Harry and Hermione kept in light contact throughout the month. Hedwig was extremely helpful and patient. She understood, or seemed to understand, that Hermione was a busy woman who had much to do within the walls of the ministry. She would sit and wait for hours on end for Hermione to come home, instead of coming to the ministry and delivering and demanding an immediate answer. The only time Hermione ever had Hedwig come to the ministry was when Harry needed immediate help with something or the bird sensed she wasn't busy and stressed and had a few seconds to spare to read and write a letter.

Hermione really loved that bird, and whenever she was home would always let Hedwig feast on owl treats and whatever drink she fancied herself. She kept extra packs of bacon in the fridge and would always fry up a few slices for Hedwig. Harry once mentioned in a letter that "Hedwig's been looking rather thick lately. You haven't been spoiling her, have you?" Hermione read the line aloud to Hedwig and when the owl hooted indignantly, she penned the following sentence: "No, I have no idea why. Maybe she's been catching a few extra mice? The fields around my house are full of them."

Hedwig hadn't had the time to bring his reply that day, and she admitted she eagerly awaited his response. He usually had the tact to answer every single point she could hope to raise in her letter, trying to drag every phrase he could out of her. If she mentioned something, he would ask about it. She wished she could say she held the same tact, but she was so scatterbrained lately with the ministry. The Department of Mysteries had had another corridor excavated and she had to figure out with to do with several man-sized copies of the planets, especially Jupiter, whose storm was getting out of hand. They couldn't be destroyed or easily banished, and now sat in the hallway outside her door so that she got rust spots and bits of ice stuck on her skirt when she tried to edge her way past them.

His response opened with: "Hermione, nice try, but I caught Hedwig eating a piece of bacon the other day that I definitely didn't give her. You're spoiling my owl, Hermione." She had, of course, read this aloud to Hedwig, and the owl had seemingly had a good chuckle along with her at his proclamation. Her smile faded somewhat as she skimmed the next few lines.

"Don't be mad or anything, but I've already called in and told Mrs. Hopkirk you won't be in on Tuesday. I didn't realize you were such a busy woman! If you ever need help or want to bounce some ideas off of someone, I'm always happy to offer my opinion and support to you. On Tuesday, I'll have a number of witches coming over to your place for about an hour to take your measurements for your wedding dress. Pick any style you want. If you want it long, get it long. If you want it to poof out like Cinderella, make it poof. Talk to them. Laugh with them. Have a good time. I really want the best for you. I know this isn't what either of us had in mind, but I can promise you I'll do my best to help you.

"I was hoping to come over and pick you up for dinner after your appointment on Tuesday. If not, that's okay, but I'd like to spend some time with you. Give me a chance. I'll even come to help you with work!"

There was more, but Hermione stopped reading there. She wiped angry tears from her eyes though she wasn't sure what she was angry about. Maybe the fact he'd taken her off work without her permission? Yes, that was definitely it. How dare he?! How dare he interfere with her life and how she felt and most of all her work!? She took a roll of parchment she now kept stored in the dining room so she could pen her responses and read them aloud to Hedwig. She scribbled along for a good six and a few more inches, breaking two quills in the process. Then she creased the parchment so hard it tore and handed the now lopsided parchment to Hedwig.

The white bird took the parchment in her beak and flew into the kitchen. She heard the trash compartment open and then heard it close. Hedwig returned, letterless. Hermione stared at the bird, shocked at its audacity. Amber eyes stared her down, and Hermione relented.

"Okay, You're right." She told Hedwig. "I'll take a break and have myself a cup of tea. Then I'll finish reading the letter and write back."

Amber continued staring, but softer than before. Hermione sighed and lifted her hand. Hedwig relented, leaning forward into Hermione's palm so her fingers could work gently into Hedwig's neck.

"Okay," Hermione whispered quietly. "I'll try to see it from his perspective and give him a response he deserves." It was probably time anyway. He put thought into her letters, and she was always so rushed and haphazard with his. She drew her hand back from Hedwig and the bird waddled closer, pecking at the locks of curly hair that framed her face. Hermione chuckled, then walked into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. Soon, she sat down at her bar with a steaming cup set on a coaster. She breathed in the scent and then retrieved Harry's letter.

"Give me a chance. I'll even come to help you with work! I think I'm starting to realize why you were so frustrated with me on that first Monday I took you out. I must have caused you a heck of a lot of trouble. I'm sorry, but there were things that needed to be changed immediately. I'm not going to try and explain it to you right now. Sorry.

