A/N – Welcome to my first story of the year. This story has 7 chapters and updates will be twice weekly on Mondays and Thursdays. This is a fun, lighthearted story and features one of my favourite plot elements – a reunion. I hope you all enjoy it.

Registering his wand and bank details with Wizarding Britain's largest, and most prestigious, auction house, Harry Potter hoped he was doing the right thing. He and his wife, Ginny, were attending one of the largest auction days in the year with the hopes of buying a house. The couple had a lovely house in Godric's Hollow, but for years Harry had promised Ginny that they could move somewhere bigger as their family expanded and he progressed at work. And within the last year, Harry had been promoted to Head Auror, and the couple had welcomed their second son.

From the second she'd fallen pregnant, Ginny had been on the lookout for a new, larger house, but it had taken her some months to get her eye on the right place. The right house was a magnificent three storey mansion in the Wiltshire countryside with gorgeous landscaped gardens and several acres of unused land. Ginny had fallen in love with the house as soon as she'd seen it, and although Harry personally thought it was a bit big and extravagant for them, he'd had to admit it was a lovely property and since Ginny had set her heart on it, he'd promised to do his very best to buy it for his wife.

Harry had thought that buying the house would be a straight forward thing, but when he'd enquired about the house he'd learnt that it was already scheduled to be auctioned. Which meant that if he wanted the house, and Ginny had made it clear that she did, he would have to make sure he placed the winning bid on the house. Of course, it could mean paying way over the odds for the house if they weren't careful, but Harry had warned his wife that as rich as they were, they had a limit and Harry wasn't going to bankrupt them just to buy a house.

"Ooh, this is so exciting," Ginny gushed at Harry's side as they were handed their bidding panel with its own unique number which only appeared when it was raised to bid on something.

Thanks to the details Harry had just turned over the number on the panel would only light up if he had the funds to pay for what he was bidding for. It was the auctioneers way of ensuring that someone didn't buy something they couldn't afford and then default on the payment.

"Just remember that we night not get the house," Harry cautioned his wife. "I've got a budget, and I won't be pushed over it."

"But our budget is a few thousand over the recommended price," Ginny countered. "I doubt many other people can afford to match that."

Looking around, Harry wasn't too sure his wife was right. There was more on sale than just the house they had their eye on, but Harry could spot several movers and shakers wandering around the auction. There were certainly people present that could match, if not exceed, his wealth, and he wasn't sure the auction would be a clear-cut matter. All he could hope was that the super-rich witches and wizards had their eyes on other prizes and no-one else was after the house Ginny has set her heart on.

After checking out what time the property auctions would be beginning, Harry and Ginny had a drink and a snack before taking their seats near the front of the auction room. For a while Harry watched the room fill up, and he waved a greeting to his old dorm-mates, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. The pair ran a highly successful bar in Diagon Alley, and Harry knew they had their eyes on a waterfront property, so they could begin their long talked about expansion and get themselves a second bar in what they hoped would be a chain.

By the time the auction was about to begin, Harry had turned back to the front of the room, so he missed someone he hadn't seen for many years entering the room and taking a seat near the back. The house Harry and Ginny wanted was the third property up for sale, so the couple watched the first two auctions in silence. Then it was the turn of the house they wanted, and they both shot to attention as the first bid was placed.

Eager to see what the competition was like, Harry watched the first couple of bids come in. As the bids crawled up he decided that none of his competitors could really match him, so he confidently raised the bid by over a thousand galleons. As he expected two of his rivals immediately dropped out, but a third bidder seemed just as keen on the property as Harry and kept matching him bid for bid.

"Push higher," Ginny urged her husband as their rival bidder kept pace with them. "We've still got a considerable margin to play with."

"I don't want to spend more than I have to, Ginny," Harry shot back, but he still raised the bid substantially.

Even with Harry's hike the rival bidder carried on going until Harry was virtually at his limit. Eventually losing patience, Harry raised the bid several hundred galleons, even going a couple of hundred over the budget he'd set for the house.

