Hey, yeah I know it has been awhile, but its here now, and I made it long too, so please read, and when you are done, please review! Thanks! Love!
When I woke up, it was as if waking from a dream. Mind you, I was waking up form a dream, two dreams to be exact. The first one I was ripping out Draco's platinum blond hair because he didn't put something away in the right spot. The second one, well the second one was deep. I was happy, perfectly content with my life. I had me bushy brown hair, now with grey streaks running through it, in a loose bun. I was sitting in a rocking chair on a deck, a cup of coffee in my hand watching grandchildren run around playing with their parents. I looked over to my right, and there was Draco, watching the children and laughing with them. He looked at me, he had laugh lines etched into his face, his hair line receding. I then looked over to my left, there was Draco as well, but he was not laughing. He was glaring at the happy sight in front of him, yelling at the children for running through the flower beds. One child tripped and fell, scrapping their knee and started crying. The Draco to my left just rolled his eyes and gulped down a glass of fire whiskey. The Draco to my right jumped up and rushed to the child, wand at the ready to heal the child and make a lollipop appear out of thin hair to sooth the child.
I woke up yelling at the Draco on the left, causing my cat to go flying off my bed. He landed and arched his back and hissed at me.
"Sorry Dumbledore." I sighed. He hopped back on my bed and curled back into a ball. I sighed again and stroked his white fur. He started purring. I continued to stroke his fur and thought about my dream. I sighed once more and looked at my clock. 6:15 am, well there was no way I was going to get back to sleep now. I got up, put on my house coat and slippers, and padded my way downstairs to my kitchen. I walked past the empty bed rooms, 5 empty bed rooms. All large and all furnished. I had three bathrooms two upstairs, one down stairs. I walked into the kitchen. The kitchen was my favourite room. It was huge! Huge gas range, lots of counter space. The cupboards were real wood, made from oak, lightly stained. There was an island in the middle, with three stools at one end and the sink at the other end. The faucet was brushed steel. The counters were light marble with lots of counter space. There was also a muggle dishwasher that I never used.
I almost always ate alone. If I was working late, I would pack a dinner and eat at my desk. Harry would often try and get me out of the office to eat with him and Ginny. I never had people over to eat.
I looked around my empty kitchen and started to daydream. I saw a happy family, a teenage daughter helping their younger brother with homework at the island, while another daughter, a middle child, was helping their father flip pancakes and cook bacon for breakfast.
I shook my head and cleared it of my daydream. I made myself a cup of coffee, and continued to walk around my house. I stopped in the doorway of my study with my personal library. I loved my library; it had all my school books, they were the most worn and beat up, repaired several times. The most used was 1000 magical herbs and fungi. I had them all alphabetized and I would go to Florish and Blotts every week to see what was new. I had nine bookshelves full lining the walls and one more that was half full. I loved all my books. Almost all the ones that had the author still alive were signed. All the books that were signed I had another copy for me to read. After the war, all the authors that were alive had sent me a new copy when the found out that I loved books. I sighed and took a drink from my coffee. I then turned and padded down the hallway to the sitting room. It had a muggle television that I had bought for myself so I could watch the local and world news and any movies that I might want to see at home. I had two couches and two armchairs. I never had them full, the only people that visited was Harry and Ginny. I would often curl in one of the chairs or stretch out on one of the couches and watch television or a movie with a cup of tea, many times falling asleep. I would wake up with the cup of tea falling out of my hands and spilling on the carpet or onto me. I would get up, dry myself or the floor with a wave of my wand and would make my way up to bed.
I walked over to a chair and flipped on the television to the early morning news. The anchor man was talking about a fire that happened in the middle of the night in a playground.
"Firefighters and still trying to determine how an entirely metal jungle gym burst into flames at about 1 o'clock in the morning," He reported, "Thankfully no one was injured. Firefighters are saying that the fire could not be extinguished with normal fire fighting methods, but the fire did go out eventually, with the help of chemical fire extinguishers. Damage…"
A clip started to play of the fire, shot with a cell phone camera. I sat up straighter when I saw two figures, masked by the darkness, the flames casting flicker shadows. As the flames died, I watched as the turned and ran out of the view of the video. They were both hooded, and one of the hoods fell, revealing the very light blond hair of someone I knew all too well.
I stared at the television. I knew who was with Draco. Harry had to be. Draco wouldn't want to work with anyone else, and Harry trusted Draco. I felt worried. What if they got hurt? What if the dark wizards who started the fire caught the two and killed them or are torturing them? What if, what if, what if? I rushed to my desk and pulled out a quill and some parchment. Dipping my quill, I started to write;
Draco!
I just saw the early morning muggle news. There was a report of a fire, you were there! Are you okay? Please tell me that you are okay!
Hermione
I just finished the letter and stopped before sealing it closed. I couldn't send this letter. I don't want Draco to think that I am starting to go soft on him, that I am starting to like him. I am not going to send it!
