Post Hogwarts: A Story

Prologue.

Hermione Granger awoke to the sound of her miniature alarm clock and let out a groggy sigh as she reached over to shut it off. It was 6:30 a.m. Monday morning and she had to get up for work. She swung one heavy leg after the other off the bed as she lazily pulled the rest of her body into a sitting position.

"I hate Mondays," she murmured to herself as she pushed off the bed.

She was able to make it to the bathroom, dragging her feet all the way.

"Ugh! I am definitely not a morning person." She moaned as she fumbled for the light switch. Eyes still halfway closed, she messily slathered toothpaste on her toothbrush and proceeded to brush in silence. Still in a daze, she made her way into the shower and turned it on.

‘Yeow!" she yelped as a flurry of cold water unexpectedly hit her.

"What the hell am I paying you for?" she looked up and ceiling and yelled.

Directly above her own apartment was that of her landlords, two nosy old hags, Flora and Bags. They were both identical twins only distinguishable by the fact that the warts on their faces stood in different places. Flora's was on the tip of her nose and Bags' under her chin. They were about five feet tall, round and very wrinkled looking. They had greying hair, which was always dropping in rather large clumps. Hermione hated it whenever they came down to her apartment; they shed more hair than Crookshanks had. They had long bent up looking noses. All in all they were two crones if Hermione had ever seen one.

"Stupid Gits," she muttered as she reluctantly succumbed to the cold water.

Hermione stopped to check her reflection in the mirror before she left the apartment. She ran a finger on a small, rectangular, blue badge that was pinned neatly to her crisp white lab coat. ‘Dr. Granger' she whispered as she read the words on it. She still found it hard to believe that she was made head of the research department at (T.F.W.W.) The Foundation for Wizard Wizzies. She had come a long way since she left Hogwarts five years ago. Now residing in Australia, Hermione had originally started off in England, with the firm P&K Enterprises. P&K was a small company and with their minute size came minute funding for her research. Hermione however being the smart, sometimes overly ambitious young woman that she was had managed to develop a cure for the dreaded Carbonix flu, something no other wizard or witch had ever come close to achieving. After that she was sought after by every wizarding medical facility in the world. She eventually settled for T.F.W.W. because there had been a severe out break of the Wizarding Wizzies at the time and T.F.W.W. had offered the best possible facilities to make her task easier. She had initially started off at T.F.W.W. as the Assistant to the Head of Research at the company. This was another factor that drew her to T.F.W.W. All the other jobs had offered immediate managerial positions and big money. She felt that she needed to work her way up, to keep her humility, to prove herself. This is why the position had felt so self rewarding as it had today…she worked for it.

The only problem Hermione faced was that her work took away so much of her time that she hadn't seen any of her friends for a year and a half now, all with the exception of Ginny who visited twice a month. She did not even have a social life. She couldn't even remember the last time she had a date.

She checked her refection in the mirror one last time and smoothed the single strand of hair that had fallen out of place back into the bun. She had finally found a spell that kept her hair permanently free from tangles and bushiness and for that she was glad.

"Bye Crookshanks," she said to her fat orange cat who was currently lying lazily on her couch.

Crookshanks opened one eye, meowed and then when back to sleep. Hermione smiled, grabbed her keys to her muggle car and made her way out.

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"I need a smoke," Ginny Weasley was saying as she grabbed her cigarette case, pulled out a cigarette, lit it up and took three nervous, long pulls.

"Bloody hell, how do I get myself into these situations?" she asked staring at her reflection in the mirror. A frazzled looking reflection stared back. Dark circles played around her eyes, only giving small indications of the sleeplessness that had taken over her life these days. If she was hoping for an answer, she certainly wasn't getting one this way.

"Ha," she laughed sarcastically. "Britain's biggest celebrity and she can't even keep a check on her own life!"

Ginny had opted not to pursue a career in magic, but in acting. She had secretly had a passion for it as long as she remember, but she knew that her parents would have never approved, so she kept it to herself and pursued their dreams of becoming a full fledged witch instead. Two years ago however, she had been scanning the newspaper for coupons when she came across an ad for a small budget movie that required actors who would work for cheap. Of course when she informed the producers of exactly how cheap she had been willing to work for, their eyes had lit up like light bulbs and she was hired on the spot. Fortunately, from this little, mundane flick, a bigwig producer had recognized her talent and hired her as a supporting actress for his movie. This was the first step to her big rise to stardom, and here she was a mere two years later, a huge household name.

