Birthday
September 2011
"Excuse me," Ron said, scooting past a few officials in the second row of the audience at the Ministry. He wiped at his mouth, trying to make sure none of his sandwich was left there as he ate it on the way from his office. "Sorry, sorry," he muttered as Hector Fowler, Head of Magical Law Enforcement, stood and pointed his wand at the microphone to turn it on. He cleared his throat to get the attention of everyone in the area.
Ron settled into his chair, leaning back and crossing his leg over his knee. He looked up at the row of officials sitting behind the podium, Hermione to the far right, her feet crossed at her ankles, combing back the fringe she was growing out with her fingers. She caught Ron's eye and gave a small grin. Ron winked back.
"After years of tireless effort from Mrs. Granger, the relations between wizards and other magical beings are stronger than they have been in well over a century. Her appointment to the Wizengamot council and new position in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement will continue to make our community strong and unified," Fowler said.
There was applause from the crowd, filled with Ministry workers and members of the press. Most of the heads of the departments were up on the stage, including Harry a few seats down from Hermione. She stood, rolling her shoulders back how she always did when getting ready to speak. She smiled wide as she met Fowler in the center of the stage, shaking his hand and giving a polite kiss on the cheek before taking her place at the podium.
"Thank you, Mr. Fowler," Hermione started. "It is an honor to be considered for these dynamic and important roles within our Ministry system. Justice has never been an easily navigated endeavor. It takes persistence, principle, and a deep questioning of one's own role in the process…"
Hermione continued and Ron listened, concentrating word by word, filled with pride at the humble, gracious speech, though he had heard it half a dozen times the past week. He noticed she switched around the sections discussing muggle relations and the work that must continue with other magical creatures and communities to find the best solutions to their place in the world. It worked well, Ron thought.
As she finished, there was another smattering of applause and some public relations person made some closing remarks and the crowds stood, chatter breaking out all over the room. Ron pushed his way through, making it up to the platform and stepping up behind Hermione as she was speaking with the Head of the Department of Transportation.
"I would certainly be happy to meet with you on that," Hermione said. Ron put his hand on the small of her back and she looked over, smiling, then turned back to the woman. "Send me an owl and we'll schedule a meeting soon."
"Lovely," the department head said. "Mr. Granger," she added with a nod.
"Yeah, good to…" he didn't finish as she wandered off.
"You made it," Hermione said. "They had a spot up with me for you at the last minute, but you weren't here yet."
"Oh, well I had paperwork I was trying to finish up. If I'd known—"
"It's alright," Hermione waved it off. She did it with that whispy little hand gesture that meant this would come up again. Not right away, but at some point. It could be one of her points in an argument when Ron was running late. Or it might just be including in a smaller remark, like the next time there was a conference like this when she would remind him to be earlier after what happened today, but it would certainly come up again.
"You switched some of those bits around," Ron said.
"Yeah, Harry was looking it over for me and thought it was a better order," Hermione said. "Funny how you can look at things a million times and not catch something like that."
"Yeah," Ron said. "Well, it really was nice."
"Mrs. Granger?" a reporter called from across the stage. Hermione raised a finger and turned back to Ron.
"I'm sorry, I have to get through all of this," Hermione said. She placed a hand around Ron's neck and he kept one on her waist. "Can you pick up the kids? This may be longer than I thought."
"Rose was really looking forward—"
"I know, I know," Hermione said. "Just… I'll take her out this weekend. Mother-daughter date to make up. I just needed to check that you can get away and—"
"Yeah, yeah I can get away," Ron said. "I better go turn everything in and I'll get Rose and Hugo."
"Thank you," Hermione said. She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. "Oh, and can you make sure their bathed and ready for when we need to leave for the show?"
"They'll be ready, I'll be ready," Ron said.
"And can you double check with Harry that it's alright to take them tonight? And let me know right away if they can't, because I can—"
"I'll take care of it," Ron cut her off. "You just get everything done so we can have a nice night with your parents for your birthday."
"Alright," Hermione said. She gave him one more peck on the lips, then turned around to the crowd of people vying for her attention.
Ron stuck a hand in his pocket and scratched the back of his head with the other. He turned and walked down the steps. He noticed Harry off to the side, others from the top tiers of the Ministry chatting with him. No one stopped Ron or asked for a moment of his time as he walked out of the conference room, heading to the lift to get back to work.
