Thank you so much for all your continued messages and reviews! This chapter was inspired by Chemrunner57's "I Will Survive", although in their story; the award goes down very differently. I hope you enjoy xxx

Witch Weekly announces October's Batchelor of the Month

One of the best parts of having Betsy as a colleague, Hermione thought, was her never- ending enthusiasm. She loved working, always contributed eagerly to discussions in the office and best of all, was a great listener. Even after a month of working with Hermione at the Ministry, the house-elf's enthusiasm hadn't waned.

Hermione was still surprised, however, when the elf entered the office and hurtled full speed towards their desk, clutching a piece of parchment in her hands. "Miss Granger, Miss Granger…"

Hermione tutted softly. It didn't matter how many times she asked Betsy, she still refused to call anyone in their office by their first name. "Betsy, I've told you – please call me Hermione…"

"Miss Granger… I has news!" The small house-elf flung herself into her desk chair and waved the parchment at Hermione. "Last night, a not Hogwarts elf appeared at the castle. It was really late and we was all busy getting the school ready for a new week of lessons so we didn't notice it. Hagrid almost fell over him as he went to go to his hut! It's all hush hush. I tried to go see them or find out something but it was time to come to work. Hagrid gave me this…"

Betsy finally let go of the parchment and passed it to Hermione who immediately recognised Hagrid's scrawl.

"Hermione,

Come and see me when you can. Bring Harry and Ron.

Hagrid"

Hermione frowned at the parchment. "Do you know if Hagrid wants to see Harry and Ron to be sociable, or because he feels he needs to get Aurors involved?"

Betsy shook her head. "He did not say Miss Granger…"

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment, the cogs in her head turning quickly as she tried to find anything to read between the lines on Hagrid's note. "I'm really reluctant to get the Auror department involved for no reason. Maybe Hagrid just wants to see them? Do you fancy coming down to the Auror department with me to pay them a visit?"

Betsy let out a small squeak. "Yes please! Mister Potter and Mister Weasley are good friends of Betsy's now. I like seeing them…"

"Come on then…" Hermione pulled on her robes and started to lead the small house-elf out of the department.

Hermione weaved her way through the myriad of piles of paperwork, rogue whiteboards and ignored internal memos towards the untidiest corner of the Auror Department, a confused look on her face. Every available inch of Harry and Ron's shared desk was covered in presents, flowers, boxes of chocolates and haughty looking owls with rolls of parchment still attached to their legs. Amongst all this, Ron and Harry were attempting to work.

"What in Merlin's name is going on?!" Hermione approached them cautiously.

Harry turned his chair towards the newcomers, trying to push his scowl into some form of welcoming smile. "It's October 1st isn't it? Witch Weekly have just announced their Batchelor of the Month…"

Hermione looked even more confused. "But you got married months ago Harry, everyone knows that!"

"Yep! But it wasn't me who got it!" Harry smirked and nodded towards Ron who was looking really sullen and glum.

The ginger wizard suddenly shoved the owl who had been repeatedly pecking at his hand and Hermione tried her hardest to suppress a laugh. Obviously, the news of their new relationship hadn't reached the Witch Weekly offices. She spotted the small glass award sat among the flowers on Ron's desk and picked it up to take a better look.

"Oh!"

"Oh!" Ron mimicked her in a nasty tone, lifting his head from his paperwork. "Don't sound so surprised…"

"Well did they not warn you? Surely they have to ask if you'd like to accept and well… you're not exactly a Batchelor anymore either…"

"Of course they didn't bloody warn me! I came in this morning to see the award waiting for me among all this shit!"

Hermione ignored Ron's surly attitude towards her and picked up a random bunch of flowers. She detached the card and read it out loud.

"'Dear Ronald. Thank you so much for saving the Wizarding World. I think you're so handsome. I would like to personally thank you if you have the spare time by cooking you dinner and then…'" Hermione suddenly blushed bright red. "Oh my, that's quite graphic and she's put her address on here too…" She held the card in front of her between two fingers, a disgusted look on her face.

"Yep! Seems like you've got competition 'Mione. Ronald here can have his pick of any single witch in the country. Probably some of the taken ones too…"

Hermione knew Harry was only teasing, but she couldn't help but feel a bit sick by all the attention Ron was getting. Their relationship was still fresh and new but they hadn't had a chance to speak about her leaving. Maybe Ron was still harbouring feelings of resentment for her and maybe one of these witches could offer something better for Ron, something more stable. Her good mood had instantly disappeared.

"Fuck off about it Harry!" Ron crossed his arms defensively and turned his scowl back to Hermione. "Are you down here to tease me about it too?!"

"No…" Hermione was trying her hardest to not let Ron's mood affect her but combined with her own sudden insecurities, she couldn't help but rise against his mood. "You know I don't read Witch Weekly and I didn't have a clue about this. We don't really discuss this magazine upstairs…"

"So why are you here?"

"Hagrid wants to see us!" She flung the piece of parchment at Ron a little too hard, who read it quickly then immediately looked excited. He jumped up from his seat and reached for his robes.

