(A/N: Even though he's only mentioned in this chapter, I could not let July 31st pass without a post! Happy birthday to Harry and the incredible J.K. herself! And special thanks for allowing us to play with her amazing characters! Enjoy...carrytheotter)
Ch 106: Bumps in the Road
It was the grey pre-dawn hours of late November, and Ron Weasley was on his second cup of coffee at the kitchen table. Ryan had been awake since 4 am, and Hazel finally joined their all-night party at 5, at which point Ron decided to give on up calling it night anymore and headed down to the kitchen with both of them. Ryan was in his car seat carrier watching a snitch Ron had charmed to bop around the kitchen. And Ron was holding Hazel against his shoulder in one hand while drinking coffee and reading the paper with the other.
He yawned deeply, stretching the muscles in his jaw, causing him to run his hands over his scraggily, half shaven beard. He couldn't remember the last time he had more than four hours straight of sleep. Seeing that the twins were six weeks old, he reasoned it had to have been about five weeks ago. He was too tired to remember what it actually felt like to be well rested. But, he could remember when he was young enough that weeks of only four hours of sleep a night were no big deal. But those days were clearly long gone.
It had been a hell of a month and a half. On top of adjusting to life with newborns, they had realized they needed to ensure that the late biological mother had a proper burial near her late husband. After that they had to go through the flat, sorting out things to keep for the kids later on, things to donate and things to throw out. It had been emotionally draining to sort through all of these personal items belonging to a complete stranger to whom they were now so intimately connected. In so many ways they both acknowledged that they really didn't want to do it – that it was easier to not know the painful details of her life. But, they both realized that taking care of the funeral, going through the flat and documenting as much as they could now for the kids to have later was the best thing to do for their children. After all of that they had both tried to juggle going back to work with just trading off at home, or taking the babies with them to Hermione's office or the shop, and that had backfired on all accounts. The grandparents and extended family had been great, but he and Hermione were utterly exhausted.
He had insisted that they finally pull together a real nursery and stop pretending they could get by with bassinets in their bedroom. They'd decided that Fi and Dennis' old bedroom was the best space for it. It was the largest bedroom and had the nicest natural light of any room in the house. And, as the original master bedroom, it had an attached bath which made caring for the twins much easier. Hermione had said they could get by without all of the "trimmings," but he had put his foot down and insisted that he wanted to go all out. He'd never thought he'd get to do this kind of thing, and he acknowledged it was as much for him as it was for them. But it had been a great decision.
He'd charmed the walls to be a soft mint green, and then they'd had a magical mural painted on it. It reminded him a lot of the fields around The Burrow as there were flowers and trees that would blow in the breeze, and every now and then a bird or butterfly or bumble bee would flit by. It was sweet, but it wasn't so busy that it was distracting. They had then found the two most comfortable chairs on the planet. Hermione said they were rocking gliders with ottomans, but Ron just thought of them as a gift from the gods as he had figured out how to sit there with both babies, have his feet up, charm the chair to keep rocking gently and fall asleep while the babies were still trying their hardest to keep him up. The chairs were his favorite thing. Hermione's favorite was the wall of cabinetry they'd installed with Bill and Michael's help. It had closed door cupboards on the bottom to store toys and nappies with endless shelves on the top, which Hermione had already filled with more children's books than he ever knew existed. They'd found a soft rug and then added a twin bed covered with pillows to be a reading nook someday, but was, in all practicality, where he and Hermione took turns sleeping most nights. They'd put some lovely photographs up as well of Rose and Hugo meeting the babies, as well as some other shots they'd acquired over the past few weeks. They also had a picture of their birthparents together that they had found at the flat. Ron had gone back and forth on that decision, but realized that it was a good idea when Harry had seen it and said something about wishing he'd had parents like them who could have made him their own and still honored his birth parents too. Happy and sad, Ron kept reminding himself. Hermione had also brought a few of Rose's old toys and books over from the other house. And the grandparents had all brought in some other things which made the nursery a cozy room brimming with love. And sleep deprivation.
For as happy as he was with Ryan and Hazel in their lives, he knew they needed to make some changes and fast if they were going to survive this with their sanity, marriage and careers intact. He wasn't looking forward to that conversation with Hermione, but they couldn't put it off any more. He also knew they both desperately needed a full night's sleep. He was hoping she'd be on board with his idea of asking Ginny and Harry to help out for a couple nights to let them go somewhere and sleep. He chuckled to himself thinking of how he used to day dream about taking Hermione away on little getaways to have great sex. But now he was fantasizing about great sleep.
