Disclaimer: I don't own any of it.

Author's Note: Thanks so much for your kind reviews and well wishes on my broken arm. One more week and my fingers will be flying over the keyboard!

Hermione woke suddenly from a very wonderful dream as a large weight settled on her chest. She had been dreaming of her true love. In her dream he was just about to slip a ring on her finger. She glared at the orange cat who was practically grinning at her while he sat on her and purred.

"You had to wake me up now? I was having the best dream. Oh Crookshanks, it was so perfect." She sighed as she pushed the cat off of her chest and sat up to stretch. She thought back over last nights events and couldn't help but smile. From dinner at Draco's to Harry's call, she was quite content. She had to admit that she enjoyed the attention as well. She had spent so much time in the background that having most of the men in her life actually wanting to kiss her was completely new and a little bizarre.

Draco's attention was the strangest. Beyond making amends after the war and occasionally traveling in the same social circles, they had never really talked or spent much time together. She had no idea that he wanted to be friends with her. She toyed with the idea of pursuing a relationship with him even if he wasn't her soul mate. Since the man of her dreams was off limits and she wanted marriage and children, she figured she might have to look elsewhere and Draco wasn't a bad choice.

()()()()()()()()

Arriving at work she continued to feel good about things. She was actually smiling at people, making eye contact and was hopeful. She had one embarrassing moment as she stepped out of the floo and ran into Oliver Wood. He was a bit shocked after she kissed him and walked right into the floo. Unfortunately he was still trying to figure out what happened and said something resembling "wha. . . tha. . . Her. . ." She had no idea where he flooed off to but she was sure it wasn't where he planned. She let security know and they were going to check into it to make sure he was all right. She felt a little bad but he was right in front of her and she didn't think there was a girl alive who wouldn't have a crush on him. He wasn't the best kisser but she figured it was because she shocked him. She refused to think the great Oliver Wood didn't know how to kiss.

As soon as she got to her floor, Melissa stopped her. "There are two guys waiting for you in your office."

"What? Who?" Hermione asked, her stomach dropping.

Melissa noticed that Hermione looked pale and decided to push her about what was going on later. "I don't know them. One is tall, dark, pretty handsome. The other is shorter, pale, not as handsome, and Irish."

Hermione was only slightly relieved. It had to be Dean and Seamus and whatever their reason for being in her office, it looked like more kisses were in her future. She should have brought lip gloss. "Did they say what they wanted?"

"Only that they heard you were giving something away and they expected their share."

"Those arseholes! I'll deal with them. Thanks Melissa." Hermione stomped off toward her office leaving Melissa with more questions.

She paused at the entrance of her office, took a deep breath and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. She finally looked up into the smiling faces of her friends. "Hi guys," she sighed as she felt the pull towards them. Interestingly the desire to kiss Dean was stronger than it was for Seamus. It was something to put in her notes for later. Both boys were grinning at her and she hated that they knew they were getting kissed. She planned to figure out how they found out soon enough but for now she had to get it over with.

"Come here Dean." She ordered. Dean stepped forward and leaned over pressing his lips to hers. To her great relief it was short and sweet. Dean was always a bit of a gentleman.

"Seamus, you're next." Seamus came towards her licking his lips. Hermione thought that was terribly disgusting and decided to tell him that later. His kiss wasn't as short and it wasn't sweet. It was a bit slimy actually. "Ew! Get off me Seamus!" His hands had wandered dangerously close to her breasts and she wasn't about to let the prat feel her up. She stepped back and looked at the boys, she still refused to think of them as men.

"Get that grin off your face Seamus. Next time you go to kiss somebody, do not lick your lips. It's nasty." Hermione scolded as she moved behind her desk. "Sit down and talk to me."

"How have you been Hermione?" Dean asked.

"Not bad. How about you?"

"I'm all right." He seemed a bit off. There was a shadow under his smile.

"He's sad because he broke up with Romilda." Seamus explained.

"Oh Dean! I'm so sorry."

"I'm fine. I'll be fine." Dean told her. Hermione knew they had been having problems for a while but she was sad that it was over. Changing the subject, she turned to Seamus.

"Seamus? How are you?"

"Great! I'm taking over the Hog's Head from Aberforth. He wants to retire. I'm going to turn it into a proper pub." Seamus had proved to be quite good at running pubs. He had a good head for business.

"That's great, that place needs some work. Now, how did you hear about my little problem?"

"Ron told us." Dean answered.

"Yeah. He was bragging about you kissing him and then explained why. We thought we'd save you the trouble of seeking us out and bring our lips to you."

"Gee fellas, that's so nice of you." Hermione laughed, which brought a grin to Dean's sad face. "So, are you both going to the ball?" The friends talked for a little while longer until Hermione shooed them away so she could get some work done.

()()()()()()()()()()()

Hermione woke up to another Saturday where her plans were to hide away. Her week had gone by in a blur and was relatively nice. She had almost nightly calls from Harry and she spent time with friends. She had just decided to stay in her pajamas for the entire day when an owl arrived carrying a message from Molly Weasley.