"You mentioned you have a lot of mice in the fields around you. I realize there's not a lot of time left till we get married, but this reminded me that we haven't really talked about living arrangements for after. Given certain circumstances, I think it may be best we live apart for a little while. I realize I'm a pretty messed up guy. If you like though, you could come live with me in any house you choose. I know you don't want my charity, but I do have a house or two that I inherited. Maybe you'd like to live in Dumbledore's house? I know you have a lot of respect for him. Or, if you like, I could come live with you. I don't know how big your house is, but we could make it work if you don't want to let it go.

"You sounded really upset in your last letter. Is everything okay? Is there anything I can help with? I understand work must be stressful, there are so many things that need to get done! It looks like a lot of it gets filtered through to you. Mafalda speaks really highly of you! She says you're really smart. It's of great quality. I suppose I'm a lucky guy.

"Talk to you soon, Harry."

Hermione drummed her fingers on the table and then left to get her roll of parchment. When she walked into her office, however, a stack of printer paper and ballpoint pens caught her eye. She picked one up and discovered that it felt unfamiliar, strange in her hand. That settled it. She took it downstairs and wrote a full three pages to Harry Potter, addressing every point he'd raised in his letter and including a bit thanking him for his patience and concern and apologizing for being so snappish with him. When she finally put her limited calligraphy skills to use in signing her name, she felt she'd finally made progress with her fiancé.

She was so proud of herself that she rolled it all into a scroll and tied it with a ribbon. Hedwig, sensing her pride, took the parcel with utmost care and left immediately. Hermione watched her feathered friend disappear against the stars and then got ready for bed.

She imagined Harry unrolling the scroll and smiling as he read it. A deep sense of satisfaction filled her; even more than when she'd finally managed to get a Scottish Healer to come in and train their hospitals. The planets had been donated to a new Magical Museum of London, which had originally been one of Harry Potter's ideas. That meant it was now under a volunteer administration and the planets(and several other things that had been clogging her office) were gone.

All in all, life was lovely.

"Arm up."

She lifted her limb and stared at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a crème cover-up, and women with long, tapered fingers perfect for sewing were waving wands to control the various white and yellow measuring tapes fluttering around her arms and waist. One of the women's names was Anne, and she was in her second trimester of pregnancy. Hermione casually wondered if that'd be her soon. She hoped not; she still had a lot to take into account at the ministry. The other lady's name was Mary, and she was an older, matronly woman with white hair and a lisp when she said her th's. They had an assistant named Karen, who had a scar over her eye from some point in the war.

Anne gently pulled a tape around Hermione's hips and waved her wand so that a number of pins flew towards them and gently marked the coverup along the widest part of her waist. "When are you getting married, Hermione?" She asked.

Hermione pushed her bangs out of her face. It was a nervous habit she needed to break, but oh well. "Umm, in a little over three months."

"Haven't set a date yet?"

"No." Hermione half laughed and half choked out. Her parents were picking a date since they had to find a date that worked with Hermione's work schedule and Harry's everything, not to mention a good even point with all their close friends and family in both the muggle world and the magical world. Hermione sighed as she thought. She'd simply sent her parents her schedule and expected to learn when her future anniversary was on the day they sent her a copy of her own wedding announcement. It would be a private affair, as Harry had been worrying a lot about the press.

The press wasn't worrying her too much. There'd been a legal battle in the early days of the reformation of the Daily Prophet; the jury had ruled for the sake of the newspaper that they could print people's names all they wanted, but they weren't allowed to follow people around and once they'd been told to stop, they were forbidden from informally requesting an interview. So in reality, if she told them to knock it off, all she'd have to do was avoid any press conferences so they couldn't bombard her with questions.

Mary and Karen took her hands and led her to sit down. Hermione was glad – her legs were getting tired. "Here's the fun part!" Karen giggled as she produced a book and a page. "What sort of dress do you want?"

Hermione opened the cover and smiled. It was filled with fabric samples and style drawings. "Why!" She exclaimed as she pointed at a drawing of a dress that looked like it'd come from the 1400's. "How silly is that!"

