Happy Friday and thanks for taking a peak at this new story! This is the first Percy/Hermione fic I've written so I hope y'all vibe with them. It's definitely a slowburn (as slow as an 8 part fic can be at least) but their relationship is. probably one of the softest and sweetest I've written (right up there with my Viktor/Hermione from The Power He Knows Not). Chapters for this one will go up every Friday and today will (likely) be the only time I post two chapters.

As always, thank you for being here and a special thanks to pianomouse for being here from the jump for this fic. I really appreciate all of you!

Love Always,

Adrien

Note: This story is cannon compliant through the last chapter of Deathly Hallows but ignores the epilogue completely.

TRIGGER WARNING: INFERTILITY IS A MAJOR THEME AND DRIVING FACTOR IN THIS STORY ESPECIALLY IN CHAPTERS TWO AND FOUR SO PLEASE TREAD CAREFULLY IF THAT IS AN ISSUE FOR YOU.

Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable characters or settings, those belong to J. K. Rowling. I just enjoy making things in her sandbox.

Chapter One: Best Friends Cut Through The Crap

Hermione Granger had never had a best friend. Growing up in the muggle world, she'd been bullied constantly for her hair, her teeth, her books, her bossiness, and especially because of the odd things that always seemed to happen around her. When Professor McGonagall had shown up on her doorstep, Hermione had thought things would be different at Hogwarts…but they hadn't. She'd been bullied constantly for her hair, her teeth, her books, her bossiness, and her blood (in place of the odd things that had stopped happening around her since she had learned control).

*flashback*

September 1991

"What kind of weirdo sits alone in the library?" Parvati's poor attempt at a whisper floats toward Hermione from the Divination section.

"Obviously our roommate. It's like she lives here!" Lavender whispers back before both girls burst into giggles.

Hermione buries her head further into her book as the words begin blurring in front of her.

As Lavender and Parvati's giggles fade into the distance, a tear finally streaks down Hermione's cheeks and lands on the page in front of her.

She slams the books shut and roughly scrubs her face before quickly looking around her to make sure that her roommates hadn't seen the harm their words had caused.

Luckily, there's almost no one in the library other than her. Like most days, the only other person in the library was a boy with vivid red hair and a prefect's badge.

Outside of his appearance, Percy Weasley wasn't anything like his boisterous younger brothers. Percy was quiet and serious and studious. Everything about him was always perfectly in place from his neatly combed hair to his freshly pressed robes while his brothers ran around with untucked shirts and stains all over the place. Where his brothers were surrounded by people constantly, Hermione had only ever seen Percy speak with other prefects.

Despite having family here, Percy seemed just as alone as she was. If he could make it through, so could she.

*end flashback*

Hermione had thought she had found her best friends in her boys. She'd done everything she could for them and they were nearly attached at the hip…but they had always been a bit closer to each other than they had ever been with her…as they'd gotten older, she'd thought it was because she was a girl and Ron had had feelings for her…but those doubts had started to fester though they didn't truly surface until they were in the tent together in what should have been their seventh year…

*flashback*

1998

Hermione didn't think she'd ever felt as alone as she had since Ron had come back. She knew part of it was her fault. She couldn't let go of the fact that he had left them. She was still angry. And Harry wasn't.

Harry had accepted Ron without hesitation. He didn't care that the fact that Ron could find them meant that other people could as well. He didn't care that Ron ate more than her and Harry combined. He didn't care that Ron had said some honest to god terrible things to both Harry and Hermione even before the locket came into play.

All of Harry's issues with Ron were swept away by the fact that he had come back.

And at the same time, Harry still hadn't forgiven Hermione for accidentally snapping his wand in the act of saving both of their lives.

*end flashback*

Though it wasn't until she was back at Hogwarts without her boys and struggling to figure out what exactly she wanted to do with the rest of her life that the reality of her lack of friendship really hit her. Because as much as she loved her boys, they didn't understand her. They didn't really even listen to her half the time. And there was no way she could ask them for advice on what exactly she should do once she finishes school so she'd written to the first person who had popped into her head, the one who had given her hope her first year.

*flashback*

1998

"Thank you for meeting with me, Percy. I'm sure you're incredibly busy helping rebuild the ministry." Hermione's tone was a bit breathless and she knows her face is an atrocious shade of red from her brisk pace in the winter wind but she attempted to smile gratefully at the older man who had beaten her to their meeting spot in the Three Broomsticks.

She wasn't used to having someone waiting for her because she always showed up a few minutes early but she'd seen Percy as a table facing the front door through the side window.

Her scarf was clunky and uneven being one of the first things she'd made when Mrs. Weasley was teaching her to knit and she normally loved it but when it caught on her buttons in the same moment she attempted to shrug out of her coat, trapping her arm at an awkward angle, she would have given anything to not be wearing that particular piece of fabric.

Before she could die completely of embarrassment, an unfamiliar set of hands gently untangles her scarf before helping her shrug out of her coat.

"Thank you." Hermione grins sheepishly, grateful that her face had already been red from the cold outside so that Percy couldn't see her blushing, at the third oldest Weasley.

"Happy to help and I was happy to meet with you as well though I was surprised to receive your note," Percy replies, draping her outwear on the back of her chair as he pulls it back for her.

"Yeah…" Hermione trails off, unsure of how to start now that she's here. "I just…you were the only person I thought could help me…"

There's a long pause before Percy gently prods, "What exactly do you need help with, Hermione?"

