The Marriage Law

Leaky

Morning of August 2nd, Harry was as tired as ever. Plagued by constant nightmares, he had very little sleep last night and his appetite was getting worse every day.

By 10:00 AM, he was joined by his friends, Ron, Ginny, Luna and Neville at a private corner in the Leaky Cauldron. They talked randomly over light breakfast and observed the changes happening around them. Finally broaching the main topic of discussion, they gave their opinions about returning back to Hogwarts. Luna and Ginny, being a year behind the boys had no option and they all needed a break.

Hoping that school will provide some respite against inconsistent turmoil in the wake of war, they all decided to go back.

For a moment Harry contemplated about telling them about his note from Hermione but thought better off it. She had asked him to be here and not mentioned about bringing others. Maybe she needed to see one person first and he knew too many of them will overwhelm her or she could have sent message to others as well. He thought he was being a little selfish, but he wanted to have her to himself for sometime.

Neville and Luna left first, they were meeting with Luna's father at lunch and had to tend to some family business at Gringots before that.
Ron and Ginny too followed them as they were visiting George at WWW.

Harry skimmed through a copy of daily prophet, waiting for Hermione to arrive.

A survey of wizarding population was the prime topic in today's edition. The rapid decline in the number of magical humans in Britain was pretty alarming. What with increased birth rate of squibs and reduced magical potential of wizards and witches over the death toll of the war encompassing last two decades, it wasn't really a surprise.
The government was thinking of ways to get over the problem-

*click*

The opening and closing of the door was followed by a familiar feeling. Harry raised his head to look around when he felt the magical aura of his best friend.

He saw her walking towards the bartender with her wand in one had and her extendable handbag in other.

Quickly leaving his seat, he stood up and called out to her.

"Hermione! "

She turned around and smiled slightly. Covering the distance between them within seconds, she threw her arms around his neck, embracing him tightly as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I missed you, Harry. So much. "

He could feel her voice trembling and knew she was crying. Pulling her more tightly against himself, he smiled.

" Shh, Hermione. I missed you too."

After some time, they let go of each other. Hermione wiped her face clean off tears and smiled.

" Let me get a room, just a minute. "

" Wait, Hermione! "

She turned around and looked at him with still teary eyes.

" Are you planning on staying here, at leaky? "

" Yeah. Where else-"

" Come with me to Grimmauld."

She stood there for a second.

" It's okay Harry. It's just a month, I can manage-"

" Nonsense. Let's go. "

Without waiting for further retaliation from his long time friend, he grabbed her arm and apparated them to the still dingy living room at Grimmauld place.