Warnings for: sex, mentions of sex, underage sex, manipulation and abuse, and definite swearing. If any of these things bother you, please turn back now.

.i.

"Oh, Merlin! I love it!" Ginny cried happily as she held up the sleek white dinner plate. She smiled widely at Alice, one of her fellow Quidditch players. "They're exactly what I wanted."

Alice smiled beautifully and nodded once. The girls all tittered and passed around the plates to admire as Ginny set about picking another present to open. "They're very lovely, Alice, dear," Mrs. Weasley commented, "they'll make fine additions to the kitchen."

"Additions?" Ginny snorted. "They're gonna completely replace what we've got." She rolled her eyes. "Harry has ghastly taste in… well, pretty much everything."

"Except women!" a particularly tipsy guest cried out and all the girls laughed.

Olive, a tall blonde haired woman, crashed down beside Ginny on the couch and hugged her tightly. "This is so exciting! I'm so happy for you!"

Ginny laughed and smiled. "I can still hardly believe it's actually happening!"

Hermione, sitting across the room with Luna on their own little two-seater, looked up from her cake and asked, "Have you set a date yet?"

Ginny's mouth pinched slightly. Only Mrs. Weasley, Luna, and Hermione noticed the movement of annoyance. "We haven't settled on an exact one yet. But it's still so early. We have plenty of time, really."

Another Holyhead Harpy, Edith, rolled her eyes from her seat on the floor by the coffee table at Ginny's feet. "What's the wait for? Just pick a place. You'll be so wasted by the end of the night you won't remember what the venue looked like anyways." Mrs. Weasley shot Edith a horrified look while Ginny burst into laughter.

"Godric's ghost, I hope that's not the case." She shook her head and selected another gift. "Anyways, I'm not worried." Her smile was wide and tight. "We'll figure it out."

"Christ," Olive cursed with a laugh, "you're the most laid back bride I've ever met. Damn. I bet Christie 50 galleons you'd be a monster."

Christie smirked from where she sat in the armchair. "There's still time yet." Ginny and the other girls laughed. "What I want to know about is when we're going dress shopping. For you, and for us beautiful bridesmaids." She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and it nearly hit Hermione in the face.

The curly haired witch jerked back and rolled her eyes. She glanced over at Luna who smiled sadly and said, "I should clean these up." Luna began picking up the plates of cake that the Holyhead Harpies had refused to touch.

Hermione touched her arm. "I'll help." Luna smiled gratefully at Hermione and the two began cleaning up the plates and cake. They moved into the kitchen and away from the commotion of the bridal shower. Laughter and exclamations drifted in down the hall to them, but the conversation was otherwise — thankfully — muffled.

Hermione placed the cake slices back in the box, trying to fit the mostly intact cake back together. Only she, Luna, and Mrs. Weasley had eaten their slices. She glanced over her shoulder at Luna, who was taking the utensils and placing them in the sink. "How're you doing?"

Luna nodded absently. "I'm well. I'm going to go an extended trip into Norway for work."

Hermione's brows raised. "That's wonderful, Luna! I had no idea. When did you decide?"

Luna blinked her wide, blue eyes once. "Oh, just today, actually." She turned to the sink.

Hermione winced. She looked over her shoulder towards where the bride and her bridesmaids were laughing and talking. A bubble of anger rose up in Hermione's chest. She shook her head and squashed the anger down. "Well, I think that's just lovely." She brought the plates to the sink Luna was slowly filling with warm water and soap. "What sort of creatures are you looking for? Or are you going to go with an open mind?"

Luna smiled softly at Hermione, not her usual one. It was still a little sad, but Hermione was grateful to see a smile on the blonde's face at all. "I always try to have an open mind when exploring. But I don't think I've yet to give up on father's Crumple-Horned-Snorkack."

Hermione couldn't stop her smile of amusement at that. "Of course not. I'd start to worry if you ever did." Luna hummed in response as she began washing the dishes by hand.

The bridal shower slowly wound down as many of the guests left. Mrs. Weasley helped Ginny move the gifts into the spare bedroom while Luna and Hermione finished cleaning.

"Thanks, mum," Ginny said as she kissed her mum on the cheek, "the bridal shower was lovely."

