Birthdays and Pumpkins

"You know a quiet dinner at Grimmauld Place or at Hogwarts for my birthday would be just as fine with me," Hermione said as she and Luna finished apparating just outside the gates leading to The Burrow. She had been complaining to Luna about the fuss of having a birthday party for the last several days since the detention with Chandra. Luna, as well as Valdore, was just as adamant about telling her to stop being a prat and get over it because it was going to happen. Hermione thought that was rich for Valdore to say, as this wasn't his birthday, and he said he would be busy at the castle and was so he couldn't go.

In the end, Hermione rolled her eyes and muttered many curses under her breath as she made the walk from their rooms to the boundaries of Hogwarts to apparate.

"So you've said on many an occasion," came Luna's neutral tone of reply as they exited the castle, "But you know Mrs. Weasley loves to see us and enjoys celebrating birthdays of 'her girls'."

That comment effectively shut Hermione up from voicing any more protests. Luna was right, after Ginny's death, Mrs. Weasley had adopted Hermione and Luna as her surrogate daughters and doted upon them as she had with Ginny. Hermione knew that she could never refuse Mrs. Weasley that desire and emotion and did honestly enjoy being with the Weasley's since she first met them. They may have been poor, although not as poor now with Mr. Weasley being the Minister of Magic, but they had always treated her like family and never complained or balked at doing anything for her.

Their footsteps crunched loudly with the dried fallen leaves on the walkway as they approached the house. Since Luna had said it was going to be a pretty small affair, she submitted even more to the party idea. She was not a huge fan of large parties, but she would certainly enjoy one with few people.

The Burrow was brightly lit as they approached, and Hermione always smiled at how comfortable the home looked. The house still looked like it had been constructed in pieces, but that's part of its charm and comfortableness. She walked up the steps first and opened the door to enter.

"Mrs. Weasley we're he…," was all she got out.

"SURPRISE!"

Hermione jumped and gave a little cry of shock at the rush of sound as she stopped dead inside the doorway. She felt her face burn and she put her hand on her chest in shock. At least twenty people had shouted all at once and were cheering her entrance. She felt a small push from behind her as Luna moved her into the house.

"Happy Birthday my dear!" Mrs. Weasley shouted as she came rushing around, enveloping Hermione in one of her signature hugs.

Hermione hugged her back then pulled away, "Thank you, but what…?" she looked around at all the people.

Mr. Weasley, Lupin, Tonks, the twins, Bill, Fleur, Kingsley, Valdore, McGonagall, Hagrid, Charlie Weasley, both Creevey brothers, Dean Thomas, and many others were there smiling at her.

Mrs. Weasley looked pleased with herself at Hermione's reaction, "Well you only turn 25 once and besides, you've had a quite a year becoming a professor at Hogwarts so we thought we should celebrate a bit."

The group laughed and clapped at Mrs. Weasley's comments. Hermione became suddenly overwhelmed at the people around her and the fact that they were here for her. She started to tear-up while she nodded her head and hugged Mrs. Weasley. The two held each other for a few moments before Mrs. Weasley pulled away and said, "Well that'll be enough of that," in a cheerly tone at Hermione before looking around at the group, "We're here to celebrate! George turn the music on! Now everyone please have a great time and tuck in!"

The group cheered again, and Hermione spent the next several minutes hugging and greeting everyone as she delved farther into the main room. Many of these people she had not seen in a couple of years, and she noted that they had not changed a bit in that time. Valdore was the last to hug her and after the hug she punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" he said in mock anger, "What was that for?"

"For being a git and lying to me that you weren't coming," she replied.

He smiled and rubbed his shoulder for a few moments, "Umm… you're welcome," he chuckled.

Luna smile and sidled up next to him, "It was my idea not too tell you," she said, looking at Hermione.

Hermione faced her friend, "Et tu Luna?"

Luna smiled, "I knew you wouldn't have come if you knew it was a big party."

Hermione smiled. She took Luna's hands in hers and gave them a squeeze and nodded appreciatively at her.

She took a deep breath and exhaled. She looked around and exclaimed to the room at large, "Well someone said there was a party and I'm famished."

Another cheer went up and Hermione gave into the celebration. She did indeed have fun during her party. More than she originally thought she would. She spent time with every guest, laughing and joking with them. The cake was in the shape of a stack of books with a mini Hogwarts on top and large enough to feed four times the amount of people there. Her presents were perfectly chosen just for her, except the twins didn't give her a present and they just smiled and shrugged their shoulders. There was music, a bit of dancing, mostly from the twins, and lots of reminiscing. The party started to break-up around midnight and all the guests gave her a goodbye hug and wished her luck with her teaching. When all but a core group of guests left, Hermione flopped onto the couch and smiled at the remaining people around her, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, the twins, Luna, Lupin, Tonks, and Hagrid.

