A/N: Not JK Rowling, so am only borrowing her characters and playing with them.
Tequila and Witches Don't Mix Well Together
Hermione Granger felt sick to her stomach as she lay in the strange bed wearing only her underclothes and a Slytherin Hogwarts House tie. Her normally tamed hair was out of control, the bushy curls spread out all over the dark green silk pillowcase covering the remarkably fluffy softness contained within. If nothing else, at least after she had regained her memory and had overcome her shame, she would have to ask where her host or god forbid her hostess had found such comfortable pillows.
Thinking back on the night before, she could recall leaving the Ministry in the company of Harry and several of their co-workers and friends to celebrate their new jobs. She could recall stopping in at the Leaky Cauldron where they had run into Lucius Malfoy whose son Draco had been invited to join them in their evening plans and Severus Snape who in typical Snape fashion had sneered at the younger crowd who had been making plans to enjoy their evening in muggle London.
She felt her brow furrow as she recalled heading towards the center of London and Harry and Draco arguing about...something...something to do with Hogwarts and pubs. The thing was it was mainly a blur. She seemed to recall that Theo Nott had gotten involved along with Oliver Wood and Susan Bones.
She did remember that there had been a bet between Draco and Harry and that he had revealed to the blond prat that the sorting hat had considered placing him in Slytherin. She remembered a sneering smirk on the face of Cho Chang Conners who was about to be divorced and clearly hoping to be Mrs. Harry Potter the first and only.
She seemed to recall Lavender Brown being there and that the bint had been taunting her all night regarding Ron who was engaged to Lavender but who regularly made it clear to Hermione that he was still interested in spite of her rejection the year she had graduated Hogwarts.
Hermione really didn't understand it, Ron seemed to be happy most of the time, but then there would be a fight between Lavender and himself and he would decide that she, meaning Hermione was the love of his life in spite of the fact that they had both agreed years ago that they just didn't work and had no attraction to one another.
Lavender, however, seemed to feel that since Hermione was not married and not dating anyone that it meant she was pining over Ronald Weasley. Hermione normally just ignored it, but between Cho and her remarks, she had ended up sitting between Harry and Draco while they had been challenging each other as to who made the better Slytherin and/or Gryffindor.
To the amusement of the rest of the group, Harry who was normally very quiet on what had gone on during their time at Hogwarts had been very vocal in his determination to be the winner in their ridiculous arguments and it was decided that Hermione of all people would be a fair if not impartial judge.
By the third pub and Harry's story of how they had rescued Sirius was finished, Hermione was drinking the same strong alcohol as the two combatants. By the fifth pub, she was no longer watering down her shots of tequila but was now instead ...oh Merlin, please tell her that this was just some strange fantasy, that she hadn't been drinking tequila and licking salt off of the arms of both of the idiots.
Her last memory was the one that had Hermione hoping and praying for the earth to open and swallow her up as she remembered Draco conjuring up a Slytherin green and silver Hogwarts tie and giving it to Harry. Hermione distinctly recalled boasting that yes, Harry had survived all of their adventures but only because of her smarts and sneakiness as she listed every single occasion where she had come up with ways around the Hogwarts rules of conduct.
She also recalled hearing the annoyed baritone of the former Headmaster Severus Snape as Lucius Malfoy and he retrieved their intoxicated charges. Harry who was supposed to start teaching DADA at Hogwarts that fall and Lucius, of course, came to take home his son.
She seemed to recall Cho making one last snarky comment and then hearing both Draco and Harry strenuously defending her honor. She seemed to recall Snape's sarcastic suggestion to Harry that he just marry Hermione and put his fangirls out of their misery. She remembered the offended expression on Cho's face and how she had stormed off with Lavender.
She remembered Draco objecting and then to her amusement and bemusement proposing she marry him instead in spite of having someone he was interested in. She moaned louder as she recalled her sassy comment about preferring the original to the clone and that Lucius Malfoy had quietly chuckled and that her former Potion's professor had coldly suggested that she keep her mouth closed until she sobered up before she took on a challenge that was too much for her to handle.
In truth, Hermione hadn't meant it the way that the two older Wizards had taken her statement, so now, she was going to have to face not only half of the former Slytherin house but her former professor and Harry of all people.
The thing was, that was her last conscious memory, she was almost positive that she had been carried out of the pub, she was almost positive that she had been placed on the bed she was in and a gentle kiss pressed to her lips, but she had no idea who had carried her, no idea whose bed she was laying in and no idea who had kissed her lips and she really didn't want to go around asking any of the wizards she recalled being there to allow her to test their lips to see if she could recall kissing them. There was only one wizard she was interested in and Hermione was well aware that he didn't have those sorts of feelings for her.
