Beware the ides of March.

Shakespeare

Julius Cesar

Harry should rue the day he proposed this little play we were in the midst of acting. It has reminded me of my deep love of theater, the non-musical kind. Now my volume of the complete works of Shakespeare has taken up residence next to Hogwarts, A History on the table in my sitting room. Various lines from Shakespeare's works have wound their way into my vocabulary. If only a few of my former classmates were around I could make good use of some of those pithy insults.

Then again, I am getting more and more frustrated with out sneaking around the castle and pretending to be strangers when we are in public. It is one thing to ignore your enemy, which is a skill acquired through years of dealing with my classmates who were in Slytherin. It is a whole different case to ignore the man you love. Especially when the man you love is currently helping out with some first years out on the Quidditch pitch. Especially when your sitting room window faces the Quidditch pitch and you have a perfect view of how incredibly handsome he looks soaring through the air. Especially when he has a seemingly infinite source of patience as he attempts to help some particularly clumsy eleven year olds to fly. Some of those kids make Neville's first attempt at flying look like moves from the Quidditch World Cup.

I let a sigh escape and pull my hair back with a tie as I ready myself to go tutor a few students. As I stride down the hall my frustration helps with my need to appear moody, depressed, and resentful. I am all those things, just not for the reason that everyone expects. A sigh escapes my lips and a smile sneaks up on me as I realize tomorrow is a Hogsmeade day. At the very least two days with no classes will be a nice break. I have a busy social calendar this weekend and there will be some stellar performances.

The next morning I was awake and ready long before the first students. This is another week where I am free to spend the day as I please since I am not officially responsible for the students in Hogsmeade. The day has the promise of being much more pleasant, more a May day, than the middle of March sort of day. I thought for a few moments as I stared at my wardrobe choices. With the mild temperatures and the bright sunrise just out my window I select a shorter, spring inspired robe I purchased last time I was in Diagon Alley. I had yet to wear it. Knowing it was still March, I gather my cloak along with other items I would need that day. After arranging my clothes and such, I sit down to do a bit to my hair and make up. After all, an actress cannot take the stage without the proper hair and make up. Five minutes later I am ready to break a leg. I know, five minutes is not that long. I'm an amateur, not a diva.

The walk to Hogsmeade is glorious. The breeze is cool so I am glad I brought my cloak. It is also silent, except for the various noises of nature. It is not often I am able to enjoy the absence of youthful exuberance, fights, whines, giggles and such. I truly don't mind, but sometimes I just need quiet or adult conversation. However, adult conversation was not likely to be found at my destination.

"Hermione! Ready to be the new test subject for our latest sweet?" George asks as I enter his shop.

"George, I have known you far too long to accept any food or gift from you without a thorough examination to remove any unwanted charms, hexes, curses, or potions. Since I really don't want to take the time, I will pass on whatever you might feel like offering me," I grin in reply.

"My dear George, how little faith the lady has in us! Such a tragedy!" Fred melodramatically waifs into the room.

"Will you two gits calm down already? How you've ever managed to be helpful to us this far is utterly beyond me!" Ginny sighed as she follows Fred into the room.

"Harry here yet?" I ask.

"Yup, hidden in the back room so our little party will appear to only have four in attendance. So now that we have put on a warm welcoming show for any up this early, let's adjourn to the back for some tea," George says with a surprisingly good impression of a certain former Minister of Magic.

"Don't worry, I brought the tea and Harry brought the scones. The food and tea set is perfectly normal," Ginny says as she takes my arm and leads me to the back.

The twins' shop has a back store room area without any windows so we are able to have a conspirators' meeting without fear of being seen. I sit down next to Harry and give him a kiss on the cheek. He drapes his arm over the back of my chair and I lean into him.

"Come on guys! You're as bad as mum and dad!" Fred complains.

"We haven't even had breakfast yet and we have to deal with all this lovey dovey stuff," George continues. "There should be laws against this rubbish."

"If you two do not stop your complaints not only will I hex you but I think that two certain former Gryffindor chasers will love to hear about your thoughts on romance and such. They might not be as friendly next time the four of you go out on a Friday evening." Bless you Ginny, I thought as she firmly puts the twins in their place.

