Chapter One
The day started out gray and overcast. Maybe it was a sign, especially since it started so early. The floo call from St. Mungo's woke her at 4 am with news. It was nothing she wasn't expecting. She let the kids run over to the Burrow after they woke up so she could start the many floo calls and arrangements that she wasn't looking forward too. Hermione sighed and took another sip of her coffee as she watched Rose and Hugo jump over puddles on the path the Weasley men had cleared directly to the Burrow. She knew Molly would already have breakfast going, especially when she took a look at her special clock. Another hand on the clock would have moved to deceased from mortal peril.
Hermione Granger-Weasley walked back to the coffee pot to pour a refill for herself after seeing Arthur wave at her window to let her know the children arrived. She loved her muggle coffeepot, something she had purchased after she developed a taste for it in Australia years ago after the war. After gaining their memories, the Grangers had given their daughter a tour of the area and introduced her to the drink. She stirred her drink and sat down at their kitchen table. Sighing again, Hermione took a moment to study her wedding ring and twirled it around her finger. She hadn't taken it off since the day Ron gave it to her a week after the war ended. A ruby placed on a simple gold band was her non-traditional ring. She never cared for gold, but knew Ron had loved the idea of a Gryffindor theme on their bands. There were a lot of concessions made on her part for her husband. This was just one of many over the years.
"Hermione," she heard calling from the floo, "can I come through?" It wasn't hard to recognize the voice of her best friend Harry. "Please do," she answered back automatically. The messy-haired man with green eyes stepped through and turned back to help his wife, Ginny, through as well, dusting her off as much as possible. "We would have apparated, but the healer advised against it so close to the delivery date."
Hermione smiled at them. Ginny was the perfect picture of pregnancy, complete with the glow and very round belly. This was her and Harry's fifth child, another girl, who was to be named Dora Hermione, which made Hermione herself wince on how rough a name it was. No worse than Albus Severus, she had thought when they told her. Ginny sat awkwardly at the kitchen table and conjured a glass of water for herself. Harry made himself a cup of coffee and sat down opposite his wife.
There was an uncomfortable silence that seems to last hours, but was really just a few seconds. Hermione put her cup down and looked at a knot in the wood of the table. "I take it that Healer Lesia called you as well." Harry and Ginny exchanged a look over her bent head and nodded. Harry reached over and grasped her hand in his. The simple act almost undid her resolve not to cry. "I've sent the children to the Burrow already. I haven't told them yet, however. I bet that they know anyway from the clock." She glanced over at Ginny, who nodded in affirmation, then looked at Harry's hand on hers. "I feel relieved more than anything. Is that ok?"
"Hermione, I consider Ron another casualty of war. He hasn't been himself in such a long time," Harry replied as he looked to Ginny and rubbed comforting circles on Hermione's hand. "I don't think he was the man you fell in love with years ago or even my best friend." He sighed and drank more of his coffee with his other hand. "I know he did love you and the kids, even though it wasn't easy for him to say it or show it." Hermione smiled at her friend. Fatherhood and losing the threat of death hanging over his head had brought maturity and a quiet confidence to Harry.
"At least we already made arrangements once he was committed for this eventuality," Hermione commented while swallowing the last bit of coffee. "I need to head to Hogwarts and talk to Minerva to finalize the ceremony, then finalize with Healer Lesia for Ron's body to be moved at the appropriate time. I'm sure the house elves won't mind laying out a buffet or something at the Burrow since everyone will want to go there afterwards. I don't want Molly to have to worry about anything if possible, though I know she will." Hermione, Harry, and Ginny shared a small smile about Molly Weasley's tendency to tell everyone how thin they were and make more food than an army could eat. She got up and walked back to the window with her coffee.
"Have you told the children yet? Or was it too early," Ginny asked as she moved to get a little more comfortable in her chair.
"I told them," Hermione answered. There was a pregnant pause and she added "Hugo shrugged and wanted to go outside to play. Rose frowned, but otherwise was ok. Ron hasn't been around for quite a while. It made me sadder than Ron actually passing to see his only children's reaction." Her words caused another moment of silence to permeate the room.
"Well, we need to get over to the Burrow and break the news," Harry said as he stood up to help his wife out of her chair. "I'm thinking that Molly will have seen the clock, but won't believe it until we tell her specifically." He then gave Hermione a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then Ginny did the same. "Call us Mione, if you need anything else. We'll see you later today then." Hermione watched through the window as they walked over to the Burrow using the same path as her children and stayed that way for another 30 minutes until she realized her coffee was cold.