Catching up
Hermione
Her friends were right, she was able to do a lot more to change the wizarding laws from the outside than working for the Ministry. Her friends happen to mostly be several people from Slytherin, ironically enough. After the war only her, Ginny, Neville and Luna went back to Hogwarts for the honorary “ eighth ” year. During that time, however, Hermione decided to branch out more and get to know people from the other houses.
Ginny, ever faithful to Harry and her family, decided to ignore her for doing so, and Neville decided to stay out of it all together, but Hermione still ended up losing both of them. Let’s not get started on the riot that Harry and Ron caused because she decided, especially, to befriend the Slytherins that had returned for the year. Some had to, like Malfoy and Nott, others chose to finish their education before having to face the expectations that came with their families.
Getting to know them and acquiring inside information from their families when she said how she wanted to work in the Ministry to make it better, worked to her favor. They showed and provided her with family books, Adrian Pucey even invited her to join him and his father during Easter break to sit in on a Wizengamot hearing, to show her just how much people in the Ministry really wouldn’t listen to her.
She may be a war hero but the prejudice in the Ministry was still too thick and attempting to fix it within the system was a thankless job, and she was smarter than that. She was surprised to hear from Adrian, especially when he confided in her that he knew one of her best kept secrets. His best friend had asked him to keep an eye on her and assist her however he could. His best friend had told him all about the little girl in the Muggle world who would read to him at the library, and whose hair would spark with magic. Hermione sunk into her first memory of him.
It was starting to rain, she was running and tripped, dropping her book in one of the puddles, she started crying. She hadn't brought money to pay a fine for her now damaged book. Then out of nowhere the book was all fixed and there were sparks in her hair again. She started crying more, until an older boy walked up to her saying, “It's ok I can do things too, it makes you special.” He summoned her other books and they were clean as well.
She got excited and dragged him to the library. After that day her new friend Marcus met up with her often. He did say sometimes he wouldn't be able to meet though. Then one day he stopped coming and she never knew why. It wasn't because he was in school, he had told her he went to a private boarding school, but not to worry because she would one day see him there too. When he was home for breaks he would still try and see her . He even figured out how to write to her on funny parchment. But it all stopped and she was alone again.
She almost cried when he told her that, neither had seen or heard from him in years, many think he had died. Adrian had lost touch with him in the middle of the war and believed he had been killed. No one talked about it and Adrian hadn't been able to find any information.
After all she had learned thanks to her new friends, she decided to talk to Minerva to see how she would go about enrolling in a Muggle university. Oxford to be exact.
Theo Nott and Adrian decided to follow her, even though they were nervous to join the Muggle world. They ended up getting a flat together while going to school. They all had the same majors earning Masters in Law and minors in History and Politics. Finally something her parents could brag about. During this time she went to therapy, she encouraged all of her friends to. All the Slytherins needed it as much as she did. The one friend she stayed in touch with throughout all of this was Luna. Theo and Luna ended up together, his level headedness kept Luna grounded, and he often understood her obscure nature. She softened his edges. Hermione also decided to explore herself passionately. Yes, she still did well in school as was her nature but she took time to have fun, and as a liberated and independent woman, witch or not, she indulged. She tried different substances, engaged in random liaisons with both men and women. Adrian indulged just as much as she, and more often than not they ended up in bed together. When they were properly pissed they would talk about the person they missed most. She at first would cry about it and was still hurt at how he had treated her once she was at Hogwarts.
She's on the train to the school. This must be the school that Marcus told her he went to, she wonders if she will see him while helping her new friend Neville find his toad. She's knocking on carriages and everyone is mean when she asks if they have seen a toad. She gets to one and it opens, it is full of older boys. There’s Marcus! She asks the redundant question concerning the toad and is staring at Marcus, but he just sneers and another boy mocks her and slams the door shut.
She told Adrian about that and he confided the reason she didn't see him was because he got caught going to Muggle neighborhoods and was severely beaten for it. On good nights Adrian would talk about how he and Marcus would play around in their family estates.
Near the end of their time at Oxford they find a Wizarding Law Master over in France who is willing to work with them to achieve their mastery and be able to be accredited in the Wizarding world. Throughout all of this her friends keep her anonymity secret. As far as wizarding Britain is concerned the “Brightest Witch of their Generation ” and “ Golden Girl ” is golden gone. Then one day there's a flutter of a new business and the first of its kind being worked on in Diagon Alley. “Law offices of Granger, Pucey, and Nott”.