Work Text:
Hermione let out a sigh as she shuffled through some papers on her desk. She didn’t want to be here, she had plans, but of course, expecting the ministry to run well without her would be like expecting Ron to be emotionally intelligent for once.
She should have known that the second that she had any plans whatsoever things at work would go horribly wrong and that they just had to call her in because they really have nothing better to do but pester her because they can’t be bothered to train their employees correctly
She swears that the ministry didn’t actually function before she got there and took over the role of inter-department coordination. Before she had this job, trying to get two departments to communicate with each other was like pulling teeth, even with the paper aeroplane memos going around it was like nobody actually read them, Too many times Hermione had asked a department head when they were going to get around to finishing a certain task only to get a blank-eyed stare in response. The literal only person that was at all competent was Susan’s aunt Amelia. Hermione was thankful that she had survived the attempt on her life because she had no doubts that if she hadn’t the entire bloody ministry would have collapsed in on itself from the sheer density of morons it employed.
She was used to this, and she usually wouldn’t be so annoyed at the world as a whole if this travesty hadn’t made her cancel a date night that Harry had planned. He had planned months in advance and reserved a place at a rather nice Italian restaurant that she was fond of. She was looking forward to a nice night out for once as Harry had been unusually busy with his studies on wand lore and wand crafting and she had been swamped by work. This little Valentine's date was going to be their first proper break since Christmas and she couldn’t wait to sit down for some good food and relaxation with her boyfriend.
So of course, she should have expected that something that absolutely couldn’t wait would come up and ruin plans they had made months in advance.
It was quite late at night when she finally managed to sign off on the last of the reports that detailed the servicing and maintenance she had done on their communications enchantments and she rubbed her eyes tiredly as she stood up from her desk. She got her jacket on and was just about to open the door to her office to leave when she heard a knock on it.
She practically flung the door open with a growl. “I swear to Merlin if this is another problem you’re coming to me with they’ll never find your body!” She all but snarled.
Jacob Weathers, one of her coworkers was at her door, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.
“Oh!.. Uhm… No, Hermione, I was just coming over to let you know that the rest of us have finished up our work and are signing off for the night. I know you tend to stay late without meaning to so I came over to tell you the others were leaving.” He nervously explained.
“Oh…” Hermione deflated, before patting Jacob on the shoulder lightly. “Well, thanks, I was leaving too since it’s getting late. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
Jacob let out a chuckle and said his goodbyes before heading to the floo. Hermione made her way over to a designated apparition point and disappeared with a soft ‘pop’
She appeared just in front of the house she shared with Harry. Apparently, Godric’s Hollow had only been a safe house, and the main house that Lily and James had been living in prior to going into hiding was still intact and was inherited by Harry. After only a cursory clean-up, the place was fully ready to be lived in and Harry happily invited her to come live with him, as after erasing her parent's memory, she had nowhere to go after school until she found them and restored their memories.
However, she found that even after restoring their memories, she didn’t quite want to leave his side, even if moving in with your boyfriend of only a few months was a bit quick for her liking. It was only a few years later now and she can hardly even remember why she had reservations about it. Living with Harry was a treat and she was sorely looking forward to getting back inside and relaxing with Harry after the stressful day she just had.
She opened the door and felt the tension drain from her as she entered the threshold of their shared home. Coming home after a long day at work, knowing that Harry was there waiting for her would always be a big relief for her.
“Harry?” She asked, not sure where he was in the house currently.
“In here!” She heard from the kitchen.
She crossed the house and entered the living room, where Harry was entering from the kitchen holding two glasses of wine, with the bottle floating steadily behind him before planting itself down on the table next to them.
“Even though you had to have dinner at the ministry because we had to cancel our plans, that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little drink and watch a movie?” He asked with a coy smile on his face.
Hermione never could refuse him. In a bizarre turn of events it was actually Harry who had the deadly puppy dog eyes out of the two of them, and he used them to get his way far too often in Hermione’s opinion.
Hermione went up to get changed into something more comfortable and came back down in some pyjamas, ready to curl up next to him and just shut her brain off for a bit.
One movie later and a bottle shared between them, they were both pleasantly buzzed and relaxed. Ready to call it a night and get some much-needed rest, she went to get up from the couch but Harry stopped her.
“I… I know we couldn’t go out tonight so this isn’t quite how I wanted to give it to you, but I have a present for you.” He smiled softly at her.
“Harry… You know you don’t need to.” She lightly scolded. It was a back-and-forth they’d had a few times. Harry seemed intent on showering her with all sorts of gifts, and while Hermione didn’t mind it, she didn’t want him to feel obligated to do so.
“No, this one was important to me, it wasn’t just some flowers or chocolates or a book you wanted. This one means something to me.” He told her.
He reached into his pocket and brought out a flat jewellery box. It looked like it had some sort of necklace in it. He opened it up and revealed a locket.
“I know we don’t exactly… have the best history with lockets… I just thought that it would be nice to have something positive to associate with them” He trailed off shyly.
He opened up the locket and inside was a photograph of the two of them. They looked really young in it. She thought she recognised the photo from sometime in her third year. Harry’s arm was slung around her shoulder and both of them were beaming silly smiles at the camera.
“Harry… it’s perfect thank you.”
She had always loved photos, especially from when they were younger. Quite often she caught herself staring wistfully at the little girl she had been, blissfully unaware of the coming hardships, looking back on a time when she had been happy to just worry about school exams.
She threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled him down for a heated kiss.
He might be the one who was fond of giving her gifts, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t up to reward him for such a sweet and thoughtful gift.