Part 7

"So how are things going with the twins, Mia?" James Potter asked Hermione.

Hermione was sitting on a couch in the living room of Potter Manor. It had been decided that hiding behind the ancient and powerful wards of the Potters ancestral home was the way to go, which Hermione couldn't disagree with considering what had happened at Godric's Hollow in her time.

Dumbledore had protested, but nobody had listened to an old coot that was at least partially responsible for their deaths in the time Hermione had come from. Hermione had also suggested taking certain precautions, like a Portkey, just in case and Lily had agreed. It would give them an escape route in case Voldemort managed to get past the wards of Potter Manor and also blocked the Floo.

"They're going just fine," Hermione said. "In fact, we got engaged just recently, but the wedding is on hold until Voldemort is gone."

"Wow! That's wonderful I'm so happy for you," James said enthusiastically. "I know Lily will be as well."

"Thank you," Hermione said blushing a little. She was just so happy with the twins, something she never imagined in her own time. Hermione had never really imagined marrying at all much less two different people.

"Sirius is going to be rather disappointed, you know," James admitted with a rather mischievous grin imagining his best friend's reaction when he learned. "He could see the twins were interested in you and not on just having you as a friend."

"That's too bad," Hermione said shaking her head, while smiling a little. "I could never marry Sirius. I'm just not interested in him in that way and I don't see him settling down anytime soon. I knew the older version you see, while I never really knew the Prewett twins for they were dead in my time. They were taken down by half a dozen Death Eaters."

"He'll be so disappointed," James said laughter in his voice.

"I can't help it if Padfoot is disappointed," Hermione shrugged. "He'll get over it. I consider him a friend just like I do you, but nothing more than that. He is one of the very few people that know about my involuntary trip to this time, so he should consider himself special."

"He'll like being considered special," James said grinning.

"Of course he will," Hermione laughed.

"I can't believe, even after all these months that Peter, someone we loved, were friends with, betrayed us," James said suddenly.

"I know how you feel," Hermione said. "Believe me, I do. Betrayals always run deep and yours runs deeper than most because you shared everything with your friends and were close for years. I'm not sure what started him down the path of taking the Dark Mark, but I know he didn't really return your friendship if he was willing to betray you and frame your best friend."

"I suppose we'll never really know," James sighed

"Probably not," Hermione said. "But just think, because of my trip back in time you and Lily will live or at least you won't die in the same way, being betrayed by someone you considered a friend. You'll be able to raise Harry and perhaps give him a few siblings sometime in the future. He will grow up to be a totally different kind of person then he was in my time. He was never truly happy, except for brief stretches of time."

"I can't believe Dumbledore did that to my son," James said in a voice full of betrayal. He had a hard time processing the fact that Dumbledore had betrayed his family in such a way.

"I truly believe that Dumbledore before his death had gone senile in my time," Hermione said. "This Dumbledore is so different from the one I knew that it's just unbelievable. Don't worry Harry will be here soon it's only another couple weeks before July 31st."

Hermione was amazed at how fast the time had flown ever since she had been thrown into this time. It had been early 1979 when she had arrived and now it was over a year later nearing the end of July 1980. Soon it would be time for her best friend to be born.

"Lily can't wait actually and not because she's tired of being pregnant, but because she can't wait for Harry to get here," James said with a massive grin on his face.

"I don't blame her, as I'm sure I'll feel the way about my own children someday," Hermione said.

"I can hardly wait either," James added. "Me James Potter, prankster extraordinaire, is going to be a father. It seems so unreal."

"I know, but that unreal feeling will fade after awhile and you'll realize that you really are a father," said Hermione.

Lily arrived just then and immediately greeted Hermione warmly. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise, Mia."

"I just thought I'd stop by and I didn't realize you weren't here until James told me," Hermione explained. "I wanted to see how you doing for one thing."

"What's the other reason?" Lily asked curiously.

"She got engaged that's the reason," James said in a teasing tone. "I never even knew she was dating."

"That is wonderful!" Lily exclaimed happily, nearly bouncing on the balls of feet despite at the moment her been absolutely enormous. "I see that Fabian and Gideon finally got off their butts and proposed."

"You knew they were dating?" James pouted playfully at his wife.

"Not for very long," Lily promised.

