Songbird ; Fred Weasley

Sixty-one

The second Max pulled me aside, he grabbed my left hand and pulled it up so he could study it.

"What's this?" He asked, and I frowned, looking at my hand.

"What is what?"

"Your finger..." he said. "Why is there no ring on your finger?"

I shushed, glancing towards the kitchen to make sure Fred didn't hear our conversation.

"You don't know if he's going to propose." I said quietly. "I don't even know how you got that idea."

"It's obvious." He said. "He's been making you an awful lot of dinners lately, right? And he's leaving you sweet notes and buying you gifts, but I honestly thought he would have proposed to you by now."

I folded my arms over my chest and raised my eyebrows, telling him just enough by my stare.

"Don't you want to get married?"

"Max, I've been with him for five years. We won't need marriage to be happy together. We're already a family."

"But you've always wanted a wedding, and you've been talking about wanting to marry Fred for years."

I pressed my lips together and stared at him for another moment before Phoebe came running into the hallway, hugging a teddy bear close to her.

"Mama, look what uncle Flynn gave me!"

She held up a small elephant which was her current favourite animal since we went to the zoo this summer.

"Uncle Flynn?" Max scoffed. "Honey, don't trust a word your uncle Flynn says. That elephant is from him and me, but I picked it out."

Phoebe turned to him and gave him one of her sassy expressions. "He said you might say that."

And then she spun delicately on her heels and marched back to join Fred and Flynn at the table.

I couldn't help laughing while Max stared after my daughter, completely stunned to silence.

"That's my daughter." I said proudly, grinning at Max before I turned around and walked back to the table.

As I passed Phoebe's chair, I ruffled her hair and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"Mama, you know what I want for Christmas?" She asked me while Fred showed her how to cut up her own food.

"A pony?" I asked as I slid into my seat.

"I want a baby brother." She said while I took a sip of my wine, and I choked on it before breaking into a coughing fit.

Flynn laughed while Fred smiled at my reaction, handing the fork over to Phoebe who stuffed her mouth with lasagna.

"That's... nice." I breathed.

I clearly remembered labour with Phoebe and how horrible it was. I had thrown up, I kept passing out between pushing and I screamed my throat raw from all of the pain.

There was no way I was doing that.

But of course, later that night after we put Phoebe to sleep, Fred picked up the topic of trying for baby number two.

"Phoebe turns five in six months. I want her to have a sibling. We have the space. The guest room can easily be a nursery."

"Yeah?" I asked. "And what about the pregnancy? I'll be the pregnant one, and I'll be the one having to suffer through pregnancy again."

Fred leaned on the counter and watched me with a soft and loving expression on his face.

"We can't be sure it'll be the same." He said. "I read that second births are often much shorter than the first."