Obligatory Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling nor do I own anything having to do with Harry Potter, unless you count owning all the books and movies... This little story is just a bit of fun.
They had been planning this for months. They sat together and made their secret plans. They had thought up every possible option, debated which one was best and in the end, they made their decision.
Of course, these planning sessions were very different from the old days in several ways. They had Ginny with them, they had to take time off work, and the children kept asking their parents what they were up to, but none of them would talk.
As they stood together on the platform and watched as the train pulled out with their five children, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny waved tearful good-byes.
It was Ron who recovered first. "Come on, we've been waiting for this moment all summer. It's time to put our plans into action!"
Smiles spread across Harry, Hermione and Ginny's faces. All the planning was about to pay off. It was the first year all of the children were off to school and they were going to celebrate; celebrate the freedom they had enjoyed for the past nineteen years from Voldemort, celebrate having successfully raised their children to be able to leave home to go to school, and celebrate many, many years of friendship.
After all their discussions, they had decided to take the old tent and go camping. A week with no children and no work. The protective barriers they put up around the tent were there only to protect their privacy. They didn't want any interruptions from work or extended family. The only messages that would be allowed through the barriers were letters from the children. Rose had promised to write them as soon as the sorting and opening feast were over. They were all excited to hear what house Hugo and Lily would be put into.
Hermione brought Muggle board games that she had played as a child. Ron and Ginny were amused by the lack of magic involved in playing these games. They actually had to roll the dice and move the little pieces forward themselves. Harry understood how they game worked without magic, Dudley had owned several of these games, but Harry had never been allowed to played them before. They all had a good laugh.
They shared old stories, remembered the good times and the bad. They laughed and they cried. They had come prepared with lots of food and roasted everything over the fire that they could. A lot was very good. A lot was burned, but it was eaten all the same.
When the week was over, they made a promise to do this every year, after the children left for school. A celebration.
And every year, during the first week of September for the next seven years, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny did just that: celebrate their freedom and friendship.