Background for Chapter:

Hermione/Dean

Lavender is Hermione's cousin

Seventh Year

Since Juno has so many good quotes, I decided, instead of making multiple chapters with Juno quotes, to combine them into one story. All quotes in this chapter are from Juno, some have been modified.

Hermione walked through the portrait hole as Dean was walking out, carrying a water bottle and dressed for his morning run around the grounds.

"Hey Dean," she greeted. He stopped and stared at her for a second before responding.

"Hey Hermione," he responded, looking at his feet. Things had been kind of awkward between them since they slept together a couple weeks ago, before school started. They lived in the same neighborhood and had begun a flirty relationship during the summer, which escalated into something more. Luckily, no one else really noticed.

"Wow, your shorts are, like, especially gold today," Hermione said after a minute, gesturing to his running shorts, which were indeed brighter than usual.

"My mom uses color safe bleach," Dean responded, admitting his mom still did his laundry during the summer.

"Go Carol," Hermione replied sarcastically, for some reason Dean's mom really didn't like Hermione, and that feeling of negativity had rubbed off on Hermione.

"Well, I should get going. Harry's looking for you. He can't find his new set of robes, or something like that."

"I guess I better go help him," Hermione responded, walking up the boys' staircase she muttered under her breath, "I swear! That boy would lose his head if it weren't for me."

"Hermione! There you are! I need your help!" Harry exclaimed, jumping up from the floor on the far side of the bed.

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh and walked calmly to Harry's truck, opened it, lifted up the Invisibility Cloak, and pulled out the set of neatly folded robes. She handed them to Harry and rolled her eyes.

"Thanks Hermione! I don't know what I would do without you."

"You would die, Potter."

"Probably. Lavender says you caught a bug. How're you feeling?"

"Okay. I'm going to see Madame Pomfrey later today."

"Don't forget to tell me how it goes."

"Okay. I gotta go; Lavender needs to talk to me this morning about Ron."

"You had better remember your promise, young lady."

"Alright. Bye, Harry, I'll see you in Science."

With that, Hermione headed back down the stairs. Today she would either confirm or disprove the theory she and Lavender had come up with. She was slightly nervous, yet excited at the same time. A lot had happened to her this summer, including falling in love. Yes, Hermione Granger had fallen in love with her next door neighbor, Dean Thomas. She just had to figure out if she should tell him. She sighed as she sat down across from Lavender. After an hour of Lavender saying over and over again how her relationship with Ron was failing, she paused and looked at Hermione.

"Just tell him," Lavender stated, out of the blue.

"Tell who what?" Hermione looked at her cousin in confusion.

"Tell Dean you're in love with him. It'll be a lot easier to tell him the bigger news."

"We don't know if there will be bigger news, okay?"

"Hermione, you need to tell him. Seamus says that whenever Dean hears your name, your voice, your laugh, passes the library, or anything else that reminds him of you, he gets this big smile on his face. He, more than likely, loves you. But you know Dean, he's a shy one. After all, you're the one that basically said, 'Hey let's have sex'."

"I did not! Me and him got paired up for Seven Minutes In Heaven and then we left the party right after."

"Whatever you say."

"And for your information, Dean is really good in… chair,"

"You guys did it in a chair?"

"Stop laughing!"

At this point both girls were lost in their giggles. When they finally stopped, they decided to go to breakfast. They would occasionally start giggling again, earning odd looks from other students as they walked down the hall. Lavender watched as Hermione caught Dean's eye. His face broke into a huge grin and Hermione blushed slightly but returned to grin with her own of equal size. Lavender began to laugh again as she watched the interaction between the two. Hermione elbowed Lavender, rolling her had her cousin laughter died down to the occasional giggle. The two sat down across from Dean and Seamus. Harry came in and sat down on the other side of Hermione. He glanced at Lavender with a raised eyebrow every time she let a giggle out.

"Do I want to know?" he asked Hermione after the fifth giggle.

"No." Hermione replied, shaking her head before pushing her almost full plate away from her.

"You have to eat, Hermione," Dean said, noticing that she had barely eaten anything.

"The food's kind of making me feel sick right now." Hermione replied.

"We'll go see Madame Pomfrey after classes today," Lavender said, suddenly serious.

The atmosphere took a turn for the worst as Ron entered the Great Hall. He and Lavender hadn't been getting that well lately. And by "that well", I mean not at all. Lavender had found out from Ginny what Ron had really done while he was staying with Charlie in Romania over part of Winter Holiday last year and again during the month he was there over the summer.