She looked at the Weasleys, "Thank you so much for this."

Mr. Weasley smiled brightly at her, "It was our pleasure, my dear!"

It suddenly got quiet and Hagrid cleared his throat, "Erm… well… 'Ermione there is one more present for you that we wanted to wait until it was just us to give you," he swallowed hard, "Well… because you'll see…," he trailed off.

Hermione sat forward with a look of confusion. She wasn't sure what they could possible give her that would not be able to be seen by the rest of the guests.

"Since this is your twenty-fifth birthday, we wanted to do something very special for you," Lupin said quietly from his chair next to the couch.

Mrs. Weasley nodded to the twins, who solemnly nodded to their mother and they pulled out a square box about seven inches on a side. George opened the box and Fred pulled the wrapped object out. He carefully put it on the table in front of her and gave her a sad smile.

"I know we appeared to not get you anything," George said.

"But then what do you get the girl who has everything," Fred said with a soft laugh.

George stood, and came and sat on the arm of the couch next to her, "Well, we finally hit upon it, thanks to the launch of our newest product line, with a little help from some muggle 3-D technology," he pulled the cover off, and sitting in front of Hermione was a shiny octagonal onyx stone with a smooth flat top.

She looked at it and at everyone with her face still in confusion. George looked at his twin and nodded. Fred leaned over and pressed a small switch on the side and after a moment and three-dimensional image about a foot and half high formed in front of her. She looked at the image and let out an involuntary sob of sorrow.

The image was of her and Harry from their first Christmas as a couple smiling at each other and the camera. Hermione only vaguely remembered Colin Creevey taking their picture. She was wearing the beautiful dress that Harry had bought for her. She then sadly remembered that in a couple of hours of that picture being taken, that beautiful dress would be damaged beyond repair. What no one knew, not even Harry, was that she still had that dress hanging in her closet at Grimmauld Place.

After a few moments, the image changed to Harry on his broom in full Hogwarts Quidditch gear, holding up a snitch he'd caught in triumph. Hermione quietly cried at the image and held out her hand, fingers passing through it.

Mr. Weasley leaned forward and very quietly explained, "You see my dear, we know how hard this has been on you not to have Harry with you," he looked in the eyes of the young woman, "We knew you missed him very much… as we all do."

"We figured this was a way for you to have him with you," Lupin continued, reaching his hand out to her, "And the others."

Hermione grabbed his outstretched hand and gripped it hard. She looked back and let out another quiet sob as the picture changed to show Harry and Ron from their second year, arms around each other's shoulders smiling and laughing at the person taking their picture. The two boys acted like there wasn't a care in the world and they knew they were best friends forever.

"And we wanted you to be first to have one," Fred spoke, "It took us ages to get it right for you, but in the end…," he pointed at the unit, "It came out perfect."

"Everyone pitched in," George said indicating to the whole group, "We all had pictures and we couldn't decide which ones to use," he paused and looked at her, "So we used them all."

Tears streaming down her face she looked at the twins with a smile and just nodded, unable to speak. Luna, who was crying to from the images and memories she was seeing, put her arm around Hermione and hugged her.

The image changed again to her with Ginny in the Burrow, sitting on the very couch she sat now, both playing with Crookshanks. So many memories were being played out in front of her. They all watched as the various images played on the device. Finally, after the images faded out and the device was dark before her, Lupin, Tonks, the twins, and Hagrid hugged Hermione goodnight. Hermione hugged the twins hard and thanked them both for what they did. They both gave her a sad smile and told her that it was the best gift they have ever given. She told them this was one of the best gifts she had ever gotten. They smiled at her and left, leaving just her and Luna with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

Hermione took her seat, while Luna sat in the chair Lupin occupied. Mrs. Weasley, who had been crying as well at the images, and came over to sit next to Hermione. She took Hermione's hands in hers and cleared her throat.

"Look my dear, I know you're not Arthur's and my real daughter, but we both have loved you just as we would if you were our daughter. You are our last link to that past, and we wanted you to know that we love you dearly."

"We're both so proud of you, my dear," Mr. Weasley said from his chair, "You have been so strong and resilient through it all."

Hermione was only able to look at them both through her tears and mumble, "Thank you both," she sniffled and looked at Mr. Weasley, "For everything."

Arthur Weasley opened his mouth and closed it again, unsure as to what to say. She was thanking him, for more than just his support and tried to guess why. This was completely unexpected to him. He gave her a questioning look.

