As his lips descended down on hers in slow motion, Hermione began to realize what was happening. As a result of the both of their drunkenness, they were about to make a huge mistake. She knew in her mind that both would regret this in the morning, and there was no use complicating their already twisted relationship, no matter how much she actually wanted to kiss the ginger haired man. She quickly sat up and he followed her lead, sitting behind her and laughing a little bit at what could have just happened.

"Sorry," he said, "Wine always gets me." He laughed. She chuckled a little as well and stared down at her knees.

"Well it's late," she said softly, "I should go to bed. But hey, knock on my door if you need me." She said. She softly leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. George nodded.

"Hermione," he said softly. She turned around and looked at him.

"Good night George." She turned around and walked back towards her bedroom as he lay back into the mattress groaning in frustration.

The next morning resulted in a headache between the two of them. Anna was up early and witnessed both her mother and father lying in bed with the hangover of their lifetimes.

"Mom…" she said walking into her mother's bedroom, "Are you okay?" She asked. Hermione groaned.

"Yeah sweetie, I'm fine, Mom just has a headache," she said grimacing.

"Hangover?" She asked sitting down on the bed by her mom. Hermione turned to her and raised her eyebrow.

"Darling," she said, "You're not supposed to know about it." Anna stared down at the ground.

"Well what do you expect? My best friend at school is a WASP," she said laughing. Hermione laughed a little too.

"Okay, lets go to the kitchen and make some coffee," she said, "but your Dad stayed over, so he's probably asleep."

"He did?" Anna asked happily.

"He did," Hermione said with a tone of finality. Anna knew not to say more at the moment as she followed her mother into the kitchen. George was already dressed and had re-folded the bed so that it was a sofa again. The sheets were folded crisply in the corner, and he sat down reading the newspaper.

"Good morning sunshine," said Hermione with a grin she could barely hide at the fact that he had stayed.

"Good morning." He said somewhat cheerily as he continued reading the paper.

"Hi Dad," said Anna sitting beside him. George patted her on the head and kissed her forehead, a gesture he had seen his father do with Ginny many times. For some reason, this felt right, he thought. For the first time in his life, he did not feel he had to work to build this relationship. George had lived all of his life building clients and making sure his company kept them, especially as they grew from a joke company to a toy store, and then just children's goods and apparel all in one. They were aiming for furniture next, and George reckoned that they would sell everything in the world when April Fools was done. But this he didn't have to work with, reading the paper while his daughter was in his arms. There was only one way he could have felt more genuinely happy. And she was in the kitchen making coffee.

"Do you want some?" Hermione asked calling out from the kitchen.

"Nah, never drink the muggle stuff," said George, "although Greybeards are starting to open up in the Magic District," he said, referring to a wizarding coffee chain that was popular back in London.

"Oh are they?" Hermione asked. George nodded.

"Is muggle a bad word?" Anna asked. George stared down at her.

"No it isn't," he said.

"Mommy, I have ballet today," said Anna after a while, "We're doing final dress rehearsals for the Nutcracker so I have to go." Hermione put her hand on her forehead.

"Oh crap," she said standing up quickly and hitting her head on an open cabinet. George immediately stood up and went over to her laughing.

"Are you okay?" He asked as she clasped her head.

"Peachy," she replied sarcastically. He put his arm around her shoulder and sat her down on a kitchen chair. He checked her head.

"There'll probably be some swelling, but I think you're okay. How many fingers am I holding up?" He said holding up 4 fingers in her peripheral vision.

"92," Hermione answered dryly.

"No, seriously," said George.

"I'm a doctor, I think I would know when I would get a concussion," she said.

"I was a beater in Quidditch, I think I know what a pretty hard knock to your head can do, now answer my question," he said.

"Four," she said.

"Good."

Anna would have normally come to her mother's aid, but she watched the scene from the living room hoping and praying that her non-interference could lead to reconciliation. She picked up the newspaper and flipped to the Saturday comics and began to read intently looking up and seeing her mom and George made her very happy. After a while she looked up at the clock.

"Moom," she moaned, "I have to leave soon, can we get some breakfast anytime soon?" She asked playfully.

"Why don't we go out for breakfast?" said George, "Where is your dance class, we'll eat somewhere near there and both of us can drop you off." Hermione looked over at him in shock.

"Yeah," she said, "Both of us." Anna could not have been happier if Santa climbed down the chimney right there and gave her several bags of toys.

As they walked down the familiar streets to reach her studio, bundled up in coats, careful not to slip on any black ice, the three of them talked about everything. George was shocked at how natural this all felt. After years of artificiality, he was scared that nothing was real, that his emotions had been stripped away. But now he felt it all coming back to him. He thought about everything he had and he found his life lacking, he made it in the business world, but he had no life, no one to come home to. After a sea of meaningless one night stands, he realized they were not going to fill his empty life, but for the first time he felt his life filling up.

