Trigger warning: Bombing and destruction

This is not beta'd and English isn't my first language, so if you see a mistake, kindly point it out.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, they all belong to J. K. Rowling.

Hermione was running.

She didn't know what was happening, all she knew was that something had gone terribly wrong and now she needed to find her kids and get out.

She had been reading in her comfy chair in the corner, her favorite corner of the house where it was quiet and peaceful, and suddenly all hell broke loose. There was an explosion that rocked the house and felt too close for comfort. She didn't even think about it, her mind automatically slipped into survival mode and she began heading for her kids' rooms upstairs.

What's happening? She thought. We're supposed to have some goddamned peace now; the war has been over for nearly two decades.

But she didn't dwell too much on that, first she had to save Rose and Hugo and get out, after that she could look for explanations.

Another explosion rocked the house as she ran up the stairs, that one felt even closer than the first. Hermione began to seriously panic! She had to get to Rose and Hugo!

She arrived at last in front of Rose's room after tripping twice on the stairs and fumbled with the door knob. The door opened to the sight of her child sleeping peacefully, unaware of what's happening outside. She almost smiled fondly at the thought, Rose could sleep through anything, but there was no time for that right now, she hurriedly carried her daughter and began heading for her son's room.

"Mommy?" Rose wondered in a sleepy voice, still half in the realm of Morpheus. "What's going on?"

"Shhh, sweetheart. It'll be alright, we just need to find your brother first." Hermione replied in a calm voice, or as calm as she could get it to be. She was never one for calming people, Ron was better at that, she was the strict parent. She wished Ron was with them right now, he would know what to do and keep a level head owing to the fact that he faced danger on an almost daily basis in his job. But Ron was on a super-secret mission that she wasn't cleared to know about, so it was up to her to save their children's lives and keeping them from being too freaked out at the same time.

Rose didn't question her anymore and went back to her half-asleep state. Hermione didn't find Hugo in his room, so she headed to the library where he liked to spend some of his time reading about Quidditch and wizarding history.

Just as she was about to open the door to the library, it all went pear-shaped.

Her hand was on the handle when the next explosion happened, it was right outside the house this time. The door was ripped off of its hinges and she was flung back from the force of the explosion. She tried to engulf Rose's body with her own as much as she could to prevent any harm from coming to her daughter but Hermione was injured in the process.

Oh no. she thought frantically. Oh, God, please don't tell me that Hugo was in there.

When the ringing in her ears lessened a bit and she was able to stand up again without falling, she carried Rose and ran for the wreck that was the library.

Please be safe. Please be safe. Please be safe. She repeated in her head as a mantra as she frantically looked around for her child.

It was a mess, books torn and papers everywhere, bookshelves destroyed and wood burning. The temperature of the room was rapidly increasing and they needed to get out quickly.

She set Rose on the ground and looked her in the eye. Rose had been crying and going into shock.

She put her hands on Rose's cheeks and wiped her tears away. "Sweetheart, listen to me," Hermione said as she tried to keep her voice from breaking and her tears from falling; she needed to be strong for her children. She needed to save them. "Love, I didn't want to send you alone but I need to look for your brother now. I'm going to send you to Uncle Harry and you need to stay there till I arrive, okay?"

Rose didn't say a word, she simply nodded shakily. Hermione was worried for her but she needed to get her out of here safely first. She grabbed her wand from the holster on her forearm, luckily it was the one that wasn't injured by the explosion so her wand was safe. She didn't even want to look at her other forearm right now.

Hermione tapped Rose's locket, which was a silver Rose with thorns around it. It was a gift from Harry to his goddaughter on one of her birthdays. It was also an emergency portkey to keep her safe.

"Sanctuarium" She whispered the password and her daughter was whisked away to safety.

Hermione closed her eyes, took a deep breath and got back up. She had a son to search for.

"Hugo!" She called as loud as she could. She hoped that he was safe and would answer her soon.

She kept calling as she searched under the ruins of the burning library, putting out the fire whenever she spotted the flames. The Aguamenti spell was her best friend right now, she can't let her home burn down, after all.

After a couple minutes of futile search, Hermione paused, closed her eyes and urged herself to think rationally.

Think logically, dammit! You're supposed to be the brightest witch of your age. How can you find your son? She asked herself.

The point-me spell! Of course! She mentally cursed herself for her stupidity as she cast the spell. Her wand spun around a couple of times before pointing to her right, which unfortunately wasn't out of the library. Hermione cursed and hurried in that direction whilst checking her wand every other moment.

Her wand finally led her to a pile of collapsed wood and ruined books, which used to be a bookshelf. She automatically began to assume the worst and tears sprung into her eyes.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" She shouted the very first charm she learned and levitated the pile away only to find the unmoving body of her son.

"NO! Hugo!" she cried as she bent down and hugged her son to her chest.

Please be alright. Was all she could think of while checking his pulse. She held her breath for what seems like an eternity until finally she felt a beat. It was weak, but it was still there and that was all what matters right now.

"It's okay, sweetie. Mummy is here now. You'll be alright," She babbled more for her benefit to convince herself that he was safe.

Hermione hugged her son tenderly to her chest while tapping his portkey and whispering the password.

Everything is going to be alright now. We'll be safe. She thought as she felt the navel-tugging sensation of the portkey.

A/N: aaaaaaand that's it. Hope you liked it. This was my take on war from an innocent civilian's POV, I guess?

After crying for not being able to do anything except pray for Aleppo, and being told on a fandom page that no one cares about the children dying (and here's me thinking that fandoms are like families :') but apparently, they're not), I decided that I would take out all of my feeling in a fic.

So, excuse me while I go cry some more.

Goodbye.