QL Prophet's Friendly Face. Pride, beater 2.

Written for: AJ/ Miss Hourigan

Prompt: Harmony and beach day

Word Count: 825

Beta'ed: CupCakeyyy

During the stress of everything happening, Hermione had let her guard down and Harry had managed to surprise her with a trip away for their anniversary. It was one of the best ideas he had had in recent months.

The two of them had just had their third - and final - child. It was stressful having three children; though, maybe that was just the sleepless nights and constant nagging from the three under five-year-olds.

Hermione's temper seemed to be correlated with how tired she was and her dear husband, Harry, was often at the brunt of it. The young witch was due to go back to work at the ministry next week, only taking four months off in total - one before Rose's birth, and three after. So now it was the best time.

Harry and Hermione rarely took time for just themselves but had succeeded in a yearly retreat. Harry found it difficult leaving the children behind due to not wanting them to feel neglected and now with three, this was just a single night away.

But they left early in the morning after handing the children over to George and Angelina who had offered to take them for the night. Harry had taken her on a trip to the woods where they had hunted for Horcruxes and where she used to camp as a child for the night. Sleeping in a wizards' tent meant pure comfort and gave Hermione a proper rest. She only woke up a few times out of habit.

The following day brought them to a Muggle seaside - which was a great surprise. Taking a deep breath and feeling the salty atmosphere fill her senses cleared Hermione's head and instantly relaxed the twenty-four-year-old witch.

Hermione felt Harry's hand lace into hers and instantly turned her smiling face towards him. "It's beautiful here."

He smiled widely and began to lead her onto the sand. "It is. I never went to the beach as a child; I wanted to try it out with you."

A grin filled her face as she realised how Harry thought up this idea; she had mentioned taking their children to the beach when Rose was older so they could all enjoy it. "I'm happy to spend the day here with you."

Even though he had started to lead, Hermione took over, finding them a quiet-ish place to park their stuff. She had opted for an all in one bathing suit, having children had not done her figure any favours, but over time she'd be back to normal - or as normal as her new mother body would allow her. It was still enough for her and Harry constantly complimented her appearance.

She pulled the dress over her head and sat on the picnic mat that Harry had just laid down. Sitting in the sun was so therapeutic sometimes.

Harry positioned himself next to her, pulling out two drinks.

Accepting her drink she looked out at the blue sea. "I'm not sure what to do with myself," she chuckled.

"Anything you want."

"I just want to sit here all day."

He took her free hand and gave it a squeeze. "And that's what we'll do."

She turned her attention back to him again, feeling extremely blessed at the moment, remembering all of the things she loved about him. "How have you been lately? I don't think I've asked since Rosie was born."

"You've been busy," Harry replied understandingly. "Going back to work for those two weeks was a lot calmer than I expected. I'm very confident that taking those extra six weeks off to look after the kids will be fine. A bit of working from home, which will be done after James has gone to sleep - we both know he likes playing with paperwork and wands."

Hermione chuckled. "Oh no, Lily is worse with paperwork - why does she insist on eating it?"

Harry looped an arm around her waist. "I'm sure she'll grow out of that."

With a nod, she rested her head on his shoulder and looked out at the serene view. "Hopefully before I have to bring paperwork for a new law back home again."

"Maybe it was a sign that it was a bad law," he suggested jokingly.

"A future law enforcer."

"I miss them," Harry admitted.

Hermione smiled at his words; she had been wondering when he'd say that. This time, however, she had a surprise for him. She moved her head off his shoulder and grinned, the timing here was impeccable. "Oh really?"

"Dada!" James Sirius shouting as his little four-year-old legs raced across the sand to get to his parents.

Lily Jean had gotten distracted halfway at what appeared to be a stone.

Angelina was carrying Rose and keeping an eye on Lily, while George was chasing after their two children, Fred and Roxanne, who were both darting for the water at top speed.

A family trip to the seaside - exactly what they needed.

The End