Ron and Hermione had seemed to be getting awfully close after everything and Harry had wanted time to process anyway and he'd felt it best to step away for a while. He rented a room at the Leaky Cauldron, but sleeping alone had proven to be a nearly impossible challenge. At first, he assumed it was trauma from being an actual child soldier, then he considered that he was just missing his friends, or maybe even jealous of them, but it just didn't really fit. Everything felt bad in a way it hadn't ever, and he couldn't explain it.

@therearemoreimportanthings

"Yet you still foolishly thrown yourself into danger as though you have no consideration for your life or future. This is Potter's destiny, not yours. Gryffindors are practically unbearable. 

I do apologise Miss Granger, would you rather I extol your virtues in sonnet form? Or perhaps a grand, romantic gesture to sweep you off your feet and talk to you about my feelings and my fears of inadequacy that can only be healed by the light of your love?”

 "Its not foolish, what else was I supposed to do? Sit around and bake cookies? Let the men do all the work? Let the purebloods and halfbloods do all the work? It became my destiny as soon as I got my letter, this is my war just as much as it is Harry's. And Harry needs me. I don’t expect that but not being insulted constantly is apparently too much to ask for. I already get that a giant spider is more appealing, and so is an airhead with a prettier face than my own.

 "It was never your destiny, it was your choice and it was a foolish choice that led to you almost being killed. Indeed it is pushing the envelope of what is acceptable in a time of war. Love has no place in war, love is what will hasten your demise, I know it, I have seen it. This situation we have found ourselves thrust into is less than agreeable but, truly, can you say it would not perturb you if I was anything other than my usual acerbic self? "

 "What should I be doing instead? Have I ever been the type to let things be or to not help others? If my dying would save more lives I'm willing to risk it, I'm the best in all my classes and yet here is this wizard that kills people saying he is better. That only pureblooded wizards are worth anything and sometimes halfbloods are too. I didn't say anything about love, but love is the one thing at least harry, ron and I have on our side. If you suddenly turned into a gushy romantic I would be perturbed, but there's a lot of room between that and insulting me."

Severus tried not to growl, beyond frustrated and enraged by this slip of a woman who seemed to be more focused on helping others than preserving her own life. He had signed away his life, forfeit it many years ago but that didn’t mean that she had to do the same. He wanted to reach out for her, to grab her and shake some sense into her. It wouldn’t accomplish anything though other than act as a conduit for him to vent his frustrations. Severus thought that Lily had been his soul mate and he had lost her and now, now it turned out that Hermione Granger was his soul mate and there was the strong likelihood that she too would die to save Harry Potter. Severus couldn’t bear it, he had grown sick of seeing life and talent so wasted. 

“Will you stop and listen to yourself for even one moment Miss Granger?” Severus thundered. “You are not in some fantasy story where it is noble to sacrifice your life for the cause because it will all work out in the end. You aren’t even in your twenties and you are ready to throw yourself on the pyre. I am not insisting that you stop fighting but at least curb your natural inclinations towards recklessness.” Severus took a breath to try calm his heart beat. His blood pressure had probably sky rocketed with the force of his mostly contained temperament. 

Harry didn't think much of praying, didn't believe in a God. He had grown up in a catholic home, as was the norm in the neighborhood he had lived in. Though the prest didn't like him very much, just like how his teachers ignored him. So, no he didn't believe in God but he was praying for strength for the rough conversation he was about to get himself into.

"No you're not," he bluntly stated giving Hermione a knowing look. "You've been off for a while and I know part of it has to do with Ron being a knob head but I also think you've worn that necklace for too long."

(*)

“Uh... No, no I don’t mind...” Draco was feeling a tad bit distracted right now. When he had awoken to find his bed empty, he had assumed that Hermione had sobered up from last night, and quietly sneaked back out of his house, in an effort to avoid doing the ‘walk of shame’. After all, the first time they saw each other after the war, and this is what happened, what would people think? A war hero like her landing into the bed of an ex-Death Eater...