I went to rip up the letter when August came from nowhere and snatched the letter out of my hands and flew out the window.
"Hey!" I yelled at her, just screeched in reply and pooped on my neighbour's car. "Stupid owl" I muttered, pointed my wand at the car, muttered a spell and got rid of the owl poop. I grabbed another sheet of paper and wrote a quick letter to Ginny;
Ginny,
Well, my owl hates me. I saw a report on the muggle news this morning about the fire that Draco and Harry fought this morning. I panicked and wrote a letter to Draco without thinking, asking if he was okay. I managed to stop myself and was about to rip it up, then August came and snatched it out of my hands and is now taking it to Draco. My owl hates me! Now Draco is going to think that I have gone soft on him. What am I going to do? Stupid owl.
Love
Hermione
P.S. Is Harry okay?
I folded and sealed the letter and set it on my kitchen counter. I would go to Hogsmead and use the post office to send it later. August was not going to get any owl treats from me in a while. I went back the living room to finish the new and my coffee.
At 10 o'clock, a large barn owl flew through my open window and dropped a letter and my copy of today's Daily Prophet, landed, and stuck its leg out for a knut. I grabbed my money, fished out the small bronze coin, plopped it into the owl's leather pouch, and watched as it flew back out the window. I tossed the Prophet aside and opened the letter.
Dear Miss Granger,
We at the Daily Prophet would like to congratulate you and offer each you and your fiancé 1000 gallons for an interview regarding your upcoming marriage. We will be glad to set up anything that you require to have this interview in comfort, just send a reply with the date, time, and place that you would like to have the interview, we will take care of everything form there. Once we are finished we will send a draft to you for you and your fiancé to read over, and feel free to make any adjustments that you see fit to make. Once that is finished, we will send you the completed paper two days before we take it to print, time for you to make any final changes and for us to change them as well.
Thank you for you time and we look forward to hear from you soon.
Best regarded,
Rebecca Winters
Editor-in-Chief, Daily Prophet
I mulled this letter over and thought of how I would reply to it. I said that we would have an interview to all the reporters at the bank earlier. I got up and went back to my desk, grabbed another sheet of parchment and started to draft a reply to the prophet. Half way through, I grabbed a different sheet and quickly wrote to Draco;
Draco,
Please excuse the pervious letter. It was early morning and I was not thinking straight.
In other matters, I have received a request for an interview for the Daily Prophet. I will send a reply for them to meet at my place, for I have plenty of room, on Wednesday next, at 2:30pm. Show up then and please be nice.
I await your reply,
Hermione Granger
I seal it and finish the letter to the Daily Prophet.
Dear Rebecca Winters,
My fiancé and I would like to thank you for your letter, and would happy to meet you at my house, on next Wednesday at 2:30pm.
Please send back confirmation and I will then provide you with an address.
Regards,
Hermione Granger
I seal this one and place it with the others to be sent. Looking at the clock, I see that it is 11 o'clock, a good time to go to Hogsmead. I grab my cloak and, grabbing the letters and purse on my way out, head to the door, locking it with a flick of my wand over my shoulder and disapperate to Hogsmead.
I walk over to the post office and go to the wall of owls, looking for some good ones. At the post office they have three sizes of owls. Tiny little ones for short journeys like around Hogsmead and up to Hogwarts, medium ones that can endure far distances, and large ones for large packages and for very, very far journeys, like to North America. I look for three nice looking medium owls. I picked a screech owl for Draco's letter, a tawny owl for the Prophet's letter, and a barn owl for Ginny's letter. Whistling for each one in turn and tying the letters to their legs and whispering the instructions for which place they are supposed to go. The tawny and barn owl flutter on to my arms that are out stretched for them, while the screech owl decides for flutter onto my head. I try to glare at it, it hoots happily form its perch. I just sigh and walk over to one of the attendant, who is writing something and does not notice me with my owls at first.
"Hi," I greet, "Three medium owls to go please." I tell her, causing her to look up at me. She looked at the owls for a second or two, then bursts out laughing.
"Of course," She whistled and the owl that was on my head flew down to her arm, and the other two flew out one of the open windows to their destinations, the one that was on my head gave the attendant an affectionate nibble and flew off. "That's Freddy," she explained, "He likes to be up high and will sit on your head if he gets the chance, he likes everyone." She came back and sat on her stool and picked up a quill, "So three medium owls," She wrote down the original price, looked up at me, saw who I was and wrote "50% discount" did some quick math and looked back up at me, "Right, so that will be 5 galleons, and 3 sickles." I reached for my purse and pulled out the money.
"Here you go." I handed the money over, she took it, pushed a button on the cash register beside her, put the money in, and printed a receipt for me. "Thanks," I told her and turned to walk away.
