"Congratulations, dear!"
"Thanks mum," Ron said into her shoulder, suffocating in her fierce hug. When she took a step back, a wide grin was still plastered on his face. According to an exhausted but joyful Hermione, it had been there since he'd first laid eyes on Rose, and it would be there a long time yet.
"How are you feeling?"
"Happy! So happy, and proud, and terrified and overwhelmed and… Blimey, I can't explain it. I was so scared to hold her. She just seemed so small and breakable and vulnerable. She is all those things, and she's depending on Hermione and I for her survival. We're the reason she exists… Bloody hell, I can't believe Hermione and I have a daughter. A baby!"
Molly nodded in understanding, unable to supress a grin of her own. "I felt exactly the same way when you were born."
Ron looked surprised. "But I wasn't the first. I was your sixth child; wouldn't it get a bit old by then?"
"Never. It wouldn't have mattered if you were my first, my sixth or my sixteenth child. Every single one of you holds a distinct and special place in my heart that no one else could fill."
Ron's smile grew, if possible, even wider. Suddenly, the unmistakable sound of a crying baby could be heard, loud and demanding. Molly leapt towards the bedroom, with Ron close behind. "Time for me to meet my newest granddaughter! From those cries, she's going to be a handful. I can't wait for when she hits her teenage years!"
Ron blanched, gulping audibly, and his smile momentarily disappeared. "Maybe you could give me free parenting lessons?" He joked weakly.
Yet as Molly watched him gently cradle Rose like she was the most precious thing in the world, she knew he wouldn't need any sort of lessons. He was already a devoted father, and Rose would be lucky to have him.
Written for:
The Coneect the Weasley's Challenge
The Disney Movie Plotline Competition: The Game Plan
Le Sherlock Category Competition: The Blind Banker
The Doctor Who Appreciation Competition: Twelfth Doctor