Hermione Granger-Weasley hurriedly pushed her daughter, Rose, towards Platform Nine whilst she dragged her youngest, Hugo, reluctantly in tow. "It's almost ten to eleven," She grumbled under her breath as she struggled to maintain a steady breathing pattern. "I have never been late for this train."
"Well, I am not you," Rose snapped back with a pout, and rather ironically so, considering the fact that she was a near-spitting image for her mother, but with her father's hair. As she neared the bricked wall that contained the entrance for their desire platform, she sighed and turned back to her mother, "I'm sorry," She mumbled, "I am just stressed."
Hermione gave her an understanding smile before she looked over her shoulder to where a couple of large, muscled men stood and watched over her. She then turned her attention back to her children and gave her daughter a pat on the shoulder before she ran through the wall between platforms nine and ten.
Her son complained and whined as he dug his heels in and refused to move forward, which only added to her exasperated state.
"Hugo, please!" She hissed as she nervously caught the gaze of many on-lookers as her eyes darted back and forth between them, "We need to go through, or else Rose will leave us behind."
He reluctantly complied and started to drag his luggage trolley behind him before his little legs broke into a sprint as both he and his mother found their way onto the fabled Platform 9¾.
Hermione paused for a moment as she took a deep breath and lovingly looked at the Hogwarts Express before her and her family. That train had taken her to the school where she had formed some of her fondest memories, and it still made her heart flutter whenever she saw it. Despite the dark events that she had also lived through at Hogwarts, she tried her best to cling onto the happy and warm ones, though she also acknowledged that the hardships she had been forced to face at a young age had shaped her into the strong witch she had become. With a contented sigh, she turned to Rose and gave her a tight, one-armed hug. "Be sure to write whenever you can," She whispered into her ear as she squeezed her tightly.
Rose blushed as the embarrassment from her mother's affection consumed her, "I promise I will." She replied with a smile before she shrugged off the hug, "I can see Albus," She suddenly gushed before she ran to the train and dragged her luggage behind her, "I'll see you at Christmas!"
Hermione's brows furrowed as she waved and watched her daughter leave her behind, but also shun the boy she had claimed to be so eager to spend time with.
"Do I have to go now?" Hugo asked as he started to pout and tears filled his eyes, "I don't know if I have everything I need, and I'm…" He swallowed hard to stop himself from crying, "I'm scared."
"You are going to do fine," She informed him as she crouched before him, "You are going to be a great wizard, like all those in your family before you." She then cocked her brow and head to the side, "What do you think you have left behind now?"
He shrugged and pulled on the cuff of his jumper, "I was worried about my quills… And my books… And parchment."
She smiled and pulled her son into her arms, "We have already checked for each of those things three times, but just to make sure, I want you to send me an owl as soon as the train has left in…" She tilted her wrist towards her and read the time on the face of the watch she had strapped upon it, "About five minutes." She then patted him on the shoulder and wiped away his tears, "You had better get going before the Express leaves without you."
A boy with platinum blond hair dashed past the two of them in a flurry and a panic before he stumbled up the steps of the locomotive.
"Scorpius!" His equally-blond father shouted from behind Hermione, "I swear, that boy will be the death of me." He sighed and rubbed the stubble on his chin. His grey eyes were filled with sorrow and adorned with dark-circles and a redness that his forced smile could not hide.
Hermione smiled as she turned back to the flustered Draco Malfoy, "I often feel like that these days," She admitted as she watched her son clamber up the metal steps. She then grimaced and sighed, "I am sorry about Astoria, by the way. We never really interacted much but, you have my condolences."
Draco sniffed and nodded, "Thank you," He managed in a hoarse whisper, "I appreciate it." He then sniffed again and hastily blinked back tears before he cleared his throat and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I was actually hoping to find you today for something other than your sympathy."
Hermione quickly glanced up to the train, then back to the dishevelled and gaunt man in front of her, "What was it?" She asked as she started to feel concerned and a knot formed in her stomach.
His eyes darted towards the men that had followed her onto the platform. "I don't think I can tell you here." He whispered before he sent a sharp nod in their direction.
She looked over her shoulder to where the tall, cloaked men stood, "There aren't many places I can go without them following me," She hissed, "it comes as part of being the Minister of Magic."
Malfoy grunted and swept his hair from his face, "I suppose that is to be expected." He then sent a sharp nod her way, "Congratulations on that promotion, by the way."
The train's whistle sounded throughout the station and caught the attention of all the waiting parents.
"Thank you." Hermione replied bluntly as threw her arm into the air and waved to the children that she had on the train.
Rose quickly waved back from the compartment she shared with her waving younger brother, whose eyes had become red from the tears he had been trying to withhold.
Draco forced a smile for his son as he left, but it was an empty one, "Is there anywhere that an important woman such as yourself could speak to me without your guards?" He inquired.
She shook her head, "I can only have peace in my place of residence…" She whispered back, "Is this really an urgent –"
"– Yes!" He quickly responded with an edge of desperation in his voice, "You have no idea just how much."
Somewhat surprised by his outburst, she gazed upon him with wide eyes and a slack jaw for a few seconds before she managed to compose herself and form a reply. "Then you and I shall have to have a meeting – in a public place." She then looked over her shoulder once again towards her bodyguards, "Somewhere where they shall be forced to give me some space if I ask them…"
"Name it," Draco blurted before he swallowed hard.
Hermione breathed in deeply through her nose, then closed her eyes and bowed her head, "The Three Broomsticks." She said definitively, "Does this evening at six o'clock work for you? Sunday evening is always a busy one."
The man eagerly nodded, "Absolutely, I shall see you there." He then forced his hands into his jacket pockets and sprinted towards the wall within which he disappeared.
