Chapter 30: Freddy Weasley?

Hermione heard Fleur whisper, "the poor girl can barely boil water, Ron does all the cooking." She turned around to defend herself, boiling water was in fact the only thing she could do, but she saw Pansy smile and relax a little and so she decided to let it go. After all she'd already done enough arguing for one day, she really shouldn't have put Pansy on the spot but it was a bit irritating to see her standing there with her muggle-born husband when all she'd done was torment Hermione when they were girls. She heard her son start to fuzz and looked at the clock, it was time for his meal and nap. She excused herself and grabbed the basinet; she was on the second step when she saw Arthur run into the house like a small child and smiled as Molly reprimanded him. She went up the stairs slowly; she was terrified she'd drop her child.

She'd only been a mother for four days and was still terrified. She'd convinced her own mother to stay with her for a few weeks while she got the hang of things and was glad she'd done so, if only because it seemed that she over reacted just a little to normal things. The first night she had gotten up in the middle of the night just to make sure he was breathing, she had a mirror underneath his little nose when her mother came in wearily and called her a nutter. It didn't really offend her, after all Ron was always telling her that anyway. She passed the T.V. room and saw through the half opened door Draco and Ginny cuddled into a corner talking she walked past into the baby's room and sat down in the rocking chair to nurse her tiny son.

She was still amazed by every thing about him, she just couldn't believe that she'd been carrying this little person around inside of her for eight months. He had tiny little hands and feet and he smelled amazing and she thought that even if she'd never heard of Hogwarts; just having given birth to this exquisite creature would have let her know that magic did indeed exist. He fell asleep soon after drinking his fill and she placed him inside his crib, she just stood there watching him, his little chest rising and falling so gently that if she hadn't been watching out for it she wouldn't have noticed.

She turned on the baby monitor and grabbed the hand held piece remembering how Ron had played with it when they'd first gotten it a few months ago, pretending they were walkie-talkies and running around the house, telling her things he saw and making her guess what room he was in. They'd been a gift from her mother at their private baby shower. Her mother had wanted to throw her a Baby Shower but when she'd mentioned the idea to Molly the witch hadn't been able to understand the purpose, they'd always celebrated the birth of children not the pregnancy, so her mother had taken her out for dinner and they'd had their own little baby shower, just the two of them.

She walked into the library and saw Arthur and Theus Parkinson in an intense conversation on the couches to the left and she smiled, remembering how Ginny had been terrified at the idea of those two ever meeting just a few months ago. She walked to the railing and looked down to see everyone milling about chatting happily. Almost immediately Ron looked up from where he'd been showing Terry his pride and joy, the broom belonging to the Keeper Byrd Bowne, who'd played the very last time the Chudley Cannons had won the league in 1892. He smiled at her and she smiled back amazed at how he always seemed to know when she was near, she threw him a kiss and walked over to her desk which was situated right above Ron's desk. She pulled open a drawer and pulled out a few pieces of parchment. She took a deep breath and left the library and entered the T.V. room in time to see Draco and Ginny snogging.

"This is a family event," Hermione said amused as they pulled apart like two teenagers caught in the library by Madam Pince.

"Herms, what do you want?" Ginny asked irritated.

"Just shocked at your audacity at inviting all these Slytherins to a house full of Gryffindors only to abandon them to go snog."

"We were just catching up, we haven't seen each other in days," Ginny said leaning against Draco. Hermione rolled her eyes although she was really happy for Ginny. For the last six years she'd gone around looking lost, dating guys right and left and now for the first time she seemed content and Hermione wanted to help keep her that way. She sat down on the other end of the couch.

She looked at the couple and began, "Malfoy…"

She was interrupted by Ginny, "Draco."

"Draco," she began leave it to Ginny to make something hard harder, "you were right."

"Of course I was right," he said smugly, "I'm always right…What was I right about this time?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and handed over a report. "On Monday I went in to the office to check up on things and I talked to Robert Webster, he was your inspector only to find out that he'd passed your company's inspection in December." Hermione paused, "Either way I sent someone else in," she nodded at the report in his hand, "that's what they came up with. Your facilities exceeded the minimum requirements, you're off the hook."

