Chapter One:
"Okay, for all of you like myself who are muggleborn, or for safe measures, have any muggle relatives, levitate the book from its place to a hard surface. The best surfaces are stone surfaces, though I've had reasonable success with metal surfaces too." She looked around to make sure that everyone was paying close attention. Well, at least there isn't anyone sleeping, she thought with an internal sigh.
"I've devised the charm by combining a simple repelling and expelling charm along with a more complicated revision charm to change the original spell placed on the object. The anti-muggle hexes are too difficult to remove, therefore it is easiest to simply modify the spell so that the effect is neutralized." The group was looking at her disinterestedly. This was perhaps the worst part of her job.
"Why don't we just use the spells we've been using on other dark objects?" The man sitting directly in front of her asked with a smirk. He looked like the handsome sort who had a penchant for hooking up with coworkers and talking about it during his morning coffee breaks.
"Well, if the spells used on dark objects are used on books, the material inside it is destroyed." Apparently nobody paid attention when they were hired. "As our mission here is to preserve books, that would be highly inefficient." She looked again around the room to see if there were any more questions. She was seriously beginning to doubt the initial plan to recover the anti-muggle texts.
"Okay, well. I am going to demonstrate the wand work for you. Its rather similar to the expelling charm," she waved her wand in a circular motion one hundred eighty degrees and then jabbed her wand forward sharply, "along with the motions you say 'Expellio Modificus' non-verbally. If you say it verbally it will destroy the book, so please don't-"
"Thank you, Hermione", she heard the familiar drawl of her platinum haired friend as he walked casually into the somewhat cramped meeting room, "now that you've explained that, I've a few important announcements to make." She watched him with amusement as he paced around the room making everyone feel uncomfortable. "First off, we'll begin the process of going through the Lestrange library in roughly a week. By that time, you should have this charm mastered."
"I've created some books that you may test as well as visual aids to help with the wand work for those who might not have learned-"
"Yes, Yes. But the point is that you will be conducting the raid with me, not Hermione, and you've been paid more than enough to do this correctly." He looked around at the people. Basically, he'd posted the listing as soon as Hermione had perfected the charm and had tested each individual ensuring that they had an excellent proficiency in charms, but none of them were Charm masters and the only basis for the hiring were their Charms abilities, so there were a fair share of idiots amongst the group. "That is all I have to say to you. You will receive an owl about the exact time and place for the final meeting before the raid. Hermione, anything else?"
"No, thank you." She looked around the group and noticed everyone shuffling their things together, impatient to leave. One would think that they weren't being paid by the hour with how much they wanted to leave.
"Well, you are dismissed." Draco stood quietly while they waited for people to exit the room. Hermione took a seat at an empty chair and rested her legs on the table.
"So?"
"They pretty much appear to be completely dunderheaded," he drawled in his usual demeaning tones, "but what did you expect?"
"Mmm. I'm exhausted." She looked every bit the part. While her curly chestnut hair was carefully styled into a perfect chignon and her robes were pressed and absolutely wrinkle free, her eyes displayed the tiredness that was slowly overwhelming her.
"What have you been doing? You finished the charm for the Lestrange place two weeks ago and I haven't assigned anything else." He looked at her, imploring her to give him anything. It didn't escape anyone's notice that Hermione Granger had become impossible to read with age. Circumstances hadn't been fair to her for sure, but it was surprising just how quiet she had become.
"Researching for my next big project, as always. I've been gathering information for a efficiency charm of sorts. I don't know why though, because the more I look into it, the more it is looking like it will be a modified time travel charm, which the ministry would never really allow in the first place." She tapped her fingers against the table as Draco stared at her.
"Sounds like something you would do." He finally took a seat next to her and continued to watch as she dazed off into the room, lost in thought. "Are you okay?"
"Honestly?"
"No, actually, I would love for you to lie to me." He shook his head. "I'm concerned."
"I think I need a break from all of this. I need time to consider what I'm doing with my life and what that means." She placed her feet back onto the ground and stood up from her seat. "I've been having nightmares again. Every single one of them including my parents. Its not like they used to be either. They aren't just dead, they are judging me and what I'm doing with my life."
"Hermione," Draco stood next to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, "your parents would be proud of you no matter what you did with your life." She shrugged his hand away.
"I know. But it seems like a sign."
"Divination much?" He looked at her comically.
"No!" She shrugged her shoulders in defeat, "I don't know."
"Why don't you take a break. I'm going to be heading the raid on the Lestrange library and you don't have any other commitments right now, perhaps you should leave for a couple weeks and sort things out."
"I'd be deathly bored."
"I tell you what. You can stay at one of my flats in Paris. No charge."
"I haven't been to France in years…" she considered.
"It is a really great flat; overlooks the Eiffel Tower and really close to the downtown wizard scene." He tempted her. He'd always tried to get her to take a vacation, but she hadn't ever accepted the six years she had been working. There was always something pressing to prevent her from leaving. First it was her parents' tragic death while on their annual skiing vacation and the settling of financial affairs. When it wasn't that, she had a charity charms project for the ministry to work on. She had always been an overachiever in school, but now she was a downright workaholic.
"I'll think about it Draco." It was the closest she had ever come to accepting a vacation so far in the time she'd been working at Draco's firm.