"No, she's only known for a few weeks. We had lunch together one day and it happened to come up," said Hermione. "We kept it quiet for a reason, James. Trust me, Voldemort would love to torture me before he killed me just to get revenge on Fabian and Gideon. He's not the forgiving sort and they did take down four of Voldie's top Death Eaters with only a little help from the Order of the Phoenix."

"I suppose," James admitted. "I hate not being able trust people."

"I know exactly how you feel," Hermione agreed with a resigned expression. "I've already told you the people you can trust so that probably helps some."

"It does," James agreed looking amazingly sober for him. "Now that Lily is here though, I believe that it's time to ask you something."

"Ask me what?" Hermione asked confused

"We want to make you the godmother to Harry," Lily explained.

"Why me? You hardly know me," Hermione asked in total disbelief.

"While that's true you helped save our lived and you know it," Lily told Hermione shaking her head. "Alright, we haven't known you as long as we've known Alice or Marlene, but still, it's because of you that we aren't going to die on Halloween, because we are forewarned."

"We also know you're an honest and amazing person even if you don't see yourself that way," James continued. "Most people would've been having fits or been nervous wrecks at being thrown into such a messed up situation, but you just calmly went about making changes."

"You have saved so many lives already, although most of them we will probably never find out about," Lily continued. "At a minimum you've saved me, James, Sirius, Frank, Alice, the Bones family and your fiancés Gideon and Fabian."

"You pointed out the traitor within our ranks and as much as it hurts me, Sirius and Remus you saved a lot of lives by doing so," James said.

"You've done so much for us, more than you realize," Lily said. "We already know you were close to our son in your own time, so we both think that naming you the godmother will allow you to at least see him regularly and watch him as he grows."

"And we certainly hope that it helps to replace the sibling bond you had with Harry in your own time," James added.

"Even if we die doing this at least we will die knowing that we were fighting for a just cause instead of being locked away under an obscure charm that can be easily broken with the betrayal of the Secret-Keeper," Lily said

"You made sure that we took proper legal action just in case something does happen to Lily and myself. You made sure that Dumbledore can't place our son with Lily's sister and her husband."

"You'll fight Dumbledore to the last breath if he tries to do what he did in your original time," James finished. "See you've done so much for us, both think that making you the godmother is the right thing to do.

"Alright fine," Hermione gave in. "I'll be happy to be the godmother. By the way, I don't believe that Dumbledore will take the same actions he did in my time, because there should be no prophecy to deal with now since we've dealt with Voldemort's Horcruxes."

"Still, it was good to make sure a copy is filed with the ministry as well as at Gringotts just in case, something we obviously didn't do in the original timeline. We also made our lawyer aware of the situation and he won't let Dumbledore get away, with the same tactics if anything should happen to us," Lily said with James nodding agreement

"Neither of us want the future that you showed us to happen to our son or to ourselves for that matter," James added. "I for one respected Dumbledore a great deal, because I had been taught by my parents he was a great man, but it's clear to me he made a lot of mistakes at least when concerns my son. I suspect that my parents didn't really know the true Albus Dumbledore or they wouldn't have brought me up like they did."

"Considering he made so many major mistakes with Harry who's to say that he hasn't made other ones concerning other people we don't know about," Lily said.

"I have to agree that Dumbledore likely has made other mistakes," Hermione said, rather stunned at what the Potters thought of her, though she supposed she should have expected it because she'd had the knowledge to save their family from being broken up by Voldemort. "Nobodies perfect though, not even Dumbledore. On the other hand, it's how you handle your mistakes that matter and he didn't handle his mistakes very well, at least not in the time I come from. He didn't like to admit that he could be wrong."

"Which meant that his mistakes started to get bigger and bigger, because he didn't know learn from them because he refused to admit that he had made any," Lily realized that Hermione nodded.

"The Dumbledore of my time had a nasty habit of not listening to anyone's advice thinking he always knew best and while I won't deny that he is a knowledgeable wizard listening to other peoples opinions who might point out things he hadn't thought about because after all the world has changed a great deal since he was born," Hermione explained. "He seems to believe that he's the cleverest most powerful wizard alive. Yes, he's a very smart and knowledgeable wizard I won't deny it, but he ignored the fact that Lily here is one of the smartest witches of her generation while I was the same in my own time. Plenty of other people are just as intelligent as the headmaster and yet Dumbledore, just ignores any information that doesn't fit his worldview. He also often goes out of his way to butt into other peoples lives and when he does he often fucks it up six ways to Sunday, mostly because he doesn't listen to anybody else's opinions, because he always believe he's doing the right thing. I don't think he truly trust anyone except himself, because his actions would've been different if he did. I think that's rather sad actually."

