A Darkness Returns - a Harmione story

2 - The Next Morning

A/N: Hello my fellow readers! Sigh, yes, it's me, here with a second chapter. So I haven't given up on this yet XD. I have, however, given up on my dream of owning Harry Potter. So no copyright infringement intended.

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Ginny squinted as rays of sunlight peeked through the curtains of her window. She turned around in her bed to grab her wand from the nightstand beside her. "Obtenebro," she muttered. It was a spell of Hermione's own making, designed to darken the room of sunlight.

Hermione and Harry lived at the Burrow, both coming and going, busy with their jobs at the Ministry. They were practically family. Hermione shared the room with Ginny, but Ginny thought that it was only a matter of time before Ron made the move and she could call Hermione her sister-in-law.

Harry and Ron were both aurors, but Ron only worked part-time at the moment due to the fact that he was also helping George out with managing the joke shop (which was flourishing even more than it had when it first opened). As a matter of fact, Harry had been so successful in his first two years that he had already been promoted to head auror, and with Ron, together they had renovated and improved the entire auror department.

Hermione, on the other hand, was quickly working her way up the ranks of the Ministry of Magic, now proud to be the youngest Deputy Vice Chief of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in a century. In fact, rumor had it that the current Deputy Head was going to retire soon, and she was at the top of the list of people that should be expecting a promotion soon.

Ginny herself, meanwhile, was loving her job as Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies. They were first in the lead this year!

However, it was a Saturday, and all four of them were off on the weekends. They reserved these two days as "family time," to simply relax and enjoy themselves together like the good old days at Hogwarts. Merlin knew Harry and Hermione especially needed a break, yet even on these two days, much of the time, they somehow managed to make a "quick trip to the office" because of an "urgent" matter. You would think that there were enough Ministry workers for the wizarding world to survive without the "boy who lived" and the "brightest witch of her age" for two godforsaken days.

Ginny felt bad for them a lot of the time. Regardless of their status as "war heroes," they needed to be able to truly live their lives. They were barely adults, right out of school, and Ginny noticed the bags under their eyes, the creases on their forehead. For Merlin's sake, they had a few gray hairs apiece at twenty!

Ginny groaned, finally rolling out of bed to notice that Hermione wasn't in the twin-sized bed next to her own. She sighed, slipping into her robe to trudge down the stairs for some breakfast. "It doesn't sound like anyone else is up yet," she thought to herself, perplexed as to where Hermione could have possibly gone so early in the morning. At the bottom of the stairs, she shook her head and grinned, for she had found her answer.

The Golden Trio was tangled up together on the couch, Ron's long, lanky arm reaching around both Harry and Hermione, Hermione's head having fallen onto Harry's shoulder. Harry had a trace of a smile on his face, but Hermione's expression was tense; she looked worried. Meanwhile, Ron's head was tilted backward as he snored loudly. The three's breathing was almost in sync; they belonged with each other. For a long time, Ginny had been somewhat bitter and almost jealous of their friendship. She had always felt kind of left out, but by now, she had realized that their bond was like no other simply due to the fact that 3they had been through so much with each other. They were really the "Golden Trio."

She and Harry had agreed to put a hiatus on their relationship three months ago. Harry was always so busy with auror work, and she had been going on too many long-distance quidditch trips for either of them to pay very much attention to their relationship or spend very much time with each other at all.

It was Harry who had brought up the idea, and she was a bit shocked at first, but after the break-up took some time to quell down, she realized that what she had for Harry had simply been like a childhood celebrity-crush that had slowly developed into a true friendship. She really did love him, but she looked at him as a sort of older-brotherly figure. Her relationship with Harry was more comparable to what she had for Bill or Charlie than a significant other. And in all honesty, since their agreement, a special-someone she had met on one of her quidditch trips had caught her eye (*wink*wink*).

Anyway, she thought it would be great if Ron and Hermione truly hit it off because that would mean that Hermione, who was already her best friend, practically her sister anyway, would legally become her sister-in-law! To her knowledge, Ron and Hermione were maintaining a good relationship, but in her honest opinion, she wasn't sure if her brother was truly "the one" for Hermione. Hermione was a one-of-a-kind beauty, a bookworm, and Ron, well, he was just...Ron. They occasionally had arguments, and Hermione had to constantly be nagging him to make sure he got his office work done.

Ginny realized that while growing up, most people came to the conclusion that Hermione and Harry would end up together, (particularly after that article that horrible Rita Skeeter published back during the Triwizard Tournament). They got along quite nicely, and they always seemed so at ease with each other. It was somewhat of a disappointment that they only saw each other as best friends, albeit closer than most siblings (*cough* Ron and Ginny *cough*).

Ginny smiled as she brought a blanket from her room and laid it over them. It was barely dawn, so she thought that she would let them sleep a bit longer. At least in each other's arms, they seemed like they were safe from the nightmares.

A/N: So this is kinda just like a filler chapter to provide background/context. Anyway, I welcome any feedback and/or constructive criticism, since I want to know if my writing is any good or not XD... Thanks!

Until next time!  ♡