Chapter 7

Hermione put a cork stopper in the last flask and placed it on her desk, sighing. She sat back down in her chair and pushed her sweaty bangs out of her face. It was nearly midnight and she had finally finished her potion and its antidote. Hermione rubbed her neck soothingly and closed her eyes, savouring the fact that her eyebrows were intact. Hermione looked at her watch; everyone shouldn't be coming for another twenty minutes, just enough time to apparate home and have a shower.

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Hermione towelled herself off in her muggy bathroom and picked her watch off the counter. She shrieked as it read five after midnight. She hastily threw on some clean robes, grabbed her bag and apparated to the Ministry of Magic. Hermione ran into the lifts and quickly performed a hair drying charm as the lift doors opened onto her floor. She could hear raised voices as she ran to her office. Clutching a stitch in her side she saw a scarlet faced Ron gesturing violently.

"For the last time, you ferret-faced git, I do not want to have any way, shape or form of baby with you. And before you say anything else, no, I am not jealous of you or Blaise, I don't want to engage in any activities with you and finally, I'm not gay!"

Hermione giggled quietly as she saw a very flamboyant Draco Malfoy bat his long lashes at a very red-faced Ron. The blonde stuck out his lip in mock defeat before he turned to Blaise Zabini.

"You still think I'm cute, right sweetheart?" Draco asked coyly as he made puppy dog eyes of the other boy. Blaise stroked his cheek playfully before pulling him into a loving kiss as Ron made gagging sounds. Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the clear display of disgust from Ron.

"Hello Draco, Blaise. It's nice to see the two of you again," Hermione said cheerfully and strode across her office to sit on the front edge of her desk. At Ron's gurgle Hermione smiled cheekily at him, "I'm glad you got my message, but where's Harry and Ginny?" Hermione asked, frowning.

"We are here," Harry said in a mock offended tone. "We were just a bit busy." Hermione took in their dishevelled appearance. A few stray bits of grass were in Ginny's hair, and she raised an eyebrow at the ginger-haired girl.

"What?" Ginny said, leaning on Harry, "we're only a little bit late." She tried to casually smooth her hair down.

"We'll I don't care what you think; he's on my list of things to do," Draco drew out the last word as he argued in a not-so-subtle voice with Blaise. Noticing that everyone had gone silent and taken to staring at them, Draco beamed and sauntered up to Harry. "Between me and Blaise, who would you prefer to date?" Draco asked Harry, in what he obviously thought was a seductive voice. Draco smiled cheekily leaning against the wall after glaring at Blaise.

"Sorry, but he's mine," Ginny said in a sing song voice, laughing at Draco's disappointed look and Harry's stunned one. "I've got the ring." The girl extended her arm and flashed the ring on the end of her finger, letting it sparkle in the light.

"You're engaged!" Hermione and Ron roared together, sweeping them up into a group hug. Draco beamed and jumped on Harry, taking full advantage of the hug.

"Oi, get off," Blaise said, looking stung. Draco let go of Harry and glared at Blaise. "In case you don't remember, I'm your boyfriend, not Potter. As much as you wish that I were him, I'm not. If I'm not enough for you, then I guess this isn't going to work out," Blaise said, looking hurt and angry. Apparently Draco's incessant flirting with Harry was more hurtful to Blaise than he had let on to earlier.

"Congratulations to you both," Blaise grumbled, speaking more to the floor than to the couple, "and good work on completing your potion Hermione. I'll send you an owl once the investing gets settled. I'm sure the others at my company will be thrilled about it." He nodded to Ron and then walked briskly out of the room. Draco looked torn. Blaise had left, but the space next to Harry had been vacated as Ron and Hermione moved to let Blaise through. Draco settled for grabbing Harry's bottom quickly - making Harry squeak in shock - before running after Blaise.

Ron shook his head as though to clear water out of his ear. "Never thought I'd see the day when Malfoy would waltz into your office, ask me about engaging in activities with him and Blaise, hit on Harry, pinch his butt then run after his mistreated boyfriend."

