Disclaimer: As always, I don't own Harry Potter.

The years were going by way too fast, in Ron's opinion. Both of his girls were now in school five days a week. Izzy had just started and Rosie was 8 now. They had been going exclusively to Theo and Astoria's after school but George was going to have to do without him from 2:30 to close for the next couple months because Astoria was due to go into labour any day now.

The two of them had been coming to Weasley dinners so of course there was a bet going on the gender. Ron had put down 10 galleons that it was a boy. He hummed quietly to himself as he washed the dishes, wincing as he suddenly lost his grip on a plate. It fell to the ground with a crash. He picked it up, nearly cut off his finger, and repaired it in two seconds. He sucked on the cut on his thumb as he put down the dish towel so he could fix it. He glared at the plate reproachfully as he put it back on the shelf.

"Daddy," a small voice called. "Can you help me with this?" He sighed. Muggle school, it turns out, was kind of difficult.

"Sure thing love." He just prayed it wasn't math. He walked into the living room and found Izzy bent over a large piece pf parchment, black pigtails perfectly even on either side of her head. He'd gotten good at doing hair. "What've you got there?"

"A family tree." Ron froze.

"Oh yeah?" He tried for casual but the words sounded funny even to him.

"Daddy, why don't I have a Mummy?" Her eyes were wide and beseeching and his heart constricted painfully. He swallowed thickly.

"You did have a Mummy, a long time ago." For a couple of seconds, he thought derisively to himself. Daphne had walked out on them the day after Izzy had been born, which ended up only being 6 hours after her birth.

"So should I put in her name?" She asked innocently and he wanted to go back in time and kill Daphne himself.

"No, love." He said gently. "Mummy left very quickly after you were born. It's always been just you me and Rosie. You know that."

"Okay." She continued colouring in some names and Ron let out a slow breath of relief. "Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you tell us about her? When we're older?" He attempted a smile for her.

"When you're older." He agreed. "But you've left out Freddie." He said, pointing at George's family which had only one line going down from Angelina and George.

"No I didn't. He's mean. So I only put Roxie on." Ron bit his lip to keep from grinning but the smile was wiped off his face as he stared at the name next to his older brother's. 'Uncle Fred' was written in awkward little-girl handwriting, with a small black d. next to his name to mark his death.

He swallowed sharply, breathing deeply to try and calm himself down. To see the truth laid out like that, so plainly, and in his daughter's handwriting. It had been years but he felt like the ground had been pulled out from beneath him. Suddenly he was back in that hallway, debris was falling, people were screaming, and his brother's eyes stared without seeing.

Dimly, he noticed Izzy had finished the family tree. He managed to get through the rest of the night and put his daughters to bed in a haze, not really noticing anything he was doing. Before he realized what was happening he was floo-calling Charlie.

"Ron?" He asked, concerned. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I just need to get out. Watch them till I get back?"

"Always." Charlie clapped him on the shoulder. Ron figured he must have looked pretty bad for Charlie to be treating him so gently. He sighed, he was going to want an explanation tomorrow. He apparated into the closest bar, which happened to be the one he'd gone to when Daphne had walked out on them.

He ordered a firewhiskey and was content to sit there silent and alone. He felt someone sit in the stool next to him, but he didn't even turn his head. Then their elbow grazed his.

"I'm sorry." A rich female voice said. He turned his head. It was her. The woman he'd seen all those years ago. She was just as beautiful as she had been that day, all bright green eyes and silky black hair. In his drunken stupor, he thought that she had similar features to Harry. He snorted and realized she was waiting for an answer.

"It's quite alright." He waved off, and she smiled warmly at him. She looked nothing like his best mate, he decided.

"I'm Seraphina."

"Ron." He responded.

"Wanna talk about it?" She nodded to the line of empty glasses in front of him.

"Not particularly."

"Alright." They say in silence for hours and Ron found her presence comforting, although they didn't speak. "I'm going to go now. It was nice to meet you…Ron." He thought his name sounded nice in her voice.

"You too." He responded as he watched her walk away. He probably should have said something, asked for her number, anything. But he didn't feel like it was time yet. Instead, he threw down some money and stumbled out of the bar and across the street to his house.

Charlie was asleep on the couch, the telly still playing some cowboy movie. Ron shook his arm. "Char. I'm back."

"Ron." He said, blinking to try and take in his surroundings. "You look better."

"Yeah." He whispered.

"What happened? You looked a little scary." Ron sighed.

