* Babysitting *
"Of all the things, Rose!" Hugo complained as both teenagers sat on the couch of their living room.
"Come on! It's not that bad." Rose said in her defence.
"Not that bad?! We don't know half of it." The 13-year-old boy shouted. Rose rolled her eyes at her brother's melodramatic reaction.
"We're doing something good for someone we love." The 16-year-old girl said. Hugo sighed as their mother walked in dressed in her best navy blue dress robe. She and Ron were going to a gala at the Ministry.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"Rose offered us to babysit Belle's daughters tonight." The boy explained. Hermione looked at him, then at Rose. The girl looked back.
"She and Adam haven't gone out together since the baby was born and that was 8 months ago. I thought it would be nice for them to enjoy a child-free dinner and for us to spend time with our nieces." She explained. "Besides, Belle has done so much for us since we were little, it's the least we can do." She added. Hermione just smiled.
"It's very nice of you, Rosie. I'm sure your sister appreciates it very much." She said as Rose smiled.
"What does her sister appreciate?" Ron asked as he downed the stairs in his black dress robes.
"They're babysitting Belle's daughters tonight." Hermione explained as she grabbed her beanbag and cloak.
"Good luck!" He exclaimed, grabbing his own cloak and walking to the fireplace. Hermione sighed and smacked his shoulder. He gave her a look.
"You're going to be just fine. Just follow every direction and rule Belle gives you and have fun. Call if something happens." She said, kissing her children then walking in the fireplace. A minute later, green flames engulfed her and she was gone. Ron gave them a sympathetic smile.
"Don't set the house on fire. See ya, kids!" He greeted as he walked in the fireplace, then he was gone. Rose and Hugo exchanged looks.
"I don't like this idea." He said as Belle and Adam arrived shortly with their 3-year-old daughter, Amelia, and their 8-months-old one, Lizzie. As soon as they got there, Amelia ran to her aunt and held onto her legs.
"Thank you so much for doing this." Adam said. Rose smiled.
"It's not a problem at all." She said as her brother rolled his eyes.
"So... What time are you coming back?" Hugo asked as Belle gave Lizzie to Rose and the kids' bag to him. Rose gave him a nasty look and elbowed him in the ribs.
"We won't be here too late. Probably at 12." Belle said.
"Just go and enjoy your night. You deserve it! We'll take care of everything, you'll see." Rose said. Belle sighed and nodded. She then explained the kids routine and rules in detail, and after Adam's insistence, they finally left.
"Now what?" Hugo asked Rose. She looked back. The first hour passed by without any inconveniences. Amelia was a very active girl. She made them play tea party, dolls, hide and seek and made a fort out of chairs and bedsheets. At dinner time, the first problems arose. First, Amelia complained because she wanted the pink sippy cup, not the blue one. Then, that her chicken nuggets were too hot, and then that they were too cold. Finally, Rose convinced her to eat a few pieces together. Lizzie, on the other hand, made a complete mess of herself when Hugo tried to feed her with some mashed vegetables. He also ended up covered in the green grummy mashed. But the worst came later. They had decided to sleep in the fort that night, so as Rose and Hugo were getting the girls ready to bed, Amelia asked them about her parents. At the hearing of those two words, Lizzie perked up and looked around as if expecting her mom or dad to show up any minute now. But they never came, and that upset her. So, she did was she did best when she was upset: she cried. Rose and Hugo turned immediately to her. First, Rose picked her up and held her as she rocked the little girl back and forth, speaking softly to her. But it didn't work. Then, Hugo started to make funny faces at her, trying to distract her. But that didn't work either. Lizzie cried louder and louder by the minute, to the point that some of her toys started to fly around in fast circles, creating a small tornado.
"Rose, stop it!" Hugo shouted at his sister.
"I'm not doing anything. My wand is..." Rose said as she watched books and her own wand joining the spiralling toys. By now, Amelia had hid inside the fort and Lizzie was crying hysterically to the point that a cloud appeared on top of all of them and raindrops started to fall down furiously.
"I'm calling for backups!" Hugo shouted, trying to cover himself from the rain with his hands. He grabbed the floo powder and threw it in the fireplace. A few minutes later, Albus, Lily and Scorpius appeared in the living room and had to kneeled down to the floor as some books flew in their direction and nearly hit them.
"What's going on?" Lily asked, trying to cover her head with her hands.
"We can't calm Lizzie down and now we have a damn storm inside the living room. Mom is certainly gonna kill us!" Hugo said. As they were trying to distract Lizzie and calm her down, two figures appeared in the living room.
"What the bloody hell is going... ouch!" Ron shouted as a book hit him on the head. Hermione grabbed her wand and casted a spell. Seconds later, everything stopped moving around and just stayed still in the air. She casted another spell and the storm ceased. However, Lizzie kept crying at the top of her lungs. Hermione went to Rose, took the baby from her and started singing to her softly as she rocked her in her arms and slowly rubbed her back. Rose and Hugo looked at their mom in shock. They recognised the song, though. It was Something There, Belle's favourite from the movie Beauty and the Beast. Slowly, little Lizzie was calmed down and was resting her head on her grandma's shoulder. Everyone just looked at Hermione.
