For Fire The Canon (Ash)
Alone At Last
"Be good, alright Hugo?" Hermione said to her son, smoothing down his messy hair which he had yet again, neglected to brush.
"Mum!" he whined, ducking away from Hermione's hands as they tried to make him look more presentable, "People are staring!"
"Don't worry mate," Ron said, grinning, "They're all sympathising with you."
Hermione narrowed her eyes at Ron as Hugo laughed.
The whistle rang out across platform 9 ¾ , signalling that the train was about to leave, and that students should say their last goodbyes. Hermione wrapped Hugo up in an embrace.
"You'll write to us won't you?" she asked him.
"Yes," Hugo said exasperatedly, "We've been through this Mum."
"I'm just worried about you," she said.
"Don't be," Hugo said, rolling his eyes, "I've already got three friends. I'll have no trouble at all."
Hermione couldn't help but smile at Hugo's optimism. If only he understood what Hogwarts was really like; you had your friends, but then you also had people that would bully you for the slightest difference in appearance and personality. Hugo was very brash and outspoken, the opposite of Rose who had been able to ease into Hogwarts quite easily because of it.
She embraced her daughter as Hugo hugged Ron goodbye.
"Look after Hugo for me, okay?" Hermione said to Rose quietly. Rose nodded without a word. Hermione was thankful that Rose and Hugo got on so well, unlike Harry and Ginny's children who were always at each other's throats, "Have fun and remember to write."
"I will," Rose said, giving her another fleeting hug before running off to catch up to her friends who were calling for her to get onto the train with them. Hermione was almost knocked over as Hugo, Lily and Frank ran past her, eager to get to the train.
"Have fun Hugo!" she called after him and he responded by turning and waving to her as he jumped onto the train with his friends. She retreated into Ron's arms which he automatically wrapped around her. It was their third time dropping their children off at Platform 9 ¾, but that didn't make it any easier on either of them. Their children made up most of their lives together and whenever either of them were gone, even for just one night to stay at one of their cousin's places, it felt as though there was a big hole in their lives. Hermione couldn't imagine how people could create children and not be able to love them instantly. Hermione knew that she would do anything and everything for Rose and Hugo.
She felt tears stinging in her eyes as she watch the scarlet steam engine let out a large puff of smoke and the final horn, signalling that it was time for the train to leave.
As it pulled away, she looked through the windows intently for her children. She spotted Rose immediately. She was sitting closest to the window, as she always did, in a compartment with all four of her friends. Hermione wasn't worried about Rosie; she could take care of herself. She didn't know whether it was because Hugo was the youngest, because he was her only son, or because he was so different to Rose, but she knew that she was more worried about him than she had been about Rose.
She finally spotted Hugo in the compartment at the very end of the train. She waved to him as she tried to hold back tears. He waved back energetically, a smile plastered across his face.
"He'll be fine," Ron said, as if he was reading her mind, "He's got Rosie, James, Al and countless other cousins to look out for him, plus the Longbottom's older daughters and Seamus and Dean's kids."
"I know," Hermione said, "I just don't want to let him go. He's our baby."
"He'll be fine," Ron reassured her, squeezing her shoulder as the train rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. Hermione felt such a range of different emotions that she wasn't sure what she was feeling in that moment. She was sad because both of her children were gone until Christmas, happy because this meant that she could spend quality time with Ron and confused because she didn't know how it was possible to be both happy and sad at the same time.
"Well," Ron said, "There's no use standing here moping, shall we go home?"
Hermione nodded, wiping away some tears that had escaped her eyes.
"Hey," Ron said, putting a finger under her chin and lifting her head up to look at him, "Why are you crying?"
"I don't know," she said truthfully, "I know he'll be fine, but that won't stop me from missing him."
"Yeah," Ron said, putting an arm around her shoulders as they walked towards the barrier that would lead them back into the muggle world, "Thirteen years with kids in our lives and to suddenly have them gone… it's a really weird feeling."
"It feels nice, in a bad way if you know what I mean," Hermione said. Ron chuckled.
"I get it, don't worry." Ron said, "But why don't we take advantage of the empty house. I mean, we've both got the day off. It couldn't hurt, could it?"
Hermione's eyes widened and she looked around quickly to see if anyone was watching, "Not here."
"Somewhere else?" Ron asked flirtatiously.
"Ron!"
"What?" he asked innocently.
"Do you remember what happened last time?"
"I believe that nine months later we had a son."
"Yes because you forgot to cast the protective charm," Hermione accused, "We weren't exactly planning on having another one so soon."
"Well, I won't forget again," Ron said
Hermione raised her eyebrows at him, "You said that last time and I was pregnant within two weeks."
"I'm sorry okay! It was the heat of the moment," Ron said, his eyes widening apologetically as he whined like a small child.
Hermione shook her head and took his hand, "We can discuss this when we're not in a station full of people."
The two of them walked out of the station and down the street towards where they had parked their car.
"No, no, no," Hermione said as Ron headed over to the driver's side, "I'm driving; you almost killed us on the way over here."
"Okay, how the hell was I supposed to know that the other bloke would run the red light?"
"Ron, you ran the red light, not him."
Ron blushed, "Okay, I see your point."
Hermione rolled her eyes at her husband's complete inability to remember things as they actually happened until someone told him.
"It feels weird, going home from here without Hugo," Ron remarked after they had been driving for half an hour, "Normally he's just whining and groaning about how boring everything is without Rosie and how much he wanted to go to Hogwarts. It's too quiet now."
"Yeah," Hermione said, "I miss him already… both of them."
"They'll be back before we know it," Ron said, "Remember how fast Rosie's first term went?"
"Yeah," Hermione said, "I hope he does okay."
"He'll be fine, you worry too much," Ron said, "He can take care of himself."
"I just have this feeling that he's not going to fit in," Hermione said, "I haven't been able to shake it since we went to Diagon Alley with Harry and Neville back in August to get their school things."
"Look," Ron said, "He'll be fine, you just have to stop worrying about him. He's our youngest child so naturally we're going to be a bit more protective of him, but you just need to let him do stuff on his own or he won't mature."
Hermione was silent, "Thank you," she whispered after a few moments, "You're amazing."
Ron blushed again, "Only because that's what you said to me when Rosie went to Hogwarts."
Hermione laughed as the two of them pulled into their driveway, "Well, how about we make the best of a bad situation?"
"What do you mean?" Ron asked, blinking with a blank expression on his face.
"Well, we're all alone. No kids in the house."
"Hmm, I like that idea," Ron said.
"Only if you promise to use the protective charm, Rosie and Hugo know about this stuff now and if they come home and I'm pregnant they'll be disgusted."
Ron snorted, "I'll try and remember."
"Come on then," Hermione said, getting out of the car with a sly smile spreading across her face. Ron jumped out of his side eagerly and reached his hand across for her to take as they walked up towards the front door. They were alone at last and they were determined to make the best of it.
AN: I cannot tell you how intimidating writing this for the Romione queen is. I hope you liked it Ash! *bites nails nervously*
I'd love it if you could spare the time to give me a review :)
DFTBA,
Best Wishes
~The Original Horcrux~