"Ro-on! Don't you know who Sleeping Beauty is?" It is Hermione's voice that brings you from your reverie.
"Wha—? No. Of course not. I was raised with Beetle and Bard, which you've oh-so-kindly pointed out way too many bloody times!"
Hermione rolls her eyes delicately. "C'mon! Rose?"
You just give her a questioning look, and she sighs over-dramatically, which wins a grin from Harry.
"Okay. Here's the story. Rose gets cursed by this evil fairy who wants to punish her family, because she wasn't invited to the christening. So she says, 'When Rose is sixteen, she will be pricked by a spindle and killed!' And then she disappears. However, one fairy has not yet given her gift to the baby. The others have given her things like smarts, and beauty, et cetera. But she gives her the gift of sleeping for a hundred years instead of dying, upon which time she'll get kissed by her true love and awoken." Hermione sighs at the romance, and you and Harry share a look.
"Anyway, the king and queen have all of their spindles burnt in a fire, and they never let Rose off on her own. But on the morning of her sixteenth birthday, she sneaks off and finds a kindly old lady sitting and spinning. 'Would you like a try?' she asks, and of course Rose says yes. And naturally, she pricks her finger and collapses on the floor, in a deep sleep."
You hold back a snort. "What a fairytale," you murmur, and Hermione sends you a reproachful and haughty look.
"The good fairies place her on a beautiful bed and put all of her family members asleep along with her. One hundred years later, a prince fights through briars and makes his valiant way to the castle." Hermione acts it out with a glazed, excited look on her face. "He goes up the stairs, where he finds on a bed, a maiden with long blonde hair and rosy lips, never faded despite the fact that she's one hundred years older than sixteen. He can't help it—he kisses her, and she opens her eyes. And then they realize it is true love as the rest of the castle wakes up too. They get married and live happily ever after."
Hermione sends you a satisfied look.
"Really? They get married, just like that?"
Harry rolls his eyes. "Ron, it's a story. Everything's happily ever after."
You're not yet thirteen years old, but you still know that there's never a happily ever after.
A quiet sigh, the sigh of sleep, sounds from beside you. You turn, and Hermione is fast asleep, her breathing slow and deep.
A deep red rose is on the desk beside her. It sits in water, dignified and tall. You smile as you remember giving it to her.
She gives another little sigh, and you watch her chest rise and fall once, twice. Her hair, tamer but just as beautiful as it was in your school days, fans out behind her on the pillow. Her hands are clasped over her growing stomach. You place one of your own over hers. Your baby. It's so impossible to believe.
Names have been your trouble for so long. What will you name the little thing? But as you stare at the deep red rose, you know.
Rose.
Rose, for your wife's unconscious loveliness. Rose, for the dignified flower. Rose, for happily-ever-after.
A/N: For the Growing Up & Colored Roses challenges, I present to you Ron/Hermione! I know that Sleeping Beauty can vary from story to story, name to name, so I hope you don't get angry with me for my version. Please review! You've come this far…