A/N: This is a co-author written piece with http:/ fanfiction . net/~thedragonchaser (remove spaces), please go read some of her solo peices as well as mine :) This is my first HP fanfiction so apologies for naivety, hopefully between us this is going to be epic :D

Warnings for sexual situations, domestic violence, regular violence in later chapters and probably some other stuff.

Chapter 1

There was no point in trying to sleep on august 31st; not in the Weasley house anyway. Ron had always been able to get a good night's rest the day before he was the one going to school, a good meal of his mother's cooking and he was out like a light, but things were different now. He was the parent that was going to have to stand on the station platform watching his children leave, and even though they were going somewhere he knew was safe it was still harder than anything he had ever had to do.

The first morning Rose had left he had sworn to himself that he would rather fight a thousand spiders in the Forbidden Forest again than let go of his daughters hand but it was an fundamental truth that he couldn't ignore that children grow up and go to school, no matter how much it tears their parents apart.

This September it was Hugo's first year and they had gone through all the same dramas that go along with school term starting, new books new wands new robes, Hermione had needed to stop Ron hyperventilating at the length of Rose's school skirt, which he insisted should come to her ankles, needless to say the woman in his life had beaten him down. The only good thing Ron had decided about rose going to school was that it would finally be him and Hermione in the house alone. That was a good thing.

With a sigh he turned over for the hundredth time since the sun had come up, he wondered how Hermione could sleep on the night before their children went away. She never showed any of his anxiousness over them, acting as the reasonable voice she had always been since they'd met at 11.

Ron caught himself smiling as he recalled that terribly reasonable tone of voice she took on when telling him and Harry off. Her 'Professor Hermione' voice, as he called it. It had been a source of many fantasies for years.

The sound of his wife sighing reminded him that it wasn't just fantasies anymore. He piped up then, chancing his life with the words, 'Hermy, you awake?'

She was facing away from him in a spoon position, but even so he heard her pout. 'Ronald, it's five am, why are you awake?'

Ron couldn't help but chew his lip with a smile of trepidation, on the one had she was awake and that meant that there was no chance of her falling her back to sleep, her mind being such that once it was awake it started to hum with the list of everything that she would want to get done that day. On the other hand she had been known to hex him for waking her up in the early hours unless there was a good reason.

He didn't need to look in a mirror to know that his ear would be the bright shade of scarlet that they always went when he was thinking. His lip chewing growing ever more worrisome as he thought of a good enough reason that would avoid violence towards him. She let out a cough that let him know she was waiting but her fingers flexing towards her wand with every tick of the clock that hung on their bedroom wall.

'I was just thinking about Hugo, and his socks. Do you think that we have packed him enough? And if we haven't done do you think that we will be able to owl him socks? I mean you know what the boy is like with socks...'

Ron could hear his own hopeful inflections, that with would be in her mind a good enough reason for her to have been woken up.

She rolled over slowly to face him, and relief flowed through him when he saw the gentle smile that played her lips. She leant forwards and pecked his cheek, before murmuring, 'I'm going to miss him too, still, it will be nice to have some peace and quiet for a change.'

She leant back, stretching. Ron admired the tautness of her flesh beneath that damn silk thing she always wore to sleep in and his ears turned darker red.

Stifling a yawn, the witch continued, 'Sort of glad this is the last one.'

Ron bit his lip; the subject of how many children they had was something they'd been talking about/arguing over almost since Hugo had been born. Ron didn't go on about it but he really had enjoyed growing up with seemingly endless numbers of brothers and could so easily see himself being head of a huge family of red-heads, all either broad and handsome boys or pretty little girls like his Rose.

Hermione, on the other hand, had taken some convincing to even consider two. Although she admitted she loved being a mum, her pregnancies seemed to be awfully tough on her. Not, Ron thought, like Ginny. His little sister evidently inherited the Weasley gene that made pregnancy a breeze, her and Harry were already working on number four.

'Hermy,' he began. 'D'you think maybe… I mean, might be boring without anyone but us here for most of the year, and it's not like we're past it…'

Hermione sensed what he was about to ask, and cut him off with a sly smile. 'Boring? Oh dear, and I thought you'd enjoy being able to ravish me on every flat surface we can find?'

He didn't respond straight away, his mind divided in two between the sensible Auror he had grown up into and the horny teenage boy who would suggest that the surfaces didn't even need to be flat, so long as he could get her legs apart he would find a way to knock her socks off. He smiled then at the thought of some of the ingenious places he could find, there was still his office at the ministry after all.

