This one's for you, Ditte3. Thank you for always reviewing!

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.EDITED NOV 2021

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The aftereffects of another nightmare about Draco thundered through Hermione's head as she lay in bed on Saturday morning. Her heart raced, her breath swept from her lungs shallowly, and her eyes were wide with fear.

She rolled over miserably, rubbing her eyes. She hadn't been sleeping well, having multiple nightmares a night for the past four nights.

She contemplated taking a dreamless sleeping draught, but two thoughts stopped her:

'Firstly, I'm having these dreams for a reason. They might be visions.' Draco's injuries had been getting worse and were consistent, never changing much. Plus, divination is rubbish and I've no aptitude for it.' So that was that.

The second thought was that she was worried for Draco.

'I might not care for the boy he was in school, but in the years since he would have changed, wouldn't he? He hadn't been apprehended after his hearing, so he must have been acquitted.' Her Gryffindor tendency was to think the best of people, and the world HAD been becoming a better place.

'Yet, even if he was an evil bastard, nobody deserved treatment like that,' her heart panged.

Hermione's bladder made itself known, and she grudgingly went to relieve herself. After, she stared at herself in the mirror. She looked like she hadn't slept a wink with the size of the bags under her eyes! A glance at her watch told her it was 7:38 in the morning.

She washed her face and brushed her teeth, knowing that she would never be able to get back to sleep at this rate. She walked through her tiny studio apartment, admiring her little flat. It was comfortable but nothing special.

While she made her morning coffee, Hermione decided it would be best to check on Harry and Ginny, see how the couple was getting on with the incumbent arrival of their first child, and how the nursery was coming along. Typical Harry had procrastinated, and now Ginny was due any moment and he decided he needed to paint the room again! Hermione snorted in an unladylike fashion and added her creamer. She would pop in to check on the two, as the thicker Ginny's midsection became, the thinner her patience got.

Drinking her scalding hot coffee, she decided to Floo on over, and perhaps tell Ginny about her strange dreams. Harry would probably just shrug her off, his hate for Malfoy having never abated. Hermione's hadn't until she had really started imagining him injured, and now she was afraid for him.

Ginny was on leave from her position with the Holyhead Harpies, having been banned from flying the moment they found out about her condition. She had spent much of her pregnancy bothering all her friends.

It was Saturday morning and Harry wouldn't be at the ministry today. Harry never took being left out of the loop well, and it took about a week for him to approach Minister Shacklebolt about a position. He became an advisor for Ron's team, and his intuition had served him well there.

As Hermione stepped from the green flames into the sitting room of Harry and Ginny's home at number 12, Grimmauld Place, she started hearing sounds of crashing china.

What in Merlin?

Harry was using his wand to cast a Protego while Ginny was throwing Christmas ornaments at him. The shattering sounds that Hermione had heard were the ornaments (many of them apparently very old) either hitting the shield charm or bouncing off and breaking other things.

"-and if you think that color green looks good then you have another thing coming. It looks like smashed pea soup! Oh, and how dare you eat the last pastry! I was saving that! This baby NEEDS PASTRIES -"

Neither of the cottage's inhabitants noticed Hermione, so she cleared her throat. Ginny continued to yell, now throwing candles at Harry while he tried to verbally and physical defend himself. He wasn't getting anywhere. Hermione giggled at the ludicrous situation.

When Ginny began yelling about how she still hadn't had any of the pudding that Harry had apparently finished at her parents' house last week, Hermione couldn't hold her laughs in anymore, and began to snigger loudly.

That got Harry's attention, and in his surprise his concentration – and therefore his shield – lapsed just as Ginny launched a candlestick at his head.

"Hi Hermione!" Harry cried quickly, before Ginny could begin berating him again. The candlestick whacked him in the ear.

"Don't you know not to eat the last of anything when you live with a pregnant witch?" Hermione scolded playfully.

Harry rolled his eyes but winked at her in a silent thank you for the save.

Ginny waddled over and the three of them sat down for some morning tea.
When everything had calmed down, Hermione asked Ginny how she was feeling. Ginny merely stuck a foot out as far as her extended stomach would allow. The foot was swollen to the size of a grapefruit.

"Ginny!" Hermione began to launch into one of her well-known lectures about how badly the girl needed to see a healer.

Harry then brought the tea tray in, cutting Hermione off.

"She has a ten thirty appointment with Healer Rey."

"You ruin all my fun, Harry James Potter! But Hermione, did you really think I would take any chances with baby Muriel Luna Potter?"

"You mean James Frederic Potter?" Harry seemed resigned, the argument an old one.

"So, you guy still don't know what you're having?" Hermione cut in before the argument started again. It seemed pregnancy really shortened the red-headed girl's already intense temper.

"Nope! It's going to be a wonderful surprise." Harry said as he looked at his wife and his face lit up with the love her felt for her. They're really a match made in Heaven, thought Hermione with a pang of jealousy.

Not that she hadn't had her share of little flirtations and romances, but they were nothing compared to the love she'd seen in Harry's face. She would kill to have half the love her two friends had for one another.

"I hope you'll excuse me; I think I need to go charm some walls sunflower yellow." Harry wasn't very subtle, but Hermione appreciated the offer for girl time.

"It's CANARY yellow, husband!"

As the conversation continued without Harry, Hermione struggled to broach the subject of her dream. While Ginny waxed eloquent about canary yellow for the nursery, she finally cut her off.

"I've been dreaming about Draco Malfoy."

Ginny spat out the tea she had just sipped.

"Oh, this is juicy! Are you dreaming about the size of his—"

"GINNY! I would never..."

"Oh please, you have just as many urges as the rest of us. And I know you heard the same rumors at school as I did. But seriously, tell me about the dreams. I'm listening. All anybody wants to talk about around me is the baby and I'd really just like to hear about some other gossip for a bit." Ginny was as blunt as ever.

And so, Hermione told her dearest friend all about her dreams, well nightmares, really.

Once the two girls had graduated Hogwarts and begun to spend more time together, they had really developed a close friendship. They had very different personalities, but having common friends and happy personalities was a wonderful basis for a friendship. Ginny and Hermione complemented one another and were able to bond over many war experiences.

"What are you going to do about it?" Asked Ginny when Hermione had finished.

"I have NO idea." Hermione said, throwing her head back in exasperation. "What am I supposed to do, just show up at Malfoy Manor – the place of my nightmares – and say 'hey, how are things? By the way, I've been dreaming about you and are you okay?" She then let her head fall forward into her hands. "And I'm just so tired! I'm been having these dreams multiple times a night, and they're never the same. I don't even know what to expect from them, and I'm not sleeping because of it." She dropped her head to the table in an exaggerated gesture.

Ginny looked at her friend with sympathy.

"Maybe you SHOULD show up there. Could be fun. Want some company?"

Hermione raised her head to give Ginny a glare.

Okay, I get it, not your style. But honestly, have you tried snooping around a little? Getting some answers?" She smirked.

Hermione looked up at her friend, astonished.

"You are a genius!"
Why hadn't Hermione thought of it?

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It'll be a couple of days until the next update. Until then, I'd love to hear from you!