The Parent Trap
Chapter Nine
-dutchtulips-
The Weasley car was just dipping down from the clouds, bringing into view the lovely and grand London countryside, where just ahead of them, a settlement had been pitched and many witches and wizards could be seen.
Ron expertly swung his silvery Ford down to the wide meadow and turned off the engine at an empty spot on the grounds. Just as he, Parvati, Holly, and Amy were getting out of the car, someone called to him.
"All right there, Ron?"
The redhead turned around, his vision landing one of his teammates. Smiling, he called back, waving, "Hey there, Ben!"
"Come here for a minute, mate, I want you to meet someone!" He replied.
Ron turned to his daughters. "Ames, Holly, I'm going to go with Ben for a minute. Help Parvati set up camp, will you?"
After he'd gone, the girls turned to Parvati, who was leaning against the car, combing her hair as she stared into her hand-held mirror. Amy and Holly rolled their eyes at each other and then looked back at their future stepmother. Feeling their gaze on her, Parvati glanced up at the twins, snapping her compact shut. "Well, you heard your father. Best be getting the tent up and all."
Holly walked over to the car to open the trunk and get out the camping gear, leaving her sister with Parvati. Amy crossed her arms at the woman. "You're going to help, right?"
She tucked the mirror and comb into the pocket of her robes. "I really haven't any aptitude for this sort of thing. Besides, you know how to set up everything, right? You've come to this picnic with you dad before."
Amy glared at Parvati as Holly emerged from the car, unfolding the canvas tent across the grass. Picking up one of the poles, she snatched the older woman's wrist and shoved it into her hand. "Well, it's about time you learn then," Amy replied, sharing a smirk with her sister.
* * *
About an hour had passed and Parvati and the girls were still attempting to pitch the tent. Ron had gone off to fetch some water, leaving the three alone to the job. Amy and Holly had successfully gotten the poles up, but Parvati's task wasn't as easy for her. The twins had her manning the mallet to drive the pegs in, but she kept missing. Plus, all of the leaning over had her groaning every time she stood up.
Amy and Holly sat on the hood of the Ford, watching Parvati as they shared a drink out of Amy's canteen, quietly giggling amongst themselves as the older woman struggled with what she was doing.
"Oy!" Parvati exclaimed, holding her back as she got up from the ground. "Thank God I wasn't born a Muggle, if this is what they call fun!" She whimpered as she dust herself off. "Look at me! I've got dirt all over my new robes! And they're chiffon!"
Holly rolled her eyes. "Weren't you smart! Wearing nice expensive clothing on an outdoor holiday!"
"Oh, ha, ha," Parvati replied weakly, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I hadn't really expected to do anything like this on this trip, much less go at all, thank you!"
"You're welcome," Amy replied, and then she and Holly laughed.
The older woman said nothing; she just glared at them as she sat down on a long in front of the fire pit. Wiping her brow, she murmured, "Oh, stars. I'm sweating for goodness' sake. Can someone grab my bag for me so that I can fix my make-up?"
"Sure," Holly said aimlessly, reaching through the window of the car and picking up Parvati's handbag that was lying in the front seat. While she was doing so, she noticed a frog that had just jumped next to the tire. Quickly she elbowed her sister and Amy, getting the hint, slid off the car and onto her feet, where she quietly picked up the creature.
Holly took the frog and put him inside Parvati's handbag, buttoned it back up and took it over to her, saying, "Here you are."
She plucked her bag from the girl's fingers and unsnapped it, reaching inside for her compact. When she touched something cold, bumpy, and alive, she screamed and jumped back, dropping her bag to the grass. "There's something in there!"
Ron came running up just then, having heard Parvati shriek. "What's the matter?" He exclaimed, setting the pail of water he'd been toting, to the ground. "What happened?"
Parvati rushed over and clutched onto him like she'd seen a ghost. "Something creepy is in my handbag! Something's alive in there!"
Slowly, the redhead approached the dropped purse, and then picked it up cautiously and looked inside. A moment later he let out a sigh, saying reassuringly, "Oh, Parvie, it's nothing to be scared of. It's just a frog!" He reached in and pulled out the little creature, placing him back to the grass where he hopped away. "Just. . .how did it get there, I wonder?"
Ron glanced meaningfully over at Amy and Holly, whom in turn merely gave him identical innocent looks.
* * *
The day had now turned into evening, and the party of four were now sitting around the fire that Holly had gotten going, eating treacle pudding and talking with each other. The twins were sitting on one side of the fire, and Ron and Parvati were seated on the log directly opposite of them. Murmurs from around the settlement could be heard, creating a placid aura about the campsite.
"So, is everyone having a good time?" Ron asked jovially as he reached over to his feet and picked up the butterbeer bottle that he'd put there, taking a drink from it.
