The Web Of Love

“Are you done yet, Charlie? We should be off to Grandma's for dinner," Hermione spoke as she finished the chapter and closed the book before turning her attention to her son, who was playing with trains on the floor. She couldn't believe he would be three years old in no time. Ginny shouldn't have mentioned that he was going to be an adult yesterday because suddenly Hermione couldn't think of anything else.

"What gandma?" he asked curiously but didn't look at her. Apparently, trains were more interesting than his mom. Hermione had to smile at that. 

“I keep forgetting that you have so many grandmothers. We're supposed to go to Grandma Charlotte's for dinner today," she replied with a smile.

When she was little, she liked to spend her free time in her room with a good book. Their family didn't just consist of her parents and her, but they didn't see much of their relatives, so she grew up in a small family circle. It wasn't until she met Ron and Harry at Hogwarts that her family grew considerably. You could tell Harry was on the same page as she was. And then when she married Blaise, her family grew a little more. Charlie had such a large family that she wondered if he remembered them all. Just how many grandmothers he had! Jean and Charlotte were the main ones, of course, but Molly and surprisingly even Narcissa were happy to take on the grandmotherly role. She considered Blaise part of the family and often complained that Draco was obviously not going to give her grandchildren, so she kind of adopted Charlie. Hermione and Blaise didn't mind. They were happy that their son had so many people around him who loved him.

"It actually has its advantages, I don't have to figure out what to cook all the time," she mumbled more to herself than to Charlie. "If you ask Draco nicely, maybe he'll take you to see Narcissa. I know you haven't seen her in a while either. "

"That would be gleat! Uncle Theo?” he asked, his attention still fixed on the wooden railway.

“Uncle Theo is in France, but maybe you could write him a letter with your dad, what do you say? I'll suggest it to him for dinner tonight." If he doesn't have much work and arrives.

Charlie nodded. "Done," he informed her as he stopped playing.

"And how are you anyway, my dear?" Charlotte asked in a slightly scolding voice as soon as they greeted each other and she took Charlie into her arms.

Hermione's cheeks turned a small shade of red. She knew she hadn't shown up in a while, but she had good reasons. She really had to work, it wasn't just an excuse like Blaise's. "I'm doing very well, thank you for asking. I went back to work. Only part-time for now, but when Charlie starts kindergarten, I'll probably go back full-time."

“Oh, sure, Blaise told me about it, and I immediately had to ask if he was giving you enough money. And let's not stand here in the hall, let's go to the lounge," she declared almost scandalously and left without further ado to the lounge.

Hermione quickly followed her. She couldn't help but smile as she watched the two in front of her. Charlotte was a very unique woman. Hermione had never met anyone like her in her life. The swarthy woman wasn't thrilled with her at first, which worried the brunette, as she knew how close Blaise's relationship was with his mother. She thought it was her parentage, but in the end, it turned out that Charlotte was just being very wary. But when she made sure she was a great match for Blaise, her demeanor changed towards her. She accepted her into the family. After their divorce, Hermione learned very quickly that once Charlotte Zabini accepted you into her family, she would never kick you out.

"So?" she asked as they sat down on the couch in the lounge. Charlie was sitting between them with a new toy. Hermione was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice that Charlotte had given him something.

"You know I don't like it when you keep buying him stuff," she sighed, but there was a small smile on her face, she knew it was just one of the ways she showed that she cared about others.

"But we're not talking about that right now, are we? I asked if my idiotic son was paying you enough money."

“Yes, he pays me enough money. But you know very well that I was never after money. I married him for who he is, not for the money he has. Besides, I enjoy my work, and I can't ask him to pay for everything for me. I didn't even like it when we were married, let alone now that we're divorced," Hermione answered reluctantly. She probably loved these conversations about money even less than the conversations about why she and Blaise had divorced.

"And why couldn't he? It's his duty to provide for you, husband or not. Charlie is his son and he has to take care of him."

"We both know very well that he cares. Can we talk about something else?" she moaned. She liked Charlotte, but sometimes it was really difficult with her. They were from different worlds, and sometimes it was hard to connect their lives.

Charlotte rolled her eyes at her words, with nothing but elegance, for whatever she did always seemed noble, and began to devote herself fully to her grandson. Meanwhile, Hermione watched them silently to keep herself busy so she wouldn't have to watch the time on the clock. She loved dinner at her mother-in-law's but hated it at the same time. Because at Zabini Manor, it always seemed like she and Blaise never got divorced. They stayed friends because of Charlie, which cost Hermione a lot of strength. But she was willing to do it for her son. After all, it was still better that she could remain his good friend than for things to go wrong between them forever. If you can't have the one you love, at least be his good friend, she kept repeating to herself. It was kind of her mantra that she tried to stick to.

"My favorite people!" the incoming Blaise blurted out with a smile, breaking his ex-wife out of her thoughts.

"It's nice of you to grace us with your presence," Charlotte said by way of greeting, but it didn't faze Blaise in the slightest.

"You always have to wait for the best," he smirked as he strode over to them. He first greeted his mother, whom he kissed on both cheeks. He then greeted Charlie, whom he playfully ruffled his brown curls and finally sat down next to Hermione, whom he also kissed on the cheek, after which he threw his hand on the back of the sofa behind her, and she had to control herself not to lean against him.

"How's work going?" she asked quietly, so as not to disturb Charlie too much, who was passionately talking to Grandma. "We all missed you there yesterday."

Blaise sighed. “You know I'd rather be with you, but it's crazy at work right now. If they don't hire new people, we can start spending the night there straight away."

"Draco obviously doesn't have that much to do," she remarked almost inaudibly. She didn't want to talk about Draco right now, but she couldn't forgive herself the remark.

"Because even though Draco likes his job, he's still Draco," Blaise laughed, and that was enough for Hermione. Unlike Blaise, Draco was quite a comfortable person. His success was having a job at all. 

“Maybe you should take a cue from him and ease up a bit. You know you tend to be a workaholic."

"And that is rich coming from you. Didn't you go back to work recently?" he teased, trying to distract her a bit. It was crazy at work, but the truth was that if he didn't take on so much, he could easily have more time off. But he didn't need more time off when no one was waiting for him at home.

"Part-time only! And anyway, that's something else entirely," the brunette defended herself.

Blaise didn't say anything but he couldn't help but smile as he watched her cute expression. Every time she tried to look angry she would pucker her lips so cutely and he would then start placing little kisses all over her face until she started laughing. But he couldn't do that now because she was just his friend. The mother of his son and his ex-wife. And he was a colossal idiot.

"I'm going to make some tea before dinner," Hermione informed them and was about to get up, but Blaise put a hand on her shoulder and forced her to stay seated.

"That's why we've got servants here, dear," Charlotte reminded her.

"I'll take care of it," Blaise said, knowing how much Hermione hated tasking her mother's servants.

"You're the best," she smiled at him.

"They say it about me," he joked, placing a kiss in her hair before standing up. "Come on, champ, let's make mommy her favorite green tea, how about that?" he asked Charlie, who he subsequently took into his arms as he nodded happily.

“Tea fol mom!” he yelled on his way to the kitchen.

Hermione had to smile. She enjoyed watching her two beloved boys together so much.

"It's a nice change," Charlotte declared when they were alone in the lounge.

"What is?" the brunette didn't understand.

"Seeing your smile reach your eyes."