Hermione,

We are having a family get together tonight and I would love it if you would be there. You are a part of the family after all. Come at five, no excuses.

Love,
Molly

The one thing about Molly was that you didn't refuse her. If she invited you for dinner, you had to go. Hermione had tried once before to get out of going and no less than four Weasley boys had shown up to take her by force if necessary. No, it was much safer to just go and since she didn't have to worry about Harry, she really had no good excuse. She secretly hoped that Ginny wouldn't be there but knew she would. She looked over at her calendar trying to figure out a reason for the get together. The next birthday wasn't for another month so at least she didn't need to run out and buy a gift.

After a productive day of cleaning and re-organizing her bookshelves, Hermione arrived at the Burrow right on time. She was immediately greeted by George who playfully tried to get her to kiss him again.

"Come on Hermione! You know I'm your true love! Pucker up!" He did manage to get a sloppy kiss planted on her cheek while she giggled and tried to squirm away.

"Leave it to you to make this whole situation a joke." She scolded.

They were interrupted by Molly shooing George away and ushering Hermione into the kitchen.

"Look who's here Hermione. Percy is here." Molly beamed.

"Hi Percy." Hermione waved.

"Hello Hermione. How are you this evening?"

"I'm good. How are things with you?"

"Very well thank you." Percy replied. Molly was looking at Hermione strangely.

"Percy is here." She repeated.

"I see that Molly, we just said hello."

"He's single." At Molly's response, she realized what was going on. Obviously Molly had been told about the potion and thought that maybe Percy might be her true love.

"Oh Molly. I'm sorry, he's not my true love."

"But you haven't even kissed him!" Molly threw her hands up in frustration.

"Why would she kiss me Mother? I am not attracted to her. No offense Hermione. Mother you know I'm in a relationship with Ritchie Coote."

"No offense taken Percy, I'm not attracted to you either. How is Ritchie by the way?" Hermione asked as Molly shook her head, muttered something about grandchildren and went over to stir something on the stove.

Percy leaned close to Hermione, "She doesn't care that I'm gay, she just wants me to figure out a way to give her grandchildren." He gave her a wink and headed into the back yard.

"Did I tell you Charlie was coming?" Molly called out.

"No, you failed to mention that one." Hermione muttered. And here she thought she would have a kissing free day. She looked around trying to anticipate how Charlie would arrive. If he apparated outside, she could meet him out there, kiss him and get it over with in private. If he showed up in the house she knew there wasn't much chance of avoiding an audience. Just as she had decided to head outside she heard a noise from the fireplace and Charlie Weasley stood there in all his masculine glory. She didn't know of another man who was more masculine than Charlie. He was muscular, rugged, and terribly handsome. He pretty much fit all the male leads in the trashy romance novels she kept hidden under her bed, complete with flowing hair and bulging biceps. Even the scars that she could see on his neck and arms added to his sensuality. She admitted to having a few daydreams where she looked to see where else he might have scars.

She could feel her body heating up in reaction to seeing him. There would be no running away from this. "Oh Merlin. . . " she muttered as she headed towards Charlie. She paused in front of him while he looked at her with an amused grin. He obviously had heard about her little problem.

"Go for it Hermione," he whispered. That was all it took for Hermione to run her hands along his shoulders, behind his neck and pull his lips towards hers. Even though she knew she had an audience, she couldn't help but lean in toward Charlie, especially when he put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. Their lips moved against each other and Hermione moaned as he nibbled on her bottom lip. She had pretty much put Draco in the top spot when it came to her recent kissing spree. Lee Jordan was in a distant second place but she knew now that Charlie was in fact a much better kisser than Malfoy. She was pretty pleased that the egotistical Slytherin wasn't as good as he thought he was. Coming down to earth, she pulled back and stepped away.

"Bloody hell Charlie." Ron muttered after witnessing the whole scene.

"Bloody hell is right." Charlie agreed. "Damn Hermione, I never knew you had it in you."

"Yes. Well. Thank you Charlie that was very nice." Hermione was stuttering over her words and could feel her face turning red. She glanced over at Molly who was beaming.

"Very nice? I suppose that means that I'm not your true love either?" Charlie asked.

"I really wish you were Charlie. I really truly do."

"Mum, stop planning the wedding, he's not the one." George called out.

"I'm sorry Molly. I'm sorry to all of you. It's just not that simple." Tears started to leak from Hermione's eyes as she looked over at Ginny. Ginny gave her a sad smile and walked away. At least she now knew the reason for the dinner. She pulled herself together and decided to enjoy her evening. George was back at her side again making her laugh. She got caught up in talking with Luna and Angelina while Ginny looked on silently.

