Chapter 4
The next morning, Daphne and Ron were at their dining table enjoying breakfast while the kids were still asleep.
"Love, do you think your mother will be upset with me for keeping my contact with Hermione a secret?" Daphne asked him looking up from her plate of fried eggs.
Ron put down the Daily Prophet and shuffled over to the chair next to his wife.
"Daph, I can drop the kids off today if you're worried about that?"
"No it's okay I'll do it, I mean I will have to face her eventually right?"
Ron nodded and kissed her hair.
"I love you"
"I love you too" she replied.
"Ron, there is something else you should know, but I'm a bit afraid to tell you for you reaction"
Ron looked worried for a moment "You're not pregnant again are you?"
"No love, I'm not, don't worry" she replied with a slight giggle before composing herself again.
"Okay then, is it something to do with Hermione?" he asked her.
Daphne nodded, she looked away momentarily before she looked back at him.
"Ron, Hermione has a child, a daughter"
He was silent for a moment absorbing his wife's news.
"Really a daughter? Wow, how old?"
"Um, I think she would be five now" Daphne replied bitting her lip.
"Five? So…" she could tell he was doing the calculations in his mind.
"Is she Blaise's daughter isn't she?" Ron asked his wife.
"Yes she is, I've never met her, Hermione showed me a photo once, her name is Ally or Allison. God Blaise is going to be even more upset with me now" Daphne said throwing her head in her hands.
Ron rubbed her back gently "Love, don't cry, please, there, there it will be okay, just give it time" he said enveloping her in a hug.
"What am I going to do?" she asked looking at him through her tears.
"You are going to be Daphne Weasley, my amazingly sexy wife, a wonderful mother to our children, head designer of a world famous brand and you are going to kick some ass today and everyday" Ron told her
"Yeah, but first I have face one Molly Weasley" she said quietly.
"True, but I know you can handle her" Ron said kissing her on the lips.
"Please don't tell anyone about Hermione's daughter" Daphne pleaded with her husband.
"Don't worry love, I won't tell anyone" Ron reassured her.
"Mummy? Cythi crying" they could hear their son Adam yell from upstairs.
"Well looks like our day is starting" Laughed Ron, picking up their breakfast dishes.
Daphne kissed him again before going upstairs.
Later in the day Daphne was working in her office at BeWitched Fashion when she heard a knock on the door.
"Come in" she called out to the knocker.
The door opened and in walked Ginny and Dean Thomas.
"Hey Guys" Daphne said greeting them both a with a kiss and hug.
"Hey Daph, we hoped you would be in" Dean told her.
"Listen Daph, we just wanted to tell you, that we aren't upset with you for keeping Hermione from us, we know what was like back at Hogwarts, and there's little doubt that she isn't the same now, she'll always be stubbon, but she is a smart witch, and she can choose if and when she wants to make an appearance back in the wizarding world of England" Ginny told her sister in law.
"Thanks Gin and you too Dean, it means a lot to hear you feel that way, and Hermione is still stubborn at times, from working with her on last year's brand launch, but she means well"
"Does her body really look that perfect in real life?" Ginny asked taking a seat on the sofa in the office.
Daphne chuckled "Yeah, it does, we don't alter our photos or anything"
"Damn, I wish you said you did" grumbled the red head.
"Gin, you're body is perfect, there's nothing to worry about" Dean told his wife.
"He's right you know" Daphne added.
"I guess, but those photos last night on Lav's show didn't stop nearly every witch from going to the gym" laughed Ginny.
"Really?" Daphne asked her.
"Yeah, I was on my way to see Dad this morning, when I ran into Padma who claimed she was off to lose her baby weight at the gym, but she's had a personal trainer since having her son nearly two years ago, so there's no denying she was off to the gym after seeing Hermione's photos last night.
"Yeah, well Hermione did tell me once, her work out routine can be intense at times" Daphne purposely didn't tell them that Hermione too had lost a whole lot of baby weight at one time.
"Did you talk to her much after the show last night?" Dean asked her.
"No, she rushed off soon after it finished, why?"
Ginny sighed "We were hoping you knew where she was staying, we were hoping to see her or is she supposed to come by here for anything?"
"Sorry guys, she's officially on holiday for the next few weeks so she's not due in here and as for where she is staying, I tried to ask her that too last night, but she only told me it was a Muggle Hotel and then left the studio" Daphne replied.
"A muggle hotel you say?" the red head questioned
"yeah, why Gin, do you know which one?" the blond asked.
"Well, I could be wrong with this, but she did tell me her parents took her to for her 16th birthday, apparently they are a big deal in the Muggle world"
"They are, I'm going to spoil Mia on her 16th birthday" Dean winked at both witches.
Daphne ignoring Dean, "Which one Gin?"
"Something Hilton" said Ginny trying to remember the hotel's proper name.
"Well I have access to Muggle Internet, on my laptop, let's take a look" said Daphne flipping open her computer and opening up a web browser.
Daphne typed and found the listing of Hilton hotels in London and turned the computer around for Ginny to see.
Ginny read through the list of hotels and spotted one she had heard off.
"That's the one" she said pointing to the screen.
"The Hilton Paddington" Dean read over his wife's shoulder.
"Well what are you going to do?" Daphne asked the couple.
"Well I guess we could head to Paddington and see if she's at the hotel" Ginny replied.
"We can't ask the hotel if she's staying there, they can't give out guest details" said Dean.
"I know love, I was thinking we just hang around the lobby and she if she comes in" his wife replied.
"Well what about the kids? We might be there a while"
Ginny looked at Daphne "Well?"
"Sure, I'll pick up Mia and Xav when I get my two rascals, I'll tell your mother, you both came across some breaking story"
Ginny and Dean were both editors at the Daily Prophet.
"I think Hermione's come back is breaking news enough. Just say we're working late, it's an excuse we use from time to time" Dean told the blond witch wiggling her is eyebrows.
Daphne understood what he meant. "Hey, I don't need to know what you two in the offices of the Daily Prophet"
"Dean, love, don't tell others about our love life, or you'll have none" Ginny told him with a knowing look.
"Right fully noted babe"
"Well, we'll let you get back to work Daph, thanks for your trouble with the internet" said Ginny as she and Dean made their way to the door.
"Let me know how it goes, send me an owl" Daphne told them.
That evening found Ginny and Dean in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel in Paddington. They were seated on the lounges in between the reception desk and the entrance. Dean was reading the Guardian newspaper and Ginny was flicking through a copy of Elle magazine.
"Hey look its Hermione" said Ginny suddenly.
Dean looked between hotel entrance and reception, but couldn't see anyone with brown hair, just an older lady walking with a young girl with dark brown hair toward the lifts.
"No sorry love, I meant this" Ginny said showing him an ad for a make-up brand in Elle magazine which had Hermione in it.
"I wonder if she gets free Samples" Dean joked.
"Oh hello Ms Granger, I trust you had a nice day" the couple heard the reception say to a woman with straight brown hair.
The couple looked towards the reception desk and back at each other.
"We have to get to her, before she gets into a lift" Ginny told her husband, who nodded back at her.
The both got up and started to follow Hermione.
Hermione too her bad luck had to wait for the lift come down to the lobby from the upper floors.
"Hermione?" she heard someone calling her.
She turned and stared in a mixture of shock and anger. "Ginny? Dean?"
A/N: Sorry, it's a cliffhanger...