"We need to talk Lavender!" Ron exclaimed, walking over to her.

Lavender groaned but got up and followed her boyfriend, only so they wouldn't cause a scene. A couple minutes later, Hermione and Dean made their way to their first class. Hogwarts had decided to include a muggle science class to the required classes, much to the dismay of the muggleborn students, and Gryffindors had the class first.

"Dean, I have something to tell you." Hermione said, pulling him into an empty classroom.

"Okay." Dean replied, sitting down on one of the desk and pulling Hermione between his legs. She blushed at the action. It was an action that was reserved for breaks, not at all for Hogwarts. But she loved it.

"I think I'm in love with you" Hermione said quietly, looking into his eyes.

"You mean as friends?" Dean asked, hoping she loved him as more.

"No... I mean for real. 'Cause you're, like, the coolest person I've ever met, and you don't even have to try, you know?" Hermione replied, biting her lip, a small smile forming.

"I try really hard, actually," Dean responded with a breathy laugh.

"You're very good at hiding it," Hermione said, laughing as well.

"Hey, Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"You're the cheese to my macaroni," Dean whispered, resting his forehead against hers.

Hermione smile grew and she pressed a kiss to his lips before pulling him out of the room and they made their way to their class hand-in-hand.

The professor finished the background for the lab and Hermione and Dean turned to Ron and Lavender, their lab partners to start. They knew this wasn't going to turn out well, Ron was still red and Lavender had her stubborn face on.

"Who's ready for some chromo magnificence?" Hermione asked with fake enthusiasm, trying to break the tension a little.

"Yeah, I have a menstrual headache. So I can't really look at bright lights today," Lavender said, looking at her nails. Hermione knew she was just trying to get a rise out of Ron, which worked perfectly.

"Lavender, I told you to go to the infirmary and lie down. You never listen!" Ron exclaimed, frustrated that she didn't do what he told her to do anymore.

"No, Ron. Because I don't take orders. Not from you and not from any man." Lavender shot back.

"You know you've been acting like this ever since I got back from visiting my brother in Romania... I already told you nothing happened." Ron groaned, not knowing that Lavender knew everything.

"Well I'm going to set up the apparatus. Um, Hermione, would you like to plug in the Bunsen burner?" Dean said, turning to his girlfriend and trying to get the group back on topic.

"It's my pleasure," Hermione said, plugging said Bunsen burner in.

"I'm going to the infirmary." Lavender shouted, turning to leave.

"Good. Call me when you get off the rag!" Ron shouted, standing up.

"Fine! Call me when you learn how to love someone instead of cheat at your brother's dragon reserve. Just because you had four Smirnoff ices and a bottle of snow peak peach flavored Fire Whiskey." Lavender said, turning around and storming out of the room.

"Good, Lavender. I'll be sure to do that. I'll make a note of it!" Ron yelled at her back.

"I've actually heard the snow peak peach flavor is the best flavor of Fire Whiskey," Hermione said awkwardly as Ron sat back down, Dean nodded in agreement before continuing with the experiment. Ron nodded in agreement and went back to sulking.

When class was over, Hermione ran out of the room to find Lavender, knowing that she would be in the common room. Dean promised to cover for her, so she didn't have to worry about that.

Lunch found Hermione and Lavender in the drug store in Hermione's neighborhood. Since both girls were officially able to apparate, Hermione decided to use a muggle pregnancy test, especially since she really didn't want Madame Pomfrey to do a test. What Hermione hadn't expected was to run into one of her kind-of-friends who was had lunch.

"Hey Su-Chin. How's high school going?" Hermione greeted casually.

"I'm having a little trouble concentrating." Su-Chin responded, looking confused as to why Hermione Granger, the girl who got into an exclusive boarding school, was in her old neighborhood.

"Oh well I could sell you some of my Adderall if you want" Hermione replied. Contrary to popular belief, Hermione did have attention issues.

"No thanks, I'm off pills" Su-Chin responded giving Hermione an odd look. Everyone who went to school with Hermione before she left knew how bad she needed those pills.

"That's a wise choice because I knew this girl who like had this crazy freak out because she took too many behavioral meds at once and she like ripped off her clothes, and dove into the fountain at Ridgedale Mall and was like, 'Blah I am a Kracken from the sea!'," Hermione responded, a serious expression on her face. Lavender snorted slightly into her hand. Hermione was so lucky there was a potion that would help her attention problems that didn't cause her to have drug induced hallucinations. Though, that particular instance was the best one. It had happened just two years ago when they were home for Winter Holiday.

