* Dates and truth *
She walked out of the fireplace in a hurry. All she wanted was to go up to her room and stay there. She was heading there when her mom called her.
"Belle, is that you?" she asked. The 16-year-old girl just sighed. "What are you doing home so early? Didn't you have a date with Adam in Diagon Alley? Is everything alright?" her mom asked. Belle didn't respond. She just looked at her, eyes welling up with tears, and went upstairs to her room and slammed the door.
"what the hell was that?" Ron asked walking in the living room in that moment. Hermione looked at him.
"Something happened to Belle. She just came back from her date with Adam." she responded. Ron looked at her. So far, he couldn't find any problem with that. Hermione sighed, kinda frustrated. "She left an hour ago and stormed in the house upset. Something happened." she said.
"Yeah, probably that git broke her heart." Ron said, mad, as they heard someone calling their eldest daughter from the fireplace. Hermione went there.
"Adam?" she asked.
"Hi, Mrs Weasley. I'm sorry to bother you, but... I wanted to know if Belle got home alright. She stormed out of the ice-cream parlour saying she didn't feel good and that she needed to get home ASAP." the boy said. As Ron was about to say something, Hermione raised her hand and stopped him.
"Yes, Adam. She got home alright and is in her room. You have any idea what happened?" she asked him.
"Well... we were at the ice-cream parlour, I gave Belle the gift I got her during my vacation and... Teddy and Victoire showed up. Belle seemed a bit mad at him and she pulled him aside. They talked for a while, and he must have told her something very upseting because the next thing I knew she wanted to go home." he explained. Hermione just nodded. "I swear I don't know what happened, Mrs Weasley. If I did something to upset her, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean it." he continued. he seemed genuinly worried and upset.
"It's alright, Adam. I'll talk to her and tell her to floo call you later, ok?" she told the teenage boy. He nodded and left. Hermione went back to Ron.
"Well... it wasn't Adam who upset her." she told him. Just as Ron was going to say something, Teddy and Victoire walked out of the fireplace. Victoire was grabbing Teddy's ear and he was complaining that it hurt him. Eventually, she let go and sighed, annoyed, leaving his ear all red.
"Tell them what you did." she demanded. He looked at her and she gave him such a stern look that he sighed, looked down, then turned his head to Ron and Hermione. They looked at him, expectant.
"So... is Belle home?" he asked. Victoire slapped him on the back of his head. "ouch, woman! That hurt!" he complained rubbing the place where she had hit him.
"Teddy, we know you said something to upset her. So, spill it out already." Hermione said impatiently.
Teddy sighed. "Vicky and I walked in the ice-cream parlour and went to Adam and Belle. I knew they were going to be there because I heard uncle Ron tell uncle Harry that she had a date with him and uncle Ron said that he didn't like it because he didn't know what they were going to do alone together, so I told him I would go and keep an eye on them." Teddy started as Victoire hit him again on the head. "Ouch! I swear I used it as an excuse to go out with you." he told her. She rolled her eyes and Hermione told him to continue.
"Anyway, Belle noticed that it wasn't a coincidence that we were there as well, so she pulled me aside and I told her that I had told uncle Ron that I was going to keep an eye on her. She got mad, saying that uncle Ron didn't trust her and then..." he said, then stopped and looked at the floor.
"then what, Teddy?" Hermione asked.
"Then... I told her that... her father just wanted to make sure that she didn't make the same mistake that he did when you guys were her age." he said.
"What? Dating someone who clearly wasn't for us?" Ron asked. Teddy shook his head. "then what, Teddy?" he asked.
"Sleeping with her boyfriend and... getting pregnant." Teddy confessed, still looking down. Hermione and Ron looked at each other, worried.
"How could you tell her that? It's not even true!" Ron exclaimed angry.
"That you and aunt Mione slept together and you were so irresponsible that you got her pregnant at 17? Yeah, right." Teddy asked, sarcastically. Ron gave him a look.
"that having her was a mistake." Hermione said. Teddy looked at her, realising what just happened.
"and that's why we're going to aunt Ginny's now." Victoire said, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the fireplace.
"I-I I'm so sorry, aunt Mione, uncle Ron. I didn't mean it that way." he said as Victoire pulled him in the fireplace. Hermione just nodded. "Don't make me go to aunt Ginny's. She's going to hex me until next century." he said later.
"And you deserve it!" Victoire snapped. A while later, both teenagers were gone. Hermione and Ron looked at each other.
"What are we going to do now, Ron?" she asked.
"About...?" he asked. Hermione gave him stern a look.
"She thinks that, because we didn't plan to have her as we planned Rose and Hugo, we don't love her as much." she said.
"That's ridiculous!" Ron exclaimed.
"I know. But it's what she thinks, Ron. We have to talk to her, tell her that, even though she wasn't planned, she was never a mistake for us." she said. He nodded. Minutes later, Ron took Rose and Hugo to the Burrow while Hermione prepared some hot chocolate and cookies. Together, they went upstairs to their daughter's room. Ron knocked on the door.
"Belle? honey? Can we come in?" Hermione asked.
"We brought food." Ron added. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"She's not you, Ron. You can't persuade her with that." she snapped. He gave her a look.
