Magic and Misperceptions
Chapter 16: Aurors at Work
By: AddisonJ
Beta: DeeMichelle
Disclaimer: The following story is based on situations and characters owned by J.K. Rowling, Jane Austen, and their publishers.
(A/N: my first action scene! Feedback please!)
***
"Granger, could you come in here, quite quickly please."
Hermione looked up from her desk and heard Scamander summon her in uncharacteristically loud and firm tone of voice. She clutched her wand as she raced into his office, startling one of the interns as she hurried past him in the hallway.
Hermione was surprised by what she saw. Instead of potential violence, Scamander stood by the window by a familiar looking owl. He held a note to Hermione.
"Do you recognise that hand writing?"
Hermione took the note and scanned it. "Looks familiar. May I read?"
"Of course, that's why I asked you in here. Octavious sent it. From Appley. He mentions you."
The note was brief.
Scamander-
Need help. Death Eaters advancing. Hiding in attic. Tell Granger.
-Octavious
Hermione's heart raced, but she was puzzled. She handed the note back to her manager.
"Why didn't he send a Patronus? And why you? Why mention me?"
Scamander scratched his head. "It just doesn't seem right, but I couldn't put my finger on why…"
"If Octavious needed help urgently he would have summoned a Patronus and sent it to someone local. Why send an owl across the country? Better yet, why not Apparate? It's all too fishy."
"I'm calling in an Auror-"
"They want the Ministry involved," Hermione interjected. "That must be it. It's a trap. They knew you work at the Ministry and you'd call the Aurors. But why?"
"I'm calling them regardless. My friend is in danger."
Hermione looked over the note. "If there is some way we can verify it's really from him …"
"Are you suggesting …"
"I'm suggesting we get a bit more info before storming in. It smells like a trap."
Scamander paced his office, looking at Hermione and the owl. He stopped suddenly. "Do we even know if this is Octavious' owl or his handwriting?"
"Surely the MLE has a test. Let's call them."
Lionel Montgomery, the Minister of Magical Law Enforcement himself, came to Scamander's office. Hermione was studying the note and observed that he brought some Aurors as well: Weasley, Potter and Reilly.
"Granger." Each of the Aurors greeted her with a quick smile and head nod, staying professional. Reilly however, nearly jumped across the room to give her a hug and a kiss.
"Hermione! It's been too long!"
Ron looked puzzled as Harry frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. Montgomery looked amused.
Hermione laughed and pushed Reilly away. "Now, now, we're at work. Save that for someone else later."
Reilly pantomimed a "Hey, at least I tried" expression and settled into his work demeanour, ignoring the glares that Harry sent his way.
Scamander explained to the group what had happened as the Aurors passed the note between them.
"And you're not certain that's his handwriting?" Montgomery asked Hermione.
"Well, I think it is, but there's something puzzling about it all," she replied. "Why would he owl when he could send a Patronus?"
"Because Patronus' can't lie," Harry quickly completed Hermione's thought.
"Exactly!" her eyes brightened at his response. "They're hard enough to accomplish as it is, I've always had trouble with it."
"You, Hermione Granger, having trouble with a spell?" joked Ron. He stopped laughing when everyone in the room frowned at him.
"It's not just that he didn't do a Patronus. I mean, imagine that he is being surrounded by Death Eaters at his home. Why take the time to send an owl, and why send it to someone at the Ministry whom he hadn't seen in years? I've been to Appley. I've been to Peasegood's home. He knows everyone in town and they all know him. Wouldn't it make more sense to Apparate, send a Patronus or owl someone in town? Or some local Aurors? Why Scamander?"
"Granger, if you think this is a trap, is there someone in Appley you feel comfortable enough contacting without causing a stir?" Montgomery asked.
Hermione closed her eyes slightly and looked at the bookcase as she thought. "Bingham! Rufus Bingham! He lives two houses away from Peasegood. I think he's ex-MLE. If I was in Peasegood's situation, I would contact him."
"Do you mind Flooing …"
"Not at all." Hermione stepped over to the large fireplace, with one last glance at the rest of the room, she threw in the Floo powder, shouting Rufus Bingham's name.
A bearded, burly face appeared in the flames. "Hullo! Who's that? Granger?"
