The Five Year Mark

The Five-Year Mark: Chapter 2

~*~

I'm feeling nervous

Trying to be so perfect

Cause I know you're worth it

Know you're worth it, yeah

If I could say what I want to say

I'd say I want to blow you

Away

Be with you every night

Am I squeezing you too tight?

If I could say what I want to see

I want to see you go down

On one knee

Marry me today

Guess I'm wishing my life away

With these things I'll never say

-Avril Lavinge, Things I'll never Say.

~*~

A few days after everyone had gathered in the hospital room, Hermione and Gabe were released from the hospital. The hospital staff said that Gabe was perfectly healthy, except that when they were reading his brain (A/N: this IS a wizarding hospital, you know), they found that his brain, young though it was, was mostly filled with provocative thoughts. When the staff told Ron and Hermione this, Ron didn't understand why they were worried about this.

"What's your point?" Ron asked the nurse.

"What he means is, all Weasley boys are like that," Hermione translated when she saw the nurse's confused face.

"Oh, right, I remember now. Your brother's son was like this too. And the rest of your brothers, their sons, your father, his brothers, their sons," she trailed off as she was consumed in her thoughts.

"Yep, that's us Weasley guys," Ron said as he took Gabe from the nurse, who was still trying to remember all of the Weasleys who were like that, and handed him to Hermione. "We'll just be going now." With that, they left the thought-consumed nurse and headed for the car.

When the two had gotten married, Harry and Hermione switched flats. Hermione moved in with Ron, and Harry moved in with Ginny.

"You know that as soon as I can, I'm going to get you a real house, right?" Ron asked as they pulled into their driveway.

"Ron, you know that I don't mind. I think that this place holds lots of memories for us," she reassured him.

They got out of the car and headed up to their flat, it had become much tidier after Hermione had moved in. Even though it had been three years since she had moved in, it still surprised Ron how different the flat was. It now had carpet that wasn't covered in stains of all sorts, and there were actual cushions on the sofa, not just folded up blankets. Also, the sofa was in one piece and the legs weren't broken and chewed on. The previous owners of the flat had had a dog, which Hermione had found out when she asked about a corner that smelled worse than the rest of the apartment.

"It may smell a bit," Ron had explained, "but it was cheaper than a new one that didn't smell. You get used to it after a while. I had even forgotten that this corner was here."

While Hermione was pregnant, they had turned Harry's old room into the nursery. This worked well because it was right across the hall from their room. They had redecorated Ron's room too. The solid shade of bright orange was keeping Hermione awake.

She hadn't known that Ron had meant for the colors to keep her awake on purpose. Therefore, she would need to get rid of a lot of energy to be able to sleep. His plan worked, every night. As proof, all you had to do was walk across the hall, Ron, having grown up surrounded by the colors, could have fallen asleep whenever he wanted. He didn't want to.

Ron might have changed, but his liking of the Chudley Cannons hadn't wavered one bit. So, instead of the whole room being orange, just his pillow and the lamp on his bedside table was and Hermione was able to sleep easier, much to Ron's disappointment.

When Hermione returned from putting Gabe into his new room, she found Ron lost in thought sitting on their bed and she plopped down next to him.

"Whatcha thinking?"

"Not thinking exactly. More remembering."

"Remembering what?"

"Remembering when I proposed to you. And how I led up to it. I still surprise myself at how clever I was."

"Yeah, I remember too. It was a good lead up. You surprised me too."

"Its hard to believe that it was only a couple years ago."

Flashback a couple years.

Hermione is coming through the door as Harry is leaving. Ron is in the living room, in his boxers with his initials that Hermione likes so much.

Ron Weasley sat on the couch in the living room at his flat, with his guitar in his lap. Hermione came up and sat down next to him. He put down his guitar as she wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Whatcha doing?" she asked curiously.

"Pretty much just fiddling with this song, some of the words will make better sense once I change them," he replied as he picked up his pencil. Such things as simple as a pencil still managed to amaze Ron. He twiddled it in his fingers. How many other things have Muggles come up with to get along without magic? Oh shit! I'm starting to think like Dad!

