July 1986

Hermione knew her mother wouldn't appreciate her wandering off, even though she'd always thought she'd be easy to find, perched in one of the comfy chairs of the used book shop just at the end of the block. Why her mother always thought she'd run off was a mystery to her. She looked over her shoulder as she put her weight into shoving the door open, just to make sure her mother hadn't come out of the office to look for her already.

"Hello, Miss Granger." The shop owner looked up from her book, smiling at her as the bell over the door chimed. "Have you driven off another sitter, then?"

"She tried to paint my nails." Hermione scowled a moment before pulling herself up on her toes to better look over the counter at Adelaide. "She said I read too much, and didn't play enough, as well. Took away The Magic Garden before I finished reading it. Said it wasn't good for me."

"Well, we can't have that, now can we?" Adelaide chuckled, marking her place before coming out from behind the counter. "I believe I have a copy of that in here, if you'd like."

"Yes, please." Hermione followed her toward the stacks, quietly following her between the shelves until Adelaide paused to lift down a book, handing it to her with a genial smile. "Thank you, Ms Sullivan."

"You're very welcome, Miss Granger." She paused, flicking a glance toward Hermione's favorite back corner. "There is, I might mention, another young refugee hiding from the boredom and trouble of waiting on a guardian."

"So long as he or she isn't going to try to talk to me while I wish to be reading, I won't be bothered." Hermione shrugged, looking up at Adelaide with a brief smile before she headed for the back corner and its comfy chairs. She gave a curious look to the boy curled up in the one before she settled into the other to read her own book. He looked engrossed in whatever he was reading, and she wasn't about to bother him, not when she had her own book to read.

She wasn't entirely certain how long she'd been reading before the bell over the door rang again, and she looked up over her book. The boy had done the same, and he looked a bit startled to see someone else here, the glasses on his face giving him an almost owl-like appearance.

"Hello." His voice was quiet, just loud enough for her to hear, and he gave her a brief smile to accompany the greeting.

"Hello." Hermione glanced toward the front of the store, listening as Adelaide greeted whoever had come in, relaxing slightly when she heard a male voice respond. She looked back at the boy, returning his smile with a genuine one of her own. "I didn't want to bother you earlier, you looked like you were enjoying the book."

He shrugged a bit, fingering the cover a moment. "It passes the time, I guess." He sent his own glance at the front of the store a moment. "That's probably my godfather to pick me up."

"Your godfather?" Hermione frowned a moment, looking puzzled. "What about your parents?"

"They're dead." His expression wasn't as sad as Hermione expected, and her frown deepened before he added, "I don't remember them. It's always been my godfather and my uncle and my aunt taking care of me."

"Oh." Hermione looked down at her book a moment. "I'm sorry."

He shrugged again, giving her a bit of a grin. "It's all right. I don't mind much. Uncle Sirius is always fun, anyway."

"Sirius?" Hermione tilted her head. "He's named after a star?"

The sound of footsteps coming between the shelves interrupted the conversation before the boy could respond to her question, a man grinning at the sight of the boy as he came into view.

"Sorry I'm late, Harry. A bit of trouble with the Ministry and some..." He paused when he caught sight of Hermione, his grin fading a bit before it warmed into something more a genuine smile. "Who's this? A new friend?"

"I just met her." Harry had a smile on his face that echoed the man's - Sirius, if this was the godfather he'd mentioned. "I've been reading."

Hermione closed her book, setting it aside as she slid from the chair, a polite smile on her face as her mother had taught her. "Hermione Granger."

"Hermione? Your parents have good taste in names." Sirius crouched down so he was on eye-level with her, offering his hand. "Sirius Black, Harry's godfather."

She blinked, taking his hand after a moment, his grip brief before he let go. "My mom likes Shakespeare a lot." She tilted her head, biting her lip against the question she wanted to ask about his name. Knowing it might be rude.

"I don't recognize your family name, though." He didn't actually stand up, staying crouched down, expression easy and open. "Your parents Muggle-born?"

Hermione frowned, confused. "What do you mean, Muggle-born? What's a Muggle?"

