The journey back to King's Cross had changed little over the last twenty-five years. The familiar shape of the Hogwarts Express, steam still hissing and swirling over the platform, greeted them at Hogsmeade Station as they dismounted the carriages.

On the train itself children still crowded around the trolley, making the most of their last chance for a sugar rush this summer. Although the old witch who used to run it had long since retired, the trolley itself was still laden with cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties, Drooble's best blowing gum and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

Hermione sat with Rose and her friends on the journey, now becoming used to their chatter and giggling. With a shock she realised she hadn't opened a book in over two days. She still wasn't able to join in the conversations much; but she did listen. Perhaps, over the summer she would get to hear some of the bands they talked about; "JinxX" and "The Hurling Hexes" and "Van Pyre and The Wanderers". She doubted she would like any of them, Hermione had never really been in to music that much, but it might be fun to find out.

Occasionally a boy, normally egged on by his friends, would poke his head round the door and ask if he could join them. None were allowed admittance, though if deemed handsome enough they would, at least, escape with their dignity intact. Such visits were always followed by fits of giggling from the girls as each boy was minutely dissected and, perhaps, filed away as being worth further study in the future.

Ron sat with Hugo and his friends and a couple of cousins playing Exploding Snap and Wizard Chess. A couple of the boys had started to establish tentative relationships with girls this last year, though not yet to the level where they would sit with them on the train. These boys, who were regarded with some awe by their less fortunate colleagues, would occasionally sneak out of their carriage to exchange shy glances and smiles through windows with their girls.

With such diversions to occupy them the journey passed pleasantly enough and soon the unlovely outskirts of London were seen from the windows.

-o0o-

At King's Cross Hermione and Ron stood with Ginny and Harry, waiting for the train to arrive. They had let them in on the secret not wanting Ginny, especially, to shout out something unfortunate when she saw her brother walk through the barrier at Platform 9 ¾.

'This is going to be so surreal' said Ginny. 'How are you going to cope?'

'I don't know' said Hermione. 'Do I treat them like they're us, our children or friends of the kids? I mean, should we tell them what time to go bed?'

'It should be fun though!'

'That'd make a change. I'll be honest, Gin, I'm not looking forward to having Rose under my feet for the next few weeks'

At this, Ron and Harry exchanged glances and, with subtle head flicks, indicated to each other that a visit to the Buffet might be a good idea. Leaving this one to the girls suddenly seemed a very good idea.

'Oh, come on Hermione, she's not a bad girl. She's growing up; just give her a bit of space.'

Hermione sighed and looked up to the vaulted ceiling of the station as if seeking divine intervention. 'I would if she could be trusted to do anything, but unless I'm on her back all the time she'd never get any homework done.'

'So let her miss it. She's the one who'll have to suffer when she goes back and gets detentions. Give her the rope and let her learn from her mistakes.'

'I honestly don't know where we went wrong. I was never like that.'

'Of course you weren't. But she's her own person, she's not you.'

'I know that! By the time I was her age I'd been attacked by a three-headed dog, petrified by a basilik, chased by a werewolf and seen poor Cedric Diggory killed. Her biggest challenge, to date, has been matching her shoes to her handbag.'

'Exactly, Hermione. We had to grow up fast; they don't. She'll come round, just give her the chance. Look, if it all gets a bit hectic, give us a call and she can come and stay with us; Lily likes having a bit of female company in the house.'

'That makes me feel a whole lot better, Gin; knowing there's somebody I can palm my daughter off on to if I'm not able to cope with her. Shall I just go the whole hog and buy a T-shirt saying "Unfit mother"?'

Ginny laughed and gave her friend a hug. 'Of course you're not! You're just bemused, like the rest of us. They'll turn back in to humans once they reach twenty, so I'm told!'

Shortly afterwards, children started to drift through the barriers and Hermione mentally girded her loins for the task ahead.

Hugo rushed ahead to give his parents a hug, Rose following along slowly behind. The smiles and giggles she'd had on the train were suddenly replaced by a slightly tense look. Ron and Hermione weren't quite sure what to do so stood there and found themselves holding hands.

Then, they were standing in front of themselves. 'Hello' said Hermione and Ron, smiling at them. It was all rather awkward. Hermione had put on a little weight over the years and her hair was cut in to a shorter style. It wasn't quite as vivid a colour as it used to be, and there was even a hint on grey creeping in. Hermione noticed that Hermione wore a little bit of make up, but no lipstick. She had nail varnish on, though.

