A.N.: This is one of my favourite chapters so far. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I am currently writing chapter 21 and looking at the things I have still planned for this story, it will definitely be 30+ chapters to read, probably more.

Chapter 16: What is gained

21th of September 1999

Hermione marched into the Burrow's garden and went straight for her favourite spot below the huge willow that was growing by the little pond behind the house. It was the place she had always visited with Ron to have some peace and quiet from the chaos inside of the house. And so it was only natural for her to come back to this very spot. A flick of her wand transfigured a stone on the ground into a comfortable blanket and she threw herself onto it with an annoyed huff. She couldn't believe how different this Ron was from the boy she had known and loved. All his brothers seemed to be more or less the same, so why was he different? Was it because his best friend Harry had never been in the spotlight and Ron therefore never stood in his shadow? Or was it because Hermione hadn't been around to talk some sense into him, while he was still growing up? She didn't know but it was obvious that this man was not the Ron she knew and had come to love, and the realisation broke her heart.

"Mind if I sit with you?" a voice asked her from behind and Hermione knew without looking up, that it was Gideon who came looking for her. She shrugged nonchalantly.

"Go ahead. But I might not be the best company at the moment," she warned and made some space for him to her right. He sat down next to her without comment. They looked at the night sky in silence for several minutes until Hermione realised that she had finally calmed down. Her heart was still thumping in her chest and she was still disappointed and annoyed, but at least she didn't feel like crying any longer. Well, not right now, but she was sure the tears would come later when she was in bed.

"He was your boyfriend, wasn't he?" Gideon's voice suddenly said softly next to her and she sighed.

"Yeah," she said but avoided looking at her friend. "He was different though. I barely recognize him now. How can this be? He's still the same person with the same family after all. So why is Ron suddenly such an arse?"

Gideon didn't answer her right away. Instead, he pulled out his wand and cast a warming charm on them. And just then Hermione realized that her body had started to shiver from the cold.

"That's a question I don't have an answer to, Hermione. Ron was always the one of Molly's kinds that was easily overlooked. During school, he made some pretty good friends and when he finally made it into the Quidditch team, he found a self-confidence that has made him into the man he is now."

Hermione closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "I think it's the war. It all changed us. Even during our Hogwarts days so many things happened, every year there was something dangerous going on. We all had to grow up so fast…"

Gideon hummed in agreeance. "Yeah, a war can do this to a person. I still remember how it was when you stumbled into our lives. Suddenly there was hope again, but also so much danger…"

Hermione looked at him with wide eyes. "What happened Gideon? What did we do?"

But he just looked at her with a sad smile. "You'll know soon enough, don't worry."

They stared at each other in silence for a while, with all those unspoken words hanging between them in the air. There was so much that was left unsaid between her and the twins and Hermione felt, that she missed the friendship that she witnessed in her flashbacks from the past. "I really liked your birthday present," she finally admitted at a loss for something else to say. "I'm not sure if my letter could transport how much I appreciate it."

Gideon looked at her with blue twinkling eyes. "The message came through, don't worry. I'm happy you like it. The design is all Fabian's work. He's brilliant at transfiguring things. I did the enchantments to make it work though."

Hermione looked at him in awe. "It's beautiful. I wish I could do magic that incredible."

The man next to her smiled, before taking her hand carefully into his. "You have done some truly incredible things, Hermione, even if you can't remember them yet. But don't worry, the memories will come back to you in time. Try to be patient, I know it's hard."

She nodded seriously. "I'll try, even though patience isn't really a strength of mine."

Gideon smiled before looking down at their entwined hands. "We could teach you some magic if you're really interested. With your talent, it should be easy for you to pick some things up. Would you like that?"

Hermione's face broke out into a huge smile. "You'd really do that? You'd teach me?"

He nodded happily. "Anything you like and that you are interested to learn, within our abilities of course. Would you like to come over tomorrow evening?"

"I'd love to." Hermione couldn't help herself, she hugged him. The urge to do it was suddenly there and she followed it without giving it to much thought. For a moment Gideon just sat there in stunned silence for several seconds, before his arms suddenly found their way around her back.

"Thank you for coming out here to talk to me, Gideon. I already feel much better now," Hermione mumbled and rested her head on his shoulder. But her friend gently pulled back and looked at her with a soft smile.

"I'm glad. Do you feel ready to head back in then? I'm sure any minute later and Molly will send over the cavalry to get us back in."

She laughed. "We wouldn't want that now, would we?"

Gideon grinned. "We really wouldn't."

11th of May 1981

"And you're sure you'll be fine on your own?" Molly asked them while looking at the three friends with doubtful eyes.

"Don't worry Mol's" Fabian said and patted his sister's shoulder with a smile. "Bill, Charly and Percy are good lads. I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun together in the workshop."

Gideon nodded enthusiastically. "And Hermione seems to have a soft spot for your twins. We'll be fine. Don't worry too much."

The woman looked at them with an amused smile. "All right you three. I won't fret then. But don't tell me afterwards I didn't warn you. Those twins are really a handful." Little Fred and George giggled while hiding behind her legs. Now and then one of them peeked around his mother though and risked a shy smile at Hermione, before hiding with a giggle again.

"It's alright Molly," Hermione assured the older woman. "Fred, George and I are already the best friends. I'm sure we'll have such a good time."

Mrs Weasley smiled at her. "Well, alright then my dear," she said, before crouching down and looking at her son's with a stern gaze. "And you lot be good to your uncles and your aunty Hermione. I don't want to hear any complaints about you, tomorrow."

