Hermione was pacing back and forth in front of the fire place. Ron and Melody had been gone for hours. " I knew I should have gone with them, something must have happened. What if..." Hermione said as the fireplace lit up. " Oh thank God," Hermione sighed as she saw Ron and her daughter coming out of the flames. Ron's arms were full of packages, and Melody was holding a cat.
"RONALD WEASLEY!" Hermione shouted at him, and then realized her daughter was looking at her frightened. She knelt down to her daughter, " Hi baby, did you have fun with your Daddy? I see he got you a little friend. Whats her name? " Hermione hadn't forgot about being angry with Ron for buying her a pet without asking, but that would have to wait for now. She had missed her daughter. Melody had never spent more than a few hours away from Hermione, but she had been gone for the whole day with Ron. Hermione kept hugging her and looking her over to make sure she wasn't injured.
" See how pretty she is Mommy, she is orange and black like a tiger. Her name is Daphne, and she and Apollo are going to best friends." Hermione smiled at her daughter's excitement and then looked up across the room at Ron who had put down the packages and was now caring for a gorgeous owl. Ron caught Hermione staring at her and then looked down on the ground.
"Who is Apollo Sweetie?" Hermione hoped Melody wasn't referring to the black owl that Ron was caring for, but she knew when she was wrong when she saw her face light up. " My Daddy bought me an owl for my birthday Mommy, So I can write him when we go back to New York."
Ron and Hermione sat on the couch as Melody unwrapped each present excitedly and showed both of them. Ron got so caught up in Melody and Hermione being here, he forgot about them having to go back to New York, and him having to go back to his flat with Lavander. He hadn't thought about her all day and his mind would have remained free of thought of her if his mother hadn't been talking about dinner for the night.
" Ron, will Lavender be joining us for dinner tonight? I'm making your favorite." Ron frowned for a second, and then turned to his mum. " No, I think she went to her friends for the day, I haven't talked to her since this morning, but she was pretty upset. I will talk with her tonight when I go home. "
" Daddy? You are leaving?" Melody looked at Ron with tears in her eyes. Hermione started towards her daughter, when Ron stepped in. " Mel, I don't live with Grandma and Grandpa. I live at my home with Lavender" Melody scrunched her face. Ron chuckled. " I know she wasn't very nice to you, I'm really sorry." Ron looked at Hermione " I am really sorry, she normally isn't like that. I think she needs time just to process the whole thing. It was never something that we expected to happen. You have to understand where she was coming from. I know her reaction wasn't the best, and given time she will be great with Melody."
Ron hated that he had to defend Lavender. She had acted horribly. In fact Ron had never seen her act like that before. Ron knew that Lavender would grow to love Melody, or at least he hoped she would.
While Melody was busy reading her new book and playing with her toys, Hermione stood up, " Ron, come help me in the kitchen please." She knew this discussion was going to happen sooner or later and it needed to happen tonight. Now that Ron knew about Melody, and Melody about Ron , there was no way things were going to go back to the way things were with their life in New York. She couldn't keep Melody to herself anymore.
"We are leaving the day after Melody's Birthday, we will be back for your wedding, but after that I'm not sure what happens. What do you want to happen Ron? How do we go about doing this? " Hermione couldn't even look at him. She didn't want him to answer.
" 'Mione, I'm not sure how this all works, but can't you stay here for a little while longer? At least until the wedding? I want to get to know my daughter, not just spend a few days with her and then you just leave."
" How is that supposed to work Ron? We live in another country. We have our lives back in New York. My job, our place, our friends." Hermione was getting angry.
" Friends? Well we know how easy it is for you to leave your friends. Did you even think about Harry or Me before you left? Or since you left? I mean seriously, a note is all you left us Hermione, a note. Not a goodbye, and nothing since. I have missed out on almost 3 years of My daughter's life and its your fault. You kept her from me." Ron snapped right back at her.
" Of course I thought about you Ron, how could I not think about you every day when Melody looks the way she does. The day she was born, I cried when I saw the red hair. It would have been easier if she looked less like a Weasley. The more she grows the more she looks like you and your family. I thought about you when she said her first word, and took her first step. There have been so many times I sat down to write you. To tell you about her, but how could I. The older she got, the harder it got, because I had waited so long. I didn't leave for me, Ron, I left for you. How could I stay with a child who looked so much like you? I didn't want you to struggle, I wanted your life to be fantastic Ron. Plus you got over me, you found love with Lavender." as she said the last line, Hermione closed her eyes to hide the tears, but she couldn't hide the way her voice cracked.
Hermione squeezed her eyes shut hoping no tears would escape. She turned away from Ron and pursed her lips together. " This is the conversation we should have had that first day. I knew you were angry and you have every right to be so, but this is never something I wanted for Melody. I don't want her to hear us fighting, I remember times where my parents would fight and it would keep me up at night."
" She didn't hear anything, I cast a silencing spell as I came in the room, this conversation has been completely private." Ron smiled and Hermione chuckled, " Are you sure? As I remember you never were the best at casting spells." She teased.