A quiet Sunday at home and a mum learns a little more about her daughter's magical life.

After a rousing but satisfying morning quickie, breakfast, and showering, a letter was slid under the bedroom door as they were dressing.

"Came for you just now," Ron's voice called out.

"Thanks, mate."

"Yeah."

He read the letter and sighed. "I have to go in to work for a bit today, but I'm taking you home first. I'm not a love 'em and leave 'em type of bloke."

"I know, thank you for that," she said and kissed his cheek.

They shared a few minutes of heated good-bye kisses at her doorstep. He stepped back, winked, and disappeared. She sighed and went inside.

"No Harry?" Grace asked from the couch.

"He got called in to work."

"Your father's at the surgery getting some paperwork together."

She took a bottle of water from the fridge and went to her desk. I can get some work done too. She planned to present her case brief to her boss Wednesday afternoon, so getting some work done wouldn't be remiss. Grace observed her daughter open her laptop and start typing. She stared blankly at the wall for a moment and continued typing. She paused, glanced at a bookshelf across the living room and extended her arm. A book flew from the shelf toward her. Crooks shot from the corridor and leapt at the book, knocking it to the ground.

"Crooks!"

The cat sniffed the book, and when he was satisfied that he had defeated his prey, slinked toward the playpen. She summoned the book from the floor, read from select pages and she continued typing. Grace marveled at the flawless way her daughter fit in both the non-magical and magical world, and she would be forever fascinated with her adorably quirky daughter's ways. She returned her attention to the Magic Vision telly.

"Pumpkin, when does that Flights With Dragons programme start?"

Hermione chuckled. "Um...not sure, check the programme schedule, number 7."

Grace changed the channel until she came to Quidditch Today. "There's your friend! Goodness, how far along is she?" she exclaimed.

"Six months," she said, summoning another book from the shelf.

"She has other children, doesn't she?"

"Yes, two year old twins. After this one though, I think she's done. She's often said she has no intention of birthing an entire Quidditch team," she said, recalling what Ginny had said with a grin.

The telephone rang. What a coincidence, it was Ginny.

"Were your ears itching?" Hermione asked.

"Huh?" Ginny asked.

"We were just talking about you, mum saw you on the telly."

"What did you do to him?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Harry! He came here looking for his Auror cloak, and it was like he could fly without a broom."

Hermione sighed happily. "I know how he feels."

"Have you two been holed up in the bedr-"

Hermione glanced at her mum, who was trying a little too nonchalantly not to eavesdrop. She went to her room and shut the door.

"Ginny, do you remember the last time we chatted? About how you didn't want to talk about Harry?"

"Oh."

"Exactly, he's an artist, like my body's his canvas and his cock's the brush. Now, how's the kids?"

Was Ginny hyperventilating on the other end? Was she in premature labor? Wayne's voice was heard.

"I don't know what you said to her, but she hasn't laughed like this in a long time."

"It's girl's stuff, Wayne."

Ginny came back on the line, and Hermione explained what had happened to her parents and how much Harry had been helping out.

"I'll talk to you later. Tell your parents I said hi."

Hermione went back to the living room where her mum had found Flights With Dragons.

"Fascinating creatures, I simply can't believe you actually rode on the back of one."

Hermione flopped on the couch, realizing that she would get no work done. "Sometimes I can't believe it either. We were criminals at the time, of course."

From her Hogwarts trunk, she took out a large leather binder containing The Daily Prophet editions (courtesy of Luna) from during the war, when the paper was under Voldemort's control. She flipped through the stack until she came to the one she was looking for.

"We got a good laugh from these once the war was over," she said and gave Grace the paper.

GRINGOTTS, MURDER, AND THIEVERY was the headline.

Grace read the rest of the article aloud.

Yesterday, the security of the legendary Wizarding bank Gringotts was breached by the three most wanted criminals of our time: Undesirable Number One Harry Potter, the blood-traitor Ronald Weasley, son of former Ministry of Magic employee Arthur Weasley, and the Muggleborn Hermione Granger. Making use of Dark Magic, the trio murdered their way to the vault of an illustrious Pureblood family and looted items of priceless historic value. The criminal trio again used Dark Magic to charm the beloved watch-dragon of the vaults to destroy a good portion of the bank, in order for the trio to make their nefarious escape.

Minister For Magic Thicknesse was quoted as saying, "They may have made a lucky escape from Gringotts, but they will not escape justice. When they are caught, and it will be soon, the full measure of justice will be brought to bear. It is plausible that leniency may be applied to the two young wizards in question, for they may be under the sway of stolen or illegal enchantments that the Smuggle-born has somehow managed to use. We appeal to the general public for assistance in the capture of this so-called, ill-named "Golden Trio."

"This is like a badly written book," Grace said.

"Look, this one's worse," Hermione said, handing her another paper.

"Oh dear," her mother chortled.

LOVE TRIANGLE REVEALED!
Sources that were once contemporaries of the so-called "Golden Trio," the criminals Potter, Weasley, and Granger, (see page 3) have revealed the most likely motivation of last month's breach of Gringotts.

