Chapter 21: Five

Authors Note: I hit 100 reviews! Thank you so much for everyone who reviewed the last chapter, it means a great deal to know that people do read this story and I'm not just talking to myself hahaha. I have absolutely no idea what the next chapter is going to be about and so I guess I may just end up writing it as I go along. So again, thank you very much as I really appreciate it. Anyway here is chapter 21!

1st December 2005

The sky was dark as Hermione turned the muggle kettle on with a flick of a switch. The sound was quiet as the water began to bubble as it slowly second by second heated up. For the past year, she had found herself using the kettle in their kitchen more than ever before. The reality was, she hated hot drinks most of the time, but had found since she had become pregnant, although only having once hot drink per a day, they had been one of the only things she could find as a source of energy anymore. Tea was vile, disgusting, and she truly despised it. But if it was the only thing that at times would keep her awake then she would definitely drink it.

Despite it only being seven o'clock in the morning, she felt as though her brain was already overactive. Thoughts were spinning in head, one in particular. Five years. She thought to herself, Bloody hell, five years. Five years. Five years was a long time for anyone, but when she looked back to this time five years ago, it seemed almost as if it had passed within the blink of an eye. In five years, following on from this day half a decade ago, two couples within the Weasley/ Potter family had gotten married as had quite a few of their friends. Six Weasley children had been born and there had additionally been the first child of Harry and Ginny - the first Potter child – who was also technically a Weasley.

As of today they had been married for five years. A lot could change in five years, and everything certainly had. She glanced into the garden, to where the large oak tree with a swing made out of an old sea washed plank of wood they had found on the beach near shell cottage just after they had gotten together, and also two long pieces of rope. The swing was hung from a far branch and directly underneath the trees trunk was a small garden table with two chairs. As she looked over to that spot she smiled, remembering that that was where Ron had proposed to her six years and one day before, surrounded by fairy lights and knelt in the snow. Nothing ever went perfectly right for them, but other than their wedding the year after, his proposal to Hermione was one of the very few things that had been successfully pulled off. One thing that was successful was that Hermione had said yes, she would marry him, but the point was that she knew that Ron had really thought through that evening and had certainly made it something memorable. Six years, one year more than she had been thinking of previously but it seemed to have flown by just as easily.

"Hey, you are up early." A voice said and Hermione turned her head to see Harry stood in the doorway in his pyjama bottoms and t shirt. His hair was dishevelled and his glasses looked slightly askew and crooked, but other than that, given everything that was going on, he looked pretty okay.

They had not expected Harry to remain with them for this long, then again neither did he. They had said he could stay with them for as long as necessary and it turns out that given the situation between himself and Ginny, it had been completely. He had been round to their house whenever he could in order to see his son, James and also to try and get her to talk to him about what was going on in their lives. But she would not talk to him. At all. And it had left him somewhat on his own, so here they were. The very few words that they could converse with were "hello," "hello." And "see you," followed up with a "bye". It was horrendous that one completely irrational decision that was not even completely certain yet was tearing them apart. He could not get through to her, but there was no way that he intended on stopping trying any time soon.

"Hi. I could not sleep. She has been keeping me awake a lot more often recently. What about you?" Hermione asked

"I have been lying awake just staring at the ceiling for a while, then I heard someone downstairs and knew it was you." Harry told her quietly, walking towards the kitchen counter opposite his sister in law and leant on it, as was his friend across from him.

"How did you know it was me?" Hermione enquired, raising an eyebrow at him curiously.

"Hermione, even when you are in this current state of health you are lighter on your feet than Ron is. When he is tired he does not properly pick his feet up off the ground. I remember that from many years of sharing a dormitory room with him at Hogwarts." Harry replied "Happy Anniversary by the way. Five years isn't it?"

"Yeah, five years it is." She smiled, realising that she was not the only one who had remembered. "Did you already work that out?"

"Well, it is not every day that your best friends get married."Harry said, "It is not every day that you get to be the best man, and it is not every day that you propose to your then girlfriend." His voice got quieter towards the end of the conversation, remembering the current state of his and his wife's relationship. Conversation succumbed at they were both stood there, quietly, it was not uncomfortable. It was never uncomfortable between them and it never had been, even perhaps with topics that should have been regarded as awkward in a sibling like relationship.