Ginny pours tea for everyone and Harry grabs scones for everyone while I begin our meeting.

"Today we need to move to the next phase of our little plan. There is a good amount of tension in the school as everyone is wondering what is going on with the two of us. I have even noticed Minerva staring at me when she doesn't realize I am looking at her. The three little Gryffindors are paying more attention to my moods and mail than my class," here I am interrupted by the twins laughing.

I shoot them a look. They know better than to voice whatever thought they just shared.

"Continuing, without interruption," another look to the twins.

"She looks just like McGonagall when she does that," Fred whispers to George.

"Honestly, you two!" All my admonishment accomplishes is pulling yet another smirk from each of the Weasley twins. I should know better than to think that those two could behave themselves.

"Moving on, here's the plan…"

Thirty minutes later we all have our roles, costumes, and places. Ginny and I walk arm in arm down the street towards our favorite haunt. As we enter the pub we took our customary seat and proceed to have our routine girl talk over a late breakfast. On cue, James enters and immediately finds us. He crosses the pub with the eyes of every student watching his every move. A small smirk crossed his face as he leans down to kiss my cheek.

"Good morning ladies," he greets us. "It is a pleasure to see you today…." We continue in conversation until Ginny excuses herself claiming she is needed at home.

When she left I look up at James. We have a brief conversation with our eyes. He takes my hand and leads me from the pub. Hand in hand we wander around Hogsmeade. One would have thought we were an exact replica of Fluffy with the stares we are receiving from passersby.

After a few hours of our wanderings, we decide to walk back to Hogwarts. The students do not even try to hide their stares at this point. Their dowdy Transfiguration Professor is being escorted back to the castle on the arm of a tall, handsome, and completely charming man. I do not speak to James and he had nothing of importance to share with me so the walk is a silent one, but not uncomfortably so.

At length we reach the main doors to the school. James stops and pulls me around to face him.

Looking me directly in the eyes, he says, "Hermione, I love our time together. You are such a wonderful, talented witch." He looks a bit sheepish as he asks, "May I kiss you?"

I nod and just as he lowers his head down to mine, he is ripped away. I look around, startled as I draw my wand from the pocket of my cloak. Before I can do anything, James is spun around to face his attacker. I gasp as I see Harry's face as he pulls his arm back and quite expertly punches James square in the jaw. Harry pulls back again, this time bringing his fist into full contact with James' nose.

My voice comes out strangled, "Harry! Stop that! Stop it now! What do you think you are doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he says before stalking off back into the castle.

James is standing there shocked that Harry Potter just thrashed him. His nose was bleeding and there was already discoloration around his jaw line. I never knew Harry had it in him. I had seen him do battle before, but always with a wand and always in-self defense.

"James, James," I lightly touch his shoulder. "Are you alright? Silly question, of course you're not alright. Do you want to come in and I can take care of you with a few healing charms?"

"No," he says with hesitation. "I think I'll just be going now. Goodbye Hermione." He walks back towards the village. I watch his retreating form, not fully taking in the audience of students and not a few staff that we had acquired.

"Professor Granger, might I see you in my office? Now," comes a stern voice from the entryway behind me.

I turn and see Minerva standing there. I had a flashback to the first time I saw her as I was a first year gathered in the side room waiting to enter the Great Hall for the Sorting. Somehow I feel just like an eleven year old all over again. That is not a good feeling.

I follow the stern footsteps of Minerva through the halls without making eye contact with anyone around me. The gossip spreads much faster than we walk as the whispers seem to fly in front causing students to turn and stare as they spoke in hushed tones. When we reach her office, Minerva says the password and leads the way into the rooms. Her silence is not good, not good at all. I begin to twist my hands around the cords of my cloak, fidgeting worse than a small child. Minerva nods to a chair as she takes her seat behind her desk. She never sits behind her desk when we speak; I am most uncomfortable at this point.

"Hermione, that display was appalling. I realize you are significantly younger than most of your peers, but you do still have to set a good example for the other students. I know you are not fully responsible for the entire scene, but you should know better."

"How was I to know Harry would come charging out of the castle like an avenging angel bent on maiming a perfectly innocent gentleman?" My tone of voice is far less than respectful and not a little bit indignant. "You know how impetuous that boy can be!"

