On Friday morning as Hermione was sitting in her kitchen drinking coffee and reading the Daily Prophet she was shocked to see Kingsley Shackelbolt's owl fly in through her patio doors, which were slightly open to allow some air into the house. Her curiosity piqued Hermione accepted the envelope from the owl and gave it a treat from the bowl by the window, while she opened the letter. The letter was not very long, more like a note. Kingsley had requested a meeting with Hermione for the same day, if it were possible. Intrigued Hermione responded with a time and place, attached the response to the owl's leg and let the animal fly off back to London and its owner.
As Hermione finished her coffee she wondered what had caused Kingsley to request a meeting, after all it was only March, the celebration of Voldemort's defeat wasn't until May. For the past eight years the Minister had personally begged Hermione to attend the event, an invitation Hermione had failed to accept each year.
A cry from the baby monitor on the kitchen counter brought Hermione out of her thoughts but before she had a chance to leave her seat she heard a small voice over the monitor.
"Don't cry, baby, I'll look after you."
Hermione smiled to herself at her three, nearly four, year old daughter comforting her baby brother.
Hermione left the kitchen and set off towards her son's bedroom, where she found her daughter standing by the crib in the bedroom with her hand through the bars stroking her baby brother's head and talking to him. By this time the four month old had stopped crying and was gurgling happily at his sister. Hermione watched them for a few minutes before entering the room, picking up her son and giving her daughter a kiss.
"Come on princess, time to get ready to go to Grandma's."
An hour later after dropping her children off at her mother-in-law's house Hermione was in her office listening to her assistant, Jason, fill her in on recent events at work. Hermione had only been back working, part time, for a few weeks after the birth of her son in November. Luckily as her own boss Hermione could work as much or as little as she wanted, she knew if she wanted to take months off her excellent staff could cope fine. After doing some work for a bit Hermione started to get ready for her meeting with Kingsley, her curiosity bubbling away.
At two o'clock Hermione entered the café at The Black Gem to find Kingsley already waiting for her. As Kingsley watched her approach he once again thought how beautiful Hermione had grown up to be. Her once bushy hair fell in soft curls around her shoulders and for someone who had only had a baby four months ago, her figure was amazing. Kingsley smiled as Hermione reached the table and spoke.
"Hello Minister, your invitation to meet is early this year."
"Well Hermione, that's because I have an ulterior motive."
Kingsley's response only intrigued Hermione further, raising an eyebrow she looked at the Minister for Magic, whom she'd known since she was fifteen.
"How about before we start, we order some drinks." Kingsley said summoning the waiter and ordering a latte for Hermione and another cappuccino for himself.
Once the waiter had brought their drinks Kingsley began to speak. "Well, today we had a meeting about the ball and it turns out the building we always use is out of action this year."
Hermione looked at Kingsley with a puzzled look on her face but just before she got a chance to speak, he carried on talking.
"I was hoping that we could use one of the function rooms at the hotel."
"My hotel?" Was Hermione's stunned reaction.
Kingsley nodded before speaking again. "It is considered one of the most spectacular places in the country and your reputation is of the highest quality."
"And the fact that it would look awfully rude if the owner of the establishment that is hosting the ball fails to turn up hasn't occurred to you I suppose?" Hermione sighed, beginning to suspect that Kingsley might have just managed to get her to do something she had been putting off for years, face her past.
"Well I'm not going to say it hasn't crossed my mind, but we both know if you're determined not to come you don't have to. You could always send a representative or your husband, who does own half the hotel." Kingsley replied calmly, secretly hoping his ploy would work.
Hermione looked at him for a few minutes before speaking again. "If I agree, and it's only an if at this stage, what would it entail."
Smiling to himself Kingsley explained about the ball and what they would need. An hour later, Hermione found herself agreeing to let the Ministry hire one of the rooms so they could host their annual ball.
Before he left Kingsley arranged to view the function rooms on Monday afternoon. A secretive smile played on his lips while making the arrangements, making Hermione wonder what the Minister was planning.
Hermione was beginning to think she had made a mistake agreeing to let Kingsley host the annual celebration ball in her hotel. All afternoon Hermione had debated with her decision, by agreeing she knew she had to face her past. Kingsley had finally gotten her to agree by convincing her the publicity would be good for the hotel, a fact Hermione couldn't deny. While The Black Gem was a thriving business, Hermione was aware good publicity was priceless.
