"Good to see you back, Ms Granger," Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister for Magic said as he entered her office.
"Thank you, Minister," Hermione replied, making the man frown, after all these years, she still insisted on being formal, well, at least at work.
"And how's our wayward boy?" Kingsley asked.
"All things considered, he's doing well," Hermione replied.
"I was glad to hear that those charges were dropped, utterly ridiculous. He should never have been charged in the first place," Kingsley stated.
"Yes, well, Harry's never had much luck in that department," Hermione replied, referencing, of course, the time in Harry's fifth year when similar charges were laid against him by the British Ministry of Magic. "I didn't know that you were going to petition to have Harry extradited back to Britain."
Kingsley shrugged. "Figured it wouldn't hurt to attempt it. We could easily drop the charges once he was here."
"Thankfully, it wasn't needed; Mister Murdock did a brilliant job of defending him," Hermione replied.
"How did a muggle lawyer end up as Harry's defence lawyer?" Kingsley frowned.
"A friend of a friend," Hermione shrugged, not willing to give too much information away, even to an old friend who also happened to be the Minister of Magic. "And, again, Minister, thank you for the portkey to get me over there as quickly as possible."
"My pleasure, Hermione. After what the two of you did for Britain, a few perks here and there seem a small recompense," Kingsley smiled.
The two were interrupted by a knock on the door and a shock of red hair poking in.
"Hermione?"
"Ron!" she replied with a smile.
"I'll leave the two of you to catch up," Kingsley stated before making his exit from the office.
"Heard you were back," Ron said as he dropped his lanky frame into a convenient chair.
"I arrived home last night," Hermione confirmed.
"Alone?" Ron asked.
"Well of course alone, what did you expect?" she asked.
"I don't know," Ron shrugged. "Thought maybe you could have convinced Harry to come home with you. Six years, Hermione. Nearly seven, really. That's how long he's been gone and he really only sends letters back to you. Stopped sending them to me years ago, didn't he?"
"You know what Harry's like and I told you every time I got a letter. He was never able to send letters regularly, not knowing where he'd be from one day to the next," Hermione defended her best friend.
"Yeah, but it's not like that now, is it? He's settled now; bought a place and everything, not that any of us can work out why New York instead of here. He hasn't even visited once!" Ron stated.
"He's promised that he will," Hermione protested.
"When, Hermione? When's he going to visit?" Ron asked.
Hermione sighed. "I don't know, Ron. He's not the only one who could visit, you know. You could go visit him."
"Me? In New York? Are you barmy, Hermione? I wouldn't last a day in a muggle city like that," Ron protested. Then, after a couple of heartbeats, Ron continued in a smaller voice. "Is he at least happy?"
"Yes, Ron, he is," Hermione smiled. "I think, after all this time, he is finally happy."
ooo00ooo
It was the quill lodged in the knot of dirty-blonde hair that caught Hermione's attention. When she'd taken a second look and confirmed that she was seeing what she thought she was, a great grin broke out on her face and she swiftly deviated from her planned quick jaunt through the Leaky Cauldron.
"Luna?" she called as she approached the young woman sitting on a stool at the bar.
Large silver-blue eyes turned to her and widened slightly as a large smile appeared on her face.
"Hermione! What a pleasant surprise," she exclaimed, slipping off of the stool to embrace the other woman.
"It's been far too long," Hermione said, "how've you been?"
"Well, thank you," Luna replied before cocking her head at Hermione. "You've lost some of your nargles. Have you been taking the time to do something fun?"
"Twice in the past few months," Hannah Longbottom interjected.
"You must tell," Luna insisted.
Unfortunately for Hermione, she'd directed that comment to Hannah.
"Hermione's not long back from America. Harry lives there now," Hannah said pointedly.
"He does? Has he finally found his place in the world?" Luna asked. "I always thought that it could have been at Hogwarts, but I guess after everything that happened, it's not so surprising after all."
"I think he has, Luna," Hermione replied. "He bought a place not too dissimilar to the Cauldron."
"At least it's over the pond where he won't be stealing my customers," Hannah grinned.
Hermione smiled back. "No, I don't think that'll be a problem at all. And he's finally starting to make friends."
"Friends," Luna smiled wistfully. "I don't often get to see my friends these days. Pity."
"Harry was asking after you," Hermione said. "If you're over there on one of your expeditions, you should make sure to go see him. I can give you his address, if you like."
"Thank you, I'd like that," Luna said. "Although, I don't know when I'll be there next. Maybe the expedition after next I can see if there are any crumple-horned snorkacks in Canada."
"So, when's Harry coming home? Neville'd love to spent some time with him again, not to mention show off the plants that he's cultivated from the cuttings and seeds that Harry's sent back over the years," Hannah asked.
.
.
.
📖For everyone who wants to read it in full📖
👇🏼It will be available on my Ko-Fi and my Patreon👇🏼
🅿️patreon.com/FantasyWorldric/shop🅿️
‼️ko-fi.com/skyarc/shop‼️
—————————————————————
✅Subscribe now if you want to get all the PDFs available on my page.✅