Hermione decided it would be best to Portkey to London, and then take a connecting Portkey to Surrey, instead of taking the train. The train would take too long, and Hermione was prone to motion sickness when in a moving vehicle for too long. There were several Portkey stations in Scotland; luckily, there was one just outside of Edinburgh, so she didn't have to Apparate too far to get there.
It was a fairly large Portkey station, one of the biggest she'd seen. There were at least 500 people scurrying about, trying to get to their designated rooms containing their portkeys. The magnificent station had floors of marble and beautiful silver wallpaper with golden designs of flowers and climbing vines that were enchanted to move. A small man standing on a tall platform had a wand to his neck, presumably under the Sonorus spell, who was calling out Portkey departure times and room numbers to the crowd. Hermione saw a girl not much younger than herself running across the main entranceway, exclaiming, 'Blast! I'm going to be late, I'm going to be late!' Hermione smiled to herself, glad she wasn't under pressure to get to her Portkey anytime soon. Hers didn't leave for another hour, so she settled herself into an empty terminal and took out an Arithmancy textbook and her lesson plan book, and began to pour over the different chapters.
About twenty minutes later, the man with the Sonorus spell called out, "Mr. Malfoy, to Departure room 8 please. Mr. Malfoy, your Portkey is waiting."
Hermione looked up, startled. Malfoy? Had the man just said Malfoy? Of course, she remembered, Malfoy owned over half of the Portkey stations in Europe. It was his own uncle's idea to start a Portkey station, and she'd heard via The Daily Prophet that when his uncle died, he'd left his empire to Draco Malfoy. She looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of him to see what he looked like now. The last time she'd seen Malfoy was before the War. Malfoy had betrayed his father during his 7th year and left the Death Eaters. Voldemort, none too pleased that a servant had left him, had forbid Lucius to see him ever again, and had also sent a pack of Death Eaters to capture Draco. None had found him though, being the sneak that he was. Draco hadn't re-emerged into Wizarding society until Voldemort was confirmed dead and the war was officially over.
Suddenly she saw a flash of unnaturally white-blond hair, and Hermione rushed after him.
"Malfoy! Malfoy!" she called, trying to catch up to him.
Caught off guard, Malfoy turned to see whose voice had called him, and stumbled over another lady's trolley.
"Watch where you're parkin' yourself!" the lady yelled, pushing Draco off her trolley.
"I'm sorry," Draco excused, helping the woman pick her things from the ground.
He turned towards Hermione, with a blank expression on his face. Clearly he didn't recognize her. "Yes?"
"Malfoy, it's me! I'm Hermione Granger!" Hermione said eagerly, extending her hand.
Draco's expression turned sour and he stared at Hermione's hand as if it were a corpse's hand. "What do you want, Granger?"
Hermione was taken aback. "Malfoy, I haven't seen you in years!"
"And?" Malfoy said. He spoke with the air of one speaking to a little child. Hermione suddenly remembered why it was she hated him in the first place. Apparently age had done nothing to Malfoy's immaturity.
"Well I just wanted to say hello. You know, be pleasant and all that, thought evidently you don't know anything about being pleasant. It was obviously too much to ask for a simple hello," Hermione replied hotly, her temper starting to rise. She turned on her heel and was about to march back to her seat when Malfoy caught her arm.
"Look Granger, just because I wasn't on Voldemort's side doesn't mean I'm your friend. You of all people should know the world isn't just black and white," Malfoy said, "I like to think I'm in the gray area."
"Like your eyes," said Hermione.
"That's beside the point. Anyway, I just wanted to make it clear we are not friends, not even acquaintances. I'm still Draco Malfoy and I'm still better than you, mudblood," Draco snarled. It was his turn to turn away, and his turn to be caught by Hermione, and also his turn to be smacked upside the head.
"Egotistical prat," Hermione hissed, finally turning away and marching back to her Arithmancy textbook.
"Gin! Oh my gosh, Gin you look so different!" Hermione exclaimed as she stepped into the reception area of the London Portkey station. "Your hair, oh what have you done to it!"
Ginny Weasley embraced Hermione in a bear hug, pecking her on the cheek. "You like it?"
Hermione ran her hands through Ginny's now shoulder-length hair, looking at it from different angles. "You know, it really suits you. I've never seen you with short hair!"
"It was time for a change. Jonathon convinced me to cut it, to be honest," Ginny admitted, blushing.
Hermione became weary, "Who's Jonathon? The flavour of the month?"
Ginny giggled, "Shut it, Hermione. He's a great guy, and way cute too. I met him two weeks ago at Fleur's announcement party in France. He's a friend of Bill and Fleur's from Gringotts."
"Really Ginny, you need to settle down. What happened to that Finchley bloke you were dating last month?" Hermione asked.
Ginny rolled her eyes, "Please, don't lecture me about my dating habits again. It's not like I'm unhappy. When I'm sick of dating, I'll settle down, but I'm alright for now. And besides, Harry's got a girl too, didn't you know?"
When Hermione's eyes widened from shock, Ginny added, "Oops, did I ruin the surprise? I thought for sure Harry would have told you. I don't know who it is myself, but let's hope it's not some idiotic girl. Well anyways, we have a Portkey to Surrey in 15 minutes, so let's hurry."