He felt Hazel hiccough against his chest and patted her back in soft circles as she calmed back down. Ryan was still entertained by the snitch, so Ron let him be.
It was almost 9 when Hermione came down the stairs into the kitchen.
"I'm sorry I slept so late. Do you need to go get some sleep?"
"Nah. Remember I have that meeting at the academy at 10:30, so I need to get going soon. I may try to kip before dinner if I am struggling later."
He knew she wasn't really listening to his answer as she was now focused on taking Ryan out of his carrier and talking in the sweet, bubbly high voice that mums use when talking to babies. "Good morning, sweet boy. Have you been watching that snitch? Are you going to be a seeker like your Uncle Harry? Or are you going to be in the bleachers keeping Mummy company?" Then she changed back to her normal voice saying, "I'm going to miss them this morning. Hate that I slept so late and now have to rush off."
"Wait, what? Rush off? But you've got the kids this morning. I have to be at the Auror Training Academy by 10:30 for that meeting. They're making final decisions on who will and won't graduate in December – I have to be there."
"WHAT? No, Ron. I have the British Caribbean Economic Development Council luncheon I told you about. It's at 11:30 and certainly not something I could miss if we are serious about our work in Haiti."
"WHAT? You said that was next week."
"No – it's today. Could you take them with you?"
"Not to this one, Hermione," he said irritably. "Which is precisely why I told you about it two weeks ago. Even put it on the schedule thingy over there."
"But that's the wrong calendar, Ronald! You need to use the one I put on your phone."
"How in the hell was I supposed to know that?"
"I told you about it at dinner last week, Ron!" she yelled angrily.
"No, Hermione, you didn't. We haven't had dinner together in two weeks. Must have been some other ginger bloke."
"No. No way. I distinctly remember sitting right here and explaining how I had discovered the shared calendar option. I was so excited, remember? It was the night we had Chinese take-away."
"I didn't have Chinese take-away. Remember? That was the night Ryan threw up over everything and spiked that high fever and I was upstairs with him all evening. You and Harry and Ginny had Chinese."
"Oh," she replied, suddenly contrite. "You're right. I must have told Ginny and not you. God, Ron, I am so tired I can't even think straight," she said, suddenly bursting into tears.
"I know," he said flatly. "I am too." He looked at her gently, chuckled and said, "And I hate to add fuel to the fire, love, but your shirt is on inside out."
Her crying increased in exasperation, "What are we going to do?"
"I'll floo call Mum and see if she can help today. Or maybe she and your Mum could split the day?"
"Yes. That's a good idea. But, that's not really what I meant. I mean what are we going to do in a big picture sense. We can't keep going like this, Ron. We're exhausted. We're miserable. We haven't made love once since the babies came into our lives."
"Oh, I'm quite aware of that," he said flatly.
She huffed at him, but then felt guilty and came over and hugged him as he was still holding Hazel.
"We need a break, Hermione. What if we asked each set of grandparents to take one night and we go for a weekend to Shell Cottage? Or if not our parents then maybe Harry and Gin? We need it, Love. We really do."
"I know. We do. But how about two full days and one night? I hate to be away from them for so long."
"I really think we need more than one night of sleep," he said firmly. "Let me ask them, ok?"
"OK," she sighed as she nuzzled her nose against Hazel's ear. "I know we need it, but I hate the idea of missing them."
"Look – you want to call your Mum first about today, and then I'll see if my Mum can switch off at whatever time she needs?"
"Yeah. I will. And you call Harry and Gin, ok? Maybe it would be easier if they just stayed here instead of us schlepping everything to their house? Do you think they would mind?"
"I think they would be happy to help. And then they'll be happy to given them back," he chuckled.
"I know," she said shaking her head. "I'll go call Mum."
She headed off to find her phone, leaving Ron with both babies as Ryan started to cry, causing Ron to sigh and summon a second bottle.
Several days later, they landed together on the sandy walk way leading up to Shell Cottage. Ron was first struck by the relaxing smell of salt and fresh air, but then instantly realized how cold and windy it was and hurried them into the small house.
"Not exactly hammock weather, huh?" Hermione laughed.
"No. 'Spose not. But it's late November, so I think we can only hope for so much."
"Well, I'm hoping for uninterrupted sleep."
