Disclaimer: All characters and things associated with Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. This writing is for pure entertainment only.

Summary: Sequel to "Law Change Lives". Hermione and Ron are settling into their new roles as parents, but nothing is ever as easy as it seems.

CHAPTER 10

Two days had passed since Ron's arm had been mangled, and Hermione still did not feel completely right. She was nauseous, tired, and short-tempered with Rose. She felt rundown, and she knew it had to do with the fact that she had tons of work stacked up in her office and Rose's party was in less then a week.

That morning, Hermione felt no relief as she struggled to feed Rose her breakfast. It was another day she would attempt to work from home, though that was proving to be more difficult. It seemed, for once in her life, Hermione was struggling to concentrate and Rose was not making the situation better, constantly wanting it play or be outside.

Hermione refused to take her outside; especially over to the park she had sworn she had seen Umbridge in, though that seemed more like a foggy dream now. However, keeping Rose cooped up proved to be difficult.

"Rose, please eat." Hermione sighed, trying to spoon some oatmeal into Rose's mouth.

Rose, however, kept her lips puckered and moved her head every time Hermione tried to get a spoon in it.

"Rose, I am not kidding…" Hermione urged.

"No! Yuck!" Rose yelped quickly with her slowly growing vocabulary and then shut her mouth tight again, her chubby little finger pointing at the bowl of oatmeal.

"Rose…its good…look…" Hermione took the spoon full of oatmeal and brought it to her own mouth to show Rose it wasn't bad, but when the smell of the oatmeal reached her nose, Hermione felt her stomach turn.

She quickly dropped the spoon and rushed to the downstairs bathroom, just in time to empty the contents of her stomach.

Once Hermione was certain she would no longer be sick, she slowly rose, rinsing her teeth out, before returning to the kitchen where Rose sat patiently waiting for her.

Hermione sighed, and sunk back into her chair, her head in her hands. She couldn't get sick for Rose's birthday; she just couldn't.

"See, Ma? Yucky…" Rose made a face at her oatmeal and shook her head.

Hermione only could manage a little smile in return to Rose's words, afraid she would get sick again if she opened her mouth.

"Down?" Rose questioned, pointing to the ground after a moment.

Hermione sighed, knowing if she let Rose down, she would want to play and then there would be no way Hermione could get anything done, even if she wasn't sick. She knew she needed some help for the day.

"How about we go over to Grandma's today, Rose?" Hermione asked after a minute.

Rose seemed to perk up at the possibility and Herminie took the satisfied expression on her daughter's face as a yes. She just hoped Ron's mother wouldn't keeping an eye on Rose that afternoon so she could get work done and maybe a little rest.

Hermione stood, gathering Rose and moving to the fireplace with a diaper bag. She usually hated flooing with Rose because it would make Rose's ears pop and she would cry, but today she was in no mood to walk over there.

When they arrived at the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley was just putting on some tea.

"Who is it?' Mrs. Weasley's voice rang through the strangely quiet house. It seemed strange for the Burrow to not have people or children running about it, but the Weasley kids were all grown now.

"Its just me and Rose." Hermione called back, stepping out of the fireplace with Rose firmly in her arms and moving to the kitchen where they found Mrs. Weasley over the sink.

"Oh, Hermione, dear! Good to see you!" Mrs. Weasley moved forward and kissed Hermione before turning her attention to her oldest grand child. "And how are you, little Rosie…"

"Gam…" Rose pointed at Mrs. Weasley. She was still learning to say 'grandma'.

"Beautiful…" Mrs. Weasley kissed Rose who giggled.

"I hate to do this to you, but I was wondering if you would take Rose for the afternoon? I have work to get done and it's hard to focus with her in the house." Hermione asked sheepishly.

"Oh, of course, dear! I would love to. Not to worry…" Mrs. Weasley took Rose from Hermione's grasp as Hermione set the diaper bag on the table. "Ron said you haven't been feeling well?"

