A/N: Thank you so much to the anonymous Guest for their review on chapter 4, sorry for that typical stereotype but I know from watching the people around me that women normally quit their jobs when they have children so that they can have more time for them while they are small and as I mentioned, Fleur is looking for a job again now that her children are getting older and do not require constant attention. And also thank you to gjasmine59 for their review on chapter 7! :)

RxExR!

Pictures on a Wall

Chapter 8 - Meeting in Hogsmeade

Hermione thought over the letter that Ginny had sent her two days ago once more. It was confusing to say the least. It had been abrupt and very vague, quite unlike her friend who normally had a tendancy to write too much. It had asked whether she would be able to make it to meet them in Hogsmeade this weekend despite the short notice.

There had been an urgency to the letter that had made Hermione sit up straight when she read it, and Draco had agreed that she should go to see what was wrong so therefore he had told her that he would pick up Scorpius and Cassie from their primary school today and take care of Jasper and Ella, that it wouldn't be a problem at all.

She somehow doubted that a lot of husbands offered to take care of four children, all under the age of six, willingly. It made her love him all the more.

And so she found herself walking from the apparition point outside of Hogsmeade into the village, three weeks after the others had gone back to Hogwarts to start their summer term. They had met once more after the dinner at their house, and it had been three days later to go shopping together and she had to say that it had been a suprisingly pleasant experience.

Despite saying that she had no problem with Pansy at all, she had, in some part of her heart, been somewhat anxious about the other girl. She had been Draco's ex after all and she knew that the two of them were close childhood friends, having known each other since infancy. She hadn't really liked her all that much during their time in school, the incident with offering Harry over to Voldemort at the end of their seventh year only cementing that feeling of dislike, but after listening to Draco talk about her and their friendship, she had come to understand that there was a lot more to the other girl than she had initially thought.

It had taken her quite some time to warm up to the idea of being friends with Pansy, and she knew that it would probably still take the other girl quite some time to properly warm up to her. But whereas she had had ten years to grow used to the idea of Pansy, Pansy hadn't had that luxury of time yet and she knew that she would have to be patient.

She personally thought that it was probably the same for Draco in terms of Ron. Their families had still had a deep abiding hatred of one another when the school had been put under the preservation spell and both she and Draco had seen how hard it had been on Ron to not try and needle him at the dinner. She was genuinly thankful for Ron having learnt the self-control though and had told him so three days later when they had briefly seen each other when she had come to pick up Ginny and Pansy from the Burrow. He had smiled a strained smile and told her that he was trying her best, and that Pansy was too, but that they really shouldn't be surprised or offended if one of them said something derogatory.

She had understood that perfectly well. It seemed as if the war had made them all mature though, but she wasn't sure yet if that was a good thing or not. On one hand it was, but on the other hand it had ripped away their childhood.

And she knew that Draco agreed. Due to his exposure to Charlie, Bill and George over the past decade, he had come to get over the petty hatred between the Malfoys and the Weasleys and she knew that those three had too. Oh, he was still sarcastic and biting at times, but that was a part of his nature and character so therefore something she knew that it wouldn't change.

He had had the time to get used to the idea of tolerating and maybe even befriending Ron and Harry, although the latter was probably not going to be all that easy, much like she had with Pansy so they were fine on that front.

The Weasleys would take time to adjust though, that much she knew. Fred appeared to be transitioning the easiest, having jumped back into the social scene and the inventing and the shop almost immediately. He had also told her that it was interesting to now have a 'ferret' as part of the family when they had talked two weeks ago when they had bumped into each other in Diagon Alley, she being on her way home from work (Draco was watching the children that day) and him being on the way back to his and George's shop.

Apparently he had also gone out on a date the week before if one believed George.

Mr. Weasley and Percy though appeared to be adjusting a bit more slowly though as Percy had greeted her cordially when they had seen each other in the Ministry when she had been delivering some papers (much the same as ever then) while Mr. Weasley had greeted her politely as opposed to his usually warm greeting and had made some small talk with her.

