Chapter 6
It was now the week after her parent's wedding anniversary celebration. She was still in England for two more weeks. She had taken Ally to the London Zoo, the London Eye and various other spots around the city that would be fun for her daughter.
"Mummy, where are we going tonight?" Ally asked her mother.
Hermione was doing her make up in their hotel room and putting the finishing touches to her outfit. She was wearing a knee length sleeveless dark green dress from Daphne's collection, black Jimmy Choo heels and she had straightened her hair for the night. Ally was wearing a blue skirt and cream top from Gap and matching blue ballet flats.
"Tonight, we are going to have dinner at my friend's house, you remember Aunt Ginny and Uncle Dean from last week?"
The little girl nodded.
"And you'll meet their kids too"
"But what if they don't like me" Ally pouted.
Hermione bent down and looked at her daughter. "Oh honey, they will like you" she told her kissing her cheek.
"Can I take a toy with me?"
Hermione nodded as Ally picked out a doll of hers to take with to Ginny and Dean's.
There was a knock on the hotel room door. Hermione answered it, the concierge had come to inform them that their Limo was ready.
Mother and daughter made their way downstairs and got into the white limo.
"Mummy, why is this car so big?
"I like the space baby" she replied tickling her daughter.
The limo pulled up outside the Thomas residence. Hermione noted that there were already cars in the driveway of the modest double-storey house. As she and Ally walked up the pathway she noted that there was an Audi, a Mercedes and a Lexus in the driveway. It seems that her friends had done pretty well for themselves to afford such luxury Muggle cars.
Hermione and Ally walked up the front door and rang the bell. They heard foot steps before the door opened.
"Hi Mione, Ally" Ginny smiled at them both.
Dean came up behind her carrying a small boy.
"Hi Ginny, Dean" she hugged both of them.
"Hello" Ally smiled up at the couple.
"Hey Ally, nice to see you again, this is my son Xavier" Dean told her.
"He looks like you Dean" said Hermione.
"He does, but he has my personality" Ginny told her.
"Come on through, everyone is in the living room" Dean said leading them down the hallway.
"Don't be scared" Ginny whispered to Hermione, who smiled back at her.
They stepped into the living room and everyone turned and looked at them. Astoria's jaw dropped.
"Hi Hermione, nice to see you again" said Daphne coming forward to hug her.
"Nice to see you too, I even wore your dress tonight" Hermione told.
"And it looks just perfect on you, and you must be Allison" Daphne said crouching down to the little girl's height.
"Say hi baby" Hermione prompted her daughter.
"Hi" she said timidly.
"Well, you are very pretty darling" Daphne told Ally.
"Just like her mother" said Ron coming up to hug his best friend.
"Hi Ron, it's great to see you again" Hermione told him.
"And you too, you look stunning, I can't believe you're here" he told her.
"Thanks"
"And we saw your ride, nice Limo" he winked at her.'
"Ron!" Daphne sighed. "Sorry my husband, still hasn't learnt tact" she told Hermione. Who silently agreed with her.
Ally tugged on Hermione's dress. She bent down to her daughter.
"Ah Ally was wondering what your names are"
"Oh how rude of us, I'm your Uncle Ron and this my wife your Aunt Daphne" Ron told the little girl.
"I have more Uncles and Aunts mummy?"
Hermione nodded and smiled.
Harry approached her and enveloped her in a tight hug.
"It's fantastic to see you again, we've missed you" he told her.
"He's not wrong there" Ginny piped up.
"Nice to see you again Harry and you too Astoria" Hermione told them as she hugged them.
"Oh, when are you due?" Hermione asked looking at Astoria's pregnant belly.
"September, I was telling Harry, that this is the last baby, then I want a body like yours" the blonde joked.
"Thank you, that's kind of you to say"
"Yes, your body is a killer" Ginny told her.
"If I remember correctly, Pansy even said your ummmm Chest area looked fantastic in that bikini" Ron told her trying to keep it clean for the kids in the room.
"Pansy?" Hermione asked confused.
"Oh right, you wouldn't know, she and Neville were at our house watching your interview" Ron told her.
"They got married?" she asked in shock.
"Yep, they have a daughter together as well" said Harry.
"Speaking of Children, would you like to meet our boys?" Astoria asked.
"Of course I would love to"
"Oh they are playing with Mia, I'll just go get them" Ginny said leaving the room.
"In the mean time come meet our daughter Hermione" Daphne said leading them to where the baby was sleeping in her pram.
"This is Cynthia Jade" Ron told her.
