Happy holidays people! Or Merry Christmas, if you prefer ;) I know I've not exactly been a good updater on this, and I apologize! But this chapter is about nine pages, people, and it's taken me pretty much all day to perfect it! I really hope you like it! ;)

Chapter 12

Hermione Jean Granger woke feeling warmer and more comfortable than she had in a long time. She kept her eyes closed, not wanting to be awake quite yet. She snuggled deeper into her pillow, and wrinkled her nose when it was harder than it usually was. She attempted to fluff it, but it wouldn't budge. It was weird, her pillows always budged! And speaking of weird pillows, why was this one chuckling?

She stiffened when she finally realized what was going on. When George had gotten back, she had been a nervous wreck. Not at all capable of falling asleep. She had never ever had a sleepover with a boy before. She only calmed down when he pulled her into a hug and told her it would be alright. They sat talking on her couch in their jammies for a long time, well into the night. George must have carried her to bed, because she didn't remember walking in here herself. But why had he stayed?
"You asked me to, Angel" he said softly. She relaxed at the sound of his sleep-husky voice. It was comforting, and she didn't want to move at all. The t-shirt he was wearing was soft against her cheek, and the hand that combed through her hair was nice. So she snuggled closer.
"Aren't you hungry, Angel?" He asked her, and as if on cue, her stomach growled. He chuckled again and it vibrated through her chest.
They got out of the bed, and Hermione was amazed at how not-awkward she felt around him after her mini breakdown the night before. Hermione laughed at his jokes as they moved around her kitchen together, cooking their breakfast. It felt natural, and it scared Hermione a little.
When they had finished eating breakfast, Hermione decided, that she just couldn't not show Fred and George the place she and Angelina had found any more. So she told George she was going to call her boss and take the day off, and instructed him to take a shower. He did as she asked, and Hermione made quick work of letting her boss know she wasn't coming to work today; she told the secretary to tell him, and then she called Angelina. She knew she was at Fred and George's apartment, and she prayed that it would be Angelina that found her first.
"Angelina!" she yelled when she got through. It was a minute before a dishevelled-looking Angelina appeared. She smiled when she saw Hermione and they agreed today should be the day.

As Angelina got ready, Hermione retreated back to her own place to dress. George came out of the shower, his red hair dark as it clung to his skin. Hermione liked it.
"George, I have something I want to show you," she told him, her confidence having returned. When he looked puzzled, she took his hand and led him outside the wards. After the war, Hermione had decided she just couldn't be careful enough. Anti-apparation wards, both for incoming and outgoing apparation, had been set up, along with anti-animagus wards around her place (you could transform once inside the wards, but a transformed animagus could not pass). Anti-portkey from outside along with countless other safety-measures had been set up. She hated not feeling able to protect herself, so this was the best she could come up with. She had never been very good in an outright duel, though she could hold her own. She was nothing compared to Ron and Harry anyway.

Hermione apparated George to just outside of the premises, where she distracted him for a few minutes – if you get a small one like that – until Fred and Angelina showed up. The two girls exchanged amused and secretive glances as the Twins started questioning each other – or rather, the situation – in the Twin-speak.
"Alright, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum," Hermione started, "We have something to show you, so please follow," she gestured with her hand the way in which they were going, and took Angelina's hand. As if the older girl new what she was thinking, she squeezed Hermione's hand.
"They'll love it, you'll see," Hermione sincerely hoped so. She loved the small houses and it was perfect for them. Close enough that they could always reach each other, no matter what, but separate enough that it wouldn't feel cramped. As they passed the hilltop and looked down at the grounds, Fred and George stopped short. Hermione knew with one glance at George that he had figured out what was going on, and if she knew him well enough, so had Fred.
"This is for us?" They whispered at the same time. Hermione nodded with a huge smile on her face. If George's expression was anything to go by, he was just as in love with the houses as she was.
"It's perfect," Fred said. And even if they hadn't seen the insides yet, Hermione just knew that Fred and George would want to get the place as well.

Angelina and Hermione took Fred and George into each of the houses, showing them everything. But as it was almost identical, they quickly figured out that the way Hermione and Angelina had planned, would be the way to go.

