Chapter 1

Hermione Granger shot up in bed, disrupting the panic stricken nightmare she was having. It was a vague thing, filled with a sense of disgust and pale blonde hair and the ripping of her clothes. The young witch ran a hand through her hair, slightly less bushy now that she was older.

Hermione's life had changed greatly since the end of the war. With the death of Dumbledore, she, alongside Harry and Ron, had dropped out of her seventh year at Hogwarts in order to join the war. Many lives had been lost, amongst them her own parents. Hermione had been devastated, throwing herself into the war effort with renewed vigor in an attempt to avenge them. Her parents had been only dentists, there was no need to kill people who had no idea why you hated them and yet they were targeted simply because their daughter was a witch.

It was during the war that Hermione found herself in a sticky situation. She, at the age of sixteen, was pregnant. The fallout of such an action, and the cause for it, was enough to send her allies into uproar. Harry was still hardly able to look at her out of guilt, though the insecure part of her brain whispered that it was out of disgust that her best friend could no longer look her in the eye.

Harry was not the only to have his relationship to fall apart with the young witch. Ron had been unable to cope with what had happened to Hermione. Whatever might have been could no longer be possible, Ron was too young and immature to deal with the emotional aftermath of what had happened nor could he step up to deal with Hermione's unborn child.

After the war ended, Hermione had returned home to bury her parents and then fled into the wizarding world to rebuild her life. As one of The Golden Trio, Hermione had the option of taking up any job she pleased. It was one of the perks of being a global hero and Hermione had taken advantage of it, feeling it only fair after what she had gone through.

At seventeen, Hermione took up a job as a Healer in St. Mungo's. She had been all too happy to take the required N.E.W.T.s and had received 'Outstanding' in all of them. With a job, Hermione had been able to find a small house not far from St. Mungo's. It was a cozy home with a clash of muggle and wizard culture. Hermione was determined for her child, no matter where it came from, to grow up without preconceived ideas of quality based on heritage.

The pregnancy had been the second scariest period of her life, following the war. Without her mother to turn to for advice, Hermione had been terrified of it going wrong somehow.

Beyond that fear, Hermione had been utterly terrified that she would be unable to love her child. That when she gave birth, all she would see where the dark memories of where the baby had come from and not that it was its own innocent being. Hermione's fears proved unfounded.

The young Healer had become the proud mother of a beautiful daughter that day, whom looked almost exactly like her mother. The only difference between the two were her daughter's grey eyes in place of Hermione's hazel. Hermione had fallen in love with her daughter the moment she lay eyes on her.

At nineteen, life had begun to fall into place easily for Hermione. Her original plans upon finding she was a witch at age 11 had changed drastically. Hermione had planned to study at Hogwarts, become top of her class, secure a good job and work for a few years, find a nice man and hopefully settle down. Never had she guessed that she would be pulled into a war, lose her family, fall pregnant, and have to raise her daughter as a teen mother.

Hermione glanced at her alarm clock, realizing she had spent nearly an hour in deep thought once more of the rotten hand she had been dealt. Jolting as she now noticed it was 7:30, Hermione threw aside her bedding and rushed to get her daughter ready for daycare.

Getting ready for the day was always a hassle in the Granger household. Hermione had developed an incessant need for knowledge at a young age and her daughter was no different. After wrestling the grumpy two year old from her bed, Hermione threw together a breakfast of toast while scrambling to pack her satchel with healing supplies.

"Mama, where you go?" Mia, her daughter, asked in the curious but broken language that most young children seemed to possess.

"To the hospital," Hermione answered patiently, a fond smile crossing her features for this was a question she was asked almost every time they went somewhere.

"Why?" Another question Mia seemed to love.

"To heal people who have boo-boos," Hermione answered, setting aside the satchel and pushing the piece of toast towards her daughter firmly.

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After managing to wrangle Mia into a pair of miniscule robes, Hermione dropped her off at the quaint wizarding daycare on the way to St. Mungo's.

The young witch made it into the hospital, slightly frazzled, with minutes to spare. Flashing her colleagues a friendly smile as they chirped hellos, Hermione dashed to the break room to clock in and check her schedule.

The Healer had just put back the schedule, having found that she would be working on the fourth floor, or Spell Damage, releasing a groan as a memo from the supervisor, Octavia Scottsfield, flew into the room. Shrugging into the lime green robes required of her uniform, Hermione hurried down to Scottsfield's office.

A timid knock, and a friendly "Come in!" later found Hermione stepping into the office. It was large, decorated with floor to ceiling bookshelves and a portrait of Mungo Bonham took up most of the space above the supervisor's desk. Mungo blinked down at them serenely, taking in everything with an air of calmness.

"You asked for me?" Hermione spoke up, pausing before the desk and straightening her spine confidently.

Octavia was a stout woman, a bit on the plump side with a motherly feel. She had tiny round spectacles on a chain that usually perched on the end of her nose and thin, grey peppered hair tied into a knot on the nape of her neck. Hermione knew Octavia had been in the hospital the longest of all the employees, hence why she was supervisor.

"So I did. Ms. Granger, you have done an exceptional job here at our hospital and I have come to believe that your talents could be used elsewhere," Octavia wasted no time, straightening the papers on her desk factually as she stood.

"You're firing me?" Hermione glanced up, shock and disbelief painted on her face.

"On the contrary my dear girl, it's a promotion. We will be transferring you to a less adequately staffed hospital where you will supervise," the supervisor explained, a rare tone of affection entering her voice as she spoke.

"M-Me, I don't know, I…would be honoured," Hermione managed to spit out, stammering in her shock.

"Good, good, your transfer information. You'll be expected there tomorrow and you may take today off to prepare," the supervisor passed over a sheet of paper, containing all of the info Hermione would need about her new job.

"And Ms. Granger?" Hermione turned back to Octavia Scottsfield, surprised to see a kind smile on her usually stern face.

"It's been a pleasure working with you."

An: alright, I know that may have been a bit dull but I wanted the first chapter to catch us up on Hermione now that the war's over. Next chapter, things should pick up. Some of you can already probably guess how Hermione came to have Mia and you're probably right but I won't reveal it just yet!

For clarity, Hermione is 19, Mia is 2, and Viktor is 23. Also we'll probably see some of him in the next chapter. Please review, I'd love some feedback.