EPILOGUE
10.5 years later
Hermione levitated the tray of potatoes to the table and turned to help Molly with the Gravy. It was another Christmas at The Burrow and the house was bursting with excitement, noise and holiday cheer.
She began arranging the items neatly on the overly extended table and turned large platters into many smaller ones sot hey could spread out.
"Hermione, wont you be a dear and tell everyone that dinner is ready?" Molly asked.
She nodded to the older witch, with whom she had developed a strong bond with over the years. Molly had helped Hermione in ways that could never be repaid. When Hermione was ready to enter the workforce, Molly was there to help with the twins. And when Hermione gave birth to her third child, a son named Colin, Molly was there to help with the twins.
When George stopped coming home and began withdrawing from Hermione, Molly was there to help with the twins. It had become a rocky road for the two of them at one point and Hermione thought on many occasions that it was all over, but with time and honesty, Hermione and George were able to build themselves something stronger than she ever thought possible. Their marriage was underpinned by the bond of friendship and fortified by love and intimacy, which some hadn't been able to build.
Ron's marriage with Lavender failed in its sixth year when Lavender slept with a work colleague. Ron was left to pick up the pieces after Lavender left to pursue her new relationship in Europe, leaving behind their two children, Hugo and Henry. Ron initially had no idea what to do, but with a little help, soon became the most incredibly doting father.
Harry and Ginny seemed to be quite the reproductive couple, currently expecting their seventh child. Ginny loved her large family and Harry didn't want their first born, James, to be an only child, so they just kept having children.
Bill and Fleur had three children and just as strong a marriage as when they first wed, while Percy and Penelope had two children and remained together.
Hermione walked out the back door and sent a jet of green sparks into the air.
The children, having known this to be a signal for dinner, stopped what they were doing and immediately ran for the door.
They reached Hermione and she stopped them before they could enter.
"Show me your hands" she said.
"Oh no, Fred, those are horrid. Go wash them…" Hermione said, ushering the redhead to the washing basin attached to the side of the shed. "Hugo, no way, not in this house, Victoire yours are lovely and clean, yours too Dominique, James and Lily don't you dare try and wipe that dirt on your pants, go and wash them, Rose that's close but not good enough, Henry that will do. Albus and Remi, you can not try and use magic to clean them, you're only 7. Soap and water please. Louis, no way. Lyra go see your mum, Polly, see daddy, he'll help you. Where's Lucy and Molly? Had Percy not arrived yet?" she commanded the attention of every one of her children and nieces and nephews.
"They're inside, reading. As usual" Ron said from somewhere behind the children.
"What about me? Can I come in? George asked her, showing her his hands.
"Oh no, yours are the worst" she said, batting him away as he tried to put them on her.
She watched as Harry helped his youngest, three-year-old Polly wash her hands and Ginny tended to their five-year-old Lyra. The older children helped the younger ones and there seemed to be a sense of synchronicity.
"Merlin, we have enough children here for two whole quidditch teams and a reserve set" George said ushering the freshly washed children through the door.
"Well Harry and Ginny can be the ones responsible for that" Hermione said.
"For what?" Ginny asked, carrying Polly.
"All these kids" George said.
"Yeah, well, what can you say? They wanted us to repopulate, we repopulated" Ginny said with a shrug as she put Polly down.
As the Weasley and Potters took their places at the table in the recently re-extended Burrow dining room, Hermione couldn't help but feel happy. There was life and love and a sense of serenity among the group.
As the children got older, they began to drift away from their parents, with Fred, Rose and Colin now sitting at the end of the table with the other older children. The ones remaining with their parents were Percy's five-year-old daughter Molly, Bill's six year old son, Louis, and Harry and Ginny's youngest, Lyra and Polly. It had become a god-send for Hermione, who had sat beside her children every year, cut their food and just about spoon fed them.
She watched from her end of the table as Fred meticulously cut his food into bite sized portions and expertly used his cutlery, Colin used a fork that he had used accidental magic to create the year before, and Rose messily shovelled anything and everything into her mouth. Hermione looked from Rose to Ron and back at her two other children.
Colin was absolutely and completely the image of George. Always creating something, working on an invention, trying new things and testing out different ways to prank his cousins and siblings. Fred was all Hermione. Studious, careful, intelligent. Initially, Hermione didn't think twice about the paternity of the twins. They were hers and George's children. As the twins aged though, Hermione quickly noticed things about Rose that weren't from her or from George.
When they were six, Hermione took them for some health checks and asked the healer for DNA testing to be done. The results shocked Hermione and she swore that she would never reveal the truth.
She remembered the meeting with the muggle doctor.
"Now, I'm glad you didn't bring the children in with you today, Mrs Weasley, because when I'm about to tell you could be difficult for them to hear" the doctor said.
"I'm guessing its bad news?" she asked, feeling like the tone of the doctor indicated that these were not George's children.
"Well, it depends what you were hoping for" he said.
"I was hoping that George would be their biological father" she said.
He pulled a piece of paper out from his desk drawer and narrowed his eyes at the small writing upon it.
"In the case of Fred Arthur Weasley, there is a one hundred per cent chance that he is the biological child of George Weasley" the doctor said. Hermione exhaled in relief.
"Well, that's quite a load off. Its been so many years of uncertainty" she said.
"I'm not finished… In the case of Rose Gene Weasley, there is a one hundred per cent chance that George Weasley is related to her biologically, but there is only a five per cent chance that he is the biological father" he said.
"I… I don't understand. How can this happen?" she asked.
"It seems as though the father of Rose is someone closely related to your husband. A brother perhaps" the doctor said.
Hermione explained the situation to the doctor who flicked through a large textbook and turned to her with a frown.
"Its very rare, quite rare indeed, however, I do believe that you conceived Rose first, with one brother, then Fred a day or so later. It is rare and doesn't usually happen, but occasionally, when a woman is with two men in the space of a few days of each other, and her body happens to have released two eggs that month, sometimes they can be fertilised by different men. Rare, but possible" he said.
Hermione was at odds with how she was feeling. She knew, somehow she knew all along that there was no way Rose was Georges daughter. She was so like Ron.
"Hermione?" came the voice of Geroge, bringing her out of her memory of that day.
"Oh, sorry, I was miles away" she said.
"You sure were" Ginny said.
"What were we saying?" she asked.
"We ought to put names in a hat for this next baby. We can't for the life of us think of a name" Ginny said.
"Oh, yeah, sure I'll be in on that. I can think of a few" she said.
"Well, you have to compete with the kids. The ones they came up with are atrocious" Harry said.
The conversation went on and Hermione was watching the various members around the table.
Her eyes met the eyes of Ron, who seemed to be watching her. As if no time had passed, her heart skipped a beat and her stomach ached. She felt her face redden as she looked away.
She loved George with everything that she was, yet, somehow, she would always love Ron.
~~OvO~~
Thanks for reading this story and please keep up the reviews. I hope it met your expectations. Does everyone follow the children? See below for details on who's who in the Weasley Potter Zoo.
CHILDREN
Hermione / George - Fred 10, Rose 10, Colin 8
Ron / Lavender - Hugo 10, Henry 7
Percy / Penelope - Lucy 10, Molly 5
Bill / Fleur – Victoire 10, Dominique 8, Louis 6
Harry / Ginny – James 10, Lily 9, Albus 7, Remi 7, Lyra 5, Polly 3,
Charlie didn't have any children, as his life was dedicated to dragons. He did marry and ended up happy.