AN: I own nothing.

Thanks so much for the reviews, follows, and faves. I mean that, too. Since this story has almost 150 followers, I've done something special. This is my longest chapter EVER! 3300 WORDS! WOO HOO!

Did I mention that this is likely to be a long story? 'Cause it is. I mean, we're already at Ch 21, and not a single wedding plan has been made, so buckle up, folks. We still have a butt load of weddings, honeymoons, babies, and an epilogue. As the author, I see at least 60 chapters to this story, probably more.

Oh, and prepare yourselves. There will be smut in the next chapter. From there on, it will be a recurring thing to this story. I know many of you were disappointed in the lack of it so far, especially after the hotel scene a few chapters ago, but we had to build up to it, people! Even knowing one another for many years, I don't see these two as the type to just jump into bed with one another. Sure, they both want it, but their relationship is new, and sudden, and will be permanent. So, no need to rush into things.

Alright, I've rambled long enough. More than usual, actually. Off you go! Enjoy!

After their quiet, and delicious, breakfast, Neville had escorted Hermione back to the Burrow. Not since the war ended had the crooked house looked so welcoming to Hermione, who was desperate to put the last several days behind her. Kissing Neville goodbye, she waved as he turned and disappeared once she was inside the ward line. Suddenly, Hermione felt very alone. After all, she and Neville had just spent all day, every day for the past four days in each other's company.

Dragging her tired body up three flights of stairs, she shut her bedroom door before adding a silencing charm. She intended to sleep until she absolutely had to be awake, wanting to recover from the adventure she'd just had. Not bothering to change out of her clothes, she just toed her shoes off and climbed into bed, face down, and fell asleep in seconds.

Unfortunately, her body, and mind, decided that one o'clock was the limit they'd let her sleep. Groaning, she sat up on the side of the bed, running her hands down her face before she got up and walked across the hall to the loo. After using the facilities, she turned the shower on, letting the water heat up as she got undressed. Once she determined the water was sufficiently hot, she got in, standing under the spray and letting the heat massage away the stress she'd felt from the visit with her family.

Once she was done washing her hair, and felt a bit better from the hot water, she wrapped herself in a towel and scurried back across to her room. Wanting to be comfortable until she had to change for dinner with Augusta, she threw on a pair of red Gryffindor sweat pants and a white tee shirt over her plain white cotton knickers and bra, not bothering with socks or shoes. Running a comb quickly through her hair, she then retrieved her wand from the bedside table and cast a drying charm on it.

Feeling more human, and more relaxed, she walked downstairs, relieved to be back. As she stepped off the stairs into the living room, she said, "Good afternoon."

"Hey, Mione!" Harry smiled over the sofa.

"Where is everyone?" Hermione asked, confused at seeing only Harry and Ginny in the living room.

"Out." Harry said simply. "Everyone was gone when I got up this morning." he shrugged.

Ginny rushed over to her, enveloping her in a hug. "Gods, I'm glad you're back. I missed you, Mione." she said.

"Thanks, Gin. I missed you, too." she said. Prying Ginny off of her, she walked over and sat next to Harry on the sofa, pulling her feet up underneath her. "I missed everyone."

"That bad, huh?" Harry asked.

"Oh, much, much worse." she said. "For starters, my parents are finally getting divorced."

"Yeah?" Harry asked, his eyebrows raising to his hairline.

Hermione nodded. "Yeah. Get this. Daddy and Maureen are expecting."

"Oh?" Ginny asked.

"Yep. And they've decided...they've all decided...to bring a baby into a normal family environment." she said.

"Ouch." Harry said. "You okay with that?"

"Not at first. I kinda freaked out."

"How bad? You didn't lose control of your magic, did you?" Ginny asked. The last time Hermione had a severe 'freak out', as she called them, she had a magic breakdown and destroyed the Head Girl's room at Hogwarts.

"No, not that bad. Just bad enough that I dragged Neville to stay at a hotel near the Opera House." she said. "And to the point I didn't talk to them until Paul came and we had a chat."

"Sorry, Hermione." Harry said.

