One-Shot: Us versus The World
The Golden Trio entered the Great Hall, a mere hour after destroying Voldemort. All around them, the living were talking and laughing. Suddenly, Hermione noticed a crowd huddled in the center of the hall. "What's going on over there?"
Ron, meanwhile had stopped dead, and had grown very pale. He obviously saw something that Harry and Hermione didn't. Then, he sprinted towards the group, Harry and Hermione running after him. Ron pushed through the crowd.
"Let me through…. let me through!" he demanded, roughly shoving people out of the way. When all three saw what was before them, Hermione put her hand to her mouth. Harry wanted to hurl, curse and cry all at once.
The entire Weasley family lay dead at their feet. Save, of course, for the one redhead standing over them.
Ron let out a primal scream of anguish and fell to his knees, clutching the bodies of his family in turn: Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Percy, the twins, his parents and – tightly – Ginny. Harry looked at the body of his girlfriend and wondered why he was not hysterical like Ron; he was in shock. Hermione was weeping beside him. Then, she gently tried to get Ron on his feet, take him away from this awful scene of pain. Ron fought her off.
"No! No! I have to be with them! Where's my wand?" There was a wild look in his eyes, and Harry suddenly clued in on what Ron was trying to do.
"NO!" Harry leapt forward and tackled Ron just as the grieving boy got to his wand. The best mates wrestled on the ground, literally in a life-and-death struggle. Harry finally managed to wrest Ron's wand away from him.
"Hermione! Take it!" he called desperately. Harry played Keep Away for a second or two until Hermione took Ron's wand away and backed up.
"GODDAMN YOU, POTTER! I'LL KILL YOU!" Ron roared, turning on his best friend and seizing him, intent on strangling him. He looked demented.
"RON!" Hermione yelled and raised his wand at her lover, ready to perform Protego at the very least. But before she could, Harry fought back and finally overpowered Ron, giving him a sharp punch to the head and knocking him out cold.
Harry got to his feet. He hadn't wanted to do that, but he felt he didn't have a choice. He turned to Hermione. "Help me with him!" Hermione obeyed. Together, they lifted Ron in their arms and began to carry him all the way to Gryffindor Tower. He was heavy, and it didn't help when Ron came to as they were approaching the Fat Lady portrait. The Golden Trio stumbled into the Common Room, Ron trashing and all three screaming at each other.
"Let me loose, you fools!" Ron roared angrily.
"Put him on the couch, put him on the couch!" Harry ordered to Hermione. His muscles giving out, Harry dumped Ron onto the nearest furniture. Hermione reacted quickly, pinning Ron to the cushions by his sides and moving to straddle him. Ordinarily, Harry would have run from the room upon seeing this sight, trying to banish any images of his best friends locked in sexual intercourse from his mind. This was not that time, however – far from it. Hermione was literally holding Ron down with her own body; he screaming at her, and she crying as she begged him to get a hold of himself.
After about half an hour, Ron seemed to give up. Overcome with grief and exhausted at fighting with his best friends, he fell asleep. Hermione followed soon after, still lying on top of him. Harry meanwhile, collapsed unceremoniously in the nearest armchair, his wand in his hand, and everything went black.
The next day, it poured rain at Hogwarts. The Golden Trio sat in the Common Room; they had the dormitories pretty much all to themselves. Harry wondered if this was because others were helping to clean up, or were fighting for their lives in the Hospital Wing, or had gone home or were dead. Probably a combination of all four.
By now, Ron had seemed to give up suicidal thoughts. He was sitting against the wall, staring blankly out the window. Hermione was reading a book on the couch where she and Ron had slept, occasionally casting sympathetic glances her boyfriend's way when he wasn't looking. Harry was still in the armchair where he had conked out, playing with the Golden Snitch that had housed the Resurrection Stone with only minor interest.
"With this weather, none of the funerals will be held until tomorrow at least," Hermione observed. This was meant to be a general comment, but for Ron, it was a painful reminder.
"I've lost my family," he said softly, not taking his eyes off the window.
Harry did not know why this comment angered him, but it did. "And what the hell are Hermione and I? Your next-door neighbors?" he snarled, bounding out of his chair.
"Harry!" Hermione hissed scoldingly.
"No, Hermione! I don't think he realizes how lucky he is! To still have us!"
"Lucky?!" Ron half-yelled, half-moaned in anguish. "I'm the most miserable man alive! I've now lost just as much family as you have, Harry – and worse!"
"So have I!" Hermione cried indignantly, now standing up, offended that they had not thought of her parents.
