Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Any characters or situations that are unknown in the HP series are the author's intellectual property and should not be used without permission.
Author's Note: This story is not canon-compliant, and certainly not Epilogue compliant. While some elements of existing canon may be maintained, this is AU from Book 5 onward.
Chapter Two
Hermione's Townhome, Bethesda, MD
It was heading past midmorning when the first of Hermione's unexpected house guests filtered down the stairs. Jamie had already watched his chosen children's programme, eaten breakfast, put on several outfits of different color combinations not found in nature before Hermione put her foot down, and piled into Carolyn's minivan for a playdate with the children of some of her Department of Magic colleagues.
Hermione would have enjoyed the quiet with a book or her secret passion, classic old movies, but today found her back at the dining room table with her quills and notes, puzzling over this obscure piece of runic magic.
Tonks peeked around the doorjamb and caught Hermione's eye before entering. "Wotcher, Hermione," she said wonderingly. "Please tell me you didn't stay up all night with this."
Hermione turned back to the section she had been reading previously and merely shrugged. "Your wands were returned and are on the kitchen table, Tonks, and there's some oatmeal on the stove. You understand how a microwave works?"
Tonks looked amazed. "A Microwave? How do you ever manage to stop from blowing it up?" Her hair flashed through several color changes as she headed into the kitchen. "My dad blew up his and set fire to the kitchen at home. Always wanted to try one of these out for myself."
Hermione's attention, while compromised, was forcefully pulled back to the fact that Tonks was loose in her kitchen when the keypad sounds drew out for a longer than normal time. She dropped the book and hurried after the Auror.
Managing to heat the cereal without incident after instructing Tonks in the basics of microwave operation, Hermione heard the two men descending the stairs. With a sigh, she placed the two other bowls into the unit to heat and plucked the milk and orange juice containers from the countertop to place them in the center of the table.
The men greeted her quietly and sat down at the table with Tonks. The microwave dinged, causing Moody to snap to attention and snap up his wand. Hermione raised her hand and gestured and the wand went sailing across the table into her grasp.
"I'd prefer not to have to get my microwave repaired," she said dryly. "It's expensive."
Moody eyed her askance. "How'd ya do that, huh? It's charmed against summoning."
Hermione's expression remained inscrutable as she handed the warm bowls out. "You should eat before it gets cool."
She returned to her research, hearing the soft whispering behind her but not caring enough to listen to it. The fragment's mysteries were absorbing most of her focus at present.
The runes seemed to contradict in intention in the middle of the sequence, but Hermione saw that there was a clever balancing act that was actually being pulled off. The result would have been a stabilization of magical energy flow from a source to a target.
She was writing down her insights as Ron pulled out the opposite chair and sat down with his bowl of oatmeal. With an emphatic flourish, she punctuated the final line and looked up at her visitor.
"So, will you survive?" Hermione asked.
"Survive?" Ron was puzzled.
"On these starvation rations," she motioned towards his bowl. "Not exactly what you're used to for breakfast."
He just shrugged, and glanced at her notes. She wondered why he was bothering to look at them upside down; after all, he likely wouldn't understand them even if he read them right-side up.
"Did you find something?" He asked softly.
Hermione was taken aback. She'd expected a demand for information as had been Ron's wont during school and the Horcrux hunt.
"Power regulation is a part of this sequence, that's what I've determined so far," she answered. With a tilt of her head, she fixed a direct look on him.
"Why don't you have Miroslav interpret his own work for you?" she asked pointedly.
Ron looked disconcerted and then seemed to decide on honesty. "Miroslav had a contingency if anyone tried to force information from him regarding the work."
"Contingency? What sort of contingency?"
"A limited obliviate," Ron muttered.
"Limited? In what way?"
"He managed to wipe his memory about the specifics of the sequence, and the precise result of the research but left himself a timed note to remind him later of what to send us if Malfoy didn't pay up."
"So he wiped his memory about the spell several years ago?" Hermione's eyes narrowed. Likely that was the only reason why Miroslav was still alive at this point. She could see the logic in allowing the wizard to live as a possible resource for the future after this particular safeguard was undertaken. Magical reintegration of the memory engrams after a year was spotty at best and after five years, there wouldn't be anything that could likely be done at all to retrieve the lost information.
"Still, what I said yesterday is valid," she continued. "Why not use the Department of Mysteries resources to pull this apart? They aren't that under strength any more."
