Disclaimer: HP still belongs to J.K. Rowling

Another big thank you to my great Beta Clover Bay!


Hermione enjoyed her work at the preserve. She was hardworking. She got back to her old self and asked thousands of questions every day. Her co-workers saw that she was willing to learn and quite adept so they gave her more and more responsibilities.

She learned how to apply spells, to create the right climate for the plants that weren't originally from Romania and how to harvest different parts of the plants that were used for potions.

Some of the plants weren't so willing to give up their fruits so she often got scratches and blisters as a result. She could have taken care of them herself but she preferred to let Charlie do it, in return she tended to the wounds he got from the dragons.

She soon got to know all the people that lived in the preserve and she made some friends there, but most of her time she still spend with Charlie. In the evenings they had dinner together, often they were joined by their co-workers. On some nights they would go to a pub in the town nearby with some of the other people from the preserve.

She regularly wrote to her parents and to Harry and Ron. Apparently she had mentioned Charlie quite often in her letters since her mother once wrote her back that this Charlie sounds like a great guy and that she would love to meet him one day.

The letters from Harry and Ron were mostly short and not very informative, but apparently they were all doing well.

It was autumn now and that was a busy but also beautiful season at the preserve. Hermione was working busily and more and more often allowed to work unsupervised on more delicate tasks.

One evening shortly before her shift was over it happened. She had cast the heating spell a little too forcefull and destroyed a rather rare plant. She told Miguel who told her gruffily to leave for the day.

Hermione not being used to making mistakes was distraught. She felt horrible and was convinced that she would be fired and that everybody now thought that she was completely incompetent.

When Charlie came to check on her that evening because she hadn't been in the kitchen for dinner, she refused to leave her room. So he decided to bring the food to her instead. Patiently he listened to her berating herself for her stupid mistake. At some point he stopped her, before she could get totally worked up.

He hugged her and told her that everyone made mistakes and that the best thing she could do was learn from it, so that that wouldn't happen to her again and then move on. He drew little circles on her back, while she sniffled into his shirt. He was so calm and his voice was so tranquil and soft that Hermione quickly calmed down.

Then he ordered her to eat the sandwiches he had prepared for her that she hadn't touched yet.

The next morning, she apologised over and over again to Miguel and swore that something like this would never happen again.

Miguel just looked at her amused and said: "Don't worry about that mi amor, things like that happened a lot to me during all these years."

Hermione worked a lot more carefully that day.

XYX

Hermione lay on the floor writhing in pain while Bellatrix cast the Cruciatus on her over and over again. Then all of a sudden she was in a long hallway trying to run away but she couldn't move no matter how much she willed her feet to run. Then she smelled the foul breath of Greyback and felt his hands greedily running over her body, touching her in private places.

That was when she finally woke up, sweating and panting heavily. She hadn't had any nightmares in a few weeks now and that one had been particularly vivid, even her body was aching.

She didn't dare to go back to sleep that night, she was too scared of having another nightmare. She sighed when she saw that it was only 12:30 in the morning, that would be a long night. So she put her cloak over her pyjamas and went outside for some fresh air.

She slowly walked through the little village and as if on their own accord her feet had taken her to Charlie's hut. She was about to turn to go back, she didn't want to bother him that late, but when she turned back she saw him walking up the way to his hut.

He was surprised when he saw her there but gave her a tired smile.

"I have the first part of the night shift to take care of Bruno and Hilda," he explained yawning widely.

Bruno and Hilda were two Swedish Short Snout Babies that had been taken from a guy who had tried to breed dragons illegally. They were only a few days old and still had to be fed every few hours.

"Are you out for a little night stroll?" Charlie continued asking.

"Well, yes, kind of," Hermione stuttered (she was rather embarrassed that he had caught her in front of his hut) "the truth is I can't sleep, I had a nightmare."

"Must have been some nightmare, you look like a ghost," Charlie commented after getting a better look at her.

Hermione tried to avoid his gaze and stared intently into the darkness to the right of her.

"Come in," he motioned her to follow him inside his hut.

"Oh no, I don't want to bother you, I just go back to my hut and read a bit," Hermione replied anxious.

"You don't bother me, Hermione, now get in," he said patiently.

She followed him hesitantly into his room.

"I'll be right back," with that Charlie left into the direction of the bathroom.

Hermione looked around in his room. It was similar to hers, messier though. His Queen size bed was not made and his clothes were scattered around the room. There was a table on which he had several magazines and newspapers, two chairs and a bookshelf. His closetdoor was half open and when Hermione peeked in she saw that inside was a mess. It seemed Charlie simply put everything in there.

After a few minutes Charlie returned in his pyjamas, his hair still wet, and Hermione wondered how someone could only take such a short time to shower.

"Sorry for the mess," Charlie said while collecting his clothes and stuffing them into his closet. Then he went on to make his bed.

After that they sat on his bed side by side their backs resting on the backrest.

"Do you want to tell me about your nightmares?" he asked softly.

Hermione didn't answer at first, she wasn't sure if she wanted to, she hadn't told anyone about the things she's gone through during the war. Harry and Ron knew most of it, or had a pretty good idea, but they never brought it up and they never talked about their experiences either.

But then she started telling Charlie everything, about her nightmares, about their year on the run, about the night Dumbledore died, about what happened in the ministry, everything simply poured out of her.

After she finished, she realised that Charlie was holding her tight in his arms with one hand playing with her hair. She had no idea how long he had been holding her like that.

She rested her head against his shoulder and let him hold her, even his smell was comforting, he smelled like citrus from his shower gel mixed with his very own sent, she discretely inhaled his intoxicating smell.

Finally Charlie said: "You can sleep here, I promise I won't do anything inappropriate."

Hermione's first thought (to her own surprise) was that she wouldn't mind at all if he did something inappropriate to her, but she didn't voice that thought and simply nodded.

She fell asleep in Charlie's arm, she wasn't scared anymore she felt as though with him by her side nothing could harm her.