"No man is an island," Lily said in Hermione nodded.

"What does that mean?" James asked confused.

It's a poem by John Donne," Lily explained. "He was quite a famous Muggle and was born in 1521."

Both Hermione and Lily recited the poem together.

No man is an island entire of itself;

every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;

if a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were,

as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine

own were; any man's death diminishes me,

because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom

the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

"It basically means that no person can make decisions for anyone but themselves. Almost any decision affects someone else, sometimes a lot of someone else's and if it's a bad decision then the person or persons who didn't get an opinion gets caught up in a possibly bad situation. A situation that was not of their own making, but because of somebody else's poor decision made on their behalf without consulting them or anyone else," Lily explained.

"Like Harry," James realize and both Lily and Hermione nodded in agreement.

"Even if Harry had been older when you died Dumbledore would likely still have made the same decision without consulting anyone else," Hermione said. "While this Dumbledore is much different than the one in my own time I will never be able to trust him completely, because he tends to make decisions for other people that he has no right to make and they let him get away with it because he is so revered and think he can do no wrong. He made a very poor war leader, because he didn't give people information that could've kept them alive and kept it to himself. He also didn't take anybody's advice and always did exactly what he wanted too. As you know many people died that might otherwise have lived if only Dumbledore had done what he should have. It's only because of my trip back to the late 70s that things are now different."

"You've certainly made me see a darker side to Dumbledore," James said.

"He's not really a bad person James, he's just so used to not taking anybody's advice and doing everything himself that he's gotten into the habit of making decisions that affect everyone. It has to do with the fact that a great many of the magical population are lazy and don't bother to think for themselves and in fact, they've basically forgotten how to, as it's a learned skill with a few exceptions," Hermione explained. "Dumbledore hasn't been out into the Muggle world in a long time, decades at least, so he has no idea how much Muggle society has changed compared to the wizarding one. The wizarding one has practically stagnated because those in power don't want change while the Muggle one has advanced considerably. When I arrived from the future Dumbledore knew that he had made some major mistakes along the way, even if I didn't come back voluntarily. There're forces out there that only a few people seem to know exists and it's often been speculated that magic is almost sentient. In other words, it's nearly alive. I'm not sure if I believe that or not, but I don't see any other way I could have been thrown so far back in the past, as I doubt very much that's what the Death Eater that was chasing meant to do with his spell. No, I think he intended to kill me, or at least severely injure me. I've learned that magic is often about the intent of the caster and if the caster's will is strong enough magic often responds without a specific spell being cast."

"So you believe, if you were for instance thinking subconsciously about how to correct the situation that your magic responded."

"I also believe that the magic out there in the universe probably also helped throw me back in time. I think that there is true intelligence behind magic, even though most people don't know that anymore. They supposedly did a great many spells back in the founders time for instance that we don't use anymore because we don't fully understand what magic is about and that is a force that if not fully alive, is at least nearly so. Just think about Hogwarts and how magical it is. The castle is nearly sentient, so that means that magic itself must also be alive in a sense, because it is that magic that made Hogwarts what it is today. Children cast spells and it always takes a while to learn how to do those spells without putting more power behind them then they should and that excess magic has to go somewhere."

"It goes into the castle itself," Lily said coming to the same conclusion that Hermione had some time ago.

"And think, it's been over 1000 years since Hogwarts was first built which means that she is imbued with thousands of children's excess magic," Hermione said.

"So you believe that over time the castle gained a conscience of it's own," James said trying his best to follow along with the conversation, even though a lot of it was way over his head.

"Yes, I believe that it tries it's best to help the headmaster or mistress, but they also have to listen to it. Dumbledore's not good at listening to anyone's advice, except his own, so I doubt very much he pays attention when Hogwarts tells him of a problem. The castle was built to protect the students and imbued with magic long before it was a school. The students miscast magic simply added to what the founders had already put into her very structure, just by building her," Hermione explained.

"The headmaster or mistresses are immediately connected to the castle once they are elected, so that they know about problems so they can fix it before it gets too out of hand," Lily explained to her husband. "It's kind of a symbiotic relationship. Both the castle and the current head of the school bring something to the relationship."