"Oh she's precious you guys" Hermione said looking in to pram.
"Here they come" commented Harry hearing the kids footsteps.
Not a minute later three boys ran into the room followed by Ginny and her daughter.
"Adam, what did I say, no running in Aunt Ginny's house" Ron told his son.
"Sorry daddy"
"Just remember for next time, c'mon I want you to meet my friend and her daughter"
"Hello Adam, I'm a friend of your daddy's you can call me Aunt Mia" Hermione told the little boy sending a wink at Ginny.
"Hello" the boy smiled back at her.
"And this is my daughter Allison or Ally"
Adam turned and smiled at Hermione's daughter "Hi!"
"Hi Adam" Ally told him quietly.
"And these our sons James and Albus" Astoria told Hermione.
"Wow, they are quiet handsome, they'll break some girl's heart someday" Hermione told them both.
"Girls are yucky" said James.
"James!"
Mia tugged on Ginny's dress "Mama" she said quietly.
"No baby, you are not yucky, you want to meet Aunt Mia too?' Ginny asked her daughter, who nodded.
"Mione, this is Mia"
Hermione spotted the cochlear implant before Ginny could say anything
"Well hello there Mia, you have a nice name" Hermione said in a mixture of speech and sign language.
"Mummy, she's like Abby" Ally told her.
Seeing the confused faces of her friends "Ally has a friend at Pre-School in LA who's also deaf" she explained.
"How are you Mia?" Hermione signed to her.
"I'm four" she replied holding up the right number of fingers.
"Ally would you like to play with Mia?, she has a dolly similar to yours" Dean asked the little girl.
He lead the kids back to the play room as the Adults mingled.
"So Mione, how does it feel to be back in England?" Harry asked his best friend.
"It feels good, I was so nervous about seeing mum and dad again, LA is a fantastic place, I have a great life over there with equally great friends but there's just something about England that makes it home, you know?"
"How are your parents?" Ron asked.
"They are doing well, mum only works part-time now, initially they were so upset that they didn't know about Ally until now, but they fell in love with as soon as she met them" she smiled back at him.
"Oh Mione, I didn't ask, you're not on a diet like because you're a model?" Ginny asked suddenly.
"I just eat healthy, not really a diet, I had a shake this morning and a light lunch today" she replied.
"What about alcohol? Can I get you a glass of wine?"
"I can drink wine, but only glass with dinner thanks, I'll just have water for now"
"Sparkling okay for you?"
Hermione nodded and Ginny went to get the drink.
"So do you know what you are having?" Hermione asked Astoria.
"We're having a girl" she smiled back.
"That's fantastic, congratulations; I can imagine Harry getting very protective of her when she goes to Hogwarts"
"I know Ron will be like that with Cynthia when her time at Hogwarts comes" said Daphne.
"Well at least neither of the girls had six older brothers to put up with" said Ginny as she walked back into the room and handed Hermione the glass of water.
"So tell me about yourselves, what do you guys do for work and such? I only really know about Daphne of course. I've obviously missed a lot"
"Well I'm still an Auror" said Harry.
"Except now he's the head of the department" added Astoria smiling at her husband.
"Yes and Tori works at the Apothecary in Diagon Alley"
"What about you Ron?"
"I'm the head of the Improper Use of Magic office"
"And Dean and I are editors for the Prophet" said Ginny.
"That's not the only thing those two do at those offices, if you get my drift" Daphen said slyly.
"Daph, I don't need to hear about that again" said Ron pulling a face of disgust.
"Oh I see" Hermione winked at the red head.
"Well I'm going to lay the table" said Ginny leaving the room.
"I'll help you" Astoria said following her.
"Guys, I wanted to ask you something, but please don't read too much into it" Hermione said looking at the others.
They all looked at each other. "What is it Mione?" Harry asked.
"How is Blaise? I mean is he married, is he doing well at work, is he happy?"
"Well I can tell you he's not married, he's fantastic with kids, he spoils them at Christmas" Harry replied.
"He is doing well at work, he's now up for promotion at the Wizengamot, which will make him a judge" Ron said.
"He is mostly happy, but we wont lie to you, when you left, he was heartbroken for months, would barely talk to any of us, the guys including Neville tried taking him to Quidditch Matches, but still nothing, Draco used to organise boys nights, you know go out for drinks and a meal, but still nothing, it wasn't until his mother got sick, that got him to snap out of it"
"She was sick? Did she survive?"
