Precisely their eyes

The delighted squeals that the baby boy made as he watched the chess pieces move drowned the call of 'Daddy!' from his older sister.

Ron looked away from his son's happy face at the game of wizarding chess to pay attention to his daughter. She was frowning at him from behind the tall stack of books she was holding.

'Mummy says that is a violent game to teach us,' she said, sounding much like Hermione.

'Oh.' Ron pouted.  'That's a shame; I wanted to teach you, too!'

'Really?' asked Rose, her face lighting up at the prospect.

'Of course, Rosie! Don't worry, I'll talk to Mummy. What's with all the books? Are those the photo albums?' asked Ron, pointing at the tower that threatened to fall down any minute now from her thin arms.

'Mummy said can you help me with homework because she's cooking and doing her work.'

'You want me to help you?'

Rose nodded; Ron took the albums from her hands and, with a wave of his wand, sent the chessboard away to make space for his daughter to sit next to her brother Hugo. 'Right, what do you have to do?'

'Miss Ellis asked us to bring a picture of our family. We're going to make a Christmas present for you and Mummy!' exclaimed the five-year-old, excited.

'And you have to take the picture with you, to school?'

'Yes, Daddy, we'll wrap the presents too!'

'There could be a problem there. Our photographs move, Rosie, I don't think that… Hold on.'

Ron took one of the two white albums that had been buried under the rest and started browsing it.

'There might be some still photos in Hugo's album…'

'Why in his album?' Rose asked, frowning again.

'Well, there are some in your album, too, but don't you need a photo with your whole family?'

'Yes.'

'Hugo is not in your baby album, sweetheart.'

He finally found what he had been looking for and showed it to his kids.

'Granddad Granger took these the day after Hugo was born, and Grandma Granger made copies for us.'
'They no move!' said Hugo, looking surprised at the still picture.

'No, buddy, they don't move because Granddad and Grandma Granger don't have magic, remember?' said Ron, laughing at his son's innocence.

'Look Daddy, I'm crying here!' said Rose, pointing at one of the pictures. 'I don't remember. Why was I crying?'

'You don't remember because you were too little, Rosie. You were barely three! And you were crying that day because you were a bit jealous of the little one,' Ron explained patiently, ruffling Hugo's hair.

'But I'm not crying in this one!' Rose said again, pointing at a different photograph.

'No, you weren't.'

'I don't remember, Daddy, would you tell me why was I crying? And why was I jealous?' Rose asked. Hugo, tugging at his sister's arm, said, 'Why I stop crying?'

Chuckling, Ron pulled Hugo onto his lap and moved closer to Rose, placing the photo album in her lap.

'That's an interesting story. You see, when Mummy was pregnant with Hugo, you kept changing your mind about the idea of having a new brother or sister...'

The little girl was bouncing up and down the kitchen with her stuffed unicorn, while Ron was busy making dinner. He chuckled whenever he glanced over his shoulder, at seeing her so happy. He thought she was just good-humoured that day for no particular reason, until he felt Rose's untidy curls tickling his hanging hand.

'Daddy, make the unicorn move?'

'Mm, yeah, Rosie, I can do it. But isn't it more fun when you make it move and dance around?' Ron asked her.

'No, but, I mean when the baby play with me!' Rosie grinned, offering her toy to Ron.

'Why? You'll be so busy playing with the baby that you won't have time to move the unicorn yourself?'

'Because the baby will sit here, Daddy!' Rose said, tapping the unicorn's back. 'Baby sits here and moves!'

Ron laughed. 'Rosie, it's too small for the baby.'

'But you said the baby is small.'

'It is very tiny now, but it's growing all the time.' Ron crouched next to his daughter and took her toy. 'Mummy's tummy will get a little bit bigger every day until the baby is born. It will be very little at first, but still too big to sit on the unicorn. And it won't be able to play at first, or to sit on its own. It will need Mummy, Daddy and Rosie to help it until it's big, like you.'

'I'm not big,' Rose said. She was looking very serious now. 'I need you and Mummy.'

'Of course you do, love, but the baby is going to need us more at first.'

At that moment, a 'pop' resounded in the living room, shortly after which Hermione walked into the kitchen, smiling widely at her family.

'Hi,' she said, kissing Ron first and bending lower to kiss Rose. The girl, however, was frowning at the floor. 'What's wrong, Rosie?'

'You told me a fib,' she said, looking at her puzzle parents. 'You said it was a baby to play with, and now Daddy says it'll grow up like me!'

'But love, of course the baby will grow up. You were a baby when you were born, and you've grown up,' Hermione explained. 'Why does that make you sad?'

'Because...' Rose started, her eyes filling up with tears, 'because it took me too long to grow up, and the baby will beat me!'


'Of course, that wasn't the only reason why you were upset,' said Ron. 'You were also starting to feel a bit jealous because of all the attention your little brother was getting.'

'I got attention?' asked Hugo, wide-eyed.

'Well, babies aren't a novelty in our family,' said Ron, smiling to himself, 'but they all get plenty of pampering and attention. And when you were getting all the fuss, Hugo, Rosie was a little bit jealous because she though Mum and Dad wouldn't love her as much."

