Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The Leaky Cauldron

"Mione, you remember that we're going out on Thursday to the Leaky Cauldron, right," Ron said on Tuesday after he got home from work.

"Yes, I remember," Hermione sighed.

They had talked about going to the pub to meet his Gryffindor friends and finally had made plans for this week. They had actually been talking about this on and off since they had gotten back together, Hermione wanting to meet Ron's other friends, but something always seemed to be going on. Now that she no longer had school, and things were relatively calm they agreed that now was the time. Even after the stress of finding out she was a witch and what happened to her, Hermione said it was time that she met his friends, so Ron had let them know. Now that the day had come, and she had discovered the second missing memory, she was less inclined to doing this.

"If you don't want to go," Ron started to say worried.

"I'm not sure if I want to or not," Hermione admitted. "Everything is so overwhelming right now, so maybe this would be a good thing."

"But you're nervous about it," Ron guessed.

"Yes, I'd like to make a good impression," Hermione said. "Not to mention I'm a little worried about how I'm going to react to seeing Lavender again."

"Yeah," Ron said, he was nervous about that too. After his birthday Lavender had started coming to these gatherings again and their reaction to one another had been formal and brisk at best.

"Though that is part of the reason I want to go," Hermione said, she still wasn't comfortable with Ron going out with a group of people that included his ex-girlfriend, especially after what had happened when they were broken up. Though she was sure Lavender had given up on Ron, she still didn't like what had happened. "Still, I think it would be fun to meet everyone."

"It always ends up being fun," Ron nodded and Hermione smiled at him.

O

Hermione wasn't sure how she found herself alone on the Muggle street looking at the sign for the Leaky Cauldron, though she did find it odd that now that she knew she was a witch, it was much easier for her to read the sign. She figured there was something more than a Muggle repelling charm on the place and … she was just stalling for time thinking about the sign and she knew it. She wasn't too keen on going to the pub by herself, but Ron had Flooed called her a few minutes ago explaining that he would be detained at work for about an hour. He said that she could wait for him to go to the pub to meet his Gryffindor friends, but she decided it would be best to go now. She was regretting that decision now, but she wasn't about to turn back. Sighing, she forced herself to enter the pub and headed straight for the bar to order a butterbeer.

"So, what's a fine lass like yourself doing out alone in a place like this," she heard someone say to her and she turned to find a man smiling at her. He was barely taller than her with sandy hair and his accent sounded Irish.

"Waiting for my boyfriend," she answered in a disinterested tone.

"I could always fill that position if you want," the man smiled at her in what she thought was supposed to be a charming way, but it didn't really work for her.

"Sorry, it's already filled, and I doubt it's going to change anytime soon," she explained, and he looked disappointed but luckily, he turned around and left.

She watched as the man left and noticed that he was heading for the table where she was able to actually recognize someone. A girl that she had only met once in passing but wasn't about to forget anytime soon. She noticed the other girl looking at her and she knew that she had to get up, these were the people that she had come to meet after all.

"Oh, changed your mind, have you?" the man said when he noticed that she had followed him. This caused the rest of the table to snigger, and Hermione was sure the other girl had told them who she was.

"No, I just realized that this is the table I was looking for, Seamus … right?" Hermione asked and the man looked at her gobsmacked.

"How do you know my name?" Seamus frowned.

"Because you've just been hitting on Ron's girlfriend," another guy in the booth said chuckling.

"Seriously," Seamus said starting to look pale and Hermione nodded. "Oh crap, he's going to kill me."

"I'll make sure he doesn't," Hermione assured him.

"Ah, I wish you didn't say that … I'm sure we could have had Seamus squirming until Ron got here," the other guy said, now laughing as Seamus shot him a glare.

"It's nice to see you again, Hermione," Lavender said, her tone was a little force, as was her smile but so was Hermione's when she answered.

"Yeah, you too, Lavender."

"Why isn't Ron here to introduce you?" Lavender questioned.

