Chapter One- The Meeting

"Are you girls ready yet?" Hermione's husband called up the stairs.

"Almost done love" She replied laughing to herself.

"They are always so impatient" Ginny said applying her lipstick as Hermione slipped into her suede heels.

"Dont I know it. You'd think they would get use to this by now" she said in reply.

The two girls made their descent down the stairs a few minutes later.

Both of their husbands were waiting at the bottom for them.

"Wow, well don't you two look beautiful, as always though I might add" Ginny's husband said taking her had and planting a small kiss on her lips.

She giggled and gave him a small twirl.

Hermione mimicked Ginny's actions looking up at her husband.

"Well what do you think?"

"That Im the luckiest man in the world." He added giving her a kiss.

"We better get going or we are going to be late to the ball."

"I'm okay with that, I hate going to this every year, you would think they would tire of it.

"Its being thrown in your honor though" Ginny said.

"I'm the only one who has bothered to show up in the last seven years. I feel at this point they are just throwing them in hopes that they will finally show up."

"Doubt that will every happen" Ginny replied in a grumpy tone.

"Well shall we go and see if you will be right again?" Hermione asked.

All three of her companions nodded in agreement and headed to the fireplace.

Exiting the fireplace, the four of them looked around at the grand entrance room. For the past seven years these balls had been held in honor of the Golden Trio. The ones who brought down The Dark Lord, the begging of a new ear, as the Daily Prophet calls it. However, for the past seven years the only one to every bother showing up was Hermione. The other two left immediately after the war and haven't been seen or talked to since, their whereabouts unknown.

The ballroom was tastefully decorated and over flowing with influential guest. Hermione quickly grabbed a glass of champagne that was floating by on a tray, and thinking better of it she grabbed another, quickly downing the first.

"Dont go over board, I know how you get at these things." He whispered in her ear.

"I can't help myself, I'm seriously not coming next year."

He laughed at this. "We both know thats a lie, you will come every year until you hear from Harry and Ron again."

She glared openly at her husband, he knew her too well and for that she was both happy and annoyed in this moment.

"Shall we dance before they get you to make your welcoming speech?" He asked her, holding out his hand for her to take.

She graciously obliged him and was lead off to the dance floor.

And hour had passed and it was time for Hermione to make the speech she made every year at this ball. She was accompanied by her husband on stage waiting for the introduction.

"And now it is my honor and privilege to introduce Hermione Granger."

She was meet with many applauses but inwardly grimaced at the fact that they still introduced her by her maiden name, she was married after all.

"Thank you, thank you. I felt as though this year I should keep it short and simple. Many of you have been in years past and as more times passes, I feel I don't need to bore you with my wishes for unity and prosperity. I would just like to thank all of you for coming and for another peaceful year to pass. We have grown so much as a community in the last seven years, we have created great wealth for the wizarding world and for the muggle world as well. We are proof that forgiveness, acceptance, and perseverance can help us accomplish wonderful things. I raise my glass to each and everyone of you, I say thank you for helping create a world of tolerance and acceptance for any and everyone, for every creature, and for every new witch or wizard we welcome to our world." With that Hermione raised her glass and was acknowledged with the crowd mimicking her move. With a long sip of her glass she exited the stage with her husband accompanying her, they walked towards Ginny who was smiling at them both. Little did any of them know but there was two pairs of eyes staring at them in complete disbelief. Wondering what in the world had happened in the last seven years to see their ex-lovers in the arms of their biggest enemies.

"What the fuck are they doing?" Ron asked Harry in an exasperated tone.

"How am I supposed to know? We haven't been around for seven years. How could we expect them to just sit around patiently waiting for our return?" Harry replied.

"I wasn't expecting them to wait around for us, I was perfectly aware that we had lost them forever but to them Harry, to THEM?"

"I completely agree with you but we wont know what happened unless we make our presence known. Speaking of which, should we do this here? I know it was a good idea when we thought they would be alone or at least with someone we didn't know, but now…" He let his voice trail off as he watched the girls laugh and kiss their respective husbands, if you could even call them that. Maybe this was just a first date, maybe they weren't convoluting with those traitors.