"She's much better now, but that got him to snap out of it, then James was born and when he held him for the first time, he smiled up at Astoria and she said that was first time she had seen so happy since well…his graduation night before you left" Harry told her.
"Oh God, I've created so much heartbreak for him, he'll never forgive me, he must hate me, I cant ever face him, let alone introduce his daughter to him" Hermione said with tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Hey, hey, don't cry, we'll be with you if you decide to see Blaise again" Daphne said hugging her.
"Hey dinner's ready" Dean said "What happened?" he asked seeing Hermione in tears.
"Blaise" Ron whispered to him.
"Mione, sorry to say this but you might want to clean yourself up, Ally might get upset if she sees you crying" Harry told her quietly.
Hermione whispered a spell that removed the tears and fixed up her make-up and walked into dining table and sat next to her daughter.
"Here's your glass of wine" Ginny said handing the drink to Hermione.
"So what have you been doing in London Ally? Seen anything fun?" Astoria asked the little girl.
"Yes mum and I went to the Zoo" she replied happily.
"Oh, do you have a favourite animal?"
Ally nodded "Yes, I like Horses and I like Eagles"
"So a future Ravenclaw then" Ron whispered to Harry, but Hermione heard him.
"Guys…"
They ate their dinner with everyone exchanging stories and telling Ally about her mother at school.
After the dinner as they sat in the lounge room, a floo call came through making Ally shriek in fright and hide behind her mother.
"We don't have a floo at home" Hermione told them.
Pansy's head appeared amongst the flames.
"Oh everyone is there" she said looking around but not noticing Hermione.
"Hey Pans, how are you?" Ginny asked her.
"I'm good, I actually have news, can I come through?"
Ginny looked at Hermione for the answer, she nodded 'yes'
"Yes, come on through"
Pansy came through the fireplace and looked around at everyone.
"Evening all, I'm sorry to interrupt your dinner but…" she stopped suddenly when she spotted the former Gryffindor.
"Hermione?" Pansy asked curiously.
"Hello Pansy, nice to see you again"
"Wow and you too, you look much better in person may I say"
"Thank you"
"And who's this?" Pansy asked spotting Ally's brown hair.
"This is my daughter Allison Marie Granger" Hermione told her.
"So her father is….." Pansy asked spotting the similarity immediately.
"Yes Pans, her father is him" Astoria told her.
Pansy recovered from her shock, "Well Hermione, it's lovely to see you again and very nice to meet you Allison, you'll have to meet my Nicole one day"
"Pansy, you said you had news?" Ginny asked.
"Right of course, so visited Dr Goldstein today and I got confirmation that I'm pregnant again, our baby is due in January"
"Wow, that's great, congrats" everyone said congratulating her.
"Dr Goldstein? Anthony?" Hermione asked Daphne
"Yes he married Parvati, she's also a healer but works in spell damage"
"Well I must be off, nice to see you, bye everyone" said Pansy as she left.
"Well another baby on the way" said Ron stating the obvious.
"I bet Nev is hoping for a boy" said Dean.
There was knock at the door which GInny went to answer.
"Oh Blaise hello, what's up?" Ginny said loudly so a certain witch in the living room could hear.
Hermione's eyes widened .
"Ally baby, do you want to go play with Mia again?" Hermione asked quickly trying to hide her from Blaise.
"Sure mummy"
"I'll take her Mione" Harry said carrying the girl out of the room.
"Sorry I came unannounced, I needed to get these documents to Harry before a case tomorrow morning and he told me he would be here tonight" Blaise told the red head.
"Oh that's okay, would you like a drink?" Ginny asked him, trying to sound as normal as possible.
"No I'm fine thanks, I won't be long" he said arriving at the entrance to the living room.
"Hi Blaise" smiled Astoria.
"Oh hey Tori, baby potter treating you well then"?" he asked still not noticing Hermione in the room.
"Yes she's fine" Astoria replied
Blaise looked around the room and seeing Hermione standing there his eyes widened.
"Hi Blaise" she said with a small smile.
Blaise set down the papers on nearby table. "Hello, listen Tori, can you make sure that Harry gets these papers, I should go" he said leaving as quickly as he arrived.
Hermione broke down in tears.
Daphne and Ginny rushed to hug her.
Later that night, Ron volunteered to drive Hermione and Ally back to the Hilton.
"Mione, I'm sorry you had to see him tonight, but please look after yourself, Daphne and I will come see you tomorrow for dinner here" Ron told her as she got out of his Mercedes.
"Thanks Ron, see you tomorrow" she replied walking into the hotel with Ally.