Hermione's Baby
Epilogue
4 years later…
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"Daddy!" Andrew James shouted the moment Harry stepped into their home.
He ran up to meet his father and jumped up just as Harry dropped his briefcase and picked him up. He twirled him around several times and Andrew laughed with glee.
"Did you have a good day?"
"Yes."
"Were you good for mummy?"
Andrew nodded and Harry put him down after kissing him. "I was good for mummy. We went to the pool."
"That's good. Did you practice your swimming?"
"Yes, daddy."
One of the house elves came by and picked up the briefcase.
"I'll put this in your study, sir."
"Thank you, Rocco. Where is Hermione?"
"In the kitchen trying to feed Alyson, sir."
Harry smiled. Alyson Kaeli was two years old and they could already tell she was going to be a handful. She was most definitely in her terrible two's. Andrew James had turned out to be like his mother. He loved his books and having someone read them to him, he was intelligent, kind and very well behaved.
Alyson, on the other hand, had quite the temper, was ornery when she didn't get her way, and was as mischievous as any two year old could be. Harry loved her to pieces. She was daddy's girl.
"Let's go see, Aly and mummy," he told his son and gave him a piggy back ride to the enormous kitchen.
The moment they walked in, Alyson turned his way and gave him a toothy smile. Her face was full of some orange goo and her hair was standing in orange spikes. Hermione looked over at him and smiled tiredly. She was also covered in the orange stuff.
"Daddy!" Aly shouted and lifted her arms towards him.
After letting Andrew down, Harry picked up a paper towel and wet it before walking over to his little tornado. "What happened to you, angel?"
"Mummy," Aly simply said while pointing at Hermione.
Harry chuckled while cleaning her up. "Mummy did this to you?"
"Yes," Aly told him and smiled again. Once she was cleaned up as best as he could, he picked her up and kissed her. She immediately nestled against his chest.
"Long day, sweetheart?" he asked his wife as he bent down to kiss her.
"You have no idea, darling."
"I'm sorry it took me longer to get home today. Something came up at the last minute and I had to stay."
"It's okay, love. I understand."
"Why don't you head up and take a shower? I'll take care of the kids until you're done."
"Are you sure? You must be tired as well."
"I'm fine. Go on."
Hermione dropped a grateful kiss on his lips and left the kitchen.
She headed upstairs, filled the hot tub with water, added some of her favorite scented bath crystals, and lowered her tired body in. She sighed in pleasure as the jets made contact with her tired muscles. Now that Harry was home, she could afford this little luxury for a good half hour.
Ever since she had been appointed as the junior minister she had been sleep deprived. No matter how often Harry reminded her that they had house elves to help them out, Hermione wanted to take care of their kids the moment she walked in the door. Sometimes that meant going to bed very late because she had papers to go over and she refused to do that while the kids were awake. She got up early as well and made sure they had a good breakfast before she went off to work.
It wasn't that she didn't trust the house elves. She was quite impressed with how well they ran the household, but she wanted to take care of her babies whenever she could. It was beginning to take its toll on her, though. She had been the junior minister for about a year now, and everyone was already saying she'd make it to Minister of Magic in the next five. For someone as young as her, it meant a lot, especially since she was a Muggle.
Harry was a huge help, but ever since he had quit his job as the head of the Aurors department to open his own security firm, he had been working long hours. The business was flourishing and he had asked Ron and Draco to join him. They provided security to wealthy wizards and their families, visiting dignitaries and business people, and added security for sporting events. Quite a few of the best Ministry Aurors were now in his employ.
While the business had started of small and no one saw the need for extra protection, his business had considerably picked up after he had thwarted a kidnapping. A very wealthy Russian family had come into town for a ministry ball. The heir had almost been kidnapped and Harry, who happened to be in the hotel for a meeting, had kept it from happening. The incident had been in every newspaper of the entire wizarding community and since then his office had been inundated with requests. Such success meant that he was working extra hours and coming home a little later some days of the week. Ron and Draco were in the same situation.