"Dumbledore ignored numerous problems in my time just because they didn't fit into his plans and schemes, because he's more of a big picture person. He doesn't pay attention to all the little details. He ignored the fact that a student in my time was being severely bullied just because she was different. Dumbledore's charisma and reputation were so strong that the other professors followed along with his policy, which was basically, to ignore such a situation unless it was extremely blatant. This student was bullied so severely that she nearly took her own life and yet Dumbledore did nothing, because most were simply beneath his notice, unless they were the Boy Who Lived. I don't think he really understands what such severe bullying can lead to. It all depends on the person and what kind of emotional support they have but this student had absolutely none until Harry met her in her fourth year and his fifth."

James winced at that explanation as he remembered his severe bullying of one Severus Snape. Snape's situation had been very similar to the female student's that Hermione had just mentioned and he and Sirius had indeed bullied him until Snape had taken the Dark Mark with the hope of gaining power to get revenge on those that had bullied him nearly every day of the seven years they had attended school. Lily had seriously taken him to task when she had learned that her once friend had joined Voldemort and James couldn't blame her. He and Sirius had been bullies, there had been no reason to treat Snape like they had, but they had been so arrogant and so sure that he would end up becoming a Death Eater that they had taken it to far on a lot of occasions. It was quite possible, even likely, that Snape wouldn't have become a Death Eater if he and Sirius hadn't been so hard on him and pulled nasty and embarrassing pranks on him nearly constantly.

He had been jealous, James admitted to himself, jealous of his friendship with the girl he wanted. If only he had been a little nicer and hadn't had such a big head and arrogant attitude he probably would've gotten to date Lily sooner. It was only after he had deflated his head a bit and Lily had noticed that he had changed that she agreed to go out on a date with him.

"I know thinking of Hogwarts as alive or at least partially alive is a hard concept to understand. She doesn't have hands, but she does try to help keep the students safe by reporting problems to the headmaster or mistress."

"Let's talk about something else you're making my head hurt," James finally complained.

"Alright, fine," Lily laughed, as she kissed his cheek. "This little one is kicking me in the bladder so if you'll excuse me."

"Of course, go ahead," Hermione said smiling. "I've never had any children of my own, but I know very well that you have to pee more in the third trimester then in the first trimester.

"It won't be long now," Lily smiled as she disappeared to go use the bathroom

Hermione took her leave just a few minutes later once Lily came back from the bathroom.

~~~Gideon, Hermione, Fabian~~~

Hermione stayed up on the night she knew her best friend would be born. She had made James swear that he would let her know as soon as the event occurred, or she would hex him into oblivion. James had known that she would do it to, so he had sworn he would contact her as soon as Lily had given birth, so just before 11:30, at precisely 11:17 she received a Patronus.

"My son has been born, but Lily's exhausted and already asleep. Come and visit and meet your godson doing visiting hours tomorrow. Good night."

Hermione who had already gotten dressed for bed and done her ablutions went right to sleep with a smile on face.

In the morning she couldn't help whistling cheerfully, as she fixed breakfast and the twins knew that her best friend had been born last night, as they were well aware of the date of his birth.

"So your best friend has finally been born," Gideon suggested and Hermione nodded unable to remove the smile from her face.

"Yes, and I will make sure he has a happy childhood this time, by making sure that his parents live to raise him," Hermione said and the twins nodded knowing that this had been Mia's goal all along. "If James and Lily do happen to be killed Dumbledore's well aware that I'll fight to the last breath to make sure he doesn't get control of my godson and Sirius will be with me in this since he was named the Godfather."

"You don't really think that will happen, do you?" asked Fabian.

"Likely not, but I still let him know I was prepared to fight for custody of him if I had to," said Hermione. "I thought a warning that I was watching him might be a good idea. He knows that he won't be able to get away with anything right under my nose. He knows I have information about the future that could likely ruin him if he pushes things. I hate having to threaten anyone like this, as it's so dirty and dishonest, but Dumbledore's so used to getting his own way that this was the only way to get him to listen. He has no idea what I know, as he can't get into my mind to find out, but he can tell I'm being serious and that I have information that could damage his reputation. I think if he knows someone's keeping an eye on him it will keep him on the straight and narrow. Part of Dumbledore's problem is he has no one to tell him he's being an arrogant idiot and slap him upside the head when he tries to do things by himself without asking anyone for advice. The population in England was absolutely in awe of his power when he took out Grindelwald, which is what started building his reputation. Everybody on the face of the earth no matter how old and wise needs somebody that they trust and respect and will listen to if necessary, especially someone with his power. Power corrupts and absolute power collapse absolutely," Hermione quoted.

"So if I understand what you're saying you think the reason Dumbledore is like he is because he doesn't have anybody he trusts or respects enough to ask for advice and in fact it probably goes against his grain to ask anybody for their opinion, just because he believes he's the cleverest, smartest wizard alive," Gideon summarized.

"More or less," Hermione agreed. "I won't deny he's brilliant, just that everybody seems to want his advice, which has led him to believe he can never be wrong. Really, it's the people that have helped create the man that Dumbledore is. Having so much power and having powerful people come to you to ask your opinion can go to anyone's head. I have to admit that this version of Dumbledore isn't half as bad as the one in my own time and I hope seriously that he will stay that way, now that he knows someone is watching him. Anyway, Dumbledore won't matter after Voldemort is gone, as he'll just be an old man who will realize that his time in power is coming to an end. I think the less I think about that meddling old man the better."

Gideon carefully changed the subject to something else and all three of them enjoyed a quiet breakfast together, before the twins headed into work at the ministry.

