Chapter 2: Jockeying for Position
"Are you sure you're OK with this?" Harry asked Ron, as they left Auror Headquarters and joined the throng clogging the Ministry Atrium at the end of the work day. Hermione had been nursing Lily once a day for the past week-and-a-half, and she and Harry were already thinking about amping up the dosage to twice daily.
"Of course. And it's not like we have a choice, do we? Lily needs to eat, or she'll die, and Merlin knows you need someone to be the calming force in your house. She's Ginny almost all over, but that is pretty damn obviously your personality!"
Harry smirked. "How do you mean?"
"I mean you're a placid little git, except at the dinner table. Picky, picky, picky!"
"Hey, at least I ate whatever Hermione put in front of me in the tent! You'd never shut up about how your Mum could conjure good cooking out of thin air! Who was being picky then?"
Ron pointedly didn't answer, as he spied his wife jostling towards them through the crowd near the lifts.
"Hi," Hermione sighed, kissing Ron's lips gently, then a buzz on the cheek for Harry. "Still OK for us to stop at your place, Harry?"
"Course. Gin usually beats me home from the Prophet; she should be starting to get supper on the table for the boys. Follow me." And they headed for the lifts.
Albus was banging around in his high chair as the Golden Trio entered the Potter residence, and 3-year-old James was badgering his mother with questions.
"Hey, little bugger!" Ron ruffled his older nephew's hair, then pecked his sister's cheek over by the stove. "Don't bother setting a place for us, Gin, 'Mione and I will just be in and out."
"Oh," Ginny turned away from the stove to see Harry and Hermione behind her. "Right. Feeding time." She waved a hand. "Well. Get on with it, then."
Harry frowned hard, and Hermione took a sudden interest in whatever make-believe game Albus was playing. When the silence dragged on, Harry cleared his throat.
"She's... in the nursery, then?"
"Mm-hmm." Ginny didn't even turn around this time, resolutely stirring the pot of soup. Harry gave a jerk of his head to his best friend's wife. "Follow me."
Harry and Hermione proceeded up the stairs, and entered the nursery. Cooing could be heard from the crib.
"Just waking up from her nap. Perfect timing!" Harry made a mental note to keep a closer eye out for the baby monitor. Ginny had promised to have it on her at all times, even when she was at work. Though Audrey had been admirable in agreeing to baby-sit, which reminded him to talk Percy round into paying her for her trouble.
Hermione glided over to the crib. "Hi, Lily Bear," she crooned. "Are you hungry? Auntie's here..." She grunted a little as she picked the baby girl up, and Lily already turned into her with a curious ease. Within seconds, she was feasting.
Harry leaned against the door frame, silently observing. Hermione's back was to him, though she had already expressed to him that she didn't care if he saw her.
"You're practically my baby sister," Harry had waved away, feeling more awkward than he ever had in his life. "I care, all right?"
It took several minutes, but finally Lily had drunken her fill. Hermione lowered her niece back into the crib. "There we go..." she sighed, pulling up the blanket on the already-sleeping baby and kissing her forehead. There was something in the whites of her eyes, Harry spotted in that moment, a kind of... longing. Wistful sadness. Hermione glided towards him, and he pecked her cheek.
"You're the best, sis."
"Ron and I are trying for another baby." Hermione blurted it out, with no pretense.
Harry blinked rapidly once, then again. "Already? But Hugo was only born in April!"
It was the wrong thing to say, for to his great distress, Hermione suddenly began to cry. "I want to be pregnant again!" she whimpered. "I want Ron to look at me like I'm the most beautiful witch ever..."
Harry nervously chuckled. "Ron always thinks you're the most beautiful witch ever!" She didn't take the bait, which only concerned him more. He could always get her to laugh. He had even succeeded once during those miserable winter weeks on the Hunt, when it had just been the two of them in the tent and they had both been so lonely, pining for and missing their significant others. Many years later, Hermione had once confided in her surrogate brother how she had already felt married to Ron in her heart, even then. Harry had to admit that, when it came to Ginny, he had felt the same.
A sudden thought struck him. Call it being related to a doctor, but Harry had discovered in himself an inherent knack for medically getting a read on people. Dudley notwithstanding, it hadn't been too long ago that he had discovered his mother had been a Healer, early on in his parents' marriage, before they'd had him. He now gripped Hermione by the shoulders.
"'Mione... are you... depressed? You know, post-partum?"
Tellingly, she refused to look at him. "I'm fine..."
"Don't you dare lie to me." The words were forceful, even if the tone was not.
She looked at him, lip quivering, tears back in her eyes. "Ron knows," she admitted at last. "He's been brilliant, so understanding... please, don't say anything!" she begged of him. "We don't want to worry the family, and a baby might still happen!"
Harry had several things he'd like to say on the matter, but he kept his mouth shut. Hermione's second pregnancy hadn't been smooth sailing, and the birth was touch-and-go. Harry had sat vigil in St. Mungo's all night, long after the rest of the Weasleys had left, refusing to be kicked out beyond visiting hours and even threatening to hex anyone who dared try. At one point, it had been an open question whether Hermione would survive the childbirth. Remembering how Rose had been an almost ridiculously easy baby hadn't helped things.
"I'm not trying to take advantage of you, nursing Lily..." Hermione was rambling.
"Stop," Harry shook his head.
"But I offered..."
"And I accepted. Believe me, you're doing us a favor. I've been staying up most nights going over documents, and I've read some things that are... encouraging." He kissed her forehead. "I'm bloody thrilled you and Ron are trying for another baby. Just... please be careful, little sister." He couldn't stress it enough. Harry knew that if Ron lost Hermione, he, Harry, in turn would lose Ron. His brother-in-law had already gone through the agony of having Hermione taken away from him once long ago, and this second time more recent. Ron Weasley refused to ride that gauntlet again. But he also wanted to do everything in his power to make his wife happy. If that meant going for broke and becoming pregnant with a third baby, he'd take that risk. But Harry also knew that, in a scenario where Ron would have to choose between his wife and his baby, he'd choose his wife, hands down, no contest. Ron loved Hermione that much.
Hermione hugged him. "I will." She kissed his cheek, then blew another kiss in Lily's direction. Harry watched her as she descended the landing, called to Ron, and the tell-tale crack of them Disapparating could be heard.