Maybe Hermione didn't do the most mature thing, but she confessed and took responsibility; which is more than he could say for most people. He had people who worked for him that would commit faults but claim it was never their faults. He scoffed at those people. She knew she did something wrong and instead of providing excuses provided reasons.

Maybe he could forgive her, he thought, maybe they didn't belong together back then. Maybe both of them needed to grow up. Real life had taught George many valuable lessons. Being in the real world, being someone he swore he never wanted to be gave him a new perspective on life. As his hand swung freely, he felt Anna put her little hand into his, as she walked hand in hand with both Hermione and him. A small spark jumped into his heart as he realized how much he needed this. He needed it more than anything and he was excited that she was in his life. The ease in which this happened also astounded him, although he did not forgive her for withholding such information, he felt that they had an understanding. And he could come close to forgiving her again, with time. Although, the speed at which things already seemed to be moving, time did not seem to be an issue. He looked over at her. He remembered being fond of her rather bushy hairstyle, but noticed she had straightened it out. She paid much more attention to makeup and seemed to be focused on how she looked as well as acted.

He also realized how hard it must have been, bringing up a daughter alone in New York without the help of magic, without the love and support of another person in her daughter's life. He felt a short squeeze at his hand as his daughter—he smirked a bit as he tried to get used to saying that word—pulled him back into reality.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," he replied.

"What are you thinking?" She asked as Hermione stepped back from both of them to answer a page. They both stopped and waited as she called the hospital.

"Nothing," George said. He quickly changed the subject, "So what's this ballet about a kitchen utensil? My mum would love it," he admitted, partially to himself. Anna giggled.

"Noooo," she said laughing, "It's about one of those Christmas dolls that look like little soldiers but crack nuts. And it comes to life, and it's the story of that." She said excitedly.

"Oh that sounds interesting," said George.

"I get to be Clara this year," she said. At George's expression she looked up at him, "She's one of the main characters. One day I want to be the Sugar Plum Fairy," she said. "She gets the best dances."

"Well then I have to come," said George, "I mean, I'm definitely going to be there." He said. Anna laughed.

"Yay!" She exclaimed, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back. Hermione joined them a few seconds later.

"Sorry, my interns are absolutely struggling without me." She said. "They actually call for permission. Sometimes I wonder if they actually went to medical school," She said.

"Are they going to be fine without you?" George asked. Hermione nodded.

"Yeah, they should be," she said, "But if they call again, I'll stop by and see what's going on."

"Don't you ever get days off?" Anna asked. Hermione laughed.

"I wish, unfortunately, people will always be sick." She said.

The three of them resumed walking, and they stopped in front of a small café and walked in, ready to eat. They chatted about random things. The subject changed, resulting in conversations about everything, favorite food, clothes, and the subject of movies was even touched upon. The topic switched to reading, and of course, both Anna and Hermione loved books.

"Why am I not surprised?" George asked with a laugh.

"Don't you like reading?" Anna asked George as they crossed the final block.

"I used to," said George, sadly. Hermione glanced over at him and cocked her head. He shook his softly, smiling a little as he did.

"I have to go soon," said Anna checking her phone. George nodded and lifted his hand up signaling the waiter to bring the check. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Hermione pulling her purse out and beginning to search for her wallet. He promptly put his hand on top of hers and said, "Don't." Hermione smiled a little and looked at him.

"What?" She asked.

"Let me get it," he said, placing his hand on top of hers in a way that caused her breath to get hitched in her throat. The few seconds she took to compose herself, he made the payment. She took a deep breath as her cell phone began to vibrate. She picked it up.

"Yes?" She said irritated, "No, you cannot do that procedure on a diabetic, did you even go—" she saw Anna's eyes glance over at her, obviously interested in what she was about to say. She smiled a little, "Just a minute," she said over the phone. She held her hand to the speaker and then looked at George and Anna, "I'll be right outside," she said, stepping out of the booth and placing her coat on at the same time. Anna turned to George and sighed.

"She's so stressed out all the time," she complained. George nodded.

"She's always been like that," he said.

"Really? Oh yeah, you went to school with her," Anna said. George nodded as he helped Anna put her coat on.

"Yep," said George, smiling, reminiscing about Hogwarts.

"Any good stories?" She asked.

"About your mum? Well, she was pretty much looking after all of us when we were in school. She usually took it upon herself to keep my brother and me in line. She tried to give up, but somehow she didn't see us as a lost cause," said George with a laugh. Anna smiled.

