After Narcissa left, Harry had remained sitting for about half an hour, thinking about what had just happened. A visit from Narcissa Malfoy was a thing of wonder in itself but having her say that she wanted Hermione of all people to help Draco get sober was even more astonishing.

He just couldn’t wrap his head around the idea. How could she even think Hermione would ever agree to be a ‘live in’ for Draco, a counselor or whatever his mother was hoping she would be.

He let out a loud huff, starting to feel annoyed by the thoughts that kept swirling in his head. He had planned to have a job done by four in the afternoon that day but that was impossible now. He checked the time and, surely, it was already half past four.

In the end he decided it was useless to just sit around, angry and frustrated, so he got up, got his coat and Apparated from his muggle apartment. A second later he could be seen walking on a small, country road.

The Weasley’s house was visible in the distance and Harry hurried his steps towards it. As soon as he opened the door he was ambushed by someone with long, crimson red hair.

,,Harry!” Ginny exclaimed, hugging him excitedly.

Her hair was longer now, it reached her middle back, and Harry found it difficult to return the hug while trying not to pull a few strands loose.

,,You’re late”, she continued, pinching his nose playfully.

,,I swear, you’ve put identification charms around the house. That, or you’ve paid too much attention to Trelawney’s classes, he replied teasingly.

,,Oh hush you!” Ginny laughed. ,,I was sure it was you. No one else opens the door that slowly. It’s as if you’re waiting to be attacked at any time.”

,,Yeah, well…hazards of the job I guess” Harry sighed.

,,That and biting teacups, right?” said a voice coming from the living room.

A moment later George appeared from around the corner and joined Harry and Ginny in the kitchen.

,,Oh don’t remind me of that” Harry groaned, taking off his coat and sending it to the hanger near the door.

,,That sounds like an interesting story, Ginny clapped her hands together, suddenly interested.

,,Well you wouldn’t be saying that if you had a wild teacup attached to your behind for half a day. Cursed thing! Almost tore my pants off.”

,,But why not attack it, use a spell or something against it? I wouldn’t have thought a poor teacup is such a fearsome opponent.” Ginny said, clearly amused by the story.

,,The owner wanted it…alive.” Harry replied with a grimace. ,,That’s why, as soon as I managed to detach it from my trousers, I’d brought it to your father’s department. That way it could be ‘tamed’ and returned to its owner.”

,,Lovely little old witch, wouldn’t you say, Harry? She wanted a muggle teacup as pet.” George snickered.

,,Yes, very lovely indeed. She was more worried about the damn teacup not getting harmed.” Harry huffed.

,,And what happened with it?” Ginny asked curiously.

,,It’s in one piece and has been returned to the owner this morning.” , another voice said.

Arthur Weasley peeked his head from the living room and smiled at the three of them.

,,It only growls from time to time but it’s perfectly safe to use in its good days. Mrs. Northwood sends you her thanks, Harry.” Mr. Weasley finished with a wink at Harry.

Harry only grunted in return but couldn’t hide a small smile.

,,Now come along, it’s almost time” Mr. Weasley urged them, checking the time.

The strange clock the Weasley family had was in the same place Harry had seen it many years ago. What was strange about it was the fact that it didn’t show the hours, but the location of each family member. In time, Harry and Hermione were added too. Harry smiled inwardly, remembering how happy and grateful he had felt that day when his name was added among the Weasley family members. He now had a family of his own. Mrs. Weasley had always considered him as part of her family but after being added to the clock Harry felt it had been made somewhat official. He never asked how Hermione felt but was sure she had been just as excited and happy about it as he had been.

Now, you could see everyone, except Hermione, located at the Burrow. Hermione’s line indicated ‘at work’.

,,She should be here any moment now” Ginny told Harry, ushering him into the living room. It was decorated with colorful banners and balloons, lots of food was waiting on the table, while everyone was gathered in front of the fireplace. They were all smiling and Harry could feel a happy kind of nervousness coming from them.

A moment later Hermione’s indicator changed to the ‘Burrow’ and with a loud ‘whoosh’ she appeared in the fireplace, engulfed in emerald green flames.

,,HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” they all exclaimed.

