Ron turned over in frustration for what felt like the tenth time in the past twenty minutes. He had already gotten up to get a glass of water, walked around a bit and even checked on the kids. It wasn't that he didn't feel tired. He was exhausted after a long day at work and the last thing he thought he would be doing when he got home that night was willing his mind to shut off so he could catch some sleep. He thought it was a given that it just would after the day he'd had.

Sighing, he propped himself up on his elbow and punched the pillow before flopping down into it, head first.

"Stop fidgeting" he heard. Ron knew enough about his wife to know that she was irritated.

"I'm sorry, but I can't sleep."

"Yes, I gathered," she said with a duh tone to her voice. "Try counting sheep"

"Counting sheep? Really? Has that ever worked? For anyone?"

"Well do something because you constantly moving is making it very hard for me to sleep and we have a big day tomorrow!"

Ron's stomach momentarily flipped at the mention of their plans for the following day. Being a very heavy sleeper, Ron knew that something was wrong when he couldn't fall asleep after a half hour. Now, after more than two hours of frustration, he knew there was no denying the fact that the date on the calendar was the cause of all his anguish.

"I'm scared." he admitted to his wife. Years of being with her and living with her had made him open up to the point where he could now share anything with her. There was something about sharing every important moment of your life with this one person that no longer made you feel ashamed or embarrassed by your thoughts and ideas and instead made you want to share them, knowing that you would want the love of your life to do the same.

Hermione turned to face him and reached down to take his hand in hers.

"I know," she whispered "It seems like only yesterday she was crawling under the covers, crying over bad dreams."

Ron couldn't help but smile at the thought of his little girl looking to him to chase away her fears.

"And now we're sending her away. Why are we sending her away?"

Hermione scoffed and propped herself up on her elbow in order to look at him properly. Ron could sense she was annoyed.

"We're not sending her away Ron. She's going to school!"

"Well... the school's away is it not?" he asked, frustrated that his wife wasn't getting the point.

"What has you so worried?" Ron turned towards Hermione. The look in her eyes was one of genuine concern.

"I don't know! Maybe that she won't make any friends? That she'll find it to her hard? That she'll be miserable? That we won't be there to protect? That she's leaving me." he whispered the last part, not wanting to admit that he never wanted his baby girl to leave.

Hermione let out a small laugh and sat up, tugging on Ron's hand, wanting him to mirror her position. When they were both seated comfortably she pulled both his hands in hers and tried her best to reassure him.

"Rose is so social, she'll have plenty of friends. We don't need to be there to protect her, she has her cousins for that and you know James and Albus would never let anything bad happen to her. She won't find it hard because she is the smartest eleven-year-old and, let's face it, she is my daughter after all," Ron had to smile at that. It was true that his daughter was very bright for her age. It was also true that Hermione's genes had contributed to this intelligence. "And you know that she could never, ever, leave you. She may be far away, but she'll always need her dad. Alright?"

Ron smiled slightly and nodded, wanting to reassure his wife that he would be fine. But both his stomach and heart were telling him that he wasn't quite convinced.

"Now, let's go to bed. We have to be up early."

Ron finally managed to fall asleep that night, not because he was less worried, but because he was so tired and there was no way that he could summon the amount of energy needed to worry anymore. The last thing he thought before drifting off that night was that he would talk to Rose in the morning.

The next morning, while Ron could hear Hermione pleading with Hugo to get dressed, he stepped into Rose's bedroom. Seeing that she had not noticed him yet, he took a minute to look over her room. He couldn't help but thinking of all the good memories that had taken place in this bedroom. Her first words, her first steps, her first magic, it all happened in this room. Ron coulnd't imagine passing by it every night and seeing it empty.

He noticed Rose closing her trunk and thought that it would be the best time to make his presence known. He cleared his throat and watched as his daughter turned to him with a smile on her face.

"Hi daddy," she said. He'd never been so happy to hear her call him that. Even at eleven, when most girls would have insisted on saying dad because they were grown up, she still called him daddy.

"Hi honey. I just wanted to talk to you before we left. Didn't want to do this in front of everyone at the station." He cleared his throat and sat on his daughter's bed. She immediately sat down next to him, her attention focused on him. "I just want to make sure that you're okay about leaving today."

"I'm fine daddy." Ron knew that his daughter could tell he was worried. Like her mother, Rose was very perceptive. "You don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine." She smiled then and that was the best and only reassurance Ron needed to know that she truly was alright. Knowing that his daughter was happy was enough for him to let her go, no matter how much it hurt him to do so.

"Your mother and I will write all the time. And you tell me if you don't like it there. I'll find a way to come get you if I have to." Ron smiled when Rose giggled and thought that his anguish wasn't so bad if it meant that his daughter would smile the way she had.

"Everything okay in here?" Ron looked up to see Hermione standing in the doorway of Rose's room. When both he and Rose nodded, Hermione smiled and winked at Ron. "Well, let's get going then. We don't want to be late."

Rose skipped out of the room, excitement radiating off her tiny frame.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked when she and Ron were alone.

"I'll be fine," he said.

And he knew that as long as his little girl was happy, so was he.

My father passed away a while back. Unfortunately, I missed out on a lot of conversations that I think would take place between a father and a daughter, this being one of them. The moment a father has to see his daughter off can't be easy. It doesn't help that it happens so early in Harry Potter land lol.

Feel free to leave a review! I'd love to hear about similar conversations anyone had with their dads. I missed out.