The Family Man
Summary: Ron has a great life. Many people envy him. He's rich, famous, girls throwing themselves at his feet, what more could a guy ask for? He's about to find out when he is given a glimpse of what could have been if he had chosen love over money and family over fame. Ron wakes up one morning in a house that's not his, with a past love that is now his wife and kids he can't remember having. What if he starts to see what life is like for the people who may not be rich, but who are certainly prosperous in other ways.
Chapter 3
"BEEP…BEEP…BEEP!" An alarm clock blared next to Ron's head. He groaned, trying to remember why he had set the annoying contraption.
"Daddy! Daddy! Wake up! You promised you would make me pancakes today!" A small girl yelled near his head.
'Why can't my neighbors control their ruddy brats?' Ron thought as he buried his head under the pillow.
All of a sudden, his bed started to shake. Ron sat up quickly and something warm slid off of his waist as he looked in shock at the redheaded girl jumping on his bed.
"Love, you know how she gets. Just go and make her your pancakes." A groggy voice said from beside him.
Ron turned to his left slowly, trying to place the voice that sounded so familiar. "Hermione!" He exclaimed as he recognized the bushy brown hair and half-closed cinnamon eyes.
"Yes, love?" Hermione asked as she propped herself up on her elbows.
"What are you doing here?" Ron asked quickly, completely ignoring the jumping child on the bed.
"Well," Hermione said slowly. "I was sleeping until your bloody alarm clock woke me up." Hermione gave him an odd look as she got out of the bed and caught the young girl, setting her on the floor. "Sweetie, why don't you go wait in the kitchen and Daddy will be right there."
"All right, Mum." The small girl called as she ran out of the room.
"Hermione, you swore!" Ron looked gob smacked.
"Well, your bad habits have been rubbing off on me for the past fourteen years, of course I picked up something. Unfortunately, you've never picked up any of my good habits." She said with a glare as she picked up dirty clothes that littered the floor, tossing them into the hamper next to the door. "I'm going to wake up Jack. You need to meet Eleanor in the kitchen, now." She said commandingly as she swept out of the room with the clothes hamper.
'All right. This must be a dream. Just play along, Weasley. You'll wake up soon enough back in your nice new apartment and go off to Quidditch practice.' Ron thought to himself as he sat in the bed for a moment and looked around. He was in a nicely sized bedroom that was painted a soft golden color with ruby colored accents. He quickly got out of the bed and headed for the nearest door. He opened it and discovered a bathroom. He quickly closed it and went to the next door. From this closet, he grabbed some clothes and dressed and left the room. He walked down the hall, peaking into the rooms as he went by. He passed a small bedroom, painted a sky blue with a bed and Hermione leaning over a crib. Next was a smaller room painted light lavender. He came to the living room and came upon the door to the kitchen and quickly entered.
"Finally, Daddy! I thought you'd never get here." The small redheaded girl, who he assumed was named Eleanor, said to him.
"I'm here now. What did you want me to make, again?" Ron asked as he ruffled his hair.
"Pancakes, Daddy. And I want to help stir this time." Eleanor said indignantly with her hands on her hips in an uncannily Hermione-ish gesture.
"All right. Let me see if I can find the ingredients." Ron started opening random cupboards, but couldn't seem to find any flour.
"It's down here, Daddy." Eleanor said as she directed him to the correct cupboard.
Ron's ears started to burn as he quickly said thank you and grabbed it and placed it on the countertop. Eleanor went to the fridge and took out the eggs and milk and brought the ingredients to Ron.
"Er…Eleanor?" Ron questioned, hoping that this was indeed Eleanor.
"Daddy," she giggled. "You never call me that!"
"Oh, and what do I call you?" Ron hoped she would think he was just teasing her.
"You call me Ellie! Silly Daddy." She giggled happily.
Ron smiled at the cute little girl. "All right, Ellie. Do you know where Mummy put the mixing bowl?"
"It's up there." Ellie pointed just above his head.
"Thanks." Ron said and grabbed the bowl out of the cupboard.
The two got to work. Ron put all the ingredients in the bowl and handed the wooden spoon (which Ellie had pulled out of the drawer) to the redhead. Ellie started to stir slowly, occasionally flicking spare batter out of the bowl by accident. One clump of batter landed on Ron's cheek, which caused Ellie to giggle again. She looked up at Ron and he got a good look at her. She was a gangly girl with slightly tanned skin, a dusting of freckles and cinnamon eyes. She was a perfect combination of Ron and Hermione. She had his fire engine red hair and Hermione's small button nose, which looked a lot better than his long nose.
