I just realized that I forgot to add disclaimers on my previous two stories. Damn.
So here is the disclaimer for this story: I own nothing! The amazing JK Rowling owns the entire HP franchise. I'm just borrowing the characters :D
"I'm home," Ron called as he opened the door. Hermione jumped up from her seat on the couch and ran to greet him. "How was your day?" she asked him, kissing him on the cheek.
"Boring," he said as he sat down by the table. Hermione stopped in the action of bringing in the soup. "Boring" was not a word usually used in the description of a day in the Auror office.
"Boring?" she repeated. "Why was it boring?"
"Harry took the day off," Ron answered. "He didn't want to leave Ginny." Hermione nodded in understanding. Ginny was pretty far along.
"Anyway, so when Robards saw Harry wasn't coming, he thought it would be an excellent idea to have me catch up on all of my paperwork. There was so much, that's why I was late," Ron groaned. "Paperwork is going to be the death of me."
Hermione snorted. Ron never, ever, did his paperwork. "That'd be something to write on your gravestone," she said, bringing the soup to the table and ladling it into two bowls, " 'Ronald Bilus Weasley. Died of excess paperwork.' I told you to keep on top of it."
"You were right," Ron admitted. "How do you ever do yours?"
"I just do," said Hermione. "It's exactly like doing homework." She grinned at him.
"You're amazing, you are," said Ron. "And you know full well that I never did my homework. What kind of soup is that?"
"Onion," Hermione answered, pushing a bowl of the said soup towards him.
"Fantastic," Ron said. He began eating enthusiastically, Hermione watching him happily. "You know," he said, between mouthfuls, "it's a good thing your mum taught you how to cook after we came back. If I had to eat another helping of those mushrooms-" He mimed gagging.
Hermione scowled. Her mushrooms were still a rather touchy subject with her. "Let's see you make a brilliant meal out of a bunch of mouldy old mushrooms using a billycan," she snapped.
"They probably wouldn't have been as good as yours," Ron said, and Hermione gave a grudging smile. Ron knew exactly how to play her.
"Anyway, how was your day?" he asked. "Fine. And unlike someone I know, I do all my paperwork on time, so I even let myself out a little early." She nudged him playfully. Annoying him was her favorite part of the day.
"Rub it in, will you?" Ron moaned. "I'll probably have nightmares tonight about a giant piece of paperwork trying to eat me or something." "Serves you right," Hermione retorted.
They continued to eat in silence for a while, savoring the soup. All of a sudden, Ron spoke. "I missed you," he said, putting his hand on the hand she wasn't eating with and playing with her fingers. Hermione put down her spoon. "I missed you too."
And just as they leaned in, Harry Potter shot out of the fireplace in front of them and landed flat on his face.
Ron yelled in shock and fell out of his chair, and, as he was holding Hermione's hand, he dragged her down with him, so that they both collapsed in a heap on the floor. Ron swore furiously from under Hermione.
"Harry!" Hermione gasped, standing up and pulling a grumbling Ron to his feet, "don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart- Are you alright?"
She scrutinized him carefully as he stood up, trembling. He was as pale as a sheet, and he looked terrified. Hermione knew he wasn't the best at Flooing, but somehow she didn't think that was what caused him to get into this state.
Harry didn't seem to have taken in a word she said. Looking them straight in the eye, he said, "Ginny's in labor."
Hermione shrieked. "What? She's having the baby?" Harry nodded numbly.
"Did you tell anyone yet?" she asked. " I got Mr. and Mrs. Weasley first. They're- they're with her right now, at St. Mungo's," Harry answered, his voice shaking slightly.
"Well, we better get going then!" Ron declared. He grabbed the tin of Floo powder from the mantlepiece. "Ladies first!" He offered the tin to Hermione, who took a pinch, threw it into the fire, stepped in and said: "St. Mungo's!"
She vanished in swirling green flames, spinning around and around and around-
She stopped at the St. Mungo's grate. Hermione didn't linger though, and hopped out just in time for Ron to come spinning into view. He jumped out, and then Harry materialised, spinning faster than ever.
Hermione and Ron both exchanged looks. Harry was terrible (for the loss of a better word) at Flooing at the best of times. If he was this stressed now, he'd most likely injure himself somehow while Flooing, and end up in a hospital bed next to Ginny's.
They grabbed Harry just in time as he flew out of the fireplace; if they hadn't both caught hold of his arms, he probably would have crashed into the wall and broken his nose.
Harry didn't waste time. He pulled himself out of their clutches, and practically flew down the halls and around corners, Hermione and Ron hot on his heels, gasping for breath.
As she skidded around a corner and almost crashed into a mediwitch ("Watch it, you imbeciles!" she shrieked, slopping most of the potion she had been holding down her front. "Who're you calling an imbecile?" Ron roared back), Hermione clutched her ribs. Why did Harry have to be so bloody fast?
Finally, they reached the corridor where Ginny was, and found a bunch of people already sitting there. Bill and George, with their wives, Fleur and Angelina, both of whom were very pregnant, Mr. Weasley, and Percy and Audrey with their two year old daughter Molly, who was sleeping in a carriage next to them. Mrs. Weasley, Hermione assumed, must be in the delivery room with Ginny.
