A/N: The wiggentree is believed to protect from dark magical creatures, which I thought fit perfectly in an office that — despite Hermione's efforts — are not yet accustomed to treating creatures as equals. I thought it was ironic and fitting for this chapter.

Chapter 24

"Are you sure you don't want to take this mission?" Harry asked, waving the sign up sheet in front of Ron. "It'll be the easiest one, because there'll be no one about to cause too much trouble."

"Not likely," Ron said, pushing the sheet away. "I'll wait for the one that comes after Christmas. I'd much rather spend Christmas at the Burrow, and with Hermione, than in some run down inn in the middle of who knows where. Ginny won't be happy when she finds out you've signed up to be away for Christmas, by the way."

"Ginny will be away for Christmas," Harry said. "Which is why I thought I'd do it."

"Where will Ginny be?" Ron asked, surprised, as that was the first he'd heard of it.

"Training," Harry said, shrugging. "Apparently all the new Harpies recruits are being put to the test over the Christmas break. She couldn't even get the day off to Apparate home."

"Huh," Ron said, "life of a professional Quidditch player."

"So it seems," Harry said. "Though, thankfully, not quite professional yet."

Ron, who had felt mildly put out when Ginny had told him she'd been offered a spot in the squad of the Holyhead Harpies, had taken some time to get used to the idea of his sister potentially becoming a professional Quidditch player in the next few months. He was proud of her, of course, but also, he wouldn't have minded such a job — though, in reality, if he couldn't perform well in front of the Hogwarts students, he doubted a larger crowd of fans would be any better.

But being in the team had come at a price of being forced to stay in Holyhead more than she could be at home. Sometimes, she'd be away for a week at a time, a fate which Ron sympathised with Harry over from when Hermione had gone to Australia.

"She's home tonight, though?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, for the next few days," Harry said. "Then she's gone again."

"Honestly, I thought that if Ginny wasn't going to be home, you might want to spend some time with Teddy — and Andromeda. Mum would still love to have you, too, you know."

Harry grimaced.

"Yeah… I'll be seeing Teddy a little before Christmas. Spending a day with him… on my own this time. Completely on my own."

"You'll be fine," Ron said. "He loves you."

Harry laughed. "I wouldn't say that, but it's getting easier each time."

"Except for the time he completely destroyed your living room, right?"

On one of the times Teddy had visited Harry — the now walking and running small child had gotten into everything that was in the Grimmauld place sitting room. He'd tore out books from bookshelves and ripped up some pages, knocked off empty vases and pulled down the few photos Harry had put up. Ron, who'd witnessed the event, had called Teddy a terror. Hermione had said it was normal for that age.

Harry shook his head at the memory. He'd had all visits with Teddy under the supervision of Andromeda since then.

Ron nodded. "Well, speaking of homes, I better go and drag Hermione from the office to make sure she actually leaves it today. Did you know she didn't get home until one this morning? Apparently she was working so intently on one of these laws she's been tasked to write that she lost track of time. She's not eating properly either, forgoing meals to continue working."

Harry gave a short laugh. "Well, that's Hermione, isn't it? Prioritising work above all else. Do you not remember exam time?"

"Yeah," Ron said, "but she's going to wear herself out if she keeps going. We haven't had a proper conversation in about a week, because she gets home, goes straight to bed, then gets up at a ridiculous hour to head back in. Then, she skips her lunch breaks. She's mad."

Harry smiled. "Ah well, good luck tonight then. See you on Monday. Hopefully Hermione has a good rest over the weekend."

"Ha!" Ron said. "Try telling her that."

He gave Harry another wave, who'd just finished packing up his own stuff, and headed down the corridor from the Auror office.

The first missions for the trainees were coming up — experiencing time away, on a job. It wasn't a planned job, and they didn't yet know where they'd be going, as the Aurors were hoping something would eventuate in that time frame.

There would be one over Christmas (good character building, they said, for when they actually become Aurors and get unexpectedly called away from their loved ones) or one just after New Years.

Ron had chosen the one after New Years, with Neville, while Harry had elected for the Christmas one. He was mad, Ron reasoned. Who would willingly go away for Christmas?

He reached the lift, and instead of going to the atrium and to the fireplaces, he went to the level that the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures was on. Most people headed in the opposite direction to him, with it being slightly after five and keen to get home. But Ron knew that he'd find Hermione hunched over at her desk still, scribbling away at the SPEW law she was working on.

Honestly, he didn't know why she needed to do so much work for it. She had done much of the research back in her fourth year, but apparently much more than her fifteen year old had managed now needed to be done. Apparently, the long term goal was to banish house-elf enslavement altogether, but for the time being, the law was to have better control over the families house-elves were assigned to. And in the case of generational ownership, she sought to abolish that immediately.

