Ottery St. Catchpole hadn't changed that much since they were just kids, perhaps it became a bit more populated now that the Potters also lived there along with the Weasley's. At first Harry and Ginny had been living in Godric's Hollow because Harry felt at home there despite the suffering he'd been put through there. But when the couple had found out they were pregnant with their second child they decided that it would be better to live somewhere they could go outside and have all the room in the world to run. Not to mention that Molly Weasley was adamant that her at least some of her grandchildren be closer to her so that she wouldn't have to travel so much to see them. Ginny and Harry were happy to appease her, she had done so much for them when James was born and they never regretted moving closer after Albus was born.

Their home had been built from the ground up for them because they wanted something homey yet big enough to accommodate their growing family including Teddy Tonks. Harry had taken the time to plant plenty of trees around their home to give it woodsier feel and also provide cover for James and Teddy when they felt the need to employ their broomsticks. The two-story home was nothing compared to the burrow when it came to feeling homey, but it was getting there. Especially since it was summer break and getting James to clean up after himself was like getting a blasted-ended skrewt to roll over on command.

Hermione had shown up after she and Sebastian had decided that it was okay for him to see his father. There was no possible way she was going to be able to sit alone at home with her own thoughts and be able to prevent herself from apparating to Draco's home and pulling her son away kicking and screaming. Ginny had always been so good at reading Hermione that she didn't bother to ask questions when the brunette showed up and merely set out another plate for lunch.

There were six kids running around in the backyard, all chasing each other in a rowdy game of tag as Hermione watched them from the window in the kitchen. It was odd to see five of those kids with red hair and still having an easy time of picking out which ones were Ron's. Jean, Hugo, and Fabian were Ron's and whether people thought it or not he was such a good father despite the fact that he was now a widower. He had married Susan Bones four years after the war and they'd been married for nearly five years when she'd passed away after Fabian was born due to complications. Ron had been devastated, but his kids had gotten him through it especially Jean.

The day that Ron and Susan had told Hermione that they were naming their first daughter after her was still clear in her mind. Hermione had felt guilty because in her heart of hearts she felt that it was wrong that part of Ron was still holding onto her. Susan had been a lovely girl that smiled a lot, she made Ron smile more than anyone else ever had and Hermione was glad he found someone that could make him smile. Jean had his smile, she could easily spot the small red-headed girl smiling from her spot in the window and without realizing she let out a wistful sigh.

"Realizing what could have been?" Ginny interrupted her thoughts as she was in the middle of chopping some potatoes for the stew she was making and stirring the many pots on the stove.

It was actually quite surprising how easily Ginny took to the home life, Hermione wasn't sure she'd ever get over the thrill of professional quidditch but she proved to have enough of her mother in her to be a really splendid homemaker.

"In a way," Hermione said with a soft sigh. "I just see them all out there you know? They could have been mine and Sebastian wouldn't have been raised alone."

"He wasn't, he had Victoire and Teddy."

"Yes, but look at them out there. It's just different I guess."

"Because their parents are best friends."

"I suppose that's it."

"Neville is a close friend and Seb has Frankie."

"That he does," she said with resignation and swallowed thickly only to take another sip of her now cold tea.

"You're not honestly worried about what Draco will do are you?"

"I'm just frightened he'll hurt Seb like he hurt me."

"The two of you had plenty of hurt to go around."

"What does that mean?"

"That he is not the only one to blame for this, Hermione," Ginny stated plainly as she dumped her potato pieces into one boiling pot. "You're going to have to let it go so Seb can get to know his father without feeling guilty because his mother doesn't like it."

"I did nothing wrong to Draco, Ginny. He is the one who refused to accept me for who and what I was."

"I think it kind of goes both ways on that front, love. You didn't accept him for who and what he was either."

"Of course, I did."

"Then you would have understood why he was scared to show you off. Lucius was still alive back then and everyone knows how much he frightened Draco."

"That's no excuse."

"Fear never is with us, but that's not part of who we are. It was part of him."

Hermione gave an incredulous look at Ginny as if wondering whose side she was on exactly, but she knew that her friend was right. There was plenty of blame to be volleyed between the two of them and it needed to stop in order for Sebastian not to be blindsided by it. The fact that he wanted to know his father should not bother her half as much as it did, but she was worried for him. Then again perhaps Draco was different or he'd treat Sebastian different than he had treated her due to Lucius no longer posing a threat.

"You're definitely right. I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Who will be fine?" Harry's voice came from the front of the kitchen as he and Ron entered, his black hair looking windswept and untamed as usual.

He had wasted no time in moving over to Ginny to give her a kiss on the lips, his green eyes filling with adoration at just the sight of her but he turned his be speckled gaze to Hermione once again. Harry wore an expectant look on his face, one that she avoided as she turned her eyes toward Ronald and gave him a once over. He had been in the middle of taking one of the school books that was on the dining table, flipping it over open and pretending to actually be studying the content. It was highly unlikely but Ron always seemed to be growing because now he rather seemed like a giant to her even as he gave her a warm smile. The look in his blue eyes made her stomach churn in discomfort, that familiar guilt burrowing its way into her chest. It was the same adoration Harry showed Ginny and Hermione knew that she didn't deserve it even if part of her craved it.

"Sebastian, Harry," Ginny answered since Hermione was keeping her mouth shut. "He went to see Draco today."

"He did what?" Ron asked too quickly giving Harry little time to really process the information. His eyes went to his sister then back to Hermione, now he was looking at her expectantly but his expression far more demanding than Harry's had been.