~~~Gideon, Hermione, Fabian~~~

A few months later, Hermione received a letter from Molly saying that they were accepting both offers.

Hermione immediately got started on the potion for Molly, which luckily didn't require any expensive or hard-to-find ingredients. Hermione had already bought the ingredients and put them under a preservation charm, just in case Molly accepted her offer. It was pretty close to the time that Hermione was positive that Ginny had been conceived. It was only a week or so until the beginning of September, but luckily, the potion wasn't too complicated Hermione decided once she rechecked the directions in her copy of the Potioneer. It certainly wasn't as complicated as Wolfsbane, which she was already making for Remus, even though it wasn't invented yet and wouldn't be for a few years.

It was done within hours and Hermione quickly bottled it in an unbreakable vial putting it in a safe place until she could deliver them to the Burrow. Luckily, the potion was good for several months before it was unusable. Hermione didn't want Molly to take it until she was sure she was pregnant with Ginny, as she wanted a former girlfriend to be born. She would tell Molly as much and make sure she followed directions precisely.

Once the twins got home from work Hermione spent most of her time with her fiancés, as between making plans for the defeat of Voldemort and spending time with the other people she had become close to in this time she, Fabian and Gideon really didn't spend that much time together. However, that was the way that life was, people spending time with their spouses as well as their friends. Still, Hermione tried to spend at least most evenings with her soon to be husbands.

"So what did you do today while we were working?" Fabian asked.

"Your sister contacted me and agreed to both offers, so I brewed that potion I mentioned while you were working so it is already bottled and ready to go. Luckily, it's good for several months, as I don't want Molly to start taking it until she's sure that she's pregnant with her daughter. I want her to be born, even though we won't really be friends in this time, though I suppose I'll be her aunt. She was my best girlfriend in my own time as most of the girls in my year were rather immature and silly. Parvati and Lavender were the gossip queens, and I was never into that kind of thing. All they seemed to care about was boys, their hair and makeup and other frivolous subjects. If they heard something important they had it all over the castle in no time, as they couldn't keep a secret to save their lives."

"Fabian and I knew somebody like that to, though they weren't in the same year luckily," Gideon winced.

"Well, I already knew that Parvati and Lavender weren't two of a kind. I knew several people like them when I was in Muggle primary school," Hermione said.

"So we happened to run into Arthur and we are all invited to dinner at the Burrow tomorrow night.

"Sounds good," Hermione said agreeable looking forward to another of Molly's meals. "Did he happen to say anything to you about the offer I made Molly?"

"No, he didn't, he wouldn't have, because the ministry is not the place to talk about that kind of thing where somebody can overhear. All of us don't want anybody to know about what we're up to, especially not somebody that could cause trouble. Arthur knows what the ministry is like so he would know better than to talk about anything private within its walls," Fabian said.

"Which is likely why we were invited to dinner tomorrow," Gideon added.

