The next afternoon Hermione and Magnolia were discharged from St Mungos. Mrs Granger came to pick them up as Mr Granger was working. Ron had been forced to go back to Hogwarts but had been given permission to leave for an hour every night in order to come and visit. He had kicked up a fuss but Mr and Mrs Weasley and Hermione both agreed it was for the best with the exams being so close that he spent most of his time at Hogwarts.

The journey home seemed a lot quicker than the journey getting there and before long they arrived back at the house.

Hermione lifted out the baby car seat - in which Maggie sat fast asleep in - and carried her into the house.

"Welcome to your home Magnolia," Hermione said softly.

She set the car seat down on the living room floor and gazed in awe at all the cards that had been put up around the room.

"They started arriving last night," Mrs Granger told her. "It's been a constant stream of owls all morning."

Hermione picked up a card that was flashing different colours, it was signed by Fred and George. She moved on to the next one which was blue in colour with an unusual charm attached to the front. She read the inside of the card and smiled.

"Apparently it attracts Flutteries which according to Luna are cloud fairies which look over babies and keep them safe. Honestly," Hermione shook her head before moving on to Ginny's card.

…...

It was not until after seven that night that Ron stepped out of the fireplace that had been rigged up to the one in McGonagall's office. He ran straight to Maggie where she was lying in Mr Granger's arms.

Mr Granger handed Magnolia to her father then left Ron and Hermione alone with their daughter.

"What's this?" Hermione picked up a blanket that Ron had sat on the couch.

"Ginny made it. She used that spell you gave her. She can't wait to meet Maggie. She's jealous that everyone else in the family has already met her! Harry can't wait to see her either. It seems that half the school have been asking about her today," he laughed. "So how has she been?" he asked.

"She's been a little angel so far," Hermione told him. "Slept most of the day really. Which probably means she will be up most of the night."

"Oh!" Ron slapped his head suddenly. "I forgot to bring your work. I left it sitting in the common room."

"Don't worry about it," Hermione said. "Now that Magnolia is here I'm not sure if I will sit the NEWTS."

"What?" Ron spluttered.

"I have to think of Magnolia now. She is my responsibility. She needs me. If I were to sit the NEWTS it would mean having to spend lots of time locked in my room studying and having to go in and out of Hogwarts. I would miss out in valuable bonding time with my daughter," Hermione explained.

The two grew silent and gazed at their daughter lovingly.

Their silence was interrupted by someone staggering out of their fireplace.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed.

Harry grinned at them.

"I brought these," he held up a pile of books. "Ron obviously forgot about them in his excitement to come and see the two of you. He's not stopped talking about Maggie all day!"

Hermione laughed.

"Come and see her," she took the books out of Harry's arms and pulled him over to the couch where Ron still sat with Maggie.

Harry congratulated the two as he looked down at their child.

"She is beautiful. You two must be so proud," he said.

"We are," Hermione beamed. "I've just remembered!" she said suddenly. "I took some photos earlier, they have been developing in my cauldron I think they should be ready by now."

She bustled out the room and returned a few minutes later with a handful of photos.

"You can take them in and show Ginny."

"There's no need for that," Ron interrupted. He nodded his head in the direction of the fireplace.

Hermione whirled around to see Ginny standing there.

"How did you?"

"I got Neville to start a diversion. So I waited for McGonagall to leave the room to find out what all the noise was and then I sneaked in," Ginny described.

Ron laughed. "Come and meet your niece," he told her.

"She's gorgeous!" Ginny cried out. "Can I hold her?"

Ron gently passed Magnolia over to his sister.

"Shall we tell them now?" Hermione asked Ron.

"I suppose so," Ron replied.

"Harry, Ginny, we would like you two to be Magnolia's Godparents," Hermione announced.

…...

It was three o'clock in the morning and Hermione was fast asleep in bed when Magnolia's screams woke her up. She dragged herself out of bed and over to the cradle in her room where she had decided to keep Magnolia for the first few weeks.

"There, there," Hermione whispered as she lifted her out of the cradle.

She rocked her back and forwards trying to quieten her down.

"Is everything all right dear?" Mrs Granger entered the room in her night dress.

"I don't know what is wrong with her," Hermione said. "She isn't due a feed, it's not her nappy so what is it?"

"Let me see her," Mrs Granger took her granddaughter and cradled her in her arms, gently humming a lullaby.

Within a few minutes Magnolia had settled down and was beginning to dose.

"It just takes practise," Mrs Granger told her disheartened daughter as she lay Magnolia back down in her crib.

…...

A few nights later Hermione sat down in the living room at around four in the morning. She had been up since two with Magnolia who had been refusing to go to sleep. When she had first started crying Hermione had settled her down but when she tried to put her back in her crib she had screamed her little heart out. After attempting a few times to get her to sleep Hermione had given up and taken her down to the living room where she had been sitting now for over an hour. She had cast a charm on her parents room so they would not be disturbed by Maggie as they had been the past few evenings.

"Please Maggie," Hermione begged. "Mummy is exhausted and needs to sleep."

She stood up and walked around the room trying to hush her daughter but failing. An hour later Maggie finally fell asleep and Hermione who was too tired to even climb the stairs fell asleep on the couch with her daughter in her arms which was where Mr Granger found them in the morning.

…...

Over the next month Ron continued to drop in during the evenings to see Maggie, occasionally Harry and Ginny would pop up too. As well as those three most of the members of the Weasley family had found their way over at some time or another.

Hermione stood one morning and looked at all the gifts they had received. Fred and George had customised their extendable ears making the sound magnify, they had also gotten rid of the flesh coloured string in between each ear so one could sit in Magnolia's room and one Hermione kept in her pocket so she could hear when Magnolia was crying. Fleur and Bill had given Magnolia a pocket sized piano from France that played lullabys when you tapped it with a wand. Charlie had given her a working model of a unicorn that would canter round the room fascinating Maggie and Percy had given her a 'My First Magic Book'.

Harry had given Magnolia a toy broomstick which Hermione was not too happy about, she much preferred Ginny's gift of a refillable bottle of milk which would fill up with milk again as soon as it had been drunk.

"You're a lucky girl aren't you Magnolia," Hermione told her daughter.

She picked her out of the cradle and kissed her gently.

"Daddy should be home soon. Will we go down and wait for him?" Hermione smiled.

Today was the start of the NEWTS the first exam being Charms and Hermione had been nervously awaiting Ron's visit.

"Well?" she asked when he eventually stepped out of the fireplace.

Ron shook his head. He lifted Magnolia out of Hemione's arms and swung her around the room.

"Ron careful" Hermione said reproachfully. "So, the exam? How did it go?"

Ron stopped spinning and sat down with Maggie on his knee.

"It was awful," he croaked. "I thought Charms was going to be one of the easy ones."

"I'm sure you have done better than you realise," Hermione said.

Ron ignored her. "What if I fail? How will I be able to get a job? How will I be able to provide for Maggie?"

"Ron you will be fine. You will not fail. You will get a job and therefore you will be able to provide for Maggie. "

Ron shrugged. "I hope you are right."

"Now you don't have an exam tomorrow do you?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah I've got Transfiguration," Ron gulped.

"What!" Hermione yelped. "What are you doing over here then? Get yourself back to school now!"