* The 'No' day *
She was usually happy when her daughter learned new words, but this one wasn't the case. That two-letter word her little girl had recently acquired was driving her up the wall more than anything today, even more than Ron sometimes did. It wasn't the word per se, now that Hermione thought about it. It was more the fact that she, Hermione, didn't actually know what to do when she heard it.
It all started after naptime. Ginny and Harry were out for the day and Ron was in Diagon Alley helping George at the shop. That left Hermione home with the baby, doing some research and writing reports while Belle was asleep. It seemed like an ordinary Saturday until Belle finally woke up. As usual, Hermione went to her one-year-old's room to greet her. She expected to see her cheerful little girl sitting or perhaps standing on her crib, blabbering to herself or her toys, some of them even floating around as it usually happened when Belle woke up from her naps. But that wasn't it. Belle was sat on the crib, playing with her hands, eyebrows furrowed.
"Hi, sweetheart! You had a good nap?" Hermione asked as she picked up the baby.
"No." Little Belle just answered. Hermione looked at her, pretending to be sad, and kissed the little girl's cheek.
"Aw! That's so bad, baby! Maybe, now that you're awake, mommy can change your yucky nappy and we can have a yummy snack." Hermione said, cheerfully.
"No." Belle said again. Hermione took aback a little. It wasn't like Belle to refuse to many things at once. However, she just laid the little girl on the changing table and, with great effort, she changed the dirty nappy. After that, she took the little girl downstairs to the kitchen. She sat the baby on the high chair and went to get some of the hippogriff-shaped cookies Belle really liked.
"Maybe this will help." Hermione thought. But when she gave the cookie to the little girl, she was presented with the same answer: No. After that, Hermione tried anything: dancing dolls, piling up blocks, drawing, reading a new book, even another nap. But Belle kept saying the same word over and over again: No. At this point, Hermione was more than fed up of hearing it. She looked at her daughter again and then out the window.
"Maybe she doesn't want to do anything indoor. Maybe going out will help." She thought. She quickly prepared the baby's bag, then took her coat and Belle's one and picked the baby up. Seconds later, she disapparated and apparated in Diagon Alley. Today it was full of wizards and witches running errands, eating out and enjoying the day. Hermione walked down the street, pointing at different things Belle might be interested in, but the baby always said the same word.
At one point, Hermione put the baby down. She knew how much Belle loved to walk. But Belle didn't do much. She just looked at her mother, still with her eyebrows furrowed. Hermione sighed. What was it that had her little girl so upset?
"Hermione?" She suddenly heard. She upped her head to find Lavender Brown staring at her.
"Lavender! Hi! How... How are you?" She managed to ask the blonde girl in front of her.
"Good. Good. How are you?" Lavender asked.
"Good." Hermione asked, one eye on Lavender; the other one on Belle. Lavender looked down to see what was it that had Hermione so distracted.
"Yours?" Lavender asked pointing at the baby. Hermione looked at her, then at Belle who was just standing there looking at the two women, and then back at Lavender.
"Yes. She's my daughter, Belle." Hermione answered proudly.
"She's lovely. Congratulations!" Lavender said. Hermione noticed something different in Lavender's voice: sincerity. Hermione smiled and kneeled down to Belle.
"Belle, this is Lavender, one of mommy and daddy's school friends. Can you say hi to Lavender, sweetie?" Hermione tried. But again, Belle gave her the same response, to which Lavender looked a bit shocked. Hermione sighed and picked Belle up in her arms.
"I'm sorry, Lavender. She usually isn't like this. She's usually cheerful and nice, but today..." She apologized before Lavender cut her in.
"It's alright, Hermione. Really." She said. "I should go anyway. I'm meeting Seamus for lunch." She added. Hermione smiled a bit.
"That's amazing! Tell him I said hi." She said.
"I will. And Hermione..." Lavender started before they parted ways. Hermione looked at her. "I'm sorry... about sixth. I knew it all the time." Lavender continued. Hermione looked at her, confused. Lavender sighed and kept talking: "he loved you. He always has and always will. I just... I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too, Lavender. I wasn't fair to you. It wasn't your fault that I was... that I didn't... anyway, I was horrible to you and Ron at the time, and I'm sorry." Hermione confessed. Lavender smiled a bit.
"You have a lovely girl. You and Ron did a very good job." She said, and then she left.
Hermione looked at the baby in her arms. "How about we go and visit daddy at the shop?" She asked. Belle looked at her and, for a split of a second, Hermione was hopeful.
"No." The girl just said. Hermione sighed. She decided it had been enough for the day, so both girl disapparated and went home
When Ron got home later that day, he found Belle in her playpen and Hermione in the kitchen having tea.
"Hey! How was it today?" He asked, sitting next to her. She looked at him. "What is it?" He asked, worried.
"The horcrux was right." She just said. Ron looked at her, confused. She looked at him and sighed. "I'm a terrible mother." She continued. Ron just looked at her.
"What are you on about? You're terrific!" He said. Hermione shook her head. Ron sighed. "What happened?" He asked.
"That's the thing. I don't know what's wrong! Ever since she had woken up from her nap today, she's said no to everything. 'Do you want to eat a cookie? No. Do you wanna play with your dolls? No. What do you want to do? NO!' I even took her out to Diagon Alley. I thought that the fresh air would be good, but she kept saying No." She said desperately.
"What is wrong with me, Ron? Why can't I help her?" She asked, looking down.
"There's nothing wrong with you, Mione. She's just having a 'no' day." He said. Hermione upped her head to him and looked at him, confused.
"A 'no' day?" She asked.
"Or as we adults like to call it: 'a bad day.'" he said. Hermione kept looking at him. "If one of my raids doesn't go as expected, or if one of your reports is turned down and your boss is being shitty to you and asks you to stay late, then we're having a bad day. We get mad about it, but after some time, it goes away and we feel better. That's the same for her." He explained.
"But... What can it mean 'a bad day' for her? I mean, she only had a nap." She said.
"Maybe she had a bad dream that tainted her day. Maybe she went to bed feeling she would do plenty of things and woke up feeling things were different. I don't know! The thing is... She's a tiny person who's starting to develop feelings and is discovering the world. Maybe this is her way to show us she's having an off day." He said. Hermione looked at him, surprised. How come he had gotten so wise about babies?
"How come you know all this?" She asked. He smiled a bit.
"When you grow up with so many siblings as I did, you learn a couple of things." He said. Hermione sighed.
"What do we do now?" She asked, feeling somehow defeated. She had never had to cope with Belle having a bad day, or at least she didn't remember having to before. Whenever Belle was upset, Hermione held her until she felt better. This time, she realised, she couldn't hug her daughter's problems away. Ron took her hand in his and looked at her in the eye.
"We just... let her be. She'll be alright. It's just a bad day. She'll let us know if she needs us." He said as Belle walked in the kitchen, big smile on her face and a book in her hands. She went straight to him.
"Hi, princess! What do you have in there?" He aske, trying to take whatever Belle had in her hands.
"Book." She said, showing him the blue and yellow hardcover thing.
"Pretty one! Do you want daddy to read it?" He asked.
"No." Belle answered. Hermione sighed. Belle went to her and showed her the book. "Mommy." She said with a big, toothless smile on her face. Hermione smiled and took the book as Belle tried to climbed up onto her lap. Hermione picked her up and sat her down and opened the book as Ron looked at them, smiling.
It was just a bad day. Good thing was that Hermione now knew how to cope with it.