Author's Note:
Before I begin, I'd just like to say that all Weasley, Potter, Longbottom, Malfoy and Scamander spouses and kids are canon-accurate until said otherwise (I may choose to bring in a few more later on). Everything else, including jobs for Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna, are my doing. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like some insight into future chapters. Happy reading!
Chapter One: Relaxation
The sign above the door read Madame Bebe's Daycare Centre. It was the same sign that had been above the door when they bought the place, but they decided that people were already familiar with the name, so why change it? Poor Madame Bebe Chevalier herself had passed away only a few weeks before they found the house. But anyone who knew the old woman would have said she lead a good life, running the wizarding daycare centre since she was twenty-two, with the help of her husband Claude, their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. The daycare had been open for well over a hundred years now, but sadly none of her offspring wanted to continue with it, and so they sold it to the first people who showed interest.
They were an odd little group, a couple of them looked quite familiar, but the Chevalier family didn't associate with other people of magical backgrounds for the most part. There were six of them, if Claude's memory served correctly, three men and three women. Of course, there were a few others who came to see the place as the papers were being signed. One of women seemed to be quite friendly with a visitor - Ralph was his name, or something like it. Two of the owners were clearly married, it was so obvious by the way they looked at each other and, come to think of it, another pair might have been too. The woman spent so much time scolding the man that it was possible they could have been married. And then there was the last of the six owners. A man with light brown - possible blond hair. He was tall and plump and stayed quiet most of the time, except when a short, blond-haired woman came in.
It seemed to Claude as though this group of friends was buying the daycare on a whim. None of them acted as though they knew what they were doing, but they all sounded excited at the prospect of running the daycare, and the old squib was happy to give it to them knowing they'd take good care of it.
Now, in reality, there were only a few people of the six friends that really thought buying the daycare was a good idea. Ginny loved the idea of working with so many children, as did Harry. Ron was petrified of dealing with so many kids, Neville was cautious of the whole thing, and Hermione wasn't pleased with how quickly they rushed into things. And Luna ... well, Luna didn't seem to care either way, but was happy to help in any way she could.
Madame Bebe's Daycare Centre was in fact a house located in a pleasant little town near Wiltshire - and uncomfortably close to Malfoy Manor. The house wasn't big, but it was perfect for it's use with four bedrooms upstairs and three living areas downstairs, plus a kitchen, three bathrooms, a basement and an attic. Currently most of the house was painted in dreadful bright colors.
It was the end of April - exactly two days before the opening of the daycare - and the group knew that they would have to have a meeting every day to get things ready if they wanted to achieve their early deadline. Hermione cleared her throat quietly before starting the meeting that Saturday morning. Normally they didn't meet on weekends, but seeing as they took Friday off to celebrate the second birthday of Ron and Hermione's daugher, Rose, Hermione decided they needed to make up for lost time.
"Harry, Ginny, have you inspected the equipment yet?"
"Yes," Ginny answered. "Everything seems to be in perfect shape."
"But we would like to buy a few more toys for the kids," added in Harry.
"That's fine. We've got about three hundred galleons left in the budget. Would a hundred do?"
"Yeah, great."
"All right, that leaves us with two hundred more to get some more advertising done. Is that enough for you, Luna?"
"Of course. And I think I should be able to get a few ads put in the Quibbler for free. Dad seemed more than willing to help out last night," answered the blond.
"Excellent. Now, Neville and Ron. How many children have we got signed up for opening night?"
"Eleven," Neville answered, reading from the piece of parchment in front of him. "Twelve if George and Angelina want to enter Fred in, but I doubt it, seeing as he's only a few weeks old."
"Yeah, and we're still waiting to hear back from the Corners," Ron said.
Hermione nodded. "Having all four of them would make a big difference. Try writing to them again today. We can't have any surprises come Monday." Just as she finished speaking, a knock was heard coming from the front door and Harry climbed the stairs to answer it.
The staff office was located in the basement of the daycare, seperated into four areas. The Potters handled equipment evaluations, Luna was advertising, Hermione handled the finances, and Ron and Neville were left to customer survices. Plus, during holidays, they would all be on the event commitee.
Harry returned a minute later to announce the arrival of the bedding - a week late, but thankfully it was the finishing touch to the daycare. And with the reply back from Michael Corner later that evening, stating that his children would not be attending on the Monday, Madame Bebe's Daycare Centre was ready for opening night - now if only the owners were...
