Hermione heard a clicking sound from the door knob. In a few seconds, he entered in the same pace as usual and sat down on his favorite chintz sofa which was identical to the one at the Headmaster's office of Hogwarts. She guessed her office might remind him of his home, Hogwarts which used to be always the place where he felt he belonged. Being with him in her office made her feel she could stay the way as she was. His existence made her feel she could live a life of her own, even in such a time when she faced a difficult problem to solve in the Ministry.
He didn't speak a word but his green eyes were staring at her quietly. After the Dark Lord released him from the connection physically and mentally ten years ago, he had been always calm. She wondered if irritated young Harry Potter might be an illusion in her memory. Whenever he visited her office, he was contained and mature enough to analyze the political issues happening those days.
She swished her vine wand twice skillfully and conjured a tea set. A silver spoon carried two blocks of brown sugar and they melted in a cup. The cup swam in the air and landed on the side table. He took and sipped it. She also inhaled bergamot flavor from her cup and heaved a big sigh.
"Mr. Parkinson bullied you again, didn't he?" He asked.
"No, he didn't. But…"
"He implied your blood status."
She shook her head, "He is always polite. But I don't like his attitude. The politeness more than necessary sends me a chill. Every time I talk with him on the matter of Ministry jobs, I can't stop thinking I am inferior to him."
"That's what people call bullying, Hermione. It's obvious he camouflages his negative feeling towards you by showing too much humility."
"Oh…I didn't think in that way. Yes, you may be right. He might hide his true feeling…yes, he surely is." She frowned. She reluctantly admitted what he pointed out was right.
"I guess he has never given you a compliment."
"No."
"He has never sent you a seasonal greeting card."
"No. But I don't bother about it. I've never sent it to him, either." She tried ignoring uneasy feeling in her mind.
"He sent it to me last Christmas."
"He did? Do you exchange the Christmas card?" She felt as if her last fort fell. She didn't predict that Mr. Parkinson tried to be friends with him.
"Yes. So he has never given you a seat at the Wizengamot Court.
"No. But I don't care. Most of the bills have been passed thanks to Kingsley, Arthur and you, the Head Auror." She was remembering the moment the bill for the House-Elf Rights was passed by a vote of 28 – 7 and smiled.
Harry smiled back but soon his face expression turned serious. "If you have the seat, the thing would have been carried more smoothly. Our next goal is to get the seats at the Wizengamot Court for the Muggle-Borns.
"Well…" she put back her cup onto the side table and fidgeted on the chair, "I don't think it's a good idea. I don't want to disturb the peace, Harry. My intention is not to break peaceable political balance. I have good fellow Half-Bloods and Pure-Bloods. It's enough for me."
"You speak like Cornelius Fudge." He stood up. "Where did your Gryffindor courage go? Passing the House-Elf Rights must have caused the discord among the Pure-Bloods. You were not afraid of it and you did it."
She stood up reflectively and stepped closer to him. She saw him standing there. Frustration emerged from the bottom of her mind. And then anger began swirling inside her. Tears fell before she noticed them. "What do you understand, Harry? Working in the Ministry as a Muggle-Born deprived me of a chance to have a …"
He pulled her closer to his chest and hugged her tight, "Working in the Ministry as a Muggle-Born deprived you of a chance to have a baby." He finished in place of her. "That's why Ron got a divorce from you."
She broke down in tears of sorrow in his arms. How long did she cry? She lost in the sadness remembering the countless nights quarrelling with her ex-husband. She forced the words of chagrin out. "I tried to fix our relationship. But it didn't work. He gave up. He left me. I have been under pressure. His parents expected us to have their grandchildren sooner like Bill and Fleur. Ron tried hard but sometimes I couldn't cooperate with him especially after hard work for the preparation to let the bill passed. Then he got back together with Lavender. It was me who gave him an ultimatum." She blurted out the secret she had never told anyone. And she was surprised to find it very natural in front of Harry who listened to her calmly.
He hugged her tight again and planted a soft kiss on the forehead, "I understand you. I was…in the same situation with…Ginny. You know, the crimes went nasty when we found behind the scenes of the Muggle terrorism."
A slight scent of vanilla made her relaxed. She wondered if he changed his cologne or shampoo and asked, "You changed your cologne." She imagined what if his kiss landed on the other place of her not on the forehead.
