Chapter One: You are my Sunshine
Authors Note: Hello! Thank you so much for either stumbling across my story or having read one of my previous stories and decided to read this one as well. This is the sequel to my story Hogwarts and Beyond and is generally based around the birth of Rose and the time leading up to that. This is not going to all be romantic like H&B either as you may have guessed from the summary, I am sorry if you do not like the idea of the Hurt/Comfort theme but I feel that Ron and Hermione would not have had it as easy as others. Also I apologise for any inaccuracies, I really am neither old nor wise enough to have a good knowledge about this sort of stuff. Anyway, here is chapter 1!
Early July 2004
Hermione Weasley lay in bed staring at her husband Ron as he slept. She loved to do this. On the majority of days she would awaken before Ron, but she assumed that this because 9 out of 10 times when he slept it seemed as if he was in an almost comatose state that which he would not awaken from. Usually when this happened, she would either, get up and make breakfast for them both, read until he woke up or just watched him sleep. It was soothing to watch his chest rise and fall, well, that was until he started to snore and then she would just get fed up and get out of bed. Currently, she could tell that he was having a dream, as a sleepy smile was spread across his face. She concluded that he was either thinking about Quidditch or food; it had always been that way.
Ron then started to stir and he turned around in the bed before slowly opening his eyes to find Hermione smiling at him. The light streaming through the curtains and into their bedroom, catching Hermione's eyes on its journey and making her dark brown iris' shine making him grin back at her.
"Good morning sleepyhead." Hermione smiled leaning over to kiss Ron on the cheek.
"G'morning 'Mione." Ron told her and she smiled, she did not let anyone else nickname her Mione apart from her parents and so it always made her smile when he did so. "How long have you been awake?"
"Oh, only about half an hour." Hermione sighed resting her head against Ron's shoulder. "You know I like watching you sleep."
"What time is it?" Ron enquired hoping that it was earlier than he thought so they could lie there for a little bit longer.
"It... is," Hermione began, rolling over to see her alarm clock, "nine o'clock."
"Oh shit." Ron mumbled burying his head into the pillow like a small child. "Do we have to go? It is a Sunday of all days." The reason he was so negative was because they had agreed to go over to the Burrow for dinner that evening. They loved seeing the Weasley's but having grown up with one another sometimes they just wanted a break.
"Watch your language." Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"Hermione, we are twenty four, the whole thing about language went out of the window a long time ago."Ron chuckled.
"Ron, they are your family. And technically they are my family too as I chose to marry you. We cannot just not show up." Hermione laughed at Ron's stubbornness.
"You would be saying the same thing if you had lived your entire life surrounded by a load of other ginger people." Ron told her.
"No but I did willingly spend a lot of time around your family when we were growing up and can I also say that I did that by choice, not because I had to." Hermione said emphasising the word "willingly" before getting up and beginning to get dressed. "Come on, Ron. It will be fun, we do not have to cook, and we will get to see Harry and Ginny and all the children." She then went quiet but Ron did not seem to notice. At the age of twenty four, they had both done fairly well for themselves, both had established good careers, Ron was a fully trained Auror and did shifts at Weasley's Wizards Wheezes on Thursdays and Fridays and Hermione had was making her way up in the ranks in the department of magical welfare of magical creatures. They were really enjoying life but there was something that had been on Hermione's mind for the past few days, and she believed that she was thinking about it a lot more than Ron was.
By the middle of 2004, Victoire Weasley was not the only one of Arthur and Molly Weasley's grandchildren. Six months after Ron and Hermione got married Percy and Audrey had their first child whom they had named Molly much to Mrs. Weasley's joy and surprise and now they were about to have their second child. Bill and Fleur had gone on to have another two children, with Dominique being two and Louis being only 3 months old. In addition to all of this, George and Angelina had two years previously inevitably named their son Fred and Angelina was currently 6 months pregnant. The only people that were left to actually have children were Ron and Hermione, and Harry and Ginny. Numerous times before they had gotten married, Ron and Hermione had brought up the subject of children and then agreed to wait a few years. But Hermione wondered when a few years would be up and if Ron also agreed that in spite of them both still being quite young whether they should start trying.
"Ok, I give in, I will come. Besides who does not love Victoire?" Ron smiled climbing out of bed and stumbling across the room towards his wardrobe and changing his t-shirt. Unlike Hermione's wardrobe, things were muddled up and shoes were piled up six high, so nothing had really changed.
"I can't believe she is four already. At least she did not inherit visible signs of the veela gene." Hermione sighed, gradually, she and Fleur had managed to see eye to eye but everyone was glad that Victoire had only inherited Fleur's looks and not her terrible temper.
"Yeah I agree. Fred is starting to look so much like Fred and George, it is almost uncanny." Ron mumbled as he opened the bedroom door and Hermione followed him out.
"You do mean with the exception of Angelina's dark brown hair, right?" Hermione laughed, recalling the very obvious different between Fred and his namesake.
"Okay you got me there, but you know what I mean." Ron said before his eyes trailed to what Hermione was wearing. "Hermione, it is July, how can you not be hot in that?"