"Will we get to play Quidditch with the others tomorrow?" Amy asked eagerly, balancing her bowl on her knees.
"You brought your Nimbus, didn't you?" The redhead grinned, and then turned to Parvati. "Are you going to join us, hon?"
She made a face, groaning, "For the hundredth time, Ron, you know I don't like sports at all."
He dropped his shoulders. "Come on, it's a picnic tradition!"
Parvati rolled her eyes, picking up her pudding bowl. "Well, it can continue on without me, then."
As they watched her eating her helping of treacle pudding, Amy and Holly grinned sneakily at each other. Ron noticed this, a confused look crossing his face, and then he looked over at Parvati and understood what their smiles were all about. She was now scratching from head-to-toe, dragging her manicured nails roughly over her arms and legs to relieve the itch.
"Ronnie, please, make it stop!" She squealed, raking her hands over her back.
Immediately Ron pulled out his wand and reversed her itching curse, giving her a gentle pat on the back as Parvati itching abruptly ceased. But instead of looking relieved, she was fuming. "That's it," she said shortly. "I'm going to go pour myself a big glass of sleeping potion, and going to bed."
To Amy and Holly's disgust, Parvati then leaned over to Ron, bestowing on him a romantic good-night kiss, smirked at the twins, and then disappeared under the flap leading inside the tent. Immediately after she'd gone, the redhead looked sternly over at his daughters.
"All right. What did you put in her bowl?" He demanded.
"Blame Uncle Fred and Uncle George!" Amy blurted out. "It's that new Itch-Attack potion they have at their store. It was begging for a try-out!"
Ron rolled his eyes. "Leave it to them to invent something like that," he murmured to himself and then turned back to Amy and Holly. "Just cool it with all of the antics, all right? The outdoors isn't exactly her favorite thing in the world!"
"But I bet I know what is," Holly whispered to her sister. "They're round and shiny and made of gold, and a bunch of them are sitting in Dad's vault at Gringotts."
* * *
The girls rose early the next morning, Holly laying the fire while Amy was up and about in the tent in the kitchen, frying some eggs and ham up for everyone's breakfast. They were strangely quite amongst one another as they waited for their dad and Parvati to get up for the day.
She and Ron still were not out of bed by the time Amy and Holly had taken their breakfast plates to sit around the fire and enjoy the outdoor air, and had finished the eggs and ham that were on them. Afterwards they laid the plates aside and sat playing exchanging chocolate frog trading cards.
Finally Ron poked his head out of the tent flap, smiling as he spotted the girls. "Morning, you two," he said. "Up early for the big Quidditch game?"
Vigorously they nodded, though, at the moment were really excited over something else. Then Holly piped up, saying, "There's ham and eggs on the stove. Is Parvati up yet?"
Their father nodded, saying, before he disappeared back inside, "Yeah, she's putting her face on."
Amy and Holly beamed at each other, laying the wizard cards aside. "She's putting her makeup on? This'll be even better!" Amy exclaimed, and then a few minutes later, Parvati came strolling out of the tent, adjusting the collar of her robes.
Immediately, from the girls' concealed wands at their hips, came an explosion of red water bombs, and they sailed straight for Parvati. They burst everywhere, at her feet, atop her head, and drenching every inch of her body with cold waves of water.
Her shrilled screams echoed across the campsite, surely loud enough to be heard all the way in China. As Ron came tumbling out of the tent to see what in the world was going on, Amy and Holly abruptly stifled their giggles and put on looks of concern and confusion.
Still buttoning up his robes, the redhead turned to his bride-to-be, exclaiming, "Parvie, what's going on!"
At that moment, the young witch promptly lost it, her face turning red despite the freezing cold water cascading down her cheeks and neck. "I'll tell you what's 'going on'! And here it is! The day we get married, is when I'm transferring those horrible daughters of yours off to year-round admission at Beauxbatons! It's me, or them, so take your pick!"
Ron glanced over at Amy and Holly for a moment and then, quite suddenly, he. . .smiled. Turning to Parvati, he said simply, "Them."
She blinked, astonished. "I beg your pardon?"
"Amy Weasley, and Holly Granger. My daughters. Clear enough for you?" He replied, still smiling enigmatically.
Parvati stared at him in disbelief for a minute longer, and then erupted into one giant, exasperated scream.
* * *
Hermione was sitting on the Weasley porch, enjoying the warm sun. She rocked back and forth on the swing with a book, Arthurian Legends, spread across her lap, when she heard a car horn beep from high up above. Closing her book, she stepped out into the yard and looked up, seeing Ron's silvery Ford approaching the ground.
As it dropped softly to the gravel drive, Hermione tucked the leather-bound book under her arm and stepped towards the car. "Hello, there!" She said brightly. "You're back a few days early! Did you have a good time?"
Holly slid out of the car first, walking around to the trunk and opening it up. "Well, I would exactly say that, Mum."