"Your parents are brainwashed, but alive! They're not gone forever!" Harry roared back to her. "Your boyfriend fails to realize that at least there are people still here who love him!"
"YOU DON'T THINK I KNOW THAT?" Ron roared. Both his friends wheeled back around to face him. Ron was shaking, tears streaming down his face. "You don't realize how thankful I am that I didn't lose you two as well? If that had happened, Merlin, I….." His eyes locked on Hermione. He reached her in a few strides, pulled her to him by the waist and kissed her. Hard. Hermione whimpered into his mouth, before moaning sensually and snaking her arms about him, closing her eyes and kissing him back. Harry took a sudden interest in the carpet, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot, only to look up and see Ron bearing down on him. Harry did not have time to put up a defense before Ron had him in a bone-crushing hug. They stayed that way for a few moments before letting go. Ron looked at both Harry and Hermione now, eyes pleading.
"Don't ever leave me," he begged them, in the voice of a small child.
Hermione's eyes filled with tears and she took a step towards him. "I won't."
"Neither will I," Harry promised.
Ron pulled Hermione back into his arms.
"Marry me."
"What?!" Hermione gasped, in that proper tone she got whenever Ron or Harry said something out-of-line.
"I'm serious, 'Mione! I want to build my family back up again, and I want to do it with you!"
Hermione frowned and wagged a finger in his face. "Ronald Bilius Weasley, if you think that you're going to marry me just because you expect me to have seven of your children, you are sorely mistaken-"
"No, I want to be happy with you!" Ron insisted, and Hermione and Harry could tell there was no selfish intent behind his, um, proposal. Hermione softened.
"Ron, I understand where you're coming from, but…think about this logically! We have nothing! No home! And certainly no money even for a wedding!"
"We can live in the Burrow, with it all to ourselves!"
"You can even take Grimmauld Place, if you like," Harry offered up.
"Harry, no!" Hermione said. "That is very sweet of you, but…"
"Hermione, don't you see?" Ron interrupted. "We are all we have left – you, Harry and I. It's us versus the world."
"Hasn't it always been that?" Harry asked with humor in his voice. Ron glared in Harry's direction, before turning back to Hermione. His expression now grew tender.
"Hermione… my love." He began to kiss at her neck and ears, and then her lips, kissing her again and again. It was as if he couldn't stop. Finally, he pulled back. "My love," he repeated with a smile. "If we stick together, we'll be alright. That's all I know; you and Harry said as much just now. So, Hermione Jean Granger…. will you marry me?"
Hermione stared up into Ron's face, eyes searching. She finally sought out Harry, who simply shrugged. Her best friend seemed to be saying, His proposal was better this second time. I'd take it if I were you. I'm on board regardless. She finally sighed, before gazing back into Ron's eyes.
"Yes, Ronald, I will."
The Trio returned to the Burrow following all the funerals. Ron and Hermione slept in his bed together: a proposition Harry had initially balked at. Not that he didn't want his friends to be happy; he did, but…
"Shouldn't you guys wait until after…?" Ron gave Harry a look that clearly said, Finish that sentence, and I'll give you something to wait for. Harry shut up. He ultimately opted to sleep in Ginny's old room, her lingering smell soothing and yet also haunting his dreams.
A few weeks later, Ron and Hermione threw together a wedding in the Weasleys' backyard. When the big day arrived, however, Hermione was more worried about paying for all the services a wedding required.
"I'll have to take a loan out of Gringotts…" Harry could hear her saying to herself when he walked into her and Ron's room, even as she was checking out her wedding dress in the mirror. She turned back to Harry, trying to hide her fears.
"Oh, hello, Harry." She paused when she saw the huge bag in his hand. "What is that?" she asked before realization dawned on her. She gasped, trying to sound chastising even as she held back tears.
"You didn't!"
Harry grinned. "But I did, and that's the end of the matter."
"Harry, I won't let you! That's got to be your entire fortune your parents left you…"
"…. which is now being used to pay for my best friends' wedding, and I don't think my parents would mind my making such an excellent investment!" Harry talked over her. He held out the bag. "Take it, Hermione. All the checks are already written out in my name; I just figured you would want to make the actual payment yourself."
Hermione burst into tears after a moment, pulling Harry into a huge hug.
"I love you! How can Ron and I ever repay you?"
Harry smiled broadly. "That's the beauty of it: you don't! And don't even think about it, either. If anything, this is me repaying you…for sticking by me all these years."
