Trigger Warning - Mentions of infant loss throughout.

Note - I know these last few chapters have been emotional, but I promise happiness will return. Thank you all again for reading, voting and liking. Your support with this book means the world to me.

How very quietly you tiptoed into our world, silently, only a moment you stayed. But what an imprint your footprints have left upon our hearts.

- Dorothy Ferguson

Months had now passed since the devastating loss of Hermione and Charlie's little girl, it hadn't been easy and at times it seemed impossible to carry on. If they weren't fighting, they were crying and if they weren't crying then they were silent. They couldn't figure out how to be 'Charlie and Hermione' again. The enamoured and fiercely devoted couple that had a spectacular wedding. And that's because they weren't that couple anymore, what they had gone through had changed them in more ways than one and alongside dealing with grief, they also had to deal with the loss of their baby.

It hadn't helped that Charlie had to go back to work so soon, even though his bosses were more than understanding of the circumstances, the Welsh sanctuary was still needing to be improved and they were accepting more dragon's than originally anticipated and Charlie had no choice but to go back. So that left Hermione to herself, she tried to surround herself with people to distract her thoughts from thinking about her little's girl very small but adorable fingers as she held it in her own. Or how she discovered what everyone was talking about when they described the smell of their newborn babies, it was delightful and a smell you honestly could not describe.

But those thoughts were too painful, they were too raw. And what didn't make things any easier was that Hermione was surrounded by young children. Ginny, Angelica and Lavender were gushing over their little ones, they had tried for a while to avoid bringing the babies over to the Burrow after what had happened, but it eventually got to the point where Hermione broke down to Molly, she felt horrible that everyone felt like they couldn't share their happiness and children just because of her and Charlie. They were allowed to be happy and she wanted them to be happy, even if it meant extreme pain for her.

So slowly the Weasley women began bringing their children around and Molly was enamoured with them all, you could see from the love and warmth in her eyes that she loved being a Grandmother. Though there was still a tinge of sadness when she glanced at Hermione.

And today was one of those days, Ginny had brought little Rory round and every time he seemed to get bigger and even cuter. Hermione spent most of the time switching between the kitchen and the garden, every little giggle and stutter she could hear from Rory was ripping her wounds right open again. She clutched onto her mug and took a few deep breaths as she tried to work up the courage to go in and see Ginny and Rory. The fear was overwhelming and she felt so incredibly guilty, she wanted nothing more then to be happy right now, but she just couldn't. But for now, she had to put her big girl pants on, put a fake smile onto her face and spend some time with Ginny and her nephew.

With a deep breath, Hermione walked slowly into the living room, she could see Ginny sitting beside Molly on the sofa while they laughed and observed Rory. Hermione forced her eyes to look at Rory, he was sitting on the floor with conjured bubble animals floating around him and giggling every time he grabbed one and it popped. Hermione felt searing pain in her heart but forced her smile to stay in place.

"Hey Gin"

Ginny jumped and turned round to find Hermione huddled by the kitchen door, her heart breaking as she seen the despair and sadness in her eyes despite the smile on her face. She rushed up and pulled her into a big hug. "Hey Mione, if you get uncomfortable just say the word and I can take Rory upstairs for a nap"

Hermione shook her head, "Don't be silly Ginny, you don't have to tip toe around bringing Rory over because of me. I'm fine...ish. I'll have to cope because it's not fair on any of you, I don't want to be pushing my pain and sadness on to anyone else"

Ginny sighed, but smiled sadly and patted her cheek just like Molly would do. "As long as you're sure"

"I am" Hermione hugged her quickly before taking a seat on the opposite sofa while Ginny sat back down beside Mrs Weasley. "How is he?"

"Oh he's the best" Ginny gushed, "The Healer at St Mungo's say he's looking perfect for his age, and developing just as they expect. If he has any magic, they said he'll start to show signs before he's 1. Seamus and I keep watching out for any little sparks or odd things happening, nothing yet but we're not worried"

Molly beamed, "He's just perfect, and turning into the best little boy. Aren't you Rory?" She waved her wand and conjured a bubble Hippogriff which Rory immediately started to grab and laughed as it flew around him

"That's great Gin, I'm happy for you" Hermione smiled, "And how's Seamus doing?"

"Oh the best, he's in line for a promotion at work so he's been putting in a lot of late hours recently, but he makes up for it by getting up during the night with Rory. He dotes on him so much"

Hermione stared at Ginny, she could see and feel the happiness radiating off of her, and for a moment she truly smiled, she smiled for her friend who was so deserving of happiness and had found a perfect match (even with the Marriage Law) and now they had a perfect son together. But she was so jealous, and it killed her to say that. She was jealous of the way she gets to go home with her baby, she gets to wake up and spend her days with her baby, she gets to enjoy waking moment of it. While for now, Hermione can't enjoy anything. Her baby was ripped from this world in a cruel, cruel way and she couldn't understand why it happened. It was a cruel world they lived in.

They stayed like that for a while, making small talk and watching Rory as he had fun and enjoyed the attention he was getting from his family. But after a while Hermione was exhausted and excused herself, Molly tried and tried to get her to stay for the night but Hermione was adamant about not wanting to overstay and allow Molly and Arthur to enjoy a quiet night to themselves.

It was when Hermione stepped foot into her living room that she allowed everything to hit her at once, the pain she felt was guterral and it felt like it was splitting her in half as she let it out, a sob escaped her lips and she was so overcome with emotion that she had to grab the edge of her sofa to steady herself. She hated this. She hated feeling like this. She wanted to be better, but more importantly...She wanted her baby.