A/N: A little late this week, aren't I? It's to keep you guessing...when will she post next?! You can blame the lateness on my dad. He has become a computer nazi so I had to steal his laptop to post this. You guys are turning me into a clepto! You can also send LOTS OF HATE MAIL to my God-awful beta cheese riot. She needs LOTS OF HATE MAIL! If you're super pissed send her LOTS OF HATE MAIL. Just kidding, Riki! You rock my sox!

It was six in the morning on a Monday, and Harry was over for coffee, God knew why. It was six in the morning on a Monday, and I was pouring Harry coffee.

"Where's Ginny?" he asked, picking up his caffeine fix.

"She gets up in an hour and goes to class. Gris gets home in an hour and goes to bed."

"And you?"

I sighed. "Oh, and me." I poured two more cups of coffee for Ron and myself. "What's he doing?" I asked, glancing back into the dark hallway.

"He's apologizing. He can't stay home and play today."

I took a seat next to Harry, rubbing sleep out of my eyes. "It's the first day in almost a week." That was right; true to his word, Ron had barely spent a moment away from his daughter.

Harry laughed. "And he feels guilty. Who said he wouldn't care?"

"How did he manage to get off work for so long?"

Harry looked down at his coffee for a moment, obviously stumped. Then, he looked back up, smiling triumphantly. "He just went 'on duty.'"

"What?"

"See, when an auror finally gets done training, he goes to the Ministry of Magic."

"Or she."

"Fine we'll have it your way. He, or she, has to sort of prove his, or her, self to the other aurors."

"And how does one go about doing that? Slay a dragon?"

"Not quite. More like paperwork. Loads...and loads of paperwork."

"What kind of paperwork does an auror have to do?"

"Oh, all the good stuff! If someone gets hurt, if someone gets arrested, or, my personal favorite...research."

I laughed out loud. "Research? You and Ron? Yeah, right."

"You shut your mouth, Miss Granger. We're damn good at research. Like last month, Ron read this totally trivial thing and we looked closer and...never mind. But basically, the veterans have a field day when a new guy starts- or in our case, two. Everybody gets off paperwork for a couple of months."

Ron had trailed back in at the end of his sentence. "Did she take it ok?" I asked, watching him pick up his coffee and shake out his hair.

"Yeah," he said, seating him self at the table with us. "Not that I'm completely sure she was awake. What in the name of Merlin were you two talking about?"

"You going on duty." Suddenly realizing something, I whipped my head in his direction. "Is it dangerous?"

"Harry's been 'on' for two months and hasn't got a scratch to show for it," he said.

"You didn't tell me that, Harry. What sort of things have you been doing?"

"Get real, Hermione," Harry said, sounding amused, and taking another swig of his coffee. It felt odd for the two of them to be leaving me out of something. But I supposed they'd been doing that for the last three years.

"Ok, top secret. How exactly does one go from paperwork mule to 'on' then?"

"Head decides. Kingsley, that is," Harry said, assuming and being correct that I remembered a brief encounter with Kingsley Shacklebolt in fifth year.

"Harry was put 'on' like that, 'cause-" he rolled his eyes- "he's Harry. And, finally, earlier this month, Kingsley came to me and said he's seen a change in my attitude or some nonsense like that. So, I'm finally 'on.'"

"It is dangerous," I said, making up my own mind.

"Oh, c'mon, Hermione. Maybe a tiny bit," Ron chided. "We're trained professionals, though. No worries."

Harry snorted. "A change of attitude and reading one too many files. Taking research a step too far."

Ron gave Harry a look. A look that said 'shut up right now' for a moment, but then attempted to look innocent.

I looked between the two. "Is this another of those things Hermione isn't allowed to know?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Sorry."

Harry shrugged. "Hermione'll know eventually," he whispered.

Ron wore the look a little longer this time before changing the subject. "Who's watching Baker today?"

"I managed to get it so she could go to Mrs. Ardsley's," I explained. "She really loves that woman."

"Is that safe?" Ron asked, looking not to me but at Harry.

