A Day Out

Hermione had a day off from work and she was very relieved. She had been doing a double shift lately to cover for her co-worker who had suddenly gotten a severe case of Dragon Pox. So she had been checking and correcting twice the amount of articles then usual.

This reminded her of her time at Hogwarts. She would do her work, unlike her two friends. Harry and Ron would procrastinate and then flip out when they realized that their work was due the next day. She would often be kind and help them. She would correct their essays, re-write paragraphs or sentences, and give them some necessary information. It must have been preparation for her future job because that was exactly what she would do now, only on an executive level.

It surprised her how much she missed Hogwarts, and how much she wished she were her daughter. Hermione could only hope that she prepared her daughter well enough for the workload, and if not maybe she was lucky enough to have a friend who was smart enough to help her. But Hermione thought fondly of her daughter, of course Hilary would be the one helping others, being the highly intelligent girl she was. But it frightened Hermione how much Hilary reminded her of Ron.

Thinking about Ron she looked into the fireplace, thinking about what she would say if she were to ever meet the father of her daughter again. 'Of course I will now.' Thought Hermione grimly, 'I can't keep Hilary close much longer, in a few short years Hilary would be able to Apparate, or spend summers at her friend's houses. Then I will need to come face to face with the man. I will give him a piece of my mind.' She nodded her head abruptly as if she had just given him a good talking to.

She glanced again at the fire, and then did a double take. The head of Ginny Potter was sitting in the fire. "Hello." Ginny's head said.

"Hello." Said Hermione smiling.

"What are you doing today?"

Hermione hadn't really given much thought to her schedule, she only had one thing in mind: rest. "Nothing at the moment."

Ginny grinned, "Good, would you like to get together today? It had been ages."

"Sounds good, your end or mine?"

"How about my end."

"Fine as long as we…"

"Don't see Ron." Finished Ginny rolling her eyes, "I know! I know! Sing another song would you? I was thinking going to Diagon Alley, maybe visiting my brothers, Fred and George at their shop." Hermione thought about the chances of seeing Ron there, it seemed safe so she agreed. "Would you like to see Harry again?"

"I don't know, are he and Ron still tight?"

"Yes, but Ron and I are tight and that doesn't stop you from seeing me." Said Ginny Defiantly. "So would you? I promise he is not contaminated by Ron. For heaven's sake, he was one of your best friends!"

Hermione smiled, "That would be great. I will be over in about ten minutes, I am going to change into some better robes."

"See you!" said Ginny's head before disappearing. Hermione smiled. She was glad to see Harry, as long as Ron wasn't close to follow. This was going to be a good day. She just knew it.

OoOO00OOoO

Ginny owled Harry and told him to come to Diagon Alley around noon. Harry had been dying to see Hermione ever since she began to talk to Hermione. Ginny wished she could get Hermione to talk to Ron, but she wanted to give Aila and Hilary a chance. Ginny knew that Hermione loved Hilary enough to do anything for her.

So Ginny did some quick cleaning spells to make the family room a bit more presentable. Hermione was a close friend, but it was bit different. Emerald flames appeared in the fireplace nit even a half a second after Ginny had finished her last charm. Hermione stepped out of the hearth and ran straight into Ginny's arms. "It had been so long!" cried Hermione.

"Not that long we just talked a few minutes ago!" said Ginny.

"But not in person!" said Hermione continuing to Hug Ginny within an inch of her life. "Let me see you, I haven't seen anything other then your head in so long!"

"Eleven years." Said striking poses for Hermione, "Do you want to see pictures of Lily and James? Molly is at her grandmother's at the moment, but if you want to you can see her later." Ginny held out a thick album to the other woman.

Hermione did an odd squeal and grabbed the album. "They are so cute!" breathed Hermione looking at the baby pictures. "I bet Lily looks exactly like her grandmother did. Look at her! She had the right eyes, and the perfect straight red hair. Too bad James doesn't look more like his grandfather. He looks more like Ron if you ask me."

"Yes everyone says that."

"Is this Molly?" asked Hemrione pointing to a picture off a little girl, who was approximately two with messy black hair and chubby arms and cheeks.

"No, that is our third child, Adele, she died when she was three." Said Ginny with tears in her eyes, "She was attacked by a werewolf in our last house and didn't make it. It is sad since we would have had Lupin and could have asked him what to do, she was in the perfect family for that to happen."

"That is so sad!" said Hermione, looking at the girl's face. "She had your features. She was very pretty."