"What?" Draco was baffled, "It was that easy?"

"No, it wasn't, because you're in big trouble," she said.

"How!"

"Not with us," Hermione quickly said, "but someone went to a lot of trouble to set you up after talking with Robert I was concerned so I did a spell detection charm and he'd been Obliviated. The Obliviators couldn't help though, they were able to detect the new memories but the originals were so well erased that it was impossible to retrieve them. A professional did it and-"

"I know who it was," he said calmly, "It was Sam Aldred."

Hermione wondered if she'd heard correctly, but still couldn't see how that was possible, "Sam Aldred is dead."

"No, Sam Aldred Obliviated a few people into thinking he was dead," Draco irritably and muttered "she's alive and well."

She? "If you knew all along then why didn't you bring us this information sooner?"

"I only found out on Monday, besides I believe it was on someone's else's orders and I still have to figure out where those bank statements came from," he frowned, "my accountants have been going crazy but so far they haven't found anything wrong with our records there's not so much as a penny missing."

"Well, I can help you there too," she handed over the rest of the papers in her hands, "those are copies of the statements we were owled. The owl used was from the Owl Office in Diagon Alley and the clerk couldn't remember anyone having come in that morning at all."

"I guess Sam's been busy." Draco said resentfully.

"I've seen a paper like this before," Ginny said sounding unsure.

"Where?" Draco asked cautiously, like he knew what she was going to say and Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"At my old job," she said and Hermione noticed how triumphant Draco looked, "but…it had different names, foreign ones."

"I knew it," Draco said darkly, "it had to be Mentis."

"Mentis?" Hermione asked, "as in Bernard Mentis?" At their nod, "why?"

Draco opened his moth but Ginny spoke first, "because he's a lying, greedy bastard."

"That," Draco nodded enthusiastically, "and because he'll be out business soon thanks to me and The Electrifier."

"Theus is right, that is an annoying name." Ginny grimaced.

Hermione held back a laugh at Draco's look of shock he seemed to decide it wasn't worth it, "It's all right, now that I know that somewhere out there's proof I'll get in contact with Luke and he'll take care of it all."

"Luke?" Ginny asked.

"Luke Derring, my lawyer."

"I've met him," Hermione said, "he's a friend of Sarah's." Upon hearing that he was familiar with yet another Muggle-born Hermione realized that something had been bothering her all week and decided to confront him about it. "For months I've been hearing about how much you've changed and I see proof of that everywhere, except when you got angry at me on Friday what you called me," she paused she didn't even like to think about that word it seemed that after the war she thought she'd never be faced with these dilemmas again. They've fought the bad guys and won; the world was now safe for all minorities, mostly she thought angrily of how hard it had been to do the little she had for the Werewolves and how hard her department was still working against the prejudice that permeated the wizarding world.

"I didn't mean it," Draco said looking guilty for the first time ever, "it's just, you got me angry and I guess all the times we fought in school it was my fallback and in the moment, I-I don't know I had a flashback or something."

"Oh," Hermione thought it sounded plausible enough, she still called the Professors at Hogwarts by their titles out of habit, "Pansy said the reason she and her friends dislike me was more because I was a 'know-it-all' than because I was a Muggle-born, was that true for you as well?"

"No," He said and Hermione's heart crashed down for some reason it had made her feel hopeful that they'd teased her because of something personal rather than something that she couldn't help, "it was more that you were friends with Potter."

And she looked up surprised, "what?"

"If you'll remember correctly before you started hanging around that wanker I didn't even give you a second look," he shrugged.

She looked at him astounded but before she could process the information she heard her baby make a sound and she ran out of there quickly to reach his side.

Ron escaped the kitchen and returned to the library where all of his friends were lounging and talking about their day at work. Except for Percy everyone was very happy as well because they had been able to leave work just a little early to welcome the new Weasley child into the world. Ron was currently sitting at his desk leaning back studying the room before him. Harry was currently discussing the current Minister with Jeffery Eaton and Raphael Foss, two of Hermione's best employees all the while trying to avoid the fact that Jeff was pressed up against Raphael. Ron suppressed a laugh and turned away in time to see his sister drag the 'Ravenclaw' into the room followed by the 'American' and Parkinson.

