Hermione's first full week enjoying life as a married witch in the wizarding world was satisfyingly busy and, on the whole, very fulfilling, with a couple of minor glitches.

Sunday dinner at The Burrow had been a delight. Hermione had told Fred that she wanted to go early; there were so many Weasleys to thank for the parts they played in making their wedding go so well, and she wanted to spend time with each of them. But that didn't go quite as planned. Within minutes of her arrival, she had been enlisted by Arthur who claimed that he needed help wiring a muggle plug, but who really seemed to just want some company in his shed over a cup of tea. Hermione felt a bit frustrated at not being able to use her time as she had wanted, but she caught herself and realised that Arthur had done as much to help them as anyone and yet was often the last person to ask for anything. So, with a deep breath, she followed him to the shed, settled into her appointed armchair, summoned a butterbeer from the fridge and let Arthur chat to her about his work and ask questions about the honeymoon while he tinkered with wires.

She was ready to move on when Bill arrived in the shed, though. With a grin and a wink, he gave her a hug and told her that Fleur would love to see her in the house. "Besides, Dad," he announced as he sat in his own armchair, "we can't have her drinking all the beer!" Hermione was touched at being able to witness the relationship between Arthur and his eldest son, and she gave Bill a wave before having second thoughts and popping her head back around the door.

"Bill, what's the best way of contacting Charlie? He said to owl, but is he generally good at replying?"

"He will be if it's you and if you're doing what I think you're doing," Bill answered cryptically. When Hermione raised her eyebrows, he continued in a low voice. "He told me in the pub one evening last Christmas. I was taking the piss about mum getting on to him about his single status. He'd had an awful journey and had downed three firewhiskies straight off, so he spilled the truth without thinking. I'm almost as ignorant as he is about muggle communications, but if there's anything I can do, just say."

"I will," she said. "Thanks, Bill. It'll all be down to what I can do with the little information he has. Fingers crossed…" Bill looked confused, and she laughed. "It's a muggle saying, don't worry." She gave both of the men a wave through the dusty window as she crossed the garden to the house.

As other family members arrived, Hermione handed out all of her and Fred's thank you cards, which also doubled up as invitations to their first pizza night in the roof garden of the flat. "We want to do something nice to say thank you to everyone for giving us a spectacular Weasley wedding," Fred explained, as everyone had finally gathered around the table. "So we're inviting you all over in a couple of weeks for muggle pizza and drinks."

Harry and Ron were particularly excited about this turn of events. Harry had never been allowed to try pizza at the Dursleys', although Dudley had often enjoyed a large one all to himself, and Ron had eaten a slice once and loved it but didn't know how to order it for himself. Hermione was keen to be able to do something for her adoptive family that was, at least to them, a bit out of the ordinary. She still missed her own parents though and, now that the craziness of planning her fast marriage was in the past, she found her thoughts turning more and more to her birth family.

The Sunday roast was as tasty as ever and the only slight downside was the result of George and Fred's unannounced testing of a new product. They had a tendency to take something along to test on an unsuspecting subject over dinner every now and again, but Molly had become tired of having her meals tampered with. Bill's curse breaking training had been enlisted – again – and put to use on an undetectable deflecting charm which he had placed over the entire table. It meant that any charm added to food by someone sitting at the table would bounce back and affect those who had brought it instead of the intended recipient. Unfortunately for Hermione, there was no provision to protect an innocent party who might be wedged firmly in between the perpetrators and so, like Fred and George, she spent the following twenty-four hours with a voice which varied in pitch with every sentence that she spoke.

Molly gave the three of them a care package as they left The Burrow. She passed the freezer bag to George, telling them, "it's meals for the week, and there's easily enough for four if Angelina wants to join you."

She received a loud kiss on the cheek from Hermione – who was choosing not to speak more than necessary – and then a sandwich-style hug from her two tallest sons in response. By contrast, they were happy to squeak and bellow as a demonstration of their new 'throat bloat' sweets. "Get away with you," Molly joked, swatting at them each in turn, but it was clear to see how much she enjoyed their attention.

When Monday morning dawned, Hermione's goal for the day was to owl the rest of the thank you letters to their friends as well as writing to Charlie. Having not made it to her coffee shop on the Sunday, she took herself to Diagon Alley through the twins' shop – wordlessly, as her voice still wasn't back to normal and she refused to allow them to turn her into a product demonstration – and spent a pleasant hour or so trying hazlenut flavoured coffee and writing to her brother-in-law.

Sipping her drink, Hermione decided to give Charlie a few details of the honeymoon but, wary that someone else might pick up and read her letter, told him that he would have to be satisfied with knowing that she had taken his advice and would tell him more only when she could do so in person and in private. She then went on to describe the cove, the situation with the Ministry and Kingsley's plan and, finally, her plan to begin trying to track down Lauren over the coming days. 'I want to double check that you're happy for me to go ahead with my search?' she wrote. 'And if there's anything you'd rather I didn't say or tell her if I do manage to get in touch, then write back and tell me now. I won't do anything til I hear back from you, because I want to make sure that I only do what you want me to.'

