AN:

I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out. Hopefully it's length (over 8,200 words long) makes up for it.

And while we're on the subject of writing delays, I joined a fest with a deadline in mid February so these updates will slow down a bit while I work on the pieces for that. I hope to still do roughly a chapter a week though until the fest/my works for it are completed.

Chapter Ten

"You have a glow about you," Theo remarked from where he was lounging on her bed like a cat sunning itself.

"I do not," she denied, as she exchanged her towel for her robe while Draco discarded yet another outfit from her closet.

From inside the closet, he called out, "There's a definite glow," agreeing with his boyfriend. "Bloody hell Granger, what is with you and shorts? There's at least twenty pairs in here! Who knew you had such a shopping addiction? Theo, have you seen all these shoes?"

"Love, you basically lived with us. How did you never notice she can go a whole month without repeating an outfit or even an article of clothing?"

"I was too busy looking at you and thinking how best to get you out of your Healer robes after your shifts." Stepping out with a dress held up to him for their inspection, he asked, "What about this one?"

"Works for me," Hermione said, quickly standing up, to collect the floral watercolor printed trapeze dress.

"No," Theo ruled, getting up from her bed and taking the dress to throw on top of the rest of her discarded clothes. Shooing Draco out of his way with a kiss, he ordered, "You sit, I will pick something out for her to wear."

"What makes you so qualified?" His boyfriend demanded, dropping onto the bed with a pout.

Hermione joined him with a petulant groan as she continued to sulk at how long it was taking to get dressed for the team's end of season clambake. The boys had arrived obscenely early for the event and had announced their presence with the usual lack of privacy that existed between them after living together for three years. Waltzing into her bathroom - uncaring that she was completely on display in the glass shower and in the middle doing something about the arousal that Marcus had created in her - they posted themselves up on the sink counter and began talking about her strategy to win over whomever he brought along as his family. Half an hour later she was still naked, not even having chosen her knickers in case she had to change them to accommodate whatever outfit they had picked, and losing her patience with their pep-talks and guidance on meeting the former Slytherins he no doubt invited as well.

"What makes either of you qualified?" She asked testily. "Draco, your mother has known Theo since you two were in nappies. And Theo, your father is a prick who would disown and disinhert you for having a mudblood for a best friend. Not to mention, a wizard for a significant other had Kingsley not stripped him and the rest of those bigots of their head of house rights upon sentencing. And even if he got over you and Draco, just like Narcissa, he's known him all his life."

"Don't ever fucking call yourself that," they both snapped at her, blue and silver eyes boring into her own brown ones as she tried to hold both their gazes at the same time.

Swearing as she lost the stare down, she grumbled, "It's not fair when you two tag team me."

"Don't tempt me with a good time," Theo winked, all traces of his sudden anger and facial tics he shared with his father gone. "And as for being qualified, I'm the only person currently in this room that is attracted to witches so I know what Flint's going to want to see. I have also met my fair share of parents in the past."

"Whore," Draco coughed.

"But I'm your whore and you love me."

"Damn straight I do and it's about the only thing saving your arse right now."

"Stop acting like you weren't the one who first pitched the idea, love. You know that had she said yes to a little experimentation with us, you would have been game for losing your witch virginity and tag teaming Hermione. Who knows, it could have been fun making that particular rumor true."

"Yeah, it's still weird when you mention that," she decided with a dramatic shiver. "Maybe not three years ago or even two. But now? Definitely weird and possibly a little creepy and borderline incestuous."

"Not to mention, Flint would probably break you over his knee," Draco commented, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Mmm… Now there's an idea," Theo drawled like he was tasting a fine dessert, making them erupt into riotous laughter. "In all seriousness though, he's a wizard who prefers tits," he explained.

"Oh, then I don't know what he sees in me," she said, poking fun at herself as she cupped her small chest for emphasis.

"He sees one of those large, meaty hands of his engulfing the entirety of one of your breasts while he sucks on the other and runs that other massive paw of his over the rest of your body," Theo said seriously, disappearing into her closet as if he hadn't just spawned the most erotic of images in her head, leaving her to pull at the neckline of her robe, while mouthing, "Yes please," to an agreeing Draco.

"I remember he was always attracted to petite witches in school - though most thought him too big, ugly, and or stupid; troll-like was often the description used," Theo explained, making Hermione scowl.

It was any wonder he was such a boorish brute in school given how people treated him, combined with how frustrating learning must have been for him, she was surprised his aggression was rarely ever seen off the pitch.

