A/N: Thank you so much to daniiibabiii and Kermit 304 for their reviews on Chapter 11! :)

RxExR!

Pictures on a Wall

Chapter 12 - Miracles

"Mrs. Weasley." Lavender's voice sounded sort of choked and Ginny looked up from the magazine that she had been reading. So did her Mum from her position in front of the stove where she had just been taking a cake out of it.

"Lavender, what's wrong?" Her Mum sounded worried and when Lavender doubled over, holding her stomach, it became pretty clear as to what was happening.

"I think the baby's coming." She whispered, sounding pained as contractions wracked her body and her Mum ran forward, catching the other woman and letting her lean on her as her face twisted in pain.

"Ginny, get your father and then get Ron. Now!" She ordered her daughter and Ginny sprung up immediately, knowing that now was not a time to dally. Her dad was at the Ministry but Ron...Ron was staying with Hermione in France so she would have to floo over to her for a second time today and try to find where Ron was and then get him to St. Mungo's as fast as humanly possible.

There went her one free weekend in this month.

~.~.~.~.~

Hermione practically growled in annoyance as the floo roared to life once more. Couldn't she be left alone for just one hour this Sunday? Just one? When she got to the room where their floo fireplace was situated in, she was confronted with the sight of an exceedingly frantic Ginny. One who looked quite panicked if Hermione were to be honest.

"Gin, what's-" She began.

"Where's Ron?" Ginny interrupted her, looking around the room as if hoping to find her brother hiding behind an armchair.

"What?" Hermione felt slightly surprised by Ginny's suddenly quite demanding tone.

"Ron. Where is he?" Ginny asked again, this time looking even more antsy.

"He's with Draco and Pansy at the office in Paris. Why?" She asked, as Ginny already began marching back towards the fireplace.

"The baby's coming." Was the response she received and it clicked for Hermione. That was why Ginny was looking so nervous.

"Say, what're the office's address?" Ginny asked, now looking slightly sheepish as she stood in the fireplace, with a healthy amount of floo powder in her hand.

"I'll send a patronus to Draco to bring Ron and Pansy here and then I can come with you while he looks after the children. I think your brother's going to need all the support he can get." Hermione said decisively, knowing that the baby wasn't going to 'pop out' that quickly if Lavender's contractions had just begun. They still had a couple of hours. And anyway, even if she gave Ginny the address of the office, Ginny wouldn't know where to find Ron in the building and knowing her husband, they were probably in an area that one couldn't just walk into but needed some sort of access to it.

"Okay." Ginny nodded but now looked slightly lost as she still stood in the fireplace, not quite knowing what to do now that her task had essentially been taken care of.

Hermione sent off her patronus with a message to Draco and looked slightly amused when she turned back around and saw that Ginny was still standing in the fireplace.

"Why don't you come out of there?" She asked and Ginny shook herself out of her stupor. "Your mum's taken Lavender to St. Mungo's, right?"

"Yeah." Ginny nodded absently. "Was that a ferret?" She asked and Hermione knew that she was referring to her patronus.

"Yes." Hermione smiled and Ginny grinned, her face lighting up.

"I bet he hates that." She looked extraordinarily happy at that and Hermione chuckled.

"He did, but he's fine with it now. Just don't mention the fact that Crouch turned him into one in fourth year and you'll be fine. Considering that he has Crookshanks as his though, I think that he's given up on patronus' in general."

"He has Crookshanks as his patronus?" Ginny guffawed and Hermione grinned. Her attempts at distracting Ginny were working. The less the other girl thought about her impeding aunthood, the less likely she was going to panic (which she had obviously been about to do when she had arrived here) and the less likely it was that Ron was going to instantly panic even more than he probably already was when he arrived.

"Yeah. Crooks loved him and I think he loved him too, somewhere at the bottom of his heart. He just didn't appreciate Crooks jumping onto our bed in the morning." Hermione smiled and the fireplace roared to life, causing Ginny to jump slightly.

An exceedingly frazzled Ron tumbled out of it, followed by Pansy and then Draco.

"You're going too, aren't you?" Draco asked as soon as he stepped into the room and Hermione nodded. Her husband knew her so well.

"St. Mungo's?" Pansy asked Ginny at the same time and she replied in the affirmative.