"What song?"

"A song I wrote to tell someone exactly why they look like a dumb-arse. Don't worry; it's not about you. It would work perfectly if you could sing it for me though."

"Well, hand me the words and give me the music and I can probably get it."

He handed her the piece of paper with the lyrics on it and struck up the main part of the song on his guitar.

"It'll sound better with the rest of the band, right now all you have is a single guitar."

The choir, who had been suspiciously absent up until now, sneaked onto a stage in the corner.

"Bloody HELL!!!! Not them AGAIN!!!!"

"Ron, calm down. You'll wake up your niece and nephews, if you keep shouting." Hermione had gotten good at cooling off Ron's temper. The best way to cool him down was to confuse him, which wasn't that hard to do.

"But they're at The Burrow, in Ottery St. Catchpole." True to form, Ron was confused.

"Exactly."

"Huh? But anyway, I don't like them," he jerked his thumb to the choir.

"You may not like them, but they do prove a point when they're by themselves, and make us sound better as back up."

"I guess you're right. You always are."

"They don't really matter that much anyway. OK. I think I have it now. Start playing."

He started the song and after a couple bars, she (and the oh-so-loved choir) came in.

"He was a boy

She was a girl

Can I make it any more obvious?

He was a punk

She did ballet

What more can I say?

He wanted her

She'd never tell

That secretly

She wanted him as well

But all of her friends

Stuck up their nose

They had a problem

With his raggy clothes

He was a Sk8er Boi

She said see ya later Boi

He wasn't good enough

For her

She had a pretty face

But her head was up in space

She needed to came back

Down to earth

Sorry girl

But you missed out

Well tough luck

That boy's mine now

We are more than

Just good friends

This is how

The story ends

To bad that couldn't see

See the man that boy could be

There is more than meets the eye

I see the soul that is inside

He's just a boy

And I'm just a girl

Can I make it anymore obvious?

We are in love

Haven't you heard?

How we rock each other's world!!!

I'm with the Sk8er boy

I said see ya later boy

I'll be backstage

After the show

I'll be at a studio

Singing the song we wrote

About a girl

He used to know

I'm with the Sk8er boy

I said see ya later boy

I'll be backstage

After the show

I'll be at a studio

Singing the song we wrote

About a girl

He used to know"

The choir disappeared in a puff of smoke as soon as the final note was over.

"Oh, wow. That is a really good song. But, you said that it was to show someone why they look like a dumbarse. What person?" Hermione wanted to know.

"You know her from Hogwarts, that's where I met her too. She wasn't in Gryffindor. She hung around with this one boy quite often."

"Who?"

"Pansy Parkinson."

Her jaw dropped and at the stunned look on her face, he continued on.

"We dated once during the summer before seventh year. She dumped me because I didn't have enough money, didn't have good enough clothes, and she didn't like how I looked in general. But now she has nothing on me.

I own my own shop, have clothes that were never hand-me-downs, I've grown into myself, my hair got a little darker, I did get even more freckles, but they aren't as bad as they used to be. And, I have you.

Her, on the other hand, still dresses like a slut, still bleaches her hair to make it that fakey blonde that every other person has, still gets everything handed to her on a silver platter by her boy-of-the-week, and she's dating Malfoy. We all know that she'll try sleeping with anything with a dick at least once, but still."

Hermione just nodded in agreement. It was all true. However, even though his clothes weren't hand-me-downs anymore, he could still use a bit of advice in the whole matching-things-are-good concept.

"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, Hermione. You're the reason I get out of bed in the morning. Other than that you wake me up when I break my alarm clock, I feel I have to get up and go make a better life for myself to prove to you that even I can get up if I have a good reason. You are that reason, Hermione. I love you, and I want you to be happy."

She sat there for a moment, just long enough to start Ron worrying. Then, she threw her arms around his neck and started sobbing on his shoulder. He had to admit, he was a bit worried and surprised when she did that, but he also had to admit that he didn't mind that much.