While Ellie was thoroughly absorbed in her stirring, Ron tried to ask her some questions.
"Ellie, how old are you?"
"Five and a half." She answered not looking up from the bowl.
"How old is Jack?" Ron asked remembering the crib in the bedroom.
"One and three quarters." Ron noticed that she had Hermione's love of being precise. "Why are you asking me these silly questions?" She asked as she tried to pry a bit of batter out of her hair.
"Oh, well…er…" Ron's ear's turned red again. "I was just testing you. Yeah, that's what it was, a test!" Ron smiled down at her.
"Oh, did I pass?" She looked anxiously up at him.
"You were wonderful! Perfect." She beamed up at him and he noticed that she had his dimples as well as Hermione's anxiety to prove herself.
"Now, is there anything else I need to know?"
"Weeelll," Ellie drew it out as all kids do as they're thinking. A mischievous gleam appeared in her eyes. "My birthday is tomorrow and I really want a new broom. My little kids' one is too boring."
"Eleanor Marie Weasley! We've already talked about your broom. You will just have to wait until you are seven for a new broom and you have six months to go before your sixth birthday!" Hermione entered with a small brunette in her arms. She deposited him into a high chair and looked at Ron and Ellie. "You two are a mess! Did you manage to keep any batter in the bowl?" She asked as she grabbed a dishcloth and started wiping Eleanor's face. When she was done with Ellie's face, she started on Ron's.
"Oi, Hermione, gerroff!" He tugged the cloth out of her hands and started to wipe his own face.
"MUM!" A voice yelled from outside the side door behind the baby's highchair.
"What is it, love?" Hermione asked as an auburn blur sped at her legs.
"Crookshanks chased me again." The boy clung to Hermione's legs as tears rolled down from his bright blue eyes.
'Those are my eyes.' Ron thought as he watched this scene.
Hermione knelt down so that she was at the boy's eye level. "Love, we've talked about this. If you don't want Crookshanks to chase you, then you need to stay away from him. He's just cranky because he is old." Hermione explained as she wiped his tears with her fingers. She gathered him up in her arms and gave him an extra squeeze before he went to sit down at the table.
'Which one is Jack? And what is the other's name?' Ron panicked.
"Well, are you ready to cook the pancakes?" Hermione asked the two chefs.
"Yes, Mum." Ellie smiled up at her and hopped off of the stool she had been using.
Hermione winked at Ron and pulled her wand from her sleeve. She muttered something under her breath and the batter soared out of the bowl and into the air. It sectioned off into perfectly round circles and then heated in midair. Hermione swished her wand again and the now cooked pancakes soared over to the table which Eleanor had set before he came in.
Hermione went to sit down, but noticed Ron wasn't coming. He was stuck at the counter looking impressed. "Are you going to eat before you go to work?" She asked, effectively snapping him out of his trance.
"Er…yes, of course." Ron took the only empty chair.
Hermione and Ron served the little ones their pancakes as Hermione kept a constant stream of conversation going between the kids.
"Eleanor, don't think you'll be getting away with the lie you told your dad. No cookies when we go to Grandma's house today." Hermione looked sternly at Ellie, who was cowering under the look.
"Yes, Mum." She said quietly and obediently.
"But," Hermione continued softening her look. "Daddy and I will talk and perhaps we'll push the broom up a year or so."
"Really?" Eleanor's face brightened. "Thanks Mum!"
"Jack!" The auburn haired boy shrieked as the baby threw a piece of pancake at him.
"Jack, no, no. We don't throw." Hermione said clearly shaking her head.
"Oh come on, Henry, its just pancake!" Ellie said exasperatedly.
"Mum!" Henry whined.
"Eleanor, leave your brother alone. Henry, calm down." Hermione told the children. "Oh, Ron, Harry'll be here in a few minutes, I left your work robes lying on the bed. You better go get ready." Hermione said after she checked the wall clock.
Ron sprang up. 'Of course, Harry! Maybe he'll know what's going on!' Ron thought as he walked back to the bedroom that he woke up in. Ron put on the robes that were lying on the bed. As he walked out, he automatically grabbed his wand from his bedside table. 'How did I know it would be there?' Ron thought as he left the room. 'I hope Harry gets here soon.'
AN: Well, breakfast with the family, always an interesting affair. Please Review, flame if you must, but I probably won't read. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry, Ron, Hermione, or any other characters you recognize. I also do not own the plot to "The Family Man."