Author's Note:

I put in the extra effort and did 2 chapters this weekend as I am not sure I will have time to update next weekend. With the Labor Day holiday next weekend my sister is coming into town to visit. I will try to write… but no promises. Thanks for all the great reviews! Redfrog

Chapter 9:

The rest of the summer flew by for Hermione. She was successful in testing out of her three additional classes and was writing to the twins almost as often as Severus about their new business venture. They told her they would for sure have the time to do it as their playing Quidditch was a good test run of how Lee would run WWW and so far he was doing a great job. They had no intention of continuing to play after this season nor did Harry. They said it was fun, and a dream made reality but realized that was not the life for them.

The biggest news of the summer was that Victor Krum had been unceremoniously unseated from his position as the best seeker in the world. Harry wiped the field with him during the game they played against Bulgaria. Harry even used Victor's own Wronski Feint against him. The press was having a field day with the fact that Harry, as a replacement seeker with no intention of continuing on next year, was the undisputed best seeker in the world. The fact that the only game he ever lost was because dementors came onto the field was also in his favor. England did not loose a single game the entire time they played with the replacement players. Oliver Wood was praised by most reporters once it was reveled that he was the one who suggested they reform the winning Gryffindor team.

Jason was visibly jealous of Harry after his defeat and Hermione had a hard time not smirking at it. She was excited that her friend was getting the opportunity to live his dream without needing to spend his life stuck as a Quidditch player. She knew he loved to play and was glad he was doing so well. This was something that he could do as just Harry, not the savior of the world.

"We play Bulgaria in the finals of the cup," Jason told her excitedly a week before the match. "The bus leaves at 9 am two days before the match. You are still planning on coming aren't you?" He asked her, hoping she hadn't changed her mind.

"Of course," Hermione told him with a grin. "There's no way I am missing the finals!" She laughed, "Besides I get to watch two of my favorite seekers go up against each other."

"How many favorite seekers do you have?" Jason asked jealously.

"Four," she told him with a grin.

"Who's the fourth?" He asked, unaware she knew more than two other pro seekers.

"Max," she told him with a giggle, "I mean he is engaged to my roommate and all."

"So who's your favorite," he asked her with what he once again assumed was an irresistible sexual undertone.

"I don't think you would like my answer so I'm not going to say. You can be assured that Max is on the bottom of my list though," she told him before heading back to her dorm to get ready for both her trip to the world cup and for the start of the new school year. The world cup was being held in Spain this year. The Spanish had a decent team but lost in the quarter finals to Bulgaria. Hermione was glad to be going as member of the team's entourage so she would be able to see Victor and meet his girlfriend.

Dearest Hermione,

Congratulations on testing out of those additional classes. I hope this means that you will be returning to us sooner, maybe only two more years? It would be wonderful to see you back where you belong. I have heard that you are starting some secret business venture with the Weasley twins. I understand that you cannot give me details until you make whatever it is public since we have not met in person for me to give you a wand oath. Just know that I will support you in whatever way that I can. I was not able to get tickets to the World Cup finals so we will not be able to see each other. I had already accepted an invitation to speak on the Wolfsbane potion at a seminar in Oslo. I hope your ruse with Mr. Rowland at the cup goes well. I would imagine you would rather cheer for your friend Victor. I expect a long letter with details of the match; I do always enjoy a good game. It's a shame that the house teams at Hogwarts are never evenly matched.

Best Regards,

Severus

Hermione smiled at his letter, glad that he wasn't upset that she couldn't discuss her new business. It just wasn't safe enough until she took her master's test. The idea that someone could steel her research was frightening to her and she had protected it with every secrecy charm she knew. She had smiled to herself when she read that Severus thought she may be done in 2 more years, that was what Minerva and Albus believed as well. She knew it would be a shock when she arrived a year ahead of schedule.

She had decided that she would "officially" break things off with Jason after the season was over. She didn't want to have to pretend for the rest of the year. She wasn't sure what the best way to do that was, but she figured he would want to dump her to keep up his image.

