Disclaimer: All recognizable, yet fictional, characters, places, ideas, events and things are the intellectual property of Mrs. Rowling and/or her licensees.
Pairing: Hermione Granger/Charlie Weasley
Summary: There were starving children all over the world and people dying from cancer every day. She was incredibly fortunate in her life. Her world was not over if she remained as she was, and part of her – the modern witch who needed no man - was quite irked that she allowed her single status bother her so. So, she began changing how she thought of her future.
Author's Notes: What looks amazingly like a Hermione character study is actually the cleverly-disguised introduction to a Hermione/Charlie love story. This is my first HP fic and comments are appreciated.

Part One

Hermione kept her sigh low as she pressed the seal into her final report of the day. She blew on the wax to cool it and tied the scroll to the leg of the office owl that was quietly perched next to her desk.

"To the London office please, Rumpole. The General Counsel is likely about to lose her head," Hermione directed the waiting bird, which immediately took off out the small window behind her desk.

Hermione rubbed her temples for a moment and then began straightening the papers strewn about her desk. Her position as regional office counsel for a large wizarding real estate holding company was frequently frustrating, with the haphazard management style of her superiors, and only occasionally interesting from a legal standpoint. It was not exactly what she had planned on doing with her legal education, but the prestigious positions at the Ministry went to new solicitors who took a more traditional educational route. More traditional meaning not skipping out on their final year at Hogwarts to chase about Britain searching for horcrux-sized portions of the soul of the darkest wizard since Grindelwald.

It wasn't that Hermione disliked her job. In fact, she had been quite pleased with the offer when it came, having suffered many rejections during her search for a permanent post. Hermione's hours were much fewer (commensurate with the lower pay) than for some of her university classmates, and she was able to stay quietly in rural Scotland, which she had come to much prefer to the press of city living.

Although her office was in Inverness, Hermione had a small house outside the city. She loved being able to go home in the evenings and breathe the clean, clear air. Her neighbors kept goats and she had a small vegetable garden that she defended vigorously from said goats in the summer. Hermione's days were filled with work, tending to her home, reading, and enjoying a quiet, country life. The difference between Hermione's drama-filled life as a teenager and her current existence as a wizarding solicitor in her late twenties was striking.

The thud of the deadbolt echoed in the hallway as Hermione closed the office for the night. She withdrew her key from the lock, stepped back, and swiftly set the security wards before pocketing her wand and keys and apparating away.

She reappeared in a small copse of trees about a mile from her home. Taking a moment to look around at the picturesque sunset and revel in the cool September air, Hermione suppressed a brief pang of loneliness. She often found herself in beautiful scenes but never had anyone with whom to share the experience. She quickly shook herself from her malaise and began her journey home.

"Stop it!" she admonished herself softly. "I have been blessed in many other ways. Not everyone is meant to be married." She screwed her eyes shut and repeated what had become her mantra in recent months. Earlier in the year she had come to a decision to stop mourning for some fantasy life that would never be hers. She had been blessed in many other ways: her family who loved her very much had come through the war unharmed, she was bright, healthy and self-sufficient, and she was well respected by those who knew her.

She had friends, as well. Not nearly as many as she had when she was younger, and none that she felt a true, deep connection with, but she was sure that there were people who thought of her. Ron and Harry were still around, although they were closer to each other than to Hermione. Both had gone into the professional quiddich leagues after the war, and although Hermione wished them well and saw them around once a year, they were not the inseparable trio that they once had been. She also had acquaintances in Inverness, mainly people that she worked with or knew from her community activities. These were Hermione's "lunch" friends – the ones who she could have a cordial chat with over a quick sandwich, but who were mostly several years older than she and settled in with families of their own. In short, they were not the type to go with Hermione to a pub after work or a club on the weekend.

Which led directly to the problem that bothered Hermione the most: she had not been asked out on a date since she was eighteen. The last male to ask Hermione out had been Ron Weasley, and that had not exactly been the best idea in the world. After the trio had left Hogwarts following their sixth year, Hermione and Ron had decided to give a romantic relationship a go. It quickly became apparent to everyone in a ten mile radius that coupledom was not for them. They broke things off within months and were happily back to being best friends by the time of Harry's final confrontation with Voldemort.