"He got held up at work, and I decided to come myself," Hermione shrugged.

"Regretting that decision?" Lavender said, her lips thinning in her amusement.

"As soon as I saw the pub," Hermione agreed with a real smile.

"Well, I guess I can pick up the slack and introduce you to everyone," Lavender said then turned to her friend, and only other girl at the table and said, "this is my best friend Parvati, and the quiet one is Neville …."

"Hey!" Neville protested before turning to Hermione and saying, "it's nice to meet you."

"The funny guy is Dean and the git that was hitting on you, as you had said, is Seamus," Lavender continued the introduction and Seamus was now glaring at her as the rest laughed.

"It's nice to meet you all," Hermione smiled, still feeling awkward.

"You should sit down, I promise none of us bite," Neville said.

"And Seamus promises not to make any comments about you either," Dean added and Seamus turned to punch him on the arm.

"So, Ron told us last time that you were actually a witch," Neville said, trying to start the conversation before the silence became awkward.

"Yeah, and it's so amazing, I been learning as many spells as I can as fast as I can," Hermione said excitedly. "Ron told me that you're going to be a professor at Hogwarts!"

"Yeah, Nev is going to be the Herbology professor … it's his dream job," Seamus said shaking his head. "Imagine going to school for the rest of your life as a dream job."

"I would be offended by that, but he just happens to be right," Neville chuckled. "And I think of it more as being able to be near those greenhouses for the rest of my life."

"As if that's any better," Seamus rolled his eyes.

"Harry owled me that you might need some help in Herbology," Neville said.

"I would really appreciate that very much if you're not too busy," Hermione said. "Molly has shown me the garden at the Burrow but …"

"There's not much to learn there," Neville nodded his head. "It probably will help me out too, I can make lessons plans for you and see how they work. Though from what Harry said, I'll have to make your lessons accelerated."

Hermione smiled became more genuine as she could see that he really meant it would help him to tutor her.

"We didn't really get the whole story from Ron, but he told us that you just found out you were a witch," Parvati said and then sighed when she saw Hermione flinch slightly. "I'm sorry … I didn't mean …."

"No, it's okay," Hermione sighed, she had a feeling that this question was going to be following her for the rest of her life. "I'm a Muggle-born and my parents didn't want me to go to Hogwarts which had eventually led to having my memories erased."

"Holy shite, that's horrible!" Seamus said astounded. "I can't believe that your parents did that to you!"

"Neither can I, but I know it must have been hard on them," Dean said frowning.

"Do you?" Hermione said with narrowed eyes but then took a breath, she didn't want to direct her anger at her parents at Dean.

"I thought I was a Muggle-born too and I know it was really hard on my dad … er … well actually he's my stepdad, but he's the only dad I knew off …" Dean said starting to ramble. "My mum had some idea, since my real dad was a wizard, and she knew there was something different about him. And when I started to do weird things as a kid, she knew I got it from my real dad … not that she told me that."

"Was your stepdad afraid of you?" Hermione asked softly.

"I don't think afraid of me is the right word," Dean frowned, "but I think he was afraid of magic. Learning that I was a wizard really helped both my parents to understand about magic and things got better until the war started up again."

"You're lucky," Hermione sighed, she wish her parents had reacted that way … letting things get better after learning that she was a witch.

"That didn't help make you feel better at all, did it," Dean sighed.

"It's okay, I appreciate what you said anyways," Hermione smiled at him.

"So, you would have been at Hogwarts," Parvati said trying to fill the silence. "In our year …"

"And I'm sure that would have changed all of our lives," someone said from behind them.

"Harry!" everyone gasped.

"Shut up!" Harry hissed, taking off his glasses as he ran a hand through his hair clearly not wanting to be recognized by all the other patrons at the pub. Everyone else looked at him sheepishly before they got up to either hug him or clap him on the back. "It's nice to see you all, too."

"Sorry for overreacting, it's just the first time that we've seen you out of your house in what … three years," Dean said.

