Hermione Granger was excited to be returning to Hogwarts. After the war, when Harry and Ron were off training to be aurors, she had returned for an eighth year to complete her N.E. and help out Professor McGonagall as a sort-of assistant. Since that year ten years ago, though, she hadn't returned to Hogwarts. In fact, she hadn't returned to London. She'd been first in Australia finding her parents and then settling down in the countryside with her husband, Draco Malfoy.

Hermione smiled as she thought about the family she had built there. Draco and her started a bookstore in the muggle town close to their house after getting married, and they built such a community they had Friday night karaoke and Wednesday night poker (Draco's favorite–he had a very good poker face). Their two children, four-year-old Scorpius and two-year-old Cassiopeia, were happy and so were they. But this Hogwarts reunion was a chance to return to where Hermione knew she belonged. Living in a muggle area, they didn't really have a lot of use for magic. They still used it occasionally and Scorp and Cass were encouraged to harness their own power, but it wasn't a necessity. Hermione was excited to return to a world where magic was everywhere and everything, and she knew her husband was too.

"Potter and Weasley aren't gonna know what hit them," Draco said as they got ready together for the reunion. "Promise not to tell them until I'm there to see their expressions."

"I'll try, but everyone who came back for eighth year knows we had a thing," Hermione says.

Hermione hadn't seen her two old best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, for years. At first, they hung out in Hogsmeade when she was still at school, and wrote letters when she was in Australia. But after, she kind of just stopped talking to them. It was too much distance, too much time. They hadn't been there for eighth year, when the entire grade had come together and let go of prejudice for the first time. They didn't understand how she could be friends with people like Draco and her best friend, Pansy. But now, ten years later, she was excited to see them again. Very excited.

"What time does it start again?" Draco asked.

"Six," Hermione said, "What time is it?"

"Five-forty-five," Draco said. "I hope Mary Jane doesn't burn down the bookstore in our absence."

The reunion was on a Friday, and nobody had wanted to cancel karaoke just because the Malfoys weren't going to be able to make it, so they put their assistant, Mary Jane, in charge of the whole thing. Hermione saw pictures of nightmarish situations flash before her eyes at the thought of leaving Mary Jane in charge of their pride and joy, but she shook them away.

"It'll be fine."

"Yeah," Draco agreed, but Hermione knew he was humoring her.

"Do you think the kids are ready to go?"

"I don't know. Check."

Hermione went down the hall and into the nursery. There she found Narcissa holding a wiggling but dressed Cassie in one arm, while holding hands with a handsome Scorp with the other. When Lucius was sent to Azkaban a couple years ago for having illegal objects in his house on top of his old Death Eater reputation, Draco and Hermione had offered to let her stay with them. Now she was somewhat of a nurse to their children as well as a loving mother to the married couple. Hermione adored her, and she had eventually learned to adore Hermione as well.

"They're ready to go," Narcissa said, passing Cassie into Hermione's arms as Scorp went to hug his mother's legs.

"Thanks, Narcissa. I don't know what I would do without you," Hermione said.

"Don't mention it," the mother-in-law replied. "I'm going to enjoy some karaoke tonight."

Hermione laughed. "Draco's scared Mary Jane is going to burn the bookstore down."

"She might, but I'll be there to put it out." Narcissa winked conspiratorially. "Now go have fun."

"We will," Hermione promised. She walked back down to the master bedroom, now with Cass in her arms and Scorpius waddling in front of her. When they got to the door, Scorpius squealed and ran over to his dad, who picked him up and spun him around.

Hermione laughed and Cass giggled. "We ready?" she asked.

"I think so," Draco said, coming over and giving her a kiss. "Have fun tonight, okay?"

Hermione smiled. "See you in a second."

Draco took Scorpius into the fireplace first and picking up some floo powder enunciated, "Hogwarts."

A minute later, Hermione followed suit with Cass. She never liked the feeling of flooing. It felt like being stretched out and made her sick. When she was pregnant, she could never do it without throwing up. Even now she felt like puking wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall's voice was pleased at the sight of Hermione Granger and her daughter coming out of the fireplace. "Welcome back to Hogwarts."