"I heard that was you," Su-Chin said.

"Well, it was good seeing ya Su-Chin," Hermione replied, smiling and giving Lavender the money to pay for the test and headed toward the bathroom.

A couple minutes later Hermione sat staring at the little pink plus sign.

"Shit," she hissed out. Walking out of the stall and capping the end of the wand, she kicked the bathroom door open.

Lavender ran over to her and looked at the test. She hugged Hermione tightly when she saw the result.

"It'll be okay," Lavender whispered. The two walked to an alley and apparated back to Hogsmaid. They made their way back up to the castle in silence. Students, professors, ghosts, and portraits alike all watched them in concern. The whole school was aware of how loud the cousins were when together. Seeing them being so somber was something that caused a little bit of worry. Seeing Harry, Hermione pulled him along the rest of the way to the astronomy tower.

"I'm keeping it," Hermione said, looking out over the grounds.

"Keeping what?" Harry asked. Hermione silently handed him the test and realization dawned on him. He looked at Lavender who mouthed "Dean" to him.

"Hermione are you serious?" Harry asked, walking over to her and putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah. This is a baby, Hermione. You can't even remember to give your little sister her breathing meds." Lavender said, for once trying to be the voice of reason.

"God that was one time! And she did not die if you recall." Hermione shot back.

"All I'm trying to say is that this is a baby who will be depending on you. I'll always be there to help you, so will Harry, but are you sure you're ready for this?" Lavender responded.

"Of course I'm not sure. But I'll have you and Harry. Oh My God! I still have to tell Dean."

"I'm sure he won't be that surprised. After all, he does know you guys didn't use protection." Lavender tried to comfort her.

"In fact, if he doesn't take responsibility, I'll kill him." Harry said, getting a small laugh out of Hermione.

Hermione watched as Dean walked into the common room later that night. He walked over and kissed her sweetly.

"I have something really important to tell you." Hermione said, looking at her lap as Harry and Lavender cleared the common room.

"Okay." Dean said, slightly concerned.

"Remember toward the end of summer when we, you know" Hermione started.

"Of course I do," Dean smirked.

"And how we didn't really use protection?"

"Yeah…" Dean realized what was coming next.

"Well… here," Hermione handed Dean the test. He closed his eyes when he saw the pink plus sign.

"So you're pregnant?"

"Yeah. I'm going to keep it."

"Good, I wouldn't have it any other way." Dean lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes, which were glistening with unshed tears.

"You're really okay with this?" Hermione asked, tears spilling over.

"Of course. When I said I love you this morning, I meant it."

"You didn't say you love me. You said"

"That you're the cheese to my macaroni. It was my way of saying that I'm nothing without you. I love you, Hermione Granger."

Hermione kissed him sweetly and the kiss soon escalated. They pulled apart after ten minutes before parting for bed.

Dean waited for Hermione before going down to breakfast. She came down the stairs with Lavender and threw her arms around Dean when she saw him. Harry, Lavender, and Seamus laughed as they watched the happy couple.

"Let's go to breakfast." Dean said.

"Hermione! My mom wants to talk to you on the fireplace real quick." Ron said, pointing toward the common room fireplace.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley." Hermione greeted when she reached the fireplace.

"Ginny said you had some exciting news for me. Did Ronald dump that slag Lavender and gotten back together with you?" Mrs. Weasley asked hopefully, not seeing Lavender sitting right next to Hermione.

"HEY!" Lavender exclaimed.

"That 'slag' as you say, just so happens to be my cousin. And no, she hasn't broken up with him yet. I actually have a boyfriend. I'm sure you remember Dean?" Hermione said, pulling dean down to kneel next to her.

"Oh, darling…"

"Before you continue, I do have some exciting news for you."

"Do tell, dear."

"I'm expecting."

"Expecting what?" Mrs. Weasley had a suspicion, but hoped she was wrong.

"A baby. I'm pregnant."

"God, Hermione. I thought you were the kind of girl who knew when to say when."

"I don't really know what kind of girl I am." with that said, Hermione stood up and let the common room. Lavender, Dean, Harry, and Seamus following quickly. Lavender ran ahead of the guys, knowing her cousin was more upset than she was letting on. Once in the Great Hall, Hermione sat down between Lavender and Dean, who took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Aren't you hungry?" Dean asked, seeing her untouched plate.

"Not for this. I could so go for like a huge cookie right now, with like, a lamb kabob simultaneously," Hermione said, causing her housemates who didn't know about her current situation to groan in disgust.

