(A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who reached out to let me know the files hadn't loaded properly. I am not sure what happened, but they looked all wonky! Fingers crossed it works better today. I really appreciate all of the comments, follow and favs. It basically blows my mind so many people are enjoying my story. All of your notes are extremely encouraging, and I just want to say thanks! Hope everyone has a great week….carrytheotter)

Ch 85: Back to Business

By the time Hermione took Rose Kings Cross station to catch the Hogwarts Express back to school, Hermione was feeling strong enough to begin working again. She promised Ron that she wouldn't overdo it and would work back up to full time hours. But she was absolutely itching to get back to work. While she had been thinking about the foundation while she had been at home, it felt great to walk back into her office and have the dedicated time and space to begin planning out some of the key steps she needed to take to bring their dreams to life.

She wanted to start with delineating goals for the year ahead and give herself a series of deadlines to hit with each milestone. From there she began to break down the work into project plans and identify the additional resources or help she might need to hit each goal. While she wanted to keep the overhead costs to a minimum, she knew the importance of bringing in experts in areas she couldn't tackle herself. She knew they would need a name for the foundation, but that they would also need a series of materials with logos, graphic design and other pieces. She started searching online for a graphic designer who could do that when it struck her – she could get Hugo and Melissa Rupesmith to work on it! Maybe Melissa would know how to transfer everything onto computer graphic materials, and Hugo would love the chance to do art others would really see. Excited about her plan for design, she plowed on into other areas she needed to tackle. By 1 that afternoon she had a full list of tasks she needed additional expertise to solve as well as some key questions she wanted to talk through with Ron as far as vision and focus for their investments. She was still reviewing this list when she was startled out of her thoughts by her mobile phone ringing.

Grinning at seeing it was Ron she picked up the phone. "Hello there," she said with a smile. "What are you up to?"

"Oh, I was just checking in on my lovely wife," he said. "I was hazarding a guess she hadn't remembered to stop and eat lunch. Am I right?"

"Well, maybe," she admitted. "I wasn't really hungry, and I was getting so much done that I lost track of time a bit."

"I figured as much," he laughed. "Why don't you open your office door for a moment?"

Confused, she stood up and headed over to the front door of the offices that she left locked as she was the only one there. But as she peaked out of the glass on the door she saw her favorite ginger standing on the other side holding a large take away bag.

Unlocking the door and cracking it open for him to come in she grinned, "Have I told you how much I adore you?"

"Maybe once or twice, but feel free to keep saying it," he teased as he kissed her cheek and headed into the office. "I know you well enough to know there was about zero chance of you eating today. So I took the liberty of picking up a sandwich and a salad. I figure we could split them both or you could have one and I'll eat the other."

"Actually," she said, getting excited, "this is perfect. I had just made up a whole list of things I wanted to talk through with you. I could pick your brain over lunch."

"You've only been back at work for part of a day. How long of a list could it be?" he asked.

"Well, rather long," she admitted.

He paled when she ran out and then came back into the conference room with a multiple pages of notes.

"Bloody hell," he said under his breath.

"Oh come on now, it isn't that bad. And maybe I should have been picking your brain all that time we were at home together, but I didn't really have my brain in normal gear, so to speak."

"Alright," he shrugged. "I guess that's what I get for interrupting work anyway. What do we need to chat about?"

"Just the purpose of the foundation, charitable goals, philosophy of giving, prioritization of causes, your idea of balance between muggle and magical, that sort of thing."

"That's all, huh?" he scoffed. "Sounds like a hell of a lot to cover over a sandwich. And, isn't this sort of what you do anyway? You know – what you're good at?"

"Well, yes, I suppose. But there are so very many things we could fund. And I can come up with great arguments for just about anything."

"Hence your success as a solicitor."

"Hmm. Well, do you have any preferences as far as focusing on medicine or education or refugees or infrastructure projects like fresh water and sanitation or maybe economic development or maybe-"

"Hermione," he said cutting her off. "I feel rather certain that the twenty important causes you just listed or are about to list are probably more than adequate a place to start."

"Right," she said, realizing she was starting to ramble. "But any thoughts? Any at all?"

Ron thought a moment and took a large bite of a sandwich. "Gimme a mo'" he mumbled with a mouthful, causing her to roll her eyes. But, she realized he often needed a chance to organize his thoughts instead of immediately beginning to launch into lecture mode, which she knew she often did.

After a few minutes he finally said, "Seems to me that what was frustrating you about your last job was that it was trying to fix the problems that resulted from other problems. And, I thought part of why you wanted to switch was to help prevent those first sets of problems to begin with and keep people from having to become refugees, yeah?"

"Well, yes," she admitted.

"So, that makes sense to me. Maybe at least for now, we try to pick one or two things to try and help make things better wherever home was for these people so they don't have to leave. If we use that concept of preventing the need to flee a situation, then maybe that can be a guiding principle to focus on."

