When Hermione heard the knocking on her office door she blinked in surprise when she saw who was standing in her doorway.
"Oh, hi Blaise!" She greeted cheerfully.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" He asked, nodding towards her arm.
She looked down at her forearm with a small sigh. It hadn't been quite a month yet since Draco had bitten her, and while her arm was nearly fully healed, she stilled tried to keep it covered due to scarring. The scars made it very obvious that she was bitten by something, and she didn't want to use a concealment charm on it until it was entirely healed over.
"I'm doing much better," She answered, looking back up at him. "Draco still feels terrible about it."
"I bet he does; that's a hard thing to get past, hurting the one you love," Blaise said as he stepped further into her office, shutting the door behind him. "And you still have no traces of lycanthropy in your blood, right?"
"None that the Healers have found," She said with a smile. "But I suppose we'll have confirmation this weekend."
"That's right, the full moon is on Saturday," Blaise said lightly as he sat down in front of her desk. "Shall Ginny and I join you two that night?"
"That's entirely up to you guys, but I'll have to see how Draco is feeling," She said, shifting in her chair slightly. "He's been pulling away slightly this week."
"He's been taking his Wolfsbane potions though so he should be docile again," He said. "But I do understand if he doesn't want to risk it."
"It should be alright," She smiled. Then she tilted her head slightly and asked, "Did you need something? You don't usually come visit me at work."
Blaise shifted nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually yes, I was hoping to get your help with something."
She raised an eyebrow and laughed slightly. "What would you need my help with?"
"Well not really help so much as your input," He shrugged. "I've got it picked out pretty much and I just want to make sure that I didn't make a wrong decision."
She gave him a confused look but nodded. "Well yeah, of course. What would you like my input on?"
He shifted again, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a small box, placing it on the desk in front of her. She stared down at the box and then back up at him.
"Blaise...is that...?"
After he nodded, she reached for the box and opened it, staring down at the beautiful ring inside.
"Do you think she'll like it?" He asked quietly.
"One hundred percent," Hermione said, still staring at the ring. "This is so beautiful!"
He smiled widely. "Okay good; I was trying to decide between that one and another one and I started doubting if I had picked the right one."
She shut the box and slid it back over to him with a smile. "I can tell you that she's going to love whichever ring you pick out, but that one is absolutely stunning! When are you planning on asking her?"
"I haven't quite figured that out yet," He admitted. "I don't know if I want to take her on a trip or do it here, or wait until Christmas...I have no idea."
Hermione hummed slightly as she thought about it. "I think a trip would be nice; take her somewhere romantic. She's not really one for large public gestures."
"Oh yeah, I wasn't going to do a public proposal or anything," He said quickly, shaking his head. Then he sighed heavily and leaned back into the seat. "I'm also worried about how her family is going to react; that's honestly what worries me the most about this, and it's why I haven't proposed to her yet."
"How long have you been holding off on proposing to her?" She asked.
He smiled slightly. "Since the second of May."
She blinked, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "That's a very specific date."
"Earlier that week, Draco and I had run into you and Ginny," He explained. "After that lunch failed, I couldn't stay away and that Friday I had gone to watch her practice and try to talk to her. I ended up convincing her to go to lunch with me and we talked about everything that happened, and that was when we admitted we still loved each other. If she wasn't married at that time, I would have gotten down on one knee right then and there."
Hermione couldn't help but smile at this, but then he sighed and put his head in his hands. "But then I had to go and muck it all up; I wanted so badly to start going public about our relationship and didn't even think of the consequences it would have on her. Now her family hates us."
"They don't hate you," Hermione said gently, putting a hand out on the desk to try and get his attention. "Her mother is just very traditional, and she was blindsided by the sudden divorce between Harry and Ginny. Molly has always loved Harry and she just didn't understand why they split up. She doesn't know what happened, and she doesn't know that you and Ginny were together before that so to her, she only sees that Ginny moved on quickly. Molly was always very quick to jump to conclusions and lash out about it."
"She hasn't spoken to her parents since they sent the letters," He said sadly, sitting back up and looking at her. "Her father said that she was always welcome back to their house but she hasn't heard from them at all."
Hermione frowned at this and then sighed. "Well, stubbornness does run in their family. I wouldn't be surprised if Ginny was holding off on speaking to them too until she heard from them first."
