"You're late, Minister!" Fred and George called from the kitchen table as Hermione came in the garden door.

"I am," Hermione smiled, "and I do not care."

Harry and Ginny exchanged looks as the twins gasped as dramatically as they could, clutching at their hearts.

"Doesn't care?!" George exclaimed.

"She's late and she DOESN'T care?!" Fred gaped.

The twins fell against each other, holding one another as they pretended to sob, "We're so proud! Finally, she doesn't care about being late!" The children and more than a few of the gathered adults laughed, which only egged them on.

Angelina shook her head at her husbands' antics, while Hermione rolled her eyes and took a seat at the end of the table beside James's high chair. James smiled at his aunt as she leaned over to peck him on the cheek before turning to her plate and serving herself from the platters Molly had set out on the table. Eventually, the twins composed themselves and brunch recommenced.

"Why were you late, dear?" Molly asked, "You weren't working, were you? You shouldn't spend your weekends working so much."

Hermione smiled at her, "No, I wasn't at work. I was up late last night and ended up oversleeping."

"That's good," Molly smiled at her former daughter-in-law.

"Speaking of work," Charlie said from his place near the opposite end of the table, next to Bill and Arthur, he glanced at Hermione and didn't need to ask for her to know what he wanted.

Hermione smiled and nodded at him.

He grinned and cleared his throat, "I'll be moving soon. I've been offered a promotion to be the head tamer at a new dragon reservation."

"Congratulations, brother," Bill smiled, "Where is this new reservation?"

Charlie beamed at them, "Hermione coordinated with the muggle Prime Minister and got special dispensation to set up the reservation inside a magically hidden area of the muggles' Dartmoor National Park."

Harry perked up a bit at that and looked at Hermione before smiling, "That's fantastic, Charlie!"

"Why is that fantastic?" Molly asked, confused.

"Well, Dartmoor National Park is right here in Devon," Harry explained.

Molly turned to look at Hermione, who nodded at her, before turning back to her second eldest son and promptly bursting into tears.

Charlie chuckled and got out of his seat and moved around the table to embrace his crying mother.

"I'm coming home, mum." Hermione heard him whisper to Molly, while everyone else at the table gave Charlie their congratulations and thanked Hermione for working it out for Charlie to come home. Hermione waved off their thanks and smiled as Charlie and Molly finished their hugging and Charlie moved back to his seat.

"Well, this certainly calls for celebration," Arthur smiled at his children and grandchildren, "I think those muggle misomas Harry and Hermione introduced us to will be good for this."

Hermione smiled as she and Harry stood to make them and Harry corrected his father-in-law, "They're mimosas, Arthur, and I believe that is the perfect way to celebrate."

Harry called Kreacher to bring a bottle of champagne, and while they waited Hermione conjured up champagne flutes for everyone. Once Kreacher popped back in with one of the best bottles from the Potter cellar, Harry filled each flute about halfway, making sure Ginny and Angelina got non-alcoholic champagne, and passed them out to all the adults, as Hermione brought a carafe of orange juice and a carafe of pineapple juice over to the table as well. She poured a bit of pineapple juice into her flute and passed the carafes to everyone else.

Once each adult had a mimosa, Arthur stood to give a small toast, "A toast, to Hermione for making it possible for our Charlie to come home. And to Charlie, for accepting the position and deciding to come home. We love you both."

Several of them clinked their glasses together before drinking their mimosas, Ginny and the twins shouted, "Hear, hear!" before they downed theirs, and the children all seemed to think it was all very funny as Fred and George dramatically shivered at the carbonation of the champagne.

Brunch ended fairly soon after the toast, and the twins coerced Charlie, Bill, Harry, and Percy to play one last pick-up quidditch game before the weather got too cold to play. Ginny and Angelina griped about not being able to play while pregnant but settled in the living room in front of the fireplace with Fleur, Audrey, and Hermione after putting the children down for their nap time. Molly and Arthur refused to let any of them help clean up the kitchen, claiming it would give them time to be together and to reflect on Charlie's news. Everyone knew it was so they could snog in private for a few minutes, but none of them wanted to think of their parents in that way so no one protested.

Hermione ignored all of Ginny's attempts of getting her alone throughout the early afternoon, eventually giving in and telling her that she would tell her all about her date with Neville later that evening at home if she stopped pestering her. Ginny gave her a devious grin, agreeing and leaving her alone about it for the rest of the afternoon. Molly and Arthur joined the ladies in the living room an hour before it started pouring outside. With the rain making their cold game even colder, the men decided to return to the Burrow to warm themselves up by the fire.

Upon entering the house, Molly's household cleaning ward immediately dried and cleaned the men up before they made it out of the kitchen and into the living room. They found the ladies all conversing about different topics, but mainly discussing the children and pregnancy, while Molly was knitting in her favorite chair next to Arthur who was reading that morning's Daily Prophet. Harry moved to sit on the floor in front of Hermione and Ginny who were taking up half of the couch, while Fred and George took the spots on the floor in front of their wife. Bill and Percy both moved to be closer to their wives on the other sofa and Charlie took the floor in the center of the room, spreading out on his stomach in front of the fireplace. The adults spent a good forty-five minutes in quiet conversations before they began to hear the children crying or moving about in the bedrooms above the living room.