"It's safe, Ron," Harry said firmly. My feelings just kept increasing that I was not being told something.

"What's safe?" I asked.

"I was—uhm—sticking my...glasses in my coffee."

"No, you weren't."

"That's why it was safe."

I glared at Harry. "What are you two talking about?!"

Ron poured his coffee in his lap and yelled.

We went about cleaning him up for a couple of moments, and I got him a new cup of coffee. Finally having been reseated, we were silent for a moment, all sipping on our coffee. It took me that space of time to realize where I was and whom I was with. I was with my friends- the former Hogwarts trio. I remembered in school, we had never been a whole alone. Each one of us had made a third of the whole- the perfect whole. And, looking around at the three of us, I finally felt like I was complete again, versus the emptiness I had felt for so long.

In a flash of a sickness coming over me, I wasn't seeing the room anymore. I was seeing shapes, feeling hands. Hogwarts grounds. A boy's voice. "This isn't the time to lose it, Hermione! Stay calm. I'm here for you."

A faraway voice, but the same voice. "Hermione! Hermione!"

My eyes fluttered open. "Oh my God."

I knew exactly what had just happened. I had just relived a memory—a very vivid memory. A memory I'd never lived at all.

"Are you ok, Hermione?" Harry asked, looking worried.

"Yeah, I think so." Even though my head was pounding and my heart racing like something had really just happened, I had a thirst to know what was going on. I turned toward Ron. "D'you ever remember being on the Hogwarts grounds together and saying something about not losing it and 'I'm here?'"

Ron looked at me for a moment, obviously puzzled. "Er—ow! Hot!" Ron jumped up off his chair furiously. He pulled his wand from his back pocket. It was glowing a dark blue color.

Harry's face lit up, and he too pulled out a glowing blue wand. "All right, mate. First day on duty and you're already being paged. We've gotta go, Hermione. Thanks for the coffee."

"Yeah, thanks," Ron said, still looking curiously at me. He went to put his wand back to where he got it.

"Watch it," Harry warned. "You don't want to blow your buttocks off."

"Could that happen?" Ron asked, and they both disapparated leaving me with more questions than I'd had minutes ago.

"Miles, am I done for the day?" I asked, checking out one last customer.

He looked over my shoulder, surveying the shop. "Looks good," he called back. I took my apron off, and tossed it unceremoniously into the closet. I shoved the door open behind the counter and walked away in a hurry.

"Hey, Hermione, wait up!" Miles called.

I looked around. "What?"

He jumped over the counter clumsily and ran over to where I was standing. "A guy named Anthony came by today—while you were at lunch."

"He did?" I asked, my face lighting up. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Forgot. He said he had a message to give you from some guy. Er—Rick? Roger?"

"Ron," I supplied, surprisingly not feeling any less disappointed.

"Yeah. But I think it was just an excuse to see you."

I gave him a smile I rarely wore at work anymore. "Is that it?"

Dropping all pretenses, he asked, "Are you ok, Hermione? You've been acting sort of differently lately."

"Different good or different bad?"

"Neither really. Moodier maybe."

"Trust me, Miles. If you were living my life, you'd be moodier too."

He grinned. "Ok. Ally's really been worried about you. And me too, of course. Just take care, all right?"

"All right. Thanks. Bye." I turned and continued walking towards the door.

He ran the other way, getting a good start before leaping back over the counter. "Bye, Hermione!"

I rolled my eyes, laughing, as I exited the store. I ran headfirst into a teenage boy.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" he said, straightening me out, and turning a brilliant shade of red.

"It's quite all right. I'm—do I know you?" I did. It was the boy Ally had said was in love with his 'just a friend.'

"Oh, yeah," he said, looking even more embarrassed. "Maybe you've seen my friend. I can't find her—she's wearing...oy! Madeline!!!"

I glanced the way he was looking. A girl looked up from two stores down, and sure enough, my eyes found the same girl he had waited for in the store. She acted as if she hadn't heard him, but I was sure she had. He shook his head, running to catch up with her. I kept watching as if I were an insect drawn into the flame that was their relationship.

