Sequel to Forgive Me

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Seven Years Later

Hermione Granger was on top of the world. She had just been offered the promotion to Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Department. As she walked down Diagon Alley she felt as though she was floating on cloud nine and nothing would bring her down. She had been working up to this for the past seven years. Today, she had a meeting with the current Head of Department - who was retiring - and he offered Hermione the position. She accepted instantly, and had been unable to wipe the smile off of her face ever since.

After the Battle of Hogwarts Hermione had thrown herself into helping rebuild the Wizarding World. Although Voldemort was dead and the Death Eaters had been captured and put into Azkaban, the entire population of Wizards were still reeling from Voldemort's dark reign. Most families had lost at least one member if not more, and the devastation Voldemort caused was shown everywhere: Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, Hogsmead and the Ministry.

Together, she, Harry and Ron joined the Magical Law Enforcement Department with determination to improve the situation in the Wizarding World. Harry and Ron joined the Auror Office and she joined the Magical Law Enforcement Squad. They made an agreement that they had come this far to defeat Voldemort and that if everyone needed their help to rebuild their own lives then they would do it.

In the first two years after the fall of Voldemort she became a workaholic. It was the only thing she could do to distract herself from the intense ache that she felt in her heart. In her spare time she did volunteer work at an Orphanage that was set up for children who had lost their parents and families in the war. She busied herself so that she didn't have time to think about him or the devastation the war had caused to people who she loved. The death toll was high, and among ones who were lost, were Fred, Tonks and Remus. It was all too painful to think about.

That was until she met Ryan Bobbin. He was like a breath of fresh air in her terribly miserable life. They met at a Quidditch Awards Ceremony that Ginny had dragged her to, and to Hermione's surprise they hit it off right away. Since Draco Malfoy flooed out of her life two years prior, she barely thought about men. Since she couldn't bear to hurt that way again, Hermoine protected her heart by not getting involved with the male species. However, she found that it was different with Ryan; they talked the whole evening and agreed to meet up the next weekend.

Ginny was over the moon that Hermione was finally getting on with her life and dating again, she always fussed over Hermione's non-existent love life insisting that it wasn't healthy. Time and time again Ginny tried to set her up on dates, but Hermione would always pull out at the last minute making excuses as to why she couldn't make it.

Hermione was surprised that she wasn't nervous at all before her date with Ryan, considering she had never been on a date before in her life, but she had been so comfortable with him the previous time they met she was excited to see him again. The date had gone perfectly as did the many after that and before she knew it they were officially a couple.

She loved the fact that he made her laugh and smile constantly. She felt that in the two years previous to meeting him, all the happiness seemed to have been drained out of her. But when Ryan was around, she felt more like herself again - the Hermione Granger that existed before the war happened.

Hermione slowly spent less time at the office doing other people's jobs and spent her free time at home with Ryan or the Weasleys. She suddenly realised how she had been neglecting the people that loved her dearly and were worried about her and decided to spend her time with them rather than spending every waking minute in her office.

Five years on, and Hermione and Ryan were still content with each other. It was the ideal life that she had always dreamed of and she couldn't imagine for a second being without Ryan. She had the perfect friends and family, perfect home, perfect boyfriend and now the perfect career. Everything had finally fallen into place.

Hermione entered the Leaky Cauldron and scanned the pub until she saw Ginny, Luna and Neville's wife, Hannah Abbott-Longbottom, all who she was meeting for lunch. She was excited to tell them her news, she was sure she would burst if she didn't tell somebody soon. She rushed over to the table where they were sitting waiting for her. They all knew that Hermione had a meeting this morning and they sat patiently waiting for Hermione to tell them her news.

'I got made Head of Department!' Hermione exclaimed loudly, finally letting out her joy. The three women squealed in delight for Hermione and praised her for her achievement.

'A bottle of champagne to celebrate I think!' Hannah announced, and indicated to one of the bar staff to bring a bottle over. One of the advantages of having a friend who is landlady of a pub was the allowance of a lot of free alcohol. Hermione tried to protest that it wasn't necessary, but Hannah wouldn't hear of it. Hermione agreed to a glass or two, but only because Mr Williamson, the previous Head of Magical Law Enforcement, had given her the rest of the day off to celebrate after her meeting had finished.

'I'm afraid I'll just be drinking pumpkin juice for the next nine months ladies.' Luna said in her usual airy manner. The squeals came again from the table as they all begun bombarding Luna with questions about her pregnancy. 'Hermione I'm terribly sorry for stealing your thunder like this.' But, Hermione wasn't at all bothered and instead grinned at Luna.

'Luna don't be ridiculous! This just gives us more reason to celebrate, I couldn't be happier for you!' Hermione reassured kindly.

Hermione almost wanted to cry with happiness for her friend. For almost two years Luna had been trying for a baby, with no success until now. She had married Rolf Scamander five years after the final battle and the two of them were perfect for each other. They matched each other's personality in every way possible and it was when Hermione watched the two of them together that she often believed in soul mates.

Luna confided in the three women after the wedding that they wanted to start a family immediately; however, the couple were left very frustrated after months and months of trying with no results. Hermione had come to think of these three women as her best friends over the past few years and it pleased her to see that Luna's dreams of a family were finally coming true.

Hannah passed out glasses of champagne for herself, Hermione and Ginny while grinning from ear to ear when giving Luna a glass of pumpkin juice. They made a toast to celebrate both Hermione's and Luna's news and soon began indulging in their weekly gossip involving the residents of the Wizarding Community.

However, the topic soon branched off into the world of parenthood, a subject which Hermione knew nothing about. She often felt left out when Ginny and Hannah started talking about their own children, but if Luna was there it wouldn't be as bad because Luna wasn't a mother either. But now Luna was pregnant Hermione realised that she would be the only one without any children and this topic of conversation was bound to occur even more.

She didn't resent any of them for having children, God knows she loves them all dearly and she was positive she would love Luna's baby just as much. Harry and Ginny's son James Sirius Potter, who was proving to be handful and living up to Sirius's name, is three now, and Neville and Hannah have Alice Elizabeth Longbottom who is four. Hermione was even James's God-Mother and she spoiled him and Alice rotten.

Children had always been a touchy subject for Hermione, she did want children, she always had. But, the actual thought of having children scared her death; she didn't think she could cope with having to be completely responsible for another person, not yet anyway. Her own life had been such a mess for so long that Hermione always wondered if she would ever be able to handle being a mum. She never voiced her fears and concerns to anyone, feeling that admitting it out loud seemed to make it that much worse.

Whenever Ryan mentioned getting married or having children she would always tell him that she wasn't ready yet. He had been talking about it for the past two years and Hermione was sick of him constantly nagging her about it. It was the main thing they argued about, and Ryan just couldn't seem to understand why she wasn't ready yet. If it was up to him they would get married and start a family tomorrow. But for Hermione, there was always something holding her back.

Ryan had even proposed last Christmas in front of the whole Weasley/Potter family at The Burrow in the hope that it would convince Hermione to say yes. But, stubborn as ever, Hermione stuck by her word that she wasn't ready and turned him down on the spot. Their relationship was strained after that for a few months until slowly things started going back to normal. She did love Ryan, she knew that much and she knew that she wanted to be with him. But, a small part of her heart still ached for the boy that walked out of her life all those years ago. A boy that she could never have.