A.N. : Hey, guys! I have a few things I'd like to clear out before you read this. This is my first fanfic, ever, so please be gentle.
Secondly, English is not my native language, but I really hope to improve my vocabulary and writing skills whilst developing this story.
Thirdly, I'm on my summer vacation and have quite some time on my hands. So I'll probably update daily when I have the time and less often when I have other plans. Anyway, I plan on finishing this story before the summer break is over. I'm extremely excited to write this. Thus, there may be mistakes and sloppy writing from place to place so I'll probably edit older chapters as I go.
Lastly but not least, I expect this fanfic will contain mature content, so beware. I will let you know beforehand.
Love & Please review!
Chapter 1.
The sun was high in the sky. It was a warm afternoon, perhaps too warm; closer to torrid, really. The fact that the air was humid, that London was (as always) congested and crowded like a hotbox, didn't help too much, either. English people weren't used to this kind of weather. Put an Englishman in the middle of a crowd while it's raining cats and dogs, thundering, for hours and hours, and he will manage. Some will find a place to crawl to, in order to avoid the heavy falling rain, others will just walk straight through it, ignore it, actually, without getting an inch of their white, untouched by sun, freckle-covered skin wet. Whereas if you put an Englishman in the hot, sizzling sun for more than a couple of hours, he will have no clue as to what to further do. Heat and sun affect British people's minds like no other nation on this planet. They will start hallucinating, behaving reckless and uncharacteristically without even realizing.
Hermione Granger was walking at that time, in that blazing London sun. She was pondering her past few years, the ones that followed the war. Yes, she was pondering while walking through extreme heat, as crazy as it sounds. But then again, she was always pensive as of late. Of her parents, whom she had almost lost in the war, of her failure in the career she would've liked to have: The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Being Division, fighting for the rights of House Elves. Of the career she had momentarily: Investigation Division in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, a job she was, of course, very good at, but one that didn't satisfy her completely.
Most of her thoughts were, nevertheless, focused upon her failing relationship with one Ronald Bilius Weasley. This relationship was, say the least, life draining. It was sucking all of her energy, all of her good mood she sometimes came with from her job or from her meetings with parents of friends, all of her motivation, all that made Hermione her. In the beginning, when this feeling of incompatibility started, she ignored it, thinking this is how relationships are supposed to be after 2-3 months of happiness, discovering each other, and celebrating the victory of defeating Voldemort. But as more and more months passed, she found herself emotionally drained and unsatisfied because of all the fights and disagreements. Let's face it, she thought, after Hogwarts, after the war, she and Ron had nothing, and that meant NOTHING in common except school memories and their friends.
She wanted to read, he wanted to play Quidditch. He wanted to go out, she wanted to stay in. She wanted to go out, he wanted to stay in. She wanted to clean, he always made a mess. He wanted to get married now, she wanted to wait. He wanted children soon, she wasn't even considering it yet. He wanted to live near his parents, she wanted to live in London. She went to finish her last year at Hogwarts and take her NEWTS, he didn't even want to hear about it.
"Ron, you're going to be an unqualified worker! Anyone who wants a good position in the Ministry has to have at least 4 NEWTS taken, and you're not even considering coming to finish your studies, let alone take your NEWTS?" she said, her hands trembling from all the anger she kept at bay. She was not going to start a fight.
"Hermione, I'm a war hero. Who cares what qualifications I have or don't have? Besides, Harry isn't going either. " he said, waving a careless hand in her direction.
She looked at him then, for perhaps the first time, with entirely different eyes. She was dating a man who thought popularity, fame and gratification would get him anything he wanted. A coward, a sluggish, lazy, unmotivated person. All of a sudden, all the post-war haze that kept her, Ron and Harry in a constant state of bliss for a few months, was gone. Reality struck her hard: The war was over, they had won, but that didn't mean her life would be perfect from now on. On the contrary.
"I can't believe you think like that, Ronald. I'm going to Hogwarts in a few weeks whether you like it or not. I know Harry's not coming, but at least he has the decency of sitting the NEWTs!" she screamed, the anger surfacing at last. She couldn't keep it in anymore. She loved Ron, but he was becoming someone she didn't even like.
Then there was the problem of the limelight. Oh yes, how he enjoyed the attention. The first few days after the war were full of interviews from the press, addressed to all three of them: where they were into hiding before coming to Hogwarts, what were they looking for in Gringotts, what happened to Snape, how did Harry manage to play dead (Narcissa Malfoy was pardoned after Harry's confession of her last loyalties became known to the Ministry), and so on. Even in mourning after his brother Fred's death, Ron managed to take all the attention from them, answer most of the questions, and be unnecessarily enthusiastic. That appalled Hermione at first, later thinking it must have been some kind of coping mechanism. She couldn't have been more wrong. Ron was enjoying and searching for the limelight everywhere, always.
When they were in Diagon Alley, lunching, he would smile for the paparazzi and answer their questions while sitting at the table with Hermione. When unknown women would point at him on the streets, smiling and recognizing him, he would wink at all of them. It was all getting on Hermione's last nerves. But she didn't say anything, thinking that it would go away.
She couldn't have been more happy, back then, than to return as soon as possible to Hogwarts and have some time away from him, from everything.
When she came back from Hogwarts, she missed him terribly and couldn't wait to see him and tell him and Harry all about her last year there and her exams. The only problem was, he was exactly the same.
So now, two years after the war, Hermione was walking in the burning heat thinking and pondering about her life. She was leaving her office at the Ministry. It had been a good day. She and her partner had found the approximate whereabouts of one of the last few Death Eaters that remained uncaught : Rodolphus Lestrange. They were an incredible team, she and her partner: she was witty, sharp, had connections and experience tracing dark wizards. Him? He was cunning, intelligent, had connections and experience…working with them.
Yes, they were great. Their working chemistry was so extraordinary, in fact, that the Head of the Department held them as his most valuable and esteemed investigators the Division had. They were praised, extremely well paid and respected. He was, as far as she went, the most intelligent person she's ever known (outside the Hogwarts teachers, of course) beside herself. And they worked so well together, that they've caught a record number of Death Eaters in the last year, only three remaining: Antonin Dolohov, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, who were still killing and torturing people all over Europe. They were so close to putting a stop to all of this, so close.
She trusted him deeply. She had to, she thought when she realized that she probably trusted him more than Harry and Ron together. She had to, because her life depended on it. If he made a mistake, they both died and vice versa. She knew she could trust him with her life, and that he probably felt the same. Because they had to, she kept reminding herself. He was, also, an escape from her routine life she had with Ron. He made her laugh, he made her think, and he made her wonder. So Hermione often found herself coming happy and smiling from her job only to have her smile wiped away by something Ron did or said.
Hermione stopped for a bench in the shadows of a large tree to sit and regain her breath and her thoughts. It was so damned hot, she couldn't think properly. She thought more of her job partner than of her life partner. This couldn't be right. But no, she thought, this is because of this bloody blazing sun. It's making me irrational. Yes, that's it, she thought. So she got up from the bench and Apparated home, trying not to give Draco Malfoy another thought, at least for today.