Wondering if she could smother herself with the incredibly fluffy pillows, Hermione was debating staying where she was for the rest of her life when she heard a pop that let her know that a house elf was in the room. Easing her head to the side, she saw an unfamiliar house elf and said "Good Morning."
"Good Morning, Mistress." The house elf announced as she handed Hermione a glass vial with a potion inside. "My master asked me to give you this the moment you woke up."
Hermione smelt the potion, grimaced when she realized it was a sober up potion and then downed it straight away. Laying back down, she thanked the house elf and then asked: "Who is your master?"
There was no answer and when she turned her head, Hermione saw that the house elf was gone again. "Well, that accomplished nothing."
Fifteen minutes later, feeling a bit better, she rolled onto her stomach and inched towards the edge of the bed. Finding the cool wood of the floor, she staggered to her feet and began opening the doors that were on all four walls. The first set opened onto an empty walk-in in closet, well sort of empty there was a nice set of robes hanging inside with a magical dress and sandals along with a note reminding her that she was due at the graduation ceremony at Hogwarts later that day.
She didn't recognize the handwriting, so she eliminated Harry, wait, the writing looked a bit too feminine for it to be any of the wizards she had been at the pub with the night before. The French doors that led to the outside also offered no explanations regarding where she was as she didn't recognize the large gardens or balcony outside which eliminated Malfoy manor as she had been there several times over the last few years, mostly for official functions but a few times had been so that she could deal with being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange.
She checked the next door and found a rather lavish bathroom which reminded her of how sticky and sweaty she had gotten during the pub crawl the night before. Looking around the large glassed in shower with the gray and white streaked marble and she was once again guessing that it was connected to the Malfoys but the bathing products soon changed her mind regarding that as they were muggle brands that she recognized.
A half hour later, she was feeling a bit more human as she exited the bathroom wearing the dark green silk robe she had found on a hook near the shower. Her hair was dried smooth and flat against her back as she slipped into the waiting lingerie a bit freaked out at the idea of any of the wizards from the night before just having brand new expensive silk lingerie for her to use laying around.
Soon wearing the silver bra and panties set, she slipped on the dark green high-waist magical dress and matching lightweight robe, Hermione frowned when she saw that the shoes were from Christian Louboutin a muggle designer whose stiletto shoes was coveted even by pureblood witches.
Carrying the heels on two of her fingers as she exited the bedroom and walked down the rather ornate hallway, she saw that the rooms were all numbered which she considered odd until she realized she was at a hotel, a wizarding hotel at that.
Stopping and sliding her shoes on, after self-consciously looking around afraid someone would see her walking barefooted down a public hallway, she heard a familiar sounding chuckle and turned to see her co-worker Theo Nott standing there leaning against a wall. "How are you feeling this morning, Granger?"
When she glared at him, he said: "You certainly weren't feeling any pain last night, were you?"
"Not funny, Nott." She choked out as she saw several of the others from the night before all exiting nearby rooms. Seeing Harry coming her way also dressed in green and silver, she moved close and whispered: "Where are we and how did we get here?"
"You don't remember?" He asked with a nervous expression on his face as he looked towards where the two Malfoys were now exiting the room across from the one she had slept in.
"No, I don't," she replied.
"Uh, we are at the Hazlitt's hotel, the Magical section," Harry said rubbing the back of his neck, something he only did when he wanted to avoid telling her something. Sighing, he said, "We uh, we were all rather incapable of going home last night."
"Harry, you live in the center of London. If we are in Soho like I think, you don't live that far away." She pointed out. "Your house certainly is large enough for all of us, why did we all check into a hotel?"
"Uh, I, uh, I am, well it's like this..." Harry sputtered to come up with an answer and kept avoiding Hermione's eyes as he tried to find a way to explain what had happened after she had slipped off her bar stool and had tried to stand.
"Mr. Potter, you can face the Dark Lord, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Dementors and yet, you can't find the words to tell the former Ms. Granger the truth?" The sneering words had no sooner left Severus Snape's lips and Hermione felt her knees weaken as she focused on the last part of his statement.
"F-former?" Hermione asked as she found several different sets of hands reaching out to hold her up as she leaned against a nearby pale blue wallpapered wall. "To who?"