A few minutes later, Hermione's dad (who had been recovered in Australia along with her mother) was walking his only daughter down the aisle. Harry stood by Ron's side as his Best Man. When the priest proclaimed the couple husband and wife, Ron and Hermione shared a romantic kiss to great cheers. At least, the wizarding world had something to celebrate finally.
While the newlyweds were on their honeymoon in South America, Harry moved out of the Burrow and back into Grimmauld Place. Joining him there would be Teddy Lupin, his godson. Following Andromeda Tonk's death soon after the wedding, a Ministry judge had ruled in favor of granting Harry full custody of the infant. Plus, with Kreacher the house-elf also staying there (he survived the Battle), the place actually felt homier and Harry felt less lonely.
After Ron and Hermione came home from their honeymoon, they visited Harry and Teddy almost every day. As the baby grew, he began to see Hermione as a mother/aunt figure and Ron as an uncle.
"It's funny, isn't it?" Ron noted one day, as he and Harry watched Hermione playing with 3-year old Teddy. "How history can repeat itself – making poor Ted an orphan like you. Or how fate can throw two lost souls like you together."
Harry was a little disturbed at Ron's waxing loquacious on the philosophical, so all he asked was "Who are you and what have you done with Ron Weasley?" Ron threw a couch pillow at him.
"Honestly, mate, though – what's it like?" Ron asked. Harry knew from the way he was looking at Teddy, Ron meant what it was like to be a parent. He wasn't surprised. He knew Ron and Hermione wanted kids; they had told him as much before – even going so far as to tell him they were trying for a baby. At that, Harry had blushed red and placed his hands firmly over his ears, not wanting to hear anymore.
"It's not all sunshine and rainbows, mate. There will be hard parts – sleepless nights, diapers to change, all that. But, as time goes by, you'll fall in love with it more and more, and that's where the real pleasure begins." Ron nodded, understanding, and then signaled that the deep conversation was over by hollering for Kreacher to fetch him a sandwich.
A few years later, Harry was just getting lunch in the Ministry mess hall. Drills today in the Auror Department had about killed him. He was only glad that he still had a job and was in fact rising in the department ranks; no longer was he flat broke after burning through all of his fortune to pay for Ron and Hermione's wedding. He was managing to provide for Teddy, and that was enough encouragement to get through every workday, so he could go home and be with his surrogate son. He sat down at a table, and then felt Ron's presence as the redhead joined him soon after.
"Dawles have you on the paperwork shift?" Harry asked without looking up from his plate.
"Yeah," Ron groaned. "I honestly don't know which I like more: Auror drills or Auror paperwork!"
Harry grinned. "Here's an answer: how about neither?" Both men laughed.
"How's Teddy?"
"Good, I have to pick him up from school in a few hours."
"2nd grade, right?"
"Don't remind me; I still can't believe it!" Harry chuckled. He paused before asking, "How's Hermione?"
He looked up to see Ron with an unusually broad grin on his face. He smirked. "She give you a good shag last night, I take it?"
"No," Ron said, a twinkle in his eye. "Something much better than that."
Harry was surprised. "Well, then? What was it? Some of her lingerie? Chudley Cannons season tickets? Come on, man, spill already!"
Ron's smile looked in danger of cracking his face as he announced in a low whisper. "We're pregnant!"
Harry's mouth fell open. Then, it formed into a huge grin. "Bloody hell, mate, that's brilliant! It only took you guys seven years!"
"Yeah, we finally got it right!" The best friends embraced.
"There's no way we're not celebrating this!" Harry crowed. "Friday night, we take her and Teddy out to dinner. I'll buy us blokes some butterbeers; first round's on me!"
"Sounds good, mate! We'll be thrilled to see Teddy again!"
Nine months later, on a hot day in mid-August, Harry got a call from Ron while in his office.
"Hermione's gone into labor!"
Harry ran out of his office and raced back to Grimmauld Place. Kreacher was watching 8-year old Teddy; the boy would be starting third grade in Muggle primary school the following week. Godfather and godson raced for the hospital, where they met up with the Grangers.
"Ron's already back there with her," Carol Granger explained. "He said he'd come to fetch us when she's ready to start pushing." She smiled. "Really, Harry, calm down. She's fine! Honestly, you'd think it was your kid being born!"
"No, but it is my niece or nephew being born!" Harry responded. "I see your daughter as a sister; I always have."
Richard Granger clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder. "We know, son." Just then, Ron appeared.
