A/N: Canon-compliant until the end of the Epilogue. Does anyone really count Cursed Child as canon anyway?
"Ron, he's not that bad, honestly." Hermione shook her head as they went back through the barrier, Hugo following behind them, holding onto her father's hand. They had just sent Rose off on the Hogwarts Express and they had seen Draco with his wife Astoria sending off Scorpius. Hermione worked with Draco and knew that he had grown.
Sure, she still stopped occasionally and remembered what he had told her countless times as children. He had been a relentless bully and supporter of the dark arts. Still, he had graduated from Hogwarts, had done a lot of service work since the war to help refugees, and she knew that was how he had met Astoria.
Her family had also been associated with the dark arts, mostly just because they were pureblood. As far as Hermione knew, they had not been part of the death eaters. The tragic part was that she had heard Astoria was in poor health. You would never be able to tell from how put-together she looked today in her perfectly tailored suit and expertly sprayed hair but she had been undergoing treatments at St. Mungo's for a year or so. No one was quite sure what it was, even when she had to work late nights with Draco, all he would say was that she was there for another round of treatments, so Scorpius was staying with his mother.
"You keep saying that," stated Ron as he beeped the car open, "but I don't see how you've forgiven him for literally wishing you dead several times while we were growing up." He buckled his seatbelt and then grasped her hand quickly to place a kiss on the back of it. He looked into the rearview mirror to see if Hugo had gotten himself buckled up for the drive home.
After living with Harry at Grimmauld Place for the first few years out of Hogwarts, Ron and Hermione had gotten a flat together while they worked in their entry level jobs at the ministry. Hermione in the department for Regulation and Control of Magical creatures, of which she was now the under-secretary, and Ron working his way from Junior Auror with Harry. They had saved and bought a house in Chiswick so they could easily be near the ministry and to Harry and Ginny as their families grew. Then there was the rest of the Weasley family as George and Angelina had their kids, Percy and Audrey had started their family, and both sets lived in or near London. If they had relied solely on cars for transportation, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would have probably moved, but floo powder and apparition made it as easy as if they lived next door to all of their grandkids. Hermione's parents, having been retrieved from Australia, lived just half an hour away.
All in all, their life together was good. Sure, just like any married couple, they had their moments, but they worked well together. Ron reminded her to laugh and she reminded him that there were times when you really needed to buckle down, but they were always there for each other and Hermione couldn't imagine her life any other way. She was happy and she felt fulfilled.
Okay, maybe right now she didn't feel extremely happy, having just sent her eldest off to school knowing she wouldn't see her until December. But overall it was good. "I know, but that just makes it all the more important that we've taught Rose and Hugo what it means to be nice and inclusive of everyone." Twisting in her seat, she turned to look at the boy of 9 watching the traffic zoom past, "and you do at your muggle school, right, love?"
"Mom!" Hugo rolled his eyes. "You've taught us to be nice our entire lives, I'm not going to magically forget it just because I'm at school. And Rose won't forget it when she's at Hogwarts either." Hermione and Ron chuckled from the front seat. "Dad, is the guy you're talking about the one Mom slugged in your third year?"
"Ron!" Hermione shoved Ron's shoulder, "I can't believe you told him about that!"
"Hey, hey, no physical violence against the driver." Ron joked back, "besides, it wasn't me, it was Harry. Hugo just came to me for clarification when he got home that night."
Hermione paused for a moment, "Yes, baby, I did, but you have to understand that there were different circumstances and he was being really foul. That's not an excuse though. As I said, he grew up, he got away from his father's influence and he began to see the world in a different light. If he hadn't, I wouldn't work with him so well and his wife, who is a lovely woman, wouldn't have married him."
"Hey, what are all these people doing?" Hugo sat up straighter in his seat and pointed in the direction that they would have to go to get home.
The streets were lined with people holdings signs and chanting. Well, Hermione assumed they were chanting, she wasn't going to roll the window down to check.
"It's those tossers upset about the government of the muggles wanting to leave the rest of Europe." Ron supplied as he slowed their vehicle. People were behaving very oddly indeed in the general London area since their government started these negotiations. "I don't see what the big deal is, our ministry is separate from the rest of Europe's. I'd hate to think what it would look like if we were tied to France's." He shook his head.
"Ron!" Hermione's tone of exasperation was so familiar to Ron that he smirked at her and reached to run a thumb across her hand.
"I know, I know, it's so much more complicated than that and people's jobs are at stake, so they're upset. Doesn't mean they have to clog up the streets as we try to get home, though."
Squeezing his hand back gently, Hermione smiled. Ron had done an excellent job at learning to listen to her better. "Thank you. And they're just trying to make sure their voices are heard. It's a way to practice the freedoms we've got in our country as citizens of it and of the magical comm-Ron!"
The wheel jerked in his hands as he tried to stop the car and bring it around to miss the large truck that had swerved to avoid a protester, but was now skidding straight at them. The car swung around and neither wand was at the ready to perform any type of slowing or cushioning charm. The side of the truck smashed into the driver side of their car, Ron's side. She and Hugo were on the other, victim only to the airbags and the momentum that pushed them entirely across the square. The last thing Hermione remembered was reaching toward Ron, even as she couldn't move her neck, as people screamed and swarmed the car to try to get the family out of the flaming wreckage.
When Hermione next opened her eyes, she immediately snapped them shut again due to the pounding in her head. She heard a steady beep somewhere off to her right and felt a tug on her forearm when she tried to raise her hands to her head. Hospital, then. St. Mungo's? St. Mungo's wouldn't have used an IV in her arm. She slowly opened her eyes again and saw Harry sitting in a chair, head bowed.
"Harry?" How did she get here? Where was Hugo? Ron? She remembered getting Rose on the train and leaving the station and. Oh. Oh no. The truck.
The dark haired man's head snapped up at the sound of her voice. He saw that her eyes were open and gingerly took her hand, "Oh thank Merlin, you're awake!" He quickly took out his wand and conjured a Patronus, "She's awake." Was all he said before the stag cantered away. "Hermione, how do you feel?"
"Confused. Where's Hugo? Where's Ron?" She tried to sit up, but Harry put a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, calm down. Hugo is with Ginny and Lily at my house. She'll bring him up soon. We have you here, but we're ready to move you to St. Mungo's as soon as someone from the ministry can come modify some memories. They'll be able to fix up your concussion and you'll be able to get out of here. There was a car accident. Hugo is fine, you've been asleep for several hours so Ginny took him home."
The more she looked at Harry, the more she noticed two things. One, he wasn't telling her where Ron was and two, he looked as though he had been crying. "Harry, where is Ron?" She didn't know that she needed the answer. If he was right down the hall, Harry would have told her. If he was fine, he would be with Hugo. "Harry."
Her oldest friend hung his head and reached for her hand again, "Hermione, I'm so sorry. The truck hit him dead on. He was pronounced," Harry broke off and started to cry again, "Hermione, I'm so sorry." Tears were streaming down his face now.
Sitting bolt upright, ignoring the pain, Hermione shrieked, "Harry, where is Ron? Where is my husband!?" The machine beeping behind her sped up and her volume rose drastically as she asked the question again. Harry just leaned forward and held her as the two cried together, knowing that their Golden Trio was never to be again.