And Mrs. Weasley she didn't really know about as she hadn't seen her yet. Bill had told them that she was still coping with the fact that she was a grandma and that two of her children were married and that she herself was married too. Apparently she was cooking and thinking a lot, working through the changes by doing housework and cooking, occupying her fingers while allowing her mind to stray and learn to work through the different things that had happened in the past decade. The comfort of the Burrow and the housework appeared to be working wonders on that front.

She knew that they were trying though and that they hadn't broken down because of the sudden need to adjust to a whole different time and for that she was proud of them.

She honestly didn't know how she herself would have coped with such an abrupt change of scenery.

Which brought her back to the present, where she was currently trudging through the muddy main road of Hogsmeade, apparently it had rained only yesterday. Thankfully she was wearing some good and sturdy shoes though so her feet weren't getting wet.

She assumed that they would probably be meeting in the Three Broomsticks, as that was the place that people usually met in Hogsmeade.

She severly doubted that they would be meeting in the Hog's Head, the place simply didn't have the atmosphere that the Three Broomsticks possessed.

And so she finally reached the pub which they had all frequented quite often when she had been in school here. She was glad to finally reach it. It may be nearly May but somehow the weather had decided to go all moody and was constantly changing, almost like the ceiling in the Great Hall in Hogwarts only that it wasn't just an image on the wall.

Looking around the pub she noted that Madam Rosmerta was still running it and that there was an unusually large amount of people present that day. Ginny's flaming red hair was easy to spot in the crowd and as she walked through the masses she became increasingly aware of all of the whispers that were beginning to float around her.

"Who's that?" Someone asked.

"She looks hot." Came another. This comment caused her to smirk in a manner that was awfully reminiscent of her husband. They were saying this about a married woman who had given birth to four children after all.

"Ginny!" She called out, deciding that she really wasn't all that intrested in what people thought of her anyway.

"Hermione!" Ginny swung around and looked extremely relieved to see her. This sparked Hermione's worry even further.

The fact that people were beginning to recognise her though due to Ginny calling out her name caused the people around them to really explode into a multitude of whispers.

"That's Hermione Granger."

"It's not possible."

"Wow, she's gotten hot."

"She's become beautiful."

"What did she do to her hair, I should ask her because if she can tame her hair then I can too."

Really, people were way too superficial.

"Thank god you're here. We've got a huge problem!" Ginny exclaimed in a hushed whisper and pulled her into a private room that they had apparently gotten before casting a muffliato to prevent anyone else from listening into their conversation.

"What's happened?" That's when Hermione noticed an absolutely dejected and almost angry looking Pansy and a contemplative Luna.

"My idiot of a brother has really done it this time!" Ginny had obviously decided to go on a rant rather than tell her what had actually happened.

"I am sad that I have to agree." Luna nodded and Hermione was sure that something really big must have happened if Luna and Ginny were so openly agreeing with one another. The two different personalities of her friends normally caused Luna to remain rather objective or mystical while Ginny got all empassioned about whatever it was.

"Um..." Maybe it would be better to know what was actually going on.

"He's an A-class bastard!" Ginny continued. Hermione just sighed, poked her head out to order a firewhiskey and sat back down at the table next to Pansy who was still in a brooding silence. Patience was something that had come to her over time.

"An absolute moron!" And it continued in that tone, one insult following the other as Ginny ranted on and on about Ron. After five minutes of that though, Hermione decided that she should probably know what Ron had actually done this time.

"So what has he actually done?" Hermione asked in the small break in Ginny's tirade when she was taking a breath.

"He's gotten Lavender pregnant!" Ginny exclaimed and Hermione nearly choked on her drink. Her best friend had done what?!

~.~.~.~.~

Pansy sighed for what felt like the millionth time in four days as she slowly walked down the corridor that led to the Slytherin dungeons. She had to say that after talking to Hermione for two hours in the Three Broomsticks and listening to Ginny curse her brother for his stupidity, she did feel kind of better.