"We've got him, Harry," Ginny squealed quietly as the rival bidder reluctantly shook their head and bowed out of the race.

"Any more bids for this lovely family home?" the auctioneer questioned. "Going one, going twice..."

"Half a million," a feminine voice from the back of the room suddenly called.

The entire room gasped at the bid as it was over a hundred thousand more than the current bid. Ginny's mouth fell open in shock at the bid and Harry immediately swivelled around to see who had outbid him at the last moment. For a moment he couldn't make out who the mystery bidder was, but then he got his eyes on a raised panel and when his eyes trailed downwards he gasped out loud to see Hermione Granger.

"Hermione," he whispered to himself as the auctioneer once again began the final countdown on the bidding.

"Bid again, Harry," Ginny urged. She'd also seen Hermione, but her house was her main priority and she wasn't going to let anyone steal it from under their noses.

However, Harry wasn't listening, his focus was on Hermione and the wizard sitting beside her. It hadn't registered at first, but now he could see that Hermione was sitting with Lucius Malfoy. As the hammer slammed down on the auction, and Hermione ended up with the winning bid, Harry watched as Lucius shot him a devious smirk before embracing Hermione. As he did so he whispered something in her ear, and whatever he said it made Hermione smile and shake her head lightly.

Still entranced by the sight of his old friend, Harry was oblivious to Ginny all but crying beside him. He was also oblivious to the dark mutterings she was aiming in Hermione's direction. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Hermione, and he watched as she rose to her feet with a hand from Lucius. Standing up, Harry could see that Hermione was visibly pregnant and he watched with an open mouth as Lucius put a hand on her back and guided her out of the auction room.

"I don't believe it," Ginny hissed as Harry finally turned his attention back to his wife. "How could you let that happen?"

"Let it happen?" Harry questioned in bewilderment. "I didn't let anything happen, Ginny. We were outbid. It's as simple as that."

"We could have topped her," Ginny argued.

"Only by a small margin," Harry countered. "And did you see who she had with her?"

"Lucius Malfoy," Ginny replied with a shrug. "So, what?"

"So, the Malfoys are still the richest family in our world. I wouldn't have stood a chance against Lucius," Harry argued.

"But you weren't up against Lucius," Ginny countered. "Hermione made the bid."

"Hermione may have made the bid, but it was Lucius pulling the strings," Harry snorted. "Did you miss the look he gave me when Hermione won? It was pure triumph. He was the one who bought the house, Ginny. Mark my words."

"Why would Hermione be buying a house for Lucius?" Ginny questioned in confusion as she and Harry made their way out of the auction room.

"I don't know," Harry answered with a shrug.

The truth was he knew nothing about his former friends' life as he hadn't spoken to or seen her in over a decade. Following a brief, but disastrous, relationship with Ron, Hermione had gone on holiday and had never returned. She had sent a letter saying she'd met someone and was giving their relationship a chance, so it wasn't as if she'd just vanished off the face of the earth. In fact, she'd even asked Harry if he'd wanted to go and visit her. However, Ginny hadn't liked the idea of him going off to be with Hermione while she was still at Hogwarts, so he'd declined the offer. He had planned on rearranging once Ginny had left Hogwarts, but Ginny had never been keen, so it had never happened. Contact with Hermione had then dwindled and within a year of her leaving it was as though she'd never been part of their lives. Until now, when she'd shown up and snatched the house of their dreams from right under the Potters noses.

"Let's go home," Harry said to Ginny.

Feeling rather deflated the Potters headed for home. Or rather they headed to The Burrow, where Molly and Arthur had been babysitting the boys. However, when they arrived at the Weasleys family home they found all the family present and were greeted by loud cries of congratulations. Clearly the family had been expecting them to return with good news.

"What's wrong?" Molly asked in concern when she noticed her daughter was on the cusp of tears.

