Chapter 30
Hermione felt just a little bit mean as she and Draco strode into Weasley's Cannon Quidditch Corner which (as the name suggested) was Ron's Hogsmeade shop, during the second week of January. She wasn't particularly proud of how much she was enjoying the feeling of triumph that simply walking inside brought her, but she'd set that aside in the face of her anger with the man who was the proprietor and whom she had once called her best friend.
"Ghastly name," Draco had remarked, "we'll have to do something about that."
Hermione snorted and wondered if her old friend had actually thought he was being clever with his almost-but-not-quite alliteration. "I always wondered why there wasn't a licensing issue, but I never cared enough to ask," she shrugged.
'"Despite his obvious personal flaws, Weasley is one third of the Golden Trio, I'm sure the Cannons were thrilled for him to name the store in their honor. They're the worst team in the League almost thirty years running, this was almost certainly the best thing to happen to them in decades. Merlin, the man has atrocious tastes, present company aside," he drew Hermione towards him with an arm around her waist and kissed her temple as they approached the shop. "He's also taking advantage of his family name, which is horrendous in a different way, given his family's sacrifices."
"Says the CEO of Malfoy Enterprises," she snorted.
"That's different and you know it. The business has been in the family, in various iterations, for centuries. And, frankly, my family name is anything but an asset these days."
She made a small noise of acquiescence, but didn't comment.
At the sound of the bell on the door Ron quickly emerged from the back, a welcoming smile on his face- until he saw who had entered his establishment. He immediately went beet red and pointed towards the door. "Get out, you're not welcome here!"
Draco smirked at Hermione, it reminded her quite a lot of the way he'd often looked when they'd been at Hogwarts- haughty and more than a little mean- and she was slightly uncomfortable with how much she liked it now that they were on the same side. It seemed hypocritical, but it did not dissuade her from her goal. She stood silently at Draco's side and tried to appear as uninterested as possible, knowing that would irritate Ron.
Her fiance didn't miss a beat. "On the contrary, Weasley, I think we will always be welcome here from now on." Draco casually skimmed his fingertips along the handle of the newest model of Nimbus.
"Bloody hell you will not!" Ron was already practically purple.
Draco pulled them both back from Ron's aggressive approach and glanced at Hermione. "I'll let you tell him, love."
She thought that he probably couldn't have looked more self-satisfied if he tried. But she could admit that she needed this opportunity to stand up to a man who had verbally and emotionally abused her for years. So she just nodded and pulled the sheaves of parchment Draco had gifted her out of her satchel. She shoved them in Ron's direction.
He glared at her but then he began looking them over. Ron was ignorant and uninformed about many things in life because he refused to put in the effort to learn. But he wasn't actually an idiot. Thirty seconds of skimming the documents in front of him and it was obvious he knew that he was in trouble. He took a menacing step towards the couple in front of him.
"What have you done!" He roared.
Hermione stiffened her spine and prepared to respond. She had acknowledged to herself that it was important that she take part in this in order to be free of the toxic influence Ron had played in her life. "We didn't do this, Ron. You did it. Honestly, you should be thanking us, we dug you out of the hole you were in."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Was my fiancee unclear? You did this to yourself." Draco enunciated his words as if he was speaking to a toddler (although he'd never actually be so condescending with Scorpius), and then shoved a series of photographs into his hands.
Hermione looked away. She hadn't asked to see the even more explicit photographs of Ron and his various women which Draco had been carrying while they'd been on this little errand, nor did she have any interest in viewing them.
She didn't want to risk witnessing the disaster that was Ronald Weasley with a woman yet again. Living it had been bad enough. She now understood how terrible he had been for her, how little he cared for her. She didn't need to see more proof of how carelessly he'd treated other witches. It made her feel sick.
"Hermione?" Ron called, his voice had that soft, pleading quality that had always gotten to her, and it infuriated her that he thought he could still manipulate her with it.
