A/N: Chapter Fourteen! I can't believe I have so many chapters posted. Crazy. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one.

Two Years Later

There were lights strung up around the trees and neighbourhood homes, decorating the area in bright, beautiful hues of red and green. It was that time of year again, when festive cheer was in as much abundance as the snowflakes that fell from the clouds above.

Did I mention alcohol consumption and emptied bank accounts? Because there was a lot of that, too.

I'm talking about Christmas — obviously.

To think, there was once a time in my life when I enjoyed this season and rushed down the staircase of my parents' home in reindeer pyjamas to open gifts and stuff my face with whatever treats lay waiting for me.

It seemed the older I got, the more I realized.

Christmas wasn't as much about gift giving and snowman jumpers, as it was about deflecting marriage questions from nosy relatives and shovelling copious amounts of mince pies and gingerbread biscuits down my throat to prevent from an unsightly meltdown in the middle of my parents' lounge.

Point being: I was content being a single, working woman, and I wished everyone would leave me alone about it.

This night, as it turned out, panned different from most:

"Granger!" someone called out, from about ten or twelve feet behind.

I turned, and noticed a tall, dark-haired wizarding racing towards me — moments before he slipped on a sheet of ice and fell flat on his arse.

It was mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve and I had plans to meet my roommate for lunch, as we were both called into work that morning and hadn't spent any time together for the entire month of December. I had all but given up on our lunch plans, as he was an hour late, until this very moment.

I laughed, having spotted said-roommate on the ground with snow soaked through his hair and his scrubs, and set down my bag to help him up. "You'll be feeling that tomorrow."

He grimaced at this comment, using one hand to brush the snow from his person and the other to rub his bottom. "I'm feeling it right now."

"Good thing you're a Healer," I winked, walking with him through the town centre and towards our designated meeting place.

It was a quaint, little restaurant about fifteen minutes from our shared home, in the wizarding settlement known as Puddlemere. I had been there about six or seven times in the year that we lived together. Our arrangement was simple. Neither of us wanted to live in central, as we were tired of the hustle and bustle, and neither of us had significant others, as our careers were too demanding for relationships — which left us with one, rather obvious solution.

Platonic, of course.

Nott held the door open, and we found our usual table across the large, landscape window from which there was a gorgeous view of our town.

It was around ten minutes later that we had our food and drinks, after which we fell into silence, eating and drinking and eating and drinking. I hadn't eaten anything in over a day, having worked my arse off these last few weeks. It was a difficult time at the Auror Office, seeing as most people decided to go on holiday and left the rest of us with mountains and mountains of work.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" he asked, dabbing his lips with the napkin. "Did Ginny say the party was casual dress or…?"

I paused mid-chew. "Erm —"

"— Don't tell me you forgot."

"I've been busy," I shrugged, gulping down some water. "It's not my fault half the office is absent."

Nott flashed me a knowing look. "I know what day it is, Granger."

"Whatever could you mean?" I asked, playing innocent.

The wizard, my fantastic roommate, with the strange, inexplicable talent for calling me on my bullshit, leaned in. "It's Christmas Eve, and a certain someone is back in town tonight."

There was a hitch in my chest, that I willfully ignored. Instead of acknowledging the obvious, I continued to eat and drink and eat and drink, until my meddlesome roommate gave me a swift nudge under the table.

I exhaled, hard. "What do you want me to say?"

"Nothing, if that's what you feel."

"You can be such a girl about things," I countered, rolling my eyes.

"Stop deflecting."

"I'm not deflecting. I'm just —"

"Nervous?" he asked.

I shrugged, at a loss.

It had been two years since thenight in question and still, those memories were fresh in my mind. I spent most of that time ignoring the ache inside, but I was now forced to deal with what happened and confront the person behind the memories.

Nott sensed the change in me, and softened his expression. "Granger, you're my roommate, but you're also my best friend, and the only reason I'm asking you about this is because I worry for you."

"You're worried?" I repeated.

He nodded. "I know I'm not one to talk, but you've worked yourself into exhaustion these past few weeks and I think you're well overdue for some fun and excitement."

"Trust me," I started. "There is nothing fun nor exciting about 'a certain someone' back in town."

The wizard looked at me, perplexed. "Explain."

In the time that I lived with Nott, I had failed to confide in him the most important detail to this saga. In failing to do so, I painted the picture between myself and 'a certain someone' in lighter hues and left my friends with the impression that this reunion would be a fun chance to hook up and satiate all that unresolved sexual tension.

But the tension between myself and 'a certain someone' was not sexual, as we had resolved that long ago. It was worse — much, much worse — and involved those treacherous buggers that were otherwise known as feelings.

As we've learned, feelings weren't (and still aren't) my area of expertise.

I tossed one look over my shoulder, before leaning forward and whispering to him the details of what happened on the night of the Harvest Moon party.

Nott gaped at me. "You must be taking the piss."

"I wish I was…"

"Granger," he started, looking at me with a whirlwind of surprise, amazement, and overall amusement in his eyes. "You realize what this means, don't you?"

I screwed my face. "Fill me in."

Nott clapped his hands together and held them over his mouth, making it clear to me that the wheels in his mind were turning at breakneck speed. "I'm taking you to London — right now — and we're going to find you something nice for tonight."

There was a distinct arch in my brow. "Are you absolutely sure you're not a girl?"

"Quite," he smiled, giddier than I'd seen him in a long time. "As you've known for about — how long as has it been, nine years?"

I couldn't help it. I chuckled at this. "You're such a twat."

"But you love me anyway," he winked, rising to pay the bill.

Five Hours Later

It was an interesting group of people, to say the least.

