I decided to do something different

I decided to do something different! A few new POVS, Michael's, Jen's, Andreea's. Hope you all like: D sorry for the long wait in-between update. And minor smut, its deffo implied.

Without further ado:

Chapter 17

Hermione's father was recuperating nicely and all according to schedule, he was being released after four days of observation.

Some things were going away, but for Hermione what wasn't going away was a feeling of nothingness toward Michael. Had it always been like that? Had she really been delusional in feeling something when they kissed?

Because of this, the wedding plans were halfheartedly being planned. Mrs. Granger noticed the enthusiasm draining from her daughter whenever she mentioned a detail about her impending nuptials.

Jen Granger couldn't help but wonder if the red-haired man she had met in the hospital was responsible for Hermione's sudden disinterest in planning her wedding. However, when questioned, Hermione was sure to snap angrily about a stomachache or worry about her father.

At five, Jen left Hermione's house to let her daughter prepare dinner. When she left, she came to the realization that her daughter didn't love Michael. She would have to have a talk with her daughter soon.

Jen partially wished that Hermione would marry Michael and live in comfort. When Michael's grandmother died, he would be coming into a rather large inheritance. She wanted her daughter to be able to work when she wanted, and not have to work her ass off every single day just to make ends meet. The thing was, though that Hermione loved to work. Even when she was a little girl, Hermione could not sit for hours and watch television, she always was helping Jen garden or clean or doing something in the office. It was something that had transferred over to her daughter's adult life. Though Jen didn't understand exactly what Hermione's job was at St. Mungo's, she understood that her daughter's passion for working had lead Hermione to be hired in a higher position over people with many more years experience then her. For that, she couldn't be prouder.

Hermione was preparing dinner. On one side of the counter she had a knife moving by magic cutting lettuce, carrots then celery. She was stirring a pot full of homemade tomato sauce. A pot of spaghetti sat boiling next to the sauce, it was done cooking. She took the pasta and poured it into a colander. She transferred the lettuce, carrots and celery to a bowl then took the spell off of the knife.

Michael was late. Where was he? Hermione sat uncomfortably on the couch waiting for Michael to arrive home before she would eat.

No big deal, she wasn't hungry anyway. As she thought this, her stomach grumbled. Finally she decided, she couldn't wait for Michael any longer, she prepared her food and ate it, wondering where Michael was and how lonely she felt, eating alone. After she finished she fell asleep on the couch. Michael woke her up, a couple of hours later with a light peck on her lips. Groggily she sat up, wiping the sleep from her eyes and stared at him as though he were alien, looking past him to the clock she frowned.

"You're late." she said, her voice strained and pitched low.

"I know." he returned on a whisper, taking off his coat and placing it on the coat rack.

"Why are you so late?"

"I had work."

"Until 11?"

"Yes, I was grading papers."

Was he serious? He took until 11 o'clock to grade papers? Somehow she knew it was a lie, maybe it was the way he spoke or the way his eyes glinted, she just knew that he was lying, but what could he possibly be doing so late at night if it wasn't work? And why would he lie to her about it?

"Are you coming to bed?" he asked, already pulling on his tie and unbuttoning the front of his pristine white work shirt.

"Yeah, in a minute." she said, non-committal.

"Okay."

She watched him walk out of the room, wondering what had made her think he was lying. He was a man, and a busy one at that, maybe he was telling the truth and she was just being paranoid but somehow she knew that wasn't the case.

Michael (Earlier that Afternoon)

Michael had been grading papers all afternoon, his thoughts plagued with grammatical errors, essays and the usual crap that crossed his desk everyday and he was hopelessly bored with it all, he would much rather be at a bar or home. Michael grimaced, no not home. If he went home he knew that Hermione would be there and he wasn't particularly ready to come home to Hermione's magical nonsense. Sitting back in his chair he stared at the back of the classroom, reclining with his hands resting behind his head, yes, Hermione's magic, something he didn't exactly approve of. Something he would have to tamp down if they were going to have a normal relationship like any other couple.

"Professor?" came a voice from somewhere to his left.

"Ah, Miss..." Michael turned.

