Sorry for the long wait everyone! :( But it's here now so YAY

~justaclassicgirl

Hermione had collapsed onto the bed the moment they got home, physically and emotionally drained from the hospital visit. Harry followed suit a few minutes after.

The next morning came, sun shining through the small cracks in the curtains. Hermione woke up earlier than Harry, at about 7, and sat up in bed, placing a hand gingerly on her stomach. Hey, baby girl, she thought to her unborn child. It's your Mummy. I love you, sweetie. So does Daddy. We can't wait to meet you.

She paused for a moment before continuing. Don't worry about your brother. He was hurt. He's safe now. He's happy.

A tear fell onto her stomach. As if in response, the baby kicked for the first time.

Hermione gasped.

It was unlike anything she'd felt before.

Harry stirred and woke at the sound of Hermione's gasp. "Mione?" he said sleepily. "Is something wrong?"

She turned to him, grinning widely, and in one quick motion grabbed his hand and placed it on her stomach, over her baby bulge.

C'mon, honey, kick for Daddy, she thought to the baby.

Instantly, there came a kick, and Harry gasped as well, louder than she had. Hermione smiled, tears running down her cheeks. Tears of sheer happiness.

Harry insisted on making breakfast, but a bit after the moment they'd had with the baby kicking, Hermione's morning sickness decided to make its reappearance. So she decided to settle for some chamomile tea to settle her stomach, and a bit of bread. Harry had some eggs.

Looking up from a mouthful of food, Harry noticed Hermione staring off into space, looking extremely thoughtful. But not sad, so he knew she couldn't be thinking about the miscarriage. Which was good, because he didn't want to discuss it on a morning that had started out so nicely.

"So…what are you thinking about?" he asked her, washing down the eggs with a swig of coffee.

She turned to face him, and smiled. "I think it's time to start thinking about names."

Immediately, he said, "You choose."

She gave him a puzzled look. "But…you're the father too. You're going to have to live with a child with this name for the rest of your life, so you may as well like it as much as I do."

"Oh, but I can't think of any, Hermione! Every night I try to think of at least one that I like, even remotely, but there just isn't one!"

"Not…not even Lily?"

He sighed. "I…it's a beautiful name, and yes, it's my mother's. But…I feel like it's hers, and only hers, as in I just don't think I'm ready to commit it to my child yet."

She nodded. "I understand." But he could tell that she'd really liked that name.

"This…won't be our only child though, will it?"

She shook her head. "I hope not."

"…I might be more ready then."

She looked sad. "What if it's a boy? Then what? I don't know if I want 3 children just to be able to use that name."

"You…don't?"

She sighed exasperatedly. "I don't know, Harry! I don't know! That's in the future, and this is now, and this pregnancy has been hard on both of us, not just me. I…I just don't know."

She turned sideways a bit and stared off into space again.

"Mione?"

"Hmm?" she said, not turning back.

"Ella is a nice name."

A smile spread across her face.

They had spent a good 10 minutes name-generating when Hermione buried her head in her hands. "This is HARD!" she groaned.

"I'll say," Harry sighed. "We can't agree on ANYTHING!"

"You didn't like Sophia, Elizabeth, or Charlotte!" she said.

"You didn't like Amanda, Danielle, or Grace!" he retorted.

"I can't believe there isn't one name we both like," Hermione muttered. "There must be thousands of names out there."

"Well, I firmly stand by my first choice," Harry said.

"What? You mean 'Ella'? I thought you only said that as a joke, to make me feel better. I didn't think you…meant it as a name choice."

"Well I did," Harry said irritably. "But you mean to tell me that there isn't one single name that calls to you in any way?!"

"Well," Hermione whispered, "There is one, but…"

"But?"

"It…It's Rose."

Harry smiled. "That's a beautiful name."

"But the thing is, it's what Ron and I decided to name our child, when we were thinking about the future one day. I was never pregnant with him, of course, but…you know."

He nodded sympathetically. "But do you like it?"

"I love it," she said quietly. "I was the one who suggested it to him."

"Would you be willing to name our daughter it?"

She paused, her eyes beginning to fill with tears.

He saw this, and said quickly, "No, no, don't cry. We don't have to name her that."

"I want to, Harry. I really, really want to, but I can't!"

He thought for a moment, running through all the names he'd ever heard of or seen written down in his head.

And then he had it.

"Hermione, what about this?" he said, getting very excited.

"What?"

"We'll just combine the two names we love most!"

She gave him a curious look. "Go on…"

"They go together perfectly! We'll name our daughter Rosella!"

She grinned. "Perfect!"

"Now, there's some of the name you loved in it, but you don't need to be reminded of him every time you see her, because there's part of the name I wanted in there too."

Hermione stood up, walked over to Harry, and threw her arms around him. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

He stroked her hair. "Anything for you, Mione."

It was Hermione who came up with Rosella's middle name. Wanting to continue the sort of Shakespearean name lineage that had started with her, she decided that her middle name should be Juliet. Harry agreed with this wholeheartedly.

Finally, they had a name.

"Rosella Juliet Potter," Harry said. "I love it."

She beamed. "I love it too."

Harry placed a hand on Hermione's stomach and said, "Hi Rosie, it's your daddy."

The baby kicked.

"How does she know?" Hermione wondered. The baby always kicked the moment she or Harry laid but a finger on it, or if not, she would certainly start whenever the person attached to the hand or finger started talking.

"Let's get some things cleared up right now, missy," he said, and his tone made Hermione giggle. "No dating until you're at least 30."

"Oh god, Harry, you're not going to be one of those dads, are you?" she joked.

"Or preferably 80."

"Harry!" she laughed.

"And it's worse since I'm a wizard," he continued in the same joking tone, turning now to speak to Hermione, "because now I have more ways of hurting him if he hurts her." He gestured to his wand. She tried to hide her laughter.

"If anyone hurts you, ever," Harry said, now back to his unborn daughter, "bullies or boyfriend, your good old daddy will take care of them for you."

Hermione had gone from laughing hysterically to nearly crying, with just hearing those words coming from his mouth.

"I will always keep you safe, Rosella," he finished, and kissed Hermione's stomach.

Hermione said, in a quavery voice, "Harry?"

"Yes?" he said, looking up.

"I love you so much."

She was shocked to see the tears in his eyes as he replied, "I love you more," and kissed her on the lips, like he hadn't in a long while.

And she kissed him back.