A/N: This is for HermioneWeasleyFan's challenge—Father-Daughter moment. Here is Rose and Ron, because they are beyond cute!
Last story before official hiatus. But I still welcome reviews!
Disclaimer: I don't own!
Dedication: HermioneWeasleyFan, for setting up the challenge!
Father's Day
Her first Father's Day, he walks her around, singing to her and laughing as she gurgles. She looks just like him, in a female version, and his wife is jealous. But he knows they will have more—they are Weasleys, and he needs more of these perfect angels.
She plays with the beard he has worked so hard to grow out, despite everyone's teasing, and he finds it all worth it, even as she pulls on it, and hard.
It's the best Father's Day ever, he thinks, because it is the first.
By her third Father's Day, she's got to share him with Hugo, and she resents that, even in her three-year-old mind.
"Me want Dadda to mysewf!" she screams.
"I want Daddy to myself, baby. Daddy needs to take care of Hugo now, but he'll play with you later, okay?" Mummy says, and when Mummy talks like that, she knows she's got to obey and play quietly.
But when he's put Hugo to bed, and it's just the two of them, she can scream and laugh and play, and she loves it.
She's pretty sure he does, too.
Her sixth Father's Day, she comes home from daycare with a picture of them. His hair is a scribbled red blob, and his eyes are two huge blue circles, and his head goes off the page, but he saves it for the rest of his life. He'll always remember it.
And even though he's got Hugo, and later, his three other little boys (triplets), he's got to remember his daughter, because she is the only one, and that drawing is the only one.
Her tenth father's day, she's crying. She's outside with Hugo, and they are playing Mummy and Baby again. But she wants a Daddy, too!
She shouts out for Daddy to come—"I'm all alone, Daddy, and Baby needs a Daddy!"
And even though she's too old for the game, and even though he is exhausted, he drops everything and hurries out to play. He dries her tears and says, "I'll always be the Daddy."
Her eleventh Father's Day, she's just come home, and she's abuzz with Hogwarts.
"Al and I met Scor on the train, and he's great! He's so funny, and we have a great time! And Michael—Merlin, he's a boy! But we let him be in our group. They call us the Quadratic Formula. Even though we haven't learned that yet, we think it's really funny. And to think, I though Ravenclaw would be horrible! But it's awesome! And Molly keeps coming over to us and saying, 'Wow, Ravenclaw almost seems greater than Gryffindor!' And we laugh, 'cause it isn't, of course, but we wish it was, and we'll let her think that. And then Scor just jokes all the time about how our dad's'll disown us, but I know my dad won't! Will you, Daddy?"
And she pauses her, finally, from her endless string of words, and beams up and him, and he smiles. "Of course not, darling. Who cares if you and Mal—erm, Scorpius—are friends, and you're in Ravenclaw? Not I!"
And even Hermione doesn't correct her daughter's grammar then, because she sees him swallowing his pride in favor of love. And then their daughter presents him with her usual present and hugs him.
"I love you, Daddy!"
Her thirteenth Father's Day, Hugo is now home from Hogwarts, and he spends more time with Dad then she does! It's not fair, she thinks, but now that she's an official teenager, she doesn't whine or complain. She spends time with her mum instead, trying to wrap her head around all of her mother's work.
And so she hates to admit it, but she's relieved when her father comes in from outside with Hugo, and the triplets ambush their brother, and she gets him back. "Dad!" she shouts. "I've barely seen you—here's your present!"
And she gives him a picture that Michael Creevey, her friend, took of her. Somehow—but he's a wizard, so he'd find a way—he's put her father in there next to her, a huge smile on his face, hugging her tightly. The background is Platform Nine and Three Quarters, and he smiles and he takes the frame his wife has handed him and slips it in.
Wordlessly, he hugs her, and she knows she's done something right, even though Scor and Al made fun of her for getting Michael to do this. But he didn't seem to mind—he liked the idea, actually—and she tells her father that. He grins at her and ruffles her hair. "That Creevey boy of yours is one good friend, baby. Keep him around, will you?"
And she's not sure what he means when her mother covers her mouth to mask a shout of surprise and a laugh, and she's bewildered when he sends her a wink, but that's all right, because she's done something right.
Her sixteenth Father's Day, the triplets are at Hogwarts, and it's their turn to dominate her father's time.
He feels guilty, because there are three times as many experiences to recount and things to say. He knows she's counting on him to slip away, and he half wants to, but he hugs his boys and listens to them, because the bigger half of him wants to stay and give them his time.
He knows that if she's with Hermione, she's bored. He feels bad, still, but then again, Hugo's in there, and he seems to make everything fun for her. They've become closer, both their parents can tell, and so have Hugo and Hermione. And he's happy about that, because their daughter has always been more of his's than her's. And now their son will stay with her.
