Harry Potter: Syndicate of Heroes

"Your coffee, Boss."

Hermione looked up at the waitress with a smile, moving back in her seat slightly to allow the girl to place not only Harry's cup of coffee beside his plate, but also her own tea. She seemed to know what she was doing, not that Hermione thought that being a waitress in a café was a particularly hard job. The noise from the rowdy groups of teens on the other side of Harry's Marauder's Den caught her attention and she slightly altered her opinion – dealing with them could be difficult.

"You're the Boss today, Gwen," Harry countered. "I'm just a customer having a lovely late breakfast with my friend."

The waitress, Gwen, shrugged her shoulder and smiled, her blue eyes lighting up before she winced slightly at the sudden outburst of laughter coming from a dozen or so teen boys.

"They're in good spirits today," Harry commented. "And here much earlier than normal."

"I think Flash organised for them to go to a game later today and they chose to meet here," Gwen stated. "I'll be glad when they go, perhaps we'll get a bit more peace and quiet."

"At least your admirer over there is always quiet," Harry commented and Hermione could hear the teasing quality in his voice.

Looking across the room to where Harry'd nodded, she saw a dark-haired boy fiddling with a camera while reading a small booklet, possibly its instruction manual, a tall stainless steel glass in front of him.

Gwen sighed irritably at her Boss. "It's just Peter. We've known each other for years. There's nothing between us, believe me."

Harry's hmmm caused Hermione to lay a hand on his arm and give him a warning shake of her head. Thankfully, he took the hint and dropped the subject.

"I'd better let you get back to work, never know when the Boss is going to show up," Harry smiled.

"I thought that I was the Boss today," she countered with a raised eyebrow. Then, "See you later, Harry. Enjoy your meals."

Hermione waited until the girl was out of earshot before leaning into the table.

"Isn't she a little young to be in charge of the Den?" she asked.

Harry shot a glance at the girl now back at the bar before turning back.

"She's more than capable. And besides, think of what we were doing at her age," he said.

"We were in a war," Hermione replied sotto voce.

Harry simply raised an eyebrow and she had to concede that his point was made.

"Tell me about everyone back home," Harry said. "What's everyone been up to since I've been gone?"

For a few seconds, she pushed some egg around on her plate, trying to decide exactly what it was best to tell him. There'd been a lot of very upset people at the way he'd just disappeared overnight, even if, in retrospect, he had said his goodbyes. Ron, Ginny and Molly had all been particularly angry, for similar sorts of reasons, for quite some time.

"Well, I've told you about Neville marrying Hannah," she began, deciding to start on the easier people first. "They seem to have found a balance that works for them, with their different jobs at either end of the country. Oh, and Hannah's pregnant. They announced it about a week before I left."

"Really? That's brilliant! I'll have to get something special to send to them when the baby comes," Harry beamed.

Hermione smiled and took a bite of her eggs benedict before moving on to the next one.

"I hardly see Luna anymore, but the Quibbler's still going strong and she seems to be enjoying life. Minerva's really changed things up at Hogwarts. There's a lot more tolerance between the Houses."

"Really?" Harry asked.

"Yes. And it hasn't been easy and it's still a bit shaky, but it's working," she replied. "Hagrid's still his old self, I don't think anything could ever change him and, his cooking is still as atrocious as ever, at least, his rock cakes were the last time I visited."

She watched Harry's eyes glaze over slightly and a soft smile form on his face. For an instant, he looked a lot younger, much more like the boy that he was probably remembering himself as, rather than the world-travelling man seated across from her. He really had aged well, she had to concede. He'd grown into his looks and updating his wardrobe and glasses had played a large part in that. But it was more than that. Even a couple of years after the war, when he was still in Britain, it was easy to see that he carried a massive weight on his shoulders – the burden of being The-Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen One and then the Man-Who-Won. As much as she didn't want to admit it, leaving Britain really had been the best thing for him.

"What about the Weasleys?" Harry asked. "Ron, George, Molly, Bill and Fleur … Ginny. You haven't mentioned them."

Internally, Hermione sighed. She'd known this was coming.

"To be honest, they're all still a bit peeved at you for leaving like you did," Hermione told him. "Well, not George, Bill or Fleur. Nor Arthur come to think about it. George probably understands the most and wishes that he'd followed you. But he's been throwing himself into WWW and it's been booming ahead – literally at times. He's still with Angelina, although there's no sign of any pending nuptials there.

"Arthur, Bill and Fleur are all doing well. Fleur seems content with just the two children. And Arthur seems happy as Undersecretary to the Minister."

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