Not knowing what sort of turn the meeting between Hermione and Molly would take, Charlie suggested they held it in public. While Draco took Anya to the manor for the afternoon, Charlie and Hermione headed off to Diagon Alley to meet Molly in a café. It was still only a few days after Christmas when they met up, and Charlie was hoping to have some semblance of peace before New Year. It would be nice to start the New Year with a clean slate, and to not have to worry about what was going on while he was in Romania.

"I really hope this works," he said to Hermione as they settled down in a corner booth with their hot drinks.

"So do I," Hermione replied with a sigh. "I don't want all this tension with your mother, Charlie. It's starting to effect Anya."

"I know," Charlie said as he nodded his head. It had been hard to miss how Anya had reacted to going to The Burrow and how she had shied away from Molly.

Moments later Molly entered the café, and Charlie headed off to grab her a drink while she settled down opposite Hermione. By the time he returned with a large cup of tea for Molly, the two witches had exchanged greetings.

"I think we can all agree that something has to change here," Charlie began. "We can't keep going on as we are."

"Agreed," Hermione replied.

"Mum?"

"Something has to change," Molly conceded.

"Starting with your attitude towards Hermione," Charlie said firmly. "I know you mean well Mum, we both do, but you can't keep trying to interfere in how Hermione is raising Anya. Hermione is her mother, and she knows what's best for her."

"And I suppose I know nothing?" Molly snorted. "I did raise seven children you know."

"I know, and you did a great job of raising us," Charlie said soothingly. "But Hermione isn't you, and Anya isn't any of us. Hermione has a right to raise our daughter as she sees fit."

"And the key word there is 'our'," Molly argued. "She's your daughter too, Charlie."

"I am fully aware of that," Charlie replied. "Has it never occurred to you that all these digs you make about Hermione's choices raising Anya, are also digs at me. That every time you remind me that Anya is my daughter, it's the equivalent of you saying that you don't think I'm living up to my responsibilities."

"I think no such thing," Molly gasped. "I know what a good father you are, Charlie. I just don't want other people to forget it," she added with a piercing glare at Hermione.

"I know just what a great father Charlie is, and I will never forget it," Hermione said.

"Why can't you just accept that our situation works for us?" Charlie asked his mother.

"How can it?" Molly demanded. "The only time you see your daughter is special occasions and the odd holiday."

"Actually, that's where you're wrong," Charlie said, deciding the time with right to come clean to his mother. "I see Anya at least once a month, often more. I spend a lot of weekends visiting her."

"You've been coming home without letting us know?" Molly questioned, hurt and shock etched on her face.

"It was time I was spending with Anya," Charlie said. "Although maybe if you hadn't made me feel like such a failure as a father, I might have told you about the visits."

"A failure?" Molly repeated in a quiet voice. "I have never made you feel like a failure."

"You make us both feel like failures," Charlie replied. "You spend all your time getting on our backs over things you don't approve of. It started when Hermione was pregnant, and it hasn't stopped. Nothing we ever do is good enough for you, Mum. You didn't like that we didn't get married, or that we didn't live together, or even that one of us didn't pack up our lives to live near the other one. And the list goes on. It's not to your liking that Anya attends a muggle nursery. And now you're even trying to dictate who Hermione can and can't date."

"It's not just dating though," Molly argued, focusing on her son's final point and brushing off his other concerns. "She's marrying him."

"And I couldn't be happier for Hermione," Charlie insisted. "I've gotten to know Draco over the last couple of years, and I couldn't think of a better wizard to be Anya's stepfather. You're too blinded by hatred to see it, but he loves Anya. And before you say it, he's not trying to take my place. He accepts me as Anya's father, and we get along great."

"Sure it's all sunshine and roses now, but what about after the wedding?" Molly pressed. "They won't want you around once they're married, Charlie. You'll just be a reminder of a mistake Hermione made a few years ago."

"Don't you dare call Anya a mistake," Hermione hissed in a low voice. "She may not have been planned, but she's loved. And for the record, Charlie will always be a part of our family. Draco and I getting married won't change anything."

"Of course it will change things, don't be so naïve, Hermione," Molly snapped. "In a few years you'll be married and have other children. You won't have time in your life to include Charlie. Anya will just become another Malfoy."

"Anya isn't a Malfoy though," Hermione pointed out. "I'm not denying Draco and his parents love her and consider her family, but she will always be my daughter with Charlie. Just like Charlie will always be part of our lives. Even if Draco and I have more children, Charlie will be part of their lives too. Despite what you think, he will always be Anya's father."

"It's easy to say this now, but wait and see, I'll be proved right," Molly said. "First you'll get rid of Charlie from Anya's life and then you'll squeeze out the rest of us. Anya already doesn't like to be around us."

"And whose fault is that Mum?" Charlie asked with an exasperated sigh. He felt as though they were just going round in circles and nothing they were saying was getting through to Molly.

"You can't possibly be blaming me," Molly gasped in indignation. "We love Anya with all our hearts."

"I know you love her," Charlie soothed. "But she's a smart girl. Do you really think she hasn't noticed the disdain you feel for Hermione. I can see it when you talk to Hermione, and so can Anya. Why would she want to be around someone who clearly has an issue with her mother?"

"And I suppose she has nothing to do with it," Molly spat, glaring at Hermione once again. "I suppose perfect Hermione isn't partly to blame, trying to turn Anya against her real family."

"I would never try and turn Anya against anyone," Hermione insisted. "And before you go around accusing me of such a thing, I suggest you take a look at how she is with the rest of the family. It may have escaped your attention Molly, but it's you that she's wary of. She doesn't have any such problem with Arthur, or anyone else in the family. She adores then all. Before you start casting aspersions, take a closer look at yourself."