"Hopefully its just a cold. I don't to be sick for Rose's birthday." Hermione said.

"I'm sure you will be better in a few days…now go on, go get your work done. I've got Rose for as long as you need." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Thank you so much." Hermione leaned down and kissed Rose on the forehead. "Be good for Grandma…I will see you soon…"

Rose hardly noticed Hermione leave, however, since Mrs. Weasley had just handed her a freshly baked cookie. Clearly, Rose took after her father when it came to food. She just loved it.

Ron sighed, thumbing through some paperwork with his good hand. He was so bored. Things had been slow at work and Harry had made a point of not letting Ron out with his arm unless absolutely necessary.

Ron wanted some action, he wanted to do anything but sit at his desk. He looked down at his arm and cursed Yaxley for hurting him.

A knock on the door broke Ron's train of thought and he glanced up to see Harry standing there.

"Let's get out of here for lunch, yeah?" Harry asked.

Ron was standing quickly, looking for any reason to leave the office. "You bloody read my mind."

Ron allowed Harry to lead him out of the Ministry and onto the busy streets of London.

"Where do you want to go?" Harry asked.

Ron made a face as if Harry had asked the stupidest question in the world.

"Leaky Cauldron it is." Harry nodded, understanding Ron.

Harry and Ron walked silently to their favorite pub. It wasn't an awkward silence, just a comfortable one between friends who were overworked and knew there was no point in small talk before either of them had lunch.

When the pair reached the pub, they sat down in a booth in the back and both ordered their favorite lunches and butterbeers.

"Nice to be out of the office…" Ron said, sipping his butterbeer.

"Yeah, you seem a bit bored. How's the arm?" Harry motioned to Ron's injured arm.

Ron looked at his arm and shrugged. "Feels…well…as expected, I suppose. I just want it to heal already. I wasn't meant to sit behind a bloody desk all day…and I haven't been much help with Rose at home with the arm…"

"Hermione still not feeling well?" Harry asked.

Ron sighed and shook his head. "No, not really…I just hope she isn't sick for Rosie's birthday. She has been working so hard on it."

"Maybe she should go to a healer?" Harry suggested.

Ron snorted. "Tried that, mate. She didn't want to hear it. Said she will get better on her own…"

Harry gave a soft chuckle, but his smile faded as he glanced over Ron's shoulder.

Ron's brow furrowed at Harry's expression. "What?"

"No way…" Harry slowly stood, pulling his wand out.

Ron glanced over his shoulder and froze, seeing what Harry saw out the window and across the street. It was none other then Dolores Umbridge and she was giving them both one of her disgustingly creepy smiles.

"Bloody hell…" Ron was on his feet in seconds and so was Harry.

Ron, however, with only one good hand was struggling to get his wand out. Harry had his drawn and pointed it across the street at Umbridge.

"Everyone, down now!" Harry yelled in the bar.

Everyone glanced around, confused for a moment, and then the window in front of Harry and Ron blew in, glass flying everywhere, and Harry and Ron falling to the ground.

Screams could be heard, and Harry lifted his head just in time to see Umbridge grinning madly and walking toward them with her wand pointed directly at them both.

"How in the bloody hell…" Ron started and then blasted a spell off at Umbridge the best he could from his spot on the floor.

Ron's spell missed Umbridge by inches and certainly didn't slow down her steady stroll toward them. She blasted another spell

This time Harry shot back, and Ron raised his wand again but was surprised when four or five other wands blasted off behind him. Ron turned to see Neville, Dean, Seamus, and Cho all with their wands raised at Umbridge. Clearly she had ruined their lunch as well.

When Ron turned back to look at Umbridge, she was gone.

"How did she get here?" Harry asked angrily as he got to his feet and wiped the dirt off of his pants.

"Dunno…but we need to get back to the Ministry…and I need to warn Hermione…this could be bad." Ron said, standing and brushing off some dirt from his jeans with his good arm.