"Oh, Ron! Out of all the years that we've known each other, I don't think that we've ever had exactly the same opinion on something that didn't involve Harry's well-being. I love you too, Ron. I love you with all of my heart."

"Yeah. We bickered about everything there was to be bickered about and more."

They just sat there like that for a while, with Hermione sobbing, and Ron trying to calm her, while also trying not to show exactly how relieved he was that he had finally said it.

He had been working up the courage to tell her that he exactly how he felt about her since before the night of Fred and George's cruise. That had been last year. So much for Gryffindor Courage. He had told Harry how he felt about Hermione, but it wasn't good enough to satisfy him. He had to tell her.

It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his chest, only to be replaced by the warm weight that was Hermione. His Hermione. He liked this weight. It didn't hurt, like the kind that tells you that you know something and feel like you should tell someone; it was comfortable, like a little kitten curled up in your lap.

The thought about the kitten got him thinking about their second year, with the Polyjuice Potion. And how she had gotten turned into a cat by mistake. He chuckled a bit, but not enough to disturb Hermione. Miss I-Have-To-Do-Everything-Absolutely-Perfect had gotten turned into a cat. He chuckled again. This time, she felt it.

"What are you laughing about?"

"Nothing. Just remembering some adventures we had at Hogwarts is all."

"Oh," she returned her face into his chest once she had found a dry spot.

"Hermione?"

She looked up again.

"Yes?"

"Hermione, I know that this is all kind of sudden, but I can't live without you any longer. I know that we have only just confessed our deep feelings, but, I feel I need to do this." He took a deep breath and continued. "Hermione," he shifted positions so he was kneeling on the floor in front of her. "Hermione, will you make me the happiest man that ever lived? Will you marry me? Please?"

The tears that Hermione had just overcome welled up again. "Oh, Ron." She repeated her actions and threw her arms around his neck again. But this time, there was nothing behind him to catch him and they both got turned around and toppled backwards. They hit the floor, Ron on top of Hermione, completely tangled in each other's limbs.

When she could breathe again, she gave her answer to Ron's question.

"Yes, Ron. I will marry you."

"Thank you 'Mione." He kissed her. "Thank you, so much."

On that note, they started snogging. Only when Ron's flatmate, Harry, came back from talking to Ginny did they pause to tell him the news. After he had congratulated them, and commented that it had only taken them a decade to realize what they had, and another year to propose to each other, he went back out to tell Ginny, and to give them some time to themselves. They wasted no time in resuming their previous activity, or in moving into Ron's bedroom at the end of the hall.

End flashback

"Those were some good times, and they aren't completely over," Hermione commented with a grin.

"Are you thinking, what I think you're thinking?" Ron replied with a lift of an eyebrow.

"Well, if you think that I think that you think that what I'm thinking and you're thinking are the same thinks, then I think we're thinking the same think." Hermione loved confusing Ron, and judging by his face, she had done just that.

"Do you want a translation, Ron?"

"Please."

"Here's what I was thinking," she kissed him.

"Hhmm, I was thinking that I was hungry. But I like your idea much better," he kissed her forehead.

"Right now, I am so glad that Gabe sleeps almost as much as you did," Hermione said into Ron's shoulder.

"How did you know how much I slept when I was a baby?"

"I didn't know exactly until I talked to your mother, but I could have guessed by how often you wanted to sleep in while we were at Hogwarts."

"Oh. Well, for right now, stop knowing so much. Or, in other words, shut up and kiss me. I heard it on a TV when you took me shopping in Muggle London."

"You just told me to shut up and kiss you. How can I kiss you if you keep moving your mouth?"

"You're the smart one. I would have thought that you would have remembered that mouths aren't the only places that can be kissed."

"Oh, how stupid of me!" she sucked on his earlobe and whispered in his ear, "I guess I've been hanging around you too much."

"Hey! I resent that!"

"You're supposed to. Now, shut up and kiss me."

He had gotten VERY good at following her directions, over the past couple of months that Hermione had been pregnant, and he followed them now.

~*~

After a while, they stopped. Not because they wanted to, because they were still human and still needed oxygen.

