No reason to celebrate

“Thanks, Cynthia.” Hermione took the bundle of envelopes and scrolls from her secretary’s hand. She hated the ‘desk work’ as she put it and always tried to get it done as quickly as possible. Afterwards she would treat herself to a nice large cup of coffee and get to the work she loved most. The field studies and experimental work for new spells. Maybe she would even get lucky and see Severus today.

With a look of utter disgust the young woman threw the mail on her desk and scanned it quickly. As far as she could make out most of it was not very important. Mostly applications and bills. If was amazing how many people were interested in working and studying at her very own institute. Only one letter stood out. Her address was written in a very fine and delicate script and the handwriting seemed oddly familiar. Furrowing her brow Hermione pulled the letter out from underneath another one and carefully studied it.

Staring at it won’t help, she thought and broke the seal showing the crest of the French Ministry of magic. Inside she found an invitation card and a neatly folded letter. With raised eyebrows Hermione unfolded it and stifled a little gasp.

‘Dear Miss Granger,

as you can see by the invitation, France is holding the ten years anniversary for the destruction of Voldemort.
My minister instructed me to invite our most welcomed guests, but some of them are rather elusive.

It is to you I come with a plea for help. I know, I have done nothing on my part to earn this kindness, but rest assured it will be only this once.

I spoke to Ronald Weasley the other day and he hinted that you might have some useful addresses for me and maybe even a hint as to where I might find Mr. Harry Potter. Nobody seems to know where he can be reached.

If you by any chance have any information for me, I would be most grateful.

Yours sincerely,

Draco Malfoy
sous-secretaire”


Hermione stared at the letter, wondering how much effort it had cost Draco to write this letter. With a small pang of shame she hoped it had been a lot. But then again, the tone of the letter had been most distinguished and friendly. And not to forget, she was a grown woman by now, one shouldn’t hold a grudge that long and if he really had spoken to Ron, he couldn’t be that bad anymore.

She pulled out a piece of parchment and quickly wrote down the few addresses she knew and Harry’s ‘timetable’ for the upcoming cons. Even though she hadn’t spoken to Harry in ages, she always liked to keep up with things.


As she wrote down the final note and was about to sign the letter, the door opened and the distinct odour of hot cauldrons and different chemical ingredients announced the dark figure before itself had entered the room. A long billowing cloak surrounded the tall and thin frame and the forceful strides made the long black ponytail swing from left to right.

“Miss Granger. Again occupying yourself with trivial things instead of preparing the meeting this afternoon.” The deep voice of Severus Snape snarled.

“If you call answering a letter to your favourite ex pupil, trivial, then I will stop immediately.” Hermione smiled sweetly.

“Malfoy? Draco Malfoy?” Snape looked pleasantly surprised for just a split second before his face took the usual annoyed expression again.

“Yes, the same. It’s seems that he has made quite the career. Being sous-secretaire and all.”

“Well? Aren’t going to finish your letter to him? It would be most improper not to answer him.”

“Sure.” Hermione took up her quill again and signed the letter. She heard the door opening and looked up. “Oh, wait Severus.”

Snape whirled around, a sour frown making clear that he didn’t like being addressed by his given name and glared at the young woman that had stood and now moved towards him.

“I nearly forgot” she grinned and stepped up close to him, raising herself on her toes. Without further hesitation she took hold of his silk lined cloak and pulled him downwards slightly before she kissed him deeply.

After a few seconds she released his lips and gave him a loving smile. Snape straightened up and carefully replaced the tender expression with his normal indignant one and swept out of the room.

Hermione grinned as she walked back to her desk. True, Snape would maybe never be able to acknowledge their relationship in the open, but she didn’t mind, she knew he was hers. Truly hers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry awoke with an enormous headache and cringed as he opened his eyes and the sun hit him directly in his face. Obviously he had not bothered to close the curtains yesterday and now the early morning sun shone brightly into his room. The next thing that hit him was the slightly nauseating stench of stale alcohol and sweat. Frowning in disgust Harry noticed that he was still in the same clothes he had worn yesterday and they were not only creased beyond recognition but also he must have thrown up sometime during the night, for sour smelling stains all down his front told their own tale. With a frustrated sigh he carefully sat up and looked around in his room. Good. No larger puddles of unmentionable goo anywhere to be seen. At least he had had enough sense to throw up in the bathroom. Or so he hoped.

