I own nothing but the plot.

September 1, 2019

Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first of September was crisp and golden as an apple, and as the little family bobbed across the rumbling road towards the great, sooty station, the fumes of car exhausts and the breath of pedestrians sparkled like cobwebs in the cold air. Cages rattled and the wheels of trolleys mixed with the sounds of rushed footsteps and loud phone calls as commuters wound their way through the platforms, heading to their destinations.

No one so much as blinked when a family of four seemingly vanished into thin air, their disappearance obscured by the large brick pillar between platforms nine and ten.

Harry Potter emerged onto platform nine and three quarters and couldn't stop the look of longing and awe that spread across his face as he surveyed the platform, which was obscured by thick, white steam that was pouring from the scarlet Hogwarts Express. A nudge at his elbow tore Harry from memory lane, and he blinked a few times before looking down at his son.

"I can see Uncle Ron over there."

Harry just nodded, steering the trolley over towards where his oldest and dearest friend was standing with his own family, a pair of young redheaded children and his brunette wife.

"If you're not Gryffindor, I'm disowning you!" Ron could be heard saying as the Potter clan approached.

"Ron, don't tell the kids such horrid things already!" Ginny scolded him, especially noticing the colour draining from her youngest son's face. Releasing the grip on her daughter's hand, she nudged the child off to interact with cousins, her hand now coming up to give Ron a solid smack upside the head.

"Ow!" Ron cried out indignantly, a wounded look taking shape on his face as both his children and the Potter's started to snicker.

"You'll be loved no matter what house you get sorted into," Ginny began to comfort the new, soon to be first year children, but Ron was no longer paying attention. Catching Harry's eye, he nodded covertly to a point some fifty yards away. The steam had thinned and for a moment, three people stood in sharp relief against the shifting mist.

"Look who it is."

Draco Malfoy was standing there with what appeared to be his two sons, a dark coat buttoned up to his throat, his once slicked back blonde hair surprisingly tousled, though not nearly as badly as the eldest Potter. Draco was resting a hand on his youngest son's shoulder, a serious look on his face as he spoke to the surprisingly dark haired boy. But for the differences that could be seen there, the older Malfoy son was a split image of his father. The same height and build, he would have been indistinguishable from Draco at the same age, if not for the far more casual hairstyle.

"Wonder where his wife is… or even who his wife is," Lavender Weasley mused out loud, joining the duo in watching. Draco caught sight of Harry, Ron, Ginny and Lavender staring at him, and nodded curtly at the group before turning away again.

Even as they watched, a woman approached, her dark hair pulled up into an intricate knot, a dark coat covering most of her outfit. Her arm was around the shoulders of a tall girl with trademark Malfoy hair. The new Malfoy matriarch turned to say something to her son, and her soft, heart shaped face became visible when the steam cleared again.

"Isn't that-" Lavender gasped before slapping a hand over her mouth, completely shocked. She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence before the Draco's wife had disappeared again after ushering her children towards the train, the sharp trill of a whistle blowing through the platform, reminding all of the impending departure time.

Tearing his gaze away from the Malfoy's, Harry turned to his own children, with tight hugs, reassuring promises and hushed conversations, he directed his two boys to the train as Ron did the same to his daughter.

The two men stood together, watching the train as doors started to slam shut, preparing to leave. Children leaned out of the windows, laughing and waving at their parents, even as younger siblings cried and first time parents shed their own tears.

"Can you believe that we were once those kids?" A soft, feminine voice broke the silence that the two men had fallen into, and they both turned to see Hermione Granger, smiling sadly at them.

"You!" Ron started even as Harry greeted their old friend.

"Hermione…"

"It's been a while, boys," Hermione didn't lose her sad smile, but her hand did raise to wave at one of her children as the train started to pull away from the platform with another sharp whistle.

Harry was torn between his old friend and the moving train, taking a few steps in the end to follow the train with his boys on it. He didn't need to look to know that Ron and Hermione were making the same trek alongside him, that the silence enveloping the platform wasn't just because of the absence of the train, but instead from the presence of the Golden Trio.

Stopping at the end of the platform as the train rounded a corner and disappeared from sight, Harry finally turned to look at his best friend, and the woman who once claimed that title as well.

"It's… been a while," he agreed.

"That's not my fault," Ron snarked, already on the defensive. While their relationship may have never worked out, he was still hurt at the fact that it never got off the ground long enough to even try, and the what ifs still haunted him.

"I never said it was," Hermione was hurt, but she had known to expect this. She hadn't seen her friends in nearly twenty years, after all. She could sense her husband nearby though, practically feeling his penetrating gaze burning into the back of her head.

"How did we get like this?" Harry shook his head slightly and took a deep breath as the last trace of steam evaporated in the autumn air, leaving the Golden Trio standing on the edge of the platform, a trio once so united and known around the community, now barely strangers to one another.