"How... how did you know...?" Rose asked.
"Belle was the same when she was little. I used to sing that song to her and it settled her right away. I tried it with you two but it never worked. So I figured I could try it with Lizzie." Hermione explained, kissing the baby's head. Lizzie made a cooing noise and snuggled closer to her, wrapping her little arms around Hermione's neck.
"Mommy sings song to Lizzie all time. Lizzie luvs it!" Amelia said, giggling and crawling out of the fort.
"Why didn't you say it before?" Hugo asked her. Amelia just shrugged her shoulders, smiling at him.
"Care to explain why the bloody hell was there a storm in our living room? And why do we have more kids here than when we left?" Ron asked.
"We just... wait! What are you two doing here so early? Thought your galas lasted until late at night." Hugo asked, squinting his eyes at his parents. Hermione sighed.
"We decided to come here earlier." she said.
"You don't trust us with the girls?" Rose asked incredulously.
"No! It's not that, sweetheart. It's just... I actually didn't want to be there in the first place. Didn't feel like it this time. But... I'm the minister, so I have to be there." Hermione started.
"I'm usually the one who hates these things, but when I saw that your mother wasn't up to it either this time, we came up with a little plan and left earlier." Ron explained. "Now, back to my original question." he said.
"So... if you're home early that means..." Lily said, then she looked at Albus. He looked back and nodded. If their aunt and uncle were back so early, then probably their parents were back early too.
"We have to go. See ya!" he said, going to the fireplace, then disappearing into it. Lily followed him, then Scorpius, who looked at Rose and gave her a little smile. She smiled back, then looked at her niece and he left. Ron and Hermione looked at their children, expectant. Hugo sighed.
"They were here as backup." he started.
"We were putting the girls back down to sleep, Amelia asked for Belle and when Lizzie heard her and realized that her mommy wasn't around, she started to cry really bad." Rose continued.
"We tried to read to her, to talk to her, to make funny faces, but nothing. She kept crying." Hugo said.
"Was a bloody book hurricane and a storm one of your ways to calm her down as well?" Ron asked as Hermione smacked his arm.
"Actually... that wasn't Hugh nor me." Rose said, looking down. Ron and Hermione looked at Amelia with big eyes. She looked back and smiled.
Just then, Belle and Adam arrived. They looked around, confused and worried.
"What happened here?" Belle asked as Amelia ran to her and held her happily. At the sound of her mother's voice, Lizzie perked up and turned her head to her, reaching out her little hands to her. Adam went and took her from Hermione.
"Well, you'd be glad to hear that one of your daughter's has her spot secure at Hogwarts." Hugo announced. Belle and Adam looked at him, shocked, as Hermione and Ron looked at Amelia.
"Lizzie made books fly, mommy! and rain too!" the 3-year-old said.
"Lizzie? But... she's only some months. It's..." Adam started.
"Not that impossible. Belle here showed her first signs of accidental magic when she was only three months old." Ron said, proudly, smiling at his eldest daughter. Adam looked at his fiancée, surprised.
"It's rare, but not that uncommon." Hermione explained.
Belle took the little girl from her fiancé's arms and kissed her. Rose and Hugo explained everything that happened that night.
"Thanks again for watching them, guys." Belle said.
"Now it's time to go back to our children-ruled life." Adam said.
"No! I wanna sleep in fort with auntie Rosie, please?" Amelia begged her parents. Rose and Hugo looked at each other.
"I'm really glad you had a good time with your uncle and auntie, sweetheart, but..." Belle started before Rose stepped forward and cut her in.
"Give a nighty night kiss to mommy and daddy, Ami. And how about you help me get my pillow and PJs?" she told the little girl as she took her hand. Hugo stepped in as well and took baby Lizzie from his sister.
"You never really specified whether you were getting them at midnight today or midday tomorrow." he said as he walked upstairs with the little girl.
"Bye, mommy. Bye, daddy." Amelia greeted them before her and Rose followed Hugo up the stairs. Adam and Belle looked at each other, then at her parents.
"You don't mind?" Belle asked, fretting a bit. Hermione smiled at them.
"Go. Enjoy your night. You deserve it." she said. Adam and Belle smiled and disapparated. Ron sighed.
"Remember when we used to leave the kids at mom and dad's and we had the night for us? Just you, me and 0 clothes." he said with a mischievous smiled. Hermione giggled.
"I bet your daughter is thinking about the exact same thing." she said. Ron's face turned from a happy one to an upset one. "Well, how do you think your granddaughters came to this world, Ronald? by magic?" she asked, playfully. Ron just sighed and shook his head. She went and wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him sweetly on the lips. Rose and Hugo went back downstairs, each of them holding one of the girls. They kissed Hermione and Ron good-night, then got in the fort. Hugo looked at his nieces as they snuggled close to him and his sister. Babysitting wasn't that bad after all.