Ron looked shifty for a moment. "Can't I get the best in the world to help?"
"You don't expect me to swallow that whopper, do you?" Hermione gave him a pointed look. "There are several witches and wizards in my department alone who are just as good as I am, if not even better in theoretical runes. In Europe alone I could name six others of equal skill and more distinguished portfolios."
Discomfited, the lanky red-headed Auror shifted in his seat, his eyes fixed on the congealing oatmeal cooling his bowl.
"Ron," Hermione put down her quill. "Our last meeting was bloody awful to say the least. What you've learned about my life here with Jamie certainly wouldn't make you feel any better about it. Why are you here?"
Ron blew out a deep breath. "I wanted to mend frames with you."
"Frames?" She looked puzzled for a moment. "I think you mean fences, Ron."
He looked up at that with a scowl. "Frames, fences, same thing really; I thought that enough time's passed and we should re-evaluate our relationship and friendship."
Something in how he phrased his reason echoed eerily in Hermione's mind for a moment. This wasn't something Ron would have come up with all on his own.
As she picked up her quill and set back to work, Hermione remained silent as Ron picked at the cereal without much enthusiasm. He kept glancing up from the bowl, but she did not meet his gaze.
**********
The sound of the television changing channels in the living room was interspersed with the occasional interjection or complaint from one of the watchers. Hermione for the most part tuned them out, and was glad for the time alone to ponder over the intricacies of the spell fragment she was investigating.
The arithmantic equations indicated a large flow of input energy and a strange inversion of the rune Ingwaz into Dagaz in the fulcrum, but then the energy notations didn't balance on the other side. Where was the energy going to? She wondered.
The front door slammed open and a small whirlwind with messy black hair swept into the dining room. Hermione grunted under the impact and lifted Jamie up into her lap. When the expected happy prattle about games and treats didn't materialize, Hermione tried to lift Jamie's face to see what was wrong with her son.
He fought her, burying his face against her breast. His silent sobs shook his shoulders and Hermione looked up as Carolyn entered the room with a disgusted look.
"What's going on, Carolyn?" Hermione asked sharply.
"Lois' son, Connor, was being especially nasty today," The security witch answered. "When Jamie was showing his picture book, Connor called him a liar for saying that his father is Harry Potter."
Hermione inhaled angrily. "My son is not a liar, unless Connor would like to call me one as well," she spat.
Jamie raised his head at that and his tear-streaked misery tore at Hermione. "Connor said he's dead, Mum! Harry Potter's dead!"
Hermione blanched. They had not discussed Harry beyond saying that he was "gone", and now Jamie was paying a harsh price for that. The little boy grabbed the dropped play bag and pulled out the picture book. Hermione exchanged a questioning look with Carolyn.
"That rotten little bully was making fun of Jamie, saying that his real dad mustn't have liked him and run off before Jamie was born. It was pretty awful, and several of the other mothers are talking to his mother," The security officer checked her wristwatch quickly. "I'd say she's getting an earful right about now, actually."
The picture book was Harry's photo album, one of the few things Hermione had to remember him, and she had given it to Jamie when he began to ask about his father. The little boy stopped at the picture of Harry sitting next to the grimy library window in Grimmauld Place and held it up for his mother. She lifted the little boy to her lap for a cuddle, but Jamie's body remained tense.
It was the picture she had taken and given to Colin to develop at the end of what should have been their seventh year. Hermione smoothed the little dog ear at the top of the photo, and watched as Harry looked away from the window to follow the movement of her hand.
"Who said you weren't Harry's son?" The question was hard and angry and Hermione turned to see Ron's face matched his tone perfectly.
Jamie looked around his mother's shoulder and mumbled, "Connor said so."
Ron came around the table and knelt down beside Hermione's chair. "Well, he's wrong," he answered slowly.
"Why?" Jamie's plaintive question hurt Hermione. He shouldn't have this level of doubt in what he was being told. What else had gone on today?
"Because I was with your dad when he was fighting against Voldemort, same as your mum," Ron placed a hand on Jamie's shoulder, very man-to-man. That her son accepted the touch was a surprise to Hermione, but she could feel the undercurrent of emotions and knew Ron was serious and concerned for Harry's son.
Jamie laid his head down on Hermione's shoulder. "You were with my dad?"
"Yeah, I was," The red-haired wizard nodded solemnly. "He is my best mate, and a brother in all but blood."