Since August, when she'd started her job, Ron had spent countless evenings listening to her talk about it over dinner, and weekends sitting with her as she pored over books to gather her information. He'd been keen to begin with, but the novelty of it had soon worn off — especially when his own workload increased as he reached the halfway point of his second year of training.

Now, he just wanted her to come home and eat something with him — or, as things currently were, eat anything at all.

He pushed open the Magical Being office, unsurprised to see most desks empty. But over in the corner, by a wiggentree (the irony, Ron thought with a smile), sat Hermione. She didn't even look up as Ron approached, but continued to scribble on a lengthy roll of parchment, her hand darting backwards and forwards quickly.

"Hey," Ron said, drawing up a chair to sit opposite her. "It's past five. You've got to come home."

"I've just got to finish this," Hermione said, not looking up from her work. "You can go. I may be a while."

"Yeah, you said that last night," Ron said, "and remind me again when you got home."

"I lost track of time," Hermione told him absently. She paused, her brows knitting together for a moment, and then started writing again, just as quick as before.

"Did you eat today?" Ron asked.

"I don't remember."

"So, no."

"I'm far too busy. The workload is increasing each day. But I promise that once I get home, I'll eat enough to make up for the meals I skipped today." She paused, still not looking at him. "You can go," she said again.

"Nope," Ron said, "I won't leave until you're done, which is now." He removed the quill from her grasp, but she'd not been expecting it, and the ink dragged across her page, leaving a smear across her freshly written notes.

"Ron!" Hermione cried, taking out her wand to remove the smudge. "Can you not do that?" She snatched the quill back, finally looking up at him.

"I want you to come home," Ron said, a little defensive now. "You can't stay here all night again. It isn't healthy."

"I've got so much to do, and it won't get done —"

"You're always going to have work to do," Ron told her as she returned her gaze to the parchment. "And you're the most organised person I know, so if I can balance my workload each day, then you can, too."

"Yes, but I have far more than you do, Ron. You're just a trainee, so you have the qualified —"

"Just a trainee?" Ron asked, a pang of something unpleasant creeping up on him now. "Is that how you see what I do, is it?"

Sighing, Hermione placed her quill down and looked up. She looked so tired, a little stressed — Ron had a feeling that not all of it was caused by her work.

"I didn't mean it like that," she said, though she didn't sound all that apologetic. "I just meant… well, an Auror — qualified or in training — is a lot more physical. You do more hands-on things, you're out and about, so you're not going to have as much desk work to do. It's the nature of the job."

Ron stared at her for a moment, not quite sure he was hearing what she was saying. It wasn't even what she was saying, but how. She spoke as if what she was doing was far more important — something that had never happened before. She'd always encouraged him, supported him in his journey to become an Auror.

"An Auror is one of the most skilled positions in the magical world —"

"Ron, I know that —"

"Some didn't even make it to the second year of training —"

"Ron, I didn't mean… listen, I'm just really tired, and I really need to get this done. Can you just… leave me alone so I can finish it? I'll be home as soon as I do, but the longer you're here, the less I get finished."

"Last week you were asking for my help," Ron told her, unable to keep the hurt from his voice.

Hermione said nothing. For a moment, they looked at each other, then another moment later, Hermione looked back down at her work.

Ron waited a little longer, watching from the other side of her desk, but it became clear very quickly that she had no intention in having a change of heart.

Annoyed, upset, and a little angry, Ron jumped to his feet, slinging his bag over his shoulder. He watched her for a moment longer before saying, "I'll see you at home, then. Whenever that will be."

He marched to the door, but just as he went to swing it open, the magically coloured work timetable that appeared in every office, caught his eye. As they drew to the end of October, offices were beginning to plan for the holiday period.

He paused, reading through the timetable. "I see you're working Christmas," he said, not at all kindly.

Hermione gave a start, apparently having not realised he was still there.

"Oh, yes… they needed someone for a few hours in the evening. I said I could do it."

Ron glared at the timetable for another moment, and then without a word to Hermione, he left. He didn't go to the atrium, though, but returned to the Auror office, which was now empty.

Locating the sign-up sheets for the missions pinned on the noticeboard, Ron erased his name from the New Years one with his wand and scribbled his name on the Christmas one instead.

If Hermione didn't think it important enough to take the Christmas break off, then neither did he. If she thought working during a time they were supposed to spend together was a better option, then he'd do the same. He didn't care. It was only Christmas.

But even as he left, this time definitely returning to the atrium, a feeling of regret began to creep over him. They'd fought last Christmas because of something very similar, and he'd vowed to make sure it never happened again. But they were two months away from their second Christmas together, and already he was consumed with bitterness.

And now he'd just signed the holidays away to boot.

Thank you everyone for your lovely reviews and kind words. I've reached more than 150 reviews after 24 chapters! How amazing!

I hope you all continue to enjoy this, and obviously it's not ALWAYS going to be an easy run for Romione. They still have a few things to figure out.