As usual, I still do not own Harry Potter or any of (Our Queen) J.K. Rowling's character's. I do have ownership of original plot lines and original characters.
"Astoria, we need to talk," Draco said flatly upon Flooing the Greengrass Manor.
He could see a head pop into the room, then disappear quickly. A minute later Astoria came into view followed distantly by her sister Daphne.
"Hello Daphne," Draco droned. "I'd like a word with your sister. Privately."
The older girl regarded Draco for a minute before heading out of the room reluctantly. Daphne knew Draco well after spending a great deal of her childhood around him, and no doubt didn't trust him not to break her sister's heart. With that in mind, Draco cast a silencing charm upon entering the Greengrass' sitting room. She was assuredly listening outside the door.
"What is this about?" Astoria asked eyeing his wearily.
"Do you want kids?" He asked deciding to get right to the point of the matter.
Astoria was thrown off by his directness. It took her a second to catch on to his purpose, but once she understood that this was a deal breaking test, she gave him her answer. "Eventually."
"Why not now?"
"I'd rather wait until I had a firm relationship before I bring a kid into this world," she said hoping he got the hint. Astoria was very sick of hanging on to a man that wasn't outwardly interested in taking this further. She was twenty one, for Merlin's sake, and she didn't want to waste her prime years on someone who wasn't interested in marriage.
"How many?" Draco probed.
"One. Enough for an heir." And for everything to shrink back to what is used to be, Astoria thought.
"Why not more?"
"I don't think I could handle more. I want a quiet life." She smiled, assuming he also agreed. After all, who wants a loud house full of children? That's tiring and all too plebeian.
"Do you plan on raising your kid with pureblood ideals?" Draco asked. He was almost certain he knew her answer, but better safe than sorry.
Astoria's face morphed into unadulterated anger. Her visage was red, eyes narrowed, and fingertips crackling. Draco had never seen her this mad in his life. It was fascinating. "Draco! I went through the same war you did! Do you really expect me to brainwash my kid into thinking the same hogwash we did? I've had enough of the hate. I want a quiet life. I had enough commotion as a teenager. You must really be thick to think that I would—"
"Would you marry someone who already had a kid. Hypothetically?" he interjected keeping his face devoid of emotion. He didn't want her to know that he had a daughter until necessary, granted this relationship even continued past his test.
She eyed him, still pulsing with rage. "What are you insinuating?" she spat.
"Nothing. Purely hypothetical," he lied. Quite believably.
"I don't want to be set up with some friend, if you don't want to be with me just say it!" she said, fire rising in her eyes.
"I'm not setting you up. I just want to know how you would handle certain situations."
"I don't need a bloody test from you, Draco Malfoy!"
"Calm down, Astoria. I just want to stop wasting time. We have never really talked about kids and marriage, and I don't want to waste our time if we're not compatible," he explained simply.
She was still unhappy, but she had cooled considerably after his explanation. She managed to politely answer after a minute of deep breathing. "If you had a kid, I would be uncomfortable. I'd still want a kid of my own. I could handle it, but I would rather not put myself in a situation like that."
"Would you treat the kid any different because it wasn't yours?" Draco twinged inwardly; Astoria was his only hope for near-immediate protection of his daughter, but it seemed that she wouldn't be a fantastic mum for Rosie. She must have noticed a change in his demeanor, because she replied diplomatically.
"I would try not to. But, there always is that period of getting to know a kid that doesn't happen with one of your own."
Astoria may not seem to be a great mother, but she was acceptable. The only thing he had left to determine was their compatibility personality wise. He loved his mother, and he too had a flair for dramatics, but he didn't want yet another woman to put him and his daughter through excruciatingly long formal parties. The best way to determine this is to ask about the one party every young woman dreams about. "How big of a wedding do you want?" he asked.
She gave him a dazzling smile. Any trace of residual anger had disappeared to make way for the bliss of her imaginary wedding. "Big but not too big," she giddily explained. "A couple hundred people as guests for the reception but just family and friends for the ceremony. The ceremony would be held in the backyard, then the reception would be at the Manor. Spring. We would have a five to six course meal, then our dance. Maybe a—"
Draco was about interrupt and tell her that maybe they wouldn't work out, when the door creaked open and Daphne peered in. He lost his nerve seeing her scrutinizing glare. "I better go," Draco said quickly before cowardly dashing to the fireplace back to Malfoy Manor.
"What did you two talk about?" Daphne inquired, fully stepping into the room.
"Kids and weddings," Astoria sighed dreamily
"With Draco Malfoy?" There's no way. This is Draco we're talking about, Daphne thought.
"Do you think he wants to marry me?" her younger sister asked, eyes hopeful.