"Yeah, I thought she did that only because she's my mom," said Anna.

"That too," said George, "You should listen to her. She does know best." He added almost as an afterthought. They soon walked outside and Hermione was standing there having an animated conversation. She hung up the phone and looked obviously upset.

"I'll take her to dance practice," George said before she even asked. Her eyes lit up.

"Thank you so much," she said, "You are an angel." She threw her arms around George excitedly, and then she knelt down eye level with Anna. "Be good now," she said and hugged her. Anna nodded.

"What time should I pick her up?" George asked.

"Oh you don't have to, I'm spending the night at Grace's tonight," said Anna. George looked at Hermione who nodded approvingly. He smiled.

"So which way to your dance class?" He asked. Anna began to walk and he followed while a grateful Hermione mouthed 'thank you' in his direction. She sighed and raised her arm, waiting to see if she could hail a cab to get to the hospital as soon as possible. She was upset that her day could start off so well, and take such a downward turn almost immediately.

She made it to the hospital in time, and saw her interns who all looked scared and confused. In each of them she saw a mini Harry or Ron. Her chest began to hurt as she thought of them, she felt tight and a small lump growing at her throat at the thought that maybe just maybe, she'd be able to see them again. And just as quickly as the happy feeling came, it went at the sight of the first intern crying that they had no idea what was going on. She took a calming breath, took their charts and headed to the locker room to change into scrubs.

The day shifted from fast pace to rather average. She resented medical dramas, actually, for portraying a doctor's day as more exciting than it really was. Large scale car crashes usually didn't happen, and instead they ended up with a whole slew of people complaining about illnesses that mysteriously match everything going on in the news. After finally finishing her rounds of patients, it was beginning to darken outside. Although, it was still relatively early, but as it was the winter months, even five o' clock seemed later than usual. She was finally dressed into her street clothes and heading out, when she noticed a familiar ginger sitting in the waiting room holding two cups of coffee.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, not even bothering to mask how happy she was to see him. He smiled.

"I called and asked when you would be off, and they said that you would be off anywhere from an hour ago to an hour later from now, so in terms of timing, you're right in the middle." He laughed.

"You've been waiting an hour?" She asked.

"Yeah, but I've been doing some work in the lobby so I got some of my final advertising campaigns approved." He said.

"That's good." She said. "But you didn't answer my first question."

He raised his eyebrow.

"What are you doing here?" She asked again.

"Oh," said George pausing as she took the cardboard cup from his hand. "I think we need to talk." He said.

"There's nothing to talk about," said Hermione.

"Oh I think there's a lot to talk about," said George. She closed her eyes and stared down at the ground.

"I guess you're right. Well, Emma is studying, I don't want to disturb her—"

"I live two blocks from here," said George. Hermione nodded. They both stepped out into the chilly air of New York. George raised his hand and a cab came to stop almost immediately in front of him. Hermione felt butterflies—no, butterflies would be too gentle a word—she felt bats flying around in her stomach. She did not know what to expect, neither did she know what he wanted to talk about. They had devised a pretty good system so that he could stay in Anna's life, and Hermione had no objections if he wanted to be even more involved. They entered the apartment, and were silent the whole way up.

"Do you want something else to drink? Water? Soda? Butterbeer? Firewhiskey?"

"I'd love a butterbeer," Hermione said, sitting down on his couch.

"Comin' right up," said George, forcing out an American accent. Hermione giggled. He came back with two bottles of butterbeer that he had just opened, and he handed her one.

"Thanks," she said. "Haven't had one of this in a while."

George turned to her and said, "Me neither actually, luckily its magic so no expiration," he laughed. Hermione joined him while she took a swig. She felt the familiar warmth and comfort growing into her, and she sighed. He sat down on the couch and faced her, staring straight into her eyes.

"About last night," said George after a while. Hermione closed her eyes.

"Yeah," she said.

"I would be lying if I said I didn't think of you constantly since that night in the lake house," he said. He wanted to reach out to her, to touch her knee, her hand, her face. He wanted to kiss her like there was no tomorrow and keep her in his arms forever, but he knew that in order for them to have any chance or to be realistic they needed to talk this out.

"I've thought about that night too George," said Hermione.

"And last night," continued George, "Sure I may have seemed really drunk, and perhaps my actions were reprehensible by nature, but I knew what I was doing," he said. "Had you not come to your senses, I would have gone through with it," he added, somewhat sheepishly. Hermione smiled.