"For That Day," was her simple statement to his look.

His heart stopped for a moment. Understanding hit him like a bludger. Arthur Weasley had the distinction, if one could call it a distinction, of being the only other person in the world to be in the woods near Hogwarts when Harry Potter and Voldemort battled for the last time. And just as the final spells from the two wizards were cast at each other, Arthur had held Hermione back from helping Harry because of the danger to her. He still to this day, vividly remembered her screaming, kicking, thrashing, and pleading for him to release her when he knew he couldn't. He had held on as tight as he could despite Hermione's desperate and violent flailing. He had always felt that Hermione had resented him in some way because of it, but tonight, he knew for sure there was no resentment between them.

He nodded his silent thanks, while a quick smile and a tear ran down his face. He felt a rush of relief and peace.

"I should have said this to you sooner," Hermione went to him and kneeled in front of him, "I never blamed or hated you for stopping me that day. You knew to stop me because you knew that there was nothing I could do for him. You knew that it was Harry's fight and that I would have probably gotten all of us killed if I distracted him by trying to help him fight Voldemort."

Arthur just sat there looking at the young woman before him unable to speak. Hermione took a deep breath and pressed onwards, "Through all these years you probably wondered if I hated you for that," she looked at him and smiled softly through her tears, "I never hated you for it. You were right to stop me. I have hated myself because I knew there was nothing I could do to help him."

He gave her another quick smile through his quivering lips, "I didn't want to see you get hurt too, my dear. Selfish as it probably was, I knew losing you was not something we could take after losing so many already."

Hermione dropped her head as if in embarrassment, "I know," she nodded and looked back up at him, "I realized that afterwards, but I never thanked you for keeping an eye on me and keeping me safe."

She reached up and hugged him, "Thank you," she repeated, "For everything."

He hugged her back, whispering, "You are very welcome, my dear and thank you."

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"Hey Chandra," came a low, husky voice in her ear, "Miss me?"

She jumped at the voice. She had been lost in thought as to the events she had witnessed in her detention a couple of weeks ago. She couldn't miss that it had affected her in a way she hadn't expected.

"Oh, sorry Jackson. I didn't see you."

He snorted, "That's obvious. So, what were you thinking about? Besides from me," he finished the last part with what he thought was a charming smile.

Chandra put her fork down, "My detention with Professor Granger."

He groaned, "Oh that again?" he sighed dramatically and shook his head, "You never told me what the useless cow had to say."

She gave him a dark look, "That 'useless cow' as you put it, helped defeat Voldemort. The least you could do is keep your mouth shut."

He returned her dark look, "Oh really? And if I don't?"

She quickly looked away, "I don't know," she barely whispered. He was right, she didn't know what she could do to stop him.

"So, what was the detention about?"

She shrugged, "She showed me a past memory, that's all."

He rolled his eyes, "Oh I'm sure it was a heart wrenching sob fest about her losing that Potter guy," he said, not bothering to hide his distain.

Her eyes flashed in anger, "It wasn't actually, but nice to see you have a compassionate heart."

He shot her a look, "Oh I do," he said leering at her, making no effort to disguise what he was looking at, "We both have a free period. Why don't we sneak off to our quiet place for a quick shag?"

She suddenly felt nauseous, "No, I can't. I have to get caught up with my potions homework."

He snorted, "Oh who cares about that? You hate potions!"

She picked up her things and stood, "I'm sorry. Maybe another time."

He grabbed her arm roughly, stopping her from leaving, "Careful Chandra," he whispered in her ear, "You're my girlfriend and I chose you from all the girls here. Don't ever forget that."

He roughly released her before going to the Slytherin table and sat down to eat. Chandra quickly wiped a tear away before hurriedly leaving the hall.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Halloween came sooner to Hermione than she expected. She couldn't remember the time between the start of school to Halloween going this fast for her when she was a student here. She walked down the steps into the chill autumn air and watched as the older students who were allowed to go to Hogsmeade passed by her as she waited for Luna and Valdore.

She smiled to herself remembering her Hogsmeade trips with Harry and Ron and how excited they were to go. She chuckled quietly when she remembered how upset Harry had been because The Dursley's never signed his permission slip and he couldn't join them. Of course, the Weasley Twins stepped in to help him with the Marauder's Map, and Harry used his invisibility cloak to sneak out. Harry never was one to just give up so easily.

"There she is."

She turned and smiled up to her two friends as they exited the castle and joined her.

"Kevin, you be nice now," Valdore spoke up to a student who was about to pull some prank on another.

The student quickly blanched and ran off towards the town.