"That's not true … you saw me at the Burrow a few months ago," Harry rolled his eyes.

"That doesn't count … we've seen you more there than your actual house anyway," Seamus said. "Merlin Harry, are you actually smiling?"

"Shut up already!" Harry glared at him.

"What are you doing here?" Lavender asked.

"Ron Flooed me and said that he was going to be late and that Mione was going to come here anyways, so he wanted me to come to make sure she wasn't alone," Harry shrugged. "Doesn't seem like I had to bother, she introduced herself to you all by herself."

"Oh, so you only came for Hermione, I see, you only care about your new friends, not your old mates," Neville tried to joke as Harry rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, pretty much," Harry chuckled and then added seriously, "Ron's actually been on my case to come out for months now, but … I don't know … I didn't want all the attention on me … at least tonight half of that attention will be on Hermione."

"Yeah right, Harry Potter is always going to get the most attention," Seamus laughed.

"Shut up!" Harry hissed at the other boy's use of his full name, even if Seamus had whispered it, he didn't want that said out loud.

"So how have things been, Harry?" Lavender asked, and then added as it was usually the only thing that made Harry open up, "how is Bess?"

"Thinks have been incredible," Harry said smiling. "Ginny had been doing so much better, I just talked to the Healers yesterday and they said that if Gin is stable or improves more in the next few months, that she could come live at home."

There were many comments of excitement and congratulations after that proclamation and Hermione wasn't an exception as he hadn't told her that yet.

"How did that happen?" Seamus's question was heard above the rest, and it was something that everyone wanted to know. Everyone turned to look at him and he added, "what … I didn't think that she could get better … not that it's not good thing that she can … but I thought …."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too," Harry actually chuckled at his stammering friend. "But apparently if I don't look at her like she's crazy, she can actually act like herself for most of the time."

"Harry, it's more than that," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Yeah … the rest of the family not looking at her like that helps too," Harry added and laughed when she glared at him. "Would you prefer it if I said it was because you started visiting her and magically made everything better."

"Of course, I don't prefer that nonsense," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"What, it's not nonsense, you've worked your magic on all of us and now we're all a happy go lucky lot instead of the gloomy bunch we use to be," Harry said laughing as everyone stared at him in shock.

"You're exaggerating," Hermione shook her head.

"I don't know, if you're responsible for this," Neville pointed at the smiling Harry. "Then you really have done something remarkable."

"Well, she is my little miracle worker," a new voice said and then Ron came up to the table and everyone turned to greet him. "But you're never going to get her to admit it."

Things got hectic after that as everyone seemed to talk over one another, sometimes the conversation would break into groups and other times everyone was talking together. It was a while later, after several rounds of drinks, that Seamus brought up a touchy subject.

"I'm just wondering how Lavender and Hermione knew each other," he said smirking at the now blushing Lavender. "I reckon there's a story behind that."

"What, you mean you don't know how Lav had thrown herself at Ron while these two were broken up," Parvati was the one to answer giggling.

"Parvati!" Lavender hissed as she glared at her friend, as the boys chuckled at the exchange, as well as the embarrassed looks on Ron and Hermione's faces.

"What? They're going to find out eventually," Parvati shrugged.

"Yeah, because you'd tell them," Lavender grumbled.

"And at least you're here this time so you can defend yourself," Parvati said.

Lavender groaned, knowing there was no way to stop this from coming out now. She hated how Parvati tended to get gossipy when she was drinking, and now that this secret was no longer earth shattering since Ron knows about it, her friend's lips were a lot looser. She knew that Parvati, no matter how drunk she was, wouldn't have said anything if Ron was still in the dark, but now …. "Fine!"

"So, this happened after the time Ron came here all depressed, drank half a bottle of firewhiskey, and nearly hit me when I told him he should try to pick up a bird, right?"

"That would be the time," Ron said shaking his head, thinking it had been a bad idea that he had gone to that outing.

