The little boy's arms clutched at her, cinching around her hips as he burrowed his face into her side. Hermione instinctively ran her fingers through his shockingly blue hair before looking back up at Remus approaching at a much slower pace.

"You're so big!" Hermione muttered, more to herself than the small metamorphmagus who had attached himself to her.

"You say that all the time," he pulled away and gazed back up at her. Hermione found herself looking at an exact replica of her own brown irises and remained speechless. "I'm just as big as I was last -"

"Hey little man! How's it hanging?" George stepped in, distracting the… five year old? Five year old. Hermione gave her head a shake, her eyes following after him as he skipped over to George and was hauled up and onto the ginger's shoulders.

"Sorry, Hermione. He doesn't quite grasp that you can't remember some things."

Turning back, Hermione was pleasantly surprised to see that Remus Lupin looked the best she had ever seen him. His skin was lightly tanned and his scars were quite evident, however he had an air about him that indicated he had never cared less about them. His hair was sandier than she remembered, and less blonde, and he looked slightly out of place to her without a cardigan on.

"Remus!"

"Hello," he gave her a kind smile. "There was no stopping him, unfortunately."

"Oh, it's – it's fine," Hermione brushed off the apology. "He's five, I could hardly expect him to…"

They both let a beat of silence pass and looked over to George and Teddy. Both sporting wide grins, Teddy was perched happily on George's shoulders as the older man reached up to hold his hands and keep him in place as he jaunted up the street.

"Oh!" a thought occurred to Hermione suddenly and she turned back. "George mentioned you've been taking care of the shop for me while I've been – been in hospital. And I wanted to thank you, Remus, so much. You didn't have to do that, really."

"It was my pleasure, Hermione. Besides it's the summer; gives me a reason to enjoy Hogsmeade as something other than a chauffeur."

Hermione gave him a puzzled look.

"I was reinstated as the Defense teacher at the school the year after you graduated."

"Oh! Congratulations! Belatedly, of course, but that's fantastic!" Hermione declared and Remus bowed his head happily.

"Thank you," he replied with a nod. "It's good to be back."

She wished she could say the same.

"So where's Tonks? Still at the Ministry?" Hermione inquired, looking for George and Teddy up the way and not spotting them.

"Oh, yes, she's with Fred right now, but she's still an Auror," Remus answered, taking the first steps into the store and Hermione followed after him.

"She's with Fred?" Hermione's brows knit as she thought of George's twin and Tonks and what they had in common.

"My apologies. It's hard to -" Remus responded, casting a glance over his shoulder. "She's your goddaughter; our youngest, Winifred."

"You have a – I have a goddaughter?"

"Yes, she's three and a half going on thirty," Remus laughed. He circumvented the counter and turned back to her. "I hope you don't mind; I was just going to check the mail and see if anything needed doing, but you're here and…"

"Oh, it's – I know it's weird, but I wouldn't know what I was doing anyway," Hermione looked around, lost. "I wouldn't know where to start."

The bookshelves were made of dark wood, smooth and warm and there wasn't a speck of dust that she could see along the long length of them. The wooden slats creaked a bit under her feet as she moved along them slowly, running her fingertips over the worn spines.

From mere minutes ago, worrying about being pregnant, to this moment of calm seemed like a lifetime. Time was passing oddly, and it was confusing her. She had been in the hospital a week after waking up and been home less than 24 hours and she was already a property owner and an entrepreneur, a fiancée and a godmother.

Well –

The other Hermione was.

She had inherited all these aspects and parts of herself by default because of what had happened.

She – this Hermione – was just trying to piece things together and try to make sense of the time between studying for NEWTs and the present day.

"Did I keep a journal?" Hermione asked out of the blue, and Remus looked up from where he was opening mail and skimming the correspondence inside.

"I'm not sure, truthfully," Remus reasoned. "George might be a better person to ask."

"Ask about what?" came his voice from the front door, and both Hermione and Remus looked around to see George heading into the shop with Teddy crouching down low on his shoulders to make it through unscathed. Both were holding precariously large ice creams, and Teddy held one down to her as they approached.

"Ice cream," Remus piped up. "You lucky devil. Did you say thank you?" he asked Teddy with an eyebrow quirk.

"He did," George nodded.

"We got one for you," Teddy prompted again, gazing down at Hermione and holding the violently blue ice cream out to her.

"Oh, thank you." She took it and gazed closely at it. A saturated blue with swirls of pink and purple, one side covered in sprinkles.

"It's bubble-gum," George answered her unasked question. "Your favourite."

"Interesting," Hermione commented.

The cone was delicious, it turned out, and Hermione very much enjoyed sitting in the front window and talking with Teddy as they finished their treats. When the boys left, George walked with her back up to the flat, hesitating at the front door.

"Do you mind if I – if I come in and get a few things?" George shuffled his feet minutely, pinching his lips together after.

"Oh, yes – right -"

Hermione stepped aside and he followed her in, turning up the hall and making his way away from her. His shoulders curled forward a bit and she instinctively ambled after him. He was at the bedside table, the one closest to the door, and he was rifling through the top drawer. He extracted a book and a notepad before briefly glancing up at her approaching, and turning away to the closet.

"Do you, uhm," Hermione started, sinking down onto the mattress gingerly, "do you live here? I mean…"

"No," George answered carefully. "I'm here a lot but I don't technically live here."

He still had his back to her, and he was pulling out faded jeans and t-shirts and pair of running shoes, shrinking them and stashing them in his pocket.

"Have you seen -" he started, and then stopped. "Sorry, that was stupid, nevermind."

"Seen what?" Hermione pressed, ignoring him.

"My sweater. The blue one," he answered, shaking his head. "It's okay, it's -"

"This one?" Hermione leaned back over the mattress and tugged a blue hooded sweatshirt out from under the pillow she had slept on last night, holding it out to him.

"Oh," George accepted, dumbfounded.

"It was – it was on the bed when I came home and I just assumed that it was mine," Hermione filled the silence, and George's eyes flitted to and from hers quickly.

"You can keep it if you like," he shifted, offering it back awkwardly.

"No, no," Hermione leaned back, lifting her hands. "It's yours. Sorry, it's not clean, I uhm, I wore it bed last night."

"That's okay," George shook his head. "It's one of your favourites to steal."

"Right," Hermione nodded. "No wonder."

Silence fell again and Hermione took a deep breath.

"George, I'm really sorry," she began. "About – about all of this. I can't help but feel like you're leaving behind – I don't know, like this is your home and I don't want you to feel like – Oh, this is complicated."

"Hermione," he sighed. "This is your home. You bought it before we – before. I still have my own place over my own shop and… It's fine. You need space. I make things… Complicated and confusing and, well I don't get it but I'm trying to." He paused. "I just want you to be happy."

When he left, she couldn't help but feel like the hole inside of her was getting wider by the second, no matter what she did.

She cried.


A/N: So it's been a little bit, but I'm trying to make time to make regular updates. New Years Resolutions maybe.

Please let me know how you're enjoying the unfolding of things so far. I really adore this story, even though it isn't much yet.

Leave a review!

Until next time xxx