Hermione looked down at what she was wearing; it was not that warm, it was actually relatively cool to wear. Long denim jeans and a red tartan-like shirt. Her hair looked slightly wild and untamed, as it did every morning. "Not everyone is able to go around in a t-shirt and feel hot like you do, Ron Weasley. Besides, you haven't looked out of the window yet, for all we know there may be a hail storm later on." Hermione chuckled as she put her tooth brush back in the small holder by the bathroom sink.
"How come you are always right?" Ron asked kissing her lips softly and Hermione giggled.
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The day passed fairly quickly and before long, Ron and Hermione arrived at the Burrow much to the sound of talking, and young children either laughing or crying. A swarm of little witches and wizards were chasing each other around the room as Bill and George tried to catch them, without any success. As the scent of Mrs. Weasley's cooking wafted through the living room, many people came over to them.
"Uncle Ron!" A small, happy voice said and Victoire appeared, her long blonde hair waving behind her as she bounced on the spot excitedly.
"Hello Victoire!" Ron grinned as he lifted his niece up, making her laugh.
"Ron! Hermione!" Another voice said and they turned around to reveal Harry and Ginny smiling at them. "Long time no see." Harry joked, hugging his two best friends once Victoire had been put back down.
"Harry, we saw you in the Leaky Cauldron on Wednesday." Hermione laughed, embracing her friend kindly.
"I know but after knowing you both for thirteen years I cannot help but miss you." Harry sighed and they both knew he was exactly right. Just under a year after Ron and Hermione had got married, having proposed at their friends wedding, Harry and Ginny had decided to tie the knot as well. Ever since they had all gotten married, they had seen each other nowhere near as much as they had agreed to. Ron and Harry worked together as Auror's, whilst Hermione was in another department at the Ministry and Ginny was off playing Quidditch for the Holyhead Harpies.
The dinner slowly passed and late afternoon passed into early evening. Many people were fawning over baby Louis as they discovered he was able to laugh for the first time. Molly Weasley in particularly loved having so many children filling the Burrow once again. Gradually, she had gotten over the idea of all their children moving out and moving onto lives of their own, but she loved the fact that with her and Arthur's children always now had an excuse to visit the Burrow. It was a while later when Ron and Harry were talking happily amongst themselves that Ginny came over to Hermione, a quiet look spread across her face.
"Hermione... please can I talk to you for a minute?"Ginny asked, gesturing towards the stairs.
"Erm, yes of course." Hermione nodded clueless and followed Ginny up the stairs and towards Ginny's childhood bedroom. Over the past few years, nothing had really changed in the bedroom. It looked exactly the same as it had ten years ago when she and Ginny had shared it before the school year at Hogwarts began. Except now it was filled with several boxes that Ginny had insisted she would move to her and Harry's house at some point but had never found the time to do so.
Ginny and Hermione sat down on the bed. Ginny had been relatively quiet all night and Hermione was confused as to what would happen next. Over the past five or six years, many conversations had started off like this; Ron and Hermione walking into the Burrow to find Harry and Ginny had had an argument or Ginny would ask Hermione if they could talk and then she would say how everything in their relationship going pear shaped. This usually resulted in Harry and Ginny having another argument or Ginny saying she was having second thoughts about their relationship. This time, Hermione really hoped Ginny was not going to say anything like that.
"So..."Ginny started but Hermione quickly cut her off.
"Sorry but can I just quickly interrupt?" Hermione asked and Ginny nodded. "If you are about to tell me that you and Harry are getting a divorce, you had better find me an oven so that I can stick my head in it." Hermione contemplated.
"No, it is nothing of the kind. It is just something that I kind of really need your advice about." Ginny reassured her best friend.
"Okay then, so what is going on?" Hermione questioned and a small smile appeared upon Ginny's face and she seemed to take a deep breath as if nervous.
"Harry and I are trying for a baby." Ginny smiled, blushing slightly and Hermione beamed at her.
"Ginny that is fantastic!" Hermione exclaimed hugging her friend. "Honestly I am really happy for you both, but why is it that you need my advice? Ron and I do not have any children so I am not quite sure as to what advice I am able to give."
"Do you think that Harry and I are ready for this?" Ginny wondered.
"Well, do you think that you are ready for this?" Hermione asked
"I think so. It is a big step though. This time four years ago we were considering going our separate ways. We have not been married even three years yet. But we are in good stable jobs; we have a house and enough money to pay for the costs of a child. If it does work by the time the baby is born I will be twenty three and Harry will be twenty four. Yes, it is incredibly young but there have been people a lot younger and a lot worse off doing the same thing. We are well prepared, but I just want to know as both my sister in law and you and Ron being Harry and I's best friends, do you think we are ready?"Ginny said.
"I think if that is what you want and you feel that you are ready for something like this, then why not? If you want to then nobody is going to stop you. Besides I am sure your mum and dad will be happy to have another grandchild." Hermione grinned. "But I just have one more question for you."
