The Outcome

Ron turned his head to the clock on his bedside table, 1:00 a.m. He was so uncomfortable. How was he supposed to sleep with such an impossibly large stomach? Making dinner earlier that evening wasn't too tough. After a while his back did begin to ache a bit, but there was no way he was going to let his wife know that. "This is impossible," Ron thought. "How am I supposed to sleep?" He tossed and turned a few more times then he gave up, "Hermione?" he said.

"Mmm...Ron, it's one o'clock, what on earth do you want?" Hermione groaned.

"Did that twenty four hour thing include nighttime too?"

Hermione gave a soft chuckle, "It sure did."

"But," Ron whined, "You know I always sleep on my stomach! I can't sleep any other way and this thing makes it impossible for me to sleep the way I want to!"

"Well Ronald, all you have to do is give up and you can take it off." Hermione smiled.

"Oh no, I'm not giving in that easliy! I suppose I can do with one bad night of rest. I'm off all day tomorrow. Just watch, I'll make it. I will win this thing! Just watch Hermione..."

"Whatever, Goodnight Ron."

The next afternoon Ron was going to take Rose on a walk with Harry, James, and Albus down by the pond. His back still hurt, a little worse than yesterday, and he hadn't slept at all the night before, but Rose was getting restless so he decided to take her out for a bit. He went to his closet and grabbed his sneakers then sat down to put them on. The only trouble was he couldn't reach his feet due to his new stomach. Ron struggled for ten minutes before he yelled for Harry. When Harry walked in and saw that Ron had fallen onto the floor while trying to tie his shoes he laughed until his stomach hurt. "Shut up Harry!" Ron said, "Will you please just tie my shoes?"

"Ron, why don't you just use your wand?" Harry said through his laughs.

Ron's ears turned red and he mumbled, "Of course, that must be how Hermione does it."

"Thank goodness Rose didn't receive your brains, if only Hugo will be the same way!" Harry said as he left the room still laughing at Ron's stupidity.

Once Ron had magically tied his shoes he swung Rose up onto his shoulders and headed out to the backyard followed by Harry, James, and Albus. "You should just be happy you have a pond in your backyard," Harry said. "I can only imagine the odd looks you would receive at a public one!"

Ron laughed as he reached the pond. He put Rose back down and watched as she ran to feed the ducks that were always gathered by the edge of the water. His back was absolutely killing him. He had taken a few pain potions, but they didn't seem to be working. He placed his hands on his back so that his stomach stuck out. "How much longer do you have to wear that thing?" Harry asked.

Ron checked his watch, "Four more hours."

"You look ridiculous mate!" Harry chuckled.

Ron nodded, "Yeah, but if it gets me out of reading those stupid elf papers it's worth it!"

After playing by the pond for an hour Ron and Harry took the kids back up to the house for a nap. Once they put the kids down they retreated to the kitchen for some butterbeers. Ron scrunched up his face, "You know, I don't understand how women do it."

"Do what?" Harry asked, taking a swig of his butterbeer.

"This," Ron said pointing to his stomach as he leaned against the counter. "My back is killing me, I didn't sleep at all last night, I can't hardly do anything, and I only have to do it for twenty four hours! How do they do it for nine months?"

"Some things we'll never know mate!"

"I still have three more hours and I don't think I can take it anymore." Ron said as he reached to unfasten the contraption.

"Ron? No, what are you doing? Don't do that! You're almost done!"

"I'm just going to take it off until Hermione comes home. I'm a genius, why didn't I think of this before? Right before she gets home I'll slip it back on and she won't know the difference!"

"I don't know Ron," Harry said looking skeptical. "Hermione's really smart. She could figure it out."

Ron shook his head as he slipped the stomach off and placed it on the table, "Nah, it'll be fine."

Harry shook his head, "Whatever you say mate. I need to get the boys home. Good luck!"

Once Harry, James, and Albus were gone Ron laid down on his stomach on the couch. "This is more like it. I'm a genius!" he thought. He was only going to rest his eyes...he didn't mean to fall asleep for three hours.

"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY!"

Ron awoke with such a start that he fell off the couch. "What? What's wrong?" He looked up to see his wife standing in the doorway holding the fake stomach.

"What is this?" she asked tapping her foot.

"Crap" he thought, "Ummmm...you see Hermione...well, uh, what happened was...uh"

"Get on with it!" Hermione said.

"Well...my back was really hurting and those pain potions weren't working. I just thought I would slip it off for a minute, but I fell asleep." Ron said staring at the ground.

"Slip it off for a minute?" Hermione asked.

"Well yeah, just for a bit." Ron said as he picked up Rose who had just wandered into the room.

"Ron, the point of this was for you to see what it's like to be me for just twenty four hours. Just twenty four hours Ron."

"And I saw that." He said, "I just took it off a little early."

"Ron, don't you see? I can't take mine off. The point of this was to see if you could make it all the way and understand how I feel all the time. My back hurts and I've had this stomach a lot longer than just a few hours! Sometimes I want to take mine off, but you know what? I can't. I just have to deal with it and you couldn't even make it a couple of hours!" Hermione said with tears forming in her eyes.

"Hermione," Ron said taking a step toward her, "I'm sorry." He reached out to her and put his free arm around her, "I didn't realize how hard it really was. I guess i understand you a bit better now. I'm sorry." He kissed the top of her head and Hermione wiped her tears. "I'll go start on dinner." Ron said.

"No Ron, I'll make dinner." Hermione smiled.

"No, it's my night." Ron protested.

"Yeah, but I have something else for you to do." She said.

"What's that?" Ron asked.

Hermione walked over to the bookshelf and retrieved War and Peace, "You can start reading the first on your list."

Ron's mouth dropped, "Hermione, that book is huge!"

Hermione smiled even wider, "I know. You never specified how long they could be. I suggest you start now so you can get to the next one quickly." she handed the book over to Ron and started out the door, then called over her shoulder, "Oh yeah, I also have some elf papers for you to read over when you get the chance."

Ron groaned and sat on the couch. Rose placed her hand on top of War and Peace and said, "Big book!"

Ron tugged on her pig tail, "Yes, Rosie. That is one big book." And with a big sigh he opened that big book to page one.

A/N: I'm back! Sorry it took so long! Please review!