"Couldn't agree more. I know it's just late morning, but I'm exhausted."
"Well, what did you expect? You've been up since 3!" she protested.
"Less talking, more sleeping," he grinned as he scooped her up bridal style and carried her up the stairs.
She laughed, throwing her arms around his neck, but said, "Ronald Weasley, I love you, and I know we both want to shag while we're here. But, you know I desperately want to sleep first, right?"
"Yup. And for the first time in my life I am choosing sleep over sex too," he chuckled as he eased the bedroom door open with his foot.
"I'll make a note of the date for posterity," she yawned as he placed her on the bed.
"Do that after sleep," he mumbled as he kicked off his shoes and crawled up next to her, and within minutes, they were both fast asleep.
When Ron woke, the light in the room had dimmed so much that he knew it must be only an hour or so before sunset. He rolled gently out of the bed to go to the loo. As he opened the door back to the hallway he found Hermione standing there with messy bed-head hair and a smile.
"My turn," she quipped as she pushed through the door.
He laughed at her, but left her there and went downstairs to figure out what they had to eat. Not seeing much in the pantry, he decided take out by apparition was a better option. He called an Italian restaurant they had been to several times over the years when they wanted to go out for a nice, child-free dinner and ordered their favorites. He carried their bags upstairs and heard Hermione still in the loo. Popping his head in he grinned as he saw her soaking in the tub.
"Happy?" he asked.
"Beyond," she moaned happily. "I'd forgotten what quiet sounded like."
"I'm fetching dinner. I'll be back in 20 minutes. You ok here?"
"I doubt I will have moved a muscle by then. But you can put my phone and wand in here if it would make you feel better."
"You know me so well," he said as he popped back to the bedroom to fetch the items. Placing them on the ground by the bathtub he bent to kiss her mop of curls. "I'll lock everything up and be back soon."
"I love you, my hyper-vigilant husband."
He grinned and headed out. He didn't know if it was his background in the war, his years as an auror or simply being madly in love with his family, but he didn't think he would ever be able to leave them without worrying. He apparated to an alley near the Italian place, and stopped to pick up some wine at a nice local shop as well before fetching the food. Half an hour later he was back at the cottage. He placed all the food in the kitchen, nipped a few bites and headed upstairs. True to her words, Hermione had not so much as flinched since he left.
"It can't possibly have been 20 minutes yet," she said.
"Try 30," he laughed. "But don't rush. I've put warming charms on everything, so we can eat whenever we want."
"Is that why you smell like you already ate a loaf of garlic bread?"
"Possibly," he admitted. "But don't worry. I got extra."
"Ahh. Just what every romantic weekend away needs. Lots of garlic breath."
He laughed and bent down to exhale in her face making her squeal dramatically as she sunk further into the water and waved the air protesting his garlic smell.
"Yeah, yeah," he scoffed. "Complain now. I know you too well, my dear. Once you eat what I have downstairs you'll be putty in my garlic-covered hands."
"You can't know me that well if you think I love take-out pizza that much," she retorted. "Now, go on, get out of here. You and your stinky garlic breath are ruining my quiet bath."
He laughed and waggled his eyes at her before he left her to her soaking.
He sat on the couch and realized he had nothing he had to do. There was no meal to cook, no nappy to change, no work to do, no bottle to fix, no baby to calm, he didn't need a kip, and he was baffled at what to do with himself. He couldn't remember the last time he had simply sat and did nothing. He tried to just sit there for a moment, listening to the waves. But before long he found himself bored, so he rummaged around the room and found some old quidditch magazines, which he was still flipping through when Hermione came down the stairs with a dressing gown pulled snuggly around her.
"What did we do with our time before the babies?" he asked her earnestly, eliciting a hearty laugh from her.
"Let me refresh your memory, Mr. Weasley," she said seductively as she walked over to him, straddled his lap and kissed him deeply as she untied the dressing gown, revealing her naked body underneath.
He instantly felt his body react as he groaned, moving his hands over her bare arse and hips. "Oh, now I think I remember," he mumbled. "But maybe you should show me just in case."
"I've heard it's like riding a bike," she whispered as she sucked on his left ear.
"What the hell does that mean?" he laughed.
"Muggle phrase. Never mind," she giggled. "You're distracting me."
"Isn't that the point," he growled as he pulled his shirt over his head.
