Little Lions & Flower Buds/ Lion Cub Short Stories

At Peace by the Water

**This is the Scene at the end of LION CUB, you might have already read this one **

*Deleted Scene*

(Hermione)

xxx

Hermione was adjusting to being back in England all things considered.

Some days she lost complete track of time and forgot which day it was. Others were worse and she forgot which country she was in. The last time she'd had to go through a major shift was when Leo was born, and at that point; with the war, fleeing england, contacting Betty, getting a job, and adjusting to life in America, she was operating at a baseline.

She was on autopilot then. Barley aware of minute details, with little responsibility besides her newborn son. Don't get her wrong, he was a lot of work. But it paled in comparison to now.

She really should have expected the whirlwind she was plundered into once she got back to England. She knew avoiding Skeeter and the other Wizarding Britain tabloids was impossible. It was bound to occur. She knew how it went. They found an inch and took a mile.

She had at least hoped to keep Leo out of it much before they were more settled into their new life. Until after she'd told those most important to her that she was back and whom she brought with her.

Not that that had taken long either.

Earlier than she would have wanted she was thrust back into the Weasley's clan. Really, Hermione should have expected it. And the reactions were par for the course, all to be expected and it showed how much her friends reactions were always predictable.

Hermione could take the yelling. Ron had never been good with his emotions: having them or showing them at an appropriate capacity and time. His reactions was the one she feared the most, even if it had been the one she could have likely predicted.

The names he could have called could have been worse, but she had expected better behaviour while Leo was in the room. At the very least, allow her to bring her son to another part of the house or out to another family member so he didn't need to be witness too it. He had not relented at her plea for him to cease yelling in front of Leo, worse, he had prompted Leo to answer him; something Hermione had reprimanded him for in an Howler the following day.

He had eventually come around, with the help of his wife. Padma was able to reign him in, much like Harry suggested she might be able too.

That was another thing she was still digesting. Ron was married. He had a wife, and a child.

It was strange to enter their lives at the given moment.

So much had changed that she needed to just be okay with. The same way they would simply need to accept Leo.

Ron was married, and with a child on the way. Harry and Ginny were yet to be married, but their engagement and wedding planning was keeping them busier than Hermione was with her child. Molly and Aurther were adjusting to life in their rebuilt Burrow after bouncing around Safehouses for the past six years. Bill and Fleur had a daughter, and little Teddy; Remus and Tonks' son was only a few months older than her own. She hadn't seen him since he was a little babe.

Everyone had moved on with their lives. Through struggle and triumph. All without her.

She had no room to place blame, or any of that sort of thing. No room to make them feel guilty or burden them with her feelings of unwanted-ness; but that didn't mean they didn't simmer at her metaphorical surface.