Her brow furrowed. "Why not?"
Amy got out next, helping her sister unload the camping gear. "Dad's punished us until the end of infinity."
Ron was last to exit the car, after shutting off the engine and tucking the key in his pocket. Upon seeing him, Hermione suddenly felt a butterfly in her stomach, though she didn't know why.
He took the canvas tent from his daughters, saying to them, with a very faint smile of amusement threatening to break the corners of his mouth, "And it's already started. Get moving."
Amy and Holly followed their mother up the porch steps, stopping there to wait for Ron. When he finally joined them, Hermione asked, "What happened? Where's Parvati?"
Holly shrugged. "Oh, we just played a few jokes on her and she got sort of upset."
"Sort of!" He exclaimed incredulously. "She about got out her wand and cursed me before she left!" Then, peering over at Hermione, he said, "well, at least it wasn't a dictionary."
She brought her hand up to her face. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Ron. . .if I hadn't suggested to Parvati that she go. . ."
"Tricked, is more like it," he replied, smirking. "Chips off the old block, our daughters are."
Hermione bit her lip, but only because a smile was starting to form across her face. "I really about sorry, though."
"We are, too, Dad," Amy put in, sighing.
Ron looked over at her and Holly. "Room, now."
As the two of them watched their daughters head inside, Hermione heard Ron say, from behind her, "Remind me to thank them sometime, 'Mione."
She abruptly turned around, the smile on her face clearly breaking free. Hermione watched as he leaned up against the porch railing, saying, "So where's my sister got off to?"
She joined him, saying with a bubble of laughter in her throat, "Well, Ginny and Harry went off to the Leaky Cauldron for dinner. . .around yesterday."
They laughed for a moment, and then Ron said, "Well, can't say we didn't see it coming." He paused, and then, "So, why do we go inside and I cook us up something?"
She looked at him, intrigued. "Ron Weasley cooks?"
"Sure. . .Mum taught me all of her baking spells. I can whip up some sirloin steak, some lamb chops, or maybe even some roasted chicken. . ." He grinned. "And some Peppermint Imps for breathing fire afterwards!"
Hermione couldn't help but giggle. "Oh, stop. You're making my mouth water!"
"No, that'll put it out."
She rolled her eyes at Ron as he stifled a laugh.
* * *
That night, Amy and Holly sat in the living room playing Exploding Snap, when Ron walked by, checking his reflection in the hallway mirror. He adjusted the collar on his dark gray dress robes as the mirror murmured sleepily at him, "Very dashing, dear."
Upon hearing the voice, the girls turned around, and smiled at their father. "Hey there, Dad! Where're you off to?" Amy said. "You look great!"
He rolled his eyes amusedly, and started out the living room door, saying, "You have a nice evening, girls."
"Only if you do!" Holly called back as he disappeared.
Ron just grinned to himself as he started upstairs and to the Weasley home's trophy room. Creaking open the door, his breath caught in this throat as his eyes landed on Hermione, who was staring around at all of his Quidditch awards, wearing light blue dress robes of her own. "Hey," he said softly.
She turned around, a smile lighting up her face. Regarding the awards and trophies, she exclaimed, "These are all yours?"
He grinned and nodded, stepping closer to her. "They sure are. Hey, come here." Ron reached over and gently took Hermione hand, leading her to the other side of the room, where a line of shining golden plaques were hanging on the wall.
"Are they all. . .?" Her voice trailed off.
He nodded again, a modest smile on his face. "Four-time Quidditch national champions. On the third time," he pointed to one of the plaques, "I scored the final two penalty shots to help us get enough points to win the game. That was when I got this." Ron gently pulled her over to where a silver plaque was hanging. "Most valuble player award." Above that was hanging his old Tsunami, the broom he'd ridden in the match, that he'd officially retired, just for the occasion.
Hermione was spellbound by everything that she was seeing. It was hard to believe that Ron had finally been able to overcome the low self-esteem of his childhood and become such a successful wizard. Looking up at him, the thought reflected in her eyes, she said, "Now I wish I'd followed Quidditch these last few years."
He merely shrugged good-naturedly, smiling sheepishly. There was a small silence between them for a moment before he broke it suddenly, pulling her over to where a set of scarlet Quidditch robes were attatched to the wall. "Here take a gander at that."
She stared at the clothing for a moment, trying to place where she'd seen them before, when it suddenly dawned on her. "Your Gryffindor Quidditch robes?"
Ron nodded. "Uh hu. They helped get me my first break in the game, and well, look at me now."
Hermione smiled. "That's very nostalgic, Ron."
"Yeah. But there's another reason I cherish them so much, besides that," he told her softly.
She looked sharply up at him, a question in her eyes. "Why, what's the other reason?"