"Izzy had a family tree assignment and asked questions about Daphne."

"And?" Charlie asked. "That couldn't have been easy but you looked seriously upset."

Ron sighed. "She wrote Uncle Fred next to George with a d next to his name. Seeing it like that and out of the blue and in her writing…"

Charlie gave him an awkward one-armed hug. "Sorry. Have a good night, I left a hangover potion next to your bed so George doesn't kill you tomorrow."

Ron grinned. "Appreciate it."

The next day wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. Ron dropped the girls off at school and sold a lot of products. He hummed to himself as he strode down the lane of Rose and Isobelle's primary school, not really thinking about anything.

"Mr. Weasley. A word?" Isobelle's teacher, Miss…Jones? Was waving him over. He raised an eyebrow and motioned for the girls to stay with Hermione and Draco while he followed her into her classroom.

"Is everything all right?" He asked suspiciously, praying neither of them had used magic or beaten someone up. Rose had knocked some other little girl's teeth out a couple of weeks ago for insulting Lucy. He had to try very hard not to grin at the memory. She fixed him with a glare over her glasses and he felt like he was sitting in front of McGonagall again in first year.

"I've only ever seen you here to pick up the girls. Or one of your family members." Ron raised an eyebrow, seeing where this was going and not liking it one bit.

"Yes, that's true." He didn't rise to the bait and he smiled pleasantly, taking on a look of what he hoped was innocence while she frowned at him.

"I was wondering…" she paused nervously. "What of the girls' mother?"

"She died years ago."

"I'm sorry. But why wouldn't you let your daughter put her on the tree? I notice she put a deceased Uncle on." Ron swallowed thickly.

"Before she died, she left us. Hours after giving birth to Izzy, in fact. So no. I do not wish for my daughters to put her on their family tree. She's not their family." Heat had risen to his face and he took a breath, willing himself to calm down. "I'm sorry. It's still hard, all these years later."

"Of course. But did this not happen when Rose made her family tree?"

Ron frowned, puzzled. "Rosie never did a family tree that I can remember."

"She should have." Miss Jones responded. "We can ask her old teacher." Ron nodded and followed her across the hall.

"Rose never hand one in." The kindly old teacher informed them. "She failed the assignment, but of course her grades were so good everywhere else it didn't matter."

Ron's heart sank and he had to bite his lip to keep his feelings from escaping. He turned away from Miss Jones. He couldn't stand the pity in her gaze. "I'll talk to her." He whispered before tearing away from them and walking back to the girls as fast as he could.

"Daddy Daddy!" Izzy screeched in her little girl voice. "Can I go home with Aquila and play with her?" He looked to Draco and Hermione who nodded and he smiled.

"Sure thing Princess. Ready to go Rosie?" He asked his eldest and she nodded.

"Bye Izzy1 Bye Al1 Bye Scor!" He smiled at them although his heart felt like it had fractured into pieces and guided her by the shoulder into the car. He was silent on the way home, allowing her to tell him all about her day with an occasional 'that's nice honey'.

They got home and washed up and she took out her homework while he grabbed the Prophet. The two of them liked to sit in peace together. Izzy was rambunctious and if she had homework she would be up in her room blasting the Weird Sisters on her record player (a gift from her Aunt Ginny).

"So I helped your sister with her family tree last night." He said conversationally, and watched as she froze and pretended not to.

"Uh huh? We didn't do that." He pursed his lips together, eyes meeting hers with understanding.

"Yeah you did Rosie." He whispered softly. "I know you chose to fail rather than do it." She looked down at her purple and white striped socks. "I understand, and I'm so sorry you felt that way love."

"I knew you would see and you wouldn't want me to put her name on it so I saved us all the issue." Ron felt like crying.

"Oh Rosie I'm sorry." A tear slipped down his cheek. "I never should have made you feel that way."

"She never should have left." She whispered, surprising him yet again with her intelligence and understanding of problems that grown adults struggled with.

"No. She shouldn't have."

"Will you tell us the full story some day?" She asked him quietly. He nodded.

"When you're a little older. I promise." She nodded.

"Daddy?" She asked him.

"Rose?" He teased. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"I love you." She said, before tackling him in a hug.

"I love you too Sweetheart." He said, another tear falling. Kids tore your world upside down and sideways and mangled your emotions. But he wouldn't give either of them up for the world. He held onto Rose and wished she wasn't so close to the age of eleven. He never wanted to let his girls go.