"Where are you meeting him?" Ron asked.

Hermione was searching through her bag, while he was feeding Teddy. She had purchased some mints a few days ago, and she wanted to keep them in her pocket. Hermione found the small tin can at the bottom of her bag and slipped one into her mouth. Swinging the leather bag over her shoulder she took a step back and checked her hair in the mirror across the hall. Today she had decided to wear a light pink blazer. It was unbuttoned, and loose and she had the sleeves rolled up. Underneath she had worn a tight white blouse, and light blue jeans. Hermione decided that she didn't want to look like she had tried too hard.

"Someplace near." Hermione said suddenly, remembering that she hadn't given him an answer.

"Why not Hogsmeade?" Ron asked.

"There's this great place not far from here. We'll just have some tea." She elaborated, though she wasn't sure why.

Harry had asked to take some extra time off for lunch. He wanted to spend time with Teddy, and also let Hermione go visit Viktor by herself, but he had to head off somewhere last minute. Ginny called in Ron to watch Teddy, and after threatening to show everyone embarrassing pictures of him, he agreed.

Teddy giggled, as he threw his hands out for Hermione. Hermione smiled, and kissed him on the forehead.

"I will be back soon. If you need to reach me, don't hesitate to call." She reminded Ron.

"Alright, you have fun. Be safe." Ron said, quickly.

Hermione gave Teddy a kiss on the forehead, and smiled awkwardly at Ron.

"Erm, well I might be a little late. There's food for both of you in the refrigerator. Call me if you need to go somewhere, don't bother Ginny or Harry." She told him.

Ron nodded. Hermione waved goodbye to both of them and left.

She arrived at the hotel right on time, and Viktor was already waiting for him. After seeing him, Hermione felt under dressed. He was wearing a fitted,dark grey suit with a light blue tie, and a black shirt.

He looks so good, she thought.

When Hermione walked up to him, he got up and embraced her. Hermione hesitated before hugging him back.

"It's nice to see you." Hermione said, politely.

Viktor pulled out her seat for her, and waited for her to sit down before sitting himself.

"You look lovely." He said, smiling lovingly.

Hermione felt her cheeks turn red.

"Thank you. You look very handsome today."

"Dressed to impress." He replied, with a wink.

They ordered some tea, and pastries, and talked about their jobs while they waited. Hermione was comfortable speaking about her work, now that she had permission to speak about the events. She wanted to stay away from any talk about school, and she certainly didn't want to talk about feelings.

When their tea arrived, Viktor began to tell her a funny story about his friend and his girlfriend. Hermione just nodded as she sipped her tea. Spending time with him again, Hermione realized that he had been a great friend, especially when she needed him.

"Are you okay?" Viktor reached forward and gently placed his hand on top of hers.

"I'm fine." She said, smiling.

Viktor slowly turned her hand around, and interlocked fingers. Hermione put down her cup down, looking up at Viktor.

"I missed you." He said.

Hermione looked down at his hand holding hers. His touch felt familiar, it made her feel warm.

She remembered the night of the Yule Ball, when she had fought with Ron. Viktor had let her cry on his shoulder, and made her feel better by just holding her tight. Right now, all she wanted to do was feel his arms around her again, holding him tight.

"Concentrate, Hermione." She warned herself.

Viktor reached forward and tucked in her hair behind her ear. Hermione held her breath. Just that simple gesture, one touch, made her feel so amazing.

Hermione shivered. Now was not the time. Although she wanted to settle down, she always had, she had discovered that she liked being free. She didn't want to worry about relationships; Hermione wanted to concentrate on her work and her family.

"I have to go." She said, quietly.

Viktor didn't leave her hand.

"But it hasn't even been an hour."

Hermione saw that he was clearly upset. She gave his hand a squeeze.

"It was nice meeting you again. I have a meeting now, but I would like to meet again one day. We can continue catching up." She said.

Viktor let go of her hand, and they both stood up. Hermione placed her money on the table. She was about to say goodbye, but she leaned in and kissed him quickly on the cheek. Viktor happily kissed her back on her cheek.

"Goodbye."

Hermione was smiling brightly as she walked into The Three Broomsticks. She was thinking about how it felt when Viktor was holding her hand.

"Hermione, over here."

Draco was sitting alone, with a small book in hand. Hermione slid into the seat in front of him.

"How are you doing?" She asked him.

Draco smiled.

"Well, you won't believe what I've just heard about you."

Hermione looked at him, confused.

"I was just in the post office before, and I heard these witches talking about you and one of the ministers."

Hermione's eyes opened wide.

"Are you joking?" She asked, horrified.

Draco laughed.

"No. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but it was just so funny."

Hermione turned red.

"Don't worry it wasn't anything bad. Just some adoring fans, you could say." Draco said with a laugh.

Hermione bit her nail. There was no way they could know about her vacation at the Ministers'.

"Would you like to have something?" Draco asked.

Hermione shook her head.

"No, I'm good."

"Alright," Draco said, as he stood up, "let's go then."

Hermione stumbled into the Manor. Luckily, Draco caught her by her waist and prevented her from falling onto the marble floor. She was going to thank him but she was shocked to see her surroundings. The last time she had stepped into the Manor- well that seemed like a long time ago from now. Hermione tugged down on her blazer, as she straightened herself out and looked around. It didn't look like the Manor Hermione had remembered, this was much more homely. Light was pouring in from all the windows and everything looked like new.

"It looks amazing." Hermione said.

Draco walked around to the grand staircase in facing the front door.

"Thank you. Mother decided to freshen things up for our new guest." He said.

"Oh?"

"She's adopting." Draco explained.

Hermione smiled.

"That's so wonderful!" She exclaimed.

Draco nodded.

"What made her decide to adopt?"

"Let's head up, i'll tell you on the way."

