For Jess6800.

This story is written in the aftermath of Hermione losing Ron.

Alpha/Beta love to ThorneAndRose!

August 2012

The sun filtered through the branches of the large tree they sat beneath, warming her face and she could hear the wind blowing through the leaves. It was so peaceful here.

Stretching her legs out in front of her, she turned and was met with the dopey grin she had always adored. She smiled back at him and took his hand, loving how big and warm it was, how perfectly they fit together.

They sat there, content just being in the presence of each other and she leaned into him closing her eyes just for a moment.

When her eyes opened again she was alone in her dark bedroom —Their bedroom— and his side of the bed was empty and cold. She rolled over and pulled his pillow to her chest, greedily breathing in his slowly fading scent. Tears formed in her eyes and she bit her lip in an attempt to hold back the sob in her throat.

It had been a dream, a beautiful, terrible dream. It had all felt so real and she wished, not for the first time in the last six months, that she could close her eyes and stay there with him.

Slipping her wand from under her pillow, she cast a tempus and the numbers floated above her, seven-thirty. She decided to try closing her eyes for a bit longer, yearning for another glimpse of him.

Too soon she was jolted from her thoughts of daisies and strong arms, by the sound of her door slamming against the wall.

"Mummy!" She heard a small voice yell.

"Come on up Darling."

Hugo crawled onto the bed and laid on Hermione's chest. His red, curly hair was sticking out and he had what looked like strawberry jam around his mouth.

"Mummy, Rosie said it's wake up time."

She smiled at her little boy, who was now burrowing his cold toes under her legs. "Well, I think Rosie is right...and you know what?"

Hugo looked up, resting his chin on her chest, "What Mummy?"

"I'm feeling a bit hungry. I think I'll have toast and jam for breakfast, how does that sound hmm?"

Hugo looked away, a sheepish expression on his face. "Sounds super yummy! Let's go!"

Knowing he had been caught, he tried to jump up but Hermione caught him tickling his sides.

"Yummy huh! It looks like you enjoyed some without me!"

Hugo was squirming and trying to talk around peels of laughter. "Ss-sorry Mummy! Don't worry, I saved some for you!" He said as she pulled him up and into her arms for a hug.

They were both still laughing when Rose walked into the room and sat on the bed.

"Good morning Love. How did you sleep?"

Hugo climbed out of his mother's lap and jumped down from the bed while Hermione and Rose stood and followed Hugo down the stairs toward the kitchen.

"I slept well Mum." she lowered her head and whispered, "I had a dream about Daddy."

Hermione stopped her daughter and wrapped her in a hug. Rose softly cried into her mother's shirt. She was always trying to be so strong.

"Oh sweetheart, it's alright. Daddy visits me in my dreams too." she said.

Kissing the top of her little girl's head, Hermione tried not to cry as she recalled her own dream. "It's okay to miss him. You don't have to be strong all of the time sweet girl. Just remember, we'll see Daddy again someday. Until then, we need to remember all of the good times we had. He would want us laughing, not crying."

Rose looked up and smiled at her, she nodded and dried her eyes.

They walked hand in hand to the kitchen, and Hermione couldn't help thinking that maybe she needed to listen to her own advice.

It had been six months since Ron had left home for the last time. He had been sent out to investigate a break-in at a shop in Knockturn Alley with two other Aurors. It turned out to be an ambush and Ron was hit with a curse that took his life two days later. Thankfully the wizards responsible were caught and sent to Azkaban but Hermione still felt like there was a hole in her heart.

Now as she sat at the table watching her children eat their breakfast, still clad in their pyjamas laughing together, she wished that he wasn't missing this...She wished that he'd never left so that she wouldn't feel so utterly destroyed by his absence.