After leaving the Hogwarts open day, Ginny returned to The Burrow and had a few drinks to try and get over her embarrassment. Not ready to talk about the show she'd made of herself with her family, she wrote a note informing her parents she had chosen to have an early night, and didn't want to be disturbed, and continued with her drinking in the privacy of her own room. She was still wide awake when she heard her parents and children return from their day at Hogwarts, and even though part of her was eager to check that the twins had enjoyed the remainder of their day, she stayed locked in her room, keeping quiet in case anyone decided to try and check on her.
Although the note Ginny had left kept her family at bay, and no-one made any attempt to check up on her. Alone in her room, Ginny heard when the twins headed off to bed, and she heard her parents settling into their room several hours later. Only when the house was silent once again, did she allow herself to get off her bed and pace the bedroom floor as her mind whirled over what she was going to do now.
Given the embarrassing scene she'd created in public, part of her wondered if the right thing for both her and the twins was to return to Canada. However, there really was nothing for them back in Canada, and she honestly couldn't see them being able to start fresh in the country which held so many memories for them all. Besides, her family were still here in Britain, and despite everything, Ginny still wanted to remain close to her family. She wanted to make up for lost time. To reconnect with her brothers, and meet the nieces and nephews she didn't yet know. Although obviously, that was all going to be more difficult now. But not impossible.
Ginny knew she would have to hold her hands up to getting things wrong with Hermione. Although while she would admit that the conclusions she'd jumped to today had been wrong, and would begrudgingly apologise it if it kept the peace, she wouldn't be swayed on her overall opinion of Hermione. She still considered the older witch a manipulator who had both Harry and Ron wrapped around her little finger. However, getting them to see that now would be nigh on impossible as unwittingly Ginny had helped give Hermione the moral high ground.
It had always frustrated Ginny that Harry and Ron had been so blinded by Hermione that they did anything she wanted, and last time she'd tried to get them to see her true colours, she'd been the one ostracised. And if she wasn't careful, it would happen again. Hermione still had them both in her thrall, and even the fact she'd somehow ended up married to their school enemy hadn't broken the spell she had over her two best friends. They both still thought she could do no wrong, even now she was a Malfoy.
"Crazy," she muttered, shaking her head at the thought of her brother and ex-boyfriend being so under Hermione's spell. Although the rest of the family weren't much better as Ginny hadn't forgotten the way her parents had spoken to Malfoy as though they actually liked him.
Eventually Ginny crawled back into bed, but she got very little sleep as she mulled over what her next steps were going to be. As adamant as she'd been that she would never apologise to Hermione, she could now see that it would likely have to happen in order to keep her family sweet. But that was as far as it would go, she certainly wouldn't be welcoming Hermione into her life anytime soon. As for her brothers, she would try her best to rebuild her relationships with them, and to establish relationships with their wives and children. With any luck, she and the twins would soon be an integral part of the family again.
Aside from Hermione, the only blight on the horizon was the fact Ginny couldn't see herself winning back Harry as she'd envisioned. Even though she known he was married, she'd convinced herself it wasn't a solid marriage since he spent so much of his time away from his wife while teaching at Hogwarts. But even though she'd only seen Harry with Pansy briefly, it was enough for her to know that their relationship was solid. She'd seen the love in Harry's eyes when he'd looked at his wife, so unless she was going to resort to underhand tactics, there was no getting back with Harry.
Ginny was still musing on whether she wanted to try underhand tactics to win Harry back when she got up. Since she was so early, no-one else was around so she made herself a cup of coffee and headed outside to enjoy the early morning sun. Settled on a bench that stood just outside of the back door, she remained there until she heard movement inside. Bracing herself for whatever her parents had to throw her way, Ginny headed back into the house only to find the only person in the kitchen was Harry.
"Harry," she gasped, rather surprised to see her ex-boyfriend so soon. Of course, given his closeness to her family she knew she would see him again, but she'd been thinking she would have some time to try and decide how she wanted to approach him before coming face to face with him again.
"Ginny," Harry returned in a sombre voice.
"Is everything okay?" Ginny asked, unsure if there was something wrong or if Harry was just resentful of what had happened the previous day.
"No, I just called to see Molly and Arthur," Harry answered. "I promised them news, but I didn't want to send an owl in the middle of the night."
"News?" Ginny questioned in bewilderment, totally baffled as to what Harry was going on about. It certainly sounded as though she should know what's going on, but she had no clue what was happening.
"About Hermione and the baby," Harry said, giving Ginny a scrutinising look. "You do know she went into labour yesterday, don't you?"
