A/N - Trying to get chapters out as soon as I can, enjoy!
Hermione couldn't wait to get out of bed, her Sunday had been spend nursing her hangover and resting her leg in bed while reading a collection of her favourite muggle books. As much as she loved reading, she didn't like to be confined to such a small space and couldn't wait for her shopping trip to Diagon Alley with Ange and Ginny. She was in much need of a new winter wardrobe and wanted to treat Teddy in Quality Quidditch Supplies and Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and of course, buy herself a new book or two.
She flicked her legs over the side of the bed, putting a little pressure on her healed leg just to test it. Once she had given herself the all clear, she sauntered into her en suite and clambered into the shower, washing the last traces of her hangover away. She didn't remember much after her fall, but she remembered him. All shower long she thought of his grey eyes piercing hers, and the way his hair fell in front of them. He looked so simply attractive in his work outfit, all covered up, making you want to know what was underneath.
Hermione turned the knob on the shower, she slipped a towel round her and tried to clear her mind. Still wrapped in a towel, she picked out her outfit for the day, a grey day dress with woollen tights and a black cardigan, that would suit the chilly September morning. Casting the normal charms over her hair, she dressed herself, finishing her look with a grey hat, scarf and gloves set.
"Hermione, are you nearly ready to go?" Ginny's voice called up the stairs, as she left her room.
"Yeah, Aunty 'Mione! We are waiting for you!" Teddy said when his mother had finished, "I made you some toast for breakfast." He grinned as her handed Hermione the toast when she reached the bottom stair. Hermione gobbled down the toast, and ruffled his hair which turned a lovely shade of pink at her touch.
"I'm taking Teddy by floo, but you can apparate if you want?" Ginny said, holding Teddy's hand.
"No, I'll floo with you two" Hermione smiled. They walked into the living room, Ginny lifted Teddy into the fireplace before getting in herself and sending them to Diagon Alley. Hermione followed them soon after.
Angelina was sat outside the Rosa Lee teashop on a small table with just enough chairs. Oblivious to the havoc that was going on in the street around her, she stared lovingly into the pram she was rocking back and fourth. As the three approached the table, Ange's head shot up and smiled widely at Hermione.
"It's good to see you!" she said as Hermione bent down to hug Angelina in her seat.
Hermione snuck a peek into the pram and saw a beautiful little baby staring back at her, "It's great to see you too Ange, and Merlin, she is beautiful! Good job she has an older brother to keep the boys away!"
"Don't tell George that, he'll have a heart attack even thinking of her having a boyfriend!" Ange joked, "She is the apple of his eye!" She tickled her daughters stomach.
"Why would he want to keep the boys away?" Teddy questioned, "Ginny and Aunty Ange both have boys and they are very happy, why shouldn't Roxanne be happy?"
"Teddy, sweetheart, me and Ange have men, adults can make each other very happy, but when you are boys and girls, you are more likely to hurt and upset each other. Sometimes boys and girl can be very happy together and they become adults together, like me and Harry." Ginny explained to him.
"Is that why Aunt Hermione went away then? Because Uncle Ron is still a boy and he hurt her?" Teddy looked up at Ginny. Hermione expected to feel something at the reminder of the now distant break up, but she felt nothing.
In the infinite silence that hung in the air, she remembered the night of their break up. He had found another woman, but Hermione didn't argue with him, she left without another word. Since the end of the war, what they once had, had run dry. There was no spark anymore. Hermione had tried to get herself to leave him, but she didn't know what to do. He was the only boy she had ever known, ever liked. When he ended it, she did everything she had been waiting to do.
"Ron and I both hurt each other, we weren't right for each other so we couldn't grow up together, like Harry and Ginny could. You will understand when you are older Teddy." Hermione broke the silence, she could hardly believe that Teddy had made Ginny speechless. Ange started up another conversation to lighten the mood, she was talking about how Fred and Teddy should get together for a play date soon and other various baby details.
After a pot of tea and a good catch up, they stood up and got ready to start their day of shopping.
"I think I'm going to take Teddy for a look around, coming baby shopping would just remind me of how single and alone I am." Hermione half joked.
"Not for long." Ginny winked.
"What do you mean?" Hermione looked confused at her friend.
