A/N:

Thanks for stopping by! Sorry for such a short first chapter. They do get longer and more in depth!

Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderfully magical world of Harry Potter, nor its characters.

xxx

Come on, Hermione thought as she ran towards the lift, checking her watch for the umpteenth time, today is NOT a day to be late.

It was the day she and the Minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt, were set to discuss the details of her promotion. As fate would have it, it was also the day Murphy's Law reared its ugly head. Her shower had no hot water, she couldn't find her favorite jumper, one of the heels on her shoes snapped causing her to make a last minute change, and her black watch had stopped working, forcing her to make yet another change to her outfit and take her bright pink one instead. With her hair in a messy yet stylish bun on the top of her head and her new shoes rubbing a terrible blister, Hermione stuck her arm out, forcing the half shut lift to open completely and let her in.

She stepped in, put down her briefcase, and checked her watch again. 7:55 AM. Five minutes before her meeting. Normally, she'd be drinking her coffee on her way to her office, but seeing as she left her thermos on the counter, it would have to wait. Disappointed in her lack of morning caffeine, she only hoped that the rest of her day would go by much smoother.

When the lift finally stopped at her floor, it was 7:56 and she had less than four minutes to get her materials in order before Kingsley arrived. The doors opened and she was immediately greeted by Jenna, her secretary, holding a piping hot cup of coffee – black with exactly two teaspoons of sugar. The woman was a saint.

Jenna was a petite and mousy girl with long brown hair that she wore in a perpetual knot on the top of her head. She only wore it down for special occasions, and a random Thursday did not count. Her large, round brown eyes were hidden behind thick rimmed glasses, and she wore little makeup. Natural beauty hardly needed any. Jenna had been a year or two under Hermione at Hogwarts and had been in Ravenclaw; she had hoped to become a professor at Hogwarts, but they weren't hiring at the time she applied, so she took an intern job at the ministry instead. Hermione immediately noticed her intelligence and attention to detail, and begged the minister to move her up to secretary full time. Jenna had graciously accepted on the terms that she was to work for Hermione Granger, and Hermione Granger only.

"Thanks Jenna!" Hermione shouted as she flicked her wand at the cup, causing it to follow behind her at an alarming rate without spilling a drop.

"Do I have any messages?" She knew the answer was yes, but asking sounded so much nicer than demanding. Before Jenna, Hermione had to sort through all of her messages herself, which was quite a pain given that there could be anywhere from four to forty. Some required immediate attention, while others could stand to wait a while. She had prioritized them and made the necessary calls, but that had taken up most of her morning. The first thing Jenna had done when she started working for Hermione was come up with a system for her messages. If Jenna thought they were of a personal matter or if they were of dire importance, she would give those first. The rest Jenna would handle – making, rescheduling and canceling appointments and so forth.

"Don't you always," she said with a smirk, following Hermione into her office and closing the door.

Hermione's office was very large and painted a nice lavender color, with beige carpeting. The entire left wall was a window that allowed her a fantastic view of the city, but that no one could see into – a nice charm she had put in place upon being hired. Straight ahead, the wall was lined with bookshelves and, of course, filled to the ceiling with books from all over the world. Hermione had read each of them at least a dozen times. The middle of her office was taken up by a very large mahogany desk, which currently had paperwork spread all over it. Her walls were littered with art pieces that she found particularly interesting, or just simply beautiful to look at. The goal in décor for her office was calm, as she knew her job would be anything but.

"Let's see...You have one from Mr. McLaggen. He asked me to 'express upon her the urgency of this message and be sure that she calls me back as soon as she gets it'," she read verbatim from her notepad. McLaggen had been after her job for years, and every call was regarding something he "needed help" on. Hermione knew the real reason was to get her to go to lunch with him, and she refused to give him the satisfaction.

"Ugh, Merlin. You'd think after all these months of me not calling him back that he would get the hint. Next?" Hermione asked as she was straightening her desk and removing papers she'd had to take home the previous night from her briefcase. She tried to make everything look as neat as possible, but there was only so much she could do aside from setting it all on fire.

"Your mother called to remind you that your father's appointment is tomorrow at noon, and to not be late."

Ah, yes. Her father. Mr. Granger had been diagnosed with cancer a year ago, and after one round of treatment didn't work, they were running out of options. The appointment Jenna was referring to was one with a specialist about their next move. His cancer was progressing fast and they wanted to stop it before it metastasized any further, causing any more damage.

"And finally, a message from Mr. Ron Weasley requesting your attendance at dinner this evening."

