Four years later

"Please, Mama? Just two more chapters?" Hermione silently cursed her daughter for having her father's gorgeous eyes and being unafraid to use them when she wanted something.

"Not a chance, young lady. We both know that it won't be 'just two more chapters'."

"One more then?"

"No. Now go to sleep."

"No." the little girl pouted. "I don't wanna."

"Heather Emilia, I do not want to hear any whining. You are going to sleep; now."

"Can Papa come up and say goodnight?" Heather tried in an effort to stall bedtime just a little more. Hermione almost groaned out loud.

"Yes, I'll go get your father, but you had better be lying under the blankets when he gets up here."

"... okay." Heather muttered, apparently realising that this was the best deal she was going to get and snuggling down under the covers. Seeing that her daughter was finally doing as she was told, Hermione left the room to fulfill her part of the bargain. Standing just outside the door she took a moment to close her eyes and just breathe. She knew that she owed her mother an apology considering how often she had been on the other side of that argument when she had been younger. While she was standing there she felt a pair of arms slipping around her waist and a pair of lips pressing a burning kiss to her neck.

"Was Heather in bed like a good girl or did she take after her parents again?" a deep voice hiding a chuckle murmured in her ear.

"Mmm... your daughter wants you to come in and say good night before there can be any talk about being a good girl." Hermione moaned as she melted into the embrace and the kiss. The chuckle that had been waiting in her husband's voice washed over her ears like the surf on the shore and sent a delicious shiver down her spine.

"Why don't I go take care of that while you go grab your own book? After all, we should probably keep the noise down until she's completely asleep." the voice suggested, turning decidedly husky and wreaking havoc on Hermione's self control. Determined to get him back for his (rather succesful) attempts at getting her going Hermione whirled around to engage in some teasing of her own. Her spin left her facing empty air though.

As she tried to make sense of what she was seeing Hermione felt like the world around her had grown colder than it should be. She extended her arms in front of her and began feeling around for the man she had been sure had been holding her a moment ago. Her hands encountered a resistance she couldn't see. The only thing she could say about it was that it was springy and that it didn't feel the way it should. Slowly she also became aware of something wrapped around her legs and a wrinkle of something pushing into the side of her chest.

Hermione's eyes slowly opened to reveal a large expanse of bed. Rolling onto her back she looked around the room and discovered that she was lying in one of the biggest beds she had ever seen in what looked like a cream coloured tent. Slowly memories began to filter into her mind and she rolled over a little further to look at the night-stand on her side of the bed. Sure enough, there was a list lying there, written in her own neat handwriting. Some of the things on the list would look ridiculous to anyone reading it: 'brush teeth', 'shower', 'eat breakfast'. There were also things that looked more at home on a to-do list. 'Convince Harry to visit Petra' grabbed her attention in particular. That's right. We're in Jordan. It would be a crime if we didn't go and see its most famous site.

With a goal in mind and a grin on her face Hermione rolled out of bed to take care of the more mundane things on her list that made up her morning ablutions. When a healer in Belgium had first suggested this method of keeping herself on track during the day Hermione had flatly refused. The idea that she couldn't focus enough to even keep her morning rituals straight had been humiliating. In the end it had taken Harry and Luna working together for a full month to even get her to agree to try it.

Once she had started her trial run they had been ruthless in pointing out how much smoother her day went when she actually used the lists that she made for herself each evening before going to bed. In the end they had been forced to play on her insecurities about her ability to think rationally to get her to admit that she knew that she needed the lists, she just despised that fact. Once she had admitted that much Harry and Luna had hugged her within an inch of her life. These days the memory brought a smile to Hermione's face whenever she thought about it. They didn't say the things I wanted to hear, but the things I needed to hear. They wouldn't let my pride cripple me. They really are the best friends I could ever wish for.

That was what this all came down to after all. The war had taken its toll and now they had to learn to live with it. Hermione had to use her lists as an aid to focus. She was also learning to cast spells with her wand in her right hand since her left hand still hadn't regained its former mobility. It had made her feel clumsy in the beginning as she tried to get the wand motions to work, but she was improving with that every day. Besides it's not like I'm the only one who's had to come up with workarounds.

She quickly checked her list to make sure that she had done everything she was supposed to before breakfast and felt a sense of satisfaction in seeing that nothing had been missed. Tucking the list into her pocket, Hermione made her way over to the living area of the tent. There she found Harry and Luna already sitting at the table eating breakfast. Or rather, they were reading books while their empty plates sat in front of them.

"I thought we had agreed to no reading at the table?" she asked with amusement thick in her voice. Harry and Luna looked up guiltily at her and then at each other. They had been the ones to decide on that rule after she had been caught up in a book one time too many for their tastes. Both of them set their books aside and gave her sheepish grins.

"To be fair we were waiting for you and not actually having breakfast yet." Harry told her. Hermione just snorted in response.

"Sure you were." she said as she took her place next to Harry so that there was only one side left open at their square table. "How about you make it up to me?"

"And how would I do that?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow as their breakfast magically appeared on the table followed a moment later by Dobby taking the last open seat.

"You could take us to see the ruins at Petra." Hermione grinned at him.

"Sure." Harry agreed with shrug winning a suspicious look from Hermione. Luna just ignored the both of them in favour of stealing most of the pancakes before either of them had a chance.

"Just like that?"

