all so much," I whined, laying my head on his lap. "The last thing I want is to hurt anyone's feelings with my decision."

"Have you considered asking them? Maybe they can help you decide," Charlie suggested.

"Yeah, right," I scoffed. "Tonks would be happy as long as she doesn't have to wear a dress. Tulip would insist on it because we were roommates for seven years. And Penny..." I sighed. "Penny would give me the puppy eyes, barely holding back tears, and pout, reminding me I was her maid of honour."

"Ah," Charlie said, nodding sympathetically. "I see your predicament."

He leaned down, kissed my forehead, then kissed his fingers and gently touched them to my stomach. He'd been doing this at least once a day since we returned from Britain. He said I wasn't the only one who deserved his kisses anymore, and I loved seeing how excited he was about being a dad.

"You sure you don't want Bill to be your maid of honour?" He cocked an eyebrow, interrupting my silent contemplation as I gazed down at my stomach.

"Ask me again, I dare you," I mimicked his expression.

"Alright, alright," he chuckled, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "But seriously, love, there might be a solution."

An eyebrow shot up in question. "And what might that be, Mr Weasley?"

"Why not have all three of them as your maids of honour?" He suggested. "There's no rule against it, is there? Besides, our wedding isn't exactly following tradition anyway."

A surprised laugh bubbled up from my chest. "That... that's actually not a bad idea, Charlie."

A triumphant grin spread across his face. "See? Call me Charlie, the Problem-Solver Weasley!"

"Okay, okay, Mr Problem-Solver, calm down a bit," I chuckled, swatting his arm playfully. "But seriously, that is a good idea. I would love to have all three of them by my side."

"How could they possibly say no to you? You're pregnant!" Charlie declared, a triumphant grin spreading across his face.

"Is that going to be your excuse for everything now?"

For the past week, Charlie had been using the pregnancy excuse whenever he didn't feel like doing something. Last night, some friends invited us out, but we had planned to stay in. Charlie, with the most serious face, declared we couldn't go because of the baby. I almost burst out laughing, but to my surprise, everyone just accepted it.

The same thing happened when we invited Andrei to dinner. He'd been withdrawn since the Sanctuary attack. When he expressed reservations about being a burden, Charlie had simply declared that he couldn't refuse because of the baby. We ended up having a lovely evening thanks to Charlie's quick thinking.