Prompt: ron/hermione, scars
Author's note: For the Welcome Home Ficathon
He comes home one evening and the house is dark and quiet.
"Hermione?" He yells, a hint of despair in his voice.
She replies so quietly from upstairs that he isn't sure if it's her or the wind.
He finds her in the bathroom, immersed in a bath that has obviously gone cold. She's been there for a while. Something happened. He casts a warming charm on the water and she sighs, a small grateful smile on her face.
He sits down on the floor against the cold enamel of their bathtub and grabs her hand underneath the water. And he waits. He knows she's lost in her thoughts, trying to find words he scared to hear considering the morose mood she is in. Finally after a few minutes, she speaks, softly once again, her eyes still lost on the lime green tiles of their bathroom in front of her.
"I was pregnant."
For a foolish second, all he hears is the word pregnant and his heart swells in his chest. Then it hits him, past tense. Was. His heart sinks. It's their second miscarriage in six months. He didn't even know she was pregnant this time. The lost of the first baby hit them hard. Her body failed her. The cruciatus doesn't leave any physical scars. Even thought she kept her sanity, the healer told them six months ago that the curse seemed to have damaged her womb, making it difficult for an embryo to stay properly anchored and to carry a pregnancy to term. They have been devastated. In their happiness, when they first knew they were expecting, they told everyone in their family. Making it so much harder to explain that they had lost their child. Ginny and Harry had had James for four months old then. Even though they tried not to, every time Ron and Hermione saw their godson the sharp pain of grief would become almost unbearable and they would shorten their stay.
This time though, it seemed that Hermione didn't even bother to tell him she was pregnant to begin with. He knows she certainly did this to avoid him the pain and disappointment. His eyes travels on her face, her eyes are now locked on him and in them he reads the fears that run through her mind. I failed you. I failed our child. You're going to leave me. Again. He can't help the guilt from so many years ago to come back up. Suddenly he knows the words that will get them through this. That would tell her that she didn't fail anyone. That he won't leave ever again. That he loves her.
"Third time is a charm!" He says softly, his hand stroking hers on her knees above the water.
...
Three months later, Ginny carefully announces that she's pregnant again. They are happy for them, truly, but they don't say anything, just hug them tightly.
That night, in the warmth of their bed, Ron lifts Hermione's night shirt and gently caress the flat skin of her stomach. He lays a tender kiss underneath her belly button and starts to speak.
"Hey little one. Did you hear that today? You're going to have a new cousin. So you better hang in there so you can meet him and all the others."
They haven't told anyone yet, but Hermione is 6 weeks pregnant. They have an appointment with the healer later that month to tell them if Hermione will be able to carry this pregnancy to term.
"It can't hear yet." Hermione's voice is distant. She is careful, too afraid to get her hopes up again and be crushed by grief if they loose this child too.
Ron looks up toward her from his position on the bed, head still hovering above her stomach. He flashes her a grin that he hopes carry all the love he feels for her and replies.
"I don't care. I just want her to know we're here so she can stay strong."
Hermione flashes him a small smile that makes his heart dance, she is walking a fine line these days, between being overjoyed by this pregnancy and afraid of the pain that will hit her if she loses this baby too.
"Her?"
"Oh yeah it's a girl."
"What if the baby is a boy?"
"Well I'll love him just the same. But that won't happen because it's a girl. And she'll be brilliant and strong."
His right hand finds her scar on her left forearm and he strokes it lightly. For a moment he regrets his action as Hermione's features, that were getting happier, turn darker.
"Just like her mom." He finishes.
She reaches for him and kiss him. Hard. Because they went through hell and back when they were teenagers, and because they desperately want that happy ending they've been craving.
...
It becomes a ritual. Every nights before they fall asleep, wether from exhaustion from the day or from a round of lovemaking, Ron lays a kiss under her belly button and talks to their child. He tells them about trolls and Halloween, about spiders and basilisks, about Babbity Rabbit and the Tale of the three brothers, about wars and scars but most importantly, about love.
Two weeks later, when they meet with the healer, they finally hear the words they wanted to hear all along. The baby is strong and well implanted. The pregnancy will be closely monitored but the baby will be carried to term.
"Do you want me to throw the spell to know the sex?"
...
That night they both lay in the bath Hermione's back against Ron's warm chest. Four hands on her stomach and Mudblood against the stretched skin of her belly. They both talk to their unborn daughter.