He sat, writing out a long report. Harry had asked for it that morning. It should have been done three days before, but Ron was endlessly behind on his paperwork. It was the worst part of the job. He concentrated, looking at his watch and writing out sticky notes for other things to get to when this was done: check in with McGovern's wife about what she knew concerning her husband's activities before he attacked that muggle pub… see that all the paperwork was in with the dance studio so Rose could start up ballet with her classmates… look into the missing persons files to see if there were any similar incidences to Tor Flander's disappearance.
Ron was almost done with the report when Harry popped into his cubicle.
"Hey, Ron," Harry said, leaning back on his desk. "Got that report done?"
"Just about," he replied. "I'll get it to you, then I have to go get Rose and Hugo, if that's okay. And Hermione wanted to check that the kids can still come for a sleepover with their cousins."
"Yeah, Ginny's got something planned for that, but I thought Hermione was picking them up on Fridays?" Harry asked.
"She was," Ron said. "With everything going on today, she wasn't sure she'd be off in time and—"
"Eh, it's fine," Harry said, waving off the rest of what Ron had to say. "Just see if you can't figure out something later."
Ron knew that Harry was really doing him a favor by holding him to the same standard as everyone else. The water cooler talk was about how Harry let Ron get away with more than the rest of them often enough that Ron simply nodded, though he didn't know what to do to make sure this didn't happen. He took the kids each morning, so coming early wasn't really possible, and he had been against hiring a nanny. Hermione had suggested it for a few days a week, but Ron didn't like the idea of them being with others most of each day, no matter how good a caretaker they found. Not when he had been raised around family, his mum taking care of everyone all day growing up.
When Hermione wanted to start Rose in a muggle preschool, Ron had been hesitant. Then Hermione wanted to enroll Rose into a muggle private school for primary education. It was a top academy and Ron wasn't sure how he felt about it, but Hermione insisted that the school would give the children a strong academic background and Rose, like Hermione, was so smart, Ron couldn't help but think Hermione must be right on it. Of course, there was all he had to do to figure out the muggle side of things. They each got cell phones, so the school and parents and teachers could contact them. Hermione had figured out how to make them work in the Ministry building. Ron's was still a bit fuzzy when he got a call at work, but it happened infrequently enough to not bother him too much.
Then there was preparing Rose and Hugo for dealing with their muggle classmates. When Rose was four and in preschool, she tried to tell another student about how her parents did magic.
"That's just make believe," the other child claimed.
"It is not!" Rose insisted.
In the process, the other child somehow ended up on the roof of the playground, screaming until one of the teachers let him down. The adults wrote off Rose's story as a figment of her imagination, but talked to Ron when he came to pick her up about how she had somehow convinced this other child to climb up the pole to the top and how difficult it had been to get him down again.
"We will speak with Rose tonight," Ron promised.
When they talked with Rose, they told her about how that was a secret part of her being there, her own little special thing she knew. She was to tell anyone that asked that her mum was a barrister and her dad was a military strategist. They were better prepared for the conversation with Hugo.
Ron picked Hugo up first.
"Dad!" Hugo shouted, running away from a group of his friends and jumped up and into his arms.
"Miss me?" Ron asked with a large smile. Hugo nodded enthusiastically with his big brown eyes. After having Rose, Ron had a hard time imagining what having a boy might be like, but Hugo could make Ron laugh harder than almost anything else. He was four, talkative and bouncy, and always trying to put on a show. "What did you do today?" Ron added, grabbing Hugo's backpack and helping him put it on.
"Christopher H. was Ironman, Devin was Captain America, and I was Hulk," Hugo said. He stopped and did an impression, growling and flexing muscles. Ron didn't have a clue who any of them were, but laughed. "Missy wanted to be Spiderman, but she had to be Black Widow because she's a girl."
"Hey now," Ron said, opening the door to the preschool, leading Hugo out by the hand. "Who are you to tell her what she can't be?"
"Spiderman, Dad," Hugo emphasized.
"You let Missy play whoever she wants, just like the rest of you, you understand?" Ron said.
"Yes, Dad," Hugo said, exasperated. He launched into telling Ron about the projects and assignments his class had done, the letter of the day, and singing the days of the week song for Ron as he lifted Hugo on his shoulders and walked towards Rose's school, waiting at the gate with the gathering mums, nannies, and (there were a handful) other dads.
"Hey," Hugo squeaked, mid-thought. "Where's Rose?"
"She'll be out in a mo," Ron replied.
When all the students came pouring out of the school, Ron started to look, seeing Rose exit between two clumps of giggling girls. She smiled, looked around a bit more, and her smile fell. Hugo was waving his hands like a maniac atop Ron's shoulders.
"Where's Mum?" Rose asked. "She was supposed to come today."
"Mum was caught up with work meetings," Ron said. Rose humphed. "What am I, chopped liver?"