"I am going to go home today." Harry told her after a few minutes, his voice croaking slightly. "It is the right time to. I can't thank you both enough for dealing with me for the past week but as far as we are all aware, I now have only one week to try and persuade her not to do it. Hermione, there is no way I can stand and watch by as she does this. I know that can't live with the thought that she has done something like that if she goes ahead with it, I just can't."

"I know you can't. I know. And I know that if that is how you feel then that is what you need to do. But you must, must, must know that you are always welcome here if you need to go somewhere else. Always." Hermione told him softly and he smiled at her gently.

"You will not want that once the baby is born." He replied "Which means, if she is right that she is two months along, then there are seven months remaining in purgatory."

"Harry neither of us will mind even after the baby is born. Worst comes to the worst, you can be the really cool uncle who lives in the spare bedroom with the really awesome lightning bolt scar." Hermione said

"Do you reckon even if I persuade her not to get rid of the baby... do you reckon she will love them?" Harry asked his friend and she looked up at him from the mug of tea surprised at the question. It was not exactly something she had thought about and something that had not been discussed, but clearly it was something that had been playing upon Harry's mind.

"I would hope so, I would imagine so." Hermione guessed

"And what if she does not? What if she has no connection with them at all?" Harry said blankly.

"Then like James, you will have to love them with all your heart, and with Ginny's heart as well. And Ron and I and everybody else will always love them, you know that." Hermione said and soon enough Harry stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her in a friendly embrace to which Hermione hugged him back.

"Thank you." He said into her shoulder before breaking away.

"Any time." Hermione said

"Well I had best be off then." Harry said before wordlessly and wandlessly summoning his bags.

"Right now?" Hermione questioned, her voice squeaking a little.

"If I have any chance of persuading her and talking to her, I best start at the crack of dawn and by the looks of it, sunrise is going to start soon. Have a good anniversary, big sister." He said before there was a crack and he disapparated on the spot and once again, Hermione was alone in the kitchen.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Happy Anniversary." Hermione whispered sitting on the edge of the bed, next to Ron's side as he woke up. For a moment or two he looked confused before grinning and sitting up so that he was sat facing his wife.

"Happy Anniversary sweetheart." Ron said reaching over and kissing her gently. "Blimey! Are you sure it has been five years?" He exclaimed, questioning her in somewhat shock.

"Apparently so. Trust me, I can't believe it either." Hermione smiled, "It seems to have flown by do you not think so?"

"It certainly has. Have you been up already?" Ron asked curiously

"I was talking to Harry." She replied.

"Is he alright?"Ron enquired

"He has gone home." She said and before Ron could say anything else she continued, "Yes, he is sure about it as well. He just came down and talked to me about it for a while, summoned his bags and quickly disapparated, so obviously he had thought it through for long enough that he had had the time to pack as well. I know he is our best friend and Ginny is your sister but I honestly think it is up to them now, and hopefully Harry will be able to make her see sense. On the bright side... at least we now have the house to ourselves." Ron then winked at her as she laughed quietly.

"So, what do you want to do today?" She then asked and Ron smiled at her, remembering what he had in mind.

"Well, I have a couple of things in mind but one of them is a surprise for later on. How about we do something that we have done once before in the past?" Ron suggested

"What, like when we celebrated our first Valentine's Day together and spent the day in Hyde Park?"Hermione questioned and Ron grinned at the thought of that day, for other reasons as well as the walk.

"That is a perfect idea. It was a good day wasn't it, because of other stuff as well." Ron replied and Hermione flushed red at the memory of the evening part. "Are you sure you do not mind walking though? Did the book say not to overdo it?" His smile faltering in concern for his wife.

"Ron it is one of those things that we are not going to get to do again for a very long time with it just being to two of us, because once the baby arrives then most things will change won't they?" Hermione said, but Ron still did not look too convinced, "I promise you I will be fine... providing that we get a taxi there and back."

"Okay then." He agreed before getting dressed.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Thank you." Hermione smiled, closing her purse and handing the taxi driver £5.50 of muggle money before he nodded to them both curtly and drove away. Ron reached for her hand as they turned and headed into the park. This would not have been a possible outing had it been for one key element not being a factor of the equation. Snow. The past few years there had always been snow around this time of year and so far there had not been any but they had been warned that it would come at some point sooner or later. But it was certain that the icy weather would come soon. Instead it was just like a typical morning in later August or early September minus the warm weather. Alternatively, it was frosty, ice cold and bitter to be outside. There was a very apparent chill in the air that clearly signalled that winter was coming.