She had desperately hoped that some of this luck would have rubbed off in her personal life as well, but, as is with life, one cannot have all the luck in the world. She had been dating two men (neither one knowing about the other) and things were going smoothly until not one but both of them proposed marriage to her. Naturally the poor girl was confused and did the only thing she could do, she told them both that she needed time to think about it.

* * * *

She had been dating Seamus Finnigan since her fifth year at Hogwarts. In the beginning they were so much in love. Ginny had found the best friend she had longed for in Seamus. She had never in her wildest dreams thought that someone like him would have fallen for someone like her. She remembered the first time he asked her out. Seamus had walking along the corridor not looking where he was going and had knocked her over when she came from around a corner. He helped her up and asked her out for ice cream to make up for it. She had told him that it wasn't necessary but he insisted and she gave in. Looking back she realized that it might have been planned because Seamus had been a little too eager to take her out, plus she had seen Dean high five him after the ‘corridor spill.' At the time she had thought that it was because of some stupid prank they had pulled. They were always playing pranks.

After that she and Seamus were pretty much inseparable. Seamus was her first and for that reason, she could not bear to part with him.

* * * *

Then came the unexpected. While she was in her seventh year of Hogwarts, Harry had defeated Voldemort and Draco Malfoy, of all people, had teamed up with him to destroy the once powerful dark lord. For this, Draco's parents had disowned him. With nowhere to go and not a cent to his name, Molly being the motherly bird that she was had generously decided to take him under her wing. At first none of the Weasley kids, especially Ron, would go near him despite his previous heroic efforts. He too kept to himself. It was Ginny who finally put aside her idealisms and reached out to him and to her immense surprise he had actually responded. At first he was like a child who was desperately starved for human affection and he had clung to her like a babe to its mother. She was glad to have helped him and pretty soon he was back to his old, new self again. He was not mean like before but he definitely had his old charisma and sense of style. And boy did he have a sense of style, he was so different to anyone that Ginny had ever met, so unique. As time passed they had gotten closer and pretty soon the inevitable had happened…they fell in love.

* * * *

How Ginny managed to keep up this charade without the two of them finding about each out thus far was nothing short of amazing, especially now that she was now in the public eye. She knew she was being selfish but she loved both men; Seamus because he had been her first and Draco because he was just Draco. She knew that she had to make a decision but she was also very aware that in the process she would have to hurt one of them and she could not bear the thought of it. She chastised herself for not making a decision earlier on. She chastised herself for falling for Draco while she was with Seamus. Most of all she chastised herself for being so stupid as to fall in love with two men.

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Seamus Finnigan had been walking for quite a while now. He had so many thoughts running through his mind right now he felt as though his head would explode. Ginny Weasley was currently starring in his thoughts; in fact ninety nine percent of his thoughts had usually included her. Things had not been the same between them for quite a while now. Their lovemaking had definitely dwindled down. In the beginning they had been so close and now he was lucky if he had her to himself for a moment. But this disattachment also went beyond the physical. He was loosing her emotionally as well. While she hadn't been less affectionate towards him, she had been definitely been less attached. He had sometimes wondered if there was someone else. She was a pretty young thing and he knew that any number of men would have been glad to have her. It did not help that she was also famous. Another factor that had contributed to his doubts was the fact she had not asked him to any of her movie premieres, reasoning that letting the public know that she had a boyfriend would be detrimental to her career at this stage. While the underlying fact remained that there were lots of actors and actresses who made it to the top despite having significant others, he chose to give her the benefit of the doubt. He was blinded by his love for her. It was when she had not accepted his proposal right away, saying that she needed some time, that had finally landed the crushing blow. The Ginny he knew when they had first fallen in love would have said yes, no questions asked. The Ginny that he knew now was an entirely different person. Boy had she changed. No longer was she the young naïve girl that he once knew but now a confident woman of the world. He had changed too but he still loved her as much as he did back then. He was beginning to think that maybe she had outgrown him. Maybe she no longer had room in her life for a mere simpleton like him.

