Home.
That was the first word that appeared in Ronald Weasley's head as he beheld the familiar crooked building. It looked just as it did 19 years ago on the outside but on the inside, it was totally different. The Burrow used to house the entire Weasley family. However, Ginny, George, Percy and Bill had moved out ever since they had gotten married. Charlie was in Romania and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had decided to join him there. The Burrow was his now. He had lived there ever since he could remember and to him, it was more of a home than Hogwarts had ever been. He had a family waiting for him in that house. A loving family that he never thought he would have in his wildest dreams.
Led by his thoughts, Ron found himself right at his doorstep. He poked a key through the keyhole and barely heard the click before the door flew open, almost throwing him off his feet. With his well-trained Auror reflexes, his fingers found his wand and he pulled it out of his robes, his heart pounding.
"Dad! Dad! Look what Mom made!" someone small and red-headed screamed as he brandished a woollen hat. Ron looked down, his heart still pounding. Hugo stared back at him with wide eyes. Ron laughed and stowed his wand back into his robes. He pulled the hat from his nine-year-old son's fingers and examined it thoughtfully. Suddenly, the image of Hermione, Harry and himself sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room burned behind his eyes. Hermione, in her SPEW fervor, had knitted hundreds of hats and socks hoping that the house elves of Hogwarts would be freed. "Looks like your Mom's knitting skills have improved over the years," he noted as a slender figure stepped into the room bringing with her a basket of freshly laundered Hogwarts robes.
Hermione giggled as she took a glance at the hat. "Yeah. And your eyesight's improving too, Ron. You can finally see that they're hats and not, what was that? Woolly bladders?" She laughed at this statement and placed the basket on the table. Ron laughed too. She loved it when Hermione laughed. He could see the reason why he married this woman everytime she did. "Harry and Ginny are meeting us at the platform tomorrow," he said as he walked over and planted a kiss on her forehead. He passed the hat to Hugo and he raced out of the room.
"Hermione." he said suddenly, as he heard his son's footsteps pound up the stairs.
"Yes?" Hermione asked, as she folded the robes. She could have done it by magic but she preferred doing it manually. It reminded her of her parents and they days when she was living like any ordinary muggle.
"D'you remember our first meeting on the train?"
"Yeah, I thought you were a git, actually. I was more interested in Harry at that time," she teased.
Ron laughed and replied, "You came in looking for Neville's toad and instead you found Harry Potter. How lucky. I thought you were a bossy know-it-all. I still do sometimes."
"Harry told me you were terrified of the spiders in the Forbidden Forest in our second year. The look on your face when you saw them must've been hilarious! " she retorted, giggling.
Ron turned beetroot and mumbled, "You know what Fred did to my teddy bear... Anyway, in third year, remember that punch you gave Malfoy when he was insulting Hagrid? Ooh, that was a good one."
Hermione grinned.
"And in fourth year, when Harry and I weren't talking to each other, thank goodness you were there. Or we wouldn't have patched up." Ron said appreciatively.
"Yeah, and you kept calling SPEW spew in fifth year. Took me ages to correct you on that one."
"I still don't get your spew obsession, Hermione! The house elves like it. They adore working non-stop!" Ron said indignantly. After all those years, he still felt slightly annoyed whenever Hermione mentioned SPEW.
"It's SPEW, Ron. Society of the Protection of Elfish Welfare! Still can't get it right, can you?"
"Okay, okay. SPEW. I get it. I don't need another flock of canaries set on me."
Suddenly, a girl sprinted into the room. She had flaming red hair and was the splitting image of an eleven-year-old Hermione. "Mom! Hugo took my copy of Hogwart's - A History and refuses to return it!" Rose whined as she looked at her mother with pleading eyes.
"Wait, she's reading that already, Hermione? Even I haven't read it yet and I graduated 19 years ago!" Ron exclaimed as he rolled his eyes, "She's going to be just like you."
Hermione smiled, "Someone needs to be there to remind James and Albus that you can't Apparate in and out of the school. I had the pleasure of that post when we were in school so now I'm passing it to my daughter. Tell Hugo I said to return it. Or he'll have to clean the chicken coop with Dad on Sunday." Rose nodded with glee and sprinted out again.
Ron smiled. He sat next to Hermione and put an arm around her. Her face turned slightly pink but she continued folding Rose's robes in silence.
"You know, I should've asked you out sooner. But then again, I always was a git." Ron said as he looked at her. Hermione put the clothes down and looked at him. "I was waiting, actually. Waiting to see how long you'ld take to admit that," she said. Ron laughed and looked into the eyes of the woman that he loved and treasured.
Unbidden, the image of a gleaming ball of energy, very much like the one around a portkey popped in his mind. He remembered her voice. The voice that pulled him back on the right track. The voice that had pulled him towards them 19 years ago while they were on the run from Voldemort and his evil Death Eaters. The voice that had saved him from losing his best friend and the love of his life forever. Hermione's voice.
"Hermione, what would I do without you?" he whispered. Hermione turned a violent shade of pink and pretended she didn't hear him.
Ron smiled. He had a house and a wonderful job at the Auror Office. He had Hugo and Rose, who was going to start her journey to the ancient castle that he himself took all those years back. And he had Hermione who was there to share it all with him.
"I must be the luckiest man alive."
A/N: This was my first ever piece of fanfiction and voluntary writing about 2 years ago. It's... different.