Ginny smiled. "Thank you!" said Ginny who leaned over and pointed at another picture, "This is Molly."

This was a picture of a thin little girl with long black hair standing in a garden with flowers in her hair. "You have very beautiful children."

"And another along the way." said Ginny patting her stomach affectionately.

Hermione, yet again, squealed and hugged Ginny. "I am so happy for you!" she said, basically swallowing Ginny in her arms.

"Er, thanks." Said Ginny, "We need to get to Diagon Alley, Harry will meet us there in a couple of minutes."

Hermione smiled really big, "I can't wait."

OoOO00OOoO

The two women were waiting in the Leakey Cauldron for about five minutes before a tall man with messy back hair and round silver rimmed glasses made an entrance. Hermione immediately jumped up and ran to Harry, yelling "Harry!" at the top of her lungs.

She flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around him tight and when he had a firm grip her legs too. "Er, nice to see you too." He said laughing. He put her down. Hermione looked up at him with tears running down her face. "Your hair isn't as bushy."

"Yours isn't any better." She said wiping away one of her tears that had escaped. "It's been too long."

"Yes it has." Hermione continued to scrutinize him. He was tall. She had to say that he was tall. She hadn't remembered him being so tall. Maybe she had never noticed before, but did she really used to crane her neck this much? She knew he couldn't have grown any since she last saw him but put the thoughts aside and told him to follow her.

They went to sit by Ginny. They all ordered Drinks. Ginny got a pumpkin juice, Hermione a butterbeer and Harry a firewiskey. They began to share stories with each other for a while before deciding that actually getting into Diagon Alley was a good idea before it was too late.

They walked around for a moment, visited Flourish and Blotts (Much to Hermione's delight) and got some ice cream from the place formerly known as "Fortescue's". It was about five when they decided to go to "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes" to visit Fred and George.

When Hermione walked in she immediately spotted the twin's flaming Red hair. They were standing behind the counter with their heads together apparently looking at a list. She couldn't decide whether to let them continue with what they were doing or interrupt them, they looked very busy. Hermione didn't have to think long because the instant Hermione was past the door Ginny ran in to see her brothers.

"I haven't seen you two in such a long time!" she said, hugging them both with one arm.

"No." agreed one of them, Hermione guessed it was George, "How long has it been? Six months?" he asked, conferring with his twin.

"Too long." Said the other twin, maybe Fred (or maybe George, the two were so horribly identical!) Then the twins looked up, realizing that Ginny wasn't their only visitor. "But I think it had been even longer since we have seen her." Said either Fred or George.

"Yes," said Hermione looking at one of the twins, "a very long time indeed. I think it has been eleven years."

"So how are you and Viktor doing?" asked the one, (who was probably Fred) (or George).

"Viktor?"

"Krum." Said the other twin, "international Quidditch star, triwizard contestant, your first boy toy…"

Hermione gave him a 'stop being an idiot' look, "I know who you are talking about. I just have not a clue why you are associating me with him?" Hermione looked from one twin to the other in confusion, and they were giving her the same face back, then it hit her. "You think that Viktor and I are married!"

"Of course." Said a twin.

"Ron saw you together when you were dropping Hilary off at the Hogwarts Express." Said the other twin.

Hermione laughed, "No! He is just a good friend. He is engaged at the moment to a nice woman named Justice, who went to school with him. We are not romantically involved whatsoever."

The twins exchanged looks, which had 'are you thinking what I am thinking' on every inch of their identical faces. "So you are completely available."

"Unattached?"

"Single?"

"Waiting for a man to become involved in your life?"

Hermione looked at the two of them. "I am not going to get back with Ron if that is what you are thinking."

They shrugged, "We never said that."

"Oh, never."

OoOO00OOoO

Ginny was glad she could reunite Hermione with the twins, but it would have been great to get her to see Ron. She put those thoughts aside and tried to decide how she would get Hermione to think about what she said. If Hermione were the same she would have thought before writing that. Which meant that Ginny didn't really know this Hermione. It was like trying to get a stranger to stop drinking alcohol without even knowing if they drank Alcohol in the first place.

They decided to go back to Ginny's house for a while to talk some more and see Molly. Molly loved Hermione. As soon as Hermione let Molly sit on her lap Molly was in love. Ginny introduced Hermione as 'Aunt Mya'. "It is much easier for a four year old to say then Hermione." Explained Ginny when Hermione gave her a quizzical look. Hermione obviously loved Molly to death. She played with Molly's black hair, running her fingers through it, braiding it, and twirling it around her fingers.