"Think nothing of it, dear." She held Ginny's face and smiled warmly. "More than happy to do it. My only daughter…" She kissed Ginny's forehead. "I am so happy for you."

"Thanks, mum." They hugged before Mrs. Weasley departed, making sure to pop her head in the kitchen to say goodbye to Hermione and Luna as she left.

Ginny came in after and smiled brightly. "Wow, this place looks awesome. Thanks for the help. This day has been crazy."

Luna nodded once. "It's probably to do with all the Rockwurks."

Ginny smiled and rolled her eyes. "Right, I'm sure it is. I'm just going to go get changed. Be back in a sec."

"I'm going to go, actually," Luna interjected quickly. "I promised my father I'd visit today." Hermione glanced sidelong at Luna. Her father had passed a little over a year ago. Luna had made regular trips to his grave when it had first happened. Recently, the blonde witch had only made the trips when upset. Hermione had found the trips only made her more upset than she already was.

"I can go with you," Hermione offered quietly.

Luna shook her head and smiled. "I'm fine, thank you."

Ginny nodded easily. "Okay, well, thanks for coming." She gave Luna a hug. "I'll see you around?" Luna nodded and left. Ginny turned to Hermione. "I'll be back in a second. Tea?"

Hermione nodded and went about putting a pot up and grabbing some scones from where she knew Harry tended to hide them — not that he needed to, Ginny wasn't a massive fan of scones. She warmed a lavender and blueberry scone and began to eat it slowly as she waited for the water to boil.

The front door opened.

Hermione smiled. She stayed standing at the kitchen table as the newcomer went about taking off their cloak and setting down their bag. A tall, dark-haired figure passed by the kitchen door. He waved and mumbled, "Hey, Gin." Harry stopped. Paused. Took two steps back so he was standing in the open archway again. His eyes locked on the smirking Hermione standing in his kitchen. A massive smile stretched across his face. Harry dashed into the kitchen. Hermione barely had time to laugh before he scooped her up into a massive hug. "Hey, you."

"Hey, yourself."

"I haven't seen you in ages," he whispered into her hair.

Hermione smiled into his chest, her toes barely touched the floor as he nearly squeezed the life out of her. "Not my fault, Mr. Get's Engaged and Doesn't Tell Me."

Harry eased back and Hermione's feet fell back against the tile floor. He didn't let go of her. "Yeah, well… it only just happened."

"So?" She pinched his arm and he gasped in mock hurt. "You didn't even tell me you were thinking about asking."

He rolled his eyes and glanced around the kitchen. His eyes settled on her plate on the table. "Are you eating my scones?"

Hermione's cheeks turned pink. "No?"

"Hermione…"

"You don't even like lavender scones!"

"You little thief!" She stuck her tongue out. "I think that's your most mature comeback yet." Hermione popped another piece of the scone in her mouth defiantly. "I'm telling on you. Are you coming to dinner on Friday?"

Hermione shook her head. "Work."

He groaned and rolled his eyes. "You haven't been there in months."

She winced. "I know, I'm sorry. But I've been substituting and having Sunday tea with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley instead." She shrugged. "And whoever else is free usually stops by."

Harry's brow furrowed. "Since when?"

"Since the first week that I missed Friday dinner."

"I didn't know that. Did I know this?"

Hermione nodded. "Probably. Ginny's been to tea before. She knows about it." Harry's nose wrinkled as he thought. He must have forgotten. How could he have forgotten that?

"While I'll have to stop by this Sunday, then. I hardly see you."

"You're seeing me now."

He nodded. "Yes, but it's been too long. You look different. Your hair's different and apparently, you don't wear makeup again and since when did you start wearing skirts?" He pulled back slightly to look down at her long, long, legs. She was too short to have legs that long.

Hermione's hand left Harry's waist to self-consciously pull on her jean skirt. "I don't know, it's supposed to be cute. It's not cute?"

Harry smiled. "You look lovely. You always do."

She smiled back and fixed her halter top. "Yeah well, it's a bridal shower, you're supposed to dress at least a bit nicer than usual."

"A what?"

Hermione looked up at him. "A bridal shower."

Harry still looked confused. "Why would you be having a—?" His sentence broke off as the realization hit him.