Over the course of Friday afternoon and evening Hermione debated calling Kingsley and cancelling numerous times but she didn't want to let him down after promising him she would help. By late Friday evening Hermione had resigned herself to the fact she would have to see her old friends, a part of Hermione wanted to see them but another part of her didn't after the way they had treated her.
Hermione stood on her bedroom balcony with a glass of wine in her hand. It was too late to be able to see the magnificent view so Hermione settled for looking at the stars instead. Standing on the balcony she heard the shower in the adjoining bathroom shut off, and a few minutes later a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist pulling her against a toned chest.
"Stop worrying, you've made the right decision." Her husband whispered into her ear. Hermione shivered slightly at the low sound of her husband's voice.
"Do you think so?" She asked turning around and looking up into the silver eyes of her husband, Draco Malfoy.
"Yes, of course. You always make the right decisions, Granger." Draco smirked. "Marrying me is the perfect example."
Hermione laughed. "Really, I always thought marrying you proved I was mad."
Draco rolled his eyes at Hermione. "Funny."
Taking her hand Draco started leading Hermione into their bedroom and towards their large bed. "I'll show you how right you were to marry me."
As Draco started to kiss his wife, Hermione couldn't help but think that she had the perfect life.
...
After the argument at Hogsmeade Hermione had packed all the belongings she had at The Burrow, wrote Mr and Mrs Weasley a note thanking them for everything they had done for her over the years and apparated to London. After booking the first available flight to Australia she checked into a muggle hotel for the night. The next day she did some last minute shopping before she caught her flight to Australia.
Hermione knew her parents were settled in Sydney and after resting for a few days she set out to find them. Returning their memories was quite tricky, but Hermione being the brightest witch of her age managed it fine. Explaining her actions had been trickier, at first her parents had been furious but after hearing all that happened to their daughter they forgave her.
Hermione's parents had decided that they liked living in Australia so they decided to stay there. Hermione was happy to stay alongside them as she was in no rush to return home. Hermione and her parents used the time to reconnect after being separated for so long.
When she decided to stay with her parents in Australia, Hermione rented an apartment and got a job at the Australian Ministry of Magic. With her perfect exam results Hermione was offered a job in many departments, she eventually settled for the Department of International Magical Cooperation.
The weekend before she was due to start her new job Hermione's parents took her for a meal in a posh hotel on the outskirts of Sydney. Upon seeing the hotel Hermione could instantly tell that it was part magical, part muggle, a combination Hermione hadn't seen before. It soon became apparent that the magic was hidden from the muggles as her parents couldn't see all that she could.
During an amazing dinner Hermione watched in interest as the muggle and magical community co-existed peacefully together. She was very interested in who had created the wonderful hotel and fortunately Hermione didn't have to wait long for her answer. After dinner she and her parent went into the bar for a drink and while chatting to the barman Hermione mentioned how amazing the place was and that she would love to meet the person behind it. The barman told Hermione that the owner was currently in the bar and pointed him out.
Hermione couldn't believe it when the barman pointed to a man with pale blonde hair in the corner, it was Draco Malfoy.
When Hermione's parents were ready to leave she decided to stay on longer, her curiosity of why Draco Malfoy would have a half muggle, half magical hotel getting the better of her. Summoning all her Gryffindor courage she walked up to Draco in the corner, she was surprised when he offered her a drink and a seat. Settling down with their drinks Draco asked Hermione what she was doing in Australia, Hermione explained finding Draco surprisingly easy to talk to. When she finished talking she asked Draco the same question.
Draco explained that after the family's trials, resulting in Lucius being sent to Azkaban for life, he and his mother had decided to leave England for a while. Narcissa had moved into the family's villa in France while Draco, who had inherited the family business, looked for a venture the furthest away and left to base himself there. Once in Australia, Draco set about getting rid of all his father's more dubious business dealings concentrating on the honest ones. The hotel became his pet project and he swiftly developed it into what it was, even though he had lots more plans for the hotel. When Hermione questioned why it was muggle and magical, Draco explained that the hotel was situated in a muggle part of the town but he still wanted to incorporate his magical roots. Over the course of the conversation Hermione found she had a lot in common with Draco and found he had embraced quite a lot of muggle things since the end of the war nearly a year ago.