'Well yes... but you know how you hate to waste your energy and if we are going to be humping like house elves on Christmas day then you know we might as well work to something.' In his mind that had seemed like an almost sensible thing to say but as soon as the last word crossed his lips he realised what he was implying and there was no way that this conversation was going to end well.

There was however before she could respond a bang outside their bedroom door that drew his attention and that meant that for the time being he was going to get a reprieve from the anger monster his wife was no doubt going to unleash. Trained as he was he was out of their bed and across the room with the door swung open, wand extended in mere seconds. Only too see his son with his trunk trying to get down the stairs alone.

'Is it time to go yet dad?' Hugo smiled.

Ron managed not to laugh, just. He lowered his wand and replied, 'Not for a few hours yet… want some help with that?'

Hugo nodded, grinning from ear to ear. He took after his mother in his looks, more so than Rose, with a mop of brown hair that flopped in his face like a happy spaniel when he spoke.

Ron turned slightly, giving Hermione his best 'pleading' face, 'Well I better help Hugo, otherwise he'll hurt himself, right? Right! Want me to start breakfast too?' he blurted it all out at once and hurried out of the room before she could reply.

In the darkened hallway Rose's bedroom door opened and Ron smiled at the sight of his red-headed daughter, her hair a mass of knotty curls and still in her nightclothes, i.e. a Gryffindor Quidditch shirt and shorts. 'Why is there noise going on?' she groaned, 'It's not time to go yet is it?'

Ron shook his head, waving her back to her room before taking the other end of Hugo's trunk, and managed to get most of the way downstairs before the pangs of sadness broke through again and he started wondering when exactly these two babies had turned into 11 year olds.

Breakfast at their house should have been easier than Ron's childhood meals; after all, it was only four people. However owing to neither Ron nor Hermione being particularly gifted with cooking spells and Rose becoming a rather fussy eater of late, the general effect was of an explosion in the toast, jam and bacon sandwich factory.

The smashing of glass and a shrieking whistle heralded the sound of the morning post arriving, Pidwidgin jettisoning through the air over the breakfast table and landing beak first in the butter.

Hermione was listen to the sounds of the kitchen knowing just what mess there was going to be when she finally got down there, but at that point there was little more she could do that shake in anger. Rom seemed to always pick her weaker moments to try to talk about things that made her feel little more than vulnerable. It didn't happen often but there were points when she knew that in his mind he was thinking that she was not as good as his mother. It wasn't that Hermione didn't think the world of Molly, she was after all the woman that had killed Bellatrix, but it was hard being compared to the ideal all time. She gave a shudder with the thought of Bellatrix, it seemed that the darker shadows of the past still cam every now and then to ruin the best of days.

Seeing that the house was already buzzing Hermione decided there was little point dwelling on that right now, it was time to get up. Her silken nightwear discarded on the floor she decided in the back of her own mind that from now on it would be Ron's old Quidditch shirt and shorts at least until Ron's libido calmed down.

With that in mind she chose jeans and a nice thick jumper for the September weather, her hair twisted with a simple pin and no makeup. She took on last look in her dresser mirror taking in her slapdash appearance, she didn't think that she looked old enough to have a daughter in her teens, and with that slight little boost to her mood she made the bed and got out some clothes for Ron before descending to the chaos of the kitchen.

The sight that greeted her managed to simultaneously annoy and warm her to her core. There was her baby boy, well, not a baby anymore, all reddish-brown curls and big puppy-dog eyes, stuffing his face with as much toast as he possibly could (always one for his food, her Hugo). There was her lovely daughter, cooing over the butter-covered owl, almost bringing tears to Hermione's eyes just with how much Rose resembled her daddy, though Ron always insisted that Rose was too gorgeous to be anything other than Hermione's genes. Hermione didn't see it though. To her mind, Rose was all Ron.

Amid all the chaos there was the man she adored. It sometimes caught her by surprise how much he'd changed, she'd forever think of him as the slightly chubby, mucky, greedy little boy who'd thoughtlessly declared her to have no friends. Or the freckly arsehole, who had asked her to a dance with the words 'Hey! You're a girl!' as if gender were her only redeeming feature.

It was hard to see either of those boys in the man who was her husband, tall (his head sometimes brushed the ceiling of their cottage), muscular (she wondered if she should personally thank the auror trainers for that) and above all, sweeter than she ever would have believed him capable.

