Chapter Three
They spent the afternoon together, curled up on the large sofa, Harry reading through Hermione's research and the chapters she'd already completed of the books she's been working on for the last five years. It was an amazing accomplishment. She'd worked so hard to research everything about the creatures, and had published a few essays from her research already in Wizarding journals. He sat reading and soon noticed Hermione had fallen asleep again, her head on his shoulder, her body curled up next to him and her legs lying across his own. He smiled at her and pushed her hair away from her face, and continued reading.
That was where they were still sitting when Ron arrived home from work. Ron grinned to see Harry trapped by a sleeping Hermione, and was careful to remain quiet as he took off his Wizarding robes to reveal his muggle clothing underneath. He sat in an armchair and chatted to Harry about the day's event at the Ministry. Having graduated Hogwarts, Ron and Harry had fallen into jobs as Aurors for the Ministry of Magic, having received much of their auror training whilst still at school, as had Hermione. They were still planning the final battle, strategic attacks, Harry usually spent around ten hours a day training, he was scarily agile, could move silently, he no longer had need for the invisibility cloak…Ron trained also but was focused on the issue of strategy, finally finding a job which put his great chess skills to use. Voldemort had been defeated a year after they had left Hogwarts, but the two remained working as Aurors, rounding up the last Death Eaters who had fled after Voldemort's death. But for the last year Harry had been so restless in the job, missions now tended to be errands run for the Office of Improper Use of Magic, there weren't exactly any dark wizard roaming the country, and he was bored of paperwork. Ron however, actually enjoyed the paperwork somewhat and was no longer active in missions, working only in the strategic planning department of the Ministry's Defence Team.
Harry just didn't care about ministry politics. He'd spoken to Minister Marchbanks two days previously and though no one other than the Minister was aware of it, he was now serving out his one months notice. In less than four weeks he would no longer be an Auror and a sense of relief had flooded through him gradually as he came to realise it wasn't a dream, he really had quit. He hadn't even been sure of what he planned to do after leaving the Ministry, but having been out with Remus the night before, his surrogate godfather had inadvertently handed him an answer. He would talk to his friends tonight and see what their reactions were to his idea.
By the time Lavender got home from her wizard and muggle clothing shop, Hermione was awake and she and Ron were happily arguing over absolutely nothing. Lavender took one look at them and grinned, she kissed Harry on the cheek as she walked past him through the living room towards Hermione's room where she could hear her boyfriend and friend's voices bickering. She poked her head around the door and found Hermione unpacking while Ron got in the way.
"Lavender!" Hermione exclaimed, giving up on the unpacking and running over to give her a hug. They smiled at each other taking in the changes, and silently agreeing to have a good chat later on when they could talk freely without interruption from Ron and Harry who would no doubt revert to schoolboy antics now the four of them were back together. This tended to last for the first day or two after Hermione returned from one of her expeditions, until they remembered that they were 24-years-old with real jobs, but the girls loved them for it.
Hermione was glad to see Lavender looking good, and looking so happy. She and Ron were perfect for each other, and while she and Lavender hadn't been amazingly close throughout their first few years at Hogwarts, there was a certain bond you couldn't avoid after living in the same dormitory for so many years, and as they'd grown older both had mellowed out and found they did in fact get along well. Lavender had spent the years since Hogwarts first working for Madame Malkin, then designing her own robes to be included in the collections, and now she'd finally worked her way up to her own clothing store, though she'd decided to stock muggle clothing also, as most young witches and wizards now were moving away from wearing traditional robes other than to formal occasions or if their job or school required such robes.
The four of them decided after some debate and some covert tickling, to order some Indian food. As they sat chatting and waiting for the food to arrive Hermione decided she couldn't wait any more, she wanted to know what Harry was going to tell them all.
"Harry, tell us this big secret then, we're all here now, and I've been so good not pestering you all day to find out!" She said, opening her eyes wide and fluttering her eyelashes teasingly. He laughed.
"The only reason you haven't been pestering me is that you slept all morning, and a good portion of the afternoon."
Hermione stuck her tongue out at him and acknowledged internally that maybe it wasn't just Harry and Ron that reverted to teenage behaviour when they got together after a long break.
Ron and Lavender were now curious about Harry's mysterious secret now, and with three of them looking at him imploring with puppy-dog eyes he gave in and laughed.
"Alright. Well, I quit my job. In less than a month I will officially no longer be an Auror." He announced.