Both Karen and Mary laughed along with her as Anne flicked her wand and packed up all their things. "Oh look at this one," Karen said as she flipped a few pages forward. "This was our most popular among purebloods three years ago." She pointed to an artists rendering of a young woman pursing her lips forward into a duck-like face. She wore a dress that had the wideness of Cinderella's, but only for the bottom five inches of the gown. The top of the gown looked prudish, as the collar came all the way up her neck and leveled off at her chin. Sleeves with attached gloves had Hermione snorting. In a rather vulgar contrast, the bottom of the dress had a humongous slit running up the middle. It finished about three inches from her hips, and Hermione could only imagine what that would have looked like coming up the aisle. Anne looked over the top of the book as the last supplies tucked themselves into pockets and baskets and let out an unladylike snort.

"Oh yes, I remember having to make variations of that monstrosity for about four months straight." She shook her head. "Wizarding style is so outdated."

"You're muggleborn?" Hermione asked.

"Half-blood," Anne answered. "My mother remarried when I was fifteen, and I remember she flat out refused any magical dress. She got married the muggle way twice, and she had one of the prettiest dresses I've ever seen." Anne took the book, closed it, and opened it at the very back.

"I think that this one is the prettiest one in the whole book," She told Hermione as she handed it back. On the page was a lovely dress. It had short sleeves and a fitted bodice. The skirt was made of a simple curtain of white fabric, with no designs or extra additives. "What we do," Anne explained, "Is we embroider the bodice and apply cooling charms and such."

"Practical," Hermione murmured. Anne nodded.

"And we could lower the back and raise the front. With an extra spell, we can ensure you won't trip coming down the aisle."

"I like it. A lot. What makes you say this is the prettiest though?" She lifted the pages and immediately spotted a dress with a skirt shaped like a blooming rose a few pages away.

"Because of the material we use right down here." Mary interrupted Hermione's musings. "It charms glitter into the air as you move." She turned the page and showed Hermione a magical photo of a young bride and her groom rotating around each other. The glitter was sparkling even in the photo as they spun.

"Oh, I see," Hermione said. "Doesn't it leave a mess?"

"No. The glitter vanishes after thirty seconds." Mary told her.

"I like it. Can we do this one? Just like it is in the photo?"

"Plus the cooling charms and anti-tripping?" Karen asked as she started to scribble everything down.

"Yes please." Hermione was sure she would need them. Heels weren't her forte.

Anne examined the photo. "I can easily do it again." She murmured, then frowned. "Don't you want a design embroidered?"

A design? What kind of design?

There was a tap on the window. Hermione glanced up and smiled as she glimpsed Harry's wise, white owl. Anne waved her wand and the window unlocked. A simple white postcard was tied to her leg. Hermione untied it with a flourish and a smile and rubbed Hedwig's head.

"How about Hedwig? You pick whatever design you want and just make sure to include a little Hedwig in it. And a book would be nice too." She added as an afterthought. Hedwig perched on Hermione's shoulder. Anne examined the bird.

"A challenge." She said. "Alright." Hedwig puffed up her chest and hooted.

Harry showed up at 6:28, and she was ready and waiting for him. He smiled politely as she tried to force happiness into her fake grin. "So." He started. "I do have a plan, but I'd like your input on how you want your evening to run?"

The verbal jab at their first outing couldn't have been sharper than if he'd run her through with a sword. She tried to appear uncaring. "Smoothly." She told him. He chuckled.

"Me too, more than anything." He said. They shared a short laugh, and he extended his elbow. She rolled her eyes and placed her finger delicately under his arm. They needed to get this right, she told herself. She needed to have a little more leeway for him and she needed to be more understanding.

There was the familiar squeezing-through-a-tube feeling of apparition. Hermione closed her eyes and imagined she was on a roller coaster for the few seconds it lasted, and then she heard music. She opened her eyes to discover she was in a dark alleyway. Pebbles were rolling around on the ground. She let go of Harry to reach out and brush the wall, only to find it was vibrating to the beat of the loud music.

Where are we?" Hermione asked Harry.

"Muggle Germany, I hope that's alright."

"You can just apparate like that? That far?" Hermione's eyes bugged out.

"I have a license." He held up his hands. "I actually made a mini stop on the tip of the Netherlands as well."

"Wow," Hermione muttered. "That's-that's very impressive actually."

"Thanks." He shrugged, clearly embarrassed. She swallowed and decided to help him out by changing the subject.

"What's the plan?" She asked. He shook himself back to reality.

"This is a dance club. I've never been here, but Neville Longbottom – do you know him?" He paused to wait for her answer.

"Yes, isn't he on school-related travels?" She answered. Neville Longbottom had asked her to a ball at Hogwarts back in fourth year. Unfortunately, she'd already been asked by Viktor Krum. Hermione smiled at the memory of that night.

