AN: Yes a new story! I am not abandoning my other story, so don't worry! I will updating both of them as often as possible.

For now this story is rated T for language, but it could change to M in the future, just a warning.

Chapter 1

"I'm sorry Miss Granger, as much as I enjoyed your book that answer is still no, I will not be publishing your book. You might also want to rethink the title before you submit it to any other publishers."

"What? What is wrong with my title?" Hermione said, exasperated and now slightly offended.

"Well, you can't exactly call it 'Hogwarts a History – Abridged' when it is longer than the original version," the editor said.

"But it is abridged! It doesn't have all of the information that the first one did! Just the important parts, as well as all of the other facts that I discovered during my research."

"I'm sorry Miss Granger. I suggest that you don't quit your day job. You write well but no one is interested in the things that you right about. Have a nice day and good luck," and with that the line went dead.

"Damn it!" Hermione said for what must have been the thousandth time in the last few weeks.

She had been trying to get her book published for almost a month now and no one was interested. Almost immediately after she had graduated she had begun working on it. After six months of extensive research and another three months of writing she had finally finished what she was calling 'Hogwarts a History – Abridged'. That editor had been right though, it was longer than the original. She also could not understand why no one was interested in it. The history of Hogwarts was actually very fascinating if people would actually take the time to learn about it.

One look at the clock on her kitchen wall told her that if she did want to keep her day job she would have to move very fast. She was already dressed so it didn't take long to fill her travel mug with coffee and run out the door. Luckily for her the Ministry wasn't too far from her flat and she managed to make it there on time.

Even though her job was not at all glamorous and was actually pretty dangerous, Hermione enjoyed it. Her official title was Head of Potions Testing and Improvement at the Ministry of Magic. Basically she tested potions that other witches and wizards had invented to see if they worked properly. If the potions didn't work right she suggested to them what they could change to make them work. Potions was the last subject that she would have ever thought of having a career in while she was in her first five years of school. After Professor Snape had begun teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and had then been killed she had found that she actually enjoyed Potion and that she was quite good at it.

Her dream job was to become an author and educate the people of the Wizarding World, but this was a pretty good job to have until she was able to that. It paid well too because of the high chance of explosions while on the job. She smiled at the thought, she was quite proud that neither she nor any of the other workers had had an explosion in nearly a month. She intended to keep it that way. Poor Edgar had just managed to get his eyebrows to grow back after a mishap with a hair strengthening potion gone wrong about four months ago.

Hermione was excited about the work that she would be doing this week. Someone had finally begun to sort through Severus Snape's file system a few months ago. Today was the day that she was going to have access to the Potion Master's works in progress. Snape had invented a fair amount of potions in his day, but of course he had never bragged about any of it. The man had been a genius and Hermione was honoured to be one of the ones who would be looking at his personal notes.

As she walked into the dimly lit laboratory she could see many of her workers in and already hard at work. She could see the tightly bound package on her desk in the far corner, but she knew that she had to make her usual rounds before she would be able to start on her own work.

She started by walking over to Hilarie's desk. Hilarie was a tiny woman whose glasses took of most of her face. Her hair was always falling out of the messy ponytail that she wore it in and hanging in her face. The sight of it made Hermione cringe, she really didn't need anyone catching their head on fire.

Hilarie had been working relentlessly on the same potion for almost a month. From what Hermione could see, she wasn't making any progress. She knew that she should take the burden from her and assign it to someone else, but she wanted to give the shy woman a chance. It was a memory potion that could be given in different strengths to cause a person to lose specific memories. Hermione already knew what needed to be done to it to fix it, but she also knew that Hilarie would be able to figure it out eventually.

"Making any progress?" Hermione asked

"Oh!" Hilarie was so startled the she dropped the mouse that she was holding. "I think so, the mice finally seem to be responding properly."

"Well, good work then," Hermione said eager to get around to everyone and get started on her own work.

Next she came to Edgar's desk. The quality of his work had much improved since his hair accident and he was working on a complicated potion that was supposed to be able to extract the water out of just about anything. The idea was for travelers, rather than having to lug water around with them they could put a few drops of the potion onto something and clean drinking water would be drained out of it.

"How's it going Edgar?" Hermione asked, trying not to stare at his patchy eyebrows.

"Pretty good, I've managed to get water out of a lot of things," he said gesturing at a mushroom, a piece of wood and some grass. "Nothing that isn't alive yet though," he said pointing to the t-shirt and the button on the other side of the table.

"Well, good work Edgar, I'm sure you'll get it."