Ron awoke the next morning to the sound of waves, his wife's soft breathing and the sunlight filling the room. He grinned thinking of the night before. They'd shagged, eaten, shagged again and then collapsed into bed for the best night's sleep either of them had had since the twins arrived. She stirred against his chest, tickling his bare skin with her mane of curls. As content as he was with his gorgeous wife in his arms, he couldn't help but wonder how Hazel and Ryan were doing – not to mention how Harry and Ginny were holding up. He knew Hazel was fussy in the morning if she didn't get fed before her brother, and he was hoping they'd remembered and fed her first.
Hermione yawned as she woke up, smiling against his chest. "Good morning," she grinned.
"It is a good morning."
"Did you sleep as well as I did?" she asked, stretching her way into the day.
"Well, I think so. I just now woke up. And it felt bloody fantastic."
"Me too," she smiled. "But you can't stop thinking about them."
"How did you know that?" he asked. "But, yeah. I'm hoping they remembered to feed Hazel first or they'll all regret it later."
"I'm sure they'll figure it out the same way we did."
"How are you so calm?"
"Hmm?"
"I mean, am I just neurotic?"
"No," she laughed, "you are not neurotic. But, I don't know. I just have a peace about it I suppose. Even before we knew they existed, they were somehow ok in the worst possible situation. So, now that they are loved by us and temporarily being cared for by Harry and Ginny who are experienced parents, loving family members and oh by the way he is head of the auror department – yeah. I'm thinking Hazel and Ryan are probably just fine."
Ron chuckled.
"What?" she protested.
"It's just I tried to talk you into this time away, and you didn't want to be gone two nights. And now that we are here, it seems I am the one who is the worry wort."
"Nah. You've just never parented an infant before. It's a whole different experience, isn't it?"
"It really is," he agreed. "I mean, I knew I was responsible the older kids and all. But, blimey, with them so small they can't eat or sleep or poop or sit up or even hold their heads up without us."
"Yeah. But, all in all they end up sleeping most of the time."
"Just never at the same time," Ron moaned.
Soon they were up, showered and had a lazy breakfast. It was drizzling outside, so they decided to apparate to some trails in Snowdonia, Wales, where it was supposed to be sunny that day. They planned to hike in the morning and then head back to the cottage for some lazy reading and eating in the afternoon. While sunny, it was still November in Wales, so it was cold and windy. But, they had layered up with wool jumpers and coats and hiked for a few hours. But, when their cheeks were numb from the wind, they decided to apparate back to the cottage to thaw out.
As they entered the warm cottage from the drizzle outside, Ron set up their picnic on the floor in front of the warm fire. They sat there and let their fingers thaw as their cheeks were bright red from the windburn and the warmth. They ate some sandwiches in front of the fire, and then feeling lazy after their long hike, Hermione lay down with her head in Ron's lap. He gently ran his fingers across her hair as she closed her eyes, humming in contentment. He was grateful they could still have this. They could sit here in comfortable silence together, simply sharing the moment – not making love, not parenting, not running the foundation, not dodging the paparazzi – just being together.
Finally, after a while, Hermione said, "I've missed this."
"Me too," he sighed as he tucked a curl behind her ear and ran his finger lightly across her eyebrows and cheeks.
"I mean, I don't regret the adoption for a second. But we have to figure out a way to maintain our sanity too. We'll never make it if we let ourselves get so worn down."
"I know. I mean I know we'll still have times we are frazzled, because let's face it, we have infant twins. But, we need to find a way to have them be a part of our family, not the axis on which our whole world spins."
"Well said."
"Well, I know the problem. But I don't really know a solution."
"I don't know. I think we've been pretty good and coming with solutions to other problems. We can do this."
"Yeah? How?"
"Ahh the devil is always in the details," she sighed, closing her eyes.
"I guess we don't have to figure it all out this weekend. Just going back well rested will help a lot."
"But it will only last a day or so. We need to figure something out."
"OK," he said, shifting into planning mode, "what is the first goal?"
"Sleep and sanity."
"Hmm. Bit vague. How about the goal is that we can each get 6-7 hours of sleep most nights."
"But they aren't old enough to sleep that long yet. Their tummies are just too small to hold enough food to last that long yet."
"Well, there are two of us, and they will be big enough soon right?"
"Could be another month or two."