"Maybe," Daphne replied dazed. Draco Bloody Malfoy is actually talking kids with my sister. Either he's finally been hit on the head a little too hard, or he came to his senses.
Astoria smiled gleefully. Maybe he was finally seeing her the way she wanted him to. Maybe, just maybe, Astoria Greengrass would get the man she wanted.
"Rose!" Hermione called. She finally pulled herself together and flooed to Grimmauld Place to pick up Rose. She had a bag with the essentials already packed: clothes, toiletries, toys for Rose, and books. She planned on taking Rose to the Granger's for the night. Hermione didn't care for a run in with Ron while he moved out. She wasn't emotionally stable enough to deal with him again and decided to avoid the flat to keep her sanity. She was not going to let him guilt her into taking him back again, and no matter how childish, avoiding him was the easiest way to hold her ground. Well, that's what she told herself, anyway.
"So, I take it everything went alright?" Harry asked as he came down the stairs, Rose following politely.
"Not the best, but I did it," she sighed. Hermione knew Harry would understand what she was saying, and she would explain it better tomorrow when there wasn't a six year-old listening.
"I'll see you tomorrow then," Harry said giving her a small smile.
Rosie ran up to her and grabbed her hand. She looked up at Hermione and smiled brightly before she began to tell her sit-in-mother everything about her day. "I played es'ploding snap with Teddy! I won! He showed me his broom. It's so cool. It can go this high!" The little girl gestured to the top of her head. Once Hermione nodded, she continued, "Teddy can make his hair just like mine! We also played…" Rose recounted her entire day up until they apparated to the Granger. The unfamiliar place only deterred her story for a few moments, after which she picked up where she left off until they reached the front door of Hermione's parent's house. "Where are we?" she asked. "This isn't home."
"No, it isn't," Hermione explained. "We're visiting my parent's tonight. We need to make sure we have our story right before we go in though. Okay?" Rosie was listening with rapt attention and nodded vigorously to show she understood. The little girl loved being apart plans, and was obviously excited to do whatever Hermione wanted. "They think you're their niece. They will be very sad thinking your parents and their brother and his wife died. Understand?"
Rosalinda contemplated the situation for a minute. After thinking she obviously thought she was up to the challenge and smiled. She hugged Hermione and whispered, "Imma good act-ress."
Hermione rapped on the door. A moment later, an older woman with short, but unruly, curly hair opened the door. "Hermione!" she exclaimed, pulling her daughter into a tight hug. After releasing her daughter, she quickly turned around and yelled, "Dan! Hermione's here!" Turning back around, beaming, Emma caught sight of Rosalinda standing slightly behind Hermione. "Oh," the woman squeaked softly. "Rose," she cooed sadly, pulling Rosie into a tight embrace. She stroked Rosie's hair and sniffled.
Dan trotted down the stairs to find his wife curled around a small girl. He looked briefly confused before his eyes found his daughter, and he lit up. He was a tall man with thick salt and pepper hair. His reading glasses dangled from his neck from a chord, and he pulled them off, setting them on a small side table before pulling his daughter into a bear hug. "Hi, daddy," Hermione chirped. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, princess," he said, pulling his daughter away to have a good look at her. "You need to visit more," he stated simply.
"I know, daddy," Hermione smiled.
"Dan," Emma called, softer this time. "Look who else came." She stepped back to show a very shy Rosalinda.
Dan smiled at his niece. Sadness in his eyes. Probably wistfully remembering his brother and all the mischief they would get into.
The memory charm had Dan and Emma believing that his brother and sister-in-law died in an automobile accident, though his bother was actually vacationing in New Zealand. Hermione felt guilt rip through her. She took away the memory of their only daughter once, and now she made her parents think their loved ones were dead. She hated how much suffering she caused her parents. What hurt her the most is that even though they would be disappointed in her, they would still forgive and love her, even when she didn't deserve it. The only thing that held her together was looking at Rosalinda and knowing that she was protecting her.
"Come into the sitting room. You can tell us what brought you to us," Emma announce, breaking Hermione's train of thought, and leading them into the room.
As Hermione and her parents were talking, Rosie laid her head down in Hermione's lap and fell asleep to Hermione's fingers running through her little head of hair. When she started snoring softly, Emma peered down to make sure she was asleep, then asked, "So, what's the real reason you came to visit us?"
Hermione had told her parents that she came to make sure they were okay after the loss of her aunt and uncle, both Dan and Emma nodded along, but they were not convinced. Hermione smirked at her mother's intuition and replied, "Let me put her to bed, and I'll give you guys the full story."
Hermione cradled Rosie and slowly took the little girl up to her old bedroom. The six-year-old was much heavier than Hermione cared to carry, but she didn't want to wake the sleeping angel. After giving Rose a kiss and a soft smile, she headed back down to her parents.