"No," Rose said, still with a heavy dejection in her voice.
"Mum said she'll take you out this weekend. Just you two," Ron said.
"Hey! What about me?" Hugo asked. "What am I, chopped liver?"
"Yes," Ron replied to him. "And I was planning chopped liver for dinner."
Hugo laughed emphatically, but Rose's frown didn't budge.
"What is it?" Ron asked.
"Our projects were on the board, but Miss Ford said she's taking it down this weekend," Rose explained. "I wanted to show Mum."
"Well, let's go in and see it," Ron suggested, taking Rose's hand and letting her lead the way through the school hallways. Ron signed in at the front and followed as Rose became more and more bubbly.
"We had to write about what we want to be when we grow up," Rose explained. "And Miss Ford wrote on mine 'very inspiring.'"
They came to a board with a blue background and a crimped golden border, papers pinned all over, at various angles and with the names written across the top of each page. At the age of six, Rose was one of the more meticulous students, her name written beautifully. Rose had growled in frustration with practice pages she had begged from her teacher the year before. Hermione sat with her and Rose worked at it over and over until her name looked perfect. Other students' were hardly legible, but every word on Rose's was clear.
When I grow up, I want to write about history. I want to write books that my mum can read and will love as much as all her other books.
Above was a picture of two stick figures, the first at a desk, bent over with a quill in hand, the other sitting in a chair, legs hanging over the arm the same way Hermione sat while reading at home, with a book as large as its body back on its lap.
"That is wonderful!" Ron said. "Your mum is going to love this!"
"I wanted her to see it up on the board," Rose said with a sigh.
"Well, there's a camera on this thing, right?" Ron asked, pulling out the barely used phone from his back pocket. "Do you know where…"
He opened it up and had Rose show him which buttons to push until he had it lined up and got a picture. He had to do it three times before it wasn't blurry and everything was clear to read. Rose was laughing at him each step of the way.
"Hi there, Rose," someone behind them said.
Ron turned around and Rose waved happily at the woman in the doorway of the classroom across from them.
"You must be Mr. Weasley," she said. "My name is Miss Ford. Rose's teacher."
"Oh, right," Ron said. "The new one."
There had been a different teacher at the beginning of the year who had to take a sudden leave of absence. Letters had gone out to all the parents, but neither Ron or Hermione had been able to come down to meet her in person just yet. She was on the young side, fresh out of a University program, and energetic. She wore a pale pink lipstick and just a little mascara, but seemed pretty natural otherwise. Ron held out his hand and she took it.
"Pleasure to meet you. Rose hasn't stopped talking about you," Ron said.
"Same," Miss Ford said. "She certainly thinks the world of you. Rose has told me what a comedian you are."
Rose half hid behind Ron, holding his hand tightly in a please-don't-embarrass-me stance. Ron squeezed her hand in his.
"Dad humor, I'm afraid," Ron said. "I've got a few more years before they catch on that not as much a laugh as they think."
"What am I, chopped liver?" Hugo said from Ron's shoulders.
Miss Ford laughed, looking up at him. "You must be Rose's brother."
"The one and only," Hugo said.
"Hugo," Rose said behind gritted teeth.
"What a nice family you have," Miss Ford said to Rose. Rose tucked herself farther behind Ron.
"What do you say when someone says something nice to you?" Ron prodded.
"Thank you," Rose said quietly.
Miss Ford smiled wide. "You're quite welcome," she replied, then turned back to Ron. "Your daughter is a pleasure to have in class. I look forward to meeting Rose's Mum. Will we see both of you at the parent-teacher night in a few weeks?"
"I believe so, yes," Ron said.
"Great! We'll see you Monday, Rose. Have a lovely weekend."
"You, too," Rose said.
Miss Ford turned and went back into her classroom, shutting the door behind her. Rose came out from behind Ron and they made their way out of the school and walked home.
Rose put up her backpack and played school with Hugo until he'd had enough of being the student, then he went off to play with his toys as Rose grabbed some paper and started to write. Ron dug through the refrigerator, pulling out leftovers to make a modge podge meal.
"Are we poor, Dad?" Rose asked, tilting her head.
"What?" Ron asked. "No, what gives you that idea?"
"Everyone else at school has their own phone," Rose said. "Katie said it's because you and Mum are poor and that I must be on a scholarship program to be at the school."
"Your mum and I only have phones because you're at a muggle school," Ron explained, grabbing a stack of plates and laying them out. Hugo got the biggest one, because for the last few months he refused to eat any food if it had touched another food. "Wizards and witches don't use telephones."
"But everyone has one," Rose said.
