Hope Floats

"Mummy, why are you packing my stuff?" Diana asked uncertainly.

Hermione remained silent for a while, swiftly minimizing all the things in her daughter's room and putting it into a large cardboard box.

"Because," Hermione began but her voice broke, " Because we aren't going to live with Daddy anymore."

"Why not mummy?!" Diana asked, tears threatening to spill from her beautiful brown eyes and onto her freckled cheeks.

"Because Daddy has someone new to love now, honey," Hermione explained while trying to keep her own tears in check.

"B-b-but I don't wanna leave Daddy!" Diana exclaimed as the tears started to flow down her cheeks.

The floodgates were open, no holds barred, there was nothing to stop Hermione from breaking down anymore. She dropped to her knees and wept. She lowered her head into her arms as she rocked back and forth on the carpeted floor of her daughter's room.

Diana soon too, began to wail and cry. She gripped tightly onto her mother's back as they both wept. Hermione picked up her head and buried it once more in her daughter's jacket.

"I'm so sorry, baby," Hermione kept saying through the sobs as she rocked her daughter back and forth.

"This wasn't your fault. This wasn't your daddy's fault. Things just happen sometimes. People fall out of love," Hermione explained calmly once her body stopped thrashing with sobs.

"W-will he stop loving me?" Diana asked as she turned her fearful brown eyes up to her mother.

"Never, luv. Never," Hermione told her, "You, are your daddy's world."

"If he stopped loving you, then he could stop loving me too!" Diana said worriedly.

"No, baby, your daddy loves you differently than he loved me," Hermione explained.

"Men and Women love each other differently than mummies and daddies love their children. Love for your child is sacred, that never changes," Hermione added.

"You promise?" Diana asked in a whisper.

"I promise," Hermione said as she wrapped her little girl in another hug.

"Where are we going to go?" Diana asked moments later after her mother had released her from the hug.

"Well you and I are going to take a vacation at the Leaky Cauldron until we find a place to live," Hermione answered.

Hermione spent the rest of the morning packing up her stuff and putting it in the Jag. As she was in the kitchen packing lunches for Diana and herself, she heard Ron burst in through the front door.

"HER-MI-O-NEEEEEEE!!!!" he screamed through the house.

Hermione remained silent as she packed away the sandwiches and walked to the refrigerator to get some drinks.

"HERMIONE LET ME EXPLAIN!" he screamed before walking in the kitchen.

He stood stock still while he watched her stand by the counter, packing a cooler.

"Hermione I - " He began before she cut him off.

"Where were you last night, Ron?" she inquired with a sharp edge in her voice.

"That shut you up, didn't it? What are you thinking with Ron, your Arse? Cause it sure as bloody hell isn't your brain! I was the bloody HEAD GIRL! Do you HONESTLY think I wouldn't know where you went off to yesterday? I was daft for a year, but I'm not nearly as daft as you are. There was NO way you were going to even DREAM of explaining ANYTHING to me after you spent the night at that whore's house," Hermione fumed as she walked out of the kitchen, shoving Ron aside.

"Hermione!!" Ron wailed, but was interrupted by the phone ringing.

They lived in a nice muggle town called melbourn, so they weren't able to receive owls unless it's a legitimate emergency.

Ron picked up the phone when he realized Hermione would do no such thing.

"Hello?" He said calmly into the receiver.

"RONALD BILLIUS WEASLEY!!!!! IN ALL MY YEARS AS A MOTHER I WOULD NEVER HAVE THOUGHT YOU CAPABLE OF SUCH UNDERHANDED TREACHERY!!!" Ron winced as he pulled the phone away from his ear.

'I should have guessed mum would be calling sooner or later,' he thought as he held the phone an arms length away.

There was nothing he could do or say to fix anything, especially in his mother's eyes. So, Ron decided just to hold the phone away from him while his mother ranted for an interminable amount of time.

As he saw Hermione grab Diana's hand, her car keys, and her hand bag, he started to panic. He dropped the phone on the couch and sprinted for the front door.

"Please don't go! Give me a chance to explain!" Ron begged as he held onto Hermione's arm.

Hermione shrugged his arm off of her and gave him a cold look of pure FURY.

"Sweet words and excuses won't get you out of this mess, Ron. It's no use. And don't you EVER touch me again," Hermione threatened, her eyes ablaze.

She picked up Diana, slammed the door behind her, and left Ron gaping stupidly in the foyer.

"Put on your seat belt, Di," Hermione stated as she put on her own seat belt.

She pulled herself together, dried a few tears, and forced a smile on her face.

"We're gonna have fun, okay?" Hermione said with as much of a smile she could muster.

"Okay, mummy," Diana said solemnly.

Diana looked back as her mother pulled away from what was once their beautiful home.

"Don't look back, sweetheart. It's bad luck," Hermione said quietly.

The drive to the Leaky Cauldron was a silent one. Not a word was spoken and silent tears were shed sporadically by both girls throughout the journey.

The interminable silence was finally ended when they were nearing the Leaky Cauldron.

"Aunt Ginny should be there to help us unpack some stuff. Isn't that wonderful?" Hermione said as cheerfully as she could.

"Mhmm," Diana replied absently.

Diana adored Ginny Weasley, and was usually ecstatic to see her. Hermione frowned slightly and parked her car on the curb near the blackened building. A few moments later a familiar, welcome mop of red hair emerged from the building to greet them.

"Oh, there's my little bug!!!" Ginny shouted in glee as she went to hug her niece.

"Aunt Ginny!!" Diana shouted as she soared into her aunt's arms.

"You are looking more and more like your mummy every day!" Ginny exclaimed.

Diana's eyes lit up and she smiled genuinely for the first time in two days.

"Now, don't tell any of your cousins, but I knicked some chocolate from grandma Molly's stores for you! Go get it! It's on your bed. Just ask old Tom to take you there," Ginny instructed.

"YAY! Thank you!" Diana exclaimed before she shot inside.

"Yes, really, thank you," Hermione said sincerely.

"Whoa you look terrible! Have you been drinking?" Ginny asked.

"No, I have NOT been drinking!" Hermione replied.

"What, this is you stone sober?! Well, you look just awful! " she repeated.

"Well, I FEEL awful, Ginny," Hermione retorted.

"Well, you look it," she insisted once more.

"I feel it," she repeated.

"Yeah, but you sure do look it," Ginny finished for them.

Hermione rolled her eyes and walked into the dirty old pub.

A/N: Yes, this concludes our chapter. I LOVE this part of the movie. I laughed so hard I nearly wet myself. The only difference is that in the movie this little discussion is between mother and daughter.