Hermione couldn't remember the last time everything was this quiet, for a moment she had wondered if she'd gone deaf, but from the soft sound of her husband in the shower and the slow bubbling of the kettle boiling next to her, she seriously doubted it. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and leaned against the marble kitchen counter, her hands coming up to rub at her aching temples, the slight tingle of a headache itching to come out as if it knew she was in for a stressful morning. She was pulled from her moment of relaxation by the click of the kettle turning itself off, she checked the clock on the far wall and took a note of how long she had left, making it at least an hour before she had to get everybody into the car and on their way. She could hear him coming down the stairs after his shower, the wooden creaks leaving nothing to the imagination as they made a sound with every step. She didn't move or turn around as she heard him getting closer, the sounds he made as he rolled his shoulders and ruffled his drying hair caused a feeling of safe familiarity to wash over her and as she stirred her tea, pouring in her milk in small instalments as he neared her. She smelt him before he touched her, his manly body wash mixed in with her floral shampoo overwhelmed her and she crinkled her nose as his hands snaked around her waist from behind. She didn't react to this, waiting for him to grumble out his morning greeting before she said hers.
"Good morning." He whispered his voice croaky and full of the sleep he hadn't gotten rid of before coming downstairs to join her.
"Morning, Ron. Would you like some coffee?"
She patted his arms, before taking a step towards the cupboard holding the mugs, but his arms had tightened around her and she stopped her movements.
"Nah, I'd rather stay like this for a bit before Rose wakes up." He finished by kissing her gently on the neck, something which used to drive her mad, but recently it caused her to cringe inwardly instead, she didn't know why.
With a sigh, she let him cuddle her, wrapping her arms over his to reciprocate his affections, but all she could think about was her tea getting cold and after only two minutes of closeness she squirmed in his arms, turning to face him, her hands resting on his chest.
"As much fun as this is, I have to have this caffeine injection, make sure her uniform is washed, double check she has everything in her trunk and grab a shower, we can't dawdle, especially on such an important day." Her voice was soft and stern as looked into his eyes, her brows raised. "Now go and get Rose out of her pit, she can't miss her first day of Hogwarts because you want to cuddle." She curved the corner of her lips upwards at the end, glad when Ron loosened his arms from around her and allowed her to finally reach her cup of tea. She picked it up with a happy sigh as she heard Ron pad out of the room, an image of his put out face playing in the front of her mind as she guiltily sipped on her tea.
She rinsed out the now empty mug of tea sadly in the sink, already knowing that it would not be enough caffeine for the day and kicking herself for not liking coffee. She moved towards the garage door, happy that on a cold December day she could access it through the kitchen. A washing basket in hand she began to pull her daughters remaining uniform and everyday clothes from the tumble dryer. She could hear the young pair of legs running around upstairs, clearly being chased by bigger ones as Ron's voice could be heard urging his daughter to hurry up and grab a shower so Hermione herself could. She smiled fondly to herself as she closed the garage door behind her, walking towards her daughter's room with her remaining clothes, eager to put them into the trunk and have one more thing on her to do list complete.
She opened Rose's room without knocking, knowing she wasn't in there a moved swiftly towards the open trunk at the bottom of the bed and with slow care she started folding her clothes, taking time to look around her daughters messy room as a sense of loss hit her stomach. The room itself was a horrible shade of yellow that Rose had picked out when she was 6, it was far too bright and eventually Hermione had to get out her wand and magically stick a few purple and pink flowers around just so it didn't look so odd, which got her an excited laugh from the young girl who was still mesmerised by the magic she would one day be able to do, almost convincing her mother to hand over her wand with her puppy dog eyes. Like Hermione, Rose had an incredibly fondness for books and reading, with one wall of her room stuffed high with books. Her white-wood framed single bed was pushed to the opposite side, recently free from the insane amount of teddy bears that once covered it, Rose deciding after she'd gotten her Hogwarts letter that she was 'too grown up' for these sort of things, but Hermione knew that she had kept a few of them and that they were hidden under her quilt, one even shoved into the bottom of her trunk to take with her. The one thing Hermione knew her daughter didn't get from herself or her father was her love of art, she was terrible at art growing up, unable to draw even a stick man, but somehow rose had developed a talent for it, one which she knew wasn't going to go away anytime soon.
Hermione sat down on her daughter's bed for a brief moment, her hand brushing over the lilac quilted bedding as she looked back on all the memories she shared with her family in here, she could remember as if it was yesterday when her and Rom had first brought Rose home, this room was a hastily put together nursery that she and him had evolved with time and love as they brought up their daughter. Love, Merlin she used to be so in love.
Her thoughts drifted off as she felt a single tear roll down her tear, hastily brushing it away she stood up and reached into her back pocket, pulling out a moving photo of herself, Rose and Ron from New Years, they were at the Burrow watching the fireworks when Ron came bounding over with Rose in his arms, the little girl yelling that she wanted a picture of them and had roped Auntie Ginny into taking it. The shot itself was beautiful, Ron had gotten 'cheese' and yelled out 'sneeze', which caused Hermione to laugh in the most genuine way she had all night, looking towards her little family with humour in her eyes in their group huddle. That was the night when she'd realised something had changed between her and Ron, he'd kissed her when the clock had struck twelve on her request and the fireworks were the only thing with a spark, Ron's wet, soppy kisses causing nothing but an empty fluttering in her chest. She heard the shower turning off and hurried to stuff the photograph into the trunk, turning as Rose walked into the room with her fluffy blue dressing gown on, one which was clearly too big. She didn't seem too bothered about her mother's presence in her room, walking over to her wardrobe to pick out her travelling clothes.
"Rose, Darling, does daddy know you've stolen his dressing gown?" She asked amused.
Rose simply shook her head with a knowing smile and shrugged.
"Mines all packed and he's dressed anyway, well he was dressed when he started chasing me around this morning."
Hermione moved to her daughter and kissed her lightly on the head, her one arm coming to wrap around her daughters shoulders as the other held onto the now empty laundry basket.
"You are silly, now get dressed and I'll dry your hair okay? We're running a bit late, so I'm going to hop in the shower now and I expect you at my door in no more than ten minutes, okay?" She looked down sternly, before kissing the top of her head once more, satisfied by Rose's answer of a nod of her small head.