Charlie wrote back the following day, his letter arriving as she was taking a bath. Hermione had quickly figured out that the best way of maximising morning harmony in the flat was to either get up a half hour earlier than Fred and George so that she could enjoy her shower first without holding them up or, if her plans didn't involve leaving the house in the morning, she found it was better to stay out of their way and in her pyjamas until they had gone downstairs to the shop. On those days, she would often enjoy a bath, and she was working her way through her own set of glittery bath products like the ones Molly had given her access to in the run-up to her wedding.

When she did lay in the bath or otherwise have time to herself, Hermione found herself adopting Fred and George's habit of coming up with new ideas for the shop. She had noted that, even though George had used a basket to hold the collection of Wonder Witch products that he gave to his mum for her birthday, it hadn't occurred to them to gather their popular glitterbubble products into gift-wrapped sets for customers to buy. Hermione was confident that, if they did this, they could easily increase their sales, especially as the holidays neared and people were looking for easy presents for family and friends.

She was contemplating different wrapping options and how muggle materials might be combined with magic when she heard a soft tapping on the open window. Deciding that she had bather for long enough, Hermione got out of the bath, wrapping herself in a large fluffy towel before heading to the living room. A small brown owl was carrying a longish letter from Charlie which was wrapped in a note, advising Hermione of the owl's name (Elena) and that she would really appreciate a good meal and an overnight rest before the long flight back to Romania, if Hermione could please arrange that.

"Of course we can, Elena," Hermione told her, opening the window wider. "Come in here; you can settle anywhere you like and I'll look for some treats. I'll leave the window open in case you want to fly to the roof garden though; there's a tree or two up there that you might enjoy."

Unsure about where the owl treats were kept, Hermione tried to use the bond to find out from Fred. She was fairly sure that she had done a decent job of visualising Elena but, try as she might, she couldn't interpret Fred's response.

After a few minutes of searching, the door from the shop to the flat opened slightly and she heard George's voice. "They're behind the charms encyclopaedia, to keep them away from the puffs, but if that's Elena then she already knows." He laughed as he emerged into the room and saw the little owl pecking at the shelf, clearly frustrated with the delay on Hermione's part.

"Sorry!" Hermione laughed, pulling the book out and shaking several treats into the palm of her hand so that Elena could take her pick. "Look, I'll put the rest here," she sprinkled them onto the shelf, "and then you can decide when you're hungry and what you'd like."

Because she accepted George's invitation to go downstairs and participate in canary cream making, it wasn't until the afternoon that Hermione settled into one of the garden benches, while Elena snoozed on a branch of a small apple tree. She had nipped to a muggle charity shop after her trip to the owlery the previous day to buy some coloured cushions and throws to brighten up the garden, arranging herself amongst them before opening Charlie's letter. Hermione eagerly devoured the contents, discovering more than she had previously known about the rhythm of his life in Romania and his love of the dragons. He had assured her that he had no secrets from Lauren – other than the obvious, which was his magical status – and that Hermione had carte blanche in her communications.

'Do whatever you think is best, sweets!' Charlie had written. 'Your judgement is better than mine here. If you need to tell her about my being a wizard (if that's allowed? I don't know the rules?), then that's fine by me, though I don't know how that would go. It's been such a long time and it's a crazy thing to tell someone who doesn't know about our world. I trust you, love. Whatever will be, will be. Without you, I have no chance of finding her, so even someone as bad at arithmancy as I am can see that anything you do gives me more chance than I have now. Feel free tell her how I feel if you think it'll help. I was nuts to not follow her when we said goodbye and I've thought of her every day since. I'd do anything to see her again, even just as friends. I know it's mushy, but it's the truth. Thanks, love. You're the best sister-in-law. But don't tell Fleur!'

The rest of Charlie's letter covered more practical issues and he also reminded Hermione that he had some leave due, adding that his boss was hassling him to take it. He asked whether he could come and stay with her and Fred and George for a few days whether or not she was successful in her search, explaining that he didn't always want to base himself at The Burrow now that he was older, and Hermione found herself liking that idea a lot.

Spurred on by his words, she decided to spend the next day visiting her parents' old house to pick up some of the muggle things that she would need in her search for Lauren. Then, she settled back onto the bench but had only rested her eyes for two minutes when Fred's head popped up from the flat below.

"You alright, love?"

Hermione flicked her sunglasses back down over her eyes. "I'm fine, sweetheart, thank you. Why?"

Fred's eyes widened and his heart swelled with love. Although he (and George and Charlie and most of the other Weasleys) used a range of terms of endearment when addressing Hermione, this was the first time that she had ever used one to address him – or, as far as he knew, anyone else. He knelt in front of her and gave her a soft kiss, weaving his long fingers into her hair. "Because you felt a bit melancholy through the bond, and we're not busy so I've come to check."