Ginny entered the kitchen. She paused briefly at the door when she saw Harry standing with his arms wrapped loosely around Hermione. She smiled brightly. "Hey, Harry." Ginny came forward and ran her fingers back through Harry's fringe, forcing him to step back from Hermione. She pressed a kiss against her fiancé's cheek. Harry pulled back and set his fringe back over his scar.

"Hey, what's this I hear about a bridal shower?" Harry tried to keep the annoyance from his face.

Ginny sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, it's mum. She went crazy when she heard the news." She waved her hand, the massive rock on her finger glinting in the light. "You know how she can be."

"It's been two weeks, Gin. You don't think that's a bit early for a bridal shower? Don't people usually announce an engagement first?" He looked to Hermione for support but the curly haired witched was stuffing her face with lavender scones and deliberately looking away.

"Oh, ease up, Harry. It's not like I could have exactly said no. She's my mum. She wanted to do this for me, so I let her. We all had a great time and it turned out to be perfect because I got to ask all the girls to be a part of the bridal party."

Harry's brows rose. "Bridal party? Gin, I thought we agreed on a long engagement."

Ginny smiled like she thought his confusion was adorable. Her fingers pushed back his fringe again. "Oh Harry, it's going to take a year to plan the wedding anyways. If we want to do it right, at least." The water finished boiling and Hermione quickly pulled it off the burner for something to do. "And we still need to pick a date. I leave in a few days for work, as you know, so we should check venues before then and—"

"We can't."

"Excuse me?"

"Unless we plan to go somewhere muggle or unofficial." Ginny raised an eyebrow. Harry looked away.

Ginny gasped suddenly. "Bloody hell, you haven't registered the engagement with the Ministry yet, have you?"

"Ginny…"

"Harry Potter!"

Hermione's eyes widened. She grabbed her bag and slowly edged out of the kitchen. She just barely managed to get out of the apartment before the shouting truly started. Hermione winced and shook her head. She was glad Ginny had agreed on at least a yearlong engagement because those two still had quite a bit to sort out.

Hermione turned on her foot and disapparated.

:::

Hermione was curled up on the couch with a book in front of the fire when there was a timid knock at the door. She paused in her reading and looked up curiously. People usually used the floo and her muggle family didn't normally stop by unannounced. Hermione set her book down and moved across to the small entranceway of her one bedroom apartment. She opened the door and was almost unsurprised to find Luna standing on the other side.

Luna looked up from the floor, her bright blue eyes shining. There was a moment of silence before the blonde witch broke down in tears. Hermione's heart broke for her. "Oh, Luna…" She took Luna's arm and guided her inside and onto the couch. They curled up together under the throw as Luna continued to sob into Hermione's shoulder. Hermione held the younger witch in her arms and softly stroked her hair.

"Why-" she hiccupped and stuttered out, "why didn't she ask me?"

Hermione tightened her hold on Luna. "I don't know," she whispered.

"I - I thought she was my best friend." Hermione pressed a kiss to her head. She had thought the same thing. Luna and Ginny had been extremely close, even before school started. They grew up together. "Did…" Luna pulled back and the heartbroken expression on her face made Hermione's chest tight. "…did I do something wrong?"

"No," Hermione rushed to assure, "no, of course not." She pushed Luna's curls back from her face and smiled warmly. "You haven't done anything wrong." She knew how difficult Luna found friendships — finding them, maintaining them. Luna was much more at ease with creatures and plants than humans. Ginny knew this better than most. "I think… I think maybe Ginny just wanted to make her friends on the team feel more involved?"

Hermione didn't know why Ginny hadn't asked her or Luna to be bridesmaids. The three of them had been so close, especially so after the war. Had they drifted apart since then? Hermione had certainly gotten more involved with work since finishing her apprenticeship with the Department of Mysteries. She had become a fully fledged Unspeakable, given her own projects and divisions of research and everything. Perhaps she hadn't spent enough time with her friends.

Luna cuddled up against Hermione again and continued to cry. Hermione held her until she finally managed to calm down. They sat in the silence of the apartment for a long while. Finally, Hermione asked, "Are you hungry?" Luna shook her head. "Thirsty? You should probably drink some water." She shrugged. "Come on."

