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First Look
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It's the first time he's seeing her in the flesh in almost 8 years and he's nervous. She's beautiful, more so now than she was all those years ago. His stomach is full of butterflies and his throat is dry, but he summons his Gryffindor courage and approaches her. He stops at the opposite end of the park bench and when she doesn't notice, he clears his throat.
"Is this seat taken?"
She looks up and seems startled for a moment before recognising him. She doesn't rise to greet him, but offers a warm ,albeit strained, smile.
"Ron."
He swallows the lump in his throat.
"Hermione", he manages, "h-how are you?"
She regards him for a moment before she answers.
"Me, I'm very well," she hesitates, "and you, how are you?"
"I'm good, you know, doing real good."
They lapse into an awkward silence and in his mind he's scrambling for something to say. Finding nothing, he decides to jump right to point of this whole arrangement.
"So," he pauses, "where is she?"
For second she seems taken aback and confused, but she recovers quickly and looks over to the playground. Her eyes scan the parameter and when she spots what she's looking for a warm smile spreads across her face.
"There," she points, "In the green polka dot dress by the sandbox."
He looks in the direction indicated and sure enough there she is. His little girl, playing the sandbox with two other children, seemingly in search for something. And she's beautiful, of course. Just like her mother, with a head full of curls and big, brown, bright eyes.
"W-when do I get to meet her," he questions, "officially, that is."
"When she's ready to come eat lunch," she responds, "It won't be too long from now, we've been here awhile."
He grunts in response and they lapse into another awkward silence.
After ten minutes, he chances a glance at her and finds her with her nose buried in a book, a novel of some sort. "Typical," he thinks.
"Something things never change," he comments and when she looks up he motions to the book.
"Well, yeah. I suppose some things never do." Her attention returns to the book.
He watches her, after a few seconds she changes the page and for the first time he sees it. An engagement ring with a dark - no doubt ridiculously expensive - stone and platinum wedding band. Married? and he voices his question.
"You're married?"
"Oh, well, yes" she replies "five years now," and though she isn't smiling, there's affection in her voice and a warmness in her eyes as she fingers the rings.
She looks at him, places her book face down on the bench, inhales deeply and hesitantly reaches for the hem of her jumper, he follows the movement. She takes another deep breath, lifts the jumper and smooths a hand over her stomach to reveal the small swell of her cotton-clad abdomen.
"And pregnant," she explains dreamily, "almost two months"
Pregnant!? He's stunned into silence and for a few seconds his mind is completely blank. When he comes to it, he makes to respond when a shriek interrupts him. The spell is broken and they face the direction from which the sound came to see the little girl, in her green polka dot dress, stand up and scan her surroundings. The butterflies in his stomach have tripled in size and force.
This is it. I meet my baby girl today.
When she spots her mum, she comes running and it seems she's got something cradled in her palm. When she's still a significant distance away he hears her chanting.
"Mummy, mum, mummy! Look what I've got!"
She stops a little ways off and her gaze shifts to him, he freezes. Her smile gets even bigger, she drops whatever she was holding and she's positively beaming. She's beaming at him and with increased enthusiasm she runs toward him. His breath catches and his heart constricts when he hears her yell,
"Daddy! You're here! You're here!"
"She knows", he thinks, "She knows her daddy!". He's surprised, shocked and beyond ecstatic. He doesn't notice when Hermione turns.
She's running towards him as fast as her 7 year-old legs can take her. When she's a little ways off, she seems ready to pounce and he shifts in his seat, ready to receive her, his little girl.
He leans forward, arms stretched and ready catch her. She's running towards him. And she's almost there. She's almost there. Almost in his arms.
But at the last second, she changes her direction ever so slightly and runs right past him. Flustered and more than a little confused, he turns to see where she has gone. And he when he turns, it's just in time to see her launch herself in to the arms of another man. A tall man. A tall, blond man. The man is spinning in circles with his face buried and blowing into her belly and she's shrieking in girlish delight and screaming,
"Daddy, daddy! No! That tickles!"
Now, he's not only confused and flustered, but hurt and angry.
The scene plays out for two minutes before the man relents. And when he does, he sets the little girl down, straightens his suit and attempts to fix his hair. When the man finally looks up, they make eye contact. Ron's face drains of colour, his mouth hangs agape, the butterflies die and his heart shatters.
The man is Draco Malfoy. Her daddy is Draco Malfoy.
Authors Note: Thanks for reading and, um, reviews would be lovely!