Pink
For Dalton and Ever, who asked for Romione.
"Pink," Hermione says as she walks out of the bathroom.
Ron looks up sharply. "Pink?"
Thin-lipped, Hermione sets the thin stick on the counter in their tiny kitchen. "Pink."
Ron closes his eyes and lets his face fall into his hands. "Pink," he groans as he presses his palms against his eyes.
Hermione puts a hand on his shoulder and tries not to think about the measly hundred galleons they've got between the two of them.
"Pink?" Ron asks when he comes home from work three months later and sees her hanging curtains in the spare room.
Hermione turns when she hears him. She looks exhausted, and he knows she's been up all night again, even if she won't admit it. "Pink," she says, tapping one of the curtains with her wand and guiding it into place.
Ron looks at the curtains for a long moment. Their magenta hue reminds him of the dress robes he once wore as a teenager, and he feels bile begin to build in his throat. "Pink," he says with a sigh.
Hermione looks at him sharply, and he forces himself to smile. With a flick of his own wand, he sends a pink curtain flying up to cover one of the dingy windows that looks out over the street. It doesn't offer a particularly nice view, that window, and Ron can't blame her for wanting to hide it.
But still. Why does it have to be pink?
Nine months of overtime bonuses don't even begin to add up enough to cover their costs, and Hermione nearly cries with relief when her boss at the Ministry allows her to keep working from home. Paperwork piles up around her as she lounges in bed, and she fills it out one sheet at a time and sends it off with her work owl. It's mindless, but it passes the time.
"Pink," Ron announces one night when he brings her food into the bedroom on a tray, and she is surprised to see that he's fixed her breakfast (it's cheaper than dinner) and done a color-change charm to make it pink. Pink pancakes, pink toast, bright pink tea—and a long-stemmed pink rose.
She feels tears creep up into her eyes as he climbs onto the bed beside her, kisses her cheek, and sneaks a bite of her pink scrambled eggs.
Their family is tiny and poor, but he is worth every galleon they don't have.
Ron sits outside Hermione's room at St. Mungo's.
Cradled in his arms, sleeping peacefully with a tiny pink cap pulled over her head, is the bundle they've decided to name Rose.
And he knows he doesn't have the money to take care of a baby—knows they barely have the money to take care of themselves—but he doesn't care. He can't remember the last time he was this happy, and as his daughter stirs and curls into his chest, everything in his world goes completely and utterly pink.
Daily Prophet Competition, Round 2: A Little Deja Vu
(Round 4 of Season 2 of the Quidditch League; Beater 2; begin and end your story with the same adjective)
Word Count: 499