But he had never been there for her. He didn't deserve her sympathy. He'd dug this hole. He could crawl out, or not. She was no longer going to rescue him.
"What?" She snapped.
"Surely you aren't going to allow him to do this to me. We've been friends practically our whole lives."
She ignored that assertion. "As you know, Draco and I are now engaged. He is the one who has my loyalty now, the fact that you think you could still hold it after the way you've treated me is truly astonishing."
The redhead rolled his eyes. "He's just toying with you."
Hermione rolled her own eyes- he wasn't listening to her at all. "I really don't care how you feel about that Ron, and time will be the best veritaserum. Regardless, you're going to have to accept it, given that we now own your business. Or did that fact not pass through your thick skull?" She clicked her tongue. "I always did tell you to study more."
"What?!"
"We. Own. This. Place." She enunciated slowly. "We were kind enough not to alert your wife about your extracurriculars. Or the wizarding world in general, for that matter. On one hand I believe Lavender's made her bed...but on the other, I don't think even she deserves how you've been behaving. And your children certainly do not."
"Mione-"
"No, you don't get to try and beg or make me feel guilty. I think that I'm being incredibly generous, given how you've behaved. This is your chance. Get yourself in line or lose everything." She paused and took several deep breaths. "You once meant a great deal to me. I loved you a lot. But this is the last personal discussion we will ever have. I honestly wish you well, Ron. My own family means too much to me to bring more negativity into my life with your nonsense. If you can learn to keep a civil tongue in your head I will be polite to you in public to avoid embarrassing your family."
Hermione went to pull Draco away but he held firm, staring steadily at Ron. "This is either your worst nightmare or your dream come true. Get your life straight. Become a valuable employee and I will sell this business back to you- not for you, but because you have children. But do not cross me," he brandished the photos in his direction.
"Why do you care?" Ron sneered, "she'll hate you for this, in the end. I'm her best friend!" His complexion had taken on an ugly ruddy red color which did nothing to further his argument, though there was a time, not so long ago, where Draco probably would have believed his claim. Not anymore, he wrapped an arm around Hermione's shoulders and squeezed, hoping to keep her from lashing back.
She cut her eyes in his direction and bit back a smile.
"Because you have hurt the woman I love," Draco continued, "but I know her well enough to understand that she will eventually begin to feel guilty about this. Don't think, for one moment, that this mercy has anything to do with you, just take the opportunity you've been given."
Ron seemed to collapse in on himself, and Hermione might have been affected, if she hadn't seen something similar many times before- and stuck around to witness him fail to change his behavior. And she acknowledged that, even if he was genuine this time, their relationship was beyond repair.
"Goodbye Ron," she sighed, but couldn't resist leaving her former friend with one more piece of wisdom: "you'd do well to take Draco's advice." She spun on her heel and walked outside.
Draco followed her only about thirty seconds later. He caught her around the waist as she strode down the street trying to gather her thoughts. "Was that too much for you?" He asked.
She let out a long breath. "It felt a little harsh. I'm sorry, that's why I needed to leave, but I also think it's exactly what needed to be done." She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. "It's difficult, laying a friendship like that to rest. But he dug his own grave. I'm okay. Let's go home to Scorpius."
"Lets," he agreed.
She apparated them home. She was more seasoned with side-apparition, given her time on the run, and it warmed her heart that Draco trusted her with such a task. And as she walked into their home she realized that she truly felt at peace, like she'd finally gotten rid of a large part of the rubbish from her past. It was very freeing.
And then they strode into the main living room to find- to their surprise- both of their mothers hovering over more wedding magazines than Hermione had ever seen in one place in her life. Her mother was to be expected, as she had been watching Scorpius, but Narcissa was a shock, especially looking so friendly with Hermione's mum.
Draco recovered first. "Mother, what are you doing here?" But then his attention was deterred to the little boy laying on the carpet, completely entranced watching an animated dragon toy fly around the room while their puppy, Falcor, chased and jumped after it like it was the most fun he would ever have.
