A/N: Hi there! So, my other story (Child of Dawn) is finishing up this week. You know what that means for this story? It means that I'm going to have more time to be able to pour into this! I have a few other shorter stories that I'm also going to work on, but this is going to be my main story now.

How many more chapters in this bad boy? No idea. I have the outline, so hopefully in the upcoming weeks I'll have a better idea of how much longer this story will be. You can look forward to anywhere from 2-3 updates a week and I'll let you know when I'm going to start publishing the other (much shorter) stories that I'm going to work on.

Anyway, here is a chapter I'm sure all the Ron haters are going to enjoy!

Chapter 9: Hogsmeade

"What do you mean you're going to Hogsmeade with me, Ronald?" Hermione was furious as she soothed back her curls so that they hung back away from her face, but were still wild and looked alive. "You don't even like going to the Hogsmeade location on a Hogwarts weekend and you actively try to avoid it, so don't give me the excuse that you want to see the students because we both know that it's a lie."

Coming out of her bathroom adjusting the fitted navy knit jumper and dark wash jeans that clung to her curves. Hermione went into her closet and found the grey ankle boots with a bit of a heel to add an inch to her height. Waving her wand over her face, a thin layer of makeup set, and she was ready to go meet up with her children for lunch.

"You said that you're meeting with Malfoy for lunch. Is it so bad that your fiancé would rather you not go around meeting up with other blokes for meals without him?" Ron said standing up straight after adjusting his newest Weasley jumper and fixing his hair. "I just don't get why you have to be there if he's wanting to have lunch with the kids."

"I'm sorry, but you have no say in how I approach this situation with my children. Mila asked me to be there with her and Milo for their first sit down with Malfoy, since they've never actually met. Apparently after he got the game snitch from her, he wrote and asked if she'd be willing to meet him for lunch and the kids decided to accept.

"They're nervous and rightfully so, actually, I don't know why I'm explaining myself to you. You weren't invited to join us at lunch, Ron. So, you do not show up in the middle of it and start acting like a fool. I'm not going to stand for this behavior, Ronald. These kids are trying to build a relationship with their father and you are not going to stand in the way or try to shut me out if they want me involved." Hermione said glairing up at the red-head.

"Pretty defensive there about this innocent lunch with Malfoy, Mione." Ron leered at her, making Hermione's jaw drop before she could glare at him again.

"See here, Ronald Weasley, my children are my priority, not whatever pissing contest you're trying to have with Malfoy that he's not even engaging with you in. So, before you go and start trying to get all up in arms about it, take a step back think about how you're acting. If you don't, I will. This is your warning. This ends now where you are trying to make me chose between you and my children, because I promise you, if you push this even once more, you will not like the answer." Hermione finished before spinning on her heels and storming out of their shared bedroom.

"You're just going to walk away from me and this conversation?" Ron yelled down the hallway as Hermione continued walking towards the exit of her home.

"I'm going to meet my kids and their father for lunch. You enjoy your day working a Hogwarts weekend." Hermione replied waving her hand over her head before snapping the front door shut and Apparating away on her doorstep to the Apparition point in Hogsmeade.

It had been three weeks since the Quidditch match and Hermione hadn't stopped questioning her relationship with Ron since. The way he was acting towards her trying to help bridge that relationship between her children and Malfoy, and the way that it felt like he was trying to push her children out of her life and into Malfoy being their only parent. There had always been other red flags that Hermione had ignorantly ignored, trying to focus on the positives in their lives, but the painful truth was too much to look away from anymore.

Had Ron ever really accepted that she had a relationship with Malfoy that had resulted in children? No, that had always been a rocky subject, but things had never been hostile. Had he always been supportive, again no. The more Hermione thought over her relationship with Ron, she was struggling to come up with anything that was good in their relationship. He tolerated her children (at best) and her kids didn't like him.

The pain of the rejection from her parents never wanting her to be a part of their lives again had always weighed so heavy on her. Even though Emmeline and Benjamin Granger had opened their arms and their hearts for their grandchildren, they never extended that back to Hermione. She knew that she'd been desperate to build a family again after those blows, and while Harry filled part of it, he had his own family. So, after a number of crash and burn relationships with countless other wizards over the years, when Ron Weasley had come back to her, she'd gotten her stary eyes and hopes for being apart of that big loving family, again.

Two years later though, she was with a lot of regrets. Why had she ever gone back to him to begin with? Really, he was a safe choice. They already had a long history and not all of it was bad. Their breakup hadn't exactly been good, but besides that what had really been wrong with their first relationship? It was boring and he didn't push her to be more, even tried holding her back in her career and education. Oh, the fight that had led up to her wanting to purse her Charms Mastery in conjunction with her Curse Breaker training had been bad. He'd endlessly complained that she wasn't giving enough of her time for him, and maybe she hadn't.

