"Come on honey. Say 'A'. Please. For mummy." Hermione was struggling with her four years old daughter. To say the child was not bright was out of the question as she was as smart as her mother when she was her age, but showed them in a different way. Seraphine Granger was what Hermione would of dreamed how her children one day would look like. 'But not the hair color though...-and maybe the skin..and the eyes as well', she mused. She honestly think that her daughter would look a lot like her when she was born but oh how wrong she was.
As Hermione continue to muse herself with her thoughts about her daughter, Seraphine picked up her pencil and starts tapping it on her desk. Tap, tap, tap. She likes listening to sound and looking at pictures more than reading. Hermione noticed her problem immediately after her first attempt to teach her daughter how to read when she was two and a half. Seraphine doesnt talk a lot..or maybe at all on certain days.
"Come on Seraphine. You have to learn how to read. You do want to go to Hogwarts right?" Hermione has been having suspicion that her daughter might have dyslexia disorder from her behavior. She has been trying to read after Hermione taught her the first time, but soon realize that she cant recognize the alphabets at all. She often misspelled them or even wrote them wrong. After that, Seraphine has taken the initiative to not read at all. She likes drawing and coloring better now.
Soon after that incident, Hermione took Seraphine to a muggle psychologist, to find out if her suspicion was true. And it was. Dr. Mitchell, the psychologist confirmed it.
Hermione didn't know what or how to feel, knowing Seraphine inherited her grandmother's disorder. After getting out of the hospital, she took her daughter home. As soon as they arrived at the front of their small apartment, she felt Seraphine's little body shook.
" I'm sorry, mummy." She was crying. She knew what the doctor had said to her mother, that she was not normal. She was a smart child and she understood what the adult conversed. She had felt her mother's emotion after the doctor told them she had dyslexia disorder. She could never read normally and become as smart as her mother. She felt sorry for her mother. She had heard Aunt Luna called her Mummy the brightest witch of her age and she was awed and that made her want to become just like her mother. And because she only knows her mother, automatically Hermione had become her only hero. She never asked about her father though she always wanted to. Her mother went from happy to mopping whenever one of their neighbour mentioned her father. But she didnt care. Her mummy was everything for her. Forever. That's why when she found out about her 'disease', she was upset.
Hermione realised that her behavior from the news had made her daughter distraught, thinking it was her fault she can't read. Hermione picked her up. For a four years old, she sure is a smart child.
" Shhh..honey it's alrught. It's not your fault." Hermione's word made Seraphine clung to her mother and cried her heart out. Hermione's heart broke when she saw her daughter's tears. She has promised herself that she would take good care of her daughter and now, her daughter was suffering. Seraphine fell straight to sleep and Hermione tucked her in for the night. ' I'm sleeping with you tonight baby. I promise i'll find a way to help you.' If the muggle ways can't help, then she will resort to the wizarding world, which she has not stepped in since she was pregnant with Seraphine.
That was the reason Seraphine doesn't have a father in her life. She fled as soon as she knows she was pregnant. She got cold feet and bolt from her wizard family, which include the Weasleys and Harry. Even her parents, which she had restored their memories few months after the war, never knew their one and only granddaughter.
She knew she did wrong but she was scared and young. Afraid of being rejected by the one man she loved and by her family as well. The man she loved... ' i shouldnt think about him anymore. He must have hated me when i left'. But it wasnt entirely her fault. The man had confessed that he didnt want any children at all and Hermione was alright with that at first..but as soon as she found out about Seraphine, she changed her mind. She fell in loved with Seraphine when she just knew about her but she did not want to lose her love of her life. More than that, she can't stand the rejection of her baby when the man knows. So she made the decision to break up and left. Just like that. She wrote letters saying she she wants to end it and tucked her tail between her legs and ran like a coward. 'What a Gryffindor i turned out to be'. She heard about his tantrums when he read the letter from Luna, the only one who she was still in contact now.
" You shouldn't have done that you know. You broke his heart". Luna was staring at the windows of Hermione's home with her dreamy looks on her face. "Well what else can i do, i cant let him know about the baby. He wont accept this baby. I know Luna. He told me before." Hermione eyes was watering again. Hormones. "Well, he'll never know now". That was all Luna could say and those simple words hit Hermione's gut hard. Maybe he could change. But what's done is done. She won't look back now.
Hermione glanced down to her daughter's face. Her hands running through the dark and curly mane. Being a mother at 22 was hard but she never regret it all. As she looked at Seraphine's face, she promised herself that tomorrow she will look for ways to help her daughter. Even if it means going back to the wizarding world and seeing Severus again.
Severus.