"That's true," Hermione acknowledged. "The ministry can't keep a secret to save it's life or at least they couldn't in my time. So I can give Molly my potion tomorrow, though I'll have to make sure we are alone before I do. We don't need any of the kids to come in at the wrong moment as they wouldn't be able to keep their mouths shut, as children tend to not have filters. They are too young to know to keep anything private, well, except perhaps for Bill, since he's the oldest so should be able to keep a secret."

"Still, it's better if no one knows except us and Molly," Gideon said.

"Yes, it is because I don't want word to get around that Molly had help in having more than one. I want everybody to assume that she was just lucky and that it's a natural event," Hermione agreed. "Triplets do exist in the wizarding world, though mostly not in Britain because of the inbreeding."

"I think it's time we retired too bed," Fabian suggested with a leer, looking his fiancée up and down his intentions clear.

Hermione blushed, but didn't protest, when Fabian picked her up easily and headed to the bedroom.

~~~Gideon, Hermione, Fabian~~~

"Welcome," Arthur greeted the twins and Hermione as soon as they entered the back door. "Dinner is almost ready so you're just in time."

"Good, because we are starving," Gideon and Fabian said together.

"You're always starving," Hermione laughed.

"Seems to be a family trait," Arthur said cheerfully.

Conversation was sparse once everyone had greeted each other. Hermione in particular paid attention to the kids and made sure that she spent at least a few minutes with each one. The children soaked up the attention like it was the finest of wines, just as Hermione knew they would. Children needed plenty of attention when they were young, needed to know they were loved.

"Welcome," Molly greeted them with a smile once they had all entered the kitchen.

"It smells absolutely wonderful, Molly," Fabian complimented his sister.

It was true there were wonderful smells circulating around the kitchen.

"Oh, you flatterer, you," Molly blushed at the compliment.

"I happen to think that Fabian is right, you're a wonderful cook," Hermione said kissing Molly's cheek. "I always looked forward to one of your meals in my own timeline."

Molly blushed again, but went back cooking. She loved being complimented for her cooking skills.

"Why don't you go get the boys Arthur, I'll have dinner on the table in just a minute," Molly told her husband who obeyed.

Soon everybody was gathered around the kitchen table that was quite large. The older kids picked what they wanted to eat but Ron was still a bit too young to do that so Molly fed him from her own plate and once he was satisfied fixed her own portion after putting him in playpen in a corner of the living room.

The kids were loud and rambunctious doing the meal, simply chattering away to everyone, but Arthur and Molly didn't mind. They never had, Hermione thought fondly. They certainly weren't of the mindset that children should be seen and not heard like so many families. Of course, most families only had one child or at most two.

Finally, dinner was over and Molly left the dishes in the sink to wash themselves, as she shooed all the older children upstairs and took Ron herself since he was still so young and she didn't want him falling down the stairs. Hermione and Arthur went into the living room while Molly was busy putting the children to bed. As for Fabian and Gideon they headed home knowing that Mia would tell them all the important bits of the discussion after she got home.

A few minutes later Molly returned and once she was present Hermione cast a spell on the living room that had been invented by Snape while he had been in school.

"It will muffle our conversation so that nobody can understand what we are saying," Hermione explained grinning at their looks of astonishment. "It was invented by a student at Hogwarts that just graduated fairly recently. Harry discovered his old potions book and found several spells written in the margins, ones he had created. It has come in useful on occasion."

Hermione didn't mention the identity of the person that had created the spell.

"We don't want any of the kids to overhear, and children tend to be curious."

"So to began Molly told me about your offer," Arthur said. "It took both of us discussing it over the last few months to finally decide to accept. It has nothing to do with the fact we don't trust you, just that usually I would never accept such an offer. However, since it's just a loan and I do intend on paying you back that I finally decided that that was okay."

"That's just fine," Hermione promise warmly. "This will make sure that you don't have to struggle to send the kids to Hogwarts when the time comes. You'll be financially comfortable but you won't be wealthy like the Malfoy's."

"Which is another reason that we finally decided to accept your offer," Arthur said.

"I kind of figured that, since I knew you quite well in my own time. I would've just given you the money, but I knew you would never take it, so loaning you some so that you could invest seemed like the thing to do. I don't want you to struggle to pay Hogwarts fees or for books and other equipment. I know how expensive a boarding school can be, and not everybody is as financially secure as my parents were. My parents were dentist a type of Muggle Healer and they would've been considered upper middle class. They had no trouble paying for books and equipment or paying school fees, especially since I was an only child. The only trouble they had was letting their little girl go so far away from home. I mean they couldn't even call me or me call them."