Rose's cheeks turned slightly pink. Even at her age, she was smart and proud like her mother, and she felt embarrassed when people suggested she might be jealous, as if she didn't know that it wasn't nice to feel such an unkind emotion. However, she still felt jealous of Hugo sometimes.

'And what happened next, Daddy?' asked the girl.

'Well, after your mum and I explained to you that the baby would take a long time to grow, and he would never catch you up—and after we made a really special fuss of you—you were more or less excited again to have a brother or sister,' Ron continued. 'You would often talk to your mum's tummy and kiss it; you told everyone at school about it, and your cousins, and you asked lots of questions... And then the day came when Hugo was finally here.'


The day it happened, Rose was staying at Ron's parents. Not by chance, but because Hugo Weasley's birth had been scheduled for that weekend and, prudently, Ron and Hermione had decided that it would be less stressful for them all if Rose was not there when Hermione had to be taken to St. Mungo's.

Indeed, Hermione was able to focus on relieving her contractions and rely on Ron to Apparate her safely knowing that her little girl was happy and in good hands.

That Saturday evening, Molly was sitting with Rose, who was holding a battered copy of Muggle fairy tales and "reading" them to her grandmother. The little girl was guided mainly by the pictures in the book, rather than by memory, and Molly was amused to hear her adding things like wands, basilisks and Healers to Sleeping Beauty.

When Ron sent an owl to say that they were already at the hospital, Molly interrupted Rose and called for Arthur. They put their cloaks on and got ready to go, but first, they sat down with Rose again and explained her that the baby was coming. As she looked stunned, Arthur lifted her up and the three of them Disapparated.

When Molly, Arthur and Rose reached the maternity ward's waiting room at St. Mungo's, they were greeted by a sweaty, grinning Ron.

'He's here. After having one baby, Hermione made sure that she learnt something for the next one. This one was delivered in record time,' said Ron, laughing. He picked up Rose and kissed her. 'Are you ready to meet your little brother?' He then looked at his parents and said, with the same passion he always expressed toward his little family, 'He has her eyes, precisely her eyes.'

Rose had been cautious around the new baby. She hadn't smiled much the first time she saw this tiny, red, swollen thing that was uglier than any of her toys and that was supposed to be her brother, or during the rest of the day, or the next day, once she and her parents went home. This didn't pass unnoticed by Ron and Hermione, since Rose seemed not to be reacting at all, but they decided to wait.

After lunch, Hermione's parents visited them to see how she was doing. Mr. Granger had brought a modern Muggle camera to take some 'normal' pictures. He had already taken a dozen of shots of his new grandson when he asked the parents to pose for the picture with Rose. At that precise, unexpected moment, Rose burst out in tears.

After exchanging a quick glance with Hermione, Ron picked up Rose and took her to the kitchen. He sat her in his lap and gently removed her hands from her wet face.

'What is it, love? You're not happy about your brother?'

Rose timidly shook her head and avoided her father's gaze.

'Why, Rosie?'

'Because… he made mummy cry a lot. She said she was very tired and that she couldn't lift me up because she has an ouwie.' Rose sniffed before saying, 'And you said he took Mummy's eyes, too! I think I don't like Hugo, he's bad to Mummy!'

Ron was frowning slightly, listening carefully to his daughter, but it was hard not to laught after that. He allowed himself to chuckle and then hugged Rose.

'Rosie… Hugo is not bad. He didn't hurt Mummy on purpose, and he didn't take her eyes, either. Mummy's just really tired because she had Hugo for all these months in her tummy, but she's not upset or sad. She's very happy to have both of you. She was crying because she was happy.'

'But Mummy's eyes…' said Rose, doubtful.

'They are fine. I meant that Hugo has brown eyes like Mummy's. Have you seen them? They are really beautiful, just like Mummy's.'

'Daddy… you love him more because you say he's pretty like Mummy?'

Ron looked at her and shook his head.

'I love both of you. And I have something to show you. I think you know it, because everybody says it all the time, but perhaps you've forgotten…'

He conjured a small mirror out of thin air and held it up in front of him and Rose.

'Look at our eyes. You have my eyes, and Mummy thinks they are the most beautiful eyes in the world.'

'I have blue eyes,' said Rose.

'I have blue eyes, too,' said Ron, and he reciprocated the smile she was giving him.

'Are you ready for that picture? I really want you to meet Hugo. You see, I think you might like him.'


'And that's why Rosie was crying in this picture. But after that, she didn't cry,' Ron finished, giving her daughter a proud smile. 'I think you should take the picture where you're not crying, wouldn't you say, Rose?'

Carefully, Ron took out the photograph and stared at it for a moment, looking at the huge smile in Hermione's face as she held little Hugo, who was peeking out of his blanket, and recognizing the understanding that linked his gaze with Rose's.

'I think that one is really beautiful,' said a voice from the kitchen's doorframe. Ron looked up to see Hermione contemplating the scene and wondered how much she had heard. 'And the story was beautiful, too.'

So, she'd heard all of it, probably. Hermione walked over to him and kissed him briefly before taking the children to wash their hands before dinner. As she went, she looked over her shoulder and her brown eyes met his blue ones with tenderness. Storytelling was easy when they had such good memories, Ron thought, ready to make their story continue.