Disclaimer: JK Rowlings world.

A/N: This is the last chapter and takes place a few years after Ron and Hermione's wedding. Thanks to everyone who has Read and Reviewed.

Chapter 6

New Beginnings

Harry and Ron came in from the Garden and entered The Burrow's kitchen where Hermione and Mrs. Weasley were flicking their wands lazily making various utensils chop and grate the Christmas feast that they were preparing. Ginny, who was four months pregnant with her and Harry's second child, was making her horse Patronus race around the kitchen for the amusement of their first child, James, who was now eighteen months old. Upon seeing his father, James toddled over to him with his arms outstretched, wanting to be picked up. Harry obliged, leaning over and kissing Ginny in the process.

"That smells so good!" Ron exclaimed, lifting the lid off of the bubbling stew pot and inhaling deeply the smell of the food. At that moment, Hermione's hand flew up to her mouth and she sprinted from the kitchen.

"Uh oh." Said Ron, watching his wife exit the kitchen with concern etched across his face.

"Oh dear, is she alright?" asked Molly, looking at the kitchen door.

"She hasn't been feeling well all week. I keep telling her to go see a Healer at St. Mungo's, but you know how stubborn she is. She's working too much, that's what I keep telling her." Ron replied shaking his head.

Harry nodded in agreement. He often met up with Hermione for lunch as they both worked at the Ministry, and he had noticed that Hermione was looking rather tired as of late. In fact, she had canceled their lunch the previous day because she was feeling too poorly to eat.

With his mother's help, Ron prepared a ginger and peppermint tea to help soothe Hermione's stomach. She returned from the bathroom a few minutes later, looking pale and clammy. She sat down at the table with the tea and Ron stood behind her, rubbing her shoulders. Harry noticed that Ginny had fallen quiet and was looking at Hermione curiously.

Mrs. Weasley spent the next few minutes feeling Hermione's head and asking if she wanted to go lie down.

"I'm alright Molly, really. I've just got a little flu or something. I'll go to St. Mungo's directly after the holiday." Hermione assured her.

Mrs. Weasley looked skeptical but recognized that there was little else she could do.

"Well then," she said, "Dinner's cooking nicely so I think I'll go sit with Arthur for a little bit. Celestina Warbock is giving her Christmas concert in a few minutes. Hermione, dear, you just sit there and rest. If anything needs to be done, the boys will do it, won't you?" Mrs. Weasly said, turning to Harry and Ron with a note of warning in her voice.

They both nodded enthusiastically.

"Here, let me take my Grandson for a bit." said Mrs. Weasley, smiling and holding out her arms to a beaming James.

When the kitchen door swung shut behind Mrs. Weasley, Ginny turned her attention back to Hermione.

"How long have you been feeling like this?" She asked.

"Oh, I don't know…a week or two." Hermione said, leaning her head back on Ron's abdomen and taking a sip of tea.

"You're working too much Hermione, I'm telling you." Ron said sternly, looking to Harry and Ginny for support. Much to his dismay, Ginny shook her head.

"No, I don't think that's it." She said, smiling furtively at Hermione and Ron. Harry looked at his wife with the same confused expression as his friends. "I think you're pregnant, Hermione."

Harry gasped, Ron let out a loud guffaw and Hermione chuckled. "No… no that's just not…"

But she stopped mid sentence and looked up at Ron with wide eyes.

"You don't think…" Ron started turning very white, looking away from his wife and at Harry who was now grinning as slyly as Ginny.

"I don't know Hermione," Harry said smiling at the pair of shocked expressions on their faces. "You do seem to be feeling a lot like Ginny was feeling her first few weeks." Ginny nodded her head in agreement and got up from her chair. She began rummaging around in the cabinet where her mother kept potions ingredients. She lit a fire beneath a small cauldron on the stove and began adding pinches and dashes of various herbs.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked, watching his sister boiling up a sweet smelling concoction. Hermione sat there silently, looking quite in shock, a small smile on her lips.

"Well, you want to find out don't you?" Ginny said, stirring the contents of the Cauldron in a slow, methodical motion.

"Now?" Hermione said, speaking for the first time in quite a few minutes.

Ginny laughed, poured some potion into a teacup and handed it to Hermione. Harry looked from Ron, who was becoming steadily more glassy-eyed, to Hermione, whose hand was shaking slightly as she sipped the contents of the teacup, and smiled. Ron and Hermione had sure come a long way since bickering back at Hogwarts.

Hermione finished the potion and looked at Ginny expectantly.

"Are you ready?" Ginny asked, Hermione nodded.

The occupants of the kitchen fell silent as Ginny raised her wand, pointed it at Hermione's stomach, and uttered "fetusum revelio". Harry recognized this as the same spell Mrs. Weasley had performed upon Ginny when they suspected she was pregnant with their first child.

At first, nothing happened and Harry could have sworn he saw a look of disappointment cross Ron's face. Then, he heard Hermione let out a gasp as the end of Ginny's wand started to glow a vibrant pink. Ginny smiled in a satisfied way.

"Well, it's a girl." Ginny said softly, looking at Hermione whose eyes had filled to the brim with tears.

Harry heard a loud gasp and a crash next to him. Ron had fainted and hit the ground hard. Ginny laughed, Hermione rushed to her husband's side and helped Harry lift him back on his feet.

"A…a baby?" He stuttered, coming back to his senses. He looked at Hermione who was wearing the largest smile Harry had ever seen. "We're gonna have… a baby? A girl? Blimey!" Hermione laughed and embraced him.

At that moment, Mrs. Weasley came bounding into the kitchen, Arthur just behind her, holding James.

"What was that? I thought I heard a crash!" She looked at Ron and Hermione who were still wrapped in an embrace and then at Harry and Ginny, who were both smiling. Comprehension flooded Molly's face.

"Hermione...are you... can you be!?!" Molly asked, her hands fleeting up to her heart. Hermione and Ron nodded in unison.

"A girl." Ron said, his voice thick with emotion.

Molly ran over to her son and his wife and embraced them both, sobbing joyously onto their shoulders. Arthur handed James to Ginny and joined the celebration.

"A grand-daughter!" He grinned.

"Oh Harry," Hermione cried, breaking away from the Weasleys and turning her attention to where Ginny and Harry were standing with James in their arms. "They'll be best friends, just like you and I!"

Trying to keep his emotions in check, Harry embraced Hermione and Ron in turn.

"Congratulations you guys! It's about damn time." He said, clapping Ron hard on the back.

Laughter echoed through the Burrow for the remainder of the night.

The End