"No, I didn't know," Ginny admitted, feeling a wave of guilt wash over her. She didn't like Hermione, but she did hope that nothing she had done had caused anything bad to happen to her, or worse to the baby. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes, she and the baby are fine," Harry replied. "I came to let your parents know that she had a little girl, and they're calling her Carina."
"That's nice," Ginny said, feeling as if she had to say something positive. Although what she really felt was a massive sense of relief that no harm had befallen an innocent baby. "I can let Mum and Dad know when they get up."
"I'd appreciate it," Harry said with a sharp nod of his head. "Can you also tell them that Hermione and the baby are at home, but they've asked that no-one visits them today. They want it to be just family for now."
"I'll pass the message on," Ginny vowed as Harry turned to leave. "Harry," she called, stopping her ex-boyfriend as he was almost out of the kitchen door. "I'm sorry about yesterday."
"I'm not the one you need to apologise to," Harry snorted. "But if I were you, I would leave it for a while. Hermione has more important things to worry about than you."
"I just don't want things to be awkward for the twins," Ginny said. "I know you're still close with the family, and I'm guessing the same can be said of Hermione. I don't want the twins suffering because of me."
"They won't," Harry assured her. "If it's any consolation, I think the twins are already forging friendships. Sophia is certainly keen on them. Your actions won't affect them."
"But they will affect me," Ginny guessed, reading between the lines of what Harry was saying. "You think less of me after yesterday, don't you?"
"Honestly, I do," Harry replied bluntly, causing Ginny to wince. "All those years ago, I put your actions down to the fact you were a teenage girl with a broken heart. But you're a grown woman now, Ginny. I cannot excuse the way you spoke to Hermione, and everything you said about her. Since Hermione wants to forget it and move on, I'll try to not hold it against you, but it does prove to me that we can't be friends. Our paths will inevitably cross, Ginny, we can't change that, and I can certainly be civil to you. But that is all I can offer you. I'm sorry, but that is just the way it is."
After double checking she would pass his message onto Molly and Arthur, Harry headed off, leaving Ginny to come to terms with the fact that her hopes for her future were well and truly shattered. Harry hadn't held back on her, and even using underhand tactics, Ginny still didn't think she could woo him away from Pansy. Although given what he thought of her now, she wasn't sure she would want to anyway. Why would she want someone who didn't want her? Her best bet was to move on, and with any luck she would find someone else to share the rest of her life with. As now it was very clear that her future did not lie with Harry Potter.
In the early hours of the morning, Hermione eventually gave birth to a healthy baby girl. She and Draco had discussed several names in the previous few months, so it didn't take them long to settle on Carina as a name for their new daughter. In fact, they had chosen the name before their other two children were allowed to come into the hospital wing for a very quick visit with their new sibling. Once Scorpius and Lyra had met their new sister and had headed for bed, Harry and Ron briefly poked their heads in, with Ron promising to visit properly once he got back from France, and Harry promising to spread the word about the new arrival.
After spending the rest of the night in the hospital wing at Hogwarts, Hermione and Carina were checked over by a healer on the Sunday morning and given permission to go home. McGonagall insisted that Draco should go home with Hermione and the baby, and that they should both start their summer holidays early as with less than a week of school left, their classes could be easily covered. Although she had another treat for the couple as she also allowed Scorpius and Lyra to go home for the day, although they both had to be back by evening to finish their school term as usual.
At home, Hermione was rather pleased that she'd been so organised, and she was especially pleased that in recent weeks, her mother-in-law, Narcissa, had assured everything was ready for when the newest member of the family arrived. It certainly made the transition home run smoothly, and Hermione was able to relax knowing they had everything they needed, rather than running around trying to get everything sorted since Carina had arrived early.
"She is the most gorgeous baby I have ever seen," Lyra cooed, fussing over her new sister as the family relaxed in the living room.
They were actually waiting for Lucius and Narcissa to arrive to meet their newest grandchild. The couple had been away for the weekend, hence their absence from the open day, and all McGonagall had been able to do was leave a message with one of their house elves. However, Draco had personally ensured they had received the message that morning, and he'd had a message saying that they were heading home and would be along to meet their new grandchild that afternoon.
"How many other babies have you seen?" Scorpius scoffed.
"Plenty," Lyra retorted with a shrug. "We know loads of people younger than us. People we've known forever."
"Yeah, but we were only kids ourselves when they were born," Scorpius argued. "I can't say I ever took a lot of notice about what they looked like as babies."
