Chapter 1

The lecturer droned on and on about how drugs affected the body specifically.

After an hour of bending over her table, Hermione Granger sat back and closed her eyes. That had to be the most boring lecture she had ever listened to. Her eyes wandered to the photo frame at the side of her laptop, and there was a picture of Ron, herself in the middle, and Harry. Harry. She felt a tug at her heart as she watched him grinning back at her in the wizard picture. Ron and Harry's arms were around her casually, and she was laughing away at a joke Ron had just whispered into her ear. Picture Harry was now looking at her as she laughed away.

That picture had been taken at Hogwarts, barely days after the defeat of Voldermort. The hunt for the hocruxes had been tough. If the bond between the three friends was strong before, it was now unbreakable.

Harry was just happy to see her and Ron happy laughing. After all, she and Ron were together at that time, and they had finally defeated the dark wizard, and they were finally happy, enjoying a moment of peace, together as three good friends.

That had been a long time ago, she thought, about 5 years. She gave a small smile as she remembered how awkward things got when they both realized that they just could see each other as only friends. But since the feelings had been mutual, the breakup was not as hard to deal with as she thought. Although, she admitted, she missed having him around the house sometimes. She, Ron and Harry were now living at Grimmuald Place, with Kreacher cooking and cleaning for them. Hermione had tried to pay him when they first moved in, but he had taken it as an insult and burst out wailing, refusing to talk to Hermione for the next few weeks. It was only after Harry had returned from a recent trip, and learnt about this that he managed to talk to Kreacher to explain Hermione's good intentions did the house elf forgive Hermione.

But that was months ago. Harry was now training to be an Auror, and as a result was away most of the time. He would be away for days, sometimes even months, be back for a short stay before going off again. Ron was a now helping out at Fred and George's Joke Shop, and the business was doing extremely well. While she and Ron were still dating, Ron made it a point to be home early every night to spend time with Hermione, but now that they were no longer together, Ron immersed himself completely in the business, and he proved to be a very good business man too. With Ron's help, the business had just opened their third franchise in the country.

Hermione, on the other hand, was pursuing a muggle degree in Medicine. It was an area she had always been interested in, and had she not gotten her letter to attend Hogwarts, she would have taken that degree anyway. Hermione had already completed Healer training, and was hoping to be able to combine modern Medicinal Treatments with Healer methods. Many people supported this, but there were still who had their reservations about it.

Still, she thought, no harm trying.

Hermione was jerked out of her thoughts of the good old days as the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey…Hermione?"

She sucked in her breath. Was that –

"It's harry here."

"You're back?!" she screamed into the phone.

"Whoa…relax 'Mione, not exactly…but I'm at the airport now, so I'll be arriving at Heathrow in about three hours", he said quickly when he sensed disappointment over the phone.

"oh okay! That's great!" she piped up.

"Oh yeah…my 2 partners will be come over to stay for a while, we've got some things to discuss and a case to sort of follow up and so I thought it would be more convenient if we were in the same place most of the time so that if we had any new leads it would be easier to communicate and possibly crack this case."

"Of course it's fine Harry. It is your house you know…" she laughed.

"Yeah, but still, you and Ron are living in it too. And I know how you are about having people staying over and stuff, especially now that it's gonna be for a quite a long time too, and…" Harry started into the phone.

Hermione cut in quickly, "Hahaha…it's ok Harry. It's for your work, so I'm okay with it. Don't worry! Besides, I don't think it's us you've got to worry about. What would Kreacher say?" she laughed into the phone at the thought of the guests arriving to meet a very grumpy house elf.

"Argh!" Harry let out a strangled groan. He had forgotten about Kreacher. "Do you think we could send him on a holiday or something? I mean…you know, now that he's more open to the idea of your Elf Rights movement, he might actually accept it. I'll pay for it of course!"

"Sounds like an idea. I'll talk to him. How long do you need?"

"It depends, until we crack the case really, which may be months. How about 3 months? That should be enough time."

"Okay Harry. I'll tell him that. See you soon."

"Yeah, thank 'Mione. Say hi to Ron for me will ya, See you!"

The line clicked as Harry ended the call. She sighed, guests. She walked around the house and looked at the masterpiece of a mess Ron had created after he came home drunk after a night of partying.

"Hulllooo lovely…" Ron crooned to Hermione when she opened the door for him, taking him from Fred and George. Apparation was too difficult with a drunk person so that had to take a Cab with him to bring him home.

"Thanks guys…I'm so sorry about this." Hermione told them.

"No problem Hermione, he's our little Ronniekins!" Fred told her. "Just be careful, Merlin knows what he'll try to do when it late at night…"

"- and he's drunk" George cut in.

"and it's cold…" Fred said, rubbing arms dramatically.

"and you're the only woman around…" George added, waving his eyebrows suggestively.

"mind you you're not that bad looking Hermione…" Fred flashed her a wide grin.

"yeah, and –"

"BOYS!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Hahaha! Just kidding Hermione. He won't do anything, except probably have a really bad Hangover tomorrow morning and kill anyone who he sees". Fred said with a laugh.

"Haha, yes. I suppose so, " Hermione said. "Don't worry, I know how to handle this. This isn't the first time," she said with a little sigh. Why Ron had to drink so much she did not know.

When Fred and George had left, she dragged Ron across the house and it's many steps to his room, with him swinging his arms madly in the process, knocking over several pieces of China that was on display and murmuring incoherent things. The moment he hit the bed however, he gave Hermione no chance at cleaning him up as his promptly fell asleep. Hermione raised an eyebrow and her suspicions were confirmed when a loud snore erupted from Ron, and he sighed contentedly and started smiling foolishly in his sleep. Hermione smiled at him, and the way he looked now reminded her of the 11 year old boy who first made her cry in school about that Wingardium Leviosa spell.

Of course, she could have used that levitate him to his room. She was a witch wasn't she? Honestly Hermione, but after being raised as a muggle so many years, there were still many habits she could not change.

The morning after Ron had woken up with a defeaning crash, causing Hermione to jump up from her bed and race to his room. Ron had been dreaming. He dreamt that he was fighting and had fallen unceremoniously onto the floor, pulling his bed sheets with him along the way, causing the lampshade to fall to the floor.

Ron looked sheepishly at Hermione and said in a hoarse voice "Sorry…".

"It's ok Ron," Hermione laughed. Ron on the floor, suffering from a hangover was a funny sight. "I simple spell will clean that up."

"Thanks Hermione." Ron said as he got up and attempted to hug her.

"Ewww..no! Ron! You still reek of alcohol! Shower! Now!" Hermione stepped back from him. "I'll clean this up….go on!"

Ron grinned at her and walked out of the room, and as she picked up the sheets she heard a few more crashes along the stairway and a loud and long yell from him. She rolled her eyes, Ron must have lost his balance and hit over other things again.

But before she could do anything, she remembered the online lectures she was supposed to be attending and raced to her room to start listening. Ron had apparated away back to the Burrow to get the gash he had sustained from the falling Porcelain as he knew Hermione would be busy with her work.

There was finally peace in the house.

Hermione, now done with her lectures, proceeded to clean up the house to get it ready for Harry and his partners.