"Just because everyone else has something, doesn't mean you need one, too," Ron said.
"Katie said that it's weird we don't have a car, too."
"Maybe Katie needs to shut her big fat mouth," Ron said.
"Daddy," Rose said, obviously frustrated that he wasn't getting the point.
"We might get a car someday," Ron said. "But we don't need it. Besides, if Katie saw how your dad drove, she would understand why we don't have a car."
Rose smiled at this, rolling her eyes and turning back to whatever story she was writing. Ron dished up various bits of the past week's dinner onto the two plates, placing one in front of Rose and calling for Hugo to come downstairs.
"The sandwich is touching the lettuce!" Hugo exclaimed, the green edge of one bit of salad touching the crust of the bread.
Ron picked up the sandwich, took a large bite, then ate the leaf of lettuce, placing the rest clearly apart.
"Dad," Hugo groaned as Rose giggled.
Hermione walked up to the ministry's owlry with a half dozen letters to send off. She had some idea of the day's agenda, but the approach of several ministry members that were unexpected had lengthened the amount of time at the meeting as well as the press conference afterwards. Fowler was sure the attention would slow quickly. Had she simply moved departments, it wouldn't have mattered. The appointment to the Wizengamot brought in a very different discussion, particularly because she was so young. Most members of the Wizengamot were assigned after twenty to twenty-five years of service in the legal system and Hermione had been in an underappreciated department for just ten before being approached by Shaklebolt and Fowler about moving to the larger department under which she was situated and inducted a member of the prestigious council.
Hermione beamed the day she went home to tell Ron the month before. They talked about scheduling and the assignments that would come up. The flexibility Ron had as an Auror helped, as he could go in on weekends or bring some of the paperwork home to finish up if it was absolutely necessary.
"We can always hire a nanny," Hermione said. "We will have plenty extra with the promotion."
"No, we don't need to do that," Ron had argued immediately. "We're their parents, we can handle it."
"Ron, there's nothing wrong with getting a nanny."
"Look, if my mum could juggle seven children—twelve if you count Fred and George—we can manage two," Ron said, pouring them each a glass of wine.
Hermione stopped arguing at that point, biting back a comment about how neither of them was his mother. She adored Molly, but that wasn't the point. One of Hermione's favorite people growing up was the part time nanny her parents hired to pick her up from school and watch her when she was in primary school. She was like the older sister Hermione had once wished she had, but Ron wouldn't hear it and hadn't when she'd brought it up in the past.
Once the owls were all sent, Hermione rushed to the apparition hall.
"Mrs. Granger, can I—"
"Not today, Fiona," she said. "Put it on my desk or leave me a note."
"Yes, Mrs. Granger."
Hermione apparated into their living room. "Ron?" she called out. She moved towards the stairs. "Rose, sweetheart? Hugo?"
"I took them to Harry and Ginny's," Ron said.
"Did you remember to pack—"
"Hugo's elephant, yes," he said. "And Rose's eye drops. You do know I'm their dad, right?"
"I was slightly aware," Hermione said, changing course towards the master bedroom. "Can we be ready soon? I'd like to go by and at least give them a hug and kiss before dinner, if I can."
"I'm ready," Ron said. "I've been ready."
Hermione went into the room, taking off her work robes and finding a dress that would be suitable for dinner and the theater with her parents. She laid out the dress and went into the bathroom. Ron followed, leaning against the door jamb, a hand in his suit pocket.
"Rose had been hoping you would have been able to see her assignment on the board when you picked her up today," Ron said.
"Oh, well, maybe I'll see if I can pick them up Monday."
"Miss Ford is taking it down after the weekend," Ron replied. He pulled out his phone. "I got a picture of it, though. Let me see if I can figure out where in this thing—"
"I'll look at it later," Hermione said. "Right now, we need to get ready, Ron."
"I am ready," he said.
Hermione grabbed a brush and started running it through her hair, trying to pull it up and back, taking pins and putting them in place. She grabbed a little makeup next, hurrying to put on some mascara and a little lipstick.
"You should have seen Hugo and Lily when I was dropping the kids off. Hugo ran over and hugged her tight and said you're my best friend." Ron chuckled at the story. "Teddy was there, too. He wanted to show something off to you—"
"I get it, I should have gotten off work sooner," Hermione said. She saw Ron's reflection stiffen in the doorway, his brow furrow. "I was trying to get out, but everyone was pulling me every which way today, Ron. It just couldn't be helped."
"I was just saying—"
"You always do this," Hermione said. "Every time work demands just a little more from me, you start laying it on thick."