"Sheffield." she said with a bright smile.

"Yes, Miss Sheffield, how are you?"

"I'm good, how are you professor?"

Michael looked her up and down covertly, taking in the skin tight straight leg jeans that molded to smooth thighs and muscled calves and a clingy black top that showed a considerable amount of her very ample cleavage, he inwardly smiled in pure male appreciation.

"Good, just grading some papers." he answered.

"How...boring."

"Very." he laughed at her dry tone. "Did you need something, Ms. Sheffield?"

"Amber if you don't mind."

"Amber."

"I was hoping you could help me with my rough draft? I'm not quite sure I have right yet."

Michael noticed immediately that she held nothing in her hand, no paper or any sign that she might even have one, he frowned in confusion but let it go.

"What do you need help with?"

"Anatomy."

Michael raised an eyebrow, fully aware that he had not taught anatomy yet. "Anatomy?"

"Yeah." she smiled in a purely feminine way.

She moved closer to him, swaying her hips slowly back and forth. Michael was having an incredibly difficult time concentrating on what they were talking about, especially since she was now on his desk, sitting quite contently on top of a pile of papers with a very large smile in place. Michael frowned.

"You need help with an essay on anatomy." he repeated.

"Yes, and I was dearly hoping you could help."

"What are you confused about? I think anatomy is pretty straightforward."

"Oh I don't know. The female body is very confusing. I mean there are all these parts like..." she reached up and cupped her breast. "...this."

Michael's breathing stilted and came out on a rough hiss. "Really?" he said, choking on the words.

"Yes. And how this works." Another hand reached down to touch the v of her jeans.

"Um... I don't think you should do that." he closed his eyes and counted to ten, suddenly very uncomfortable.

"Is something wrong, professor?"

"Um...yes...no...I'm not sure."

"Are you hurt?"

"Maybe." his voice was strained.

He could barely breathe, his hands gripping the armrests of his chair as he fought temptation. "Do you need help?"

Her voice was closer that he realized and it startled him so much he nearly fell out of his chair. Surprisingly she had moved from her perch on the desk to shifting her weight and straddling his legs on the chair, pulling him closer and grinning.

"Professor?" she asked, provocative and sexy with cat like eyes.

Instinctively his hands went to her waist, but instead of pushing her away like he should have, he pulled her closer, drowning in the scent of her hair and body, switching from Michael the professor, to Michael the aggressor, throwing caution to the wind and kissing the co-ed firmly on the lips.

"Do you know what you're being charged with?" Andreea asked Charlie from outside his cell.

"Yes." Charlie says, crankily.

"Did you release the dragons?"

"Andi, we've been over this, I was at my house, with Hermione."

"Are you sure she won't testify?"

"I'm sure she would, but I don't want to get her involved in this."

"Charlie! Why?! You need to, she'll be the reason you aren't sent to jail, or held responsible for the damages of Maya and Jessie." Andreea is frustrated now.

"I know!" Charlie roars, "but I can't she probably doesn't want anything to do with Me." he says, dejectedly.

"If you don't ask her! I will!" Andreea shouts. It is unprofessional to yell at a client, but Andreea is so frustrated. What she doesn't understand is how Charlie would willingly go to jail and owe the Slobozia Reserve thousands of galleons rather than have Hermione say that she was with him, when the crime was committed. Andreea had paperwork to do, and then she was going to send somebody to tell Hermione. Charlie's brother, Ron most likely.

The next morning, Michael was already gone. He had left a note for Hermione.

"Went to the gym for a little bit, then back to school for grading papers, won't be home until late. Make sure dinner's ready when I get home, no magic what so ever. Love ya, Michael"

Jerk, why has Hermione never noticed the fact that Michael takes her for granted and only make sure that she didn't do magic.

