Two weeks later, Hermione, Ginny, Fleur, and Luna all gathered for their day out at the Diagon Alley side of The Leaky Cauldron. Hermione had made reservations for them later in the day at a spa near Covent Garden that was run by a half-blood that catered to both communities. They walked through the pub and out the Muggle entrance into London.

The day started with shopping.

"Lingerie started the idea for this trip," Fleur said. "Should we start with that?"

"Bravissimo isn't far," Hermione said. "They start at a D cup though, so sometimes I have to use magic to size things correctly, but I do that anyway. Is everyone all right with that?"

"Sure," Luna said. "Although…

"What?" Ginny asked.

"Well, after our conversation, I started thinking about my underthings, so when I started dating Rolf, I got some pretty underwear and some pretty nightgowns."

"And did he like them?" Hermione asked.

Luna cocked her head considering. "Yes, but he always says to me, 'Luna that's lovely, now take it off.'"

The other witches chuckled.

"He sounds like Harry," Ginny said.

"Not Bill," Fleur said. "Bill loves lingerie."

"So, does Ron," Hermione added.

"Perhaps it runs in the family," Luna suggested.

"Eww," Ginny said. "I don't even want to think about that."

The others laughed again. In deference to Ginny not wanting to hear anything about her brothers, conversation switched to work and the news of the day.

They spent the next few hours in and out of the Muggle shops around Covent Garden, where they blissfully drew no attention. After a couple of hours, Hermione announced it was time to go to their appointment.

xXx

The spa was only a few blocks from Covent Garden in a unassuming brick building with a simple sign that read: Time Out Spa: A Magical Experience. Hermione ignored the main entrance and instead lead the others into the narrow alley beside the building where there was a purple door with a lion painted on it. She pulled out her wand and ran it down the center of the door. The lion's eyes opened. "Yes?" he asked in a deep voice.

"We have a reservation for four witches, Granger party."

"Of course," the lion said. "Please come in." The door opened of its own volition. They all stepped into a warm room lit exclusively with fairy lights held by real fairies. Some were taking a break around a large bowl of sugar water.

A woman stepped through a beaded doorway. "Welcome," she said. "Come this way where you can change into bathrobes.

A few minutes later, all four of them exited the locker room in plush, white, terrycloth robes.

"If you'll follow me," the hostess said. "I'll take you to your massage rooms."

Fleur went in the first door, Ginny in the second, Luna in the third. The hostess turned to Hermione. "I understand you're doing the spa foot treatment instead?"

"Yes."

"If you'll wait here a moment, I'll see if they're ready for you," the hostess said.

Hermione took a seat on a plush purple velvet sofa and waited. On the wall across from her was what looked like a fish tank built into the wall. The tank was five feet high and ran all the way down the hallway, but she didn't see any fish in it. Hermione got up for a closer look, but Luna came out of the massage room, wide-eyed and panting.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked.

"I don't think I can do this," Luna said.

The massage therapist came out of the room. "Is everything okay? Did you need the lavatory before we start?"

Luna gave Hermione a pleading look.

"My friend has decided she'd rather do the hot stone foot massage like I'm getting. Will that be okay?"

"Of course. Let me just tell the hostess." She went down the hallway and around the corner.

Luna gave Hermione a grateful look. "I don't know what made me think I could go in a dimly lit room, put my face down, and let a stranger touch me."

Ginny came out of her room. "Probably the same kind of insanity that made me think that. I told the masseuse I needed the loo, but I can't go back in there."

"Don't you get massaged after games all the time?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, by a trainer I know, in a bright room, on a table in a row of tables, next to my teammates. It's totally different."

Hermione nodded. "Foot massage okay? It's sitting up in a chair facing the person doing it, and they have the chairs set up together, so we can chat."

"That sounds perfect." Ginny stuck her head back in the room and explained the change to the massage therapist, who came out and went to tell the hostess.

"Do you think Fleur will come out too?" Luna asked.

Hermione shook her head. "No. I don't think Fleur's ever…well…Fleur's not us, is she?"

"No," Ginny agreed. "Thank goodness."

Luna only nodded.

"Right," Hermione said.

The hostess returned and led them to a row of chairs in a candlelit room with soft music playing. Hermione noticed that the fish tank continued into this room from the hall. The three of them got settled in their seats. Even though they could chat, they didn't. Each lost to their own thoughts as they had their feet massaged. Hermione closed her eyes for a moment. When she reopened them, she let out a little squeak. A green bearded merman was staring at her from the tank. He spoke in melodic Mermish, that she didn't understand. She could see Luna and Ginny looking as well. Luna's masseuse explained, "He wants to know why you switched from the full massage to the foot massage. Were you unhappy with the service?"

"No, of course not," Luna said. "We didn't even start."