Finally, one by one, Jack, David, and Ryan fall asleep. He leaves them there, on the couch, and runs into the kitchen.
He's surprised by what he finds.
His wife and son are there, laughing at something an animated Rose is saying.
"Hello, my girl," he says, squeezing her cheeks. "Sorry we didn't get any you-and-me time!"
She smiles up at him. "That's cool, Daddy. See, Mum and I were talking about gossip around Hogwarts—not mean stuff, just who's with who, and Hugo knew all about Lily's love life!" She laughs again at this, and so do Hugo and Hermione. He looks at them questioningly, but the look on Hermione's face is one that says she won't share this family moment with him.
And though he feels lonely, he knows that he's gotten his time, and he'll get some more, and he and Hermione will share experiences, too. That's the way things are, and that's how they've got to be.
And later that night, she goes over to him and gives him his yearly present, and he smiles at her, because it doesn't matter what's in it. This is an unbroken Father's Day tradition, and it never will break.
Her seventeenth Father's Day, she's graduated and everything, and she can't think what to do with her life.
She smiles at her father across the dinner table as David talks about Quidditch tryouts for next year, and how he will make it next year—he will!
Jack laughs and tells him that he'd rather play his trombone. He's multi-talented, even at twelve, and she knows how hard her mother and father worked to get him in special classes for music study.
Ryan simply stares into his food, his head up in the clouds, re-thinking a spell or pondering philosophy. That's the way Ryan is.
Hugo is sending her significant looks—"You're leaving me alone in this madhouse?"
She telegraphs her laugh—"Ask Ryan for tutoring, David for sports tips, and Jack for determination problems. You'll survive, bro."
She doesn't know if he picked up on the advice part, because he stares glumly back at her, and she sends him her laugh again. He gives her a dirty look at that one.
"So, Mum," he interrupts, "How's work?"
She rolls her eyes at him, and turns to her father, as David, Ryan, and Jack argue over what is the best out of their interests.
"Daddy, I haven't given you my present yet!" she says, and hands the wrapped package to him from its place by her feet.
It's letters she's gathered and found. She's visited everyone—from her aunts and uncles, to his old girlfriend, to people who only know him as part of the Golden Trio, to fans. To her own house, which is filled with her mum's old letters and her brothers' craziness. She's got to admit, she's proud.
"Dear Ron,
Did I mention yet that I hate, hate, hate Lavender?"
"Ron—
Look, I know you're getting annoyed with Umbridge, but hang in there till Dumbledore comes back, and in the mean time, check out me and Fred's awesome pranks!
--George."
"Won-Won:
I wanted to write my ickle bickle lovey doll to tell you that I lovey wovey dovey you!
Love,
Lav-Lav
PS: You're daughter found this and showed it to me. Was I really like that? Good Merlin, Ron, I'm sorry—I was a perfect idiot. That's what guys do to me, I guess. Seamus laughed so hard at this—he says he's glad he never had to stand my sixth-year girlfriend self, because he certainly wouldn't have married me then!"
"Dad—
Er, Rose wanted me to write something. Um…" Hugo's began.
"Hey, Dad!
'Sup, my man? Look, Rose really wanted to give this to you—don't ask me why—so I'm just gonna (don't tell Mum I wrote that) tell you stuff…" David's started,
"Father,
I know you hate when I call you that, but it's intellectual. Uncle Percy told me so…" Ryan's said,
"Dad,
Hi! It's Jack. I just wanted to tell you, YOU ROCK! Thanks for giving me those music classes. Tell Mum I love her!
And thank Rose for putting these together.
And hug Hugo for good measure.
Do nothing to my fellow triplets.
They are too insane…
Jack," his said.
Wow, aren't my brothers poetic? she thinks, but she loves as he reads through them all. The look on his face is priceless.
He reads hers aloud—
"Dear Daddy,
Hi! I just wanted to write this to tell you how much I love you!
Oh, Merlin, I'm leaving after this, aren't I? I'm going out into the world, into a life that I can't even begin to fathom. And I'm gonna miss you like hell, Daddy--I don't care that Mum doesn't like us using that word. I am. It's totally true.
I know you were really ticked when Mike, Scor, Al and I got into Ravenclaw and became the Quadratic Formula. I know you hated me a little for being Scor's best friend. And I know you didn't want me to like Mike. (But he's a half-blood, Dad, and Granddad Weasley doesn't care anyway!)
Yet I was still your girl.
And now that Michael and I have been dating for two years, and Scor's still my best friend, and I've never moved from Ravenclaw, I still am your little girl.
Sure, I'm seventeen, and sure, you've embarrassed me through the ages, but I love you to death anyway.
And I hope I will always be your little girl, forever.
Happy Father's Day, Daddy.
Love, your little girl for always,
Rose."