"Go ahead." Ginny prompted
"Are you prepared to give up your Quidditch career? You worked so hard for that and you love playing for the Harpies?" Hermione asked
"There was always going to be a point when I put a stop to playing Quidditch professionally. Harry and I have been talking about when we would have children for a few years now, you know, the time feels right. I will be able to play up until I am four months along but after that I am sure I will be able to find another job in the fields of Quidditch. If not, George would never decline extra help at the shop. If it means that I have to give up my job because I want children, then so be it." Ginny informed her. "What about you and Ron?"
"I don't know. We have always talked about having children; I guess that when it feels right we will talk about it a little more." Hermione smiled. "We had best get going in a few minutes anyway as we both have work in the morning. Congratulations in advance though." Ginny then laughed at this and hugged her.
"Are you coming downstairs?" Hermione enquired
"I think I might actually take home some of these boxes tonight, it is about time don't you think? Bye Hermione." She waved and Hermione headed back down the stairs.
As she sat back down in the living room of the Burrow, watching Ron play with Fred, the more she began to think about children. Ron was great with children and she hoped that he thought that she was vice versa. If Harry and Ginny did have a baby, then that would mean that other than Charlie, who had always taken far more interest in dragons than ever having a family, they would be the only ones left in the Weasley family that were childless.
"What about you and Ron?"Ginny's voice echoed inside of her head. Yeah, what about me and Ron? She thought to herself. They had been discussing the prospect of having children for years now and she wondered if they were ready or not. She thought she was ready but she was not psychic and did not know if Ron thought he was ready.
"Hey, are you ready to go?" Ron said softly as he walked over to Hermione and she nodded in response, standing up and taking her husband's hand before disapparating back to London.
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Hermione quickly scanned through the pages of her copy of Hogwarts: A History, in spite of having already memorised it numerous times, Hermione still regarded it as her favourite book in the wizarding world. Now, having owned this book for the best part of thirteen years, the prized book was looking battered and worn, but Hermione liked to see this as well read. She glanced over at the clock on her bedside table, 11:00pm. Honest to God, what is taking so long? She wondered to herself. Ron had now been in the bathroom for the majority of twelve minutes. Originally, he had said he would brush his teeth and have a "quick" shower. For all Hermione knew, he was enchanting exotic fish to swim in the bath filled with water that he had run.
"I am sorry; I had to find a new bottle of tooth paste, the other one kind of exploded on me." Ron chuckled as he climbed into bed next to her and she put Hogwarts: A History back on her bedside table so she could talk to Ron without physically being magnetised towards her ink and paper twin.
"Only you, Ronald Weasley, would be able to make a bottle of toothpaste explode." Hermione giggled
"Says the person who got winded by the whomping willow." Ron smirked cheekily and Hermione hit him playfully on the arm.
"You spend more time in that bathroom than I do." Hermione fired back.
"Hey, I am entitled to spend time approving my appearance. And by the way, that does not always happen. Especially when we are going out." Ron said
"Yeah well the truth is you are perfect to me." Hermione replied squeezing his hand. "You are perfect too." Ron added.
"Ron can I ask you something?" Hermione sighed and Ron turned onto his side so they were both facing each other.
"Yeah, of course you can love." Ron smiled brushing a strand of hair from her face.
"Do you ever think about our children, in the future?" Hermione quietly asked and Ron looked puzzled.
"Quite often, ginger bushy haired children who like reading and Quidditch. What has brought this up?" Ron answered
"Ginny told me that she and Harry are trying for a baby." Hermione told him and she could see Ron visibly shiver at the mental image that had probably come into his head.
"Wow. I did not see that one coming." Ron said "I think I know where this conversation is going. If Ginny does get pregnant then we are the last ones aren't we?"
"Yep, we are the last ones." Hermione finalised his statement.
"You have been thinking about future children too haven't you?" Ron looked into her eyes and she nodded.
"Yes, a lot more than I probably should be. We have been discussing children for years, even before we got married. I vividly remember you saying the night before we got married that you could picture young children in the back garden and I can picture them now more than ever. We are both in well paid, stable jobs and we bought this house in the first place essentially for the reason of children. I am starting to think about when we will meet these children but I do not know your view on it. Because I am ready if you are. What do you think?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, well you said that in a lot of words so I will just go straight to what I think. I agree with you. I know that people say things like this will happen when the time is right. I think the time is right now. If this is what you want, and I really want this too, I am ready if you are." Ron smiled brushing his thumb against her cheek soothingly.
"Really?" Hermione beamed
"Really?" Ron replied
Without warning, Hermione went and kissed Ron in a way that seemed more powerful than ever before and they simply smiled at each other happily.
Authors Note: Hello again! So that was chapter one. I am quite impressed as it actually only took me three days to write. As you may have noticed at the beginning the date was July 2004, however Rose was not born until late 2005 or early 2006. As you may have realised, the date is this early for a reason. Once again I do apologise in advance for anything you may believe to be incorrect. I am 14 therefore have very little knowledge of this sort of thing other than from reading fanfiction. Anyway, thank you for reading this and PLEASE REVIEW!