There were cries of greeting from the others, and Hermione and Ron both sank immediately into vacant chairs. Harry, however, did no such thing, he started pacing back and forth, still extremely white and trembling visibly.
"Where's Teddy?" Hermione called to him, suddenly noticing the absence of his vivacious, turquoise-haired godson. Harry either didn't hear her or just ignored her, as he didn't respond. It was Fleur who answered her.
"He's weeth the girls at Andromeda's," she said. "She offered to take zem when 'Arry told us about Ginny. Eet was only supposed to be heem and Victorie, but Dominique wanteed to go too."
"But didn't Victorie and Teddy want to be here?" Hermione inquired. She knew her little niece had inherited Fleur's fiery French temper, and rather thought she would have argued against going to Andromeda's. Teddy, too, seeing as he did everything Vic told him to, even though he was a few years her senior.
"Oh, she just wanteed to be weeth Teddy," shrugged Fleur. "I don't know what 'Arry told Teddy to get heem conveenced, but eet worked."
Meanwhile, an argument had broken out between George and Ron. George, who wanted Harry to "lighten up a bit", reckoned that the way to do it was to chuck a load of Dungbombs at him, and Ron was vehemently disagreeing with him. Feeling as though Harry should be warned of this danger, Hermione reluctantly got out of her chair and approached him.
"Harry,-" she began, but then stopped. He looked really unwell, and she suspected that if he kept up his pacing for much longer, he might collapse. Making sure that George wasn't about to bombard the two of them with Dungbombs, she said, "Harry, why don't you sit down for a little bit and have a glass of water or something? You're really pale."
Harry gave her a look that clearly said, why are you bothering me with this now? and continued pacing.
Hermione gave an exasperated sigh. "If you're so worried, then why aren't you inside?"
Harry stopped in his tracks, a rather embarrassed expression on his face. "Well..." he mumbled.
"Well what?" Hermione demanded.
"Er... the mediwizards might of have kicked me out," he admitted sheepishly.
Hermione stared at him, her desire to laugh fighting with her desire to storm into the delivery room and demand that they let Harry in. "What did Ginny say about that?"
Harry looked even more uncomfortable. "Um... she kinda was the one who asked them to."
Hermione couldn't help it. She burst into laughter. The corners of Harry's mouth twitched a bit.
"Come, Harry," Hermione said, after she'd managed to calm down a little. "Sit down. You're not going to be any help to Ginny if you're passed out."
Harry nodded, but didn't say a word. As soon as he fell into his chair, he buried his face in his hands and didn't look up.
Hermione did her best to try and calm him down. "She'll be alright," she said in a low, soothing voice. "Ginny. She's strong."
Harry nodded miserably, still not looking up.
Hermione decided to let him be for a while. She looked around her. George seemed to have given up his Dungbomb idea, as he and Ron had stopped arguing, and both were now teasing Angelina, who was repeatedly punching their shoulders. Audrey was giving some kind of recipe to Fleur, who was scribbling it down (with difficulty) on a piece of parchment, and Percy and Bill were deep in discussion about vampire rights. Hermione was tempted to join in- after all, she was the Head of the Department for Regulation, Control, and the Rights of Magical Creatures (The Rights part of the name had appeared there after she had been made head)- but just then, Mr. Weasley asked her to explain the function of a blender to him.
Just as Hermione was demonstrating the use of the blade to him ("Ingenious! Amazing!"), they heard a scream from the delivery room. Everyone stopped talking for a moment, Harry jumped out of his chair as if he'd been shot, and started pacing feverishly up and down the corridor again.
Then Mr. Weasley asked her, "So how does this blade move?" and everyone resumed their conversations. Hermione stared at him for a moment, wondering how everyone was so calm, and then it hit her: They were all used to this.
Mr. Weasley had been here for all of his children's and grandchildren's births, after all, and everyone else (well, maybe not Harry) must've been here once or twice. Only Hermione, by an unlucky combination of circumstances, hadn't been present at any of her nieces' births, nor anyone else's.
"Hermione?" Mr. Weasley asked her. Hermione gave her head a little shake, and proceeded to explain to him (yet again) the concept of electricity.
Every once in a while, one of Ginny's screams would punctuate the babble. Whenever this happened, Harry would turn a little paler and start walking faster. Finally, Ron wrestled him into a chair, forced a glass of water down his throat, and threatened him that if he got up from the chair again he would put the full Body-Bind Curse on him. This seemed to work, but unfortunately, Ron did this all so loudly that he woke Molly up and Audrey had to take her out.
All of a sudden, they heard what was unmistakably the wails of a baby. The chatter died away at once. Hermione glanced at Harry, and saw that the little color he had regained had drained away. A moment later, Mrs. Weasley stuck her head out of the door, beaming. "Harry, come say hello to your son!"
The entire corridor burst into cheers, Ron was swearing at the top of his lungs for some reason Hermione couldn't understand, and she put a shaky hand over her eyes and said, "Thank God!" She hadn't realized how worried she had been until it was over. Harry got out of his chair and somehow stumbled up the corridor and through the door.
