TITLE: Closer Than You Think
AUTHOR: monkeycgm
PAIRING: allusion to RW/HG, overall HG/DM, some fluffy SS/OFC
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As a fan of this fandom (and pairing) for sometime, I thought it appropriate to finally branch out and begin writing as well as reading. So this is my first attempt at fanfiction, based on an idea unwilling to leave my head, with so much inspiration to the many well-written stories circulating through this ship.
DISCLAIMER: The characters in this story, except for a few of my creations, are the property of JK Rowling, and the many other people with legal rights to the Harry Potter series.
AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: This story does not at first appear to be AU but a future fic, but I can assure that in later chapters everything as you know it might change.
In an apartment that could have been any other in London, a young woman happily hummed along with the radio that seemed quite out of place with her magical decor. And although the apartment appeared to be like every other that surrounded it, and the woman could have been one among thousands of twenty-somethings, things were not quite what they seemed. For the female in question was not only a witch, but a quite famous one at that. Throughout the wizarding community, Hermione was regarded as something of a hero for her involvement in the war but also as one of the most brilliant witches of the last century. But had any glanced through her window on this cheery morning, they would have liked her to a giggling schoolgirl preparing for a date.
Perhaps her excitement for this upcoming meeting was a bit over the top, considering she could only speculate as to it's cause, but as she hadn't seen Ron in nearly three years, Hermione could only assume that he was willing to move past the issue that had driven them apart. His contact after all this time could have only one meaning in her mind; he was finally ready to pursue a relationship between the two of them. In the years prior, for all his ever obvious clues about his feelings, Ron had always insisted that he needed more time to explore the world before limiting himself to one person for the rest of his life. To Hermione the idea was ridiculous, and something likely to be found in the ideas of a century before, but when in love, one is often able to ignore the most odious qualities within our mate. And such was the case with Hermione.
So when the lunch invitation from Ron had arrived last night, she was willing to overlook the short notice to quench her curiosity. And so she found herself rapidly scurrying around her bedroom in search of an outfit, much like a mouse in a maze. When her sweater had shrunk at 10:15, she began to worry. At 11:04 when her hair would not cooperate, she became frantic. Call it an extreme case of nerves, but nothing was going right for her today, and when she grabbed the floo powder by her mantle, five minutes past the time she was supposed to arrive, Hermione felt a sinking in the pit of her stomach.