Hey all! Good news, I've been doing a bit of writing on this - the writer's block kind of ended. I didn't really have it in the first place but this story was a fair bit harder to write cos I don't know for sure where things will go. However, now that I've managed to fix up the next bit after this chapter, things should move a little quicker, even if I don't get to upload things as readily as I would like.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who wrote reviews for this - I'm glad to see people are enjoying this one as well as my other one as well. It certainly is a good ego boost :-) So maybe I'll be able to post the next chapter soonish. We shall see.

Comments:

Macey Muse: Wow, that's a crapload of languages! Pretty cool tho. In regards to how Robert marries, that will become apparent later on, or rather, in the next chapter. You'll see when I upload it, so you don't have to wait long. Although, the reason for Hermione going on holidays to France is probably just because her family like going there. The affair b/w Robert and Narcissa occurred in Muggle London. Ah, I see how you came to that conclusion now... Narcissa was attending Beauxbatons for a year but when she met Robert, she was on holidays back in England. She stayed over in France for a little after her schooling, claiming that she had taken up an apprenticeship with a Charms professor but really she was looking after Hermione during her first few weeks of life. Upon returning to England, she brought Hermione to Robert and to see him one final time.

trapped-in-a-dream: Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Narcissa's niceties are explained (I hope) later on. In the books she doesn't appear very friendly but I hope that I have worked in some form of explanation fairly well in the next chapter. Will see I guess.

EosRaven: Tis such a typical drama cliche, but a good one I think! Ah well. At least this time they were able to sort out their differences without resolving to verbal attacks. And yep, I like that they both have a memory of the other through Hermione. Perhaps a bit selfish but without her both would be messes.

I gotta thank Rocks-my-socks, EosRaven, Macey Muse and Little Black Poko-chan, cos you have all reviewed every single chapter:-) To everyone else, I'm grateful for your comments and things, it makes it worthwhile hearing people's opinins of it. It also gives me a chance to go over things that I may have missed or mis-written or something like that. So tis much appreciated.

Here is the next installment...


17th September, 2001

8:07am

Hermione Granger could barely contain her excitement. Today was her 21st birthday, which meant that it was the official start to her adult life. No more being under the control of her parents; not that she really was anyway, but at last she could make all of her decisions herself. Robert and Jane Granger had maintained a certain authority over her the last couple of years, despite her being of age. As they kept telling her, it was for her own good. She never knew what that actually meant, however decided it was best not to argue and perhaps that very reason would materialise soon enough where she could make her own decisions.

"Hermione! Are you ready to come down now?" her step-mother Jane's voice could be heard from the bottom of the stairs.

She was standing in front of her mirror, admiring the way that her face had finally disposed of the child-like features and now only carried the womanly shape and appearance that it should.

"Yeah, I'll be down in a minute," she responded.

Upon descending the stairs, Jane's bright and cheerful face was beaming back at her.

"How does it feel to finally be an adult?" she asked.

Hermione gave it a small thought. "Not really any different but at the same time, good."

"Well, your father's got a bit of a surprise for you out in the lounge-room, so make your way into there and he can give it to you."

Not too keen on surprises, especially since her parents were Muggles and she was not, Hermione grudgingly made her way into the lounge-room. She barely made it through the doorjamb when her three best friends from Hogwarts shouted "Surprise!"

Hermione was stunned beyond all feeling. "Wow!" she exclaimed, hands holding her face in shock.

"Happy Birthday, Hermione," Ron said cheerfully as he ran forth to hug her.

"Thanks Ron, thanks Harry and Ginny. My God, this IS a surprise."

After Ron had finished with her, Harry picked her up in one swift movement and twirled her about the room.

"Hey 'Mione. Happy Birthday," he said, kissing her on the cheek.

She flushed, not usually being on the receiving end of a Harry kiss. "Thanks Harry. I can't believe you guys are here!"

"Well, we couldn't miss your birthday. Especially your 21st, it's a bit of a big event," Ginny informed.

"Yeah, but it's not even a Saturday night."

"And? As I said, it's a bit event!"

Hermione was still shocked. It was Thursday morning, where she was meant to be getting ready for work at the St Mungo's laboratories.

"You aren't going to work, by the way," Ron murmured, giving her a sly look.

"What do you mean?" she replied sceptically.

"It is all arranged. You are having a day off; your bosses let us. Mind you, we had to pull some strings but in the end, they let you have one day off. Seeing as you haven't had one in three years."

"This is too much!"

"But we expect a huge thank you after today."

"Hey!" she smiled, knowing Ron was only joking.

"Anyway, there's a few things from us that you have to open, as well as from your parents as well," Harry told her.