They continued to walk for a while until Ron and Hermione eventually arrived at the bench by the lake and large field of vividly green grass that they had sat at seven years before hand. They had been to the same park a few times since then, but never to this area. This part had a memory. A memory of the two of them whilst they were still teenagers celebrating their first Valentine's Day together. That was long before they had gotten married and long before anything else had happened. In some senses there was a naive version of themselves forever locked within this park, and now there would be a new memory as well. One where everything was different, except for the fact that they were still together after all those years.

"It sounds really cheesy, but we have grown so much haven't we?" Ron said looking out across the field where they had once seen young children playing football.

"I guess we have, you do not notice it when it happens but as you look back it makes a lot of sense. We have changed so much too, but I feel like we had to in some ways. It makes sense." Hermione replied and Ron turned his head to study her face confusedly.

"Does it?" He asked

"Yeah, because we had to change to become what we are now. I believe if we had not changed then we would not have changed one another. I think we fell in love with the people we used to be but somewhere we will always be those people, and perhaps maybe this is one of those places." Hermione told him

"That day was one of the first times we ever started talking about children." Ron recalled, "To be honest I can't believe that so much time has flown by since that time in our lives."

"In some ways though, the further away from that time, the better." Hermione said and Ron reached over to squeeze her hand sweetly. They, sat with their hands linked with one another for a while, completely silently just watching as teenagers, girls and boys played football. They were giggling and laughing, just like those young children had been years before. Some of them were sat on the grass reading and writing whilst leaning on what appeared to be text books. It was very apparent that these were not your typical teenagers; they seemed more like Hermione than anyone else. A group of muggle versions of Hermione Granger. A ball came flying through the air towards them and landed on top of their entwined hands, making both of them jump but Ron laugh at the same time.

"Oh goodness, I am sorry..." A voice trailed and they looked over to see a tall slim boy come towards them. He wore dark brown hair with rectangular shaped glasses. His roundish face resembled one identical to a child that they had seen here years previously. It seemed to click in Hermione's eyes as she realised that this could possibly be the same boy they had met in the last century. He looked quiet, studious and shy with his navy duffle coat, matching wellington boots and red scarf. "I didn't hurt either of you did I?" He enquired in a nervous voice.

"No not at all, here is your ball." Ron smiled, throwing the ball to him.

"Thank you." The boy grinned and turned away before suddenly stopping on the spot and heading back towards them. He wore a puzzled and inquisitive expression. "I am sorry but, do I know you two from somewhere?" He asked and Ron turned to look at Hermione, almost sharing a look of knowing and certainty.

"Did you see us in this park?" Ron questioned and the boy nodded

"It was... about seven years ago perhaps. I was playing here with my friends in the snow and one of them kicked the ball right over here so I came over to get it. The man kicked the ball over to me before I headed away and whilst I was running I fell flat on my face in the snow. A lady, a lady who looked just like you came over to me, asked if I was alright and helped me get my hat back on. Are you those people?" The boy asked

It was Hermione who spoke first, "Yes." She smiled softly, "I believe it was."

"How are you?" Ron enquired

"I am good, thank you. I passed all of my exams and got into college. I have just started applying for Universities as well." He beamed

"How old are you now?" Hermione questioned

"Seventeen, I must have been nine or ten when you first met me. How are you both?" He wondered

"We are both great thank you. We got married nearly two years after we met you. We were only nineteen and eighteen at the time we met you and now we have child on the way as well." Ron said looking towards Hermione.

"Do you know what you are having?" the boy asked

"A girl." Hermione beamed, "She is due in just over a month."

"Congratulations. I am Kieran by the way." Kieran said holding out his hand to shake Ron's and then Hermione's politely.

"Ron." Ron said in response before his wife continued "Hermione."

"Well it was lovely to meet you both once again. Maybe I will see you in here some other time." He suggested and Ron laughed

"You know what? Perhaps you will." He said before Kieran nodded and turned away. Both of them felt like smiling. It was so unimaginably coincidental that something like that would happen that it simply did not seem real, but it was, as was magic. Over the years Hermione had come to the conclusion that in a world where magic was real, anything was possible.

"Well, that was weird..." Ron said and Hermione giggled, simply resting her head upon his shoulder without saying anything at all.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Ron? Are you alright up there?" Hermione called up the stairs, starting to become curiously concerned.

