Chapter 1: Muggle Dinner
It was a beautiful April afternoon. The cherry trees outside of Ron and Hermione Weasley's house were just beginning to bloom, and the little songbirds had just returned from farther south. Hermione had taken the entire day off. Her morning was taken up with her yearly checkup at the doctor, but the afternoon was free. She had spent an hour visiting her sister-in-law Ginny, who had recently become a stay-at-home mom in order to look after her four-and-a-half-month-old son, James. Afterwards, Hermione went to the grocery store to pick up a few items. She was in a wonderful mood, so she had decided to make Ron homemade pizza, her favorite childhood dish.
When Hermione arrived home with the pizza ingredients, she set to work right away. She made and rolled out the dough by hand, without using magic, and spread the sauce around. Then, she evenly sprinkled cheese and other ingredients on the pizza, and slide it into the oven. By the time it was almost finished Ron came in the front door.
Hermione leaped from her chair and flew into her husband's arms, giving him a passionate kiss, as if she hadn't seen him for weeks. She and Ron had been married for almost a year, but it seemed as if their wedding was a week ago.
"Why so much enthusiasm today, Hermione?" Ron chuckled as they broke away.
Hermione shrugged. "I just missed you." she said, smiling cutely.
Before Ron could reply, he smelt the pizza cooking in the oven. "That smells delicious, love. What's for dinner?"
"Pizza." Hermione answered with a smile.
A confused expression spread across Ron's face. "What-a?" he asked as if Hermione was speaking a foreign language.
Hermione laughed. "Pizza! It's my favorite muggle dish. I've been having a CRAVING for it for days. You'll love it!"
Just then, the timer dinged. Hermione took out the pizza and laid it on the cutting board.
"What's all that stuff on it?" Ron asked.
Hermione laughed again at her clueless-about-muggles husband. "It's the toppings! The make the pizza even more delicious."
"Why is there so much?"
Hermione looked at her pizza. She did go a little overboard with the ingredients. There was pepperoni, sausage, bacon, onions, green onions, mushrooms, black olives, jalapeno peppers, pineapple, and several types of herbs on the pizza. She didn't even like jalapenos, but today she wanted them. Badly.
"Well, normally there's not that many toppings, but I had a CRAVING for all of them." Hermione answered.
As they sat down to eat, Ron seemed to be enjoying the pizza. "This is really good!" he exclaimed, and ate his share quickly. After he was finished he asked, "What's for dessert?"
Hermione got up from her place at the table, brought a plate of cookies from the counter, and poured two glasses of milk. "I also had a CRAVING for chocolate chip cookies, so I baked these." She said, wishing Ron would take the hint about the word "craving". Ron gave her a funny look, but did not say anything.
"By the way, sweetheart," Ron said as Hermione took a sip of milk. "How was your doctor's appointment?"
"We're both fine." Hermione answered shortly, quite annoyed with him.
"We're both fine?" Ron asked. "What do you mean?"
Hermione slammed her milk glass down on the table. She spilled only a little, but she did make Ron jump. "RONALD BILLIUS WEASLEY!" she exclaimed. "Can't you take a hint? I've been trying to tell you all night! We're having a baby!"
Ron stared at her with wide eyes. "Are you being serious, Hermione?"
"Yes, of course I'm being serious!" Hermione cried. "How could I joke about something as important as our first baby?"
A smile spread across Ron's face. He jumped from his chair and hugged Hermione as gently as he could, as if afraid he would hurt the baby. "That's great Hermione!" he exclaimed. "But how did it happen so fast? We've only been trying for a month!"
"I'm due December eighth. The doctor said we must have conceived on the first try!" Hermione said.
Ron hugged his wife again as kissed her. They were finally having a baby! Their life together would be even more complete now!