"I'm not laying anything on!" Ron shouted back. "I just thought you'd like to hear about how your children's afternoon was!"
"Can I just get ready first?" Hermione demanded. "Please? Ten minutes, Ron, that's all I need."
"Fine," Ron said, throwing his hands in the air. "Fine."
He walked out of the room and Hermione let out a breath. Monday she would have to find some way to get off early. Ron could take them in the morning, so she could leave before it was light out, if she needed. If she read all her briefings Sunday, that should cut back on her to do list as well. She would ask Rose what she wanted to do this weekend and cut out a few hours somewhere. That would make it up to Rose.
Hermione finished her makeup, checked the pins in her hair to be certain they would stay, and got the dress most of the way on before heading to the living room. Ron was sitting in an arm chair, his foot bouncing over his knee as she came out. She shouldn't have yelled at him.
"Can you help me zip this up the rest of the way?" she asked gently.
Ron pushed himself to his feet, stepping over as she turned around. He lifted the zipper to the top and Hermione turned back to him as he traced her waist beneath his hands. She reached up to his lapel of his jacket, straightening it out, even though it already looked nice.
"It's been a long day," Hermione said quietly.
Ron pulled her into him, leaning down and kissing her deeply. "Well, let's go enjoy your birthday dinner and the show, okay?"
Hermione nodded, worrying her bottom lip as she took a deep breath. The faster she could settle into these new positions, the better.
"Think we have time for you to see Rose and Hugo?" Ron asked. Hermione looked at her watch.
"Yes, I think we can do that."
Ron never felt like he had much to contribute when the Grangers all got together. Hermione's parents were pleasant and always tried to include them, but even with what he had to know for the kids with cell phones and movies, it barely scratched the surface of what there was to understand about muggles.
It was when they started sharing stories about Rose and Hugo that Ron finally pulled out the phone, telling the story about what Rose had shown him. Hermione had to help him find the photos and she looked equally touched and upset by what Rose had written.
"Make sure you put that on the refrigerator when her teacher sends it home," Hermione said.
"Of course," Ron said with a grin.
The show was better. The Grangers had bought the tickets to The Wizard of Oz as Hermione's birthday present, telling Ron about how she had watched the movie endlessly as a child. The longer they were in the theater, the more Hermione visibly relaxed. By intermission, she was leaning against him. Ron put one arm around her, reaching for her hand with his other. They stood outside the theater with Hermione's parents talking for a little longer at the end.
"You should bring the children by soon for dinner," Mrs. Granger said.
"We will," Hermione replied, giving her a large hug. "Maybe next weekend?"
"Next weekend Charlie's in town," Ron reminded her. "What about the week after that? Saturday?"
"We'll put it on the calendar," Mr. Granger replied. "Although don't be surprised if Valerie drops in to see them before that."
"You're welcome anytime," Hermione said, hugging him as well. They gave Ron a hug each as well and hailed a cab as Hermione and Ron went to an alley to apparate home.
They got to their bedroom and Hermione went to the bathroom, looking in the mirror as she removed her earrings. Ron stepped up behind her, undoing the clasp of the necklace. She caught it as he traced his fingers down her shoulders, moving the straps and pressing his lips down her neck. She tipped her head to the side and Ron pulled down her zipper, the dress slipping from her as Hermione turned to face him, hands on his chest. She let the dress fall but as Ron leaned in she pulled back.
"It's been a really long day," Hermione whispered.
Ron looked down at her, wondering when every day had turned into a long day. He nodded, but held onto her a little longer. "I know," he said. "We are kid free, though. We can have a lie in tomorrow."
Hermione helped pull Ron's jacket off, but hung her wrists on his shoulders as they swayed back and forth for several minutes. Hermione closed her eyes and leaned into him, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat as he continued to hold her. He kissed the top of her head, some of her hair coming loose after their whole night out.
"I'll take you and the kids out for cake on Monday to celebrate your actual birthday," Ron said. Hermione nodded and sighed.
The moment was over. She turned back around, washing her face as Ron undressed, throwing on his flannel pajamas and a plain white shirt and crawled into the bed as Hermione continued her own ritual. He laid on his back, hands tucked behind his head.
Five years before, she would have crawled in beside him, head against his shoulder and an arm wrapped around his waist. She would have reached up and kissed him, which may or may not have lead to other things, but they would have been close and tight and falling asleep in each other's arms.
But it wasn't five years ago. It was now.
Hermione adjusted the covers, turned to the lamp on her nightstand and turned it off. She curled up facing away from Ron and he just watched the profile of her body as he could see it.
"Goodnight," Ron said.
"Goodnight," Hermione replied.
