"I don't get it Ginny. Is it normal not to fight with your boyfriend? We've been together close to 1 year now and not a single argument." Hermione asked Ginny over the computer Harry just installed in their home. Chatting was a good way to connect with her friends in England, seeing that she is supposed to stay away from the floo network. "Maybe you're just compatible or he's a nice person or something. But, if it bothers you so much, why don't you pick a fight with him?" Ginny typed back.
She had been trying to irritate him for five days now, picking on his clothes, his garlic eating habits, his apartment and when she got desperate, even his dog. Instead of fighting with her, he fixed his clothes, stopped eating garlic, re-arranged his furniture and cleaned his apartment and even started leashing his poor dog. Hermione just gave up.
As they were eating some midnight snack at the appropriately called Midnight Express in Chungking Mansions, Hermione looked at her boyfriend in the eye. "Why is it that we never fight? I mean I keep on picking at you, I kept on being mean. Is there something wrong with us? Aren't couples supposed to fight every now and then?" Hermione asked in exasperation. Qiwu then had a look of realization in his eyes. "Well, Mei, you know my ex-girlfriend didn't like all those things you didn't like so I figured most girls don't so I just did what you asked." He answered casually.
Hermione got furious. "You don't change yourself for someone!" She exclaimed, tightly grasping her boyfriend's arms. "If the person loves you, they should love you for who you are." She said angrily. Qiwu started patting her back. "You said you didn't like those things, too." Qiwu answered softly. Hermione's eyes brimmed with emotion. "I'm sorry. I was, I was trying to pick a fight. I like the way you dress up. You look cute." She said truthfully. "I don't mind your garlic breath, even when we kiss. I'm fine with the way your apartment was and I love your dog Googles." She added.
Qiwu hugged her. "We don't need to fight to be a good couple. Mei and I always fought but we weren't a good couple by any stretch of imagination." He answered. That statement got to Hermione. "You've already mentioned her name once in comparison to me. Now you are even comparing our relationship with the one you have with her. What exactly do you mean by that?" Hermione asked furiously. Qiwu started explaining himself but Hermione's infamous temper was already flaring. Thus started their first ever argument as a couple.
He Qiwu is a police officer. He was trained from the start of his career to determine the truth, even if there's only the smallest bit of evidence to prove it. There is really something going on with his girlfriend. His first clue had been the spotless apartment. They have been sharing a home for some months now since he asked her to move in with him upon finding out that she was still renting. No matter how dirty it was, no matter how disorganized he'd left it, it would be spotless once he returns home and he and Hermione share the same work hours given the fact that they're partners.
Next clue he'd had is her cat. It was almost as big as his dog and with a terribly weird name, Crookshanks. But then again, he's not one to criticize people on how they name their pets seeing that he named his dog Googles. Speaking of her cat and his dog, that's another strange thing, they got along after a brief moment of wariness from both parties. His last clue had been when one of her books, one she keeps hidden in a big trunk at the foot of their bed, tried to get a bite out of him.
But he didn't say a word, afraid as he was to lose her. Thus, when she came out and told him she is a witch, he assured her that he had an inkling for some time now, given the fact that her book tried to eat his arm.
Mei came to their apartment one day, drunk and her mascara tear-stained and streaked all over her cheeks. It had been close to two years since they've broken up, she had been in a relationship for two years, longer than when they've broken up or so she'd admitted. She started prattling on about how Qiwu had been the only one to ever understand and love her. That if he wants to, they can pick up where they left off. Her speech had been interrupted when she saw Hermione. Hermione didn't say a word even as she stood by his side. She was about to go to their room to give them some privacy so they can resolve their issues, but Mei attacked Hermione. She was raging and started accusing Qiwu of cheating on her while they were still together, the very thing she forgot she just admitted to. But before she could say anything, she had to deal with a tough Hermione.
It was a big mistake on the drunk woman's part to attack her, given that Hermione is not only bigger but as a police officer, she is more or less fit. Also, the temper that prompted her to punch Draco's face when they were in school surfaced and she easily socked the smaller woman. She then called the police to carry Mei off seeing that she trespassed in their home and then attacked her. After, Hermione pressed charges and Mei was placed in jail for trespassing, which justified Hermione's self-defense and drunken disorderliness, they went home and Hermione started packing her bags.