"She's starting to push! You'd better come on back!" The others followed him into Hermione's room, where she was panting and pushing amid screams of pain. Harry covered Teddy's ears and averted the boy's eyes as the baby began to come out. At long last, the wails of an infant could be heard; the Healers said something about a girl. Everyone's faces lit up. A girl!
"One of each! That' something, huh, Ted?" crowed Ron, ruffling the little boy's hair. But Teddy wasn't looking at him. He was staring at Hermione, now rocking the baby in her arms. He wriggled out of Harry's grasp and slipped to the floor before clambering up on Hermione's bed.
"What is it, Auntie Hermione?"
Hermione giggled. "It's a baby." She held the little bundle out to the boy. "Would you like to hold her, Teddy?"
"Yes, please." Teddy gently took the baby from Hermione and stared at it in wonder. The baby reached up a little hand and swatted at his face. Teddy smiled, not noticing his surrogate aunt and his godfather both get teary. Even Ron seemed to be trying to hold it together. Harry soon appeared at Teddy's side and Teddy passed the baby off to him. Harry held her close and suddenly felt his throat get very tight. He looked up at Hermione and Ron, the latter of whom by now was sitting next to her.
"You two deserve this. Remember that." He quickly passed the girl off to Hermione and turned away.
"Harry?" He looked back to Hermione. She had a tender smile on her face.
"And you remember that you're a part of this family, whether you like it or not. You're my baby's godfather after all, it's already been decided."
Harry gave her a watery smile. "Sure, 'Mione. I'd… be honored. So, Uncle Harry, huh? I'm sure you'd want me as a babysitter."
"Hell no," Ron said quietly, a joking grin on his face.
Meanwhile, Teddy was still gently playing with the baby. "So, whatcha gonna call her?"
"I'm going to call her…. Rose," Hermione told him with a smile.
Teddy wrinkled his nose, not exactly liking the name choice. "Rose? OK, she's your baby."
"All right, young man!" Harry said, scooping his godson up. "Time to get you home to bed!"
"Aw, Uncle Harry! Five more minutes?"
"No."
"Three more minutes?"
"No."
"One more minute."
"Forget it, Teddy!" Harry laughed.
Ron and Hermione took to parenting well. They sought advice from Harry whenever they could and Harry would bring Teddy by so he could play with Rose. 20 months after that, Hermione and Ron had a second child: a son whom they called Hugo. Ron, in particular, was over the moon, evidenced by his sudden vivacity in the office and his telling even more jokes than usual…and just as much teasing. Today in the mess hall was no different, as Ron suddenly paused and then had a sly grin cross his face. "But you know what Hugo's birth means, don't you?"
"No, what?" Harry asked, perplexed.
"It means you're on the hook. Tick, tock, mate. Find yourself a girl!"
"Oh, don't start!" Harry groaned, rolling his eyes as he sat back down in his seat. "We've been over this before…"
"So, let's go over it again! Harry, you know and I know that we're not getting any younger. Haven't you ever wanted a kid of your own?"
"In case you've been living under a rock for the last decade, I've already got a kid." Harry reminded him, exasperated.
"Teddy's your godson! He kind of counts, kind of doesn't – and by the way, that's me being kind because I really love that bloke!"
"Ron, even if I wanted to date somebody, where would I start?"
"Uhh…. how about right down the hall from your office?" Ron pointed out, half-joking. "Seriously, I could count on more than two hands the number of girls I've overheard gossiping over you. They probably go home and wank in their empty beds for you every night! If they got wind you were active on the dating scene, they'd have to get in line!"
"If this is Hermione putting words in your mouth because she wants an…. aunt for both Rose and Hugo, or she… wants me settled down like she's my mother or something, tell her I'm sorry, but-"
"No, of course not! This is me talking to you, not her. Hermione would never pry into your love life. All I'm saying is… there's bound to be at least one girl who strikes your fancy."
"Ron," Harry said seriously, looking into the redheads' eyes so he didn't misunderstand a single word. "I've said it before and I'll say it again: there will never be another girl like Ginny. Your sister was the only one for me, and I lost her same as you! She was the only one who could deal with my rough edges. Besides," and here he chuckled. "No woman would want to tangle with this old boy."
"'Not want to tangle with this old boy'…bloody hell, Harry, did you not hear anything I just said?! I'm telling you, I know at least fifteen female colleagues who would love to have you!"
"Ron. Any girl would be automatically compared to Ginny in my eyes and they'd all fail the test spectacularly. These girls love the idea of me, of Harry Potter! They don't love me, Harry…. just Harry. Plus, I'd have to see if they would be willing to be a mother to someone else's child; to raise Teddy! I bet you anything none of these secretary bimbos you're talking about will want to play house!"
