Mr. Potter’s Coup D’etat

TITLE: Mr. Potter’s Coup D’etat

AUTHOR: Zephyr

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

RATING: R

PAIRING: D/Hr/B

SUMMARY: Hermione was exiled from the wizarding world ten years ago, now Aurors Zabini and Malfoy have been charged with bringing her back. Things have drastically changed in the wizarding world much to Hermione’s disappointment.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: For Emily North for the Secret Santa Story Exchange. I know there is a fair bit of angst in this story but far less than the other plot bunnies I had for it. I hope you enjoy it regardless.


~*~_~*~_~*~_~*~


“Why her?”


“Because she’s the best chance we’ve got, Draco,” Blaise answered testily.


“I don’t like it though,” Draco was nearly whining now and it was grating on Blaise’s last nerve.


“You don’t have to,” Blaise hissed, “now, be quiet and stick to the plan.”


Silence reigned as they watched a leggy brunette strut across the square. Every step hiked up the short, black, pinstriped skirt and flashed the lace tops of her black stockings. The short jacket she wore was cut more for style than for warmth in the cool November afternoon. She looked every inch a Muggle but Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy alone were aware of her true identity. This in fact was the very reason why Draco was in such lather about the woman walking across the cobbled stones as if she was not wearing three-inch spike heeled shoes.


As she approached her vehicle, Blaise stepped out of the shadows and yanked Draco out as well. Her chocolate eyes swept over them once and her eyes widened in surprise then, narrowed in determination.


“No,” she said before Blaise could even think of what to say to her.


“Just what I thought she would say, Blaise. This was just one big waste of time. Come on. Let’s get out of here,” Draco said with a smug smile.


“Hermione, please. Just listen to what I— we have to say,” Blaise asked as he caught her arm as she tried to pass him.


She pierced him with a withering glare then relented. “Five minutes,” she stated and crossed her arms over her chest.


Blaise took a moment and looked Hermione over. She hadn’t changed a lot since he saw her last, almost ten years ago when hurt and betrayal had forced her from the wizarding world. Her hair was still a riot of bushy curls and her eyes still held the burning intelligence that drew him, almost. Blaise pushed those thoughts away, stuffing them back into a closet in his mind with all the other fantasies that would do him no good to dwell upon.


“Four minutes, time’s wasting, Zabini.”


“All right, all right, don’t get your knickers in a twist,” he ran his fingers through his hair and tried to decide where to start, “Arthur asked that we track you down. Something is happening; our orders come from the Minister himself.”


“Arthur?” Hermione looked incredulously from one man to the other. “The man who snapped my wand and forced me out of the wizarding world after getting perfect NEWT’s and— Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it?”


“The Minister isn’t Arthur Weasley,” Blaise began.


“It’s Potter.” Draco watched smugly as Hermione looked between them in shock.


“Harry? Minister of Magic? Impossible,” she said softly as she turned away and walked a short distance.


“We’ve been authorized to offer you anything you want in order to get your cooperation,” stated Blaise encouragingly only to be met with a blazing fury from Hermione and a wry grin from Draco.


Still grinning, Draco said, “Wrong thing to say, mate,” and his smile only grew with the death glare he received from his aggravated friend.


With eyes narrowed dangerously, Hermione inquired, “My cooperation? Just what does Arthur Weasley and Harry Potter need from me after all this time?”


“Well… you see… ah…” Blaise rubbed the back of his neck and looked to Draco for help.


The blond man rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. “Luna Lovegood burst into the Minister’s office several days ago ranting about how the exiled lioness must come back or the Minister will fall from office and leave the wizarding world in turmoil or some such nonsense.” Draco looked to Hermione to gauge her reaction to the news.


“Divination?” she asked incredulously.


“Prophecy; an entirely different animal,” Draco replied.


“So what, I’m supposed to trot back to the wizarding world like a good little witch because Loony Lovegood says so?” Hermione huffed and turned away, and then paused. She turned around slowly and looked both wizards in the eye. “All right, come on back to my flat and you can tell me more.”


~*~_~*~_~*~_~*~


Hundreds of miles away, across the United Kingdom, a woman with thick bottle-like glasses sat in a smoky room heavily scented with the acrid aroma of incense.
Behind her spectacles her eyes glazed over and she went into a sleep like trance but being alone as she was, no one would hear the words she was about to speak.