Hermione closed her eyes against the pain Ron's answer provoked. The hole of Harry's absence was still agonizing even after all the years that had passed. Now she recognized that her suffering wasn't singular.
"You look just like your dad, you know," Ron continued, his voice strained. "And he's not dead, just lost."
"Lost?" Jamie asked.
"Yup, a friend told me so," Ron replied. "And I trust her like you trust your mum."
That was the first time Hermione had heard of such a thing and she almost snapped back a sharp rebuttal of Ron for leading Jamie to hope for something that couldn't be, but stopped when he raised his eyes. The determination and belief was clear in his glance; Ron did truly believe Harry was still alive.
What if Harry was alive? What would that mean for her and Jamie? Conflicting thoughts and emotions flooded through her, too many to process. In self-defense, Hermione focused on the runes before her to crowd out the confusion and unbidden, hope rose against her better judgment.
If the work Miroslav did was the key to find out if Harry was possibly alive, then she would follow the hunt to whatever conclusion. Her love for Harry, and for Harry's son, demanded nothing less from her.
"Well, I need more than just this fragment," She said quietly, changing the topic of discussion sharply. "I need all the pieces you have, Ron…and Miroslav as well."
Carolyn's head jerked sharply in her direction and she raised a questioning eyebrow.
Hermione shifted Jamie on her lap and kissed his forehead. "How would you like to go see Grandfather and Grandmum, love?"
**********
The following morning Hermione made a formal request for leave of absence to travel to England with Ron and his team to assist their investigation.
To say that she was a bit miffed when she received confirmation of her requested time off within fifteen minutes of submitting said request was putting it lightly. Everyone in the chain of command above her was obviously well informed and had already made arrangements to do without her managing her section.
To place the cherry on top of the sundae, Hermione was given off the rest of the afternoon to pack for the flight back to Great Britain.
By the Department's private jet, no less.
This was really starting to feel like a cattle chute move with plausible deniability from her superiors, and she briefly considered confronting them about the situation. But just as she made the decision to go "discuss" this with her boss and how she felt pressured by their actions, her star researcher popped his head in the office door.
"Word at the water cooler grapevine has it that you're going off to Britain for a spell? What's up?" With a raised eyebrow and a humorous glint in his blue eyes, Daniel Silvas displayed his normal charm and good nature.
"You heard right, of course, the track record of the office grapevine would make the local Quodpot bookies envious of the accuracy," Hermione replied with a small smile.
Daniel cocked his head at that. "Still, you don't usually travel, boss, so is something going on?"
Hermione shook her head once. She was not going to discuss the work with anyone at this point.
Silvas took the cue, and instead inquired about the current project he was working on and to whom he should report any findings. Hermione designated her second-in-command, Enid Skald as the admin go-to person, and put Daniel in charge of his research group to assist Enid, whose workload would be doubled during Hermione's absence.
As he stood up to leave, he gave Hermione a serious look. "If there's anything I can do, you know where to find me, boss. Maria will skin you alive if you don't let us know if you need anything, mi hermana, so for your sake and mine, don't hesitate, ok?"
Emotion blocked Hermione's voice, so she just nodded. Daniel had become a close friend from the beginning when she'd first come to the United States and the Department of Magic. When Maria, Daniel's wife, had learned that Hermione was pregnant and alone with no husband or family to help her during the pregnancy, she promptly showed up on Hermione's doorstep and "adopted" the younger woman into her family; helping with chores and cooking, visiting regularly to check on her and right down to being Hermione's LeMaz coach for Jamie's birth.
The rest of the morning went by quickly as she readied her division for her absence. Hermione never really got a handle on how much the division was really doing until these times when she was going to be out of the loop for a while. It was one reason she hated to take vacations, because she would have to play catch up for almost the same amount of time that she had taken off after she returned.
Carolyn, alerted by her superiors, showed up just as Hermione returned to the townhouse to pick up Jamie for an impromptu excursion to the National Aquarium with her three children for the afternoon.
With a grateful hug, Hermione accepted the invitation, packed up Jamie's small backpack with two of his favorite books, a couple toys and a sack lunch in a magically reinforced container that kept it cool as well, and sent her son off while she packed for the both of them.
Normally, she wouldn't have resorted to subterfuge to get the job done, but the flight to Great Britain would leave at 6:15 pm and Hermione simply couldn't afford the time spent wrangling over how much of Jamie's toy collection would be making the trip to his grandparents.
