'Hermione, the door!' Ginny shouted from the kitchen.

Hermione slid the bookmark back into A History of Charms Scholarship in Europe and placed it on the table. She put on her slippers and made the short shuffle from the library to the front door, opening it as a second round of knocking started.

'Good morning Theodore,' she said.

He looked her up and down. 'Am I too early?'

'No, right on time. Ginny's almost finished making the pancakes.' She gestured for him to come inside.

He hesitated on the threshold. 'You're wearing pyjamas.'

She was wearing simple flannelette pants and a grey jumper. No embarrassing cartoon duckies.

Hermione shrugged. 'It's a Sunday. Pyjamas are appropriate for a pancake breakfast, they make them taste better. I'm sure Harry can lend you a spare set if you want to see for yourself.'

Theodore rolled his eyes and deigned to enter the house. Theodore was wearing jeans and a collared shirt, looking fully pressed and polished. 'I'll pass. This is just way out of my frame of reference.'

They were at the kitchen door, so Ginny must have overheard them. 'Why, do you sleep naked?' she called out from the stove. 'If so, you can sleep over anytime.'

'Eww,' Hermione said, swatting her. 'That's my brother.'

'You're one to talk. I ran into Ronald naked in the hallway once when you were dating. I was scarred for life.'

Ginny was wearing a dressing gown over her nightgown, which was a relief. If Theo thought her pyjamas were inappropriate for breakfast, Ginny's would give him a heart attack.

'I wear normal pyjamas,' Theo insisted. 'But I never wore them outside of my bedroom. My father would have thought it was slovenly.'

'Not even when you were little?' Ginny asked.

'Nope. Maybe I'll start with wearing tracksuit pants around the house and work my way up.'

Harry raced into the room as Ginny was plating the last pancake. He had a weird sixth sense for when food was ready. He was wearing pyjamas with cartoon duckies on them, which Theo made a heroic effort to ignore.

Soon they were scoffing down pancakes.

'So, was there a specific reason for the invitation to the pyjama party?' Theo asked after he finished his first pancake. Hermione supposed he was also taught not to talk with his mouth full.

Hermione took one more bite of maple-syrup covered bliss before facing the music. 'There's something I wanted to tell all of you.'

Harry looked concerned. 'Who's dying?' he asked with a mouth full of pancake. Perhaps Theodore could teach Harry some table manners.

'Well, I'll be away to France for a month for the start of this apprenticeship. After that, I'll be travelling back and forth a fair bit.'

'We know that already,' Ginny pointed out.

'When I get back, I was thinking of finding my own apartment.'

There was shocked silence.

'Why?' Harry demanded. 'You live here. You can stay here as long as you want, we don't care if you wake us up in the middle of the night coming back from France.'

'Hermione,' Ginny asked gently. 'Wouldn't it make more sense to stay here while you're going back and forth so much? An apartment would be empty half the time.'

Hermione shook her head. 'I'm moving into the next phase of my life, and part of that is making a space of my own. I love living with you guys, but it feels like the right time to take this step.'

'Let me help,' Theo said. 'I have a property in France. It's not tainted or anything- I bought it myself after the war, just in case things went south here. You should use it.' That was why Hermione had invited her brother, so she could get that offer and its rejection out of the way. And she had wanted to make him feel included.

'Thanks, but no. Professor Lilith works out of Beauxbatons in France when the school is closed, so I can crash there. You saw what those girls looked like during the Cup. I'm sure they sleep on beds of daisies and sunshine. I'll be comfortable there.'

Ginny and Theo went back to their pancakes, accepting her decision, but Harry still looked mutinous. 'Your place is here,' he insisted. 'It's your home too. It wouldn't be the same without you.'

Hermione took his hand. 'Do you know that feeling you get when you visit The Burrow?'

Harry nodded.

'You and Ginny should really make a home here. Forget the gloomy traditions of the Blacks and go crazy. And when I visit I'll have that warm and fuzzy feeling, that sense of homecoming. I won't get the chance to feel that if I stay.'

Harry agreed to accept her decision for now so that they could finish off the rest of the pancakes.

When they were down to two pancakes, the Floo flared up. A boy with bright green hair barrelled out of the fireplace and jumped into Harry's lap.

'Where on Earth did you come from Teddy?' Hermione asked, hands on her hips.

'Home,' he said, thumb in his mouth.

'Does your granny know you're here?'

The little boy shook his head grabbing a pancake from Harry's plate and shoving it in his mouth. He was full of energy, practically bouncing up and down, but he wouldn't answer any more questions.

'Well, that's a little precocious,' Hermione said, gazing at him in wonder.

'I'll go over to Andromeda's and let her know where the little tike ran off to. She must be worried sick.' Ginny disappeared into the fireplace.

'His name is Teddy?' Theodore asked.

'It's a nickname. His real name is Edward Lupin. Did anyone ever call you that?' Hermione asked, a little concerned at the look on his face.

'No,' he said. 'No nicknames for me. But it's cute. It suits him.'

Theodore was looking entranced by the Teddy. She supposed he wouldn't have had much exposure to kids. Harry picked up on that, and started encouraging Teddy to talk to Theodore. By the time Andromeda arrived five minutes later, they were already fast friends. She made a mental note to ask Harry to invite Theodore over sometime when he was on babysitting duty.

