Chocolate Biscuits

June 6th

Ron and Hermione's House

1:00 PM

Oh, hello.

Me? I'm just baby-sitting Rose, who's taken it upon herself to see how many times she can throw her toy wand on the floor and have me pick it up for her.

The record, so far, is twenty-six.

1:01 PM

I realise that Rose may be testing me.

1:02 PM

Glaring at her, I said, firmly, 'Rose, if you throw that wand on the floor one more time, I'm not picking it up.'

She threw it on the floor again with a happy gurgle.

1:03 PM

Definitely inherited Ron's intelligence, there, I see.

1:04 PM

Something should be done about this.

I mean, one day, Ron and Hermione will thank me for having taught their daughter that she cannot always get what she wants, and they will look at me in awe and wonder and say, 'Ginny, you are brilliant, thank you for not giving her the toy wand that one time when she was little. It taught her so much.'

So I resolutely do not pick up the toy, which results in Rose bursting out in shocked, rasping cries at a very loud volume.

1:05 PM

Bugger.

June 6th

Still at Ron and Hermione's House

1:30 PM

Rose has not stopped crying.

1:31 PM

Am getting slightly disturbed.

Surely, at some point, she will switch off?

June 6th

Ron and Hermione's House, Slowly Losing The Will To Have Ears

2:00 PM

Rose has not switched off.

I gave her the toy wand back at some point, but she only looked at it and tossed it behind a chair. Then, I offered her food, but she upended the bottle on my shirt. I even put her down and fetched every other magical toy Hermione and Ron had lying around, but she turned her nose up at each and every one of them, and then made grabby hands at my arms until I pulled her back against me.

Now, she'd found a strand of my hair, and has wound it around her finger.

She seemed enthralled.

2:01 PM

And then she yanked at it, hard.

2:02 PM

Bloody ow, Rose, you wouldn't like it if I pulled your hair now, would you?

2:03 PM

'What did you do that for?' I demanded, angrily, which only set her off again, at a louder volume, this time.

2:04 PM

Possibly, babies come with a variety of settings: Very Loud; Yes, I Can Get Louder; Half Past Bloody Murder; Banshee.

Rose was definitely set to the last one.

2:05 PM

There was a sharp crack of Apparition, a 'Ron?', and then Harry walked into the living room, wearing dark blue Auror robes and looking positively smashing.

He spotted me, instantly, and his gaze flitted to Rose, all of the toys littered around the sofa, and, somehow, my wet shirt.

2:06 PM

Did try and take shirt off at some point so I could spell it clean, but Rose only cried harder when I moved.

Harry raised an eyebrow, looking amused.

I glared at him.

2:06 PM

He strode over, taking Rose from me.

She gave a happy gurgle and stopped crying.

2:06 PM

Traitor.

2:07 PM

'Hi,' I said, getting up, although he hadn't really said anything to me.

'Hullo,' he said, in response, and tried to suppress a smirk. 'Nice shirt.'

'Shut up,' I told him, spelling it dry. Rose tugged at his collar, and he smiled at her, grabbing her hand. Her eyes widened as she wrapped her finger around his thumb and she grinned a toothless grin at me.

2:08 PM

'Tea?' I asked, because I didn't really know what to say, otherwise.

2:09 PM

I feel like I've been making copious amounts of tea for boys, recently.

2:10 PM

Harry nodded, and followed me into the kitchen. I busied myself by filling Hermione's kettle and putting it on the stove, which wasn't magical, but very ancient.

'Auror training going all right, then?' I asked, leaning back against the kitchen sink and turning round to face Harry.

'Yeah. It's hard, though,' he said, although he wasn't looking at me, but tossing Rose up in the air and catching her again. She gave him breathy, shocked gasps of pleasure each time.

2:11 PM

It's weird how Harry and I have kind of gone back to normal after our grand shouting match last April. The emotions have kind of settled down, and we've been perfectly nice and civil to each other ever since. It improved even more when he left the Charms Department – sadly putting Malfoy back in charge. Rumour has it that Malfoy had been shunted aside so that Harry could take the position and make the new Minister look good and capable, which kind of sucks, if you're Malfoy, at least.

Anyway. I haven't been around Harry very much since, only seeing him at special occasions, like Zacharias's engagement party.

At which we danced.

At which point I realised that Harry still does weird things to my body.

2:13 PM

No! Not like that, you pervert.

2:15 PM

The kettle boiled, whistling noisily, and I filled my own cup and Harry's, adding milk and two sugars without Harry having to prompt me. There's some things you always remember.

'How's work?' he asked me, shooting me a grateful smile when I set the tea down in front of him. Rose, I noticed with a kind of weary satisfaction, had fallen asleep, her nose tucked into Harry's neck.

'All right,' I responded, shrugging. 'Malfoy's a lunatic.'

Harry snorted. 'Yeah, he tends to be.'

'But, yeah, it's fine,' I continued, sipping my tea. 'Busy. Any idea when you'll be moving into your second phase of training?'

Harry sighed warily. 'Probably at the end of next week or so. We're still doing exams.'

I winced. 'Sorry,' I said.

''S all right,' Harry grinned. 'I wasn't sure I wanted to be an Auror, really, so I just moped around the house a lot, trying to make sense of everything.'

