The Man Returns (SS/HG)

Goodbyes (Part 2)

The obligatory "Hey there 'Mione!" was presented to her along with the open arms of her favourite boy-who-lived. Ron on the other hand gave her a small smile as he stood sheepishly behind his desk with his hands shoved into the worn pockets of his hand-me-down (probably one of Percy's) suit jacket. Things between them had been kind of awkward since the end of Hermoine's 7th year; they had kissed. They had looked at each other sheepishly. They had fought the final battle and won. They had celebrated. They had got on with their lives and gone their separate ways. And most significant of all was that they had not spoken about the kiss since.

Harry could sense the awkwardness in the air and thought a change of scenery was in order. "Hey Hermione how about we venture in down to Diagon Alley and catch up a bit? We've got lunch coming up in a bit and I'm sure they wouldn't mind me clocking off a tad early." Hermione replied that she would be happy to and then nervously shot a glance to Ron who was looking at his shoes. "Ron? Are you coming?" Harry asked hoping slightly that he would say no and allow him and Hermione a proper catch up. Ron mumbled something and gabbed his coat.

The once Golden Trio walked towards the apparition room and apparited away to Diagon Alley.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus sat in his office with a quill in hand and a cup of tea slowly going cold next to him. The parchment in front of him was not looking very happy; he had hoped that he would not have to make another trip to Diagon Alley until the October half term, but the books don't lie he told himself and they were telling him that he was running dangerously low on Boomslang skin and Essence of Rhododendron. Although the latter was not as urgent as the former they were both needed for sixth year potions.

So the parchment had made the decision for him and he was on the way out of the door with his robes waving goodbye to his office behind him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The coffee shop that the three sat at was a newer building at the opposite end of the alley to Gringotts. It had old wooden beams that held it together and a worn but homely look about it from the front. It was like your everyday coffee shop with its individual menus on each table and then a blackboard for specials. There were small vases of flowers on each table along with pepper and salt shakers and knives, forks and spoons. Sachets of sugar, ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise also sat in a small pot that adorned each table. There were about ten or twelve of these small round tables inside the building and four outside the cafe.

It was on one of these outdoor tables that Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley sat each with their respective drinks. Harry and Hermione had opted to share a pot of English Breakfast Tea while Ron sat on the other side of them sulking and nursing an orange juice (the boys weren't allowed to drink while on duty and Hermione thought it a little excessive to start drinking this early on in the day).

"So what's new then 'Mione?" Harry was ever his inquisitive self even with the fall of Voldemort. He still had his unruly black hair and his round spectacles, which much to Hermione's annoyance had smudges and fingerprints on them, along with his brilliant green eyes that shone through them. All in all it was still Harry Potter, minus the lightning shaped scar on his forehead that is. Along with all of Voldemort's other marks of power the scar had slowly faded over time and transformed from a raw looking red gash on his head to a thin pale line that was now often overlooked. With the destruction of Voldemort, Harry refused to call it a death as he was adamant that Voldemort never actually lived. It was Tom Riddle that lived not Voldemort. Harry had matured greatly since their 6th year, war does that to a person and although Hermione would have loved to have said that his life was now stress free she would have been lying. With Ginny, work and the still constant pressure from the public and the Prophet Harry's life was all but plain sailing.