"Mum, can we have a cat?" Hermione looked down towards the small child whom she held hands with as she walked through the semi-crowded Diagon Alley. The young girl was pointing towards the pet shop, looking at the creatures that surrounded the front door. Hermione had not gotten another cat after the war,and during the time, Crookshanks had run off and never been seen again. Now, eight years after the war, she was standing before the pet store with a bouncing child beside her, searching for another pet. She sighed, looking at the cats in the cages before her, some curled up and sleeping, others rubbing against the bars crying for someone to take them. She was soft when it came to her daughter, and sighed before she looked down at the smiling eight year old.
"How about we get two." The steel grey eyes of her daughter suddenly widened and lit up like dual Christmas trees before a small squeak came from her lips and she pulled from her mothers grasp, racing into the store in search of their newest house pets. Hermione giggled and followed after the girl, the bells ringing over the door as she walked inside. Owls hooted from every corner of the room, their feathers ruffling and their eyes following her every move as she searched out for her child and found her on the ground in front of a cage. A kitten was pressed against the bars, purring as the girl rubbed at its black fur. The only white spots on the cat were the socks on its feet and a single streak down its nose, slightly off center. She smiled at her daughter and knelt down beside her, reaching out and squeezing her fingers through the bars to scratch the kitten behind the ears. The purrs grew louder. "This one?" She asked, turning to look at the smiling eight year old, who nodded in response. She smiled in return and nodded before standing, leaving her daughter with the small, black kitten and wondering the store in search of the other cat.
Figuring that a kitten would need another kitten to play with and get their energy out with, Hermione found herself in front of an all-grey kitten with bright blue eyes. It saw her and meowed, sitting back on its tail and raising a single paw, batting at the air at her. She smiled and slowly placed her fingers through the bars, letting it sniff her and decide whether it liked her or not. It gave a confused face before it gently licked her fingers and rubbed its cheek against her. She smiled and instantly fell in love. "Have you decided?" Hermione looked up at the familiar voice and was shocked to find Pansy Parkinson standing before her. She was dressed in simple black slacks and a dark blue blouse that made her blue eyes pop against her olive skin and dark hair that had grown out past her shoulders in gentle waves. Hermione couldnt help but straighten herself and stiffen her muscles, her fingers twitching towards her wand but not yet retrieving it. She glanced across the isles and her eyes landed upon her daughter before returning to the past-Slytherin with a guarded face. Parkinson realized who she was talking to, and stiffened as well before something changed in her that completely surprised Hermione. Her body relaxed and her face softened into a frown.
"I, ah, hello Hermione." Hermione paused for a second before giving a nod and greeting her back. Parkinson looked conflicted and looked down at her hands that she clasped in front of herself. "Look, this is a little difficult for me, but I, ah...I want to apologize. I know this is beyond late, but I want to let you know that I've changed. " She glanced back up, finding Hermione looking confused and astonished. "I know its unexpected, but the war changed a lot of us and again, I wanted to apologize. Maybe, start over. " She was at a loss for words. Was this really the same Pansy Parkinson that she went to school with? The spoiled brat of a girl that looked down upon anyone that was not Slytherin? She paused for a second, realizing that the war did, indeed change people for the better, and worse, and that it had been eight years. Her eyes glanced over the woman before her and a glint caught her eyes that sent her looking at her hands. She had a ring on her finger. Pansy watched her eyes fly to the medium sized ring and couldnt help a smile that came to her face. "Im engaged...to, ah, Blaise Zabini. He has changed too, although he was always the least pompus of us." Hermione paused and couldnt help but nod in agreement. Suddenly, her voice returned to her and she met the blue eyes of the woman before her.
"Pansy, Im sorry its just a huge surprise seeing you and having you be this different." Pansy nodded in understanding and shrugged her shoulders with a forgiving smile.
"No worries," There was a slight pause where neither knew what to say for a bit. "Would you, ah, this might be stretch, but would you like to maybe get coffee some time and talk things over? Get to know each other?" Hermione contemplated it for a second before she slowly nodded with a small smile.
"I think I would like that." Pansy smiled widely and nodded before she glanced at Hermione's fingers that were still scratching the ears of the grey kitten and scrambled for her keys.
"Im sorry, totally got side tracked. Would you like this darling?" Hermione nodded, retracting her fingers as Pansy pulling the kitten from it's cage and gently handed it over to her.
"Im sorry if this is rude, but I would have never expected you to work here." Hermione told her, as she took the kitten and placed it on her shoulder, where it purred contently and nuzzled itself into her neck. She smiled at it, rubbing the top of its head and back of its neck, keeping it cuddled to herself. Pansy looked at her with a smile and nodded.
"Neither did I. I started working here not long after the war. It became extremely hard for Slytherins to get jobs and this was one of the few places that would even let me get an application. I figured it would be fine, I love animals, so why not, right? Turns out, its pretty decent pay and when my boss stepped down, he made me the new owner. Even better pay." Hermione couldnt help but giggle and nod. "I mean, think about it. Almost every single student comes here for a pet at least once during Hogwarts, if not a couple times if they lose a pet or whatever. And the cost of these things can be ridiculous." She nodded, glancing over at her daughter and wondering what the price for the kittens would be.