Hermione guided Luna up and off the couch. They moved through the open apartment to the door at the end of a short hall. Hermione's modest-sized bedroom was within. "Here, let's get you some clothes. You can stay here tonight." She grabbed her comfiest sweater and sweats for Luna and left her to change. "I'll grab you some water."

Luna entered the kitchen a few moments later. Hermione handed her the water. "Thank you," she said, not talking about the water.

"It's no problem," Hermione smiled softly, "just what friends do for each other." Luna smiled sadly. "Are you still planning to go to Norway?" Luna nodded. "Good. I think that's a really great idea, Luna. I know you've wanted to do it for a while now." Luna had pretty much the entire trip planned out when her father suddenly got sick. She'd put it off, and then he'd passed away and Luna hadn't been able to even consider leaving the country since then. "You're going to have such a wonderful time." Luna nodded. She yawned. "Come on, let's go to bed."

Luna took her water with her and the two went back into the bedroom. They crawled into bed and Hermione spooned Luna until she fell asleep. Hermione sighed. She wanted to be angry with Ginny about this, but it was difficult to be angry with the bride-to-be. Hermione knew she could never bring any of this up with Ginny. If Hermione tried to touch upon what Ginny's actions had done to Luna, it would cause a massive fight. Ginny had always had a quick temper, but Hermione had noticed that it became even worse when put against Hermione.

The wedding was a year off, Hermione reasoned. And Luna would be gone for the next little while and so would Ginny for work. It wasn't worth it to start a fight right now. Hermione figured it was probably safest to just let it go. She just hoped Luna would be feeling better about it all when she returned from Norway.

:::

Hermione awoke when the floo activated. She had her wards set to alert her whenever someone entered the apartment and the magical tingling it caused jolted her awake. She grabbed her wand and silently rolled out of bed in one fluid motion. Her wards were highly advanced and only a small list of people could just floo into her apartment without permission. This didn't stop her from being overly cautious about the fact that it was 2 am and someone had just entered her apartment.

She slipped out of the bedroom, wand raised in defence. The fingers on her free hand stretched out and quickly flicked the light on.

Harry stood by her floo. The tension instantly left Hermione's body. She figured he might stop by after his and Ginny's fight finally wound down. She didn't think it would take so long though. Hermione stopped on the other side of the living space.

"Hey," Harry whispered.

"Hey." She came around the couch and paused when she saw his bags on the floor. Harry had never brought bags before. "Harry?"

"The wedding's off."

Hermione's eyes widened. "What?"

Harry shook his head. "Or on a break. Or on hold. I don't fucking know." He stepped over the coffee table and collapsed onto the couch.

Hermione sat down next to him. "What happened?"

"Hiroshima."

"Harry…"

He looked over at her, his eyes wide and sad. "I just… I wanted more time."

"You still have a year." Harry sighed and looked away. She raised her hand and stroked her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck the way she knew he liked. "If you weren't ready for this, why did you propose?"

He shook his head. "I didn't. We just… we agreed it was the right step to take."

"Well, obviously not, if you're not ready."

"We've been together for seven years. Gin wanted to get married ages ago. Everyone wanted us to." He didn't sound happy about that fact.

"Well, it's not about them. It's about you and Ginny and what you two are ready for. It's about you and what you want."

"Is it?" he asked scathingly. "That's new." Hermione scowled at his tone. Harry hugged a throw pillow to his stomach and looked away. "She's leaving for work on Tuesday. She'll be gone for four weeks. We decided the time apart would be good."

"It probably will be."

He sighed and turned to look back at her again. "She was mad that I didn't register the engagement." Hermione made a face and didn't say anything. She'd be mad too if she were Ginny. One had to register their engagement to the Ministry before it was considered official. There was lots of paperwork that needed to be sorted through in order to properly set up when and how the couple would be magically bonded. It was a special procedure that only some extremely qualified witches and wizards were able to do. Harry putting off registering the engagement was akin to leaving her at the altar by some, definitely by Ginny.

Harry groaned and leaned into Hermione. He rested his head against her shoulder. "Mrs. Weasley is going to flip. She's going to kill me." Harry pulled back. "Oh, god. I'm going to die."