I had never before seen Ginny and Harry's massive home filled to capacity, never like this, and assumed, quite naively, that this would be a small gathering between close friends and the like. But there were tons of people there, smiling and chatting without a care in the world.

I, on the other hand, had worked myself into a near panic attack.

It was safe to assume there was a lot riding on that night — the first night in about two years that 'a certain someone' had returned from Manhattan.

Nott, being the well-meaning roommate that he was, conspired with Ginny to dress me up in something rather ridiculous. It wasn't a casual affair, by any means, but I definitely felt overdressed in my floor-length midnight blue dress. According to Ginny, everyone at the party would be dressed in red and green, which meant I had to go for something different. Nott, although less attuned with fashion, had chosen something for me — something the overzealous shopkeeper deemed to be a cross between Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor.

I stood near the bar area and nursed some wine, trying to wrap my head around the fact that Nott had actually convinced me into wearing something so extravagant, whilst ignoring the curious stares. It had been over two years since the wedding and still, people whispered about me and readied their cameras for the moment I would bare all.

Posh twats.

I couldn't let them faze me.

Instead, I did as I usually did and moved to the kitchen.

Ginny was slaving over the stove — having catered most of the food, much to her mother's dismay — and struggled to prepare the main course. It was her mum's own recipe and consisted of various ingredients that probably shouldn't be mixed in one dish, but tasted absolutely phenomenal — as most of Molly's dishes do.

"Hermione," she nagged at me, retying the apron over her festive red dress. "Get out of here. I can't have you dirtying your outfit."

"But everyone keeps staring at me," I pouted, helping her with the apron. "Besides, it looks like you could use another hand in here."

She considered this a moment, before shaking her head and continuing to stir the pot. "Don't worry about me. Just have fun and mix around."

I made motion to argue but retracted, as soon as I realized there was another place that was free of nosy guests.

Ginny added some more herbs and spices to her aromatic concoction, none the wiser as I left the kitchen and moved to the back of the house, where there was a porch swing outside and a gorgeous view of the surrounding greenery.

It was the perfect plan — fresh air and some much needed time alone.

I lifted the skirts to my dress and opened the door, feeling the nervous energy in my core come to an unexpected, frighteningly intense impasse, as someone moved through the corridor — behind me. It was difficult to tell, as my back was turned, but that scent and the brush of blonde that ignited the left side of my peripheral vision was unmistakable.

It appeared as though I hadn't been seen, which provided me opportunity to escape and return home, where there was a good book and an untouched bottle of firewhiskey waiting for me.

But the dress that Nott had so generously purchased for me, demanded to be seen.

I was overdressed, but I looked damn good.

After a brief pause, my legs turned and positioned me near the kitchen, where the latest arrivals greeted Ginny, along with Harry, and complimented them on their beautiful home. It was a very adult conversation; not my cup of tea, as I still lived like a university student and ate ramen noodles seven nights a week.

"Hermione!" Ginny smiled, welcoming me into the conversation with a wider than usual smile.

Just from that — I knew something was wrong but there was no time for her to fill me in, as everyone's attention turned to me in one clean sweep.

"Look who's in town for the holidays…" Harry added, filling in the silence. "I'm sure you remember each other."

I looked across from my friends, and noticed the tall, blond-haired wizard. It was like the wedding all over again. There he was, dressed to the nines in a tailored black suit, fitted to his height and build, with his hair in pristine condition and a jawline that was slightly more defined than what I remembered. Due to age, most like.

In a moment of pure panic, I plastered an even wider smile on my face and tried hard not to faint.

It was then that he looked at me, with a glimmer in his eyes that sparked an intense set of memories that I would rather have forgotten.

I must have looked panicked. I certainly felt panicked — too panicked for words.

But it wasn't the overwhelming feeling of being near him again, or the fact that our reunion was in front of an entire room filled with people. It was something else that created this panic — someone else. I fixed my attention to his left and found an alarmingly beautiful, blond-haired woman dressed in a shimmering gown that fell from her shoulders to her knees and gave accent to her long, modelesque legs.

"Nice to finally meet you," she greeted, speaking to me in an American accent, with an air about her that I couldn't help but liken to Charlize Theron — only younger and with bigger boobs. "I'm Katherine."

"Katherine," I repeated. "It — It's nice to meet you, too. I'm Hermione."

"Such a gorgeous name," she told me. "Were your parents fans of Shakespeare?"

It took a moment for me to snap out of it. "Yes," I answered. "The Winter's Tale is one of their favourites."

Charlize's doppelgänger said something else in response, but I couldn't concentrate on the words coming from her mouth. I looked only to my friends, both of whom exchanged worried looks with one another, and then to the young man whose hand was interlaced with the beautiful blonde.

I noticed the depth in his gaze.

It wasn't affection or happiness in those eyes. It was remorse — guilt.

Just like that, the dress felt heavy on me.

I longed to part with it — along with the makeup and the accessories and the shoes and everything I had done in anticipation for tonight.

Before I could, there was a hand on my shoulder, one that glided down my arm and into my own hand, where it locked fingers with me; warm and familiar.

I turned and found Nott there.

"You okay?" he mouthed to me, faint enough that no one else could see.

I didn't respond.

I couldn't respond, not without opening a door into the void.

A/N: I wasn't lying when I said there would be twists and turns lol. Please don't hate me!

Here's a song list representing each guy with whom our heroine has been involved thus far.

1. Viktor: "Domino" by Jessie J

2. Ron: "Too Close" by Alex Clare

3. Oliver: "Va Va Voom" by Nicki Minaj

4. Nott: "Happy Little Pill" by Troye Sivan

5. Draco: "Lay It Down" by The Rubens

Thanks for reading!

Cheers

xo.