Chapter 1

Harry Potter looked at his two best friends intently, his green eyes holding a seriousness neither Ron Weasley nor Hermione Granger had seen before. The inevitable war had finally been fought, and a lot of deaths had happened, not all of them coming from the dark side. But that was over. And soon, Hogwarts would be over too. For good. The last few days of Hogwarts were dawning, and the Golden Trio sat in a corner of the Gryffindor Common Room. Half the people usually there had either moved on to the spirit world or were in the hospital wing, still recovering. Harry, Ron and Hermione had not emerged from the war unscathed either, although they were faring much better than anyone else. Hermione had taken the time to notice that although the whole of Hogwarts had been involved in the war, two people had been missing: Ex-Potions professor, Severus Snape, and Harry's arch nemesis within Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy.

The three of them had been quiet for a while as they gathered their thoughts, before Harry spoke up. "This war's been hard on all of us. We've all lost someone or the other."

Neither Hermione nor Ron said anything, not knowing what to say. Harry went on. "Maybe it's in our destiny, to suffer losses. Maybe it's the magic. I mean, this had to happen eventually. With the founding of Hogwarts, it was obvious that sooner or later one of Hogwarts' students would become a threat."

"What are you saying then, Harry? That magic's the cause of all this?" Ron asked, gesturing to the half-empty room. Hermione put a placating hand on his arm.

"Yes, Ron, I am. Maybe it would be better for us if we lived a life without magic. In the Muggle world."

"Harry. You're not serious, are you?" Hermione asked in disbelief. "You can't possibly want to give up magic and live a Muggle life?"

"I do," Harry answered immediately. It seemed like he'd given this matter quite a bit of thought. "Look, every time we come back to Hogwarts some kind of trouble always follows us."

Ron started to say something, but, fearing that it might turn into an argument of sorts, Hermione quickly interrupted. "What if it's just Hogwarts? What if when we leave Hogwarts all this will stop?"

Harry looked at her intensely, his green eyes boring into her own brown orbs. "Do you really believe that? Voldemort's gone, and so are most of the Death Eaters. But not all are gone, Hermione, and you know that. What if they come back?"

"Sure are Mr. Optimistic, aren't you?" Ron muttered, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Ron's right. You can't always hope for the worst. Think, Harry, do you really want to give up a wizard's life just because you're scared?" Hermione asked him.

Harry sighed, a little frustrated. He got up and went over to a window, silent for a moment. Hermione and Ron instinctively got up and joined him. Hermione lightly placed a hand on his arm.

"Harry, even if you run away from them who knows, one day you might have to face them again. In the wizarding world." The Head Girl's voice was soft, tinged with sadness.

"I know," Harry said, just as softly, glancing at her. He wanted to say something more, but didn't know what to. He settled for another sigh instead.

"Hermione's right. No matter where we are, magic will always find us. Even if it's in the weirdest possible way," Ron said from Harry's other side.

Harry closed his eyes briefly, thinking.

"Whatever you do, Ron and I will be behind you all the way," he heard Hermione say.

He nodded briefly and opened his eyes, mind made up. He looked at Hermione, then Ron. "I'm still going to do it. After Hogwarts, I'm giving up magic. And you two don't have to do this if you don't want to."

Harry's two best friends glanced at each other. "I'm with you," Hermione said, looking back at Harry.

Ron nodded. "Me too."

Harry smiled, the action not fully reaching his eyes, where sadness still lurked. "Thanks, guys."

Four years later

An alarm clock buzzed, an annoying ring that roused Harry Potter from his peaceful slumber. He groaned and reached an arm out, feeling for the alarm clock and swatting it. The buzzing stopped. In the next room, where Ronald Weasley slept, a similar scenario was happening, except that Ron's snoring was drowning out the buzzing of the alarm clock. Someone pounded on Harry's door. Not knocked, but pounded.

"Harry! Wake up! Breakfast is ready and if you're not out in ten minutes you're going to be late for work!" Not even the wooden door could block out Hermione Granger's shrill voice. The pounding continued. "Harry, wake up right now!"

A second later Hermione had moved on and had now entered Ron's room. She hit the alarm clock hard and threw off Ron's covers. She shook him hard. "Ron, get up! It's 7.05 and unless you're calling in sick you are getting out of this bed right now!"

Ron groaned and opened a sleep eye. "Go away," he muttered, and rolled over. Hermione rolled her eyes and shook him again.

"Not until you wake up."

Ron groaned again, but this time he sat up slowly, in a state of semi-consciousness. Satisfied, Hermione left, pounding once more on Harry's door as she made her way to her own room.

Waking up two 21-year-old boys was a hard job, but someone had to do it. And in this particular apartment in London, the job fell to ex-witch Hermione Granger. She picked up a brush from her dresser and ran it through her light brown tresses a few times, still a little awed by how they had straightened out over the years, then grabbed a scrunchie off her dresser and pulled it around her hair, making a neat ponytail.

She took a moment to study herself in the mirror. What she saw before her still didn't cease to amaze her, even after four years. In the mirror was a girl with wide brown eyes, flawless skin and long light brown hair, dressed today in a crisp white blouse tucked into a knee-length cream-colored skirt, looking as demure as she had ever been. She put on a smile, as though testing it out. But as with all the other times she smiled, the action looked forced, as though she couldn't really shake off whatever sorrow plagued her. Maybe it was the loss of something. Maybe something was missing from her life.

Maybe it was magic.

Hermione turned and walked over to her wardrobe, where next to it was a big cardboard box filled with something. She unfolded the flaps and opened it up, looking longingly inside at the things she had kept from her days at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She trailed a hand along her wand, picking it up and feeling the lingering magic course through her. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling for a moment.

"Oi! Open up!" Ron's still-sleepy voice broke through Hermione's daydream. Once again, it seemed, Harry had beat Ron to the bathroom.

Hermione smiled a little, replacing the wand and closing the box, then went out into the hallway, leaning against the wall and folding her arms as she looked at the redhead.

"Well, if you got up a little earlier you wouldn't have to do this every single morning, you know," she joked. "Coffee's in the kitchen."

She turned and headed into the said room, pouring herself another cup before she headed off to her job as a receptionist in one of the top hotels in London. She sighed as the dismal thought of facing more rude and impatient people drifted through her mind.

'Oh, well. Might as well get the day started with,' she thought.

A/N: I know the first chapter was horrible, but let me assure you that it's going to get better later on:)