A.N Hey guys thanks for all the replies, it's great to see people are enjoying this. I know you've all asked me to update quicker, but I honestly can't. I work far too much to update every second day or even every week. You'll just have to be patient I'm afraid.

Quick shout out to HotWolfGirl: You're the best, you always seem to comment and give me a good review. Thanks so much.

I'm dedicating this chapter to my wonderful sister, Amber-Brighteyes as a graduation present for her. Hope you like it.

Chapter 4: Dinner

Dinner at the Burrow was always a slightly shocking affair. With seven large men and six bustling woman the house was chaotic at best. The one thing that stuck in Hermione's mind the most however, was that everyone seemed to have a partner. Indeed, this became even more apparent when she saw the carefully laid out seating arrangement. Arthur was at the head of the table, with Molly on his left and Bill on his right. Fleur was next to Bill and Opal was next to her, with Ron glued to her side. Harry and Ginny shared the space at the end of the table, happily chatting to each other and hardly paying attention to anyone else. Angelina was next to Molly with the twins at her other side and Hermione found herself wedged in-between Fred and Charlie, the only two single men in the room.

She had to question Molly's sanity at that point. After all, who would want to place Fred and George anywhere near Charlie at a family dinner? The three were more likely to cause more damage together than any of the others. And just why was she stuck in the middle? She could have easily sat next to Ron and Harry, it would have evened up the numbers on the sides of the table as well. But apparently that wasn't what Mrs Weasley wanted.

Hermione offered Opal a smile, finding herself directly across from the girl, before slipping down in her seat slightly. As stupid as it was, she felt slightly targeted. So what if she didn't have a boyfriend right now? She was far too busy to worry about that. Besides, she was only nineteen, she had plenty of time to find a guy and settle down, after she had done what she wanted with her life. Yet even with those thoughts in mind she couldn't help but brood as dinner went on. Not even the constant joking of Fred and George could get a reaction from her and she hardly noticed when Harry and Ginny started giving her worried looks from down the table. Soon the whole family had picked up on her reserved silence but no one seemed to know what to do about it. The atmosphere grew more and more uncertain as the family tried their best to cheer Hermione up without making it to obvious. Finally, to everyone's surprise, it was Ron who broke threw her silence and got the reaction everyone was looking for.

A slight lull in the conversation had occurred well people had tried to think of something to say that would interest Hermione. All heads turned to Ron when he suddenly cleared his throat and swallowed the food that he had been chewing.

"So, Hermione." He started casually, being the only person in the room who had not picked up on her reserved manner. "You haven't told us very much about your work."

Hermione's eyes rose from her food, where they had rested for the last few minutes and met Ron's in surprise.

"Oh." She said softly, gathering her thoughts as she wondered what had brought on his interest. "Well I don't want to bore you with all the details. I'm sure you won't find them nearly so fascinating as I do."

"Bull." Ron said with a snort. "I'm sure we are all dying to hear about it."

"Oh well I wouldn't know where to start." She glanced around the table at the suddenly interested looks that were now directed at her. "Maybe Charlie would like to tell a story?"

"Na." Ron waved off her comment with his hand. "We don't want to hear from Charlie, he'll only tell us about the dragons." This produced a wave of laughter that Charlie joined, knowing it was true. "Just tell us about the last case you were working on."

"Well ok." Hermione laid her knife and fork down gently and cleared her throat slightly. "Well have you ever heard of a Nundu?" She questioned.

"Sure." Harry answered quickly, interested to know this story. "But aren't they very dangerous, they aren't exactly the type of creature I thought you would have to help."

"Oh no." Hermione grinned easily. "They aren't. But you see a new magical creature has been discovered. It's very similar to a Nundu, only not so violent and far more peaceful, they are actually very sweet animals."

Images of her time with the large, catlike creatures flashed across her mind and she smiled softly, missing the sweet animals already.

"They look a lot like Nundu's which are like giant leopard, only they are slightly smaller and have a black coat. So they are more like a panther." Hermione explained quickly. "Now I'm sure you've all heard of New Zealand. It's a small country near the bottom of the world. It's actually very nice, I loved it there."

Fred grinned from her side and nodded easily. "So that's why you're so tanned. You've been having a nice summer well we suffer through winter."

"Exactly." Hermione giggled. "Anyway, there's been rumours in New Zealand, for as long as anyone can remember, about a giant Panther prowling the South Island. It's been spotted by a number of muggles over the years but most didn't believe them, it's become something of an Urban Myth."

