So...I know it's shorter than my other H/R one shots...but I'm ok with it. I needed to write something other than my Quidditch Cup Challenge fic because my head is just muddled with it. I needed to write something that I wanted to write. I hope you enjoy it!

"I cannot believe we're doing this."

"Hermione, if you don't want to -"

"No, we'll do it, if it will make you feel more comfortable."

Ron stood behind Hermione and squeezed her shoulders. While he'd been able to scale back on the raids he went on at work, some of the missions involved still involved him manning the command center at the Ministry, as he was often the orchestrator of the mission tactics. "It's not just about me," Ron said. "I think it'll make you feel better too. Especially when I have to be at the Ministry all night."

Hermione bit her lip as the two of them stared at the puppies inside the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley. They'd been talking about getting a dog for awhile now, and a few months back, Hermione agreed that they could seriously consider getting a dog once they were done being occupied by the chaos that was Ginny and Harry's wedding. Hermione didn't expect Ron to bring up the dog the weekend following the wedding, but he did, and she was reminded that she made a promise. There were all sorts of puppies, staring back at them with their "pick me!" faces, and Hermione wasn't even sure how she would choose one out of the lot.

"We need a big dog," Ron said, looking at one of the descriptor tags. "What sort of dog was Fang again?"

"Hagrid's dog?" Hermione asked, slightly terrified. "It was a boarhound. Don't you think that's a bit excessive?"

"I want it to protect you," Ron emphasized. "We can't get some little yappy thing what won't bloody do anything except maybe bark itself to death." He moved from behind her, scanning the kennels and suddenly stopped. "Hey - this is a half boarhound half mastiff. I reckon that'll get plenty big." He unlatched the kennel door and pulled the small puppy out of the kennel. He was a reddish brown color with white spots on his paws that he would eventually grow into. "Look how cute he is, Hermione!"

Hermione bit her lip to stop herself from grinning. Ron had always wanted a dog, but the Burrow had seven kids, two adults, and absolutely no room for a dog. Ron always told Hermione that if he had a knut for every time his mother rattled off the reason as to why they couldn't have a dog, he would be as wealthy as a Malfoy. She reached out and scratched the puppy behind his ears as he leaned his little head up and licked Ron's chin. "He is sweet," she admitted. "But how big is big?"

"That puppy there, if you ever have children, could probably ride it like a small horse once it's full grown," a worker in the Magical Menagerie interjected. "Sorry," he added, holding his hands up as they turned their attention to the young kid wearing a blue work apron. "I didn't mean to butt in."

Hermione shook her head and smiled. "It's not a problem."

"It's just…not every day you find two war heroes in your shop," the shopkeeper added, a bit bashfully. "My name is Billy Michaels. I work here in the summertime."

"Ron Weasley," Ron said, shaking the kid's hand with a free hand as he kept a cuddle hold on the puppy.

"Hermione Granger," Hermione said, following Ron's lead. "And are you serious about this dog becoming the size of a small horse?"

Billy nodded. "A bit smaller than a Shetland pony, but if you're looking for a loyal and protective sort of dog, you've got a real winner right there."

Hermione didn't look convinced. "Fang was a gigantic baby, if I recall correctly."

Ron rolled his eyes. "He belonged to Hagrid and was practically the oldest dog on the planet when we were in school. He wasn't a big baby - he was just too tired to care."

Sighing, Hermione watched as the puppy had clearly taken a liking to Ron, and the feeling was clearly mutual as the puppy was now on his back, letting Ron scratch his soft belly. "If this dog gets to be the size of a small horse," Hermione said, looking at Billy. "Will it be safe for children to be around? We have a niece and two nephews and I don't want them to be trampled."

"Of course!" Billy exclaimed. "These dogs are very nurturing and like I said, big protectors. I have a dog like this in my house, and he's been with me since I was a little one and sometimes it acts like a mother - barking when my brothers and I were up to no good. If you train them properly, they'll be the best dogs you ever have."

Ron looked over at Hermione with pleading eyes. Knowing there wasn't any way they were leaving the shop without the dog, Hermione walked over to Ron and touched the puppy's soft paws. "This is the one you want."

"Yes," Ron whispered. "Please?"

Laughing, she gave him a nod and looked back over at Billy. "Show me what sorts of accessories we're going to need for this puppy?"