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Draco Malfoy had just apparated home after a very long day at work. End of term exams had finished the day before and students were running amok in anticipation of the upcoming summer holidays, four days away. This summer was especially important, as it would mark the one hundredth centennial of the Quidditch World Cup Games.

Draco had especially had his hands full with the seventh years, who thought that they could go about doing as they pleased just because it was their last few days at Hogwarts. Five times today alone he had to practically pry apart couples that were snogging in the hallways. On top of that some of his students had decided to play a trick on him with a muggle device called a whoopy cushion, and as if that wasn't enough, one student had changed another into a bouncing ferret after an argument had ensued between them, and he had spent his entire afternoon chasing after it before being able to restore the fellow back to his original state.

"Just four more days," he kept reminding himself all day.

Draco had opted to teach the Defense Of The Dark Arts course at Hogwarts and he found that he had immensely enjoyed the position. He had been the first teacher in years to break the spell of the ‘one year post.' This year had marked his third in the DADA position. He was just happy to be home after such a long day. He walked into the bedroom where he found Ginny waiting for him. She was wearing a sweet smile and nothing else. He had proposed to her a few days ago and she had yet to accept, but he was confident that she would. Lately they had been spending a lot more time together. He was truly in love with her. He had never been so close or rather never allowed himself to become so close to someone. She was his rock, the only one who knew him through and through and loved him despite all his faults and past misgivings.

"Hi," he said smiling, as he made his way to her and found her lips.

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Ronald Weasley was down on one knee. With his right hand he held out a fourteen-karat diamond ring and his left, the precious hand of his beloved. He was about to propose to the only woman who had ever made him feel like a whole; like he was complete. He looked into her eyes and saw that tears were welling up. His own eyes had begun to mist too. He remembered it like it was yesterday.

* * * *

She had come up to him and slapped him across the face for using her best friend. Ron had been quite the ladies man during his last two years at Hogwarts. By some miracle he had outgrown his ugly duckling phase and women had flocked to him in droves during those years. He had dated up a storm, but it was only because he hadn't really clicked with anyone, so he just moved from one woman to the next trying to find that little spark that would hopefully mean more than just a little fling.

She had left quite a bruise on him after she punched him, but he had deserved it so he couldn't hold it against her. She was the only woman who wasn't fooled by his charms and for some reason this drew him to her. She on the other hand could not stand him. She only saw him as a guy who tried to get as many women as he could. She did not understand what he was really looking for; how could she? She looked at him only as a flake and nothing else.

As time passed he observed more and more about her, the way she was loved by everyone, the fact that she sat out in the cold dewy grass in the wee hours each morning practicing yoga (she had looked so at peace with herself at those times), the way she walked, the way she smiled. He was amazed by her; infatuated with her. He had tried on several different occasions to get her to talk to him but she flat out refused stating that if he thought that he could mess with her head the way he did with others women, he was dead wrong. He had to rack his brain to think of a way to get to her. Then a sudden genius idea had struck him. If this didn't work he did not know what would.

That same evening, just as classes had finished for the day, he planted himself in the middle of the corridors and started belting out the words to the song ‘I'll be good for you' and of course he included her name in every sentence that he could. Naturally this drew a crowd of giggling passersby but he did not care he just sang louder and louder, fully aware that his voice was enough to make anyone tear their hair out. Finally she showed up, her face a mixture of embarrassment and anger.

"Shut up, Weasley," she had yelled at him.

"Not until you agree to go out with me," he replied and then went back to his awful, tone-deaf ode.

"Fine, if that will get you to shut up," she sighed, not wanting to cause an even bigger scene.

The crowd that surrounded them had cheered loudly and Ron thought that he had seen her secretly smile to herself. He had even gotten detention from Snape for the little episode. But by and large, the age-old trick had work, and now he stood before her proposing to her.

* * * *

"Lavender Brown," he said still locked in her gaze "Will you marry me?"

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Lavender Brown could not stop smiling all day. Every time she looked at the big rock on her left hand she giggled like a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl. She still could not believe that she was engaged to such a wonderful man. The two of them had been in love for so long, it was so right. Now the tiny, cramped one room apartment they shared didn't even seem so bad anymore.