Watching Hermione play with Molly gave Ginny an idea. "Do you regret not being able to see Aila at this age?"

Hermione looked up, "Of course, why wouldn't I?"

"You are right, stupid question." Ginny got onto the floor and played with Hermione and Molly, "Do you want me to tell you what Aila was like?" she asked grabbing a fake wand and handing it to Molly.

Hermione's eyes lit up, "Would you?"

"Yes." Ginny rearranged her robes in front of her and leaned against the couch. "She was very tiny. Ron was very excited about this, 'She will be perfect for Quidditch. Maybe she can be a keeper like me.' He would always say. So as soon as she was about 5 and a half he bought her a child's broom and taught her how to ride it. She did this with a certain amount of apprehension, and refused to go any higher then a few feet." Ginny looked at Hermione, whose eyes were fixed on the fireplace, then continued. "She would have chosen reading over Quidditch any day."

"I bet Ron loved that." Said Hermione sarcastically.

Ginny laughed, "Actually he did. He wanted his daughter to be exactly like her mother. He wanted her to be smart, pretty, and spunky. He would often brush her hair at night and tell her about her mother, and how great her mother was."

"Is." Interrupted Hermione.

"No." said Ginny firmly, "was. You weren't there. No you didn't die, but you weren't there raising your daughter with Ron. Ron decided that he would still teach her Quidditch, although he knew you would not approve. He did so that she would know teamwork, and know how to deal with people, he was afraid that if she didn't learn soon she would meet up with people like Draco Malfoy and think too highly of herself. He wanted to teach her that life is a team thing. You can't do it all at once. He would use Quidditch like that. You can't be a keeper and still score points for your team (unless you are very lucky) and hit bludgers at people, and dodge bludgers, and find the snitch at the same time. He thought that even if she didn't become a world famous Quidditch star he could use Quidditch as something else useful."

Hermione had started playing with Molly's hair again, Ginny looked at her. Hermione had tears in her eyes. Ginny gave her a sympathetic smile, "Do you want me to go on?"

"Yes." Said Hermione, looking intently at Molly's hair, as if looking at Ginny would make the tears fall.

"Okay. When Aila was six Ron taught her how to read and write. She loved this. She would wake up early to practice her letters and get big books and try to pronounce them. Ron took pictures her doing this, I have them somewhere in a box, I will find them and send them to you soon. Anyway. She was able to write like the best of them when she was seven and a half. Reading was her life, and she even started to write short stories. I will see if I can get one for you, they are very cute. All of them were about little blonde girls who had pretty and nice mothers. Apparently she envied blondes." Ginny smiled at Hermione, who had tears running down her cheeks, "She was the sparkle in Ron's eye and his reason to get up everyday. I know he misses her, he tells me whenever he sees me. Aila adores her father. Ron was her role model, and Albus Dumbledore, who were in one of the books she read, you may have heard of it, it is called 'Hogwarts, A History'. She loves her father, I don't think she understands how anyone could leave him alone like you did." Ginny looked at Hermione who was standing up.

"I have to leave." Said Hermione thickly.

Ginny stood and grabbed her wrist. "Why so soon?"

Hermione shook her head, "You don't want to know. But there is something I need to do. I need to write Hilary a letter, and Aila too. I made a mistake. I need to see if I can fix it."

"But now?"

"Now." Said Hemrione hugging Ginny and Molly, "We need to get together more often." She threw floo powder into the fireplace and stepped in. "Good bye. She said quietly then shouted her destination.

The room seemed oddly quiet for a few seconds after Hermione left. Then Ginny smiled in the direction of the wall. "Harry told you didn't he." She said, to Ron, who was pulling an invisibility cloak off of his head.

"Yes he did." He grumbled.

Ginny crossed the room. "I am sorry I didn't tell you but, I couldn't. I just couldn't."

"I understand." He sat down. "Why did she leave?"

Ginny sat next to him. "She said something to Aila that she now regrets, it's the reason I told her about Aila growing up. She mentioned to Aila that she feels Aila grew up in a dysfunctional home."

"What?" asked Ron, outraged, "She was insulting my parenting?"

"I guess she still holds a grudge. I am hoping Hilary and Aila will do something about that."

But Ron threw floo powder into the fire without explanation. "I am going." He said unnecessarily. "I need to think."

"I may have softened her up, don't be angry with her."

"How can I not be angry with her." Asked Ron. Then he immediately stepped into the fire, yelled "The Burrow!" and disappeared.

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