Ron made to follow him, but Hermione stopped him. "Ron, give them a few minutes to themselves. They are the new parents." Hermione's heart swelled at these words. Parents. Harry was a father. He'd finally gotten the family he deserved. Her eyes teared up.
Ron looked alarmed. "Ok, ok, I won't go! You don't have to cry about it!"
Hermione laughed through her tears. Some things would never change. "Ron, you idiot!" she sobbed, and enveloped him in a hug. Rather startled, he accepted it, and conjured a handkerchief for her.
All of a sudden, they heard someone calling them. "Ron! Hermione!"
It was Harry. If Mrs. Weasley had seemed happy, it was nothing to how Harry looked. His expression of sheer terror was gone, replaced with one that radiated pure joy. "Get in here!"
They ran through the door. Ginny was lying in bed, looking exhausted but thrilled, with a little blue bundle in her arms.
"Congratulations!" Hermione squealed, crushing Harry in a hug.
"Yeah, well done, mate," said Ron. Ginny scowled at him.
"I'm the one who just gave birth, and you tell him well done?" she said indignantly.
"You too, Gin," Ron added hastily.
A tuft of jet black hair peeked over the blankets, as unruly as Harry's. "Looks like he inherited the curse of the Potter hair," Ron said. Hermione swatted his arm, but Harry didn't seem to mind.
Harry looked at Ginny. "Can I hold him, Gin?"
"Of course you can, you git! He's half yours, anyway."
Ever so gently, Harry lifted the bundle out of Ginny's arms, cradling his newborn son in his own. "Meet James Sirius," he told them softly.
Ron snorted. "Good luck with McGonagall," he said. "When she hears you named your son after the two greatest pranksters Hogwarts has ever known? She's going to murder you."
"Ron!" Hermione hissed. He ignored her.
Hermione changed the subject before Ron could make fun of his new nephew again. "So you chose both of the names?" she asked Harry. "No," he said.
Hermione was taken aback. "No?"
But before he could answer, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came in, and gathered around Harry to see James. Hermione looked towards Ginny for an explanation.
"James was his idea," Ginny said softly, so that Harry, who was busy showing off his newborn son, wouldn't hear. "But Sirius was mine. In the beginning he didn't want to- I think a part of him still blames himself for what happened to him. But I said that Sirius was a damn good godfather to him and he deserved to be honored. In the end he agreed."
Hermione wiped more tears away as the rest of the people who had been in the corridor came in and swarmed around Harry, Ginny, and James.
"Brilliant!" George roared, after he had heard what James' name was. "Absolutely brilliant! McGonagall's gonna murder you!" Everyone laughed, including Hermione.
"Oh, so you laugh when he says it?" Ron grumbled. "But when I say it you can tell me off?" "I'm your wife," Hermione retorted. "I'm supposed to tell you off." Ron laughed and put an arm around her waist.
"I say we should go out and celebrate!" George was saying. "Harry, Ron, Bill, Perce- what do you say?"
"Oh no you don't," Ginny said, narrowing her eyes at him. "It's my first night with my baby, and I want my husband home and sober, thank you very much." "And I'm pregnant," Angelina and Fleur said together. "And I don't want to deal with a drunk Ron any day," Hermione put in.
George cowed under the glares of the four women. "All right," he mumbled. "Just an idea."
"Can I hold him?" Audrey asked, smartly changing the subject, and then the "pass the baby" game started.
The whole room clamored to hold him, and somehow Hermione got missed out. She was about to ask Bill if she could have a turn, when Harry shouted, "Oi! Let Hermione hold her godson for a second, yeah?"
"Yes, I do want to-" Hermione began, and then the implications of what Harry had said hit her. "W- wait. Godson?" she stuttered out. Her, Hermione Granger-Weasley, James Sirius' godmother? She had been so sure it was going to be Ron!
"Yes, godson," Ginny said, laughing at the expression on Hermione's face.
"M-me?" Hermione said. She couldn't believe it.
"Yes, you," Harry said, also laughing. "You were the best at keeping Ron and I out of trouble, and we figured that with a name like his, he would also need someone to stop him from breaking too many rules. So you were our best shot." He grinned at her. "Now somebody pass James to her!" he yelled.
As James was pressed into her arms, he suddenly opened his eyes. Hermione looked into them. They were remarkably like his mother's. "Hello, James," she whispered to him. Oh, Harry, she thought. Thank you!
She hugged him close for a second, then passed him to Ron. James' eyes closed again, but she could've sworn he winked at her.
And for the third time that night, Hermione found herself crying.
A/N: Also kinda short, I know. But I am starting my first multi-chapter! I'm in the middle of outlining it. It will be called Meet The Next Gen, a fic about all the Potter/Weasley kids (and Teddy too, don't worry!). I don't know how long it will take, but hopefully it will be up soon. I'm also in the middle of multiple oneshots (I'm a pretty big multi-tasker), so I should finish those sooner or later.
OK, enough of my yammering.
Ciao for now!
Phoenixes :D
P.S. Review?