Over the past week, George hadn't been able to stop thinking about the witch, who had come to his shop. She was different to the girls he would normally go for, like Angelina, who were very outspoken. Kaycee was different, she seemed very unsure of herself, but she always seemed happy; which would be good for him. He always managed to bring himself back to reality, when he thought how he treated Angelina; he couldn't do that to another girl again.

Despite his good intentions he had would go have lapses and become slightly depressive every so often. He'd had almost two good weeks, but thinking about Kaycee made him seem like a bit of a failure and he'd begun drinking again. After a couple of hours he was now completely plastered, which lead him to his next decision. He took a piece of blank parchment and began writing a letter to Kaycee, asking her to go on a date with him. Once the letter was written he attached it to, his new owl, Harold.

"Right Harold, don't bugger this up; my whole life may depend on it." He said, drunkenly fumbling at the owl's leg; the owl hooted as George tugged on his leg. "Stop moving I can't get it on." The owl shook his head, as George finally managed to get the note attached to the leg. As the owl left through the open window George located another bottle of fire whiskey, in the kitchen. It seemed like only moment later, in reality it was an hour, but George had fallen asleep, when the owl returned with a reply.

He nearly fell over the coffee table and took the owl off his perch, as he rushed to the window to get the piece of parchment. George's grin widened when he saw the big yes, scrawled across the middle of the parchment. "I'm sure you'll regret this, but hopefully it will be too late by then." George had organised to meet her at the weekend, for dinner. With a drunken smile on his face, George decided to go to bed, as he had a meeting with his accountant the following afternoon.

It seemed in the week George stopped drinking, his body had forgotten how to cope with it and so had his brain. His brain felt like it was being thrown around the inside of his head and it took all his strength to make it down to the shop.

Over at the burrow Molly was tidying up the kitchen, which was a complete mess after the evening's dinner. She had invited some of the old Order of the Phoenix around and it had been a very fun night, for all. While she was putting the first few plates away, she heard Arthur's heavy steps coming down the stairs. She didn't even look up to see him entering the kitchen; things had been a bit strained between them, since their argument a week ago. They hadn't had an argument since then, but then again, they hadn't really spoken to each other since then. When the children were around, Arthur and Molly pretended that everything was ok, but it was getting too much for Molly.

"I'm heading down to the Ministry; there is some paperwork I need to get done before the meeting this weekend." Arthur said, as he put his jacket on.

"I thought you were supposed to have today off, because you are going in to work on Saturday." Molly still hadn't turned to face her husband.

"Yes, but I thought it would be best for me to get myself prepared."

"Arthur, do you really have to go in to the office? I wanted us to spend some time together, see if we can sort this thing out."

"I'm sorry Molly, but maybe we can do this some other time." Molly had finally turned around to see Arthur, inches away from leaving the house.

"Arthur if you walk through that door, I am filling for divorce and you will never see me again."

"Seriously Molly, I'm only going in to work to prepare for a meeting. We can spend some time together another time."

"When was the time we actually spent any time together? I mean, actually spent some time together, not just sitting listening to the wireless together. We haven't spoken to each other properly in a whole year. I have tried my hardest to keep this marriage together, but you have done nothing. The ball is in your court now; it is up to you to save our marriage, I am fed up of doing all the work." Molly took one last look at Arthur and turned around again. She knew he would go to work, but she was tired of fighting and just let him go.

Molly kept putting away pots and pans, until she heard the crack of Arthur apparating in to London. Once she was confident nobody could see her, she leaned on the kitchen counter and began to sob. She was always the strong one, she was always making sure the family had everything they needed and now she needed the same. Her resilience was ebbing away, but her pride won't let her ask for help.

As Arthur made his way to his office, he took a moment to think about what he was doing to his marriage. He knew he was making a mess of things, but every time he was at home he was reminded that one of his sons had been killed. He wanted to stay at home and spend time with his wife, but he still couldn't bare living in it, with all those memories.

He could forget about everything at work, where he would just focus on the meeting about muggle initiatives at the weekend. They were heading in to muggle London to find ways of integrating muggles, witches and wizards in to a more cohesive society. The war had opened up the eyes of muggles to magic; they were now trying to join the two communities together. The ministry felt if they worked together, there would be less fear of the different.

The following day Hermione was getting herself ready, for a meeting with Minerva t discuss how the reopening of Hogwarts would work. Also joining them would be the heads of the other houses, Draco Malfoy, Hannah Abbott and Michael Corner. She was so excited about becoming a teacher, a job she'd always dreamed of.

