Scars
AN: I own nothing, just the idea. Everything else is JK Rowlings, my hero. :-)
She was five the first time she asked about the scars. Hermione had known she would have to deal with it someday, but she had hoped they would still have years before Rose brought them up. Although, if Hermione were being completely honest with herself, a part of her had hoped that Rose would be so used to seeing them on her mother's arm she would never think to question it. So even though she had been prepared for it, Hermione's body froze when she heard her little girl ask, "Mommy, what are those marks on your arm?"
Taking a deep breath Hermione turned from the countertop where she had been preparing dinner to Rose, lying on the ground her coloring book open in front of her. Bending over she placed Rose in a chair at the kitchen table and kneeled before her.
"Do you remember last Christmas when Uncle Harry gave you that toy broomstick?", she asked choosing her words carefully. Rose's face lit up with an excited grin, nodding, as she thought of her favorite toy currently sitting in her bedroom closet.
"And do you remember how you promptly fell off it after you first got on and hurt your knee?" she asked, lightly brushing her hand across the small scar on her daughter's leg.
"Yeah, Daddy picked me up and carried me inside and you gave me a kiss on it to make it all better. And then Daddy gave me a chocolate frog for being such a brave girl cuz I didn't cry, cuz that's for babies." Rose replied emphatically, still proud of how brave she had been.
"Well Mommy's arm is just like that. She hurt it a long time ago, and now I have a mark there, just like you have on your knee."
"Did Grandma kiss it to make it better?" Rose asked, concerned.
"No sweetie. " Hermione said a small smile spreading across her face at her daughter's concern. "Grandma wasn't around when I hurt it."
"So you were all alone?" Rose asked, her eyes wide.
"No. Daddy and Uncle Harry were there with me, and they made sure I was ok"
"Did they kiss it?"
"No. No one ever kissed my owie." Hermione said, trying not to chuckle as her daughter's expression grew more intense.
"But it can't be all better until someone kisses it!" She exclaimed, and with that Rose leaned over and kissed Hermione's arm. "There! Now we need to get one of Daddy's chocolate frogs because you've been such a brave girl until someone could kiss it and make it better." And with that Rose was off, running through the house to find her father and his hidden chocolate frogs.
Touched, Hermione sat at the kitchen table, tears streaming down her face as she starred at the word carved into her arm so long ago. And strangely enough, her arm felt better than it had in a very long time.