"Have a nice day, Miss. Granger." She said smiling. I nodded and left. Walking out into the street, and pulled up my hood. I noticed that their looked to be Hogwarts kids walking about, must be a Hogsmead Weekend. I ducked my head and walked down the street. I was stopped by a bright flashing sign and laughed out loud. There, where Zonko's used to be was Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
Deciding I needed a laugh, I walked into the bright store, walking right to a shelf marked as "NEW." I picked one of the new items and was trying to figure out what it was. I looked like a normal rubber ball. Wary of it, I turned in slowly in my finger tips.
"We thought-"
"We recognized that hair!" The twins said. I squeaked, and dropped the ball, which bounced and started bouncing around the store, hitting shelves and the windows and the ceiling.
"Aw man-" George started,
"Those take forever to catch!" Fred Finished
"I'll get the net." George said and walked off as the ball continued to bounce of the articles around the store, some times people.
"What was that?" I asked Fred, who was watching with a amused look on his face as the thing flew around the store, with George chasing it with a large butterfly net. "And why don't you stop it with your wand?"
To show why not, Fred pointed at it with its wand, muttered "Immobulus" and I watched as the ball split into five balls.
"Fred! Stop that!" George yelled at him, laughing. Fred just laughed and pointed at one of the balls and said "Finite Incantatem" and the ball tripled in speed and went shooting through the front window.
"You have to pay for that" George yelled at Fred.
"So do you!" Fred yelled back. "Do you need anymore demonstrations?" Fred asked me.
"No, I'm good," I laughed and watched as George crashed into a shelf of Wet-start Fireworks, which fell into a tank of swimming candy fishes, causing the fireworks to go off, lighting the store up with bright colours and shoppers stopped and watched as the sparks flew and bounced off the people harmlessly. I laughed and brushed a piece of my hair out of my eyes with my left hand. Fred reached out quickly and grabbed my hand and examined the ring. He let out a low whistle.
"Who gave you that?" He asked twisting my hand to get a better look, "It has to be some one from Slytherin. No one else would get you a ring with green in it."
"It…Well…I…" I spluttered, trying to pull my hand out of his grip. George came up after putting the bouncy balls ever so gently back on the shelf and joined fred and gripping and examining my ring.
"Yeah Hermione, who gave you that?" George asked.
"Who did you guys get?" I asked trying to deflect them off of me.
"Katie Bell" George
"Angelina Johnson" Fred
"Now, who did you get that?" They asked together
I felt my face turn red as they stared at me. "Umm…I…Do you have like a back room or an office or something?" I asked quickly.
"Yes" Fred
"We do" George "its"
"In the back." Fred
"Can we go there?" I asked
"Sure" they said together and truned and hooked their arms in mine and pulled me through the crowded store.
"Heather," George called to one of the employees,
"We are going to the office" Fred finished. Heather nodded and went to stop some children from toppling a shelf display of instant darkness powder.
Fred and george pulled me into the office and shut the door behind me. There were two desks facing each other. I leaned against the desk and started at the twins who watched me expectedly.
"Malfoy" I whispered
"Huh?" The twins said
"Malfoy" Just a tiny bit louder
"What?" They leaned closer
"Malfoy!" I cried and covered my face in my hands.
"Well," Fred started
"We were right," George continued
"It was a Slytherin." Fred finished
"You aren't going to yell or argue?" I asked, peeking through my fingers.
"Do we look like Ron?" George asked
"Just as long as Malfoy knows that if he hurts you," Fred said
"He will have the entire Weasley Family to answer too!" George finished shrugging.
"Thanks guys!" I smiled and hugged them and they returned the hug. They were really like my brothers. After I had found out about my parents, the entire Weasley family helped me in some way. Mrs. Weasley made me large dinners, inviting me for dinner almost every night, sometimes trying to get me to stay the night, saying that she would put me with Ginny for the night. I would always turn it down, choosing to go and sleep in my own empty home. Mrs. Weasley would force leftover on me to take home so my fridge was always stocked. All the Weasley's helped me to choose my house, all of them had input that made choosing my house wonderfully confusing, but I found it. Mrs. Weasley said a large kitchen, Ginny suggested large rooms, Mr. Weasley said that I needed as many muggle items I could have, Ron said it had to be big, and Fred and George suggested trap doors and secret passages, of which I have none, and I needed and large library.
I smiled at the fond memory and let go of the twins.
"Now, how about…" Fred said, a sly grin forming on his face
"Some of our Products?" George said
"Just to keep Draco in line!" Fred said innocently
"No thanks guys" I said leaving the office
"Are you sure?" The asked together
"Yep!" I laughed
"Okay!" They followed and walked me out of the shop.
"If you change your mind," Fred started,
"Just remember, you get the 50% family discount!" George called as I left laughing.
Hey guys! I'm sorry that it took so long for this chapter to get up, but I was just so horribly busy! But its here now! So please Review it now that you have finished reading it! Thanks, Love you all!
