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"Yes, mum will be thrilled," Charlie answered. |
"And what made you decide to move back?" Hermione persisted. Draco caught a look at her face. She was enjoying her interrogation. |
"Told Lavender we'd be helping her with the kiddos," Charlie answered, "George has the shop and his own three. Bill's busy with his kids. And Percy is, well Percy." They all laughed at Charlie's assessment of Percy Weasley. Charlie shrugged and continued, "I've wrestled dragons, how hard can a few sprogs be." |
"That's kind of you," Hermione said, grinning at Lavender. |
"Don't you dare give me that look, Hermione," Lavender said testily. |
"What look?" Hermione said, feigning innocence. |
Charlie started laughing, and Lavender turned on him, poking him in the chest. "Don't you encourage her. I told you I didn't need you giving up your job to help us. We'll manage just fine on our own." |
Charlie swatted her hand away, his lip curling in a snarl. Draco watched as the dragon tattoos on Charlie's arms rippled when Charlie crossed his arms over his chest. Lavender growled back at him. |
"You're not on your own," Charlie said heatedly, "Did you think we were just going to forget about you and the kids when Ron went to prison?" |
"I do not need your charity," Lavender hissed. |
"It's not charity," Charlie yelled, in a tone that indicated he'd probably said it a hundred times throughout the course of the day to the witch. "Weasleys take care of one another. My idiot brother may have led you to believe that we don't give a shit about family, but I'll be damned if I let you have to worry about taking care of four kids on your own." |
"This is so fascinating," Hermione whispered to Draco, "I've never seen Charlie yell at anyone. He's always so mellow." |
"Turn off the damn glamours," Charlie yelled, "I feel like I'm talking to a damn mask." |
"I hate how people look at me," Lavender yelled back. |
"Nobody's fucking here," Charlie shouted. |
"I think they've forgotten about us," Hermione whispered. |
Draco barked out a laugh. Two heads swiveled in his direction. Lavender snarled before she caught herself and apologized quickly. Charlie glared at her for apologizing. |
Still laughing, Draco said, "As interesting as it is watching this lovers" spat, we need to get home to Rose." |
Lavender edged away from Charlie. "We aren't...that's not...he's not..." Lavender spluttered. |
"None of our business," Hermione said breezily, walking toward the fireplace, "though you could do worse." |
"Hermione," Lavender protested. |
Draco took a pinch of Floo powder and stepped into the fireplace with Hermione. He waved cheerily at the two co-parents as they spun away towards the Manor. They stepped out of the fireplace in the receiving room of the manor and started wandering around looking for his mother and Rose. |
They laughed about the fight they'd witnessed between Lavender and Charlie as they walked along the halls. |
"So Charlie's going to help Lavender raise her kids?" Draco asked. |
Hermione shrugged, "Looks like it." |
"And you're encouraging them to get together?" |
"You're the one that brought up the lovers" spat," Hermione pointed out. |
"That's what it looked like," Draco said, "Don't you think it would look weird if Lavender ends up with Charlie Weasley?" |
Hermione shrugged again. "I don't think people are ever going to fully accept Lavender Brown, with the werewolf scars, her affair with Ron, and what happened to you at her home. The kids need a good father figure, and Charlie seems willing to step up." |
"He doesn't seem to care about her scars either," Draco added, "Seemed to get pissed that she covered them up." |
They found Rose and his mother in the picture gallery. Rose was standing in front of a large portrait, talking animatedly with a group of Malfoy wives. His mother reclined on a chaise lounge laughing at Rose's antics. |
Draco cleared his throat to get their attention. Rose ran down the length of the gallery toward them, her arms outstretched and red curls flying around behind her. |
"Mummy! Daddy!" she called. |
She crashed into them, wrapping her arms around their knees. Draco placed a steadying arm around Hermione to keep her from falling as they returned Rose's hug. |
"Daddy, I knew you weren't in jail," Rose announced. |
Draco stared down at her, surprised that she would think he was in jail. He lifted her into his arms and balanced her on a hip. |
Hermione moved in front of him and asked Rose, "Why would you think Daddy's in jail?" |
Rose took a deep breath, "Timmy, from school, said that my daddy was going to jail. I told him that my daddy wasn't going to jail. He said he was." |
His mother came up to them, "Rose got into a little scuffle with this boy according to her teacher." |