Hermione shrugged. "It's alright. It actually got better after that. Neville and I went to lunch at their house, and it was quite pleasant. Heather and Sarah were there, and started badgering me from either side about wedding plans, and ideas, though." she said.

"Oh! You didn't make any plans without me, did you?" Ginny asked.

"No, of course not. They were the ones with all the ideas." Hermione said. "To be honest, I haven't made a single decision about the wedding."

"You and Nev haven't set the date, at least?" Ginny asked.

"Not yet, no." Hermione said, shaking her head. "The only thing we've decided is that I'm going to be the bride, and he'll be the groom. But that's about it." she said, playing with her engagement ring with her thumb. "Oh, he gave me a ring while we were there." she said, holding her hand out to show off her ring.

Ginny gasped, grabbing Hermione's hand. "Oh, wow!" she exclaimed.

Harry let out a low whistle. "That's quite a ring, there, Mione." he said.

Hermione's face lit up. "I know. It's a Longbottom heirloom, which makes it even more special." she said before her smile faded. As wonderful as the time had been when Neville gave her the ring, she couldn't help thinking about her sisters, and their reaction to her magical talents.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, reaching over and putting his hand on her shoulder. "Mione?"

"Sorry, Harry. I was just thinking." she said, shaking her head. "I told Heather and Sarah about my being a witch." she said.

"And? How'd they take it?"

Hermione's eyes teared up thinking about their reactions. "Not well." she said in a thick voice. "First, they thought it was a joke, so I conjured up my canaries to show them. They screamed, called me some names, and told me to stay away from them." she said, tears running down her face. "It was horrible." she hiccupped.

"Oh, Mione." Ginny said, wrapping her arms around her friend. "I'm sorry, love."

"It's alright." Hermione said, trying to convince herself as well as her friends that it truly was alright. It might've worked, too, had she not said it in a feeble voice.

"How'd Neville react?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. As soon as they told me to stay away from them, I walked out of the house, and he caught up to me a few blocks later." she said, shrugging again.

"Well...look at it this way, that's two less people you have to invite to the wedding." Ginny said in a chipper voice, making Hermione snort.

"Ginny!" Harry exclaimed.

"What? It's true." she said with an innocent look on her face.

"Hey, do me a favor and don't tell anyone else that I had a horrible time, alright. Every time I say I have a horrid time with them, Molly starts rambling about how family is everything, and I should put more effort into having a nice time." Hermione said, wiping the tears off her face.

Harry and Ginny nodded, both having heard Molly's speeches about family. "Sure, Mione." Harry said.

At half four, Ginny made the decision to help Hermione get ready for her dinner with Neville and his Gran. Hermione had received an owl from him earlier and he wrote that Augusta had changed plans, so instead of going to the Manor for dinner, the three of them were now going to La Magie, a very upscale restaurant in Diagon Alley, and he would be coming to escort her to the restaurant at quarter to seven.

"Oh, you know what you should wear? That gorgeous red silk oriental dress you have." Ginny said, sitting in the middle of Hermione's bed as she rifled through her wardrobe.

"Ginny, we are going to La Magie for dinner, not a garden tea party." Hermione said from the wardrobe.

Rolling her eyes, Ginny turned a page in her magazine. She had been tossing out suggestions for the better part of an hour, and Hermione shot down every one, insisting they weren't fancy enough, too fancy, too short, too anything.

"Okay, then wear..." she started.

"I'll wear this." Hermione said, stepping out of the wardrobe. Holding her choice up, she waited for Ginny's opinion.

Ginny looked up when Hermione stood to the left of her, and eyed the dress she was holding. It was a dress that Ginny was dying to borrow for the future, when she knew Oliver would drag her, albeit willingly, to a quidditch banquet. It was a strapless black flowing dress that had a peacock feather design embroidered from the top of the bodice on the left down to just below the waist on the right, and had a longer hem in the back than the front.

"Oooh, that's the one, love." Ginny exclaimed, smiling brightly. "And, with the shorter hem in the front, you can borrow my silver heels. You know, the ones with the diamond chains going from the strap on the top of the foot to the ankle strap?"

