13th March 2014
Hermione set her small suitcase down in the hotel room and kicked off her Louboutins, the tight fit of the tall heels unforgiving to her little toes. She flexed her feet with a contented sigh and hung her suits and dresses up into the wardrobe. She barely settled in before her smartphone began buzzing incessantly.
With a fond smile she picked it up and swiped her finger over the green circle to accept the call. "How's my sweetheart?" she asked, her regular greeting for Roxy.
"Mum, it's happened," she blurted out anxiously.
Hermione picked up on her tone and tried to figure out what has happened before it clicked. "Oh, it happened? Are you alright or would you like me to send you something to help?" she asked, sitting down heavily. Their little girl was no longer a girl, she was a woman.
"I think I'll be okay, Henriette and Julia helped me get some pads in the shop, and the new Potions professor, Miss Ravenheart, lets us brew our own pain potions for extra credit every month. The worst thing is the bloating though, all my jeans are so tight. Do you think I should get some fat jeans?" she asked, using a term Hermione frowned over.
"What do you mean fat jeans?" she asked curiously.
"Fat jeans? You know, jeans that are one size bigger, for when I'm fat and bloaty?" Roxy sighed impatiently, a habit she picked up once her teenage years hit properly last year.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I know it's not nice to feel bloated, just wear your leggings or jeggings instead, they have more give with the elastic on the waist. And stop calling them fat jeans, that is mean and could insult someone who has body image issues. You have your mother's frame, all tall and lanky, just be glad you're healthy and your body is doing what it's supposed to do, that's the most important part," she stressed, getting up to unzip her skirt to get comfortable.
There was a moment of silence before Roxy sighed. "You know that you're my mum though, right?" she asked softly.
Hermione's lips stretched into a wide smile. "Of course I know, sweetheart. I may not have given birth to you but you will always be my Roxy, my little girl," she promised.
When Roxy replied, she sounded entirely too sad and homesick. "I love you, mummy."
"I love you too, Roro," she used her special nickname for the little girl that she hasn't used since she was 5.
"I promise to write dad and papa Freddie. À bientôt," she said lastly and hung up. Hermione smiled sadly. They never said goodbye, only see you soon.
She barely finished her call with Roxy when her phone rang again. "Hello?"
"Hello gorgeous," a very familiar voice greeted her. She could practically see Fred's grin by his voice.
"How's my favourite prankster?" she asked, laughing when she heard shuffling and a crash in the aground, and the phone was put on loudspeaker.
"I heard that!" George called from somewhere in their house, making Hermione grin.
"Good, you were supposed to," she replied cheekily, enjoying the flying banter. "Is there a reason why you're calling though? Cause this place has a luxurious bathtub and I plan to spend the next half an hour of my life in it," she stretched, her back popping in a few places. It was funny how close to human she felt when she was tired…
"Well, we thought there was something you might want to know about but it can wait," Fred said innocently, the correct words to only make her more curious of course.
"You are evil," she huffed. "What is it?"
A makeshift drumroll sounded in the background before George finally put her out of her misery. "We received an invitation to the wedding of Lord Potter and Lord Malfoy."
"Holy shit, finally!" she positively exclaimed, having waited for the two to actually tie the knot for years. "I swear I was going to hex them if they didn't get round to it some time this year. All of us?" She asked.
"Of course. The three of us and Roxy, plus one if she wanted to bring anyone," Fred was still grinning. She could just see his handsome face with the little crows feet around his smiling eyes, making her own lips stretch into a loving smile.
"I hardly think that will be necessary. Teddy is already going," she snickered.
It was love at first sight between those two, but they were currently doing the whole teenage thing where Teddy was being stubborn and chasing Victoire Weasley, and Roxy was not wasting any time and dating her way through the fifth years in Slytherin and Ravenclaw. The last one she mentioned was Timbly…Tombly…Tumbly-something, she couldn't remember anymore. But she never brought anyone home, and Hermione could very well see the look of adoration her daughter had for Teddy Lupin only.
"Teddy is apparently bringing Victoire. It's hilarious because Harry is trying to knock some sense into him, Bill is forever rolling his eyes when he sees the boy because Victoire is trying to decide whether she finds him amusing or annoying, and Roxy is just being stubborn and sending eye daggers at Victoire in the corridors. Teen drama everywhere. I swear it's the most exciting thing around here when you're gone on business," Fred teased.
Hermione sighed, missing her mates' presence. "Hopefully I won't be longer that two or three days. We'll see how the talks go. Werewolves can be stubborn," she mused, her current mission in Bucharest a challenging one for sure.
"Alright love, we won't keep you. Speak tomorrow?" George, now closer to the phone, sounded like he was missing her.
"I'll give you a call while I'm having dinner," she promised. "I love you, night," she waited for them to reply before disconnecting the call.
As she slipped into her hot bath a few minutes later, she sighed contentedly and thanked the fates for all that she had. Loving bond mates and mates for life, a beautiful daughter that she was planning to adopt official as a Christmas present for the whole family, and she loved her work as the Liaison for Magical Creatures to the European Wizarding states. She was happier than ever and everything was perfect.
Except, it wasn't….
It was true, she was happier than ever, married, proud of her daughter and doing a job she loved. But with every day that passed, she felt more and more removed from human time and the weight of the mortality sitting on her shoulders at the same time. The tiny wrinkles and crows feet that began to on the faces of her husbands would never appear on hers. She would never have more grey hair than the patch at her temple from cruciatus, while the twins would soon begin to show their age. And it was beginning to frighten her, the prospect of having to make a decision. She knew it was coming. Roxy will grow up, graduate, and move on to do amazing things, and it will be just the three of them, with the decision to be made - age or change?
The prospect of robbing her mates of their natural mortality was chilling. At the same time she couldn't imagine watching them grow older and eventually leave this world, with her forever stuck as she was.
Tick, tock.
The clock was ticking, and she was powerless in the face of its power.
AN: One more chapter to go before the epilogue! I hope you are still enjoying the story as much as I am enjoying writing it!