Luna had quit her job and decided to become a stay at home mum. In her free time, she wrote articles for The Quibbler. Ginny had stopped traveling to cover the Quidditch games and was now writing for The Prophet. Her accurate, funny and informative column in the sports section was the most read everyday. She was also working from home since she had given birth to Jordan, a beautiful little girl that had just turned one.
Hermione sighed again as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. No one knew this, but she was also considering quitting her job. She knew her future with the ministry was paved in gold. She was highly respected by her peers and co-workers and she knew she'd make a damn good Minister of Magic if she decided to go that route. Her kids, however, and the love she felt for them, overrode all of that.
She wanted to be with them at all times until they went off to school. She wanted to take care of their every need. Money wasn't an issue, so she could turn in her resignation at any moment. Once the kids were both in school, she could go back to work and retake her career if she chose to do so at that time. Not only that, but she wanted the time to write.
It had occurred to her after the war that she could take their experiences and turn them into works of fiction that would probably sell well in the Muggle world. What kid wouldn't love to read about their "imaginary" adventures at such a young age? She could very well turn it into a series.
For her last birthday, Harry had given her a laptop and she had been doing some writing for the past six months when the kids went to bed and she had a few spare minutes. She was almost at the end of her first manuscript and wanted to tell Harry about it. If she sent it off and someone was interested, it would give her something to do while being at home with her babies.
Just as she was beginning to dose off, Harry walked into the bathroom.
"Is it normal to envy all those bubbles surrounding your luscious body?" he asked as he sat on the toilet and looked over at her.
Hermione smiled as she opened her eyes. Harry handed her a glass of wine and she took it from his hand. Instead of drinking it, she put it on the side of the tub. "If it was later and the kids were asleep, I'd ask you to join me."
"Or I could go and put them to sleep magically for a couple of hours!"
"Harry James Potter, you will do no such thing. You can wait until tonight."
"Is that a promise?"
"Most definitely. Now, tell me about your day."
"Same as usual. We're so busy right now it's not even funny. We've been selected to oversee the security at the next symposium of all the Ministers of Magic that will be held in France this year. We have three months to prepare."
"Oh, darling, congratulations! I'm sure you'll do a fine job."
"We have a good team, so I think so as well."
"How long will you be gone?"
"Close to two weeks, but I intend to take you and the kids along. I can't see myself being that far from the three of you for that long."
"Four."
"Four? Who's the fourth? Rocco?"
"No."
"I'm confused."
"And I'm pregnant!"
Harry just stared at her for a full five seconds before he reacted. Not caring about his expensive suit or shoes, he went over to his wife and hugged her for dear life. Hermione laughed at his reaction and pulled him all the way in. Harry stumbled into the warm water with a gasp.
Their laughter and shouts reached the outside of their room and a moment later, Andrew James ran into the bathroom followed closely by Alyson. When they saw their parents in the water, they came right to the side and tried to climb in. Andrew, being bigger, had no problem but Aly was having a little trouble. She looked pleadingly at her daddy, he melted, and pulled her in as well.
Hermione looked at all of them, fully clothed and dripping wet and burst out laughing again. Right then she decided to have a talk with Harry that night. She was sure he would understand.
"Guess what, kids?" Harry said as he gathered them both in his lap.
"What daddy?" Andrew asked.
"Mummy is having a baby!"
"Baby?" Aly asked with a small frown. "I baby," she informed them as she pointed at herself.
"Well, yes you are, but you're going to be big soon and you will be able to help mummy take care of the new baby," Harry explained after he and Hermione had shared an amused glance.
Aly, thank heaven, seemed satisfied with that. "'Kay."
Andrew went to sit in Hermione's lap. "I can help, too, mummy."
Hermione placed a tender kiss on his forehead. "Of course you can, sweetheart. You're mummy's big boy. And Aly will be mummy's big girl."