"I beated him up," Rose said proudly. |
Draco laughed. He knew he shouldn't. Rose would think it meant she could get away with resorting to violence when someone disagreed with her. He tried to school his face into a serious expression. Hermione looked sternly at him when his mouth quavered again, and laughter threatened to spill out. |
"Rose, you can't beat up the other children," Hermione admonished. |
Rose pouted down at her mother, "He said my daddy was going to jail. He's wrong. My daddy is right here. Daddy will take me to school tomorrow, and I will show Timmy he's stupid." |
"Don't call people stupid," Hermione scolded. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Timmy wasn't talking about Draco, honey," Hermione started. "He was talking about your other father." |
"Oh," Rose said, quietly, "He went to jail because he hurt Daddy?" |
"That's right," Draco nodded. |
"Is he coming back?" Rose asked. |
"I'm afraid not," Hermione answered. |
Rose cuddled into his neck, "That's sad. Fred, Lydia, Danny, and Art won't have a daddy now." Rose looked at him, "Are you going to be their daddy too?" |
"No," Hermione said quickly before the idea could latch on, "Uncle Charlie is going to help Lavender with Fred, Lydia, Arthur, and Daniel." |
His mother looked at Hermione's pronouncement curiously. "I didn't think the Weasleys still kept with the old ways," she murmured. |
Draco set Rose down so that she could run back to talk to the portraits. After she got out of earshot, Hermione asked, "What do you mean?" |
"Well, when a wizard died, leaving a widow and young children. The remaining family members usually made sure that the remaining parent had help and the children were well cared for. If there was a single brother, it was customary for the wizard to marry his brother's widow and take over raising the children." |
"Levirate marriage," Hermione murmured, "Customary in patriarchal societies." |
"Exactly," his mother said, "though that doesn't apply in Lavender Brown's case, since she was never married to Ronald Weasley and he's not dead, unfortunately. Technically, you would be the one Charlie would try to marry." |
Draco growled at the suggestion that Charlie Weasley would try to take Hermione from him over some archaic family practice. |
His mother laughed at his possessiveness, "I don't think he's going to try for Hermione since there's a claim already made, but it does make sense that they would make sure that Lavender and her children were taken care of. They are more in need than Hermione and the girls." |
"Does Lavender have a choice in all this?" Hermione asked, looking worried. |
"Of course," his mother answered, "Marriage is usually left up to the witch and wizard involved." |
"Seems a little gross for a wizard to be having relations with his brother's wife," Hermione said. |
"It's all a matter of perspective, Hermione," his mother chided, "It's perfectly normal for large families, like the Weasleys." |
Draco interrupted before Hermione could get into full-on crusading mode. "I'm hungry," he whined, "Anybody else hungry because I'm starving right now." |
Lavender Brown could look out for herself. She seemed to have Charlie Weasley well in hand. Draco thought it was probably too soon to worry about any romantic entanglements going on between the two. Time would tell, but it wasn't Hermione or Draco's place to intrude on their relationship, whatever it was. Convincing Hermione of that was going to be difficult. |
Draco guided the women out of the portrait gallery. Rose skipped ahead of them, her hair swinging with each dancing step. Weasley was gone, and it was time to move on to the next stage of their lives. |
Preparing for Battle |
Draco woke to something warm and wet sliding down his bare chest. A sniffle brought him fully out of sleep. Hermione was draped over him; her hand curled around his neck. He cracked his eyes open and saw the top of her curly head in the dim light of the room. |
Draco brushed a hand up the expanse of her back and asked sleepily, "Hermione?" |
Hermione started blotting at her face with the sheet. "Sorry," she murmured tearily, "I didn't mean to wake you." |
Draco tipped her chin up, urging her to look at him. "Why're you crying?" he asked. |
"I wasn't crying," she responded defensively, but a tear trickled down her cheek, and Hermione wiped it away impatiently. |
"Uh huh," Draco said. He caught another tear as it rolled its way down her face. "Am I to believe that you've suddenly sprung a leak then?" |
He received a watery chuckle in reply. Silence drifted between them. Hermione rested her head back on his shoulder. Draco let his fingers comb soothingly through her curls. |