Hermione followed behind him, as he explained his mother's' decision. She had always wanted a large family, but she realized after having Draco, how hard it was to keep her child safe. So after everything had ended, she spent some some time going over pros and cons, and finally made a decision. With Draco out of the house, she had a lot of spare time, so she decided that she could provide a good future for another child.

"Actually, Mother told me that the girl she was told about has a twin sister. So she's looking into that situation, and see if she can adopt her as well, so they won't be separated."

Hermione was amazed.

"How old are they?" She asked.

"Turning five soon. Mother won't let me forget. She's hoping all the legal work will be done before and then she wants to throw a party."

Draco stopped walking.

"Well, it won't be a grand party..but she can throw a small party I guess." He mumbled.

Hermione knew what he was thinking. It made her feel sad, that Mrs. Malfoy was trying to do something which Hermione considered a great deed, but she knew that they had few close friends and family. Hermione noted that Draco was also very good with children, as she had seen with Teddy. She thought he would be a wonderful older brother.

"Here you are."

Draco stepped in front of a large portrait. It had two giant pillars on either side of it. Draco took out his wand and tapped underneath the portrait. Hermione looked on quietly as the wall moved back, and revealed a staircase to either side.

"This way." Draco said, as he headed down the stairs to his left.

Hermione took out her wand, as a precaution, and followed. The stairs got wider as they went down, and they were well lit by lights from above, which Hermione could not see. At the bottom of the stairs, all Hermione could see was red carpet. Draco told her to wait as he stepped into the dark, and disappeared.

"Now I know what you're thinking." Draco called from the dark. "A lot of work went into protecting books. But you see that these aren't any regular uh-"

Hermione heard him shuffling, and then the lights flickered on.

"Books." Draco finished his sentence, with a smile.

Hermione looked up to locate the source of the light. There were eight, similar chandeliers spread out on the low ceiling. They emitted a soft, white light. Hermione looked over to Draco who was now sitting at the table in the back of the room. It was a dark, wooden table, with four large chairs. In front of her was a small bookshelf with what seemed to be the encyclopedia. The bookshelf came up to Hermione's chest and it had small statues of famous wizards. Hermione kneeled down in front of the books and ran her finger down the spine of the first book.

"Here." Draco called out.

Hermione stood up and walked around the bookshelf to Draco. On both sides of the room, there was a large bookshelf which covered the entire wall.

Draco looked over and saw her admiring the books.

"These are only the priceless ones, actually." He informed her. "We have another library beside my room. I can show you after if you'd like."

Hermione nodded. She was too busy looking at the books in front of her.

"What did you find?" She asked him, as she walked to him.

Draco pointed out to the table in front of him. There were three books, opened up in front of him. Upon taking a closer look, Hermione noticed that the books were quite old, some of the ink had come off, the pages were coming out.

"Well it's going to take a lot of patience. These three books aren't in English. The one I have here is in Latin, the other two I haven't looked at are in Old Persian, and Old Chinese." Draco informed her.

Hermione pulled out a seat and pushed it towards him. When she sat down, Draco rotated his notebook toward her, to show her his notes.

"Why don't you use a spell to translate? " Hermione asked.

Draco sighed.

"Believe me, I already tried. Then I felt rather foolish after."

"Well, I know some Latin. I'm not fluent, but maybe I'll be able to help make things go a little faster." Hermione offered.

Draco agreed.

"I'm very sorry about making you wait."

Hermione put her bag down on the table. It was almost six in the evening, and she was very late. She didn't realize how the time passed so quickly. Draco had insisted she stay for dinner, but Hermione wanted to be in her own home, and relax.

Ron was sitting on the sofa, watching her television, when Hermione arrived.

"Don't worry, Teddy had dinner and went to sleep."

Hermione thanked him, and went to check up on Teddy. Once she saw that he was fast asleep, she kissed him on the forehead, and went back to Ron.

"Did you have dinner?" She asked him.

Ron stood up.

"No, it's alright. I'll be on my way now."

Hermione stepped in front.

"No, I can't let you go. Please stay and have dinner with me, it's the least I can do."

Ron agreed. Hermione asked him to join her in the kitchen while she warmed up food for them.

"How was your day?" Ron asked.

Hermione sighed, and then laughed.

"Very busy. I'm glad I can enjoy a quiet dinner now." She answered.

Hermione passed Ron a plate of lasagna and sat down across from him.

"We haven't talked much. How are you? And Padma?" Hermione asked.

Ron coughed. They didn't talk as often because it was still awkward between them, and sometimes Hermione was just annoyed with him. But he had often missed her company.

"Good. She's alright, planning her sister's wedding actually. Yeah, she's engaged to this doctor from California."

"That must be so exciting. She's going to be expecting a ring soon too then." Hermione added, without thinking.

Ron stopped eating. Hermione realized, and looked up at him. Maybe it was just her but she saw sadness in his eyes.

"I wasn't being sarcastic." Hermione said, quickly.

Ron nodded.

Hermione put down her fork.

"I'm actually glad you agreed to stay for dinner. I wanted to talk to you."

Ron took a sip of water, and then gave her his attention.

"Well, I just want you let you know that I considered you a really good friend, and I still do. I did like you for a very long time, as you know. Even though we don't talk as much, you're still my best friend, and I love you. I love you and I love Padma. I'm genuinely happy for you two. I know I was upset for too long, I was mad that you moved on so quickly, or so I thought. However, I've seen how much you've matured, and how good she is for you. I wish for nothing but the best for you two."

Hermione took a deep breath. Sometimes, she felt like she talked too much and this was definitely one of those times.

Ron just looked at her quietly, and then smiled.

"I'll always love you." He said.

I haven't named my chapters but if I had this chapter would be just boys, or sausage fest. Hmm..

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