"Lav, I thought you had a boyfriend at the time," Neville frowned as the girl shifted uncomfortably and Parvati laughed.

"Nope! She made Johnny up," she said, and Lavender shot her another glare but really there was nothing she could say.

"What!" Seamus spluttered.

Hermione shot a questioning look at Ron to see if he knew and he shrugged with an apologetic look. Hermione wasn't very pleased to hear this development, nor the fact that Ron knew about it but hadn't told her, but she tried to tell herself that was because he was trying to be respectful to Lavender.

"But I got you and Johnny tickets to the Puddlemere United and the Wimbourne Wasps game for Christmas!" Seamus said incredulously. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to get those?"

"Not really," Lavender shrugged, though she looked amused, "but the game really was stunning."

Seamus huffed and crossed his arms in annoyance, but glad that at least she went to the game, so it wasn't a complete waste. He remembered she told him that her boyfriend was a really big fan of Puddlemere United and he wasn't pleased that she just told him that so he would get tickets for her.

"I can't believe you made up a boyfriend, I didn't think you would need that," Dean said.

"Of course, she didn't need that, she just wanted Ron to think that she was happy too," Parvati picked up the story before Lavender could answer. "Then she could 'break up' when he did too … it was all rather duplicitous if you ask me."

Seamus shook his head and then looked at Ron calculating, "I just don't get it. Why did you go through so much trouble for this git?"

"Oi!" Ron protested as Hermione had said, "he's definitely worth the trouble."

The others just laughed at the exchanged as Lavender shrugged.

"Either way, I guess her diabolical planned worked because she ended up getting Ron drunk and taking him home," Parvati went on.

"She didn't get me drunk … I did that part myself, and I don't think I could have made it home myself … seeing as I still can't remember what happened." Ron frowned though he wasn't sure why he added that.

"You still don't remember everything," Lavender asked him and he shook his head, and she was glad that he didn't remember how shameless she had been.

"You seem remarkably okay about all of this," Neville said to the annoyed looking Hermione, though if he was honest, he was sure his girlfriend would have been livid if their friends were talking about this event so openly like this.

"I already knew most of this … except the fake boyfriend part," Hermione said and shot a look at Lavender who looked at her sheepishly.

"Besides, she knows after all these shenanigans, Lav had actually kicked my ass about how I let things end between Hermione and me before, which helped get us back together again," Ron said.

"I doubt it did anything," Lavender sighed. "Seeing as I met Hermione as I left your building."

"No, it did help, especially since you didn't make me think that something happened between Ron and you," Hermione admitted.

"I did think about doing that," Lavender admitted.

"I thought you might have," Hermione actually laughed. "But you didn't and even made me feel better about seeing Ron again. Not to mention, you got Ron in the right frame of mind, just like Harry was able to do for me. It helped us to be on the same page and that helped us to be able to talk to each other better."

"You give me too much credit," Lavender shook her head, but she really didn't want to talk about his anymore. "You know Ron mentioned you helped him out Harry, and at the time I thought that wasn't likely with the way you were, but if you're anything like you are now ..."

"I wasn't nearly as happy as I am now," Harry said, rubbing the back of his head nervously as he was put on the spot.

"Yeah, because you hadn't started shagging my sister yet," Ron glared at his friend causing Harry's face to turn red as everyone was now gaping at him.

"I can't believe you just said that," Harry said now starting to glare at his friend.

"Me neither," Ron sighed, putting down his glass thinking he might have drunk more than he realized. "I've been trying to avoid that thought for so long … but you and Gin are so bloody obvious … all lovey-dovey when you're together."

"Yeah well …" Harry shrugged, he wasn't really planning on changing how he acted around Ginny any time soon, but he didn't think Ron had really expected him to. He had known that his friend was bothered by their relationship, just like he had been when they were kids, meaning Ron was happy for them but didn't want to see them do anything.

"Shagging a mental patient Harry, that's so not heroic!" Seamus teased.

