Mrs and Mr Weasley came back early this morning, along with Molly and Lucy from visiting relatives, while everyone else was asleep. They caught up on some sleep but Mrs Weasley woke up and started to make everyone breakfast like usual in the morning along with Ginny and Audrey. Hermione helped for a while too but then came upstairs to check on Fred, thinking of the previous night at the club when she and Fred had spent hours dancing, drinking, and talking to each other.

Draco didn’t come up in their conversation even once for which Hermione was glad. After coming home quite late, they saw that all the kids were asleep, and Hermione managed to get Fred into bed who was quite drunk at that time. She took his shoes and socks off and managed to shimmy him out of his shirt while Fred laughed and tried to grab her and pull her down beside him. Hermione smiled to herself, walking up the stairs to her room, at how this time Fred was a happy drunk rather than a sad and depressed drunk.

‘Hey, love,’ Hermione greeted him as she opened the door. She expected him to still be in bed and sleeping soundly but the noise of retching could be heard from the bathroom accompanied with a few selective profanities. Hermione sighed and walked over to the bathroom to find Fred on the bathroom floor in front of the toilet. She sighed, shaking her head, ‘you should really learn to pace yourself when drinking, love.’

‘You know me better than that,’ Fred managed to say, glaring at her as she put on the light for the bathroom. Hermione sighed and turned the light back off, leaving the bathroom door open so that they weren’t in complete darkness, ‘I’ll get you some medicine, Fred.’

‘Already took some. It’ll take some time to kick in,’ Fred said, moving over to the sink when he felt a little better. He took his toothbrush and put some toothpaste on it before starting to brush. Hermione watched him as he stood there in only his pyjama bottoms and he watched her from the mirror. Through a mouthful of toothpaste, he said, ‘like what you see?’

‘Love what I see,’ Hermione smiled, standing behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist while she leaned her head on his bare, smooth back, ‘I really think we should go home now... our real home, Fred.’

‘I was thinking the same thing actually,’ Fred said as he washed out his mouth after a few minutes. Hermione moved away to sit on the side of the bathtub and watched as he put the toothbrush back and turned to her, ‘I need to start work again soon so we really should be going back... we could leave after breakfast.’

‘We could... Ron and Isabelle left this morning without a goodbye since they officially broke up,’ Hermione informed him but shrugged and stood up, ‘we could leave after breakfast with a goodbye to the family.’

‘That sounds like a good idea,’ Fred nodded and he was going to ask about Ron and Isabelle but there was a knock on the door. Fred grimaced as the knock sounded like someone was pounding at his own head but he yelled, ‘who is it?’

‘Amelia,’ they heard their daughter call out from behind the door. Fred glanced at Hermione through the bathroom mirror, wondering if she could hear the sadness in her voice or if he was just imagining it. Hermione wasn’t looking at him and he heard the door open a little as Amelia asked, ‘can I... um... can I come in?’

‘Of course, sweetie, come on in,’ Fred said from the bathroom. Hermione glanced out of the bathroom from where she sat and saw Amelia walk in, dressed in a long shirt that came to her knees and carrying a scarf. She curled herself into their bed, throwing the covers over her head. Fred walked out of the bathroom, with Hermione behind him, going to the cupboard for a shirt, ‘everything okay?’

‘No,’ Amelia muttered from under the covers, clutching the scarf that Scorpius had gifted her to her chest like a lifeline. Fred turned, holding a shirt in his hand, to Hermione who was frowning a little but she walked over to where her daughter lay.

‘Amelia, what’s wrong?’ Hermione asked, gently pulling the covers back to reveal Amelia with her wet, red eyes. Hermione’s frown deepened as she saw just how upset her daughter was, and she looked over to Fred who quickly put a shirt on and came over to the bed to sit on the other side of her.

‘Amelia...’ he whispered as he put his arms around her when she sat up a little.

Amelia instinctively wrapped her arms around her father and tried to hold in her tears to no avail. It had always felt so different to be hugged and cared for by Fred opposed to Hermione since he had that fatherly protective side to him that she loved so much. Hermione was a very loving mother but lately it seemed like she never understood Amelia as much as she would like which is why Amelia turned to Fred. Which is also why she couldn't stop the sobs bubbling out of her mouth as soon as her father’s arms were wrapped around her.