Hermione was standing in the living room, looking at the room with a small smile on her face. She could almost see herself with a little redheaded daughter at the piano-bench, teaching her how to play. Or sitting on the couch with her favourite book, looking out through the window and watching George teach a little redheaded boy how to handle a broom. Her, amusedly yelling from the kitchen for the children not to run down the stairs, as she calls for supper.
She felt a pair of arms around her waist, as George hugged her from behind.
"I think this will be a perfect place to raise a family," he whispered in her ear. She smiled and nodded, looking at the fireplace and imagining Harry and Ginny arrive through with a little black-haired child for a play-date.
"Yes. I just hope it will be possible," she said, thinking it would probably be somewhat of a long process, though it would be worth it.

She was right – the next day they visited both Alexandria and Gringotts, to see if it was possible to invest in the housing arrangement – not everybody could be as rich as Harry, and buy the houses in the first go. Though it would be tough for a while, the investment came at a good time; after the war, everything was a little cheaper, inclusive the houses. And with Fred and George's blooming business, and Angelina and Hermione both working, they would be able to overcome it.

It would be a little week before they would be able to take over the land, and Hermione had never been more excited. She was already packing up everything; her books (by subject, of course), her clothes, her knick-knacks and pictures. She was already making arrangements with the landlord about her lease and changing her address in her papers at work. George was over a lot, helping her pack her bookcases and discussing decoration plans with her – when he wasn't at his and Fred's apartment packing his own things, of course. It was slightly less daunting than the wedding preparations, although they were nearly finished with that. They had decided that while it was a wizarding house, they wouldn't keep muggle things out of it. Hermione wanted her parents to come visit, and while she was a witch, her parents had never really been able to understand magic fully. She didn't want to frighten them with too many magic things. A mixture would also ease her a bit, as she felt she was denying her muggle heritage. She didn't want to do that, so a compromise would do her good.

Finally, in Hermione's mind, Friday the 11th September came, and they were able to move into their new home. They gathered all the Weasleys and their future spouses to help out with the move, as there were four of them moving, not just two. Even Cho had decided to offer her royal presence and help out. They split up – half helping Fred and Angelina, and the other half helping George and Hermione. They had showed their new home to the rest of the family the day before, and everybody had found it a charming little place. Bill had stated that as soon as they were settled, he'd helped them set up wards to cover the area. It might be newly found peaceful times, but the fear and uncertainty still lured with its ugly presence over the wizarding world, and the four new residents of the grounds appreciated the offer. Molly had already demanded command of the kitchen in Hermione and George's new home, and would be helping out there – cooking up snacks and making refreshments. Harry and Ron and insisted on helping out Hermione, and she was glad for their presence. With this new law, they hadn't been able to hang out nearly enough. They met for lunches whenever they could in the newly set up cafeteria in the ministry, but it wasn't good enough. Hermione enjoyed their carefree laughter and jokes as they helped her with the very last things in her apartment. She had really missed their presence. Sometimes she found herself thinking of the time in the tent, when it had just been the three of them, and they had forgotten about the war raging outside. She missed the simplicity of that, even if they had been on their lookout at all times.

They had been quite sneaky with their preparations for the move. While Hermione lived on the outskirts of Wizarding London, she did look close enough to the muggles, that it would threaten the Statue of Secrecy if they had moved everything without anyone seeing them actually doing any moving. So they had rented a moving-truck and would be moving everything in there, shrink the heavy stuff, and apparate with it to the new house. Then, when the truck was "loaded" – meaning when everything had already been moved to the house – they would simply return the truck. Harry – always having been nifty with illusion-charms – would glamour the truck up to make it appear full to anyone curious enough to actually look inside. And so they set to work. Hermione hadn't actually lived in the apartment long enough to form a real attachment to the place, what with being on the run and fighting in a war and all, but she was still a little sad to be leaving. The thought of marriage, specifically hers, so soon still scared the living daylights out of her. But this was a step in the right direction at least. And the more time she spent with George, the more she felt like she was falling in love with, and the prospect of marrying him turned a little less scary.

While Harry and Ron were doing the heavy lifting – under much complaint from Ron – Ginny helped Hermione carry her boxes of books and trinkets down. Ginny was telling her about her contract with the Harpies. As it turned out, Ginny hadn't been the only one with that problem. They'd been able to make a clause in the contract that stated that Ginny would be able to have a period of absence while she was pregnant and when the baby was still very young. Apparently, the Harpies had taken it to the Ministry and the Department of Magical Games and Sports because they were an all-women's team and therefore they wanted something to compensate for that. The new Department Head – Ludo Bagman had been replaced after the Tri Wizard Tournament, when his gambling addiction had been made known – was a Muggleborn, and thus she knew about the Muggles mode of securing their jobs when they're pregnant. Sandra Hudson – the new Head – could well understand the frustration as she, too, was a Quidditch nut, and so she proposed a Pregnancy-act underneath the subsection of the Children Act that provided the mothers-to-be with the opportunity of maternity-leave. Right now it was only the female sport players that were subjected to this act, but Sandra – whom Hermione had spoken with a few times – along with Kingsley, Harry, Ron and Arthur were trying to get it to become a permanent feature of Wizarding Law.