After dinner, the men went outside to do whatever it was men do and the women sat at the table, drinking tea, and taking turns holding little Dominique, Bill and Fleur's six month old daughter. Hermione could feel that they all wanted to talk to her about the potion. Every female in the room, with the exception of Molly and the baby had been involved, and Hermione hated the feeling of betrayal that was still bubbling up now and then.

"How are things going?" Angelina asked.

"Well, they could be worse I suppose. I just really wish it were over."

"Now dear, have you made a list?" Molly asked, still clearly disappointed that she wouldn't be marrying any of her sons.

"What kind of list?" Hermione asked.

"A list of the men that you still have to kiss of course. I would have thought you would do that straight off."

"Oh, well to tell you the truth, I haven't even thought about it. It's not a bad idea." Hermione answered. Fleur got up to get some parchment and a quill, handing it to Molly.

"Ok, let's list who you've kissed and who you haven't that might be candidates."

"I've kissed Ron, Charlie and George so you can eliminate them. At work I've kissed Kingsley, Blaise and Draco. Oh and that security guard, Raymond. I've also kissed Lee, Dean, Seamus, and Oliver. I suppose that's it. It felt like there were more."

"Now, who else have you had crushes on that you might run into?" Luna asked.

"Well, let's see. . . Cormac, Viktor -although I doubt I'll see him, Marcus Belby, Eddie Carmichael, Roger Davies, but again, I doubt I'll see any of them. I guess that's it, the rest are dead."

"Dead? Like who?" Fleur asked.

"Remus, Cedric, Sirius, Professor Snape, oh and Fred of course." She answered sadly. A flash of pain crossed Molly's face at the mention of her son but she recovered quickly and smiled.

"What about Harry?" Angelina asked, trying to see if her hunches were correct.

"You didn't mention that you kissed Harry." Ginny said. "Mum, put Harry down on the already kissed list."

"I didn't kiss Harry." Hermione answered.

"You didn't? I know for a fact you had a crush on him once." Luna added.

"I really haven't seen him so no I haven't kissed him."

"Harry said he hadn't seen much of you because you had the flu but I figured you had already kissed him and gotten it out of the way. Why haven't you kissed him Hermione?" Ginny was getting a little flustered and angry. Hermione wasn't sure why she would feel that way, you'd think that she'd be happy that she hadn't kissed her boyfriend.

"Well, I haven't had a chance Ginny. I was ill and now he's in New York. You seem pretty upset that I haven't kissed your boyfriend, shouldn't it be the opposite?"

"No, I'm not upset; I just figured he'd be one of the first. You should get it out of the way before the ball you know. You don't want to make a scene."

"Ginny, if I make a scene, it's all your fault anyway."

"I've already apologized, when are you going to get over this?" Ginny yelled.

"Get over this? I've just had some of the most humiliating weeks of my life and you want me to just get over it? You don't have a clue what you've done do you?"

"I was trying to help! You must want to be miserable."

"Oh yes, that's exactly my life's goal. Misery. I love to be miserable." Hermione was mad now. She was on her feet, her fists curled and she was raging at Ginny. "You know what? I wasn't miserable until you did this to me. I was content with my life. Sure I was a little lonely but I had my whole life in front of me. Let's use Charlie as an example; I've always been attracted to him. He's a great guy and we might have eventually dated and who knows, maybe we would have lived happily ever after. Now everyone knows that he's not my true love and so any chance of happiness with him is gone. I can't have my true love. He doesn't belong to me and never will. You've ruined my chance at a happy ending so stop being such a bitch and let me live my life."

Hermione was stalking the room now, running her hands through her hair and shooting daggers at anyone who looked at her. The men had gathered around the door and window, listening but staying hidden to avoid any dangerous hexes that might be thrown.

"Don't you call me a bitch." Ginny stood up, her face red and her eyes shining.

"You deserve to be called much worse Ginny. I love you but right now I can't stand to be around you. Thank you for dinner Molly. Goodbye." Hermione pushed out the door and through the crowd of Weasleys who were gathered. She headed towards the pond, too upset to apparate home and not willing to go back in the house to floo. It wasn't until she plopped down on a bench that she realized she had been followed.

"Leave me alone George."

"No. I really don't think I want to." He sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around his friend. "I'm so sorry for everything you are going through. I know I've joked about it but it was only to lift your spirits."

"I appreciate that. You are a great friend."

"I try. So tell me why you won't kiss Harry." George thought he knew why. Angelina had talked to him about her suspicions.

"Oh, not you too." She tried to pull away but George pulled her against him tighter. "I don't want to kiss Harry. I don't want to go there with my best friend. I don't want to ruin our friendship."

"I don't think anything you do would hurt your friendship with Harry. I've never known anyone more faithful to his friends."

"I know and I agree it's just that. . . I don't want to talk about it."

"You can tell me anything you know." George let Hermione out of his grasp and watched her as she paced. "You know you want to talk about it."

She paused and looked at him. The emotion in her face was raw and George had to strain to hear her cracking voice. "If I kiss him then I'll know."

"You'll know what?"

"That my true love doesn't love me."