"I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean it," he said, catching up with her.

In a flash I was experiencing for the second time that day, I wasn't watching. I was slipping into a dream-like state.

"Oy! Hermione! Would you pay attention? I didn't mean it like that. Would you come back?! I'm sorry!"

I swung my head around and saw Diagon Alley again. I blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out if I was in my memory or real life. I saw with a jolt, I was alone, quite apart from being chased. The owner of the voice I had heard was miles away at the Ministry of Magic.

It had been a dream. But I had been so sure I was there; it was really happening. It had really happened. It had been much more detailed than my earlier memory too. I had been walking down High Street in Hogsmeade, determinedly ignoring my pursuer, the 17-year-old version of my best friend. Yet, the puzzle didn't fit together. The friend in the 'dream,' Ron, wasn't even my best friend when we were seventeen. And he most definitely had never chased me through Hogsmeade.

Quite suddenly, I remembered Baker, as if someone had commanded me to. I disapparated with a pop and was at Mrs. Ardsley's. I rang the doorbell, determinedly not looking at the house next door. No one answered. I waited a few moments and rang again, more urgently. I began knocking, yelling, "Mrs. Ardsley! Mrs. Ardsley!"

When no one answered, I ran to the backyard, suddenly realizing how hard my heart was pounding. Ron's words from earlier rang in my head: "Is that safe?"

Was something going on? Was Baker in danger? Just when all hope was as good as lost, a figure walked around the side of the house. "Is that you screaming, Hermione?"

I ran over to my best friend, who was standing there. Surely, he had Baker on his arm like last time, or he could tell me Ron had already come by and picked her up. But Harry was frowning. "What's going on?"

"It's Baker. I can't find her. Nor Mrs. Ardsley."

Harry wasted no time. He yanked his wand out of his pocket, looking extremely grave. He mumbled a spell under his breath and his wand glowed pink. He put it back, saying, "You need to stay calm at all costs, Hermione."

I tried to keep my gasps to myself as people began popping out of thin air around us. I was trying to register may faces at once when I spotted a familiar one. A harassed looking Ron was standing a few feet away from us, yelling at everyone in sight.

"What the hell is going on?! Where is my daughter?! Harry!" he said, finally catching the eye of his best friend. "Harry! What's going on?!"

Harry delivered the unpleasant message. "Hermione says when she got here, Mrs. Ardsley and Baker were nowhere to be found."

"What?" Ron said, turning towards me. "But, Hermione--"

I didn't hear a word he said as my eye registered a seemingly odd green light emitting from inside the house. I took off towards the front door again, feeling Harry and Ron on my heels. Now crying, I pounded on the door again. "Mrs. Ardsley! Mrs.--" The door opened to reveal my little girl.

"Baker!" I pulled her into my arms.

"Mummy! Won!" she said, sounding even more excited that we were both there. He smiled and ruffled her hair. "Mummy, why awe you cwying?"

Mrs. Ardsley came and stood in front of the three of us, looking baffled. "Hermione, what's going on?" she asked.

I felt my face turn a bright red as I wiped away at my eyes. "Well, erm—you see—I couldn't find anyone here."

"I took Baker out for ice cream, darling."

"Oh," I said, feeling increasingly stupid.

"I'll go talk to the guys," Harry whispered behind me.

"Would you two like to come in?" she asked Ron and myself.

We couldn't very well turn her down.

"Got it all cleared up," Harry said, when Ron and I returned to the backyard.

"I'm sorry for being so stupid," I said, blushing again. After the big misunderstanding, I had agreed to let Baker spend the night with Mrs. Ardsley so the aging lady would know I still trusted her.

"It wasn't your fault," Ron said fairly.

"We did what we were supposed to do," Harry agreed.

"What were you doing here, Harry?" I asked.

"I told you about my construction down here. I came to see how things were going and then I heard you screaming."

"But what was the 'red alert' about?"

"Standard procedure," Ron butted in before Harry could say anything. "And it's actually a pink alert."