"Do you not remember? What you were saying at the hospital?" Ginny smirked. Hermione's look of confusion answered Ginny's question for her. "Draco and I were talking just outside your room and we may have overheard you going on to Cho about how attractive you find him. I told him to ask you out, and he said he'll think about it." Ginny finished.
Hermione blushed furiously, "You are joking, right?" Ginny's look told her that she was telling the truth. Hermione groaned and finished, "I'm just going to take Teddy around, I'll meet you back here at 3." She held Teddy's hand and begged he didn't say anything as they walked away, but he did.
"Are you and Uncle Draco going to get married and be happy adults?" Teddy smiled from ear to ear, "You two are my favourite Aunt and Uncle!"
"That is certainly what Ginny wants Teddy, but I'll buy you whatever you want from Uncle George's shop if you promise not to tell anyone!"
"I promise!" Teddy almost screamed as the two continued to walk down the busy street.
An hour and several shops later, Hermione and Teddy were sat finishing off their ice creams from Florean Fortescue's and getting ready to walk to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Hermione had bought a couple of new outfits; a couple of quidditch books for Teddy; and a large number of sweets to say thankyou to the Potter's for letting her stay.
Hermione and Teddy walked through the crowd towards their destination, they turned a corner, suddenly Hermione was knocked off her feet, pulling Teddy down with her. Not even looking at what pushed her over, she stood up and picked Teddy up and held him to her chest, "Are you okay Teddy?" she asked, and Teddy nodded his head.
"I'm a big boy now, aren't I Uncle Ron?" He hopefully asked his Uncle, who had become shy all of a sudden. Hermione took a step back when she realised who was stood next to her.
"Yeah, you are mate." Ron smiled at Teddy, avoiding any eye contact with Hermione. He looked tired, but he was exactly as Hermione remembered, not much ever changed with Ron. He was still good looking but Hermione just wasn't attracted to him, she could feel the nervous pit in her stomach as she remembered the last time they were together.
"How are you, Ronald?" She inquired, trying to distract herself from her nerves.
"I... I guess I'm okay, how are you?" He managed to put some words together.
"I'm great actually, feeling better than ever now I'm home." She exaggerated, even though he seemed more nervous than she was, she wanted to keep up her confident front. "We were just going to George's, we better be going. We have to meet your sister soon." Hermione kept a neutral expression.
"I'll come with you, I work with him now, so I can show you some of the new stuff." Ron interjected.
"Can you really Uncle Ron?" Teddy exclaimed, this meant Hermione had to put up with Ron for a little bit longer to keep Teddy happy, but so be it.
They walked to the shop, and entered. Hermione remained silent as Ron showed Teddy around, telling him what everything was and even showing him how some things worked. Teddy's expression was priceless, he looked as if he would burst with excitement. After Ron had finished the tour, Teddy ran off to get whatever he wanted and left Ron and Hermione alone.
Ron turned to her, with a sorrowful expression in his eyes, "I've missed you. I couldn't stop thinking about you since what happened at the wedding. You know, the uh... sex. It was so good, you have really changed." He looked down at the ground. "Would you ever want to try again, like me and you?"
Hermione didn't know how to feel. She felt sorry for him, she was his first love as much as he was hers. She was confused, although she enjoyed the times they had spent together, she didn't want him back at all. Finally, she was angry, just because she had given him enjoyment he wanted her back and assumed she had changed, would he have cared if she hadn't of slept with him?
"No, Ron." Hermione started, "I don't want to try again, we were good together once but we both have changed and as for 'good sex' you only gave me good sex a handful of times during our relationship!" She said sternly in a hushed tone, the look on his face told her that he knew what she meant. Instantaneously, she stalked off to find Teddy. She bought Teddy his gift of choice and they left the shop.
"I'm sorry we had to leave that quickly Teddy, your Uncle Ron never fails to get me worked up." Hermione smiled, Teddy was skipping along and didn't really seem to care. Ginny didn't really let Teddy have Weasley products in the house, she must of had so much of it growing up that she could live another lifetime without it. They had to meet Ange and Ginny in 10 minutes, which gave them the perfect amount of time for a look around Flourish and Blotts.
Hermione ushered Teddy in the door, away from the chilly breeze. "Go and look at the children's books, and don't open your present in here, or we will get in trouble." Teddy smiled up at her and ran off to find a good book. All at once, the beautiful smell of books entered her nostrils, she wandered around the shop looking for the right section. In a couple of weeks time, she would be joining the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, working with Misuse of Muggle Artefacts, so naturally she wanted to read everything she could about it.