"Its an even better idea now than before, I want to know what the hell is going on, if you have forgotten one of those girls is my sister!" Ron nearly screamed.

The two boys approached the foursome with some speed behind them.

"What in the actual fuck do you two think you are doing with them?" Ron screamed, always the one to make a scene first.

Hermione and Ginny turned around with utter confusion on who could be talking to them in that manner only to come face to face with the two men that they truthfully never thought they would see again.

Both were flabbergasted and took a moment to compose their thoughts. However, almost exactly like her brother Ginny was the first to recover from her shock.

"What the fuck does is look like RONALD" She said putting emphasis on Ron's full name which she knew he hated.

"Wha- Wha?" He screamed unable to form a sentence in his anger.

"Where did you two come from?" was all Hermione managed to get out. Seeing the two of them in person was bringing a flood of emotions, she had prepared for this day for years but now that she was faced with it she didn't know which emotion to latch on too.

"It doesn't matter where we have been, what matters is that you are with these Death Eaters, what the hell is wrong with you." Ron replied, "Have these bloody gits used a love potion on you or the imperious curse? Get away from them girls, they are dangerous. Im so sorry we left you, if we knew you were in this kind of danger. We are here now, we can help you."

"Don't you dare talk about my husband like that" Hermione screamed, those words had snapped her out of her sad emotion and put her firmly in the mad category. "You have absolutely no right to come back here after seven years and still believe in your ignorant childish ways. Have you grown up or are you still the complete moron I knew in school? Who are you to come waltzing back in to our lives and expect us to throw ourselves at your mercy? Who are you to think these two men haven't been anything but upstanding citizens since the war? They have done more to change the laws and make the world a better place than you two. They at least stuck around and made a better name for themselves, they have proven worthy. More than I can say for you two cowards, you just up and left, what fame to much for you to handle? Didn't want to deal with the real world now that you had nothing to prove for yourselves? Well fuck you Ronald Wesley. I am not here for you shit talking or your disapproving glances. What have you say for yourself Harry Potter? Want to speak your mind too?" Hermione got it all out in one breath, she had the attention of every person in the ballroom but at this moment she couldn't care less. She was angry, angry at them for coming back in to her life and thinking that her wonderful husband had done something demeaning to her. This was something she could not handle, no one talked about the love of her life in that way and lived to see the next day, especially not her supposed best friends.

Harry just looked at Hermione and the man behind her, then his focused turned to Ginny and her assumed husband. The role he always thought he would play in her life but he had run away after the war. Just left her without an explanation or an apology. He knew that she would move on, he knew that she would start a new life with someone better. He just never thought that that someone better was who he was staring at now. That thought had never even crossed his mind.

"Hermione I'm not looking to fight" Harry said giving a pointed look at a dejected Ron. He went to go open his mouth in protest but thought better of it and snapped it shut once again.

"I, we just missed you both, we knew it was time to come home, we knew we couldn't leave forever, I guess we just forgot how much time had passed. We want to understand. Dont we Ron?" He said giving a pointed look at his best friend.

"Yeah yeah." He said with a downcast look.

"Well if either of you had bothered to keep up with the news for the past seven years, you would know that both of their names were cleared, they were children, just like us, however they ended up on the wrong side of things. They have had the biggest most influentially hands in the changes to our laws, they are the reason we are still at peace. They had both knowledge of good and bad which has been corner stone to our success. You would have also found out when we all started dating and when we got married. You might have even found out your an uncle now Ronald, if you had paid any attention at all. But I guess that is too much to ask of you isn't it?" Ginny said crossing her arms in a pointed way, as if to say thanks for nothing.

Ron's eyes grew at the realization of what Ginny had said.

"You have a child?" He spluttered out

" Two actually, twins." She said turning her nose up to him as her husband put a protective arm around the mother of his children.

" Maybe we should all go back to our house and have a talk. There is clearly things that need to be said and too many people are staring at us to all air out our dirty laundry." Hermione's husband said taking her hand.

"He is right, lets take this somewhere more private." Harry said following them out of the ballroom and to the floo networks.