Apologies, and thanks to She Potter for the reminder. x

Once Hermione and Ginny had apparated back to their flat, Hermione went straight to her room.

Ginny sighed and rolled her eyes. "Hermione, if you're going sob your heart out at least have the decency to do it in the living room where I can provide some consolation?"

She waited a moment and heard nothing but silence until a creak of a door caused her to turn her head, Hermione stood sheepishly in the door way, tears streaking her face. She shook her head faintly as she walked over the sofa Ginny was occupying. She let out a sigh of her own. "I'm sorry Gin"

Ginny placed her hand over Hermione's, "Don't be sorry, just promise me you're going to stop being so down on yourself, you're gorgeous and smart, you're a war hero, you've got fame and money….." She looked down at her lap thinking that what she had just said made her sound awfully shallow. "Not that those things make you happy, I…I just mean you're forgetting everything you've achieved."

They both jumped when they heard Harry voice, "She's right you know"

Hermione tried to express a smile, it showed up weakly on her face and looked more like a grimace but at least, she thought, she was trying. She nodded resolutely, "what are you doing here Harry?"

Harry feigned a look of hurt "Do I need to have a reason?" what all three of them knew, and what none of them said, was that Harry had come over to check on Hermione and make sure she was OK after Mrs. Weasley's revelation but he didn't want to say so out loud in case of embarrassing her, and Hermione appreciated this fact very much.

Everything went quiet then, the three friends sat in a comfortable silence, both mulling the events of the day in their heads. They could hear the ticking of the clock and hear the buzzing of the magical wards that had been put over their flat to stop any press reporters from intruding. Ginny eventually announced she was going to bed and gave harry a peck on the lips, and Hermione a gentle squeeze on the arm and left for her bedroom. This left Harry and Hermione lounging peacefully on the sofa.

Hermione was the one to break the silence "Harry, there is something I meant to tell you; well I wanted to know what you thought about it anyway…"

Harry opened his eyes at hearing Hermione's voice and was now glancing at her in anticipation.

"I've been promoted….to the magical law department…."

Harry scrunched his face, "you already work for the magical law department"

Hermione smiled at his confusion and continued. "…they've promoted me to be head of the department"

Harry's eyes widened, and his mouth gaped. "Geez Hermione. But…but you're only 23!"

"I know, I'm the youngest person they've ever offered the position to". She couldn't help but sound pleased.

Harry raised his eye brows "So you have accepted the position yet?"

Hermione's face sobered up, there was something in his voice that she couldn't quite recognize but it wasn't the happiness and delight she had expected to hear. "Why aren't you happier for me?"

Harry sat a little straighter and leant forward toward Hermione. "Happy? I am happy, I'm just surprised….its…it's a big responsibility…I know you're 'the smartest witch of your age and everything' but the department heads are normally ancient aren't they? I mean they have tons of knowledge and experience." Harry was looking around the room helplessly trying not to put his foot in it, whilst Hermione just sat looking down hearted. Upon seeing Hermione's demeanor, Harry changed tack and softened his voice and scooted closer to her on the sofa. "I thought you wanted to gain experience before getting a big job like that? That's what your plan was, wasn't it? You said you wanted to climb up the career ladder steadily but not too quick so that you learnt as much as you could. So why are you really doing this?"

Hermione shifted uncomfortable and sniffed. "I never thought I would be offered the role any sooner, now that I have, I would be stupid to say no, think of how much I could do?"

Harry lifted his glass with one hand and pinched the bridge of his nose with the other. Hermione knew he only did this when he was stressed or exasperated. He ignored her question and said simply, "It's going to take over your whole life Hermione, or maybe that's what you want"

"What do you mean" She snapped.

"This is because of Ron isn't it?"

Hermione stood up and glared at him, her hands on her hips.

Harry slowly stood up; he appeared to be unsurprised at her sudden spurt of energy. Looking at her in this pose was so reminiscent of the way she was at Hogwarts, always standing her ground, always ferocious and always versus Ron, always. He missed this Hermione.

He pushed away these thoughts and spoke slowly but each word was laced with a slight tension which Hermione knew meant he was trying very hard to restrain his temper. "What I mean Hermione, is that you are running away from everything, away from Ron, away from all your problems. You think working 18 hour days are going solve everything? You think that isolating yourself more than you already do is going to help you?" The volume of his voice was escalating with each sentence and his face glowed red, the last sentence he shouted out and it was the final blow. "You think that any of this is going to make Ron fall in love with you?"

Hermione was in tears now, "I thought you said he already loved me?" she whispered.

Harry collapsed onto the sofa like a deflated balloon, "he does Hermione, he does…" he said wearily rubbing his face. He was becoming tired of having to convince her of this fact when it was so glaringly obvious to him and everyone else.

Hermione was desperately trying to sniff back her tears, she hated Harry being angry at her. Normally she could stand her ground but in this case, the things he said rang true, although she wasn't about to admit that to him.

"When I take this role I promise not to take over my life….it'll be different" She sounded unconvincing, harry snorted back a disbelieving laugh.

"I don't know who you're trying to convince Hermione, we both know that you're going to shut us all out, including Ron, and you now what? When you finally come to your senses he may not want to know you Hermione! In fact maybe he won't have any time for you like you never had time for him!" His veins were protruding from his neck and he could feel them pulsating. It had been a very long time since he and Hermione had argued and it felt horrible, so horrible that he could not stand it a second longer.

Harry grabbed his jacket and apparated on the spot.

Hermione knew he was going now before he became angrier but she felt frustrated that couldn't question him more. With Harry's words ringing in her ears, Hermione made her way for a restless and troubled sleep.