"Anyways, unlike some wizards of his size who get self-conscious about their height and accompanying mass, I'm pretty sure he's always gotten off on it. Then there's you who's practically the size of a child's doll when compared to him. Given that, there is no way in hell he isn't thinking about how small you would be underneath him." Popping his head out of the closet he added, "Just like you, he has a size kink - don't deny it, we all know it's true just look at him and Viktor. Hell even Weasley for all his shortcomings is an impressively tall and decently built bloke," he ordered over her when she tried to object, before plowing on as if she hadn't been trying to speak. "Also, he's a hopeless romantic - Flint not Weasley. I mean the story you told us about his tattoo at Pans's shower, had even me swooning. And I do not swoon. He's basically perfect for you.

"He's a gentle giant but isn't afraid of getting his hands dirty when your virtuous nature is called into question, he knows how capable you are and isn't intimidated by your success and celebrity, and he's built like a fucking redwood which makes you feel dainty and secure, like someone will be protecting you instead of the other way around."

Coming back out of her closet with one of her many pairs of shorts in his hands and one of the equally numerous thin strapped blouses she owned, he declared, "This outfit, with a pair of flat sandals, those mirrored aviators of yours, and your hair barely tamed so it looks like you've just had the ever loving magic shagged out of you, will be perfect. He won't be able to keep his eyes, and probably not his hand either, off of you but you'll still have that Golden Girl wholesomeness that the world knows you for, keeping you family appropriate."

Taking the two pieces of clothing from him, Hermione had to admit that Theo really did know what he was doing. The white, silk top was cut wide across her chest, leaving an impressive amount of her on display and making the swells of her breasts appear larger than they were when she wore it. The sweet scalloped edge distracted the eye though so no one noticed just how much she was exposing unless they were blatantly staring at her. And like all her other pairs of shorts, the inseam on the palm leaf printed pair Theo wanted her to wear was long enough to appropriately be worn with her wedges but short enough that her legs still looked a mile long when in flats or sandals. It was that particular wonder that possessed her to buy more pairs though she had near a shop's worth in her closet already. The outfit was simple yet alluring making it perfect for keeping Marcus's attention all afternoon while meeting the rest of the team, the staff, their families, and most importantly his pseudo mother, old teammate who was like his brother, and his closest friends from Hogwarts.

"Theo, you're a genius!" She exclaimed hopping off the bed to rifle through her dresser for the appropriate undergarments.

"What can I say? Not limiting myself to just wizards or just witches has its advantages," he dismissed getting back into her bed and laying his head on his boyfriend's lap.

Shimming into her shorts, she absently asked, "How did you know you were in love with Draco though? Like how did you know it wasn't just a sexual magnetism?"

"Easy," he nearly purred as the blond in question scratched at his scalp. "With sexual attraction they only enter your mind when you're horny and need to get off. Then once you have, you forget about them until the next time you want a helping hand.

"You fall in love with who a person is in here and in here," he answered, gesturing to Draco's head and heart. "Not with what they have between their legs. So with love, they're always there in everything you do. Your world breaks apart and rebuilds to encompass every aspect of who they are."

Sitting up from their relaxed position with a start, both boys cried out, "Fucking Salazar, you love him!"

"I think so," she quietly confirmed, untucking her hair from her blouse as she turned to her jewelry box.

"Oh there's no thinking about it, Granger," Draco said. "You either are or you aren't and you most definitely are based on the way you've nearly been walking on air all morning."

"We kissed!" She squealed, turning back around with an excited flourish, her accessories forgotten.

"Witch, tell us everything right this instant! Do not leave out a single detail," Draco ordered.

Running and jumping onto the bed with them, she turned her back to Theo silently asking him to fix her hair for her while she gossiped about every detail of Marcus's lips, hands, and adequately proportioned cock that had been pressed against her for too brief a period before he pulled himself away.

A month ago, Hermione had been concerned that her RSVP for her plus seven had been too much despite Marcus's assurance that he himself was planning to bring five people in addition to himself. However, arriving at the stunning north point home of Mr. and Mrs. Mueller, she realized her party of eight - seven with Ron's whereabouts unknown - was a drop in the bucket. Their stunning home and stretch of private beach was already filled to bursting with friends and family of the players and staff when they had arrived with more still to come. Music thrummed through the air, children raced around on miniature brooms that only flew a few feet from the ground, a variety of games were being played, and the warm, smokey smell of a cookout permeated the briny air and cut through the seasoned smell of various seafood boils. With all the festivity going on, it was hard to believe that the team had been knocked out by Chudley the day of Marcus's injury. The excitement and laid back nature of everyone in attendance was infectious but the large crowd of people was slightly alarming.

Draping an arm over her shoulders, Harry muttered, "Well this will be interesting."

"Do you think we should hand our wands over to Pansy and Theo?"

