Hermione's POV

"Hermione, are you sure you don't want to come into the office for the morning? We could have lunch again." Her mum's voice came up the landing into Hermione's bathroom. She still had her antistatic charmed towel from Hogwarts around her head and looked down at her body, also clad in only a towel.

"I don't think I am dressed for it Mum! I'll be home tonight, you promised me that great vindaloo. Have a good day!" Hermione called back. She heard her mother laugh, Hermione had eaten both cartons of that curry dish last summer and was looking forward to it.

Hearing the sound of the garage door closing, and her mom's car pulling away, she let herself sink back onto her bed. Looking around, it was hard to remember the girl who grew up in this room. They had redone it while she was at school her third year, so the light blue had been replaced by a pansy purple colour. The reading chair had been upgraded in size, but the yellow rag rug she had made with her grandma was still there, and the whole wall of books as well. This Hermione Granger was going to meet a wizard, hers maybe, and discuss the potential bond between them.

Her trip to Diagon Alley had yielded precisely nothing, except a few books with mentions of natural bonds. More common were twin, sibling, marriage, and bonds like blood brothers. Unless you were family, it was very rare to have bonds form spontaneously.

She had gotten more letters since coming home than she had ever received in the span of a week. First the reply from Adrian, then several short owls since, one from his mother, and then surprisingly a letter from Harry. Hermione had been filled with panic when she saw the beautiful snowy owl perched on the window box she had begged her dad to place at her window. There was a big tree there, so no one would see an owl sitting there, which was her parents biggest complaint about owl post. Hedwig didn't seem panicked and exchanged wing flicks with Athena. Hermione had only been home from school three days when she got Harry's letter.

All it really said was that he hoped she was having a good time and that everything was fine. He also suggested she not miss the train, cheeky boy. It was concerning though, further evidence Harry wasn't feeling comfortable. It was out of character for him to just write her over such a short holiday. She had noticed, when she was leaving, that he looked at her with something she couldn't identify in his eyes. If it hadn't felt imperative that she leave the castle for break, she would have changed her mind and stayed with him. Reminding herself that even her seeing Sirius would perk her friend up, with a letter much longer than the usual line or two.

Hermione looked over at the small pile of letters she had tied together with blue ribbon in a moment of sentimentality, and thought over what they said. Adrian's reply to her original letter had more sentiment than she expected. Once she had come home from her day trip to Dartmouth, she had showered and had dinner with her parents. Later on in bed that night, she had let herself really think about what had been going on. Though she didn't think she really would have done anything differently with the information that she had at the time, it was still hard. Hermione had hurt him, she could see it in his eyes, and now that she knew what it was, through the bond.

Deciding again that she would apologize, even if it had been unintentional, she forced herself to stop dwelling on that particular issue. His mother was going to come and get her, then take her to a place on their property. She wasn't sure why exactly this was the place he had chosen, but he had assured her it was only his mother and him there, and their elves of course. Maybe she would get to meet Pinny, if not today then one day soon. She wanted to thank the elf for Athena.

What she would say when she was face to face with him she didn't know. For that matter, she didn't know what to say to Cynthia either. She had not responded to the last letters she received at school. Too confused, and feeling like she had endangered her best friend, to write anything that might come across as anything other than blatant suspicion. She also hadn't thought it fair to ask his mother, when she wasn't the magical issue. As she got up and put on the clothes she had chosen last night, she tried not to be so nervous. Jeans and a black sweater, her favourite, and her most comfortable black boots made up her outfit. Leaving her hair down and using the quick dry serum Cynthia had sent her made her feel that at least she looked nice, and more importantly she looked like herself. There was only half an hour left until their half past nine rendezvous.

Not knowing what else to do, she sat down at her desk and pulled out her favourite calligraphy pen and a piece of wizarding parchment. There were spells on the parchment that prevented any bleeding at all, excellent for quills and better than any non magical specialty paper. Slowly, and with all of her concentration, she began her list.

Things to Keep in Mind Today

Make yourself share your thoughts and feelings

Really listen to his words and try to see past them as well

Apologize to Cynthia and express your thanks for her advice and support

Tell him you want to tell Harry

Ask about his father

When is his birthday?

How will we communicate at school?

It had been a long time since she practiced, and it showed in her speed and the shaky letters scattered throughout. It was an old habit of hers to write notes to herself, as if she was speaking to herself. It would only take five minutes to get to the entrance of the park they had arranged to meet at, but she didn't want to be late so grabbed her bag and locked up behind her.

Cynthia's POV

It had been decided between Adrian and herself, that both of them going to retrieve Hermione wasn't the best plan. Unsure of what would happen when they saw each other, or how they would react, she had been the obvious choice. Quickly glancing at herself in the mirror, she thought she looked quite pretty, muggle dresses were lovely, and spinning she appeared in a copse of trees just out of sight of the gate they had agreed on. It had been a bit exciting to apparate into St James park, she had been there before, and find her way to this particular one. That had been yesterday afternoon, this wasn't a meeting she wanted to be late to.

As she turned a corner in the path, she immediately recognized the curly hair, and couldn't help but smile at the young witch. She appeared to be scanning the passers by and occasionally checking a watch she was wearing. Was it a wizarding one? Usually they were given when a wizard came of age, and most witches made do with the tempos charm. For this witch though, a watch could be an excellent present. She would have to be careful not to make her a spectacle at school by outwardly lavishing expensive gifts on the muggleborn Gryffindor. Deciding she would just keep looking until she found an appropriate one, she softly called out when she was a dozen paces away.