"Really? You'd let me borrow your favorite heels?" Hermione asked skeptically.

"Of course. With the side bar note that you let me borrow that dress in a few weeks when Olly has his quidditch banquet." she said, smirking.

Hermione pretended to think about that for a moment. "Hmmm. Deal." she said, reaching out to shake Ginny's hand before the two of them burst out laughing. "Okay, okay. Now that I know what I'm wearing, we need to get going on my hair." she said, hanging the gown up on the back of the door.

"Well, since you're going with a strapless dress, how about pulling it back?" Ginny suggested. "Here, sit down, and I'll do it for you." she said, nodding to the chair in front of the vanity.

"Alright." Hermione said, sitting down. "Would you be offended if I read my Healer's book while you did that? I have a couple things to catch up on."

"No, go right ahead." Ginny said, shaking her head. She smiled in amusement as Hermione almost immediately summoned her book and started reading. As she got to work, Ginny got lost in a memory.

Flashback - Ginny's third year - Hermione's dorm room

"I envy you, Hermione."

"What on earth for?" Hermione asked, looking at her friend in confusion.

Ginny shrugged. "Lots of things, really. But, mainly because of your hair." she said.

"What?"

"It's not easy going through life with 'Weasley red' hair, you know. Everyone knows our family because of the hair color. I can't count how many times I've heard, 'Oh, you must be a Weasley.' I would love to have your hair for just one day."

Hermione snorted. "And you think it's easy having a head full of bushy curls? If anyone should be envious of hair, it's me of you. I mean, you've got long, straight hair while I have this?" she asked, grabbing a handful of curls. "Do you know how many times I've woken up with a mouth full of curls?"

This time Ginny snorted. "I'd rather have your curls than my pin straight hair. The only way I can get my hair to stay curled is if I curl it when it's wet, then use a drying charm followed by a stasis charm."

Hermione sighed. "Alright, alright. We could go round and round on this, so how about this...I'll keep being jealous of your hair, you keep being jealous of mine, and we'll both stop each other from doing something drastic to their hair. Deal?"

"Something drastic? Like what?"

"Oh, you know. Shaving our heads, coloring our hair a ridiculous color...stuff like that." Hermione shrugged.

"Deal." Ginny said immediately, thoughts of Hermione going mad and shaving her head while she showed up with pink and yellow polka dotted hair entering her mind.

End Flashback

"Okay, Mione. How's it look?" Ginny asked, getting the older girl's attention.

Hermione closed her book and sat it on the vanity, and examined her hair in the mirror. Ginny had pulled her hair back into a low chignon, pinning it in place with a black hair clip.

"It looks fantastic, Gin. Thank you!" Hermione exclaimed.

"No problem. Now, let's get your makeup done." she said.

Twenty minutes later, Harry knocked on the bedroom door. Hearing Hermione yell for him to enter, he opened the door and stuck his head in.

"Uh, thought you should know that Neville's here, Mione." he said. Seeing his best friend, he entered the room and gave a low whistle. "Hey, you look great." he said.

Hermione smiled, grabbing her black clutch off the bed. "Thanks, Harry." she said, walking past him. Holding her dress up a bit, she walked slowly down the stairs, butterflies filling her stomach. She was beginning to feel nervous about being around Augusta again. She was also nervous about La Magie, and was suddenly grateful her mother had made her take etiquette lessons as a child.

Stepping off the stairs into the living room, she was surprised to be greeted by a round of whistles and cat calls as Ginny and Harry laughed from behind her.

"Shush, all of you." Molly said, quieting everyone. "Hermione, dear, you look lovely." she said, smiling at her.

"Thank you, Molly." Hermione smiled. As she looked around the room, she was floored by the sight of Neville. Standing by the fireplace, her breath left her. He was wearing dark blue robes and had his hair slicked back. To her, he was so handsome right then, she was tempted to suggest they forget dinner and go someplace quiet and make a little noise.