Ron looked like he was about to be sick.

"Come on, let's get you there." Pansy said, who thankfully didn't look like she was panicking unlike Ron, and dragged him into the fireplace.

"Wait for me!" Ginny ran after them and flooed to St. Mungo's as soon as the two of them had vanished in a burst of green flames.

"I'll see you later." Draco kissed her briefly on the lips and she smiled before she took her jacket and handbag from their pegs next to the fireplace and took some floo powder into her hand.

"I'll call you should anything happen." He nodded and then the flames swallowed her too as she yelled out her destination.

~.~.~.~.~

The sight that met Pansy in the waiting room was one that she had admittedly expected, but which was overwhelming nonetheless. All of the Weasleys were there, including George and Bill, although their wives were absent. Even Charlie was there and Pansy saw Harry moving over towards them through the crowd of ginger heads.

"Ron." He greeted his best friend. "Pansy." He nodded at her with a slight smile that she returned. "How is he?" He pointed towards Ron with his head and Pansy saw that her boyfriend was looking slightly out of it.

"I think the fact that he's about to become a father is settling in." She replied, noting that Ron was now beginning to pull his hands through his hair in a very familiar nervous gesture.

"You mean that he's not realised it till now?" Harry asked, feeling slightly incredulous as he looked at his best friend.

"I think that he's known that he's about to become a father for months. I just don't think that it's really hit him until now." Pansy replied and she let Ron go as he walked up to his mother and began to frantically talk to her, his hands moving up and down in the air as he tried to explain something to her.

"Well, it is sort of surreal." Harry said softly and Pansy looked over at him, noticing that he looked wistful.

"It's not something that any of us expected." Pansy agreed, surprised that she and Harry were talking. While they had occasionally conversed during their last six months at Hogwarts, they hadn't talked that much and she had gotten the feeling that he sort of resented her for going to Japan and therefore giving Ron another reason to go as well. While Harry and Ron had reconciled and were now back to talking over the phone at least once a week, Pansy just knew that some part of Harry was still irrationally annoyed at her for 'stealing' away his best friend even if he wouldn't admit it.

Harry chuckled slightly. "A year ago I thought, 'Thank god it's over, maybe we'll finally have a good and calm year this year' but no. We get another year filled with drama, spells that mess up our lives and problems that just cannot be solved."

"You're Harry Potter, I think it's just part of your life." Pansy quipped and Harry looked at her in surprise before laughing.

"That's true." He grinned and Pansy smiled slightly.

"Ron's really caused you to thaw, hasn't he?" Harry asked a couple of minutes later, still standing next to her. He probably felt as out of place as she did in the masses of Weasleys pacing up and down as they waited for the child to arrive.

"Yeah." Pansy nodded, her eyes softening.

"Good." Harry smiled slightly lop-sidedly at her and she also smiled back, knowing that they had now reached some sort of truce, strange as it was. Oh well, at least it wasn't the strangest thing that had happened to her over the past few months.

"They do know that it's going to take a couple of hours, don't they?" Hermione asked as she joined the two of them. She had attempted to calm Ron down, and Mrs. Weasley too while she was at it, but neither of them were anywhere close to a state that one could refer to as 'calm'. Rather, it seemed as if her efforts had only served to make them even more nervous.

"I don't know." Pansy said and then looked at Hermione. "Wait, it takes a couple of hours?"

Hermione chuckled at the slight horror-stricken expression on Pansy's face. "Yes, it does."

"Hours?" Harry looked equally shell-shocked. "We have to wait for a couple of hours?"

"Yes." Hermione grinned at their reactions.

"How do you know?" Harry turned to her.

"Hello? Four kids?" She replied and his eyes widened.

"Blimey, I forgot that." He muttered and that made even Pansy laugh.

~.~.~.~.~

"How's he holding up?" Draco's voice asked as Hermione pressed her phone closer to her ear in order to hear him better over the noise of the hospital around her.

"I think he's okay now. At least, he's calmed down a bit after Harry managed to finally talk to him. Lavender's contractions are only a couple of minutes apart now, I think the baby will be here soon." She replied, looking over at Ron who, despite his pacing, was indeed looking a lot calmer. Pansy was sitting on a chair, watching him, yawning every so often while Harry had already nodded off.