"I don't know… I like to think that no one here is going to get plastered and handsy or have cameras flashing in our faces or try and attack us but…"

"Yeah, it's that but that's concerning me too," Hermione agreed.

The media had learned very quickly to give both she and Harry a wide berth after the war when chasing them down for photos and interviews. It had only been days after the Battle of Hogwarts when the first incident had happened. She hadn't wanted to go into Diagon Alley at the time but Hermione had felt like she had something to prove. That she needed to be brave and courageous and act as though she was unaffected by the trauma of war so people knew it was safe again. Pansy - who Harry had moved into Number Twelve the moment the public began to crucify her for attempting to turn him over - had offered to go get what she needed for a crash revision of NEWT material unbothered by her negative image. However true to her stubborn and prideful form, she had turned down Pansy's offer believing no harm could come to her in Flourish and Blotts of all places. She had been wrong

She had been accosted almost immediately by people wanting to thank her for what she had done, photographers snapping pictures, and reporters yelling questions at her. The flurry of chaos had been too much for her fractured mind and from one second to the next she went from knowing she was in the narrow, shop lined streets to believing she was on the grounds of Hogwarts with spells and curses flying all around her. In her disjointed reality she had attacked anyone who tried to reach for her, resulting in several innocent people needing to be rushed to Saint Mungo's for treatment. It was the terrified crying of a small child that had penetrated her fog and left her in a catatonic state there on the cobblestone with her body curled over her knees as she tried to block out the chaos around her. Then Theo of all people - who she had barely interacted with only being days into the program - had shoved his way through and collected her from the ground. Sweeping her into his arms and barking at anyone who didn't move out of his way fast enough, he brought her to the safety of his flat. It was there that he had begun to slowly call her back from inside her mind for the first of what would become an uncountable amount of times before tracking Harry down for her.

There had been a number of incidents like that in the weeks and months following the war for her and Harry both. Then later at the social functions they were paraded around at, wizards would get handsy as they got in their cups. Those situations made them both revert back to the moment that Greyback had grabbed her in the woods, his unwanted hands roving over her body as he licked at her skin. And again, spells would fly and people ended up in the hospital because of them. It had all been a terrible and rather frequent occurring mess that led to the practice of turning over their wands when they would be in mentally risky situations. It left them with a degree of vulnerability that neither liked but it was much safer for everyone involved that way. At first she had fought it with the same stubbornness that had sent her to Diagon Alley that first day. Then after the chaos she had caused for Theo in Saint Mungo's A&E department one night when they had been on shift - the one that led to her changing her specialization for the first of many times - she had stopped protesting each time he, Pansy, or Harry determined a situation likely to cause an episode.

"You're thinking about it, so hand 'em over," Pansy said in the no nonsense way of hers that Hermione had come to love instead of find abrasive as she had in the beginning of her relationship with her best friend.

"She's right, Granger," Theo agreed, holding his hand out for her willow wand.

"Thank you, Theo."

"Always, love," he said, brushing aside her gratitude. "Besides, I need to enjoy being your safety net for the little bit I still get to because soon enough I'm going to have to relinquish my job over to Flint. Now come on my cracked little egg, you have future in-laws to meet."

"Someone's jumping the gun."

"I never understood that saying," Luna said, appearing beside them almost from thin air. "But Theo's right, it's only a matter of time. Less than nine months by my estimation." Looking up at Viktor who was watching her like she was the moon itself and not just named for it, she said, "I hope the pudding is out, I could go for something sweet. Shall we go see?" Pulling him behind her, she made a beeline for the long table up by the house, spread with food.

"Anyone else ever wonder about her?" George asked.

"We just sort of go with it after all these years," Harry shrugged.

Clapping her hands, Narcissa announced, "Okay, enough standing around. Theo, Draco, you two take Hermione and begin making the rounds. It'll be nice for her to have her own snakes for meeting Marcus's friends. If memory serves, Pucey lacks boundaries and the concept of personal space once one of the boys brings someone into their circle. Not to mention, Theo, you have a very deft hand at deflecting people away from her or knowing when she may not wish to speak about something without making things awkward. It'll be good for Marcus to see what he'll need to be doing if he wants a public relationship with Hermione.

"Harry, you go with George to entertain the children and try to keep him from being too much of a bad influence. No one will want to accidentally show bad grace in front of impressionable minds so they won't bombard you with tactless questions and fawning.

"Pansy, you and I are going to network. They now have both Viktor and Hermione on the payroll so their players may need media training, especially in light of her and Marcus because we all know that photograph is only the beginning. We can also use this time to subtly make it clear to everyone that they are not to run their mouths about her personal life. That even if they see the two of them shagging in her office for an audience of centaurs, it's not a story for sale. Otherwise I'll show them just how I survived alone in a manor filled with Death Eaters and Voldemort for a year. And that after I do that, that you'll ruin them in the court of public opinion.