"Speaking of, I want to get this one, and the one my daughter is looking at." Pansy, upon assuming the child was Hermione's, glanced over at the young girl and nodded, walking over and smiling. She spoke softly to her daughter and opened the cage, taking the kitten and handing it to the ecstatic young girl. Hermione smiled and followed Pansy to the register where the dark haired woman gently placed the kittens into a carrier.
"Thats going to be fifty galleons." Hermione nodded and scrambled through her wallet and dumped out the necessary payment onto the counter. Pansy took them and placed them in the register, before she shuffled through a filing cabinet and pulled out two sets of paper work. "These are their vet reports and records of shots. If there is any problem, just bring them back to me, okay?" Hermione nodded and gave Pansy a soft smile.
"Thank you, Pansy. Owl me for that coffee date, okay?" Pansy returned the smile with a genuine one of her own, glanced at her daughter standing beside her one last time before nodding. Hermione grabbed the carrier and handed it to her daughter, who quickly took it and started baby talking to the kittens. She giggled, took her daughters elbow and guided her out of the store. "What do you want to name them, dear?" She asked as they continued through Diagon Alley. The blonde girl beside her tilted her head, looking through the bars at the two kittens, whose eyes were wide and were constantly meowing, unsure of where they were going.
"How about Ajax and Adonis?" Her daughter had always had some sort of fascination with Greek Mythology and smiled at the names." Ajax is the grey one, Adonis is the black one." Hermione nodded to her daughter and looked up again, suddenly finding herself in front of George's store, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. It hadnt changed much in the past few years, George was now running it with his wife, Angelina, and they lived comfortably in the two story flat above the store. After the war, while the rest of the Wizarding world was rebuilding themselves, it was the only happy place left in Diagon Alley. And while it was extremely hard for George to move past his twins death, he remained dedicated to the store in memory of Fred.
Hermione and her daughter stepped through the doors into the crowd that filled the joke shop. She smiled at the new items that lined the walls and toys that buzzed around her head. She could see the familiar ginger hair of George standing on the second floor landing next to his dark haired wife and took her daughters shoulder, leading her through the store. "Honey, go find Lucy and show her our new kittens." Hermione told her daughter, who immediately rushed off. She turned and climbed the stairs, coming to stand beside her long time friends. George looked over and smiled at her, nudging her shoulder with his.
"Hey 'Mione. Fancy seeing you around." Hermione smiled at him and leaned onto the railing, looking over the shop with him and his wife. "Tonks here?" Hermione nodded, waving her hand over to her daughter, noticing how her blonde hair suddenly changed to a flattering light purple. Her daughter was a metamorphmagus, such was her namesake. Her looks changed with her emotions and upon will, but as of recently, she had been keeping to her natural looks more often of her blonde hair and grey eyes. Her hair had changed to a light lavender and her skin was a little paler as she came to stand beside her 'cousin', who was talking to some boys their age. Hermione couldnt help but smirk and shake her head.
"She just talked me into buying two kittens." She explained, watching as she pulled one out of the cage and handed it to Lucy, pulling the other out and showing them to the boys, who didnt seem at all interested. The girls, however, were all over the little creatures.
"You're so soft." George snickered, earning a smirk from his wife.
"Oh really? Who just bought Fred a new broom?" Hermione laughed. After eight years, everything was finally starting to get back to the closest thing they could call normal after the war. George was the happiest he has ever been, Harry wasnt drinking anymore, Hermione's nightmare's were finally becoming less frequent. Sunday dinners at the Weasley's was fun again. All was well.
Hermione stood there for a few more minutes before she walked down the stairs, heading towards her daughter in order to bring her home. The boys had left not long after the girls began fawning over the kittens, and Tonks' hair had turned to a deep, burgundy red. Her skin was a few shades darker than her mothers when she looked up, her smile dropping when she realized it was time to go home. "But mum, just a few more minutes?" Hermione gave her daughter an apologenic smile before shaking her head and reaching her hand out. Tonks quickly put the kittens back in the carrier, grabbed her mothers hand and they apperated back to their small, two bedroom flat.
It was a decent sized flat for the two of them, each having their own room and bathroom. They had apperated into the living room, where bookshelves lined the open walls. A couch sat on an area rug, facing the fireplace and the television that sat on top of it. Two arm chairs sat on either side, facing each other. Behind the couch was a six-person dining room table with a small, crystal chandelier hanging over head. A hallway back to the bedrooms was slightly to the right of it and completely to the right of everything was the kitchen. There was a small step leading up to the kitchen that was extremely modern, with light grey walls, and grey concrete counter tops. The cabinets were dark wood and steel and all of the appliances were upgraded. An island stood in the center, with the refrigerator to the left, and the sink behind the island. There were two ovens stacked upon one another, placed within the wall to the right and the stove top was on the island with the microwave implanted into the cabinets below it.
Tonks had released the kittens, who were hesitantly searching their new home. She smiled, leaving her daughter to play with their new flatmates and went into the bedroom, where she pulled off her jeans and blouse and pulled on a pair of oversized sweatpants and a tank top. She pulled her dark brown curls into a messy bun on her head and walked out of the room. A lot of things had changed about Hermione Granger within the last eight years. She was not the same girl from Hogwarts.