The startled expression shared between Sirius and Harry only deepened her confusion, and Hermione crossed her arms with a scowl her sitters would all have recognized. It was the one that drove them off, preceding a flurry of questions that too often couldn't be answered. Or a lecture on what she did and didn't like.

"Ah..." Sirius grimaced, reaching up to run a hand through his hair. Silent a moment while he considered something, hopefully not what lie to tell her about the unfamiliar term. "Muggles are people who can't do magic."

"Magic?" Hermione gave him another puzzled look. "But I'm not magic. Not like in books. Nor are my parents. I'd know." She wished, sometimes, that she could do magic like she found in some of her books. Imagined, even, what it would be like to have the sort of power that witches and fairies did.

"You have to be magic." Harry slid off his own chair, coming closer, and sitting on the floor instead, giving Sirius a brief glare until the adult did the same. Inviting her to sit with them. "You can't find this shop if you're Muggle."

Hermione settled onto the floor, frowning as she thought that over. Maybe that was why her mom always thought she'd run off. "But I've never done magic."

"Yes you have. You found here." Harry's expression was stubborn when she gave him a doubtful look. "Mine grew my hair back when Aunt Petunia tried to cut it last month. Sometimes magic does funny things like that."

"So you're magic, and Mr. Black is..."

"Sirius." Sirius gave her a bit of a grin, shrugging. "Mr. Black makes me think Professor McGonagall's around."

Hermione gave him a bit of a glare for interrupting her. "You're both magic, and Ms Sullivan has to be magic, if she's running the shop. How does my mom find me, if she's not magic?"

"Maybe Ms Sullivan goes out to get her?" Harry shrugged. "Aunt Petunia only sees this shop when I'm with her, so she can drop me off here for Sirius to pick me up. She can't pick me up here, though. Uncle Sirius drops me off with Ms Figg, and she takes me over to my aunt and uncle's house. So Aunt Petunia doesn't have to meet him again."

"Why doesn't the bell ring when Ms Sullivan goes out, then?" Hermione gave them another puzzled look.

Sirius shrugged. "She might have charmed it to only ring for customers."

"Then why would it ring for me? I don't buy books, I just read them." Hermione frowned thoughtfully, tilting her head as she tried to puzzle it out. "What if she just made it not ring for her?"

"She might have." Sirius shrugged again, giving her a lopsided grin. "I don't worry about it."

The bell ringing again caught their attention, and the familiar voice that was in the middle of thanking Adelaide for watching Hermione again made her slump a bit.

"That's my mum." She bit her lip a moment before she turned, picking up the book she'd been reading, so she could return it to Adelaide. "Maybe we'll run into each other again?" she asked, looking over at Harry.

"That'd be cool." Harry shrugged, following her example and picking up his book as Sirius stood. "I can tell you about magic, and the wizarding world. If that's ok, Uncle Sirius?"

"I'll find out." Sirius herded them both toward the front of the store, giving Hermione's mother a genial smile.

Hermione hurried over to her mother, reaching up to set the book on the counter for Adelaide to put back on the shelf, trying not to scowl as her mother reached down to take her hand. She looked back over her shoulder as her mother took her out of the shop, waving at Harry before the door shut.

---

December 1987

"Pavarti, we're going to be late!" Padma grabbed her shoes, pulling them on over her socks as she glared at her twin, still fiddling with her hair. "We have to take a Muggle car, remember? We can't just Floo over to Harry's."

"It's stupid." Pavarti scowled back. "He's a wizard, his godfather is a wizard. Why don't they have Floo?"

"Because you can have unexpected visitors with Floo, and it's Harry." Padma rolled her eyes. "It's safer like this."

"Says you."

"Says everyone." Padma headed for the door, grabbing the new coat her parents had bought her for going into Muggle London. The one she'd picked out, after a year of borrowing clothes from Harry's friend Hermione, and figuring out Muggle fashions. She liked the chance to wear trousers most, and she'd even managed to find a Muggle equivalent of dress robes with trousers.

"Come on, Pavarti!" She pelted down the stairs, shouting over her shoulder as she headed for the door, skidding to a stop before she could run into it. Waiting impatiently for Pavarti and their parents while she peered out the door, grinning when the car pulled up in front of the steps.