"That's something I can understand," Molly said nodding. "I know it's tradition and everything that non-magical parents are supposed to put their children on the train and then basically forget about them. If that was us Arthur would you be able to forget about your children once they started Hogwarts?"

"Of course not," Arthur protested understanding the point.

"Even if my parents had had more than me they wouldn't have had any trouble paying the fees," Hermione said. "Of course, most Muggle families don't have more than two or three children, but that's a matter of preference. In my parents case my mother had so much trouble giving birth to me that she was warned that if she tried to have another it could likely kill her. My parents wanted at least one more but they made the wise decision and decided to not attempt to have them. It might have turned out okay or it could've ended in tragedy. They decided just to be happy with the daughter they had."

"That is so tragic," Molly said with real feeling. "To be denied something you want so much, just because your own body betrays you."

"It was the right decision, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt a great deal," Hermione said.

"Yes, in that respect we've been very lucky," Arthur said, even as he put an arm around Molly's shoulder.

"Yes, some women just aren't suitable to have more than one child and my mother just happened to be one of them. It is tragic when it happens, but unfortunately, there is no way to change it," Hermione shrugged as she had accepted that she would be an only child years ago. "I'm very glad you decided to accept my offer, Arthur. Believe me, I understand that you love working in Misuse of Muggle Artifacts and if you had only had two or three children then you'd be able to afford to raise them without having to worry so much about money."

"Yeah, I suppose we did go overboard in having children," Arthur admitted with a little smile. "But we just want a little girl to love so much, and unfortunately, my family tree is full of boys with very few girls."

Hermione said nothing, but she and Molly exchanged significant looks when Arthur wasn't looking.

"Why, I believe that there hasn't been any Weasley girls born for at least five generations if I'm remembering right," Arthur said.

"Don't worry so much," said Hermione smiling.

Arthur perked up at that and it was clear that he was cheered by the news. Mia hadn't come right out and said that he and Molly would get the girl they really wanted, but she had certainly implied it and if anybody would know what the future would bring she would.

Hermione handed Arthur a sack of Galleons and told him what company to invest in.

"I think it's better if you do it, as I don't want to mess it up," Arthur said. "I admit I don't really know much about the Muggle world, despite my fascination with it."

"I could teach if you like," Hermione offered.

"Don't encourage him," Molly told her guest in protest.

"I'm afraid it's a lost cause to stop him from being fascinated by people like my parents that don't have magic," Hermione told Molly smiling and shaking her head.

Molly had never approved of her husband's obsession with all things Muggle, but personally Hermione thought it was wise to learn as much as you could about the culture you shared a living space with. She knew that plenty of magicals disagreed with that sentiment, not that it mattered to her.

"Oh, well, I've already put up with it for years already," Molly shrugged physiologically.

Hermione took back the sack of Galleons and promised that she would take care of it in the morning. "You need to sign legal authority over to me, even if it's just this one thing," Hermione told Arthur who nodded.

"You know the goblins like everything nice and legal. There's no point of making them suspicious," Hermione said. "They have ways to verify whether or not you wrote it."

"I'll do that before you leave," Arthur agreed. "Thank you for doing this for us."

"You're quite welcome," Hermione said warmly smiling. "I was rather fond of all of the Weasleys in my own time, though I admit I didn't get to see much of Bill and Charlie as they were already in careers of their own before I started school. I only met Bill a couple of times, once doing my fourth year and then later and I only met Charlie once also doing fourth or I should say that it was the summer before my fourth year."

"They both came home?" Molly asked her face lighting up.

"There was a professional Quidditch match being played in England for the first time in years. Arthur managed to get very good tickets and took Harry and me along. I admit that I was never really a fan of Quidditch, though Harry was and will be again. There's no way that James is going to allow his son to not like Quidditch."

"James always was a Quidditch fanatic," Molly smiled.

"So is 90% of the wizarding world," Hermione muttered. "Personally, I have never understood magicals obsession with the game."

Molly nodded in agreement, because she knew that Bill and Charlie were Quidditch mad and so was her husband. She had a feeling that most of her family was going to end up being crazy about it. Oh, well, there was really nothing she could do and at least it was a relatively harmless past time and it was more than socially acceptable to love the game.