Hermione was a rather petite woman, with a curvy figure. Her waist was small and stretchmarks bared the tiger stripes of motherhood on her lower abdomen and upper thighs. Her breasts had grown and her hips were wider, having filled out with age and giving birth. Her hair had grown past her shoulder blades and now hung in curly layers, the longest tips meeting the small of her waist. Her face was thinner, her cheekbones fuller and her eyes had aged. Upon her left forearm was a mark she had come to be proud of- the jagged scars of war graced upon her by Bellatrix Lestrange. Mudblood. While she easily could have magicked the scars away, she kept them as a reminder that no one left that war unmarked.
Another thing that she had gained over the years, was a tattoo that she and her best friends, Harry and Ron had all gotten together. The Deathly Hallows symbol was permanently etched into the skin of her back, placed between her shoulder blades. She didnt know if she was going to get more or not, she simply knew that the symbol upon her back was something she was proud to have upon her forever.
Hermione walked back out of the bedroom and into the living room, walking to the kitchen to start dinner. Her daughter was playing with the cats in the living room, the TV was on and playing some children's Disney channel show, and she honestly wasnt paying that much attention. She searched the cabinets and decided to pull out some pasta and make hamburger helper, something quick and easy. Her back was to the living room as she pulled out pots and pans and started to boil water on the stove. She only turned around when she heard the familiar pop of apperation through her apartment and turned to find the familiar spunky redhead she called a best friend.
Ginny Weasley smiled up at her before waddling into the kitchen with a hand on her 6 month pregnant stomach. Her hair was thicker and shinnier than it had been in the past and her face was a little fuller from the weight gain. She quickly took a seat on a barstool and grabbed an apple that was sitting in the fruit basket. Hermione smiled and rolled her eyes, coming over to lean over the counter and greet her friend with a kiss on the cheek. "You shouldnt be apperating anymore, Gin." She scolded. Ginny only rolled her eyes and laughed.
"Eh, its my second kid. Im like a pro at this by now." Hermione giggled and didnt say anything, turning to the pot of boiling water and pouring in the pasta. "What did you do today?" Ginny asked, but before Hermione could answer, her daughter ran over to her aunt.
"Aunt Ginny! Aunt Ginny! Look what momma and I got today!" She was holding the squirming kittens with a tremendous smile on her face and quickly handed Adonis to her surprised aunt. Ginny looked up at her friend with a smirk before gently taking the kitten and petting its head.
"Oh, really? You're mom got you two kittens, huh?" Hermione could only blush and shrug with an innocent smile.
"I havent had a cat in a while okay." She justified, stirring the pasta. Tonks quickly ran back into the living room with the kittens, leaving the women to their conversation. Every now and then Hermione would glance over and double check that her daughter wasnt traumatizing the poor animals.
"You are way to soft on that girl, Mione." She rolled her eyes with a sigh.
"I know, Gin. Its hard though. Im just trying to be a good mom." Ginny smiled back at her and nodded.
"You're doing fantastic, I just find it funny how much you give her." Hermione smiled and stuck her tongue out slightly.
"I dont give her everything she wants. That's your husband who does that." Ginny scowled at that.
"Trust me I know. He just bought James a new broom." Hermione laughed and brushed her hair out of her eyes.
"Oh, you will never guess who I met today in Diagon Alley." She said, quickly turning around and was met with Ginny confused face. "Pansy Parkinson." Quickly, her face turned from confused to disgusted, but before she could say anything, Hermione quickly continued. "She apologized to me and asked me to go out for coffee. It was so weird."
"What did you say?" Ginny asked, hesitantly. Hermione already knew what she was going to say to her answer and quickly readied herself.
"I said yes. It cant be that bad."
"And what if its a trick, huh?" Hermione quirked her eyebrow and leaned against the counter.
"After eight years, Gin? And how would she have known I would be in the pet store today? I didnt even know I was going to be in the pet store today, and she owns it." Ginny sat there, contemplating what Hermione had said. She opened her mouth, paused and closed it again with a pout.
"Could still be a trick." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"And if it is, I can handle myself. We'll be in public, Gin. I can even ask if you can come with so its two on one." Ginny suddenly lit up and nodded furiously and Hermione frowned, "I wasnt being serious."
"What the hell, Im your best friend." Ginny snapped and crossed her arms over her chest. "It should be implied that Im coming." Hermione could only laugh and roll her eyes.
"Fine, Ill owl her and ask. Ill let you know what she says." Ginny only smiled triumphantly. They lapsed into silence for a couple minutes before Ginny suddenly remembered something and became very hesitant as she looked up at her best friend.
"Speaking of owls, Harry sent me one just before I came over. Its actually why Im here." Hermione looked at her friend curiously, tilting her head slightly and waited. "You're not going to like it."
"Out with it, Gin." Ginny quickly looked over her shoulder towards Tonks, who was engrossed in the television before she looked back at Hermione and sighed.
"Malfoy got out of prison today."