“The exile and the traitors have formed an alliance. Unless put in check the alliance will strengthen to a sincere bond that will never be broken.”


She shook herself and resumed reading the soggy remains in the bottom of her teacup without ever realizing anything out of the ordinary occurred.


~*~_~*~_~*~_~*~


Hermione stood at the entrance to Diagon Alley and was more nervous than she was before her very first visit to the Wizarding community. In front of her stood Zabini and Malfoy, aurors. That revelation alone surprised her. She knew that they had changed sides before the final battle and by seventh year she just ignored Malfoy’s insults. She didn’t really know Zabini well enough to have an opinion of him. While Malfoy tapped the appropriate bricks to open the doorway, Hermione used the moment to study their profiles.


Blaise was brooding; she didn’t know why but he was disturbed by something. His dark brows were knit under his fringe and his ink blue eyes looked full of seriousness. Now, Malfoy, with his pale hair and equally pale grey eyes, looked calm and collected though a bit resigned. Both men had filled out since their final year at Hogwarts and were looking fine in the dark blue uniforms that marked aurors. In Hermione’s estimation the only thing sexier were quidditch leathers (she might not understand the game but she knew a great view when she saw one).


A derisive voice cut through Hermione\'s lustful reverie, “Like what you see, Granger?”


Hermione’s eyes snapped up and she was a little surprised to find both of them watching her with a little surprise of their own. She fought to keep her blush minimal and just glared at Malfoy who winked at her then bowed mockingly to her, allowing her to step into Diagon Alley first.


With a huff she pushed past him and stepped into the bustling street. Hermione looked around as if it was her first time visiting the hidden wizarding row in London. She was taken aback by how much things had stayed the same. Fortescue’s was in the same place, as was Eeylops Owl Emporium and 3W – Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. Her throat constricted at the thought of the Weasley’s. She missed Ron and Ginny terribly after the shock of her exile wore off. She really couldn’t blame them for the Order’s blindness.


Hermione sighed. She wondered if her old friends would just accept her back with open arms or if they’d treat her differently. Would Harry treat her differently? Could she stand it if they did? Hermione closed her eyes, took a deep breath and stepped into the first day of the rest of her life.


With a determined stride, Hermione led the way to Gringotts Wizarding Bank leaving Draco and Blaise to follow. She walked up the steps and pulled open the doors studiously ignoring the large goblins that guarded the entry. She stepped purposely up to the first available kiosk and put her key in the goblin’s hand.


“I’m Hermione Granger, I wish to make a withdrawal.”


Some time later Hermione was back out in the cold late autumn sunlight but still somewhat in shock. Her vault was brimming with gold galleons, silver sickles, and copper knuts. She knew she didn’t leave that much money there when she left the wizarding world. Draco and Blaise’s explanations of Gringotts dividend policies were lost in the astonishment of finding that she was now comfortably wealthy in her own right.


Hermione hardly noticed being steered through the street until they were already in front of Ollivander’s. Standing in front of the shop where she considered her first conscious magical experience occurred, she came out of her haze.


“All right there, Hermione?” Blaise asked, a look of concern shadowing his face.


“I’m fine, Zabini,” she replied and pushed open the door and stepped inside the cramped little shop.


The elderly man at the front of the shop looked up with surprise and then grinned, “Ah, Miss Granger, ten inches, dragon heartstring, inflexible, if I remember correctly.”


“You are very right, Mr. Ollivander. I need to replace that wand,” Hermione stated flatly.


“Yes, sad day it was when—” Ollivander seemed to notice that the subject was a bit touchy and hurried across the shop and plucked a box from one of the overflowing shelves. “Let’s try this one, rose wood, nine and half inches, rather bendy, the hair from a unicorn’s mane.”


With a crash a lamp exploded and several wands later Hermione was giving up hope until Ollivander got a crafty look in his eye and climbed up a set of rickety stairs and plucked a very old looking wand box from the very top shelf.


“I wonder,” he mumbled to himself as he opened the box and pushed back the delicate black tissue inside, “Purpleheart, ten and one-quarter inches, rather flexible, and three hairs from the mane of a sphinx.”


Hermione felt a tingling burn a path up her arm and she cast a simple charm to test what she already knew, “Wingardium Leviosa.” A feathered quill floated off the table and danced across the room to tickle Draco under the nose.