Hermione looked around at everybody and smiled happily, her cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling. Mrs. Weasley was the first to hug her, then came Ginny, who gave her a tight, squeezing hug. Mr. Weasley congratulated her and gave her a fatherly embrace. Then George picked her up and twirled her around before letting her down slowly in front of Harry and Ron.

They stared at each other for a moment. Their friendship was special and between them there was no need for words. Therefore, they all gathered in a trio embrace, silently holding each other close.

After the congratulations were over and Hermione received and opened her gifts, they all sat to eat dinner. Like usual, Mrs. Weasley decided to feed an entire army so they had a multitude of dishes to choose from. While they ate, everyone talked to the person closest to them, catching up or telling funny stories.

Harry and Hermione hadn’t seen Ron for almost a year. After the war ended, he decided to go to Romania and join his brother Charlie. When he first told Harry and Hermione his decision to leave for Romania, they both thought it was a joke. But soon they saw Ron very serious about his decision. He started reading about many wild and rare creatures and even wrote to Hagrid to ask for more information. His brother Charlie was very surprised as well, but he needed the help so he gladly accepted Ron. Now, they both took care of dragons and other such deadly creatures. Though it’s safe to assume that giant spiders aren’t on the list.

,,Charlie is sorry he couldn’t join us” Ron said. ,,A fresh batch of dragons just came from Denmark and Ireland. Oh, that and Norbert’s babies are driving him crazy.”

,,Who would have thought that Norbert would turn out to be a female” Harry said smiling and shaking his head.

,,I bet Hagrid is very happy about it though,” Hermione said, taking a sip of coffee.

,,Oh, yes!” Ron laughed. ,,He comes to see them often enough. One of them bit his leg a few months ago and another one almost set his beard on fire.”

,,Like mother like babies, I guess.” Hermione giggled and they all laughed.

After dinner they all sat around the fireplace, drinking and talking. The atmosphere seemed very calm and relaxed to an unknowing eye, but to those who knew, they could see a bit of sadness is the expression of their eyes. There were many missing from this family gathering. Bill and Fleur were in France with their kids and Teddy was at his grandmother’s place. Tonks and Lupin were absent too, resting now in peace everyone hoped.

But the person whom all missed but no one dared to mention was Fred. After he died during the Battle of Hogwarts it was hard for everyone to mention his name. George, of course, was the most affected one and even now, after 4 years, you could still see him starring in the mirror or looking out the window as if he expected Fred to come home any time, laughing and making a joke about why he was late.

That night was Hermione’s birthday party, therefore everyone decided to put aside every sad thought and focused on enjoying Mrs. Weasley cooking and George’s stories about his business. Apparently, he still ran the joke shop and the business flourished after the war.

After a while, one by one, they went to bed, until only Harry, Ron and Hermione were the only ones left in front of the fireplace. Ginny was the last to leave them. She kissed Harry goodnight and hugged Hermione one more time, whishing her ‘Happy Birthday’. As for Ron, she smacked him brotherly on the back.

The three friends spent another hour talking about their jobs, colleagues and sharing stories about things that happened to them since they last saw each other.

They soon got tired and thought about going to bed. Harry knew he had just a few more minutes to do the thing he had dreaded all this time. He never imagined it would be so hard telling Hermione, but he had to do it. It was now or never. He took a deep breath and started, trying to sound casual about it.

,,Narcissa Malfoy came to see me while I was in the muggle apartment.” He blurted out, glancing nervously at Hermione.

She gasped and Ron choked with his egg liquor, starting to cough furiously. Harry cursed himself for not finding a better way to introduce this to them. But the sooner he got over with it, the better, he thought.

,,What did she want?” Hermione asked in a neutral tone.

,,Nothing good I am sure,” Ron huffed, after he stopped coughing.

‘’Well…” Harry began but stopped for a moment.

He gave another glance at Hermione as if trying to judge by her disposition how he should go about it and tell her. He concluded that she seemed in relatively high spirits, therefore she won’t have his head for delivering the message.

,,She is trying to get Draco to sober up and… she wants Hermione to help him.” he said the last part quickly, as if speaking the words faster would have made it easier to relay the message.