After all this time

Five years later

Hermione looked at herself once more in the mirror before heading out the door of her one-bedroom flat and off to her job working with the ministry. 

She wore a grey pencil skirt and white button top with a silver belt. Her bushy hair was left as is, for she wasn't even going to try to tame it this morning as she did not have the time or energy.

She walked out the door and turned to lock it when someone came behind her and put their hands over her eyes. On instinct, Hermione snatched her wand from her pocket and turned to find herself pointing it at the face of her boyfriend, Jacob.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" She said and lowered her wand. There was a silence between the two as Hermione stared at her shoes with Jacob looking at her lovingly. After looking at her for a good long time he hooked her chin with his finger and lifted her head so she was looking at him, and kissed her.

She was thankful that he knew everything she went through. After everything with the war and Bellatrix, she was very alert and her reflexes were fast. This was due to the fact that she had been on the run with Ron and Harry, and needed to be alert and ready to fight.

However, when he kissed her, all these thoughts and panic melted away as she leant into him and allowed herself a blissful moment with her boyfriend. When they pulled apart she looked up at him with a look that mimicked the way she was feeling for almost throwing a curse at him.

"I know." He said as she opened her mouth to speak.

She smiled at him and pecked his lips then stepped down from her porch and started walking toward the office.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jacob asked her grabbing her hand and pulling her back to him.

"I have a job remember?" She asked him with sarcasm in her voice

He groaned and reluctantly let her go. "Fine, but you're all mine tonight." he called after her.

Smiling to herself, Hermione started walking towards the ministry when she overheard a couple talking to their daughter about Hogwarts.

"You're going to love Hogwarts Emily." A woman, who Hermione guessed was the girl's mother said.

"Yeah, and we'll even get you your own owl." The man next to her said. The little girl squealed and hugged the book she was holding closer to her chest.

This reminded Hermione of her days at Hogwarts. The little girl reminded her of herself when she was eleven and getting ready to go to Hogwarts. Memories started flooding back to her brain.

*Flashback*

She walked down the train corridor and into a compartment where a dark-haired boy and a red-head were sitting.

"Has anyone seen a toad?" she asked the boys, who looked up at her as if she was a three-headed dog. "A boy named Neville's lost one." She continued when the boys did not answer.

"No." The red-head answered. She looked down and saw that he had his wand out and guessed that he was about to do magic. Interested Hermione walked further in the compartment and spoke again. "Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see then"

The boy looked nervous but replied, "Err, alright." He cleared his throat and recited a spell.

"Sunshine daisies butter mellow,

Turn this stupid fat rat yellow."

Nothing happened except a burst of light that shot out of his wand and hit the rat. This caused it to scurry out of the box of Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans and under the safety of the red-head's jacket beside him. Hermione giggled at the boy.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" When he was silent she continued. "Well, it's not very good, is it?"

Her attention left the red-head and was now on the dark-haired boy. She looked at him with an intensity that he wished would stop. After a long moment, she finally spoke.

"Oh my gosh! You're Harry Potter! I'm Hermione Granger. And you are?" she asked looking at the red-head again.

"Um, Ron Weasley." He said through a mouthful of chocolate. "Pleasure."

Hermione said with one last glance at Ron. "You two had better change into your robes. We should be arriving soon." With that Hermione got up and left. Before exiting completely though she turned around and faced Ron once more. "You've got dirt on your nose by the way, did you know? Just there." She said pointing to a spot on the side of her nose.

*End flashback*

Hermione laughed at the old memory and felt a pang of guilt for not having talked to Harry and Ron, or anyone else she knew from her days at Hogwarts.

Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar flash of red hair from around the corner.

She had to run to catch up to him, all the sudden forgetting about her job. 

"Ron?" She called after him.

Ron turned around and looked at her. Utter shock took over him and he just stared at her until she caught up to him.

"Hermione?" he asked. Almost willing himself not to believe that she was there. He had of course thought about this moment but never though it would happen.

"Hi." She said confirming that this was real and not some daydream he had when bored at the ministry.

"Hey." He said giving her a hug. When they let go of each other, he looked at her and memories started coming back. Memories of the war being on the run, and their kiss. He smiled and blushed at the thought of their brief in the room of requirement. His smile soon faded when the memory of her leaving came back to him.

"So, how are you?" She asked him, wanting to keep talking to him. She really did miss him.

"Fine I guess." He said still looking down at his shoes.

"You don't look it. What's wrong?" Hermione was now looking deep into the light blue eyes that she had grown to love.

"Nothing I'm fine." He repeated a little louder than he meant. She could see the hurt in his eyes.

"Ron! I know you, you're not fine!" She said loud enough for passer-by to turn and look at them.

"What do you want me to say then, huh? Hermione, I haven't seen you in five years, you haven't written or came to see any of us! You just expect me to be all happy and pretend like nothing ever happened?"

She could see his eyes water and it made her feel like it was all her fault. When she didn't answer him, he turned around to leave but was stopped by her and on his wrist.

"Ron."

"What?" he asked trying to hold back the tears he knew were threatening to spill out.

"I..." She had no idea what to say to him. She wanted to comfort him and to sit and talk for hours and catch up just like when they were back at Hogwarts. But she knew that too much time had passed, knew that he was hurt by what she did.

He looked at her and searched her eyes for some sort of clarity. When he knew she wasn't going to finish her sentence, he freed himself from her grasp and walked away as fast as he could, leaving her staring at the back of his head.

Hermione watched him walk away from her and wanted to cry. How did she manage to mess this up so bad? After everything that happened. The battle, Fred, being on the run for six months, their kiss, she just got up and left.

Realizing that she was going to be late if she didn't get a move on, she made herself begin walking towards the office

 Hiya! Thank you for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed it! I'm going to try to post once or twice a week. (hopefully the latter) until next time! 

                                                                                                                 XoXo,

                                                                                                                        Lilly