He was currently trying and failing to make breakfast for his children, and appeared to be under attack from the flying teapot. He grinned weakly at his wife. 'Hey love, how do you make this stop?'

Hermione waved her wand, uttering the de-levitation spell and taking a seat. 'Any post, Rosie?'

'Mum please its only just gone day break why would there be any post yet, normal people don't get out of bed this early, normal people on their first day of school get a good night's rest.' Rose shot Hugo a look that said any other day of being woken up early by him he would be dangling by his ankles out of the window. She hated being dragged out of bed early.

She hadn't bothered dragging her trunk down, and in truth it wasn't even fully packed her books still spread out over her bedroom floor as she was still trying to decide what classes she wanted to do and reading up on the material seemed the best way to try and make her mind up. She wasn't the type of girl to take a class just because someone else was, whenever she had seen her cousin James over the summer he had tried to worm out of her what she would be doing, but that would only be because he would want to copy from her work all the way through their O.W.L.S.

She gave a yawn wrapping her large thick dressing gown tighter around herself; it was cold in the kitchen even with the Aga going full power. She rested her cheek on her hand, she knew that any mail worth reading wouldn't be there for hours, they probably were not the only family up this early but it was certainly overkill. She yawned again deciding that she hadn't had enough toast.

Hermione poured her some tea, breaking her train of thought, 'Any more clues on what O.W.L.S. you're taking? And have you packed everything?'

Trust her mother to latch onto the exact things she hadn't done yet, nor was even close to finishing. She bit hard into her toast; that brought her a few minutes.

Hugo wriggled in his seat, 'Does the hat really talk?' he chirped, looking to his parents for confirmation, he'd long ago decided that his big sister knew nothing of the school she was attending.

Ron nodded, 'Yeah, speaks to you, usually tells you why it's putting you into the house it is.' he yawned, ruffling his son's hair. 'Not scared are you?'

Hugo bit his lip. 'I remember you told Rose if she got into Slytherin she couldn't come home.'

Ron blushed faintly, and avoided the glare he knew Hermione and Rose would be giving him. Yes he had said that, but as a joke. He'd never thought for one moment his Rose would end up in Slytherin anyway, bunch of pureblood knob heads, still clinging to archaic ideas of what made a 'real wizard'.

Ron had practically done backflips when he heard that all Slytherin students were being required to do muggle studies now. Headmistress McGonagall was doing her best to avoid another generation like the one that spawned Vold-

Ron stopped his thoughts. He didn't even like thinking the name. It didn't matter that Harry assured him the scar hadn't hurt for years, it didn't matter that he was a highly-trained auror, the damn name still made him shudder.

He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, 'I didn't mean it Hugo, it doesn't matter what house you get into.'

Rose took another piece of toast from the plate on the table rolling her eyes as she did so, she should have been happy that she got even the time it took her mother to ask the questions worth of attention but seeing as they were not going to be under the same roof again till Christmas there wasn't much point hoping to expect a fuss. But given that there was so much left for her to do upstairs it was the perfect time to try to slip away unnoticed, although the temptation for one last cutting remark was too tempting even for her.

'Well at least we know you don't have a squibs chance in Durmstrange of getting in Ravenclaw!' Rose was quickly pouring a glass of juice to take away to her while she finished getting ready. She didn't need to look at Hugo to know that he would be on the verge of tears. Hermione lowered her own steaming cup in annoyance went around the table to comfort Hugo who was indeed staring into his Cornflakes like he didn't deserve to eat.

'Rose don't be so horrible you know he is nervous and you are not making it any better!'

Rose made for the kitchen door with an air in indignation, casually commenting over her shoulder.

'You didn't get into Ravenclaw either so don't get so defensive.'

If Rose hadn't already been up the stairs Hermione didn't doubt that there could have been a lot of shouting between the two, she settled instead for comforting the now silently crying Hugo and the embarrassed shade of scarlet spreading over her cheeks.

'Don't worry sweetheart, you'll get into whatever house suits you best, that's how it works. Your father and I don't mind which one that is, do we Ron?' she asked, looking up at Ron sharply.

Ron nodded his hurried agreement, 'Course not.' He ruffled Hugo's brown curly hair. 'Come on, perk up, you'll get to spend loads of time with Albus and James don't forget.'

Hugo nodded meekly, not wanting to let his parents know that his cousins were part of the problem. James' latest favourite game was to tell Hugo and his little brother that they'd both end up in Slytherin, not like him, Harry Potter's golden son, for whom the hat had screamed 'Gryffindor' almost as soon as it touched his head.