"Well, I expect there to be some fairly interesting runes in there." Harry admitted. Hermione gave him a slightly apologetic smile and got a forgiving hand squeeze in response. Harry had been working around his own disability as much as he could and a part of that was a fervent study into runes. Since he couldn't perform active magic beyond the O.W.L. level anymore Harry had taken to focusing on passive magics. A large part of their library was focused on subjects like Potions, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes. Harry was determined that anything he couldn't acchieve with the active magics that had been his best subjects for so long, he would learn to acchieve another way. Hermione still thought it was one of the most impressive philosophies she had ever heard and she felt a little bit bad that she hadn't realised that Harry was now just as eager as she was to see any site that might help him in that endeavour. While their silent communication was going on most of the bacon had also disappeared onto Luna's plate.

"Luna, leave some for the rest of us." Hermione scolded as she reached for the egg-cup that had been set right in front of her to begin her first physiotherapy exercise of the day: using her left hand to pick up a raw egg and putting it in an empty egg-cup only a foot away from the first before bringing it back again. She was supposed to move the egg ten times each morning. The first time she had tried this they had gone through ten eggs which she either dropped or squashed as she tried to get her gripstrength under control. These days she only broke about three eggs per morning.

"But I'm the youngest. You two are supposed to take care of me." Luna pouted as she forced her eyes wide in an attempt to look like a helpless little girl.

"We are taking care of you. We're making sure you don't over eat." Hermione told her drily.

"You're right though. We should probably ask Dobby to make you some extra vegetables tonight. And no more pudding." Harry agreed as he pulled the large serving bowl of oatmeal towards him with a massive grin.

"You wouldn't dare!" Luna cried out in a passable imitation of distress as she grabbed the yoghurt and muesli.

"Oh no. Come on, you two. Put the weapons d-" Hermione never got to finish her sentence as Harry launched the first attack splattering Luna with a glob of oatmeal she hadn't noticed him levitating around the table.

"Oatmeal is a good part of a healthy breakfast." Harry chirped with an insane grin on his face. Luna just wiped the gunk out of her neck.

"This? Means war." she threatened, shaking an oatmeal covered fist in Harry's direction causing little flecks of breakfast to fly at him. A split second later the chaos Hermione had been dreading was in full swing as the other two engaged in a no holds barred food fight.

"Would Miss Mi-nee like some tea?" Dobby asked politely as if World War Breakfast wasn't being decided a few feet away.

"I think I'll wait for them to finish, Dobby, but thank you." Hermione smiled at their smallest friend. A moment later, as if to prove her point she was splattered by two stray missiles. It was clear that neither Harry nor Luna had noticed these misses turned hits and Hermione felt her eyebrow twitch. "That's it!" She picked up the raw egg and sent it sailing through the air to splatter against Luna's temple. The egg-cup, realising that the first egg had broken, provided another one as Dobby had enchanted it to do. This one struck Harry right between the eyes as he and Luna had turned to see where the unexpected projectile had come from. As the egg dripped off of his face Harry broke out in a grin and shot over to the table to grab Hermione in a hug.

"Hermione, that was amazing! Your aim and motor functions were fantastic." Hermoine stopped trying to fight the messy man off when she realised that she had used her left hand to throw the eggs with such accuracy. This was the most progress she had made in a while. "We need to celebrate!" Harry exclaimed.

"You need to get cleaned up." Hermione corrected him, unable to keep a giddy note of happiness out of her voice. Taking advantage of the fact that they were both dirty anyway Hermione quickly hugged Harry back. That seemed to be the signal for Luna to join the hug as well. "We all need to get cleaned up." Hermione repeated as the smells of their food-covered bodies invaded her nostrils. A moment later she found herself lifted into the air by a Levitation Charm. "Harry!"

"It's not me!" he defended himself even as he was laughing at her predicament.

"Luna! Put me down."

"I can't, Hermione. We're not at the bath yet... and you really shouldn't have tried to take my pancakes away." Luna smiled up at her with that dreamy facade firmly in place.

"Why do I have to be stuck in this madhouse?!" Hermione cried out as she tried to grab something she might be able to use to pull herself down to safety. She knew the answer to her own question though. This madhouse was so much better than the madhouse they had left behind and, despite their tendency to drive her spare, Harry and Luna's presence had been instrumental in her rehabilitation as much as getting away from England had been.

As the sounds of splashing and laughter rang out from the bathroom, Dobby set about cleaning up the mess with a smile. He knew that Harry Potter and his Missies wouldn't ask him to, but they never seemed to understand how fun cleaning really was. As he worked Dobby considered how the past few years away from England had turned out and smiled to himself. Telling Harry Potter's Missies had been the right thing to do. It had made Harry Potter's life better and happier. That wasn't saving Harry Potter's life. It was just... improving it a little. And it had also gotten Dobby the best job any elf could ever have wished for. After all, Harry Potter had told him to take care of his Missies and any orders that went against that could happily be ignored as long as Dobby kept obeying the first order. Dobby knew that taking care of his Missies was more important to Harry Potter than anything else, just like taking care of Harry Potter was more important to his Missies than anything else. It had taken the humans a few months to understand that they were going to be taken care of, but they had come around and accepted that Dobby was now their elf. Yes, helping the Great Harry Potter had definitely been the right decision.

The End

AN: That's all, folks. I have to admit that this fic didn't really have a planning when I started writing it, just a few scenes that wouldn't leave me alone until I caved in frustration and agreed to write them out. A few scenes became many and I managed to work out some linkages so that it took shape as something that I'm actually okay with having up on the internet.

I know that some of you were waiting for Dobby to come through with his usual creative interpretation of orders so that last paragraph is for you.

I'm not sure which story is going to come out next as there are several scenes from different fics that have sensed weakness in the way I wrote this story and that I'm working on as fast as possible. There quite a few that are shaping up to fit into a longer story that I am missing quite a bit of continuity for, but which I am looking forward to working out if only so it will leave me alone.

Until then: happy reading,

LeQuin