"Are you having trouble with your ears again, Ron? Do I need to tell mum to clean them for you?"

"Shut up, Gin. Hermione, you told him?"

"Yes," Hermione finally said as she met his gaze. "I did, he figured it out."

"It's about time really, Seb is the spitting image of Malfoy without the blond hair and gray eyes," Harry said with a slight noncommittal shrug.

"He's nothing like that, git," Ron spat. "He's ten times better."

"Well, of course he is. He is Hermione's son."

"And I raised him."

"We raised him," Harry corrected him while throwing him a menacing look, trying to tell Ron to shut up before he started a fight.

"No, I did. Sebastian has always looked up to me, I'm a like a father to him."

"Like a father isn't a real father, Ron," Ginny piped in with a sigh not bothering to look at her older brother as she started stirring her stew.

"In this case it is better considering his real father is good for nothing."

"Ron! You can't say things like that hear what if one of the kids hears you and say that to Sebastian?"

"Then at least they're being honest with him, Hermione. You can't possibly think it wise for him to be spending any time with Draco and his demented harpy wife."

"Astoria isn't that bad."

"She was horrible to you when you went back to Hogwarts. Or do you conveniently forget that?"

"I—"

"Astoria is a pill," Ginny said as she offered Harry a spoonful of her stew for the tasting, his nose wrinkled which she knew meant it needed more salt. "One that is dangerous and hard to swallow, she made our lives hell our last year at Hogwarts."

"Fine, she's horrible. But I'd like to think that Draco wouldn't let her do anything to Sebastian, he has to have some familial loyalty even if he doesn't give a damn about me."

"You'd surely like to think that wouldn't you?" Ron asked with a tone of disbelief. "Once a cad always a cad, Hermione. Draco will never stop being a cad and I'm sure he'd pick his wife and her son over Seb. You shouldn't let him do that to himself."

"I can't stop him! He's of age, he can do what he wants and all I can do is support him."

"Imagine this could have all been avoided if you just came with us into Magical Law Enforcement after the war," Harry said with an airy tone that was truly reminiscent of Luna Scamander.

"Or if she'd have accepted my proposal," Ron grumbled under his breath as he had his eyes back on the book in his hands.

"Oh not this again," Ginny interjected while rolling her eyes. "You're not over that yet?"

"You don't just get over people you love, Ginny. It's almost just as hard getting over the bad things they do to you."

"Ronald, I'm sorry. I've said I was sorry a million times over, but it wouldn't have worked."

"Yes, I know because you were so in love with him. Even when you knew he was engaged to Astoria, you still thought he would choose you. We see how well your instincts worked out for you there don't we?"

It was like he had punched her in the gut that comment was a low blow that she had not been expecting. Hermione knew that she had been fooling herself to think that Draco would choose her over the girl that he had hand chosen to be his future wife. But to have Ron throw it in her face like that was like having him splash her in the face with ice water that somehow managed to drench her heart.

Harry was about to give his friend a hit to the shoulder, but he was beat to it by his wife. Ginny smacked Ron upside the back of his head with her wooden spoon, eyes in slits as she glared daggers at him. The pain throbbed at the back of his skull and he rubbed at it for a moment, not regretting what he said despite the look of sorrow on Hermione's face. For a moment he stood there in silence before sighing when he looked to Harry and Ginny to see that they were wearing identical looks of expectance.

Finally, Ron threw the book back onto the table and closed the distance between he and Hermione only to take her hands in his own and he could feel the slight tremors in them. All Hermione could feel was the warmth of his palms that soothed her fears whether she was angry at him or not because she was angry at him for having said that to her. It wasn't because he had never been supportive of her love for Draco, but because he was her best friend, the man she would love till the day she died, and still at times he was clumsy with her feelings. Pretty much the equivalent of a full grown Chinese Fireball trying to tip-toe in a china shop, some things were going to get smashed and others knocked over.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," Ron whispered, he was getting better at apologizing about Malfoy without the insults tacked on to the ending.

"It's alright, Ron," she said with a soft smile and gave his hands a gently squeeze. "I made a bad choice, but it changes nothing. I…still love him."

Now it was Ron's turn to look like he'd been hit in the face with a bucket of ice water or perhaps kicked in the balls because he had visibly flinched. Quickly his hands pulled from hers and he tore his gaze away to look out the window into the backyard where the kids were still playing. Hermione opened her mouth to say something else, but was caught off by a soft squeak that Ginny made and she looked over to the red-head only to get a headshake. That was her cue to let it go because Ron wasn't going to take any more talk about how much she still loved Draco when he was still so painfully in love with her.

The air in the kitchen had become quite heavy with tension that Ron cut through when he left through the back door and stalked across the green backyard. Hermione watched him with saddened brown eyes as Jean, Hugo and Fabian ran over to him only to be followed by the rest of the kids. A slight chuckle left her lips when they jumped on top of him and brought him to the ground beneath them, but she took a shaky breath that rattled with sadness before turning her gaze on Harry and Ginny.

"I'll never stop hurting him, will I?"

"You don't mean to," Harry offered with a reassuring smile. "Don't let him fool you; he still loves you, Hermione."

"That may be the problem," Ginny piped in, her eyes going wide as if she hadn't realized she'd said that aloud.

Harry shot her a disapproving glance and shook his head some, but Hermione merely let her shoulders fall in resignation as she fully agreed with Gin.

"It is the problem, it's even worse that part of me still loves him and that not a day goes by that I don't wonder how much happier I would be if I had said yes."