"Well that makes sense." Ginny said in contemplation. "After all, where would a giant Panther hide in such a small country?"

"Well that was the debate." Hermione agreed. "Not only that but the sightings span more than two hundred years, no normal panther could live that long. So of course, there was now two debates, was there a Panther or not and if there was, how was it still alive?"

"Enter a New Zealand witch." Hermione grinned at the faces around the table, interest showing on every one. "She had, of course, heard the stories and had always been quiet interested in them, so after she finished her schooling she went down to the south Island and went on a hunt to find the rumoured Panther. Many had searched for it, but she was fairly sure no-one of magical birth ever had. She decided this gave her the upper hand. Which it did. It took her almost a year, but she finally tracked down the Panther to its home, only to watch as it disappeared before her eyes. Now she had proof of two things, one there was a panther, and maybe even more than one. And two, it was no ordinary animal. So that's when she called us."

"Naturally." Bill said with an interested nod. "So where did you go from there."

"Well our job is to find, observe and report back on the condition and habitat of the magical creatures in question and go from there." Hermione grinned. "It's nowhere near as easy as it sounds."

"I can imagine." Bill agreed.

"We did our best." Hermione shrugged. "Luckily the witch who had discovered them was easy to work with. She lead us straight to them, having set up a little camp just outside of their territory, she took me in on a quick stealth mission so I could see exactly where the creature had disappeared. As we watched, from under an invisibility cloak, a large Panther just appeared, exactly where Amelia had said it had disappeared. To say we were surprised was an understatement."

A chuckle sounded from Charlie and all attention turned to him. "Sorry." He grinned. "It's just so interesting to hear her side of the story again."

"Anyway." Hermione rolled her eyes and grinned. "I was suitably shocked and suddenly extremely worried. The creature now standing not two feet from us bore an extreme resemblance to the violent, deadly and overly territorial Nundu."

Gasps echoed around the room and Hermione nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand clamped tightly onto her leg, just above her knee. She patted the hand comfortingly, giving Fred a calm smile and his hand relaxed slightly, she kept her hand over his, reassuring him the story was not going to have a bad ending, after all she was still alive.

"But I don't understand." Fleur spoke up. "Why is zis such a bad thing? You were under ze invisibility cloak. It could not see you, could it?"

"No." Hermione agreed. "It couldn't. But you forget, we were not dealing with a humanoid, we were in front of a large cat. It didn't need to see us, it could smell us."

Eyes widened and people leaned forward in their seats, eager to hear the next part of her tale.

"One swipe was all it took." Hermione stated easily. "In a second it had the cloak off us and had it resting under one large paw. Now I was faced with a problem. I was here to help these animals, but I also needed to protect the girl, Amelia. With her behind me I started to slowly back up, keeping my wand and my eyes trained on the panther like creature. Unfortunately, in the time it had taken for me to make a move, another panther had circled around behind us. We were trapped."

"So there was more than one. " Bill mused quietly. "Well your still alive so I'm guessing things didn't go to badly from here on out. What happened?"

"Your quiet right." Hermione agreed, rubbing her thumb over Fred's hand which was still clamped tightly to her leg, the pressure having increased after this new turn in the story. "Things didn't go as I was expecting. I was standing there, wand held at the ready and completely unsure how to act next when another Panther appeared. Only this one had a baby in its mouth, well a cub I should say. She had a cub, held by the scruff of its neck. As we watched, in complete confusion, this panther moved forward and placed the cub at my feet before nudging my wand with her nose."

Incredulous faces stared at her from around the table.

"You're kidding." Harry deadpanned.

"No joke." Hermione shock her head. "The cub was sick, very sick. Even Amelia could see that. We called in the rest of our team, asking that they bring the healer with them. And that is how we first made contact with the Pandu's New Zealand's own native, magical creature."

"So where did you go from there?" Opal questioned hesitantly. "Why was the cub sick, did you cure it?"

"The cub had a disease, something I have never seen before, our medi-wizards worked night and day to find a cure, and thankfully they did. Well they were doing that, we were observing the Pandu's and their habitat. One thing was easily clear. There were a lot of Pandu's and they didn't have enough space for them all to live. We offered to help and they accepted gratefully. All of their sick were taken for treatment and well that was happening we built them a new home. A large area of land was sectioned off for them to live in and we dug them out a den, added a few things to help and left them to it. Of course there were lots of rules to figure out, after all they had been preying on farms animals for hundreds of years, we couldn't have them doing that. But there was a solution for that."

