The Good Life

Chapter 7

Two weeks passed until there were only two weeks before Hogwarts let out. As promised, Hermione found a house for Brian and Alex. At ten in the morning, Hermione was waiting at a table in the Three Broomsticks for Brian, so she could bring him to his new home. She was only kept waiting for fifteen minutes.

They walked the mile and a half to the house in companionable conversation. While he would continuously flirt with her, particularly in front of his wife, he had kept it at a joking level, rather than the specific intent of weeks previous.

When they arrived at the house, Brian was floored. For Hogsmeade standards, the house was huge. While not even a fifth the size of his ancestral home, it was double the size of his current house, though the house did take up a large portion of the lot, leaving a relatively small front garden. "Please don't tell me that you threw whoever lived here out for us," he said, his voice slightly awed.

"Well, technically they left, but the house had been on the market for a while. Apparently every family that lived here couldn't deal with the poltergeist," At his sideways glance to her, she felt the need to reassure him. "Don't worry about it, though, we got rid of it. Took a bit of energy, but it's gone."

"Well, then, thank you," he responded.

"Don't thank me yet," she told him. She walked ahead of him to lead him to the door, feeling his eyes on her ass that was accentuated by the pinstripe, pencil skirt she was wearing.

After she opened the door, she handed him the keys. "At the moment, there are no wards over the house at all. You can leave it that way, put them up yourself, or call a specialist. I would recommend a specialist, as you've been out of the wizarding world so long, you wouldn't know the newest spells."

She then took him on a tour of the house. The bottom floor had the kitchen, living room, a dining room, an office, and a bathroom while the upstairs had three large bedrooms and two full baths, one attached to the master bedroom and the second shared between the remaining rooms with no outlet to the hallway.

The back garden was larger than expected. There were a few rose bushes, as well as a rather magnificent rock garden, and a two-seater wooden swing. He looked around the expanse with a smile on his face. "It's very nice," he commented. "Is the house electric friendly?"

Hermione gave him a look as though he were crazy. "Of course not," she responded. "Nothing in Hogsmeade is. Where would the electricity come from?"

He was stumped at the extreme logic of the question as he thought that he was going to have to get used to the wizarding way of doing things again. Admittedly, though, such things as electricity weren't really needed when you had magic. He didn't think it would take Alex so long, considering that she was now used to such things, staying at Hogwarts for so many months out of the year.

"You do realize that if you start moving things here, it will look very suspicious to Elizabeth, considering that she still doesn't know that you intend on divorcing her."

"I know. The paperwork is almost finished; the lawyer says it should be ready to be served to her within the week."

"Good. You really should be going home soon, though. Where does she think you are whenever you disappear?"

"With you."

"Great," she responded sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him.

Meanwhile, Alex was called to the headmaster’s office for the second time in almost as many weeks. Once she arrived, Headmaster Snape escorted her through a door that was hidden by a bookshelf into a private sitting room.

Seated in a rather uncomfortable looking old-fashioned chair was the Minister. She had met him briefly in passing a few times with Hermione, but that was about all, and it had been a few years ago. Poised and graceful, she walked so she was standing in front of him and gave a slight curtsy. "Good afternoon, Minister," she greeted him.

"Good afternoon, Miss McCarthy. Please take a seat," he said, motioning to the chair across from him. She sat down, crossing her ankles and folding her hands in her lap. Before anything else could be said, a house-elf popped in, offering them tea or coffee.

Once they had each settled down, drink in hand, the Minister continued. "I have asked to meet with you today for three reasons. First, I would like to get to know you a bit, considering that eventually we will be working rather closely together. Second, I understand that you have been learning how to use and strengthen your magic and your natural gifts and I would like to see it for myself. Thirdly, I would like to offer you a summer internship within the Ministry, so you can get acquainted with how things are run."

Despite his words, she knew that the internship was not voluntary by the sound of his voice. However, since she thought that it sounded like fun, she wasn't at all upset by it. "Thank you, Minister. I would be delighted to take the internship."

"Good," he replied. "My secretary will send you an owl with all of the details within the week."

They then spent the next twenty minutes or so talking about her favorite school subjects and general interests before getting out of their seats to go on a walk and test her abilities. "You know, it's kind of hard to get to people's true feelings when the overriding emotion amongst most of the people who see you is fear," she commented after a few minutes.

"Can you get past the fear?" he asked.

"Of course I can, sir. Apparently, I'm a natural Legilimens, though I admit that Occlumency took quite a while to learn, but I have been told that my defenses are strong and will only continue to become stronger with practice."

"Do you think you cold hold your barriers against me?"

"I don't know; probably not, but why would I want to?"

"There are many people who are afraid of what I will find in their minds, and they do not want to be punished for their indiscretions," he explained plainly.

"Well, there's nothing for me to hide, so it's not an issue." While she was telling the truth, she was glad he chose not to test her, as she wasn't all too fond of the feeling of someone else in her mind.

The Minister abruptly stopped outside the Great Hall. "Let's sit down," he said, motioning to an empty bench. Once they sat down, he turned his head to face her. "That girl over there," he pointed discreetly. "Read her."

Alex looked over to the girl, a seventh-year Gryffindor. She cocked her head to the side, staring at the back of the girl’s head. "Well, she's not afraid; I don't think her little group has noticed you yet. Her most prevalent emotion, now, is lust, then excitement, contentment, trepidation, and a small amount of anger. She probably has a crush on the boy she's talking to."

Over the next half hour, she read ten or so more people, including the teachers. He eventually had her use Legilimency on them. When they went back to the headmaster's office, he had been impressed when she was able to accurately read Snape, as well as break through his renowned Occlumency skills, if even for just the split second it was.

***** and will it be so shocking to hear me thank buffxo for betaing the chapter for me. and then to the lone reviewer... guard geek... yup, so i have read me my dh and i finished like 2 and a half hours ao and i still just keep crying. but it was absolutely brilliant and i loved almost every minute of it, though it left what happened to almost everyone loose, and i want to know what jo says happens to them, even if i were to go back and change it for my own purposes.