The trip to the World Cup was great. She and Carley shared a room with two of the other girlfriends and had a fun time shopping in Madrid's magical section with the other women. Having plenty of spending money came in handy. She spent more on new clothes and fun things she found in a single day in Spain than she had the entire last year in Australia. They had spend almost 4 hours in an exclusive designer clothing boutique in Madrid that only let them in once they recognized Hermione and she informed the owner that the others were the significant others of professional Quidditch players. Between the four of them they probably spent more money than Arthur Weasley makes in a year just on clothes in that store!

Victor introduced her to his girlfriend, now fiancé, Katlyn Smith. She was a petit girl maybe a year older than Hermione. She had long black hair hanging in perfect curls down her back and piercing deep blue eyes. "It is wonderful to finally meet you," Katlyn told her with a genuine smile. "Victor has told me all about you and I met your friends on the English team."

"I'm glad to meet you too; it's nice that Victor can finally say my name!" The two laughed and talked during the entire pre-game warm ups. They did have a lot in common. Katlyn had just finished her studies to get her Masters in Ancient Runes and Victor had finished his masters in Defense Against the Dark Arts. They only needed their apprenticeships and they would get their certificates. Victor was apprenticing a master near where he trained for Quidditch and was most of the way done. Katlyn told her that since the tri-wizard tournament Victor realized how important DADA was and had been studying in is off time as a correspondence student to the same university she attended in Rome, the Roman Magical Academy. That was one of the schools Hermione had gotten a scholarship to, but it wasn't as high a caliber as AIMAE.

They promised to keep in touch, as they both felt like they had met a kindred spirit. "If you write to Albus Dumbledore he should be able to get you a communication box so we can write without killing any poor owls." After explaining what the boxes did Katlyn said she would defiantly contact him as she would love to be able to set something like that up with her family in the States as it took forever to get letters from them in Rome and she knew her and Victor would be staying in Europe after they wed.

The game was fairly quick by World Cup standards, lasting only 9 hours. Victor caught the snitch with Jason not having even spotted it until Victor almost had it in reach. The Australian team played well, but it wasn't enough to pull far enough ahead of the Bulgarians to win without getting the snitch. The final score was 330 to 190. Jason was moody during the after party, even with all the press asking him questions. Hermione understood why he was down, but Bulgaria had been heavily favored to win, so in her opinion they did quite well for being ahead in the points without the snitch.

Severus,

The match was wonderful. I was able to spend an entire day shopping with the other "girlfriends" and got to meet Victor's girlfriend. They are engaged now. Her name is Katlyn Smith and she is my kindred spirit. I can tell that if we would have met when we were younger we would have been best friends. She is probably the first female my own age that I didn't feel like strangling after spending time with. Even Carley drives me nuts after an hour or so! She just finished her mastery in Ancient Runes. Did you know that Victor has a mastery in DADA? He is almost through with an apprenticeship too! I was shocked that he was able to do that and Quidditch. Victor once again showed Jason up and caught the snitch, making it look easy. The Ausie team played well though and was ahead in points before Victor got the snitch. The only way I could have had a better time was if I could have been able to see you. Though maybe it is for the best as seeing you would have blown my cover for Jason and my fake relationship. I hope the start of term goes well.

Love,

Hermione

Minerva knew Hermione must have written Severus something good as he was in an almost playful mood for the rest of the week. When Albus announced the name of the new DADA teacher, which usually made Severus mope for a week, all he did was laugh and head back to the dungeons without so much as a sneer. The staff was baffled as to his behavior.

Hermione,

Dear girl what have you done to my potions master? He is almost cheerful. He has the rest of the staff terrified as they have never seen him like this. He didn't even flinch when I announced the new DADA teacher. Whatever it is you have done, please continue. It is wonderful to see him so much farther out of his shell. Tormenting the rest of the staff is just icing on the cake. I have given your new friend Katlyn a communications box so you will most likely be getting letters from her and Mr. Krum. Have a wonderful first week of term.

