After All This Time

Chapter Six

A second knock on the door shook Hermione out of her frozen state. She rushed over to the door of her suite, throwing it open to reveal her two children.

"Hugo! Rose!" she cried. Rose stalked past her, but Hermione was able to wrap Hugo up in a tight hug.

"Don't mind Rose," he whispered. "She's a bit miffed right now."

Hermione just grinned, and led Hugo into the living area to join Rose on the couches.

"Oh, I'm just so glad you're here," she exclaimed. "I thought maybe we could order food up here to the room. It'll give us lots of time to chat!"

"Are you really going to the Memorial Ball with Scorpius' father?" Rose burst out.

Hermione was stunned. "Pardon? Who told you that?"

"Dad told her," Hugo answered. "In front of Scorpius."

"I see," Hermione replied. "When did you see your father?"

Rose huffed. "Just answer the question, Mother."

Hugo smirked. "We saw Dad as we were walking down here. Ran into him over by The Three Broomsticks where he's staying. He tried talking us into having dinner with him, but I told him we already had plans to eat with you. Rose wanted to stay with Dad. That's why she's mad."

"Mum, you can't go with Mr. Malfoy! You just can't!" Rose fumed.

"We did agree to go together," Hermione stated. "Just as friends though, so don't get any other ideas. I know you and Scorpius are friendly-"

"Oh, they're friendly, all right," Hugo snorted.

"Shut up!" Rose hissed at her brother.

Hermione sat back and studied her children. They seemed to have grown up without her even realizing it. Rose looked very much like a Weasley with her freckled skin and bright red hair. If she hadn't inherited Hermione's curls, Rose would have passed for a young Ginny. Hugo, now fifteen, had gotten his father's height, but his hair was a more subtle auburn and his skin tanned easily like Hermione's. Her children were beautiful, and Hermione's eyes welled with tears briefly.

"Right," she said, standing and wiping at her eyes before her kids saw her crying. "Let me grab the room service menu. We have all night for you two to catch me up on everything. I want to know it all! Oh, and there are three extra bedrooms here if you want to stay the night."

"We have to be back before curfew," Rose stated coldly.

Hugo nodded. "And I have prefect duties tonight."

Hermione started to ask Rose why on earth she scheduled her brother for rounds, knowing that would mean they'd have to cut their dinner short, then stopped. She wouldn't fight with her children tonight. She wanted a fresh start. She needed to show them how much she truly cared for them. She had to make them see that she wasn't the bad guy that Ron always made her out to be.

They ordered their dinner, a family-sized meal of roast beef and root vegetables, which they ended up eating off the room's provided chinaware while they lounged on the couches. The kids told her all about their classes and marks on homework assignments. Rose finally calmed down a little, and told a thrilling play by play of her last Quidditch match, Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff. Rose was a brilliant chaser, another thing in common with her Aunt Ginny.

"And then I could see that MacDougal was feinting left, but I went for it anyway. He missed my quaffle by a half inch at most! It was amazing, Mum! I wish you'd been there!"

Hermione beamed. "Oh, darling Rose. I would love to attend your games. When's the next one?"

"The last match is in three weeks," Hugo answered. "Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw."

"And why didn't you go out for the Gryffindor team this year?" Hermione asked him. "You played a great keeper last year from what I heard."

"Honestly? It would've been too hard to keep up with my studies and prefect duties." he said. Hermione was impressed with her son's sense of responsibility. Maybe she and Ron had done something right after all.

"Mum, can I ask you something?" Hugo asked.

"Anything," she said, gushing a little. This night couldn't be going better.

"This place is super swanky," he said, waving his hand to indicate her suite. "How'd you afford this? Dad says you're broke and that's why you don't pay child support or anything."

Hermione was shocked. "Well, that's a bold question. Um, first of all, I'm not broke by any means, but we can discuss that in a moment. Second, I went to school with the gentleman who owns this place, and I owled him to inquire about staying here at the hotel. He set me up with this room." She shrugged as if to say it was no big deal.

"So why don't you pay Dad child support?" Rose asked softly.

"Darlings, I would give you every Knut in my vault if you needed it," Hermione answered. She couldn't believe Ronald's cheek, telling their children such lies. She decided that at fifteen and eighteen, her children were old enough to hear the truth from her. Well, at least some of it.

"When your father and I separated," she began. "We never felt that it was necessary to set a formal agreement on custody and financial support. Instead, we agreed that the two of you were old enough to decide who you wanted to see and when. As for finances, we also decided that we're both well off enough to pay for whatever whenever things were needed, and whoever you were staying with at that time would cover your expenses. Since you two always choose to stay with your father leaving most of your expenditures to him, I've tried to make up for that by offering to take you shopping in Diagon Alley for your school things, but you always turned me down. Remember? You always said that you'd already gone, or you'd already made plans to go with your cousins."

"So you're saying that Dad's been lying to us?" Hugo asked.

Hermione took a deep breath. "I will never speak ill of your father to you. I will say, however, that your father has never asked me for money to help with your expenses, nor has he accepted any when I've offered it. And believe me, I've tried."

Just like I've tried to have you over to my home, yet you've never come, she thought. Every year during holidays, she'd send her children an owl, asking them to come and stay. And every time, without fail, they had new excuses for why they couldn't. Maybe after tonight they would reconsider, she told herself. She had to hope. Rose looked at her mother. There were tears streaming prettily down her cheeks.

"We've missed you, Mum," she croaked.

"Yeah," Hugo whispered. "Sorry we haven't at least owled more."

Hermione smiled sweetly, and raised her tea cup. "Well, then. Here's to a brand new start for the three of us. How does that sound?"

Her kids both nodded eagerly, and jumped up to hug their mother.

Author's Note: Whew, I can't believe I was able to get this up today! We've had family over all day, and I didn't get a single quiet moment till late tonight. I honestly knocked this chapter out in about an hour because I just wanted to get it up for y'all. Poor Hermione and her kids, right? She loves them so much, but they've just been so blinded by Ron all these years. At least in my head anyway. Now, Draco will be back in the next chapter and we'll be finding out more about his marriage and divorce. I feel a little guilty for spilling Astoria's secret so early in chapter two. What do y'all think of that little twist, by the way? I hope no one was upset by it. Trust me, I'm gonna try my best to do her justice as you'll see soon. The Dramione stuff is going to be really taking off soon, so I hope you're ready! I love to hear what y'all think, so please feel free to comment and vote! And as always, I own no more than this story. JK Rowling owns the rest. Happy 4th of July! :)