"Hermione, after you meet the people most important to Marcus and have spent sufficient time with them, we'll extract you, swap notes, and plan our own strategy for getting reacquainted with him based on their reception of you. It'll also give me an idea on how best to handle Mahuika. As one mother figure to another, I'll be able to better assess her and make sure she isn't another Molly bloody Weasley, who thinks her child can do no wrong.

"No offense my love," she hastily added, looking at George.

"None taken General Black," George mocked, coming to attention and giving her a salute.

"Hush, you."

"You do make it sound like a battle strategy," Hermione commented.

"That's because it is darling. Now get going, that boy is trying and failing to act like he isn't looking for you. How the hat ever saw fit to sort him into Slytherin is an answer I think none of us will ever get. He's as subtle as a stampede of hippogriffs through muggle London."

Pretending to mount a horse, George called out, "We ride!" Galloping off towards the beach as Narcissa shot a stinging jinx at him. Turning around he blew her a kiss and cheekily called, "Thank you Mistress Black; may I have another tonight? I do love it when you take charge like this," before pulling out one of his endless test products to send whizzing for the children.

Just as the rest of them were about to break off to their assigned battle positions, a silvery blue orb shot down in front of Harry, prompting he and Hermione to both snatch their wands back from Pansy and Theo.

"Merlin, everyone is staring…" She whispered, noticing that George too had gone on alert with his wand drawn and waiting, a shield already in place between him and the children while Viktor and Luna were shoving their way through the crowd of people. Not a single one of them had forgotten what had preceded the attack on Bill and Fluer's wedding in the intervening four years and the arrival of the Patronus message sent them all back to the moment of when the Ministry fell.

The orb rapidly shimmered into the shape of a bloodhound with Dean Thomas's voice pouring out. "Sorry to alarm you mate, but you said to let you know the minute I found anything out; must have just missed you on your floo. I was in the Portkey Office chatting with Kings's niece when they had an emergency. I didn't have time to look at the whole sheet not knowing how long they'd be, but Ron logged a trip to Ibiza with today as the posted return date. I don't know the time but I hope this helps with whatever it is you're looking into."

As the Patronus faded, Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was the dropped shoe she had been waiting on. Ron had been there when she received the invitation from Mrs. Mueller and so she had invited him to attend with her. He had griped about having to spend time with rival players but had gleefully agreed right after the Cannons had won their match against the Falcons. She had been so concerned first with him turning up at the compound and then with his whereabouts and silence, that she had completely forgotten about him being put down as an approved attendee of the party.

Looking at Harry, she worried, "This is my job. I work for these people and care for their careers and well being. The Prophet is making me look bad enough, I cannot have him embarrass me here."

"It's Ibiza, maybe he'll come back to his flat and pass out from his binder without checking his mail."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Cissa has us scattered so we don't all clump together like the antisocial freaks that we are. One of us will see him coming and can step in. And even if he does show up, his behavior will reflect negatively on him, not you so don't worry. No go on and stop stalling. You're a Gryffindor, act like it," he bolstered, pushing her in the general direction of where they had last seen Marcus.

Linking arms with Theo, she followed orders and began making her way through the party, lifting her blouse to strap her wand back into the inner right pocket of her shorts. Focusing on her breathing as she smiled and quietly greeted people she had seen around the Falcons' compound as she ran through the checklist that sorted her mind and usually worked to calm her turmoil. There was nothing to be done about Ron now besides turning tail and running, and that was something she was decidedly against. She knew things had the more than likely potential to turn ugly between them but this was the bed she had made when she got back together with him. Now it was simply time for her to lie in it. After, she could burn it, and the house it lived in, to the ground leaving the ash of her past to be carried off by the wind.

"Incoming," Draco warned, cutting off her concentration a split second before Marcus came to stand before them.

"Malfoy, Nott," he greeted before turning his attention to her. "I was beginning to wonder where you were. You certainly know how to make an entrance though. Was that a messenger Patronus?" He asked, moving to stand on her right side.

"Uh yeah… it was Dean's," she answered awkwardly. Untangling her arm from Theo, she swapped places with Marcus so that he was to her left and her right side remained free. Feeling his fingers brush against hers in greeting, she slipped her hand into his and found her conversational footing as they continued walking in the direction he had come from.

"In fifth year we had a truly awful woman teaching us Defense. We weren't even allowed to use magic in her class and the text the Ministry had prescribed was little more than a children's book. Needing a real teacher, Harry created-"

"She created, recruited, and protected. Potter merely taught and was the face of it," Theo interrupted.

