Hermione panted heavily as she sluggishly fought to free herself from the cocoon of blankets. Her tired and sore limbs were protesting, pleading her to stop and her hair was splayed about on her pillow, tickling her uncomfortably. Several strands were matted to her sticky forehead and neck. Finally free from the heavy blankets, Hermione sat up before rubbing her eyes tiredly. What the hell? she thought.
Hermione eyed Lavender's side of the room through thin slits. She could hear her snores even through her own loud and rapid breathing. At least one of them was sleeping well. She sighed and reached for her wand on her nightstand, silently willing it to project the time. 3:47 AM. Christ. Hermione wanted to throw something heavy just for the sake of hearing something shatter and expelling frustration. Is this how Harry used to feel? No wonder he was always so cranky in the morning.
Hermione couldn't afford to think more on her strange dreams, she couldn't even remember them. After all, she had her high-demanding job at the Ministry to worry about. As a war-heroine she was thoroughly respected but as a woman, the wizarding world was still disappointingly lacking. Daresay she was the brains behind defeating Voldemort and contributed a hell lot more than Ron, but her bank account always seemed to have less zeros than his. She rolled her shoulders in attempt to relax.
Lavender stirred in her sleep and made unintelligible noise before snoring again. Despite their rocky relationship at Hogwarts, thanks to a particular Weasel, the two reconciled at Harry and Ginny's wedding. Both were bridesmaids (Luna was the maid of honor) and refused to have anything to do with each other before Ginny pulled the two aside and told them off.
"Listen, I don't give a fuck about what happened between you two and my git of a brother but my wedding is in one week and hell if I let you two ruin it! What happened, happened. Merlin, its been what - three, four years? Can you just put it aside so I don't have to see you two making constipated baboon butt faces at each other?!"
Hermione had immediately realized how out of character she was. Merlin, she was supposed to be the mature one, letting things go and forgetting about the past and whatnot. She'd been so red-faced after that she still remembered her cheeks flaming with embarrassment. She'd apologized to Lavender and the two eventually became friends, bonding over Ron and giggling like schoolgirls when Lav brought up his "little problem" in bed.
Even after Gin's wedding, the two made sure to keep in touch but Lav vacationed in Italy for a "beautifying" year. However, the two still occasionally owled and Hermione demanded Lavender to stay with her in London once she came back to London. Because nobody could refuse Hermione (it just simply wasn't possible), Lavender caved in and had her stuff moved into the flat within two days of her arrival.
They've had their ups and downs, like how to arrange Lav's beauty products and Hermione's bathroom books in the tiny bathroom cabinet or where to place the cardboard cutout of David Beckham (Lav didn't complain per se but she didn't exactly feel comfortable to have a stranger staring at her as she's showering, no matter how hot). The two both worked Ministry jobs and made more than enough. Lav had been saving up for another trip to Italy and had been trying to convince Hermione to come along. Apparently had Italian accents and mustaches weren't enough for Hermione.
Hermione smiled in the dark, recalling the plethora of shopping trips Lav has dragged her on and the hours Hermione insisted had to be spent at Flourish and Blott's as revenge. She supposed she had to thank Gin for knocking some sense into her, she'd gained a lifelong best friend. Besides, Ron Weasley wasn't worth fighting over anyway.