"I don't know what to do next…after graduation I mean. Everyone seems to think I have everything mapped out and maybe I did before the war but now…Harry and Ron already think coming back was a bad decision when I could have been working with them this whole time but…I'm just so tired of fighting."

*end flashback*

Hermione hadn't really expected to hear from Percy after her awkwardness in their first meeting despite his promise to send any career ideas that came his way. But Percy had followed through on his promise and eventually they'd started writing about more than work. His letters came in multiple times a week while she was lucky to hear from her boyfriend and her supposed best friend maybe monthly.

When she'd voiced this observation and her feelings on her relationship with her boys to Ginny, the younger redhead always reassured her that that was normal and that it didn't mean that the boys didn't miss them. But Hermione couldn't help but think that that wasn't how people who really cared about you treated you.

She loved her boyfriend and her best friend more than anything but she found that writing to Percy felt differently. She could talk to the older Weasley about anything and everything that interested her even if he didn't agree or didn't know what she was talking about the first time it was mentioned. And he didn't stop writing when she left Hogwarts. He was the only person to congratulate her on her first job when she'd finally settle on a career track within the ministry. He was the only one to ask if she was sure about her engagement to Ron instead of asking when the wedding was going to be. He was the first person to send them a housewarming gift that actually fit in the flat Hermione and Ron had gotten together.

*flashback*

1999

Hermione's first week working in the newly reformed Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures had gone smoothly overall. The people didn't treat her with kid gloves because of her age or have unbelievably high standards because of her war hero status. They were kind and they all had a clear vision for what they wanted their division to become in the future, one that Hermione embraced in its entirety.

However, they were all much older than Hermione and lived radically different lives than the one Hermione herself currently did so they didn't have much common ground outside of the office. Which meant that Hermione had ended up eating lunch alone every day this week because, even though they technically worked in the same building as Hermione, her boys didn't have a regular time for their lunch break and they hadn't had it at the same time as Hermione at all this week.

So Hermione had taken to bringing her most recent read to work every day so that she could have something to do while she ate in the cantine. She'd found that the book acted as a nice sort of barrier between her and the well-meaning, but often intrusive, questions people had sat down to ask her the first two days she hadn't had her book.

A tray rattled against the table across from Hermione seven days into her new routine, startling her away from her newest written page.

"Percy!" Hermione grinned widely at the nervously seated man across from her. "I haven't seen you down here before, are you taking lunch at a different time?"

Percy's shoulder's relax at her greeting and returns her smile before he responds easily, "This is my normal time. I just usually bring my lunch from home and eat in my office. Have you been eating alone?"

Both magicals wince slightly at the very straightforward question but Hermione answers honestly because she knows him enough to realize that his question is a genuine one, "Yeah. The boys don't have lunch at the same time and I haven't really hit it off with anyone in my office. It also feels weird to walk all the way back up there with a tray of food. So I've just been catching up on some reading while I eat."

"You could always come upstairs with me…If you want that is…We have lunch at the same time and it's pretty loud down here."

Hermione watches him for a long moment but his expression is open and honest without any pity or ulterior motive clouding his offer.

"I'd love to. Thanks, Percy."

*flashback over*

In the four years since their first lunch together, Hermione and Percy had eaten lunch together almost every week day. They eventually decided that Percy would make their lunch on Mondays and Wednesdays, Hermione would make it Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on Fridays they would order in so that they each had a little less to worry about throughout the week. They both listened as much as they spoke in their conversations, even if they were unfamiliar with a subject the other brought up. Percy slowly showed Hermione his imperfect side and actually shared his thoughts with her without reservation either quietly at ministry functions or loudly at their lunches. Hermione was the first person Percy had told about his first promotion because he was worried about how his family would react to him having a higher position than his father after how he had acted in the beginning of the war. Percy was the first person Hermione had told about the movement supporting her Elvish Welfare Legislation because Ron and Harry had given up listening to that topic from her somewhere around their fifth year. Percy was the only person who had never forgotten Hermione's birthday and Hermione was the only one who checked in on him on April 1st. Somewhere along the line, Percy became one of the most important people in Hermione's life without her being able to pinpoint when exactly it had happened. Hermione Granger had never had a best friend until she had invited Percy Weasley back into her life. He understood her better than anyone she'd ever met…He also didn't hold back when he thought she was making any kind of bad decision…

"Why are you still with him?" Percy blurts out in a way that would surprise anyone but Hermione.

"Percy!"

"I'm serious, he treats you like absolute shit."

"He's your brother!"

"And you're my best friend. Which is why I can say with one-hundred percent certainty that you don't deserve half of the shit he throws at you."

"Because…" He loves her. They've known each other for fifteen years. Hermione's list of reasons to stay with Ron had gotten progressively smaller until really, if she were being completely honest with herself, those were the only reasons she had left. But shouldn't love be enough? Hadn't they fought a whole war for it? She honestly didn't know anymore.

"If it takes you that long to think of a reason to stay, it's probably time to let go, love," Percy's soft baritone pulls Hermione away from her increasingly frequent thoughts about her and Ron's relationship.

"I…I don't know that I have much choice now, Perce," Hermione murmurs, her right hand hovering over her stomach. It didn't look any different yet, it was still slightly rounded in the way that had made her more than a little self conscious for the past few years, and she didn't know for sure but…she hadn't missed a period since the war had ended…and the wizarding world, though it was slowly making progress, still didn't take kindly to single mothers. It was still very much a patriarchal society and very much favored the fathers in the case of separated parents.