Ginny dragged them over to Harry and introduced the 'Ravenclaw' to Harry who immediately grinned shook the man's hand eagerly curious Ron walked over to them. Ginny just ran back out of the room and he rolled his eyes, probably couldn't bear to be apart from her precious Malfoy.

"Ron, mate," Harry called out to him, "you'll never guess who this is!"

"Who?" Ron asked peering at the man quizzically, he had brown hair and a beard that covered most of his lower face. His eyes were a dark shade of blue and he couldn't remember ever having met him.

"This is Terry," Harry said enthusiastically, "Terry Boot!"

Remembering Ron could feel his eyes widening, "what are you doing with this lot?"

For a second he was afraid he'd insulted him but Terry merely laughed and said, "Well, I married Pansy so I'm stuck with this lot." Parkinson gently smacked his arm and Ron felt as if the floor had been pulled out from under him. Terry laughed again and turned to Parkinson, "this is Theus, Pansy's older brother and that's his girlfriend, Dan Harris." The woman smiled widely and grabbed Theus' arm.

Just then it seemed as the volume in the room got a little louder and he turned to see several women enter the room obviously the ladies had seen the new guests enter and had decided to come and investigate for themselves. Ron was glad to pull back and watch the others interact, thinking about everything that had happened so far. The round of introductions went around, everyone seeming to remember Terry and then he saw his older brothers talking to Theus shaking hands smiling obviously familiar with the man and he realized that they must have known each other in school. Then with a horrible feeling a memory long buried came back to him and he too remembered Theus Parkinson.

It was his first year and it was only the second day of school. He'd somehow managed to lose Harry in a crowd on their way back to the tower from Charms and he stood there now in a deserted corridor wondering which way to go. It was almost dinnertime and his stomach was reminding him that he should forget about the tower and find a way down to the Great Hall, but he still had absolutely no idea where to go.

He was fighting tears when he heard a whistling down the hall and ran down after it. He didn't care who it was as long as he was pointed in the right direction. He saw a blond haired boy strolling down the hall his hands in his pocket his mind somewhere else entirely and he ran up to him and pulled on his sleeve the boy turned looking surprised and Ron sighed with relief at the sight of the Head Boy badge pinned to his school robes. The boy didn't give him directions, no he did one better he walked him right to the Great Hall. Ron was so happy he had to stop himself from hugging the older boy but he remembered the sinking feeling he felt when upon entering the Great Hall the boy quickly walked to the Slytherin table and sat down amongst what were obviously his friends. Ron walked over to the table where Harry had saved a seat for him and quickly set about forgetting that he'd just met a nice Slytherin.

Now he stood there watching as his older brothers all talked with him, laughing as if her were a long, lost friend and he wondered how strictly they'd actually meant it when they'd warned him about the Slytherins, if maybe all these years he hadn't been really thick to believe that all Slytherins were evil gits just because Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson had made it their life to torment him in school. Then pushing away that regret he remembered that it was Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson who were now invading his home, his family.

He came back to himself in time to see his father rush into the room and practically attack Parkinson who along with his girlfriend was talking with a very excited Angelina and an amused Fred.

"Ron, Terry here was just wondering about the broom," Harry said and Ron came back to himself telling Terry all about The Bowne Broom as he was fond of calling it. He felt eyes on him and looked up to see Hermione smiling at him he smiled back and returned to the conversation where Terry managed to be the first human to actually understand the importance of Quidditch History.

It was a little later that Ron found his stomach rumbling and as if his body had been attuned to the whole idea of dinner he heard his mother announce that it was ready. Ushering the others out of the room he pulled over one of the many small tables in the room to the centre and enlarged it. He conjured a few small chairs stepped back when Luna walked in holding a little girl's hand while telling her and the boys trailing behind her a story. He walked to the corner of the room where he conjured a large crib and stepped back in time to see the various women walking in carrying babies and stepping to place them in the crib. Parkinson's girlfriend, Dan, he thought her name was walked in carrying one of the twins and placed him gently down then pulling out her wand she waved in a complicated pattern until the whole room glowed a faint orange and then turned to Angelina looking smug. Ron waved to Luna sympathetically as she'd volunteered to watch over the younger children as they ate dinner and walked out of the library behind Pansy and Fleur who were chatting amiably about robes, he turned to see Angelina hug Dan and shook his head at how quickly things had changed.