"Harry, don't you want offspring? Your family…"
"….is you! Right now, you are my family. And Hermione. And the kids. Teddy. Hermione's parents." He placed a hand on Ron's shoulder. "That's all I need."
Ron nodded, finally accepting Harry's reasoning. The best mates hugged.
Christmas 2017 blew in colder than usual. Teddy Lupin – now a handsome youth of 19 – trudged up the snow-covered garden path with his godfather, Harry Potter. Both men let themselves into the warm house, hanging coats on the racks. Before they could call out a greeting, another sound distracted them.
"Toro! Toro!" Both men looked down to see 9-year-old Hugo Weasley pawing the ground with fingers at his head, pretending to be a bull. Harry played along, taking on the role of a bullfighter well as he held his coat aloft, pretending for it to be a rag.
"Toro! Toro!" he responded teasingly.
"CHARGE!" Hugo roared and rushed them. Harry stepped aside easily, causing Hugo to completely bypass the coat, before Teddy caught him and threw the lad up on his shoulders. All three laughed. Hermione now appeared in the foyer.
"Hugo, you need to slow down!" she chided.
Hugo grinned from atop Teddy's shoulders as he intentionally slowed his words down. "O…..K…Mooooommmmm."
Ron appeared behind Hermione with a chuckle. "Listen to your mother, young man."
"Yes, Daddy."
The adults embraced, 'Happy Chistmases' exchanged all around.
"Where's everybody else?" Harry asked as the group moved into the sitting room. As if on cue, Rose came thundering in from the kitchen, delicious smells and other laughter following her. Richard and Carol must be cooking, Harry thought.
"Uncle Harry!" She hugged him around the legs, then shrieked in delight when Harry flung her over his shoulder. "Uncle Harry, put me down! I'm too old to be picked up!"
"After only a single term at Hogwarts? Rubbish!" Harry laughed. He accepted her wish, however, and set her down.
Ron smiled, impressed. "The old man's still got it!"
"Old man?!" Harry echoed, pretending to look wounded. "Hermione, be a dear and hex him for me?"
"Wish I could, Harry, but I need him alive to watch after my kids!" Hermione laughed. Meanwhile, Rose was smiling up at Teddy. She had had a crush on him for a few years now, even though he was way older than and considered her only cousin in her family.
"Happy Christmas, Teddy!" she flirted.
"Happy Christmas, Rosie," Teddy returned, patting her head as he moved past her towards the kitchen. He was oblivious to her infatuation with him, or how she looked elated at his touch. The group moved into the kitchen, where the Grangers were just setting the table.
"Happy Christmas, Carol!"
"Aw, Happy Christmas, Harry!"
"Teddy! How are you, my boy?"
"Well, I keep moving, Grandpa Richard!"
"Let's hear some carols, then, shall we?" The men broke into song. "Oh, Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, thy leaves are so unchanging!"
"Oh, you sillies! Singing when you're not even drunk yet! What has this family come to?" Hermione bristled mockingly.
"Hermione, love, come off it! I sing when I'm sober!"
"…And the last time that happened was when our children were in nappies and you sang them lullabies!"
Cries of "Ooooooooooo!" and "Ay-oooooohhhhh!" could be heard amongst the guys. Teddy chortled and clapped his uncle on the back.
"She got you there, Uncle Ron!" Ron could only watch in stunned admiration as his wife disappeared into the next room to fetch drinks from the liquor cabinet, cheekily wiggling her arse at him as she went.
The family of eight sat down for their Christmas dinner. Hermione returned with the wine, giving her husband a loving kiss on the cheek before taking her place at the table. Everyone, minus Rose and Hugo, was poured a glass.
"A toast!" Harry called out, raising his. "To family!"
"To family!" the others echoed.
Harry felt a tug on his sleeve. Hugo looked up at him and then at his glass. Harry sighed. "Just a sip, now," he relented. He let his nephew taste some champagne. When it looked like Hugo wanted to guzzle down the whole thing, Harry laughed and took the glass away. "That's enough," he chuckled, mock-sternly. Hugo smacked his lips before frowning.
"It tastes like rubbish!"
"That's a lie, Hugh, and you know it!" Teddy laughed. "When you're eighteen, you'll be drinking me under the table, and no mistake!"
"Over his mother's dead body, he will!" Hermione vowed. All the others laughed nervously, then more jovially, as they dug into dinner at last, the snow flurries falling outside. They were all there together… as a family.