DISCLAIMER: All credit to JK Rowling

Chapter Twenty-Five

Despite the fact that Hermione had been itching to put her four years of university to good use and finally get a chance to step into the classroom, she wasn't expecting it to be as hard as it was on the morning of September the second when it came time to leave Jamie with Molly at the Burrow and go to work.

Over the summer, she'd been accepted as a teacher at Charles Dickens primary school, and although she'd initially been excited, now she was dreading it.

"Sweet girl, it's Molly," Harry said patiently as they left the Burrow together, leaving Jamie with Molly.

"It's not like anything's going to happen, she's had seven children and she's baby-sat Jamie before!"

"I know, I know," Hermione fretted anxiously. "But... it's different. We were never gone long when we left Jamie with her... what if he gets scared, and I'm not there!"

She was on the verge of tears as Harry pulled her into his arms, glad he'd had the foresight to go with her.

"Honey, he'll be fine," he assured her. "Jamie loves Molly, and she knows what she's doing."

Hermione sighed, and wiped away a tear that had fallen. "I'm going to kill Dora. She never said it going to be this hard to leave him!"

"I know, you're both going to be fine, I promise," Harry smiled.

He took her hand and led her down the lane from the Burrow, but they'd only gone a few steps when Hermione paused and turned back.

"Did we tell Molly to put the cream on his gums if his teeth hurt him?" she asked worriedly.

"Yes, Mione," Harry nodded patiently.

"And you gave her the stair guards?"

"Yes."

"Did you remember to bring Bear?"

"Hermione! You're going to be late for work," Harry said, slightly exasperated and seized her hand again, pulling her forward.

"I'm just nervous," she protested, allowing herself one more look in the Burrow's direction. "You know Jamie didn't sleep well last night, and Molly hasn't sat for him since he started teething."

"Hon, she's had seven children. She knows what to do for teething babies," Harry said firmly. "Now, you're going to go to work and meet your kids, and come home tonight and rave about how fantastic they are, and what you're going to teach them and all the plans you have for your classroom. Understood?" he raised an eyebrow at her, and despite herself, Hermione smiled.

"Fine."

And funnily enough, that's exactly what happened. Hermione had been given a fourth grade class, and as soon as she started talking with the kids, her excitement to be teaching, at last, returned in full measure. Her kids, all twenty-eight of them, were all either nine or ten, and most of the eager to learn. Hermione had been determined not to have favourites, but found she couldn't help but be drawn to some kids in particular. There was especially one little girl, Delta, who reminded Hermione a lot of her younger self, shy, quiet, but who worked well and seemed happy to be at school. There were also two boys, best friends Mitchell and Andrew, who by lunchtime Hermione was already mentally referring to as her own Fred and George.

The school day flew by, but that didn't stop Hermione from dashing out the door as soon as she possibly could to return to the Burrow and see her son. She was pleasantly surprised when she entered through the back door to find Angelina sitting at the kitchen table, three month old baby Isaac Puck Johnson-Weasley. The name had risen some eyebrows when the new parents made the announcement following his birth, but when they had explained how it came about, everyone had to admit it was perfect.

Isaac meant 'he laughs', which was very important for the son of a joke-shop owner, as Fred pointed out; and Puck came from 'a midsummer night's dream', and was the name of a mischievous spirit.

"And that's just every father's dream, isn't it?" Fred had commented with a grin. "That their son will evoke mischief and havoc upon the world?"

"That's the hope," Harry said dryly after a long pause and Hermione glared at him. "I was kidding!" he protested and Hermione rolled her eyes sceptically.

"Was Jamie okay?" Hermione greeted Molly, who smiled knowingly.

"He was just fine, dear. He's sleeping now."

Relieved, Hermione sat down next to Angelina and Molly handed her a mug of tea.

"How was your first day?" Angelina asked and Hermione smiled.

"Great. I already love those kids... I've even got my own Fred and George."

"My condolences," Angelina said sympathetically.

Hermione laughed. "Thanks."

Harry and Hermione had been invited that morning to stay at the Burrow for dinner, so there was no need for Hermione to leave. She passed the afternoon telling Angelina and Molly about the kids she would be teaching for the year, until Harry arrived after work.

"How was it?" he asked his wife and she smiled, slightly sheepish as she remembered how worried she had been that morning.

"It was fine. How was your day?"

Harry sighed sadly. "Not great. We got a call from the hospital, a three year old girl with HIV was abandoned by her parents."

Hermione and Angelina were aghast with horror. "They abandoned her?" Angelina repeated.

Harry nodded grimly. "Yeah, just dumped her in the ER. The police are reviewing the security tapes from the hospital entrance now to try and ID the parents... there was a note pinned on her coat saying they couldn't take care of her anymore."