Now, it wasn't that Hermione had not dated at all in the past decade. In fact, she had been several months in a relationship with a man called Kevin whilst in her second year at university. Kevin was brilliant, handsome, athletic and lived in Hermione's house at school. She had spotted him on her first day and had harbored a small crush on him for the better part of a year before she worked up the nerve to kiss him one evening after class. He seemed surprised at the kiss, but didn't immediately object, so Hermione kept up her pursuit. Eventually her efforts resulted in their dating officially and she felt like she was happy for a while.

Hermione rolled her eyes as she recalled her "relationship" with Kevin. At first, they got along very well and Hermione was thrilled that Kevin hadn't seemed to mind the couple stone that she had put on since coming to university. (The fact was that a post-Voldemort world for Hermione required substantially less running around, which reflected poorly on her waistline.) However, as the weeks went by he became critical of many things about her. He thought that she should lose weight and cut her hair. He often joked about her muggle parents and made no secret that he disliked her muggle habits. He teased her about her virginity, but was steadfastly unwilling to relieve her of it. Hermione managed to convince herself that he was just honest with her and a gentleman when it came to sex before marriage. Her illusions came crashing down while on a spring holiday to visit with Harry and Ron at the Burrow.

Hermione had spent the better part of a day listening to Ron lament his situation with his girlfriend and his girl-on-the-side. The quiddich lifestyle had not done Ron's ego any favors, and he was currently balancing one girlfriend at home while shagging another when on the road. After hearing him say for the fiftieth time that "he just didn't want to hurt anyone," Hermione lost it. She had floo called Kevin and was relating to him how she'd advised Ron to locate his bollocks and break it off with at least one of the girlfriends before they both found out and relieved him of his bollocks entirely, when the silence from the floo stopped her. Harry had thought her answer to Ron's dilemma was quite right and at least a little amusing, but Kevin had a grim look on his face.

His answer to her curious inquiry soon set the same look on her own face. Apparently, Ron was not the only one who had been keeping a little something on the side. Kevin had been having semi-regular sex with his ex-girlfriend since around the third week of his relationship with Hermione. Hermione listened to his explanations calmly and ended the floo call saying that they would talk later. By the time she returned from her mini-break, she had realized that she couldn't be with someone who would disrespect her in that way, and broke things off. He did not take well to her decision, but Hermione remained firm.

She usually felt that her judgment was right, but occasionally now, more than six years later, his words would come to her unbidden – You are very lucky to have me, Hermione. It isn't as though you have men lined up to be with you. She knew that those words were the epitome of the reason why she would never be able to be happy with Kevin, but they cut deeply all the same, particularly as they held a grain of truth.

Since then, she had tried various methods of meeting new people – clubs and group activities at university and after, muggle dating internet sites, and going to pubs and dance clubs, but to no avail. Going to bars alone made her feel awkward and uncomfortable, and she always left those nights never having spoken to anyone besides the barkeep. Hermione had somehow become asexual, never earning a look from a man that was anything other than polite and cordial. She dressed nicely, if conservatively, and tried to be friendly, but her romantic life remained non-existent.

Her solitary life did not always bother her – she was young and had plenty of time to find someone and have a family as she had always planned. But as the years went by and she became settled into her life and job, she saw her road stretched out flat and unbending before her. Suddenly, that time for marriage that had always seemed so far in the future had slipped right past without her even noticing it. All of her friends were married or had partners. She knew realistically that she was still young, but she didn't feel it, and for the first time in her life the idea of being alone was painful. Hermione physically hurt at the prospect of remaining without a partner of her own – someone to love and who would love her in return.

But Hermione would only allow herself to wallow in self-pity for so long before she began to feel guilty. There were starving children all over the world and people dying from cancer every day. She was incredibly fortunate in her life. Her world was not over if she remained as she was, and part of her – the modern witch who needed no man - was quite irked that she allowed her single status bother her so. So, she began changing how she thought of her future.

Instead of "when I get married," it became "if I get married." After a couple years at her job, she bought a house for herself. She began walking part of the way home from work every day, shedding several of those extra pounds that she had been carrying. Hermione took the opportunity to travel whenever she could get away from her job and she became the favorite doting aunt to her cousins' children. And to combat the occasional hollow feeling in her chest, she reminded herself how lucky she was that she had so little about which to complain. I have been blessed in many other ways.

Her chanting had given way to a light humming by the time she reached her door that crisp fall night. Her little depressive snit seemed to have evaporated as she cooked herself supper and cleaned up around the house. She let herself fall into a favorite novel as the evening became night. In fact, she did not think on the subject again that day… save when she cocooned herself in her bed that night.

I have been blessed in many other ways.

To be continued…