The trip always felt like it took longer than it did, and Padma bounced impatiently in her seat, mouthing each street name as they passed it, the route memorized months earlier. She sat up straighter when the car made the last turn, counting the buildings until they reached the one with the flat. Christmas decorations lit up some of the windows, the electric lights still a novelty even now. Brightly colored and sometimes blinking, all without the benefit of magic.

She spotted Hermione walking along the sidewalk with a woman following behind, and waved as she climbed out of the car.

"Hermione!" Padma grinned, bouncing impatiently on her toes as she waited for the other girl to catch up, so they could go into the building together. Ignoring her sister's muttered grumble, and reaching out to wrap a hand around Hermione's. "Pavarti tried to make us late."

"Mum almost didn't let me come." Hermione flicked a sideways glance at her mother before shrugging, and smiling at Padma. "Until Mr. Black said he'd have a female chaperone, too."

"Who do you think he asked to come?" Padma pushed open the door, holding it long enough for Mrs. Granger to catch it. "Does he know anyone who would be willing to come over to be a chaperone?"

"Ms Sullivan, probably. She runs the bookstore down the street from my parents' dental practice." Hermione shrugged, starting up the stairs. "She watches me when I'm not at school, and during the holidays, since mum can't find a sitter for me anymore." There was a smug note in Hermione's voice, and Padma rolled her eyes.

"You're lucky. Mum just gets her old nurse to watch us." The house-elf was still easily capable of keeping even twins contained and watched, and was all but impossible to scare off. "What did you get for Harry?"

"A book about snakes. He's been going on about the one at the zoo talking to him for months."

Padma shivered. "That's still creepy, you know."

"It could be useful, and I think it would be nice to actually be able to talk to snakes and other animals. Think about what you could learn!" Hermione smiled a moment, her eyes lighting up with the idea of a new source of knowledge. It was one of the things that made Padma worry about her sometimes, that voracious and insatiable appetite for knowledge. Even she wasn't nearly as avid about learning everything.

"I think it's creepy and gross," Pavarti announced from behind them, her boots clicking on the stairs. "And it's dangerous."

"It doesn't have to be." Hermione rolled her eyes, pausing a moment to give Pavarti a glare over her shoulder. "Harry's not evil in training, anyway." She shook her head, continuing up to the flat, knocking on the door. "He's just a boy."

---

May 1989

"It's poisonous." Padma didn't budge from the bench she was sitting on, her feet tucked up under her since she'd spotted the snake. It didn't matter that Harry could talk to it, and keep it from biting her. "It's a viper, Harry!"

Harry shrugged, letting the snake curl around his hand lazily. "It's just a snake, Padma." He hissed a moment, and Padma shivered a little. "She doesn't really want to hurt anyone. Just find enough food to keep fed, and be left alone by humans."

"I'm happy to leave her alone. I'm up here, and she's down there, and I'm not getting off this bench until she's gone, and I'd really prefer she wasn't between me and the house." She shook her head, shivering again. "Please, Harry, just get her to go."

He looked up at her a moment, and then nodded, hissing at the snake as he lowered his hand to the ground, letting it slither away. Watching it go before pushing himself off the ground. "Sorry if I scared you."

"You didn't." Padma rubbed her arms, waiting a long moment more before she unfolded her feet, gingerly lowering them to the ground. "Just the snake. I didn't see it until you started talking to it, and I don't like snakes."

"They're not that dangerous if you're careful around them." Harry gave her a lopsided grin. "Think we should tell your sister or Hermione?"

"Hermione will want to know what you talked about, and Pavarti will tell you that you're gross." Padma stood up, glancing back at the house. "Maybe we can tell Hermione later, though. At least she doesn't think it makes you a future Dark Lord."

Harry rolled his eyes, shoving his hands in his pockets as they started back toward the house. "I don't want to rule the world, or anything like that. That'd be boring."

Padma laughed, relaxing as they got further away from the snake. "But you could build the largest library ever if you ruled the world. And make all the other libraries send all the best books."

"There's enough money in my vault at Gringotts to do that anyway. Maybe." Harry shrugged. "And anyway, it'd still be boring. I bet it would be like going with Uncle Sirius to those school board meetings all the time." He made a face. "I don't ever want to do that again. I just want to be able to do fun stuff."