Qiwu was in panic. "I'm sorry about Mei. I didn't know she was going to do that. Hermione, please, don't leave me." He pleaded with her. That got Hermione's attention. "You mean you don't want me to leave?" She asked in a small voice as tears started falling down her eyes, when she had been extremely calm and cool earlier. "Why would I want you to leave?" Qiwu asked, bewildered by the suggestion. "Wasn't Mei your ideal? You've loved her for seven years and had been together for five years. I thought I was only her replacement." Hermione asked. Qiwu shook his head. "I may have loved her for some time, but that was before I fell in love with you. We may have been together longer than you and I have at this point, but we will be together far longer than she and I had been. I'll love you until the day I die. You believe me don't you?" Qiwu asked.
Hermione had to laugh at that. "You really are corny." Qiwu only grinned. He was planning on proposing to her on their second anniversary, in fact the ring he'd saved up for and brought just a month ago is hidden in his socks drawer.
Hermione Granger's parents loved He Qiwu from the first meeting. But Hermione knew, that while he is a genuinely nice guy, a big part of their approval of him stems from the fact that he is non-magical like they. Part of her parents fear is how engulfed she is by the magical world ever since she'd started attending Hogwarts. Thus, they encouraged their relationship. Traditional as her parents might be, she could feel her father balk at the fact that the two are now cohabiting, but had instead put on a brave face and encouraged her, perhaps from fear that if this relationship won't work, she would go back to someone from the wizardry realm.
He Qiwu had been worried that Hermione might not like his father, which was why he postponed having his father meet her. It's just that she and her parents are obviously upper-middle class (if they were in Asia they'd be considered downright rich), her parents are dentists. His father didn't graduate from high school and works as a manager/ maintenance of an old apartment where he lives and where Qiwu grew up. He knew that his father worked hard to raise him and send him through school where Qiwu gained scholarship for track and field and thus, was able to finish university and managed to become an inspector. But he feels that Hermione might find his father uncouth.
However, he need not to have worried. Hermione and his father got a long like a house on fire, so much so that his father barely noticed that Hermione is a foreigner as good as Hermione was with the language and idioms. By the end of their visit with his father, Hermione made him promise to cook them some steaks, she'll just take care of the ingredients. He and Hermione would be dropping by more often than he used to seeing that Hermione absolutely adores his father and had taken to cleaning his apartment since the old man is often busy with work. His father liked Hermione so much that he'd taken to asking Qiwu every chance they were alone, when he's going to marry that nice girl.
He realized after that first visit, that his apprehension has got nothing to do with Hermione but rather with the fact that Mei didn't like his father and saw his father as uncouth and uneducated. Hermione might not like the comparison, but Qiwu couldn't help but compare the two seeing that Mei was often too busy trying to elevate herself socially and making "connections" with people to up her game that she often looked down on those who won't be able to do anything for her while Hermione accepts people for who they are and is genuine with her acceptance and care.
It was the weird clock that the Weasleys gave her that inadvertently saved his father's life. They had only been home for an hour or two and were getting ready for bed when the clock started chiming a deep creepy tune. It was the first time he'd heard it. He knew the purpose of the clock but he had not really paid much attention to it. Hermione seemingly jumped out of her skin at the sound and checked the clock, he followed at her heels. The hand with his' father's name was pointed at danger veering slightly to death. Hermione grabbed her wand and with a swish of her hand changed her clothes. He ogled, as this was the first time he'd ever seen her use magic casually. She didn't want him to feel uneasy around her, she said, even though he kept on insisting he didn't really mind. Thus, the severity of the situation that called for it caught his attention.
"I will apparate to his apartment first, according to the clock, he was there just a while ago. You meet us at the nearest hospital to his home." Hermione said urgently. She then disappeared with a pop. He shook himself out of shock and quickly changed into his pants before rushing off to get into his car. It turns out that his father accidentally fell down two flight of stairs as he was changing the light bulb on one of the landings. He would have bled to death had it not been for Hermione placing him on stasis before getting him in the Emergency Room where they stitched his head up and watched him for concussion. He was soon cleared off and the old man started insisting on coming home to his apartment but Hermione managed to sweet talk him into staying with them for a couple of days.
After they got home and settled his father in the guest bedroom. Hermione had been about to apologize for her blatant use of magic when Qiwu cut her off by kissing her. "I should get used to it because someday, we'll be having kids who will probably have magic. I really don't mind you using magic around the house and because of it, you've saved my father." He said before he started kissing her again.