"Absolutely - right this way!"

"Dog!" Teddy plopped his three-year-old bum on the floor of the living room in Ron and Hermione's house a few weeks later, and the puppy clumsily galloped faster than his too big paws could carry him towards the small boy that would undoubtedly give him lots of affection. "Dog, Daddy! Dog!"

Harry nodded; laughing as Teddy giggled with every lick his new friend gave him. "I can't believe she let you get a dog," he said to Ron as the two sat on the couch. He and Ginny had just returned from their honeymoon, staying in the south of France for two weeks, then wine country in Italy for the other two. "What's his name?"

"Chudley," Ron boasted. He leaned over and pulled back on Chudley's orange collar a bit so that the puppy wouldn't lick Teddy to death. "Be easy, Chuds. He's just a little bloke."

Chudley appeared to understand his master's words, and curled up next to Teddy, laying his big head in Teddy's lap, much to the delight of Teddy as he gently pet his head. "Nice dog. Nice dog," he whispered repeatedly.

"I cannot believe Hermione caved on the dog," Harry repeated with a laugh. "And naming it Chudley too."

Ron smirked. "It took some convincing, but I can be persuasive when I want to be."

Harry grimaced. "Yeah, no offense, mate, but I don't want to hear how that works for you."

Ron's cheeks tinged red as he gave Harry a good shove in the arm. "Shut it, Harry."

Laughing, Harry fiddled with his wedding bang, spinning it on his ring finger with his thumb. He leaned forward and ruffled the top of Teddy's bright green hair and smiled. "I had no idea how much I was going to miss this guy when we were gone. At one point, I thought Ginny was going to leave and bring him back to me."

Teddy had become a pretty permanent fixture in Harry's life, and lived with him and Ginny half the time once Ginny finished up school at Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione of course helped out, babysitting when both their friends and Andromeda needed them two, and they both adored the little boy, but Teddy referred to Harry and Ginny as Daddy and Mummy. "I reckon if I was as close to Teddy as you are, I'd feel the same," Ron sympathized with Harry. "How's Andromeda doing?"

"Alright," Harry replied. "She's tired a lot…Teddy wears her out now that he's talking and running and no longer a baby. Ginny and I have been meaning to talk to her about Teddy living with us full time. Not because we don't think she can handle it, but because we'd like for her to enjoy being a grandmother."

"Makes sense," Ron agreed. "How do you think she'll take the suggestion?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. I was planning on having dinner with just her later this week to talk about it."

Ron nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

"Daddy?"

Harry looked over at Teddy and helped his son crawl up into his lap. "What, buddy?"

"I hungry," Teddy said, patting his belly for good measure. "Snack?"

Harry laughed. "We just ate lunch, buddy. How are you still hungry?"

"Please?" Teddy begged with a grin, his hair morphing from a bright green to Harry's shade of black. "Please Daddy?"

Ron stood up from the couch and scooped up his honorary nephew before Harry could answer. "Uncle Ron has ice cream in the kitchen. Do you want ice cream?"

Teddy pumped his little fists in the air. "Yes! Yes Unca Ron! Ice cream!"

"My wife is going to kill you if he doesn't go down for a n-a-p later," Harry warned with a chuckle, following the two while Chudley trotted behind them.

Ron scoffed. "If my sister wanted to stop me, then she shouldn't be hiding upstairs gossiping with Hermione. What are those two talking about, anyway?"

Harry shrugged. "After all these years, I don't ask questions when one of them violently grabs the other and drags them into another room. I just assume that I'll eventually be told."

"Do it again."

"You can't be serious."

"Just one more time, Hermione."

She looked at her friend as the two of them stood in the middle of the master bathroom, Ginny's hands on her bare hips as she stood there in nothing but her jeans and her bra. Sighing, Hermione pointed her wand at Ginny's belly button and muttered the spell again, watching without any sort of surprise as her lower abdomen glowed bright blue. "You're pregnant, Ginny."

Ginny sighed. "I know." She grabbed her shirt from the sink and threw it back on over her head and sat down on the edge of the bathtub. "I mean, we want kids, and we definitely want a sibling for Teddy, I just…I don't know. We decided I'd stop taking my potion. I just didn't think it'd happen so soon after the wedding."

