July 21st 2000 PT2

Hermione gazed down at the truly beautiful baby boy that was rested against her chest after gorging himself on her milk. Labour had not been as bad as she was expecting, though that was not to say that it had been easy, which it had definitely not been. She had ended up being in active labour for 6 hours, eventually hearing the first cries of her son at 4:38pm. He had been born with a full head of glorious dark brown hair and Hermione had almost wept tears, well, more tears of joy at the sight. That single genetic factor would allow her to avoid awkward conversations about how her son somehow had the famous Weasley red. She would be eternally grateful that his genetics had worked in her favour.

Molly and Ginny had been the perfect birthing partners, each helping in their own unique way. Molly had been gentle and supportive, perfectly motherly and had kept Hermione calm. When Hermione had said she couldn't push any more, though, that had been when Ginny stepped in with her own personal style of encouragement.

"Hermione! You push that damn baby out of your moo or so help me god I will sit on your stomach and make it happen against your will!" She had cried.

And it had worked. It had only taken two more pushes after that and his head was out, after that it had all seemed relatively easy.

Her little boy was by no means a big baby, but he didn't have a particularly low birth weight either. He had come out weighing 7lb4oz and once auntie and gran had had their cuddles, she had sent them out to collect Grandpa Arthur and send him in on his own, before the rest of the family, so that she could allow him to introduce his namesake to them all. Just as she was leaning her head back to close her eyes, a knock came at the door and the aging redhead patriarch walked in smiling. He crossed to her bed and took a look at her son, smiling broadly as she shifted to hand him the baby, who he looked at with watery eyes.

"Oh, Hermione love," he said, kissing her forehead, "we are all so proud of you. He is absolutely gorgeous!"

"Thank you Arthur." She grinned and he turned to look at the baby.

"What's his name?" He asked and she chuckled, leaning gingerly forward and putting a hand on top of his where it rested on baby Arthur's chest.

"That's why I called you in here privately," she smiled, watching as the baby opened his eyes, "Arthur, I would like you to meet Arthur."

Grandpa Arthur gasped and looked at her with his jaw hanging slightly before looking back at her son, smiling softly down at him and letting the baby grab onto his finger as he spoke.

"You don't have to do that, Hermione," he croaked, clearing his throat before speaking again, "I mean it is a wonderful thing if you truly want to, but I don't expect that of you. What about your own father?"

"Since my parents…" she choked on the words and gulped, "well, since that, you and Molly have been my parents in every sense of the word. If he had been a girl I would have named her Molly. His middle name is John, after my own father."

Arthur, the adult one, grinned broadly and pulled Hermione into a one armed hug as he cradled the beautiful little boy in his other arm. He placed a kiss on the crown of her head before pulling away and removing his glasses to wipe his eyes and then replacing them.

"Shall I call the rest of the rabble in here?" He chuckled and she nodded.

The hospital room was soon filled with a large number of red heads, the black haired Harry, the very blonde Fleur and the brown haired Angelina, who had been seeing George for almost a year now. They all took it in turns to congratulate her before she nodded at Arthur, who was still holding the baby.

"Alright you lot," he said loudly after clearing his throat, "Hermione would like me, who for some reason she has truly blessed today, to introduce you to her son. Everyone, meet baby Arthur."

Molly squealed as she ran at Hermione and gave her the tightest hug she could possibly manage and thanked her for honouring her husband in such a way before she moved to stand by the older Arthur proudly. Hermione watched as the bundle was passed around the whole family, who all remarked how gorgeous he was and then he was passed back to her, immediately wailing to be fed. The extended family decided it was a good time to leave, and all said their goodbyes to the new mother, promising to visit soon. Only Ginny remained, after telling Harry she would be home after making sure Hermione would be ok for the night.

"I bet you're glad he didn't get the Weasley red." Ginny grinned and pulled at her own hair making Hermione laugh as her son suckled at her breast.

"You have no idea how happy that made me," she nodded, "not that I don't love the Weasley hair, but at least I can avoid all the questions of his parentage."

"I invited him, you know." Ginny admitted, stroking a finger down her nephews cheek.

"Gin…" Hermione groaned exhasperatedly, "I told you not to write to him!"

"No, I didn't! I promise," she reassured, "but I sent the same patronus to him that I sent to everyone else. I mean, you never know, right?"

"If he was interested at all, he would have been here back in January," Hermione murmured as she transferred Arthur onto her shoulder to burp him, "he's not, and he's the only one missing out."

"That's true," Ginny admitted with a nod, "he truly is a beautiful baby. Nice touch with his name by the way, my dad will be chuffed to pieces."

"He cried when I told him," Hermione said and nodded when Ginny gasped, "I told him that he has been my dad in every way since, you know, so he deserved the honour."

"Now if only you could tell them the whole truth, huh?" Ginny growled angrily and Hermione shrugged.

"Doesn't matter does it, just because his surname isn't Weasley, doesn't make him any less part of your family. Just like my surname doesn't. We're sisters, your brothers are my brothers and regardless of blood or name they're his family now too."

"That was... way too sappy for such an emotional day." Ginny whimpered and Hermione chuckled, patting her hand.

"That brings me to my next point…" she said and Ginny rose her eyebrow as she wiped a tear from under her eye, "I want you to be his godmother. If anything happens to me, I want him to come to you. If you'll accept, that is?"

Ginny squealed and nodded excitedly, holding her arms out for the sleepy little boy. Hermione laughed loudly as she passed Arthur to his auntie Ginny and watched as her friend made all sorts of lifelong promises to him. When Ginny turned back to find Hermione asleep, she smiled and put the boy down in his bassinet and after kissing Hermione on the head, left the hospital room and returned home to her husband.