Red and Green

Hermione rubbed her big belly fondly as she looked upon the decorated tree in the lounge room. The gold tinsel seemed to twinkle around the many baubles and decorations, making the room sparkle. They had set up the tree on the first of December, but the rest of the house had taken longer to decorate. Since her years at Hogwarts, it didn't seem right to celebrate Christmas without going all out and over the top with wonderful decorations.

Hermione heard the front door open and close, then the sound of footsteps coming along the hall. Hands encircled her from behind and rubbed her huge belly lovingly.

'How is my family doing?' Fred smiled into Hermione's ear

'We are good' She said, leaning back into his embrace as Fred ran his hands over her belly gently.

'Hi Baby' he cooed 'Did you miss me?' he asked

'Yes' Hermione said

'Other baby' he teased and she chuckled

'They missed you too' she laughed

'Of course you did, I'm their daddy' Fred said, lovingly to Hermione's belly. 'How was your day Love?' He asked, kissing her cheek.

'Good, mostly'

'Mostly?' he asked with concern

'It's nothing' she said brushing the words away easily 'How was your day?'

'Great until my wife said her day was only mostly good' Fred said at once. Hermione couldn't help but chuckle.

'Hermione, tell me' he said holding her close.

'Its stupid'

'I don't think so, tell me'

'You'll laugh'

'I laugh at everything'

'Fine…' Hermione groaned then continued 'I may…only may, have had a slight break down this afternoon…'

'What! Are you ok? I'll get you tea, sit down! You need to be relaxing!' Fred panicked, turning her in his arms then leading her to a chair and making her sit down.

'Hey hey hey, calm down crazy, I'm ok'

'Do you need a warm bath or a nap or I could contact Dad and ask Dad how he looked after mum when she was pregn…'

'Shhh' she grabbed his hands, making him drop down onto his knees so that he was eye level with her. 'Would you relax for one second so I can tell you the stupid truth and stop you going into panic mode AGAIN'

Fred took a deep breath, but looked like he was fighting hard not to run for the kettle and teabags to make her a cup of strong chamomile tea.

'I was cooking in the kitchen, and I dropped the wooden spoon, so I went to pick it up…' she was looking sheepish 'but I couldn't'

Fred looked at her in puzzlement.

'My belly is too big now' she explained, rubbing her hands over it lovingly. 'then I started thinking how I can't seen my feet…and I realized I….I missed them' she admitted turning bright red.

'You got upset because you can't see your feet?' Fred asked, looking confused and bemused.

'Well yeah…' she admitted 'but I blame the pregnancy hormones for the tears!' she said quickly. Fred burst into laugher, pulling her into a hug.

'You are the most adorable woman in the world'

'Don't mock me' she grumbled

'I'm not!' he smiled, cupping her face in his hands.

The next morning Fred woke up in his bed to find his wife was not laying beside him. Pouting his lip, he got up and walked to the bathroom, the door was closed but he could hear gentle crying from behind it. His heart broke.

'Hermione?' he called through the door

'Hang on a sec' she said, but he didn't wait, she was upset and he had to help.

Hermione was sitting on the edge of the bath, tears running down her face. She was in her pajamas with her dressing gown over the top and her hair was messy. She looked beautiful, even with the red nose and tears.

'What's wrong?' Fred said walking towards her

'Their gone' Hermione said with tears in her eyes. Fred's mind raced. He dropped to his knees in front of her and dropped his head to her belly, pressing his ear to stomach. After a few seconds, Fred received a small but clearly purposeful kick to the ear from one of his unborn babies.

'Hermione, Honey, they are fine'

'Their gone, I can't even see them any more' she said trying to stop the crying

'You haven't seen them yet Sweetheart, please calm down'

'But I use to see them all the time!' She started to cry again.

Fred had a feeling he was missing something important.

'They were quite cute, you remember, the little ones had a tiny little dimple in them…I bet they are now big sausages, but I can't even see them to know….' She started to hiccup in-between sobs.

'Hermione…what are you talking about?' Fred asked, worried this question would upset her more.

'My feet!' she wailed 'I can't see them any more' she sobbed.

Fred had to use all of his adult/husband strength to not laugh at her; he pulled her into a big hug and slowly calmed her down. He remembered the day before her saying something about being upset about her pregnancy feet…

Then he sat down on the ground and held each of her feet in his hands while she still sat on the edge of the bath.

'Well you still have your feet Love, they are both here' he squeezed them gently.

'Do they look like big potatoes?' she said with a pouty lip

'No, not at all, they still look like your beautiful feet, they are just a bit bigger…'

'Huge you mean' she looked like she was about to start crying again.

'Nope, just a bit bigger, so that you can hold the weight of our two little munchkins' he said, kissing her belly. 'They are good strong feet, beautiful feet' Fred said looking up at his hormonal wife. 'I love these feet more now then I ever have before' he said with a smile

'Really?' she asked with a small smile

'Really' Fred smiled, gazing at his wife with pure adoration.

