A/n: As some of you may already know I took this story over for Buddyboy98. The first five chapters were written by him and I hope that you guys like my writing style and that it fits into the story.

Chapter Two

Fate had its way of dumping on Harry from time to time in the past this however was a new low, in his first three hours back in the country he had 'bumped' into the one person he wanted to avoid at all cost. 'Merlin', he thought careful not to let it escape his lips 'she's just gotten more beautiful' he was utterly speechless. No longer was her hair bushy, in fact it was straighter then his. Her chocolate eye still shone with a specific brightness that only could come from her. Her cheek fired with a fiery red as she felt his eyes going down her body slowly. Harry extended his arms; with a grunt from her lower stomach she gladly accepted it. He wiped the sweat from her forehead, and handed the leather bound book back to her. He grinned cheekily and scratched the back of his head.

"H-Hi 'Mione," He smiled "It's funny running into you here isn't it?"

She shook her head in a sort of I cannot believe it way, suddenly the wind of was knocked out of him by her arms being thrown around his, the thought of Hermione learning this bear hug from Ms. Weasley made him laugh before reality set it. He had managed to free his arms from her grip and warp them tightly around her upper back and pull her closer to him. He felt saddened as his shirt began to get wet; her sobs only made him want to take all of her grief away. He pulled her closer and patted her back tenderly.

The half smirk that she had invented graced her lips "H-Harry, am I having a dream?"

He yelped as she pinched his neck "Hermione, it's so good to see you again"

"The feeling is mutual; I heard you're going to take up Headmastery of Hogwarts?" She said placing her hands on her hips in looking at him in her typical Hermione Granger way.

He shrugged "I dunno, they told me they wanted to offer it to me and they wanted me to come out here and talk so, that's why I'm here"

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The Minister had just concluded a meeting from all the department and sub-department heads. Minister Shacklebolt and Professor McGonagall had come to a joint conclusion that Harry was the best person for that job and they wanted to make an announcement to the Department Heads. Ron could not be more furious, he knew Harry and he also knew that Harry would never turn down a job that would finally cement his name into the annals of time.

He stormed out of the massive conference room pushing people out of his way as he got onto the elevator. Trouble was on the horizon, he was adamant that Hermione had read the edition on the Daily Prophet and he knew she would be obsessed with him until Harry would show up on their front door step.

The Christmas Ball was a tradition upon all Ministry officials and he was just happy that he could surprise Hermione with that. Every year when he would screw up badly Christmas came around, and every year he would hand her the invitation himself. It was his 'Get out of jail free card' and Harry would not be invited.

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She had forgotten all about dinner with the Weasleys, they had decided to have a Butterbeer and time had escaped her. For the first time in awhile she felt whole, she felt compete, an emotion Ronald had never given her.

"Well, after I finished my term as undersecretary to the Minister, he promoted me to Head of Magical Law Enforcement," He said taking a sip of the drink "Minister Bates, is horrible at his job, I sometimes thought as Head of Law enforcement I ran the government better when the Minister then he was"

"You're life seemed to get a lot better when you left this place," Her giggle faded away as she looked at him blandly and sighed "I sometimes think I made the wrong choice marrying Ronald"

It took all of his strength to keep from smiling "Why?"

She buried her head in her face "Harry I'm going to be honest with you I hate my marriage, I couldn't be more miserable then I have ever been in my entire life, he never let me have the career I wanted, he berates me constantly and we never even had the kids I always wanted"

He felt guilty for being happy about the last statement, but he couldn't help chuckling inside "You never had kids?"

"No" She said sighing "He told me, he wanted to get his career started up before we decided to start a family and when he finally does, he had no interest in me"

"That's crap" He said under his breath in anger for his ex-best-friend

She looked up "What was that?"

"Nothing"

He looked and her as she looked down at her watch, she began to panic and she got up from the table and ran over to door. She grabbed her coat and headed towards the fire-place.

"Harry, I'm so sorry, but I'm late for dinner with the Weasleys and Ron doesn't enjoy it when I'm late" She said grabbing a handful of floo-powder.

"W-Wait, Hermione do you think they would mind if I came along with you?"

She nodded her head and shrugged "Why not?"