"What was the solution?" Ron questioned eagerly, eyes wide. "Don't tell me they said they would feed them criminals from the jails or something!"

"Ron! That's terrible." Hermione chided with a laugh. "No that's not the solution. You see, Nundu's are known for their breath which is toxic and filled with disease, it can kill and destroy anything it touches. Well it turns out that Pandu's breath has special qualities too, only far more peaceful qualities. Their breath will help crops grow, will cure a cold and will help with small injuries or sicknesses. It's really very handy. So they set up a farm. The Pandu's will help to grow and gather crops and the Wizards who help maintain their new home will sell the crops and buy them farm animals to eat."

"That's great!" Ron cheered easily. "So all was right in the end."

"That's amazing Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. "Everyone always said you would make a difference in the world, and look at you now, saving creatures from sickness and extinction. You never cease to amaze me."

Hermione waved off his praise, blushing slightly. But she could not stop the curiosity everyone now felt about her and Charlie's job. The rest of the night was filled with stories, being told by both her and Charlie about many different jobs they had done and the magical creatures they had met along the way.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hermione collapsed into a chair almost immediately after she had apperated into Fred and George's kitchen. Charlie, Angelina and the twins joined her at the table, all slumping forward and yawning.

"Well." Fred yawned again. "That was exciting."

"It's the burrow." Charlie commented tiredly. "It's always exciting."

"Ear ear." George said with a lopsided grin.

Hermione rolled her eyes and lazily swatted at his arm. "You're terrible."

"You don't know the half of it." Angelina agreed, covering her yawn with her hand.

This comment drew groans from the rest of the group and George smirked easily before standing and sweeping his girlfriend into his arms.

"Come my, love." He announced dramatically. "I feel we are not wanted here, let us retire to our quarters."

He trooped off down the hall, Angelina in his arms and Hermione grinned at their retreating backs. They seemed to really be in love, and for that she was happy. George had been very depressed since the war, it was nice to see him smile and joke again.

"Do I have a choice?" She heard Angelina's reply float down the hall.

Chuckles echoed around the kitchen and they shook their heads as they heard the door close. Fred leaned back in his seat, eyes closed and a soft smile on his face. He seemed genuinely pleased for his brother and his ex-girlfriend and Hermione was glad to see that he held no resentment for the two and their relationship. No more was said for a while as the three sat there, wrapped up in their own thoughts.

"Tonight was fun." Charlie said slowly, contemplatively. "It's been so long since I spent time at home."

Fred popped one eye open. "You can say that again. Mum was ecstatic when she heard you two were finally coming home to visit."

Guilt flashed through Hermione and a quick glance at Charlie showed her he felt the same.

"We should have visited long before now." Hermione admitted, eyeing the table so she wouldn't have to see the accusation in Fred's eyes.

"No, you shouldn't."

Hermione's head jerked up in surprise and her startled brown eyes met Fred's deep, blue-green ones.

"What?"

"You couldn't have come back earlier. It would have been bad for you and bad for Ron. You left and stayed away until you knew both you and Ron could deal with things maturely. We missed you, but we all knew it was better this way."

"Thanks Fred." Hermione reached forward to pat his hand. "I'm glad you think so."

A slight pause followed their conversation and then Hermione stood once again. "Well I think I will also retire. I'm rather tired."

Charlie followed her lead, standing as well. "I think we all could use some rest."

They quickly made their way to their own rooms, quiet good nights exchanged. Hermione was asleep as soon as she her head hit the pillow.

XXXXXXXXX

Hermione floated easily wrapped in the feeling of peacefulness that sleep always gave her. Her eyes remained closed as she basked in the warmth and comfort of her unconscious state, it was nice to be content. Awareness flooded her mind suddenly. If she was asleep she could not be thinking, surely, which means she must be dreaming. If she was dreaming then there must be something to see. Her eyes opened slowly, to content with her comfortable position to do anything more. A soft light met her eyes and she was surprised to find herself floating through a cloud like substance, bathed in a golden light.

'Well this is nice.' She thought to herself. 'It's not often I have such pleasant dreams.'

Slowly the golden lights focus shifted, instead of coming from all around her it seemed to centre on a certain point. She followed its path and was surprised to see a figure, walking towards her, the cloudy substance swirling around him.