Hermione pulled up her robes slightly so she could kneel comfortably in front of the fireplace. "Hullo, Mr Bingham. Hermione Granger here. I was just checking if you'd seen Octavious Peasegood lately." Her voice was calm and quizzical. Harry admired her grace under pressure. He would certainly not guess that she was concealing a possible Death Eater plot from her demeanour.
Bingham appeared to scratch his head. "Let's see, I saw Octavious about supper time yesterday. No, I passed him on the way to the shops this morning. He looked fine. Do you want me to go over and check on him?"
"No!" Hermione nearly shouted, then composed herself. "No, don't bother. I'll just send him an owl. How are you?"
Harry could see Ron roll his eyes when Hermione started a casual conversation which quickly ended. She soon stood up from the ground and brushed on the powder from her robes.
"Sorry about that," she said, anticipating their impatience. "I thought if I didn't do some small talk, he'd be suspicious. He's ex-MLE and I don't want him walking into this situation alone. He's retired."
"So, what else is there, Hermione? You look like, like there's more to tell," Harry asked. Hermione looked him directly in the eyes for the first time since the meeting started, and smiled quickly before answering.
"Yes. It's not only the lack of Patronus and sending it to Scamander. It's his asking for me, and calling me Granger, not Hermione. He always called me Hermione. We got quite close over the weeks I was there. He was like a grandfather." Hermione made a small choking noise and Harry held back the urge to comfort her. Reilly didn't, he gave her a quick squeeze before Ron spoke.
"Why would Death Eaters target Peasegood?" Ron asked. Harry replied before Hermione could.
"Death Eaters are purebloods. They hate anyone or anything who is not, werewolves included," Harry answered. Hermione nodded in agreement.
"So why Peasegood and why now?' asked Scamander.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out. I was there over a month ago. If they wanted to make a scene, having a visitor from the Ministry would do it."
"Unless they wanted an Auror from the Ministry involved," Harry added. "Now that Peasegood has recent new ties with the Ministry, they decided it would be more believable if he contacted the Ministry instead of some locals."
"That could be it," pondered Hermione.
Montgomery stood up quickly. "Reilly, Potter, Weasley. Get Fox and Bristol. You'll all Apparate there."
The men started to exit the room when Hermione nearly ran to block the door. "But what if it's a trap! And I'm sure it is one!"
"This is what we do," Reilly answered quietly for the three of them. The answer did not satisfy her.
"So that's what you do, just show up into traps?" she asked angrily. "Do you even know what Octavious' house looks like?"
The men exchanged looks and waited to listen to what the witch had to say.
Hermione let out a little huff and shook her head, giving the men a premonition of her doing the same actions with her misbehaving children one day.
"Right then. I was just there over a month ago. This is the layout of the house and the land around it." She moved her wand in the air, as if creating a painting out of nothingness. Whispsy tendrils emerged forming the interior and exterior walls, doorways, windows.
Ron whistled. "Blimey. We never learned that at Hogwarts."
"Air painting? Not in Fine Arts?" asked Hermione.
"No Fine Arts at Hogwarts. Muggle Studies and History of Magic," Ron replied.
Hermione sniffed the air in a haughty fashion. "That would be an easy O for me."
"I heard everything is an easy O for you, Hermione," Reilly attempted to lighten the mood.
Montgomery had had enough. "Granger, let's do this in a meeting room. We need Fox and Bristol as well."
The group had reassembled in an empty conference room on the second level, deep in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
After Montgomery took the lead and described the situation to the two new Aurors, and Hermione and Scamander mentioned their concerns, Montgomery asked her to draw the layout of the house and grounds. Hermione once again waved her wand to create some wispy paint pots, and she went about sketching the outline of the house and grounds, emphasising the layout of the doors, windows, and surrounding shrubbery.
"I'm definitely not an artist, but here's the layout of the three floors. The note said he's in the attic. These are only what were visible to me; there may be secret doors and stairways I have no idea about," Hermione said.
The Aurors stood to get a better view. Montgomery spoke.
"Reilly, Weasley, I want you two to team up. Reilly knows Appley and so does Potter, so I'm splitting them up. Reilly, Weasley, you two do the frontal assault. Potter, Fox, Bristol, you three handle the outskirts and keep surveillance. Let them know if you see anything."
"Excuse me, sorry to interject, but how do they communicate with each other?" asked Hermione.
"Uh, we whisper loudly," replied Ron.
Hermione frowned. "No communication devices?"
"Like a two-way mirror?" asked Harry.