Her three houseguests were already ready to leave, though Ron and Moody both were visibly nervous when Hermione informed them that they would be flying to London that evening. Jamie was too young for a portkey or side-along apparition at that distance, so the two men understood the reasoning, but still attempted to squirm out of accompanying her and Jamie via aircraft.
When Ron asked about how they had transported Jamie from the beach that day if it hadn't been apparation, Hermione just gave a little smile. "Sorry, but that's classified, Ron."
Tonks restrained her laughter with a hand clapped across her mouth behind the two male Aurors as Hermione heard and disregarded their suggestions and reasons why they should to go ahead and prepare for her arrival. She had to give them credit for persistence and creativity, but finally cut the discussion short.
"I will not be traveling with a security squad as per agreement with the Ministry to keep your project discreet, and in light of that, my superiors and I feel that you and your team are adequate replacements for my normal detail, Ron, is there a problem with that?" Hermione arched her eyebrows and stared the redhead into silence.
The three made themselves scarce after that, likely to avoid the packing detail, and for her own part, Hermione was relieved to be alone for a bit to focus on the task and not her emotions as much.
Her even-keeled life was being upset once more, and again the cause was Harry Potter.
***********
Carolyn dropped Jamie off at 4:30 that afternoon, and Hermione hustled her tired son into the bathtub with ruthless advantage. Within a half-hour, Jamie was clean, dressed and in the living room watching his cartoons and picking at a sandwich and a glass of juice. Hermione knew the boy was exhausted, but knew that he could nap on the plane and sleep hard later at his grandparents.
At 5:15, the Department limo pulled up and the group moved their bags into the trunk, and they were off to the private tarmac at Dulles.
The driver pulled out all the magical stops to avoid traffic and made it to the airport in under a half-hour, and the Department's flight crew greeting them at the foot of a sleek private jet, gleaming under the airport spotlights as dusk fell.
The British aurors goggled at the craft. Hermione smiled at their bemusement and then waved them to mount the stairs and enter as she picked up Jamie to carry him up.
Tonks led the way, and looked in danger of hurting her neck with the way she was craning it about. Moody followed her, his posture straight and head up. His head didn't move, but Hermione was sure his magical eye was spinning in all directions.
Ron hesitantly stepped up to the stairs and gingerly began to climb. He got more confident as he ascended and nothing bad happened to him, she supposed. With a weary sigh, Hermione started up, muffling a laugh as she heard Ron's voice exclaim.
"Blimey! What my dad wouldn't do to see this!"
The interior of the jet was luxurious with paneled walls, leather seating and tables spaced comfortably around the cabin. The small companionway at the rear of the cabin lead off further to the back where there was a bedroom, galley and bathrooms. The three aurors stood around and watched as Hermione picked the leather loveseat and sank into it with a grateful sigh.
Jamie was fading fast, and Hermione made him comfortable on the seat with a pillow and light throw across his legs. The three aurors had chosen to perch on the three facing seats opposite her and marveled at the plane.
Of course, Hermione also knew that the plane wasn't precisely "muggle-only" equipped either. Instead of the normal 7 to 7.5 hour flight, the actual time would be closer to 2.5 hours. Besides, it was a customized Gulfstream-550 jet with full amenities.
This newest model Gulfstream wasn't even fully approved for general production by the FAA yet, but the Department had three completed and magically hardened for use already. The planes were magically enhanced and hardened so only a simple glamour was needed to hide the actual cutting edge design from casual observers.
Hermione's team was responsible in large part for the magic-muggle interfacing process; she had no problems in accepting the offer of the jet to make the trip to Heathrow. She felt a sense of proprietorship regarding the planes; they were some of the first of their kind with little to no need to shield magical energy from the systems on board.
The jet engines were "boosted" magically and shielded like the avionics and electronics systems against possible magical emissions or directed hostile spells that could disable or disrupt them. All-in-all, the plane was a perfect hybridization of human and technological magic in a single package.
The pilot came back to speak with Hermione for a moment after take-off, confirming that the flight would be at top speed and that her parents had confirmed that they would be at Heathrow waiting on their arrival.
She thanked the man and leaned her head back against the leather seat. As the pilot returned to the cockpit, Hermione was slightly disturbed to realize he'd had told her his name, but now she couldn't remember it. Her frown still creased her forehead as she dropped into an uneasy sleep.