Hermione woke up in a daze, "Where the hell am I?" she thought to herself.
She glanced around the room, she was in her office—again—for the third day in a row. She heard a chuckle, without even looking she knew who it was, "Hey Harry" she mumbled.
Harry took on a more serious tone, "'Mione, you have got to stop sleeping in your office, you work too hard"
"Bloody hell!" she thought to herself, "I know I work too hard, but maybe if my boss didn't ask me to complete impossible tasks I would be at home, in my bed, with Crookshanks!"
Hermione had become one of the leading potions masters at the ministry, the only woman in the history of the wizarding world to receive such a rank. She knew how to do her job and she did it damn well. Everyone knew that, even Snape had acknowledged it. Nobody worked as hard as she did.
Harry had become an Auror and their offices worked together often to provide necessary potions. Which she was happy to make
But God damn her boss, Jim, he was the epitome of an arsehole, always asking her to do impossible things that forced her, at the last minute no less, to stay in her office making potions that usually took a normal person two weeks to make. Only Hermione could do it in such short time and as a result, Jim only trusted Hermione with the kind of potions that he needed immediately but took long to make. Last month she was forced to make 16 polyjuice potions in 1 week!
Of course she had made them all perfectly and on time. But that was not the point.
Harry cut into her thoughts, "'Mione, you look like a mess, take the day off, I'll talk to Jim for you, I'll tell him that the Ministry needs to keep its best workers in tip top shape"
Hermione chuckled, "A day off is just what I need"
"So I'll see you tomorrow then?" Harry asked. "Of Course" she replied, she was already contemplating whether she should just sneaking back to work while Harry wasn't looking. Two days would just be unspeakable. "After I thank you by taking you out to breakfast"
"Sounds good to me!" Ron shouted, coming out of nowhere "I'm starving!"
"Ron, do you have a radar that goes off whenever someone even whispers about food or do you just appear?" Harry asked, chuckling he had no idea where his best friend had come from
"Errm, I think the second one—where are we going to eat?" he replied
Ron had become an Auror along with Harry, they completed every task together and had grown closer because of it, the war hadn't broken the trio up, they all survived and they were all grateful for that. Unfortunately they had lost Sirius, Bill, and Dumbledore, and a few others. Sirius' death had really hit the trio hard; Harry still couldn't speak about it. So they never did.
Hermione was getting hungry, "yeah, where are we going to eat?"
Harry replied "I was thinking we could go to the new café on the corner, I heard the food was great"
"Sounds good to me" Ron replied
Ron added, "Lets go before it gets to crowded, if I have to wait any longer who knows what will happen to me?" He actually looked panicked. "Don't worry Ron, its 8:00 in the morning, I don't think all of London is up yet" Hermione chuckled
As they left the ministry and began walking to the café, Hermione was thinking about the dream she had last night;
It was beautiful outside, the air was cool, the sun was setting, the sky was so beautiful, as if all the colors in the world had joined together just to allow her this moment, she was tearing up just looking at the sight. It was so perfect, she was so happy. She looked down and saw a small toddler playing in the grass. Surprised by the sight, she thought he must be lost so she asked, "What are you doing little one?" "Mommy! Come play with me!" She gasped, it—he was her son! He was so beautiful, he looked like someone she knew, she just couldn't think of who. "Of course I will" She got down on her knees and began playing with the happy toddler "What's your name she asked" he replied, "Sirius Black!" Hermione was staring at Sirius Black as a child. Why was he calling her mommy though? She vaguely wondered who the father was. A gay laugh sounded from the house, "Where's the love of my life?" the voice boomed, the speaker had a thick Irish accent. "So I'm in love" she said quietly to herself. That was all Hermione had really wanted from life. A voice whispered in her ear, "of course you are dear " The voice sounded so familiar she just couldn't place it, she turned around and looked at the face—
"Oi!" Ron yelled, "Watch were your going 'Mione!" Ron abruptly pulled her back onto the side walk as an angry driver beeped at her. Hermione came back to reality, "who was the man?" she thought to herself. She cursed Ron for not letting her see his face, she had a vague feeling that she had met him before though.
Hermione laughed, nervously, "Sorry Ron, got a little sidetracked"
She turned to Harry, "Is this the place?"
"Okay fine, don't thank me" Ron huffed, "I only just saved your life!" he said to himself
Harry was looked at her with a worried glance, no doubt he thought that she was sleep deprived and therefore a danger to herself and others. "Watch yourself 'Mione" He said.
"Sorry" She mumbled, still trying to figure out the face of the 'love' of her life.
When the trio entered the café everyone looked up, people still hadn't gotten over the fact that they were war heroes
They heard a sneer in the background, "Look what the mudblood dragged in"
"Draco" Harry seethed
"Oh hello potter, how's your boyfriend?"
Ron turned bright red, "oh, just shove off Malfoy!, besides its too early for me to kick you in the arse"
Hermione was in no mood to deal with a sore loser, ever since the war Draco had been even more of a git than usual, not that he hadn't always been an arse, but she had thought the grudges would fade after Voldemort lost his power, but she realized that she was just being hopeful. True, a lot of former dark lord supporters had joined the good side, but some, like the Malfoys, simply did not change their beliefs.
"Lucky for you, I have more important things to do than ruin my reputation by talking to the likes of you." Draco drawled.
The three sat down at and ordered their food, all in their own thoughts.
Hermione was thinking about her love life of all things. She had never been satisfied in that particular department. She had only been with two guys. One being Krum and the other being Ron, she cringed a little thinking about how he had taken her virginity. It was definitely not a moment that she cherished.
Breaking into her thoughts, Harry told her that Ron and he needed to get to work. "Goodbye!" she called as they walked through the door, "Bye 'Mione!" they both called.
She was back in her own thoughts when she noticed a man staring at her. Her war instincts immediately kicked in. She knew how to discreetly take in her surroundings. She thought he looked so familiar, he was pale with scraggly black hair and was staring at her with an intense curiosity. She couldn't help but stare at him with the same look. She noticed that he was surrounded by books and had warm brown eyes. "so he's smart" she thought to herself. He was handsome, about the same age as her. To her surprise he got up and began to make his way to her booth. In a smooth voice he said, "Hello, my name is Sirius Black."