Over the next month Hermione found herself bumping into Draco quite regularly. He lived in a building near Hermione's, he often had business at the Ministry and he used the same muggle gym as Hermione. With all these chance meetings Hermione and Draco found themselves becoming friendly and they started to actually arrange times to meet. Hermione soon found she considered Draco her best friend, he was easy to talk to and was intelligent enough to have conversations about serious subjects, something she had found herself unable to do with Harry or Ron. They were still different in some ways and bickered constantly, but unlike their time in Hogwarts the insults they threw around were friendly banter and not intended to hurt and be cruel.
Hermione knew after a few weeks she was attracted to Draco and wanted to be more than friends. Despite the pair of them flirting with each other nothing happened for six months until Draco eventually plucked up the courage to ask Hermione out, inviting her to be his date at the Ministry's Halloween party. After that first date they were pretty much inseparable and Hermione moved into Draco's penthouse six months after their first date.
Hermione's parents loved Draco and he soon became attached to them, often spending time with Hermione's father. Hermione had been nervous about meeting Narcissa as she was known to have been prejudice against Muggle-borns, but she was perfectly nice. Narcissa explained that after everything that had happened in the war she could no longer hold onto the archaic beliefs she had been brought up with. Narcissa was just pleased that Draco was happy, and if Hermione made him happy then she would support their relationship. Lucius was another story, because he was in Azkaban Hermione never actually got to meet him properly but he disapproved strongly of her relationship with Draco.
Because he had businesses all around the globe Draco travelled a lot and Hermione accompanied him when her job allowed it. By the time they had been together a year Hermione had visited a lot of different countries and was finding different places she liked. One of her favourite places was Paris, which was where Draco took her to celebrate their one year anniversary in October.
On New Year's Eve, Draco took Hermione to Sydney Harbour where he had hired a boat for them. They had a romantic dinner and just before midnight Draco proposed to Hermione, he had timed it perfectly so when Hermione accepted the proposal the fireworks display celebrating the New Year began.
Once they got engaged Draco started trying to convince Hermione to become partners in his business with him. After months of discussion Hermione finally agreed and quit her job in the ministry and became partners with Draco almost two years after they had re-met.
Draco and Hermione got married on a lovely summer's day in August, eight months after Draco proposed. They were married at the Malfoy Villa in France where Narcissa lived for most of the year. Only close friends and family attended the service.
For nearly two years the couple built up their business acquiring hotels, restaurants and even a couple of nightclubs in various countries around the world. Draco dealt with the designing and financial part of the business while Hermione dealt with hiring staff and making sure all their properties were run perfectly.
Hermione and Draco often talked about building an exclusive wizarding hotel from scratch and on their second anniversary Draco presented Hermione with the deeds to a large parcel of land in wizarding London where they could build their dream hotel.
Hermione also had an unique anniversary present for Draco on their second anniversary, she was two months pregnant with their first child. The couple discussed where they wanted to raise their family and both decided they would like to return to England.
Draco decided the couple should build a new house on the land where Malfoy Manor had been situated. After the war Draco had decided too much bad had happened in his childhood home and had pulled the place down, keeping the land for the future. Hermione was reluctant at first but after seeing the area had decided it was a beautiful place for a house. Together they designed their perfect house with all the things they needed, lots of bedrooms for children and visiting family, a library for Hermione, a big garden for the children to play in, a study for Draco, a family room and a large master bedroom with an en suite bathroom for Hermione and Draco.
While Hermione was pregnant she spent her time either designing her new hotel or her new house. She only stopped doing both in late February when she was eight month pregnant and Draco insisted that she rest. On the 22nd March Hermione gave birth to a baby girl who they named Lyra. Five months later in August they moved into their new home in England. Even though they had returned to England, Hermione made no attempt to contact her former friends not even when their hotel, The Black Gem, opened in December of that year.
When Draco and Hermione returned to England so did Narcissa, she moved into one of the slightly smaller Malfoy estates and helped look after Lyra when Hermione returned to work. Hermione's parents stayed in Australia but they visited twice a year and Draco and Hermione visited Australia twice a year as they still owned their house in Sydney.
On Lyra's third birthday Hermione discovered she was pregnant again and on the 7th November she gave birth to a baby boy named Scorpius.
...
A few hours later Hermione lay in bed, Draco was sound asleep next to her. He had spent two hours proving to her how she had made the right decision to marry him, not that Hermione had ever had any doubts about that. Deciding it was best not to worry about her potential meetings with her former friends Hermione snuggled down in bed next to Draco, who immediately reached out for her in his sleep and wrapped his arms tighter around her. Before succumbing to sleep Hermione vowed not to think about any reunion with Harry and Ron, after all the anniversary ball was in May, two months away.