‘I want to leave,’ Amelia blubbered through sobs as she nuzzled her face deeper into Fred’s chest. Fred looked at Hermione, frowning uncomfortably since he really hated it when anyone made Amelia cry. He hated seeing tears in her eyes. Amelia pulled back a little and Fred wiped away her tears with his fingers. She sighed, clutching her stomach which felt so heavy as though she couldn't breathe, ‘I want to... go home!’

‘We’re going to leave soon, we were just talking about that,’ Hermione said, feeling a little jealous that Fred got to comfort Amelia rather than her. It was basically her job but it seemed as though Amelia would rather have her father closer than her mother, ‘but Amelia, darling, we really need to know what’s going on. Did James say something to you? Is it the Malfoy’s? Did... Amelia, what happened?’

Fred’s eyes found Hermione’s and the look on his face was clear enough. They stared at each other as Amelia’s crying diminished to a slow and steady sniffling. Hermione finally looked away, her mind screaming scenarios at her that consisted of Amelia finding out about Hermione’s affair with Malfoy so long ago and how Draco was still in love with her even after all this time... also, Scorpius knew which is how it was so easy for Amelia to find out.

Amelia glanced at her father and then looked back at the bed sheets, smoothing her hand over it as she wondered what to tell them. Obviously, everything, but she knew that Hermione would be glad that she had broken up with Scorpius and she couldn't handle that at the moment. None the less, she started from the beginning and told them what had happened. How she had left the house even though she promised her father she wouldn’t, how James had tried to stop her but she hadn’t listened, how she went to Scorpius’ house (omitting the kissing part), and everything he said to her.

‘I just... I don’t understand why!’ Amelia grumbled, tears had fallen onto the bed sheet silently and she drew her knees up and put her face on them so that she couldn't see her parents’ expression.

Fred frowned at Amelia, watching his daughter cry over a Malfoy killed him inside more than watching Malfoy try to steal his wife from him. He hated how he couldn't help her in any way other than comfort her but even that seemed like something he couldn't do. Hermione, on the other hand, couldn't refrain from looking relieved. So Amelia didn't know about her affair but she didn't doubt for a second that Scorpius broke up with her because he realised he couldn't be in a relationship where his father loved his crush’s mother. It wasn’t possible. Maybe it was Hermione’s fault that Scorpius broke up with her but was that really such a bad thing? Sure, Amelia would be upset for a while but she’d move on... she’d find someone else.

‘I know you don’t like him because of his dad but Scorpius is nothing like him. He’s so nice to me and I know you don’t want to hear this but I... I really, truly love him and I just...’ Amelia shrugged, hugging the scarf closer to her chest as it ached anew, ‘I thought you should know and if you want to ground me when I get home for leaving the house, then go ahead. I have no where to go anyway.’

‘You shouldn’t have left the house,’ Hermione said softly, ‘anything could have happened that late at night.’

‘Like getting my heart ripped out of my chest and stomped on?’ Amelia wiped the tears from under her eyes and moved out of Fred’s embrace, standing up now, ‘we’re leaving soon, right? I should get packed.’

‘Hey, listen,’ Fred caught her arm before she could leave. Amelia turned back around but didn't look at him, she looked at the floor instead. Fred slowly tilted her face upwards until he looked into her eyes, that were so much like George’s that he felt an ache in his own chest. Amelia couldn't help her lips from quivering as she wanted to cry when she looked at her father. Fred took her hand in his, ‘I love you, sweetie, so much and I can see how much it’s hurting you. Even if I’m not that big of a fan of Malfoy, I do care if he hurts you. Don’t you think for a second we don’t care about you.’

‘I know you do, Dad. I just... I don’t want to talk about it. I want to go home,’ Amelia muttered. Fred and Hermione were lost for anything else to say to her so she turned around and left the room, closing the door behind her.

‘Fred,’ Hermione breathed, moving closer to him as he sighed and stared at the closed door.

‘We’re going home right now. Start packing,’ Fred muttered and stood up, without looking at Hermione, he left the room to go downstairs.

---

After some pretty brutal ‘goodbyes’ and ‘won’t you stay for a while longer?’ and ‘you have to visit!’, Fred, Hermione and Amelia were finally ready to apparate back home. James offered to take their bags to their house but Amelia declined. Usually she would think it was sweet that James didn't want to say goodbye just yet but now, she really just wanted to get home.

It took a few seconds, full of gut wrenching pulling into an abyss, before they arrived at their home. Everything was exactly the same as before, nothing had been moved or changed at all which was a little eerie. So much had happened over Christmas at the burrow yet nothing had actually changed. Amelia let the bags fall onto the floor and Fred waved his wand, letting the bags float over to their designated rooms.