"Well I did, and Carina beats the lot of them," Lyra announced. "She's beautiful."
"That she is," Draco agreed with a wide smile as Carina let out a hearty cry and he plucked her from where she was lying.
"I also think she's hungry," Hermione said with a sigh as she raised herself from her chair and held her arms out for her now wailing daughter. "I'll go and feed her, and someone can sort lunch. I could do with something to eat."
"Come on you two, come and help," Draco said, gesturing to the two teenagers.
"By help, do you really mean do it all for you?" Lyra teased. It was a family joke that Draco was not at all domesticated and without the rest of them he would struggle to look after himself.
"Yeah, do you even know how to make a sandwich, Dad?" Scorpius laughed.
"Of course I know how to make a sandwich," Draco replied with an indignant huff. "Even an idiot can throw a few bits and pieces in between two slices of bread. Do we have bread?" he suddenly asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Let's go and take a look," Lyra laughed, sharing an amused look with her brother, who shook his head at his father.
Instead of sandwiches, Lyra opted for a quick pasta salad, which was a bit more filling, and even though she took charge, there was still plenty for her brother and father to do. Although it was very much appreciated by Hermione, who enjoyed a large plate while Carina had drifted back off to sleep, having been fed herself.
Shortly after lunch, Lucius and Narcissa arrived to meet their newest grandchild, and got rather a shock to find their oldest two grandchildren at home. As the pair got cuddles from Carina, who had woken up almost the second they had arrived, Draco explained that McGonagall had allowed Scorpius and Lyra to spend the day with their family as it was Sunday. And of course the subject of the open day came up, so it was inevitable that Ginny's allegations once again saw the light of day.
"She never," Narcissa gasped in horror, hardly able to believe what she was hearing.
"She bloody well did," Draco hissed. "She's lucky I didn't hex her."
"I certainly would have," Lucius muttered. "What stopped you?"
"A few things," Draco answered with a sigh. "Firstly, we were at school and even though it was a weekend, I am still a Professor and was representing the school. Secondly, her children were right there, and I wouldn't have wanted them to suffer any more than they already were. And thirdly, I may not have time for that redheaded tart, but I do have friends among her family."
"I suppose hexing her would have only caused trouble," Lucius conceded. There was a time he would have said simply being a Weasley was a reason to be hexed, but times had changed and he'd grown to accept the family of redheads his daughter-in-law was so fond of. In fact, he even liked one or two of them, although he would never admit it in public.
"I don't want any trouble," Hermione said. "I just want to forget about what she said. Our paths will inevitably cross, so I just want to move on. I don't want yesterday to be remembered for what she said. I want it to be remembered for the day Carina started to make her entrance. I know technically she was born early this morning, but she began her arrival yesterday."
"I'm fairly sure that is what this year's open day will be remembered for," Draco assured his wife. "After all, it's not every open day one of the Professors gives birth."
"It was certainly a surprise when we heard the news," Narcissa chuckled. "But what a lovely way to mark the end of the year. I wonder if Carina is the first child ever to be born at Hogwarts?"
"I don't know, but it would certainly be interesting to find out," Hermione remarked. "Although that can wait. Right now, I want to enjoy our first day as a larger family. Can you believe, there is now seven Malfoys in the world?"
"We can make a quidditch team," Scorpius joked.
"Speaking of which, who won the quidditch yesterday?" Lucius asked as the female portion of the family expressed their dislike for Scorpius's idea.
"We never finished because Hermione went into labour, but we were winning," Draco answered.
"Rubbish, we were winning," Scorpius argued. "I'd already scored three more goals than you."
"No you hadn't," Draco protested. "Two of those goals were rebounds off Neville's backside. Technically, he was scoring own goals. In terms of real goals, we were winning."
As Scorpius replied to his father and the pair carried on bickering over who had been winning the quidditch, and who would have won if they'd played to the end of the game, Hermione settled back on the sofa beside Lyra, content to be in the midst of her family. Her life was pretty perfect right at the moment, and she planned on enjoying every single moment of it. Soon enough real life would intrude, but for now she would enjoy her first day as a mother of three.
The End.
A/N – Thank you all for reading, and I hope you have all enjoyed this short story. As I was publishing it, I decided that it needed an After The End piece, so I've wrote one to go with this story. I will be posting the After The End tomorrow, but instead of putting it in the After The End collection, I will be adding it to the end of this story. Over the next few weeks, I will then be transferring my other After The End's to the stories they belong with and in future post any new ones to the corresponding story so that the entire story is in one place for people to enjoy.