"You could make other people do all the work."

"But then I wouldn't rule the world. So why even bother doing that, when I can just do fun stuff, like talking to snakes and playing with my friends and stuff? Well, and school, but that's still kinda fun." Harry made a face. "When Dudley isn't being a prat, anyway."

"Your cousin's always a prat." Pavarti rolled her eyes. "At least he won't be able to come to Hogwarts with us when we go. That would be a real pain."

"Maybe. It'd scare Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon if Dudley showed magic." Harry grinned a little before shrugging again. "I hope he doesn't, though. I really like not having to share the wizarding world with him."

"Three more years, and then maybe you won't ever have to go back to your aunt and uncle anymore." Pavarti waited while Harry opened the door. "It doesn't really make sense, anyway. You have your godfather, so you didn't need to be placed with your aunt and uncle."

"Don't ask me. Uncle Sirius says it's a stupid arrangement, but he's going along with it 'cause he has to. But it's not all bad. I wouldn't have met Hermione if I weren't with my aunt and uncle sometimes." Harry let the door slam shut behind them, and Padma flinched a bit. "I think meeting her makes up for the rest of it. Mostly, anyway."

"She's a little scary." Padma shrugged, dropping onto the couch in the main room. "I don't think even I know as much about the wizarding world as she does, and I've lived in it all my life."

Harry grinned a little, flopping on one of the chairs. "She's brilliant, and she reads a lot."

"Yeah, but that's what makes her a little scary." Padma tilted her head back to look at the ceiling. "She'd make a really good Dark Lord, don't you think?"

"No." Harry's tone was vehement. "She's bossy and smart, but she's not evil."

"She'd still make a good Dark Lord." Padma made a face, looking up again to meet Harry's irritated glare. "But that doesn't mean she'll be one. It's just talk. And besides, she's got you and me."

"Yeah." Harry's glare faded, and he relaxed back against his chair. "She's got us."

---

June 1991

"I'm going to Hogwarts." Hermione spread the parchment out over the dining room table, looking over at Harry and Padma with a determined smile. "Mum and dad aren't sure about sending me, but I'm going to go."

"Why don't they want to let you go?"

"Because it's in Scotland, and because they can't visit to see what it's like." Hermione shrugged. "They're worried about me, because I haven't made friends at school, and I prefer to spend all my free time at Ms Sullivan's book shop."

"That doesn't mean you won't make friends at Hogwarts. And you have Harry and me." Padma rolled her eyes. "Besides, you're a witch. You have to go to Hogwarts."

"And I'm going to go. I just have to figure out how." Hermione fingered the parchment, frowning as she studied the letter. "I'm not going to let them stop me going."

"Maybe Uncle Sirius can help." Harry shrugged when the girls looked at him. "He's been to Hogwarts, and he's talked to them before. It's just an idea."

"If that doesn't work, then maybe we can forge their signature, and you can get Mr. Black to take you to Diagon Alley for your school supplies," Padma suggested. "We can figure out how to pay for them, and then all you'd have to worry about is getting to King's Cross on the first of September."

Hermione nodded. "I have some money I can change into Galleons. Aunt Edith sends me money every year for my birthday, and I've kept most of it. It should be enough to get at least one year's supplies. And once I've started at Hogwarts, mum and dad can't stop me from returning."

"Let's ask Sirius to help first." Harry crossed his arms, meeting Hermione's gaze steadily. "He'll be back from the school board meeting soon, and then he can go with us, and we can all talk to your mum and dad."

"It's still good to have a back-up plan." Hermione carefully folded the parchment again, tucking it back into her school bag. "I didn't say I wasn't going to ask if Sirius could help."

"Good." Harry relaxed a little, grinning. "And if they still don't want to let you go, I'll pay for you school supplies. And I'll get Uncle Sirius to pick you up to take you to King's Cross."

"My house is closer to Hermione, actually. I could get my parents to pick her up on the way." Padma reached out to wrap her hand around Hermione's, squeezing a moment. "We won't leave a friend behind."

"I know you won't." Hermione squeezed back, before reaching out to hug Harry. "And I won't leave you either."