"Had I not come to my senses, I would have enjoyed it," she said carefully, "But I didn't want to complicate things further. I still don't know whether or not you've forgiven me," she stated, as honestly as she could bear. George stared at her legs and noticed she was nervously tapping her foot, he looked at her face, she had averted her eyes and was now biting her lip. Almost not believing she had said what she had just said. He placed a reassuring hand on her leg and she placed hers tentatively on top. She could feel his hand shaking as well as hers.

"What happened, happened. Maybe I wasn't ready to have a child then, maybe we both weren't. I wish you would have told me, but what's done is done and no amount of sulking I do can change that." George said. Hermione looked up at him, confused and shocked at his maturity. Her mouth opened and closed as if she were to say something but nothing was coming out.

"I'm not Ron," said George, "I don't hold grudges, always thought I was above that. And I still am. Yes, I would be lying if I said I wasn't slightly upset or angry, but you have given me a few weeks, and there's nothing to forgive." He said, a small hint of happiness coming into his eyes. As he said this, Hermione suddenly fell back into tears, she began to sob harder than she ever had before, hyperventilating as she did, not being able to catch her breath. She did not know why she was doing it, but knew that she had to. She felt George wrap his arms around her.

"There there," he said softly, "Why are you crying?" He asked.

"I—don't—know," Hermione sobbed, "It's—like, all of this time—I've had pressure," she sobbed, "and now that it's lifted, all I can do is cry," she said quickly and then resumed sobbing once more. George rubbed her back comfortingly and hugged her even more tightly, something he had longed to do over the past twenty years. As her sobbing subsided, she began to pull away, and he smiled, wiping away some of her tears with his thumb. She smiled back.

"I'm so sorry," she said again. George handed her a handkerchief and she gladly accepted it.

"You're fine," he said, placing his hand on top of hers. "You were young, you made a decision, and you faced the odds remarkably." He said.

"You've changed," said Hermione. He shook his head.

"I guess I have, but I'm still me," said George. "Life has changed both of us, and I imagine it is for the better," he said holding onto her hand, interlacing his fingers with her. For the first time ever, they were staring straight into each other's eyes, longing to be closer. For the first time, there was no barrier between them, and somehow they felt themselves drawn to each other.

Hermione felt her heart thumping, and she felt her pulse quicken as George gripped her hands more tightly with his. They were moving towards each other, but somehow it felt like an eternity, yet no time at all. As soon as she closed her eyes, she felt his warm breath coming closer to her face, his lips almost touching hers. Soon enough their lips collided with each other in a passionate embrace. They were both hungry, aching for more.

She did not know how long they were there on the couch, she felt everything pass in a haze as his lips moved down to her neck and she leaned back, resting her head on the arm of the sofa. She felt him move up and down her body, his hand gripping her sweater, trying to pull it off. Before she knew it, her fingers were undoing his buttons. Everything felt so natural to her. Being with him felt easy, like it was meant to be. Suddenly he pulled back, and she opened her eyes to look at him.

"What?" She asked, a hint of disappointment in her breathless voice.

"If I start, I won't be able to stop," admitted George. Hermione sat up and joined him on the couch. She looked down at her feet for a moment, and sat up, walking towards his hallway towards where she thought his bedroom was. He followed her, confusion evident in his eyes.

"Which way to your bedroom?" She asked, a seductive glint appearing in her eye. George's eyebrows were raised. She looked up towards him and smiled and he walked quickly over to her and pushed her against the wall.

"Who says we have to go to the bedroom," he said, caressing her face. She stared up at him and grinned, almost challenging him as he leaned down to kiss her again. He relished everything about this moment, holding her petite body against him again was the best thing he could have had.

Hours later they were both lying on the floor beside his bed wrapped in sheets, holding each other. She had her face buried in his chest while he held her, playing with her hair.

"Why do you straighten it?" He asked after a while. She shrugged.

"I felt like I was too tall sometimes, so I decided to get few inches shorter," she laughed. He laughed alongside her. He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back. The moon shone through his window, one or two stars shone sparingly in the sky. They spoke sparingly, an idle comment thrown about here or there. They were linked by one common thing, and felt an even stronger bond than the one from ten years ago. Being with her, George finally felt a sense of fulfillment he had only felt when they were having their affair.

"My office is having a Christmas party this Friday," said George after a while of silence.

"Oh?" Asked Hermione, unsure of what to say.

"Will you come with me?" He asked. She looked up at him and smiled.

"I would love to," she said happily. He grinned and kissed her deeply. Finally things were starting to look up.

(A/N) Sorry it's taking me sooo long, but your reviews are each so wonderful that I just want to make sure every chapter is worthwhile :-)

Please, I live for your reviews, so review! Also, I actually have two chapters left and an epilogue, so its not as short as y'all thought! :D