"I'll show you out," Molly said a few minutes later.

"Yeah, I had better get home," Hermione agreed.

"Why didn't Fabian and Gideon stay for the conversation?" Arthur asked curiously.

"Because they know I'll tell them anything important and because they were afraid we would talk about stuff that they don't need to know about their sister or any female," Hermione shrugged. "There're lots of little facts the siblings don't need to know about each other unless of course, they are the same-sex. They thought maybe we would be talking about personal female problems and they didn't want to know about that kind of thing."

Arthur nodded satisfied at that as there were lots of things he didn't need to know about his wife that were female problems. There were just some things that wizards didn't need to know about their witch, not even considering that Muggle men felt the same way about their women.

Molly and Hermione headed for the back door after Arthur had headed upstairs not saying a word, but before she left she handed Molly a vial.

"One sip right after dinner at bedtime. You need to give it at least half an hour to make sure it's into your system. Don't start taking it until you're sure your pregnant with your daughter, which should be any time now if my calculations are right. It should happen sometime in the next week or so. You should be able to tell when you're only a couple of days pregnant."

"Yes, I know the spell," Molly confirmed

"Good," Hermione nodded satisfied. "This should guarantee you have at least twins and I won't be surprised if you have triplets, though I can't guarantee the sexes except for the first one. Still, we'll know in a couple of months at most."

"Thank you for this," Molly said.

"You're quite welcome," Hermione smiled kissing Molly's cheek. "Remember, no telling anyone about this and if you happen to run into Dumbledore don't look into his eyes, he likes to do passive Legilimency on people. What I'm doing is not illegal, but Dumbledore was a busybody in my time and always has been and I'm sure he'd disapproved of using a potion from the future to help you have more children. Dumbledore likes to believe he's the moral compass for everybody when he has his own faults, a multitude of them. He seems to believe that he has a right to lecture anybody that does something he disapproves of when he really doesn't. Moral and ethics were way different back in the time he was born then they are here in the 1980s, though I know the wizarding world hasn't changed much in the same amount of time that the Muggle one has. Using it to help out somebody I know wants more girl children if possible is not wrong in my book. It's not like I'm going to sell the potion as my own creation."

"No you're too honest to do that," Molly agreed.

"Besides, I don't need the money thanks to the sale of that basilisk. I'll have more than I'll ever need actually," Hermione said. "I think having too much wealth just corrupts people, a lot of them anyway. A lot of people with too much money begin to believe they can do anything they want no matter how illegal and get away with it. This doesn't always happen, but it happens far too often in my opinion. Now, I'll say good night and I'll see you in a few days," Hermione promised.

"You sure this potion won't harm the baby that I'll be pregnant with, right?"

"No, it won't," Hermione said and Molly nodded.

"Alright," Molly said, putting the vial into the pocket of her robe.

"Make sure you let me know as soon as you know how many you are going to have, as I want to know," Hermione said. "The odds are good that you'll have triplets, but we'll just have to see."

"If I have three daughters that would be just perfect," Molly said beaming at the thought. "Yes, I know there are no guarantees as you warned me before, but I'm hoping if I do have triplets that all of them will be girls."

"I can't really blame you for that," Hermione said understandingly. "With the companies I'm going to invest in for you and Arthur you'll have plenty of money to look after them, as well as your other children."

"Which is why I agreed to have you brew this potion," Molly said. "I would never imagine having more than one if we didn't have the extra money that investing in those Muggle businesses will bring in, as we struggle now to pay for things with six children."

"Which is why I suggested them in the first place," Hermione smirked. "I knew how much you struggled to pay for things with seven children, which is why I made the offer."

Molly finally escorted her guest out the back door and watched Hermione popped away to return to her brothers. She was so happy that Mia was going to join the family and she was already planning the wedding in her head. She was also very happy that her brothers were finally settling down, even if that was with the same woman, as usually at least 90% of wizarding folks were married by 18 or 19 and had at least two children by the time they were her brothers age. Hopefully, there'd be many children in the future, even if Mia had said she wasn't going to have as many as she had. Still, so long as she got at least two out of each of her brothers she'd be happy. Hopefully, Mia wouldn't be like her mother before her and only able to have one child, but then magical medicine was way different from Muggle medicine so hopefully, if there were any problems they'd be easily fixable. Still, that was for the future.

~~~Gideon, Hermione, Fabian~~~