"It's definitely a love triangle gone wrong," reports Pansy Parkinson, seventh year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "Potter and Weasley have followed her around like puppies for years, so no doubt she's used some kind of dark enchantment, much like our Minister for Magic has surmised. Many of us have heard Potter and Weasley pledge to do any task she asks of them to prove their love."

"Disgusting, isn't it?" Hermione asked.

"This makes you look like some kind of harlot," Grace said.

"It's like you said, that paper was like a badly written book. The sensationalism sold lots of papers, and it gave the bad guys a outlet to make us look as bad as possible."

"And people believed it?" Grace asked.

"A lot of people did, or they were too scared to speak out against it. However, to those who knew us, it was rubbish. If it makes you feel any better, the people who wrote for the paper during that time can't even get jobs writing street signs nowadays."

"What about this Parkinson person?"

Hermione shrugged. "Her parents went to prison, the Parkinson estate was confiscated, and to this day she's a social leper. A lot of them are."

"Them?"

"Students who supported Voldemort. Some of them went to prison for it. Karma's a bitch for those, one of my duties is that of parole advocate."

"Hermione," her mother chided.

"It's true, I saw six of them this week. Fresh from prison, sitting in front of my desk. Parkinson didn't go to prison because she was a student, but because of her reputation, the best job she could get was as custodial worker at the Ministry."

"You don't gloat, do you? That would be unseemly."

"No, mum, I don't. I pity her and the others. So much wasted potential, and for what?"

The doorbell sounded and Hermione answered. It was Molly and Ginny. She ushered them inside and offered tea. Molly went straight for Grace.

"I heard about what happened to your home, I'm dreadfully sorry. Is there anything our family can do?" she asked.

"I'm grateful for the offer, but all that can be done is to meet with our insurance agent," Grace said. "Thank goodness for our daughter, she rushed right to us and took us in."

"Yes, children can be a blessing," Molly said, causing Ginny to roll her eyes. "Now, tell me all about this insurance business. I've heard of it, but..."

Ginny joined Hermione in the kitchen to make tea.

"How bad is the damage?" Ginny asked.

"From what I saw, a total loss. Not even their car was spared, a burning wall collapsed onto it."

"How long are they staying here?"

"As long as they need to, I suppose. It's nice having Evelyn here, and they're easy to entertain. I just turn on Magic Vision. Mum likes Flights With Dragons, and dad likes your show and the news. Excuse me, going to the loo."

She mumbled "call a plumber" when she passed the corridor toilet and went to her bedroom. When she returned, Harry was there, telling the group something that made them laugh. He stopped and looked at her when she came into the room. Grace and Molly gave each other pointed glances at the way Hermione and Harry gazed at each other. Ginny noted how Hermione's eyes softened when Harry smiled shyly at her. She was enjoying the scene.

"We'll just be going now," Molly said, lightly pulling on Ginny's sleeve. "Please let us know if there's anything we can do, anything at all."

"Thank you, Molly," Grace said and the two red heads left.

"Staying for lunch?" Hermione asked.

"No, not much time for lunch today. Some procedural things with Azkaban's newest resident, going to be late night," he said.

"Yes, I'll be quite busy with that myself," Hermione said. "I'm presenting my brief to Allbright on Wednesday."

"You're not worried about that, are you? You'll be brilliant. You've been in front of the Wizengamot before."

"Pushing legislation to get Centaur land back is one thing, prosecuting a murder case is a different kettle of fish altogether. I have to get a iron-clad conviction on this one, otherwise I'll only be seen as an elf advocate the rest of my days. That or being a public advocate for pick-pockets."

Not long after lunch, Ian returned with a stack of papers and a milkshake for Grace.

"Hermione, thank you again for use of your car. I promise we'll take good care of it until we get a new one," he said.

"No problem, dad, I have other ways of getting around," she said with a grin.

"The next issue is our living situation."

"You know that you can stay as long as you need."

"I know that, but I think we've driven Harry away. How must a young woman feel with her parents and baby sister underfoot? What's the popular term...cramping your style?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. She wasn't aware that she had any particular style to speak of.

"I know he's being considerate of us, and we appreciate it, but we'll be out of your hair soon, if Grace likes my plan."

"Which is?" Grace asked.

"A short-term lease, on a flat close to the surgery," he said. "One of the firemen mentioned that his parents are moving into some old folk's bungalow community and have no idea what to do with the place. He's on the night shift, so he can show us the place tomorrow morning. It's even partially furnished."

"Are you going to rebuild or buy a home?" Hermione asked.

"It all depends on the insurance settlement," Ian said.

**

Thanks for all (well, almost all) of the amazing, enthusiastic reviews!! It really and truly makes my day. I wasn't too sure about this story at first, but it seems to have taken a life of its own and I'm rather proud of it. I feel bad about my other uncompleted stories just sitting there with no updates, but when this one has finally vacated my brain, I will complete the others as well.