The sound of a key in the lock made them exchange conspiratorial grins before they lined up, waiting for Sirius to come in with identical beaming smiles on their faces.

---

September 1991

"Granger, Hermione."

Padma nudged her friend forward, crossing her fingers as she reached for Harry's hand, clinging to it as they waited for the verdict of the Sorting Hat. The first of them to be sorted, and neither of them were quite sure where they hoped she'd be sorted. The discussion on the train certainly hadn't been any help.

There was silence for a long moment, Hermione's hands clenching white-knuckled around the edge of the stool, and Padma could imagine the ferocious scowl that accompanied them despite it being hidden by the hat. Only when they relaxed did the rip near the brim of the hat open and call out, "SLYTHERIN!"

"She did it," murmured Harry, as Hermione carefully set the hat back on the stool, stalking toward the tables that held her new House-mates. None of whom knew her parentage, but would assume that at least one of them was a wizard or a witch. At least, Padma hoped so, since unless she or Harry was sorted into Slytherin, Hermione would be on her own at least part of the time.

The names in between passed in almost a blur as Padma waited for her name, barely remembering to let go of Harry's hand when she headed for the stool. The hat fell down over her eyes, like it had with every first-year, a murmur in her ear accompanying it.

Well, now, that's an interesting first thought to hear. Worried for your friend, that's good. But I don't think you'd do as well in Slytherin, no. Knowledge concerns you more than ambition. Always curious about the world around you... yes, yes, I think you'd do your best in...

"RAVENCLAW!"

The last was shouted aloud, and Padma pulled the hat off her head, her gaze going immediately to Harry, and then Hermione. A smile spreading across her face as she headed for the Ravenclaw table, sliding in next to a girl with a prefect's badge, where she could watch the stool, and wait for Harry to be sorted.

Her sister went to Gryffindor, little surprise, and the next girl settled in next to Padma while Harry headed for the stool. It took longer than it had even for Hermione, and Padma bit her lip, crossing her fingers under the table. He'd wanted Gryffindor ever since Sirius had mentioned he'd been sorted there, and she hoped he'd get where he wanted. If the hat actually took into account where a student wanted to be sorted.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The shout was a relief, and Padma relaxed, grinning as Harry took off the hat, impatiently waiting through the rest of the sorting, hungry now that the knot in her stomach had loosened.

---

The sorting had been just another step in Hermione's plans to make sure she had every tool she needed to not only survive in the wizarding world, but to make sure that she and her friends were on top. Or at least, had the ability to do whatever they wanted.

Her new House-mates regarded her with wary curiosity, no doubt wondering just why she had a Muggle name. Though she had a story ready for them, if they asked. She only hoped Sirius wouldn't be too upset at her little plan to pass herself off as a half-blood. Something she almost wished was true, after the effort it had taken to convince her parents to let her go to Hogwarts.

"I'm Daphne Greengrass." The girl next to her spoke quietly, sliding a look at her out of the corner of her eye. An overture of some sort, but what it meant, Hermione wasn't certain yet. Not in this world she still didn't fully understand, despite all her research, and her friends.

"Hermione Granger." Hermione supplied only the same information that had been provided her, glancing up briefly when the Headmaster spoke, mentally noting down the warnings before ignoring him. It wasn't him who was important, not right now.

"You're friends with the Patils?" Daphne watched her, curiosity in her expression. "And Harry Potter?"

"With Padma, yes. And with Harry," Hermione supplied, knowing that much would be obvious enough. If simply because she had no intent of denying her friends just to appease others in her House.

"What's Potter like?"

"He's a boy." Hermione shrugged. "He's my friend." He talked to snakes, wanted nothing better than to play with his friends and have a normal life, and she wasn't going to take that away from him.

"Oh." Daphne turned back to her plate as food appeared, conversation fading as they helped themselves to food.

---

December 1994

Hermione ignored the irritated looks being sent her direction by the Gryffindors around her, chin held high as she waited for Harry to come down the stairs into the common room. Padma was sitting on the edge of one of the less comfortable chairs, her sister whispering fiercely to her, voice too low to actually be heard, though Hermione could imagine the subject. It wouldn't be the first time she'd endured the whispers of Harry's House-mates, simply because of her own House.