She tiredly back down on the couch, she breathed, "I broke up with Ron." She continued to tell them about the fights and the rocky few months of her relationship. And Malfoy.
Her parents took the news in stride. Her father wanted to kill Ronald for making his daughter cry, but he was also upset that his sports buddy wasn't going to be coming back. Her mother was contemplative. She didn't care all too much for Ronald, so she was not terribly upset. After all, her mother was the largest advocate for 'You know I love your boyfriend, but your personalities just don't match.' Her mother was most interested in Malfoy. She had heard about a 'little blonde git' that tormented her daughter through school, but the man Hermione was describing was much different than the petty school bully.
"Is this the same Malfoy that called you names in school?" Emma asked.
Hermione hesitated. On one hand, she wanted to tell her parents the truth about everything, but on the other hand, she knew they were not nearly as forgiving of past grievances against their daughter. Hermione then remembered that she altered her parent's memories again, and guilt won. She told them everything, minus the small bit about Rose being his daughter.
"Hmmm." Her father hummed. "I still want to murder the boy for letting my daughter be tortured, but I can understand his motives. Would that Voldy-lord have killed him if he helped?"
"Eventually," Hermione said distantly. "Probably not until Malfoy saw his parents die."
Dan and Emma looked appalled. They knew that there was a psychomaniac trying to kill their daughter, but they never realized why anyone would ever follow someone like that. Now, they understood a bit better.
"What is this Malfoy boy's given name?" Dan asked.
"Draco."
Emma murmured, "Odd." Then asked, "Are you dating him now?"
Hermione spluttered. "No," she choked out. "I just broke up with Ron tonight."
"So, you will date this boy after the proper grieving time?"
"No!" Hermione said impudently. "He's my coworker."
"Be careful of men that already have children," he father warned.
Hermione was simply flabbergasted. That her father thought her biggest worry should be Draco's daughter, and her mother insisted that she will be dating Draco Malfoy was a brain scrambler, but she didn't have the energy to come up with a defense. So, Hermione sighed in defeat and bid her parents goodnight. There was no use fighting an idea once it got in her mother's brain. Once upstairs, she headed to the guest bedroom. It was odd feeling for Hermione to sleep in a room other than her own, but she knew she could not stand to wake up Rose, so she slipped under the quilt her grandma Granger made and fell asleep, thoughts of Ron and Malfoy swirling through her unconscious mind.
"Molly?" Hermione called as she entered the Burrow. After waking up in the morning, Rose and Hermione joined Dan and Emma for a breakfast of sausage, eggs, and toast before Hermione bid her parents goodbye and took Rose to primary school. Hermione knew her first stop needed to be the Burrow to see Molly, so she flooed Joseph to tell him she would be running behind. Ron had the tendency to be ridiculously dramatic when he was upset, and he would often share such stories with his mother. Knowing an angry Molly Weasley was a force to be reckoned with, she decided to get the first word in before Ronald could tell his mother a fantastical story.
"Hermione, dear? Is that you?" Molly called from the living room. Hermione followed the sound of her would-be-mother-in-law's voice and almost ran into the woman as she was exiting the room. "What's going on?" Molly asked in her 'concerned mother' voice.
"Molly," Hermione addressed with a slight quiver of something akin to fear in her voice. "Ron and I broke up last night."
"Oh dear!" Molly exclaimed and pulled Hermione into a bone-crushing embrace. "I'm so sorry. That boy always did have a bad temper and the common sense to match. He clearly couldn't see what a wonderful young lady he had right in front of him."
"Actually, I broke up with him," Hermione blurted.
"Oh," Molly said, disappointment lacing her words, but the woman did not release her immediately. She hugged Hermione for another good moment before leading her to the kitchen table to talk. "What did he do this time?"
"He didn't like me working with Draco Malfoy. He doesn't trust me anymore, and now that I'm taking care of my cousin, he doesn't help or even talk to me," Hermione choked, fighting tears. She really did hate crying in front of others, but recently her hormones were on high. Her body wanted to cry all the time.
"Ronald has made many mistakes, but none as bad as not trusting you. Hopefully, he'll see that. Am I to presume the wedding is canceled?" Molly asked, stroking Hermione's back gently.
"Yes. I'm sorry, Molly. I know you planned so much—" Hermione started, but Molly cut her off with a soft but firm "Don't be sorry for me, dear. Now, let's get you some tea then, you'll tell me everything."
Molly bustled around the kitchen getting Hermione's favorite tea and some biscuits. When the Weasley matriarch served the tea, Hermione had finally been able to think through what she was willing to tell Molly, and set about telling the tale.
"So, I needed Malfoy's help breaking this pureblood law…"
This is a terribly awkward ending because the entire chapter is too long to upload and I had to cut it in half. It's now in two parts. Sorry.