"Do you have any idea what we're having, love? How far along are you?"
"Almost three months. I've been so busy with work that I just took the tiredness for that. I haven't experience any morning sickness this time, thank God. We'll find out the sex of the baby in the next visit."
"Great. We'll all go so the kids can listen to the heartbeat."
"Sounds like a plan. Now, why don't we get you all out of those wet clothes so we can go watch a movie and cuddle in bed?"
A merry shout of agreement from their kids was all they needed.
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Later that night, after the movie had been watched, the popcorn had been eaten and the kids had been put to sleep, Hermione finally confided in her husband what had been on her mind for a while.
Harry seemed surprised at first, since he'd had no clue she had been feeling that way. Then he seemed hurt she had waited so long to confide in him. Finally, he just held her in his arms and let her talk all she wanted.
When she was done, she took a deep breath and waited. She knew he was a bit upset, but she also knew he would look past that and support her.
"I wish you had said something before. Why didn't you?"
"You've been so busy setting up your firm, love, and I didn't want you to worry about my issues."
"Listen to me, Hermione Potter, I need to know and I want to know when you are upset or going through things. This is a marriage, a partnership, and we should share important things like that."
"You're absolutely right and it was wrong of me."
"It's okay. If you want to quit the ministry, stay at home with Andrew and Aly and write a book about our adventures, I have no problem with that. I'd actually love it because no one takes care of our babies better than you. You're a fine mother, Hermione, and I'm damn proud of you."
"Thank you, Harry. Hearing you say that means a lot. You and the kids are everything to me."
"Can I read the manuscript?"
"You really want to?"
"Of course! As long as you made me a good looking kid from the beginning I'm happy!"
"You've always been handsome, Harry James. You're looking especially handsome right now," she said with a wink and smiled at him.
He looked down at himself and frowned. "I'm just wearing a pair of boxers."
"Exactly," she said before pushing him on his back and straddling him. "You look very handsome, indeed!"
With that, she leaned down and captured his mouth in a heated kiss. More than an hour passed before they finally went to sleep.
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Six months later, right after Hermione gave birth to another little boy, her first book was published. It was an instant hit in the UK and in the States. Due to Maximilian's birth, she had declined all publicity tours and the publisher had been happy to let her do some magazine and TV interviews instead. Her absence from the public eye only heightened the book sales and added to the mystery. Surprisingly, even to herself, Hermione had settled into her role of stay-at-home mummy well. The kids were flourishing under her constant attention and she still found time to write. It worked out perfectly.
Harry couldn't be more proud. Hermione, A J, Aly and Max were his life and he couldn't be happier to have such a beautiful family. Every dream they'd ever had had come true. They all had come a long way. Even with all life had thrown at them from an early age until now they had always managed to come out on top. Harry James Potter considered himself a lucky man as he gazed at his family playing in the pool. Max was asleep by his side.
"You seem lost in thought, darling," Hermione said as she looked over at him.
"I was just thinking I must be the luckiest man on this earth."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I'm married to the most wonderful and beautiful woman in the planet; I have three wonderful kids, close friends that are part of my extended family and a successful business. I never thought I'd be this blissful or blessed."
"It's not luck, my love. You deserve every bit of it. You fought hard for it."
Harry seemed to think about her words for a moment. "You're absolutely right, as always. We worked damn hard for it."
Hermione squeezed his hand lovingly. "I love you, Harry James. With all of my heart, now and forever. I think I'm the lucky one to have such a beautiful family."
"Nah, I still say I'm the luckiest one of us all. And I love you, Hermione Jane. I'll love you and our babies until the day I die."
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A/N: There you have it. Hope you enjoyed the very last chapter. I've loved writing this and sharing it with you all. Thanks for the reviews. It was amazing to see the response this fic got, especially the number of reviews. From the bottom of my heart, thank you and until the next one!
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