"Pavarti!" Padma finally spoke, her voice sharp and annoyed. "Leave off. She's been his friend longer than I have, and certainly longer than all of us have been at Hogwarts."

"She's a Slytherin!" Pavarti's voice rose, the rustles of movement and conversations quieting around them.

"Yes, she is." Padma glared at Pavarti. "She's also a fiercely loyal friend, something which you consistently neglect to notice. No one is solely defined by their House." She paused, and tilted her head toward where Hermione stood next to the fireplace. "She wouldn't be standing there, waiting for Harry, if she weren't his friend."

"She just wants the fame that being on his arm will bring her." Pavarti shot a venomous glare at Hermione.

"He asked her to the dance, you dolt!" Padma rolled her eyes, standing up to meet Pavarti's astonished look with a glare of her own. "After I told him if he didn't do so, I'd wager Malfoy would, so don't even suggest she manipulated him into it."

Hermione curved her lips in a faint smile, knowing that Draco had been more concerned about asking Pansy to accompany him before Blaise beat him to the punch. Never mind that Pansy had already told Blaise to ask Daphne, and behave in public.

"Why would you do something like that, Padma? Let Malfoy or one of those Slytherin goons of his ask her, she ought to be going with one of them anyway!"

"Um, Pavarti?" Harry was standing at the base of the stairs to the boys' dorms, staring at his House-mate. "I would have asked Hermione anyway. And besides, Padma's going with us, too." He grinned a little at the stunned expression on Pavarti's face, as Hermione grinned, and Padma giggled.

Harry offered his arm as Hermione stepped away from the fireplace, Padma already falling in on his other side. Resting her hand lightly in the crook of his arm, Hermione ignored the gaping mouths and shocked expressions as they headed out the portrait hole.

"Would Malfoy really have asked you to the Yule Ball if I hadn't?" Harry had waited until they were out of earshot of the Gryffindors, glancing over at Hermione curiously.

"No. He's been planning to ask Pansy since we were on the train, at least. Probably since this year's letters arrived, actually. And she would have hexed him if he'd asked anyone else, anyway."

"Who's Blaise going with, then?" Padma leaned forward to look around Harry, raising an eyebrow.

"Daphne. He's not stupid enough not to listen to Pansy, either." Hermione smiled, shrugging. "They'll figure out how to make it work eventually."

"And keep entertaining the rest of us until then."

Padma fell silent as they approached the doors to the Great Hall, the trio pausing before they stepped inside. The silence near them was expected, and they headed for the small tables that ran around the edges of the room, claiming one for themselves. Ignoring the frowns and confused whispers as Harry pulled out first Padma's seat, then Hermione's before heading to get them punch.

---

June 1997

Padma leaned against the door of the classroom a moment after she'd warded it against eavesdroppers and intruders, finally letting the shocks of the very long day show. Watching as Hermione dropped gracelessly into a chair, her expression still a stoic, blank mask. As Harry slid down the wall that had been holding him up while she warded the door. They all needed to sleep, but she doubted either of them was any more capable of doing so than she was. Not now.

"That explains why Draco was brooding..." Hermione's voice was the first to break the silence, wavering a moment before she swallowed, and continued more firmly, "It explains why he wasn't even paying attention to Pansy and Blaise."

"He still couldn't do it," Harry murmured, his voice quiet, and far too controlled for Padma's nerves. "Snape killed him. Snape."

"Who's already a Death Eater, and has experience, we know, Harry." Hermione tightened her hand around her wand a moment, before she visibly made herself relax, tucking the wand away in her sleeve once more. Looking over at Padma a moment, raising an eyebrow in silent question.

Padma tilted her head slightly toward Harry before pushing herself away from the door, the two moving toward him, and settling onto the floor beside him. Harry looked up a moment, watching Padma steadily before he shifted his weight, crawling around to sit on the far side of Hermione. Bracketing her, as they wrapped their arms around each other, clinging to each other.

"We'll get through this." Padma's voice was soft, the fingers of one hand curling around the nape of Hermione's neck. "We'll find the horcruxes and destroy them. We'll bring Voldemort down. And we'll untangle whatever mess Malfoy has gotten himself into."