"Shut up," Harry glared at him, his face becoming red again, "that mental patient happens to be the love of my life."

The boys seemed to deteriorate into name calling and teasing after that. At the same time Parvati asked Hermione more questions about how her relationship with Ron was going. Hermione was happy when Parvati moved on to Lavender as it seemed the other girl had an admirer that she might like back.

"He doesn't have a crush on me," Lavender said rolling her eyes after her friend brought that up. "We're just friends."

"Hermione, if someone brings you a coffee every morning, just the way you like it, and even give you your favorite scone … and seeing as your favorite scone changes with the weather it's a lot harder to do than one would think, that means something, right?" Parvati said looking at Lavender pointedly.

"My favorite scone doesn't change with the weather," Lavender rolled her eyes. "Just because I like blueberry …"

"That's not the point," Parvati rolled her eyes. "You're with me, right Hermione?"

"It does sound rather promising," Hermione admitted. "Do you like him?"

"I don't know," Lavender answered honestly. "I mean, we became friends as soon as he started working in the same office, but … well that was when I still had feelings for Ron."

"Did you want more with Ron before or after you met … er …?" Hermione started asking.

"Eric," Lavender said frowning. "It was before. I did take Eric to the Quidditch game that Seamus got me tickets for."

"Oh, so you went on a date with him," Hermione said, and Lavender shook her head.

"It wasn't a date, he actually dared me that I wouldn't be able to get tickets for the game," Lavender said, "and after I got them, I couldn't not take him."

"It sounds sort of like a date to me," Hermione said.

"Told you so!" Parvati said. "And the game they went to was after the Ron incident."

"Did anything happen?" Hermione wondered.

"No!" Lavender said, though her face started to turn red, and Hermione raised an eyebrow at her. "Honestly nothing happened there, but we did have a good time. It was after that that I noticed the little things. I mentioned them to Parvati, and she seems to think he likes me."

"Do you want him to?" Hermione asked instead of agreeing with Parvati again. "Or to be more precise do you want something to happen between you two?"

"Honestly … I don't know," Lavender sighed. "I like being friends with him … and I'm worried that if something more happens … well … it's just going to make everything messy."

"Yeah, it could make things complicated, but I think it's a good thing to start off as friends," Hermione said, though that wasn't how she and Ron had come together, since they both had an immediate attraction for the other, she still thought of them as friends too. "But I don't think you should worry so much about what might happen before anything starts. Trust me, worrying about the what ifs cause all sorts of problems on their own."

"I guess you have a point," Lavender said nervously.

"Look, I'm not trying to push you into anything," Hermione said noticing the nerves of the other girl. "If you're not sure, you might not be ready yet for anything serious. And this sounds like it had the potential to be serious. There's nothing wrong with taking your time if that's what you need."

"Hey … you were doing so good, now you're going to advise her to back off," Parvati complained good naturedly. "Though she does have a point Lav. Do you think you might be really serious about him?"

"I don't know," Lavender sighed but she admitted. "I just like spending time with him … and I look forward to seeing him in the morning … and at lunch we always eat together …."

"Yeah, it sounds serious," Parvati smiled.

"It sounds like things will probably work itself out on its own," Hermione added. "Just tried to be open to the possibility if something happens."

"I still say you should just snog him," Parvati said, "but what Hermione said might work too."

Lavender just laughed and rolled her eyes at her friend.

It wasn't long after that that the group expanded to include everyone again and then they were all heading home. Hermione was rather pleased with how everything went. She had enjoyed it the most when everyone was talking as a group, since Lavender and Parvati were a little too gossipy and obsess with guys for her taste, she still had a good time.

A/N: Now this chapter really did feel like a filler. I had written the first half of the Hermione meeting the other Gryffindor chapter and posted it, so I thought I would add it here, and not as an outtake. I'm not sure if I like the other half of that meeting, there was a reason why I ended it with Harry coming last time, and that was mostly because I didn't know what to write. So, there are only three more chapters to this fic left and then this story will be over.