"Alright," she said starting to think. "Well, many of my clients were from war zones. But, I think preventing war is probably a bit too much to take on for any foundation as a first project – magic or not. So, let's maybe focus on the infrastructure pieces in places people are leaving for economic or even environmental reasons. The more we can help build solid communities, then the less people will want to leave."

"Alright," agreed Ron.

"So I don't want to reinvent the wheel on things."

"Reinvent the wheel? What are your talking about?" Ron asked, utterly confused.

"Oh, muggle phrase, I suppose. Means that there is no reason to work hard to invent something that someone else has already invented. I just meant that we don't need to go create some original project if there are ways to help support things already working well. I would like to fund groups already there and already well integrated with local leadership."

"Oh. That makes much more sense. Yeah, let's do that."

"Well, now I just need to find the right ones. But, no preference as to education or economic development or anything or parts of the world?"

"No preference," he said taking another bite of his sandwich. "All up to you," he added with a full mouth.

She stared at him shaking her head. "It really is astonishing. You are kind and handsome and smart and sweet and thoughtful and have saved the world and become a gazillionaire and yet you still cannot manage to chew and swallow before you open your trap."

"You left out 'and bloody brilliant at finding the most amazing and yet intolerant on issues of table manners wife,'" he laughed, mouth still full, as he leaned across to kiss her cheek.

"Oh for goodness sake! I have slimy sandwich lips on me," she teased as she pretended to wipe it off her cheek.

"You know you love me for it," he said wagging his eyebrows.

"Hmm. I would say in spite of it, actually," she said, primly dabbing her mouth with a napkin and then placing it again on her lap.

Ron laughed and kissed her other cheek as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Ok, seriously, you have no real preference on how we give all this money away?"

"Only what I've already said. I trust your judgement completely on this."

"Ok – clarifying question – are you saying you trust me to decide because you don't think you need to be involved or because you don't want to be involved?"

"That's a trap!" he protested. "Is it even possible to answer that question in a way I don't come off as a complete git?"

"Probably not," she admitted. "I didn't mean to set you up like that. I am earnestly trying to figure out how much you want me to bring home these details and such or if you really would prefer I just handle it. This is where I am having a bit of trouble discerning between my roles as wife and foundation director I suppose."

"Ohhh, ok. Now I get it. Well, I would say that I would in general prefer to stay the anonymous bloke in the background as far as decisions and what not go. But, I want to be the supportive and interested husband of the amazing foundation director so when she talks about her day or problems at work I can help her, but that it would only be as a doting husband and not some stuffy funder bloke."

"OK," she nodded. "I can do that. But I am going to treat it as though there is a stuffy funder bloke, as you so delicately put it, that I am reporting to. So, from time to time I may need to consult with the funding family on final decisions. And, I will be creating at minimum an annual report to keep said family informed. Because, hopefully this foundation will eventually have staff that won't know of my, uh, dual role. And therefore we need to keep the roles completely distinct and separate. Acceptable?"

"Brilliant," he said as he bit into her sandwich just to push her buttons.

"You are hopeless," she said smacking him with a file folder.

By the end of that first week back at work, Hermione was really starting to feel like herself again. She was tired, but in a good way. She felt like she had worked hard and earned her chance to plop on the sofa and put her feet up with a glass of wine when she got home from work that night. She was glad Ron had texted her saying he'd pick up dinner on the way home from getting Hugo, so she let herself doze on the couch until the smell of pizza and sound of her two favorite boys woke her up.

"Hi, Mum," Hugo said as he came over to the sofa and hugged her. He sat down next to her and started pulling different papers out of his backpack trying to explain a school project. She was trying to follow his enthusiasm, but Ron could tell she was a bit lost.

"Hey, Hugo, why don't you spread them all out on the kitchen table. They will look better all spread out and not crumpled. Then you can explain each one, alright?"

"Yeah, great idea," he said as he rushed off to do set it up.

"Thanks," Hermione laughed. "I had lost him after the second picture."

"I know. I've heard it twice now and still couldn't tell you what he is trying to explain. But, he's excited about it – whatever it is."

"The wine probably isn't helping my focus either."

"Don't be ridiculous, it definitely will help you nod and smile as we hear it."

Soon they were in the kitchen, and Hugo was trying to explain his vision. "Well, first I thought I would just do a modern interpretation of the ancient art depicting what happened. But then my teacher suggested trying to make it three dimensional in a diorama. Isn't that so cool? I could build the entire thing! And maybe the pieces could move or something. You know – without magic though. So I could take the old 2D art and make it 3D Like a Modern Historical Diorama Extravaganza! So, could you guys help me this weekend?"

Hermione blanched while Ron asked, "What's a diorama?"