-----
Harry and Ginny returned home to 53 Hawkins Lane, Godric's Hollow by Floo Powder shortly after the meeting ended at noon, then sent Molly and Arthur back home to the Burrow with much thanks for babysitting their two young sons for the hour they were gone. James, their oldest, came running into the foyer as soon as he heard his parents' voices.
"Daddy! Daddy! Grandpa bring me car!" the two-and-a-half-year-old said excitedly, holding up a blue Muggle wind-up toy car for his father to see. Harry knelt down to examine the car and smiled.
"Yes, it's a very nice car," he said, thinking of how much it reminded him of the old enchanted Ford Anglia his father-in-law used to own.
Ginny smiled too when she saw the toy. "James, go put your car with the others and come back down for lunch, okay?"
The small boy nodded then ran to the staircase and started to climb, holding the toy very close to his chest as he did.
The couple made their way into the family room which was joined with the kitchen. And while Ginny continued on to start making lunch, Harry sat down on the carpeted floor beside his nineteen-month-old, Albus. The toddler was currently trying to make a tower using small wooden blocks, but they seemed to tip over after he put three together.
"How's it going, Al?" Harry asked as he leaned back and watched his son build.
Albus sighed as his blocks fell again and he looked at his father. "You do," he said, handing Harry a red block.
Harry took the block and casually put it on the floor beside three others, then took another and put it on top of it. Albus laughed at his father's sorry attempt at a castle and went back to building his own again.
"I swear that kid's gonna be an architect some day," the twenty-seven-year-old wizard said as he joined his wife in the kitchen. Ginny laughed.
"Mind setting the table? Lunch will be ready in a minute," she said, cutting some carrots into sticks and putting them on a small plate beside some celery.
Harry did as he was told, waving his wand to make placemats, plates, cups and silverware fly from drawers and cabinets onto the kitchen table. Satified with his job, he stowed away the wand and sat down at the table just as James was entering the room. The boy then ran over to Ginny and pointed at his father.
"Daddy magic!"
"He's right, Harry, we said we weren't going to use magic in the house any more," she scolded.
Harry gave Ginny an annoyed look but she didn't notice on her way to get Albus.
"Sit down at the table, James," Harry told his son, going into the kitchen to retrieve their ham sandwiches and vegetable sticks.
-----
"Ron, what is this?" Hermione asked, staring down at her lunch plate.
"It's a sandwich," her husband answered simply, taking a bite from his own.
"Are you sure? It looks more like a moldy piece of meatloaf." Hermione thought for a moment of stealing some of Rose's apple slices, but decided to get up and make herself a salad instead.
Ron rolled his eyes, but continued eating. "Have you spoken to Susan lately?" he asked.
"No, how is she?"
"She seems to be taking everything really well ... considering."
"Well, it's not like it was a complete shock to her, I mean, things hadn't been good between her and Zacharias for a while now. Divorce was inevitable. I'm more worried about how the boys are taking it," Hermione said, now sitting back down with a beautiful garden salad on her plate.
"I don't think Reme should care - he's only three or four months old."
"Yeah, but Tyrone's two, that's old enough to understand a little of what's going on. By the way, did she tell you if the kids coming on Monday?"
"Yeah, they are. She's got a job interview, and Zacharias is off in Spain - apparently on business."
-----
Neville decided to spend his lunch hour in Diagon Alley rather than in his tiny one-bedroom flat. He waved cheerily at the people eating outside the cafes as he passed by them and all the shops, heading to one very special place - The Leaky Cauldron.
When Neville was young, The Leaky Cauldron hadn't been the most respectable of pubs. Oh, sure, it was a great place to have a quick drink in or spend a night or two, but overall it wasn't exactly a family-friendly atmosphere. But three years ago, with the help of Miss Hannah Abbott, the Cauldron got some much needed renovations and has since become one the best pubs in all of wizarding Britain.
Coming in through the back door, Neville watched the customers sitting at the tables in the crowded space. All of them were eating and drinking and seemed to be having a good time. However, the wizard's attention was focused on one table in particular, the one at which Hannah sat all alone. Walking over to it, he bent over and kissed her on the cheek.
"How's work?" he asked his wife as he sat down across from her.
"Busy, as you can see," she answered, looking around them. "But I never took this job because I thought it would be easy. Anyway, how was the meeting?"
"Good. It looks like everything's ready for Monday." Neville smiled nervously. "We're really just counting the hours 'til it opens now."
"I'm sure you'll all do fine, dear," Hannah reassured him, patting his hand gently. The couple continued to sit at their table sipping lemonade for another hour or so before Hannah announced she had to get back to work. Therefore leaving Neville to wander from shop to shop until closing time.