Ron looked absolutely huge, towering over them. His face was much fuller, with the cheeks just starting to sag a little. He looked very muscular and strong though. His hair was still a vivid red, though cut quite short. He looked a very no-nonsense kind of person.

Ginny and Harry came over as well, leaving Ron and Hermione staring open-mouthed. Harry smiled at them and said, very quietly 'Nice to see you again. How's it going?' They smiled and nodded. This was getting weirder and weirder. Then Ginny, getting in to the spirit of things, said very loudly 'Hello Jane and Roland! How are you? Are your parents back from Brazil yet?' Ron looked totally bewildered; Hermione hadn't told him about their additions to the original cover story which Rose had sent home ahead of them.

When James came over, Hermione looked slightly stricken. Ron looked a little sulky.

'Wow, I didn't realise you were staying with them over the summer. That's fantastic; we're bound to run in to each other now! Or, I'll tell you what' he turned to his mum 'she – they can come and stay with us, can't they?'

Hermione went a little wide eyed. Ginny caught her eye and, trying not to laugh said 'We'll see, James.'

'Anyway' said Ron, 'let's get this lot home. Come on, the car's over here. Got your trunks, kids? Off we go.'

Once in the car - Ron was amazed he could drive and Ron told him it didn't fly though - they quickly decided that sticking with Jane and Roland was probably the best idea. Having two Hermiones and Rons was just getting far too confusing. Nobody knew who was talking to whom.

-o0o-

The journey home passed quite quickly and quietly mainly because, Jane noticed, Hermione and Rose avoided talking to each other as much as possible. Ron, Hugo and Roland chatted away and by the time they started to see open countryside again a Wizard chess tournament had already been arranged for that evening. Roland started to recognise landmarks.

'Are we heading to Ottery St. Catchpole?' he asked.

'Not far away' replied Ron.

The house was actually a rather charming cottage, tucked away in the folds of a hill. Jane and Roland were suitably impressed.

'We've not done badly for ourselves, have we?' asked Roland. 'What do we…you do for a living?'

'I'm an auror' said Ron, 'Hermione works at the Ministry as well. She's a lawyer, Head of Law Enforcement.' He looked at Jane with a conspiratorial wink. 'Rumor has it you'll be next Minister for Magic.'

Both children looked amazed. 'Wow, Ron…Roland, you actually managed to pass NEWTS!'

'I have got a brain, you know, Jane. How many did I pass, Ron?'

Ron looked suddenly awkward. 'You…did enough to get in. Hey! Let's get the trunks inside, shall we? Then we'll show you to your rooms.'

Roland was in with Hugo, and Jane with Rose. Rose's first action was to throw herself on the bed and mutter 'Home, sweet home.'

'Are you going to get your trunk unpacked? It's always the first thing I do, just to get it out of the way. Mum likes to get my things washed.'

'Why does that not surprise me?' said Rose. At that moment, Hermione's voice came drifting up the stairs.

'Can you get your trunks unpacked straight away? I want to get the washing started.' Jane looked at Rose with an apologetic grin on her face.

'Roll on September' said Rose, kicking open the lid of her trunk.

The rest of the day passed in a swarm of reminiscences as Jane and Hermione and Roland and Ron caught up with each other. It was all 'Do you remember…' and 'Oh, what about when…'. Hugo listened in eagerly, loving hearing stories of his parents when they were little. Rose sat as far away as possible, staring in to space. Hermione saw Jane looking over and gave a "What can you do?" shrug. It all ended rather suddenly when Hermione said 'Wasn't punching Malfoy in the mouth just the best feeling EVER' and they all started laughing. Rose stormed from the room saying 'Pathetic', and slamming the door behind her.

Jane knocked on the bedroom door before going in. Rose was sprawled on the bed again.

'You don't need to knock; it's your room too' Rose said. 'It's your house, actually, as you keep telling me.' Jane looked down at the carpet.

'I'm sorry' said Rose, sitting up and putting her face in her hands. 'I didn't mean to say that, it was cruel.'

'Why don't you two get on, Rose?'

'Why did you punch Scorp's dad? You never told me that.'

'It's a long story. We just don't get on, never have done.'

'There's your answer.'

'No Rose, not with your own mum.' Jane started crying.

Rose went to sit beside her, putting her arm around her shoulder. 'I'm sorry. It's just the way it is.'

'She'll be hating this, Rose, I know she will.'

'How can you know that?'

