Hermione's new job at the ministry was going well. She had taken a year off to travel after her split from Ron, because she couldn't stand the trouble Molly had been giving her over it. She quit her internship to take the trip, so it was nice of them to give her a full time position when she came back.

Being a war hero had its perks.

Her position now was in Muggle Relations Promotions. It was a post-war creation, and was far more popular than previous muggle related departments. She was in charge of making sure the information being given to wizards about muggles was correct and helpful.

She was also supposed to be called in to mediate cases that involved mistreatment of muggleborn and half-blood wizards within the community. It wasn't something she ever thought about doing, but she excelled at it, as predicted by everyone involved.

A few weeks ago she edited several books promoting muggle relations to be sold worldwide. They had just hit shelves this week.

So far the books had been doing well. You couldn't expect to change centuries' worth of pureblood opinions in one shot, but they were getting somewhere. Many families having trouble dealing with their children marrying anyone but a pureblood were given the books as gifts. She heard a few incidences where they saved relationships.

It was good to be helping someone, especially since she knew all about muggle intolerance from her own experience. Draco Malfoy was the king of pureblood elitism. Actually, he was the prince. Malfoy Sr. was certainly the king.

However, she heard he was calming down since the death of his wife, probably because he was locked up indefinitely. She saw no problem with that situation. Draco hadn't been heard from in months, since he ran off with some girl who was a year behind them in Hogwarts.

This particular day happened to be Valentines Day. It was a hard time for her, because she hadn't done any dating since Ron. It was still too fresh a wound.

At least Harry promised to sit with her during their lunch break, so she got some positive social interaction to pull her out of the gloom. He and Ginny were apparating to Paris for dinner that evening, and he was planning to pop the question. It was completely cliché.

She would have to take up the age-old pastime for single people on Valentines – watching sappy movies and eating ice cream.

She was working on two pamphlets at the moment, and they were proving to be more time consuming than she expected. The first was a brochure highlighting the must-see aspects of muggle society. The tricky part was choosing things that would interest all wizards, not just her.

The second was a pocket guide to obtaining and using muggle money. Wizards seemed to forget their currency was strange and meaningless to all but them. This was a big job, and would probably take her weeks just to revise it once it was finished.

The morning went by quickly and she found herself rushing out of her office to meet Harry for lunch. The elevator was packed on her way down, and the chatter was earsplitting.

As people started to leave, she picked up on a very interesting conversation between two men in the back of the lift.

"Yes you heard me right, he was just released a few hours ago. I signed the papers myself. The minister and his probation committee deemed him ready to be integrated back into society." The one man was whispering to the other in a tone that suggested the second man was an idiot for not believing his first hand account.

"Well that is all very shocking, I thought they would never let him go! But that was not the really interesting part, which I was getting to before you interrupted me…" The accused simply sniffed. "As I was saying, the interesting part was what he did once he emerged for the first time!" Hermoine recognized the second man. He was an editor for the big publishing company that backed most of the wizarding bookstores in Britain. She worked with him via owl on the Muggle Integration books.

"I heard news less than an hour ago that he popped up in Diagon Alley and went into Flourish and Blotts. What do you think he bought there? Why if it wasn't one of the biggest books on muggles we just had shipped out! What on earth would he be doing with that?" The editor was practically jumping with excitement.

"I suppose it was part of his probation, although I don't remember seeing that in the papers. Well, it's strange I'll give you that."

Hermione wanted to know whom they were talking about. She had a hunch, but it was an unlikely one.

"Excuse me, but who is it you're talking about? Not that I mean to eavesdrop…"

"Oh Miss Granger I was sure you heard! The old snake himself, Lucius Malfoy!"

Suspicions confirmed.

Hermione continued out of the lift and down the hall towards one of the employee dining rooms. Everything was decorated elaborately for Valentines Day to the point that she found it sickening. She spotted Harry at a table over by the wall.

"Oh there you are! I thought you would end up missing lunch because of how busy everything is this week." He was happy to see her.

"No I really needed a break anyways. So are you excited about your evening plans?" She laughed.

"Yes, but I'm also pretty terrified. It's a big step Mione! I mean, obviously I want to marry her, but I want this to be perfect."

"Well it's not like she's going to say no, Harry, so you can calm down. Everything will be wonderful!"

"How about you, any big plans for tonight?" Harry looked at her hopefully. He and Ginny had been trying hard to get her dating again, but it wasn't working. She was being stubborn.

"Not unless you count my sofa." She laughed, but he really didn't find it that funny.

"You're sure everything is ok? We don't want you pouring yourself into this job just to shut out the world. You really need to get back out there." He had a whole speech for her. Ginny helped him plan it that morning. Hermione could tell.

"Just save the routine Harry. I haven't found anyone special yet. It wont help much trying to force love."

She tried convincing herself she just had high standards. It was bad enough that Valentines Day was a giant reminder of her loneliness; she didn't need to be constantly pestered on top of that.

Maybe they were right. She needed to at least start getting out more. If she tried to meet new people, in a friendly way, maybe it would open up some dating opportunities. She would never tell Harry he was right though. What did she even want in a man? Someone completely different from Ron: someone intelligent, who actually read books, and could understand her cultural interests. Someone a bit more mature.

A girl could dream couldn't she?

"Make sure to owl me once she says yes ok? I want to be the first to congratulate my newly engaged best friends!" She was genuinely happy for them, ecstatic even, but she couldn't help feeling a tiny bit sorry for herself.

"Of course I will! You're certain she will say yes then?"

"Harry!" She had to laugh at how nervous he was.

Back in her office, she was finding it increasingly difficult to work. Nothing was more dull than trying to describe credit cards to people who didn't understand technology. There needed to be a lot of diagrams. It was an important project to be sure, after all, wizards stood out enough in muggle society by not understanding the clothes.

She floo'd home that evening hoping to order some pizza from the shop down the street.

Her flat was in muggle London, not far from the Leaky Cauldron. She wanted to be a part of both worlds, and it was easier for her parents to come visit her here.

She pulled out the sappiest movie she owned, went to get her pizza, and threw on her pajamas.

This definitely needed to change soon.