Albus

Hermione chuckled at Albus' letter and was heartened that Severus had gotten her unspoken message in her last letter. She smirked as she thought of his reaction to her next few letter. She had decided she was going to stop being so subtle of her budding feelings for him in her letters and step up the flirting. She wanted him to have no doubts of her feelings by the time she was back in England.

The headlines in the papers in Australia that day were, "Star Seeker and War Hero Taking Break." Jason had agreed to end their fake relationship. Hermione was not pleased to find out that he told the papers they were taking a break so she could focus more on her education and him on his career. She did not want them to have the impression that they were getting back together but she figured this was better than nothing. She would return to England and the rumors of them getting back together would disappear. She figured this was Jason's way of ensuring he didn't have to find a new girlfriend for a while.

Carley seemed more upset than anyone about their 'break-up' and it took Hermione telling her that the reason was that she wasn't ready for a physical relationship and Jason was to get her to calm down. She hadn't believed that Hermione was 'fine' or that it was 'my idea' until she gave her the sex reason. "Well then he just doesn't deserve you." She told her firmly and dropped the subject thankfully.

Minerva was sure the staff thought pigs were about to fly and hell freeze over as Severus entered breakfast the morning the students were to return actually humming. He was smiling and had a gleam in his eyes that none of them had ever seen. She shared a look with Albus who indicated that he had no idea what had put the usually stoic man in such good spirits. Harry was the one to enlighten them as he handed the sports section of the paper to them. There main sports headline was "Granger Grounds Australian Seeker" and an article about the breakup as well as a lot of speculation of the 'real reason' as they were hard pressed to believe the official statement.

My Darling Hermione,

You finally ditched the Quidditch player I see. I am glad you no longer need to continue with that charade. I was in such high sprits that Poppy actually ran a diagnostic charm on me thinking I had ingested some cheering potion! The little brats return today but I have decided to take your advice and attempt not to scare them too badly. I make no promises as one of my only stress relievers is to see how may Hufflepuffs I can make cry each year. I wish you were here to break up the monotony. I miss you more each day that you are away.

Affectionately,

Severus

Hermione was almost floating on air as she headed to class that morning. That was as direct as Severus had ever been and she was on cloud nine. Minerva, Albus and Harry had been writing to her on his attitude change and she was glad her letters were allowing him to feel more comfortable being himself around others as well.

Vivek seemed almost as excited as she was that she would be finished with her classes at the end of the year. "You are the best student I have ever had," he told her fondly one day. "You will go far and do great things. I expect you to leave me one of those letter boxes of yours so we can stay in touch when you leave."

Gred and Forge,

I agree with the purchasing the warehouse space you found. Enclosed is a note for your branch of Gringotts; my branch already has a copy. This authorizes you to make the necessary withdrawals from my account to purchase the space. Don't worry about the funds boys; you are now in business with the world's number one hair care provider. My partner in Hermione's Hair Care Potions was able to purchase new manufacturing facilities in England, the States and Japan. We are now able to easily supply the entire wizarding world with my products and have multiplied our revenue by 5 times where we were last year. I have decided that we should be discrete in naming our new business so that the customer would have to actually research to know who owns it and who knows the spells. We don't want either of our names on it; people will just assume we are getting rich of off WWW and my hair care line. Perhaps we could name it something like Electronic Wizarding Wares as I doubt the name of Muggle Electronics Made Easy would go over with the purebloods! Let me know how the purchase goes. I also agree to the lease of the property you sent me the info on. Look into purchasing that as well so we can knock a hole in the wall to get into the warehouse.

Hermione

Boss Lady,

All went well with the purchase. We have a 2 year lease on the other property and the landlord said he would be willing to discuss selling if we make all rent payments on time for a year and all of us meet with him. Let us know when you want us to start the next stage and what we are to search for.

F/G

PS: We are out of our special ink but "Batman" is helping us replenish.

Hermione laughed at the twins' letter and even harder as she imagined Severus' look when he found out what they called him. She was going to spend her free time over the next month researching what products they should start with selling. She knew she wanted to offer cell phones, laptops, TVs and DVD players but didn't want to limit them to just those. She also wanted to research which brand of each she wanted to carry as well as how many different price ranges she wanted to offer. Her major research at the moment was how to pilfer muggle satellite TV as well as how to get secured internet access for wizards. She knew the internet would have to wait until she was back in England as she needed to speak to the unspeakables about hiding it from the muggles first.