Things with Ron the second time around seemed to be following a similar patter, but with different pieces. Hermione couldn't stop the groan with the growing realization that she was going to have to put this wedding and her relationship with Ron on pause before it got any further. They were set to have a Sunday dinner at The Burrow the following day, and Hermione resolved with herself that she would wait until after they returned home from that before suggesting Ron moving out of her house and back into the flat above WWW in Diagon Alley. This wasn't going to be a breakup, but just a little separation time, make sure that they both were committed to each other and this relationship. Not just two people trying to make something work because they had history together.

Making her way down the street until she was inside the Three Broomstick, Hermione let a smile tug at her lips when she saw Seamus standing behind the bar and waving at her. "Oi, Mione! Long time no see! Saw a girl in here last Hogwarts weekend that looks like you, didn't know you had a kid." He said smiling at her, "Grant told me that Potter's got a kid in his house, bit of a shock he never mentioned yours though."

Walking up to the bar, Hermione sat down knowing that she was still a bit early in meeting Malfoy and the kids. "Hi Seamus, yeah. My kids never mentioned anything about, Grant you say? Though, Jack, Harry's son, came home last Christmas holiday with a missing eyebrow saying that it was all 'Finnigan's fault', so I'm guessing that Grant has an affliction for pyrotechnics just like his father." Hermione said winking at him as Seamus threw his head back laughing.

"Too true, too true. So, married to Ron then? He's stopped in here a handful of times and he's never mentioned anything about any kids, just said that the two of you gave things another go." Seamus said as he turned and served another patron before coming back to her.

"Oh, my children aren't Ron's, actually." Hermione said as the door chimed and Seamus looked up to greet whoever had just walked in, but his face dropped at whoever it was, making Hermione turn around.

Standing in the doorway, looking completely uncomfortable in his black cashmere sweater and tailored trousers, was Malfoy. His hair was styled perfectly, not a strand out of place, his face was slightly pink from the harsh Scotland wind, and when his eyes finally landed on her, he brightened up a bit holding up a hand in a greeting and walked towards her.

"What do you need, Malfoy." Seamus snapped once Malfoy had reached them, making Hermione turn in her seat to glare at him. "Something to go?" He finished, clearly not keen on letting Malfoy stay in the pub.

"Just a Butterbeer, thanks." Malfoy said to Seamus before turning to Hermione "want grab a table while we wait for the kids?" He asked as Seamus's face blanched at his words.

"Yeah, alright. We could go ahead and order, both kids always get the same thing." She said to Malfoy before turning back to Seamus, who still had his mouth slightly open as he looked between them. "I'm going to need two burgers and chips, one with cheese, ketchup and lettuce only. The other with no cheese but all the fixings. Then we'll also take a turkey club, no tomato, with chips as well. Oh, and three more Butterbeers. Then whatever Malfoy is having. Put it all on one tab, thanks Seamus." Hermione finished the order before slipping from her seat at the bar and finishing an empty corner table, putting some much needed distance between herself and her old house mate.

The pub was quickly filling up with students and other patrons as the lunch hour came, with Hermione keeping her eyes trained on the door waiting and watching for her children. When they finally walked in, it was Milo who she spotted first, his head slightly bent forward furiously whispering something into the green hat with the silver pompom on the top of a head that she knew belonged to Mila.

Standing up, Hermione waved her hand attempting to get her children's attention when Seamus appeared in front of her dropping four plates of food before turning and walking away without a word. It was at that point that Malfoy joined her and began to apologize that he'd been stopped by a business associate when Milo's eyes finally landed on her.

"Stop talking, the kids are here. Ready to finally, officially that is, meet your children?" She asked, sneaking a glance at the man.

"Mum!" Mila yelled as she jumped into her mother's arms and Hermione couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face at her daughter's affections. "No Weasley today? Shame." Her daughter deadpanned making Hermione shoot her a look telling her to stop. While Mila had a lot to say, Milo was standing slightly behind his sister, hands shoved in his pockets, he hadn't looked up or spoken since they'd walked to the table.

"Kids," Hermione started making them both look at her before letting their gaze travel over to where Malfoy was standing. "I'd like to formally introduce you to Draco Malfoy. Draco, Mila and Milo Granger." She said gesturing towards the children as they each shook a hand with Malfoy, the stiffness in the father and son almost making her laugh. "Now, who's hungry? Let's tuck in." Hermione said sitting down in the booth before Malfoy and on the opposite side Mila and Milo also sat.

