What I've become

Chapter Five

When Lucius went into the Ministry to work on the first day whispers followed him everywhere.
It took him awhile to find his old office; he was tired and sore from standing in the Muggle’s apartment watching the Mudblood all night.
When he finally reached his old office he heard a voice ring out behind him.
“Ah Lucius my good fellow you’re not in that office anymore…you’re down the hall to the left,” it was the Minister for Magic himself; Cornelius Fudge.
“Why have I been moved?” asked Lucius coldly, his eyes narrowed.
“Why, the other office is bigger and this one here is now being used by Mr Weasley,” replied Cornelius, Lucius eyes if possible narrowed more.
“Now if you will follow me…we have things to discuss,” said Cornelius not noticing the venom in Lucius’s eyes.
Lucius followed the Minister down to his new office and they both stepped inside, Lucius had to admit that the office was bigger.
“Well now Lucius…” said Cornelius as he sat down at the desk.
“We are of course glad to have you back on board…after the unfortunate false imprisonment,” Cornelius continued.
“Although we never replaced you at the Ministry, we also lost one of our female governors…and well... we can’t find anyone to replace her accept males…and as you know we need a female on the panel,” Cornelius explained.
“And why should I need to know about that?” asked Lucius with a puzzled look on his face.
“Well Lucius…I was thinking of your lovely wife taking the position,” said Cornelius, Lucius gaped at him.
“No I don’t think so Minister. My wife is having some problems at the moment,” replied Lucius when he found his voice again.
“Oh…well I see,” mumbled Cornelius as he got to his feet. “If you can think of anyone else…please let me know” Cornelius sighed as he opened the door.
Lucius didn’t know why the idea just popped into his head but he thought of the perfect candidate for the job.

“Minister…I might have a person in mind for the job,” called Lucius as the Minister was closing the door behind him.
“Oh?” asked the Minister pushing the door back open.
“Yes…A talented little witch in the Misuse of Magic department” replied Lucius.
“And who might that be?” asked the Minister, who did not really know who worked down in that area.
“One Miss Hermione Granger,” said Lucius; the Minister looked a bit surprised.
“Granger…isn’t she a Muggle born?” asked the Minister and even though he never suspected Lucius of being a Death Eater he knew he didn’t really agree with Muggle born witches and wizards before waiting for Lucius reply he said, “Are you sure Lucius…wasn’t she the one with the Potter boy when they accused you of being a Death Eater?” his voice uncertain and suspicious.
“All is forgiven…they did not know than I was acting on orders and not on free-will,” replied Lucius. “And think of it this way Minister…I’m sure you have more than enough employees down in the Misuse of Magic department…and you don’t need to be paying two people when you can just replace one who already works here.” Lucius explained and was glad the Minister seemed to like the idea already.

“And it would help you…publicly to have a muggle born witch and the panel.” Lucius threw in to sweeten the deal.
“Ok…it’s settled” said Cornelius drumming his fingers on the door.
“I’ll send her a message by our Muggle express post right away,” said Lucius with a smile.

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When Hermione awoke that morning she thanked Merlin it was Saturday, she did not have to go into work, which was a good thing because of the huge hang over she was now nursing.
After an hour of holding the pillow over her head as hard as she could she gave up and got dressed.
The first thing she noticed when she entered the living room was that she had mail.
Scooping the letter up she found it was quite heavy, turning it over she realized why when she spied the letter stamp in the shape of an M for the ministry.
Tearing it open she unfolded the four sheets of parchment.

Dear, Miss Granger
We are delighted to inform you of your promotion from the Misuse of Magic department to the Governor’s Panel for the Ministry.
Enclosed you will find a list of all your new duties, and where you will need to go on your first day back into work.
We look forward to seeing you
Signed: L. Malfoy
Hermione looked down at the letter her mouth open with surprise.
“Oh my!” she cried aloud scrunching the letter in her hand with excitement; her hangover seemed to have vanished as she started to jump on the spot while laughing happily.
She scanned the letter again and again and only on the tenth read she noticed the signature and she felt like an ice cube had slipped down her back, Hermione had not known that he had been released.
“Surly they didn’t let him go back to work,” Hermione muttered to herself shaking her head.
“No they can’t have done…they gave him a lower down job…that’s why he wrote and sent her letter,” she muttered walking to the sofa and sinking down into it.

“I’ve got to talk to Harry,” Hermione said aloud and grabbing her wand and keys and shoving the letter into her cloak she Disapparated.