"That won't work for multiple people. Let me do something ..." Hermione answered.
Upon hearing their negative responses, Hermione huffed, frowned, then grabbed some bits of broken quill that were lying in the room. She transfigured them into small bits of plastic with little holes and gave one to each.
"They're like Muggle hearing aids or built in walkie talkies. They fit in your ears. Push down on it lightly and you can communicate with each other. There's a speaker button too so we can hear what you hear. I also spelled it so no one with a Death Eater's Dark Mark can overhear."
Ron grinned. "Blimey, Hermione, you're a genius!"
"You're our Q in James Bond," Harry said, adding the Muggle reference.
Montgomery held one in his hand and observed it closely. "How long will these last?"
"I haven't made one in ages, but I can work on permanent ones. These should last twelve hours."
Montgomery looked at the witch with renewed appreciation. "Granger, if you ever want to transfer-"
"Don't ever think about it!" Scamander interrupted. "She's too valuable to us here. We can loan her out as needed."
Hermione took some more odds and ends from the rubbish bin and around the room and created miniature replicas of the five Aurors. "I put mini trackers on the ear pieces so we'll know where you are. We can observe you from here and help follow your movements. I have no idea where the Death Eaters or Peasegood are, but if you give us that info, we can try to track their positions as well."
Harry watched with appreciation as Hermione created a virtual war room on the conference room table. There was almost a hologram of a good sized wizarding house, with the surrounding trees and shrubbery, a basic floor plan and key furniture objects that might be useful for concealment. He heard that Hermione was the brightest witch of her age, but to conjure this required strong magic. He thought back on the war years and wished that he'd had her help, particularly in the bleak final year when he and Ron were on the run. He shook his head quickly. Not that he would wish that on anyone.
Hermione looked at Harry suddenly, then flushed and looked away. He was aware that he stared at her far too often; Ron reminded him of that frequently ("Blimey! You look like a stalker!"), but he was so impressed by her intelligence at that moment. He knew she was witty from the parties. He knew she had a lovely singing voice from that night at Seamus' soon after they had first met. He knew that she was loyal to her friends and a brilliant researcher from Luna's stay at St Mungo's. He knew she felt strongly about civil rights for magical beings from her work, and he knew she was a decent duellist for someone who was abroad during the war, but observing her in his element, as part of his work, and seeing her rise to the challenge, and pull out magic he had never seen before, he was even more deeply in love than ever. And he guessed that it was all showing in his eyes when she suddenly looked at him, flushed, and looked away. What a woman. What a beautiful brilliant woman.
Hermione felt Harry's intense gaze and was still shocked when she finally looked at him. No one had ever looked at her before with such … love. Not this weird antagonistic intensity as when he announced his feelings at Appley. It was more … human. Deeper. Truer. She felt only goodness and admiration and adoration. Not intense passion and anger. Something deeper and truer. And it scared her, so she looked away. She needed to regain her focus.
Focus. Any meetings to cancel? She knew it would be a long day and there was no way she was going to walk out of this meeting room until all five Aurors returned. Safe. She had dinner plans with Padma and Neville that she could cancel. She didn't want to say anything to Luna in case Ron said nothing. They never discussed the dangerous nature of Ron's work. But … Hermione remembered that they all survived the war and Luna was in the heart of it, so she was probably used to it. Hermione was adjusting. She didn't know many Aurors at the French Ministry, staying with Magical Creature and International Cooperation departments since her then boyfriend, Laurent, was working in International Cooperation. Since she seemed to be becoming good friends with these Aurors, and her best friend Luna might be marrying one someday, she would need to learn to live with loved ones being in danger on a regular basis. And she knew that deep inside, she had the strength to do just that.
"Let me get some things and I'll be right back," Hermione said, rising from her place by the magical hologram.
"Leaving us Granger?" joked Reilly.
"I'll be right back. Need to cancel a couple meetings."
"You're staying?" Ron asked.
"Of course. I can't just leave you!" said Hermione as she exited.
"Damn fine witch," Montgomery said after she left.
"Don't you dare steal her from my department," Scamander warned.
"Once the laws are passed-" Montgomery started.
"I can always find work for her to do," Scamander interjected.
"Isn't she on loan from France?"
"I'm putting in a permanent transfer for her," Scamander replied.
"Hermione's just here temporarily?" Harry cried out, forgetting to use the name `Granger' at work. Ron shot him a look, surprised at his friend's desperate tone of voice.