Hermione tried not to laugh. She held his face gently and smiled. "You're going to be fine. Ginny won't tell Mrs. Weasley and you're not going to say anything either. You both know better than that. It's just a fight. Ginny will cool down, so will you. She'll come home and you two will sort it out."

Harry stared intensely into Hermione's brown eyes. He nodded slowly. If Hermione said it, he had to believe it was true. "I didn't want to be there before she left on Tuesday."

Hermione nodded. "You can stay here."

"Thanks." He grinned lopsidedly. "I don't know what I'd do without you, 'Mione."

She shrugged and smiled. "Probably live a life where your best friend hasn't given you food poisoning on five separate occasions."

Harry snorted out a laugh. "Now, where's the fun in that?"

:::

When Hermione stumbled out of the bedroom less than four hours later, it was to the smell of bacon and pancakes. Her stomach growled loudly. She rubbed her eyes and pushed her riotous curls up into a bun as she walked blindly from the bedroom to the kitchen.

Harry was cooking up a massive breakfast. He smiled brightly when he saw her. "Morning, love." He kissed her temple before moving back to the stove and expertly flipping a pancake in the air.

Hermione hummed in response and grabbed a mug from the cabinet. She turned and held it up near her face as she smiled sweetly. "Coffee?"

Harry narrowed his eyes at her. "You know that stuff is bad for you, right?"

Hermione narrowed her own eyes. "You know what's bad for you, right?"

"Not giving you coffee?" She nodded. Harry sighed and grabbed the pot of freshly made coffee. He poured it into her massive cup.

Hermione smelled the strong scent and sighed happily. "Thank you. Need any help?" She picked up a grape from the platter of fruits on the kitchen island and popped it in her mouth.

Harry snorted. "Yeah, if I need someone to burn the bloody building down, I'll call you right away."

"Oi."

"I'm surprised you even have food in your fridge." Hermione wrinkled her nose at his comment as she ate another grape. "Actually, I'm worried. You're not cooking, are you?"

She pouted. "No…" She droned the word out, feeling like a child. "I usually eat out. Or order in nowadays."

Harry nodded and pointed to the stack of take-out menus. "I had noticed that." He raised an eyebrow. "Where'd all this come from, then?"

Hermione shrugged and went to help flip the bacon but Harry batted her hand away. She huffed. "My grandparents stopped by on Friday. Grams was horrified at the state of the kitchen and they took me shopping. I made sure to mostly get fruits and vegetables."

"Smart."

She glared at him. "I can cook."

"You can burn." She threw a grape at him. It missed and landed near the burner. Miraculously, a fire started. Harry cursed and waved his hand. The fire went out and the grape vanished. He pointed to the living room. "Out."

Properly scolded, Hermione went and sat on the stool at the island. She continued to pick at the freshly cut fruits arranged there whilst she sipped her coffee. "When do you work today?"

"I don't start until eight today, but I'm working a double so I probably won't be home until well after midnight." Hermione nodded. She knew Harry worked tirelessly. In a stunning turn of events, he had not opted to join the auror department. Instead, he'd returned to Hogwarts and finished his final year with marks that made even Hermione proud. Harry had then gone straight into the Healing program and became a children's Healer. If it wasn't for the fact Hermione knew Harry loved his job, she'd had been concerned with how much he worked.

"I'll leave you some leftover takeout. Chinese?"

Harry moaned and nodded. "I love leftover Chinese."

"Everyone does, Harry. It's a fact of life."

The bedroom door opened and Luna slipped out. Harry looked up and a pleasantly surprised smile crossed his face. "Hey, angel." Luna's eyes lit up when she saw Harry. She ran forward and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. He pressed a kiss to her head. "I didn't know you were here." He looked over her head of blonde curls to Hermione and raised an eyebrow. "Full house?"

Hermione nodded and shrugged as she ripped a piece off of a still warm pancake. "There's a cat hiding around here somewhere as well. She disappears." Hermione did not seem concerned as she popped the piece of pancake in her mouth.

Harry grinned at her. He pulled back from Luna and smiled down at her kindly. "How you doin' there, sis?"

Luna smiled. "Better now. Hermione is a wonderful friend."

