"Celeste-Vera?" Hermione yelled through the door at her eldest daughter. "Get your butt out of bed right now!"
"But WHY?" Celeste-Vera yelled back at her.
Hermione sighed, sometimes that girl just infuriated her. "Because" She said as she opened the door of Celeste-Vera's bedroom. "You have to go to Aunty Ginny's and Uncle Harry's house today while I go to Diagon Alley and do the shopping."
"But Mum, can't I just come with you? I'm ten! I'm old enough for you to take me with you!" Celeste-Vera wailed at her mother.
"But honey, if I take you I have to take Charisse-Aura and she is too much of a handful today." Hermione said as calmly as possible. She threw the set of clothes at Celeste-Vera and walked out the door after saying "Now get up!"
Hermione wandered back down the stairs taking a little time to smile at each picture on they way. She was so lucky to have the family that she did, she would even go far enough to say she was blessed. She stopped to stare at her particular favorite family photo.
It was taken only six months ago at the Burrow. She stood next to her husband, Dean Thomas who was holding their youngest daughter Charisse-Aura and Celeste-Vera stood in front of Hermione. Charisse-Aura was the perfect mix between Dean and Hermione, she had deep brown hair in tight ringlets and chocolate colored eyes that could melt anyones heart and gorgeous olive skin. Celeste-Vera however looked exactly like her mother except she had poker-straight hair. And her eyes, oh where to begin. Every time Hermione looked at them her heart would melt and she would begin to reminisce. But there was no need to remember, she had all she needed, all she would ever need.
She continued down the stairs and into the lounge to find her baby girl Charisse-Aura sitting on the floor playing with her doll. Hermione had insisted that her children had been brought up with muggle things such as toys and fairy-tales along with their magical versions. She went and picked Charisse-Aura up and gave her a hug. "Hey baby, are you excited to go see Lily, Aurora and Jacob?" She cooed. Charisse-Aura's face broke out in a toothless grin, she had just recently lost her two front teeth, as she nodded like a maniac. "Good" She said as she began to began to bounce the girl up and down on her hip. Where was Celeste-Vera? Why did that girl always take so long to get ready? "Celeste! Hurry up, we have to go!" She called up the stairs.
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Calm down!" Celeste-Vera yelled as she raced down the stairs, running her hand through her hair to pull it up into a tight bun atop her head.
Hermione shook her head, she was so like her father, in so many ways. Oh no, there she went again. She needed to learn not to dwell, it was over, ten years ago. Grabbing the pot of floo powder she kept upon her mantle she held it in front of Celeste-Vera. Celeste-Vera grabbed a fist full of the green dust smiled sweetly at her mother and younger sister and stepped into the fire place. "Potter Manor" She said simply and with a flash of green flames she was gone. Shaking her head Hermione hitched Charisse-Aura further up on her hip and took a small amount of floo powder before placing it back on the mantle and copied her daughter.
Hermione spluttered, she never understood why Ginny didn't clean her fireplace, every time she flooed there she would get covered in soot, but then again Ginny had Aurora and Lily to deal with and they were so much like their uncle's Fred and George. Setting Charisse-Aura down on the ground next to Ginny's youngest child and only son, Jacob, she walked down to the kitchen to find Ginny running around like a headless chicken, cooking up a storm. "Hey Gin" Hermione said as she walked over to give her girlfriend a kiss on the cheek. "How is everything going?"
"Oh great!" Said Ginny sarcastically. "I've got the whole family coming over for dinner tonight, and I mean EVERYONE!" She said this through her teeth. But then relaxed enough to ask kindly "You are still coming right?"
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the..." Hermione's sentence was cut off by the sounds of an explosion upstairs. Ginny groaned "Aurora, Lily!" She yelled.
"Gin," Hermione said meekly "are you sure you can look after Vera and Aura today because if you can't don't worry about it. I'll just take them with me."
Ginny laughed "Honey I know your girls are sweethearts but I was there last time you took them out in public, the memory of that is still etched in the minds of the WHOLE wizarding community. Don't worry, if I can handle those two," She thrust her fingers upwards as she said this. "I can handle your girls."
"Okay, okay" Hermione said with a smile on her lips. "Thanks Gin, really. If anything happens, text me STRAIGHT away!" Hermione then kissed her friend on the cheek and aparrated to Diagon Alley.
Hermione didn't have much she needed to get, just some new clothes for the girls and enough food to last them the week. As she wandered in to Madame Malkins, to get some robes for Celeste-Vera who would be turning eleven in August and attending Hogwarts in September, Hermione walked into a strong figure, as she stuttered her apologies she looked up to see a pair of warm grey eyes staring down at her. "Hermione" Draco breathed. "Can we talk?"
Hermione pushed past him only looking back at him to say "Draco, I'm sorry but I can't, I just can't" She turned back and urged her feet to move as her eyes filled with tears. She still loved him, even though she knew she shouldn't, she should be happy with the life she has. She had everything, a husband who loved her and two beautiful daughters who meant the world to her so she just had to stop thinking about Draco.
Hermione was quick, she didn't want to leave Ginny for too long with five children all under the age of ten, that was just cruel. When she returned to Potter Manor her arms full of bags. Everything was silent. That was odd. She wandered down the hallway to the kitchen to find Ginny still hard at work. "Why is it so quiet?" She asked her red-headed friend curiously.
"Their all in the den watching a muggle movie, I used it to bribe them to shut up, you know how much they love muggle movies." Her friend replied. "So how was your trip to Diagon Alley?"
"I walked into Draco at Madam Malkins." Hermione whispered. Ginny dropped everything she was doing and rushed to her best-friends side pulling her in for a comforting hug.
"I... I... I have to g...g...go, can you p...p...please look after the g...g...girls for a little bit? Hermione stuttered.
"Sure love, you go do what ever you want. Relax, take a break. The girls are safe here." Ginny said giving her friend a reassuring smile.
"Thanks." Hermione managed to get out before apparating back to her own house. She walked down the hallway past her daughters bedrooms and into her own. Opening her wardrobe she reached up to the top and pulled out a small box. Sitting on her bed she wiped the dust off the top, she hadn't opened this box in ten years. Slowly she took the lid off and looked down at it. Her hands shook at she tipped the contents out in front of her. She picked up a small pile of photographs and looked at them slowly one by one, placing each one carefully back into the box after she had looked at it. They were all of her and Draco, or her Slytherin Prince which she had called him all those years ago. She looked at the last one, it was of Thomas, Celeste-Vera and her. The day Celeste-Vera was born. She looked like an angel, an angel with stone grey eyes.
