AU: Thanks to Sarah for betaing!
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Hermione held her breath as the huge doors slowly opened. The person she was looking at was standing too far off for her to see his face, but the red hair was flaming in front of her eyes. She was stunned where she stood. He actually came.
As she stood staring, the door kept opening, and her horizon widened. Suddenly there were two red heads. Them three. Then it all meshed together and all she saw was her entire in-law family. She counted six. And her heart started beating again when she realized that could mean he hadn't shown up.
She slowly walked into the room, barely feeling Pansy walking beside her, but still needing her support. She looked around the large room, and was grateful that she only had to talk to a judge: there was no Wizengamot. They hadn't expected for there to be, but it was still a relief.
The courtroom was filled with benches set at an angle to the judge's box, reminding her a bit of a courtroom in American movies. Hermione's solicitor was already seated behind one of the benches, and Hermione went to join him. Before she sat down next to Mr. Montoya, she looked over at her family. In between all the red she caught Harry's black mop, and as she looked at them all, everyone was smiling. Even Mrs. Weasley. Charlie was giving her the thumbs up and she couldn't help but smile. And with all the smiles beaming at her, she knew that she would still have them as family even if her name wasn't Weasley anymore. And as she sat down, it hit her. Ron wasn't there. He hadn't shown up.
The trial went on its way. Mr. Montoya laid forth the evidence, Hermione told her story and said she would take Veritaserum if that would convince the judge. As she walked down from the witness chair, she thought about how much the absence of Ron helped her. If he had been there she would have been dead nervous all the way through and maybe not have been able to say what she wanted to. And the fact that he wasn't there and therefore couldn't speak his case, was a huge plus. When the judge asked for a few minutes to decide, she was pretty certain it was going their way, but still the butterflies occupied most of her stomach.
When the judge came back, Hermione held her breath and noticed Mr. Montoya patting her hand. "Hermione Granger Weasley. After looking through what you have told me, and given the fact that the counterpart is absent, I will sign your divorce and I will give you the custody of your future child. I also give you the right to remove Mr. Weasley's genes from your child, as long as there is another man ready to take Mr. Weasley's place."
She swished her wand over the papers in front of her and they lit up for some seconds, then she held them out to Hermione. "Here you go, Ms. Granger."
Hermione vaguely heard the voices of her closest family as she accepted the papers, but they seemed far off. She was ecstatic, but something felt wrong. It's too easy.
But as she looked at the papers, someone thrust a quill into her hands. She recognized the voice of Mr. Montoya. "You need to sign it."
She put it down on the table, and as she signed it the world came back into focus. Pansy and the Weasleys were waiting for her to come out from the booth with the desks, and as she looked up to their smiling faces, it finally struck her. It was done. She hugged Mr. Montoya, before remembering she wanted to ask him a question.
"Why did the judge tell me that last part, about the male genes?"
He looked over at her while he was packing up the papers. "Ah, that's because she's against the idea of a child without male genes. It's a whole organization that fights against it." He gave her a crocked smile and a goodbye before weaving his way through the small crowd.
Hermione followed him out the booth, and walked right into Pansy's arms and a squeezing hug, as tight as they could get with the jutting bellies. Little tears of joy made their way down her cheeks, and Pansy started stroking her back.
After Hermione hugged everyone and all of the Weasleys promised that she would still be part of the family, they made their way out of the Ministry. Without knowing she was doing it or even knowing why, Hermione kept close to Pansy the whole way. When they were about to Floo home, she made all the Weasleys go first after saying goodbye, and when the last of the redheads had gone through, she almost jumped Pansy again into a hug. Pansy was caught of guard, but hugged the girl back, and she heard Hermione mumble over and over again. "It's over. It's over."