"No worries, Potter. There is no way we are sending her back to France. Shacklebolt is already working with Lacroix."
"But she does have family in France. That's why she went to Beauxbatons instead of Hogwarts in the first place," Harry added.
Montgomery raised in eyebrow. "Potter, no idea you and Granger were such good friends. Yes, we know that. We're working on giving her her own international Portkey so she can maintain regular contact."
Hermione felt all eyes staring at her when she entered the room again, particularly some angry eyes from the Auror witch, Fox.
"What?" she asked as she hurried to the magical three dimensional floor plan, but it was unchanged. "Did something happen? Are the ear transistors not working?"
"No, everything's fine," responded Fox icily. Hermione wondered how in the world she gained an enemy by stepping out of a room.
Montgomery walked over to the floor plan and they discussed strategy. Ron and Reilly would Apparate to the house, the other three outside, and they would split up and look for Peasegood.
Hermione sat to the side, trying to hide the knots in her stomach. She wasn't used to combat. Her life at Beauxbatons had been relatively peaceful, although she did ensure that she was strong in duelling, since there was a concern that Voldemort would spread to the continent and she, as a Muggleborn, would be a target. She heard rumours of what was happening to Muggles, but it all seemed so … evil, that she hoped they were untrue. After the war, Shacklebolt had Truth and Reconciliation commissions, but everything was closed to the public and the Daily Prophet was more focused on Harry Potter's social life and the re-emergence of the Quidditch World Cup.
Hermione startled noticing Reilly sitting by her. For once, the joking Auror's eyes were serious. "Don't worry," he whispered with a small reassuring smile. "We're going to be fine. We're trained for this. And I'll make sure he's safe."
"Who?" she asked quickly.
"Your Harry," he answered. He gave her a peck on the cheek and patted her knee. Then stood up and said more loudly, "You owe me a butterbeer, Granger!"
"Oy! Let me in on the bet! What is it?" Ron responded rapidly to any suggestion of alcohol and food.
"Just get back safe and we'll all go for a round. Reilly's treat," teased Hermione, pushing back any concerns or fears.
"Hey now!" Reilly exclaimed.
"Hey yourself, Mr Reilly. We have a mission to accomplish. Comedy can wait for the Yule Ministry Talent show and pantomime," Montgomery interjected. "Ready? Everyone have the low noise apparitions?"
Harry looked at Hermione one last time, sitting to one side, looking bright with a big forced smile. She cares! he thought. Their eyes met for an instant, and he saw her resolve falter for a moment, then her stiff upper lip came out, figuratively speaking.
"See you all later!" she called out cheerily. "Reilly owes us butterbeers."
And then he Apparated.
As soon as they left, Hermione rushed over to the floor plan and placed the Aurors into positions.
Scamander stood to leave. "You'll be here …"
Hermione nodded. "Of course. I can finish that paperwork tomorrow, and I rescheduled the meetings."
"Good. Good luck," he nodded gravely and left the room.
Montgomery turned to Hermione and appraised the floor plan. "You must show our trainers how to do this."
Distant voices came from the transmitter Hermione kept in the room.
"Weasley here. We're on the second floor. The house looks unoccupied. We're checking each of the rooms then heading to the attic."
Hermione positioned the two miniature Aurors on the second level of the model.
"Bristol here. We landed on the outside. Potter in front, Fox headed north, I'm taking the back garden. Seems abandoned. Neighbourhood is quiet, too."
Hermione moved their miniatures accordingly.
"All quiet here. We're headed to the attic stairs," Ron said, then there were shouts.
"Stinging hex from the attic doorway! Reilly! Take cover!"
"Bristol, you hear that? I want you all to take cover but move quickly to secure the perimeter," Montgomery said.
"Roger that."
"Potter here. Looks like at least two persons in the attic, they passed by the windows. How tall is Peasegood, because one is quite short."
"That must be Peasegood!" Hermione exclaimed. "He's about my height."
"Well, it's him or some other shortie, and they're upright and moving."
"Can you Apparate into the attic?"
"Is there much cover there?"
"May be our only chance. There's only one way in or out, and that's the stairs."
"If I only had my broom I could see thru the windows," muttered Harry. "Wait, I've got my wizard binoculars. There. Hang on, I'm going in. I can Apparate behind some trunks in there."
