AN: *Disclaimers* I don't own Harry Potter

Everything in the Potterverse (book version) is canon up to Friday the 25th of June, 1999 where our story begins...

Chapter 1: The Unexpected

Harry walked briskly through the damp drizzling London afternoon. He felt a little lost as he looked around. It was just down the road she said but he saw no coffee shop anywhere. Grumbling a bit to himself he ducked under an awning and pulled out her letter skimming it quickly to the end.

….It's just down the road from the Leaky Cauldron. Head south and take the second left, you should see it on your right. Can't wait!

Love From,

Hermione

Harry just shook his head; he had taken the first left. Pocketing the note he moved quickly to catch up on lost time, finally coming to the small coffee shop. The doorbell dinged above his head as he entered but it was quiet, practically empty but it was the middle of the afternoon.

"Harry! It's so good to see you!" He heard a familiar voice before his vision was blocked with bushy hair while being wrapped in a hug. He hugged his best friend back before stepping away slightly.

"It's so good to see you too," He told Hermione with a smile as she guided him to her little table. He was glad to see she hadn't changed much since Easter two months ago, "Sorry I'm so late, I got lost."

"I knew you'd be here eventually," She smiled sitting across from him, "How's Teddy?"

"Oh he's good. I saw him last night in fact. He's doing well with Andromeda, growing up really fast."

"That's good to hear. You'll be able to handle him staying over soon, I have no doubt."

"You really think so? I feel like I'm being a pretty awful godfather not being able to take care of him."

"You're doing what you can Harry. You're wise enough to know you're not ready for that. Seems like a pretty good godfather to me," She beamed at him and he smiled back with a nod of thanks.

"So, how was your seventh year?" He asked, her responding sigh worried him slightly though.

"It was…alright. It didn't feel right without you or…anyone else really."

"I'm sorry…I should've gone. I missed Hogwarts, a lot."

"Why didn't you?"

"I don't know," He said with a shake of his head. She reached across the table and took his hand.

"Are you still staying at Grimmauld?"

"Um…yeah. Yeah I am," He shifted uncomfortably in his chair pulling away from her. When he met her eyes again they were doing that glint he knew meant she was trying to read him.

"Why are you still there? It's been months. Why not go back to the Weasley's?"

"Well Kreacher would be all alone if I did. He needs someone to look after him."

"Harry," He sighed, he knew her tone and she knew he was dodging the question. Could never get anything by her, could he?

"Fine. It's…uncomfortable there after Fred and…everything. Ginny wants to know where we 'stand', whatever that means. I'm just…I need space."

"You shouldn't be alone though."

"I should've been at Hogwarts," He told her with a sigh as he looked out at the drizzling rain.

"Why weren't you?" She asked more directly then the first time. No avoiding this one.

"I...I thought I couldn't handle going back. I thought I had to move on. Ron wasn't going but working at the shop with George and I thought that would be better than facing it. But Hogwarts is my home…and now I may never get the chance to go back."

"Funny you should say that," She said and his gaze snapped to her as she picked up her bag and started going through it.

"Why?" He asked her a little cautiously causing her to smile a bit.

"It's nothing bad I promise," He smiled slightly as she took out a packet of parchment setting it on the table. Harry unfolded it and saw a list of open jobs, almost all professors' positions, "McGonagall is staying as Headmistress but a lot of the professors are just temporary replacements until they could really start an application process. Train and find the right people."

"And you want me to apply?" He asked a little confused; she shook her head at him.

"No, of course not Harry. I don't want you to do anything you don't want too. I just want you to be happy."

"You think this will make me happy?" He was more confused now but Hermione just gave him a soft smile.

"I think it's a possibility."

"What if I still want to become an Auror?"

"Then…okay. If that's what you want. Is it?" She asked him in her poignant way. Harry sighed running a hand through his hair.

"I don't know. I just never considered anything else, you know? I thought I was going to die a year ago and not have all this open for me. I thought my entire life was going to be plagued by Voldemort and his Death Eaters, becoming an Auror just seemed aligned with what my life was full of. And now…it's not," He took a deep breath and looked at her.

Her brown eyes glistened with caught tears in the corners, he knew this kind of talk made her upset but it was true. He didn't know what he wanted out of life because he never dreamed he'd have one. Now that he did he was just so…tired; tired of running, tired of fighting, and definitely tired of people trying to kill him all the time.

"What makes you think I'd be any good at this?" He asked holding up the packet and she smiled as she wiped her eyes.

"Well first off I think anyone would agree you're more than qualified to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts," She said causing a small smile to pull at the corners of his mouth. She leaned forward onto the table to look into his eyes, "And secondly Dumbledore's Army. Fifth year you were debatably at your lowest, yet when teaching I don't think I've ever seen you happier. Even more so than Quidditch. You have a gift for it and you really love it."

Harry couldn't help the smile as he looked at the parchment packet. She was right, per usual, he could only remember a few times where he felt as good as he did when teaching the DA. Teaching. He had never even considered it nor had he back then until Hermione came up with the idea.

"And what about you?" He asked she just smiled as she took the packet from him flipping through it.

"Well…I was thinking of applying for the Transfiguration job maybe the library assistant as well, it's only part time," He couldn't help but smile as she showed him the pages, it sounded just like her.

"That sounds…perfect but what about Ron?" He couldn't help his curiosity.

"What about him? I don't need his permission to apply for a job."

"No of course not. But I just mean, you'll be at Hogwarts most of the year every year don't you think that'll strain…anything?" He asked cringing at his own clunky delivery but she just shook her head.

"I don't think so. Ron and I haven't talked about what happened. He keeps avoiding me when I try to bring it up. Sounds like you're doing something similar with Ginny."

"I'm not avoiding her I just keep telling her I don't know what comes next. I've changed a lot since then. So much…too much has happened."

"I agree," She nodded then pulled one of the pages off the packet and pushed it across the table towards him, "Maybe we should both do the unexpected then."

"What do you mean?" He glanced at the paper; it was the Defense Against the Dark Arts application.

"Everyone expects you to go right back to Ginny, go become an Auror and keep fighting. I'm supposed to do who knows what. Maybe follow you, maybe work for the Ministry in one way or another, be a paper pusher. Mrs. Weasley is already planning for me to marry Ron, I overheard her with Fleur maybe she'll even give us a double wedding."

"I don't want that," Harry shot out so suddenly it even surprised him, Hermione just smiled at him.

"Neither do I. So let's not, let's go home Harry. To the one place we can both be ourselves," She had taken his hand again as he tilted his head looking at her in slight awe. He didn't know Hogwarts had meant so much to her, just like him. Nor did he know she could be this unpredictable, even after all these years.

"You're serious?"

"Completely."

He nodded slowly at the certainty in her voice. Her eyes bore into him as she watched what she must've saw as gears turning in his head. He couldn't find any sort of flaw in her logic, she was right about him loving teaching, he didn't know what he wanted with Ginny, and he knew he didn't want to keep fighting for his whole life it's why he kept dragging his feet on accepting Kingsley's request to join the Aurors. This thought out and fairly nice existence was laid out right in front of him, an Auror, joining the Weasley family, the life he dreamed of, and he didn't want it.

"Then yeah, let's do it," He smiled as she beamed at him. She squeezed his hand before letting go and digging in her bag again before pulling out a few pens. Harry gladly took one and began filling out the application, his ticket back home.

AN: I hope you enjoyed the start to my new series! If you did leave a review and hopefully I'll see you on the next chapter too!