Epilogue
A/N: I'm REALLY SORRY. I really wanted to do like a couple more chapters of this story, you know, outlining what happens and Ginny's pregnancy and such, but I'm finding it hard and slow to write out that because I'm in the middle of outlining the plot for the sequel! So the sequel will be up in about two days (and I have a great title for it!), but here is a really sucky plotless ending. Soooo sorry, but this was taking too long to focus on but I didn't want to leave the story hanging…So the first chapter of the sequel will be up in about 1-2 days, so no one has to review this or anything because I already know this is NOT my best writing by any means. But if I'm on your author alert or you see my story list…the sequel will be up shortly!
Ron walked through the living room to where Hermione sat on the couch. Baby Rose was in her arms, and she was cooing softly. Ron sat on the edge of the couch and brushed her hair out of her eyes. Hermione smiled up at him.
"How was work?"
"Fine, I guess. I missed you two." Ron was getting used to saying "two." He liked the sound of it.
"We missed you too." Hermione shhhh'd Rose as the baby let out a tiny cry.
"What's wrong? What does she want?" Ron demanded anxiously.
"Calm down Ron, she's just tired. I'll put her in for a nap." Hermione kissed Ron's cheek as she stood up, cradling Rose.
"Wait—I'll take her. You rest yourself. You've been working too hard, I reckon. You'll go mental."
"Yes, because after three weeks of being locked up in my own house by my own husband, taking care of my child will be the thing to drive me crazy," said Hermione sarcastically.
Ron looked down, embarrassed. He still felt very bad about that. "C'mon, Mione, I'll take Rosie." The two of them were already nicknaming her. "You rest or something."
"I'll go with 'or something'. I don't feel like resting."
Ron took her face in his hands. "Hermione, you have to rest. It's healthy. I'm putting Rose in for a nap, and you lie down or take a nap yourself."
She sighed. "Fine." She unloaded the tiny baby into her husband's arms. In Hermione's thin arms, Rose always look perfectly sized but in Ron's beefed-up arms she looked abnormally small. "Just remember that the blankets in the bassinet have to be fluffed and—"
"I know, I know!" Ron carried the baby upstairs carefully.
After rushing around and barely sleeping for the past week since the birth, Hermione found it difficult, almost wrong, to relax. She lay down on the couch, rolling around, trying to get comfortable. She wasn't happy with the idea of resting while there was work to be done. Truth be told, she didn't 100% trust Ron with baby duty. She didn't trust his parenting instincts and she didn't trust his overlarge feet.
Upstairs, Ron was laying Rosie down in her bassinet. He kneeled beside it as he watched his daughter quietly drift off into a peaceful slumber. He smiled to himself. He felt something around Rosie that he had only ever felt around Hermione; protectiveness. He knew he would never let anything hurt his little girl.
It was dark outside the window when Hermione opened her eyes. The moon shone down on her face and she blinked blearily. She wasn't on the couch anymore; she was in her bedroom. She flipped herself over to the other side. It must not have been that late; Ron was reading by light of his wand.
"Since when do you read?" She mumbled sleepily.
Ron jumped. "Hermione! I didn't know you were awake."
She yawned. "I just woke up. What happened?"
"I put Rosie in for a nap and found you asleep on the couch. It seems even Super-Mothers need their rest. It only took you three minutes!"
"Damn, I really shouldn't have fallen asleep! What time is it?"
"'Round midnight, I think. I carried you up here a little while ago. Bloody passed out, you were." Said Ron.
Hermione wiggled closer to him, pulling the blankets up to her chin. Resting her head on his shoulder, he put an arm around her, squeezing her for warmth. "Mmm." She sighed happily.
They lay there for a few minutes in complete silence, just enjoying each other and the peaceful silence.
"WAHHHH!" The silence was shattered by a cry from the room over. The couple groaned.
"I got it." Said Hermione, climbing out of bed. Ron beat her to it.
"No way. You still need to rest. Go back to sleep, I'll take care of her." He gently pushed Hermione back into bed and left the room before she could say another word.
