CHAPTER TEN

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When Hermione arrived in her office on Monday morning, she was surprised to see a potted flower on her desk with a piece of parchment tucked between it's leaves. She grinned, knowing that Neville was the only person who had any reason to send her flowers, especially potted ones, before rushing forward and pulling the parchment out of the foliage. She smiled softly as she read a single line.

'Miss you already. Nev x'

"I see you've gotten yourself an admirer while I've been gone," came a feminine voice from behind her and Hermione squealed, spinning around to see Madeline Tucker, the head of the ward and her boss, "guess who's back!"

"I've missed you!" Hermione cried, pulling the chuckling black haired witch into a hug, "I didn't know you were coming back?"

Madeline had been away from work on maternity leave for almost a year, which had left Hermione in charge of the ward and though she enjoyed it, the responsibility was definitely a heavy weight to bear. Her daughter, Eveline, was now about ten months old and Maddie had always said that she would wait until she was a year old before coming back to work, so Hermione was confused by her bosses sudden return.

"As much as I love Evie," Maddie sighed, clutching her chest dramatically, "there's only so much baby talk I can take and I desperately needed some adult interaction that wasn't Eric."

"I guess I can understand that," Hermione grinned, "it's good to have you back, Maddie."

"What's changed since I went off?" Maddie asked, turning to look out of the door, "the Longbottom's and Lockhart seem to be the same. Any other changes?"

Hermione spent some time going over the last few months with Maddie, telling her of any changes that had happened or new admissions. Thankfully, there was only one new admission in that time and the ward was otherwise home to only six other patients. When Hermione got around to Frank and Alice, she stopped as she suddenly saw Maddie smirking and rose her eyebrow toward her boss.

"You're blushing," Maddie chuckled and Hermione snorted, nodding, "don't tell me he finally came clean?"

"You mean Neville?" Hermione asked and Maddie nodded, "we're together, I think. It's very recent, although there was a night a few months ago-"

"You had a one night stand with him!?" Maddie exclaimed, looking desperate for some gossip and Hermione groaned, nodding, "oh you have to tell me that story!"

It took almost an hour for Hermione to get through the whole sorry tale, taking into consideration just how often Maddie saw fit to interrupt and ask ridiculous questions. Hermione, as she talked to Maddie, realised just how much she had missed her and actually, she was very grateful to have someone who was outside of her immediate circle of friends to talk to about everything that had happened. When Hermione finally got to Ron's wedding, Maddie grinned as she was told of how Hermione had shouted at her ex.

"There's no way he didn't deserve that," Maddie snorted when Hermione told her that she felt guilty for it, "after what he did to you, then inviting you just to make you look bad? Yeah, he deserved worse if you ask me."

"Well, hopefully his wedding day will hold better memories than me screaming at him," Hermione shrugged, smiling as she remembered how Neville had come after her, "so, you knew that Neville had feelings for me?"

"Hermione, anyone with eyeballs could see how that man looked at you," Maddie snorted, shaking her head, "honestly, I'm amazed that it took so long for him to tell you."

"What do you mean, how he looks at me?" Hermione frowned and Maddie, ever the comedienne, made a face that closely resembled a puppy who wanted a treat.

The day passed quickly after that, with Maddie taking over half of the workload and catching up with the patients. As five o'clock rolled around, Hermione began to pack up her belongings and was just about to leave her office when she heard a knock at her door. She turned with a sigh, thinking that it would be Maddie asking her to stay a bit longer, but was amazed to see Neville standing in front of her. She squealed and ran into his arms as he chuckled, kissing her head.

"What are you doing here?!" She asked happily and he shrugged, pulling away from him.

"I found myself missing a certain someone," he grinned, cupping her jaw and kissing her gently on the lips as she smiled against him, "plus, we have yet to have an actual date, so I wondered if I could take you to dinner?"

"What, now?" She frowned, looking down at her lime green robes and Neville snorted.

"Ok, so when I said take you out to dinner, what I really meant is you coming to Hogwarts so I can cook for you," he shrugged, "is that alright?"

"Yeah," she grinned, interested to see his quarters and excited to see Hogwarts again, "should I go home and change, first? I don't want to sit around in my robes."

"Naked dinner it is!" Neville exclaimed and Hermione gasped, smacking him on the chest as he chuckled, "relax Hermione, we can go to yours first."

After he had visited his parents while he waited to pack her things, Neville held out his hand for her to take and she slid her own hand into it, intertwining their fingers and smiling as she noticed how well they fit together. Walking hand to hand down the hallways of St Mungo's, Hermione felt as though all of her worrying had been been for nought, as being with him like this felt completely natural to her. When they reached the floos, Hermione went through first and stepped out at the other end in her own apartment, only to freeze in place as Neville barged into her from behind, both staring at her flat with wide, shocked eyes.