They moved out the way to allow her a clear view of the gifts sitting around the coffee table. Amongst them, a cage containing a small grey owl was perched on the coffee table itself. Hermione was overjoyed; she knew it was probably more ideal to have bought an owl when she bought Crookshanks but she couldn't get past Crookshanks' demeanour.

She approached the owl and let it out of its cage. In response, the owl gave a small hoot in thanks and flew off to find a quieter place to sleep.

"Happy Birthday, Love," her father muttered from behind her back. She turned around to see both her parents standing in the doorway, huge smiles on their faces.

"Mum! Dad! How did you know?"

"We have our ways," Jane teased.

"I'm thrilled, thank you very much! I'll have to come up with a name for her, him, later on."

"It's a female. We thought perhaps you might like a female pet instead of two males," her father informed.

"I love her, I really do."

"But that's not it; our other present is the big orange one on the arm chair."

Wondering what this one could be, Hermione wandered over to the big square box and pondered over it. Hmm, she thought, I wonder what it is.

Unwrapping it, she soon gasped as she saw the sight that beheld her. Inside the orange wrapping paper were two boxes; a gold one containing the inscription "Dior" in silver and a blue one with "Malkin" inscripted in gold. This only meant one thing. They were designer dresses, or robes perhaps in the case of the Malkin box. Malkin was Madam Malkin's signature label for all things classy in the wizarding world. Hermione had no idea how her parents would have been able to get hold of one of her dresses if they were Muggles. She only guessed that perhaps Ginny had taken her.

She opened up the gold Dior box and gasped. Inside was a simple yet very elegant black slip dress that she had once eyed on a shopping trip with Jane. What it was now doing in her lounge-room was beyond her; it had seemed far too expensive for her parents to have bought. Gently moving the box to the side, she opened up the blue box. Another gasp escaped her lips as she held up a silk dress, with bat-wing sleeves and the same frilly hem along the bottom of it. Madam Malkin's dress label was high priced and once again, Hermione was filled with the same disbelief as she had shown the other dress.

"Now you have a good dress for wherever you are," Jane told her.

"Mum, Dad, I cannot thank you enough," she whispered, still very much overcome with emotion to say anything else.

"Your welcome. Now, you have your friends' presents to open as well."

Turning back, Hermione eyed the remaining presents with as much curiosity as before.

"Here," Harry said, holding out a medium-sized object. "This is from Ginny and I."

Murmuring thanks, she took said present and began to unwrap it. Inside was a size 8 silver cauldron with the inscription "H.G." along the front of it.

"You didn't have to get me this!" Hermione exclaimed. "I'm very thankful though; now I don't have to get it."

"We thought we'd save you the trouble, "Ginny winked.

"You have. My God, they're so pricy nowadays!"

"That doesn't matter. So long as you have a good one," Harry replied.

"Well, thank you all the same. Now…"

Ron reached out and grabbed the present on the left of him. "This is from Luna and I. She said she's sorry, but she had a pressing conference with the Greek Minister of Magic that she couldn't postpone."

"That's alright, tell her thanks."

She opened up the small rectangular box to reveal a gold-tipped quill. There was no real need for a new quill but this particular one was made from a hippogriff feather and as the little information sheet informed, gold found at the base of a mine in a small town in Australia.2 Seeing as the gold had come from much further away than one of the European goldmines, Hermione knew that the value of the quill was significantly higher than an ordinary gold-tipped one. Besides that, the tiny inscription of Thomas Jung on it was enough to convince her otherwise.

"Ron, this is lovely." She beamed at him.

"I know it probably doesn't have a huge use but we thought that when you get your own office and stuff, you'll really look like a professional with a nifty quill like that."

"I love it." She turned to all the others. "Thanks everyone. I love all my presents!"

"After you have your breakfast, we are taking you out and spoiling you," Ginny informed her, grinning madly.

"Ooh, I cannot thank you guys enough!" Hermione exclaimed.

She went back into the kitchen to have her breakfast, not realising that there was one final gift, in the guise of an envelope, sitting on the coffee table waiting to be opened.


Comments:

Why is Hermione calling Jane 'Mum' when she's her step-mother? Well, as you'll find out sooner or later (next chapter to be precise) Hermione was only very young when Robert met Jane, so … yeah. That explains it, I'm sure.

The small Australian town with the gold... Right, who's heard of Maldon, people? I'm guessing not even the Aussie readers have, unless they live in Maldon in Victoria…  It's a town approx. 130-50 km North West of Melbourne. Population: perhaps 5000 but I'm not really any good at counting. I've only been there a couple of times.

This installment is only smallish but the next one is much bigger. I hope you all keep reading. I'll try to update when I've written more to the story. Bye for now!