"Me either," Ginny said. "Everyone has been really nice since we got here."

The masseuse turned back to the man in the tank and sang her reply in a clear, high soprano. The merman nodded, said something else, and swam away. She turned back to Luna and started massaging her calves.

"It's very impressive for a human to speak Mermish," Hermione said. "Most people can't hit the notes."

The woman smiled. "True, but I'm not entirely human. He's my dad."

"Oh," Hermione said, startled. She'd never heard of a human marrying a Merman.

"I know what you're thinking," the woman continued. "How on earth did they meet, right?"

"Well," Hermione said awkwardly, glancing at Luna and Ginny, who seemed equally curious.

"They met at Hogwarts. My mum fell out of the boat first year and my dad saved her. They stayed friends the entire time Mum was in school, and then they got married."

"Wow," Ginny said.

"My mother is a half-blood. She and her Muggle sister run this place. Dad normally just keeps the books, but because we had to shut down during the war, he's been really concerned about customer satisfaction."

"It isn't anything to do with the service," Ginny reiterated.

"No," Luna said. "It's just during the war…" She shook her head.

"You don't have to explain," the masseuse said. "We get that a lot since the war. The sad thing is, the people who most need a full body massage are often too traumatized to get one. That's why we added more chairs for foot massages."

"Smart," Hermione said. "And very relaxing. This is great."

"Good," the masseuse said. "I'm glad you're enjoying it. Nails next."

xXx

When everyone was sufficiently relaxed and had gotten dressed. They went back out to the reception area to pay. Hermione pulled a plastic card from her bag and handed it to the receptionist. "This should cover all of us."

"What?" Ginny said. "You can't pay for all of us."

"Absolutely not," Fleur agreed.

"I'm not. My mum was so excited that I was having a girls' day out she insisted on paying for the spa, so she gave me a gift card."

"How kind," Fleur said.

"I don't understand," Ginny said.

Hermione blushed. "I think she was just excited that I had girlfriends."

Ginny chuckled. "Ron and Harry aren't big on mani-pedis?"

"Surprisingly, no," Hermione said.

Fleur held up her hands admiring the shimmering lilac color on her nails. "Men are silly. I feel wonderful."

"Me too," Luna said.

"Let's go to Hogsmeade and get hot chocolate," Ginny suggested. "My treat. I'm suddenly flush with gold."

Everyone agreed.

xXx

That evening, when Hermione arrived home, Ron was sitting in the parlor reading with Crookshanks in his lap.

Hermione smiled as she stepped out of the fireplace. "Look at my two ginger boys."

Ron looked up at her. "Did you have a good time? You've been gone ages."

"I did. It was a really fun day. We went shopping and then to the spa, but when everyone found out that Mum paid, the day sort of expanded."

"Expanded how?"

"Well, Ginny suggested we go to Hogsmeade for hot chocolate at Honeydukes on her, after that, it was getting later in the day and Luna suggested we have a late lunch, so we went down to the Three Broomsticks, and then she and Fleur split the check."

Ron smiled. "That sounds like a great day."

"It really was. What did you do?"

"Not much. Harry came over, and we listened to the Cannons match. I puttered about in the garden a bit after he left, did some maintenance on my broom, and then Purdy made me lunch. I've been reading ever since."

"That sounds like a pretty good day too. What are you reading?"

"Biography of Joscelind Wadcock."

"And she is?"

"Greatest chaser in a century. Played for Puddlemere United."

Hermione smiled. "If you say so." She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek before going into the kitchen to look at the post. She came back into the parlor carrying a large tube. "What's this?"

"Dunno. Auntie Muriel's big screech owl brought that for you."

"I can't think what it would be." She broke the seal on the tube and slid out a large piece of rolled parchment. "Huh?"

Ron got up from the sofa and followed her into the study where she unrolled the parchment on the table. "Good heavens."

He leaned over for a better look. "Is that—?"

"My family tree."

"I thought you did that months ago with her."

"No." Hermione slowly shook her head, scanning the tree. "We got some names, but nothing like this…this is…" She tapped her wand on one of the names and a full bio popped out. "Oh, Ron."

"Are you all right?"

"I'm overwhelmed. This is so much work. When I did this with her, we just cast some spells in a salt circle with a bit of my blood, but this, she put so much time and effort into this."

"Auntie Muriel does love genealogy. And let's face it, the old bat loves you too. Way more than she's ever loved me. I'm not sure she even likes me."

Hermione nodded without listening. She tapped on the name of her paternal grandmother. A photo of a striking dark-skinned woman appeared with a long biography beneath. She gasped as she read the entry. "My father's mother was a witch from a powerful Pureblood family in the West Indies."

He leaned over her shoulder and looked at the picture. "I guess now we know where you get this fabulous hair and why you tan so well." He nudged her playfully.