All three stopped talking as they heard Molly's footsteps coming down the stairs, there was nothing she hated more than parents abandoning or harming their children. When she entered the kitchen, she was carrying Jamie in her arms.

"Hey, little man!" Hermione beamed at him, taking him into her arms and giving him an extra tight cuddle. "Did you have fun with Molly today?"

Jamie grinned toothily and made a gurgling sound in his throat, his tiny hands going to touch his mother's face.

"Oh, he's so cute," Angelina sighed, and Harry and Hermione grinned.

"How's Ike sleeping?" Harry asked her. Fred had begun calling Isaac "the little tyke" during Angelina's third trimester, and when they'd named him, he'd quickly shortened it to Ike.

"Pretty good," Angelina answered him now. "He usually only wakes once, about one am."

"Lucky," Hermione said enviously. "Jamie was up at least three times a night until he was about eight months. The first time he slept through the night I thought he'd died," she said honestly.

"Yeah, that's not the best way to wake up," Harry recalled with a grimace.

Angelina sighed, looking at Isaac's tiny features. "They just grow so fast! Ike's already holding his head up, he started last week," she informed them and Harry and Hermione both nodded knowingly.

"Just make sure you take note of everything," Hermione stressed. "Because before you know it... it feels like only yesterday Jamie was born, but he's already pulling himself up and teething... crawling everywhere... he's lost that baby smell," she sighed sadly, that was what had struck her hardest.

"If we had another one, we'd start all over again," Harry said, not that subtly and Hermione glared at him.

"Ok, shut up!"

Angelina laughed, but Harry didn't have the chance to reply before Arthur came home from work. Harry loved having dinner at the Burrow, it always had the spontaneity of Friday night dinners, because you never knew which Weasley's were going to be there. Molly was just like Sirius in her love for having her home full of people, and always cooked enough food to serve a small army, and Harry and Hermione were always sent home with arms of leftover food.

Tonight it was Ginny, Dean, and the twins who joined the family with their significant others, and Ginny and Hermione spent most of the meal discussing wedding plans. Ginny and Dean were getting married in two months and as Ginny had predicted, her mother was driving her mad with her enthusiasm for the wedding of her only daughter. Ginny had come to dinner straight from a training session of the Holyhead Harpies and was starving, eating with a gusto Harry was accustomed to seeing on Ron, in between comments on flower arrangements and table centrepieces.

"So, is Charlie able to get time off for the wedding?" Harry asked Ginny over dessert.

Ginny nodded. "Yeah, he'll actually be home in a few weeks. He thought it made more sense have an actual holiday, instead of just coming back for the wedding," she explained.

"Yes, it's about time he took an actual holiday, rather than popping between here and Romania once a year for Christmas," Molly interrupted. "The boy's working himself to death, he hasn't taken a proper holiday since before the War; and one day he's going to get himself killed by a dragon and we won't even recognise him!"

Arthur smiled at his wife's mothering fussiness and rubbed at the marks his glasses had left on the bridge of his nose.

"Now, dear. He's hardly a boy anymore is he? Charlie's just passionate about his work, so is Percy and you don't seem to mind not seeing him frequently."

"Percy is at least in the country!" Molly protested, and Ginny exchanged knowing looks with her brothers.

They all knew, that although Percy had fought alongside the Order with the rest of the family in the final battle, there was too much animosity and he had been estranged too long to properly reconcile with his family. Therefore, he and his wife had tended to avoid the Burrow except for major family events and holidays, at least until two years ago when their first daughter had been born.

Molly adored her role as grandmother, and counted Jamie in her total of four grandchildren, and was constantly hinting to Ron and Luna about their future children, even more so than she had done for Harry and Hermione before Jamie was born, if that was possible. Unfortunately for her best efforts, Ron ignored all these hints, and Luna didn't even hear half of them.

The ones she did hear, she politely responded with a line about waiting until the auras of the Quarlzous were perfectly aligned, which was said so convincingly that not even Molly could argue. And truth be told, Hermione was about a month away from using the same line on Harry every time he mentioned having another child. Hermione loved Jamie, and so wanted to give Harry the little girl he kept raving about, but she also wanted a slightly bigger gap between children, at least one and a half years, and the opportunity to spend at least a year or two in the classroom before having to evoke maternity leave. It was making the wait seem bearable for Harry that was the problem.

"Do you want to put Jamie to bed or will I do it?" Hermione asked Harry when they got home that night.

"I'll do it," Harry offered, taking their sleepy son off her. "Say goodnight to Mummy, Jamie."

"Bye, sweetie," Hermione murmured, kissing him goodnight.

"Mum mum mum," Jamie responded and both Harry and Hermione froze.