They just heard sniffing and sobbing, so they slowly opened the door and walked in. They placed the tray with the food on the bedside table and sat on each side of her bed. Belle didn't look at them. She just sobbed. Ron and Hermione looked at each other. Hermione went to rub her daughter's back, but Belle moved.
"We... Teddy came here a while ago. He told us what happened." Hermione started. Still, Belle didn't look at them.
"He's with your aunt Ginny now. She'll hex him till next century, I bet you a galleon for that." Ron said as Hermione smaked his arm.
"I know... th-that you didn't plan to have me as much as you planned on having Rosie and Hugh." Belle said in a small voice. "I was a mistake." she then said. Hermione placed her hands on her daughter's arms, making her to lay on her back and face them.
"I want you to listen to me and I want you to listen carefully, young lady: DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT AGAIN. Did you hear me? I don't ever want you to say those words again." Hermione said firmly.
"B-but it's true. You weren't expecting to have me. You had unprotected sex and got pregnant. I was a mistake." Belle said as Hermione shook her head.
"You're everything but a mistake, Belle. You are..." Ron started.
"the greatest surprise that we ever got." Hermione said with a smile. Belle just looked at her. Hermione went and laid next to Belle. "See... before you were born, the wizarding world was in one of the worst wars against Voldemort, one of the most evil wizards that ever existed. He believed that only pure blood people - the ones who were born from magical families - should be the only ones allowed to do magic. They... they thought that muggle-borns and half-bloods shouldn't be allowed to do magic, and... and they were after them." Hermione stopped, feeling her eyes welling up with tears and a lump in her throat.
"They were after you too?" Belle asked her. Hermione looked at her and nodded.
"They did terrible things, Belle. They tortured people, they humilliated them and killed them. And me, your mom and your uncle Harry went on the run trying to find some things called horcruxes that were going to help us destroy Voldemort." Ron explained.
Belle looked down. Hermione tilted her daughter's head with her hand and made her to look at her.
"When we found out we were having you, we were dead scared, mainly because we didn't know if we were going to survive. And if we did survive, we weren't sure what to do with a baby. Our main mission was to destroy Voldemort and make our world a better place for everyone." Hermione said.
"And then... everything changed. Our main mission - I mean, your mother's and mine - wasn't that anymore. Well, it was, but not the most important one. Now our main mission was to take care of you and make the world a better place... for you. We went through the most horrible things and you... you came to us to bring us hope. We were terrified and worried, and you brought us peace and love and hope. You were our little miracle." Ron said, smiling. Belle looked at her mom's arm and traced her fingers around the scar. Hermione looked at her.
"They tortured you too?" Belle asked. Hermione nodded. "Was I inside you when it happened?" Belle asked, still tracing her fingers around the letters that were still engraved in Hermione's arm. Hermione nodded again, tears running down her cheeks.
"After that, nobody thought you and I were going to survive, but we did. And when the war was over and you were born, they all said that you were too small, too weak to survive. But you did. You were the strongest little girl I've ever seen." Hermione said, tears falling down her cheeks. "You taught us so much, Belle." she added, brushing her tears away with her hands. "Maybe... maybe we didn't plan to have you as we planned your sibblings, but God, Belle! We were more than happy to have you. And we loved you so much since the very beginning. So, don't ever think you are a mistake, because that's not true. You're the best thing that ever happened to us. We love you so much, princess. Everybody says we saved the world but... you truly saved us." Hermione said, caressing her daughter's hair. Belle smiled a bit.
"I love you too, mom. And you too, dad." Belle said. Ron went and kissed her head as Hermione noticed the new necklace her daughter was wearing: a gold chain with the charm of a rose in a glass. Across the rose you could read the word "Belle" written in it.
"That's the gift Adam got you?" Hermione asked her. Belle's eyes opened widely and she looked at her mom, kinda shocked.
"How do you...?" Belle said before her mom interrupted her.
"Adam floo called you after you arrived. He told me about the gift. He was really worried about you." Hermione said. Belle looked down and played with her necklace.
"I really screwed up our date. We didn't even get to eat an ice-cream." she said. Hermione and Ron looked at each other.
"How about... you invite him over tomorrow?" Hermione asked. Both Ron and Belle looked at her. She looked back. "You can play Quidditch or chess, we can all have some lunch and... then you can go to Diagon Alley for some ice cream." she added later. Belle kept looking at her.
"Can... Can I? Really?" she asked. Hermione looked at Ron. He sighed and nodded. Hermione looked back at her daughter and smiled. Belle leaned forward and hugged them both tight. "thank you so much! I'm gonna call him now!" She then said, getting out of bed. She ran downstairs and to the living room.
"She's happy." Ron said. Hermione got up and nodded. Ron smiled and looked at a picture of him, Hermione and Belle that their daughter had in her night stand. Belle was only 5 in that picture and she was dressed as her favourite book character: Belle from 'Beauty and The Beast.' Both Hermione and Ron were smiling in that picture. Now more than any time, Ron and Hermione were absolutely sure that their daughter was the best thing gift they had gotten. Surely, she wasn't as planned as her sibblings, but she was the first one who had taught them what unconditional love was and what it could do to them.