"To whom?" Snape corrected with an amused expression on his face. "To whom what?"
Glaring at the man, she snapped "Who did I marry?"
"Marry?" Theo repeated with a loud chuckle. "You think you got married?"
"Well when a woman is usually referred to as the former Ms anything, it usually means she married someone." Hermione snapped.
"Her statement is rather correct, Mr. Nott," Lucius replied in his smooth urbane tone that had her wanting to rip his throat out.
"Stop teasing her." Susan Bones demanded as she walked forward, elbowing her way past the various wizards who seemed to be taking pleasure in teasing Hermione. Looking at the other witches outfit, she said "Green and silver look good on you. You should wear it more often not just as payment for the bet."
"Thanks," Hermione answered on autopilot as her mind kept trying to wrap itself around the idea of her being the former Ms. Granger. Then it hit her that Susan had been there most of the night before and might know what was going on. "Do you know what they are talking about?"
"I do but you might not want to know." She cautioned.
"How about you answer my questions yes or no." Hermione said and then looking at the five wizards standing nearby, asked: "Did I get married last night?"
"No," Susan replied.
"Did anyone in this corridor get married last night?" She asked just to be sure.
"No." Susan once again replied.
Hermione's brain raced to find other ways you could change your name and ask "Was I adopted by someone last night?"
"No," Susan said this time with a slight chuckle. "Though, you are now closer to the answer to how you changed your last name."
"Okay, so I wasn't adopted... did the goblins find out I was someone other than Hermione Granger or something similar?" She asked.
"No." At that point, Susan's laughter was spilling over as she looked at Hermione. "What do you recall about Harry and Draco's drinking game?"
"They were arguing who was more of a Gryffindor and who was more of a Slytherin." She promptly replied.
"Yes and it was decided by the judges, meaning Theo, Oliver and myself since you were too drunk to choose one that Harry was the ultimate Gryffindor, however, Draco was out Slytherined and his father was threatening to disown him at one point last night after learning the truth." She said her blue eyes dancing as she was reminded of the argument out on the hotel balcony the night before.
"Wait, I won, didn't I?" Hermione asked. "So I somehow changed my name to Malfoy?"
"No, actually you turned down Lucius Malfoy's offer to adopt you," Susan replied as she looked at the others now trying not to smile at Hermione. "You said the Malfoys weren't Slytherin enough for you. Nope, you decided to become the ultimate Slytherin, in fact, Harry tried to stop you from your very determined path last night."
"The ultimate Slytherin? Who?" Hermione asked blinking owlishly as she tried to figure out what she had done and how to fix her mistake. "Wait, please tell me...not Dumbledore, Riddle or something equally insane."
"Oh, no, you choose a name on the light side of the war and who wasn't killed." Susan airily announced.
Hermione frowned and then her eyes went wide as she began to recall a rather loud rant against the very leader of the light that most looked up to and groaned "Just what did I do?"
"Well, first of all, I just have to say, that I am rather offended that you consider Albus Dumbledore more of a Slytherin than myself." Lucius Malfoy stated with his eyebrows raised almost to his hairline. "Still your argument does have merit, I do have to admit that."
Harry pulled Hermione into his arms and gave her a bear hug as he said: "You were right, about everything but still, I honestly think that you should have considered asking Severus Snape before sending an owl to the Ministry requesting your last name be changed to Snape."
"Sir?" Hermione looked at her former Potion's professor whose black eyes were dancing at the knowledge she had unknowingly imparted the night before. "Did I really change my name to Snape?"
"Yes, you did." He affirmed. "The part I find rather interesting was your confession that I reminded you of your father. Frankly, Ms. Snape, if you were my daughter, you would have been expelled from Hogwarts your first year after the troll."
"Why?" She demanded. "You know that I lied back then, that I didn't go chasing down a fully grown troll."
"And that is precisely why I would have sent you home. To cover for the rather cowardly behavior of Mr. Potter and the rather insensitive behavior of Mr. Weasley was a very foolish decision." He replied. "Potter and Weasley would have never been punished, frankly I doubt your Head of House has ever punished anyone for being an idiot because that isn't anything that they can control,"
Leaning against Harry, Hermione reached up and held onto her head and moaned "I am so confused. Just what was I drinking last night?"
"I think it was the tequila that did you in, Ms. Grang-er, Snape." The smirk on the elder Malfoy's face had Hermione wanting to shove his wand up a dark and she was sure very tight place on his body as she recalled what her mother had always warned her about tequila and its effects. Something about only drinking it if you wanted it to be a surprise where you woke up in the morning.