-----
Luna smiled when she arrived back the tall black cylinder that was the Lovegood home to find Rolf standing by the front door waiting for her. "What are you doing here?" she asked as she joined him at the door.
"We had a date, remember?" Rolf replied, returning the smile. Luna giggled.
"I believe that was a dinner date for eight o'clock this evening."
"Oh well, I guess I'm a little early. Can I come inside while we wait?"
"No," she said, still smiling at her boyfriend. "But how about we go for lunch instead?"
"Would that mean I get to take you out for dinner aswell?" Rolf asked.
Luna shook her head no and Rolf didn't push the subject. He was just happy to see her at least once that day.
--Later--
Harry and Ginny had just finished putting the boys to bed and were now reclining on the loveseat in their family room watching an old black and white movie on tv.
"You know, I've been thinking," Harry said, still watching the screen as he spoke. Ginny tensed a little, the last time she had heard those words come out of her husband's mouth ... well, they ended up with Albus. Harry took notice of this and shut up.
"Go on," Ginny said reluctantly.
"Well, Al is turning two in a couple of months, an-"
"Five months," she corrected, more to stall him.
"Yeah. Anyway, I was thinking that ... maybe, we could ... you know... uh..."
"Have another one?" Ginny turned to look Harry in the eye.
"Well ... yeah. What do you think?" he asked hopefully.
"I think we agreed we were only going to have two children." Ginny stood up, turned off the tv and began pacing as she spoke.
"I know we said we were only gonna have two, but, Gin, I really want a girl."
"So do I, but think about what you're saying! The boys are still so young. Do you really want to have three children in a span of four years, plus have both of us working full time at the centre?"
Harry was quiet for a few moments as he thought it all through. She was right of course - and he knew that - but the urge to have a daughter was strong enough for him to do anything to make her say yes. Slowly, he looked up at her and his emerald eyes met her hazel ones.
"Yes, I do. And look on the bright side, working at the centre means we can bring the kids to work," he added as a last attempt at getting what he desperately wanted.
Ginny thought about this. They had already considered taking the boys to the daycare so her parents wouldn't have to babysit every day - even Ron and Hermione were planning on doing it with Rose. Thinking it all over now, the young witch realized that the only thing holding them back from having another child was the rule she had made up about only having two, which she rightly did after a difficult birth with Albus and fear of turning into her mother.
"All right, let's have another one," she said, causing Harry to jump off the couch and hug Ginny to the point that she never thought she'd be able to breath again. After a moment, he let her go and followed her up the stairs to their bedroom.
-----
Hermione and Ron were lying side-by-side in their bed. Ron was reading some Quidditch magazine while Hermione was knitting and humming in tune with the slow song playing on the wireless. As the song ended, the she switched the radio off and turned to face Ron.
"Honey?" she said in her sweetest tone.
Ron grunted a reply.
"I was wondering ... do you want any more kids?"
Ron acted as though he didn't hear the question and continued to look at a picture of the Wimbourne Wasps. His attempt failed, however, when Hermione tore the magazine from his hands, forcing him to look at her. "I don't know," he said honestly.
"But we said we'd wait until Rose was at least two to consider another one, and we just had her birthday, so ..." She trailed off, hoping that her desperation to have another baby would come across - and it did.
The red-haired wizard sighed looking at his wife. He had known from the beginning that she wanted a lot of kids, and had he not grown up in a big family he probably would have too. But, as it was, he didn't want to get to where his parents had gotten.
"Please, Ron." Hermione tried one last time. "Don't you want a son?"
There was no hiding the smile that appeared on Ron's face at the thought of a son. Though, truth be told, he would have been just as happy with another girl. Shaking his head in defeat, he said finally; "Okay."
Hermione let out a squeal of delight as she whipped her knitting onto the chair across the room and then turned off the light on her end table.
Author's Note:
Howdy all. Hope you liked the first chappy. I should say, this story is written mainly for a bit of fun and because I'm terrified about writing younger children, so hopefully writing a story that contains a lot of little kids will get me over that fear.
As for the last couple of scenes, the rest of the story will not be like that - okay, there may be one more, but not as cute and full of fluffy-ness, and not pre-sex either.
Anyway, the next chapter will be the opening of the daycare, so you'll get to see all the Weasley kids (so far) and a few old friends' kids as well. Please read and review!!!
-Miss Lizzy
P.S. If you have any ideas for things you'd like to see happen in future chapters, let me know and I'll put 'em in. As it is, I'm making things up as I go along. :(
