Chapter 6: The Battle of Hogwarts
Authors Note: Hello, it's me again. Listen, I know that in the last chapter I said I would update within a week, it turns out that that turned into nearly 5 months. I apologise for this. If you follow any of my other stories, I have been trying to write as much of the story Hogwarts and Beyond as I can. I am sort of running out of ideas for this story (which a number is of stories rolled into one), so this may go backwards and forwards in time. Anyway please enjoy this much delayed chapter.
5 years later...
Time in Ron and Hermione's life seemed to have flown by and both Rose and Hugo had grown up dramatically. Rose's hair was bushy and vivid red, like a ginger version of Hermione. She never stopped reading and had a keen thirst for knowledge. Book shelves lined one of the walls of her bedroom and a large pile of books were piled on the desk beside her bed. As much as she was like Hermione, large amounts of Ron were reflected in her as well like his sense of humour.
Hugo was also another perfect combination of Ron and Hermione but in a different way to Rose. He had Hermione's facial features along with Ron's hair and eyes. He had an eagerness for curiosity and was a very quiet but shy person who didn't mind showing off their intelligence, just like Hermione. But he had inherited Ron's large appetite, and love of Quidditch. Over the years his father had encouraged him to be a fan of the Chudley Cannons and somehow, the encouragement had paid off.
It was late July of 2017 and Rose had just received her acceptance letter for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which she was ecstatic about. She couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts after all the stories that her parents had told her about.
"You better be in Gryffindor Rosie, every other Weasley has for as far back as your Grandparents can remember." Ron said jokingly.
"Ron, really?" Hermione said sternly replying to what Ron had just said to their daughter. "We will be proud of you no matter what house you are sorted into. But he is right; Gryffindor is the best house to be in." Hermione winked at their daughter and both Ron and Rose laughed.
It was a very cold day for July and it was just Ron and Hermione along with Rose in the house as Hugo was at Harry and Ginny's for the day. Over the years, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny made sure that their children spent as much time together as possible in the hope that they would form close friendships with each other just like they did at Hogwarts. And surprisingly, it has seemed to have paid off. It was nice as Ron and Hermione rarely had spent time with just Rose since before Hugo had been born.
"Mum, Dad, what happened at the Battle of Hogwarts? You have never quite told me and Hugo the full story." Rose said as they were sat on the floor in the living room, playing some sort of Muggle board game that Hermione had taught to Ron and he had started to love it. Apparently it was called Monopoly.
Monopoly was a muggle game where you owned houses and different places around London without becoming bankrupt. Over the years they had managed to collect most of the special editions, like the world landmarks, the UK edition and the Manchester edition. Ironically they had only ever been to Manchester twice and so only knew one or two of the places on the game board.
"Well, you know all of the basics. Your Uncle Fred died, me and your Mum kissed and got together, and your Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny got back together. But it is a lot more complex than Voldemort simply being killed. There is a twist in the story you see." Ron said smiling.
"But I thought Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny already were together at that point." Rose questioned, in a confused manner.
"They were but Harry decided to break up with her just before we went on the run so nobody would go after her." Hermione smiled.
"So what really happened?" Rose said looking at her parents curiously.
"Well, you know that me, your Dad and Uncle Harry went on the run in search of the horcruxes. The horcruxes were parts of Lord Voldemort's soul that had split into pieces when he had killed people. So we spent months on the run around the country trying to find and destroy these Horcruxes. This went on for the best part of a year and by the time we got to May, there were only 3 left to destroy." Hermione told Rose smartly.
"And what happened after that?" Rose asked
Ron and Hermione knew that for the age of eleven, Rose was a highly intelligent child. But for their own sakes and peace of mind, they had decided a long time ago that whenever they did get around to telling either of their children this story, they would leave out some of the parts that were probably best left unsaid. They also decided that they would leave these parts until Rose and Hugo were slightly older. For example; Ron leaving and disappearing for weeks and weeks on end. And the idea of being caught by snatchers in a forest and being taken to Malfoy Manor where Hermione was tortured into unconsciousness.
"Well, we found out from the goblin Griphook that one of the Horcruxes was in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault at Gringotts and so we went there, Harry wore the invisibility cloak, your Mum drunk a polyjuice potion and so she was disguised as Bellatrix Lestrange and I wore some sort of weird disguise. We got the Horcrux and ended up flying away on a dragon before Harry realised that there was a Horcrux at Hogwarts, which was Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem. And so we went to Hogwarts." Ron said informingly.
"This was a really stupid idea because Voldemort found out we were there and we caused complete and utter chaos and anarchy around the entire castle. Anyway as you know a war or battle started and lots of people died and I mean a lot of people. Then your Dad said something about the house elves and I was so happy that I kissed him. That is how we got together." Hermione said blushing and she noticed that Ron's ears were a deep shade of red. She found it hilarious that after 16; nearly 17 years of marriage and even before that, his ears had always gone red in situations of embarrassment.
"But what is the twist?" Rose asked, desperate to find out the rest of the story without her parents becoming all loved up.
"Well, here is the thing, there are actually two twists. You see one of the Professors at Hogwarts, who we have told you about before Professor Snape had been killed by Lord Voldemort. Harry had collected some of his tears and poured them into the pensive. That was when he found out that the only reason that Snape had treated him horribly for all those years we were at Hogwarts was because he was in love with Harry's Mum. But she didn't love him back. He also found out that firstly Snape had been trying to protect him and that he was one of the Horcruxes and so he had to die." Ron sighed.
There was then a long silence, neither Ron nor Hermione had ever told their daughter the story of the Battle of Hogwarts to such an extent and they hadn't expected to do so for a while.
"But Uncle Harry is alive." Rose said thoroughly confused.
"We don't know how it worked but Harry somehow managed to survive the killing curse twice and then he killed Voldemort and that is the end of the story." Hermione said, briefly summing up and finishing off.
"That is impossible." Rose gasped gawping speechlessly at her two parents.
"Nothing is impossible with magic Rosie." Ron smiled, ruffling his daughters red bushy hair.
"Well, Mum it looks like you won, I will pack the game away." Rose sighed before standing up and carrying the game into another room.
There was then an uncomfortable silence between Ron and Hermione, they had been married nearly 17 years and this didn't often happen. Neither of them had expected that to happen.