‘We should go grocery shopping,’ Hermione said when no one said anything. Amelia stared at the pictures on the wall of the three of them when Amelia was a mere child. Hermione dug into her pocket and pulled out a list of all of the groceries they needed. Fred raised his eyebrows at the list and Hermione rolled her eyes, ‘I had some free time while you were vomiting, okay? Don’t judge.’

‘Judgement free zone. I’ve grown used to your cleanliness and insane organisation,’ Fred shrugged, taking the list from her, ‘want me to go get the groceries?’

Hermione smiled at his first statement and turned her head towards Amelia to see that she was walking away to her room. She watched Amelia, who was still clutching that scarf to her chest, walk into her room and close the door behind her. Hermione sighed, staring at the wooden, closed door.

‘Scorpius left her because he knows about you and your stupid affair with Malfoy,’ Fred hissed under his breath, grabbing Hermione’s arm and turning her around to face him.

Hermione sighed helplessly, not knowing what to say to that. It made it more real when Fred said out loud like that and everything clicked into place. Fred let her arm go and crossed the room to close the door so Amelia couldn't hear them. He turned to face his wife and Hermione sighed, walking over to the picture that was on the window sill. It was taken the time when Amelia was six years old and they went to the park with a pre-made picnic.

‘Hermione, you need to tell her,’ Fred said, shrugging and sitting down on the sofa. Hermione turned to him with a frown on her face that told Fred exactly what she thought of that idea.

‘Oh, no. I am not telling her about that! It’s so stupid. So what if Malfoy has feelings for me... it’s not like Scorpius so us kissing or anything like that!’ Hermione shook her head, starting to pace the length of the room.

‘Oh, Malfoy wouldn’t be alive if that was the case,’ Fred muttered under his breath and then shook his head, ‘that doesn’t matter, Mia. You need to understand how disgusting it is for kids to see that their father is in love with their girlfriend’s mother. It’s just wrong, disgusting, and that’s probably the reason Scorpius left Amelia.’

‘I can’t tell her, Fred. She’ll blame me for her heart break and my own daughter, who I’ve carried in my womb for nine months and who you’ve seen me give birth to, will hate me. I can’t handle that,’ Hermione frantically shook her head, ‘you know how bad heart break can be.’

‘Yes, actually, I do know how bad it can be. I think we’ve been through way worse than what Amelia is going through right now. I mean, you got pregnant the first time we did it,’ Fred laughed a little and Hermione rolled her eyes at his smugness but he continued, ‘my family hated the fact that I got you pregnant, Ron hated me for stealing you away from him, Malfoy came into our relationship, we had no money yet I still found some to fuel my bad habit of drinking. You left and that just made me even more depressed than usual and I was very depressed that year especially with... you know... George.’

‘I know but-’ Hermione said, frowning a little at Fred as he held up his hand to stop her from talking.

‘You will tell her everything about you and Malfoy by the time I’m back. She’ll feel a lot worse if she finds out any other way,’ Fred insisted, not asking but stating. Hermione shook her head, ready to argue, but Fred shot her a glare. He was about to say something more but the living room door opened and Amelia walked in, staring at Hermione. Fred turned to look at her, ‘hey, sweetie, I was just going to the shops. Do you want me to-’

‘You and Mr Malfoy?’ Amelia ignored her father and didn't move her impenetrable blue eyes away from Hermione. Fred let out a sigh and a wary ‘here we go’ whilst Hermione’s eyes widened considerably so that there was more white than brown. Amelia frowned at her, ‘what does Dad mean by “you and Malfoy”? What does that.... I don’t understand!’

‘Amelia, it’s just a stupid... um...’ Hermione looked around for the right word and glared at Fred who stood by watching. Fred shrugged at her and raised her eyebrows as though to tell her to go for it. Hermione sighed and took Amelia’s hand, ‘I love you so much, Amelia, and I thought that... that it wasn’t important enough to tell you and that it would blow over. I never knew it would impact you this badly.’

‘What do you have with Mr Malfoy? Did you cheat on Dad? Did you... you sleep with him?! What happened?!’ Amelia asked, pulling her hands out of Hermione’s grip and warning her by raising her hand as Hermione tried to take it again. Amelia narrowed her eyes as though she had a headache, ‘I need to know everything, right now!’

