The Wrong Time

Some More Salt for the Wound

Hermione applied a drying charm on her hair and opened the bathroom door. It was time to make good on her promise and take Josiah to the playground across the park. She turned the corner and looked in the doorway of Josiah’s room. He was not on his bed or on the floor where she could see him.


Her heart began to race when she heard soft sobbing behind the door. She leapt over the baby gate to find her baby son sitting atop his dresser. She ran to him and cradled him close.


“Oh, my poor boy! What happened?” She said, holding the sniffling child to her chest tightly.


“I sowwy, Mummy,” he said between sobs. “I twy to fwy wike Nowby,” he hiccupped.


“Oh, baby,” Hermione said.


She noticed a long wooden object on the floor beside the dresser. She picked it up and recognized it immediately. Her eyes narrowed.


“Josiah, where did you get this?” she asked him.


Josiah shook his head.


“Josiah Arthur Weasley, where did you get this wand?”


Josiah looked frightened.


“I no take it! Daddy gived to me!” he said earnestly.


Hermione’s face reddened.


“You stay right here and play, Baby, Mummy will be right back.”


Josiah nodded tearfully.


Hermione stalked down the hall and threw open her bedroom door. Ron was just coming out of the shower, and stood before her naked.


“Blimey, Mione! What in the bloody hell has gotten into you?” he said, trying to hide his privates clumsily.


“I found this in Josiah’s room, and him stuck on his dresser!” Hermione nearly shouted at him.


Ron looked instantly guilty.


“I only bent over the gate, Mione, I swear I had no idea I even dropped it. I just wanted to give him a kiss,” he said apologetically.


“Do you have any idea what could have happened to him? He could have been killed!”


“I’m so sorry, Mione,” Ron said, his face beet red.


“Make sure it doesn’t happen again,” she snarled. “I’m taking him to the playground, I imagine you will have left for work by the time we get home.”


He nodded, avoiding her gaze.


“See you tonight,” she said, and spun out of the room before he could say any more.


She was still fuming as she readied Josiah for a trip to the park. She packed a cup of juice, a few nappies, and his pail and shovel into a bag, then reduced the bag and placed it into the pocket of her Robes.


She walked him across the street to the playground and set him down, to let him play in the dirt, then sat down on a bench. She thought about her potion. She felt as if there were an invisible veil in her brain, keeping her from finding the secret. She felt so close and yet so far away at the same time. She resolved that she would owl Minerva McGonagall as soon as she got the Polyjuice bottled and labeled.


She watched Josiah play in the dirt for a few hours before she took him home to feed him lunch.


A/N: Man I am on a roll!! Keep the reviews coming!