She covered her mouth and yawned again. Sleep was non-existent the night before, but this time it was for a good reason, she concluded. Harry had indeed snogged her senseless. And shirtless, she thought with an amused snort. The clerk at the reception desk paused outside of her door and knocked.

"Yes?" she asked and the clerk opened the door.

"Mr. Malfoy is here to see you, Miss Granger."

She frowned and flipped through her planner and saw no appointment with Malfoy that day, or any day for that matter. It must be important enough for him to just drop in and ask for me.

"It's alright, show him in," Hermione said and closed a file she was reviewing.

Malfoy strolled in and sat in a chair she was pointing at. He took his time taking off his cloak and placed it on the chair next to him.

"Morning, Granger. I would have made an appointment, but this will only take a few minutes and it's important," he said.

"Okay, a few minutes of importance, go ahead," she said.

"That vocational agency across from Gringotts placed Goyle as a Watch Wizard at Malfoy Corporate Towers," he said. "I'd like to know more before a decision is made."

"As a potential employer, that's information you're entitled to," she said and pressed a button and spoke into a device on her desk. "Clarice? Could you bring me the Goyle case file? And postpone my ten o'clock...just book the next available time, thanks," she said and gestured to a table in the corner. "Tea?"

"No thank you," he replied. "I see you've done well for yourself here."

She nodded. "I enjoy my work here."

"Beats were-rabbits, huh?" he asked with a rakish grin.

Clarice came in with a file, blushing when Malfoy winked at her.

"Am I ever going to live that down?" she mumbled and opened the file. "Goyle...found guilty on September 4, 1998 and sentenced to Azkaban for Death Eater related crimes. Caused no problems while imprisoned and was released on parole two weeks ago," she said. "He lives at his mother's residence, reported here yesterday, and left in hopes of getting a job and a telly. I'll see him again in six months. That's it."

She closed the file.

"He's caused no trouble since his release, and I believe him to be sincere about resuming life in a normal manner."

He nodded his head. "That's all well and good, but...how was he?"

She understood what he meant. "He developed no debilitating physical problems, aside from slight malnutrition during imprisonment. The Mind Healer declared him mentally fit upon release and he seemed perfectly fine while I was talking to him."

"So in your professional opinion, he would be suitable for employment at my corporate towers as a Watch Wizard?"

"Yes, entirely suitable."

He rose and took his cloak. "Thanks for your time, Granger."

"Glad to help," she quipped and made some notes in the file.

He walked to the door and turned around. "Hey, would you like to join me for lunch?" he asked.

She dropped her quill. "Pardon?"

"Me-you-lunch?" he asked, amused at her surprise.

"Thanks for the offer, but I already have a lunch date," she replied.

"Oh...okay...maybe another time, good day," he said and left the office.


After a cold, rainy morning in Wales, Harry rushed to join Hermione in time for lunch. He bought some flowers from a vendor in the Atrium and went to the Legal department. In the canteen, he saw that Hermione wasn't at their usual table and that Katie was trying to get his attention. He nodded and waved to people throughout the canteen as he made his way to her.

"She was here for a bit, but she took her lunch back to her office," she said.

"Did something happen today?" Harry asked.

Katie shook her head. "No, nothing out of the ordinary, she just said she would have a working lunch today. Why are you all wet?"

"Work stuff, thanks, Katie," he said and left the canteen.

When he got to Hermione's office, he found that she was bent over a penseive, a half eaten sandwich in her hand. She was unaware of his presence. He closed the door, laid the flowers on her desk, and sat in a chair to wait. A few minutes later, a frown appeared on her face and the sandwich fell from her hands. When he crouched to pick up the remains of her chicken salad sandwich, she almost flew out of her chair.

"Bloody hell, you scared me to death! Say something or poke me to let me know that you're there!" she exclaimed and the clip holding her hair above her left ear came loose. "Why are you wet? Is that mud in your hair?"

"Lovely to see you too," he said and kissed her.

When he stepped back, her countenance softened when she saw the flowers on the desk.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to take my dodgy morning out on you," she said and gave up trying to put the clip back in her hair.

She shrugged and removed the other clip. She ran her hands through her loose hair and rummaged in her desk drawer for a rubber band for her hair. She glanced at Harry who was grinning affectionately at her.

"You should leave your hair down more often," he said.

"Well, it would cut down on the hair-pin headaches," she said and started massaging her head.

He rose and went behind her. "Tell me about your dodgy morning, then I'll tell you about my adventure in Wales this morning."

She thought she would melt right there in her chair when he started massaging her scalp. She groaned softly, let her hands fall to the sides and leaned her head back on the chair. Harry was pleased at her reaction.

"Fer...Malfoy dropped by this morning, unannounced. Apparently, Goyle was placed for a job at the Malfoy fortifications and he wanted to find out about his parole," she said. "When he was leaving, he asked me out to lunch. How bizarre was that?" she asked.

Harry had stopped massaging and his hands were resting on her shoulders. She reached up and patted his hands.

"Don't worry, I told him I already had a lunch date."

She continued the conversation.