Harry nodded in agreement. "If only she was as good of a cook as she was a friend."

"I will throw another grape at you," she threatened.

Harry turned back to Luna. "Breakfast?" The blonde nodded and went around to take the other stool beside Hermione. Harry finished serving up breakfast and stood on the opposite side of the island from the girls as he ate.

He was slightly surprised to find Luna here but knew it probably had to do with Ginny's choice in bridesmaids. He glanced at Hermione and they shared a look. Yes, he thought, definitely that. Harry tried not to let it make him even angrier than he already was with Ginny. But to say that Ginny's choice in bridal party hadn't been a part of their argument would be a lie.

Luna wasn't just Ginny's best friend but was practically Harry's family. The two had become quite close since their stay at Shell Cottage during the war. When Harry had returned to Hogwarts after the war, the bond had only strengthened further. Harry thought maybe he finally got the whole sibling thing now. Luna was without a doubt, his little sister. He was extremely protective of her and Ginny's thoughtless action did not sit well with him. Maybe he would ask Luna to be one of his groomsmen. The thought made Harry smile.

"Right," Hermione said after she finished her breakfast. "I'll start on cleaning this mess up. You finish your breakfast," she directed to Harry, "and then grab a shower. You know where everything is." Harry nodded and moved to take her seat next to Luna.

"Are you staying?" she asked Harry, her blue eyes as wide and surprised as usual.

Harry nodded as he swallowed down his bacon. "Just for a few days."

"That's nice." She turned her attention to Hermione. "Thank you for letting me spend the night. I'm going to go home and start on my preparations."

Hermione nodded. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

"I will. Goodbye." Luna slipped from her chair and disappeared through the floo.

Harry stared after the blonde curiously before he turned back to Hermione. "Was she wearing your favourite sweater?"

Hermione sighed. "Unfortunately. But I think it means more to her now than it ever did to me." She smiled sadly at Harry before she turned back to the sink. "I'll just get a new one."

"What preparations is Luna making?"

"She's decided to finally take her trip to Norway."

"Really? That's fantastic." He paused. "I just wish it were under better circumstances."

Hermione nodded as she scrubbed a pan clean. "Either way, it's definitely something she needs to do. It'll be good for her." Harry set his and Luna's dishes in the sink and pressed a kiss to Hermione's head. "Thanks for breakfast," she said as she smiled up at him.

"My pleasure. You know I love teasing you in the kitchen."

"Only in the kitchen?"

"I've been known to branch out from time to time."

Hermione rolled her eyes but she was smiling. She nodded to the bedroom. "Go shower, you smell."

"You like my smell."

"Not this one," she scoffed. Harry held a hand to his chest and stumbled back dramatically. "Uh huh, keep going. The further you get, the better it smells in here."

"Heartless wench," he hissed with a playful smirk.

Hermione gasped. "Harry James! What have I said about insults in parseltongue?" Harry laughed and ducked into the bedroom. Hermione shook her head and huffed. A smile stretched across her lips as she continued the dishes.

:::

"This isn't my job!" Hermione protested to the short and extremely rude Ministry official. "Go hire some Arithmancers to do your dirty work. I'm an Unspeakable, I have a job to do and that's not," she gestured to one of the many meter high stacks of parchment, "doing your bloody paperwork."

The ministry official glared at her. "We looked at hiring an Arithmancer, but they aren't confidential and none of them are as good as you." Hermione's eyes narrowed. She would not be swayed by flattery. A vicious smirk slithered across the man's face. "And none of them are technically employed by the Ministry already and therefore required to do the work we assign them. Regardless of if they think it's their job or not."

Hermione's glare could burn cities to the ground. She leaned over her massive oak desk. "You are not my supervisor. Unspeakable Spratt would—"

"Spratt has been made aware of the situation. You've been given temporary leave from your projects and any others have been sifted off to other Unspeakables."

"What!?" No one else could take her projects they were hers. She fought for those projects. "No!"

"The minister himself assigned this to you. You have no choice, Miss. Granger." Hermione's raged bubbled and boiled beneath the surface of her skin. She wished Kingsley were still the minister. This never would have happened with him in charge.

"What do I do?"