Hermione wanted to tell her friend that by not taking her potion, she was asking to get pregnant, but suppressed the urge to give her a contraception lecture. "Are you worried about how Harry will take it?"

"Maybe, no, I don't know," Ginny rattled, her face in her hands. "I should probably go to a healer, but I don't even know how to go to one without it being in the bloody press."

"Well, maybe you can see my Muggle doctor," Hermione suggested. "I still see her when it comes to those parts of the body, and she's near my dad's dental clinic - which is nowhere near any sort of Ministry entrance."

Ginny looked up at Hermione, somewhat hopeful. "Would you go with me?"

"Me? What about Harry?"

"I mean, to just find out for sure," Ginny said.

Hermione grimaced. "I think Harry should go, Gin. Especially if you are pregnant…he wouldn't want to miss that."

Ginny sighed. "You're probably right."

Hermione leaned over and gave her best friend a supportive hug. When she stood back up, she could hear the jingle of Chudley's tags on his collar as he trotted into the bedroom. Popping her head out of the bathroom, she saw Chudley's face get excited as he galloped towards her, barking. "Shhh!" Hermione said, scooping up the puppy and walking back into the bathroom. "There's no need to bark."

Chudley licked Hermione's face.

"Or licking," Hermione minded her furry baby.

"Oh my Merlin, Hermione, he's so cute!" Ginny cooed. "I can't believe you let Ron get a dog!"

Hermione sighed, handing the puppy over to Ginny. "Yes well, you're brother can be…convincing…when he wants to be."

Ginny stifled a snort. "Nice. What's his name?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Chudley."

"Chudley!" Ginny exclaimed with a laugh. "Hermione, you realize that's the name he's always wanted to name a dog!" She stood up from the edge of the tub and gave Hermione a big hug, with the puppy in the middle. "Hermione…I just…I literally couldn't have picked a better person for my favorite brother." She let go of Hermione and gave Chudley a kiss on the nose before putting him down. "I mean, I know you know Ron's always wanted a dog, but I don't think you can really understand how much he wanted a dog."

Blushing, Hermione snapped at Chudley and he obediently followed the two women out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. Chudley hopped up the miniature steps Ron built for him and curled up next to Ginny as she sat on the end of the bed. Hermione sat down on the other side of Chudley, which he then took as an invitation to immediately get up and settle down in Hermione's lap. She feigned a sigh of irritation, but eventually crisscrossed her legs to be more accommodating to the pup. Despite her attempts at acting nonchalant about the newest member of her family, Hermione did enjoy having the company, especially when Ron worked late, and the two times he worked overnight since they bought him. "Silly Chudley," she softly murmured, scratching behind his ears.

Ginny looked over at Hermione and sighed. "Sometimes I wish I would have listened to you."

"Me?"

"You know…when you were on that whole kick about us being too young."

Hermione frowned slightly. "Ginny…any time you asked me that question, I replied as if it were me in your situation. You and I are two entirely different people."

"I know…I just…I don't know. I thought when the wedding was over I would stop feeling so overwhelmed, and now this, and we're getting ready to see if Andromeda will let us have Teddy all the time so she won't have the burden of being a parent and now…if I'm having a baby…I don't know, Hermione. Do you think we're still crazy?"

Hermione shrugged. "Are you happy?"

"Yes!" Ginny exclaimed with a fervent nod. "I've never been happier!"

"Well then what are you so worried about?" Hermione bluntly asked. "You know the moment you go downstairs and tell Harry you're pregnant he's going to be as happy as Ron was the day I said yes to this dog right here in my lap."

Ginny nodded, swiping away a stray tear from the corner of her eye. "I know he will be. I just…I guess I thought I'd been taking the potion for so long that it wouldn't have happened that quick. Then again…we did have a lot of sex on our honeymoon -"

"Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed, protectively placing her hands over Chudley's ears.

"What!" Ginny cried. "I mean, we are each other's best friend - we're going to eventually need to be able to talk about our sex lives."

Hermione vehemently shook her head. "No. No-no-no. No. Ron is your brother and Harry may as well be mine and there are just things I don't ever want to know about Harry."

"No, really," Ginny encouraged. "I can totally pretend that Ron isn't my brother. Go on. Try me."

