In the Mirror
This Muggle automobile was entertaining for her. She hadn't ridden in one for a long time, and the things had changed quite a bit. The windows rolled down when you pressed a button, and she couldn't help but think of how much Arthur would love to examine how it worked.
The thought of Arthur sent a shock of pain down to her stomach. Not for Arthur himself – no, he was healthy and still going strong, although he had aged quite a bit and retired from the Ministry – but for her own father. He was there to walk her down the aisle, but not much longer. Only two years after she and Ron got married, her father was struck with terminal lung cancer. It hadn't been much longer until he was at the end.
He'd slipped away peacefully, but that didn't dull the pain for her. She missed him greatly, every day. What killed her most is that he'd never seen his grandchildren.
Her father loved kids, always had, and even from the time she was a teenager, he talked about being a grandfather constantly. She'd known the things he wanted to teach her children – like how to fish, and hunt, and even how to use a telephone. He was excited to see her little children running around doing accidental magic, but he also wanted to teach them how to live like Muggles.
She had tried so hard to get pregnant when she knew that he was sick. It felt like her way of trying to give him his one last wish. But the little pink line would never show up.
She recalled the first time it did, though. She was in the small bathroom of her and Ron's little flat right down the road from the Leaky Cauldron, and she had been feeling odd for a few days already. She didn't think it was possible, but she'd run down to the market on her way home from work and picked up a Muggle pregnancy test anyways. She knew there must be magical ways to tell if one was pregnant or not, but she didn't know what they were, and she saw no reason why she couldn't do it the Muggle way.
Her hand had shook so much as she held that little white stick, counting slowly in her head to 180. She held her breath for the last minute or so, and by the time she looked down at the test, she could have fainted from lack of oxygen alone, not to mention the incredible feeling of shock and elation at the sight of the clear, dark pink line.
She read the instructions again, just to make sure, and confirmed the fact that "pink pregnant". Her breathing was rapid by then, and just when she was wondering how she would wait for Ron to get home, she heard him come through the door.
She'd practically pounced on him when she told him the good news. His eyes got huge and his face seemed to freeze in place. He stared at her for a few moments before letting his jaw slacken and his mouth hang open. Then, as if it was in slow-motion, a smile spread across his lips, starting at one side and making its way to the other.
"You mean I – I'm going to be a dad?" he'd finally croaked.
Hermione smiled from the memory. It was one of the happiest times of her life, finding out that she was going to have a baby.
When her father died, all Hermione had to give him was a few roses, laid at his grave. So, when her daughter came along, she named her after those roses, so that she would always remember him and what he wanted for her children.
And now Rose was going off to her first year at Hogwarts. Hermione could still remember her first trip on that train, the excitement of first stepping out into the magical realm, where she would learn all sorts of new things. She was so happy for Rose to have that experience, but at the same time, it would be different not having her little girl around.
She sighed and got herself ready for the drive. She wouldn't say that she was afraid, exactly, of her husband's driving – she only felt uncomfortable when he came within two inches of other cars, changed lanes without looking in the mirrors, or basically preformed any potentially life-threatening maneuvers. Especially while Hugo was in the car with them.
She glanced back at her son, who was slumping in his seat and resting his head on the sill of the car window, apparently a little depressed about his sister leaving for Hogwarts without him.
"Don't be too sad, Hugo," she whispered, trying to cheer him up. "Rose doesn't get to have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch anymore, and guess who still does?"
The boy brightened up a bit. "Me?" he asked, seemingly very excited about the notion of eating a PB&J.
"Of course!" Hermione told him, mirroring his enthusiasm. "In fact, Ron," she turned to her husband. "Why don't we stop off at a Muggle grocery an pick up some ingredients."
He glanced over at her as he turned the key in the ignition. "I don't know, Hermione, I haven't got any Muggle money."
"I've got some," she said. "I brought some along just in case." She shook her small clutch wallet at him and smiled.
"Fine," he raised his eye brows. "You'll have to go in, though, I don't know how to find things in those sort of stores." He shifted the car into reverse and pulled out of the parking spot, almost nicking the right side mirror on the car next to them.
After Hermione calmed her breathing – for she hadn't been expecting a near collision so soon in to the drive – she glanced at the mirror and was very surprised indeed to see Draco Malfoy's reflection, staring almost blankly at her.