“I must warn you, Miss Granger, that wands of this nature are historically temperamental and sometimes very hard to control.” Ollivander peered at her over the rims of his spectacles. “The last time such a wand was wielded was by the witch, Morgan le Fey.”


Hermione nodded and considered the irony of the parallel between herself and the witch blamed centuries ago for the downfall of King Arthur, just as she was plotting the downfall of the current Minister of Magic and every one of his sycophantic counsel.


After paying for the unusual wand and thanking Ollivander, Hermione stepped into Diagon Alley with her new wand seated comfortably in her hand as her muggle suit though fashionable did not allow for the proper holstering of a nearly foot long piece of wood. She still didn’t feel comfortable in the wizarding world, yet it was something that seemed to be exacerbated by the stares she was receiving. She noticed a handsome wizard look her up and down appreciatively then lurch as his wife, Hermione assumed, smacked his shoulder and leveled a glare at her.


Hermione felt Draco and Blaise stiffen beside her, she looked up and she caught sight of the two wizards she was dreading to meet. Bearing down on them was Arthur Weasley and Alistor Moody. Hermione wrapped her hand around her wand.


“Zabini, Malfoy, you are dismissed.”


Hermione’s eyes narrowed at the grisly old auror. “No, they are not.”


“Miss Granger,” Arthur Weasley began warningly.


“Don’t you ‘Miss Granger’ me,” she hissed, “I was made some considerable promises to get me back here. At your request, I might add.” Hermione rose up to her full height and poked Arthur in the chest. “Each and every one was owled to you and you acquiesced to every single one. Or had you forgotten? They stay for as long as I feel I require their presence.”


“As you wish, Miss Granger, but we have some personally sensitive issues to speak with you about—”


“Stop right there, Arthur. If you think you can intimidate me now, as you did when I as eighteen, you are sadly mistaken.” Hermione’s anger was slowly beginning to grow. “I have nothing to lose, Weasley.”


“I can see you are going to be difficult then, Miss Granger,” Moody said testily, “Allow me to give you a warning then. Stay away from Minister Potter.”


“Stay away from me?” Hermione drank in the sight of the man she had not seen in a decade. Harry Potter, Minister of Magic loomed behind Arthur and Moody. “That would be a little difficult, gentlemen. As my long lost friend and I are going to lunch.”


Without another word Harry stepped up to her, wrapped his arms around her shoulders in a tight hug and then led her away toward the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione sighed in relief; her old friend hadn’t deserted her. Hermione could almost feel the daggers striking her back as they left Moody and Arthur in the middle of Diagon Alley.


Together they walked up the road to The Leakey Cauldron all the while Harry smiling tightly and nodding to the wizards and witches that called out to him. Hermione could tell he was not enjoying the attention that the office of Minister lavished upon him. His smile was forced, his eyes looked heavy and nearly dead. This was not the Harry Potter she remembered.


They stepped into the pub and Harry ushered them into a private room and after a look from the Minister of Magic, Draco and Blaise set to warding the room against entry and several layered silencing charms. No one would be eavesdropping on this conversation.


“Damn, Hermione. I am so glad you’re back.” Harry pulled her into a hug again and buried his face into her hair.


Hermione hugged him back and smoothed his hair back from his face as she took in the crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes, the lines on his forehead and the tired apathy that clouded his once bright emerald eyes.


“Oh, Harry,” her throat constricted tightly, “has it really been that bad?”


“I’m just a figurehead. Arthur, Moody and the rest are the real Ministers of Magic,” Harry replied angrily. “They hold Ginny over my head like a noose, if I didn’t love her so much I would divorce her and end this silly charade.”


“What do you mean?”


“Arthur and Moody made it abundantly clear that unless I do what they want they would make sure Ginny and the kids not only leave me but she also had me brought up on charges of some kind or another.” Harry dropped his head into his palms.


Hermione surged out of her seat. “Fucking wankers ought to be buggered with their own bloody morals. They are threatening you with just what they did to me.”


Harry strengthened his resolve and sat up again. “So, you are game for helping me out of this travesty of an office?”


“You know I am, Harry,” she said resolutely then paused for a moment and cocked her head to the side, “Harry, you know that I didn’t do what they accused me of, don’t you?”