"I will be down in a few minutes, I promise." He replied with a cheery tone to his voice as he spoke, as if he was high on pumpkin juice. He had already said this half an hour ago when he said he wanted to wrap her present after she had given him his. It had been a red dressing gown that she had bought him a few weeks before. It was not much but given that it was currently cold and their daughter would be born in the winter and they would be up and down a lot in the night to get to her she thought that it was only fitting and it turned out that he loved it. Knowing exactly why she had bought him that present. His was slightly different, and from what Hermione could tell it was very different from anything else she had ever seen before. Then again, this whole situation was completely different to anything else they had ever done before.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Hermione questioned

"Seriously, nothing is wrong." Ron called back although the air of cheeriness had vanished from his voice and it sounded like panic.

"Okay, I'm coming upstairs now; I am getting worried about you." Hermione said slowly heading up the stairs, taking a lot more time than she would have had she not been eight months pregnant.

"It is fine now anyway, I am done."Ron responded meeting her at the top of the stairs but it was obvious that he had rushed there.

"Ron, what is going on?" Hermione asked, almost breathlessly and he reached for her hand heading down the long upstairs corridor, towards its furthest end. "How come we are going towards the baby's room?" She questioned

"You will see," Ron simply replied "But I'm going to cover your eyes first." Placing his hands over her eyes and guided her into the room that would soon be Rose's bedroom so that she was stood in the middle of the room facing in the direction he wanted her in. "Okay, you can open your eyes."

Ron removed his hands from Hermione's already closed eyes before she opened them herself blinking slightly as she adjusted to the light that was slightly different to how it was throughout the rest of the house. It was dimmer, softer, calmer than everywhere else. She was stood directly in front of one of the white walls that had yet to be painted. On the wall she was facing, a tree had been painted, reaching from the skirting board right up to the ceiling. It was a gentle shade of dark brown, and was bare other than a few green leaves and an odd branch had an owl perched upon it. It was in the centre of the wall, but it's arms spread far out to fill that side of it.

"You- , you did all of this?" Hermione whispered and Ron smiled, nodding. "But how?"

"I have been doing it whilst you have been asleep over the past week. I told Harry about it and he offered to help. Every so often, one or the other of us would come into our bedroom and check that you were still asleep so that we could continue, and since you have been so tired lately you never did wake up through the night so it worked out quite well." Ron told her.

"It is beautiful, and... the owls..." She trailed and Ron chuckled

"You can thank Luna for that part." He started, last Thursday I walked into her when she came into the shop, I was telling her about it and she asked if I needed any help. You remember when we saw the art she had done in her bedroom all those years ago, she was such a good artist that I asked if she could paint owls, and she could so she did. What do you think?"

Since she had first started talking, Hermione had been practically speechless. If someone had taken her back exactly fourteen years and four months to when they first met she would have never believed that someone like Ron would have been capable of making her essentially stunned into silence. One of the things that she had worried about before they had gotten together was that if they did form a romantic relationship, would it really last, and would they be able to make each other happy. And yes they had, it had lasted, they had made each other more than happy and it was apparent that Ron's emotional range had significantly grown in size.

"I love it. Thank you. But how did I not notice? I have come in here twice in the past week. How come I didn't see it when I came in here?" Hermione asked

"The brightest witch of our age is lost in knowledge... wow." Ron laughed, "Harry cast a charm over it that made it invisible but it could be added or removed at any time."

Hermione beamed at him as he wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her cheek before she turned her head slightly in order to kiss him back. "Happy Anniversary, love."

"Here is to another five years." Ron smiled kindly.

A/N: SORRY! Sorry I've been absent for so long. In the time that I've not been uploading anything I've been writing this chapter. I've been swamped by homework in the past few weeks and so did not have much time to write but I appreciate you taking the time to read this despite the delays. I also want to add if you look at the last paragraph in which I wrote that Hermione was speechless, I mentioned about them both making each other more than happy. This is because of the announcement that J.K Rowling made today saying she regretted putting Ron and Hermione together. Personally I was heartbroken when I found this out and cried. A lot. I also know from experience that that was the same feeling I had to when one of my friends died. I'd like to know your opinions on this as I'm distraught that she has said this because I've spent the past 3 years adoring the Romione relationship and that is the reason why I'm here writing this. Anyway what do you think? Thanks and PLEASE REVIEW!