Hermione finished her rounds quickly. She was glad to see that just about everyone was making progress and that no one appeared to be anywhere near making something explode. She liked to let the workers figure things out themselves, as long as it wasn't putting the rest of the crew in danger.

Finally she was seated behind her own heaping desk. She had already had to replace her desk three times because it was not large enough to hold all of the paperwork and equipment that she needed. Now here it was, full again. She reached for the brown package on the top of the pile, pushing everything else aside. She used her wand to cut the twine and carefully opened the package. She knew that copies had been made of everything before these notes had been given to her, but she also didn't want to ruin any of the original work.

The first thing she did after extracting the notes was wave her wand at them to make her own copies that she could take home. Technically she wasn't supposed to do this without the owner's permission, but Professor Snape wasn't alive anymore and she hoped that he wouldn't mind her making copies of his notes to study later. She checked to make sure that none of the other crew members were watching and she shoved the notes into her bag, closing the zipper over top of them.

Just as Hermione was about to settle in for some quiet reading she heard a BANG from across the room. She quickly looked over at Skeet, a young man who had been working on a truthfulness potion and saw that he was covered in a green, luminous substance. With a sigh she put the notes aside and went over to try and help.

A few hours and three averted disasters later Hermione decided to go home. She wasn't going to get any work done in the lab anyway because she wanted to read through some of the notes before attempting to make something. She waved goodbye to Hilarie who was the only one still in the lab and started the short walk home.

On the way up her buildings front steps she started to get that distinct feeling that she was forgetting something. It was a nagging thought in the back of her head that she just couldn't put her finger on. She shook her head and told herself she was just frustrated that she had spent the whole afternoon in the lab and had not read a single word of Professor Snape's notes.

She slid into her apartment and dropped her keys onto the counter. She poured herself a cold glass of iced tea and went to sit down in her small, but cozy, living room. She had just settled in and was about to pull out the stack of paper when she distantly heard the phone ringing in the kitchen. Cursing under her breath she got up and ran for it. She caught in on the very last ring.

"Hello?" she said in an impatient voice.

"Hermione?" Harry's voice asked through the speaker. "Was I interrupting something?"

"Oh no Harry, I've just had a long day and was about to sit down and do some reading. What's up?" Hermione said, letting out a breath of air.

"Oh…Well, I was just wondering if you were going to meet us at the Weasley's or if you were going to go straight to the school…" Harry's voice trailed off.

"What are you…" Suddenly Hermione remember what she had forgotten. How stupid of her! She had just been thinking about this morning how it been about a year since she graduated and started writing her book. It hadn't been about a year! It had been exactly a year and she was due to be at Ginny's graduation ceremony in an hour.

"Hermione, are you still there?"

"Of course Harry, I'll meet you at Hogwarts, six-o-clock right?" she asked him.

"Yeah, are you sure you're alright Hermione?"

"I'm fine Harry, I'll see you in an hour," she said, hanging up her phone.

Hermione gave the thick stack of papers one last longing look before rushing into her bedroom to get changed. Luckily for her, her bedroom was very organized and she did not own many clothes. It didn't take long for her to get ready.

An hour later she was standing on the grounds outside of Hogwarts feeling slightly flustered. Hermione was, by nature, a very organized and punctual person and she had found herself rushing to make it places on time all day. First it was that editor distracting her this morning and then it was Snape's notes.

She scanned the group of people standing outside of the Hogwarts gates and found Harry quickly. It was easy to spot him when he was surrounded by a sea of red hair. She could see Charlie, George and Angelina, Percy and Audrey (who was looking very pregnant) and Ron. She noticed that Bill and Fleur weren't there and remembered that the two had just had a baby the month before.

She smiled and waved at them before making her way over to where they were all standing. As soon as Mrs. Weasley saw her, her face broke into a smile. Hermione had to hide her grimace. Molly was the only Weasley who didn't seem to be able to accept the fact that Hermione and Ron would never again be a couple. The two of them had had some fun while they were in school, but they both realized pretty quick that they could never be more than just friends.

"Hey Hermione, glad you could make it," Harry said with a sly grin.

"I wouldn't miss it," she said. She gave him a smile back even though she had almost missed it.

"It's almost time kids!" Mrs. Weasley said, even though all of them were now adults. "We should get a move on!"

With Molly and Arthur leading the way, the group of them stepped onto the grounds of Hogwarts. Although Hermione had spent the last year researching this place, she had not once returned to it. She didn't know what she had been expected but she was surprised to find that it looked exactly the same. It seemed as if something should have changed within the year following the defeat of Voldemort.

