Chapter 35
Hermione smoothed down her mustard yellow dress. It was a little tighter than she was used to, but it was still quite flattering.
She clicked her new bronze bracelet around her wrist and looked at her reflection one last time. The bracelet looked quite nice. She'd bought it on a whim a few days before. When she'd seen the elegant snake bracelet in the little muggle shop next to the bakery, she knew that she wanted it.
"Rose! Hugo!", she yelled, putting her midnight blue laced booties on. "Time to go!"
Ron walked out of the kitchen with a chocolate cookie in his mouth. There was a stain on his shirt already, but she didn't bother to reprimand him.
"Can you get the presents?", he asked her, spewing out some crumbs.
"Sure", she said, walking back to the living room as the kids came down.
"Mooooom!", Rose yelled, "Have you seen my jumper?"
"Yes!", she called back, "On the kitchen chair!"
She shrunk the presents to have them fit into the shopper bag.
"Did you get the cake?", Ron asked when she walked back into the hallway.
"No", she answered, putting the presents on the floor to fix Hugo's shirt as Ron looked on.
"Come on kids", he said, urging them out, "We're going to The Burrow. When we have to wait for your mother, we're always late!"
"What?", she snapped, but he just ignored her and ushered the children to the shed to apparate.
Fuming, Hermione turned back to the kitchen to get the bloody cake that STINKING ROTTING TOENAIL RONALD FUCKING WEASLEY could have gotten instead of just standing around when she was shrinking the gifts. She took a deep breath to keep control of her fury and shut the door behind her.
"Auntie Hermione!", Albus greeted her when she arrived at The Burrow, "Did you bring the cake?"
"Of course I did Albus", she smiled, her anger forgotten instantly. "I know it's your favourite."
He accepted the bag with the cake.
"This is why you're my favourite auntie!", he grinned and headed inside.
"Albus", she called him back, "There's a small one for you on the side. Don't tell grandma I gave you cake before dinner."
"Definitely my favourite", he whispered in her ear, kissing her cheek.
She smiled and walked over to the big Christmas tree in the living room, greeting everyone on the way. One by one, she carefully enlarged the presents again and arranged them around the tree until everything looked perfect.
"Aunt Hermione!", Teddy called for her when she was finished.
She accepted a glass of wine from a radiant Ginny with a smile and made her way over to him.
"No talking about work on Christmas Day Ted", she mocked berated him, kissing him on the cheek. "Where's your grandmother?"
Andromeda and Teddy were always invited to the Weasley Christmas Day festivities.
"She was invited by her sister, thanks to you", he grinned, "I'm going too, after the Quidditch match."
"I'm happy that they found eachother again", she told him.
"Me too", he said, "But I actually wanted to tell you something else."
"That sounds serious", she said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Who did you get pregnant?"
"No!", he exclaimed, "Nothing like that!"
She laughed at his blush that turned his usual light brown hair pinkish red right along with his face.
"I'm just kidding Ted", she laughed, "I know you wouldn't. And even if you did knock up a girl, you wouldn't get an earful from me."
"Good to know", he said, his hair turning back to its original colour. "I actually wanted to ask you something."
"What is it?", she asked, observing him.
With the hair colour and his shabby chic style, he reminded her so much of Remus.
"I'm leaving Magical Muggle Electronics", he said, "I want to work on my own project. A project I need funds for."
"I see", she answered, "What kind of project is this?"
"Wwww", he said proudly.
"Wee, weewee, wee?", she giggled.
He arched his eyebrows at her rather immature comment. This was not very like her, but since she filed for divorce, she seemed to take life a little bit lighter. And the wine didn't help any either. Even though it was only one glass, she hardly ever drank alcohol nowadays.
"I guess I should pronounce it as dubble u dubble u dubble u dubble u, but that's so damn long", he mused.
"What does it stand for?", she asked curiously.
"Wizarding World Wide Web", he stated proudly.
"Are you serious?", she asked interestedly, "Is a magical internet even possible?"
"I've been researching this for years", he told her, "I know that it can be done. I know I can do it."
"My sweet Nimue... Teddy, that's huge!", she said enthusiastically. "I'll inform Lucius to look at the budget. You should tell him about it when you're there."
"I will", he nodded. "Thanks Auntie."
She hugged him close.
"You know, the ministry is awfully slow", she added as an afterthought, "You should find a private investor as well. A trustworthy investor, one that won't try to claim your work."
"Should I ask Goldstein?", he mused.
"No, he'll try to tie you to his company and claim your work", she shook her head. "You should ask DAS Investments, I heard they invested in Goldstein's WiCom."
"I will", he promised. "This is why you're my favourite aunt."
"That makes two of you today", she grinned, "I'm on a roll."
"Quidditch time!", Ginny hollored.
"Dips on James!", Harry responded immediately.
"And that ends my reign", she sighed.
"Come on Auntie", Ted grinned, "You'll cheer me on right?"
"Only because I love you Teddy", she smirked and he put his arm around her shoulders to go outside.
"Captains shake hands, we want a fun and fair game!", Arthur shouted, functioning as referee.
Harry and Ginny stepped up and shook hands.
Hermione looked at the semi professional pitch they put up next to The Burrow and sighed. She should have brought a book.
"Brooms ready!", Arthur continued, "Aaaaand... Go!"
Fourteen brooms seared up and Hermione sat down on the garden bench next to Hugo, who was reading a vintage Tintin comic book.
It was Harry, James, Teddy, little Fred, Bill, Victoire and Angelina against Ginny, Ron, Rose, Charlie, little Molly, Fleur and George this year.
She looked at them fly around for a bit, but her gaze was quickly drawn to the house. The Burrow looked nothing like it did all those years ago. The Weasleys had rebuild and expanded the building entirely.
The ground floor existed of a large kitchen and cozy living room. The second floor was a huge dining room to host parties, like the current one. From there, the next three floors each held three big bedrooms and a bathroom and on top there was still a big attic for storage and as a home for the ghoul.
Albus strolled down from the house and stopped behind them, looking at Hugo's comic book over his shoulder.
"I haven't read that one yet", he said, "Can I read it when you're finished?"
"If you give me a piece of that", Hugo answered, holding out his hand without looking up.
Albus grinned and looked at her in wonder.
"I didn't tell", she said, "He figured it out on his own."
Albus put his hand in the deep pockets of his coat, looked around like he was some kind of sketchy drugs dealer and quickly dropped a piece of cake in Hugo's hand.
The game dragged on with both teams being quite equally matched.
"Snitch at the left center pole", Albus commented lazily.
Hermione looked up in surprise and saw that he was actually right.
A few seconds later Harry and Charlie spotted it as well, diving for the catch.
"That's amazing", she said admiringly.
"Don't tell dad", he pleaded, "He'll want me to join the team and I'm really not interested. You know how he is."
She frowned at him, a little concerned. Children should be encouraged to develop their skills, but in a way that they wanted as well.
"If that's what you want...", she said carefully.
"It is", he cut her off and before she could say anything else, a loud cheer interrupted their talk.
"Another win for Dad", he said, "I'll go tell Gran."
Hermione watched him go and draped her arm over Hugo's shoulder, hugging her own son a bit closer.