Disclaimer: I still don't own a thing. I don't own the the characters, the plot, or the magic. If I had a mind as creative as that then I wouldn't be wasting my time writing fanfictions.

Author's Note: What plot? Well, yes, it is rather plot-less. Please forgive that. It is, however, full of Potter/Weasley family fluff. Thank you all who have reviewed the first one-shot. I was surprised by how many people actually enjoy reading Next Gen fanfics! If you want to see something in particular, I am always open for ideas. Please keep your lovely feedback coming! I hope you enjoy.

MORE THAN A BARGAIN

The great advantage of living in a large family is that early lesson of life's essential unfairness.

"Ron, please, I'm begging you! I'll do anything you want, I swear it! Just please, please, please, do this one thing for me?"

Harry had resorted to pleading with his long time best friend, his one year old son clinging firmly around his neck.

"Gin's been a mess this whole week and I need to get her out of the house, before the second one comes along! It's just for a few hours, Ron. And Hermione will be home soon!"

Ronald Weasley shook his head adamantly, absolutely refusing to baby sit the little horror that he called his nephew, even if it was for only a few hours.

"But Ron, it's for the good of your own sister! Don't you care about her well-being?"

"Of course I do, but I wasn't the one who decided to shack up and have a couple of children! Uh uh, no way Harry. That little creation was of your doing, your responsibility!"

Ron loved James, honest and truly. He wouldn't have taken on the duty of godfather if he hadn't. However, there had to be a line drawn somewhere, and babysitting his nephew on a Friday evening was simply out of the question. Besides, Fridays were date nights for him and Hermione. He didn't want James mucking that up for him!

"If you ever have children, I'll watch them everyday for a year!" Harry cringed at how desperate his voice sounded to his own ears.

"Harry, mate, I love you and your terror of a son, but me and Hermione have plans…" Ron finished lamely, knowing himself that Harry could justly counter that.

"Ron, you know Hermione won't mind! She's always offering to baby sit!"

Groaning, Ron passed a hand over his face, rubbing it viciously before squeezing his eyes tight. His friend could be quite persistent when he wanted to be. Ron didn't think he had much of a choice but to take care of his nephew for the night. It was either that, or listen to his friend beg and plead for the next four hours, which was anything but attractive.

"Fine, Harry. But you owe me one, you hear me?"

Harry beamed at Ron, shifting his son from his body to Ron's arms in a well practiced gentle motion. He ran a hand over James' back and kissed his baby son on the top of his head before turning back to the fireplace he had previously entered from.

"Thanks Ron! James, you be good for your Uncle Ron, okay? Don't give him too much of a hard time."

Harry grabbed a handful of powder, stepped into the fireplace, and disappeared with a whirl of fiery colors.

Ron looked at his nephew and rearranged him in his arms, hoping he was holding him right. While the youngest Weasley male had many nieces and nephews, he didn't have a child of his own. Not that he was planning on having a little one run around the house any time soon. He wasn't exactly a natural when it came to children. When they cried, Ron had no idea what they wanted. When they got cranky, he had no idea how to soothe them. Babies were an enigma poor Ronald Weasley had yet to figure out.

At the sudden disappearance of his father, little James started wailing. He extended one of his short, stubby arms towards the fireplace, his bottom lip quivering madly. Ron looked at his youngest nephew for a moment in horror, wondering what he could do to placate him. If only Hermione had been here with him, she would immediately know what to do. It was no wonder why she was a favorite among the aunts.

"Da Da!" James clenched and unclenched his little fist rapidly, as if he could reach out to Harry and pull him back from the great depths of beyond the fireplace.

"Mate, Daddy's gone for a bit. He'll be back soon," Ron tried to make his voice sound soothing and tender, but it came out more rough than he had intended.

The only words James had managed to make out were Daddy and gone, as he began sobbing even louder into his Uncle's shirt.

"Little buddy, don't cry," Ron tried, bouncing James up and down steadily. He moved from the living room into the playroom Hermione had insisted on making. The playpen inside was filled with all sorts of toys Hermione had picked up, right after Victoire had been born.

Reaching down, Ron grabbed a stuffed lion and wiggled it in front of James' face. At first, the small boy quieted, watching his uncle's antics with interest. When James realized that all Ron was doing was showing him the toy, he began crying again.

"Dada!" James' loud screech made Ron cringe as he quickly through the toy lion back into the playpen.

"You sure have a good set of lungs on you," Ron muttered under his breath, his eyes rolling as he thought about how pleasurable it would be to kill Harry when he came back.

James pout grew considerably and Ron was ready to cry himself. He tried to think back on his childhood, trying to remember what his Mum used to do when Ginny was distraught. All he could remember was Mum patting her on the head and setting her down with toys after her tears had dried. It really provided no help to poor Ron.

"Okay, how about we get you some food?"

Ron carried James into the kitchen and searched for something suitable for a one year old. Could one year olds even eat real food? Didn't they need some special mashed mush? A line of worry formed on his face as he looked in the refrigerator. He found nothing that wouldn't be a chocking hazard to his nephew. His eyes searched the counters, and landed on a bunch of bananas. Aha! He could mash the bananas into little bite sized pieces.

"Want a banana, James?" Ron looked hopeful at the little boy, who followed his uncle's gaze. Much to Ron's relief, the little bugger ceased his crying and gave him a watery smile.

"That's a boy!"

Ron wasted no time in mashing the banana. James eagerly stuffed piece after piece in his mouth, until he shook his head, signaling he wanted no more.