The five boys nodded solemnly at their mother and shuffled their feet. "We'll be good," ten-year-old Bill promised and looked at his siblings. Charly and Percy agreed with an enthusiastic nod.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow then," their mother said with a deep sigh, before looking back at the three newly appointed babysitters. "Thank you for agreeing to look after them on such a good notice. I would have hated to send them over to Muriel's."

Hermione couldn't help but shudder at the thought and by the look of it, all assembled boys felt the same. The three eldest Weasleys put on a brave face, when their mother kissed them goodbye. Fred and George though didn't seem to mind the parting from their mother at all and rushed to Hermione's side as soon as Molly let go of them. "Aunty Hermione!" they shouted together and hefted themselves on her legs. And Hermione looked at them with eyes full of adoration. She was actually looking forward to spending some time with the two of them. And how hard could it be, to take care of two three-years-olds? She knew all of their tricks, after all.

Hermione wasn't sure who of them enjoyed their time together the most. As soon as their mother had disappeared through the floo, the two of them had launched themselves at Hermione and started talking and explaining their pranks. Their brothers looked at them with unhappy eyes, but Hermione really didn't mind. And so she led the enthusiastic three-year-olds into her room, where she showed them all the magic tricks she knew while telling them stories of her own time at Hogwarts. She really couldn't show them that much as Fred and George never shared their secrets with her back in her old time, but she had seen some of their products after all. And Hermione Granger wasn't the brightest witch of her age for nothing. She created little animated animals that circled and climbed the boys who giggled and cheered them on enthusiastically. After that, she encouraged them to tell her their ideas for possible pranks and she listened to all of their wild schemes with an attentive smile before giving some own advice or words of praise. In her earlier life Hermione would have never imagined doing that, but after having experienced the men's dedication to their family and friends, seen their creativity and witnessed their fate she was determined, to give them every bit of affection and support she could muster. And the little boys paid her affection bit with an enthusiasm that made Hermione feel like she was the centre of their little world, if only temporarily.

"Did you know, that aunty Hermione has seen real dragons," they boasted during dinner and little Charly looked at her with wide eyes. It was obvious, that the little boy was already totally in love with those dangerous beasts and Hermione nodded towards him with a gentle smile.

"It's true," she said and with a flick of her wand, she transfigured one of the spoons into a little animated Hungarian Horntail, much like the one that had been used for the Triwizard Tournament itself and after sending a wink towards Gideon and Fabian she handed it to the boy with a kind smile. "You can keep it if you like," she said and Charly looked at her like she was some kind of saint. Fred and George instead watched the whole encounter with almost something like a pout.

"Aunty Hermione is our friend," she heard little Fred warn of his older brother with a dark look while his twin nodded enthusiastically. Gideon and Fabian must have heard it too, as they already sent her a knowing grin.

"You've spoilt them rotten, haven't you?" Fabian mumbled and she couldn't suppress the grin forming on her face.

"Course I have. That's what favourite aunties are for after all."

Gideon, who was standing behind her, snorted. "Not that you really are their aunty. But to them, it doesn't matter. Those kids have already adopted you into the family. They'll call you aunty for the rest of their lives."

Hermione smiled happily. "I honestly wouldn't mind. They're great boys, all of them."

Fabian looked with her with a knowing grin. You aren't going to let them sleep in your bed tonight, are you?"

Hermione snorted. "Why does it sound to me like you're jealous?"

"We're allowed to sleep in your bed?" George suddenly interrupted them from behind and before Hermione could even reply, he and his twin looked at her with huge puppy eyes.

Gideon, who stood behind the boys, already chuckled knowingly. Hermione looked down at the little redheaded twins with an insecure smile. "Well boys, I don't know…" she mumbled with slightly pink cheeks.

"Oh pleeease aunty Hermione," they started to begin unison and Hermione could hear Fabian snort.

"You could tell us how you smuggled this baby dragon out of Hogwarts again or about brewing forbidden potions in the girl's bathroom…" the little chatterboxes started and Hermione hastily silenced them with a dark look.

"Alright you two," she finally relented with a defeated sigh. Those little devils had already wrapped her around their little finger, hadn't they? "I'll let you sleep in my bed. But only if you promise not to spill any more of my secrets to your uncles." Fabian and Gideon chuckled, while the twins let out a victorious yell and bolted from the room.

"We're allowed to sleep in aunty Hermione's bed!" they shouted victoriously while running up the stairs. "She's going to tell us stories all night!"

Hermione groaned. "Merlin, I'll not even be able to get an hour of sleep now, am I?"

Fabian and Gideon chuckled. "Probably not."

21th of September 1999

When Hermione tiredly stumbled out of the floo into Severus' living room, the man was still up and waiting for her on the sofa. There he sat with his feet propped up and a book in his hands, while a glass of red wine rested on the small table to his left.

"Well, how was it?" he asked, without raising his eyes from the page he was studying. Hermione sighed and threw herself into the wing chair at his feet. "Ron has a house-elf," she grumbled and immediately her friend lifted his eyes and looked at her with a questioning gaze.

"So?"

"And he seems to entertain quite a lot of woman… and he is an arse!" Hermione rambled on with increasing volume in her voice.

Severus smirked. "Doesn't sound like you'll conquer him any time soon."

She huffed in annoyance. "Not bloody likely, no. Merlin, it's like I broke up with him and he doesn't even know."

He smiled. "Hermione Granger is swearing? I think that's a really bad sign. You want a glass of wine or the whole bottle?"

Hermione looked at her friend for a long moment, before finally giving a careless shrug. "Do you have any hangover potions in the house?"

Severus grinned. "I'll put one onto your nightstand," he promised, before conjuring an empty glass for her and filling it with red wine.

She sighed. "Then I feel like getting pissed," she said. "But I'm not drinking alone."

"Of course not. What kind of lousy friend do you think I am?"