Hermione clamped her hand over her mouth to stop herself from yelling his name.
"You hear that, Reilly, Weasley? Potter's headed directly into the attic. Make sure you don't hex each other."
"Roger that."
"There're two up here and one has his wand on Peasegood. He's all right, just tied up a bit," Harry said.
"We're still duelling down here. Any assistance would be helpful," Reilly answered tersely.
"Just stun him!" Ron said urgently.
"Can you see him? You're welcome to if you can see him," Reilly answered sarcastically.
"There's one down here. Gone!" interjected Fox. "I don't see any more around here."
"Well done, Fox. Keep checking the perimeter," said Montgomery.
"Stupefy! Stupefy!" Harry yelled out. There was the sound of two thuds. "Okay, these are gone. I'm securing them now. Mr Peasegood, I'm Auror Potter. We're here to rescue you."
Sound of running up stairs. "Potter! That's not-" Reilly's voice yelled.
"Silencio!" a strange voice yelled and Reilly's transmitter was silent.
"Harry! Reilly must have known that wasn't Peasegood!" Hermione yelled as Harry and Ron both yelled "Stupefy" and there was another thud.
"Hermione, does Peasegood have orange hair?"
"No! Grey! It was a trap!"
"Stay alert! There may be more! Search all the rooms and look for Peasegood!" ordered Montgomery.
"Attic. All clear."
"Bedroom there. All clear."
"Front garden, all clear."
"I'm bringing these three in for questioning. I'll Apparate straight to the holding cells," said Harry.
"Take Fox with you," ordered Montgomery.
"Potter, I'll meet you there," Fox replied.
"I'm headed downstairs. Checking the first floor," Ron said.
Montgomery walked to the hallway. "Henderson! Potter and Fox are bringing in three suspected Death Eaters!" He soon returned and took his same position by the miniature, his face fierce in concentration.
"Reilly! Weasley! Bristol! Report positions!" Montgomery barked.
"First floor, drawing room," replied Reilly.
"Outside, back garden, by the oak tree," said Bristol.
"First floor, kitchen," Ron answered.
Hermione move the miniatures into position.
"There's big set of armour in the hallway. Watch out for that," cautioned Hermione.
"See it. Thanks. I'm headed into the basement," Ron replied.
"Dining room, all clear," said Reilly.
"Wait, I think I hear something. Night vision wizard goggles on," Ron said.
Hermione held her breath and prayed for Luna's sake in particular.
"There's something in the corner. I don't see anyone else down here…." Ron said.
"Reilly, cover him!" barked Montgomery.
"On it, sir," Reilly replied.
"Mr Peasegood? Is that you in there?"
There was a muffled response.
"Help! Help!" cried a new voice, a voice familiar to Hermione.
"Octavious!" Hermione shouted. "That's him! I know his voice!"
"Weasley, identify!" Montgomery commanded.
"Well, let's see. He's about Hermione's height, grey hair, looks just a bit younger than Dumbledore."
"That's him!" Hermione responded. "Just to be sure, ask him what he served me for tea when I first arrived."
"Gingersnaps!" Peasegood responded happily.
"You're safe now, Octavious," Hermione said.
"Mr Peasegood, we're from the Ministry. Do you know what happened? How many Death Eaters accosted you? Do you know of any that have been near you recently?" Ron asked.
"They took me and forced me to write that note-did Scamander give it to you?-did you know it was a trap?" Octavious asked.
"Yes, you're all right now, Mr Peasegood. We'll do a Side-Along Apparition to take you to the Ministry and St Mungo's to make sure you're okay," Reilly said.
"Weasley! Take Peasegood to the Ministry. Reilly, Bristol, one last look around. Then let me know before you Apparate back and come back together."
"Yes, sir," the two Aurors answered at once.
Montgomery turned to the young woman in the room. "Granger-"
She had already grabbed her bag. "As soon as they all Apparate back, I'll be checking on Peasegood."
"You did good work today, Granger. If you ever think of changing careers, we have non-combat positions available."
"Thank you, sir, but I'm fine where I am right now. Just keep us abreast of any abuse of magical creatures," Hermione responded. "Your department has been quite helpful so far and we appreciate it. It'll be quite tough once we go forward with the new proposals, but we'd like to count on your department's continued assistance and support." Hermione was speaking like the department head. She may have overstepped her place a bit, but she didn't want this opportunity to go to waste.