"And then we retire to a nice place with space for a potions lab and a proper observatory and a Quidditch pitch." Hermione laughed softly, shakily. "Save the world, take a holiday, and then we worry about what to do next."

"That sounds like a good idea." Padma stroked her fingers against Hermione's skin, feeling Harry's fingers brush against hers before he settled his hand lower on Hermione's back. "And it can all wait until later." She whispered the words against Hermione's temple, listening to Harry murmur something, the tenor of his voice too quiet for her to make out the actual words.

Words didn't matter after that, just soft touches that turned frantic, hungry kisses and the tingle of magic washing over them.

---

August 1998

Daphne stood on the steps of Hogwarts, looking out over the knot of reporters that were seeking information on the heroes that she'd taken on the job of protecting, the familiar pleasant smile that had been her mask for the last seven years curving her lips even though it never made her eyes. Someone else should be out here with her, Professor McGonagall, perhaps. Or one of the Aurors who'd survived the battle, signs of which still littered the grounds beyond the reporters.

"I know you are all wish to meet and talk to the heroes of the war, and to document the damage the battles have done to those who have fought in them. I am aware that you - and your readers - will be disappointed that more information is not being shared at this time. However, I must ask that you respect the wishes of the survivors that they be allowed to heal in peace."

She drew a deep breath, raising her chin slightly, drawing on an inner calm she'd forgotten was there.

"I have been asked to provide you a list of those who have died, and those who have survived, so the families of those who have fought can know the fate of their loved ones. This list will also be posted at the Leaky Cauldron, in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic, at the front desk of St. Mungo's, and at the door of Hogwarts, which you can see behind me.

"In the interests of calming public fear, I have been authorized to inform you that Harry Potter did indeed survive the final battle, and further, that his partners and companions Hermione Granger and Padma Patil have likewise survived. They wish to remain undisturbed at this time, and promise to inform the press when they are willing to provide interviews."

She fingered her wand a moment, her smile fading at the low murmur of complaint from the reporters.

"I might also remind you that they are war veterans, accustomed to keeping their privacy with prejudice. It would be inadvisable to startle them by attempting to locate and interview them prior to that announcement," she added, her voice soft enough the reporters had to lean closer and fall silent to hear her. "Please, take your copy of the lists of the dead and living, and go home. Write your articles, publish the lists, but go home."

---

Hermione didn't bother to move from her position curled around Padma, content to listen to the waves outside, and Harry moving around just outside. Basking in the sunlight that streamed in through the massive skylight, soaking up the warmth and letting her mind drift for once. It was a strange sensation, but one she had found sometimes enjoyable, particularly here.

"Are you two going to get out of bed before lunch?" Harry's voice floated in on the breeze sometime later, accompanying the clink of what Hermione assumed were glasses.

"Depends on what lunch is." Padma sounded as lazy as Hermione felt, the other woman shifting slightly, arching back into Hermione a little. "You could always come back to bed. This is supposed to be a holiday, after all."

"A honeymoon," Hermione murmured, kissing Padma's shoulder, tightening one arm around her waist. "Just the three of us and a tropical island with an indefinite lease."

"Sirius wrote. The press is disgruntled that we're unlocatable." Harry came closer as he spoke, his feet barely making any noise on the wooden floor. "Blaise is basking in the attention that it's garnered him, as one of the few heroes willing to talk to them. And Pansy and Draco would like to invite us to their wedding next May."

"Mmm." Hermione made a face, rolling onto her back to look at Harry. "They can all shove off, and you can come back to bed. Now."

Harry grinned, leaning against one post of the bed. "First you need to eat, then I'll come back to bed."

Padma shifted beside Hermione, lifting one hand with an eloquent gesture. "I'm not getting out of bed. You can bring us breakfast, and take off whatever you bothered to put on, and join us."

Rolling his eyes, Harry bowed his head after a moment, heading back toward the porch to do as he'd been told. "I never got dressed, Padma."

The throaty laugh that elicited made Hermione smile, turning her attention back to Padma, kissing her slowly as they waited for Harry to join them.