Hermione found that she liked being back in Britain, and liked the idea of going back to school. Not being able to see Viktor as much as she liked was a pain, but she hoped that with the start of school things would get easier. It didn't help any that the Weasleys had brought her to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.

It might have been Sirius' home, but it was decrepit and more than a little creepy. Hermione shuddered at the thought of the house elves that had been beheaded to decorate the walls. The Black family was certainly not one of the gentler ones.

"Hermione!" Ron yelled. "Thank goodness you're here."

"Yes Ron, I'm here," she said. She looked around at the other Weasleys and a few of the other people who she had little idea who any of them were.

"Don't worry about him," one of the twins said.

"He just thinks that now you're here there will be less chores," the other one finished.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "As if. Now that I'm here I'm sure your mum will just make everyone work more. Or have more work for all of us to do. After all, this place feels weird."

The house did feel weird. And it wasn't necessarily due to the fact that it was hidden until she'd been handed a piece of paper with the address on it, though that was certainly weird. But the house felt, wrong. As if it was alive and sick.

"Alright, alright," Harry's voice came from the entrance.

"Harry?" Hermione asked turning back towards the door.

"Harry!" Ron yelled. He was way more excited to see Harry than he had been to see her. But it was alright.

"You guys could have told me this was where you'd been. Not a single letter all summer?" He didn't look angry, just disappointed. And that made it even worse.

"Don't look at me," she said. "I got here just a few minutes before you. And," she pulled out a bunch of pictures and souvenirs from her bag and passed them around, "I wanted to give these to you guys in person."

"Besides," Fred said.

"She was in Bulgaria," George finished.

"Who knows what…"

"…might have happened to any poor owl trying to fly that far."

Hermione rolled her eyes at the twin speak. Thankfully they didn't do it often around her, but she suspected that it probably had more to do with them not being particularly close friends.

"I did miss you guys," she said.

"Not as much as I bet you miss your boyfriend," Fred said.

Hermione shoved him into his twin. While it was true, she had missed her friends. And she hadn't been intending to tell them that.

"Hey guys," Harry said, "play nice. Hermione just got back and I'm sure she's as tired as I am."

Ginny peered around the china hutch she had been clearing out. "You'll be bunking with me; do you want me to show you?"

Hermione nodded. She really did want to go to sleep, and she wanted to avoid talking to the boys for a bit longer.

The girls headed up the stairs, Hermione's stuff with them. They were sharing one of the smaller rooms, since it would only be the two of them, compared to the boys who were seemingly being shoved into every spare corner.

"So how was Bulgaria?" Ginny asked.

"Wonderful," Hermione said. "I had an amazing time, though I think my mum's going to try to abolish the statute of secrecy. Honestly, I blame my dad."

"What?" Ginny asked. "That's got to be the craziest thing I've heard you say. And trust me, you say some crazy things when you're tired."

Hermione flopped down onto the bed. "My mum thinks that the statute of secrecy is crazy, since muggle borns exist, and quite a number of wizarding folks have married muggles. She says it would cause a lot less stress if it was abolished."

She wasn't aware that her hair was growing bushier by the minute, escaping from the braid that she'd managed to confine it in that morning. Her nerves always made her hair worse, but she hadn't really noticed much.

"Your mum is about as crazy as you."

"Tell me something I don't know," Hermione said. She pushed herself up off the bed and reached into the duffle bag she had brought with her to find her pyjamas.

"Don't tell me you're going to go to bed now?" Ginny whined.

"Ginny, Bulgaria is two hours ahead of us. And I spent three hours on a plane. I'm exhausted." Hermione took her toiletries and pyjamas and opened the door. "Now where's the bathroom?"

"Third door to the left."

The next morning Hermione woke up at what was eight in Bulgaria. It was six in Britain, and that meant that Ginny was still soundly asleep. And for Hermione, that was perfectly fine.

Hi there, Hermione wrote.

Good morning. Aren't you up early? Viktor asked her.

Not for me. I'm still on the same sleep schedule I was on yesterday, she wrote. She knew full well that he was teasing her, but she sometimes liked to tease him back.

Well then, you'll know I have practice soon. As much as I want to talk to you, I'm going to have to leave soon.

Hermione sighed. She was aware of the situation. As much as she wasn't always thrilled with Viktor's practice schedule, she had to admit that his team had dedication. And he really did want to be the best seeker he could possibly be.

I know. I just wanted to talk to you before you left. Even if it was just for a few minutes.

Just one of the reasons I love you, Viktor wrote.

Hermione blushed. Though Viktor had said stuff like that before, she still felt butterflies in her stomach every time he did so.

I'll talk to you later.

She cleaned herself up and got ready for the day before there was any sign of life in the house. She was fully dressed and down in the kitchen drinking a mug of tea when Mrs Weasley came in to cook breakfast.

"Hermione, you're up early," she said.

"Not particularly. Bulgaria's two hours ahead, and I like to keep in contact with Viktor."

Mrs Weasley looked over Hermione appraisingly. "How exactly do you manage that? Floo calling?"

Hermione blushed, realising that she had admitted more than she had intended. She pulled up her left sleeve. There were streaks of ink on her arm, and words written in Bulgarian. Those were still as sharp as they had been when they were first written.

"I write Viktor and he writes back."

Mrs Weasley's eyes grew wide. She had heard of such things, but they were beyond rare. They were so rare that had Hermione been born a hundred years ago, she and Viktor would have been practically engaged the moment they met.

"Soulmates?" she whispered.

Hermione nodded and pulled her sleeve back down. She'd forgone long sleeves in Bulgaria but found that the more time she spent with Viktor, the less ink she had on her person. Back in Britain, she found that it was hard to leave her arm unmarked.

Mrs Weasley sighed as softly as she could manage. She had always hoped that Ron would see the obvious and admit his feelings for Hermione. But knowing what she did, she was happy that Hermione had found Viktor.

"I guess this means things are happening a little differently than you expected."

"I certainly didn't think that I'd be learning Bulgarian. My writing's fine, but speaking is another matter. And no one here knows enough for me to practice with them," Hermione admitted. "And I certainly didn't expect to fall for a quidditch player."

Mrs Weasley smiled as she pulled out the stuff for breakfast. "With the way you felt about it, we suspected that you wouldn't. But you don't get to choose what the person you love enjoys."

"Can I help you make breakfast?" Hermione asked.

"Absolutely."

The next few days were filled with cooking, cleaning, and Order meetings for the adults. Hermione found that she was helping with the cooking more than the cleaning, not that she minded. She wasn't particularly fond of the idea of dealing with the doxy infestation.

Mrs Weasley was more than competent in cooking and could feed even more people than those who were staying with them. But with Order meetings, directing the cleaning, and keeping Fred and George in line, it was much easier to do things with an extra pair of hands.

Hermione found that it was much easier to keep her mind off certain things if she was busy. And so she kept herself busy, talking to Viktor in the morning and evening, cleaning and cooking all through the day. It wasn't always fun, but it made her feel like she was getting something done.

She worked alongside Winky, asking questions about house elves and all sorts of old magic. She was learning more than she had in a long time, and was glad. Before she had even realised it, it was time to go back to school.

A/N: I'm super excited for fifth year. Even with Umbridge. She's a fun villain, even if I absolutely hate her. And there's so much to do and play with. This is exciting. Also, I hope everyone's doing well. I know a lot of people have finals, or are finishing up with them. So good luck to all of you in school. I hope you do well.