True to her word, Hermione walked into the ministry that Monday after she confronted the Weasleys and demanded a job. She was fairly certain Shacklebot was on the verge of passing out in excitement when she did it too. Within minutes he had her seated at his desk, in his chair, with a huge pile of folders stacked nose high in front of her. Each was filled with prestigious jobs around the world, many of which were sent in with a specific request for her. And they continued to come in daily.

The Minister wept a little on the inside when she adamantly refused them all, insisting she only wanted a beginner level job to learn basic level secretarial and public relations tasks, and the basics of wizard politics. Shacklebot was quick to offer her some of the highest positions in the Ministry there were, already imagining how great it would be to have her working directly under him. But his private, internal sobbing only increased when she firmly insisted on doing things right and starting at the bottom of the totem pole with all of the other newbies.

They sat in that office for the majority of the morning, and were already feeling their stomachs stir at the promise of a soon to come lunch when they finally came to an understanding. Hermione was the kind of woman who knew what she wanted, and Shacklebot knew that. So he had no choice but to concede to her wishes, and be comforted by the fact that he'd given the cause his damn best. Finally taking time to consider positions that fit what she was looking for, he decided that she'd be most happy joining the Department of Legislation in the small Magical Creatures branch.

"Morning Hermione," Lavender Brown called as she tied a letter to an owl's ankle.

"Morning Lav," Hermione removed her clock and walked over to place a dark book on the other woman's desk. "Thanks for letting me borrow this."

"No problem," Lavender took the book about rare creatures and placed in the desk to bring home later. "Sorry I didn't have anything more in depth to give you."

Hermione waved off the apology and sat at her own desk to flip through her inter-office mail. Over the past three months the two had become good friends. They'd both matured since school, making it easy for them to connect despite their differences. Somehow, Hermione even confided in her about the past few months. For some reason it was easier to talk to her – maybe because she was the only girl friend Hermione had that wasn't related to the offending party.

At first, Lavender had trouble believing it all. But as Hermione continued to reveal things, little by little over time, she could see that she was telling the truth and the fear and conflict in her eyes about trusting someone new with something so personal. She was devastated for her new friend, and was always quick to sucker her into going out to dinner together, and insist on paying the bill. It was always worth it to see each other outside of work, where Hermione always opened up more, and obviously left feeling better than she did arriving. They may not have been the best of friends, but they shared a sort of natural bond. It compelled Lavender to want to help Hermione and even shield her for a while from the world; Hermione found herself accepting that help with increasing frequency as hey slowly grew closer and closer.

Over time, Ron and Molly were slowly making amends, asking for forgiveness and working hard to earn it. Their family was relatively quick to forgive them, holding out only long enough to get the point across that they did not appreciate how they had acted. The same went for Harry, who also made a point of making it quite clear that he wouldn't tolerate such behavior to Hermione again. Never-the-less there was still tension in the air as everyone held out on moving on completely, waiting for the time when Hermione did the same.

The hardest was Hermione and Sirius. Both had been hurt the most and weren't ready to move on. For Sirius, he knew he could never view the Molly and Ron the same, and though he could continue on and simply keep more distant from the two, he refused to let things be smoothed over. He would follow Hermione's lead on this all. After all, they were family the way she was.

More than once Hermione had teared up as she told Lavender about urging Sirius to try and move past it all, if not just for Harry. She didn't realize the change in their dynamic, or how strongly Harry supported his Godfather in choice. Instead she felt sick knowing she had no place to tell him to move on when she couldn't even bring herself to do the same. Lavender always did her best to help comfort Hermione, continuously pointing out that apologies and nice gestures didn't automatically mean Hermione should move on. She'd been hurt and had every right to feel however she did no matter what anyone else did or said.

Things had become even more difficult when Harry and Ron began training to become Aurors a few days later. Even though Harry did his best to keep Ron busy, Hermione was still jumpy, like prey knowing it was being stalked but unable to find the predator. Several times a day Lavender had to run out and intercept him, while trying to not attract Hermione's attention. Each time she greeted and left him with a lecture about acting properly at work and giving Hermione space. The more often they saw each other, the longer their meetings grew. Usually the time was spent talking with Ron expressing whatever what was on his mind- usually having to do with his behavior or relationship. It was easy to see he was still hurting too, so Lavender allowed him to talk, glade to provide a healthy outlet for his turmoil and save Hermione from having to deal with him before she was ready.

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