“Hermione, I knew you better than anyone and I wasn’t the only one that voiced their displeasure at your expulsion from our world. We all knew that you would have never tried to use the Imperius on Arthur.”


Hermione nodded, relieved that her friends never stopped believing in her when things were bleak. “So what is the plan?” Hermione asked Harry but it was Draco who answered her.


“We are going to stage a bloodless coup. Bloodless that is, if the council is smart. Nearly every Auror is already on our side. They swore oaths of allegiance to the Minister of Magic, not some puffed up self important council.” Draco’s eyes glittered with undisguised malice for the afore mentioned council.


“You see,” Blaise explained coolly, “the council has been tying the hands of magical law enforcement for years, especially when it comes to prosecuting individuals holding high office. Council members and Department Heads loyal to them can ignore nearly every one of our laws and get away with it, even going so far as to extending that protection to relatives and close friends. As a whole, the Auror rank and file is sick of it.”


Hermione was dumbfounded and her wide surprised eyes swung to Harry’s tired ones. She didn’t know that it had gone this far and that it had gotten so bad.


“My hands are tied, Hermione,” Harry said sadly, “Every time I try to instigate some kind of change in the laws or initiate debate, I get railroaded out of the chambers and left completely in the dark until a parchment full of drivel is passed under my nose and Arthur or Moody there to insure my mark.”


Now Hermione was more determined than ever to see this through. Harry needed her. Hell, the entire wizarding world needed her. Hermione’s eyes darkened with her resolve and her mind set to work strategizing their plans. By midnight their plans were roughed out and each of them knew what they had to do before the next stage. Harry stood up and hugged Hermione as he told her once again how genuinely happy he was that she was back. Draco and Blaise however hung back and they both looked a little uncomfortable when Harry left to apparate home to his wife and children.


“What’s wrong with you two now?” Hermione asked.


“Well you see… The thing is…” stammered Blaise.


Draco looked decidedly unsure as well. “We know you haven’t got any place to stay yet—”


“We’re buggering this all up,” Blaise racked his fingers through his hair in frustration and closed his eyes with a growl.


A moment later he snatched Hermione into his arms and placed a hungry kiss on her lips. She found her mouth willingly open to his plundering tongue. No sooner as the kiss started a second set of arms wrapped around her and a second set of lips nibbled up her neck then across her jaw. She found her mouth plundered again by a different set of lips and demanding tongue. Out of breath and her body slowly smoldering, rough fingers teased the exposed skin at her throat and on her thigh at the patch of skin revealed at the slit of her skirt.


“Stay at our flat, Hermione,” Blaise whispered softly into her hair.


“Please, Granger.”


Hermione looked into Draco’s pleading eyes and knew she couldn’t say no even if the thought entered her mind.


~*~_~*~_~*~_~*~


In the hour since they left the Leakey Cauldron, Hermione’s world became one of hot inflamed passion and need. More than once the fact that Draco Malfoy, bane of her Hogwarts years, was one of the men inflaming those passions washed over her, only to be brushed away when the white-hot need engulfed her once more. She was caught between the two wizards as they played her body like a finely tuned instrument making her hum to their tune.


Before she could protest they had tied a scarf over her eyes and brought her to heights the she had never reached with any of her Muggle boyfriends. She didn’t know if it was Draco who probed her core with three fingers or if it was Blaise whose mouth latched on to her nipple alternating between sweet suction and nipping bites. She didn’t know who settled her over him and slid inside her with a hissed sigh and settled to driving her mad with achingly slow strokes. She didn’t know who prepared her nether entrance for the excruciatingly slow entrance of first fingers then, with a groan of satisfaction, a hard cock.


It was only a few moments until they found their rhythm and Hermione was awash in sensation of being filled by these two mysterious wizards. Bursts of light exploded behind her covered eyes as her climax hit with such force that she screamed her release in a shuddering half-broken sob. Moments later two more yells followed and she was gathered in two sets of strong arms that petted and stroked her into a satisfied slumber.


She awoke sometime later to find a blond head of hair nestled between her legs slowly lapping at her sodden pussy and an equally active mop of dark hair at her side energetically teasing her nipples into tight hard buds. She knew that she wouldn’t be giving either wizard up for a very long time.


~*~_~*~_~*~_~*~


Hermione’s life had taken an idyllic turn. Her nights were filled with passion and the days filled with strategy building encounters. What more could a girl ask for?