She decided that she had to talk to him. Firstly she had to glam up. Her hair was gross and tangled; her pajamas had a large stain on the shirt. And there were dark circles under her eyes, making her way towards the bathroom she settled on taking a nice hot shower to relax and clean up then make something special for Michael while he was at school. Taking a quick shower she soaped up using a special soap she had found in Diagon Alley scented sweetly with jasmine, sandalwood and cloves for an irresistible scent, rinsed and exited the shower. Some twenty minutes later Hermione was dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue striped sweater that dipped low to show a bit of cleavage. She had curled her long hair, so that the curls were soft and bouncy. Naturally, to finish off her look Hermione had applied a light layer of make-up. The next thing she did was the preparation for the impromptu picnic. Grabbing a basket and blanket from the pantry she started packing some cold cut foods, finger foods that would be easy to eat and put away later, throwing in some sweet raspberry tarts and fruit she prepared the basket.

Sure, it was a slightly unconventional time for a picnic, but so-be-it.

She picked up the basket and apparated to Michael's university.

Andreea had apparated from where Charlie was (a jail cell), to the Burrow, where she planned to ask Ron Weasley to tell Hermione the truth. Andreea had never met Hermione before, but she was sure that Hermione would be a rational, logical person who would testify for Charlie even if she hadn't meant to be in his company in the first place.

She said a customary hello to Mrs. Weasley, who was doing dishes from breakfast. Mariella was sitting at the table eating oatmeal with a bowl of brown sugar next to her. She would periodically dump some more sugar into the oatmeal. This was usually during the parts of Mrs. Weasley speaking that she would pour more sugar into the bowl. She would reply, and then take a spoonful.

"Hey, Andi." Mariella said.

"Hey honey," Andreea replied, "can't talk now. Mrs. Weasley, is Ron home?"

"Yes, he is upstairs sleeping."

"Still?" good god, still? It was 12:45, Andreea, who had been up for hours couldn't understand HOW he was still sleeping.

"Yes... Andi how's Charlie? How's my baby?" Mrs. Weasley demanded.

"He's fine, a bit ornery, and I guess a bit nervous for his trial." Which was today at 1:15. Molly looked relieved at the news of her son, then immediately looked worried at the idea of Charlie's trial.

"Why do you need Ron?" Molly asked after a moment.

"Because I want him to talk to Hermione. To ask her to testify."

"Charlie hasn't done that?"

"No, he's a stubborn bastard." Andreea said without thinking. She turned pink.

"That he is." Mrs. Weasley chuckled. "He's at the top floor, before the attic. Door on the left."

By the time Andreea made it up the stairs, she was gasping for breath, the stairs were steep and she had climbed about four sets. She paused at the top of the stairs, catching her breath, when she caught it; she went and knocked on Ron's door.

She heard a mumbling on the inside of the door; Andreea took that as a "come in" and cautiously entered the bedroom.

"Ron" she tapped the sleeping redhead.

"What?" he muttered sleepily, when he opened his eyes, "BLOODY HELL!"

"Hello, I need you to do your brother a favor."

"Which one." Ron interrupted. "Because if its Percy, tell the git I'm still sleeping."

"No, Charlie." Ron started paying attention at the sound of Charlie's name.

"What do I need to do?" he asked.

"I need you to go talk to Hermione about testifying for Charlie."

"Why hasn't he done that?" Ron asked.

"He's a stubborn git." Andreea replies.

"Well, he is most like mum." Ron chuckles slightly. Andreea laughs. Between the even tempered Mr. Weasley and the wild- tempered Mrs. Weasley, she could definitely see which personality Charlie inherited.

"Alright, will you do it?" Andreea asked.

"Yes, let me get dressed and I will go find Hermione." Ron said.

"Excellent." Andreea smiles and leaves the room to let Ron change.

Ron, who became an auror after leaving Hogwarts, tracking Hermione was easy. Simply, he went to the ministry which kept meticulous records of apparation (since the war). And Hermione's track was there, burning brightly at the University.

By this time, it was 12:55, and he was in a time cramp as he apparated to the University.

A/N:

Sorry about the long time between updates: D school and such. And the ideas for this story are bouncing around my brain are distracting from my schoolwork, and as of recently I have needed to do schoolwork. and of course the always impossible fact that I am ADD and easily bored, so if something sparkly goes by I have to look at it. : D and a social life help too. Sorry, hope this and the next chapter (pre-written) will make up for my extended absence.