She walked quietly beside Harry. Although he was still dating Ginny, she knew that he had not been back to the school either. She wondered if everything looked the same to him. Suddenly she heard a breath catch in Harry's throat and she followed his gaze over towards the lake. On the far side from where they were standing she could see the white, stone tomb that she knew held Dumbledore's body.

"Blimey, it all looks just the same," Ron said, breaking the silence.

"What were you expecting dear?" Mrs. Weasley said.

"I don't know…It just seems like something should be different," Ron said.

The group fell back into silence. Hermione turned and caught Ron's eye, they shared a smile. She was glad that she was not alone in her feelings. She knew that if anyone would understand how she felt it would be Harry and Ron.

Once inside the Great Hall, Mrs. Weasley bustled around to try and find seats for them all together. After a while and a few unsuccessful attempts at getting people to move, she realized that this wasn't going to be possible. Hermione found herself sitting alone with Ron and Harry.

"How have you two been?" she asked once they were sitting. "How's the auror training going?"

"It's bloody tiring," Ron said.

"It's worth it though," Harry said, giving him a look. "In a few more months we'll be ready to write our exams and be allowed out in the field."

"Yeah, you know, even with You-Know…Voldemort gone, the world still needs some protection," Ron said.

After he said this a heavy silence hung over them until the ceremony started. It was still strange to sit in the Great Hall without Dumbledore at the front, even after two years of him not being there. Professor McGonagall made a short speech before beginning to call out the names of the graduating students.

"Colin Creevey! Congratulations!" The short brown-haired boy hurried across the front of the Hall to receive his diploma with a wide grin splitting his face.

In between Tyler Harper and Luna Lovegood Hermione noticed that there was something different in the school. There were portraits at the front of the school that hadn't been there before. She saw Dumbledore's twinkling eyes looking down at her as well as Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Tonks, Cedric Diggory, Fred Weasley and the many others that had given their lives during the battle against Voldemort.

"Zacharias Smith! Graduating with honours in Potions," McGonagall called as Hermione focused on the portrait of Professor Snape high above her on the wall. If she didn't know any better she would have said that he was staring at her.

"Ginny Weasley," the headmistress called finally. "Graduating with honours in Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts." Hermione could hear all of the Weasleys spread throughout the Hall erupt into cheers.

Finally after what Hermione thought was a very confusing speech from Luna Lovegood, the valedictorian, the ceremony was over. As much as Hermione loved Ginny and wanted to support her, she currently wanted nothing more than to go home and read those notes. She felt Ron tugging on her sleeve and she rose from her seat to go and see Ginny.

The petite redhead was beaming at them as they walked over to her. Harry took Ginny in his arms and kissed her, his pride showing on his face. Ginny blushed as she noticed the whole family standing around her. Hermione turned to tell her congratulations on graduating with honours but was quickly interrupted.

"Are you ready to go out to dinner Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"Dinner? Tonight?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, I found a really nice man that I think you will find very interesting," Ginny said with a sly smile.

Ever since Hermione and Ron had broken up, Ginny had been trying to set her up. For some reason the younger girl didn't like the idea of Hermione being alone and felt the need to force all of these handsome and intelligent men on Hermione. Hermione didn't know where Ginny was finding all of these men, but so far even their intelligence and good looks had left something to be desired.

"Does it have to be tonight Ginny? I was really just wanting to-"

"You are not going home to read alone in your flat Hermione! Biff is really a gentleman and he was looking forward to going out with you tonight!"

"Biff? Ginny, please tell me that this man's name is not Biff."

"Oh come on Hermione, you can't judge a man by his name!" Ginny said, tugging on her best friend's arm.

"I most certainly can judge a man by his name!" Hermione said to herself and she stomped into her flat three hours later. "What kind of stupid name is Biff anyway?" Biff had turned out to be a very muscular man with more teeth than brains. Clearly Ginny had been trying to go more for looks than intelligence with this one.

Biff had been utterly boring and Hermione had found herself glaring across the table at Ginny more often than not throughout the evening while Harry tried not to laugh into his potatoes. At least she hadn't had to think too hard. Biff's favourite topic of conversation was clearly Biff so all Hermione had had to do was smile and nod in all of the appropriate places and, like a puppy, Biff had been happy.

Now after what felt like three days, rather than three hours, Hermione was finally home and would be able to read those notes. She was about to sit down when she decided that she wasn't going to allow herself anymore distractions. She was on her way into the kitchen to unplug the phone when it started ringing.

"Oh, damn it all to Hell! I bloody well give up!"

AN: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, the next one should be up sometime in the next few days. I promise it will get more interesting.

Please review to let me know what you think of it so far!