Hermione's Riddle

The Match

Two weeks after being reunited with her family, Hermione found herself lounging outside of the Burrow. Sitting beside her with her nose immersed in a book was Hester. Now that Hester is able to perform magic thanks to Dippet, she's been reading spellbook after spellbook.

A shadow fellow over Hermione. "Hey," she smiled, looking up into the face of Tom. His brown eyes glittered lovingly down at her. It was still strange getting used to his brown eyes now that his soul was completely whole.

"Hey, yourself." He pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead before taking a seat beside her. "It is astounding to see the lifestyle that the Weasleys have made."

"It is," Hermione agreed. She was just happy to have this peaceful, normal day.

The first two weeks when she and Tom had revealed themselves had been hectic. The first week was spent with Harry, Ron, Bill, Mr. and Mrs. Weasly, Ginny, and Mcgonagall going through Tom's and Hermione's memories. They even went through Moody's and Snape's. The second week was spent at the Ministry with the same treatment. It actually wasn't as bad at the Ministry as Hermione thought it would be. She and Tom speculated that they were let off easy after all the crap that students had put on Filch and Mrs. Norris. And if that was the case, then it helped that over half of the Ministry workers had been students during the time that Filch and Mrs. Norris had been there.

The end of the second week was spent catching up with her family. The third week was also hectic but in a different sense. That week was spent filing for paper work for Tom and also helping to rebuild Hogwarts. During the fourth week, the Ministry had asked them for help in gathering up the rest of Voldemort's followers.

The door slammed shut, jarring Hermione out of her thoughts. She noticed that the noise had even startled Hester. It was nice being able to share this side of magic with her little sister.

"Who wants to play Quidditch?" Ron asked. He turned and pointed to Tom. "Harry tells me that you used to play, you're joining us."

"Ron, let him rest," Ginny practically growled, her hands poised on her hips. That was another change that had taken place over the previous month. It turned out that Ron had hated Tom far less than they could have imagined and Ginny had come to terms with Tom being different from the young Voldemort that she had encountered during her first year at Hogwarts. It also helped that Fred and George were big supporters of their new pranking buddy.

"I'll join." Tom rose from his seat and offered a hand to Hermione. "But only if Hermione joins."

"You can't ask her to join, she's bloody rubbish at the game."

"Ron," Harry warned.

"A lot has changed in her years away," Ginny joined in.

Hermione offered the best daredevil smile that she had. "I'll join. It'll be fun to play again."

"I want to win, so I'll take Tom and Harry on my team," said Ron with an air of confidence.

Tom held his hand up in front of him. "I too would like to win so I'll be on Hermione's team."

"I'm on their team," Fred said as he came out of the Burrow. He draped an arm around each of them.

"They saved Fred, I'll also be on their team," George joined in.

"Not fair," whined Ron. "That means it'll  be me, Harry and Ginny. We need one more person." He sauntered over to Hester, a bright blush covered his cheeks. "Join us, Hester?"

Hester didn't even bother to look up from her book. "I know next to nothing about Quiddwich-or whatever it's called. I'll sit this one out."

"Don't worry, I'll join you, my boy." Mr. Weasley said as he and Molly came out.

"You're a lifesaver." Ron smiled in relief. "Though, I'm not sure if we'll need it since Hermione's on their team."

Harry and Ginny shared a look. "Thank you, sir. We could use all the help that we can get." Harry said as he handed Arthur a broom.

"Why, it's just Hermione," Ron grumbled.

. . . .

"Just bloody Hermione! How come you lot didn't tell me she could play?"

"Quit being a sore loser," Hermione joked with a scoff.

"We watched all the same memories," Ginny huffed, her hair which had been tied up during the match, was in disarray. Hermione didn't even want to see what her hair looked like.

"I thought they were altered or over exaggerated!"

Hester closed her book with a loud thump. She marched over to where Ron stood with the book tucked between her arm and side. She reached up on her top toes and kissed him on the cheek. "Finally, some peace and quiet," with that, Hester went inside the house, leaving behind an apple red, speechless Ron.

"I see you sisters are more alike than I originally thought," chuckled Tom.

"Finally," scoffed Ginny. She went over to where Hermione was and wrapped an arm around her. "Looks like we'll still be family. Also, bloody great game."

"Language," Molly scolded, though she smiled. "Have some cold drinks."

Hermione and Ginny started making their way over to the table. "Can I borrow Hermione." Tom said to Ginny, it wasn't really a question.

Ginny nodded and released Hermione. "Don't keep her long. I want to run over some plays with her."

"It won't take long." He pulled Hermione back. After he released her arm, he pulled a small, black box out of his trousers. He bent down to one knee and opened the box. Nestled inside was a small silver band with gold inlay veins weaving around the center band. Hermione could make out small diamonds throughout the ring. "I have been waiting for an impossibly long time for this. Will you do the honor of marrying me?"

Hermione smiled warmly down at him. "Of course-I mean yes. Yes!" Tom rose to his feet and wrapped her in his arms.

"Oh my," Molly gasped.

"Finally," Fred grinned.

"I always knew Filch would marry his cat," George said with a grin.

Molly smacked the both of them with a rag. "What did I do?" Fred asked incredulously.