Harry rubbed the spot where Malfoy grabbed him. "Blimey, he pinches hard. I'm definitely going to have a bruise tomorrow." Harry sat down, a pulled his fiancée onto his lap. "Hermione, your patronus scared the living daylights out of me and Ginny. I thought Voldemort had come back again for a minute. It was all dark and then it just came shooting across the pitch towards us. Next time please use an owl, it's a bit more subtle."

"Sorry Harry, I was just so excited and I couldn't wait. Do you want to see it?" Hermione asked eagerly, although stifling a yawn.

"Wait a minute," Ron said, looking angrily at Harry and Ginny. "Why were you at the pitch when it was dark out? Practice ends at half past five. What the ruddy hell were you doing to my sist-"

"We were just celebrating," said Ginny cheekily to Ron. "We're engaged now if that counts for anything."

Hermione watched her friends talking with sleepy eyes. Potion brewing could be quite the workout. "I'll show you guys it tomorrow, if that's alright with you. I think I finally got this potion right but I'm exhausted." Hermione yawned again and clumsily pecked everyone on the cheek. Turning to her fireplace she threw a pinch of Floo Powder into the flames from the bag on her mantle. She was one of very few people who had a fireplace in their office. Another perk of being part of the Golden Trio, Hermione thought wryly.

Hermione brushed the ash off her shoulders and kicked off her shoes as she stepped onto the wooden floor of her cozy flat. She ran her hands lightly across the spines of her books as she looked around her living room. Covering an entire wall was her mahogany bookshelf, her books organized by her most favourite to least favourite, then alphabetically. On the mantle of her fireplace she had photos of the Order of the Phoenix, both before the war and after. She picked up the picture before the battle at Hogwarts, and stared at the tiny figures.

Remus and Tonks were holding hands with Teddy balanced on Tonks' hip. She would smile and change her hair colour and nose shape. Teddy would change to match her face although he always kept Remus' eye colour. Remus would tickle Teddy every once in awhile and grin at Tonks.

Hermione's eyes shifted to the twins. They were doubled over laughing at Mad Eye Moody, on whom they had placed a headless hat. Moody grappled around in what seemed thin air and pulled a fluffy pink hat off his now visible head. Moody growled at them and threw the hat away, hitting Fred and George over their heads with his gnarled staff.

Hermione chuckled half-heartedly, but the sound couldn't quite make it out of her throat. She gazed at her deceased companions and blinked back tears. She set the photo back down, next to the photo of her parents. Hermione had found them quickly after the war with Harry, Ron and Ginny's help. She had found them seated in a muggle cafe, enjoying some tea and chatting merrily to one another. Hermione had almost wanted to go back, they looked so happy and peaceful, but she knew that they would want to remember her. Ginny was the one who drew them outside and with Harry and Ron's encouragement, she returned their memories. It had taken nearly two hours to explain everything that had happened after they had left for Australia.

Hermione yawned and sat down on the crimson, cushy loveseat, in front of the fire. She withdrew a small crystal flask with a tiny vial tied to the stopper from her robe pocket. She had forgotten to show everyone her potion and the antidote. Hermione fiddled with the satin ribbon that tied them together. Sighing, she walked to her room and put her wand, watch and potion down on the dresser. She pulled on some comfy, plaid pyjama pants and a loose tank top, and then ran a comb through her hair. Hermione smiled as she didn't have to force it through or pick the comb`s broken teeth out of her mane. She twirled a curl around her finger before walking to her bathroom to brush her teeth.

As Hermione crawled into her bed, she drew the blankets around her. Hermione called softly for Crookshanks and scooped him up as he padded into her room. He curled up against Hermione's stomach as she stroked him softly. He purred calmly as Hermione drifted off into a deep, uneasy sleep.

A/N: This was semi-fluffy and semi-slashy but I already have written Chapter 8 and guess what happens? I'll post it when I finish Chapter 10 (I'm almost done Chapter 9).

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