"Molly's right, Hermione, you look fantastic." she heard. Looking to the left, she was surprised to see Lavender sitting on the sofa beside Ron. She had guessed a while back that the two were making progress when Ron quit griping about being matched with her, but she hadn't seen the two of them together since the family dinner, and didn't spend much time talking with Lavender.

"Thanks, Lavender." she said. "How are you?"

Lavender gave her a small smile. "I'm good, thanks."

Neville cleared his throat. "Uh, no offense, love, but we need to get going."

"Right. Sorry." she said, walking over to him.

"That's alright." he said, taking her arm. "We're flooing back to the Manor, and then we'll apparate with Gran to the restaurant." he said.

"Okay." she said. "Bye, everyone." she waved before stepping into the floo with Neville, shouting, "Longbottom Manor!" and disappearing in a swirl of green flames.

Hermione, mastering floo travel years ago, stepped gracefully out of the fireplace with Neville. She gave him a grateful smile when he used his wand and cleaned soot off of her before he once again took her arm as they walked a few steps before he stopped her.

"Before we meet up with Gran, I just wanted to tell you that you look beautiful, Hermione." he said, looking down at her with a smile.

Hermione gave him a bright smile in return, moving to stand in front of him. "Thank you, Nev. And I think it only fair to tell you how handsome you look in those robes." she said, running her hands up his chest.

Neville grabbed her hands, pressing a gentle kiss on each of the rings he gave her before leaning in and chastely kissing her lipstick painted lips. The two of them stood for a moment, basking in silence and intimacy in the small room. Although unaware to the other, both were having thoughts of ditching dinner and locking themselves away in Neville's bedroom for the night. Especially Hermione as she felt Neville's erect cock pressing into her.

Clearing his throat after a moment, Neville broke the silence. "We, uh...we better get going."

Hermione nodded, knowing he was right, but not caring. "Right." she said, not pulling away from him.

Neville gave her one more kiss before pulling away, quickly readjusting himself, closing his eyes and thinking of anything he could to get his manhood to deflate before he made a fool of himself in front of her.

Hermione, sensing Neville's problem, smirked. Leaning closer to him, she whispered, "Gran in a string bikini, straddling Filch."

Neville groaned and shuddered in disgust as the image Hermione described appeared in his mind. "Thanks for that." he said, making her giggle.

"Are you okay now?" she asked, chuckling.

"Yeah. Definitely good now." he nodded.

Still laughing, Hermione wrapped her arm around his, leading him out of the room. "Come on. I'm suddenly starving." she said.

Neville shook his head in amusement as he lead her toward where he knew his Gran would be waiting for them. He knew his grandmother didn't like to be kept waiting, but would gladly deal with her scorn for just five minutes alone with Hermione.

"Good evening, Miss Granger." Augusta said from the chair she was perched in as the two entered the large living room.

"Good evening, Madam Longbottom. And, please, call me Hermione." she said, smiling slightly at the older woman.

"Well, then, you must call me Augusta." she said, standing. As Hermione reached for her clutch from under her right arm, Augusta quietly gasped as she caught sight of the engagement ring on the young witch's finger. That was a Longbottom heirloom, and not worn by just anyone. She knew Neville knew the story, but was unaware if he had told his betrothed about it.

Clearing her throat, she joined her grandson and his fiancée on the other side of the room. "Let's get a move on, shall we?" she asked, smiling as she walked in front of them to the gates. "You're not opposed to having a few photos taken, are you, Hermione?"

"Uh, not really. Why?" Hermione asked, looking to Neville in confusion. Neville just shrugged as they followed behind her.

"No doubt the press will be there. They like to dawdle outside the doors to La Magie in hopes of getting photos of high profile witches and wizards." Augusta said, stopping in the foyer where Popsy was waiting with her wrap.

"Have a goods evening, Mistress." the elf said, bowing.

"Thank you, Popsy. You as well." Augusta said as Neville held the door open for the two witches.

Review please.

What's up with Hermione's engagement ring? Will Augusta be pleasant? Will the three be mobbed by the press? Find out next time!

Til then!

XOXO - Onyx Obsidian