"Harry...?" Hermione could feel the laughter rumbling through his body and looking at him asked: "What is so funny?"
"Sorry, but after your well, appropriation of the name Snape, you decided to make it very clear to Draco's father as to why it wasn't him you were speaking of regarding your clone comment. Thankfully by that time, it was only Malfoys, Snape and myself." He replied.
Burying her head in her hands, she said "Oh dear..."
"For the record, I tend to prefer my witches to at least be half my age." The aristocratic blond replied chuckling softly. "And for your information, my hair is this color naturally and I do not spend most of my fortune on hair products for it."
"Oh my god, I am never drinking tequila again." She said as she missed Harry and Draco's sympathetic expressions. "What else?"
"Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to wait and hear the rest once you sober up a bit?" Susan Bones asked while glaring at the two older wizards who seemed the most amused by the tale.
"No, I want to hear it now and just get the worst of it over with," Hermione replied.
Draco shrugged and then with a look at Harry that seemed almost amused when the other wizard flushed and said: "You declared your interest in Harry's fitness, in the color of his eyes and then frankly you well, you turned a bit maudlin and started to rhapsodize about his supposed goodness of heart."
Hermione tried to pull away from Harry who just held her tighter and maneuvered them so that she was resting against his chest. "Let go, Harry."
"Nope." He replied with a cheerful tone to his voice. "By the way, your last name won't be Snape much longer."
With a now hopeful expression on her face, she lifted her head and placed her hands on Harry's shoulders having an inner dialog with herself about once again marveling at how much broader they were than when they had been in school. "Really? Did you ask Kingsley to fix things?"
"No." He said. "I came up with a different plan. It's legal and it would solve the problem of your name change."
"It still leaves me with my issues regarding two professors with the same last name, Potter." Snape pointed out.
"Let's deal with one problem and the possible solution at a time, please," Hermione said. "Harry, what is your plan?"
"You have to get married." He replied only to hear Susan Bones groaning and threatening to wring the necks of both Wood and Nott who had encouraged this insanity of a plan.
Hermione stumbled backward, a bit hurt that Harry would suggest she marry someone else as by now he had to know of her very adult and long-lasting feelings for him. Torn between her desperate need to sob and her urgent wish to knee him where it would hurt the worst, she missed the winks and smiles on the others as Harry backed up a bit.
"Who do you think I should marry?" She asked in a cold tone.
"Me." He said it so simply that she would almost believe that the boy who lived up until now and was going to be killed by her at the first opportunity was serious. When she didn't reply, she saw him turning as if to leave. "Oh okay, I get it..."
With that, he began walking away and Hermione noticed how silent her companions were. Looking at Susan, she asked, "Why is everyone..."
"I am taking back my agreement to use the last name Snape because clearly, you aren't the intelligent girl I always believed you to be." The current Hogwarts headmaster said.
"What are you..." Hermione's eyes met Susan's and the redhead winked when she realized what she had missed. In spite of the shakiness of her knees, Hermione looked down the corridor and saw Harry was almost to the lobby. Kicking off the very high heels, she ran after her target and tackled him to the ground. "This had better not be one of your saving people things, Harry Potter."
Moving limbs around a bit, Harry's back was now resting on the marble floor as he found himself holding the armful that was Hermione Granger. "You couldn't simply have said yes?"
Leaning over Harry until her long hair shielded them from view, she softly said "Yes, yes, yes."
"Good because there is something else I told you last night that I am sure you are having trouble recalling." He said before tilting his head up and pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. "I love you, Hermione Granger/Snape, whatever you call yourself."
"I love you too, Harry James Potter, aka Prongslet." She said with a slight giggle as she recalled how the Marauder's Map still identified him by that moniker in spite of being an adult now. "Still, are you sure you want to marry me? I mean, there are thousands of girls who would love to be your wife."
"No, there aren't." He corrected. "There are lots of them who would want to be Mrs. Harry Potter but none who would want to be my wife. So since we are now re-engaged, I think we need to go to Gringotts, I have a ring in my vault with your name on it."
"Wait, re-engaged?" She queried.
"I proposed and you accepted last night but you broke things off after insisting that it was the tequila talking. I wasn't sure if you meant it was talking for you or for me so I agreed to wait and ask again this morning. So that there is no doubt, I want you to come to the bank with me because I want you to see something." He said with his normal lopsided grin on his face.