"What do you mean he's gotten Lavender pregnant?" Hermione looked at Ginny with a surprised and shocked expression on her face, her calm obviously having been broken.

"He's gotten her pregnant, that's what it means!" Ginny exclaimed, Pansy finally turning away from looking out of the window to participate in the conversation.

"Yeah, yeah, I got that part. I meant the how." Hermione waved her hand in an almost dismissive manner, it was obvious that she believed Ginny.

"Apparently they forgot to use protection during the Christmas holidays. She's nearly four months along." Pansy stated in a monotone voice. To her great surprise, Hermione hugged her closely and the dam just broke. For the first time since she had heard the news the tears began to flow and to her great embarrassment she broke down into tears in Hermione's arms while Hermione just held her and stroked her back in a calming and reassuring manner.

Three minutes and a lot of tissues and apologies for ruining the shirt later, all four of them sat around the table. Hermione had reassured her that her four children had actually ruined a lot of clothes as opposed to simply making them wet but Pansy still felt bad about the sudden loss of control over her emotions. It was simply the way that Hermione had been so motherly and the comforting air that surrounded her that had probably caused her to finally show her true feelings about the whole situation.

"So what actually happened?" Hermione asked.

"You know that all of the 'eighth' years have a shared common room, right?" Ginny asked and Hermione nodded. They had told her about that on their last shopping trip. "Well, Luna and I normally join Pansy, Ron, Harry and Blaise there as we can all meet there without any problems. The different house common rooms wouldn't work." Hermione nodded to show that she was following the story. "Well, Lavender came up to us and pretty much told us, and the whole common room," Ginny looked distasteful at this, "That she was pregnant with Ron's child and that he would have to marry her."

"And like any ordinary young man that is told out of the blue that he is going to be a father, he went into shock." Luna said as Pansy sniffled a bit and blew her nose. She kind of missed the days when emotional breakdowns didn't actually happen, but then again this meant that she trusted these people enough to actually show a weakness, something that she greatly cherished and would never have believed to be possible.

"Blaise choked on his water and Harry made a good goldfish impression." Luna added almost absently.

Pansy admired her for finding any humour in the situation at all.

"We were completely blindsided by it as well." Ginny added. "We couldn't actually say anything for the first minute or so."

"The whole common room couldn't say anything for the first minute or so." Luna said with a small smile on her face.

"If the situation hadn't been so dire I would have probably laughed at them all finally shutting up." Ginny allowed herself a small smile as well. The edges of Pansy's mouth twitched but didn't really make it up to form a smile.

"And admired Lavender for managing it." Luna said thoughtfully.

"I cannot stand her right now." Ginny snarled. Pansy's eyes also flashed.

"What happened then?" Hermione inquired.

"Ron spluttered, Blaise actually choked, Harry nearly fainted and Ginny and Pansy still sat there in shock." Luna commented. "Oh, and the rest of the common room erupted into a whirlwind of splutters, stutters and a lot of coughs."

"Harry then asked her quite weakly how that was possible." Ginny continued the story.

"She had Parvati and Faye flanking her." Luna interjected.

"And she told us how they had obviously forgotten the protection." Pansy spat out.

"And Ron asked her quite eloquently why she was telling him." Ginny muttered darkly.

"He more like tripped and stumbled over the words." Pansy said not unkindly.

"He was still in shock." Luna nodded sagely and Hermione also nodded when she caught Luna's eye. She knew how one of her two best friends worked after all.

"She then proceeded to tell us that she had found out over the Easter break and that her parents weren't allowing an abortion and were telling her that she had to marry Ron." Ginny was looking murderous again.

"Her family is quite conservative." Luna's ability to remain calm and add in random comments which actually helped the flow of the conversation was quite interesting and admirable.

"Ron surprisingly told her that he couldn't marry her as he was already in love with Pansy." Ginny added next, this action had obviously somewhat redeemed her brother in her eyes for his stupidity.