In the Potter house, it was a very sombre breakfast being eaten. Only two voices were chirping away, those of Harry Potter, the man who lived (twice), and his son.

Ginny sighed inwardly as she served her family's food, wincing a little as the heavy bump of her fourth baby slowed her down. She cleared her throat, 'James, could you go get the jam for me?'

Before James could reply, Harry rolled his eyes heavily, 'Oh make Lily do it, we're talking about Quidditch.'

James gave a little laugh as he mimicked his father. 'Yeah get Lily to do it.' James punctuated this outburst with a swift kick under the table aimed at Lily that upon the contact of James' heavy boot with her shin let out a harsh cry of pain. She thought about appealing to her mother as she went under the table to rub the injured leg, but that never did any good. Instead she took the bullying as she always did in her stride.

'Don't go under the table, go get the milk!' Harry without provocation barked across the table at Lily who upon hearing the thunder of her father's voice added banging her head on the table to the list of her morning's injuries.

No one in the room dared point out that it was actually the jam that was asked for, and even though there was milk on the table Lily got more milk. Ginny not wanting to have to ask again used her and to get it, but the huff that escaped her was enough for Harry to look up.

'What's the matter now?'

Ginny just shook her head as a response and carried on with some dishes now that everyone was almost fed. She looked over in the hallway where the three trunks were waiting, it had seemed silly to buy all new ones just because Lily was having a new one but Harry had insisted that their children have the best of everything, and whenever the expense did come up he was quick to point out that she should want better for them after the way she had grown up.

That wasn't fair, she thought to herself. She did want the very best for their children, and certainly she didn't want them to know the embarrassment of always wearing hand-me-downs, never having anything brand new, but this seemed to be going too far the other way, rarely a day passed when Harry didn't come home with some little present or another for the children. It wasn't that she minded them having new things as such, but Ginny had been brought up thrifty, and throwing away a perfectly good set of school clothes when James had outgrown them had seemed almost like sacrilege.

It wasn't just that, Harry had been spoiling James. She'd tried to talk to him about it but Harry was insistent that he treated the kids all the same. Were Ginny not so heavily pregnant, she might have argued with him on that, but just lately Harry's temper had been short, with her and the children. She really hoped it was just nerves about becoming a father again, or work getting on top of him. Only rarely did she see the man she'd married in her husband, the smiling, charming young man who always had a joke or an uplifting speech to share.

She was unwilling to admit it, but Ginny was a little afraid of Harry, matter of fact she was looking forward to seeing her big brother on the platform as he sent off her little nephew to school. On some level, she was hoping he'd tell her to come to stay over with him and Hermione for a while, but of course, he wouldn't, after all, she was married to the best man in the world.

Ginny thought for a moment or two, methodically cleaning the dishes, then with a start almost dropping one she turned to James. 'Merlin's beard James we haven't even thought about your O.W.L.S, do you have any idea at all what you want to be doing?'

Harry had his mouth full of bacon and didn't make a noise, he just looked at his son with an expectant beam knowing that his boy would run off the list of everything you had to take to be an auror, nothing less was expected of him. James made a funny little face as though the thought of actually having to do some work at Hogwarts was a great insult.

'I'll do whatever gives me the most time to play Quidditch!' James gave a smug little grin, and Harry without meaning to gave a loud bellowing laugh that sprayed bacon across the table and nearly choked him. however as Harry composed himself he saw a flicker of something in Albus's face, that was something akin to rolling his eyes at his older brothers comment although it could have easily been directed at Harry himself.

'What was that?' Harrys voice had a tone of thunder to the edges that let everyone know in the kitchen that he was mad about something. Albus looked so terrified that you could have easily thought that he was going to soil himself. Everyone else had a deathly hush to them, even James for as much as he was a bully at times he knew whatever was about to happen was going to be bad.

Albus didn't reply, his eyes were wide with terror and misplaced guilt. Harry growled out again, 'What was that, boy?'

Albus looked desperately to his older brother, but the terror was there on his face too. He managed to squeak out, 'I didn't say anything dad.'

Harry rose from his seat then, leaning across the table and getting in his younger son's face, 'Oh, so now you're calling your father a liar?'

Albus shuddered and Ginny began to silently prey for him to just stay quiet, if her darling little boy could just stay quiet and not give Harry anything else to complain about he might just loose interest, return to his banter with James.

But Albus was a Potter, after all, something in the blood made them unable to back down from a challenge, and Albus had never shied away from teachers at school, not when he was totally certain he was the one who was right.