"You take after your Uncle Ron, don't you, Jamie?" Ron asked with a brilliant grin. "You're all about that food, right mate?" He pat his nephew's stomach as James let out a giggle.

Now that James had stopped crying, Ron wondered what he should do with him. He had no idea how he was supposed to go about entertaining a one year old. What did they even like to do? Ron had seen Ginny read to him multiple times, although Ron was sure that he understood none of what his mother was saying. He even witnessed Harry levitating a toy broom, before spelling it to whiz around the room. But what was he going to do to entertain poor James?

James started wiggling around in Ron's arms, trying to free himself from his uncle's clutch. Clearly he wanted to get down and explore his new surroundings! Without giving it better thought, Ron carefully set James on the ground in a sitting position, watching with slight amazement as his nephew maneuvered himself on his hands and knees.

Ron was in such a state of shock, witnessing his nephew crawling for the first time, that he froze. He didn't realize that James was headed straight to his study, crawling as fast as his small limbs would take him, until a loud thud rang through the house.

"Merlin…"

Quickly Ron followed the noise, and stood before his momentarily stunned nephew, laying with books strewn around him on the floor from a wobbly table. James looked at Ron when he came in, and, after seeing the concern on Uncle Ron's face, burst into tiny sobs. He held out a small finger in Ron's direction as his cries increased.

"Boo-Boo!"

Ron scooped up the tiny boy in his arms before examining the slightly red appendage. It didn't appear that anything was drastically wrong with him, other than a minor scrape and a bit of a shock. Still, he imagined it must have been a bit terrifying for a one year old boy, to be attacked by an avalanche of decent sized books.

"James, you shouldn't have gone into Uncle Ron's study!" Ron scolded lightly, although his heart wasn't in it, seeing James in discomfort.

Remembering what his own mum would do when he got hurt as a child, Ron brought the finger up to his lips and gently kissed it.

"All better," he said, as James stared at him in awe. Slowly, a smile crept onto James' face and the last cries from his injury died away.

Ron thought that perhaps he should have bandaged the cut, or put some disinfectant on it. At the very least, Ron thought he should perform some sort of first aid. But James simply wrapped his arms around Ron's neck and sighed happily. Ron certainly didn't want to shine attention on the 'boo boo' again, now that it seemed James had moved on. Besides, he didn't think he had any bandages small enough for James' finger. They would all swallow him whole, and it would surely make the damage look far worse than it was. Harry would probably take one look at his son and think Ron tried to kill him or something.

Ron carried James into the playroom once again, figuring it was probably the safest place in the house for a child to be. Since he had no kids of his own, the house was filled with breakables and things far too dangerous for children to get a hold of. Usually when they were babysitting, Hermione would take care of that. She would hurriedly roam the house, taking down anything that could be dangerous to her nieces and nephews. Ron was lousy about thinking ahead like that. He should have shut the study door before James had a chance to go in there and get hurt.

After they were safely inside the playroom, Ron shut the door tightly behind him. He didn't want James to hurry off somewhere and end up getting hurt again. He placed the little boy on the floor and smiled at him, as he brought over little figurines in the forms of Quidditch players. Lining them up in front of his nephew, he pet the boys head before nodding in approval.

"You're going to be just like your Daddy and Uncle Ron, huh, mate?" Ron asked gleefully, his face beaming at the mere thought of another Potter on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Because, of course, the little rugrat would be sorted into Gryffindor like his father and mother.

Smiling with pride as James picked up the Quidditch players, Ron watched him whirl them through the air. He listened to James make nonsensical noises, ones that only a baby could get away with making. James would make a brilliant Quidditch player. He would have to talk to Harry, to make sure he bought his son a broom as soon as the boy was able to fly.

Eventually, the happy noises and the playing stopped, as James crawled over to Uncle Ron and extended his arms. Ron obliged in picking him up, and sat James on his lap. He watched as James yawned widely, fighting the urge to yawn himself. Taking care of a child was positively exhausting! How on earth could people do it every single day?!

"How about I read to you, Squirt," Ron suggested, walking them into the living room and picking up one of Hermione's favorite children's books.

James rested his head against Ron's chest, as one of his thumbs wormed their way into his mouth. He shut his eyes as the soothing rumble of Uncle Ron's voice lulled him to sleep. As soon as Ron was sure James was sleeping, he put the book down and tightened his hold on the sleeping form on his lap. He rested his head against the couch cushions and took a deep breath, soon finding himself in a deep sleep as well.

When Hermione came home an hour later, she found her husband with her nephew sound asleep, a sight so endearing, she could have cried. A smile touched her lips, as she walked over to them and sat beside the two. One of her hands touched James cheek softly, as her lips connected with Ron's cheek.

Hermione's touch instantly woke Ron up, and he lovingly smiled at his wife.

"Hi," he said, shifting himself the best he could, without disturbing James.

"Hey. I see you did a fine job taking care of James by yourself today," she praised him, letting the proud leak into her voice.

"Well, uh, yeah…"

"That's really fabulous Ron. So, so great."

"Erm, I guess…"

"It shows how good you are with children, you know?"

Ron looked at her skeptically, raising an eyebrow in slight concern. What was his wife babbling about?

"It wasn't hard, Hermione… Not really, anyway."

"I'm so happy to hear that, Ronald."

"Uh… Yeah?"

"Yes. Because I just found out that you're going to be a Daddy." Hermione beamed at Ron, as her husband wore a decidedly sick look on his face.

"A…A Dad? Bloody hell!"

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Tell me if you hate it, or if you liked it. A simple acknowledgment would be amazing!

xo Mur