A/N: WOW!! You guys are really impatient for Harry and Hermione to have a baby (or a flock of them). Don't you want them to just be a married couple and have fun? … No? Ok, ok. I'm not telling when those baby Potters will be making an appearance, but they will soon. I promise!!
This chapter is a little on the short side, but I wanted to get it out there. I'm hoping that the next one will be longer. Plus, I wanted to make sure the twins wedding made a little appearance at least. I mean, Fred and George married! That's a big event! ;-)
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I cannot believe that I am sitting here at the reception of Fred and George Weasley's weddings.
The ceremony was beautiful, as they always are at the Burrow (I've been to enough to know) and now the reception is being held at The Bronzed Broomstick, a restaurant by the joke shop with a huge room for things like this in the back. It really is a nice affair, even if the boutonnières squirt water and the grooms have made several announcements that their shop is just across the street from this place.
But the brides are beautiful, Molly is bawling her eyes out (she's "only got one child left and she's getting married soon as well"), and there are babies all over! Welcome to a Weasley wedding.
Yet, as I sit here at the wedding reception, I realize how we're all so grown up now.
This may seem like a really simple observation, but since we've all grown up together, I suppose that I've never taken the time to see us as adults. Despite the fact that I've been married for a year to Harry, and that Ron and Luna are married with children, and Harry and I work at the very school we attended, I never really thought that we became the grownups.
Now that I see twins dancing with their wives, it occurs to me that in fact, we have become adults.
It's scary to think of how much has changed and yet how much is the same. If you ask me, we're all the same people we were in school, so I guess that's why things have never seemed too different to me.
Why would I think of Ron as a father? It's certainly not because I think he's a bad father, it's just that I still see him as 7th year Ron. Luna is still that girl with a huge lion on her head (only a bit more … social now). Harry is still that sweetheart who set up that wonderful picnic by the lake to ask me out.
But now Ron is a wonderful father, Luna is a responsible mother and Harry … well, Harry is still that same sweetheart, but now he's my husband. The future father of my children.
And that same Harry is running towards me with Cordy and Sophie on his hips.
"Aunt Ermy!" he calls.
"Only children who can't speak correctly yet can call me that!" I tell him.
Sophia laughs as I pluck her from Harry. "Miss Sophie!" I say as I lift her into the air. I sit down with her and Harry and Cordelia sit with us.
"And where did you find these two?" I ask.
"They were at the bar, if you'll believe it! Both of them were trying to order Kaluha and Creams."
"Ah, they take after their mother," I say with a laugh.
"But I told them that they were much too young for that. And that they should stick to virgin milks."
"Girls! We're you trying to get drunk at your uncles' wedding? Shame on you!"
Sophia gives me that toothless grin that makes my heart melt.
"Ron wanted to dance with Luna, so I offered to watch them," Harry truthfully explains.
"I see. Well, I'm awfully glad you did. Yes, I am!" I say in that squeaky baby voice I've developed. Harry tells me when he sees me with the girls he notices that I'm "coming into my powers."
I questioned that once and he said that mothers have powers that fathers could never hope to have. Even he, as one of the most powerful magical beings on the earth, couldn't hold a candle to my abilities as a female.
I disagreed and said that fathers have just as much power as mothers, but Harry just shook his head. I wish he knew how normal parents behaved.
Sophie laughs and Harry nods. "See, Mione? You're a natural! It's those powers kicking in."
"Tell Uncle Harry that he's a silly man," I say as I rub my nose to Sophia's.
Cordy begins to fuss and Harry calls for their diaper bag. It narrowly misses Neville's head as it flies to us. Harry digs her pacifier out and she's suddenly happy as a clam.
"You're not too bad yourself," I tell him.
He blushes. "Yeah, but I know nothing about what I'm doing."
"Harry, just because you weren't raised by your parents, does not mean that you know nothing. Look at how wonderful you are with Cordy."
Harry looks down at the baby girl at the exact time that she looks up at him. I'm going to have to make a pensieve photo from that moment. It's priceless.
"Well, I guess we're doing ok, right, Cordy?" he asks the baby.
She giggles in response.
"See? Miss Cordelia agrees with me!" I say.
"Who wants to play peek-a-boo?" Harry asks the babies, completely ignoring me and proving my point at the same time.
I disregard this for now because I know to take my cue for the game.
I lean Sophia back against me and scoot up closer to Harry and Cordelia. I put my hands over her eyes as Harry does the same for her sister.
Harry asks, "Where's Cordy?"
We count to three and release our hands crying, "There she is!"
Both baby girls squeal with delight at this game.
Then we repeat the process with "Where's Sophie? … There she is!"
I can't believe how much Harry loves this game. It's almost as much as the twins themselves.
"See, Harry? I told you that you know what you're doing. The girls are having a blast with you."
"Sure. I mean, I can see us with little ones like this. But I'm really scared," he admits.
"Harry? What brought this on?"
He shrugs.
"We'll talk about it when we get home, ok?" I offer.
"That's fine," he says. "For now, switch me."
Harry and I have become very skilled at trading which twin we're holding.
Within seconds, I'm holding Cordelia and Harry has Sophia. He's looking at her with almost reverent eyes.
"They're beautiful, aren't they?" I whisper.