"How's school, you've both been so vague in all your letters." Hermione prompted her kids trying to make this as easy of a lunch as possible. Mila, being the much more outgoing of the twins, went into a long-winded discussion about everything that had been happening in classes. She talked so much about herself and Milo, that as usual, her brother didn't even have to speak for himself for Hermione to know exactly what was happening in both her children's lives at school.

Malfoy ate quietly, throwing in a question or comment where appropriate and even when Mila would narrow her eyes before responding to him, it didn't deter him from speaking with his daughter. Milo's eyes hardly lifted from his food, even as he sat ramrod straight in his chair. Hermione made a few attempts to pull her son into the conversation and was only rewarded with a one or two word answer at most.

While Hermione had lost herself in watching Milo, it seemed that Mila and Malfoy had managed to get into a heated debate concerning something to do with Quidditch when a pair of lips made contact with Hermione's cheek. "Hello, beautiful. I've been waiting for you to join me at the shop. Aren't you about done?" Ron whispered into her ear, making Hermione jerk away from him and stand up.

"What are you doing here, Ronald." Hermione hissed at him as Mila and Milo's eyes both trained on their mother and her fiancé.

"I just told you, I've been waiting on you. Surly you're not needed over here anymore. It looks like lunch is over and it's been close to two hours." He said motioning back towards the empty plates and mugs of Butterbeer that were scattered across the table. "Come on, say your goodbyes and spend some time with me." He pleaded with her as Hermione tugged her elbow out of his reach.

"I warned you, Ronald. Do not make me choose between you or my children." Hermione whispered low enough that the curious crowd that had started watching them wouldn't be able to hear her. "You came here, after I told you not to and interrupted a nice afternoon with my children. I'm not going to stand for this, and I've let you get away with it too many times before." Hermione said keeping her voice even, refusing to let it crack.

"Mione, what are you talking about. You've spent the whole lunch time with them and then some, now stop being so stubborn and come on." Ron said reaching out for Hermione's arm again and when she pulled back, irritation flared in his eyes as he glared at her children before settling back on her. "You've had your time with them, now let's go." He snapped at her.

"This isn't how or when I wanted to do this, but this isn't working for me Ron. I'm sorry, but you have to go." Hermione said stepping backwards, putting herself between her children and Ron. "I thought we could make this work, maybe even taking some time apart would help, but" Hermione pinched the ring on her left ring finger and slid it off before handing it out to Ron, "we're through. I need you out of my house by this evening when I return." When he refused to take the ring from her, Hermione turned to facing the table and set it down.

"Come on kids, Ceridwen's just got a new thing of Cauldrons in and I think they might have something I could use for work. We can stop by Scrivenshaft's and get you some new supplies for school as well. Malfoy, lovely lunch, thank you for joining us." Hermione said nodding her head as she threw enough gold on the table to pay their tab and leaving a tip before grabbing her children's shoulders and pulling them from their seats and out the door, leaving Ron with his mouth hanging open watching her walk away from him.

ooo

To say that Mila was in shock was an understatement. It took a lot to render the girl speechless, but watching her mother publicly break her engagement certainly did it. Everyone at the pub had been watching them as her mother had verbally put Ron Weasley in his place and when the git had refused to take the ring back, as if he didn't that would stop her mother from ending things with him, Mila couldn't help but look over at where Malfoy was sitting.

There had been something about him that she couldn't put her finger on. The way his eyes kept tracking her mother and how he watched her. It was slightly unnerving. It reminded her so much of the way that Uncle Harry would watch Aunt Gabrielle, but as far as she knew, her mother and Malfoy hadn't been spending any time together. Her mom would tell her, wouldn't she?

It was hard to not be even more irritated with the ginger weasel about interrupting their lunch. As much as she hated to admit, Mila had been enjoying the verbal sparring with Malfoy. He was intelligent and even though she was a kid, he didn't speak to her like she was one. He had listened to what she had to say and even seemed to consider the suggestions, theories, and other things she'd said to him.

While she'd always known that potions was the subject he excelled at and she'd always tried her best at being better at it than he had been, she had to admit that she'd learned a lot just from their simple lunch. It made her wonder, what more could she learn from him if she were to spend even more time with him. Maybe in a potions lab?

"Mum?" Mila asked looking over the self-stirring silver cauldron, considering it as a Christmas gift for Milo, she heard her mother's hum in response to her. "Do you maybe think that Malfoy might want to see us again?" Mila finished scuffing her shoe against the floor. "It's just that he had some interesting ideas on other uses of Hemlock and you know, just, I'd hate to pass up a chance at besting Milo at potions this year and it seems that Malfoy has a better grasp at it than you'd let on." She finished before looking up at her mother who had turned around to look at her with a small smirk crossing her lips.