But she hadn’t left. She was here still, in his kitchen, dressed in nothing but her knickers and one of his button downs, and she looked every inch the ravishing woman he had always known her to be, and he felt very inadequate.

@therearemoreimportanthings

Harry watched the tent flap slap shut. No doubt had it been a solid door, the sound of the reverberating slam would have left his ears ringing. He swallowed, his mouth set in a grim line. It was enough that Hermione was there with him and remained so, even when Ron had asked her to leave with him. 

Harry had tried not to read too much into that, knowing that between her and himself, she’d made a promise to stay. He avoided looking at her face in such close proximity, not wanting to know if she was unduly upset by Ron’s departure. Just as he’d always done before, Harry locked away all thoughts of Hermione into the box in his brain labeled platonic friendship. Even so, it enraged Harry that he was forced to put her in such dire straits out in the middle of nowhere looking for who knows what.

The ink hadn’t dried yet on Viktor’s new contract with Puddlemere United before that hag Rita Skeeter had penned a positively vile article about his long-lasting infatuation with the charming-yet-overrated Miss Granger. The insinuations that she could keep guys interested only if they were sufficiently far away had him setting fire to every copy of the Prophet he could get his hands on—but also wondering in the back of his mind if maybe Rita knew something he didn’t.

Was Hermione’s relationship in trouble?

Last time he’d checked she’d been happily seeing Ron, and none of her letters since had implied any different, so he’d figured things were ticking along. Tried to move on himself, as one did.

Things with Boyana were good, or had been until he’d ‘decided to prioritise his career over their relationship,’ as she’d put it. Still, they were trying out the long-distance thing.  Portkeys were easy enough to arrange for someone on his salary, so they saw each other most weeks—and while it wasn’t ideal, he was happy to give it a shot.

She hadn’t been too pleased when Viktor told her he’d asked Hermione out for lunch, but he assured her his old friend was still very much happily involved with someone else (war hero Weasley, no less—her first love), and so she’d simmered down eventually.

Had he inadvertently lied to her?

And knowing what he did, had he maybe fussed over his beard a bit too long before heading out to meet Hermione? He’d just wanted to look presentable for someone he saw so rarely, or so he told himself as he hurriedly made his way to the muggle restaurant she’d suggested. With both of them evidently in Skeeter’s sights, nowhere was quite safe, but they’d figured the wizarding world was a full-on no-go zone and opted for a quiet place near her work.

Viktor turned up a solid ten minutes early, as he’d been brought up to do, and got a table for two in a corner away from the windows, just in case. It was only after he sat down that he realised just how much nervous energy he had, fiddling idly with the menu even as he was no longer sure he could actually eat anything. Tangra, he’d forgotten that she always had this effect on him...

Gladion strode down the hallway hand in his leather jacket pocket while the other hung to his side. He was thinking deeply on a bill he wanted to present to the Wizengamot. Gladion was so deep in thought he ran straight into someone causing him to stumble slightly.

“Oh, I apologize-” he paused noticing who it was making his mask go up instantly. It might have seemed silly to some but he hasn’t forgotten the animosity between the houses. While his house had its own problems it didn’t help that Gryffindor’s strong prejudice against his house gave the few that actually didn’t want to be involved with him nowhere to go.

Though the ostracization helped his own causes in the end so maybe he should say thank you.

@therearemoreimportanthings, cont. from here

Hermione sighed and shook her head when he said he’d make it up to her. “You don’t need to make it up to me Harry, I want to be there for you. Just be there for me when I need you.” It seemed so strange after having spent so much time together it could be awkward again; she stepped forward to embrace him quickly.

“Crookshanks is fine, I think he must be out catching mice. I brought him here when I gave my parents back their memories; I think he missed me.” It was always hard to tell with a cat, though he did seem to be much happier now. Her parents had been able to get him on a diet while he was with them. She shook her head as she remembered going to Australia and getting her parents; they were very confused when she showed up.

“That’s good,” Harry said with a nod. “I’m glad, he’s a good cat.”

He rubbed his hands together nervously. He needed to be polite, civil, use common decency. But he had gone so long without talking to another person, longer without actually seeing another person...