To Be Ready

"You're late again, Ron," Hermione said as Ron walked through the front door and hung up his coat.

"I know," Ron said, turning around and setting his briefcase down on the floor, "I'm sorry, Kingsley wanted me to file some work and I told him no but he said that it couldn't wait until tomorrow. I couldn't refuse him, he's my boss." He walked up to hug her and all hostility that she had been holding against him melted away as he wrapped his arms around her body and drew herself close to him.

"Forgive me?" he muttered as he kissed the top of her head, "Go on, say you forgive me, please forgive me."

Hermione smiled up at him.

"You forgive me don't you," Ron stated with a grin.

"Yeah I do," she said pressing her lips to Ron's, "Okay," she said pulling out quickly before it deepened any more, she wanted to talk to him, not snog him all night, "There's some dinner in the oven, go and heat it up and come back and sit down here, I want to talk to you."

"What about?" Ron asked.

"Same thing as last night," Hermione said casually and to her surprise, Ron didn't protest, but walked into the kitchen and pulled his dinner out of the oven, heated it up with his wand and came back to sit down next to his wife.

"Okay," he said with a smile, "babies."

Hermione looked down at her lap, "I know you've said that you're not ready to have children yet but I've seen how good you are with James and how you never want to leave Harry's until you can't play with James anymore, I just thought that it would be nice to have that but all to ourselves, our baby."

Ron looked a little hesitant, "I don't know, Hermione, I like playing with James but as soon as he poops his nappy I hand him to Ginny, I'd be a rubbish father."

"You keep saying that yet every time we go to Harry's you always insist on playing with James rather than talking like civilised adults at the dining table… to be honest Harry and Ginny love you for it, they get a butterbeer while James gets attention, it's like a dream come true," Hermione said exasperatedly

"Yeah but that still doesn't cover the fact that I'm incapable of performing fatherly duties. I can't change nappies or stop babies from crying… I just give him to Ginny when that happens, I prefer playing with him, to be honest I'm happy with James," Ron said tactlessly.

Hermione sighed again, "I'm happy with James too but he's not ours, Ron. We can go over there as much as we like but James will never be ours. Don't you want that? A little piece of you and I?"

"I suppose," Ron said, pausing to think about it for a bit, "It would be nice to have my own child."

"Exactly," Hermione said, "Our child not our nephew, wouldn't that be nice?"

"Yeah," Ron said smiling, "But we still haven't covered the fact that I know nothing about babies."

"Well, neither do I," Hermione shrugged, "We'll work it out together."

"You're not exactly filling me with confidence here Hermione," Ron said, "I'd like to know that at least one of us could take care of a child before we decide that we want them and it's not going to be me because I've killed a cactus and I don't even know if that's possible."

Hermione laughed, "If it makes you feel any better, Ron, I talked to Ginny about this the last time we were over there and she told me that she and Harry had no idea what they were doing either and James turned out okay, she said that they just worked it out as they went along… plus they had your mum to help them didn't they and so will we."

Ron's spirits lifted slightly, "Really?" he asked

"Yeah," Hermione smiled, "Apparently most first time parents just wing it and hope for the best."

"I never thought I'd see the day that Hermione Granger, oh pardon me, Hermione Weasley would tell me just to 'wing it'" Ron teased. Hermione hit him playfully as he corrected himself over her new name. They had been married for six months now and she still wasn't used to it.

"Well, Ginny told me that I could study all I liked but nothing could prepare me for the real thing," Hermione shrugged.

"Why are you going to Ginny about all of this? What's wrong with me?" Ron asked in mock offence.

Hermione hit him again, "Because Ronald, in case you haven't noticed, your sister already has five month old baby and another on the way."

"Another one?" Ron questioned.

Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth, "I wasn't supposed to tell you yet," she said, biting her lip guiltily, "Promise me you won't kill Harry again?"

"I'll kill him twice for knocking up my sister and not telling me about it," Ron said angrily.

"Ron!" Hermione said disapprovingly, "They're not sure yet, it's still early days so they don't want to tell anyone yet."

"That's stupid," Ron muttered before starting to laugh.

"What?" Hermione asked, wondering if she had something on her face.

"I've just realised that they're going to have a one year old and a new baby in the house at the same time," he chuckled, "serves them right for not using protection."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "You seriously drive me up the wall sometimes Ronald, they're married now, you can't expect them to not have sex."

"Can we not?" Ron said, "That happens to be my sister and best mate we're talking about."

"He's my best friend too," Hermione said, shaking her head at him.

"I thought I was your best friend," Ron said, his brow furrowing. Hermione hit him again.

"You're my husband."

"Oh yeah… does that make me better than a best friend?"

"That makes you a million times better than a best friend," Hermione said leaning in and pressing her lips to his. He kissed her back passionately.

"Good," he mumbled against her lips. She broke of the kiss and snuggled into his chest as he stroked her hair.

"Hermione," He said thoughtfully a few minutes later.

"Mmm," she muttered, tearing her gaze away from the fire and looking up at him.

"I think I've decided that I want to suffer alongside Harry and Ginny… not that having a baby would be suffering but I'd like to have the same experience as Harry and I think it would be nice to have a little piece of you and me around here."

Hermione's face lit up like a firework on New Years' Eve as she stared disbelievingly at her husband, "Really?"

"Yeah," Ron smiled, "I think I'm ready for children."

"Are you sure, because I don't want you to do it just because you feel like you should," Hermione said quickly.

"Really, you were onto me about having kids about ten minutes ago and now you're objecting?" Ron said.

"Not objecting, I'm just making sure that you're ready," she said.

"I am if you are," Ron winked.

Hermione's smile grew wider, "What are we waiting for?" she asked, taking his hand, "let's go," and with that she dragged him down the hallway to their bedroom…

AN: Well I think it's safe to assume we know what happened next ;)

This was for:

The 2012 Hogwarts Games – Men's Tennis: Semi Finals

The School Subjects Competition – Arithmancy

The Family Bootcamp Challenge – Prompt #4: Intimate

I'd love it if you could spare the time to leave me a review :)

Potter on

~The Original Horcrux~