"I just want to make things right, but I don't really know how," He said, rubbing the back of his neck with a groan. "And as much as I want to propose to her soon, I feel like doing so before she makes things up with her parents is only going to make it worse."
"I wish I could tell you otherwise, but..." Hermione trailed off and sat back into her chair, tapping her foot as she thought. "I'd offer to reach out to them, but I doubt I'd get a nice answer from Molly."
Blaise's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Really? I thought she still liked you?"
Hermione shifted in her seat and crossed her arms across her chest bitterly. "I think Molly actually believes that I was seeing Draco like Ron thought. When I told her why I was divorcing Ron, she just acted somewhat strangely and I caught her glaring at me a few times."
"Well I guess there's more than one good reason for you to have left that family," Blaise said lightly.
She laughed in return. "The family themselves are really wonderful; you just have to get past the initial acceptance."
Blaise sighed heavily and shook his head slightly before standing up. "We'll see. Well, Miss Granger, I believe I have taken up plenty of your time today."
With a smile, Hermione stood up as well and went around the desk to give him a hug. Blaise returned it happily and quietly said, "I really do appreciate your input, and letting me vent about all that."
"Of course!" She pulled back and grinned at him. "You can talk to me any time about anything that's bothering you; that's what friends are for!"
He returned the grin and nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. We should plan another group date after this weekend; I know Ginny would love for all of us to hang out again."
"I'll talk to Draco and get something set up," She said.
Blaise said goodbye and left her office with a smile, and Hermione went back to her desk, deep in thought. She wanted to help Blaise and have Ginny's family like him, but at the same time she wasn't quite sure how to go about it.
Then an idea hit her and she stood up, leaving her office in a hurry towards the lift. She sighed impatiently as she watched different floors pass by, and when the lift came to a stop she rushed off and looked around. This floor was brightly lit with memos flying all over the place. There was laughter and deep conversations heard as she walked past the offices, and when she found the one in particular she was looking for, she paused in the doorway with a smile.
The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office had joined together with the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects under Arthur's eye, as he wasn't quite ready to give up his connection to the muggle world just yet. She was happy that he had moved into a larger office, though the walls were still covered in photos of cars, electrical appliances, tea sets, and many other normal muggle things. It made her happy to see that Arthur was buried deep in what appeared to be a manual for motorcycles.
She tapped lightly on the door with her knuckles and Arthur looked up, his face splitting into a wide smile. "Why, Hermione! It's been too long!"
He set down the manual and stood up, quickly rushing over to pull her in for a large hug that she happily returned. "Hello, Arthur! I'm so sorry that I haven't visited sooner!"
"Nonsense, I'm sure you've been busy!" He said with a wave of his hand after pulling back from her. "Goodness, look at you! You look very different from the last time I saw you!"
Her hand immediately went to her hair and she laughed. "I suppose it's been longer than I thought!"
He simply chuckled and gestured for her to sit down. As she pushed her chair in, she eyed the manual curiously before asking, "Arthur, are you considering getting a motorcycle?"
"Oh no, my dear!" He laughed greatly as he sat down across the desk from her. "No, I'm trying to rebuild Sirius's motorbike for Harry. It's the least I can do, and I made a promise to the both of them that I would. Regardless of the circumstances, Harry still deserves to have this."
Hermione smiled at him before looking down nervously at her lap, picking slightly at her fingers. Arthur tilted his head slightly and asked, "Is everything alright, dear? I know that things haven't exactly ended well between you and Ron, but I hope that doesn't affect your relationship with the rest of us."
"I honestly hope it doesn't either," She admitted, looking up at him and giving him a weak smile. "I'll be honest, it's been rather odd not coming over for brunches."
He returned the weak smile. "We do miss you and Ginny greatly. It's been so strange not having your bright and smiling faces around the Burrow."
"Actually, that's somewhat what I've come to talk to you about," Hermione said, shifting slightly in her chair.
Arthur nodded and then gestured for her to continue. She took a deep breath and looked down at the table, sighing it out through her nose. "Sir, Ginny loves you and Molly so much. And when the news broke out about her and Blaise, and then Molly sent that letter...it hurt her really badly. And I can't imagine what any of you are going through right now with this, considering it's been, what...?" She did some quick math in her head. "...Nearly five months since the three of you have spoken?"