"- a secret Defense club so we could actually learn and be prepared," she said a bit louder to be heard over Theo's correction of her story. "His has been corporal since third year when Professor Lupin tutored him privately because of the Dementors. In turn, Harry taught us. Later I studied their expanded capabilities and helped him bridge theory and practice. After we mastered how to send messages, he taught everyone how to do that too."

"What made her so much worse than the other useless twits we had over the years?"

Tapping her fingers along her wand, Hermione concentrated on lifting only the glamour on her right hand while Draco and Theo cringed. Taking quick stock of herself to verify that the large scars she had been gifted by Dolohov and Bellatrix were still concealed, she stretched her arm out in front of her for Marcus to see.

Bringing her hand closer to his face, he studied the words left behind from her detentions after their secret organization had been found out, while she said, "She created a little elite team of students tasked with finding us when she was unable to. Neville, Godric love him, lost his copy of the fake galleons I created and Draco found it. All he had to do was wait for my Protean Charm to activate and there you have it. Weeks of writing lines with a blood quill."

Running his thumb over the scar, he asked with a bear feral edge, "Does this say, 'I will respect my betters?'"

Taking her hand back and restoring the glamour, she shrugged, "Yeah, Umbridge wasn't a fan of half-breeds, creatures, or muggleborns."

He turned to look at Draco, and seethed, "I should really fucking punch you in the face."

"You mean, again?" A tall blond interjected, cutting the growing tension with his infectious laughter as he came up to them.

"Hermione, Adrian Pucey. Adrian, Hermione Granger," Marcus introduced, squeezing her hand before letting her go.

"She's a witch who was at Hogwarts with us. She knows who I am, just as everyone knows who she is."

"Actually I don't recall ever seeing you," she lied, wanting to ruffle his feathers.

In truth, she knew exactly who he was. How could she not? She had seemingly been the only girl in Hogwarts who had not had a crush on him at some point during their tenure. Where Theo had a dark, brooding sort of attraction that made witches and wizards everywhere stop to check him out, Adrian Pucey was like a sun god. He was all golden hair, cerulean eyes, suntanned skin, and effervescent charm. Classically and devastatingly handsome; and he knew it too.

"You wound me," he bemoaned.

Chuckling, Theo raised his hand to just below Marcus's chin and said, "Don't take it personally Aids. Hermione has a, 'you must be this tall to catch my attention policy.' You never stood a chance."

"I'm plenty tall," he protested.

"Yeah but when your best mate is just shy of two meters tall, you look like a dwarf. She likes 'em tall and brawny. 'Thighs that could choke a bear,' I believe is one of the descriptions she used to describe her perfect wizard."

"Theo, I will add you to my kill list if you don't shut up this instant," she hissed.

For all his talk earlier, Theo really was about as annoying as she imagined any brother would be. She just wished he was more easily embarrassed so she could get the upper hand on him from time to time but her friend lived his life unencumbered by such trivial things like shame. Not as evolved as he, she felt her cheeks flame red at his all too true description of her tastes in wizards.

Scrunching up her face, she forced herself to take a peek at Marcus to gauge his reaction. Finding the corner of his mouth tugged up in the half-smile that showed off his single dimple and the return of the heat in his eyes from that morning, she felt the heated flush on her face race down her neck and spread across her chest. Quickly looking away, she tried her best to calm herself.

While staring at the ground, giving herself a stern and silent lecture, she felt his fingers hesitantly trail along the hem of her blouse. When she didn't move away from him, he brought his hand to her lower back. With her welcoming his touch around others, he confidently spread his long fingers up her spine like they had been that morning, reminding her of just how much larger he was. Relaxing under his touch, she went to move herself closer to his side so that she would be just shy of being tucked against him.

Adrian had other plans for her though as he seized hold of her wrist. Extracting her from the comfort of Marcus, Theo, and Draco, he pulled her into a circle of people she recognized as his former house teammates and two she didn't but knew had to be Tayn and his mother Mahuika, saying, "Come on, I'll introduce you to the old gang so we can regale you with the time in year six that Marcus beat the shite out of Malfoy in the common room for calling you a mudblood."

"I'll beat the shite out of you too if you use that word again!" Marcus warned, following behind her.

One of the wizards she vaguely recalled as Cassius Warrington, barked out a laugh as he said, "Who fucking knew when we were taking the piss out of him for it for weeks afterwards, asking if he had made you his little girlfriend yet, we'd be right?

"Come on you can tell us Granger, you two have been involved in a torrid love affair ever since, haven't you?"

"You lot are still a bunch of arseholes," Marcus grumbled, coming to stand just behind her, the palm of his hand instantly going to her lower back as his fingers curled to the front of her hip in a quiet claiming that she found soothing while interacting with his personal circle. "She was twelve."

