Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognise. I am merely playing with it.

Hermione sighed as she stared up at the ceiling of the bedroom she shared with her husband Ron. He lay next to her snoring softly, with one arm over her bare stomach. Hermione knew she wasn't going to sleep tonight so she carefully lifted his arm off her stomach and slid out of bed. She grabbed a blanket from the ottoman at the end of the bed and went downstairs. After making a steaming cup of tea and grabbing a couple of biscuits to dip in it she sat in her favourite plump armchair, wrapped in the blanket. As she absentmindedly dipped the biscuits and nibbled on them her mind wandered to some uncomfortable places. She thought of Harry and Ginny who seemed to be constantly arguing since the birth of Albus, neither was willing to compromise over the bringing up of him. Ginny constantly referring to the fact that as Harry didn't have a good childhood what would he know about bringing up a child, and him insisting that he didn't think there was anything wrong with Ginny going back to work and getting a child minder was really getting them both down. Both she and Harry had called her in tears more times than she could count.

She thought of Fred and George, and how one could seemingly not survive without the other. The one surviving was severely depressed, though wouldn't let anyone know it except for Hermione who had stumbled upon him sobbing in the back room of Weasley's Wizard Weezes when he'd found his brothers spare robes hidden away. Hermione had hugged him until her shirt was wet with his tears and he couldn't cry anymore. She'd made them a cup of tea then and demanded he talk to her. Everything that he'd been feeling had come out then, how he thought it should have been him instead of Fred. How Fred should be the one still living because he'd been dating Angelina and George wasn't seeing anyone so no one would have missed him. Hermione scolded him at that point, telling him that everyone would miss him and that he must stop thinking that way because it wasn't healthy, and did he really think that Fred would want his twin brother being a miserable bastard? This made George chuckle, both because he knew she was right and because he'd never heard her swear before.

She thought of Mr and Mrs Weasley who were not only mourning the loss of their son, but also the loss of two others, who although were still alive seemed to be slipping from them each day. George couldn't seem to crack a genuine smile anymore, he laughed and joked but the smile fell from his face when he looked away. Bill was taking his circumstances much worse than was feared, he had taken to drinking and was being distant from Fleur and his family, the only person he would speak to was Remus.

She thought in turn of Remus himself, who had lost his wife in the war. He was very lucky not be killed himself. Now he was struggling to look after Teddy alone, however if they were careful Remus would not need to get a job as he received a handsome pay out from the ministry, as did all the others who received an Order of Merlin award.

She thought of all the people they had lost during the war, and how it was horrible the way they seemed to have been forgotten about. There were no memorials like there were in muggle England from the First and Second World Wars. She thought of the Death Eaters incarcerated in the reinforced Azkaban and shivered involuntarily. Lucius Malfoy was sent there for life, his son Draco was pardoned as in the final battle he and his mother had not fought. Whilst they were admonished for their cowardice the Wizengamot agreed that it was out of fear for his family that he had let the Death Eaters in.

Lastly she thought of her own life, the one she shared with Ron. They had married not long after the war, five years ago now. They lived in the country not far from The Burrow, it was a lovely two up two down with a quaint little garden surrounding the house, with a drive and a garage on the right side of the house. Hermione took a lot of pride in her house, working on little projects during the weekend, often using muggle methods like painting rather than using magic. It was Hermione's house, in writing, but her home to her heart. She had bought it outright with her Order of Merlin award money, though it hadn't been expensive as it needed a lot of renovating.

Hermione was constantly telling Ron that she wasn't ready for children yet... She was only 23 for God's sake! She was enjoying her work far too much anyway. She worked for the reformed ministry in the Department of the Renewal or the Wizarding World. An over the top name for a job which included helping those whose houses were destroyed, jobs were lost, or those who had family members injured or they themselves were injured. More and more people came to her each day begging for help, she couldn't fathom where they were coming from. It was unfortunate though that some people felt the need to take advantage, Hermione and her staff had to start using various ways to cajole the truth out of people.

This eventually led to the controversial act of lacing drinks and food with veritaserum. The only way they got away with this was by putting it in the contract that all the clients had to sign before their meeting. The contract basically said that the client would accept whatever the department offered them without resorting to violence, shouting or hexing. They could legally appeal to a higher power, but there was no certainty that they would be successful. It was in this contract that the use of veritaserum was mentioned. There had, unfortunately, been a few occasions where someone tried to take them to the wizengamot for using it against their will, but it was clearly stated in the contract and therefore couldn't be contested if the witch or wizard had signed.

Ron and Harry had become Aurors like they always wanted to, something that Hermione couldn't really take seriously. They were practically given their jobs because of what they did in the war, which Hermione didn't think was fair. Harry himself admitted that most of what he accomplished during the war was luck and instinct, at least he had that instinct though. Ron however, she hated thinking badly of her husband but she was fed up of hearing him talk about struggling at work because he hadn't had the training.

Thinking about Ron saddened her, he tried so hard to make her happy. He rubbed her feet when she got home from a ridiculously long day at work, he ran her baths with bubbles and candles. He figured out how to use Sky+ on her muggle television so he could record the things he knew she liked when she worked late. He tried to learn charms for ironing, cleaning and cooking. He did whatever she asked him to.

So why wasn't she happy?