Neither of them was fully dressed anymore, but neither of them wanted to move to retrieve their discarded clothing articles. They had expelled a little too much energy.

Hermione had pulled off Ron's clothes until he was clad in just his boxers.

"Oh, you wore the ones with your initials in them." She pointed and smiled up at him.

"I know you like them, and I figured that we would be down to our skivvies sometime today." He grinned. "Besides, if we both remained fully clothed for some reason, I could have always worn them tomorrow too."

"Ron, you know I don't like it when I have to see your boxers two or more days in a row. If you wear them more than once a wash load, they get boring. If they get boring, then I have no desire to see them. If I have no desire to see them, then we don't get where we are now," Hermione said in her old matter-of-fact tone.

"You mean that if you had never had a desire to see me in my boxers, we wouldn't be married with a kid and lying on the bed teasing each other?" he asked with a grin.

"We would probably still tease each other. But the rest.........probably not."

"Well, then, I guess we'd better not ever change."

They kissed again. But this time, Hermione pulled back.

"Wassamatter?"

"We can come back to this later," she said as she started to pull her clothes back on. "Right now, put your clothes back on and go get Gabe, we're going to go over to see Harry and Ginny. We'll see if we can help with any of their wedding plans, since they helped with ours. And don't even think of planning everything in bright orange, like you wanted to for our wedding."

"Yes, Mother."

"Do you really want to get on my nerves again? Remember what your punishment was last time you did that?"

Ron's face went from sarcastic to panicked and he let out a little squeak.

"OK. I'll be good, I promise."

"Good. Now, put your pants back on. I'm going to go call them, make sure that its okay for us to come over."

"Yeah, make sure that we're not going to interrupt anything," he said and dodged the pillow she threw at him and walked across the hall, laughing, to Gabe's room.

~*~

"Shut up, you."

"Who? Me?"

"No, not you Ginny, I was talking to Ron."

"Oh, OK."

"Do you think it will be all right if Ron and I came over? I was thinking that we could pay you back for helping with our wedding."

'Sure. And thanks for calling first. Stop that, Harry."

"Hello, Hermione."

"Hi, Harry. I hope that you listen to your fiancée better than Ron did."

"Hey! Don't listen to her, Harry! She's trying to pull you over to their side!! Run, Harry! Run!"

"What makes you think that I'm not already on their side? You should know by now that Ginny can really pack a punch, hard. And Hermione, only if I feel like it."

"Harry, don't make me use this." Ron and Hermione couldn't see this, but Ginny was wagging her fist at Harry.

"What have we gotten ourselves into, Ron?"

"I don't know, Harry. I don't know. But at least you have it easy with Mum. She always favors you and Hermione. If you're her own kid, you actually get punished. I don't know how many times me and my brothers, except Percy, had to de-gnome the garden. Even Ginny gets it easy because she's the baby and the only girl. I feel so cheated."

"Well, Ron, if you feel that bad, just wait a couple hours, then we'll be back here, and I'll make you feel all better."

"Guys, no PDA's please."

"Sorry. We'll be good. At least until we get back here."

"Thank you. You guys can come over wheneer."

"OK. We'll be over in a few minutes."

"Yeah. And be sure to put your clothes back on before we get over there."

"Ron"

"Ron"

(Ron laughed.)

"You guys are too easy."

(Ron hangs up)

"I can't figure out what's gotten into him. He's had his mind set on 'kinky' all day."

"When has he ever NOT had his mind set on 'kinky'?"

"Yeah. He has been like that as long as I can remember. The rest of my brothers too. Well, except Percy."

"Why is it that you guys always say 'all of my brothers, except Percy'? Didn't he ever do anything?"

"Percy spent a lot of time following Mum and Dad around. I don't think he knows what its like to be disciplined. He was always the one doing the disciplining. When Mum and Dad would go somewhere, even though Bill and Charlie were there, they would leave Percy in charge. It was a bit strange actually."

"Sounds like it. Well, we'll be over there soon. See you."

"Bye."

"Later."

End conversation

"Come on, Ron. Lets go."

"OK, I'm coming."

~*~~*~~*~~*~