The ministry official, no matter how rude, clearly knew better than to smirk in triumph. He pointed to the parchments. "All data has been collected and orchestrated into numbers and algorithms. Each parchment is a separate subject. Your job is to find the closest possible matches of two subjects by numerical order. There are three separate categories to determine this by, all of which have already been calculated on the page. Simply go through them all and use the correct algorithms to determine the best possible combinations."

"What are they? The subjects, I mean. Potions? Creatures? Spells?"

"That's on a need to know basis."

Hermione bristled. "Considering I am the one doing the work, it is need-to-know. It heavily affects the outcome of the algorithms."

He shook his head. "You don't have high enough security to know." Hermione narrowed her eyes. She bloody well saved the world. What higher security did one need? "Everything else has been taken care of. You just need to combine subjects as best you can."

"And if more than one subject works in numerical value with another?"

He shrugged. "Flip a sickle." With that final word of advice, the ministry official departed.

Hermione let out a frustrated scream. She fell back into her seat and glared out across her suddenly very cramped office. Thousands. Hundreds of thousands of parchments were stacked across her office and she had to cross-reference every single one to another. This would take her ages. Her head dropped to the desk and the movement caused a stack of parchment to shift before sliding to the floor. Hermione didn't even both to look up at the mess. She groaned.

:::

It took her a week to find a simpler solution than going through every parchment over a hundred thousand times. She figured out a system of dividing the parchments according to the three numerical values placed alongside the main subject — also denoted by a numerical value. All parchments with a number no greater or less than a difference of three were placed together. There were hundreds of piles and they littered her office in a sort of terrifyingly logical chaos. She did this for the first numerical value she had to sort them by that she called Article A. Once they were sorted, she waved her wand and each group was designated a coloured sticky on the side.

Then she repeated the process for Article B.

Then again for article C.

By the end of the second week, she had the subjects in groups based on the colour of the stickies. Still a substantial amount of parchments, but now there were a significantly smaller amount of parchments she needed to cross-reference with one another. There was no point in checking the combination structure of subject 42678 with the colours: red, green, and aqua against subject 5436 with the colours: pink, yellow, and orange. Obviously, there was no logical connection between the two.

Bolstered by her progress, Hermione began taking home piles of parchments. She took the easiest piles first, the ones that had all matching colours. About halfway through the third week, she found something that raised her eyebrows.

A perfect match.

It hadn't happened yet. Hermione had gone through countless parchments and cross-referenced thousands of parchments against one another and yet here it was. A perfect match. She paused, suddenly terrified. Her eyes drifted over to the stack of matched subjects she'd already finished. None of them were perfect.

Was it a mistake?

She looked at the clock. It was well past midnight and she knew she was on her fourth coffee already. No. It must be a mistake. Hermione left the two parchments where they were on her coffee table. She would review it in the morning. It was so late it was nearly early and Hermione was exhausted. But suddenly she was wide awake with fear. Were there supposed to be perfect matches?

She shook her head. No. She'd tested a subject in the pool against every other before making a tentative match. And those were still subject to change when she started on a new parchment — and change they did. Hermione was constantly making revisions. No. Either perfect matches didn't exist in which case she had messed something up — a very probable possibility — or… or they did. Hermione made a face and rubbed her eyes.

Sleep. She needed sleep.

She crawled into bed and snuggled up next to the stuffed plushie Luna had sent her from Norway. Perhaps she'll find more perfect matches in the morning.

She didn't. Throughout the rest of the week Hermione found combinations of subjects that got as high as in the 90th percentile, but no 100. Just the one. She eyed the two perfect parchments in annoyance. There was always anomalies in Arithmancy and it was one of the reasons she had never pursued it as a career. Hermione hated mathematical anomalies. They always threw the entire curve off and made her second guess herself.

:::

Hermione sat with the two parchments in front of her near the end of her fourth week on the assignment. She had nearly finished everything. It was just those two bloody parchments that were still driving her round the bend. She sipped her coffee as she glared at them.

The floo flared and Harry tumbled out. He shook his head and stood back up. "Hey, Dumbo," Hermione greeted with a smile.

He smiled and stepped over the coffee table to sit with her. "Hey, yourself." He leaned over and kissed her cheek before he pressed his nose near her mug. He inhaled, hoping for tea, and wrinkled his nose when he smelled coffee. He pouted and sat back.

