Fulfilling Obligations (Harmione)

Chapter 42: Remembrance

Damn it, I am going to be SO late.

Hermione dashed from room to room, her hair still damp from an extremely hasty shower, a fistful of wrinkled papers in one hand, and a wailing infant in the other.

"It's okay, baby," she cooed, soothing the best she could with one arm. "Mummy just really needs to get these cases sent back to work, so please stop crying."

She found herself doing this quite often when she was stressed - trying to logic with her months-old child. She was disappointed to discover that it rarely worked.

This must have been the third time she circled the house. Where in Merlin's beard were those data reports? When had she had them last? When had she become so disorganized? When - ouch, please don't tug on Mummy's hair - had she ever been known to lose anything, let alone important work documents? When - wait, she remembered looking over them while she was feeding the baby...nope, not on the table. Maybe by the sink...negative. Oh bloody -

"Mummy?"

Hermione paused her frantic search and looked down at her daughter, who stood peering at her with large eyes, dressed in a pristine powder blue dress. The final few pages of her case were clutched in her tiny hands.

"Rose!" Hermione said in astonishment as she took the slips of parchment. "Where did you find those?"

She smiled and pointed over by the couch, where the diaper bag had been overturned.

Hermione sighed at her own stupidity.

"Thank you, sweetie," she said. "Just in time too."

She was just on the verge of attempting to bind the pages with a bit of string when Ron - finally - came through the door.

"Daddy!" Rose squealed, scampering towards him.

"Rosie!" he replied, grinning widely as he knelt down to hug her.

It still amazed Hermione that the simultaneous pleasure of seeing Ron with Rose could coincide so neatly with the agony of knowing what she did.

But no time to reflect on that now. Merlin knows she'd done it enough already.

"Here," she said, business-like as she handed Hugo to his father. "Could you please feed him? I have to send these files back to work and I still haven't done a thing to get ready. The bottle's already made and everything."

"Sure," Ron said. "Bottle's in the kitchen?"

"Yes," Hermione answered, already bundling up all her paperwork into her arms and moving towards the sofa to arrange them more neatly. Once this was accomplished, she rolled them into a scroll, sealed them, and cast a few privacy charms to ensure only the proper people would be able to receive them. The moment this was completed she stood up and moved to the backyard, where she hoped Marcellus would still be. At this point she wouldn't be surprised if he were off hiding somewhere with all the work she had given him lately.

Fortunately for her, the owl flew down from his perch on a branch high in trees, and alighted upon her raised arm. He ruffled his feathers in resignation at the scroll in her hand.

"I'm terribly sorry, Marcellus," she said, tying the parchment to his leg. "These need to get to the Ministry as soon as possible. But this will be the last time this week, I swear."

Marcellus blinked at her disbelievingly before nipping her finger affectionately and taking off, his snowy wings clipping her hair.

She sighed as she watched the owl disappear among the clouds. This really was beginning to be a bit much. It was her own fault, of course. She was the one who had insisted upon maintaining her still relatively new work responsibilities. But that was the price she had to pay to spend time with her children. After all, Hugo was still so young...she still needed some time before going back to work completely. She was frankly a bit surprised they hadn't replaced her yet...she had barely set up her office in Magical Law when she found out she was pregnant again. She considered it a blessing, in a way. Leaving Rose alone with Mrs. Weasley for the first time had been heart-breaking, and having an excuse to be back at home with her, even for a brief period, was wonderful. Besides, her primary job at the moment was analyzing case files and research where needed...more or less the equivalent of a Muggle paralegal. While it was more difficult to do at home, it was at least manageable.