She bit the inside of her cheek, and Chudley looked up at her, as if he too was waiting to see if she would give Ginny's suggestion a go. "Fine," Hermione said, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Sometimes, Ron, can do this thing with his tongue and his nose simultaneously -"

"Nope! Nope! I lied…nope, can't do it!" Ginny cut Hermione off, shaking her head vehemently, as if she'd witnessed a gruesome horror. "Don't say anymore."

Hermione clicked her tongue with a smug grin on her face. "Told you so."

"Yeah…yeah you did."

"Well it's about time you ladies joined the party," Ron said, a bite of ice cream dolloped onto his spoon as he leaned against the countertop as he held onto his bowl.

Teddy waved at Ginny and pointed at his bowl from his booster seat at the table. "Unca Ron has ice cream!"

"I see that," Ginny said, giving both Ron and Harry a look. "How much did you put in there?"

"One scoop," Ron said, crossing an 'x' over his heart with a swipe of his finger.

"And sprinkles!" Teddy cheered. "Yots of sprinkles!"

Ginny gave Ron a look, sighing when Ron responded with a mere shrug of the shoulders. "You know what happens when I don't have proper supervision," he said with a mouthful.

Hermione giggled, shuffling over towards Ron with Chudley right at her feet every step of the way. "May I have a bite?" she asked.

Ron gave her an uncertain look. "I don't know…there's a lot of sugar in here. Last I checked, my girlfriend wasn't a big fan of sweets."

"Just a little bite," Hermione said with a flutter of her eyelashes.

He carved a small bite from the half mountain that was still left in his bowl and fed it to Hermione. Chudley pawed at Ron's legs, standing up on his hind legs to see what he was missing. "You can't have a bite of this, Chuds," he said.

Hermione pecked Ron on the lips as a thank you and moved around him, reaching up for Chudley's treats in the cabinets. Pulling out a small, bone shaped biscuit; she knelt down to Chudley's level and gave him a serious look. "Sit."

Chudley promptly obeyed, looking as if he took his command quite seriously.

Grinning, she gave her puppy a treat and ruffled the fur on his head. "Good dog, Chudley. Good dog."

"Mummy? I have dog?"

Ginny, a wet paper town in hand, wiped off Teddy's ice cream covered face and cleaned up the rest of the mess with a wand. "Maybe someday," she said, picking him up out of his booster. "But for now you can play with Chudley, ok? Give me a kiss."

Teddy happily obliged, nuzzling his nose against her for good measure before she set him down to go scamper off after the dog. "I mished you, Mummy!" he called out to Ginny as he and Chudley ran into the living room.

Clapping a hand over her heart, Ginny felt herself getting overly emotional, which was noticed by both her over protective brother and her equally over protective husband. Hermione saw Ron moved to see what's wrong, but grabbed ahold of his upper arm, gently pulling him back. "It's ok," she mouthed.

Harry, looking rather worried, as his wife wasn't much of a crier, brushed her tears away with his thumbs as he cupped her face in his hands. "What's wrong, Gin?" he asked. "Why are you so upset?"

She shook her head no, pushing his hands away. "I'm not upset."

"No offense, Gin, but I beg to differ," Harry chuckled lightly. "Are you feeling sick? Do we need to leave? Because I can grab Teddy and -"

"I'm pregnant!" she blurted, clapping a hand over her mouth as if shoving the words back behind her lips were an option. "Damnit! I didn't mean to tell you like that. Bugger all to hell!"

Harry's face went from shock to pure elation in a matter of seconds, as he swung his arms around her middle and spun her around in the middle of the kitchen. "Oh wait!" he said, stopping suddenly. "I probably shouldn't swing you around - but are you serious? Are you really pregnant?"

Ginny bit her lips together for a moment, then spoke. "Hermione did the charm like, six times."

"Seven," Hermione corrected, her arms snugly wrapped around Ron's middle. "And you know I'm the best at charms."

Harry smirked. "Definitely better than me."

"And me," Ron agreed. "So if Hermione did it seven times, the next six times after the first was just really redundant, Ginny. You great big mental case."

Ginny grinned, laughing as she swiped more tears away. "Shove off, Ron."

"You shove off, you crazy bird," Ron retorted with a laugh. "And honestly - is that any sort of way to speak? You're going to be a mother now, after all."

"She's already a mother," Hermione said.

"She certainly is," Harry agreed, wrapping his wife up in another hug.