*Five months later*-Hermione's 7th month

By now, everyone in the school knew. What surprised Hermione was that no one said anything to her face about it. No insults, nothing.

"You seem to be getting pregnanter these days," Harry said, coming up next to Hermione, grin in place.

"Are you calling me fat, Potter?" Hermione responded, raising an eyebrow.

"Come on, let me carry your bag," Harry said quickly, changing the topic.

"Oh, what's another ten pounds?" Hermione replied, handing him her bag nonetheless. He grimaced at the weight.

"So, what's on the agenda today?"

"Me and Lavender are going to the doctor. I'm getting an ultrasound done." Hermione answered.

"Dean's not going with you?"

"No, he said he was working on a surprise for me."

"Oh…"

"Would you like to come with us Harry?"

"YES!"

"Alright."

*In the Ultrasound Room*

"Whoa! Check out Baby Big Head. Dude, that thing is freaky lookin'," Lavender said, looking at the image on the screen.

"Excuse me. I am a sacred vessel, alright? All you've got in your stomach is Taco Bell," Hermione retorted, tearing up a little bit. She looked over at Harry and laughed, "Harry Potter, are you crying?"

"No. I just have something really big in my eyes, okay?" Harry responded.

"It's not unusual for the father to cry when they first see their baby." The technician said.

"Oh, I'm not the father. I'm the godfather. The father's working on a surprise for Mione." Harry responded.

"He's in healthy condition, I don't see anything wrong right now." the technician said, knowing they found out the sex the last time they were in.

*Hogwarts*

Hermione arrived back in the Gryffindor common room only to be dragged back out again by Seamus.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked, laughing.

"To your house. Dean has something to show you." Seamus responded. Lavender and Harry had joined them by now.

The flooed to the small cottage Harry had bought them as an early wedding present. Dean hadn't proposed yet but Harry knew he was going to after the baby was born. Stepping out of the fireplace, Dean walked over to Hermione and led her down the hall into the room they picked to be the nursery.

When they walked in, she gasped. The nursery was completely finished. The walls were painted a light blue and all the furniture was either light green, pale yellow, or white. The windows had sheer white curtains hanging over them. All around the room there was a border of footballs, celebrating Hermione and Dean's favorite sport. Hermione hugged Dean tightly. Lavender and Harry walked into the room and Lavender let out a gasp.

"It's beautiful, Dean." Lavender said, voicing the words her cousin couldn't say.

"Me and Seamus worked on it all day." Dean responded.

"It's really is beautiful." Hermione said, wiping her tears away. She gasped and placed Dean's hand on her stomach. Dean smiled when he felt the baby kick. It wasn't the first time the little boy had kicked, but it was the first time where it was appropriate from Dean to feel it. Harry, Lavender, and Seamus left the room, leaving their friends to enjoy the private moment together.

"You should try talking to him. 'Cause, like, supposedly they can hear you even though it's all, like, ten-thousand leagues under the sea," Hermione whispered. Dean knelt down in front of her and put his other hand on her belly as well.

"Hey little guy. It's your daddy. From the feel of things, you're going to be a football player. My son, the future David Beckham. I like the sound of that. I'm so excited to meet you, little guy." Dean kissed her belly before standing back up and kissing Hermione.

*A month later*

"God you're getting huge. How many months has it been now?" Lavender said as Hermione exited the bathroom.

"Um it's coming up on the eighth. You should see me naked" Hermione replied, sitting down on her bed and picking up a random motherhood magazine.

"I wish my funbags would get bigger," Lavender said, noticing Hermione's chest had gotten bigger.

"Trust me, you don't. I actually have to wear a bra now and I have to rub this nasty cocoa butter stuff all over myself or my skin could get stretched too far and explode," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"Hot!" Lavender gasped, "Does Dean ever do it for you?"

"Shut up!" Hermione responded, throwing a pillow at her cousin's head.

*Later that day*

The owl post had just arrived and Hermione opened a letter from her parents, neither of which had written her since they found out that she was pregnant. She opened the letter, glancing over it, before getting up and storming out of the Great Hall, well, as well as an eight month pregnant woman could storm out. Harry quickly got up to follow her, seeing as Lavender and Ron were still yelling at each other in the common room and Dean had gone to the cottage to baby proof everything.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Harry asked, sitting down next to Hermione by the lake.

"My mom kicked my dad out. She's getting a divorce. He's been having an affair for the past year and a half. Neither of them want anything to do with me, she just thought I should know." Hermione responded, holding the letter out to Harry.

