Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

"Are you okay, sweetie?"

Mrs Granger was particularly concerned about her daughter today. While she had been perfectly fine the previous weeks, smiling from one ear to the other most of the time, she was now dreamy, playing with her cup of tea without even paying attention to what her mother had just said.

"Honey?," she insisted, and Hermione eventually looked up at her.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't..."

"Paying attention, I know," Mrs Granger smiled. "You are not used to be like that, Hermione. May I ask you if something is wrong?"

Hermione exhaled deeply.

"I'm just... I'm waiting for an answer to a question, actually."

"What kind of question? Is it about your job?"

Hermione shook her head, a shadow of a smile on her face.

"Not really. To be honest, it's a personal matter."

"Personal enough to not be shared with your own mother?," Mrs Granger asked, a glimpse of teasing at the bottom of her eyes.

"Nothing is personal enough to not be shared with you, you know that," Hermione rolled her eyes. "I just prefer not to talk about it until I've got an honest answer if you don't mind, given the situation."

Mrs Granger sipped her tea, and took a few moments before nodding.

"Fair enough. But I hope that you realise that it is the first time in weeks that you rush here right after your day at work."

"What are you implying?"

"I'm just saying that it is unusual, honey. Do not get me wrong: I am more than pleased to see you more often, but when you were young, you always came to me when something wasn't turning the way you wanted them to. That's why I'm concerned."

Mrs Granger wasn't smiling anymore, and Hermione sighed before moving on the couch to be closer to her mum.

"You know me too well," she confessed, her cup of tea on her lap.

"I am your mother," Mrs Granger simply stated, her hand over Hermione's knee. "You can tell me everything, you know that."

"I know... But I don't want to give you false expectations. I know how badly you want me to be happy."

"Are you reproaching me this?," Mrs Granger asked, surprised.

"No," Hermione retorted. "Of course not. But sometimes, things don't turn out how we wanted them to do, right?," she went on, thinking about what her mother had just said.

"If you are talking about Ronald..."

"Yes, I am talking about him."

Mrs Granger had always supported her daughter's relationship with Ron Weasley, to Hermione's astonishment. Not that she didn't want her to be fond of her ex-boyfriend, but it was quite surprising to see how easy it had been for her mother to accept him in the family, given the fact that Ron wasn't really the perfect son-in-law. He was messy, sometimes grumpy even during the family dinners, and, at the time, he wasn't sure about what he should do with his life.

"I know that you wanted me to stay with him, but..."

"Oh honey...," Mrs Granger gently cut her off. "You are wrong, and I'm somehow stunned by what you've just said. I thought that you knew the truth during all this time."

Hermione frowned, and let her mother take her cup of tea out of her hands.

"I don't understand...," she muttered, seeking for a hint of answer within her mother eyes.

"I've never wanted you to stay with Ronald," Mrs Granger explained with a motherly smile, taking Hermione's hands into hers. "The only thing that I have ever wanted, it was to see you happy, and I still want to see you happy, my love. To be honest, I don't think that Ronald was the one for you. You deserve someone else, someone calmer, and more mature. I am not saying "someone older", but I'm sure that you understand what I mean."

"He's not older, unfortunately," Hermione chuckled, her cheeks red. "I really thought that you were fond of Ron..."

"Oh, dear. He was too childish for you if you want my opinion. And, to be honest, someone who let you leave doesn't realise what an amazing woman you are. And," she added, "I'm not even saying this because you are my daughter. At least, not only because you are my daughter.

"But, you know, a man doesn't have to be older to be a perfect match for you," Mrs Granger went on. "He just has to understand you, and to be supportive, whatever your decisions could be. And I truly hope that you'll find this man soon, or maybe that you've already found him..."

"I hope so," Hermione muttered. "I really hope so."

XxX

When Harry woke up this day, three days after Mrs Weasley unexpected visit, he was quite surprised to notice that he was alone in his bed. Surprised wasn't the adequate adjective, to be honest, since Hermione had decided after Molly's visit to go back to her house. She had stated that it was better this way, that he had to focus on what he had to do – what he had to do to protect James, what he had to do about his own life too.

He had called Susan Bones late in the evening, knowing that she was a well-known lawyer. Her aunt, a former Head of the Justice, had been killed ten years ago by Voldemort, and since then, she had decided to continue her aunt's work. So far, she was doing an amazing job, and Harry was hoping that she could help him in his divorce. Despite his lateness, she had agreed to see him today between two appointments, to his great relief.

While preparing James, the green-eyes wizard couldn't help but let his mind drift to the woman who would soon be his ex-wife. Knowing that he was so close to put an end to their wedding made him wonder if, maybe, he would have been able to save their marriage if he had decided to give them another chance. Would Ginny have been able to change? And what about him? Inwardly, he wasn't sure that he would have been able to get rid of his feelings toward her, about his resentment toward her actions. But for the sake of James, maybe that he would have made some efforts... Maybe.