"Well, it has been eight hours since her labour started and if she's going into active labour now, then it'll still be a couple of hours." Draco replied and Hermione heard Scorpius ask him something in the background.

"Yeah, I'd say at least another four or five hours, by which time Ron will probably have worn the floor out." Hermione responded. "And tell Scorpius 'hi' from me, will you?"

"Mummy says 'hi.'" She heard Draco say to their six year old son. "I'll be there to read you a story in a minute, go back to bed and I'll be there soon. I just need to tell your mother goodbye."

Hermione smiled softly as she listened.

"I guess I'll have to talk to you later then?"

"Yeah, he wants me to read him 'The Three Musketeers' again, he loves that story especially when he can't sleep. Why did you show it to him again? I swear I've read it at least twenty times in the last six months, I can probably recite it off by heart." Her husband grouched and Hermione chuckled slightly. It was eleven at night, he was entitled to be grouchy.

"Because it's a great story, with some absolutely great morals. I'll see you later, bye."

"Yeah. Night."

"I love you." She said softly.

"I love you too. And don't forget to get some sleep."

She chuckled again. "I will." A click indicated that the call had ended. She put her phone back in her pocket and sat down next to Pansy, watching Ron pace.

"Ron, you need to sit down at some point, you're wearing out the floor." She pointed out, not able to stop a yawn from overtaking her.

He merely sent her a look and continued to pace. Hermione looked at Pansy who just shrugged.

Ah well, they were in for another couple of long hours.

~.~.~.~.~

"It's here!" The shout from Mrs. Weasley woke Pansy up and she nearly toppled off her chair. Next to her, Hermione shook herself awake too, eyes bleary as she attempted to get rid of the remnants of her sleep. Harry woke up with a start to her other side while Ron walked straight over to his mother.

"Is she okay? Is the baby okay?" He fired at her. Mrs. Weasley had been the only one allowed in, Lavender hadn't wanted anyone else. Pansy knew that it stung for Ron to not actually be physically in the same room as where his child was being born, but she also knew that he understood why Lavender didn't want him there. It hurt nonetheless.

"Yeah, he's fine." Mrs. Weasley grinned.

"It's a boy?" He breathed out, his eyes filled with wonder and Pansy got up and stood next to him, rubbing his arm as he finally stopped moving around.

"Yes, a small gorgeous little boy. She wants you and Pansy to come in." She smiled, her eyes bright but weary from the long night.

"Me too?" Pansy was surprised. Why would Lavender want her there too?

"Yes. She wants to see both of you." Mrs. Weasley nodded and then walked over to where her own husband was slowly waking up, already beginning to gush about her gorgeous new grandson.

Ron gave her a piercing look and entwined their hands and both set off down the corridor towards Lavender's room. A nurse pointed them in the right direction and once they had reached the door, Ron took a shuddering breath and Pansy noticed that he was shaking.

"It's going to be fine." She said soothingly, rubbing his arm with her free hand. Carefully, she pushed open the door and Ron followed her into the room, the nervousness literally radiating off of him.

Lavender looked up from where she was lying on the bed and Pansy took a step back and pushed Ron forward as she saw the small bundle lying in Lavender's arms. Lavender looked absolutely exhausted and some of her hair was plastered to the side of her face. Pansy could say, with absolute certainty, that she had never seen the other witch happier.

"Hugo, meet your dad. Ron, come and meet Hugo." She said softly, her voice scratchy from exhaustion and the hours of screaming that she had just left behind her.

Ron stepped forward and Pansy stepped backwards, leaning against the wall as she watched Ron make his way to the bed.

"Hi Hugo." He said quietly, his voice breaking as he stared down in wonder at his son.

"Do you want to hold him?" Lavender asked and Ron nodded, unable to say a word as the small bundle that was his son was put into his arms.

"He's beautiful." He whispered, his voice filled with emotion.

"Yes, he is." Lavender nodded and she smiled. Seeing Pansy, she beckoned for her to come forward. Pansy moved over to stand next to the bed and Lavender smiled again at the confusion that must have been clear on her face.

Ron slowly put Hugo back into his mother's arms and Lavender crooned at her son.

"Come here." She told Pansy and as Pansy stared down at the small, reddish baby lying in Lavender's arms, she didn't quite know what to feel.