'Because she's me, and I hate it.' She wiped her eyes. 'Every since I was little, I always dreamed that one day I'd have a family, a proper family. For a start off I wanted more than one baby, so they wouldn't be alone, and I wanted us to be happy. Then I wanted a nice house, like this is, and somebody who loved me, and a family. That's all I ever really wanted, and I don't think I'll change my mind. She wants to be friends with you, and she wants you to do well, that's all.'

'If she didn't keep going on at me…I'm sorry, but you're very hard to live with…impossible to live up to. Perfect results, Order of Merlin, one of the Golden Trio…'

'One of the what?'

'It's what they call you and dad and Uncle Harry – the golden trio. Something to do with the war, you're all war heroes. You see? How can I be expected to compete with that? What's the point? I'll never be as good, I'll always be a disappointment to her.'

'You don't have to compete, but that isn't the same as not trying. Oh Rose, just do your best for you, not me, that's all she wants for you.'

The two girls gave each other a tentative smile.

'We'll see' said Rose. 'No promises, though. Come on, it's bed time.' She laughed, a little hesitantly. 'I suppose that should be your line.'

-o0o-

The next few days passed relatively peacefully. Ron and Hermione had arranged their holidays so that one of them was always at home. When it was Ron's turn he, Hugo and Roland – the names had stuck now – tended to spend most of their time playing Quidditch in the garden. Rose and Jane would sit in the shade listening to music. Jane had been right in her supposition that she wouldn't think much of the bands. JinxX seemed to specialise in what sounded like white noise, the Hurling Hexes were a four piece group who all appeared to be playing different songs and Van Pyre turned out to be just plain miserable. All of his songs followed a set pattern, sung to a mournful dirge; boy meets girl, girl couldn't care less, boy gets depressed, the end.

Of course, any house with Hermione Weasley in it was bound to be full of books and Jane took great delight in raiding the library. She fell upon "Hogwarts – a History" with delight. It was her actual book, with "Hermione Granger, Gryffindor" written inside the front cover. It was like meeting up with an old friend.

She tentatively suggested to Rose one day that it might be an idea to get her homework started. Rose opened her mouth to speak, then stopped and shut it. She tried again. 'I…suppose…wouldn't do any harm, would it?' She actually got two essays finished that day, mainly because Jane helped her along a bit; she was more than capable of handling fourth year work. Rose found that homework was much easier to do if you had somebody working with you i.e. telling you what to write, and the whole experience wasn't too terrible. Hermione, seeing that something was being done, and mindful of Ginny's advice, decided to keep her mouth shut and there was an almost pleasant atmosphere in the house on the days she was at home.

Jane, on these days, found herself trying to establish some kind of relationship between mother and daughter. She had a conversation with Hermione about it one day when they were doing some weeding in the garden. Rose was upstairs trying out some new make-up combinations.

'I like Rose, Hermione. She's like having a sister.'

'A bit scatter-brained for a Granger though.'

'I suppose, but she's nice. She reminds me a bit of Parvati. She knows how to have fun, but she always seems to do alright in tests and things.'

'But she could do so much better. I think she wastes herself of some of her silliness. She doesn't seem to think anything's important except for clothes and make-up. I can't imagine her having to cope with anything like we've faced.'

'Would you want her to? It's different at Hogwarts, now. It seems much friendlier, somehow. Even the Slytherins don't seem too bad. Maybe that makes a difference. I'd rather have spent time like Rose does than trying to work out what was petrifying people last year.'

'Would you? Honestly? Wasn't it a fascinating challenge though?'

'Well, it was. But it wasn't exactly fun, was it? Rose has got loads of friends, and they do seem to enjoy themselves much more than I do. I wouldn't mind swapping these last three years with her, and I'm not sure about the future, either. Hermione…I saw the plaque at the school, all the people who died. That's our life, not hers.'

'You think I'm too hard on her?'

'Yes, I probably am.' Jane and Hermione smiled. They understood each other perfectly.

-o0o-

After two weeks Rose had got all her homework done, something of a record. As the last piece was finished Rose threw down her quill and stretched.

'That was tough going, Jane. And when the going gets tough, you know what girls do, don't you?'

Jane shook her head.

'They go shopping! Tomorrow, you and me are going to hit the West End! Clothes, Jane! Make-up!'

'Actually, I think its "you and I".'

Rose put a false stern look on her face. 'I've not had a row with my mum for ages; don't make me start now. You and me are going shopping, and if you aren't careful I'll invite James along.'