"Brilliant, let's go…"

"We can't just turn up at Hogwarts Ron. It's the middle of the school day for a start. I'll send a message back with Betsy tonight. Betsy, tell them what you told me…"

Betsy, who had been hovering just slightly away from the trio stepped forward, excitedly retelling her story.

"So we can't just go bombing in there. But Hagrid has asked for you two to come with me. Do you think you can get permission from Robards to come with me? Or can you take some time off or something? I don't think it's Auror business, but if Hagrid asked for you then it must mean something…"

Harry reached over his desk and took the note from Ron's hands, reading it quietly. "Yeah, I reckon we can probably get permission to come. Robards is keen for us to accompany workers on other Ministry business, so this is probably right up his street!"

"Brilliant…" Hermione took the note back from Harry. "What if I write back and say Thursday then?"

Harry nodded his agreement as Ron flung himself back into his seat, pushing over more flowers as he did so.

Hermione helped herself to a chocolate from a box that was already open. "So you don't mind the edible presents then?" She gave Ron a teasing smile, trying her best to cheer him up.

"They're mine aren't they? I can eat what I want…" Ron shot her another frown.

She let out a heavy sigh. "Right… I'll leave you with Grumpy then…." She threw her best friend and apologetic look before pushing herself up from where she was leaning against their desks.

Ron wasn't ready to stop taking his frustrations out on Hermione. "That's two of your boyfriends on the front cover of Witch Weekly now Hermione. You collecting us? I'm surprised Skeeter hasn't tried getting an interview with you!"

Hermione threw him a hurt look. "Maybe it'll be two of my ex-boyfriends on the cover of the magazine…" She turned on her heel quickly, leaving Betsy with Harry and Ron.

Harry glanced quickly at Betsy, who was stood looking nervous and obviously unsure of whether to follow Hermione or not before turning back to Ron. He raised his eyebrows at him.

Ron sighed, his bad mood towards Hermione melting instantly. He decided to speak, before Harry could tell him off. "I know, I know…" He rubbed his hand over his face before pushing himself up from his desk, following after Hermione. He caught up with her at the elevators, grabbing her hand just as she was about to step into one, pulling her back to him.

"I'm sorry, that was really awful thing for me to say…" He frowned as she resisted briefly but then stepped back towards Ron. "This morning has just been a little overwhelming…"

Hermione sighed, but her body relaxed slightly. "I'm trying so hard to not rock the boat and do whatever you need me to do Ron, but you do not get to speak to me like that – especially about something that's completely out of my control. Do you think I'm going to enjoy this?! You're getting all this attention from all these witches and there's nothing I can do to stop it! All of these witches throwing themselves at you, sending you explicit messages and presents. You really could have anyone you wanted right now…"

Ron let go of her hand, surprised slightly by how insecure this had made her feel. He shoved his hands into his pockets and stared at his feet. "I didn't ask for any of this, Hermione…"

"You should know that Witch Weekly publishes tripe like this all the time and their speciality is doing things without people's permission. It should be illegal. Look at how they flipped Lavender's article last month. They ignored her pleas to pull it. It seems like they just won't leave us the hell alone and it's pissing me off!" Hermione stomped her foot in frustration. "We have far more important things going on right now…"

Hermione's outburst seemed to calm him down slightly. It made him realise that there was someone on his side that wouldn't tease him the way Harry and his brothers do. He sighed and stepped forward, closing the gap between them before taking one of her hands in both of his.

"I'm sorry I'm a git. But I don't want any of these witches, I promise… I only want you!"

Hermione softened slightly and lifted her spare hand to push his fringe off his forehead. "I'm on your side Ron, I promise." She reached up on her tiptoes to press a soft kiss against his lips. "Don't rise to the teasing… you know what they're all like…" She smiled slightly as he nodded and she pulled him closer into a tight hug. "Do you want me to send something into the magazine to tell them about us? Because I will do it if you need it?"

Ron rested his forehead against hers. "No… it's okay. I want to keep you out of all this, you don't need the publicity affecting Dobby's Law. They'll get bored of me eventually. Thank you though…"

"That's okay…" Hermione moved in to kiss him again, but Ron was disturbed by one of the lifts pinging open. A group of witches emerged, immediately giggling at the sight of Ron. She sighed as the scowl immediately reappeared on his face. She squeeze his hand to bring his attention back to her. "Come to mine tonight, I'll cook you dinner…"

"Okay…" Ron reluctantly let go of her. "I think Betsy is talking Harry's ear off. I'll send her up once she's finished fawning over Harry…"

Hermione smiled slightly and final stepped into the elevator. Ron watched until she was completely out of sight then headed back to his desk, his mood improving slightly. When he got back to Harry and Betsy, the desks were cleared of presents, aside from a few boxes of chocolates; making him feel even better.

"Where are all my presents?" He threw himself down into his desk chair.

"Mister Potter asked if Betsy could do anything with them, so I sent them to the Hogwarts kitchens so they didn't make Mister Weasley sad anymore…"

"Thank you Betsy…" He gave the house-elf a smile before picking up some paperwork, determined to just get on with his day.