As soon as he tried to stand it dawned him, that he must have had quite a bit more to drink than his usual amount. His head was swimming and his legs were shaking so badly, that he had to sit down again immediately. No way was he going to be able to go to the convention today.

After some deep breaths and some sluggish thinking, Harry slowly moved over to the fireplace and cast the needed spell to call his agent. After some seconds, a young eager face appeared amidst the green flames.

“Good morning Harry.” Eric shouted with glee.

Harry made a face and motioned to Eric to be a bit less loud. “Hey, what’s wrong champ?” Eric’s voice was now only a mere whisper.

“I am not feeling too well. Maybe there was something wrong with my dinner yesterday.”

Eric looked at Harry with an expression of pity. Eric knew perfectly well what Harry’s dinner must have consisted of but refrained himself from saying anything. Instead he gave the fallen hero an encouraging smile and said “Oh, that’s too bad. Maybe you should lie down then. Give yourself some rest. I will call the con and talk to them. I am sure they will understand. Do you think you will be up for it again tomorrow? If you don’t feel like it….”

“No. No, I am sure I will be fine tomorrow. Don’t worry. I just go back to bed, take a potion and you will see I will be up and around again in no time.” Harry reassured Eric.

With a nod the young face vanished from the flames and soon the fire was back to its normal red and gold.

Harry sat down on the floor with a thud and buried his face in his hands. So, it had come to this. It wasn’t the first time that he hadn’t been able to carry out his job. But never like this. Never had he been in a state like this. He stayed like this for a few minutes before he rose and made his way to the bathroom only to find the feared puddle of pinkish goo right in the middle of the bathroom floor. He stumbled back and fetched his wand from the small table beside the fireside and mumbled a cleaning spell, desperately trying not to throw up again because of the stench.

An hour later he had showered, brushed his teeth and put on some clean clothes. Feeling faintly better and somewhat refreshed, Harry decided to got for a short walk. The fresh air quickly cleared his head and soon he found himself strolling down a busy a crowded street, witches and wizards hectically rushing to and fro, carrying small and large packages in their arms, children, their faces beaming, pressing up against the large shop windows, trying to get a better look at the shop’s displays.

He felt reminded of his own childhood days, when he had entered Diagon Alley for the first time. All the excitement, the anxiety and astonishment. He remembered meeting with different people, like Mr. Olivander, Tom from the Leaky Cauldron and Mrs. Maulkin. Oh, yes and of course the worst pain in the back, Draco Malfoy. The blond pointy faced boy with the snotty attitude. Sure, like himself , Draco had changed over the years and like a lanky foal had grown into quite a handsome young man. His face had lost the pointy look and after he had stopped slicking his hair it had grown long and shiny. Something Harry had secretly always envied him about.

Distancing his fruitless thoughts from the most unimportant person he let his mind wander to Ron, Hermione and other Griffindor friends. With a stab of sadness he admitted to himself that he done nothing on his behalf to keep their friendship up and going. He was sure that they would still consider him a friend, but surely not the closest. With a determined huff, he promised himself to try and contact them again.

Maybe right after this convention. He would have the chance to return to England and the next con was still two months away and would lead him only to Ireland, so he still wasn’t too far off.

It was already late afternoon when Harry found himself in a small secluded café where he sat down and enjoyed watching the passing people while drinking a large latte macchiato.

It seemed to be a place young people preferred to go to. Apart from Harry there were only couples seated at the small tables, hat were scattered across the pavement.

No matter where Harry looked the couples were kissing, whispering and giggling. There were even two male couples and he felt a surge of jealousy. When had it been the last time he had been in something even remotely comparable to a relationship.

His last boyfriend had left him three and a half years ago. And all in all it hadn’t even been such a satisfying time. After Scott, Harry had engaged in two or three one-night-stands. But they had left him even emptier than before. Maybe the problem had been those tricks had been fans or rather groupies, wanting to bask in his fame.

After these disastrous encounters Harry had preferred to have his fun with a well shaped dildo and his right hand. But even that happened less and less. He could barely remember the last time he had wanked off.

Why couldn’t he just meet somebody nice, fall in love with him and be happy for the rest of his life.


t.b.c