The next morning, Hermione woke up late. The sun blinded her momentarily as she reached over to wake up Ron. Her hand hit empty air and pillow. Sitting up fast, she realized that her husband wasn't in bed. Climbing out quickly, she raced downstairs. Nowhere to be found.
"Ron!" She called. "Ronald!"
Dashing upstairs, she caught sight of a head of red hair in Rosie's room. Tiptoeing in, she giggled when she took in the image in front of her.
Ron had obviously fallen asleep while trying to calm Rose down. His head flopped over the bassinet and he was snoring so loudly that Hermione didn't know how Rose slept through it.
"Wake up, sleepyhead." She sat down next to him and nudged his shoulder.
"Wha—h—I—" Ron woke up with a start.
"You fell asleep last night when you were putting Rosie to sleep again. I think we're both exhausted, to be honest."
Ron groaned and his head flopped back down again.
"My point exactly!" She smacked him. "Get up, Ron, you're going to wake up Rosie!"
Ron almost sleepwalked out of the room and down the stairs. Hermione kept a wary eye on him, suspecting that as soon as her back was turned he'd fall back asleep on the couch. Sure enough, as soon as they were downstairs he fell on the couch and started snoring.
Hermione let out an "arghhh!" sound in the back of her throat, but decided to let him rest. Better him wide awake a little later than dead on his feet right now.
But four hours later, after Hermione had already gone running, fed Rosie, cleaned Rosie, cooked lunch, burped Rosie, and put Rosie for a nap, she was tired of Ron's laziness. Grabbing a skillet off the stove, she marched over and hit him over the head. Ron yelled and sat up, rubbing his head which now sported a large red bump. He let out a string of curse words, ending with "What the bloody hell, Hermione?"
She couldn't help herself; she giggled. He didn't seem to find it as funny, but waved his wand, vanishing the bump and diminishing the pain. "What the hell?" He repeated, still rubbing his head.
She shrugged. "You've been sleeping too long and there's work to be done. Figured you should wake up with a bang."
"And hitting me with a frying pan was the only thing you could think of?" he muttered. Hermione didn't hear him.
"Hermione," Ron started a little later in the day, "I was thinking—"
"Well, that's a surprise on its own, isn't it?"
He scowled. "Maybe we could have Mum take care of Rosie for the night? It would give us some time to relax and be alone with just each other, and you know Mum would be overjoyed."
Hermione actually considered this. "I don't know…it's only been a week. She'll think I'm inadequate to—"
"Don't say that! You know she's thought very highly of you after, y'know, you helped defeat Voldemort."
"But you know she still thinks a little badly of me trekking across the countryside for nine months all alone with two boys."
"But she'll jump at the chance to take care of another baby. Especially a girl. She only had one daughter, remember?"
Hermione smiled. "Fine. But you ask her, not me. And if she says yes, I think that'll be great!"
Of course Ron was right. Molly Weasley would never pass up a chance to babysit a baby girl. Now that all her kids were grown, she lived through her grandchildren.
Hermione was a little bit of every emotion as she dressed for the evening. She was giddy with excitement at having some alone time with Ron, but a little anxious about being away from Rose. She selected a simple pink dress and tied her hair in an elegant knot. She knew they were just spending time at home but she still wanted to look nice. Her perfectionist instincts often came out at times like these.
"You look fantastic." Ron whispered in her ear when she walked downstairs.
"Thank you, Ron." She beamed.
The dinner Hermione had prepared was delicious, or so Ron said. Then again, he thought nearly everything was delicious. After the meal, Hermione whispered. "Come here, I want to show you something." She led him out to the sprawling backyard.
"I don't see anything different." Ron noted.
"No, nothing's different…just come here." She took his hand and pulled him down to the ground, where she lay down beside him. "Look at the stars."
Ron looked up. In the cool fall air, the stars shone brightly.
"I love you, Ron." Said Hermione suddenly. She curled towards Ron on the grass, pressing her body against his. Pulling her up against him, he kissed her softly.
"Hermione, do you think we're going to have more children?"
"We are not going to talk about that."