"Right…" Harry nodded, knowing there was real danger in the fact that Umbridge was back, and apparently not afraid to attack them in broad daylight. He quickly grabbed Ron's jacket and disapparated the pair of them back to the Ministry.

After a long day of getting some work done and throwing her lunch up, Hermione managed to make her way back to the Burrow. She apparated onto the front lawn just in time to see Ginny flying high on her broom, practicing her Quidditch shots.

She gave her sister-in-law a wave and then moved into the Burrow where she found Mrs. Weasley sitting on the floor playing blocks with Rose and Fleur sitting on the couch, holding Victoire, seemingly half asleep.

"MA!" Rose screamed when Hermione came in. She then got on her chubby little legs and moved toward Hermione.

"Hi, my girl…" Hermione scooped Rose up and kissed her. "Were you good for grandma?"

"She was an angel, as always." Mrs. Weasley smiled as she got to her feet and moved toward the kitchen. "I hope you are staying for dinner, Hermione. I cooked plenty."

Hermione put Rose back down and yelled after her mother-in-law. "Oh, I actually just put dinner on for when Ron get's home."

Hermione was lying, but she still wasn't feeling great, and she knew if she stayed at the Burrow for dinner, they would never get home at a reasonable hour.

"Oh, what a shame…next time then." Mrs. Weasley called out.

"Of course." Hermione said back as she moved next to Fleur to see her niece. "How are you, Fleur?"

"Exhausted…" Fleur admitted. "Would you take her for a just a minute?"

Hermione nodded and took Victoire in her arms as she sat down. The second Fleur let go of her daughter; she collapsed back into the couch, closing her eyes slightly.

"You will get used to it…you will need less and less sleep." Hermione told Fleur, speaking from experience.

"I don't know how you managed…" Fleur admitted with a soft sigh though she was smiling.

"And you just look so cute with a little one in your lap, Hermione…just as cute as you did with Rosie…" Mrs. Weasley appeared from the kitchen.

"ME!" Rose grinned at her name and began walking, unsteadily toward Hermione.

Hermione just smiled at her daughter as Rose walked toward her. When Rose reached her, she carefully began examining Victoire, as if she were trying to determine how she felt about her mother holding another baby.

"Ba-be…" Rose decided as she pointed at Victoire.

"That's right, Rosie…Victoire is a baby." Hermione nodded at her daughter. She couldn't help but smile at how intelligent Rose clearly was.

"Mine?" Rose questioned innocently.

Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, and Fleur all laughed at once at the innocence's of Rose's question.

"No, Rose…Victoire is not one of your dolls…" Hermione said carefully.

Rose took a minute, as if trying to understand what Hermione meant but then decided she was no longer interested in her little cousin, and so she moved back to her blocks on the floor.

Instantly, Victoire started fussing.

"Zhe must be hungry…here…" Fleur reached out for her daughter.

Hermione handed her niece off to her sister-in-law.

"I thought zee pregnancy was hard…being so sick at zee beginning…but its much more work now." Fleur admitted.

"It will get easier again…and you probably forget how awful the morning sickness was. I don't wish that on anyone…" Mrs. Weasley said.

Hermione nodded; she remembered how sick she had been with Rose at the beginning, before she realized she was pregnant. She was tired, irritably, and couldn't control when or where she got sick.

And then, suddenly, Hermione felt the color drain from her face. She had been feeling all of those things recently and more. She had been so focused on Rose's birthday that the thought that she was pregnant, rather then sick had never crossed her mind until that moment. Was it possible? Of course it was. But was it probable? Maybe. But the biggest question, if it were true, was she and Ron ready for another baby?

"Hermione? Are you alright, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Hermione's eyes instantly snapped up at her mother-in-law and she realized she must have zoned out. She quickly stood, nodding and moving to gather Rose.

"Yes…I just…I want to get back to dinner before Ron gets back." Hermione lied. In truth, she just wanted to get out of the Burrow and have some time and space to think logically about the possible situation on her hands.