Hermione thought it was a wonder that the wizarding world had been able to function when there wasn't anything called maternity leave. If every single woman who became pregnant had to leave their jobs, how did most families make their economy go around? Granted many witches opted to stay at home to teach their kids to read, write, and train them in all the core subjects, wizarding culture plus whatever that particular family taught their kids. Harry, for example, would probably need to teach his kids how to manage property and finances, as the Potters were an Ancient and Noble family, as were the Blacks, and Harry had inherited the title the Black-family carried, along with all the possessions, monetary assets and properties. Frankly, right now Harry was probably one of the richest men in wizarding Britain. Hermione couldn't be sure though, as Harry never, ever talked about his money.

They were inside the truck, shrinking down boxes and putting them into a bag so they could apparate with all at once.
"I think it's great they've been able to make a subsection about maternity leave in the Children's Act. It'd be even more brilliant if they could fit it into the both the Marriage Law and Wizarding Law in general as well," Hermione commented when Ginny finished. Ginny was all smiles. She had been so worried that she would lose her career, even though she was so young. Right now, she was at Hogwarts, but Professor McGonagall had given her permission to leave for the weekend. As Ginny were taking her N.E. she had fewer classes than normally. She had chosen to drop History (even with the new professor, appointed by McGonagall), Astronomy and Care of Magical Creatures in her sixth year, and saw no point in taking them up again in her Seventh. Though she still had Runes and the four core-subjects and now also Healing with Madame Pomfrey, there was still a lot of spare time. With the Marriage Law going on, McGonagall had excused those affected when they were needed elsewhere. As Harry and Ginny were searching for houses and also planning a wedding, she had been allowed off the grounds with a special pass.
"Yeah I know, I can't believe how lucky I am. It's not like I don't want kids with Harry, because I do, but I'd like it to be on my own terms, you know? Now that I can't have that, I'm just glad I can at least keep my career," Ginny told her with a smile.
"I understand perfectly what you mean. I feel exactly the same way; I never figured I would be having kids before the age of 21, but here we are! I'm just glad we found this place to raise our kids," Hermione smiled a warm little smile as she thought of her future kids. It felt nice to say 'our' kids out loud. It made it more real, somehow. She wasn't sure if she was ready, but she remembered her talk with George. As long as she would be raising the children with him, she was sure they would figure it out.
"I think your new house is going to be perfect for you. It's so great of you and Angelina to understand the Twin's needs with this. They've never been apart for long, and that incident at the Final Battle really did a number on them. Imagine if George or Fred had to marry Cho – like her royal Highness would have understood!" Hermione couldn't contain her chuckles. She sounded a little like she was choking as she tried to stop them from coming out. Finally, she couldn't hold it back anymore. She started laughing – hard. Cho had been very difficult lately, even after the whole 'pregnancy that was going to ruin her figure'-thing. Ron was trying his very best with her, but he was still very confused about everything. Cho didn't make it any complained about their wedding-date (even if she was the one who determined it), she complained about the decorations (even if she had helped picking them out), she complained about Ron's job (even if she gossiped to anyone who would listen that she was marrying a war-hero). She was becoming unbearable – which was why she had been sent to help Mrs. Weasley with the food, although she was also on the brink. They all hoped Cho would settle down after the wedding and become a little less, well, irritating, at least for Ron's sake.
"But really, I think the place is perfect. It's so you too, you know? By the way, did I tell you that Harry and I found a place to live?" Hermione smiled at Ginny when she told her that her new home was perfect, but when the last part of the sentence came out, her eyes turned big.
"Really? When? Where?" Ginny grinned at her as she shrank the last few boxes.
"Actually, we found the deed in Harry's family vault. He had no idea he had the vault until he visited Gringotts the other week. His account-manager – I know, crazy, right? – found him and asked him if he wanted to claim the Headship of the family, since he had been on the run since his birthday, and hadn't gotten it. Talk about a huge shock!" Ginny took a small break and explained further. Turns out that the vault he had been using was just an educational vault for his tuition, books, and so on, as well as some pocket-money for himself.
"Anyway, we found the deed in his family-vault and went looking at all of the properties in the country, both from the Black and the Potter family. Godric's Hollow is out – the home is both destroyed, and Harry didn't want to be reminded of what he lost every day. But that didn't matter, because we also found the Potter ancestral home. We thought it was going to be a huge mansion or something like that, but while it is big, it's certainly not pretentious. We found portraits of is forefathers and everything! Harry's so happy and it's actually quite cosy. We'll invite you there soon, and you can see it. It has a massive library, too," Ginny winked at her with that last comment. The two women continued chatting after they had brought the bags with boxes to her new home. Hermione thought it would be very good for Harry to live where his father probably grew up. From the portraits he'd probably be able to learn a lot about both his family, but especially his father.