Hermione had a wonderful birthday as she was informed that she was cleared to take her masters' tests the month before school got out. She would be the first tested, which is what she asked for so she could finalize her business plans once her spells were cataloged and patented. She was so excited about finishing school and getting back home. She knew that if her new business venture with the twins paid off even half as much as she anticipated then she would never have to worry about money ever again, nor would her great-great grandchildren.

The letters from her friends and from Severus kept Hermione grounded and focused on her studies and research. She was excited for Carley as she and Max were getting married on New Years Eve at the stroke of midnight. Hermione was one of the bridesmaids and that made not being in England for the holidays much more bearable.

She was pleasantly surprised by Severus' Christmas gift of a beautiful silver charm bracelet with finely crafted silver charms of a caldron, wand, kitten and a tiny replica of Hogwarts. He told her that he had Flitwick help him with the charms on the bracelet and she realized that it was a REAL charm bracelet and that the 'charms' were charmed with different spells. The caldron had an anti-poison charm on it that would neutralize any poisons she ingested or was splashed with. The wand was a power boosting charm to help her not expend as much energy on complex transfigurations. The kitten charm almost made her cry. It had a claming charm on it to make her feel peaceful. Severus told her the reason it was a cat was because she had told him that she used to be clamed by petting Crookshanks when he was alive. She smiled at his thoughtfulness as well as the fact that the charm looked much more like her animagus form rather than Crooks. The Hogwarts charm had a general protection charm on it that should defect minor hexes and repel any flying objects from hitting her.

She had sent him a cell phone and told him of her research. She had specially charmed the parchment to only be able to be read by him. She knew she could trust him with her secret and knew that would mean more to him than any gift. She had also purchased him a new cloak. It was lush black velvet with a green satin lining so deep in color it was almost black as well. There were intricate silver protection runes sewn into the hem of the cloak to provide protection from potions, spells and weather as well as a permanent cooling/heating rune to keep it at constant temperature. She had the silver snake clasp designed especially for him and when clasped it was two entwining snakes that formed his initials. She had had Katlyn weave the rune work into the cloak and Albus get her the proper measurements for it to fit Severus perfectly.

She smiled when she opened Harry's gift to find another charm. His card told her that it had taken forever to figure out the charm on it. It was a charm of a book and the spell was one that would help her to remember any information that she read, sort of like an instant photographic memory. She thought it was amazingly thoughtful of Harry. Tonks had sent her a nice but risqué silk nightgown in a deep Slytherin green. Hermione just shook her head and smirked at the thought of Severus' face if he knew she even owned it.

Carley's wedding was beautiful. Hermione was shocked when they did the muggle bouquet toss and she caught it. She figured it was because the other women were too confused as to why they were trying to catch it. The best part of the wedding was returning to her dorm knowing she no longer had a roommate to worry about. It would help her keep on track with her studies.

The twins and she had worked out that they would carry MP3 players, stereos and speakers and video game systems to round out the entertainment area of the shop. They were still debating what other muggle gadgets to carry and were planning on offering a large selection of muggle CDs, DVDs, video and computer games. They had discussed some other muggle things such as espresso machines, blender/smoothie makers, microwaves, spinning toothbrushes, digital cameras and camcorders, even RC cars and other children's toys. She was very glad she had involved the twins as they were very intelligent and had a good business sense as well as were excited as she was to be able to play with everything.

Their new store would be in Diagon alley and Vivek had helped her with an ingenious way to sell internationally. They would have to get permission from the ministry most likely but he had designed a special portkey that would transport the equipment to the nearest owl post office to the person who ordered it. There it could be checked by customs and the individual could pick it up and pay any applicable fees for that country for imported materials. Everything was getting put in place for her return. Now all she had to do was ace her masters' tests and finish her classes and she was home free.