DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER!!
Normal Life Doesn't Exist
Chapter 4
2 minutes later, a hand slid across her shoulder and a body slid into the chair opposite her.
"Hello, again. So, what do you-?" she trailed off. As the man sitting down across from her wasn't Kyle.
It was her husband.
--
Hermione remained passive as Tom settled calmly in Kyle's chair.
"What have you done to Kyle?"
"Your friend's been sent home."
She nodded and looked at her lap. Then back to him. "6 years. 6 years, 4 months, 18 days. Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why'd it take you so long?"
Tom leant forward in his chair, put his elbows on the table (which made Hermione frown) and clasped his hands together. "The morning after you left, I thought 'maybe it's for the best. For now, anyway.' I knew that in the muggle world you'd be safe."
"Madame?" A voice asked on her left. Hermione looked to the source of the voice and saw a concerned Carlos. "Is there a problem?"
"No. He's staying."
"Of course. Would you like to order?"
"Hermione?" Tom offered.
"I'll have the steak. Medium/Well, with carrots and broccoli."
"A sauce?"
"Surprise me. Nothing too spicy."
"Of course. Sir?"
"Lamb. Rare. Smothered in mint sauce with whatever vegetables."
"Of course. Drinks?"
Hermione opened her mouth but Tom got there first. "Your finest red wine. 3 cubes of ice in her glass with a slice of lemon to go with it."
"Very well." Carlos said before taking their menus and leaving them alone.
"6 years and you still remember how I have my wine?"
"I remember the absurdity of it." They both chuckled. "You look beautiful, meus infirmitas."
She grimaced a little. "I've aged. Still not lost my baby weight though."
Tom looked at her as she adjusted her dress a little to hide the non-existent fat. "Baby?"
She met his gaze. Leaning back in her chair a little uncomfortably, she answered, "Twins."
"Are they...?"
"They're yours."
Tom sucked in a pained breath and put his mouth in this palm and shifted. "You're certain?"
"Yes." Tom gave a deep breath and put his head in his hands. "I've never seen you uncomfortable before."
He lifted his head and glared at her. "I've just found out from my wife - whom I haven't seen for 6 years - that I have 2 children. Can I not be a little uncomfortable?"
"Tom, I didn't mean it like that. Don't get defensive."
He sighed. "I'm sorry, darling."
"It's alright."
Carlos came back to the table. "Would you like to try an appetizer while your meals cook? The specials for tonight are Minestrone soup, the house salad and a chicken breast with garlic sauce."
"Will the house salad serve 2?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Tom?" Hermione asked but wasn't actually going to give him a choice. He sensed this through their link which he had re-opened since Lucius told Him that he had seen Hermione alive and well.
"Sure. We'll share the house salad."
"Of course." Carlos said, leaving.
They shared a look for a moment before Hermione looked away and fiddled with her empty wine glass. Tom smiled at her, crossing his arms on the table and leaning onto them. "You haven't changed a bit."
"Yes, I have." She snapped. "...I think."
"You haven't." he assured, shaking his head a little. She looked up. "6 years. You haven't...I mean, you didn't...See...Anyone?"
"Only a few. Nothing heavy though."
"Why not?"
"Well, besides the fact that I was married and was technically cheating on my husband by even thinking about flirting with anyone - I didn't want to."
"Ahh." he said, knowingly nodding.
"Did you...Do...Anything...Entertaining?"
"No." he answered immediately.
"Why not?"
"I didn't want to." They shared a smile and she flushed again.
Tom couldn't help but think she looked more beautiful than he could remember in that split second. Her smile; flushed skin; candlelight reflecting off her magnificent features; her chocolate curls framing her face. All of that accompanied by the fact that his pure want for her already made her look like a goddess. "So, what do you do now?"
"Nothing." She answered, shrugging.
"You don't work?"
"Didn't see the point in it, seeing as you're supplying me with £5,000 a week."
"I am?" he asked, surprised but a little mischievous as he raised his eyebrow and smirked.
"Yes. Don't think I didn't notice the 10,000 galleons you transferred into my Gringotts account every week. Convert that into muggle money and you get £5,000."
"What do you do with the money?"
"Pay bills, school fees, holidays, clothes, food, the necessities."
"Ever the woman." They shared a laugh. Carlos brought them their salad with 2 plates, along with their wine. Hermione waited until Carlos had opened the bottle and then poured them both a glass and then had left until she asked,
"How's life in Scotland?"
"It's alright." He answered, tossing the salad and then serving them both, making sure to give himself plenty of tomato and cucumber and Hermione loads of lettuce and celery.
"How's...everyone?"
Tom looked at her with a smile. "He misses you too."
"What?"
"Lucius. He misses you too. Whines about it like hell." He groaned, swigging his wine. Hermione chuckled. "Tell me about my children." He ordered but with a pleading undertone. And Hermione realised that he didn't want to know - he needed to know.
"Two girls. Jane and Merope."
"Merope?" he asked, astounded.
"Yes. Both of their grandmothers."
"Middle names?"
"Jane Eve Lily Christina Granger and Merope Emily Rose Hermione Granger."
"Merlin, they're mouthfuls. Why those names?"
"Their first names - I just...Knew...That it had to be those names. Their middle names - impulse only. Just liked the sound of it."
"Why 5 names, though?"
"I don't know. I just wanted to. Thought it sounded nice and it was probably the dizziness of the excruciating pain I was in at the time."
"What are they like?" he asked, ignoring her last sentence, putting his wine down and leaning forward. He hadn't touched his salad but Hermione had started to pick and nibble.
"They look exactly like you. And I mean 'exactly'. Black hair, bright blue eyes, pale, feminine facial features." She mumbled the last bit under her breath with a devilish smirk.
"Hey."
"Sorry."
"What else?"
"Jane - she likes to read. Well, they both do but her more so. She's a right little mummy's girl. Merope...She's a nightmare. Cheeky, doesn't eat her vegetables, doesn't brush her teeth often enough, doesn't brush her hair. She's gonna be a daddy's girl."
"Where are they tonight?"
"Sleeping round at a friends."
"So...Your house is empty?" he said, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
"Tom!" she cried scandalously, putting her hand to her chest. "We've only just met!"
"Nonsense. We've known each other for years."
"Well, we've only just made up."
"'Made up'? Didn't realise we were already so intimate."
She flushed at the obvious innuendo. "I just mean that this is the first night we've seen each other in over 6 years and you're already inviting yourself into my bed."
"Who said anything about a bed? On the floor, against a wall-"
"Tom Riddle, stop it!" she snapped, smacking the back of his hand. As she pulled her hand back, Tom grabbed it and held it in his.
"I missed you." he whispered.
"I missed you too." She said back, smiling with a tear in her eye.
"Did the girls ever...Ask...About me?"
"All the time."
"What do you tell them?"
"Nothing. I just tell them not to ask. And when they do, I punish them."
"You punish them for asking about me?" he asked, not quite believing her but then realising she probably did.
"Yeah. Go on, then. Tell me I'm a horrible mother."
"You aren't a horrible mother." He insisted.
She scoffed. "Yeah, right."
"Hermione." She didn't look at him. "Hermione, look at me. Look. At. Me. Baby." She looked up. "You're not a bad mother." She smiled weakly at him.
For the rest of the meal, they talked about Jane and Merope and nothing else. Tom asked all sorts of questions and when he had ran out of questions, she told him some funny baby stories that made him almost choke on his food with laughter. The bill came and Tom paid, surprising Hermione when he pulled out a wad of muggle notes. "Come on." He said, standing up. "Let's go home." And Hermione smiled as she let her husband take her home.