‘Fine! I’ll tell you everything but you must understand the difficult times we were going through. Having a child is no picnic especially when you had no money,’ Hermione explained and took a deep breath before telling Amelia all she needed to know. She told her about the first time they had met in that street, had kissed under the moonlight (Fred frowned at her through the whole time she talked and Hermione ignored him), how Draco had manipulated Hermione by stealing kisses from her, how he had taken their business and left them with nothing, how Draco had helped her that stormy night by taking her to the hospital when she went into a false labour. Hermione finally told her about the last time she had seen Draco and how he had proclaimed his love for her and how Scorpius knew everything about them now.

‘And that’s why he left me...’ Amelia muttered under her breath, shaking her head and covering her face with her hands so that her voice was muffled but they could still understand her, ‘because of you and your stupid need to destroy everything in my life!’

‘Amelia...’ Hermione whispered but looked taken aback when Amelia pointed her shaking finger at her chest and a look of rage over took her face.

‘You’re married and you’re perfectly happy with Dad even if you fight sometimes. Can’t you see how much Dad does for you and how much he loves you?! Yet you still feel the need to tell me to stay away from Scorpius and you sleep with his father which is just-’ Amelia ranted on and on until Fred raised his eyebrows.

‘She didn’t sleep with Malfoy, Amelia,’ Fred said but this didn't stop her from talking on and on.

‘And, Dad, how could you even marry someone like her?! She’s cheated on you with someone the whole family hates and she basically led Uncle Ron into a relationship that was never going to happen! I don’t understand how you could live your whole life with someone like her!’ Amelia pointed her finger at Hermione again whose mouth was agape with surprise.

‘That is enough!’ Fred yelled, glaring at his daughter and successfully getting her to stop talking. Amelia bit her lip when Fred shouted, something he doesn’t normally do, and he frowned at Amelia angrily.

‘Dad, you know I’m right,’ Amelia whispered, turning her eyes from the ground to her father, ‘how can you stand by when you know all of that stuff has happened? When Mr Malfoy kissed your pregnant wife... when he told her he still loves her...and-and she’s telling me not to be with Scorpius for the sole reason that it would make her life difficult? Dad, I... I don’t...’

‘Amelia, go to your room and just... stay there, alright? I’m fed up of you and your mum always fighting! She is your mother and you can not say anything bad about her like you just did, understand?’ Fred yelled and when Amelia recoiled and didn’t say anything back, he sighed angrily and repeated, ‘do you understand?!’

‘Mm-hmm,’ Amelia nodded, looking at the ground immediately and recoiling from Fred’s rage. She turned her back on them and left the room, tears already threatening to burst from her eyes.

‘Fred... calm down,’ Hermione said softly, reaching out to take his arm which was quivering with rage. A part of her was quite happy that Fred was standing  up for her so she knew that their love hadn’t diminished yet but another, bigger, more significant part of her was a little afraid to see Fred shouting at Amelia.

‘Did you hear what she said about you?’ Fred shook his head, still glowering at the place where Amelia had left a few seconds ago. Hermione bit her lip and slowly turned him around so that she could look into his eyes. Fred sighed, ‘want me to get those groceries? I could do with leaving this house for an hour or two.’

‘You know what, I’ll get the groceries and you talk to Amelia,’ Hermione said and at Fred’s reluctance, she kissed him, ‘please? She’s bound to be so upset.’

‘I think she can do with a little thinking time, don’t you?’ Fred asked and leaned his forehead on hers, ‘you go get the groceries and I’m going to get some work done, alright?’

‘Fine, but no... doing anything stupid. You’re already recovering from a hangover last night,’ Hermione said, kissing him again and then moving away, ready to apparate, ‘see you when I get back, love.’

Hermione disapparated with a flick of her wand and Fred sighed at the emptiness when she left. He felt horrible for shouting at Amelia but he felt even more horrible when his own daughter was talking about Hermione as though she was filth. Amelia didn’t know that Hermione sacrificed everything to keep her as her child, that she loved Amelia more than Fred ever could while she was pregnant. Sure, Fred loves Amelia right now but when Hermione was pregnant, he only cared about her.

Fred groaned under his breath and left the living room, passing Amelia’s room, and went to his own where all his work files were sitting. He sighed and closed the door behind him before going over to the desk and picking up a file.

---

A/N - Gah, this story is so long! Seriously, I try to write the important stuff in a chapter but I fill up like four pages just about cute moments between Fred and Hermione or Amelia and James... and then I have to delete it and actually write about the plot otherwise you guys would have to read like 10 pages worth a chapter haha. Also, I'm going to try and NOT make this longer than I'll Fight For You but yeah... let's see how that works out!