"I can't believe we are going to be living at Hogwarts again." Ron had sat up in the bed and was watching Hermione get ready, with a smile on his face.

"What are you laughing at?" Hermione spoke to him through the mirror.

"I'm not laughing, I'm smiling; I'm smiling at you getting ready for your dream job."

"I can't believe I'm actually going to be a teacher, I'm going to be able to tell them what to do." Hermione climbed on to the bed and snuggled up next to Ron.

"I don't think you needed to be a teacher to tell people what to do." Hermione hit Ron on the arm, but he just laughed and kissed her on the lips. "Do you think they'd mind if you were a little late?" Ron began to kiss her on the neck.

"I don't think Minerva would like me to arrive late, because I was fooling around with you."

"You're not fooling around; you're keeping spending time with your husband." Ron Laughed.

"Maybe after the baby's born, it's not long now." Hermione slowly pushed herself off the bed and on to her feet. "I'll be back in a couple of hours." With that Hermione apparated to the three broomsticks, where they would hold their meeting; it seemed right to meet there. She arrived a few feet away from the front door; Hermione looked around briefly, before walking in. Minerva and Hannah were already sat in a corner, talking fervently. Their conversation stopped and they both smiled at her, when she took a seat around the table.

"Hermione, so nice to see you." Hannah stood and hugged her. "When are you due?"

"About two weeks now, it's getting really close." Hermione rubbed her large belly. "I can't wait to get this baby out of me; my back and feet hurt so much." She edged herself down on to the chair.

"You won't be saying that in the first couple of months, until you get used to it." Minerva gave a wry smile. "You won't be uncomfortable anymore, but you will be physically exhausted."

"Thank you for lifting my spirits." Hermione laughed.

"You have children?" Hannah asked with a look of surprise on her face.

"Yes I have a son and a daughter, who are all grown up; one lives in Australia and the other in Germany. I also have a husband, but his job means I am only able to see him every few months."

"How come you never told us about them?" Hannah continued.

"I don't really like to talk about my private life; I think it should be just that, private." A door banging indicated the arrival of Draco and Michael. "Right, if we are all here then it must be time to begin this meeting."

The meeting went on for several hours, longer than anyone had expected; the group planned everything from moving the common rooms to how houses would be mixed in class. Minerva wanted to make sure the divide between houses was not like it had been previously. All houses would be mixed in class and the tables at the dinner table would be organised by years. Students would still go to the common rooms in the same way they had before and the house points system would also work the same. After all the points were discussed it was down to Minerva to individually invite previous and new students back to the school.

In the upstairs office of his shop George had finally succumbed to a meeting with his accountant, something he'd being trying to avoid for weeks. George knew the shop was in trouble, but he somehow felt if he wasn't actually told it officially, then it didn't exist. He'd been doing that sort of thing for a while so he decided he would have to get the issue sorted as soon as possible.

"George, I really don't know why you didn't call me in sooner."

"Oh please Simon, I really don't need a lecture from you; I know we are in trouble, I just want to know how big the trouble is. I know I've been a complete dick recently and I really need your help to get me out of the mess I've made."

"Ok no lectures, but I want your promise that you won't just go back in to your destructive behaviour. I don't want to put in all this effort for you to ruin it all." Simon raised his eyebrows at George, who was sat on the other side of the desk.

"So how bad is it?" George leaned back in to his chair, not really wanting to know the answer of the question he just asked.

"Very bad George, really bad," Simon handed over some papers he'd prepared. "You are now three months behind on the mortgage, for the shop, and the suppliers are asking to be paid too. I have had a look at the shop's bank account and you could pay around two months of supplies, but you would have no funds left in the account."

"How much more can I pay with my savings?" George put his hands in his head, not able to believe he'd put himself in this situation.

"You could probably pay off one month's mortgage, but your next month's is due next week. The mortgage company have said, if you don't pay the three months by the end of this one, then they will take the shop until you can."

"So can we prioritise paying the mortgage and work out how we will pay the suppliers afterwards?"

"Yes of course, we have enough if you add all the funds together you have enough for two months. We will need to figure out how to raise the funds quickly, we can only hold off the suppliers for so long."

"Right, we both have to come up with some fund raising ideas; and once we get the shop back on top, you are getting a pay rise." George gave Simon a hug, before heading down to the shop. He needed a steady day's trade to get him back towards financial stability.