She looked round at the gawking faces that surrounded her before she rubbed the sweat from her brow and made a hasty retreat from the station.
The men that followed her everywhere she went had to jog to keep up with her, and voice their complaints as they did so.
She came to a sudden stop and sighed as she stepped outside the station and back into the muggle world she had left behind years ago.
Cars drove by, birds chirped in the trees and children played happily on their last day summer holidays before they had to return to their muggle schools. Their life was so ordinary – so untouched by the world of magic – and a small part of her missed that. She knew that she could never return to it, that she had no ties to the muggle world after she had wiped her parents' memory, but it was something that she longed for so desperately.
Though, perhaps it wasn't the muggle world she craved, but the comfort that she had felt when she had been in it with her parents – for at that moment, she felt so very lost.
"I am going home," She announced to the men behind her, "You have the rest of the afternoon off, but I shall be partaking in a meeting at the Three Broomsticks tonight at six. I expect you to be there."
They turned to each other and – though evidently confused – did as she instructed.
After she had made sure that they were gone, she walked over to a shadowed area away from prying eyes, pulled her wand from the inside pocket of her jacket before she disapparated.
Moments later, Hermione stood by the wooden gate of her home and sighed. The house that she and her family shared could only be described as beautifully quaint. When they had first moved there, it had been one of the happiest moments of her life, behind the birth of her children and her marriage. But, as she stood outside it once again, it was as though a large weight had fallen into the pit of her stomach. Her own home no longer brought her joy.
With a sigh, she pushed the gate open – which caused its rusted hinges to creak – before she continued down the path towards the front door that she unlocked with a muggle key. "I'm home," She called to a seemingly empty house, "Hugo was upset to go, as we expected…" Her voice trailed off as she removed her coat and saw her husband slumped in the armchair in their living room. "Are you awake?" She asked before she took hesitant steps towards him.
Ron Weasley had apparently ignored every word his wife had said to him as he remained slouched in his chair, with a bottle of alcohol in his tightly clenched fist.
"You've been drinking again," She scolded before she tried to snatch the bottle from him, "We've talked about this."
He yanked his hand away and cradled the liquor as though it were a precious baby, "I can drink whatever and whenever I want." He mumbled in slurred words, "If I hadn't lost my bloody job, I be like this!"
"And if you hadn't turned up to work drunk every day, then maybe you might still have a job!" She snapped back before she turned to walk towards the kitchen, "I thought you were getting better…"
He managed to push himself up into a standing position before he swiped the whiskey glass from the end table beside him and stumbled towards Hermione, "I am fine…" He retorted as he nearly fell into her arms.
"You are not!" She shouted with tears in her eyes, "You are anything but fine. You are drunk before midday, and you shouldn't be."
He upended the bottle and emptied the last drops left within it into the glass as he shook his head and grumbled incoherently before he formed a proper retort, "Of course, Minister of Magic, you always know what should and shouldn't be, don't you?" He pressed the glass to his lips and downed the contents in one, "Of course, it's a perfect job for you. You get to tell everyone else what to do all the time. But remember that, when you're here…" His words disappeared into an inaudible whisper as his eyes glazed over.
"I'm just your wife, right?" She grumbled through gritted teeth, "Are you trying to tell me that I should know my place, Ronald Weasley?!"
He swayed back and forth for a few moments before he looked at her with unfocused eyes, "Yes." He replied with drunken confusion.
Tears stung at the corners of her eyes as she watched the man she loved wander the tiled room in front of her like the lost zombie he had become. It was no secret that their marriage had hit a rough patch, one that it didn't look like they were going to get out of without some help, but she didn't let anyone know just how bad it had become. She'd managed to hide the worst of it from Rose and Hugo, but it had been hard.
Whilst his drinking problems had started before he had lost his job, they had only intensified after. No matter how much she had tried to help him, or how much she had done to try and make him happy again, she just felt like it would never be enough.
Almost as though it was a reflex action, she lifted her right hand into the air with an open palm and slammed it across the cheek of her inebriated husband. "How dare you!" She scolded through tears, "I have tried so hard to keep this marriage alive, I've done everything that I can think of. I had hoped that if you wouldn't try to get clean for me, then you would for our children."
He rolled his eyes, "Of course, you are the one who put in all the effort…"
"I am," She cried, "You have given up on me, on us, and on your family!"
With a shout in anger, he threw the glass in his hand against the wall behind his wife where it smashed into a thousand little pieces. "There is nothing left to give up on!" He snapped, "We have been finished for a while now, the only reason I am still here is because of Rose and Hugo."
Hermione sniffed as salty tears cascaded down her cheeks and she pulled the shard from the broken glass out of her cheek. "I am painfully aware…" She mumbled whilst blood oozed onto her fingertips.
Ron's face dropped and his mouth fell slack as he looked at the mess and pain he had caused for the woman he was supposed to love. "Oh Hermione," He blubbed through his own tears, "I'm so sorry." He stepped forward to hold her in his arms, but she pushed him away and strode in the opposite direction.
"Just, clean up the mess?" She asked in a subdued tone before she started to ascend the stairs.
He nodded, "Of course," He replied before he hastily retreated to fetch the dust pan and brush.
The Minister stumbled into the bathroom and locked the door behind her before she leant on the sink and looked at her reflection in the mirror. The woman that looked back at her was tired, covered in tears with blood dripping down the right side of her face, but she also had the eyes of a determined woman. Whilst it looked like the life she had planned for herself had started to unravel, she knew that she would cling to it if there was only one thread left. And now she had something new to capture her attention – whatever if was that Malfoy had considered to be so urgent when they had met earlier that day.
With a deep sigh, she splashed water on her face and washed the fresh wound before she started to prepare herself for whatever it was that lie ahead for her.