He nods. He moves her from sitting on his lap to snuggled against him. She instantly begins to fall asleep. Harry strokes her strawberry blonde hair and sings softly to her.
I watch them and I know that Harry doesn't notice. He is definitely in his own world now. As I see Harry singing to the sleeping baby, I wonder just what it is that has him afraid. He's wonderful with children. They always run to him. Why would he be scared of having his own children?
Just then, Ron and Luna return from dancing to tell us that they're heading out.
Harry reluctantly hands Sophia back to Luna as I pass Cordy to her daddy.
We hug and kiss everyone good-bye and watch as the Weasley family leaves.
I'm very ready to leave now. I haven't felt the best since dinner.
Now that we're home and climbing into bed, I finally ask Harry what's wrong.
"Hermione, I'm really scared to have kids," he answers.
"Scared? Why?"
"You're going to think I'm silly or stupid."
"First, I would never think that. Second, if you have a fear of something, I want you to talk to me about it."
"Ok, well … what if … what if our baby doesn't like me?"
I can only stare at him.
"See? You think it's stupid!" he says.
"Harry, sweetie, that's the furthest thing from my mind. I'm just trying to get myself under control so I don't Apparate to the Dursleys and hex them all into oblivion."
"What do they have to do with this?"
"Because of those barbarians, you have no self-esteem and you have problems with love. It doesn't even matter to you that Joey and Julie love you! That Abby and little Charlie love you. And Cordy and Sophie … well, the only people they like better are their own parents. Have you noticed that Cordelia won't go to Percy?"
"Smart girl," Harry snorts.
"Leave Percy's past out of this. Why wouldn't the baby like you?"
"Have you seen Charlie with the baby? Or Percy? Those babies are perfect for Sarah and Penny, laughing and smiling. But with Charlie and Percy? Completely different story. And Ron? Well, don't get me started on Ron."
"Harry, in about five minutes, I'm going to forget that we had this conversation. Do you even hear yourself? Charlie has spent years and years with dragons. He's probably not the cuddliest man in the world. And Percy? Come on, would you want to be Percy's kid? I know he's come around, but he's still the same stick-up-the-ass-Percy. And Ron? Well, don't get me started on him either."
My husband is giving me a blank stare.
"Ok. Follow me here. For 9 months, a baby lives inside the mother. The baby's entire world is right there. Food, temperature, comfort, it's all right there in the womb. And then when the child is born, they tend to reach for their mother because that's what's familiar. Sure, they'll recognize the father's voice too, and that's comforting, but the mother carried them for so long! And then you add in that the mother is a food source? Well, of course the baby wants the mother more."
Harry looks down at his hands.
"But what if I never make a connection?" he asks.
"Harry, you've made connections with children that aren't yours. Joey and Julie run right for you, Unca Hawee. Cordy and Sophie are very particular about who plays with them, but you sure can make them laugh. If you can do that with babies that aren't yours, imagine what you can do with your own."
"I guess you're right," he mumbles.
"Of course I am! I'm Hermione, it's what I do!" I say with a smile.
He smiles back.
"So, you think our kids will like me?" he asks with that lost little boy with no friends tone.
"Honey, I know our kids will love you. You're amazing with children! And you'll be a wonderful father."
"Do you think I'm stupid for thinking that?"
"Merlin, no. I just think that you're nervous. I'll admit that the topic caught me off guard though. I never knew you had those fears."
"Yeah, neither did I until recently. I guess seeing Ron with the twins made me think about it."
"Harry, never use Ron as a guide for things like this. I love Ron dearly, I do. But oh my goodness, don't do that to yourself."
"I know," he mumbles.
"Besides, if it makes you feel any better, I've got the same fears."
"You? You just told me that mothers have nothing to worry about!"
"No, I said that's why babies tend to want the mother. Not all babies do that. My neighbor had a baby that wanted nothing to do with her and only wanted the father. I'm very scared of things like that happening."
"Oh."
"Yeah. So, you see, you're not alone in this boat. We're both scared. But it's so worth it. Have you seen the way any of the Weasley babies look at their parents? I cannot wait to have our baby look at us like that. I really want that. And since we've waited that year for us, I know we're ready."
"You're right, Mione. I'm sorry I overreacted."
"You didn't overreact. You had a very real concern about a life-changing event. There's nothing wrong about being scared of having a baby. Would you rather we wait a little longer?"
"No!" Harry instantly answers. "Of course not. I want a baby with you more than anything. I just wish there wasn't so much responsibility with it. What if I mess it up?"
"Mess it up?"
"You know, raise it incorrectly. What if we raise another Voldemort?"
"Um, Harry, you're kidding, right? That's ridiculous. Every parent makes mistakes, but that family took mistakes to an extreme. I don't think you have to worry about a psychopath with world domination dreams coming from our family. Ok?"
"And if I hurt it?"
"Goodness, honey. How long have you been thinking about this?"
"A while now."
"I see. Look, every child is going to get bumps and bruises. They're going to fall on their bums when they're learning to walk and they're going to get scraped knees running. I shudder to think of our baby in pain, but it's there, Harry. You'd never intentionally hurt a child, I know that and you know that. Just don't play too rough and we'll be fine."
"That makes sense."
"Of course it does. Now, are you ready for sleep?"
"Not quite," he whispers and he leans over to passionately kiss me.
Hey, whatever it takes to make him feel better.