This is for the Hogwarts Online Forum prompt of the day. It was: "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself" and is rather wonderfully used by Hermione in here. It just seemed a very Hermione-ish thing to say.
Disclaimer: I do not, in any shape or form own anyhting from Harry Potter.
Astoria surveyed the two men conversing with poorly veiled awkwardness. Ron was scratching the back of his neck, a sure sign of nervousness and everything else in-between from what Hermione had told her. Draco wasn't faring much better, the muscles in his pale neck straining- Astoria chuckled; that was the look he normally gave her.
After their children had bonded well at Hogwarts, the Once-Slytherin had decided to get in touch with the famous Hermione Granger to prevent trouble later on. It went without saying that the two determined women had their work cut out for them when it came to their husbands. Astoria could remember quite clearly the look of astonished horror on Draco's face the day she'd announced that the Weasley's were visiting shortly into the Summer Holidays. Fortunately Scorpius had been delighted, excited to meet Rose's little brother and her parents. Ever since he'd been young the boy had been fascinated and in awe of Harry Potter and everyone surrounding him, which Astoria knew that Draco was rather bitter about. The silly man didn't realise that his little son admired him twice as much.
The head of the Malfoy family had begged, pleaded and bargained with his wife to no avail- Ron and Hermione Weasley were coming to their house and that was final. Now the dreaded day had come and was proving to be just as amusing as anticipated. There had been a worrying moment when they arrived, Astoria remembering too late that this was the house where Hermione had been tortured and almost killed. Her fears had been happily ungrounded however, when the woman in question walked in and visibly relaxed taking in the completely redecorated hallway. Astoria hadn't even moved in when this project started, almost as soon as the War ended. Lucius and Narcissa had still lived here then, so haunted by their experiences they could barely stand to have green in the house.
This led them happily up to this moment, the two women in the corner absent-mindedly greeting each other, when in reality they were only interested in the exchange between the two school enemies. The children were happy enough- Hugo and Scorpius had taken to each other well enough and the three of them had disappeared up the main staircase not thirty seconds ago.
"Weas- I mean...Ron." Astoria internally face-palmed. Her husband was about as subtle as a chainsaw. "It's g-good to see you." He almost choked on the word good, still looking vaguely surprised he'd actually said it to "Weasleby" as Ron was still occasionally dubbed. Astoria was working on breaking the habit.
"Like-wise...M-Draco." She stifled a snort. They were just as bad as each other. From the corner of her eye she saw Hermione's eyebrow rise into her fringe, all pretence of small talk gone. "It's been...a while."
"Oh they're hopeless. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." She told Astoria with an exasperated expression, and went to break up the silence that had fallen between the two arch-rivals. Hermione only had to so much as tap Ron on the shoulder before he got the message and slouched gratefully over in Astoria's direction.
She said hello to him with half a mind, pleased to note that Draco had managed to greet the other Weasley properly. "Well then, should we head out into the garden and get to know each other?" She asked pleasantly. There was a crash from the direction of Scorpius' room along with many delighted shrieks. "Kori will take care of it if it's too bad." She muttered wearily to herself. Draco and Ron exchanged another wary look and lead the way outside- successfully, the afternoon had begun.
Many sneak attacks and carefully foiled pranks later, the four adults were making their way back inside for tea. The highlight of the afternoon for Astoria had to be when they were passing the fountain and both men had the bright idea to push the other in. Suffice to say both ended up on their behinds, halfway up their chests in cold water. Both she and Hermione had laughed themselves stupid at their husbands, who had been less than amused.
This had escalated to a water-fight. Nobody was sure which of the two started it, only that the other was so quick to retaliate their aim was terrible and it hit Astoria full in the face. She wasn't one to take such an open challenge lying down, so thing quickly got out of hand. Half and hour later things finally calmed down after Ron got a bit of pond-weed down his neck and nearly had a fit out of shock.
When they'd finally reached their small private garden where a table piled with small cakes and hot drinks, the boys had taken a back seat and were content to let their wives run on a tangent with each other, adding in their (unappreciated) two cents where they thought was necessary. Both women could tell neither were properly comfortable with the situation yet, but nobody had been hexed so they weren't fussed.
The walk back was rather like the walk there, minus the water fight, Astoria and Hermione now broaching the subject of school. This inevitably led to the mention of the Potters, as all their children were very good friends with Albus, the middle child. Though he made no movement, Astoria knew her husband was listening.
Draco had always taken a slight interest in Harry Potter's family, right from the end of the war. He would never admit it of course and Astoria teased him endlessly, but the dear thing had it in his head he still owed Harry Potter his life. She found it adorable that if the Potters were in a spot of bother, Draco was always prepared to discreetly drop in a little help. This had only ever happened once but she knew she would never forget it.
It was a massive step forward for her husband to help the boy he had hated, and Astoria acknowledged that. That was the day she really knew that she loved him, with every fibre of her being. That was also the day she had asked him to marry her.
When they made it inside, the children came racing down the stairs, full of stories to tell. Each father was the first in there, asking multiple questions. Both Hermione and Astoria had to smother their laughter when Ron and Draco looked at each other like they'd never seen each other before, astonished the other man could possibly be a proper dad.
Dinner was lovely, and it would always be the best part of the day she remembered. There was nothing more Astoria liked than sitting down at the table, surrounded by family and people she cared about, hearing about how their lives were getting on. Most people who knew that she'd been a Slytherin were surprised at this side of her nature- it quite irritated her really. Not all of her house were horrible and convinning, just the vast majority. If you looked around a bit you were sure to find a decent snake holed up somewhere in the library, every bit as nice as the other houses.
She turned her ear back into the conversation in time for Scorpius to announce very loudly. "Me, Rose and Hugo have all decided that Albus and his family should visit us next week."
Astoria's head snapped up immediately, enjoying watching the colour drain from Draco's face. Ron looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh, obviously imagining Harry's expression when he got the news. She caught Hermione's eye and they didn't even bother to contain their hysterical laughter.
"Well I don't see why not Scorp." She got out between giggles. Draco opened his mouth to argue.
My hopeless husband... she thought fondly. Within the next few weeks, Ginny Potter would agree.
Well I hope you liked that- I wasn't sure where to end it, and there seemed as good a place as any. To me the second half seems a bit rushed, but I'm coming down with one of the worst colds I've had in ages, and I knew if I left it for another day I wasn't going to get it finished.
If you are so inclined, please leave feedback, I'd be delighted. If you don't, thankyou a million for reading this.