Chapter Two

"Come on mom, we're gonna be late!"

Hermione put her earring in her ear and inspected herself in the mirror. The silver butterfly earrings went perfectly with her white, v-neck halter-top that left a few inches between its bottom and the top of her knee-length, black skirt. She looked at her wavy hair and inspected every strand before the girl beside her caught on to what she was doing. It wasn't hard considering that the two were best of friends.

"Stop it, it won't work."

Hermione turned to the petite girl beside her. Elina had sure grown up beautifully. Her mocha colored hair fell to the middle of her back straight with small waves at the bottom. Hermione was grateful that her daughter had not picked out her bushy hair from the gene pool. The girls shared the same chocolate eyes with hazel flecks and long eyelashes. Elina's body was one that her mother had secretly dreamt for when she was the same age. Thin with just the slightest hints of curves without having trouble finding a shirt or pair of pants that fit right. In fact, Elina was wearing a yellow halter-top that tied around her neck and back with a pair of jeans that was mature, yet appropriate for someone her age.

Hermione giggled. "Don't worry, hon. I'm sure that if we miss our flight we can just show up late."

Elina did a sarcastic laugh and grabbed her small, purple knapsack. "Or we can just floo or apparate."

"Not yet Lini," Hermione said with a smile. "Besides, if we floo then you won't be able to take the train."

"But I thought we were going to Diagon Alley today."

"Yeah, I was just tryin to mess with ya," Hermione said, pulling on the smaller girl's ponytail. Hermione was so excited for next week that she had actually forgotten that they were going to Diagon Alley today. "You have everything?"

Elina motioned at the knapsack on her back and the two left their beautiful apartment in Italy for their last time.

Hermione and Elina never lived anywhere for too long. Elina lived with Hermione's parents while she was in school, telling everyone that the two were sisters, as there were a few months short of fifteen years apart. As soon as Hermione was out of school, the two moved to France until Elina was six, for three years. For two years after that they lived in New York City. For three years they were in Greece. They then lived in Israel for another a year and a half before moving to Italy where they had been for two years. Elina had no problem with the moving around. She quite enjoyed it and never lost touch with the friends she made while she stayed in whatever country they resided. Hermione, though, hated moving her daughter around so much, but whatever she did, nothing would stick and they would have to go somewhere else. They stayed with her parents during holidays and when they went to get Elina's first wand. Hermione wouldn't let her have anything but Ollivander's.

They were finally moving out of their apartment in Italy today and were embarking on a new part of their lives. Hermione had gotten a job that she could never say no to, that would also benefit Elina.

"Let's go then," Hermione said, snapping out of her thoughts by the sound of a car's honking outside.

The two got into Hermione's friend's car and they watched as their apartment building got smaller and smaller. Their stuff was all minimized and in a package on it's way to their new home where it would hopefully stay for a long time.

"Stella!" Elina shrieked as she ran to the gate.

Hermione watched as Ron's eldest daughter, Stella, was scooped into Elina's arms. How Ron had a five-year-old daughter was beyond her. Then again, her daughter was fourteen, and she herself was two weeks from twenty-nine.

"Where's your mommy and daddy?" Hermione asked the small, blonde girl with more freckles than she could count.

"Right behind you."

Hermione flipped around and pulled her old friend into a hug.

"I still can't believe you took her on a business trip with you," Hermione told Ron in disbelief.

"She actually had a pretty good time," Ron told one of his best friends for fifteen years. "I still can't believe you and Elina are finally going to be closer to home."

"Well I can't believe you didn't let me take Stella while you two were here." Hermione put her hands on her hips.

"Well I thought that you and Elina might have wanted to be able to get ready."

Hermione rolled her eyes as she brought her redheaded friend over to the two girls who were engaged in a game of 'Ring Around the Rosie.'

"I still can't believe how big she is," Ron told Hermione quietly so that the girls couldn't hear them.

Hermione sighed. "I know. Well why don't we take them to get some lunch before the flight?"

"DAD!"

"MILES!"

Draco came running down the stairs to try to catch his son off guard.

"Don't even think about it," the thirteen-year-old said, flipping around and grabbing his dad's legs.

"Well I see you've been practicing," Draco laughed, getting up from the floor. "Now you got your ticket?"

"I still don't see why we can't just floo," Miles muttered.

"Because I said so and we're out of floo powder, that's why," Draco said, giving one of his trademark smirks.

Miles rolled his eyes and grabbed his knapsack. He looked up at his dad, whom he was the spitting image of as a boy. The only difference was the nose. His dad would always say that he had his mother's nose, but that was all that he would ever say about her. Draco didn't like to discuss it. Miles didn't know who he didn't want to discuss it for.

"Come on, let's get out of this place," Miles said with a smirk to challenge his father's.

"I still can't believe we're leaving 'this place', as you so unrespectfully called it," Draco replied.

The two had lived in their two-story house for nearly two years, after living in Ireland for three years when Draco graduated from Hogwarts. As soon as he could, he left England and moved with his son to Ireland, where he continued his magical studies. He felt that he needed to get out of England, to start over somewhere. They lived in Ireland where Draco was married for four years. After the bitter divorce that dragged on for six months, Draco and Miles moved to Spain to start fresh once again.

"Well at least it isn't Ireland," Miles said with a light laugh. His former step-mother, who never legally adopted him, thank goodness, had connections all along the small country (A/N living in the U.S., Ireland looks small, but beautiful as soon as I run away from home and join the circus, I am so visiting…unless my friend drags me there for St. Patrick's Day on her backpacking adventure first) and was never even in his favor. The woman, he felt was always too fake.

"I will drink to that," Draco's laugh responded before he finished off his last bit of coffee. He picked up his bag and looked around once more before following his son out of the house and to the taxi waiting outside.

"(A/N WARNING: My Spanish sucks!) El aerporte por favor," Draco told the cab driver.

"So Draco, are we going to see mom during the holidays?" Miles asked. Draco had kept his promise to Sadie, and in public, he and Miles were known as brothers.

Draco leaned back in his seat and thought to himself. His mother was proud of him for his responsible behavior regarding Miles, but not of his getting a girl pregnant at such a young age and helped to take care of Miles when Draco was at school. Lucius tried to keep Miles on a low profile and under the radar for social reasons. He did not want anyone knowing that he had an illegitimate grandson, but now that he was at Azkaban, Draco didn't care what he thought. Narcissa was the one who made sure that Miles was taken care of and made up for her husband's behavior. "If you want to."

Miles thought about it. He only got to see his grandmother every so often, not that he cared to see his grandfather, and appreciated the time he spent with her.

The rest of the twenty-minute cab ride was spent in silence. Draco thought to himself about the next year, wondering what it would be like while Miles had the same topic on his mind.