"Do you want to talk about whatever it was that made you cry?" Draco asked. |
"I had a bad dream," Hermione said into his shoulder. |
"Oh," Draco said, "What was it about?" |
Was she remembering her lost memories? Or was her brain spinning its own version of whatever Weasley might have done to her? Either scenario worried him. Draco knew that sometimes not knowing was just as bad if not worse than knowing the truth. Draco also knew that Hermione was always in search of knowledge. He didn't know if she would be able to just let this slip by unanswered. Draco dreaded what would happen if she couldn't. |
"I don't really remember," Hermione said, then hesitated and continued, "I know it was about Ron, and I remember being heartbroken, but I don't remember the details. And I woke up crying." |
Draco continued to run his fingers through her hair. He almost breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't a coherent dream of an assault. Hermione was starting to relax back into sleep at his touch. |
"He's gone, and you're safe," Draco reassured her, wanting the words to penetrate into her subconscious. |
Hermione took a deep breath, relaxing further. "Yes," she said sleepily, "he's gone for good now. We're all safe." |
"Try to go back to sleep," Draco instructed quietly. |
"I love you," Hermione whispered. |
"I love you too," Draco responded, kissing her forehead. |
Ronald Weasley in Azkaban |
By: Rita Skeeter |
A member of the Golden Trio was sentenced yesterday to life in prison. Ronald Weasley was found guilty for the attempted murder of Draco Malfoy and taken from the courtroom yesterday directly to Azkaban Prison. |
His words when entering the courtroom and after his sentence make us wonder at the marriage of Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Until September, we all thought they had a happy, boring marriage with two children and steady jobs. We were all shocked to find that Weasley had a girlfriend and four illegitimate children on the side. |
What was the marriage of Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley really like? Was he driven into the arms of another woman because of Granger's ambition and coldness? Or was it a marriage riddled with abuse as Granger would have us all believe? Did Lavender Brown, horribly scarred by a werewolf attack, play on Weasley's pity and their former relationship in order to tempt Weasley from Granger's side? Or did Weasley flee to Brown willingly? |
Ronald Weasley will spend the rest of his life in prison, a hero in the Second Wizarding War amongst Death Eaters and common criminals. Many would say that his sentence was too harsh. A wizard defending his honor by attacking his wife's lover. |
Was the sentence too harsh? Did Ronald Weasley have justification for attacking Draco Malfoy? The relationship between Granger and Malfoy has been much photographed and reported on in the past months. We have all watched as Draco Malfoy slithered into the life of Hermione Granger, quickly taking Weasley's place as Granger's lover and father figure to the two girls. |
Granger seemed to move on quickly from her thirteen-year marriage to Ronald Weasley. |
Draco threw the article away from him in disgust. It seemed to go on and on, demonizing their relationship, giving everything a sinister twist. Where was Luna with a good spin? |
"That good, huh?" Hermione asked sardonically as she took a sip of her one and only coffee of the day as they sat across from each other at their desk. |
"I'm going to bloody ruin her," Draco vowed. |
Hermione picked up the discarded paper. Draco tried to snatch it from her grasp, instinctively wanting to protect her, not wanting her to see anything else that would upset her today. Not after the nightmare. Hermione woke in a good mood this morning and Draco wanted nothing to mar it. |
"Don't bloody read it!" Draco exclaimed when he missed grabbing it from her. |
Too late, Draco watched as Hermione's eyes rapidly scanned the article. He watched her face, ready to take the newspaper from her at the slightest sign of distress to hell with the consequences. Draco would rather have Hermione angry at him rather than upset about what was in the paper. |
Hermione snorted in derision as she read. A few "oh, give me a break"'s interspersed with some "you've got to be fucking kidding me"'s accompanied her perusal of the article. |
Hermione set the paper back down on the table and took a sip of her coffee. Draco watched her warily, waiting for some sort of explosion, or the appearance of a jar with which to trap the beetle-y reporter. |
"You needn't look at me that way," Hermione chided gently, "I'm not about to fly off the handle in hysterics." |
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