The answer came a week after her first meeting with Harry. She, Draco and Blaise were shopping in Diagon Alley, slowly replenishing Hermione’s wardrobe of wizarding wear and her collection of spell books, when she caught a flash of several heads of ginger hair.


Though her heart leaped Hermione was apprehensive. What if Ron, Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys truly did believe what Arthur and his cronies said about her? Not to mention that one of the men she was currently shagging was Ron’s greatest enemy in school.


Hermione got more and more nervous as the red headed horde drew closer. So horde wasn’t truly accurate, as it was only Ron, Ginny, and the twins walking together down Diagon Alley. Hermione unconsciously drew closer to Draco and Blaise for support.


As the four youngest Weasleys drew level with them, Hermione gathered her courage. “Hullo Ron,” she called, just loud enough to grab their attention.


“Hermione?” Ginny was the first to recognize her.


“Hi Ginny,” Hermione was almost trembling, until she saw the grins on the identical faces of Fred and George. “Now, she was down right scared. “Fred, George. Business good?”


“Hermione,” Ron’s voice was deeper than she remembered but she almost didn’t notice that his eyes were thick with unshed tears just before he scooped her up into a bone crushing hug, “Damn it ‘Mione, I’ve missed you so much.”


“I’ve missed you too Ron,” replied Hermione and grinned through tears of her own as she looked around and was surrounded by the smiling faces of Ginny and the twins. Even Draco and Blaise had smiled on their faces.


~*~_~*~_~*~_~*~


Six weeks later, Hermione smiled as the council was led away and Harry signed his resignation with a flourish. She looked around the chambers at the contingent of aurors that lined the room and knew that the same was happening in almost every office within the Ministry of Magic. Department Heads being forced to resign and more freethinking replacements pressed into taking on the now vacant positions.


Hermione herself was one such replacement. As the wizarding world was about to find out as a clutch of reporters was led into the chambers and Harry stepped up to the head of the table.


“Good evening ladies and gentleman I promise you have a huge scoop here tonight. First of all, I have here in my hand my tendered resignation as Minister of Magic,” his first pronouncement was received with gasps and shocked murmurs, “Tonight aurors have conducted, with my full approval, a coup to remove the corrupt Minister’s Council and unscrupulous Department heads within the Ministry of Magic. These events will not leave the Ministry in tatters. New Department heads are being installed as we speak and I am naming Hermione Granger as my replacement for Minister of Magic.” The shock and awe was even twice as pronounced now with his final announcement and questions came fast and furiously until Harry Potter held up his hand for silence. “Hermione Granger graduated top in our class at Hogwarts and has spent the past ten years in exile due to several untrue and unwarranted accusations by former members of the council. In her decade of exile she attended university at Oxford, earning her degree in Comparative Law and upon accepting this position she is resigning her post on the Muggle Prime Minister’s legal team. She is a natural replacement to bring the Ministry of Magic out of the corruption of the past twenty years and into the future.”


Hermione tuned out the rest of the press conference and let her eyes wander the room. Her gaze locked on her lovers. Ten years was more than enough time to let old hurts die and for Hermione to see that Draco had grown out of the prejudices of his youth and for Blaise to come out of the shadows that protected him in the darkest of times. For the first time in ten years, Hermione felt she belonged.


~*~_~*~_~*~_~*~


MINISTER OF MAGIC GRANGER WEDS


In a small ceremony attended only by a few close friends, that included former Minister Harry Potter and Chudley Cannons Beater, Ron Weasley, Minister of Magic Hermione Granger has wed not one but two lucky bachelors, Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. The unconventional marriage was presided over by Amelia Bones, Chief Justice of the Wizenmagot. The bride wore a set of dress robes…




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This fic was writeen for the Quiet One\'s Secret Santa Fic Exchange for Em North.. below is her request.


Name/Pen Name: Emily North
Pairing of the fic you want: D/Hr/B
Rating(s) of the fic you want: Any
3 - 5 Things you want your gift to include:
1. Plot! Fluff and smut are fine (encouraged, in fact!), but I want some *story* in my story.
2. Post-Hogwarts
3. A prophecy
4. The three of them going undercover
5. Happy ending
What you don\'t want your gift to include: angst, character death, Hermione-is-suddenly-gorgeous, Draco-is-suddenly-nice