'Fair enough,' I said.

He looked up at me, amused. 'I remember you dropped Malfoy at my place at one point, after having almost killed him.'

I shrugged defensively. 'He threw me off a staircase.'

'So I heard,' he said.

'He and Astoria Greengrass are getting cosy,' I whispered conspiratorially, leaning forward.

Harry grinned back. 'Really?'

'Yeah, it's made him infinitely more bearable,' I said, nodding, and sipping my tea. Across me, Harry tried to do the same, but was hampered by Rose.

'Want me to take her for a bit?' I asked, and he nodded, handing her to me gratefully.

'I'll just put her in bed,' I said, feeling the warmth of her sleepy, tiny baby body pressed against me.

2:25 PM

Even if she's a handful, Rose is still sort of adorable.

June 6th

Ron and Hermione's House, Ears Have Finally Stopped Ringing

2:26 PM

Having put Rose in her small cot, which was stood in the living room, I went back into the kitchen and noticed Harry had shucked his Auror robes, and was wearing a simple grey jumper. He was stood at the sink, reaching for a pair of plates. I noticed for the first time the small briefcase he'd brought with him, doubtlessly containing important information about his missions and things. From it, I noticed, he'd produced a box, which smelled lovely. Although he wasn't allowed to tell anyone where he was during the training, Harry often brought us back snacks from a nearby bakery, which made the most heavenly cakes and pastries.

I leaned over his shoulder to see what he'd brought this time.

'Shove off,' he laughed, feeling my hair tickle his arm and I grinned at him while he looked at me from the corner of his eyes, which looked even greener because of his jumper.

'Fine,' I retorted, smothering a smile, and went to sit at the table, sipping my tea. Minutes later, he put one of Hermione's plates in front of me, containing a slice of layered strawberry cake.

2:27 PM

I love strawberries.

2:28 PM

I looked up at him, eyes wide, and he grinned at my expression.

'Thought you might like it. I had it made especially.'

'Thanks Harry,' I said gratefully, tucking in.

2:35 PM

I polished off my piece of cake with remarkable speed, considering I had lunch not two hour ago, but Harry didn't seem to mind much. He even cut me an extra slice.

'So,' I said, after we've finished eating, and we're just chatting. 'How's Cho?'

Harry looked up, blinking. 'Sorry?'

'Cho Chang?' I repeated. 'She lived with you.'

Harry waved a dismissive hand. 'Not really. She just showed up on my doorstep one day, having broken things off with her boyfriend. She crashed on my sofa for a while.'

'I thought she worked at the Ministry?' I asked.

Harry nodded, sipping his tea, which must be really cold by now. He didn't seem to mind much. 'She did. Stopped, though. She went back to her boyfriend pretty soon after, they're engaged now.'

2:40 PM

Well then, that's certainly surprising.

2:45 PM

'Oh,' I said.

'Yeah,' said Harry, shrugging, and sipping at his tea.

June 6th

Ron and Hermione's Kitchen

3:30 PM

Next door, Rose began crying, interrupting the discussion Harry and I were having about Quidditch. A soft 'pop' is heard and minutes later, Hermione entered the kitchen, Rose in her arms.

'Hello!' she said, happily, leaning over to kiss Harry on the cheek and then coming round to my side of the table, and sitting next to me, keeping Rose in her arms. 'Thanks for looking after Rosie, Gin. And I didn't know you were going to be home, Harry.'

Harry shrugged. 'Wasn't really planned. I have to go away again tomorrow.'

Hermione's face fell. 'That's too bad, Harry.'

'Yeah,' said Harry.

Rose, who had been quiet during this whole conversation, decided it was a good time to start crying.

'Oh, Rosie,' Hermione said softly, motherly, in a tone that still surprised me. 'I'll be right back,' she said to us. 'She's probably hungry.'

'I'll cut you some cake,' said Harry, and she smiled, leaving the room with a fussy Rose in her arms.

I realised with a flash of guilt that I hadn't really tidied the living room, yet, so I stood up, carrying my plates to the sink.

'I'll be right back,' I told Harry, and then popped into the living room. With a wave of my wand, all the toys flew back into the toy box Dad had made for Rose, and the bottle I'd tried to give Rose earlier zoomed into my hand. It smelled milky, dripping a bit from where the teat made contact with my hand.

3:33 PM

I mean, I love Hermione, but ew.

3:24 PM

I walked back into the kitchen, intending on rinsing the bottle out with scalding hot water, but Harry was already at the sink, doing the dishes. I stood next to him, leaning against the counter, waiting patiently until he was done washing the plates. We fell into an easy conversation about Puddlemere United, and Oliver Wood, who'd finally made Keeper.

Hermione popped back into the kitchen, free of Rose, who'd she'd presumably put to bed. Harry and I stopped chatting and looked at her. She looked between the both of us and smiled a smile I think she stole off Zabini, because it was distinctly Slytherin -y.

'I'm going to go,' I said, before she could say anything, and grabbed my coat off the hook. 'See you around, Harry. Thanks for the cake. Good luck at training.'

'Thanks Gin,' said Harry.

'Bye Gin,' said Hermione, still smiling that Slytherin-y smile.

I eyed her suspiciously before Disapparating out of the kitchen with a sharp crack.