"I'm OK, Fred. Thank you. Charlie's letter made me think about lost love a bit, and it also made me realise I need to go to my mum and dad's house tomorrow to pick up my laptop for my research. And that made me feel sad, but I'm OK."

Fred prescribed and administered a cuddle, offering to take her back downstairs to keep her busy, but Hermione shook her head. "I'm OK. It's nearly five, anyway, and I thought I should get something out of your mum's care package for dinner?"

"Oh, good plan, love," he agreed. "We'll be up soon. It's such a nice afternoon and you're making it lovely up here; we could eat here if you like?"

Hermione agreed that that sounded like a great idea, and in the end George took his and Angelina's half of the shepherd's pie to Angelina's flat, leaving Fred and Hermione to spend a quiet evening together. Before he apparated off the roof, the younger twin reminded them that they didn't need to worry about dinner tomorrow. "It's date night!" he said gleefully. "How about if I tell Phil to expect us about six thirty?"

Hermione was so grateful for the timing of date night, which turned out to be the perfect end to a stressful and upsetting Wednesday. She had declined Fred's offer of company, conscious that he and George needed to be in the shop as much as possible, but when she reached her childhood home she wished she had accepted. It was painful to be there and to have no idea whether her parents would ever return. She took the opportunity to carry out some boring but useful muggle home maintenance tasks; dusting cobwebs, wiping worksurfaces and flushing the loos as well as gathering her laptop and the solar charger that she would need to run it in the magical world. She also picked up some strings of solar fairy lights and a few outside ornaments to brighten up the roof garden at the flat, knowing that her parents would be delighted to give them to her and the boys, but she was keen not to dwell there. Feeling lower than she had for a while, Hermione took herself to her usual hidden corner of the back garden to apparate back to the flat as soon as she could.

When she returned, she went down to the shop to collect extended hugs from both of the twins, who had been with her in spirit and sending love through their shared bond throughout her trip. "Come with me," said George, leading her to the backroom by the hand. "We've saved you some pygmy puffs who need feeding and brushing; that's guaranteed to cheer anyone up after a rubbish day!"

And it did. As did the evening that the four of them spend at Phil's restaurant. It wasn't quite as warm as it had been during the week of Fred and Hermione's honeymoon although, as Fred pointed out, "this IS Devon!" and it gave them an excuse to cuddle up as they chatted. Hermione and Angelina found themselves on an unofficial product consultation panel, as the boys had come up with several ideas which they wanted to run past their favourite witches. Most were good, although Hermione did veto a quill which allowed faster copying of homework. "It's not going to help anyone in the long run," she told the laughing men. She spent the rest of the evening trying to work out whether it was a serious suggestion or if they had thrown it in there just to wind her up. Her interpretation of the energies that she could feel through their bond pointed to it being the latter.

After the stress of her Wednesday trip, Thursday and Friday were relatively calm days for Hermione. Each morning, she would say goodbye to the boys as they headed to the shop and she embarked upon research. Charlie had given her a business card which contained Lauren's full name and work address, but Hermione had quickly confirmed her suspicion that the reason Charlie's friend couldn't track her down easily was because she had moved on from the university she was working at when they had met.

That didn't deter Hermione though. She was good at research, and she enjoyed it, too. Once or twice a day, she would pop down to the shop or into Diagon Alley for a proper break, and she was also managing to catch up with other aspects of her life. She had a lunch meeting with Kingsley, in which he explained that the Wizengamot had agreed to his new plan in principle and he felt very confident but, as was normal for the Wizengamot, nothing was going to happen overnight. They agreed to meet again the following week so that he could update Hermione again. And on Thursday evening, in a further effort to cheer herself up, she took Fred and George on a surprise trip into muggle London to see a film. She made them put their wands into her handbag before they approached the cinema and was very glad she had done so when she saw how they reacted to the events on the screen, but they loved the experience and begged to make it a regular event.

So by five o'clock on Friday evening, Hermione Granger-Weasley was feeling very satisfied. She was fully unpacked and her laundry was up to date. (Fred's wasn't. She had cheerfully taken Angelina's advice on that one!) She had strung fairy lights, planted herbs and generally made a great start on turning the roof garden into a cosy outdoor space that they could all enjoy. Fred had popped up to the flat earlier with a bag of fresh groceries and made a salad which they were going to have with a lasagne that Molly had sent. George had agreed to be in charge of setting the table and putting the food in the oven, so she could relax and enjoy doing a bit of cross stitching in the early evening sun.

Best of all, Hermione was ninety-nine point five per cent sure that she had tracked down Charlie's Lauren and was now in possession of her current email address.

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Please let me know what you think :-) I know this and the last chapter were a bit less exciting than some of the others, but sometimes less exciting things have to happen in order to set the scene for the important events! :-)