"Malfoy is a brilliant Potioneer, actually when we were in Curse Breaking training and I was getting my mastery in Charms, he had talked about getting his mastery in Potions. I know that he was meeting with masters when we ended things, so he might actually have a Mastery, I've just never asked.

"But to answer your question, yes. I think he would most certainly enjoy getting to meet with the both of you again." Hermione said smiling down from the ladder that she'd climbed to look at a higher shelf.

"Yeah, well, you know. Anything to put me ahead of Milo. It's embarrassing really at how much better he is at potions." Mila tutted, straightening out her scarf before walking away from her mother and towards the register to pay for the cauldron she'd been looking at and to have it delivered at home so Milo wouldn't see it.

The Grangers finished their shopping together, and before the twins knew it, their mother giving them each a hug telling them that she'd see them at King's Cross to pick them up for their Christmas holiday before Apparating away. Mila couldn't put her finger on it, but she felt settled in a way that she hadn't thought she would when she'd first received that letter from Malfoy asking that she and Milo join him for lunch during their November Hogsmeade weekend.

When Mila had tossed the snitch to her mother and instructed her to give it to Malfoy, it really had only been to make Weasley mad. She hated the git, and knew that anything that mentioned her father always infuriated him.

Only, as mush as she loathed to admit it, she'd enjoyed her lunch with Malfoy. He hadn't tried to push Milo out of his comfort zone and she'd been expecting someone who was boasting about his wealth or the business he ran. She was expecting the boy that Weasley had brought up every time he and her mother had a row about Malfoy being the father of her children. Or perhaps a Death Eater who looked down on his half-blood children, as if they were less than his pure-blooded son and heir.

He hadn't been any of that. Everything that Mila had expected him to be, he just wasn't. And the more she thought about the way he kept sneaking glances at her mother, the more she wanted to know about why her parents had split up. She'd never been given details about their split beyond, 'it wasn't meant to be.' She knew that he'd married Scorpius's mother not long after, but she didn't know anything about that relationship and if it had been an arranged marriage like some of her pure-blood house mates' parents had or not.

There was, it seemed, a lot more to this than she'd ever thought.

"I think we're missing something important here, Milo. He was too, pleasant to be someone who wanted nothing to do with us all these years. Malfoy seems genuinely interested in us and not at all bothered by who our mother is." Mila said scuffing the ground with the toe of her boot as they walked the path from the village towards the castle.

"And how, exactly, do you propose we find what's missing?" Milo replied after a few moments of silence.

"I don't know, but even you must admit that it's odd how interested he is in us now and how he doesn't act like a prat towards mum. Regardless of what Weasley always said about how he acted when they were children, he doesn't seem like someone who cares about our mother's blood status." Mila said, chancing a glance over at her brother who was looking up into the sky.

"I want to know why he got married so quickly after breaking things off with mum. There's got to be more to it than he had some secret fiancée on the side that mum didn't know about." Mila finished, still watching her brother as they passed through the gates.

"And what, you're just going to write Malfoy and ask him about his dead wife?" Milo said finally looking over at her, raising an eyebrow in question.

"No, you tosser, you're going to ask Scorpius." Mila said smirking at her brother making him stop in his tracks.

"No." Milo said once he'd regained his composure and began walking at a faster pace with those long legs.

Mila took off running after him, trying to keep up, but it was slightly pointless because Milo made sure that he kept increasing the distance between them. "Come on Milo!" She yelled out after him, "surely he knows something about his parents' marriage!" That stopped Milo and he turned back to his sister with his 'angry look' in his eyes.

"I'm not about to go and ask an eleven-year-old boy to recount what he knows of his parents' marriage when his mother is dead. Get to know Malfoy better and then ask him." Milo said before turning on his heels and stalking back towards the castle.

Not wanting to chase her brother anymore, Mila came to the decision, she would get to know Malfoy better and figure this out. Starting with extending an invitation for him and his son to join them for Christmas Eve dinner.

A/N: There we go! The moment everyone's been waiting for, RON IS GONE! Is he really though? Well, at least he and Hermione are no longer in a relationship!

Mila is meddling, poor Milo is just along for the ride with his sister, and what can you expect next week to contain?

I'll tell you what the next chapter is… It was asked for and I think it deserves a chapter (even though it wasn't a planned one) but we're getting a Draco POV chapter. How has he handled his life being turned upside down!?

Well, you'll get to find out… next Tuesday!