"And how oblivious you can be," Minerva mutters under her breath. I am just able to catch it, but decided it is not worth taking that tangent.

"Very well, I realize I need to speak to Harry about this matter as the majority of the responsibility lies with him. That will be all," she dismisses me with all the formality of my former days as her student.

I trudge back to my chambers, exhausted, annoyed, and flustered. Skipping the evening meal would play well with the day's events and I just did not have the energy to contend with all the students and staff. Once I enter my rooms I peeled my cloak off and walk to my bedroom. I just put on the ever famous flannel pants and an old Quidditch jersey. After all these years of friendship with Harry and Ron I had acquired more than a few of their cast-off clothes. If asked, I would say something non-committal, but the fact of the matter is that it was comforting. Thus I chose to wear one now.

I took a seat on the sofa with Hogwarts, A History knowing I need to lighten my mood and stress level. After finishing about a third of the book, Harry came in to the room quite quietly.

"I know you're there. You know you can't sneak up on me," I said.

"A guy can still hope," he says with a small smile. "How are you doing? If you're talk with McGonagall was half what mine was you must be stressed and worried right now."

I look up at Harry. I don't know why I was surprised, but it was one of those moments where I really see him. His hair is a hopeless bird's nest of tangles. His glasses are reflecting the fire light and his eyes shine behind the images of the flames. His hands re in his pockets of the Muggle jeans he is wearing. The white button down shirt is no longer tucked in and is as rumpled as his hair. But his words and the expression of love and worry in his eyes betray his youthful experience. Somehow, that bedraggled boy I met all those years ago on the train became this man who had been through the worst things imaginable yet is so full of love, compassion, understanding, loyalty…how did he end up standing in my rooms looking at me like that?

"Mione, are you alright?" he asks as his brows furrow.

"Hmm?" I reply until my brain processed his question. "Oh, yes, I'm fine. I was just caught up in my thoughts." I smile slightly as I say this.

"And what might those thoughts be?" he asks having seen my expression.

"Just about the most charming, wonderful man of my acquaintance." Honestly, was he expecting anything other than a pert response?

"Who? I'll have to go and beat him to a pulp. I'm all warmed up after all." He adjusts his stance to look more imposing. It almost worked, except for his smile and his eyes were too soft. When he is truly mad or ready for a fight they become cold and hard, like the emeralds so many of my classmates would compare his eyes to when they gossiped in the dorms at night.

"Well, you see, he is terribly handsome though his hair is dreadful. Handsome though he is, it is his charm and personality that caught me," here I wink and Harry laughs. He moves forward a few paces to stand quite close to me.

"What else is so special about this bloke?" Harry asks.

"He lets me boss him around most of the time, but he is one of the few people who can tell me what to do, successfully. He is an incredibly talented wizard. He is a kind, loving, wonderful young man," I think I reached the point where Harry had enough of this game.

As I finished my thought he pulled me into his arms and kissed me with such softness and depth of feeling. I melted.

"I think that bloke thinks you're pretty spectacular too. Especially since you are one of the reasons why he turned out the way he did and managed to avoid getting killed in all those childhood adventures," he softly smiles as he whispers this.

Harry carries me over to the couch and settls us on it. We sat in silence with our thoughts for quite some time.

After quite a while, Harry broke the quiet, "So today was quite the day?"

I chuckle. "I guess so. I wonder if they will ever figure out our ploy or will we get the pleasure of enlightening them?"

"Oh, I think it is safe to say that after the scolding I got from Minerva that she has no clue as to the truth of the situation. After our little meeting, I hovered near her office, under the cloak of course, and saw Anthony, Miranda, and Nicholas enter her rooms with the help of Dobby."

"I wonder what they are discussing right now?"

"I bet they are no where near as comfortable with the situation they are in as we are right now," Harry said as he draws me a bit closer to him.

"Quite right," I agree. We both let the warmth and comfort overtake our senses as the exhaustion of the day sinks in to our very cores. Before long I feel Harry's breathing change indicating he has fallen asleep. I soon follow.