"Well. . .we'd just won the cup, when I'd. . .asked you to marry me," Ron whispered, staring back into her eyes.
The romantic feeling in the air was so extremely heavy, that it caused Hermione's heart to race. She sucked in a breath as Ron drew in closer, the moment perfect, their lips so incredibly close. . .
"Hello!" Ginny's voice rang out, echoing through the house. "Harry and I are home!"
The moment was broken, they both knew it. Hermione was almost relieved, and she backed away from Ron, feeling terribly uneasy. He'd averted his eyes as she did this, and sighed as he stared at the carpet. "We'll be r-right there!" He called to his sister, keeping his eyes away from Hermione as they started downstairs to meet the others.
* * *
Thunder rumbled in the distance a few evenings later, a pending rainstorm surely on its way. A Ministry car was just pulling up in front of the Weasley home, and a moment later, Hermione, Holly, and Harry stepped out onto the porch, their luggage in tow. The chauffeur got out of the car and opened the trunk, stepping up onto the porch to get their luggage inside.
Back up on the porch, Ron, Amy, and Ginny had walked out of the front door, everyone exchanging goodbyes. After Ginny had hugged and kissed Harry, Ron came over and gave his old friend a brief hug. "See you soon, mate. Don't forget to write."
"I won't," Harry replied. "And don't you, either."
After the twins had given each other a wistful embrace in farewell, they slowly walked off the porch together, Amy accompanying Holly to the Ministry car. Ron and Hermione watched their daughters go, and then turned towards each other.
An awkward moment passed and then Ron said softly, "You take care, all right?"
"I will."
He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, and then slowly Hermione started down the porch with Harry, and they slid into the Ministry car, which would transport them to the train station back home to Bristol. Amy embraced her mother before she got inside, then closed the door for them and ran back up to the porch to rejoin Ginny and her dad, who slung an arm around his daughter as they watched the car drive away.
* * *
It was dark by the time Hermione, Holly, and Harry had left gotten off the train and were back in Bristol, riding in another Ministry car that was taking them to the wizard neighborhood where they lived.
After it dropped them and their trunks off, Harry offered to take care of the luggage so that Hermione and Holly could go ahead inside and rest up. They obliged, climbing up the steps to the front porch and going inside.
"Hello?" Hermione called out as she closed the door. "Anyone here? Dad?"
Holly looked over at her mother, who shrugged. "I'll look in the den," her mother said, draping her cloak and her handbag over a chair and starting out of the entry hall and into the den.
When Hermione walked in, a Muggle newspaper was the only thing visible at the desk, someone's hands holding each side and obscuring their face and upper body. Sighing in relief, she said, "Hey, Dad. How've you been?"
The newspaper lowered in response to Hermione's voice, but the person seated in the chair was not at all Doctor Granger.
"Hey, Mum, why didn't you just take Floo Powder? It gets you home a lot faster."
Hermione, shocked, nervously groped at her collarbone. "Y-yes, I know," she stammered.
Holly walked in just then, laughing and exclaiming, "What are you doing here?"
Amy slowly stood up from the desk, a emotional look overcoming her face. "Well, the minute your Ministry car disappeared up the road, we didn't waste anytime. You see, we. . .we didn't want to loose you guys again."
Hermione was now finding it difficult to drw breath. "W-we?" She inquired.
And then, Ron Weasley walked in from the next room, his eyes never leaving Hermione.
She immediately noticed him, and it literally felt as if her heart had stopped. The lopsided smile that Hermione had fallen in love with so many years ago was there on his face, and he stepped up extremely close to her, clutching her hands in his.
"I came after you this time, 'Mione," he whispered softly, his smile turning to a grin. "I wasn't stupid enough to make the same mistake again."
Hermione stared up at him. "I suppose you just expect me to fall into your arms and say that we can just figure this whole thing out. . .raising Amy and Holly in Bristol and then in Manchester and everywhere in between, and. . .and. . .you and me will. . .pick up where we left off, and. . .fall in love again, and. . ."
"Hermione," Ron whispered, "There is no 'again.' I never stopped."
She sniffled, feeling the tears flowing freely now, as well as her heart. ". . .Neither did I."
Before either of them could say anything else, Ron let go of her hands and slid his arms around her waist, pulling her in as close as he could, and meeting his lips with hers. Hermione's hands wound around his neck as she deepened their kiss, both of them filling it with all of the love and passion that they felt for one another.
Amy and Holly, meanwhile, had rejoined each other, grinning at the other and then at their parents, and then Holly said, "Guess what, Ames? Assignment has been - completed."
* * *
Now a new picture replaced the twelve-year-old photo of eighteen-year-olds Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, which was now of them at thirty years old, standing with Ginny, Harry, and of course, their twin daughters amy and Holly, standing in the Three Broomsticks, having just been remarried, and bringing their family back together. . .forever.
el fin