"Hermione." The curly hair lifted from her shoulders as she spun, even in those muggle pants she looked lovely. Young and fresh, no artifice. None indeed. She was giving a tentative smile, but it was clear on her face that she felt uncertain of herself, and probably her too. Idly, she wondered if she kept better control when she wasn't sure of the person causing her uncertainty. It would be necessary for her to learn, if she didn't already have a mask.

"It is so good to see you. Come, let's go to a secure place and we will be off."

"Alright. Thank you for coming to get me, and for all of your help. Truly it has been invaluable. I will tell you more when we aren't so public." The smile was more certain, and though she didn't meet her eyes for long it looked genuine. Simply smiling at the young witch, Cynthia clasped hands with her and gently pulled her into the shaded area she had arrived in.

"Have you apparated before?"

"Just once, with Mr Weasley. I will be alright."

"Perfect. Just hold tight to my hands." With that she spun both of them into blackness.

As she steadied her passenger, and waited for the girl to compose herself, she looked around. It was habit only, this was her home and she knew Adrian was waiting by the pond. She had to stifle at grin when Hermione started looking around, no doubt for her son.

"It's just us here for the moment dear. I wanted to speak to you first. Adrian will want you to himself and I know you have much to talk about." Hermione was paying her close attention now and nodded seriously.

"I will let you begin, you mentioned wanting to speak privately." She watched the younger girl nod again and gestured to the small gazebo that she used for personal conversations in her garden.

"First I want to thank you, truthfully I don't know what I would have done without your help and advice. I behaved terribly the last few weeks, I am so embarrassed. You have done nothing but be as helpful as you could, and I was so ungrateful. I'm sure you know that I didn't know about the potential bond. It's difficult to explain, Sirius understood immediately what had happened. Explained it and also made me promise to try and see it from Adrian's perspective, and yours. I wouldn't have been able to speak to him without Athena, and your advice about using the Knight bus. I don't know what to say, other than I am sorry and thank you." Watching the younger girl trail off helplessly, Cynthia felt her heart go out to her.

"It's alright, really it is. Of course I wish we hadn't had this period of unpleasantness, but it is over, and though I can not understand how you were feeling, I can imagine what it must have been like, not understanding what was happening. In speaking with Adrian I said to him and want to say it to you, your being raised without the deep certainty of your magic, and it's capabilities, is something we all must take into account. It's not a criticism in any way dear, merely a fact. There are many things that you know and understand, that I most certainly couldn't fathom, there is no shame in this. We were raised differently. However both of us are women, and we are also both witches. I will have to consider you as you are, just as you will me. Now that you have a better understanding of the magic between you and my son, I hope you will also understand I too, want a bond with you. One we build ourselves, witch to witch." Though there was much more she wanted to say to the girl she was beginning to really believe would be her daughter one day, it was clear that was enough for now. The girl was going to cry.

Cynthia quickly reached for her and allowed her to bury her face in her neck. Softy the girl sobbed, it was quiet, and in that moment she had a better idea of the turmoil Hermione had been feeling. There was no spitefulness in her earlier actions, and clearly she had felt terrible. Well that was over, and they would move forward. Softy she told her so, and rubbed her back gently.

Composure regained, Cynthia smiled at her, and pulled her wand.

"If I take you to Adrian looking as if you had cried, he would be needlessly alarmed. Let's pander to his barbarism, my Nathan detests when I've been crying. Doesn't even matter whether it was a happy or sad cry to him. It is unacceptable, and then he wants to fix the problem for me. Infuriating man once tried to tell me I couldn't read anymore witchy novels, as he calls them, because they were upsetting me and he wouldn't stand for it. Of course I still read them, he suffers with little grace." Ah there it was, a smile.

"Adrian will be waiting, probably also not gracefully, for us. Would you like to walk or apparate? Or Pinny could take us. It is about fifteen minutes walk from here." As if she had suddenly become aware of their surroundings, Cynthia watched her look around. Ah, she was beautiful and would only become more so as she matured. When her face was open, her eyes sparkled, and even she could see the radiant loveliness her son had tried to explain.

"Would walking be inconvenient? This is beautiful! It looks based on a Tudor style, but with much more movement." And she appreciated her garden, the girl was perfect. The two strolled west, stopping occasionally to inspect a plant or shape. Apparently this was one of the many interests she had cycled through between ages eight and eleven. Not many children were interested in architecture or gardening, at least in her experience. The time passed quickly, and soon they had left the terraced gardens and were skirting the sloping banks to the lake, entering the woods that covered the hills to the north of it.

"I will leave you here. Just follow this path, there are no places to leave it from here. I will see you when you are ready to return home. Just call Pinny and she will fetch me." With a last soft smile at the girl who would one day hold her place, she left her standing in a small clearing with only one corner to navigate on her own. This would be their moment. As much as she wanted to see it, that would be an invasion of privacy. Also, she thought the bond would know if they were unobserved, and didn't want to impede them in any way. Instead of apparating herself back into the house, she walked slowly toward her habitat gardens, and began her usual walk through them, towards the orchard. Thinking all the while of the future, immediate and as far as her grandchildren. There was no rest for a witch or a mother, determined to see her dreams realized, her son's future secure.