"I'll even pay you to go on Vacation. I probably don't pay you as much as you could get elsewhere anyway."
"Ha," Hermione chuckled to herself. Draco had given her pay increase after pay increase. She never really understood why he felt the need to. She made more than she needed to afford the flat she had obtained in Muggle London and had plenty saved from a few extra-curricular projects. He probably knew that she used the excess she earned from this job to pay for the charity projects she did elsewhere.
"I think I'm going to head home now." She grabbed her bag and headed to the door.
"Are you free tomorrow evening?" He asked as she was pushing the door open.
"What do you have planned?"
"Ginny and I would love to have you for dinner."
"Of course."
"See you at seven?"
"Sure." He watched as she walked down the hallway to the front door. He always found it fascinating that she would walk home instead of apparating.
Hermione sunk into her comfy chair at last. It had been a relatively short day, but for the last few weeks, even the short days took forever. With a bottle of butterbeer and a good book, she finally allowed herself a little bit of relaxation.
Why had her life suddenly become so difficult? Nothing had changed in nearly two years, and yet everything suddenly felt wrong. Her parents had been dead for nearly four years now, and while it still hurt, it was no longer impossible for her to function. The time immediately after their death was impoosible and to deal with it, she had thrown herself into her work and shut everyone out of her life. Nobody could understand the way she felt except possibly one person.
Harry.
She hadn't seen Harry since two days after the final battle. He had been entirely overwhelmed with completing his task and defeating Voldemort that he had withdrawn completely from the world around him. It was apparent that something was wrong almost immediately. He didn't talk, but in single words. He didn't want to be touched. Everyone thought he was experiencing shellshock. But then Harry left. He didn't just leave. He had made it impossible to find him.
Hermione, Ron, Ginny and the Weasleys had been devastated. They worried to no end that a rogue death eater had captured him. The Auror department took the case very seriously. They investigated every avenue trying to discover his whereabouts. They had even questioned the barely surviving Severus Snape as to possible leads on death eaters. It wasn't until a month later that Hermione received her first letter.
'Hermione,
I am obviously gone, but I am alive. Please call off the auror missions and allow them to get back to work on something more important. I do not wish to be found.
To ensure that you believe it is really I, it was the Gaunt ring that was found inside the snitch that Dumbledore gave me.
Harry'
Hermione had shown the letter to everyone she could. She had waited another month before she received yet another letter telling her in a very short missive that he was indeed alive and well. He never said anything about his whereabouts and he always sent his posts through muggle mail. Some of the mail had come from the States and some had come from Somalia. She worked to invent charms to track him, used Arithmancy to find any sort of pattern in his travels and used advanced potions to try to track the body oils on the paper he used. To no avail, he remained gone. It had been just over a decade.
As soon as the Final Battle was over, Hermione sat her NEWTs. She scored higher than any student in a century and had her choice of any field she wished. She decided to take an apprenticeship with Professor Flitwick in Charms. In all honesty, she had wanted more than anything to study Potions further, but as there was no possible way to persuade a man who was suffering from serious snake bite wounds and had hated her since he had met her, she chose the field she was second most fond of.
Flitwick was more than happy to take her and spending a few more years at Hogwarts had been the only thing keeping her going after Harry left. Ron understandably had been devastated by the loss of his best friend and never understood why he didn't receive messages. Hermione had told him it was most likely due to the fact that he sent mail through muggle post and not due to any favoritism, but Ron didn't take losing his best friend very well.
Ron decided to help his brother out with Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. After a few years of that and acquiring lots of business skills later, he and Ginny had branched out on their own, establishing a rather successful clothing store. It catered to witches and wizards who wanted to dress in the muggle style, which was surprisingly popular after the fall of Voldemort. They made a fortune in their first year and bought their parents a mansion the next year. They established another store in Hogsmeade modeled after the Diagon Alley shop, but catered more to younger witches and wizards who attended Hogwarts.
It was a little funny to watch Ron, her quidditch obsessed friend, fussing around with different fabrics and ideas for the design of their clothing. A couple years after the war was over Ron finally came out of the closet. Ginny, who had fantasized about owning her own clothing store was surprised, to say the least, when her older brother began giving her style advice.
Everyone found his or her way after Voldemort had died. After the initial shock and grief felt by the magical world, people just knew what to do. They accepted it for what it was and moved on. Ginny had got over losing Harry and discovered a new and exciting relationship with Draco, whom she was now married to, Ron had discovered his niche among the design world, even Severus, who had taken a little over a year to recover, had decided to leave England, and from what Draco had told her and what she had read in Potions Journals, was making a comfortable and exciting living himself.
She felt like she stagnating. She wasn't doing what she felt she needed to do. She hadn't found anyone to be with, and she had tried. She even accepted a few blind dates that Parvati had set her up with and all had turned out dreadful. She hadn't met a wizard that could keep up a good conversation let alone do anything except for look at her chest. It had been nearly painful even trying to find someone and she seriously wished that the wizarding world had the equivalent of the muggle dating services.
But alas, she remained single, she worked herself to the bone, and she was usually able to ignore the feelings that were always threatening to invade her mind. She was usually able to ignore feeling alone or bored with what she was doing. But since she started having those dreams, she lost the ability to ignore the hopelessness that was consuming her. Maybe I do need a true vacation.