April 24th
Spring was coming, tentatively, rather like somebody wading into freezing cold water. The sun was shining again, albeit a little weakly, casting a lemon juice light on everything, everything was budding and teetering on the edge of waking up after a long bitter winter.
From the moment her feet hit the ground Hermione could feel it, she had never been a winter person and the return of the sun always lifted her spirit a little. The Burrow was teeming with life; she could already hear the noise from halfway down the dusty road, like the humming of a beehive. It was the sound of contentment and she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as she drew nearer, she was home.
It was far warmer here than in Romania and she slung her heavy coat across her arm, walking down the lane in just a thin jumpers and skirt. She was humming to herself, lost in her own little world when there was a yelp from the house followed by a loud crash and two figures hurtled out of the house towards her, both of them flung their arms around her, knocking her to the floor in their enthusiasm.
"Hermione!" Harry gasped "Why didn't you say you were coming to see us?"
"Where's Charlie?" asked Ron
She tried to speak but found herself completely winded.
"Now, now children" said another voice from somewhere above them, Fred extended a hand to help Hermione up, having only just arrived on the scene
"What have we told you about squashing pretty ladies?" George finished and both the twins hugged Hermione so tightly that she all but stopped breathing again. For the briefest moment her head span and she felt intensely dizzy, when she recovered she found herself sat on a nearby tree stump with the four boys apologising profusely for being 'too rough' with her.
"Charlie's coming this evening" she wheezed when she could finally speak "I finished work before he did so I'm here now. I hear congratulations are in order for all of you, you're all going to be Dads soon" she beamed at them all and they positively glowed back "How's Ginny?" She asked Harry, they all winced.
"She's not happy" said Fred
"In fact she's bloody terrifying at the moment" George finished
"Maybe you'll cheer her up" said Harry "she's always happier after she's seen you. She says it's nice to see another girl when she spends so much time surrounded by men."
As soon as Hermione found her feet again the five of them headed back to the house where Hermione found Ginny led on the sofa looking miserable. She brightened up considerably when she saw the group by the door.
"You're back!" she grinned and tried to stand up to greet Hermione but winced and led back down again. Susan, Angelina and Katie managed to get across the room to hug Hermione, despite their swollen stomachs.
"Come and see me too" wailed a plaintive voice from the sofa
"Of course" Hermione smiled, "how are you Ginny?" she knelt next to the sofa and hugged her best friend tightly.
"Not good" was the teary reply
"What's wrong?"
"I feel sick and my back keeps aching"
Hermione sat up straight "all the time or on and off?"
Ginny frowned "on and off" she said "it gets really bad, like there's an elephant sat on me and then it disappears"
Hermione heaved an exasperated sigh "I don't suppose your stomach hurts then too?" Ginny nodded "how frequently is this happening?"
Ginny frowned "maybe ten or fifteen minutes" a sudden look of comprehension dawned on her face "Hermione, you don't think this is…? But it's more than three weeks early!"
Hermione nodded
"This is what?" asked Harry looking worried.
"I think she's in labour" Hermione said, looking closely at Ginny and feeling her forehead for fever "you probably need to get her to St Mungo's to double check and everything but I'm fairly certain."
For the next few minutes the Burrow was in total uproar. Harry, surprisingly was the calmest of the all and had Ginny through the floo and was following with an overnight bag within ten minutes. Ron took control of everybody else and it was decided that Molly and Arthur would go to the hospital too while the others would stay behind and wait for an owl to bring any news.
As is traditional during these moments nobody seemed to know what to do with themselves, most people seemed to resort to wandering aimlessly around, unable to settle to anything. Hermione turned to the thing she normally did in times of stress or boredom, baking. Thankfully she was in a house full of people who were perfectly happy to eat sweet things; she had to keep close watch on the mixing bowl lest spoonfuls of batter mysteriously go missing.
As she was putting the finishing touches on a large sponge cake she saw a familiar shape in the road outside. Charlie was here.
"Good evening to you too" he chuckled as she launched herself at him and kissed him soundly "So what have I missed?"
"Quite a lot actually" she said, looping an arm through his as they headed back to the house "Ginny's gone into labour so she's at the hospital with Harry and your parents and everybody else is just waiting around for news"
"Have you been baking again?" he grinned, interlacing his fingers with hers
She looked startled "How did you know?"
"You've got flour on your cheek" he brushed it away and she blushed
"I really wanted some cake and there wasn't any in the kitchen" she explained as she opened the door into the kitchen, revealing a kitchen full of hungry looking Weasley men and their wives staring at a table covered in cookies and beautifully decorated cupcakes.
"Hermione, can I just have one pleeeaaasseee?" Susan wheedled
Hermione shrugged "help yourself, they aren't for anything special I just wanted something to do"
Nothing else needed to be said, the entire family, Charlie included dived onto the table and began to demolish the lot. As Ron was savouring the very last crumbs an owl flew through the window and dropped a letter onto Hermione's lap. She read it quickly once and grinned before reading it aloud for everyone.
'Ginny's had her baby, a healthy baby boy. He's a little small but doing well, they're going to name him James Sirius Potter, don't worry about coming to visit, the hospital visiting hours are finished for today and Ginny is planning on coming home first thing tomorrow morning. Arthur and I will be back soon.
Molly x'
There was a loud cheer from the twins and, in an instant, all tension dispersed. It was getting dark and nobody was really hungry so everyone sort of migrated towards the sitting room. Charlie took his suitcase up to his and Hermione's room. When he came back down Hermione was no longer in the kitchen, he found her sat on the ground under the same tree they had sat in when he had handed her the engagement ring.
"I've got a present for you" he said, sitting down next to her and pulling a small box out of his pocket.
"Charlie you don't need to buy me things" she said reproachfully, leaning into his shoulder
"But I wanted to; it's nothing too big anyway"
She opened the box and found a tiny silver dragon charm inside, with a twinkling amber eye. She gasped "It's beautiful Charlie" she clipped it onto the charm bracelet he had given her, she had never taken it off. They lapsed into a comfortable silence and watched a few fireflies flitting about above them.
"We've been married nearly a year" she said suddenly "it's gone so quickly"
He smiled "it's not been completely unbearable then?" he teased
She nudged him "of course not"
"Hermione?"
"Hmmm?"
"There's something I want to tell you, don't worry, nothing's wrong" he said hastily as her brow furrowed "it's just I love you, more than anyone else. I just thought you might want to know" he relaxed back into the tree as though he'd done nothing more than just told her the time.
She stared at him in complete shock for a second before pulling him into a fierce kiss "I love you too" she grinned "I especially love how blunt you can be sometimes"
He beamed at her, helping her to her feet as they headed back to the house. "So I suppose I should ask you if you wouldn't mind staying married to me after our mandatory 5 years together is finished?"
"Of course I will you idiot" she giggled as he picked her up and spun her round so quickly that the stars in the sky blurred.
A/N: Next chapter up! Only a couple more to go now until the ending, sadly. I am working on the plot for another one though :) again I want to thank everyone for their support (at the risk of sounding like a gushing moron). Also I got an anonymous review over the last chapter which was basically a bit of a rant about how bad my spelling was throughout the story and that I should "learn where to use capitals" I'm not going to point out that that specific review contained at least two typos. I am completely open to criticism if it's constructive and preferably has something positive to say somewhere but this wasn't one of those reviews so no more of those please!