"Hugo, meet your Aunt Pansy, she's quite important to your daddy." Lavender said and Pansy's and Ron's eyes widened. Pansy's jaw fell open. Was Lavender really-?

Lavender reached up and took her hand and led it to Hugo. The small boy cracked open his eyes and Pansy was met with the warmest brown that she had ever seen. Lavender slipped Pansy's pinky into her son's hand and he immediately wrapped his tiny fingers around it.

Wonder filled Pansy and she felt Ron slip his own hand into her remaining free one. There were tears in his eyes.

"This is your family, why don't you say hello." Lavender's voice was soft and warm and the little boy, as if he understood Lavender's words, opened up his eyes fully and blinked up at all of them.

For the rest of her life, Pansy would deny that she had tears in her eyes at that very moment too.

~.~.~.~.~

Blaise swallowed nervously as he put the pasta that he had made onto the table. Luna had been pleasantly surprised when he had asked her to stop by that day for dinner. She had returned from South America two days ago and since then she had been more than just preoccupied with cleaning up her dad's house as no one had been there in the past two months while she had been off with Doctor Scamandar doing god-knows-what.

"It smells good. Did you make it?" She asked and Blaise flashed her a smile, nodding.

"Yeah, it's one of my dad's recipes." He replied, taking off his apron and slinging it over the back of his chair. Before sitting down however, he took the bottle of red wine, that until that moment had been standing in the centre of the table, and poured both himself and Luna a glass of it.

"I didn't know your dad used to cook." She waited patiently for him to sit down, having picked up on his nervousness long ago. She wondered what it was.

"Yeah, his parents owned a small restaurant near Verona so it was kind of tradition that he knew how to cook. They were quite unconventional for purebloods." He shrugged and Luna was glad to see that he had relaxed slightly while talking about his grandparents.

"Do they still live there?" She asked, starting to eat her pasta. The olive pesto was giving it quite an interesting taste.

"Yeah, but my uncle runs the restaurant nowadays. They're retired." Blaise took a sip from his glass and then dug into the food. Whenever he was nervous, he grew hungry. It kind of went hand in hand. But Draco had said that she wouldn't turn him down so he could only hope that it would be as his best friend had told him.

"Maybe we should visit them next time we have some holidays together." She suggested and he nodded absently and then nearly choked on his food once his brain caught up to what she had said. She wanted to meet his family?

"Are you okay?" Luna asked, her brow furrowing as she watched Blaise take a large gulp of wine to prevent himself from actually choking.

"Yeah, fine." He managed to croak out. Seriously, no one else managed to blindside him as often as Luna did.

"Are you sure? You've had a large amount of wrackspurts flying around your head all evening." She looked so genuinely worried about him that Blaise swallowed heavily and decided to just get it over and done with. The worst she could do was turn him down anyway.

"Yeah, I am fine." He reached across the table and took her hand. He swallowed again, it was now or never. "I was just wondering- Well I have been wondering for quite some time now- What I really want to say is- I mean, would you- Or no, how about-"

"Blaise?" Luna looked faintly amused and ever so slightly worried to see him stumble over his words.

"I wanted to know whether you would want to move in with me?" He asked and she stilled, her face overcome with surprise.

"I mean, you don't have to or anything, I was just wondering, you know, whether it would be nice and-" He was looking anywhere but her. He didn't want to see the rejection on her face before she said it.

"Blaise, do be quiet, will you?" Luna's voice was stern and Blaise's head snapped up as he stared at her in surprise. Luna got up, never letting go of his hand as she moved over to his side. "You can be such an idiot sometimes." And she kissed him on the lips, Blaise's eyes widening as he looked up at her. "Of course I'd love to move in with you. But first I have to get some more wine, seeing as you drank nearly the whole bottle."

And she smiled as she let go of his hand, walking towards the kitchen. He stared after her in open wonder.

"You'll have to help me with my dad's house though. If I'm moving in we're going to have to find all the wrackspurts and nargles a new place to live. Maybe Mr. and Mrs. Weasley will allow some of them to stay at the Burrow with them." Luna's voice floated towards him from the kitchen and he couldn't help the pure and unadultered laughter that escaped him.

She truly was a miracle.