"He is," Harry confirmed. "And he stayed a while in Germany. Told me about this particular spot. Said it was one of his favorites. It's Germany, so there'll be beer and wine, but I don't drink much. My idea was we could spend time here, get dinner and such, and then hop a street car to an area of the city called Dorotheenstadt."

"Dorotheenstadt?" She interrupted. "We're in Berlin?" She wandered up the alleyway and took a peek outside. Harry looked startled.

"Yes – have you been here before?"

She waved him off a little. "Business with the ministry back during the war. Didn't work out too well and they told me to start heading back before I even reached here. Shame. I learned lots of German preparing for that trip. Anyway, we were planning on meeting up at the historic Reichstag Building, which is in Dorotheenstadt." She tore her eyes away from the city view to look back at Harry. "Sorry, I started to ramble."

He shrugged. "That's fine. I'm impressed. How much German do you know?"

"I may or may not have memorized the first hundred-and-fifty pages of a German dictionary." She bit her lip to stop herself from giggling. "Enough to read a sign, ask for directions, and cuss a crook out."

He laughed. "Then you might find our final stop a bit more interesting. I was thinking we may stop by the Humboldt-Universitat Berlin; it has one of the largest libraries in the country."

Hermione gasped. "But, wouldn't it have already closed?"

"Germany's an hour ahead of London. It's open for another two hours." He offered his arm again. "Want to eat first though?" She replaced her fingers along his elbow and he led her leisurely into the street and then up to the door of the restaurant. He opened the door for her and let her slip through.

It was a homely place with very loud music. Warm lights and the thick smell of bread and beer. She was reminded distinctively of the Gryffindor common room as she looked around at the thick array of reds and golds. Her shoes were rather thin, she noticed suddenly, and she could feel the carpet beneath the soles. The restaurant consisted of the welcome area, a very large central room where couples were square dancing, and smaller alcoves where others looked on in fond adoration. She turned to look over her shoulder as Harry let the door swing shut and saw a cartoonish painting of a squashed man behind the door. She laughed, but almost couldn't hear herself over the music.

Harry walked to ask for a table in English, but she quickly stopped him. With a broad, self-assured smile, she asked: "Haben zu ein Table?" The waiter smiled at her victory before he showed them to a table in an alcove.

After they were seated with two identical menus laid in front of them, Harry leaned over to yell "These are all in German, I might need you to translate." They both laughed. "That was really impressive!"

"I didn't learn German for nothing!" She called back. She opened her own menu and was pleased to see she recognized most of the items on here. She quickly found one labeled lasagna and with a smirk, turned her menu around to Harry. "Need help translating that?" She yelled.

He laughed soundlessly, then did a mock glare.

As Hermione pulled the menu back to herself, she realized she was smiling. What an evening. What a place. And this was only the beginning. She did end up translating the menu for Harry, but when he ordered she couldn't hear a thing he was saying. She wondered vaguely if they would end up ordering the same thing again.

Actually, it was by far the best date she'd ever had with Harry Potter. They danced some, but not a lot because neither of them enjoyed it all that much. The only dance Hermione had ever been to aside from Daddy-Daughter dances when she was in elementary was the Yule Ball. She and Krum had danced four dances together but they talked more than they danced, and eventually they decided to walk around the lake instead. That had been the nice part of the evening, before he'd leaned in for a kiss. It'd been too dark for her to see and they both missed each other. After that, things had gone a little awkward, and fizzled out into a comfortable evening followed by a totally platonic relationship.

She wondered if she and Harry would be able to pull off a kiss.

The food was great. She and Harry didn't get the same thing, but she was sure that was partly because he'd started to clue into their similar tastes and decided to get something different than what she would pick. He did seem to enjoy himself though.

They didn't get to Dorotheenstadt before the college closed, so they made plans for two weeks from then and made it a date.

Around 11 o'clock Harry extended his arm to a quickly-fading Hermione. Though she continued clapping and laughing with the dancers, she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. Harry discreetly shrunk their take-out boxes and tucked her next to his side. It would have been a sweet gesture if she hadn't started thinking: "What a great best friend he would make." And quickly remembered that given 10 weeks he'd be her husband.

Harry apparated her straight home and saw her inside. Hedwig was hanging out on the porch, though she flew home a little while after Harry apparated away. The last thing he said before "goodnight" was "It's clear which of us she prefers."

She felt a little bad for stealing his bird, but it was hard to feel bad when Hedwig sat on her shoulder and combed through her tangled locks as she walked up the stairs to bed.