"But what if you and I went to bed in shifts? One goes to bed earlier, say maybe 9 or 10 and the other stays up and feeds them at like midnight. Then the one who went to bed early feeds them at 3 or whatever time they are awake, and then the next one is at 7. We can switch back and forth for a month or so, and then really stick to schedules a month from now. And, I know my parents say George and Fred never slept at the same time, but I think we should just insist. We'll wake them up to feed them, and as soon as they are old enough we'll let them cry it out until they are on schedule."
"That's mighty big talk for someone who can hardly let one of them cry now."
"Well, we'll force me to adjust too."
Hermione sighed, "Rose was so easy compared to these two."
"Well, yeah, but there are two parents this time. Still the same ratio."
She rolled her eyes.
"OK. So, the sleep thing will suck for another month or so. But we will be ok after that. I just know it. What about the rest of our lives though? We need to have a plan to still do our jobs and still take care of Rose and Hugo, not to mention your magic studies and our other friends."
She thought for a while and eventually said, "Honestly, Ron, I am not sure we can do all of it. I know money isn't the issue, obviously, but I don't want nannies to raise our children."
"Oh, Merlin – not a chance. But I am not willing to give up quite yet."
"Alright, so what is your big idea then?"
"I think we have to prioritize, compromise and juggle. A lot."
She didn't say anything, so he kept talking. "I mean, realistically, we are looking at the next eleven years – but really in two chunks. We have now until they start primary school and then that time until they go to Hogwarts."
"At which point you know we could very well be grandparents, right?"
"WHAT?"
"In eleven years Hugo will be 22, and Rose will be 24. And everyone in the magical world seems to have children young. So it is at the very least a possibility."
"No way. They can't even date until they're 30."
"Uh huh. But, don't get distracted, you were talking about compromise, I believe," she said smugly.
"You are not a nice person at times. It's a good think I love you, you know?"
"MmHmm," she hummed.
"Alright, where was I? Oh yeah – the next 5-6 years. I think I should look at backing out of one of my jobs. At least for now."
"Really?"
He shrugged. "I'm trying to be realistic. And I know I'll never get another chance like this, you know?"
"Alright," she said slowly. "Which one?"
"Well, I think maybe I could find someone to transfer the Hogwarts program to someone else. It might take some extra work in the short run, but I think in the long run it would work out. I really want to stick with the Auror Academy, though. I am committed to seeing this idea of the aurors learning from folks like Matthew Coppedge. And I think it will simply take time and persistence. And I don't want to give up the shop. Feels like a family commitment, and I really do enjoy it. But, I could figure out how to do more of it from home."
"Hugo did give us that office…"
"Yeah. And that would be great for when I balance the books or review contracts and such. I don't need to go in for that."
"I suppose I could look at bringing on a few more people at the foundation than we had planned to start with. And I could probably do more from home than I have been doing."
"And I would bet that we could set up something where our parents each take a day a week, so that would only leave three days where we would need to piecemeal."
She was silent after that, but the creases near her eyes and the way she chewed her bottom left lip let Ron know she was pondering a problem.
"What is it?" he finally asked.
"Well," she said slowly, "I was thinking about Haiti."
"Ok…" he said, not following the problem.
"Well, we'd talked about going quarterly and staying very involved, at least until things get established. But, how are we going to do that?"
"We take the twins."
"Take them where?"
"To Haiti."
"Take them with us?"
"Yeah," he shrugged. "I mean, they do have babies in Haiti, right? We might need to bring someone with us to help wrangle them if there is a lot we need to be doing. But, I don't see why not."
"Can you picture us with them in that guest house with some other poor volunteers? That would be awful! And we'll have to schlep them up and down those steep mountains."
"Well, see, this is where I think money can solve at least part of the problem. So we buy some fancy hiking-with-babies-backpacks or something. And, as for the guest house, let's pay local people to build a decent place near the guest house and clinic. It can be our home base when we are there. It would need to be big enough for the six of us, but obviously I think it could be sparse yet comfortable for us. We wouldn't bother everyone else with our two screaming angels, and then we could let the nuns or the clinic use it when we weren't there."
"Um – we could still eat with the nuns, right? Because I can do a lot, but I am not ready to start plucking chickens before dinner."
"Oh we would absolutely eat with the nuns," he laughed, trying to picture Hermione cooking that way.
"And you'd feel safe with the kids traveling there? I mean, there were some seriously sketchy roads there."
"Well, I guess the way I look at it is we can hire a driver in a more secure car. And, at least have magic on our side. Now, I know we can't let any of them know about magic, but if it was a question of any of the kids' or your safety, then I wouldn't hesitate for a second."