He walked into the dinning room to see that the room was already bustling with activity. His mother had obviously managed to get everyone, family or not to bring dishes of food into the room that Hermione had already enlarged earlier that day. Their dining was already quite large housing a table that sat 16 people, but this morning Hermione had enlarged it so that two tables of such size fit in the room. As people set down their dish they would choose a seat and Ron noticed that except for a few chairs the tables were going to be filled with people. He made his way to the top of one of the tables where he sat on one of the side chairs not liking to have people look at him as he ate; he left the head of the table empty for Hermione.

She walked in a few minutes later carrying their son's basinet. He rushed to help her set it on the base it had come with next to her chair and he kissed her on the lips quickly unable to hide his happiness. She smiled at him and sat down and he was so relieved that she was safe and healthy. When she'd first broached the subject of having a child he'd been completely against it, knowing that because of the damage she'd sustained during the final battle it would be a difficult pregnancy for her, but she'd been insistent and he'd finally given in as he so often did when up against her, but he was glad because he'd never been so happy as when he'd held his son in his arms. He smiled at him as he was staring up with his wide blue eyes at his grandmother Jane who was cooing at him. The boy had been born with a lot of hair of a light brown colour and a tiny nose which had made Ron sigh in relief as his large nose was the part of his body he hated the most.

He now felt Hermione grip his hand and squeeze and he heard the noise around him lessen which told him that it was time. They rose from their seats simultaneously and he walked over to stand beside her, putting his arm around her waist.

"Thank you all so much for coming here today," Hermione said clearly and Ron bit back the comment that rose up now, why wouldn't they have, they got a free meal and to skip work early. "I know we've been very secretive about the baby's name, but we only just agreed last night."

"This morning," Ron said unable to help himself and everyone laughed.

Hermione huffed, "this morning. We finally decided to just follow his brother's examples and honour someone in the family."

"Before you say anything else," Fred said standing up, "I just want to say thank you, I know how wonderful I am and am quite pleased to take young Freddy there under my wings and-" he stopped as his wife dragged him back down to his seat.

"Sorry Fred, but we didn't want our child to grow up to be a poncy git." Ron said apologetically.

"Regardless," Hermione said seriously, "we decided that we wanted to thank our friend Harry very much for bringing us together all those years ago when he just had to save me from a runaway troll." Everyone laughed and Harry got a little red.

"Unfortunately," Ron started and looked at Harry, "Harry Weasley sounds horrible." He noticed as Harry looked a little disappointed and Sally kissed his cheek for comfort. "So we only made it his middle name." Harry cheered up considerably. "The other man we decided to thank might just have been the most important overlooked character in the whole of the wizarding world." Everyone now looked a little confused and Ron turned to his left and said earnestly, "I would personally like to thank Edward Granger for convincing his beautiful wife," he winked at Jane, "to allow Hermione to attend Hogwarts, if it hadn't been for him who knows how the world would've turned out. I for one would've been miserable." The smile that crossed Edward's face was so large that Ron was afraid he would pull a muscle.

"And so," Hermione continued, "we present Edward Harry Weasley."

Everyone clapped and cheered and Ron raised his voice over the mind numbing sound and declares, "Let's Eat."

"Ronald!" Hermione admonished but followed his example and sat down. Ron looked around at all the smiling faces, especially his sister who was now giggling maniacally at something Draco was whispering to her and he shrugged. If this is what having them be a part of the family would be like he couldn't complain. He looked up to see Edward giving him another large grin tears in the corners of his eyes and more than a little disturbed he turned to his plate which Hermione had loaded with food and worked on getting it all down.

A/N: Wednesday, May 24, 2004. By the way if you go back all the way to the first chapter you'll see she comes across a bank statement, that's what she's talking about here, proof that I always had a plan.