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Hermione could feel the tears building up in her eyes as she stood there in the cleaning supplies aisle. She had two different air fresheners in front of her and she couldn't seem to choose between them. She didn't know why this was something that she had to cry about, but it wasn't the silliest thing that she had ended up in tears about lately.
This seemed to be a bigger thing to her just now anyway. She was the one that had insisted that she was I'm at to go to the shops and yet now that she was here she couldn't seem to make a decision: pine tree or mulled cider. The fragrances were so different that it should have been an easy choice, but anyone who knew Hermione knew that she wasn't any good at making choices between two things. That was why she had ended up in a relationship with two men at the same time after all.
"Are you alright there?" She heard an unfamiliar voice ask and slowly Hermione wiped the tears out of her eyes. She turned her head to see a shop assistant looking at her with what had to be pity and her stomach churned. She knew that she must look a right state and she was surprised that the shop assistant had even approached her in the first place. She knew from experience that heavily pregnant, crying women could be intimidating.
"I… which one's best?" Hermione asked, a sheepish smile taking over her features as she managed to stop herself from crying as she turned to face the shop assistant, holding the two cans out. She couldn't make the decision, but she could get someone to do it for her - the others had tried to tell her that it was okay to ask for help after all.
"Well. The mulled cider is more of a seasonal fragrance." The shop assistant smiled, almost as if she was used to answering odd little requests like this. "I'd go with pine trees, if I were you, unless you want your house to smell like Christmas."
Hermione paused for a moment as she genuinely mulled that idea over before she shook her head. "No, we're not quite ready for Christmas again." Fred had made too much of a big deal about how the next Christmas that they all spent together, their baby would be with them.
"Is that everything or do you need a bit more help?" The shop assistant asked, a kind smile still on her lips, but Hermione just felt foolish for making such a big deal out of such a small task.
"No, that's great. Thank you." She said softly as she reached up to put the mulled cider air freshener back up on the shelf and put the other can in her basket. She was all too aware of the fact that this was probably the last time that she was going to get out of the house before she had to deliver and she had spent the majority of it crying.
Hermione tried to push the thoughts of how pathetic she was to the back of her mind as she paid for her shopping and then made her way back to the house. She'd thought to be allowed to go on this trip, but now she was starting to regret it as she realised just how emotional and tired she was now. But she hated how much of her freedom seemed to have disappeared as she neared the end of her pregnancy, both physically and mentally. It wouldn't be long now, and that was the only thing that was getting her through it all.