"Oh my god. Did he just?" Hermione said wide-eyed, staring at Harry.

Harry nodded, a wide grin on his face. "Good job, Jamie! Say it again? Mum mum mum?"

"Mum," Jamie repeated obediently and Hermione chuckled happily, tears in her eyes.

"Can you say dad, Jamie?"

Jamie sleepily rubbed his eyes and buried his face in Harry's neck. Harry laughed quietly.

"I think 'mum' is easier to say than 'dad'," he grinned. He stopped to kiss Hermione softly before carrying Jamie to bed.

Jamie's first birthday on Halloween the next month was a relatively small affair, at least by the much grander celebration that Sirius had originally wanted to throw. Fortunately, Harry and Hermione had managed to talk him around, at least slightly. It was only the rational that Halloween fell on a Thursday that year, and therefore Remus, Dumbledore and Minerva would be unable to attend any celebration on Jamie's actual birthday, that made Sirius consent to just a small household dinner on Halloween night and a larger family party on the weekend following.

On the morning of Halloween, Harry found Hermione sitting on the floor in the nursery, watching Jamie intently pick up blocks from a pile one by one and dropping them on his other side.

"I can't believe it's been a year," she said sadly as Harry sank down next to her, completely ignoring the fact they both had to be at work in forty-five minutes.

Harry nodded. "It's gone fast."

"I went into labour in this room," she reminded him.

"I think we did a pretty good job," Harry commented, watching Jamie study his blocks.

Hermione smiled softly. "Yeah. It's crazy how much I love him... I couldn't imagine going through what Leah went through, losing Jessica like that. It's no wonder your mum did what she did for you."

Harry kissed her temple. "I know you don't like the idea, sweet girl... but I'd do the same in a heartbeat. For Jamie or you."

She shuddered slightly. "I know. Me too," she whispered, turning her head to rest her forehead against his cheek.

Jamie looked up then, saw his parents and smiled, waving a block in their direction. "Dada!"

They sat there on the floor in silent for a minute, and then heard footsteps behind them and Tonks' voice came from the doorway.

"Guys, you better get a move on or you're going to be late."

The family had a very clear schedule for Jamie's babysitters during the week. On Mondays and Wednesdays Molly watched him; Tuesdays was his day to spend with Grandpa Sirius; Thursdays he went with Teddy to Andromeda's and on Fridays they took him to Shell Cottage to be cared for by Fleur. It was just Harry and Hermione's way of making sure they didn't burden any one person with Jamie all the time, although no one would ever call babysitting Jamie a burden.

As Harry and Hermione's nostalgia had side-tracked them from their morning routine somewhat and hence made them late, Tonks took Jamie to her mother's with Teddy by herself, Harry and Hermione hastily kissing Jamie goodbye on their way to work.

Once school let out, Hermione stopped by Andromeda's and picked up both Jamie and Teddy before returning home. Sirius, Tonks and Harry were still at work, so the house was quiet as Hermione made Teddy an afternoon snack and put Jamie down for his afternoon nap.

"Mione, can I watch cartoons, please?" Teddy asked her as he finished his juice.

"Sure," Hermione agreed. "I'll be in here doing some marking, ok?"

"Ok," Teddy replied cheerfully and hurried off to the living room.

Thursday was also Hermione's night to make dinner, and she started cooking around five- thirty. It wasn't long after that before Harry and Tonks came home, and Sirius and Leah weren't far behind. Sirius was just setting the table, as Harry was upstairs changing Jamie, that they heard the front door open and then Teddy cried,

"Daddy!"

Sure enough, Remus entered the kitchen with Teddy a minute later, kissing a surprised Tonks hello.

"You're here!" she said, pleasantly surprised.

Remus laughed. "I couldn't miss Jamie's first birthday, could I?"

Hermione beamed as she crossed the room to embrace him. "Oh, I'm so glad you're here! It's not the same without you."

"You're missing the Halloween feast at school for spaghetti and meatballs?" Sirius grinned at him, raising an eyebrow.

Remus rolled his eyes. "I'm missing the feast for Jamie's birthday, Padfoot."

"Hey, you made it!" Harry said happily when he returned with Jamie in his arms.

"Of course," Remus assured him, taking Jamie and giving him a hug. "Hey, Jamie. Happy birthday, kiddo."

It was justified in saying that Jamie was completely and utterly spoilt for his first birthday, both at dinner and at his party over the weekend. Then of course, there were the numerous cards and gifts sent in from all over the Wizarding world. Harry and Hermione had thought this might happen, and had released a statement in the Daily Prophet asking that anyone who wished to send Jamie a gift, could instead make a donation in his name to St. Mungo's or to Hogwarts. Many people had done this, but there were still many who couldn't resist sending little Potter "just a small birthday gift."