"Then my boss asked me to look at some of the Archer trial through pensive memory. Some of it was alarming, which is really something considering all that I've seen."

She looked up at him. "What's wrong?"

"I can't believe that slick git asked you out," he said. "Why would he ask you out? He has a dozen women at his beck and call."

She shrugged his hands off her shoulders. "Gee Harry, what a nice thing to say, makes me feel really special," she said dryly.

He turned her chair around. "That came out wrong." Why do I get so tongue-tied around her?

She crossed her arms and glared at him. He ran his hands through his mud-spotted hair.

"Hermione, I'm going to be honest with you. When word gets around that a single, fabulous witch is available," he said and nodded toward her, "it's like a small war among the wizards here at the Ministry. I know of at least eight blokes who are just waiting for their chance with you. Some of them you know."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Dean, McLaggan, and Corner are the top three."

Alarmed, she looked out of the blinds of her office and shut them quickly. "I had no idea! McLaggan, ugh! He's just as vile as was in school, if not more so! Dean is alright...and Corner? I don't even know him."

She looked at Harry, still behind her chair. "Harry, I don't want to be asked out by anyone."

His face fell. She jumped from the chair.

"Wait! Shit, that came out wrong! I want to be with you...that's what I meant! I thought you wanted that too, after last night," she said, a furious blush on her face. "Harry, you just get me so...so...flustered!"

"In a good way, I hope?"

"Yes, in a good way."

"You get me flustered too, but way worse. Again, I'm going to be honest with you, because that's best with you. I'm sorry for what Trace did to you, but I'm glad he's gone. No one is good enough for you, not even me."

"Harry, that's absurd! In fact, I sometimes think that you're out of my league!"

Didn't I tell Molly that about myself? he thought.

"Harry, I've known you for so long, and I've loved you like a brother. No one, aside from my parents, knows me better than you." She wrung her hands together to gather her thoughts. "Now I'm shifting those feelings to love you as more than a brother," she said. "When you kissed me last night, I didn't want to stop. When you left, I was thrilled that you kissed me but I wondered why in the world you would. Why now, after all these years?"

"What a silly thing for you to wonder about," he said, taking her hand and leading her back to her chair. "Over the years, I've watched you grow more beautiful, more powerful, more...wonderful and I ached inside at the thought of you with others. Ron's my best mate, but I never really believed he was the one for you. The other blokes too."

She pressed her hand to his cheek. "You should have said something."

"Like I said, you grew more wonderful and I just stayed the same scruffy old Harry."

She chuckled. "You clearly don't see yourself as the rest of us do," she said.

"I could say the same for you," he said.

She laid her hands on his chest. "Okay, let's just both agree that we fancy each other and quit worrying about why we do," she said.

"Good plan, we just go with it," he said.

The Legal Department as a whole watched Harry leave her office, whistling and shaking out his cloak. Katie went to Hermione's office. Her hair was slightly mussed, lips swollen and red from kissing and she was rearranging her blouse.

"Was your working lunch a productive one?" she asked lightly.

"Very much so," Hermione said, cleared her throat and smiled indulgently. At the end of the day, Harry escorted Hermione from the Ministry, a possessive hand at the small of her back as they made their way through the teeming crowd. He caught the eyes of various wizards in challenge. This was the way of things, he thought. He had to send a message to any other males that this stunning female was with him. Any challengers that thought to come her way had better come prepared to deal with him. He was playing for keeps.


Four days later, The Daily Prophet society section posted the first photograph of them together. The caption, entitled "Wizarding World's Newest Super Couple!" made Hermione spray her morning tea across her desk. The night before, she and Harry enjoyed a night at the cinema followed by tea and cake at a sidewalk cafe. The photographer caught a shot of Harry feeding Hermione a bit of cake, when she had playfully nibbled his fingers.

"Of course they would print that moment," she mumbled.

They had the advantage of being Muggle-raised and could easily transition between a night on the town in the Muggle or magical world. She heard a knock on her doorframe. Harry poked his head in the office.

"I know it's a newspaper lacking actual news, but it does have its uses," he said and took a seat.

"Well, sensationalism sells," she said and wiped the tea from her desk.

He held up a letter. "Got a letter from Teddy."

"And how is Ravenclaw's newest member finding life at Hogwarts?" she asked.

"Thanks to you, life will better for him than it was for his father," Harry said and handed her the letter.

In her time with the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, one of her accomplishments was that of ensuring the rights and privileges of wizards and witches affected by lycanthropy. Teddy showed no signs of being affected, but the stigma of having a werewolf father would have made life more difficult for him if not for the Lycanthropic Citizens Protection Act of 2001.

She finished the letter and gave it back. "He's really enjoying Transfiguration."

"Naturally," Harry said.

While Teddy may not have inherited werewolf characteristics, he did inherit his mother's abilities. He wasn't as flamboyant as his mother, but was more studious like his father. Minerva had already written to Andromeda that her grandson was the most talented first year Transfiguration student, which was really something since Minerva didn't hand out praise easily.

"I want to make supper for you at my place tonight. It'll be just the two of us, Ron's gone for a few days," he said.

"I'd like that," she said.

**