But now, there was no coming back, wasn't it? Now, Hermione was a part of James' and his own life, and he was happy this way. He was more than happy to wake up a few mornings in the week by her side, to caress her arm and to kiss her shoulder to wake her up. Her smile, her oh-so contagious smile was enough to give him the strength that he needed to begin a new day, and her rush to the bathroom when she realised that it was late was always a funny thing to see.

"Dada," James mumbled, shaking him from his torpor.

"Oh right, you're hungry," harry smiled at him before heading to the kitchen to prepare some food for his son. While doing so, he started to think about what he should say to Susan. The truth, obviously: but should Hermione be a part of this truth?

XxX

When Susan opened the door of her office, it was with a huge smile over her face.

"Damn, Harry, it's been such a long time," she said before hesitating to hug him or not. They had never been really close, but after all, they were classmates.

Harry freed her from her hesitation and took her into his arms.

"It's a pleasure to see you, Susan. Well, even if the reason why I'm here is not so pleasant, I have to say."

"Yes, indeed," she let out in a breath before closing the door behind him. "Please take a seat, and we'll be able to talk about it."

Susan went back to her desk and invited Harry to sit down.

"So you want to divorce," she stated, putting her glasses back.

"Yes."

"From Ginny Weasley," Susan continued.

"Exactly," Harry answered.

"May I ask you why?"

"Of course. Not a lot of people know it, but Ginny is currently in Ireland. She is abroad for a Quidditch training."

"Is it the real reason?"

"Part of," Harry explained. "It made me realise that we don't want the same things in life. I guess that it was supposed to happen one day or another."

"You have a child together, right?"

"Yes. James is almost two-year-old."

Susan nodded and started to write a few things on a piece of parchment. Harry remained silent the whole time, and waited for her to resume her interrogation, which Susan did eventually.

"Is there... someone else?"

Harry swallowed hard, disturbed by the question that he knew would come one way or another.

"Yes," he said curtly. "But she's not the reason why I want to divorce. Ginny left in June, and we're already in October. She's not the reason of all of this."

"I have no doubt about it. I am glad that you said it to me, actually. It would have been hard for me to defend your case in front of the jury."

"The jury?," Harry frowned. "I thought that I just had to convince Ginny to sign the divorce papers."

"Merlin, no," Susan sighed. "It would have been too easy, right? And everyone knows that laws in the Wizarding world are the worse," she chuckled briefly. "If Ginny doesn't to divorce from you, you'll have to explain in front of a jury why are your reasons, why being divorced is better for James, mostly. You two have a child together, and the jury... well, they are not really fond of divorced parents, to say the least.

"Moreover, saying that you are currently seeing someone else is not the best idea, if you know what I mean."

"I know what you mean," Harry let out, defeated.

"I'm not saying that you shouldn't see her. It's your life, and you have every right to do whatever you want. But just... be careful. I can defend you, but I cannot do miracles."

"I understand, Susan."

They continued to talk about his marriage, to talk about the terms of the divorce. At some point, someone knocked at the door, and Susan let her in.

"Your next client is here, Ms Bones," her secretary said in a shy voice, blushing when she recognised Harry.

"Please tell him to wait a few moments, please."

"Sure."

Her secretary left, and Harry cleared out his throat.

"I'm not going to bother you any longer, Susan. I'll take another appointment with your secretary."

"Thank you, Harry. I'm sorry, but I don't have a lot of time right now...," she explained.

"No, thank you Susan. You didn't have to accept to see me, and I'm grateful that you did."

She escorted him to the door, and they hug one last time.

"I hope to hear from you soon, Harry. We have a lot of things to deal with, and I'm afraid that this is going to take quite some time, unfortunately."

"How much time in your opinion?," Harry asked, even if he feared the answer.

"I don't know... Since you said that Ginny isn't here right now, I guess that it will take some months. Maybe that the jury will ask you to try to live together again to see how it things work between you two, it's a possibility that you should envisage."

"Are you serious?"

"It happened in the past," Susan sighed. "But, look... Stay calm, and take another appointment with my secretary. We'll have more time to discuss about it then."

"Alright," Harry muttered. "Thanks again, Susan."

When he left the building, the green-eyed wizard took a deep breath, disturbed by what he had just heard. Would he really have to live with Ginny again, just to show to a jury that he didn't want to live with her any longer?

And moreover, how would Hermione react to this? For the first time in weeks, he didn't know if it was a good idea to call her, even if he wanted to do it: the last thing that he wanted was to see her question their relationship once more.

I know, it's been a while. I apologize for that. My new life is quite demanding, and I have A LOT of things to do. But I'm happy, so well, I'm not complaining. :)

Again, thank you for following this story! You're all amazing, and to know that you are in front of your computer reading these words makes my day.

I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts about this chapter. ;)

See you soon!