Rose huffed and pulled her ear from the kitchen door, leaning her back against it instead. "I can't hear a damn thing," she grumbled. "Where's one of Uncle George's Extendable Ears when you need one?"
Holly frowned at her from where she still sat on the couch. "I told you they'd be mad."
"They're mad at each other, not at us." Rose waved a hand dismissively.
"And that's better, somehow?"
"Come on, did you really think Mum just disappeared to New York with you for no reason?"
Holly sighed, letting her silence serve as agreement. She supposed that as long as they could work out an arrangement that allowed her and Rose to stay close—which, for a majority of the time, just meant letting them both continue to attend Beauxbatons—it wasn't really necessary for her parents to like each other. It wasn't as if she had really expected that they could just be a normal family after all this time, her and Rose and their parents together. Maybe they could just alternate holidays or something; summers in New York, Christmas at the Burrow…
"Besides," Rose went on, shaking Holly from her thoughts, "it's obvious they still love each other."
"Stop it," Holly snapped immediately.
"Stop what?" Rose asked, her tone too innocent to be believable.
"Whatever you're thinking. Or plotting. Stop it."
Rose smirked, but before she could say anything else, Uncle Percy had walked into the room. "Where are your mum and dad?" Rose nodded to the door behind her.
"Having a sidebar. And of course, I can't hear anything," Rose complained. "Mind making sure they haven't killed each other?"
"Well, knowing the two of them, I wouldn't be surprised," Percy chuckled as he disappeared into the kitchen.
"We've meddled enough," Holly hissed at Rose, wanting to make sure she got this point across while they were still alone. "They've clearly got enough issues without you playing matchmaker."
"No idea what you mean," Rose replied with a grin as Percy reentered the room, followed shortly by Ron and Hermione, who both looked even grumpier than when they had left. "So, what's the story?"
Ron glared at her as Hermione answered. "There's no story. We were very young, and it just didn't work out between your dad and I, as young relationships rarely do." Holly sensed her mum's discomfort, and the answer was clearly rehearsed, though Holly had no intention of pointing that out.
"Are we going to spend the rest of Christmas break together?" she asked instead.
"Well, your grandparents would like to see you as well, Holly, and I've got to get back to New York in a few days for work, like we planned." Ron's facial expressions hinted that he had thoughts about this, but he remained silent.
"Mum, that's rubbish!" Rose exclaimed.
"Rose, don't talk to your mother like that," Ron scolded, though he didn't seem particularly put off by it.
"Holly, you'll come back to London with me tonight. Rose, you can come too, if you want to and your dad says it's okay, and then, when I go back to New York…" She glanced over at Ron, but he was staring at the carpet. "We haven't discussed this, but Holly, if you'd like to stay here until you go back for spring term, that would be fine. With me. As long as it's okay with your dad."
Ron looked over at her sharply, and Holly wondered suddenly if her mum had a previously undisclosed talent for legilimency; her parents seemed to be having a silent conversation that she and Rose weren't privy to. "Yeah," Ron said finally, eyes still locked on Hermione's. "Yeah, that's fine, of course. I can take them both to Paris for the train."
"Good, then it's settled." Hermione stood again. "Your grandfather wanted to show me something in his shed, if you'll excuse me."
Holly felt extremely conflicted as she watched her mum leave the room. New York was home, although she did want to stay longer in England; that had been the whole point of this misadventure Rose had convinced her to partake in. But it felt unfair to her mum to make her go back to New York, alone. Holly sighed. It was supposed to make everything better, her and Rose reunited, but it only seemed to be getting more complicated by the minute.
Ron hadn't been sure what to expect out of Hermione's visit to the Burrow, or how long she would stay. His mum, reliably, had insisted she stay for dinner, and as the afternoon wore on, she seemed to have settled in with his family like no time had passed. This, of course, didn't include him; the one time they had accidentally ended up alone in a room together, she had quickly muttered something about needing to use the loo and disappeared.
He hadn't meant to fight with her earlier, truly, but the girls had been so quick to bring up their relationship that it had caught him off guard. But Harry was right: if they were going to make this work, they were going to have to get used to being around each other.
Unwilling to split up, Rose had decided to go back to the Grangers' with Hermione and Holly for the few days before Hermione left to return to New York. They were pulling their coats on by the door after dinner, and Ron knew this was likely the last he would see of Hermione for a while. With a deep breath, he walked over and addressed the twins. "You girls mind letting me have a word with your mum?"
Rose's eyes lit up with a mischievous glint that he recognized all too well. "Take your time," she replied, and grabbed Holly's arm to drag her back to the living room.
Hermione looked up at him questioningly, and he motioned to the front door. She opened it and stepped out onto the porch. Ron immediately wished he'd grabbed his coat as well, but at least he had his latest Christmas jumper on. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about earlier," he blurted.
"It's alright," Hermione nodded. "I'm sorry, too. I want us…" She paused and Ron held his breath, wondering what the end of her sentence could be. "I want us to have a good relationship. For the girls, of course."
"Right. For the girls. Of course," Ron echoed. "Are you sure you're alright with Holly staying here?"
"Yes, I think that's best. Honestly, it's probably what we should've done years ago."
Ron frowned at her. "What d'you mean?"
Hermione shuffled her feet and avoided his gaze. "It wouldn't have been fair to you, of course...I mean, you would've had help, but still, two infants alone...but...they have family here. I can't help but feel like Holly missed out on a proper childhood, with just me."
"Hermione." If she objected to Ron's hands on her shoulders, she didn't say anything, but he wanted to make sure he got this point across with no misunderstanding between them. "You're a great mum. You always have been. I…" He hesitated, not sure how brutally honest he was allowed to be with her. "It was a shitty situation, what happened with us, but I never had any concerns about Holly...missing out, or—or anything else, being with you."
"Ditto." She smiled slightly at him slightly. "We really fucked this up, didn't we?" He barked out a laugh in spite of himself.
"Who taught you to swear like that?" he asked, only partially teasing. She certainly hadn't approved of such language when they'd been together, and it made him wonder again what her relationship status was. She hadn't said, and he hadn't asked.
To his surprise, she reached up and rested a hand on his cheek. "You did." She smiled up at him, and for one brief moment of insanity, he thought it might not be the worst thing in the world if he just leaned in and kissed her, but then the front door opened and the twins appeared, Holly dragging Rose this time.
"We're all set," Holly announced. Hermione dropped her hand and took a step back.
"Okay, great. So, shall I just bring them back here in a few days?"
Ron shook his head. "I'm heading home tomorrow, you can bring them there. I'll owl you the address."
"Dad, I know where we live," Rose said with a roll of her eyes.
"Oh. Right. Obviously." He leaned down to give both of the girls a hug. "See you soon, loves." Rose and Holly stepped off the porch, Rose glancing backwards over her shoulder at them as Hermione lingered in front of him. "Thanks for this."
She nodded. "You too. See you in a few days, then."
"Yeah. See you." Ron thought he could probably get away with kissing her cheek as a farewell gesture, but instead he settled for reaching out to give her hand a squeeze, which she returned with a smile before heading out into the yard after their daughters.
