Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling. I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or plot or anything affiliated with Harry Potter or Warner Bros. I'm just a lonely nerd with a writing habit.

It had been ten years; ten blissfully, unhappy years.

Okay, if she were to be honest with herself, they weren't all unhappy. The first six years were great, amazing even. She had been married to the man of her dreams. Married to the man she had gone through everything with, and was prepared to face the world with.

Hermione Granger married Ron Weasley a couple of years after graduating from Hogwarts. They were very happy in the beginning. Most couples seem to be, for the first year or two before problems arose.

Although she was impatient to start a family, she quickly discovered that Ron was not so eager. Ten years into the marriage and she was still child-less. She felt like a failure as a wife, and as a woman. For the first five years of their marriage, Ron had simply just not been interested in having kids. He felt that they were too young to be having children. Just because they were married, he argued, didn't mean that they needed to rush into becoming parents. Hermione could understand that; and being a level headed person she was, she learned to quiet her biological clock and wait until Ron was ready for parenthood. They had the rest of their marriage to pursue having kids.

After ten years, however, her patience was wearing thin and time wasn't helping. Every year Ron seemed to be less and less interested in having children.

She supposed he was too involved with his career. Ron had landed a big shot job at the Ministry shortly after they finished school. The Ministry used his face to market Ministry-Ideals to the general public. He was a puppet basically, in her opinion. But who was she to argue with it? He loved what he did.

The Ministry would have preferred to employ the great, amazing Harry Potter, of course, but Harry had never been into the celebrity of it all; whereas Ron had always craved it.

He had everything he wanted it seemed. A gorgeous, intelligent and notable wife; a big extravagant house; a high paying job, and he was, now, a respected figure in his community. Children didn't' seem to matter, or have place in the great picture of his new life.

Hermione found that she could typically dull her frustrations, and sorrows by burying herself in her interests. She had practically read her personal library through five times over. Ron was very supportive of her habit. He came home often with rare and collectible books for her. Her personal library kept well-stocked. But, after reading every book known to man, over and over again, she begin to realize that there's not really much new to discover in a brand new book. Every page begins to look the same as the last. Every book cover blends in with the next until a bookshelf full of possibilities starts to look like a giant wall of nothingness. A giant, useless repetitive, stupid wall that just stares you down, reminding you that you still don't have any kids!

She wanted a baby. No, she needed a baby to love, hold, adore and to keep her occupied. She even had an entire shelf of books reserved with titles she wanted to read and share with her children someday. They even included Muggle books her mother used to read to her.

After losing her passion for reading, Hermione tried to take on new projects by taking advantage of their new financial means. She opened her own community library and started a tutoring program where she helped to educate bright young wizards in exchange that they used that knowledge to help other witches and wizards advance academically. She loved working with kids. She loved sharing her thoughts and her knowledge with them. She couldn't describe the satisfaction she felt when she could see the light turn on in a child's mind when an idea finally connected with them and was comprehended.

It had occurred to her, many times, that she would make an excellent teacher. But applying for a teaching position was out of the question, Ron absolutely forbid it. He needed to have her at home to do important things…like re-read her library, look pretty, and sit around bored out of her mind.

Hermione didn't even have chores to occupy herself with.

Ron wanted to accrue house elves the second he had gotten a bit of money into Gringotts, but Hermione absolutely forbid it. She even threatened to leave him over the issue when she realized how badly he wanted them, and how okay with the idea he was. They compromised and Ron hired a staff of witches and wizards to clean and cook for them. Ron liked to complain that they were costing him a fortune, but Hermione would remind him that, even if they did obtain house elves, she would have forced him to pay them fair wages. So, either way, hiring help would have broken his bank.

On top of it all, she never really saw much of her husband anymore. The first few years they had been inseparable. All he ever wanted to do was kiss her, hold her, and tell her how much he loved her. They spent days in bed, just making love and disregarding all of their responsibilities. Now, it was difficult to remember the last time they had spent an entire afternoon in each other's company. She saw her friends more than she saw her husband. Not that she entirely minded, because her friends were great.

Harry married Ginny the second she graduated. They had three kids now, and were trying for a fourth. Even Luna was happily married to Neville, and had a child of her own to dote over. Hermione was envious. She hated to admit it, but it was the truth. She would have given anything to live a day in either Luna or Ginny's wonderfully blessed shoes. But for the time being, she would have to accept her role as aunt and babysitter.

Life wouldn't stay this way forever. She knew, in her heart, that Ron loved her. He understood how important motherhood was to her. He would come around, eventually. She just had to have faith and hope. She only prayed it wouldn't take another ten years…

A/N: This is the first fanfiction that I have written and shared in a few years. I want to Elizaye for reawakening my passion for fanfiction with her AMAZING fanfic, Turncoat. Everyone should check it out! Speaking of checking things out, do not check out my earlier fanfictions. They are absolutely terrible and I'm probably going to delete them…I wrote them when I was a 12 year old on crack. I'm now 22 and thoroughly embarrassed by them…lol