"We didn't get the house," Harry explained.

"That sucks," Ron remarked, giving Harry a sympathetic clap on the shoulder. "What happened?"

"We were outbid at the last minute," Ginny replied. "We were seconds away from owning our dream home, and Hermione came and snatched it from under our noses."

"Hermione?" Ron queried, his face lighting up at the mention of his ex-girlfriend. It may have been over a decade since their break-up, and Ron had hardly been a monk in that time, but he'd never met anyone else quite like Hermione and he still held a torch for his feisty ex.

"Hermione bought the house you were after?" Arthur checked.

"She did," Harry confirmed with a nod. "This bid came from nowhere, and when I turned around, there she was. Sitting with Lucius Malfoy."

"Lucius Malfoy?" Ron exploded. "What the hell was she doing with that bastard?"

"Looking pretty cosy," Ginny replied. "Oh, and she was pregnant."

"Pregnant," Ron repeated quietly, slumping slightly at the news Hermione was going to become a mother.

"She was huge," Ginny elaborated. "And not at all attractive. Pregnancy does not suit her."

Harry didn't comment, but he thought the exact opposite of his wife. In his opinion Hermione had always been pretty, but when he'd seen her today she'd been downright beautiful. And as for pregnancy not suiting her, Harry had thought she was positively glowing.

"I wonder why Hermione was with Lucius Malfoy," Arthur mused.

"Isn't it obvious?" Ginny snorted. "She's clearly his lover. I bet it's his little sprog she's carrying."

"And what, they were buying a love nest?" George snorted.

"A lot of purebloods set their mistresses up in homes," Arthur remarked.

"Yeah, just last month we were investigating a mugging case and when we visited one of the victims at home for some follow up questions we found out she was living in a penthouse bought by Theo Nott," Ron said. "I bet Parkinson doesn't know her husband has a mistress."

"It's one thing doing it in secret, but this was very public," Harry countered. He didn't quite believe that Hermione was Lucius's lover and they'd just bought themselves a very expensive love nest. "Anyone could have seen them."

"Maybe Lucius has left Narcissa," Ginny mused. "He got Hermione pregnant, so he left his wife for a new family."

"I only saw Narcissa in Diagon Alley last week, and she certainly didn't look like a woman whose husband had left her," Molly remarked. "She was her usual snooty self."

"Besides, something like that would be in the papers," Percy pointed out.

"Lucius would have the pull to stop any major gossip," Arthur remarked.

"Even with his pull, he can't stop everything," Percy argued. "If he'd left Narcissa, rumours would be swirling."

"Rumours are certainly going to be swirling now," Ginny said. "We weren't the only people at that auction. Plenty of people saw Lucius and a very pregnant Hermione buying a house together and then canoodling afterwards."

"They were canoodling?" Molly gasped, her eyes glistening at the prospect of juicy gossip.

"They hugged," Harry clarified.

"Please, his hands were all over her as they left," Ginny snorted. "They're sleeping together. You can always tell."

"Does it really matter?" George questioned. "The point is, you don't have the house. So, what are you going to do now?"

"Look for somewhere else," Ginny replied with a sigh.

"In the meantime, we could always redecorate," Harry suggested, eager to find a way to keep his wife sweet.

"The entire house?" Ginny asked eagerly.

"The entire house," Harry clarified. "We can use some of the money we were going to use for the new house, and we can redo our house in the meantime."

"Thank you, Harry, this is going to be great," Ginny squealed, launching herself at her husband.

Hugging Ginny tightly, Harry hoped a redecoration was enough to help ease his wife's disappointment of losing the house. As for him, he was wondering if now was the time to get back in touch with Hermione. He would love to know the true reason why she was buying a house with Lucius Malfoy, as Harry just couldn't believe that she was the sort of witch to have an affair with a married man and end up pregnant with his child. Although the only way to find out was to get in touch with her, and that was something Harry was planning on doing as soon as possible.