Accidental Encounters

Patches of sunlight danced around the walls of Hermione’s bedroom, and she groaned as she realized morning onc once again graced the earth. She had been up until all hours of the morning, for after her dinner with Ron, she had been obliged to inspect his quarters. That turned into a night of reminiscing, with laughter and tears flowing as freely as the butterbeer.

In her defense, Hermione had gone looking for Severus after tea, but he had marched off after taking only two bites of pudding, and he was nowhere to be found. The workroom had been locked and warded, so when Ronppeappeared moments later offering her a guided tour, she gladly took him up on the offer.

Now though, it was a Sunday, and Hermione smiled as she contemplated a decent lie-in. The smiled faded when it suddenly registered that tomorrow was the end of the month – that crazy month that had been September. She flew out of bed and hurried to get dressed. Magic or not, she would have a hard time making it to London within ten minutes.

As it happened, it was almost fifteen minutes later that Hermione applied the last drying charm to her hair, wrestled it back into a tight ballerina’s bun, and took the stairs two-at-a-time down to the kitchen. A quick accio to summon the brightly wrapped present on the table, and then she apparated away.

Hermione appeared at the gates of Hogwarts with so much momentum from her suddenly rushed Sunday morning, she fell forward into a strong pair of waiting arms. Looking up, knowing she was grinning a little sheepishly, she muttered, “Morning Ron. Sorry I’m late.”
The red-head surveyed her with a smirk. “One of those mornings, hey?”
“Well it was your fault for keeping me so later last night.”
“Oh yeah, blame it on Ron, then!”
Hermione could have kept bantering with Ron all day, happy as she was to have their friendship back, but there were more pressing matters in mind.
“Aren’t we awfully late? We’d better go.”
Ron only smiled again. “Typical ‘Mione. Let’s get going then.”
And the only sound after that was two loud pops, close together, as the friends apparated simultaneously.

***

When they appeared in London, there was nobody waiting for them, of course. Looking covertly over his shoulder, Ron stepped forward and opened the door of the telephone box for Hermione. He squeezed in behind her, and waited for his badge to arrive, all the while trying not to think of how different it was the last time they were here, at the end of fifth year.

Once down in the depths of the Ministry, they found a room that was packed with witches and wizards of all shapes aizesizes, arranged in rows facing a small stage. Trying to be as discreet as possible, Hermione threaded her way down a row, until she reached Molly Weasley. The older witch looked thrilled to see her, and Ron behind her, but refrained from embracing them, as an authoritarian-looking wizard had stepped to the stage.

Hermione recognized himthe the auror who had supervised Harry during his training, the same one who had been so full of self-importance on the night of the Hogsmeade station attack. Trying to keep her face as neutral as possible, Hermione turned her attention to the front.

“Good morning, witches and wizards, honourable members of the Ministry, our esteemed aurors and their wonderful families.” The voice was as pompous as ever. Next to her Ron whispered, “Here we go.”

“My name is Martinus Maggle, and I am the Head Auror for the Ministry of Magic…” Here, Martinus paused for effect, and looked gratified as several people scattered throughout the audience applauded admiringly.

“Today, as you know, is a special day. Today we are witnessing the graduation of our newest batch of aurors, who I believe are quite promising. I still remember the day I graduated from the Auror academy. They said I was the most promising one they had seen in years…”

Those words were signal for Hermione to tune out. She couldn’t stand people who were so sure of their own brilliance, people who had to constantly prove they were superior to everyone else. Instead, she craned her neck to see the row beside the stage, where among ten or so others garbed in navy blue, Harry sat with a slightly disgusted look on his face. Hermione focused on his face intently, and when she finally caught his eye, sent a series of enthusiastic gestures which he would hopefully read as “Good luck! Congratulations!”

Harry’s face lit up – it was obvious he was thrilled to finally be an auror. When the infernal ceremony was finally over, Harry ran down to them. Ginny got in first, for an intimate embrace and an even more intimate kiss. Ron and Hermione quickly closed in from either side, though, whilst Molly and Arthur hung back, looking proudly at their surrogate son.

“Everyone to the Burrow!” Arthur finally called in amongst the rabble. “Molly and Ginny have made us a spectacular luncheon to celebrate.” The group spilled out of the Ministry, into what was shaping to be a brilliantly fine day. Indeed, when they arrived at the Burrow, the midday sun was blazing down as though it were July, not the end of September.

It was all so perfect, so happy-family-sitcomy. Hermione should have seen it as a warning.

They had barely started the party (with some delicious cold meats that Ginny had arranged on a series of platters) when the Weasley fireplace glowed green. Everyone curiously looked to the hearth, and then to Hermione when she groaned. They may not have known the strange head in the fire, but she knew that the appearance of Elizar Bacon on a Sunday was not a good sign. She was off-duty – he was supposed to be handling any minor incident which came their way.

It could only mean one thing. Something wicked had come her way - again.


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A/N: Sorry it has been so long since I last updated. I have a week off now, so I am hoping to get much more done.

I also want to thank everyone who has reviewed – you are wonderful. Please keep it up! Oh, and sorry for that last cheesy reference to the PoA movie – just got around to seeing it the other day, and couldn’t help throwing it in :) A.