Hermione rolled off the top of Harry and automatically took the gloved hand that offered to help her stand. Sliding her feet into the heels that had magically appeared, she let go of the wizard holding her steady. Once Harry was standing as well, she thanked Draco's father and said "We are off to the bank. Harry said there is something he wants me to see."
"Potter, you and your fiancee had better make it to the graduation ceremony at Hogwarts this afternoon," Snape warned and then went to the floo which took the entire group minus them to the school.
Harry went to the fireplace and threw in the floo powder to take them to Gringotts. At his vault, he unlocked the door and escorted her in wearing a large grin. Hermione's eyes went wide as she looked around in shock and horror. "Harry, what is all this?"
With a slight shrug, he said "I received money from my family when I became legally an adult, plus what Dumbledore called a small bit of money from Sirius was not so small unless you consider Hagrid a shrimp of a human being. There was also a vault created by the Goblins when people who felt bad for my being an orphan sent money, they invested it and it just kept growing. Plus there was my salary for the last few years, you know me, I don't really shop."
Nodding, well aware that Harry wasn't into excess and own two different homes already, she said: "The only thing expensive you buy are brooms."
"Plus the occasional rare book for my favorite beautiful bookworm and thanks to her now former job, she had better access to them than I did." He said walking over to a shelving unit. Picking up the small box, he flushed and then handed it to her. "I am unable to open it but you will be able to."
Hermione opened the small ring box and gasped at the beautiful ring inside. Lifting it out with trembling fingers, she saw the three center stones surrounded by small lilies etches into the band. The diamonds were entwined in a way she had never seen before and that she was sure was magical in design. "Harry?"
"It was my mothers and has been in the Potter family since its inception. It's called the Three Graces and has a history going back to the time of Merlin." He said proudly. "Sirius told me that as soon as my dad met my mom, he knew that she was meant to wear this ring. He had found it in Godric's Hollow and brought it to his vault before going to look for Peter. There is a legend to the ring that he told me about."
Lifting the ring, Harry looked at Hermione and finally told her what he had wanted to for so long. "After the war, when Molly was pressing me to marry Ginny, I came here because she told me that my family had a legendary engagement ring that I should give her daughter. I just don't think she was expecting the results that happened when she insisted on coming with me."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked still numb from the beauty of the ring.
"See, the legend states that when the Potter heir holds the ring if he hasn't met his future spouse the ring protects him from false starts when finding true love. If he has met his true love and future spouse, the ring shows her to him. Molly was rather shocked when instead of her daughter like she believed it showed you." He said bending to press a kiss to her forehead.
"I am sure she didn't like that," Hermione said.
"You would be right, but thankfully as a pureblood, Molly knew she couldn't fight fate or continue to try and pressure me into marrying Ginny. Ginny wasn't happy when I broke things off with her but I mean, we had only been back together three weeks and everything just felt awkward, I think that now, looking back she had to be relieved." Harry said unaware that the woman in front of him was well aware that he couldn't have been more wrong.
"Harry you shouldn't be marrying me just because of some magica..." Harry this time kissed Hermione's lisp and at the same time slipped the enchanted ring onto her hand. The duo kept kissing and Hermione found herself understanding exactly what the ring does as they pulled apart to look into each other's eyes. "Wow!"
Her eyes now on her hand and the ring, she blushed and said "You have known about this all this time? Why didn't you tell me before now?"
Harry's arms encircled her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder told her. "Sirius knew that you were the one. Molly admitted that as we left the vault. She said she had very sure that the man was wrong. Looking back, he knew that I was completely obvious to the truth but tried to warn me about the path I was on. He told me about the ring and made me take a vow to come and look at it if and when I considered marrying even if I wasn't going to give the ring to my future wife. I found a letter with the ring. It told me that you were as equally obtuse about things as I was and I would know when you were ready."
"I am surprised that I didn't hear about this from Molly," Hermione admitted thinking back on the past and how Molly had become distant with her about that time. She had put it down to her own emotions since retrieving her parents from Australia. She had felt guilty at the time about her spending so much time away and had tried to make it up to them.
"Oh, she would have loved to be able to complain but there is an enchantment that prevents anyone but me speaking about who I am intended to marry. She couldn't even complain about you to anyone, at most she could be angry with you directly but couldn't voice her problem. I think that was a good thing because eventually, she seemed to relent. After all you and I still attend the family dinners."