"It's good to be here, professor," Hermione said smiling. And it was. Looking around, even just in her professor's old office, it was clear she was home again. It made her smile.

"The children's room is down the hall," Professor McGonagall was saying, "You can drop your daughter off there and go to the Great Hall for drinks and food."

Hermione smiled. "Thank you, professor. It's good to see you."

She made her way to the children's room and dropped off Cassie. She looked for Scorp in the crowd of kids, but he was probably off playing. Scorpius was always a natural at making friends. It made Hermione smile.

What really brought the Golden Girl joy, though, was walking through the Great Hall. It was just as she remembered it, big, bright, and magical. So many memories, Hermione thought. She almost felt like crying, but was interrupted by two loud voices.

"Hermione! Hermione!"

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were running at her, both with wild, excited eyes. Hermione beamed at the sight of her old best friends, and opened her arms for them as they came crashing in.

"Harry! Ron! Oh my gosh I'm so happy to see you!" she said.

"We're so happy to see you, Hermione," Harry said. They were beaming at her. "We were hoping you would come, but Ginny said she wasn't sure. You haven't exactly been good at keeping up with our lives, you know."

"I know, I know," Hermione said, feeling guilty for the first time. What right did she have to throw away two amazing friends like Harry and Ron? "I promise I'm working on it. Maybe I can come into London sometime and we can have lunch?"

"That would be great," Ron jumped in, "We've missed you around."

Ginny and Lavender Brown finally caught up to the two boys, and smiled cautiously when they saw Hermione, as if they didn't believe she was real.

"Hey you two," Hermione said to break the silence, and she gave first Ginny, then Lavender a hug. Hermione had never really been close to Lavender, but she had shared a dorm with her for six years. It was the least she could do to acknowledge her.

"How.. what.." Ginny seemed completely in shock over Hermione's reappearance.

"I know, Gin," Hermione said, "I was a complete idiot. I should've kept up, but we can talk now. Tell me everything."

She noticed the way Harry and Ginny stood close together, the way his arm was slung around her waist. She smiled. "You guys got married?"

That seemed to wake up Ginny a bit to the reappearance of her best friend. She looked up at Harry and smiled. "Yeah. Five years ago. Best decision of my life."

She looked at Hermione again and winked. "Not that it would've happened without you as my wingman."

Hermione smiled. "You guys would've figured it out without me."

"I wouldn't've," Harry joked, and we laughed.

"What about you, Ron?" Hermione asked.

"Me and Lav have been married for two years now," Ron said, and he pulled his wife close.

"Awww," Hermione said, smiling. "You guys are all so cute."

"What about you Hermione?" Lavender asked. "Are you married?"

Before Hermione could answer her question, she heard a boom behind her. "Hermione Granger–in the flesh!"

Hermione turned around and grinned at Blaise Zabini. They hadn't really known each other until their eighth year together, but living in the common room with the rest of the eighth years had resulted in many a chess match between the two. She hadn't seen him since he broke up with Pansy seven years ago.

"Always a pleasure, Blaise," Hermione said, laughing. She gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek.

"Awww, don't flatter me, 'Mione," he teased her.

"Wouldn't dream of it," she said.

"When'd you guys become friends?" Harry was looking at the two of them, confused.

"Eighth year," Hermione said, as if it explained everything. "Remember? I told you about our chess games."

"They have wizards chess on the other side of the room," Blaise said, "Fancy a game?"

"If you want to get your ass kicked," Hermione said.

"Don't even pretend you won once." Hannah Abbott had come over at the sight of Hermione and Blaise teasing each other. She had always enjoyed the constant banter between the two, and was always a third point in their little triangle.

"Hannah!" The two exclaimed, and they hugged her.

"Hey Hannah," Lavender said.

"Hey Lav," Hannah said, "Heard about your marriage. Congratulations!"

"Thanks," Lavender smiled, "Who were you dating again?"

"I married Neville last spring. It took a long time because he wanted to secure his position as Herbology teacher at Hogwarts first, but now we're happy as can be," Hannah said. Behind her, Blaise and Hermione oohed and ahhed.

Hannah turned to Harry. "You should tell your best friend to stop teasing me."

Blaise turned to Hermione. "Yeah Hermione, stop teasing Hannah."