Ginny and Hermione decided to have lunch in the little garden out back. They sat in the shade of a tree eating sandwiches while Ginny told her all about the new house and their find of it.
"Harry was so sweet. When we were standing and looking at what we think might have been his father's bedroom, he asked me if I was sad about the way he proposed. Of course I told him no. I've never needed the whole romantic thing, and besides, he romances me all the time; bringing me flowers and telling me I'm his whole world – he's so good to me," she gave a little sigh with a smile on her face as she got out on that side-track, and Hermione smiled. She knew Ginny was very happy with Harry, and she was happy for her.
"Anyway, he told me why he did it like he did. He said he never wanted to be without me, and that he couldn't wait anymore. He told me that I was the most beautiful woman in the world to him, and that the war had made him realise just how precious life is, and that's why he had proposed like he did. He said he felt like he hadn't given me a 'proper' proposal because he hadn't told me how much it would mean to him for me to spend the rest of my life with him. Silly man," she chuckled lovingly.
"That's so Harry," Hermione joined in on the chuckling, but inside, her heart was torn in two. One part – the largest – was so very happy for both Ginny and Harry, but the other wondered at what might have been without the law. Would she have met a romantic man like Harry? Or would she have ended up with a more emotionally clumsy man like Ron? She looked over at her new house and saw that George had just arrived; juggling what appeared to be a shrunken bed, bookcase and trunk. She smiled at his silly display and realised he was exactly what she needed, especially after the war. He made her smile and laugh, but he was also caring and aware of her needs. If she was sad, he would comfort her, if she was mad at her boss, he would let her rant. He healed her in a way she didn't believe anybody else could. He was good to her, for her, and that was all she really needed.
As she looked at him, she realised that she wasn't really that scared anymore. She would marry this guy, and it actually made her happy. It hadn't taken long at all, but she was falling for this man, and she was falling hard. With a quick look at Ginny, she excused herself. She giggled as she ran to her future husband, not at all caring what it looked like. When she reached him, she jumped into his arms, and caught by surprise, his arms automatically wrapped around her to catch whatever had slammed into him. Her legs settled around his waist as she grabbed a hold of his shoulders, not caring about the thump, thump, thump, of the three items George had dropped when he caught her.
"Hi Goofy," she whispered before lowering her lips to his. She smiled into the kiss as she felt his hesitancy, clearly still surprised. She pulled away and slid down his body and hugged him.
"Not that I'm complaining, Angel, but what has gotten into you?" he asked in wonder. She giggled that giggle that she didn't mind so much anymore, because only George could bring that out in her, and shrugged.
"I just realised how happy I am with you. You make me happy, George Weasley," she whispered and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him again. She felt him smile this time, as he wrapped his arms around her waist to bring her closer.
"As do you me, Hermione Granger-soon-to-be-Weasley"

When Hermione joined Ginny underneath the tree again, she could see the smirk on the younger girl's lips. Pretending not to notice, she instead asked if she had ever told Ginny about her first date with George.
"How could I have forgotten?" she asked with horror, and Hermione laughed before launching into the tale. She was in a very good mood right now.

Well, I hope this was long enough to make up for my terribly lousy update-speed. Truth is, most of the other chapters I had already written, but we've reached the point where everything I've edited and written already has been updated, and I need to write the new chapters from update to update, which admittedly takes a rather long time.. Hope you can forgive me. Also, I hope you guys appreciate this little piece of fluff.

Next chapter: Hermione has a talk with Ron, along with more moving ;)

Cheers! (And once again, Merry Christmas!)