"Sort of like a 3D picture where instead of drawing it on a page you build it in a box or on a table and you build everything like it's a stage. Like a miniature scene or something."

"I hesitate to even ask," muttered Hermione. "What is this diorama of?"

"Just the Battle of Hastings," said Hugo nonchalantly. "I want to figure out how to take part of the Bayeux tapestry and figure out how to show it as more of a 3D sculpture scene than a weaving."

Ron looked between the two of them, realizing that he should probably know what the hell they were talking about. But, as his education had more or less skipped all of muggle history, he had was utterly lost.

"Hate to sound ignorant here," he broke in. "I think they may have skipped that particular battle in my History of Magic class. Or maybe I just slept through it. Care to enlighten me?"

"Seriously?" asked Hugo in disbelief at his dad's ignorance. "It was only when William the Conqueror led the Normans in the invasion of England, overthrew the Viking rulers and started the British monarchy we know today. It's all depicted on this really famous tapestry that shows all of the battle and the interactions between the different leaders. Its 1,000 years old!"

"Right," nodded Hermione weakly. "Uh, you aren't actually planning to include all 20,000 soldiers from 1066 are you?"

"Nah. Probably a bit much for one week," he admitted. "But I was thinking maybe I could do it in a box a bit bigger than a shoe box."

"Shoe box?" Ron asked.

"Oh, yeah," Hermione said. "Muggle children often build dioramas in shoe boxes. Hugo, how much bigger of a box were you talking about?"

"Refrigerator?" he asked innocently as Hermione choked on her wine.

Ron laughed at his wife's reaction. "Well, little man, I am fresh out of refrigerator boxes. How about we pop down to the shop in the morning and find a box that will work. And we can get rid of the moving logos and such for the muggle school."

"Well, of course. I wouldn't leave the box plain anyway. I will paint them to be like the scene," Hugo replied as if it was the most obvious response.

"Alright," Hermione said placing her wine glass on the counter. "I propose Hugo is the director and producer of this diorama project. Ron, you serve as technical assistant in procuring supplies and what not. I'll serve as the historical consultant. Maybe those Oxford history courses will finally pay off."

Hugo was thrilled and got Ron to promise to take him to the shop first thing in the morning. At that, he ran off to make sketches and plans for the production leaving Ron and Hermione laughing in the kitchen.

"I think," said Ron with an impressed grin. "No, make that I KNOW that if you added up all the enthusiasm I had for every single school project I had from learning to read at Mum's kitchen table through Hogwarts and at the Auror Academy you wouldn't even get to half of Hugo's excitement about this battle box thingy."

"It's brilliant," she agreed. "I was probably that eager, though probably not that happy about it. It's impressive."

"And, I can honestly say I knew Fi well enough to confidently assure you she was never this enthusiastic about school. Was Dennis?"

"Not really," she admitted. "I really don't quite know where he gets it from. I mean Dennis was a good student, but not exactly rushing off to do larger versions of projects than necessary on a Friday night."

"Huh," Ron mused as he rubbed his hand over his jaw. "Well, it's brilliant, but he sure as hell doesn't get it from me."

"Well, we've established I was quite the bookworm."

"Was?" Ron asked in an amused tone with one eyebrow raised.

"OK, fine. I am a bookworm," she conceded. "But I was never this creative. The only one who ever came close was Collin. Maybe it's just genetic?"

"Beats me," shrugged Ron. "Just gotta encourage it I suppose. But, hey – speaking of weekend projects - what would you think of me inviting our favorite squib detective over for dinner one of these weekends?"

"Fine. Sounds good. You don't want to talk about Aldie Carrington though, right?"

"Oh Merlin, definitely not. I want to do some brainstorming around how the Aurors can learn from muggle police practices. Thought we could talk through it over dinner."

"Want to invite Harry and Ginny too?"

"Um, I guess we could. But, I just don't want to overwhelm him, you know?"

"Ok. We'll start with just him then. But I love the idea of what you are working on. See, maybe you are enthusiastic about projects – just a bit of a late bloomer," she teased.

"Thanks," he scoffed. "But, since you mentioned Aldie Carrington….well, the anniversary of the accident is coming up. Have any thoughts on how to handle it?"

Hermione sighed, running her hand through her curls. "Well, I suppose we should also consider it's the last one Hugo will be home for as the next 7 years he'll be at Hogwarts. So, maybe we honor it a lot like last year – follow his lead, visit the cemetery if he wants, something like that. Then starting the next year we can just be sure he has letters that day and have Rose, Nev and Sally keep an eye on him."

"Huh," Ron said a little stunned. "I mean, I knew that was happening this year. But, yeah – that's really happening, isn't it?"

Hermione was touched by the sad look on his face, and all she could do was embrace him tightly and snuggle into his chest.