She was knelt by her suitcase, glaring furiously at a small mountain of lace and silk underwear. "Ginny got into my suitcase" she scowled "she talked me into buying all this stuff and I did just to make her happy, I was going to leave most of it behind and bring some more practical underwear but she must have switched it"

He honestly couldn't think of a thing to say and just sat there staring at the pile in the suitcase. She stared at him for a moment and the glanced at the clock; it was getting late, too late really for unpacking. She bit her lip, there was something they were required to do by the law and no matter how hard they tried to skirt the issue, they couldn't avoid it for much longer.

"I think we should have sex" she blurted out, and then flushed scarlet, clapping her hands over her mouth

He tried not to laugh; Merlin knew how hard he tried but he couldn't help laughing "not that I'm complaining" he said, trying to push back the laughter that was threatening to return because she looked so mortified "but what brought this on?"

"We have to ….um… consummate the marriage within 24 hours after the ceremony or it gets automatically annulled" she fidgeted with the hem of her dress "And I think, if we don't do it soon, it's just going to hang over us so we should try not to put it off for too long"

"Alright" he sighed, genuinely serious now "are you sure you want to do this?"

"Absolutely" she nodded, her face set. She stood up, crossed the room to him and kissed him. Charlie must have been a really good kisser, she thought dimly because almost all thought evaporated instantly and she barely noticed when they tumbled backwards onto the bed.

She woke up the next morning, with a very heavy arm draped across her waist. Charlie was snoring softly and Hermione was so comfortable that, for a split second she was tempted to stay exactly as she was. That was until she realised that neither of them were wearing anything. She tried to slide quietly out of the bed but Charlie's arm only tightened around her waist, pulling her backwards, closer to his bare chest.

Eventually she managed to slip free, dress herself and creep down the stairs without waking him up.

She boiled the kettle for a cup of tea and made some toast before she sat and wondered what to do next. She considered that by leaving Charlie there she might have made it more awkward between them rather than less. Now she wasn't sure whether to wait downstairs for him to wake up or to go upstairs and wake him herself.

She decided on the second option and, armed with a second mug and extra toast, she crept back up the stairs to find him sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Thanks" he mumbled, taking the cup of tea and slice of toast she offered him and shifting the sheets uncomfortably.

"So" Hermione said carefully "what happens now?"

"What do you mean?"yy

"Well, we're supposed to stay married for the next 5 years and it's only going to be more difficult if we try to dance around each other so we need to work out what we're going to do"

Charlie sighed and looked at her intently for a second "Hermione, I know you like to know where you're headed and everything but you need to chill out" she opened her mouth to interrupt but he pressed on "we've done all that the law requires us to do except have a baby. We don't need to even think about that for a couple of years at least. Until then I think we just need to take each day as it comes and try not to worry too much"

She bit her lip, seemingly trying to find a problem with the plan. She couldn't seem to find one, though so she sighed too and helped herself to some more toast. To her surprise 'taking each day as it comes' was far easier than she originally thought. She started her new job and left before he was up each morning and he left to work with the dragons. At the end of the day she normally came straight home, he went to the pub with a few friends, most of the time she was asleep before he got back. They rarely ever saw each other.

This didn't bother Hermione, she had liked living alone and this was barely any different at all. She had some friends amongst the on-site healers, the best of which was a girl called Poppy. In Poppy, Hermione found somebody very like herself, studious, quiet and with an ironic sense of humour. Poppy was also, as she termed it "unlucky in love". She had the same sort of high standards as Hermione but also found it difficult to talk to men that she was unfamiliar with due to a crippling shyness that Hermione had, thankfully shed years ago.

This meant that they both spent many a lunch break to begin with, sharing stories of previous relationships. Despite the fact that just hearing the other girl's many experiences made Hermione feel a little better about her situation, she still could not help but feel that she would rather be in Poppy's shoes than her own at the present. She was in the middle of a strange country, married to someone she barely saw on a day to day basis, she was homesick and missed all of her friends dreadfully and, on top of everything else, she had to learn the ropes in an entirely new hospital.

Most days, by the time she had finished a shift at work she was absolutely shattered so she walked back to the hut and fell into bed, sometimes forgetting to change into her pyjamas and, even more often, forgetting to eat before she slept. Lately, though, she had grown tired of this routine. Every day she woke up, ate breakfast, walked to work, worked, ate lunch, worked some more, stumbled home and fell into bed. She never saw Charlie and so, apart from the time she spent at work she saw and spoke to nobody. It was quite a contrast from the noisy, bustling life at the Burrow where there was always somebody to talk to and sometimes not enough privacy.

So when Poppy asked if Hermione would like to go to the campsite bar with the other healers one evening, she didn't pause very long for thought before she accepted. She ran home quickly to change into jeans and a shirt and found the other healers stood around the bar. Poppy had already ordered her a butter beer and she hopped up onto one of the bar stools and quickly found herself immersed in conversation. She didn't notice the table in the far corner, encircled by a group of dragon tamers.

A/N: Ok, I'm sorry it's really short...and as I'm sure you guessed I have no idea where to even begin writing an M rated scene so I'll have to leave it to your imaginations, otherwise I'm sorry it took a little longer than expected to update but university and life in general got in the way again. Anyway I am hoping to get the next one posted for the end of the week. Let me know what you think! :)