Back on the Homefront

Ron was completely at a loss with Aila gone. She had been his organizer, his entertainment, his life! She was more than a daughter! Ron had taken to long days at the ministry and short nights at home. He lived to get mail in hopes that it would be a letter from Aila talking about how sorely she missed him and that she was utterly miserable without him, or at least telling him how things were going at Hogwarts.

At the moment he was at his desk writing an essay for the head of his department that would be due the next week. 'Hermione and Aila would be proud'. He thought grimly, 'I am actually doing my work before it is due.' He rolled up his parchment and groaned. He was not cut out for office work! He was cut out for on site work, like head-auror Harry Potter.

Ron pulled on his Traveling robes and headed to the entrance area of the ministry to apparate home. He thought about when he was dropping Aila off at the Hogwarts Express. He saw Hermione and Viktor Krum walk through to barrier together. Had Hermione actually married Vicky?

"I knew he was no good." grumbled Ron to himself while in the lift taking him to the entrance hall.

He was alone with paper airplanes magically flying above his head. They were occasionally bumping into the walls of the lift making their points crinkled. He waited patiently as the lift slowly moved up to the main area. "I hate this."

After many minutes of waiting the lift's doors opened and Ron walked out. The room was pretty much deserted. He looked at the fountain. It was very old and broken. After the fight so many years ago versus Dumbledore and Voldemort, which destroyed the fountain, the fountain was put back together, almost. It was like someone hurried and put broken pieces in random spots on the foundation. So instead of a tall stone wizard surrounded by a witch, a house elf, a goblin and a centaur, it was a large piece of abstract stone art.

Ron quickly apparated to his the burrow, where he had moved to with Aila shortly after Hermione moved out and divorced him. His mother and father had moved to a smaller place of their own, on one condition: that he promises to let anyone come and stay if they were in the family, if they ever needed to. This was mostly on Christmas and sometimes on birthdays or family reunions. He walked slowly up the stairs to the bedroom he had clamed as his own ever since he was a boy. The walls were still covered in Chudley cannon's colors and decorations.

He was about to collapse on his bed when he saw a small package on his pillow and a tawny owl perched next to it. "Aila." He breathed picking up the box. He quickly got some owl treats and fed the dignified beast nibbling at his fingers. Then Ron opened the box carefully. On top was a short letter and beneath it was a stack of pictures.

Dear Dad,

I miss you terribly! It is so different not seeing you after I wake up! While on the Hogwarts express I sat with my cousins. All of them. I beat their sorry butts in wizard chess, just so you now. I got into Gryffindor, like every good Weasley, and have mad some good now friends. Jenna Finnegan, and Sally Billings We are all first years. I have made friends with no boys except my cousins, sorry no boyfriends in my future anytime soon. They are all ugly and disgusting.

I sent you a load of pictures. I was busy taking pictures of all of my cousins for you and all of my friends. The first picture is of me and all of my cousins sitting on the couch right in front of the fireplace. The next picture is of Jenna (right) and Sally (left). Then the rest are random pictures of everything, except the last one. You might find this one...intriguing. It is of me and a girl named Hilary Granger. Don't you think she looks a lot like me? And guess what? We both have the same birthday! What a coincidence.

I am not dumb Dad. Is there any chance that I am related to this girl? I don't know my mother, she doesn't know her father…it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. Spill the beans. Is my mother's name Hermione by any chance? Hermione Granger? Tell me.

Love you.

Aila

Ron looked at the last picture. It was of two identical girls. Only one had shorter hair, they were hugging and smiling, laughing. So, Aila had met Hilary. Ron smiled and took the picture to his bedside. He knew that he had to write back Aila, she had figured it out, and she just wanted the final word to be from him. He groaned and sat down. Hermione was taken.

Ron took out a piece of stationery and began to write back.

Dear Aila,

Yes, you two are twins. Identical twins. Your mother and I fought soon after you were born and she left, with Hilary, and left me with you. She loves you very much. I just wanted to have one of you. She loved you enough to make sure you still had a parent, please don't hate her or me for doing what we did. If Hilary writes a letter to her mother maybe you will understand her point of view also. Tell Hilary I love her and that she is as beautiful as her mother.

Love you both very much

Dad.

He sealed the letter and tied it to his owl, Dot, and sent her out the window. He looked through the pictures and smiled. Maybe he would get to know is other daughter.

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Hermione slipped on a dark blue knee length dress. She was going to a dinner for all of the Witch Weekly Employees in England. She managed to pull her hair into a somewhat bun and put on some make-up. It had been a very long time since she had gone to one of these types of functions. Scrutinizing herself in the mirror she was struck with how she looked.

She had never noticed how large her hips were, how flabby her arms looked and she saw more of a pouch on her stomach than necessary. Hermione stepped forward and looked at her face, she saw wrinkles. Touching her face, She felt old. She was only 30. She couldn't be that old, Could she?

"Hermione, you have let yourself go." She muttered getting more concealer on her cheeks and around her eyes. Hermione grabbed a handbag and apparated to the dinner hall.

It was a normal place to have a dinner for Wizards. There were tables everywhere with soft chairs. The floor was hard marble but there were velvety maroon footpaths between the tables. The Table clothes were black and were magically sparkling. In the middle of the floor was a big table in the shape of a "W" where there were many drinks placed around. At the head of the hall was a stage with a tall podium.

Hermione walked from table to table. At each seat was a nameplate, each nameplate was gold-plated and the names were written in bold black curly writing. The chairs would move themselves back so you could sit in it when you got to the one with your name. Hermione was almost at the front of the room when a chair finally moved in front of her.

She quickly sat in it and before she could scoot it forward it began to move itself back to the table. There were already 2 people seated at the table. One was looking at her menu the other looked like she was in a strange type of trance. Hermione decided against trying to speak to any one of them and got back up to get a drink. She was finding it more difficult to get to the center of the room because more and more witches were arriving. Hermione was surprised for a minute at the number of women who had shown up compared to men, then she remembered this was a Witch Weekly dinner, why would men work for a women's magazine?

At the table there were many different drinks, clear drinks, mushy drinks, regular looking drinks, and one the looked suspiciously like blood. "Vampires." She muttered under her breath.

"Did you say something?" asked someone from beside her. Hermione jumped and was even more surprised when she saw that it was a man who was the speaker.

"What?" she asked, still recovering from her shock of being snuck up on like that.

"Did you say something?"

"No." said Hermione turning back to the drinks to select whichever one took her fancy.

"Oh, Okay." The man said walking up to the drink table beside her. "Because for a moment I thought you said 'vampires.'" He winked at her and poured the blood like drink into his glass.

Hermione raised her eyebrows and cringed. "What is that stuff?"

"It is not blood." He said, "It is bensberry juice."

"I have never heard of a Bensberry." She said quietly after getting herself a clear liquid marked 'Sparkling Norwegian Water'.

"It is a rare berry grown only by Wizards, it is a acquired taste so I don't recommend you try it unless you are very daring." He took a drink of it and smiled. "Joshua Haney. 'Inside the Mind of Men' column." He held out his hand.

"Hermione Granger. Editor of 'Helpful Spells for the Current Witch' column." She shook it. "Nice to meet you."

"Same to you." He smiled at her, which made her insides melt. "See you around." He said slyly. Hermione giggled a bit wildly and took a big drink of her water. He was so hansom! Black hair that was slicked back, straight white teeth, shocking electric blue eyes, and not too bad in dress robes. She sat back in her seat and looked at the menu. This dinner wasn't so bad. She might even enjoy it. Maybe she would even run into Joshua Haney again.

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