"Done. You have my word. I'm not surprised you're not coming over, but your work is too important." Montgomery suddenly turned back to the miniatures. "Reilly! Bristol! Positions!"
"All clear, sir," Reilly replied.
"Nothing here. Request to return to Ministry," Bristol stated.
"Request granted. Apparate," Montgomery commanded, then turned to Hermione. "Thank you."
Hermione looked at the shimmering model she had created. All the models of the Aurors were safely away. She felt a flood of relief, but concern that Peasegood was attacked at all. "I'll leave this up and your team can reverse engineer it, or they can contact me or anyone from Beauxbatons for the spell. It's a combination of Transfiguration, charms and magical painting.
"I'll check in on Peasegood and then …" Hermione stopped, wondering if she was about to overstep her bounds.
"You'll want to follow the questioning. Why don't you go to the holding cells area? You can meet up with the Aurors there. It may be a long night; we could owl you if anything breaks…"
"I'll be in my office once I check on everyone. Thanks for saving Octavious."
"Thanks for helping us, Granger. Good work today."
Hermione hurried through the building and discovered that Peasegood was not seriously injured, so he was being treated by a healer assigned to the MLE. Aside from a few bruises and small scrapes, he was fine.
"What happened? Do you know who attacked him and why?" Hermione asked Ron once she ascertained that Peasegood was safe.
"Harry's in interrogation right now. He and Reilly have a technique that he calls `good cop, bad cop.' You can guess which one Harry is," Ron said, smiling.
Hermione smiled as well. "It's a Muggle term. And I shudder to think of how mean Harry could be. Those scowls of his! I've been on the wrong side of those too many times."
Hermione suddenly decided to ignore professionalism and launched herself at Ron. "I'm so glad you all are safe!"
Ron patted her back. "We're fine!"
"I kept thinking about Luna-"
"Hermione, we're fine. And either you or Reilly owe us a butterbeer!"
Ron watched the bushy-haired witch take a deep breath, square her shoulders back, and raise her head.
"Right. I'm ready now. Sorry about that."
"No worries. You're still new at this. You didn't have any of those Singing Nymphs attack at Beauxbatons, did you?" Ron joked.
"You know about our Singing Nymphs?"
"Fleur bragged about them fourth year."
"Gods, I meant to owl her! We're supposed to do lunch and I've volunteered to babysit."
"You two just want to gossip about all of us in French while we're sitting right there."
"Well, you could try learning another language, Ron," Hermione teased.
"As long as I can order food in any language, I'm set," Ron replied.
Bristol came bursting in then. "Potter thinks the short one's about to squeal!"
Hermione looked wary. "He doesn't … torture them, does he?"
"No! We're not Death Eaters! Potter has his technique," Bristol replied.
"Bad cop, good cop, then truth serum if that doesn't work," Ron whispered in Hermione's ear.
"That makes it faster, doesn't it?"
"And torture may not reveal the truth; it may just have the person say whatever it takes to make the pain go away."
"True. I've read those studies."
"I'm sure you have. I just get someone else to do that part for me," Ron smirked.
Hermione was taken to an area where she was able to watch what was happening in the interrogation room, rather like a Muggle closed circuit television.
The accused was sitting in a chair with his ankles and wrists bound. An unknown Auror stood behind him while Harry and Reilly were in front. Reilly was sitting, seemingly undisturbed, having a cup of tea while Harry was pacing, asking rapid fire questions seemingly to trip up the accused. Although Reilly seemed to be oblivious, Hermione saw that he had his wand at the ready, his half-lidded eyes were clearly focused on the accused and his body ready to move in an instant.
"They're at work, I'll not disturb them. Let me know when you find anything out. I'll be working late in my office," Hermione instructed Ron.
"You know, you'd make a great school teacher or mum. You have that female authority figure voice," Ron joked.
In response, Hermione rolled her eyes. "Back handed complement if ever I heard one."
"Some blokes are into that!" he added with a wink.
"I'll be in my office," responded Hermione.
Much later, a small grey owl landed on Hermione's desk. She was alone in the department, all the others had left hours ago. She knew her department was always known as the first to leave the building, and the MLE and Department of Mysteries the last. It was a little disconcerting, so she always kept her wand ready.
Granger -
If you're still here (and I'm sure you are) meet us for butterbeers at the Snitch.
If you're reading this from home and you've already gone to bed, you still owe us butterbeers and we'll collect in the morning.