It had been a while since Hermione saw Harry's manor. It was an extravagantly decorated estate, with four different garden paths and many water fountains around them. The inside was elegant and tasteful, decorated by Ginny herself. There were many Quidditch trophies around the mansion, as well as Auror certificates awarding Harry's hard work to the field.
What Hermione liked most was the homey feel to it. It was magnificent and posh, yes, but it was also very Harry. He kept pictures of all his friends around the house. In all honesty, there were more pictures of his friends than of himself, as Harry had always been very modest. He even put up all the little knick knacks that Bill's twins had sent to him, and with Ginny's interior designing skills, the house had a very rich and warm feel to it. Of all her friends' houses, this was undoubtedly her favourite, though she'd never admit that to anyone else for fear of hurting their feelings. She always loved strolling in the gardens and conversing with the help around the estate, and basically being at ease knowing she didn't have to worry about anything.
"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed, running to greet her at the gates.
Hermione ran into his arms, and embraced him. She stayed in his arms for well over five minutes, taking in the scent of him. She loved Harry's distinct scent, the scent of cinnamon and apples. She gave him a quick kiss on the mouth and surveyed him. He looked a bit peaky to her, but that was to be expected. Harry spent so many hours of the day cooped up in his office at the Ministry or his office at home pouring over paperwork that he often didn't see the light of day for weeks at a time.
"Harry, why are you so thin?" Hermione whined.
Harry laughed, kissing her cheek affectionately and replied, "Speak for yourself. You must have lost ten pounds since I saw you last. Vector's working you too hard."
"Nonsense. I just want to get caught up on those two years I missed," Hermione started, but Harry stopped her.
"I thought we both agreed you wouldn't mention your lost years in that way. You know you needed some time off, after all the hard work you did at Hogwarts," Harry said seriously, "I worry about you, Hermione. You're so isolated in Scotland."
"But I have Padma and Colin, some of the time, and I keep in touch like nobody's business," Hermione countered, "You don't have to worry about me, Harry, I'm fine."
Harry gave her one of "those" looks and said, "I want to talk to you later tonight, Hermione. Just you and me."
Hermione gave him an exasperated sigh and leaned on his shoulder. "I feel so disoriented. It's been so long since I've traveled by Portkey that I'd forgotten how nauseating it is."
Harry gave her a pat on the back and pulled away from her, "I want you to meet someone, Hermione. Promise me you'll be nice to her."
"Is this the mysterious girl Ginny was talking about?" Hermione asked, grinning evilly.
Harry's jaw dropped, "Gin told you! I specifically told her not to!"
"Oh just introduce me to her already, I'm so anxious to meet her," Hermione urged, pushing him towards the front door.
Harry guided Hermione inside to the formal parlor, and sitting on a large black couch was a slim girl with long black hair and oriental eyes. She was sitting with her ankles crossed delicately and sipping on what looked like a martini. She wore a very short red cocktail dress which matched her bright red lips. It was Cho Chang.
"Hermione, you remember Cho, don't you?" Harry asked, beckoning Hermione forward.
Hermione gave her a stiff smile and extended her hand, "Of course! How are you, Cho?"
"I'm great, thanks. Work at the Ministry's been pretty slow lately, so I took some time off and I'm living with Harry now!" Cho exclaimed, taking Harry's hand in hers.
Hermione felt like she'd been hit by a truck. "You're living with Harry? Since when?"
Cho shrugged, "Oh, not too long. Only about a month or so."
"A month or so? Harry, why didn't you tell me!" Hermione shrieked.
Sensing some rising tension, Cho quickly excused herself, "I'll go get another drink, shall I?"
"In all the letters you've sent in the past 'month or so' you didn't find it fit to mention you have a girlfriend? Or that Cho Chang is that girlfriend? OR THAT YOU'RE LIVING WITH THAT GIRLFRIEND!" Hermione raged.
"Hermione, please calm down!" Harry pleaded, "I just wanted it to be a surprise. And honestly, I know you don't like Cho, so I didn't want to get a reply letter telling me what a mistake I'm making."
Hermione scoffed, "Who said I don't like Cho?"
Harry raised his eyebrow at her, "You said it yourself plenty of times after our date in 5th year, and after her friend ratted to Umbridge about the DA. Don't lie to me, Granger; you know you don't like her."
Hermione huffed at him and stalked past him up the spiral staircase. She knew which room she'd be staying in, the same one she always stayed in. She slammed her door and flopped down on the large Oak bed. She knew why she was angry and it wasn't because Harry hadn't told her. It was because this meant Harry was moving on and leaving Ginny behind. Hermione never got upset about Ginny's many boyfriends because she knew Ginny still cared about Harry, but Harry had never mentioned Ginny in a romantic way again after the war, so she was always hesitant. Now that Harry had a girlfriend, it was clear he didn't hold Ginny in romantic regards at all. Hermione decided that when she and Harry had their talk tonight, she'd definitely bring this topic up for discussion. In the mean time, she was looking forward to seeing everyone else again, including Ron, Fred, George, and Angelina, Fred's wife.
Still feeling disoriented, Hermione crawled under the covers not bothering to change her clothes, and fell asleep quickly. Her last thoughts before falling asleep were on how to get Ginny and Harry together somehow, and the last image in her mind before everything went black was a distinct flash of blond hair…