Three Wizards and a Baby

I

This was not the plan...

From the moment she found out about magic, Hermione Granger had a plan. The moment she stepped foot into Hogwarts, she could see it all laid out perfectly. She would excel in all her classes, become a prefect, maybe head girl during her seventh year. After Hogwarts she would get a job at the ministry, fighting for the rights of underprivileged magical creatures while she worked her way up the ladder. Hermione had a plan, but that plan was all blasted to hell. She did not plan to become best friends with Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. She didn't plan to be treated differently for being a muggleborn and the obstacles that came along with it. She didn't plan to fight in a wizarding war where she broke the rules at every turn just to survive. She never planned to survive said war, battered and broken into pieces, just to become a public figure that the wizarding world adored and followed at every turn. She certainly didn't plan to go down a path that led her to becoming a single mother.
After the end of the war, Hermione had gone back to Hogwarts to complete her last year of studies. Harry had decided to take Minister Shacklebolt up on his offer to fastrack into the training program for a new generation of aurors while Ron went to work with George at the joke shop. Neither had wanted to return to a place that held such horrid memories for them and they couldn't understand why Hermione would want to. Harry tried to be supportive while Ron, still bitter over the decision to just stay friends, decided it was for the best since they clearly needed time and space from one another. Upon her arrival to Hogwarts, as Hermione was settling into her dorm as Head Girl she was surprised to find out that Theodore Nott would be joining her as Head Boy.

"Granger! Looks like we will be roomies!"
"Theodore Nott? You're Head Boy?"
"Must you be so formal?" Theo grinned, dropping onto the couch in their shared common room. "Shocking isn't it?
"I would say so..."

She could have never predicted just how close she would become to Theo. Unlike Harry and Ron, Theo was smart. He was ridiculously smart and Hermione found herself enthralled in intellectual conversations and debates with the slytherin. She was shocked to see that unlike many of his fellow pureblood slytherins, Theo was kind and thoughtful and didn't have a bigoted bone in his body. Their friendship didn't come without its share of challenges though. The remaining student body at Hogwarts was weary of the slytherins, many showing the same prejudice that was once shown to them. Theodore was good friends with Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, and Pansy Parkinson. While Hermione didn't care who he was friends with, it became a problem when they began to find themselves in her common room far too often. Being around the students that had spent years torturing her in classes was a hard pill to swallow.
The war had changed everyone though, in ways that not even Hermione Granger could deny. The slytherins that frequently occupied their common room were always quiet and polite to her anytime she entered the room. There were no sneers and underhanded insults thrown her way. It took time but she began to see just how much of a change there was. She found herself enjoying their presence, teasing along with them. There were qualities about them all that, once all the layers were pulled back, each could see why they could all be friends. So they became a group, a non judgemental post war group of friends. Draco Malfoy was carefully guarded around Hermione, but when he would let himself drop his mask, the real Draco was someone Hermione was drawn to. Pansy became a force of nature in Hermione's life, challenging her to step outside of her comfort zone and embrace her femanality that she had suppressed for so long. Blaise she learned was quiet but was fiercely loyal to a fault, especially when it came to Draco, Theo, and Pansy.
While she found herself increasingly comfortable with the group of snakes, Hermione's other friends at Hogwarts had a hard time adjusting to it. Ginny of course could be counted on to bridge the divide and bring around the other gryffindors to see reason. Harry was weary, especially about Draco, but he had learned that it was best to support Hermione because if anyone knew what they were doing it was her. Ron on the other hand was angry. He hated her new friends and it caused a larger rift between them in the end. For the first time in as long as she could remember, she was putting herself first and having fun like a normal teenager.
Upon her graduation from Hogwarts, things took a downhill turn for the Golden Girl. The future she had planned for herself just didn't seem to fit anymore. She was no longer the idealistic girl that first stepped foot through the halls of Hogwarts. She was now a war heroine, a survivor. She accepted a job at the ministry in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical creatures. She soon found herself suffocating at the tedious day to day tasks the ministry provided with her. It was as if she was just a show piece to them and she found it hard to fit into the small box they wanted to keep her in.