"Hence the word, torrid."

"Why is this so funny to you all?" Draco demanded. "He bloody broke my nose and dislocated my jaw that day."

"And you didn't learn your fucking lesson," Marcus snapped, swatting him on the back of the head. "Running your mouth every chance you got."

"It's okay," Hermione smiled, reaching out to rub the back of Draco's shoulder. "I put him in his place the following year, when I also broke his nose. Didn't I?"

"Damn, I forgot about that!" Montague howled.

"Oh I like her," Mahuika complimented. "Then again, what's not to like about a witch who broke into Gringotts and escaped on the back of an abused dragon? Poor creature being trapped down there."

"Auntie," Marcus hissed, while Hermione covered her face in embarrassment. "We talked about this."

"No filter. Told you we can't bring her anywhere," Tayn laughed deeply.

From beside Marcus, Theo chuckled, "Don't you love how that's what you're most known for? Tell me, did Gringotts ever allow you back or do you still have to stash all your paychecks under the bed when one of us can't go with you to the bank?"

"What?" Adrian asked in confusion with a slightly awkward laugh.

Sighing, she uncovered her face and sought quick reassurance from Marcus by grazing her fingers over the thigh closest to her. "That was actually one of the first things I did after the war. Campaign for Gringotts to release their dragons I mean. People were very quick to give us whatever we asked for and I asked for that. I have a friend who works in a sanctuary in Romania and he helped me research alternative protection methods for them so that branches all over the world could release their dragons but still keep their once upon a time, impregnable vaults secure. What they were doing was truly barbaric and I had already seen and experienced what I thought was the worst of humanity," she said, absently rubbing the inside of her left arm and flexing her fingers.

She was unsurprised to feel her hand pulled away from her concealed scars. It was a nervous habit she had developed when people got too close to what happened at Malfoy Manor and one that Theo regularly halted her from engaging in almost as reflexively as her nervous tick. She was suppressed however to feel the rough calluses of Marcus's hand brushing hers away before lacing his fingers through both her hands. Looking up and back at him, she gave him a soft smile and leaned fully against his large frame, squeezing his hands back in thanks as she rested her head on his chest. She felt decidedly calm about the situation with his presence there. A rarity when the war was brought up. She knew people didn't mean to stir up the darkest days of her past, they were just curious. And probably none more so than the woman who had stepped into the role of mother for Marcus and who only saw their world through the eyes of her son and the man who was like her son.

Mahuika's keen eyes hadn't missed the interaction between the two of them and when Hermione met her gaze again, she was relieved to find them kind and almost relieved. Molly was near impossible to please, always finding some flaw to nitpick her for, but this woman seemed to simply be happy with the fact that she accepted and returned Marcus's affection. It was as if that was all she needed to give her approval of her. And when she gave a nearly imperceptible nod of her head, a weight was instantly lifted off her shoulders that she hadn't known had settled onto her until it was gone.

Relaxing even more, she brought their joined arms around her front and answered Adrian, "The goblins were not… thrilled with us after everything that happened. Between my polyjucing as Bellatrix Lestrange, Harry Imperiusing Bogard, the massive amounts of damage we did to the bank during our escape, and the horrific bloodbath that came for them after what we did, they hated us."

"Hated?" Draco questioned. "They still do! When was the last time you went to the bank without Theo or I, hmm? Potter for that matter too. Doesn't Pans do all his banking for him?"

Letting out an exasperated huff, she defended, "You all are Sacred Twenty-Eight, they can't turn you away. Evident by the fact that Ron suffered absolutely zero repercussions while we were made to empty our vaults and were banned for a year. Well I was, Harry got access early when he and Pansy eloped, lucky git. I'm pretty sure had Kings's not stepped in, I would still be using you or Theo to cash my paychecks and storing my money user my bed."

Trying and failing to not laugh, Marcus asked, "You can't be serious? You kept your gold under your bed?"

"It's not like it just littered the floor of my room in Theo's flat. It was contained in an extended purse."

"Of everything I've ever read or heard about you, this is by far the craziest thing ever," Montague chuckled.

"Oh believe it," Theo said. "The witch was awarded an Order of Merlin First Class with a monetary gift of fifty thousand galleons. And do you know what her plans were for it? 'I kept supplies to live in the woods for a year with Harry and Ron in this purse. If I can carry around a tent and a small library, I think I can fit fifty thousand more galleons in it.' It was then I found out what she was doing with her money and linked her to my vault so it would at least gain interest for her."

Breaking up their laughter at her expense, Mahuika pondered, "Kings… Why is that name familiar?"

"He's their Minister, like Keoghan is mine," Tayn answered. "He's the one you said you would climb like a tree when you saw his photo."