She paused, trying to picture it. "Well, I guess we could give it a shot. At the very worst we'd employ local folks to build an extra building near the clinic and guest house that we could give them if we end up doing it once and deciding it's a total disaster."
"Brilliant!"
"But you'd be ok giving up Hogwarts?"
Sighing, he ran his hand over his jaw considering her question. "Honestly, I would miss it. But maybe I could find someone else in the auror department or at the Academy to run the weekly program and I could be involved more peripherally. Let's face it – I like having a legitimate excuse to go up there and see our kids and to poke around and know what they and their friends are up to. And, you know – make sure we aren't grandparents before we are empty nesters. Again."
"Lovely," she laughed.
"Do you really think you'd have to give it up? I know how you love it."
He shrugged. "I do love it. But not as much as I love my family. I am sure I can find ways to insert myself up there from time to time. Maybe I'll just hand over the day to day stuff to someone else and I'll go up a few times a month. I know it will work out. Don't you think?"
She smiled again. "You know, somehow I think everything works out when you are involved."
"Almost like magic," he teased as he wagged his eyebrows at her.
Stifling her giggles, she said, "Yes. Quite. But, let's promise to forgive each other for whatever we do wrong in the next six sleep deprived weeks. It will be hard, but I think – well I know I need to stop trying to do it all. I like your idea of trading off the sleeping stuff. While I don't love sleeping and waking in opposite shifts, I think it's quite clever and could really work since its only 6 weeks."
"You know what else we should do?" Ron said, clearly still pondering the unnamed idea in his mind. "Well, you know how sometimes they just cry 'cause they want to be held at night? I think we should let them sorta, well, just like use them against each other."
"I do believe you've lost me."
"Well, instead of us getting up to be a warm body to sooth them, let's let them do that for each other. Let's get rid of the second bassinet and second crib for now. Just throw 'em in there together and let them snuggle up to each other. Then they can soothe each other and we sleep more. Maybe. Hopefully."
"Or they wake each other up."
"Yeah, but then we feed 'em both at once and go back to sleep. I think it could work."
"Hmm," she said as she considered this. "I'll tell you what. Let me just look up the recommendations and be sure there isn't anything about keeping them in separate sleeping spaces. If there is no safety danger we haven't thought of, then yeah, let's try it."
They sat a while just watching the crackling fire as Ron played with a wayward curl. Hermione finally got up and got an old quilt, and they curled up together on the sofa watching the flames.
"How do you think it will go when the kids come home in a few weeks?" Ron asked quietly.
"Good but weird, I think," Hermione admitted.
"Yeah, I mean they have only been together for like an hour. And then suddenly the worlds collide."
"Not to mention the stress of the holidays themselves."
"Well, your mum handles most of Christmas Eve. And my mum does Christmas afternoon. So, theoretically all we have to do is make sure there are presents under the tree."
"Theoretically. And then there's New Year's Eve. I would really like to do our Noon Year's Eve party again with Mrs. Carrington and Mrs. Eldwin. Everyone had so much fun. And then the Potters, well Rose and Hugo would be so disappointed if we don't do that again. And then we have Fatima and Matthew's wedding a few days after that and then the kids go back to school. It's really a lot in less than a fortnight."
"But you're forgetting one of the best part," he grinned. "That's just over six weeks away, which means they'll be sleeping longer by then, and we can whip them into the new world order of the 'Mummy and Daddy Must Sleep' schedule."
She laughed again, "Oh yes – that is absolutely what I want for Christmas."
"But, yeah. It's a lot," he admitted, his tone softening. "But we'll not only handle it, we'll love it. It's their first Christmas. It's Rose and Hugo's first real time to get to know their little brother and sister. And they will be really helpful when they're home."
"You don't think they will feel overlooked or ignored or something?"
"Hermione, seriously? It's a bloody good thing they are twins because that way Rose and Hugo won't fight about who gets to hold the baby. There is one for each! It will be fine. Hectic, but fine."
She nodded, burrowing deeper under the blanket and into his arms. Eventually he could hear her breathing getting slower and more relaxed.
"Hermione, love, come on. Let's go to bed. It's our last full night of sleep 'til Christmas. Let's not spend it on the couch."
She nodded sleepily and began to get up as Ron put out the lights and fire. They made their way upstairs and were soon snuggled into their bed.
"I love you," she whispered as he spooned up behind her. He kissed the top of her head, and was soon asleep.