"That is it, I'm not staying here to be insulted," Molly stated as she jumped to her feet and began to pull her coat on.

"Mum, sit down," Charlie ordered sternly. "No-one is leaving until we've made some progress."

"How can we make progress when she's just insulting me?" Molly demanded, although she did sit back down.

"I didn't mean to insult you, Molly," Hermione said apologetically. "I'm sorry. I don't want things to be this way between us."

"Nor do I," Molly admitted in a small voice. Hermione may not have been her favourite person, but deep down she knew alienating her wasn't the best thing to do if she wanted to maintain a relationship with her granddaughter.

"The way I see it, we need to find some common ground," Charlie said. "Mum, you need to accept that Hermione is a very different person to you and is raising Anya in her own way. Don't try and tell her what to do, just accept that she's doing a good job and is a great mother. And Hermione, you need to accept that Mum needs to help out at times. It's just the way she is, and it's how she shows she cares. You don't need to do everything by yourself, not when Mum could sometimes lend a helping hand."

"I guess it couldn't hurt to accept some help sometimes," Hermione conceded. "I suppose it would be a help to sometimes have some time at home without Anya around when I have a busy schedule from work."

"And I would love to look after her more," Molly said with a hopeful smile. "And I will try not to interfere as much," she added when Charlie gave her a pointed look. "Anya is a lovely girl, and I don't suppose there's any real reason for me to complain about how you've raised her."

"That's step one," Charlie said. "Now to address the other issue. Draco."

"I can promise to keep my nose to myself, but I can't promise not to be worried about my granddaughter," Molly insisted.

"There's nothing to be worried about," Hermione argued. "Surely even you can see how the Malfoys have changed since the war. Draco loves us, and his parents have been nothing but welcoming towards us. I won't deny the past and the bad blood, but isn't it time we all moved on. If Harry and Ron can do it, surely you can."

"If you can't trust Hermione on this, surely you can trust Ron and Harry," Charlie urged. "They're Aurors, so they would know if the Malfoys can't be trusted. But you know neither of them have any problems with Hermione being with Draco."

"You're going to have to accept this Molly," Hermione said quietly. "I want to try and put things right between us so Anya can have a good relationship with her grandparents, but that can't happen if you refuse to accept my relationship with Draco. Whether you like it or not, he's a part of our lives, and by refusing to accept him, you're making it impossible for me. I don't want to have to choose, but if you force me, then Draco will win every time."

"It looks like I have no choice," Molly said in a flat voice, realising she was beat. "I don't like it, and I never will, but I can accept it. Just don't take our granddaughter away from us."

"I won't Molly," Hermione promised. "I'll try and make sure you see more of her."

"And I'll keep my mouth shut and my nose to myself," Molly said softly.

"Thank you Mum," Charlie said with a smile. "All I've ever wanted is for everyone to get along. Anya is so lucky that she has so many people who love her. Let's not all fight when all we really want is for Anya to be happy."

With a truce of sorts made, the trio had another hot drink before they went their separate ways. Charlie still wasn't sure if his mother could stick to her word and try and keep her nose out of Hermione's life, but he was hoping their talk had helped her see sense. Maybe now she could see how close she was coming to losing Anya for good.

"Do you think it'll work?" Hermione asked as she and Charlie arrived back home.

"I hope so," Charlie replied as they removed their coats and hung them in the front passageway. "You will keep to your side of things, won't you?"

"I will," Hermione confirmed with a nod. "I promise to make more of an effort."

"If you can, just ignore her small jibes," Charlie advised. "I know she promised to behave, but she'll not be able to stop herself completely."

"As long as she doesn't try and order me around, or tries to say anything bad about Draco, I can ignore her," Hermione said. Turning to go back into the front room, she spotted a piece of white card poking through the letterbox.

"What's that?" Charlie asked as Hermione reached out for the card. However, before she could grab it there was a knock on the front door.

"It's blank," Hermione said with a frown, pulling the card from the door and turning it over in her hands and finding nothing on either side as she unlocked the door to open it.

However, the strangeness of the blank card paled was briefly forgotten when Hermione opened the door to find Harry standing on the doorstep, a plain box in his hands. Before Hermione had a chance to ask what was going on, Ron appeared from around the side of the house with a shake of his head.

"Nothing," he announced.

"What is going on?" Charlie asked. "What are you two doing here, and what is that you're holding, Harry?"

"We got an alert to say the wards around the garden had been disturbed," Harry explained. "We came right here, but all we could find was this parcel on the doorstep."

"Who would leave a parcel on the doorstep?" Hermione questioned in a low voice.

"It's addressed to Anya," Harry said softly, showing Hermione and Charlie the parcel with their daughter's name on the front.

The first thing that struck both Hermione and Charlie was the fact there was no address on the parcel, just Anya's name, ruling out the possibility of it being left a muggle delivery service. Not that Hermione was expecting any parcels for her daughter as the only people that used muggle parcel deliveries were her parents, and they'd sent Anya's Christmas presents weeks before the big day.

"I think we should go inside and open it," Ron suggested in a sombre voice. Even though no-one had mentioned it, they had all reached the conclusion that the parcel had been left by Hermione's stalker.

Solemnly the foursome headed into the kitchen where Harry placed the parcel on the bench beside the oven. Using his wand, Harry carefully opened the paper and lifted the lid on the box. Peering inside the box, everyone let out an involuntary gasps as staring back at them was a Death Eater mask.