"You're not the only one," Draco muttered, making Theo scowl. "What you can comment on Hermione's tits but I can't say that I would gladly serve our government by servicing him?"

"Marcus, your girlfriend is on a first name bases with the fucking Minister of Magic?" Warrington asked in disbelief.

"She's not-"

"Yeah, I am," Hermione interjected, preventing him from correcting his friends on their status. "I've known him since fifth year; he was a member of the Order. We still have lunch every few weeks."

"Where he continues to offer her the job of his aid so that he can groom her for campaign in ten years," Theo boasted on her behalf.

"Why the fuck are you a healer?" Adrian asked in outrage. "You'd be the first muggleborn Minister, not to mention the youngest in history! You would win by a landslide assuming someone out there was foolish enough to run against you."

"Whatever the reason, I'm just happy she was there at your match, taku aroha. I love her already just for the dedication she's shown to helping you in your career and dreams. Everything else is just extra."

Beaming under the verbally confirmed approval, Hermione was nearly bouncing on the balls of her feet as if she was still a student earning house points. She stopped suddenly though when she realized that Mahuika and Tayn had to have been reading the Prophet to recall things like Kingsley's name. However the dread she felt at anything else they may have seen written about her, truth or fiction, slipped from her mind the moment the music changed.

Stepping out of Marcus's arms she excitedly turned and pointed to Draco, the both of them singing:

I… love you, and I… need you

Nelly I… love you, I do… neeeeed you

No matter what I do, all I think about is you

Even when I'm with my boo, boy, you know I'm crazy over you

No matter what I do, all I think about is you

Even when I'm with my boo, you know I'm crazy over you

"Salazar's sac, who put on Nelly?" Theo complained. Slapping Marcus on the back, he added, "Merlin help us, they're obsessed with the song. Life has to stop for five minutes whenever this comes on so they can make fools of themselves."

Marcus was completely undeterred by her and Draco's antics though. Instead, the moment Nelly's voice broke into the music, he grabbed her hand and spun her back into him. Slotting her back against his chest and moving their hips to the rhythm of the music, he too began to sing:

I met this chick and she just moved right up the block from me

And uhh, she got the hots for me the finest thing my hood done seen

But oh no, oh no, she gotta a man

and a son, though, but that's okay

Cause I, wait for my cue and just listen, play my position

Like a shortstop, pick up e'rything mami hittin

And in no time.. (no time) I..

I plan to make this one here mine and that's for sure

Cause I, I never been the type to, break up a happy home

But uh, there's something bout baby girl I just can't leave alone

So tell me ma what's it gonna be?

"Traitor," Theo grumbled before grabbing his boyfriend as he always did to dance with him.

Hermione was completely lost in the feeling of his hand on her abdomen, pressing her into him and the sway of their hips together, as his deep voice continued to sing to her. She felt lighter and freer than air while caged against him and couldn't bring herself to end the moment. She honestly and genuinely wanted things to proceed in a proper fashion with him but at every turn those thoughts floated away and she was left with a feeling of rightness that she followed unquestioningly.

She had never believed in divination or fate. Even to this day she didn't fully believe in the prophecy that had been made about Harry and Voldemort despite hearing it for herself. There had been too many unanswerable questions for her to take it as seriously as the rest of the Order or Voldemort himself had. She did however believe in her intuition, which was why she so blindly followed her gut when it spoke to her. It had been there screaming at her during every crossroads she hit in her post-war life. It answered for her when asked to become a healer; it threw caution to the wind and made her trust Theo despite having never spoken to him in six years of sharing classes when he rescued her that day in Diagon Alley; it made her sign on for sports medicine when she didn't even like or follow quidditch; and from the moment she had first interacted with Marcus in the locker room, it had begged her to allow him entry into her life and while she questioned it a little more than the other decisions, she did accept him. She had allowed him into her life and heart faster than she had ever allowed anyone else and there in his gentle hold with his hard muscle pressed into her and his height towering over her while his mass obscured her from any view but a head on one, everything felt right.

She finally understood what Harry had meant that first night after the Battle of Hogwarts. Ron and Ginny had gone home to the Burrow to grieve the loss of Fred and the two of them not wanting to intrude, had retreated with Kreacher back to Grimmauld Place to start putting their own selves back together. It was there that he had confessed what he had been up to, and with whom, as the dust settled while people questioned his whereabouts. Hermione didn't know why it had surprised her so much at the time to find out that he and Pansy had gotten into it and then into it, repeatedly, when he was the only one to realize that the Slytherins were still locked away. It was Harry afterall, his name should have been, Harry No Impulse Control Potter, but she got it now. She had personal experience as to how things could just snap into place with someone and how everything became effortless with them. He was completely right: propriety be damned and anyone who objected to what made them happy could fuck themselves on their way to hell. They hadn't done and lost everything they had to come out of it and live their lives for other people's expectations and wishes. And it was in that moment that he said those words to her that he had made the firm decision to cut everything and everyone who brought strife into his life out of it, including Ron, the friend she had always thought he valued just a little more than her until the day he left them both behind in the woods.