"Like you weren't!" The two girls exclaimed.

Blaise held up his hands. "I'm just saying–we called it a long time ago and neither of you listened to us. No, it took five years for both of you to get your heads out of the sand and figure out you liked each other."

Harry seemed invested in this dynamic. Ginny seemed a little annoyed. "It's funny. You two were best friends for seven years, saved the world together and all, and she somehow seems closer with Blaise Zabini and Hannah Abbott."

"I don't really mind," Harry said, "She changed a lot that eighth year. I think she learned a lot about herself."

Hermione heard, and turned around to smile at Harry. "I did. I wish you had been there. It was like the entire grade bonded. We didn't care what houses we were in. It was just ten of us. Me, Hannah, Blaise, Pansy, Draco, Ernie, Terry, Neville, Daphne, and… oh god who am I forgetting?"

"Lisa," Hannah said. "She's here somewhere."

"Oh yes of course Lisa," Hermione said. "Anyway, it was really great for all of us."

"I can't imagine being so close to Malfoy," Ron said.

Hermione turned to look at the Weasley. "Why not?"

"I don't know, maybe the bullying?"

"He changed a lot after the war," Hermione said, "And without Crabbe and Goyle and his father and Voldemort, he was really allowed to be himself for once. It was really nice to watch, actually."

"More than nice to watch, I think," Blaise nudged her. Hermione shot him a dirty look. Before Ron could ask what was going on, though, the devil himself appeared. Standing next to Pansy Parkinson.

Both girls squealed and hugged and began to talk a mile a minute. "I haven't seen you in two months, Hermione. Two months! That cannot happen again. I need my girl talks or else I might explode."

"Sorry, Pans, I've been busy," Hermione said.

"Sucking Draco's dick I know," Pansy said, "But honestly, don't you think my new boyfriends are more important?"

"What?" Harry, Ron, Ginny, Lavender, Blaise, and Hannah all started to freak out. "Sucking whose dick?"

Hermione put her head in her hands.

Pansy whistled. "Damn they didn't know?"

"No, idiot!"

"Oops. You should've known I'd spill. I'm lousy at keeping secrets," Pansy said, unapologetic.

Draco was laughing. Ron had turned purple. Ginny had turned red. Harry had turned white. Lavender's head was turned in curiosity. Blaise was grinning like an idiot, and so was Hannah.

"I fucking knew it!" they said, turning to each other. "Didn't I tell you so?"

"No, I told you so," Hannah said.

"I don't think so," Blaise said.

"Yes I did. Remember? I got them stuck in that closet."

"No, we got them stuck in that closet."

"Same difference."

Harry was the first of the Griffindors to recover. "Please tell me you didn't marry Draco Malfoy."

He sounded so defeated, Hermione almost smiled. "I did."

"Why?" Ginny asked. "And why didn't you tell us?"

"Fear?" Hermione asked. "I thought you'd stop being my friend."

"So you stopped being our friend?" Ron asked.

Hermione paused. She'd never thought about it that way. In that instant, she started crying. "Yeah. That's exactly what happened. I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I was so caught up in my new life, my new world, I forgot about my old friends. I own a muggle bookstore for Pete's sake. We don't even use our magic half the time. And I love it, but I miss you guys."

"Oh Hermione," Harry said. He was the first to hug her. Followed closely by Ginny and Ron.

Hermione smiled through her tears at Lavender. "You too, you're part of this family too."

She came over and hugged Hermione, too.

Draco was watching the Griffindors like he couldn't believe it. They had accepted her. Accepted him. It was almost too much to ask for for his wife. When the hug was over, Harry walked over to him. "You love her?"

"She's my world," Draco said.

"Good," Harry said.

Professor McGonagall was standing at the teacher podium. "We're going to release the children now so they can see their parents."

Hermione smiled at Draco, and Draco smiled at her. When the doors were opened, the first two children in were two boys, one with Harry's jet black hair and the other with Draco's platinum blonde color. Hermione gasped. Harry smiled.

"Looks like we're gonna be seeing a lot more of each other now," he said.

"Looks like it," Hermione agreed.

Harry took Hermione's hand. "I forgive you, you know that?"

Hermione leaned her head on his shoulder. "I know."