One Shot - Harry Potter

Hermione fell into her chair; thankful her day was over. Since graduating from Hogwarts, she had been nonstop working on her goals. She had been offered a higher position than what she started in the Ministry but the department she had been offered wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted to make changes in the law for the betterment of all magical beings, not just arrest the ones that broke the law. Harry and Ron took auror positions straight after the battle it seemed, preferring not to finish their last year in school like Hermione wanted. It was odd to not have her boys with her, but it was nice. She was able to put more focus and study into the changes she wanted to make so when she did start working in the Ministry, she would have a head start.

That head start she thought she had turned out to be practically nothing at all.

But it was all worth it. She had managed to do some good, not anything drastic but having her, the Golden Girl, promote a bill or not approve of one, her word carried a lot of weight when it came to what laws passed and didn’t pass. But keeping track of all the laws trying to be passed and the hidden language many of the lawmakers tried to pass through without anyone noticing was a lot of work. Hermione felt all she did was reading, three or more times, to make sure she understood everything that was written. While reading everything wasn’t physical work in the least, it was very mentally exhausting. By the time her day is over, she’s ready to just fall in bed and sleep. But when she actually gets home, she finds a lot of owls waiting for her with more work.

With a sigh, she relaxed further into her chair, allowing her body to sink into the cushions as her arms dangled over the sides. She didn’t have to pretend to be perfectly put together and at the ready for anything when she was at home. At home, she could be herself with a large glass of anything with alcohol, only because it was Friday and she had long since been forced to have the weekend off or at least not be in the office, she could be just Hermione.

She closed her eyes to take in the moment, and to give herself a chance to decide what her poison of choice would be for the night. She wouldn’t drink anything to strong or at least not enough for her become completely drunk, just enough to relax her. She was mentally going over what she currently had on hand, what she could easily get without drawing attention to herself or if it was too much effort for the night when a pop of apparition broke her train of thought.

Before she could even be bothered to open her eyes to see who it was, she was confident only friends and family would be able to get through all her extensive wards, a loud crash into her coffee table told her exactly who it was.

“You’re buying me a new one.” Hermione drawled, not bothering to open her eyes. “An exact copy.”

“Of course.” Tonks answered right away in a cheery tone. She had one mission that night: get Hermione out to relax. “Right after we spend an amazing evening out on the town, we can go straight into furniture shopping.”

Tonks collapsed on the arm of the chair Hermione was in and grinned down at the younger woman as she lazily opened her eyes. Tonks gave her a bright smile to try and convince the woman to go out with her. Tonks always had fun when she went out with Hermione. Ever since the Battle, she and Hermione had stuck close to each other. Tonks wanted to be closer but Hermione was blind to anything having to do with anything outside of her work and goals. But if there was one thing her attempted relationship with Remus had taught it was patience and with Hermione, Tonks found she had a lot more patience for the younger woman than she did with the older man.

“I’m not sure I want to go anywhere.” Hermione said as she took a mental stock of how she felt and it was abundantly clear: she was tired. She had had so many meetings and late nights getting ready for those the meetings. It was exhausting getting ready for everything, to make sure she would win whatever argument those idiot bureaucrats in the Wizengamot were so full of themselves, they only supports laws that lined their pockets and Hermione was doing everything she could to stop that.

It was a lot harder and more tiring than she thought.

She even had help from the Black sister’s, all three of them offering her help in their own way. Well, Andromeda was helping, Narcissa gave her hints and Bellatrix full out guffaws at her when one of Hermione’s idea’s isn’t as thought out as it should be. Those women were a pain in her arse.

Tonks slide down to sit next to Hermione, or half on her because while the chair was big, it wasn’t big enough for two full grown women. Tonks was perfectly okay with that.

“You need to relax some ‘Mione. I know whenever I had a rotten day at work listen to my Aunt Bellatrix go on and on about how lousy I am compared to her, going out on the town always cheers me up.” She offered her friend. Tonks lived for going out and being around other people; she wouldn’t be a natural born Hufflepuff if she didn’t like people. She always felt so re-energized after going out. She wanted for Hermione to feel the same.

“I know Tonks, that’s what I was trying to do before you got here.” Hermione said with exasperation. Hermione scooted to the corner of the chair to give her friend some room but then decided to get up before Tonks could adjust to the room she made. “I’m barely managing to stay on my feet, I don’t think I could manage going out some place.”

Tonks got up to follow Hermione as the woman walked to her kitchen, the older woman more than happy to do whatever Hermione wanted.

“Well, why don’t we stay in?” Tonks offered, she would be happy just to be with Hermione. “We can order in for a late dinner and watch some TV?” She offered. She happened to know Hermione liked to watch shows withs the metamorphmagus because all of Hermione’s other friends either didn’t know what the technology was or had no desire for it. Tonks liked to think of herself as a link to Hermione’s muggle past the Golden Girl loved to have.

Hermione smiled gratefully to her friend as she grabbed some wine she knew both of them would like. “That sounds lovely.” Hermione watched as her friend grabbed some glasses from her cupboard to pour the wine. It was convenient her friend practically lived at her apartment; sometimes Hermione felt Tonks was at her place rather than the woman’s own home.

Tonks turned to watch Hermione make her way to the living room where she knew they would pick what they wanted to order in and what to watch for the night. Tonks leaned against the counter as she watched Hermione take her organized take out menu’s she kept stashed near the coffee just for these kind of nights. Yeah, Tonks could get used to this on a nightly basis, without having to apparate in and out. If she played her cards right, she would get the chance to move in permanently. After the hell they went through with the war to come out on the other side the victor’s and alive, Tonks felt it was only fair she got the lady in the end.

But she had patience and Hermione was blind. Tonks would slowly woo her lady love, Hermione would never know what hit her. She was an auror after all, she considered this the ultimate stealth mission.

“Tonks, are you coming? Or do I get to pick what we eat and watch?” Hermione teased both women knowing she would purposefully pick something to annoy the older woman and Tonks would let it happen with only minor grumbling.

“No you don’t woman, I’m not watching another one of your cheesy romances; I thought Gryffindor’s all lived for action movies and whatnot?” She grumbled as she made her way to sit with Hermione on the couch.

Tonight would be a good night and Tonks would be just a little bit closer to her goal.