Hermione eyed the toy. It wasn't one of Scorpius.' It wasn't even one that had been in the basketful Daphne and Blaise Zabini had arrived with days before when Draco had allowed them to visit their nephew. It looked older and well loved. Narcissa's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"I knew you were confronting the Weasley boy today, so I thought I would come over and give you my support." Narcissa's face was blank as she answered her son's question, but Hermione saw the insecurity in her eyes.
"Right," Draco frown, but lit up when his son abandoned both puppy and toy without a thought and navigated his way towards them on his hands and knees. Draco lifted Scorpius into his arms and Hermione smiled at them. "Is that my old stuffed dragon? I thought it was destroyed."
"It is. You're father thought you'd gotten too old for it and wanted to discard it, but I couldn't bear to part with it, so I had it put away with the hope that I'd be able to pass it on one day. I'd almost forgotten about it. I'm so glad I didn't, he seems to adore it."
Hermione caught Draco's eye and resisted the urge to huff in indignation over Lucius' insensitivity, because she could see how pleased Draco was by his mother's gesture and didn't want to ruin the moment. "Thank you Narcissa, you're right, he clearly adores it," she said instead.
The older woman positively lit up. "It was my pleasure," and then turned back to what she'd been doing.
"And hello, Mum," Hermione said sarcastically. The older woman literally waved her off.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at the absolute mountain of wedding magazines on the coffee table. "Mum," she asked carefully, "is it possible that you've been hoarding wedding magazines?"
Her mother still didn't bother to look up. "Well, I only have one shot at this, given that you're my only child." As soon as the words left her mouth she froze and her eyes cut to Narcissa and then to Draco.
He smiled easily and wrapped his arm around Hermione's shoulders. "It only counts once," he affirmed.
"Exactly," her mother agreed. "Narcissa and I have decided that we should have two ceremonies. One in the muggle world because your father and my friends obviously can't attend a magical ceremony."
"We were thinking a morning wedding in the muggle world," Narcissa took over, "and then do the binding at the Manor at dusk. It's traditional, though it's not done often anymore."
"Oh you've decided," said Draco sarcastically.
"Yes," they said in tandem.
"So basically we're not needed here at all."
They acted like they hadn't even heard him.
Hermione elbowed him. "Draco," she whispered, watching as their mothers huddled together over one particular magazine spread, cooing over flower arrangements. "We are in so much trouble."
He let out a long breath through his nose. "It could be worse," he said, like he didn't really believe it.
"How?"
There was a beat of silence. "I actually have no idea." He brought her into his embrace alongside Scorpius who immediately beamed and patted her cheek in greeting as Draco considered the question. "Think they'd notice if we snuck off?" He eventually wondered, looking at the two older women like they were a puzzle he couldn't quite complete.
"Maybe not for awhile. But then they'd probably end up planning our entire wedding without us," she answered, also eyeing the two women pouring over the glossy pages and seemingly oblivious to their conversation.
"Do you care?"
"Well, they both do have really excellent tastes," she grinned at him. "So, I think it's totally worth the risk."
"And if I had any doubts about you, they've just disappeared," he grinned back at her, wrapped an arm around her waist.
"Where to?" She asked.
He shrugged. "Wherever you'd like to take us, I trust you."
The End
Author's Note: Well that's it, the end. I'm more than a little emotional. Thank you all so much for coming on this journey with me and loving on this story with so much support. I especially want to thank my wonderful alpha/beta and most importantly best friend, Weestartmeggie. This fic would be nothing but a few chapters languishing on my hard drive without her, and she's put so much work into it. (She edited this chapter with one hand while holding the cutest kid in the world in the other)
As I said in my last A/N there will be a sequel to this story I have started working on it but I have three other stories that will take priority. If there's anything you'd really like to see in it, I'd love to hear your ideas. Watch this space and I'll let you know when it starts posting. Thank you for reading!