I suddenly found myself growing suspicious of the two of them again. "So, you're telling me every time someone isn't sure where their child is, you send out every auror you have? You pull them away from fighting Dark Arts and such?"

Ron's ears went red. "That wasn't every auror we have."

Harry sighed. "Enough is enough, Ron. We've got to tell her."

"Tell me what?"

"We don't have to tell her! In fact, we've been instructed not to."

"What?!"

"She needs to know. Her not knowing is making the whole situation worse. Don't' you want to protect Baker? She is your daughter!"

"Are you going to tell me?!"

"Of course, I do. But--"

"What about Baker?!"

"Then, she's got to know."

"Does this have something to do with the memories I've never lived and the man in the black cloak?!" I interjected.

They both looked up. "What?!"

"C'mon, Hermione. We're going to the Ministry."

There was a pop and they were both gone.

I went too.

A/N: Wow, wasn't that fun?! I'll post on a Friday next time...probably. I'm so busy what with volleyball, softball, yearbook, newspaper, homecoming committee...so on and so forth. Next chapter is currently off-the-heezy long. How about a wonderful song to encourage you to review while you wait?!

I'm only happy with reviews

I'm only happy when they're good and long

Don't try to take that last comment wrong

I'm only happy with reviews

Pour your reviews down on me

Pour your reviews down on me

I'm only happy with reviews

Well, that was perfectly ridiculous and I'm sure three fourths of you have never heard that song. Anywhodigger, send cheese riot, LauriAnn's beta, LOTS OF HATE MAIL!

And so you know, last chapters reviewers were definitely the nicest, greatest yet! Thanks you guys! You'll have to work extra hard this chapter to out do yourself. In less you hate it or something. Shrug

the-wildcat-the-naturegodess: I'm glad you enjoyed it and I'm glad you found some sugar at your house...not like I can.

Surfmyturf: Wow, thanks, I bet it takes a long time to read this whole story now.

Redhaired: Wow, thanks.

PiNaYPeAcHiE: Aww. Wasn't it precious. Ron's such a wimp, I'm glad we have Harry around.

Katy: You think so! Big ups; thanks!

Cheese riot: You're so weird. I hope you get all the hate mail you could ever want. "A whole new world..."

PinkyTheSnowman: I'm glad you've enjoyed it; thanks!

Lisa Potter: Nope, Ron is still with Baker...for now.

AynaT: I didn't stop. It's just gonna get better and better...I hope. I hope you still like it.

Thehalfbloodprincess: Thanks!

Jerri: Thanks a lot!

MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus: Well, Luna's er not living so they won't really be together per say. I guess I should've cleared that up.

Alenor: So, some of my foreshadowing actually makes sense. You're pretty close to it. It will all make sense soon.

Me: Thanks, but don't get mad at me please!

Maggie: Wow, I am so damn flattered. I think that is the nicest thing any reviewer has ever written. And you play softball, that's AWESOME!

Ilikechicken: They will, I will, please remain calm.

SinfulColors: I'm glad you found it too.

Seekerpeeker: She's special cause that's the freakin plot ok?! Jk. Thanks for all the reviews. I hope you like the rest of the story. Thanks for taking so much time to read it. You will be very happy soon. And I'm glad you've enjoyed perfectly evil Ginny. Isn't she just perfectly evil?!

Btw, Baker will have a speech impediment for the rest of her life cause I think it's so damn cute! Kidding, kidding...I actually did write a Draco/Ginny story. It was a bust.

Tiffany-45: I'm glad you liked the cuteness and the foreshadowing. It was kick ass, wasn't it? Lol...jk!

Mufleta: They were together in school, so you wouldn't remember. Thanks for the super nice review!

Bhekie: That's a song?! God bless cheese riot. I like to use random song titles. I think I'm changing the second chapter to 'Nothing on but the Radio.' Isn't that amusing?

Kat6528: Thanks. Everybody likes Baker...wouldn't it be funny if someone just said I HATE Baker! What a brat!

Miss Mione: Wasn't that nice? Yes, yes it was. Jk! Luna's dead I'm gonna clear that up for people I guess.