Susan Weasly wasn't a bad girl. Quite the opposite, in fact, she was good natured and polite, always caring about her loved ones, ready with a helping hand and a friendly smile. So it wasn't a secret evilness lurking deep within her soul that got her placed in Slytherin, it was just that she was terrified of mediocrity. When Granddad Arthur had told her stories about how they had lived when her father was a child, instead of encouraging her to appreciate what she had, Susan had been mortified. The thought of shared rooms and second hand clothes was enough to give her nightmares for three weeks; one night she woke up shivering and swore poverty was something that would never happen to her.
Susan had ambitions and she had a plan to make them come true. A crucial step in this plan was obtaining the Head Girl position, so she worked hard, behave appropriately and struggled to achieve a perfectly clean record. Record that wouldn't remain clean for long if Cassiopeia found a way to turn the tables on them, which was one of the reasons she was standing in one of the corners of the corridor that led to Professor Longbottom's office, waiting with the other 5th year slytherin girls for her to come out.
The other reason was that she was truly concerned about her friend. When the other girls had hurriedly snitched on Cassiopeia, Susan quickly joined them, anxious about losing her future position at Hogwarts. However, now that the problem had been averted and her sorry arse been saved, she felt worse about the whole situation because, after all, Susan Weasly wasn't a bad girl. She didn't like the path Cassiopeia was carelessly treading and she couldn't shake the feeling that her seemingly infinite knack for getting out of trouble was about to end.
On the other end of the corridor the door clicked open and the girls crouched behind a suit of armour. Draco held the door open for his ex-wife to pass. There had been a lot of shouting in the office and now they were both drained of energy, tired of the endless fight that their lives had become since they got married. Clashing passionate personalities made for great sex, but also for horrible fights over trivialities such as the colour of the curtains. Their love had fought over evil dark lords, centuries of prejudice and a wizarding war, but had been beaten to a pulp by everyday routine.
The familiar walls of the school left a sad mark on Hermione's already blue mood. In these same halls they had once walked hand in hand, while now they weren't even able to look at each other. Her heart sank a little bit every time she recognized a spot where their lips had met, a door behind which their sweaty bodies had…
"I remember this classroom." Draco said with a faint hint of humour. "And by the way you're blushing I'd say you remember it too." The smirk in his voice was now obvious. How could a voice smirk, Hermione didn't know, but damn, that man managed somehow.
Hermione put her hands to her cheeks and blushed even deeper feeling their hotness, making Draco grin devilishly at her discomfort.
"We should be ashamed of ourselves. Reproaching our daughter's sexual life at school while we did the same things in our time."
"It's not the same," Draco replied. "We were officially dating, we were eighteen and nineteen, not fifteen like her and we were…"
In love. He hadn't said it, but it hurt all the same. Yes hurt. It still hurt though they hadn't been together for eight years. Hermione let out a sigh she hadn't realized she had been holding. She felt hurt and sad and frustrated and exhausted and, strangely enough, hungry.
"Would you like to come over for lunch?" Hermione blurted out, surprised at herself. "I mean, we have to discuss what are we going to do about Cassie and I thought there would be better chances of remaining civil over a full stomach."
"Are you cooking?" Draco asked with fake disgust.
Hermione raised an eyebrow, she was no French chef, but her food wasn't that bad. It was edible. Most of the time. After drowning it in ketchup. "Pizza?"
"Sounds perfect!"
As they turned in direction of Hogwarts's floo point, Hermione caught a glimpse of flaming red hair peeping from the corner. Susan. She liked Percy's daughter and was glad she and Cassiopeia were friends.
She remembered the day she and the Weaslys got letters from their little ones informing them they had both been placed in Slytherin. Percy understood her daughter's desire to succeed so he hadn't been utterly shocked. Arthur and Molly both had plenty of slytherin relatives, so their surprise only lasted a few minutes before they hurried to write back words of encouragement and advice. Ron had been furious, but he always was whenever Draco or their daughter were involved, so his opinion wasn't taken seriously anymore. Hermione smiled at the girl before leaving the hall.
From the corner Susan smiled back, she knew Hermione would've liked for her to have a better influence on Cassiopeia's life, but following others wasn't something the Malfoy girl did. She made her own way, even if it led straight to the end of a cliff. Why do you have to be such a stubborn git, Cassie?