"Uh huh," she said, not in the mood to play. "She fell in love with a Muggle. They wanted to get married, but her family was against it."

"Well, that's ruddy awful."

"Yes, but then she got pregnant, and her family disowned her."

"Pureblood nonsense sounds like."

"She went to England to get away from them and raise the baby, but…" She put her hand over her mouth.

"What?"

"Shortly after my dad was born there was a terrible outbreak of Dragon Pox in London."

"Oh." Ron put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"His mum died, but he didn't get it, so they knew he was likely a Squib, because Muggles are immune. He was put in a Muggle orphanage." She shook her head. "This is awful. I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean? What is there to do? That all happened ages ago."

"It's hardly ancient history. My dad's only in his fifties, but more importantly, he doesn't know any of this."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"I don't know. I mean he and mum didn't exactly seem thrilled with the news that they were Squibs."

"Yeah, but I'm not sure you should go by that reaction. A lot was going on when you told them. You'd just restored their memories, you were graduating, we were engaged. I'm not sure they could really focus on the Squib thing. Maybe you should talk to them at dinner tomorrow night."

"You might be right." She looked down at the family tree and touched the name of her paternal grandfather. The picture that came up was of a white man who looked a lot like her dad. There was no bio for him.

"What about your mum's parents?" Ron asked.

"We got a lot further with them, when Muriel and I were working on this together, because Mum came from a tit-for-tat family."

"A what?"

"You don't know? I thought it was pureblood thing."

Ron shook his head. "Never heard of it."

"It's a family that has a Muggle side and a magical side. They exchange children who are born on the wrong side."

Ron raised his eyebrows. "Are you serious?"

"Muriel knew all about it. I'm surprised you've never heard of it. Although, the Weasleys and Prewetts are both Sacred Twenty-Eight families, so I guess there's not a Muggle side to exchange with."

"Hang on. Are you telling me if we have a Squib, you're planning on giving it to your Mum's family to raise?"

Hermione's mouth dropped open. She couldn't believe he would even suggest such a thing. "Absolutely not! If we're lucky enough to even have a baby, I'm not handing it off to someone else to raise, Squib or not! How could you even suggest such a thing?"

Ron held up his hands. "I didn't. You did."

"Not as something for us to do!"

"Well, good. I thought you'd lost your mind there for second." He paused and looked at her. "But, if we do have a Squib, what will we do? Life in the magical world is rubbish for Squibs."

Hermione blew out a calming breath. She'd actually been thinking about that ever since the subject of having children had come up. "Simple, we'll split the house like the Leaky Cauldron. The front will be the Muggle side and the Magical side will be in the back. We'll have the Muggle part reconnected to the electrical grid, and we'll make it visible to Muggles again. Then, because I'm a citizen and you're not, I'll engage in the Muggle world as if I'm a single mother. It'll take some magical manipulation, but I'll say I had the baby out of the country, somewhere remote without infrastructure. I'll apply for citizenship for him or her and sign up for the National Health. When he or she is old enough, they'll go to the same school I started in, until things went awry, and I had to be tutored."

None of that sounded simple to him, but it sounded better than Filch's life. "So, his life won't be rubbish then?"

"No, of course not. We'll love any child we have, and if we have to make accommodation, we will. I was a child of two worlds. It can work. Don't worry about it. We've done much harder things than adjusting our lifestyle a bit."

Ron nodded, but he looked concerned. "I want us to be happy."

"We will be." She patted his chest. "There are all kinds of ways to be happy. Don't worry."

He put his arms around her and held her tight. "We can do anything."

"Yes, we can."

He stepped back from her and smiled. "Want to see something cool?"

"What?"

"Come on." He took her hand and headed for the back door. "I noticed them out of the corner of my eye when I was working in the garden earlier."

"What?"

"You'll see." Ron led her into the garden and back to the shed. "The best place to see them is in here." He opened the shed door and ushered her inside.

He pointed to the window above the workbench.

She looked but could only see the hawthorn tree that had stood next to the shed her entire life. "I don't—"

"Look closely."

She leaned forward and saw a twig move then realized, it wasn't a twig, but a Bowtruckle. Once she saw the first one, she realized there were others. She grinned at Ron. "Bowtruckles."

"Right. Isn't that great? We've got wand wood on the property. How lucky is that?"

"Very lucky. Besides, Bowtruckles are so cute."

"As long as you don't mess with their tree," Ron cautioned. "We'll have to be mindful of that when we're in the garden."

She put her arm around his waist. "I love it. I can't believe you spotted them."

"Just luck. Caught sight of one out of the corner of my eye, and once you've seen one, it's easier to spot the others."

She nodded. For the first time, the garden really felt like theirs.