Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, etc. belong to the lovely JK Rowling.

Epilogue: Two Years Later

Hermione sat with her swollen feet propped up on the arm of the plush couch. She was exhausted. Much to the chagrin of everyone around her, Hermione waited until exactly one week before her due date to stop working at the clinic. Her hands rested atop her round belly while she waited for Charlie.

She had nearly fallen asleep when she heard the familiar steps of her husband of a little over a year. Remembering their beautiful summer wedding, her hand automatically reached for the white gold wedding rings on the chain around her neck. The summer heat and pregnancy made her fingers far too large for the small bands.

"Come on love," he spoke softly, "you can do it! You're almost to Mummy!"

Turning her head, Hermione smiled fondly at her daughter, Olivia, who was toddling towards her with the aid of her father. Almost a year old, she possessed Hermione's chocolate brown hair and Charlie's striking blue eyes.

With a bit of a struggle, Hermione sat up and kissed Olivia on the head before Charlie tucked her in to bed. The nursery was a lilac color and it was one of Hermione's favorite places to relax. Returning to her, Charlie grabbed Hermione's hands and pulled her into a standing position. Together the couple descended the staircase and made their way into the large living room. Immediately, Hermione sat down and dragged Charlie with her. She felt a twinge in her back, but brushed it off. Like a cat, she snuggled into his chest.

"Tell me," she said, eyes dropping shut.

"No," replied Charlie, "I'm not telling you. We agreed: you didn't want to know, but I did. Sorry, love."

"But I changed my mind," she protested.

"Nope. Hermione, I promised that under no circumstances would I tell you if it was a boy or a girl. You made it very, very clear that you wanted to be surprised, like with Livy."

"Fine," huffed Hermione.

They relaxed in contented bliss. These past two years had been wonderful. Both still worked on the reserve, but Charlie had been promoted to Head Keeper, which pleased him immensely. Hermione was happy as well because that meant less dangerous encounters with angry dragons. She and Maggie ran the clinic in an outstanding fashion, always prepared for whatever incident might occur.

Again on the verge of sleep, suddenly Hermione's eyes popped open.

"Charlie," she began, a different edge to her voice, "I think I'm going to find out sooner than expected."

"Hmm?" he answered in a daze. Hermione shook his arm.

"Charlie, my water broke."

That got him moving. Minutes later Charlie had arranged for Lucas to watch Olivia, alerted the family, and had Maggie start setting up Hermione's room in the clinic. With Olivia, Charlie had been an absolute mess. If Bill hadn't been visiting at the time, she wasn't sure what would have happened. This time though, Charlie was the picture of preparedness.

Nearly thirty minutes after her water broke, Hermione was situated in a private room at the clinic, with Maggie, Charlie, and Fleur. The two women had grown extremely close after the birth of Victoire. She hoped that this time her labor would be much quicker, but was sorely disappointed. For whatever reason, Hermione and Charlie's children seemed to want to make the world wait for their arrival.

Fourteen hours of painful labor later, Hermione held her newborn daughter in her arms. Charlie leaned over her left side, staring lovingly at the tiny human.

"Beautiful," he murmured. Hermione loved how Charlie, burly dragon tamer, turned to goo around babies. It was one of the things she loved most about him.

"You two sure do know how to make a beautiful baby," teased Maggie from Hermione's other side.

"I'm sure you and Lucas will do a good job as well," returned Hermione, staring at Maggie's small bump.

The couple had married shortly after Olivia's birth and was expecting their first child. Hermione was thrilled for her friends, especially happy that her children would have someone to play with on the reserve.

"Now, what are you going to name the little angel?"

Hermione and Charlie had spent many evenings thinking about names for both boys and girls, having particular difficulty deciding on a middle name. After copious arguments the pair had chosen the perfect name.

"Cecelia Molly Weasley," stated Charlie proudly.

"That's lovely," she responded, marking it down on the birth certificate.

"Will you bring Lucas in?" asked Hermione, exchanging glances with Charlie.

Maggie nodded and went to retrieve her husband. When Hermione's second favorite dragon tamer entered the room, Charlie made the couple stand opposite him, with Hermione's bed between them.

"Lucas," began Hermione, "meet Cecelia."

Much like Charlie, the moment Lucas got close to the newborn his intimidating nature disappeared. They let Lucas and Maggie get acquainted with the small baby before grabbing their attention.

"Now that you've met our second bun out of the oven," said Charlie seriously, "we would like to welcome you to the club."

Hermione laughed at the befuddled expressions on their faces.

"What he means is that we would love for you to be Cecelia's godparents," clarified Hermione as Charlie held up two replicas of the shirts Harry and Ginny had given them three years ago.

"What do you say? Do you guys want to join the Best Godparents Ever club?"

After a brief conversation Maggie spoke, "We would be honored."

The new parents cheered and Hermione carefully placed Cecelia into Charlie's arms.

"Hi, sweet," he cooed before gently passing her to Lucas, who looked a bit green around the edges.

"All right there, mate?" questioned Charlie.

"Yeah, yeah. I just forgot how tiny these things are."

The three other adults in the room laughed loudly. They were interrupted when a knock sounded on the door and a head of unruly black hair appeared in the doorway.

"Sorry to barge in, but Molly's dying to meet her newest grandchild," said a frazzled Harry. "Congratulations," he added as an afterthought.

"Thanks Harry, send her in."

The next hour passed in a frenzy of ooh's and ahh's over the newest Weasley. Hermione quickly tired under all of the attention. The last two family members to enter were Bill and Fleur, the former carrying a sleeping Olivia.

"Congratulations," said Bill who clapped Charlie on the back and gave Hermione's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"She ez seemply beautiful," cooed Fleur, stroking Cecelia's head.

"Thanks guys," Hermione yawned.

"If you want," began Bill, "Fleur and I can stay at the house tonight with Livy."

"That would be fantastic," replied a grateful Charlie. He knew how much Bill missed his goddaughter.

"No problem. We'll see you three tomorrow."

Hermione was asleep before the door shut and Charlie picked up his second child and held her close. He took his wand and conjured the familiar red chair that Hermione had spent countless nights in watching over him and settled in to do the same for her.

Cecelia gurgled in her sleep and Charlie grinned, incredibly happy.

Late the next afternoon Charlie and Hermione sat side by side in the large window seat in Hermione's library. She rested her head on his shoulder and yawned. Molly and Arthur had stopped by and sent the new parents to have a lie down. Instead, they went to check on their favorite oversized lizard.

Hermione's favorite part of her beautiful home was being able to see Firecracker from the library. The window overlooked the enclosure perfectly. She loved watching the dragon at night, when the Fireball would shoot bright jets of fire.

"Charlie," said Hermione, paying close attention to the dragon. "I'm really glad that dragon almost killed you."

She could feel his smile, "And why is that?"

"Because it brought me to you."

"Well," he said, planting a kiss on the side of her forehead, "I'm really glad you were there to save me."

A/N:

The end! Thank you all for sticking around for so long, I hope you enjoyed it!

All the best,

Emerald