"Would you like me to put on some tea, Harry?"

He smiled boyishly. "Would you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and waved her wand. The pot instantly went about filling itself and sitting down on the burner. "How was work?"

Harry smiled widely. "Amazing. Riley pushed through. She's going to make it."

Hermione gasped happily. "Harry, that's fantastic."

He shook his head in wonder. "She's such a strong kid. Going to be one hell of a witch. Almost makes me wish I'd gone into teaching."

Hermione nodded and shrugged. She remembered how much Harry had debated back and forth about Healing or teaching in their final year. "Yes, but then who would have been there to make sure Riley would get to go to Hogwarts in the first place?"

Harry grinned. "Too right." He nodded at her. "What were you glaring about when I came through?"

She scowled and turned back to the parchments. "They're a perfect match."

Harry shook his head though he didn't really know what she was talking about. "Those bastards." Hermione snorted in amusement. He knew she'd been given some sort of massive assignment because she'd taken to bringing it home. But since it was Unspeakable business, Harry was left in the dark beyond that. All the parchments he saw were completely blank. He assumed Hermione saw things on them or at least he hoped she did.

He looked back at her. "Did you find any others?" She shook her head. "Could be in a different batch?"

"I've finished."

"Already?"

She narrowed her eyes at the two pieces of parchment. "I was motivated."

Harry laughed. He got up when the pot began to whistle. He made himself a cup of tea before joining Hermione back on the couch. "So, Ginny comes home tomorrow."

Hermione looked over the rim of her mug to him. "How has that been going?"

Harry nodded. "Good. You know I've been owling her." When Hermione nodded, he continued. "We've been talking a lot of things out. And I mean, we still need to talk when she gets home… but I think it's going to be okay."

Hermione smiled. "Good. You two deserve to be happy."

Harry smiled back. "Thanks, love." He rested his hand on her ankle where her foot was pressed against his thigh and squeezed it warmly. Harry turned to look at the parchments on the coffee table as he thought. His thumb slowly rubbed circles along Hermione's skin.

"Guess what!" Harry turned to her and raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "It's Thursday," Hermione announced proudly, "and I've finished my assignment. Which means…"

Harry's eyes widened. "You're going to Friday night dinner?"

Hermione nodded excitedly.

Harry laughed. "That's fantastic! Teddy and Victoire will be ecstatic!" Harry snorted in amusement. "Oh, I can't wait to see Mrs. Weasley try and set you and Ron up again. It's the little things in life, I'm telling you."

Hermione scrunched her nose up and poked his thigh with her toe. "Stop it, you. It's been ages since Ron and I dated. He has a child for Merlin's sake — soon to be children, Mrs. Weasley needs to give it up."

"Children," Harry said as he raised his finger, "but no marriage."

"Breaking Mrs. Weasley's heart."

"Living in sin."

"You're one to talk."

"Oi!"

Hermione threw her head back as she laughed. "As far as Mrs. Weasley is concerned, I'm the only innocent child she has left." Her smile as she said that was in itself a sin.

Harry snorted and nearly choked on his tea. "Christ. If she knew half the things I did."

"Shut it." She kicked his thigh and he grabbed her foot strongly enough that she couldn't do it again.

"Right, how old were you when you lost it, again? Just so we're clear, here?" Harry made a face as if trying desperately to remember.

Hermione gasped in false outrage. "That is none of your business."

He set his tea down on the coffee table and snapped his fingers. "Right, that's it. Fourth year. You lost it in fourth year."

Hermione sat up from where she'd fallen back into a more reclined position. She set her own mug down and gave Harry a challenging look. "He was an international quidditch player, of course, I slept with him." She raised an eyebrow. "As if you wouldn't have done the same."

Harry nodded agreeably. "Oh, without a doubt. Bloody handsome bloke, Viktor Krum."

She smirked. "I'll be sure to tell Viktor next time he's in London."

"Talking?" Harry looked terribly confused. "I thought Viktor was more of a… physical being?" Hermione made a sound of joking outrage. She flew forward and tackled Harry against the side of the couch. Harry laughed loudly.