'I didn't call you a liar, I just said I didn't say anything!' he squeaked the words in a hurried rush of fright.

Harry's expression was unreadable, his face carefully blank and his voice dangerously low. 'How dare you talk back to me?' he growled, and then whipped his wand from his back pocket, pointing it at the boy's neck and calling out 'Suffuco!'

Hugo let out a cut-off shriek as he was jolted from the chair and slammed about halfway up the wall by the chocking curse, he clawed at the invisible hands he could feel around his neck. Lily screamed and ran from the room, James' eyes widened and he blurted, 'Dad he was doing it at me, it's all right!'

Harry didn't take the wand away from his younger son, he kept that arm out straight and the spell pulsing down his arm inflicting pain on the boy. His face however was turned to James however and the same venomous look that he had had in his eyes was now pointed at the oldest son.

'Unless you want something worse than he is getting i suggest you keep your mouth shut and finish your Gods be damned breakfast.' Harry turned back to Albus and held the spell till he could see the colour changing on Albus's face as that was long enough to keep the punishment going, long enough to make a valid point but not long enough to do any real damage. If anyone had actually asked Harry how in his mind that he justified his actions that was it. After all he had gone through so much worse and there was nothing wrong with it really, there was of course no way anyone would dare ask him as that would only result in them getting a bout of whatever he was willing to throw as them.

Albus fell to the kitchen floor and now that he was struggling to take in air he was choking not only on the raw air burning his throat but also on the tears that were burning and stinging his eyes, it wasn't long before the contents of his stomach were spattering the floor as he bought up the breakfast he hadn't even had time to begin digesting.

Harry looked at him with pathetic distain, 'Clean yourself up boy, I can't be dealing with you making me look bad at the station.' Harry walked away from the kitchen to get himself ready to leave knowing Ginny would deal with the mess.

Ginny ran to her son's side and hugged him close, whispering soft, comforting words that even she wasn't sure about. Without prompting, James fetched a cloth and gloves, starting to clean the mess, while Lily, bless her kind heart, began to clear the table, knowing that no-one would be hungry after that.

James was the first to speak. He mumbled, 'He's getting worse, mum. You sure you'll be ok?'

Ginny didn't meet his eyes; it was too hurtful to think that even her son could see the situation they were in was getting worse. She wanted to assure him she was planning to leave the frightening man who was their father. But she knew already that by the time they were at the station she'd have justified his actions to herself, because she couldn't face it. She'd be the woman who left the greatest hero the wizarding world had ever known, and she couldn't bear that thought.

Platform 9 ¾ was heaving, a mad bustle of students, old and new, proud parents, trunks and all manner of magical pets, the restrictions on such having been relaxed in recent years. Hermione let out a muttered muggle curse as someone's trunk jabbed her ankle, then tapped Ron's arm. 'Love, can you see Harry anywhere?' then she added, 'You might be able to see over the crowd.'

Ron look about the station stretching up on the balls of his feet and tip toes to see over the crowd of parents and children, Harry was always there before them as he liked the buzz of being recognised, normally as Harry swaggered through the station the crowds would part and children would tug on their parents sleeves pointing as their parents nodded enthusiastically exclaiming loudly that Harry Potter had been in their year or they had once shook his hand, even after all this time he was still the golden boy.

Ron spotted Harry stood with the family, he didn't seem to be fussing over the children too much but that job always ended up being Ginny's job. The first few years it had all been photo opportunities for the Daily Prophet, but they had stopped coming. Ron called over to get his attention but over the bustle there was no chance of being heard.

Ron spoke with a sigh, 'He's over there with Ginny and the children.' He tried to raise his hand to gesture but Hugo's was still held fast. Ron smiled looking down, he didn't need to say anything; he knew that it was just a habit of Hugo's that he had to hold hands at the station so that he didn't get lost.

Hermione led the way pushing through the crowd to get to the other half of the family, she hated when the station was this busy, 'Why is it even being up at the crack of dawn we don't miss the crowds.'

Ron didn't bother replying, just tried to keep up with her and Rose, tugging Hugo along and trying not to yank his arm out at the same time.

Lily was the first to spot them, and scurried over to hug Hermione with a cry of 'Auntie Hermy!'

She was closely followed by Albus. His mouth opened and closed a few times but his voice was so hoarse Ron had to strain to hear his greeting of 'Hi Uncle Ron. Looking forward to going, Hugo?'