"Anything else bothering you?"

"Does the love couples have for each other last? I mean, Ron and Lavender are always fighting. Ginny cheated on you at least once a week. My dad has been having an affair. Dean's dad up and left when he was five."

"And…?"

"I need to know that it's possible that two people can stay happy together forever. I don't want to raise a baby if Dean's going to leave me someday." Hermione said, crying.

"Dean will never leave you, Mione." Harry replied, hugging Hermione tightly. She sniffled slightly but Harry's words brought great comfort to her, like they always did.

After fifteen minutes, Hermione made her way back up to the Gryffindor common room. Walking in she found Lavender pacing in front of the fire place.

"Where have you been?" Lavender demanded worriedly.

"Oh, just out, dealing with things way beyond my maturity level," Hermione responded, sitting down on one of the couches. Lavender joined her and the two sat in a comforting silence. Hermione rested her head on Lavender's shoulder and Lavender rested her head on top of Hermione's, both girls silently crying, but knowing it will all work out.

*A month later*

Hermione lay on her bed, reading when she felt a wetness.

"HARRY?" Hermione yelled from her dorm to the only person currently in the tower.

"What?" Harry responded.

"Either I just peed my pants or um..."

"Or?"

"THUNDERCATS ARE GO!" Hermione yelled, feeling a sharp pain.

Harry began freaking out, calling Lavender, Dean, and Seamus back to the common room via magic coin. They showed up five minutes later. Lavender ran upstairs and got Hermione while the boys go Hermione's suitcase, told all the teachers, and apparated to the muggle hospital Hermione had chosen. They were shock that Lavender and Hermione had beaten them there. Lavender sat in the waiting room with the boys, informing them that, until Hermione was giving birth, her mom would be in the room with her. Dean would go in when the time came.

*In the room*

Hermione paced back and forth as her Aunt Brenda watched. As she said when her sister told her Hermione was pregnant, "family is still family. You gotta be there for each other." Hermione's mother obviously hadn't felt the same way. Brenda promised to be there for her niece.

"Ow, ow, fuckity-ow! Bren, when do I get that spinal tap thing?" Hermione whined as another contraction ripped through her body.

"It's called a spinal block. And you can't have it yet, honey. The doctor said you're not dilated enough," Brenda replied, smiling sympathetically at her niece.

"You mean I have to wait for it to get worse? Why can't they just give it to me now?" Hermione whined again, going back to her pacing.

"Because, honey, doctors are sadists who like to play God and watch lesser people scream," as she said that, Hermione let out the loudest scream yet, "Shit." Brenda poked her head outside the door and yelled to the closest doctor, "Hey, can we get my niece the damn spinal tap already?"

Sixteen hours later Dean switched places with Brenda and did everything he could to help Hermione.

"IF YOU THINK I AM EVER LETTING YOU TOUCH ME AGAIN, YOU'RE DEAD WRONG DEAN ANDREW THOMAS!... OH I'M SORRY, DOES YOUR HAND HURT? I'M PUSHING A THING THE SIZE OF A WATERMELON OUT OF ME!" and other phrases along those lines filtered into the waiting room.

Finally, the child was born and Lavender, Brenda, Harry, and Seamus were gathered around Dean and Hermione. They were laying side by side on the bed, Hermione hold a blue bundle in her arms.

"I would like to officially introduce you to Ryan Alexander Thomas," Hermione said softly. Ryan was passed around. Hermione smiled tiredly as Dean pressed a kiss to her head.

"I'm so proud of you," he mumbled into her hair, "I love you, Mia."

"I love you, too, Dean," Hermione replied, kissing him lightly.

*Epilogue*

Hermione and Dean were married the next year. Harry gave Hermione away, Lavender was Maid of Honor, Seamus was Best Man, and Brenda carried their ring bearer down the aisle and up to his parents when the time came.

A year and half later, Hermione was pregnant again with another boy. Another year later, she would see another pregnancy, this time twins, a boy and a girl, she would be the only girl of six. Following that, two years later, Hermione would be pregnant with twin boys.

They expanded the cottage with each child. It now looked like a nicer version of the Burrow.

Lavender ended up leaving Ron for good. She married Harry and they had three kids, all boys.

Seamus married Hannah Abbott and they had two boys.

Every Sunday, the Potters and Finnegans gather at the Cottage to spend the day together.

They didn't know it at the time, but Dean's prediction about Ryan came true. In fact, the sports headlines have given him the nickname Beckham 2.0.