Happy 1st Birthday Rose Weasley... This is an awkward one :)

January 26 2007

It was completely chaotic in the kitchen that morning. A stressed and flustered Hermione was pouring over a recipe book she had borrowed from Molly and muttering curses to herself. Her bushy brown hair fanned out around her head in a messy halo, and she had flour all over her favourite sweater and chocolate smudges on her hands and face.

It was Rose's first birthday and Hermione wanted it to be something special; something that she would remember for years to come. Everything had to be perfect; the cake, the presents, the guests. She was finding it difficult to live up to her own standards. Firstly, she was a terrible cook, and even following the carefully constructed annotations on the recipe had proved a struggle. Baking was not Hermione's specialty. Teaching Rose to read and write or setting up the backyard for the party were easy feats, but baking - she felt completely out of her element. With fierce determination, she ploughed on and eventually produced a cake batter that was edible and relatively tasty.

Pleased with her effort, she licked her fingers and poured the dark, sticky mixture into a round tray. Just as she turned around and was about to put it in the oven, she heard a small, high-pitched gurgled from below her. In surprise, Hermione looked down to see Rose sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor, her chubby fists waving around happily. Hermione moved to sidestep her daughter, in order not to step on her, but the sudden movement caused her to slip and the cake tin flew out of her hands and crashed to the floor.

Chocolate cake batter went everywhere, covering every inch of the titles and splattering Rose. Hermione groaned in frustration and pulled out her wand to clean up the mess.

"Ronald Weasley!" she called out.

There was a groan of frustration, and moments later, Ron appeared at the kitchen window. "Yes, Hermione?" he asked, clearly irritated.

She stashed her wand back in her pocket and picked the happy, gurgling Rose up in her arms. "You are supposed to be keeping Rose out of the kitchen," she told him firmly, frowning at him. Rose giggled and pulled at Hermione's hair with short, chubby fingers. Hermione winced in pain.

Ron was obviously offended by this statement and threw his hands up in the air. "Bloody hell," he growled. "I can't do everything at once! I'm not a bloody octopus."

Hermione was not impressed. "It's not that difficult, Ronald. Honestly, she's an infant. Just keep her out from under my feet."

"What do you think I'm doing out here, Hermione? Sitting around? No, I'm slaving my arse off to set up your ridiculous decorations so that our daughter can have the perfect first birthday that she won't remember anyway."

He threw open the door, stormed inside and snatched his daughter out of Hermione's arms.

Hermione was outraged. How dare he call her idea ridiculous! Was it so wrong that she wanted Rose to have a memorable first birthday?

"Ridiculous?" she screamed. "Ridiculous! You think this is ridiculous!"

Ron's jaw set. "She's a baby, Hermione. How much of this do you think she'll remember?"

"But what about the memories, Ron! I want people to look back and remember the wonderful party we threw and how lucky Rose was to have parents who cared so much about her! Obviously, you don't care about Rose at all!"

"Oh no, of course I don't care about her!" Ron bit back, glaring at his wife. "As always, you're the perfect mother, and I'm just the bumbling moron of a husband." He snatched Rose from Hermione's arms and then disappeared back outside, slamming the door behind him as he went. Hermione gave a cry of frustration and jammed her wand back into her pocket.

At that moment, her unborn child decided to make himself known and gave her a sharp kick. She rubbed her seven-month pregnant belly gingerly.

"You're not mad at me too, are you?" she asked, quietly, feeling tears welling in the corner of her eyes. With a deep sigh, she blinked them back and continued with her baking, trying to quell her anger. Ron wasn't the only one who had expressed concerns about her elaborate plans for Rose's birthday. Was it really that bad to want a perfect birthday celebration for her daughter? Hermione didn't think it was such a hard task.

Once her cake was cooking away steadily in the over, Hermione made herself a cup of tea and sat down in the living room. Her feet were sore from standing up under the weight of her pregnancy, and her fight with Ron had made her exhausted. She closed her eyes for just a moment, keeping her cup of tea in her hands. The sound of the sliding door creaking open woke her from her relaxation, and she saw Ron storm inside, sweating and red faced. He went to the fridge and poured himself some cold water. Rose was on his heels, pulling the tail of an old and grumpy Crookshanks, who was sunning himself in the square of light that peered through the window.

"Ron," Hermione said softly.

He looked over at her, his face still hard in anger, but when he noticed her sad expression, his eyes softened.

"Is it really ridiculous?"

The doubt in her voice surprised him. He sighed and shook his head slowly. "No love, it's not ridiculous." Leaving his drink on the table, he gently approached her and sat beside her. "I'm sorry I said that. I shouldn't have. I was just exhausted and frustrated, and then you got angry with me - "

"I shouldn't have snapped at you," she interrupted.

Ron shook his head. "Don't apologise. I was being a prat." He sighed and took her hand, running his calloused thumb over her knuckles. "I think it's wonderful," he admitted.

Rose giggled and both of them turned their heads to see their young daughter rolling around the kitchen floor, swatting at Crookshanks' tail and squealing happily.

"She's lucky she's got such an amazing mother, who cares so much about her," Ron said and gave Hermione a genuine smile. "Not a lot of mother's would go to this much effort for their daughter's 1st birthday."

Hermione blushed. "I want it to be special," she said softly.

Ron kissed her softly and ran his hands over her belly. "It'll be the best first birthday party ever," he assured her.

Suddenly, an overwhelming burnt smell wafted throughout the kitchen. Ron sniffed and his eyes drifted to the oven, where Rose's birthday cake was cooking.

"Uh, Hermione…" he began sheepishly.

She blanched and rose from the couch quickly, waddling towards the oven as quick as her pregnancy would allow.

"Bullocks," she muttered darkly as she opened the oven and pulled out the tray of burnt, chocolate cake. Ron laughed and approached her, kissing her temple. He took the tray from her grip and placed it on the bench, before wrapping his arms around his wife.

"Well," he chuckled. "At least we know that Mum always brings over extra cake."

A/N: So, this is a little odd. For some reason, I just felt like writing a small fight between Ron and Hermione. It's not my best work, and I'm not hugely proud of it, but here it is. Please enjoy. Feel free to read and review! xx