-1Disclaimer - It's not mine; I'm just having some fun with the characters. However, I do own the children!
At six pm that evening, Hermione stood in the middle of her living room, with a suitcase, a holdall and her handbag. Ron paced the room moodily, muttering under his breath. At one minute past six, a blonde woman with a friendly face appeared through the fireplace.
"Hello, I'm Cassandra Capulet, editor, Witch Weekly," she introduced herself, offering a hand to Ron and Hermione in turn. "Please, call me Cassie. I'll be appearing often throughout the two weeks to interview you, and compile the articles. If you have any problems, please do not hesitate to contact me. Mr and Mrs Malfoy will be along right about, now." she finished, as Draco Malfoy appeared through the fireplace. Although Draco had deferred to the good side after Dumbledore's death, stricken with guilt, Ron and Draco still didn't see exactly eye to eye. He smoothed his white blonde hair back, and smiled.
"Ronald, Hermione, lovely to see you again." Cassandra smiled.
"Well, we weren't aware you knew each other!" she exclaimed. Hermione smiled.
"We were at Hogwarts in the same year," she explained, "though in different houses." Cassandra clapped her hands together in delight.
"How wonderful!" Just then, the former Pansy Parkinson, now Pansy Malfoy appeared in the Weasley's living room.
"Hello," she smiled, "isn't this just wonderful." Ron smiled, though it looked a little strained.
"Just peachy."
After a ten minute chat about the basic guidelines and rules of the swap, Hermione flooed to Malfoy Manor. As Hermione stepped through the fireplace into the living room, she gasped audibly. Draco smirked at her.
"Come and meet the children. Kids!" he called out of the doorway, "come downstairs and meet Hermione please!"
Hermione heard footsteps thundering down the stairs, and two beautiful blonde children ran giggling into the room.
"Hermione, this is Christina, she's ten, and Lucia, who's eight. Kids, this is Hermione Weasley. She's going to be living with us for the next two weeks. Remember Mum and I told you about that article for Witch Weekly?" Christina nodded shyly.
"Hello Mrs. Weasley." she said, holding a hand out for Hermione to shake, while Lucia threw herself at Hermione, and hugged her waist.
"Hello girls," Hermione replied warmly, taking Christina's hand. "Please, call me Hermione." Draco smiled proudly at his daughters, before taking each one by the hand and leading them to the doorway.
"Upstairs and play," he said gently, "dinner will be ready soon." He looked at Hermione before adding, "Mary, our housekeeper, has made roast chicken, is that ok?"
"That sounds lovely." Hermione replied. Draco picked up her suitcase in one hand and her holdall in another.
"Come along Mrs. Weasley, I'll show you to your room."
In the Weasley's house, Ron shifted his weight awkwardly.
"Uh, Pansy, I'll introduce you to the kids. Joseph! Bring your brother and sisters down here please!" A few minutes later, the four Weasley children stood awkwardly in the living room. "Kids, this is Mrs. Malfoy. Pansy, this is Joseph,"
"Joe!" he interjected, and Ron smiled.
"Joe, he's fourteen, Aimee, she's eleven, Ben who's eight and Kate, she's four. Our baby." Aimee beamed at Pansy.
"Do I have to call you Mrs. Malfoy?" she asked boldly. Pansy looked taken aback.
"No no, you can call me Pansy." she smiled. "Well, shall I start dinner? What would you all like?" Ben looked interested.
"Can you make pasketti?" he asked. Ron laughed.
"He means spaghetti." he explained. Pansy laughed with Ron.
"Yes Ben, I can make spaghetti. Do you want to come and help me cook it just how you like it?" Ben beamed.
"Can I help too?" Aimee asked.
"Of course!" Pansy replied, picking the little girl up and settling her on her hip. "Let's go." Ron was shocked by the change in Pansy. She was no longer the superior, condescending teenager he had known in Hogwarts, she had turned into a kind, caring woman. He hadn't expected her to be as bad as she was, after all, she and Draco had joined the Order of the Phoenix, and he certainly had not expected her to be downright cruel to the children, he had not expected her to be so, well, nice.
"Um, I'll just take your bags upstairs Pansy," he called into the kitchen, "we've put you into Aimee's room, she can show you it later." Pansy came out of the kitchen frowning.
"So where is Aimee sleeping?"
"Oh, she's in with Kate for the fortnight. We uh, we only have a bedroom for each of us."
"No, I can sleep on the sofa or something," Pansy said, "I wouldn't want to take over someone else's room." Aimee spoke for the first time.
"It's fine Pansy, I don't mind. It's only two weeks, and I'm used to sharing a room, from school, you know." Pansy twisted her mouth, apparently thinking.
"If you're sure." Aimee nodded. "Ok, thank you. That's very kind."
At dinner, Draco pleasantly surprised Hermione. He had really changed, he was funny, and thoughtful, and his children were incredibly sweet. Christina had charmed Hermione by telling her all about her recent birthday party, which had a pink theme, and the most 'beautiful, beautiful cake!'. Hermione laughed and chatted easily with the Malfoy family before Draco sent the children to bed.
"Some wine, Hermione?" he offered.
"That sounds lovely." she replied with a smile.
"You know, you have aged beautifully." Draco told her with a small smile, while pouring her a glass of elf made wine. "Not that you weren't always lovely to look at, but you look simply beautiful. I see being married to Ron agrees with you." Hermione blushed, and looked into her now full glass.
"It does," she smiled, "we're wonderfully happy. But I could say the same for you Draco, you do look dashing!" Draco laughed easily.
"Why thank you Mrs. Weasley! However, I want to apologise for the way I treated you and Ron, Harry too, but I was a part of…well, you know what my family was like. And my father was not the best person to have a disagreement with."
"I understand Draco, that's in the past now. I'm glad that we can be like this with each other, it would be awful for the children if we were still fighting." Draco smiled warmly, and took a sip of his wine, looking at Hermione over the rim of his glass.
Ron was heartened by the dinner with Pansy, which passed without a hitch. The children seemed to get along well with her, and Ron felt that the coming fortnight wouldn't be so bad after all. At eight o'clock, Ron put Ben and Kate to bed. When Ron came back downstairs, Joe and Aimee were sat in the living room chatting to Pansy about Hogwarts. Ron joined them, sitting in his favourite armchair in the corner. Crookshanks leapt onto his lap, and Ron absentmindedly began to stroke his head. After an hour, Joe and Aimee decided to go to bed, and leave their father and Pansy to chat, sensing they had some things to sort out. They bade the two goodnight, and went upstairs.
"Your children are lovely," Pansy began, "and I see you have the typical large Weasley family!" she added laughing. "Do you plan on having any more?" Ron smiled.
"We haven't really decided, we'll just see what happens! We never really planned any of the kids, we just thought we'd let nature take its course, so to speak. You and Draco have two kids, yeah?"
"That's right," Pansy replied, smiling fondly at the mention of her children. "Christina and Lucia. They're ten and eight, and they're wonderful. Of course, I'm slightly biased." Ron laughed easily.
"Do you plan on having any more?" He asked with interest.
"Draco and I are discussing it," she said, "we've not quite decided just yet. But I know he would love a little boy." Ron smiled, looking at Pansy in a new light. She was rather attractive, he decided, blonde and slim. Of course, she was nothing compared to Hermione, he told himself hastily. Hermione was the only one for him. He was clearly just pleased with the way Pansy was acting. That was all it was.