"It is a bit chilly today," he said rubbing his hands together, "Ready?" and at the nods from Hermione and Luna he smiled, "Excellent! Shall we crack on? Lunch is on me and no arguments," he gave Hermione a fake serious expression, "And no complaints 'Miss. I'm-Richer-Than-Everyone-In-The-World-And-Can-Afford-It'. Okay?"

Hermione gave him a scowl of disapproval before immediately smiling at him, "Fine. But anything at Fred and George's joke shop or Honeydukes is on me."

"Fair deal," he agreed immediately.

"Now that's been settled and everyone is paying for something," Luna smiled at him, "I need to stop to pick up that book I ordered."

"Our first stop," Valdore said and winked at Luna.

Hermione grinned at the close intimacy between her two friends. The action looked normal and unspoken between the two. But she had never heard Luna mention anything about dating him, so she decided she needed to ask.

"So, you two have been dating for a while now, huh?" she asked with a sideways glance.

They gave her wide-eyed stares. They looked at each other before Luna replied, "How did you know?"

"And for a while?" Valdore added.

Hermione chuckled, "Oh come on! Seriously?" Hermione let out a light laugh, "Of all people, I think I would notice two people who loved each other. Especially my best friend."

When they didn't respond right away she continued, "I've known for some time. Since we went to Hogsmeade together. You two couldn't stand close enough to each other and I noticed quite a few looks between you that went way beyond simple smiles."

Luna and Valdore smiled at each other before Luna shrugged her shoulders and put her arm in his.

"Is she always this bloody smart?" he asked, putting his hand over hers.

Luna nodded, "The brightest witch of our time. It's hard to keep anything from her."

"I can tell," Valdore laughed and looked at Hermione with a bit of a confused look on his face, "So how then did we pull your surprise party on you?"

"I knew there was a party," Hermione said, "I just didn't know the surprise was the number of people coming."

"Ahhh… so subterfuge does works then," he said in a mock conspiratory tone to Luna, "I have to remember that."

Hermione laughed, "Don't think you will get that to work every time," Hermione said, "Between Harry and Ron I've seen more versions of trying to keep information from me to not be too surprised often. And be able to get it out of you with little fuss."

"Good to know," he quickly replied.

They walked in silence for a bit before they saw the familiar figures of some students ahead.

"Is that Jackson with Chandra?" Luna asked.

Hermione looked and nodded, "Yes," she shook her head, "What that girl sees in him is beyond me."

"I don't think it's her. I think it's more like what he sees with her and his family's power that influences those thoughts," Valdore said.

"I think Chandra's esteem is a bit higher to date for power," Hermione said, "But I would agree with the first part of your statement."

"How is she doing since her detention?" Luna asked.

Hermione gave the young girl, who was trying to keep up with Jackson, a smile, "Much improved. We've had several long talks and she's turned herself around."

"Long talks?" Valdore asked.

"You know about make-up, clothes, boys… you know girl talk," she teased him.

"Enough said," he replied, missing the teasing tone.

Luna laughed at him, "You're such a git. Hermione was joking."

"Ahh," he said simply, trying not to be embarrassed for taking Hermione's joke seriously.

Hermione laughed, "We talk about what it's like to be Head Girl, school, and yes a little bit about boys," she gave him a teasing look, "And how gullible they are."

Valdore laughed, "Touché!"

Hermione looked back at the girl who just then disappeared into Honeydukes, "But we spent some time talking about Draco Malfoy and how somethings haven't changed."

Luna gave Valdore a look of confusion, "Malfoy?"

Hermione shrugged, "Jackson reminds me of him in so many bad ways."

Valdore nodded and looked at Luna, "I agreed with Hermione's comparison her first night after the train incident. She's right. There are many similarities."

"I showed her a memory of when Draco killed Neville's plant," she paused as the crossed over the bridge into the town, "She saw the connection immediately."

"What did she say?" Luna asked.

"Not much," Hermione replied, "But I know she's been thinking about how he treats her and others and I think she's about ready to call it off."

They passed by the overflowing candy shop and saw the two students inside. Hermione silently wished that the girl would end it with the boy and move on.

She shook her head as if to clear the bad thoughts from her mind, "So bookshop, then Fred and George's, and then lunch?" she asked in an excited tone.

"Sounds good," Valdore said.

Luna leaned in and loudly whispered, "Ummm… so you've never been book shopping with Hermione and you should know…," she patted his arm in a comforting way, "A bookshop is another way of saying a holy place for Hermione."

Valdore looked dismayed at Luna's comment, and Hermione laughed when he stuttered, "Ummmmm…"