Five minutes later, with a stack of books in her arms, she headed to the children's section only to find Teddy with a now familiar face. Teddy had turned his hair white blonde, obviously in appreciation to the wizard he was with, they were both sat at a table, Teddy in Draco's lap, reading a book.
Hermione arrived at the table, "Are you two having fun?" She startled them as she sat down at the table. "That hair colour suits you Teddy, you should keep it." She smiled at the young boy.
"I have it when Uncle Draco is around because we match and he is family. My mummy was his cousin!" Teddy said, he was never sad when he spoke about his parents, he never knew life with them, he was always happy because everyone had told him stories of his parents' greatness and how much they loved him. "I was just telling Uncle Draco how Uncle Ron made you mad so we have to get books to calm you down, Ginny says books are the only thing that can calm you down."
"Oh does she now?" Hermione smirked, planning to make fun of Ginny later.
Teddy leaned in close in Hermione, "But I didn't tell Uncle Draco our secret." He whispered, but loud enough for Draco to hear. Draco's eyebrows shot up as Hermione put her face in her hands.
"What secret would this be then Teddy?" Draco asked, almost chuckling.
"Well, you can't tell the secret to who it's about because then it wouldn't be secret!" Teddy said, as if he hadn't given anything away.
"So it's about me then?" Draco questioned, trying not to laugh at Hermione who was staring at Teddy trying to get him to stop, but Teddy hadn't noticed.
"Yeah, but I can't tell you because Hermione bought me something from Uncle George's so I would promise not too." Teddy finished.
Draco was about to speak but was interrupted by Hermione, "Teddy, we better be going now, or we'll be very late, did you pick a book?" Teddy pointed to the one him and Draco had been reading, and Hermione went to pick it up before Draco stopped her.
"I'll get him this, I've not gotten him a present in a while." Draco put Teddy down as he stood up from his chair, so he was now looking down at Hermione. They started walking over to the till.
"Are you sure? I have enough money to get it" Hermione looked at him, while paying for her books.
"I'm sure." He spoke as he handed the cashier the book and paid. They left the shop and Draco decided to walk them too the Leaky Cauldron, where they were meeting the other two girls.
"Why did you split up from them? I thought you would've enjoyed some baby shopping." Draco broke the small silence.
"I just didn't feel like it, Ginny and Ange are so much further ahead in life than me and I didn't want to be reminded of that." Hermione was being honest for reasons unknown to her.
"I wouldn't say that, how many people our age have travelled around the world?" He continued.
"I guess, it just feels like I've wasted a lot of my life, now I've come home and people are doing the important things." She smiled as they neared the pub.
"When you spend most of your time in a hospital, travelling around the world seems like a dream rather than a waste of time." He joked. Teddy pulled away from Hermione's grasp, and ran towards Ginny, who was smirking at them from a good distance away. As Teddy's got nearer to his mother, his hair transformed from white to the normal shade of dark brown.
"Thankyou, for getting Teddy that book, I better be going now." Hermione chimed as he passed her the book. He looked uneasy, like he was thinking of something that took away his natural confidence. Hermione smiled at him as she turned to leave.
"Hermione, wait" He caught her arm in his hand, "I was just wondering, er... If you'd like to come out on a date with me sometime?" Hermione's heart skipped a few beats while still managing to pound in her head, while he asked his question, his hand had slipped down and held hers. He looked hopefully between her eyes and the ground, like he had expected her to refuse, but how could she.
"Yes, that would be lovely" She couldn't stop herself from smiling, his whole body relaxed and he exhaled all the air he had in his lungs. She was surprised his confidence has disappeared for this moment, if the rumours round Hogwarts were true, he was meant to be a bit of a ladies man.
"Can I have your number then? I'll call you when I don't have a bad shift and we can go out for a proper dinner." He shyly smiled at her and she melted a little bit. She handed him her number.
"I'll see you soon then" She grinned at him as she turned to leave. Their hands slipped apart and she sighed.
"Yeah, I'll call you when I can" He waved.
After arriving back to her friends, Ginny gave her a knowing look before Hermione laughed and Teddy looked completely confused. Ange had headed back home, walking through muggle London. Ginny, Teddy and Hermione flooed home and after Ginny had left Teddy to play in the playroom, Hermione told her the whole story.