Hours later I am woken up from my sleep. For a fraction of a moment I am thrown back to that era of Horacrux hunting. Harry was tossing about causing me to nearly fall off the sofa and the old worries over him return as if they had never left and Voldemort was still alive.

"No! No! Stop! You can't do that!" Harry screamed out in his sleep. No, Merlin, not more nightmares. He hadn't had them in over a year.

"Harry," I keep saying his name softly and as soothingly as possible as I shake him. I know that when he comes out the dream he will have no clue who I am and where he is for a moment. It takes some time to wake him, enough time for me to relive some of those moments of doubt, fear, terror, horror, death, and darkness from all those years ago. Most people's nightmares are creations of their deepest fears or worst imaginings. Our nightmares are from our past where we lived through our deepest fears and dreadful events we never could have imagined. Life goes on, but so do the memories. We have more than our share of dark memories. Most of the time they are obscured by the life we have built and the love and light that surrounds us now. However, few know that the Golden Trio suffers from the war still. At last Harry finally emerges from his dream.

For a moment he looks around, confused, frightened, and with eyes of ice. Then his roaming eyes find mine. They instantly soften. I know it was another nightmare. The only question in my mind is which one. We saw so much to cause nightmares during our childhood and Harry lived a nightmare for nearly ten years before that. While the dreams were fewer now, they still haunted him. I wait, holding him, until he is ready to speak. To anyone else I know he would brush off the nightmare, but I know he will want to talk and have quite a bit to say to me. After many minutes his shivering and breathing calm. Soon his arms are wrapped around me and I can feel him take a few deep, steadying breaths.

"I manage to go for days now without thinking about the war or the battles we fought. Then, just as I feel normal, these nightmares creep up on me and remind me that I am any thing but normal. That I did things no one has done before and that most people don't even think are possible. I am reminded that I have no family. That my school years were spent battling evil people, evil things, and people who ignored that evil. That people died because Voldemort wanted me dead. That people died because I couldn't figure out how to kill him. That I killed him. I know it's messed up and I know I did what have to be done, but there's a big difference between knowing something and believing it with your heart."

I hold him closer as he speaks. I know what it is like. "Harry, I was there. I was at times a victim and at times the warrior. Just like you. Yes, you did extraordinary things, but you did them with goodness and love in your heart. Those people died for the same reason you fought. They wanted light and love and goodness to survive and thrive in this world. And don't you dare say you don't have family. It may not be by blood, but you have the Weasleys; you're on the clock. That clock won't let just anyone be added to it. And you have me. As long as you need me, I'll be your family." For some reason I can not fathom, a single tear slowly falls down my cheek.

"Hermione, you have to be the only woman on the face of this earth who understands me. And who is willing to put up with me. You are the only one besides Ron who was with me through all the hell I had to go through and all the joys and embarrassments of growing up in between the chaos. Unlike Ron, though, you understood at a deeper level. He was loyal even if he didn't understand or have everything figured. You understood why I needed to do things and understood how I had to deal with the aftermath. You're right, as usual, I do have family. Goodness, if Molly knew I said otherwise I would be flayed alive and served for supper on Sunday afternoon! Ron really is the brother I never had." Here I know he had more to say, but it was as if he doesn't know how to continue.

"Mione, I know things are uncertain and life is a fragile thing. You know that as well as I do. I wonder though, if given all that is broken in my past, whether I can make a whole future. I used to question this, especially when we were in the darkest times of the war. Even when I didn't voice this, you always seemed to sense my thoughts. You would somehow reassure me or bring up the idea of us having a flat together or what we would do the first summer back at the Burrow. You somehow could put that spark of hope and wholeness back into my life when it was on the verge of falling apart.

"Merlin, I can't remember the last time I made a speech like this…"

"I would guess, Harry, it was the last time the Ministry made you accept some award. Should I find something shiny to give you for all your fine words?" I couldn't resist this bit of sarcasm. The endless parades of banquets, receptions, and such rubbish following the Last Battle were utterly ridiculous.

"Shush. I'm not done yet," he says as he presses a finger to my lips. "What I am trying to get at before you so rudely interrupted me is this. You are right, you are my family. And I want you to be my family for a very long time as a matter of fact. I have something I need to ask you…