After a lovely yet simple dinner, Hermione was carrying the dishes over to the sink, Fred had been quiet over dinner and run off the moment he had finished his last bite of chicken. Not really sure what was going on, he was probably concocting a new product for the store, Hermione just let him do his thing, beginning to run the water into the sink. She had just placed the first lot of dishes into the hot soapy water when she heard Fred walk back into the room.

'Leave the dishes love' he said

'Oh they wont take long' she said

'They can wait' he said, he came up beside her and took her hand, leading her out of the kitchen. Looking at him perplexed, Hermione let him lead her into their cozy lounge room that twinkled with twinkling lights, the spell Flitwick used on the Christmas trees back at Hogwarts. Fred motioned for her to sit down in the big comfy lounge next to the tree, so she did.

'Wait here' he said, holding up his hands to show that she should stay put then he dashed from the room. Chuckling at her husband's funny ways Hermione sat for a few moments wondering what he was up to. Fred walked back into the room holding a tray, he put it down on the coffee table next to Hermione and she saw that it held a steaming cup of tea, a tea pot, a plate of the gingerbread biscuits she had made earlier that day, a small bottle of what looked like lavender oil from the bathroom and weirdly a few small muggle bottles.

'Fred?' she asked looking at him

'I'm going to pamper you so that you are no longer sad' he smiled a big smile and dropped to the floor, sitting cross legged in front of her. Before she could give him more then a bewildered and bemused stare, he gently eased off her slippers and began to rub her left foot. It was amazing.

'You don't…'

'You are my goddess and you will accept my offering' he said with a serious look on his face, making her break into a hysterical fit of laughter. Hermione decided to accept the kind offering and picked up her tea to take a sip. Fred reached up and took the lavender oil from the table and dripped a few drops onto each foot. Hermione loved the smell of lavender; it always relaxed and calmed her down. Sighing in comfort Hermione enjoyed as her husband massaged her feet and told her about his day, asked her about her own and reminisced about many happy memories they shared.

Hermione picked up a biscuit and lent down to offer it to Fred, who took a bite out of the biscuit she offered then said "fank yoo" through a mouthful of gingerbread, making her chuckle. After hand feeding him a more few biscuits as they continued to talk and he rubbed her slightly swollen pregnant feet, Fred had a few stray bits of icing at the corner of his mouth. Hermione crocked her finger at him and he rose to his knees at the summon. She leant forward and kissed the icing off his lips lovingly. Fred hummed happily then started with surprise

'They kicked!' he said with wonder in his eyes, his torso had been pressed up against Hermione's huge belly. Hermione chuckled,

'Hi bubba's!' Fred cooed, stroking her belly and talking to it, he dropped kisses on her stomach. Hermione ran her fingers through his hair gently and watched with a loving gaze as he whispered how much he loved his little family and how much he wanted to meet them when they were born.

'Hey bubba's which colour should we paint Mummy's toes?' he asked 'Green or Red?' he asked, there was a kick a moment later

'Clearly they think I should use both colours' Fred said wisely, Hermione started to giggle.

Fred picked up one of the small muggle bottles that was green inside and unscrewed the lid,

'Phew…muggle's really know how to make things smell awful, why can't they make it like normal potions' he muttered, making Hermione chuckle. Fred had taken to trying to introduce muggle things into their home from the moment he found out they were going to be parents. He had told Hermione that he wanted his kids to know where they came from, and that their Mummy, while a very clever witch had actually been born to muggles and that their grandparents were also muggles. He wanted them to feel normal with both of their families, which Hermione found utterly endearing. However, the muggle toaster he had brought back did not seem to cook toast the way Fred liked, so one morning she had walked down into the kitchen to find him hexing it, trying to magic it into a better kitchen appliance.

'How do you people do this?' Fred asked after painting some of her toes, his tongue had been sticking out between his teeth in concentration.

'Natural skills?' Hermione teased

'Well you can teach the kids how to paint, I am hopeless' he chuckled, replacing the green bottle on the table and grabbing the red one.

Hermione watched her husband sweetly and carefully painting each of her toes, she ran her hand over her belly and smiled contentedly.

'Finished! Hazzar!' Fred announced half an hour later, he summoned a small mirror with his wand and showed Hermione her painted toes proudly. He had painted them alternatively, red, green, red, green, red etc. And on the two big toes he had painted on top a love heart in the alternating colour.

'They are beautiful' she smiled at him with tears in her eyes.

'I love you' He said standing up and kissing her on the lips, 'and I love you too' he said kissing her belly again. Hermione pulled him down next to her on the lounge, and snuggled into him, his arm around her, and his other hand rubbing her belly.

Fred slowly began to hum their favorite Christmas carol, the one he had written for Hermione for their first Christmas together so many years ago.

"Snow up high,

Owls in the sky,

Bringing cheer

To all whose dear,

Will you be mine

With eyes divine,

Be my Christmas love"

Fred sang it softly to his little growing family, as they all drifted off into sleep, wrapped in his warm arms.

Apples and Beckett

I hope you liked this little story, I like writing it Please leave a review.