"Cassiopeia's Dad is quite a hottie." Murmured Tracy Haymeadow, one of the other slytherin girls as the two adults disappeared from view.
"He's old enough to be your father!" Susan replied.
"But not for much, I heard he got her mum knocked up and they had to marry in their teens, so he can't be that old."
"You're disgusting, Tracy."
"What is all this babble about?" A voice from behind them said.
Cassiopeia stood there, fists at her hips and seeming even taller than she was now that the other girls were crouching. She had sneaked out of Longbottom's office, knowing her friends would be waiting somewhere close and she wanted to catch them with their guards down. Theatrical entrances, how she loved them.
"Were you waiting for me? I'm sure you must have been terribly worried about me. It feels so warm inside to have such loyal friends." She said, flipping her long hair back with an elegant flick of her hand. "You might as well like to know that I'm free of any punishment, the incident will not be recorded in my school file and the Abstinence Club will be disbanded for preaching and interfering with other people's morals and beliefs." She added with a smug tone. "Oh, and you have to meet Professor Sinistra when she decides on the time and place of your detention." With that she turned and left the three girls scowling behind her.
Away from Hogwarts, in a humble house in the outskirts of London, Hermione helped herself to another slice of pepperoni pizza. Not wanting to meet Draco's gaze she let her eyes wander over the many framed photos she had on the table. Some with friends, some with family, but most of them were of her daughter. She looked like an angel with her long blond hair, pale skin and delicate features. Every inch a Malfoy.
Hermione wondered if there was anything of her in Cassiopeia; they looked nothing alike and, Merlin knows, she hadn't inherited her brains or personality. She huffed at the most recent picture; they stood together right before boarding the Hogwarts' Express. Fifteen years old and she was already three good inches taller than her mother.
"You know she's lying to us." Draco said, making Hermione snap out of her reverie.
"To us? Yes, all the time, care to clarify which lie are you referring to?"
"She lies when she says how much our divorce upsets her." Hermione raised an eyebrow, she never thought Draco could see through her deceit.
"What, do you think I can't see past her farce?" Draco said, getting angry. "It's not like you do much better, you turn into a pile of sobbing goo whenever she mentions it!"
"You are the one who spoils her rotten!"
"If I remember correctly it was you who allowed her to go to Paris after I forbade her from doing so because of her bad grades!"
"It was a cultural trip!" Hermione huffed. "Or it was until you showed up with a bag full of galleons, from that point it became one big shopping spree!"
"Cultural!? Bollocks! You were just glad that for once you were able to get her something she wanted instead of me." Draco shouted. "Or are you going to tell me that her subscription to Cosmo is also cultural? It has such interesting and cultural articles as '10 most enticing settings to perform felatio'. I wonder if the school's toilets is on the top five!" He spat pushing his chair away from Hermione.
She bit her lip, lowering her gaze. This was going nowhere unless she stopped her urges to fight him at any chance. "You're right."
"What?" Said Draco after a long second of shocked silence.
"I said that you're right. I'm… I'm a horrible mother." She sobbed. "And you, you are a terrible father. We must be the most awful parents in the whole world."
Draco pulled his chair close to Hermione and sat down. He wouldn't hug her, or even pat her shoulder, but he knew his closeness would be comforting.
"We're not that bad, we just feel guilty for making her suffer."
"As you said, she lies to us, she's not suffering at all, in fact I think she's glad we're divorced, that way she can do what she wants and-" Hermione stopped mid sentence. "She loves it, doesn't she?" She said after a pause. "She does whatever she wants and then blames us for every thing. She just has to say 'divorce' and we drop at her feet. It's like her power word." Draco didn't like the way he sensed her brain working. "I say we take this power away from her."
"You're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting, are you?"
"You can be certain I am. Draco, let's get back together."
*****
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Harry Potter books' characters or plot; if I did I would have fulfilled my lifelong dream of buying a dinosaur. Why? Because they're fucking awesome, that's why.
Thank you, reimihara21, spikeecat and fidens for reviewing. I'm glad to see I'm not the one who would give her the beating of her life. :P