"I don't use cologne. It's a smell of bath salt, not vanilla but cherry blossom leaves…" His words were cut in the middle while Hermione kissed him on the lips.
She whispered into his ear, "I'll rise again. I'll prepare for a new bill to be passed. Our next goal is to make a new rule. The Muggle-Born Right. The first goal should be five seats in the Wizengamot."
"Five is not enough. How about ten?" He grinned mischievously.
She beamed at him. "Good. Will you help me?"
"Sure. First, you need to visit Parkinson's home party. I was invited. I guess you don't have the invitation card."
"No, I don't. He hasn't sent it to me."
"I have to visit him with my partner, but sadly I got a divorce from Ginny so…"
"Oh…Harry, I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't know."
"Skeeter will get the scoop on the matter tomorrow morning. She must have taken a sneak shots of them, Ginny and the Welsh Quidditch star…anyway, will you come with me to Perkinson Manor? We can take the initiative for the new bill."
It was common for Pure-Bloods to manipulate everything before the meeting at the home party. She reckoned Harry meant making necessary preparations to build consensus among Pure-Bloods. But she wanted to think he meant more than the preparations for the bill. He might want her to be his date. Elated by the expectation which got higher and higher, she stared at his tender green eyes and nodded, "I will go with you."
Surrounded by the guests, Mrs. Parkinson was bragging about their Victorian style Manor House. The spotless floor was shining reflected by the lights from the chandeliers. Hermione guessed Parkinson still let the house-elves do the laborious work, scrubbing the floors. She could imagine Mr. Parkinson would insist their house-elves chose to work for them at their own will.
"I don't think you were invited by my father."
Hermione turned around to the malicious voice. Wrapped in gorgeous purple dress robes, Pansy Parkinson, who wore a smug smile, approached to her. The image coincided with the horrible memory, Bellatrix Lestrange who tortured her in Malfoy Manor. Panicked, she looked around her.
Where is Harry?
He told her to wait at the entrance hall. Casting a cold glance at her, the guests passed her one by one. As if running away from Pansy, she went out of the building and looked for him. Then she saw him standing there. She was relieved to spot familiar jet-black hair and spectacles next to Draco Malfoy accompanied by his beautiful wife, Astoria. Harry's hair ruffled by the summer breeze, with a confident look, he was smiling at her. He was no less handsome than Malfoy: His white shirt, black robes and trousers. He looked strong, powerful and dynamic. He let Malfoys go first.
Draco nodded at her lightly, mumbling, "It's about time you two get together, Granger. I could predict this when you punched me in our third year. I'll deal with Pansy. And…" He glanced back at Harry once and said, "I am sorry for my stupid discrimination against you at school and what my aunt did to you." He spoke so fast that she couldn't almost understand each word. While she was taken aback, he and his wife entered the large house.
Harry chuckled, "He is a ferret through and through. He must have been afraid of being punched by you again."
"Harry, one thing I couldn't understand. What did he mean about dealing with Pansy?"
"Malfoy knows Pansy is always a boss who bullies the girls she dislikes."
"But why does Malfoy do for me?"
"He owes us his life, you know? If we hadn't saved him from the cursed fire, he wouldn't have been alive now. And... about our relationship he mentioned...he had already convinced you and me would match with each other seeing our bond to protect poor Buckbeak in our third year."
"You let him remember the life debt." She wondered how many times he had taken advantage of the same card, letting Malfoy remember indebtedness.
Taking her hand in his, he encouraged her, "We will change the way the political wind blows together."
Feeling his callous and strong palm against hers, she felt safe. For a long time, silent discrimination from Mr. Parkinson affected her motivation at work. Sleepless nights were triggered by her stress at work. Ron could overcome his nightmare caused by the old memory during hunting horcruxes. But she couldn't. Whenever she faced the humiliation from the Pure-Blood Ministry officers, she shrunk back remembering Lestrange's torture. Seeing the obstacles removed one by one, she had hope for the future. He had been always attentive to her. With Harry, she felt like she would get back herself.
A/N: Here's one more fan-fictional experiment.
The title, I was inspired by the song, "I Saw Her Standing There" by the Beatles.
If someone likes this plot, I may continue this story developing to a multi-chaptered.