Ginny, Fleur and Angelina started to move to go get their children, but Bill, Fred and George, and Harry waved at them to stay where they were, going up the stairs to gather their children before coming back down the stairs. James, Victoire, Roxanne, and Arthur II were all content to sit at a child-sized table in the corner of the living room and color while their parents resumed their places around the room.

"Hermione, as Teddy's godparents we need to discuss a few things later. Nothing pressing right now, but we have a few things to decide on," Harry said quietly to his best friend as he sat back down in front of her.

"I'll come over later tonight," she replied just as quietly as she kept her eyes on Ginny as she continued to tell her about her pregnancy and how much better it was going compared to how her pregnancy with James had been.

Everyone ended up leaving the Burrow closer for various reasons once the rain slowed up. Charlie left with the twins, Angelina, and their children because the twins had offered him their old flat above the shop since he was moving back to England sooner rather than later and didn't have much time to find a place to live. Percy and Audrey left after Percy got called into work for an emergency in his department. Bill and Fleur went home after Molly offered to babysit Victoire for the night so they could have some time alone. Harry, Ginny, and Hermione left together, as Hermione promised James that she would come home with them to play with his new toy dragon.

Arriving at number 12, Hermione set James on the ground so he could run to get his toy to show her. Ginny preceded her and Harry into the kitchen, where Kreacher was already making tea for them.

"Mi, Andromeda isn't doing well. She's got lung cancer and it's not responding to the muggle or magical treatments. I went to her last appointment with her, and they said we need to be prepared," Harry said in a hushed tone.

Hermione sucked in a deep breath and bit her lip, "How long do they think she's got?"

Harry sighed, "She's been sick for eight months now. She didn't want to worry us…they don't think she's going to make it past the new year. She wants us to discuss how we're going to raise Teddy once she's gone."

Hermione kept her tears at bay, nodded, and spoke, "Okay, well you're having a baby in five months and you have a three-year-old. I don't have any kids, but I have room and I live a few doors down from you. We could feasibly raise him together. He's going to Hogwarts next fall, so he needs a place to stay for summer, winter, and spring breaks."

Harry nodded in agreement, "Hermione, I don't want to pressure you into anything, but would you be comfortable with his permanent address being your home? Of course, he can always choose who he wants to stay with for the week or weekend or holidays, but we already spend most of our non-working time together anyway so it's not like he wouldn't be seeing us all the time."

Hermione smiled gently, "Of course, Harry."

Ginny smiled in thanks at Hermione as Kreacher passed each of them their tea. James ran into the room after a moment of silence and shoved his dragon toy in Hermione's face.

"Look at my dwagon, Aunt Mimi! Daddy says it looks like the one you rided out of Gwingotts!" James screeched in excitement.

Hermione gasped and scooped the toddler up into her lap, "It does! It's very nice. Where'd you get it?"

"Mummy said Uncle Won and Dwaco sent it to me," James said with a grin.

Hermione smiled at the innocent child, "That was very nice of them, wasn't it?"

James nodded, "Can you make it fly fow me? Pleeeeeeeaaaaaasssseeee?"

Hermione sighed heavily, "Ugh, I suppose I can for you."

James giggled and kissed her cheek after she tapped the stuffed dragon with her wand and its wings started to flap as it slowly lifted itself into the air and flew around the kitchen.

"Flowers delivered for Master's sister," Kreacher interrupted the fun as he came into the room carrying a potted plant larger than he was.

"Oh, my. That's lovely, Hermione," Ginny smiled as the elf lifted the pot up onto the kitchen table.

"Thank you, Kreacher," Hermione and Harry said at the same time to the old elf. He grunted in response before moving to the stove to start making dinner.

"What does the note say?" Harry asked as Hermione plucked it from the flowery plant.

"It says, "Sweet pea plants are traditionally sent to say, 'Thank you for a lovely time'," Hermione read the note, "I thought it was the best fit to send after our date last night. Thank you for giving me a chance. I hope you'll allow me a second date soon. Love, Neville."

Ginny squealed and grabbed the note from her hand to verify that she wasn't keeping anything from them.

Harry grinned at her, "So you had a lovely time last night?"

Hermione snorted and shoved Harry's shoulder, "Shut it, you."

Ginny began asking Hermione more eagerly about the date and Hermione finally relented, detailing the entire date for her. Harry sat quietly as she spoke and Ginny had a hard time containing her squeals of joy. James, bored and uncaring about his aunt's love life, had begun playing with his dragon on the floor, the flying spell having worn off while Hermione was talking to the married couple.

"Well," Harry said, once Hermione had finished, "I'm pretty sure I told you I didn't want to know if he had a birthmark like you."

Hermione laughed maniacally, "You wouldn't have even known about mine if you hadn't walked in on me in the shower."

Ginny laughed as her husband groaned, "It was one time, ten years ago! Let it go!"