He sighed sadly and clasped his hands on the table, twiddling his thumbs slightly as he opened and closed his mouth. He finally managed to find the words as he said quietly, "I miss Ginny more than anything. You know how hard it was for us when Percy stopped talking to us; having our only daughter not on speaking terms is killing us greatly...but Molly and I believe in letting you kids live your life, even if we may not agree with your decisions. It more or less just blindsided us that she began dating this man so quickly..."
"If I could be honest, Arthur," She said slowly, trying to pick and choose her words carefully. She then sighed and shook her head before saying, "Ginny and Blaise have been in love since the battle."
He blinked in surprise. "How do you know this?"
"Because they both told me on separate occasions," She said quietly. "I know it's not my place to tell you, but I feel like I should since they most likely won't and I can't have you thinking badly of Blaise, I just can't. He's an absolutely wonderful person; he's kind, he's generous, and he loves Ginny more than anything. He loves her so much that he saw she was with Harry and respected that, and was going to support her happiness even if it didn't include him. That picture that was posted in the Prophet that day did not do their love any justice, and you should give them the chance to show you their love."
The last sentences came out in a rush and she sucked in a deep breath after she finished, mostly to stop herself from blabbering on. But Arthur sighed at this, rubbing a hand across his face with a slight groan.
Hermione panicked slightly and went on: "Arthur, I know it's a lot to take in in a short amount of time, and I know that I'm probably not the person you want to hear it from considering I divorced your son, but..."
Her voice cracked and she felt her throat close up. Arthur immediately looked up at her and his expression went from uncertainty to worry in an instant.
"Oh my dear, please don't think that I think any less of you because of that," He said, reaching across the table to take her hands gently. He gave them a reassuring squeeze and looked her in the eye as he said, "You will always be a second daughter to me, and I will always love you just the same. You've helped my family and myself in more ways than I can ever repay you for."
She let out a choked laugh slightly as she pulled one hand away to wipe a stray tear, and he smiled warmly at her.
"I realize that past experiences may cause some friction, but just know that you are also always welcome in our home as well," He said quietly. "I meant that too when I said it to Ginny, and I mean it now when I say it to you."
"Thank you," She said as she returned the smile.
"Besides, you had every right to leave Ronald, and if I can't have you as a legal daughter-in-law then I will be happy having you as Ginny's adopted sister. You two were always very close when you would stay with us."
Hermione laughed slightly at this. "I'm surprised Ginny put up with me all those years, to be honest."
Arthur pulled back then after giving her hands one more squeeze, chuckling as he looked up at the ceiling. "Remember when you tried to help Molly cook?"
"Ugh, let's not talk about that disaster, please," She said, choking out a laugh. Then she held out a hand in defense and said, "To be fair, I hadn't cooked much then. I'm much better now!"
She paused then as an idea came to her mind and she stared down at the table. Arthur gave her a curious look and asked, "Is everything alright, dear?"
"Oh, yes!" She said quickly, smiling at him. "Sorry, just had a quick though about one of my cases."
"Ahh," He nodded. He rocked back and forth in his chair slightly before raising an eyebrow at her. "So, you've started seeing Draco Malfoy?"
She laughed slightly and nodded. "Yes, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't shocked too. But he's been wonderful and has been so supportive of everything."
"I understand that he and Blaise are working together?" Arthur asked curiously.
"Yes, they took over Malfoy Apothecary and changed it so that they are now partners working mostly in vineyards," She explained. "It's actually very interesting work."
Arthur gave her a surprised look. "Well, I'll have to pick their brains about good wine! Who else but the experts, right?"
Hermione smiled widely at him. "So does this mean you'd be willing to meet with them?"
"Absolutely!" Arthur smiled. "After all, I'm sure it's bound to happen. And I want you and Ginny back with us; if anything, brunch will be more interesting with the addition of those boys."
This made Hermione laugh loudly, and hope filled her chest as she began to put a plan together.
A/N: I don't think I could ever write Arthur as a non-supportive character. I love him so much as Hermione's adoptive father, and imagining this interaction between them made me so happy and sad at the same time so I had to have you all be happy and sad too :D I'm so sorry for the delay with this chapter but I hope you all enjoy! <3
PS: Ginny's ring will be revealed later lol because I'm mean like that....love you all!