Hermione turned to press a kiss to Harry's lips, wondering how someone so aware of deceit and who could almost sense when things are wrong had missed that Molly AND Ginny had been biding their time. Now looking at her engagement ring, Hermione was considering removing it when she noticed Harry's hand enfolding hers and bring it to his lips. "Whatever you are thinking, stop. Nothing and I mean nothing matters more than our future together. If anyone has issues with us getting married, that is their problem, not ours."
Looking at a rather ornate wall clock that he had placed in the vault from the Black manor house, he grimaced and said: "We had better get going before Snape forgets we are to teach at Hogwarts and tries to give us detentions like we are still his students."
"He would do that wouldn't he?" She said laughing as they exited the vault and took the rail car back up to the lobby. Flooing to Hogwarts, they exited the fireplace in the headmaster's office, cleaned the soot off of themselves and heard "I didn't expect you two to make it in time."
"Headmaster." Hermione nodded in respect and then looking around asked: "Where are the others?"
"Wood went off to spy on the students playing quidditch on the pitch. My godson seemed eager to escape Mr. Nott and Ms. Bones. He mentioned something about being too hungover to watch them kissing. I believe he went towards the forest." Severus said.
"A galleon that a certain new care of magical creatures professor was down there," Hermione said to Harry with a smirk on her face.
"I don't take losing bets." He said.
"As for Lucius, I left Minerva and him arguing the merits of the newest Nimbus broom versus popular broom that the Australian Quidditch team uses." He stated. "Ms. Snape? Am I to gather you are soon to be called Professor Potter?"
"Yes." She said holding out her hand to show him the ring on it.
"The Three Graces." He stated and seeing Harry's startled expression, he said "At one point the sight of that ring would have made me depressed. Now, I have to say that like your father, you chose the perfect witch." He stated and with that, Severus stood and with a grimace lifted his pointed hat and carried it down towards the great hall where the ceremony was to be held.
Inside the expanded room, the tables were gone and in their place were rows of chairs. Harry and Hermione went to sit in the section for Hogwart's professors and after greeting those they knew, sat down to watch the ceremony, their hands intertwining in a way that spoke volumes to those whose eyes were on them.
A week later, the Daily Prophet headline read "Savior marries Bookworm!" The attached article had her receiving howlers from good a third of the single witches in Britain. Romilda Vane forgot one very important fact, that in magical Britain when the bad news became public they often blamed the messenger. She fled the newsroom to the sound of laughter from her fellow reporters and apparated home only to find her house had been egged.
At the Burrow, Molly Weasley read the headlines with a heavy heart as she realized that her plan to be accepting and hope that eventually Harry would give up on Hermione and settle for her daughter had failed. Her husband had simply stated good for them, which was echoed by most of her children including her youngest son and his fiancee who had acidly said "Well we all knew she had set her cap for him back in the first year. Cho was so right about her fifth year."
Ginny who had been having a bad day, simply walked outside and apparated to a nearby bar with the intent of drinking until she forgot her hopes and dreams and maybe even her own name. Seeing Susan Bones and Theodore Nott entering from Diagon Alley knowing that they were friendly toward Hermione and not wanting to hear how thrilled they were for her, Ginny went to muggle London and sat down on a bar stool in a nearby nightclub.
"What can I get you?" The bartender asked.
"Something to make me forget." She answered almost positive that no muggle alcohol could achieve that. "And lots of it."
"How about some shots of tequila for the girl, Alex." A smooth sounding voice suggested from behind her. Ginny turned and saw the very handsome man standing there and smiled as she looked him up and down.
"Geneva Weasley." She said holding out her hand.
The good-looking man with the dark red hair with the dancing brown eyes and strange drawl said "I know. Rusty Sandavol, I am the seeker for the Australian National team. I saw you leave the Leaky Cauldron and followed..."
Two weeks later a report came into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and Susan Bones went to speak to Ron Weasley who worked in his father's old division. "Weasley, we have located your sister."
"What? Ginny was missing?" He asked from where he was attempting to remove the ankle biting charm from a doll named Chuckie that some muggleborn had thought funny to animate.
"Your mother filed a report ten days ago." She replied. "Anyhow, Ginny is in Australia. If your mother wants to know any more, she can contact her at this floo address."
Susan returned to her office and sent an owl to Hermione and then closed the door, amused at how the stubborn Weasley female had fallen for a handsome wizard's ploy and had ended up married to a man who wanted her for a good luck charm. She had apparently never learned the old axiom that taking shots of tequila with a stranger is just another way of saying "I like where I wake up to always be a surprise."
The End