Hermione's personal favourite gift came from Steph and Tim, who arrived at the party with a large, unwrapped box.

"What is it?" Hermione demanded as they stepped inside.

Steph grinned at her cousin. "You might want to open this one now, Mione."

Bewildered, Hermione did so cautiously, and let out a gasp of surprise which ended in an "Awww!" as she lifted a squirming small dog out of the box.

"Oh, she's gorgeous! Guys, this is too much," she protested but Tim shook his head.

"No, it's not. Anyway, her name's Lady, she's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and we rescued her from the pound," he informed her. "She's fully trained, because we figured the last thing you need is to have to train a dog on top of everything else."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at Steph. "Lady? As in Lady and the Tramp?"

Steph nodded sheepishly, it was her favourite film. "Yeah. I mean, she's not the exact same breed, but it's close enough. And she acts like a Lady."

"I love it, she's perfect," Hermione declared, stroking the small dog behind the ears. "Jamie will love it too, he adores dogs. Especially Snuffles," she grinned.

"How's Sirius going to like her?" Tim grinned and Hermione laughed.

"Would you believe that Sirius is more of a cat person than a dog person?" she asked and Steph giggled.

"So wait... he transforms into a dog, his best friend is a werewolf- but he prefers cats?" Tim frowned and Hermione nodded.

"Yep."

"Oh, that's hilarious!"

"I know. Come on, there's already a bunch of people in the kitchen."

"Why do you always seem to hang out in the kitchen?" Tim demanded as they headed down the hall.

"That's where the food is," Tonks called out in reply.

"Look what Steph and Tim got Jamie!" Hermione announced.

"A puppy? Great," Sirius said, forcing enthusiasm and Hermione and Steph exchanged grins.

"She's fully trained, Sirius. We took care of that," Steph assured him. "And she's not a puppy. She's just a young dog, we rescued from the pound. Her name's Lady."

"Oh, she's so cute!" Leah sighed.

"Jamie, look at the puppy," Harry pointed Lady out to Jamie, who's eyes widened at the sight of the dog in his mother's arms.

"Ooh," he murmured, and Harry chuckled as he helped Jamie gently pet the soft fur on her back.

"Can you say, Lady, Jamie?" Hermione prodded gently.

Since his first word of 'mum' nearly two months ago, Jamie had quickly picked up on 'Dada', 'Gwandpa', 'puppy' and 'bwoom', which Harry had immediately and correctly interpreted as 'broom'. Hermione had rolled her eyes, thinking there was no doubt that Jamie took after his father.

"Puppy," Jamie said stubbornly now, and Tonks laughed.

Hermione shrugged. "It's good enough. He at least knows there's a puppy."

She carefully put the squirming dog on the ground, and allowed Lady to sniff all over the kitchen and the people in it. She was a sweet dog, and Jamie insisted on being put down, so he could crawl after her. He giggled hysterically as Lady came over to inspect him and licked his bare foot, which made the watching adults laugh.

As the other guests arrived, Jamie made sure to point out "puppy" to all of them.

"Is it weird I just love how babies bend?" Katie asked Hermione as they watched Jamie pull himself to a standing position, before bending at the knees slightly to stroke Lady's head.

She laughed. "No, it's cute," she agreed.

"Ok, Uncle Ron is here! The party can start!" Ron announced himself as he and Luna entered the kitchen carrying a gift.

"Oh yeah, because you're the life of the party, Ron," George said sarcastically.

"Won!"

Hermione's jaw dropped as Jamie beamed at his godfather, and walked the few steps between him, unaided.

Ron was completely startled for a moment, before dropping down to Jamie's level and holding out his hands for Jamie to walk directly into. Straightening up, he looked incredibly pleased with himself.

"Did you see that?" he demanded excitedly.

Hermione couldn't speak, but Harry was grinning broadly. "I think 'Won-Won's' making a comeback," he laughed and Ron glared at him.

"Shut up, Harry."

"What did you get Jamie for his birthday, Won-Won?" Ginny asked her brother innocently and Ron groaned.

"See what you started, kid?" he said to Jamie, before putting him down and pointing him in Hermione's direction.

"Walk to your mum, Jamie."

Jamie did so happily, and Hermione hugged him tightly as he reached her arms, slightly teary.

"Oh my God, please tell me someone is getting this!" she cried.

"I'm on it!" Sirius replied, already following Jamie with the video camera.

"Good luck to you guys," Bill said wisely to Harry. "Once they realise they can walk by themselves, they don't stop. They just go straight to running, and expect you to chase after them."

Harry grinned. "That seems like a job for Grandpa," he replied and Bill laughed.