"Stop it."
"Please?"
"No, go away."
"Please, 'Mione."
Hermione burst out laughing at the fallen expression on her lover's face. She pushed him aside and continued to stroke the brush across the rough surface of her bedroom wall. They had decided on a soft cornflower blue but now that they were finally renovating her room into a nursery, Remus seemed very reluctant to let her do the actual work.
Because Hermione's room was being turned into a nursery, she had moved into Remus' room. It seemed to be the obvious thing to do. And every night she slept in his arms, Teddy often snuggled in between them. She revelled in the idea of having two children. Possibly a boy and a girl. She never would have thought herself capable of holding so much affection in her heart and she often dreamed of the child growing inside of her and couldn't understand how she could love a person so much that she had yet to meet.
Hermione's rounded belly was very obvious by then. She still worked at the office but Kingsley had been starting to hint that maybe it was time for her to take maternal leave. Harry was being infuriatingly cautious, refusing to let her do the shopping, and Sirius had banned her from cleaning the house, insisting he do it himself. These turns of events had resulted in unevenly hoovered carpets ( she preferred the muggle way of tidying) and way too many cans of baked beans.
"You're sweating!" Remus exclaimed trying once again to take the paintbrush from her.
"Thank you for pointing that out, Moony," she quipped back.
"I just want to help," he complained.
"Remus, I want to do this. I am enjoying this," she said.
"Hermione, please."
"No."
"Why not?" he whined softly.
She laughed, nearly toppling from the chair she stood on. Remus steadied her and scowled at her as if she had proved his point.
She ignored his frowning and dunked her paintbrush into the blue paint placed precariously on top of her dresser.
"Just let me-" he began but she interrupted him by placing a chaste kiss onto his soft lips. He melted into her, wrapping his arms around her. She relished in the warm touch of his hands. She felt the brush slipping from her fingers and abruptly pushed him away.
"Forget it. I'm going to do the painting," she said.
With a frustrated huff, he finally stopped trying to take the brush from her.
"I just don't want you to hurt yourself," he sighed.
She turned serious and gave him a thoughtful look. She knew that he was terrified of something happening to his loved ones. He had already lost so much. She knew that he couldn't lose her too.
"Remus, I need you to listen to me now," she began, carefully stepping down from the chair and placing the brush next to the jar of paint.
He didn't reply, instead, he gently took hold of her left hand and examined the splotches of paint she had accidentally flicked onto her hand and wrist.
"I started at Hogwarts when I was twelve years old and since then my life has been filled with unforeseeable dangers. I have fought countless evil wizards and a myriad of terrifying magical creatures. I fought in the battle of Hogwarts and could only watch as people I called my friends were killed before me. I lost my best friend," she said her voice cracking as she thought of Ron.
Remus couldn't look her in the eyes as he too relived the horrors Voldemort's reign had brought upon them.
"But I wouldn't trade any of that for a safe, suburban life as a frustrated woman who was never able to reach her full potential. Remus, I chose this life, I need this life and I'm going to need you to trust me to take care of myself," she said softly.
He finally looked up at her his hazel eyes meeting hers. She could see the flecks of sea blue in his irises and for a second she was spellbound by the beautiful man in front of her.
"I trust you. It's me I don't trust. Every waking minute of every day I feel like I'm going to fail you," he began, letting his calloused hands trace the outline of her swollen abdomen.
"You idiot," she sighed, letting her head fall onto his chest, her arms wrapping around his neck.
A cry from Teddy's nursery was what finally pulled them apart. She gave Remus a warm smile and finally gave the brush to Remus.
"I'll get him," she said, giving him a tender kiss on the cheek before exiting the room.