'Who could that be?' She mused absently. 'I wonder what they want.'

The figure moved closer and she smiled in greeting upon recognising Charlie. She drifted forward, arms held out to embrace him. His arms came up and clasped onto her shoulders, holding her at arm's length. Something was different about him, Hermione pondered, his looks had changed somehow. She studied him carefully, taking detail of his features. His smile was the same, open and friendly, his eyes were the same, a deep blue that always amazed her. So what was different? Her eyes travelled down his face to his neck and shoulders. Muscle bound and broad, his chest was something to be admired and she took a few minutes to do just that. Her eyes travelled lower and she found the thing that had stumped her. He wore no clothes. She gasped in shock and tried to pull back from him but he held her fast.

"Charlie!" She cried, "Let me go! And put some clothes on!"

He chuckled easily, holding her struggling body and winked at her. "What's wrong Mi? Don't you like what you see?"

"That's not the point!" She cried back, pushing him away.

"What is the point?"He asked and she was surprised to see a sad look crossed his face.

"Charlie?" She questioned.

"Mi." He whispered, voice fading as he started to disappear before her eyes. "I-"

But he was gone and Hermione was grasping at thin air.

"Charlie!" She yelled. "Wait come back! I'm sorry!"

"Hermione?" A voice asked from behind her and she spun quickly.

"Fred?" She asked in confusion.

"I'm George." He answered automatically and she had to grin slightly. "What's wrong? Why were you yelling for Charlie?"

"He left." She answered, slightly annoyed.

"Of course he did." Fred answered.

"What do you mean?" She frowned in confusion.

"He went back to Romania. Where he belongs."

"What? Why?" Hermione felt a surprising sadness at this news. "But what about me?"

"I'm here." Fred answered with a grin, he moved forward to hug her and she squeezed back, taking comfort in his presence.

"I'm glad you are." She answered but gasped in surprise as he too started to disappear. "Wait, Fred! Where are you going? Don't leave me."

"Sorry, Hermione." Fred smiled sadly. "I really did-"

But he was gone and the end of his sentence was lost. Hermione bowed her head in sadness, no longer feeling comfort from this softly lit place. She was alone.

"Hermione." Ron drifted before her, eyes sad.

"Ron!"

"You left me, Hermione." Ron continued. "You left."

He disappeared too and Harry took his place, arm held out.

"I needed you, Hermione." He accused, "But you weren't here."

"Harry wait!" She ran towards him. "Don't leave!"

But he was already gone.

Hermione awoke with a start, eyes wide and chest heaving with her ragged breathing. What was that all about? She threw off her covers, glancing quickly at her watch. 1:05. It was very early but she no longer felt tired. After all, it would have been the afternoon back in New Zealand. She grabbed her wand and crept quietly from her room, making her way down the passage to the kitchen. She needed a cup of tea, maybe that would help calm her. She raised her wand and let a small amount of light flood the kitchen. She made her cup of tea quietly, using magic instead of muggle technology as she usually would. A quiet thump from behind her warned her she had company and she spun, the light of her wand coming to rest on a surprised red-head.

"Hermione?" Came the whisper.

"Charlie?" She hissed back.

"What are you doing up?" The both accused softly.

Hermione giggled silently and she saw Charlie grin back.

"Couldn't sleep?" She asked.

"Not a bit."

"Tea?"

"Sure, sounds great."

A few minutes later they were sitting quietly at the kitchen table, hands clutched around cups of tea and a small magical fire sitting on the table giving off light and heat.

"So." Hermione spoke into the silence. "What were you going to do tomorrow?"

Charlie shrugged easily. "Bill wanted me to go visit him. It's been a long time since we had a good talk, it will be nice to catch up."

Hermione nodded slowly.

"What about you?"

Hermione smiled. "Harry asked me to join him tomorrow, I have no idea where, he says it's a surprise. "

"Sounds frightening."

She chuckled, "It sure does. Still Harry is pretty harmless."

There was a slight pause as they both considered her words. Had she really just called Harry Potter, killer of Voldamort, saviour of the Wizarding world and current Auror harmless? Charlie raised an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean." Hermione giggled, waving her hand.

"Sure." Charlie chuckled easily, shaking his head. "I know."

They finished their tea in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. They retreated back to bed soon after, both knowing they would need sleep to face the next day.

XXXXX

And that's all for now... Sorry it took so long to update. A lots been going on anyway, I hope you like it.