Hermione smiled. A few months ago she would have worried about leaving her brother alone while she was in France. But he was part of the family now, her crazy family, and he would never be alone. She thought it was more likely they would drive him to insanity with their constant company.

Hermione sat by the fireplace in the Beauxbatons quarters she shared with Professor Lilith, reading over the Professor's notes. The professor had a tendency to scribble things down messily when inspiration struck, but she always organised her notes afterwards, rearranging pages and adding tabs throughout the book. It was kind of fun to put the pieces together, like starting a story in the middle. 'So this charm you've used the blue sticky notes for, it should help ease mental pain and provide clarity of thought?'

'Yes,' Professor Lilith said. 'But it needs some sort of anchor. If the strength of the charm wavers too much or abruptly wears off, it could do more harm than good. I've tried varying the wand movements and the strength of voice, but it doesn't help much. I had to shelve that project for a while.'

The Professor was working on a project for Beauxbatons, which was part of their payment for the office and sleeping quarters. Madame Maxine wanted the sunlight from the windows to coalesce into an image of a Pegasus for their Entrance Hall. Professor Lilith had told her she cared more about her cerebral and practical work, but something had to pay the bills, and it was nice to focus on making something pretty every once in a while. Hermione could relate. She had always liked magic that she could see and touch, liked the warmth of a Bluebell flame or the tweeting of a conjured bird. She had developed a fearsome reputation for the bloodthirsty birds she had conjured with the Avis charm, but when she had cast the spell that night she had only wanted to watch them play, to have some company.

Hermione watched the sunbeams dance through the window. They couldn't harness solar power for the charm, it would be too reliant on good weather. She tapped her pen against the notebook.

'You had a thick pile of letters this morning,' Professor Lilith asked as she rubbed off her chalk Pegasus outline and made some corrections. 'Anything exciting?'

'Not really,' Hermione mumbled, thinking of the envelope that had been delivered by a regal owl that morning. She would recognise Draco's handwriting anywhere.

Hermione stood up abruptly. 'The stars,' she said. 'Could you anchor the spell with astronomy? Unlike sunlight, the stars are constant, even when we can't see them.'

The professor held her hand out for the notebook, and then flipped through the pages. 'And they can be easily mapped by Arithmancy calculations. The intensity of the spell wouldn't even necessarily be hampered by the skill of the caster. They would just need the right knowledge.'

She beamed at Hermione as she tested out a few calculations on a fresh page. 'This could really work. People have theorised on the effects of astronomy on spells since the beginning of time, but no-one's ever really cracked it. We could be the ones! It will take a long time before we know if the theory's even remotely viable, let alone reach the point of trying it out in practice, but we could start right now!'

When Hermione finally insisted they stop working and go to bed, it was well past midnight. Hermione never thought she would be in that position, but life was full of surprises. Professor Lilith's overzealous nature sometimes had a mellowing effect on her. It was nice to feel like the reasonable and serene one for once, instead of the manic bookworm. Tomorrow she would probably be back to normal, so she figured she should get some sleep while her mind would let her. But she had thrown Draco's letter on her bed this morning, and now it was sitting there, taunting her. So much for a good night's sleep. She reluctantly sat down on the bed and opened the envelope.

Hermione,

I'm going to look into developing Snape's theories on improvements to the Polyjuice Potion. I thought you should be the first to know. I've found an expert from America to have a look at it. I'll have him sign an iron-clad non-disclosure contract, so Snape's secrets are safe. I've attached the brief for the project. If you have any queries or suggestions for the expert, please send them to me by the end of the week.

Luna sends her love, and apologises that her weekly letter will arrive late. She's going on some silly expedition to a desert in Egypt to hunt some sort of beast. She left one of her pets in my care. It had an unpronounceable name, but it looks like a furry turtle, and has an odd fetish for cheese.

I hope you're having fun in France, and not taking yourself too seriously. It isn't an apprentice's job to solve world hunger, but I'm sure you'll try. If you do, just remember to ask for something in return so you don't go hungry yourself.

Speaking of hunger, you may have noticed the chewed-up corner of this letter. A present from Scarface the were-turtle. He and Potter could be twins. They have a very similar odour.

Regards,
Draco Malfoy

Hermione laughed. And then she laughed some more, until she was rolling around clutching her stomach. Life was funny. Time had passed, and she had moved miles away, but she could still feel herself falling for Draco Malfoy. She was doomed.

Hermione ran her hands over the wall, feeling giddy. The agent had just left after handing her the keys, and now she was alone in her apartment for the first time. Her apartment. She had rented it through a wizarding agency. She would have preferred to rent through the Muggle world to stay off-the-radar, but after the chaos of the last few years, her Muggle identity would really need some work before it stood up to scrutiny. The apartment was empty, but she could feel the potential. It had creamy yellow walls and cherry floorboards throughout, and it already felt much friendlier than Grimmauld Place. There were two bedrooms, one of which she planned to turn into a study. Best of all, it was only a short walk away from Grimmauld Place. With the Floo network and apparition, she would have been moments away if she had moved halfway across London. But it was nice to actually be close to Harry and Ginny in the real world, rather than just having the illusion of closeness through magic. Her own apartment. It almost hurt to leave it, but she would move right in tomorrow once she had the necessities covered. If she had to she would drag out a sleeping bag and sleep on the floor. For now she would go back to Grimmauld Place and share one more night with her friends. Her home would be here waiting for her.