AN: I don´t own Harry Potter or any of the other characters and don´t make any profit.
DEDICATED TO ALL EXHAUSTED MUMS OUT THERE!
„BOTH OF YOU GO TO YOUR ROOMS AND STAY THERE. I HAD IT WITH YOUR CONSTANT FIGHTING. YOU DO ANNOY ME A GREAT DEAL TODAY. BOTH OF YOU!" Hermione yelled at Rose and Hugo. They were looking at her, Rose´s lips were trembling and Hugo´s eyes were filling with tears. It made her heart break seeing them like this. Rose quickly snatched her brother´s hand silently pulling him behind her into her room, quietly closing the door. Hermione could feel the tears well up in her eyes and she hurried to her bedroom, collapsing onto the bed, crying into her pillow. I´m a bad mother, really bad, I´m the worst. I made them cry. They looked at me with such fear and sadness. They will hate me.
Hermione still sobbed into her pillow ten minutes later.
"Hermione, sweetheart I´m home!" she heard Ron´s voice from downstairs. It took him a couple of moments to find her.
"What´s the matter? Did something happen?" he couldn´t keep the worry out of his voice.
She sniffled, "I… I… I am … a … bad … m…mother!" she burst into tears again. Ron hurried over to the bed and pulled her into a hug.
"Why would you even think that?" he mumbled into her hair. She didn´t answer but kept sobbing into his chest, making him rock her back and forth and mumble words of comfort in her ear to sooth her.
When her crying died away, he softly asked, "What happened?"
"I yelled at them, making them cry. They were fighting the whole day. And it´s a mess all over the place. Everywhere they go they leave a mess. And Hugo doesn´t sleep properly at the moment, he woke up three times last night. Just so you know Mister-I-am-sound-asleep-even-if-Voldemort-is-apparating-right-into-my-bedroom-with-a-loud-bang. I´m tired and exhausted and … " her voice died away.
"And what?" Ron looked at her curiously.
"And I think I´m bored. Don´t get me wrong, there is enough to do around the house. So I´m really exhausted, but my brain feels like it died somewhere between cooking and doing the laundry."
He laughed, "Why don´t you start working again?"
"It´s too early."
"You think? Rose is six and Hugo is three. You don´t have to work full-time," he suggested.
"I don´t know."
"Tell you what, I´ll draw you a bath and you take time to relax," he gently kissed her. She nodded, feeling tears well up again, but she quickly blinked them away. Ron went to the bathroom and she could hear the water running.
"Let me just quickly check on the kids, I´ll be back in a minute."
Hermione sighed and fell back on her pillow, her hand resting over her eyes.
When she heard Ron coming back, she timidly asked, "They hate me now, don´t they?"
Ron smiled, "No they don´t. They were actually playing quite nicely together. I haven´t seen that in a long time. I explained to them that their Mum is a bit tired and she loves them, although she yelled at them earlier." Hermione sniffled and got up from the bed.
"Come on Hermione," he took her hand and guided her to the bathroom.
"Please don´t let that whole situation get to you. You had a bad day. Everybody has a bad day once in a while. I put some lavender bath-oil in your bath, please relax and enjoy. I will look after the kids and make sure they don´t disturb you." He kissed her on the nose.
When she stepped into the tub, the warm water just caressed her body, making her relax instantly. She could feel the tension leave her, making her realize how tense she actually was. After half an hour she rose from the bath and got dressed in some comfy jeans and a scruffy T-shirt and entering their bedroom, she smiled. There was a fire crackling in the fire-place. Ron had somehow managed to bring her favourite arm chair from the living room up to the bedroom, placing it in front of the fire and next to it on a coffee table lay her all-time favourite book "Hogwarts a history". There was also some dinner waiting for her, soup, sandwiches, a bottle of butter-beer and a small bar of Honeyduke´s milk-chocolate. Her favourite. She snuggled up in her chair and started reading and eating at the same time. After about an hour she heard a quiet knock on her door. With her "Come in!" two small red-heads squeezed through the half opened door.
Rose and Hugo were standing there in their pyjamas, holding hands, when Rose said timidly "I´m sorry Mum, we were fighting earlier." Hugo just nodded to his sister´s apology. Hermione opened her arms and they hurried into her embrace.
"And I´m sorry, that I yelled at you earlier," she sighed and a tear escaped her eyes, which she quickly brushed away, so they wouldn´t see.
"Daddy, said you awe tiwed," Hugo said, still not able to manage speaking a proper "R", which Hermione adored.
"Yes, I think I am, honey."
"Mummy can you wead us a bed-time stowy?" he said with pleading eyes.
When Ron looked into the bed-room half an hour later, he found all three of them sound asleep, both of the children cuddled into one of their mother´s sides. A small smile was curling around Hermione´s lips. Ron had to quickly blink away a tear. That´s my little family! He felt his chest swell with pride.
When Hermione came down the next morning the kitchen smelt like bacon and eggs. Ron had cooked a proper English Breakfast. She hadn´t had that in a while. And she noticed the children were already dressed. That was quite unusual too.
"Mummy thewe is a pwesent at youw place," Hugo announced eagerly and pulled her to the breakfast table.
"And it´s not even your birthday Dad said," Rose wondered, making Ron smile and wink at his wife.
"Open it!" both children squealed in unsion. Hermione smiled and picked up the small card that came with the present. It simply said "I love you, Ron" in Ron´s messy handwriting. She gave him a warm smile. She slowly opened her present and raised a questioning eyebrow at Ron, since she was holding four guide books on Athens, two muggle and two wizarding, in her hands.
"We are going on a short holiday to Athens today, sweetheart. I know you always wanted to go there. And maybe you get some of your brain back, with all the culture there and the exploring we can do."
She gasped. "What about your work? What about the kids?" she wondered.
"It has all been taken care of. Since George is my boss, it wasn´t a problem to take time off. And the kids are staying at Harry´s and Ginny´s …" he couldn´t finish his sentence, since after this revelation Rose and Hugo were jumping up and down, laughing and squealing with joy.
And he now shouted, "I´ve packed for everybody, except for you, but you´ll have enough time, since our portkey is only leaving in three hours."
Rose and Hugo finally stopped being as noisy and whispered to each other, what plans they had with their cousins.
Hermione got up and came around the kitchen table, pulled Ron up on his feet and engaged him in a heated kiss, leaving them both breathless.
"I love you, too," Hermione whispered.
AN: I hope you enjoyed!