Hermione's attention was captured right away by Ginny, big and beautiful in her pregnancy. Hermione never ceased to envy how easy Ginny seemed to find having children. She hugged her sister- in-law as well as she could in her current state, 'Good grief Ginny, don't you two ever stop?'

Ginny smiled weakly, 'We're going for the family record.'

Hermione smirked at that, looking to Harry with a greeting of, 'Hello Handsome.' Which was about as much as she could get away with as a pet name for the man she considered her brother. After all this time, she knew Ron still worried she felt like she'd done second best by ending up with him.

Harry, however, did not give a flying fuck about Ron's insecurities, besides, he thought, Hermione looked bloody amazing, for how old she was. She was thin, pretty, sexy as hell in that sensible outfit that was so, so Hermione. God, were he in Ron's position… Ginny couldn't even compare, heifer that she was at the moment.

He drew Hermione into a hug, pecking her cheek before he replied, 'Hey Hermi. You look great, sure it's Rose whose the teenager?'

Rose wasn't paying attention to the back and forth of the perverse incestuous love triangle that had always existed between her parents and their friend, she was more concerned with the fact that it seemed Albus was not able to talk properly, she had her suspicions of what that might be but she didn't want to jump up and down on the platform and shout it from the rafters instead she gave James the quiet quizzical eyes that let him know that she knew that there was something wrong with the little guy.

James gave her a nod but didn't say anything; instead he placed his hand on Albus shoulder and gave him a comforting squeeze. Rose knew that her teeth would be gritting in anger, she hated that this was going on and that she couldn't tell anyone, if only because she had be sworn to secrecy by James who was convinced that things would only get worse if everyone knew about what was going on.

Her meditation was broken when she felt a hand on her chin and then she was looking up into her Uncle Harry's eyes.

'You really are getting prettier everyday Rosie.' Harry was smiling at her, she didn't care if it was totally innocent or not but she couldn't stand the thought of him touching her, the same hand that beat her aunt and cousins. She pulled away from him with a curt and harsh tug.

'I don't like being touched Uncle Harry.' She spoke with the same tone of anger her mother used when she was feeling angry in a way she couldn't really express, she was sure her dad and mother were behind her looking shocked but she didn't really care, they would just put it down to her being a temperamental teenager.

Ron frowned slightly, about to say something to his daughter, along the lines of "Rose, don't be cheeky to your uncle!" but the train whistle cut him off.

There was a strange, short silence after it, even in the crowd, and then suddenly it was mass chaos again as children and trunks were hurried into the carriages. Hermione quickly gave Rose a hug and tucked a stray strand of hair behind one ear, then kissed Hugo's forehead and whispered 'Don't be scared, Albus and Lily will look after you.'

Ron hugged Rose himself, mumbling into her ear, 'Love you princess, make sure you write.'

Rose couldn't bite back the smile at that. They'd always had a special bond, and even now she was basically an adult and wanting to spread her wings a bit, it was reassuring to know her dad was always on her side.

The Potters were much less affectionate in their goodbyes. Harry ruffled James' hair and said, 'See you at Christmas then, make sure you kick Slytherin's arse at Quidditch.'

James nodded, a nervous, almost manic smile on his face. Lily was ignored by her father as she climbed onto the train, the picture of a frightened first year. She scurried to sit with Hugo, the two huddling in their anxiousness.

Poor, put-upon Albus was grabbed by his shoulder before Ginny could distract Harry. He leant down and growled into the boy's ear, 'I get one letter complaining about your smart mouth and… well, dad has ways of making you vanish.' And then gave him a rough push onto the train.

Ginny shuddered, staring at her three youngsters in a compartment with the cousins. In a bizarre way she wished she was going with them, at least at Hogwarts they were safe. Though Harry had never yet raised his hand to her, she was beginning to think he might. She glanced to Ron, perhaps he'd seen the push? Perhaps he'd noticed the kids shaking?

No, he was waving his two children off. And rightly so, he was a father acting exactly how a father should.

She waved; it seemed the right thing to do, and smile, it was all about appearances after all and if she could look like she was happy then maybe she would be in the depths of herself somewhere, the idea of keeping up appearances seemed to emanate to Harry as well who put his arm around her.

She shocked herself that she felt herself jump when he touched her, but it didn't stop there her whole body seemed to object to the fact that she was on her feet, and then a nausea spread from her feet all the way to her head like a bolt of lightning, she felt herself lean into Harry for support, and for once he was there, stunned by her but still there. She wasn't sure what was happening but it was her knees that went first; her eyes closing.