-Reilly
(and the rest)
Hermione laughed. This was definitely Reilly. After deciphering fake owl posts, this one was in his handwriting with his humour. Definitely him. She jotted a note back to him.
Reilly-
I'm here, wide awake waiting for you to buy me a butterbeer. Be prepared to pay up.
-Granger
It was nearly closing time, but the Snitch was well-known to Aurors, and they always managed to find a loophole to stay open past official closing. In some cases, it may be entering through the backdoor which Hermione did. She found the five in a corner booth with some co-workers Hermione did not know. She saw Harry with Fox leaning into his arm. She gave him a small smile, and gave hugs to Ron and Reilly.
"You're safe!" Her voice was muffled by their embraces.
"Hermione, you must join our team! You were fantastic!" Ron called.
She smiled and shook her head. "No, no, no! I'll help out as needed, but I see myself as a barrister eventually, actually. You bring them in and I'll try their cases, deal?"
Harry noticed that Hermione sat in the space that was immediately created between Reilly and Ron. She was happy, laughing, joking, the tensions of the day released. He wanted to capture that look, that moment, in a wizarding photo: her head thrown back in laughter, her brown curls bouncing lightly over her shoulders, eyes bright with intelligence and wit.
She had looked for him immediately upon entering, their eyes met, she smiled, then fell into a hug with Reilly, then Ron. She was introduced again to Fox, Bristol and the rest; Fox moved even closer to Harry as if marking her territory. He and Fox had shared a few snogs in the past, but it was nothing, he was sure it had meant nothing to her, too. Maybe he was wrong, or maybe she wanted a few snogs tonight, too, and didn't want Hermione to run interference.
Somehow Reilly talked Hermione into buying a round even though the actual bet was never articulated. She placed a butterbeer in front of him and she smiled. "Pace yourself, Potter." He didn't know if she meant the beer or the witch next to him.
The rest of the night was a blur. He couldn't recall what words were spoken, but he remembered the feeling. The admiration for Hermione's intelligence earlier in the evening, the notice of her compassion once she ensured Peasegood was well (Harry was in the interrogation room at the time, but Reilly slipped him a note saying that Hermione was there checking on Peasegood and was watching them) . Now, contentment that she fit so well with his co-workers, his friends. And she looked gorgeous in the glowing candlelight.
Hermione felt Harry's gaze on her. She turned to see him look at her with such open warmth, joy, love, contentment. For that moment, time stopped. She took a deep breath as a warm glow filled her chest, radiating through her body. She hoped that her look in return echoed his. Then, someone jostled her arm, and the look was broken, the moment ended. Life went on.
When they were finally thrown out of the pub, everyone said their goodbyes. Hermione was now on a first name basis with everyone and gave them all hugs, even Fox who managed to relax her grip on him a bit. Ron volunteered to take Hermione back to her house, knowing full well that Luna would be there, and he would likely be spending the night. He gave Harry the arched eyebrow that their house would be empty, if he wanted a bit of fun with Fox.
If Hermione noticed these unspoken looks between the young men, she did not indicate it. She gave Harry a quick kiss on the cheek; it was their first actual contact since the raid at Peasegood's.
"I'm so glad you're safe," she said quickly. Harry looked into her eyes and saw tears, then she was gone, arm in arm with Ron.
"Good night, Hermione," he called after her. She gave him a wave before turning back to Ron.
Fox pulled on his robes. "My place or yours?"
"Both. I'll go to mine and you go to yours. But thanks for the offer," Harry responded.
"It's her then. You know she's practically engaged to Viktor Krum," Fox said.
"I'm just not in the mood now," he replied. Not in the mood to argue or worry about Bulgarian Seekers. "Good night." He kissed her lightly on the top of her head and walked to the Apparition point.
***
Please read and review!
A/N on this chapter: this has nothing to do with P&P, but I wanted the Trio to have experience of working together, and imagined a situation like in OotP when Hermione realizes that Harry is about to walk into a trap. This time, they listen to her.
Next chapter: Part Three. Pemberley. Return to Hogwarts.
A/N: Real Life is a hot mess right now, but hopefully the next chapter will be up in a couple weeks. Only 4 more chapters left in this story! And thanks for the many reviews. I've been incredibly busy and unable to respond as quickly as I'd like to, but I do read each & every one of them and really appreciate the feedback. Thank you!!
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