"Which was when Lavender showed him the marriage contract her parents had already drawn up as they refused to have a grandchild born out of wedlock." Pansy said softly and the understanding in Hermione's eyes showed that she knew of the disgrace that came with witches that had children without actually being married.

"And Pansy ran, Ginny followed and I successfully stopped Harry and Blaise from doing something stupid while Ron went into an actual shock." Luna rounded off quite nicely.

After that they had talked for another hour or so and Pansy replayed Hermione's words in her mind after they had told her that Pansy hadn't actually spoken to Ron ever since the incident and that Ginny and Luna had been doing their best to help her wherever possible.

"You should talk to him." Hermione said, looking directly into her eyes. "He's known to sometimes do things impulsively and I think that's probably one of the things you really like about him." Hermione's correct deduction caused Pansy to blush brightly. "Give him a chance to talk and explain himself and work through this together. You're going to get nowhere in the relationship despite caring for one another greatly if you don't talk to one another and sort out your problems face-to-face."

Pansy had to admit that Hermione was right. By avoiding Ron she had probably done the wrong thing but she of all people knew how conservative pure-blooded families like Lavender's could be as her own was already pretty bad. She simply couldn't see how Ron could get out of marrying Lavender and so she had distanced herself, as she always did, to protect her own heart.

But that it would hurt so much being seperated from him was something that she hadn't really counted on.

And then there were the horrible rumours that were also flying around at the moment. Lavender had staged the confession quite cleverly as now not only did all of his friends know, the whole school did too as there were so many gossipers in their year that it was almost unbelievable.

The hushed whispers that followed her everywhere weren't really doing things for her self-esteem as it was assumed everywhere that Ron would go back to Lavender and that she had merely been a rebound.

And that thought hurt her the most.

She rounded the corner and her breath caught in her throat as she spied Ron sitting against the wall with his hands in his pockets, obviously waiting for someone. He turned to look her way as the sound of her footsteps reached his ears and relief flooded into his eyes.

"Pansy!" He exclaimed happily and stood up quickly. She took a careful step backwards and he stopped moving towards her.

"Listen, I know that the whole situation is pretty strange and believe me, it is." He was pulling his left hand through his ginger hair, a gesture she knew he only had when he was incredibly nervous. Her stomach clenched, was he going to say what she thought he was going to say?

"Ron, it's okay..." She began and she barely recognised the voice as her own, it was so detached.

"No!" He quickly exclaimed and she jumped in shock. "Listen, please." She couldn't find her voice so she merely nodded.

"I'm not marrying Lavender." He said quickly and she was so shocked she couldn't react. He wasn't?

"I've thought about it long and hard but I know that marrying her only because her family doesn't want the child to be out of wedlock is the wrong reason to do so. I've already told her that and she understands. She's being pressured by her family and she's told me that she doens't actually want to marry me either as she believes in the whole thing about marrying for love, a view her family doesn't share."

"But..." Pansy truly didn't know what to say.

"She's not going to get an abortion but we're both going to raise the child although we won't be living together. I've already written mum and I'm meeting her in Hogsmeade next week with Lavender to talk through things and I've told her I'll be there to help her with the pregnancy and to stand strong against her family." Ron swallowed and looked her straight in the eye. "I love you Pansy and I'm not willing to give up our relationship unless you are."

His blunt answer, his easy explanation and his honest confession caused tears to form in her eyes and she nodded softly before flinging herself into his arms, completely abandoning the control over her emotions and leaving behind the cold facade of the woman that she had pretended to be.

"I love you too." She whispered and he leaned in to kiss her. The way that he made her and let her express her true emotions was something that she truly valued around him as before, that part of her had only been visible to Draco and Blaise, whom she had both known since before they could walk.

"We'll figure this out somehow, okay?" He asked, his expressive eyes looking deeply into her sapphire ones and finding nothing but a mirror image of the emotions in his own eyes.

"Okay." She whispered, nodding weakly, completely and utterly happy that she had decided to take Hermione's advice and listen to what Ron had to say.