* * * *

She and Ron had often had fights about the shoebox apartment they called a home. It was true that they both desperately wanted a house of their own, but Ron had insisted that nothing should be started until he was making enough money to afford it. Translation, the fact that she had made more money than him had taken quite a blow to his ego and he could not bear to have her hold one more thing over his head, by having her pay for the new house.

Lavender had been employed as a fashion editor at one of the biggest wizarding magazine in the world, Cosmopolitan Witches. The post had meant big money, tons of benefits and most of all getting to do exactly what she loved most, fashion. It had made her miserable that Ron could not see past his macho chauvinism and be happy for her. She had coped with it partly because she was in love with him and partly because he was so miserable in his own job. He was working currently employed in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department at the Ministry of Magic, a job that bored him to tears. He had originally applied for the post of an Auror with the Ministry, but the only vacancy that was available was in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department and having had no other options but the desk job with nothing to do except a ton of paper work, he accepted it…at least he could work his way up from there. That was four and a half years ago and the only progress that he had made since then was to move up to department head after Arthur Weasley retired last year. However he did not exactly have the pleasure of enjoying his ‘accomplishment' as he and Arthur had been the only two people in the department to begin with so he did not exactly have competition for the post to begin with.

* * * *

Lavender was delirious with joy and proceeded to owl the individual who was not only responsible for it all, but was also her best friend in the world, Parvati Patil, to give her the wonderful news.

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Harry Potter had a towel wrapped around his waist and nothing else. He had just finished showering and was changing for a victory celebration with the guys. England had just finished qualifying for the Quidditch World Cup semifinals, and he had to take partial responsibility for this act.

* * * *

Harry had chosen to pursue the career of his dreams. It had earned him a spot on both England's national side and England's highly acclaimed first division team, Manchester Hippogriffs. He held the post of seeker for both teams. Making a career decision had not exactly come easily to Harry. After the dark lord's defeat four years ago, Harry had a ton of different job offers coming from all walks of life. He was offered everything, from being an Auror, to a spy, to even baby-sitting. After carefully weighing each of his options he decided to become a professional Quidditch player. He had come pretty close to taking the job of Auror with the ministry, however when he thought it through, he had realized that he really needed some time for himself. From the start, he did not exactly have the childhood one would have hoped for, living with the Dursleys and all. To top that off from the time he had hit eleven, he had been faced with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Destroying Voldemort had taken so much out of him. After that, the thought of having a job where he had to look out for danger lurking behind his back every minute made him more sure than ever that this was not what he wanted, and hence the reason he made the decision he did; he had had enough of it for one lifetime. At first he had felt a little guilty about the decision, but then he had to remind himself that he was a human being too and did not have to be the world's champion.

* * * *

The World Cup was being held in Australia this year and this would give him a chance to see his best friend Hermione, whom he had not seen for about a year and a half now. He was pretty miffed at her for not even trying to see him once during this time but he had to accept some blame too since he had not exactly made any attempts himself either. He had to admit that had been pretty caught up in his own life lately. Apart from training really hard for the upcoming world cup games, he had been pretty busy with his latest girlfriend, Viridian Cerberus. They had been together for about a year now, a relationship that had far outlasted his previous ones. He had dated a lot he would admit that much. Having so many beautiful women throw themselves at his feet all the time, he could only hold out for so long before he finally gave in. No longer was he the little boy who kept his wits about him, hormones had taken over. He was human after all.

If Viridian was THE one, he could not say but he did know that he liked her a lot.

* * * *

His life was going perfectly except for one small matter, he was having these dreams…he could not remember what they were once he had awoken from them, but he knew to himself that whatever they were they had meant something. On many occasions he had woken up in a cold sweat, his body tingling, his breathing heavy. He had wished so badly that he really had acquired some divination skills. The only thing that he was able to take away from the class was a two week long affair with the professor. He and Sibyll Trelawney had really had nothing in common except that they had been really compatible in the bedroom, which was the only reason affair lasted two weeks. She was certainly the most creative sex partner he had ever had. She could do things with cherries that he had never thought quite possible.

He doubted that she would be of any use to help him remember the dreams thought. Her divination skills were not exactly an exact science. He only wished that he could remember them. It was like having a puzzle with a huge chunk of it missing; very annoying.

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