Feeling Marcus's lips press a feather light kiss to her shoulder, Hermione was broken out of her silent understanding. Reaching an arm up and back, she scratched her short nails through his hair, keeping him hunched over her so she could further enjoy the way his body seemed to swallow her whole.

"I didn't say it earlier but you look beautiful," he murmured, smoothly changing their rhythm as the song shifted.

"Thank you," she hummed. "I wanted to make a good impression."

"Were you worried?"

"Terrified," she confessed.

"You shouldn't have been. Mahuika was serious. She's loved you almost from the moment I told her you were going to try a different healing plan to keep me playing. It was after Tayn mentioned seeing your name in the spring issue of Quidditch Quarterly and your Order of Merlin, that she obsessively began researching past periodicals to learn about you. The fact that you reciprocate what I feel and aren't keeping your distance from me, only makes her like you more."

"And your friends?"

"I don't care what they think. They're arseholes, the whole lot," he joked. "In all seriousness though, they like you. Plus you've given them a reason to start taking the piss out of me all over again for what happened in year six."

"Did you really beat up Draco for calling me a mudblood?"

"I did, more than once in fact. I hated that at twelve years old he was already such a bigoted prat. And now I hate that you've heard that word so much that you can use it so easily."

Turning around to face him, Hermione dismissed his concern and brought her other arm to wrap around his neck. "That day, I cried for so long I missed my first two classes and then my third while trying to compose my face. It hurt so much every time Draco called me that but eventually I realized it's only a word. It's power rests in how it makes the person it's addressed to feel. You take away the reaction of being hurt and feeling as if you're lesser or as if you have to prove you're just as worthy of magic as they are, and it becomes just another word. The use of it reflects more upon the person speaking it than that of who it is being spoken to or about."

Pulling her closer to him so that barely any space existed between their bodies, he asked, "Is it odd to say that I am fascinated by and love how your mind works and how strong you are? You just decide something is going to have no impact on you or your life and that's that."

Reaching up on her toes, she kissed the protrusion of his Adam's apple, glowing with pride from his praise and said, "I think that's probably the best thing anyone could ever say they find attractive about me. So no, I don't think it's even the slightest bit odd.

"Is it odd, or more accurately okay, that I didn't correct Warrington?"

"That depends," he answered seriously.

"On what?"

"How truthful the implication is with you not allowing me to correct him."

Studying the grass green color of his eyes, she took a moment to answer him so he would know her words were genuine and not perfunctory. Shifting her weight, she took a fraction of a step back to easier maintain his gaze as she answered, "That Patronus was to tell Harry that Ron isn't captured or dead but instead has been partying in Ibiza these last weeks and that he returns sometime today. So even if I don't see or hear from him today, Mrs. Weasley is hosting a roast as a delayed celebration of my graduation tomorrow evening. The entire Weasley clan will be at the Burrow tomorrow, including Charlie who mostly keeps to the sanctuary in Romania. He wouldn't miss it."

"And that means…" Marcus prompted, excitement lighting his eyes while his voice stayed neutral.

"That means that even if I have to dump him in front of his entire family while asking George to pass the Yorkshire Pudding, tomorrow evening I'm officially free of Ron."

"And your relationship status after that?"

"Not single," she answered easily. "I don't think it would be fair to say I am when I'm already committed to someone else. That is if they haven't lost their patience with the delay in my breakup."

Tightening his hold on her, Marcus beamed, "Then no, I don't give a shite about you not correcting Warrington and as long as I have you in the end, I don't care about how long I've had to wait to be seen with you outside of a trusted few."

Hermione squealed in delight as he lifted her up like he had that morning and kissed her soundly in front of his friends and family. She still wanted to keep him shielded from interlopers and their potential vitriol for as long as possible but as far she was concerned, she belonged to Marcus Flint and anyone in her life who took issue with it could do exactly as Harry said and fuck themselves on their way to hell. Marcus made her happy and feel as if she wasn't damaged for having the shadow of Post Traumatic Stress follow her around and for that, he was utterly perfect for her.

AN:

Maori Terms:

- taku aroha - my love

Song Credits:

- Dilemma by Nelly and Kelly Rowland This song actually came out in 2002 but it has been such a part of developing and writing this story that I had to included despite the inconsistency in timeline