Ron. After the war, they had tried their very best to make a relationship work, but found that it just was not possible. With her demanding career causing her to have very little free time and his lack of ability to emotionally invest himself, the relationship was doomed before it could start. They had given it a shot for just shy of two years before both decided to call it quits, completely devastating Mrs. Weasley who had been all but certain that they would get married and have wonderful red-headed grand-babies. Unfortunately, this made dinners at the Burrow very awkward and Hermione tried to avoid them altogether.

"Please tell Mr. McLaggen that I am not interested, again, tell my mother that I wouldn't miss it for the world and politely decline Ron's offer. I have a feeling that after tonight, I'm not going to have much time or energy to enjoy going to dinner with anyone, " she sighed.

Hermione worked as the head of the Being Division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and had successfully revolutionized the way house elves lived. She had established a minimum wage for them in accordance with the standard of living currently in London, and for those house elves that refused to be free, she made laws forcing families to provide adequate food, clothing and shelter. The first year after these laws were enacted was a tough one because not many pure-blood families felt that they owed their house elves anything, and refused to abide by the new regulations. After several hefty fines were issued and highly publicized, all proceeds going to the Rehabilitation of Mentally and Physically Ill House Elves fund of course, families were much more willing to give their house elves a break.

While she loved her current work, even she had come to realize that she could accomplish far greater than those she had been doing the last several years. Not that her work for the house elves was unimportant; she had been working for their equality and freedom for years. However, anyone could do this job. Hermione had always felt that she was destined to change the world, and continued to strive for it. Fortunately, Minister Shacklebolt felt the same way when he had come to her not two weeks prior offering her a promotion into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to revamp their current ways of working. She had graciously accepted, and afterward he had contacted the media in order to have a scheduled press conference to announce. No one knew of her promotion other than Kingsley, Jenna and herself.

"Of course, Ma'am. And might I add my congratulations," Jenna winked, as she walked back to her desk.

Hermione just rolled her eyes and took a long drink from her coffee while glancing at her clock. 7:59. Kingsley should-

"Good morning Miss Granger," Kingsley said as he made his way swiftly into her office and took a seat in front of her desk. With a wave of his wand, the door was shut and a silencing charm was put in place to keep wandering ears from overhearing some news that wasn't quite ready to become public.

"Good morning, Minister. I've prepared my speech as you suggested and am ready when you are," she began. She was nervous beyond belief, but she wasn't willing to show him that. She needed him to know that she was confident and unwavering.

"Ah, yes. I'm glad. Well, I suppose we better get to it then. The press will be in the lobby at approximately 8:30, and I've let them know that we will be arriving together. Now, not that you haven't done this a thousand and one times being part of the golden trio and all, please remember to smile and wave, even if they've asked you the same question ten times. Try and steer clear of questions regarding what it is you'll be doing exactly, and focus more on how pleased you are to have your accomplishments recognized."

"Sounds brilliant. Would you like some coffee before we head down? Jenna has a pot made and can bring you a cup if you'd like," she offered. He looked tired, and not in the sleep kind of way. She could only imagine how stressful a job like Minister for Magic could be.

"I'd love some, but I think I'll get it myself. Thank you for the offer, and be sure and meet me at the lift in fifteen minutes."

He got up and removed the silencing charm before heading towards the break room down the hall to his left. Hermione took this time to lean her head back on her chair and take a much needed deep breath. She could do this.

"Mr. Weasley, please, if you could just come back later-" she heard Jenna say. Hermione's eyes opened and narrowed at her guest, but she kept her head laid back on her chair. Unfortunately, the door to her office was a straight shot from the lift, so anyone coming off could see if she was in her office when the door was open. Jenna's desk was to the left, so she couldn't do much in the way of stopping someone from entering her office if they so chose.

"I'm not coming back later, Jenna," he snapped, "She's been ignoring my owls for weeks and won't return my phone calls. I'm going in there."

Jenna sighed and took a chance glance at Hermione, who looked exhausted. She always overworked herself, and Jenna wished there was something she could do about it. She was going to miss Hermione after she left for the second floor, and the Minister still hadn't announced who was going to replace her. Jenna just hoped it wasn't that McLaggen fellow...

"Ron," Hermione said, her voice showing the frustration she felt at having him in her office unannounced.

He slammed the door shut and stomped over to her desk, putting his hands on the edge and eying her angrily.

"Hermione. Why in the bloody hell won't you go to dinner with me? This is the third time you've declined in two weeks!" he yelled.

"Ron," she sighed again, "I don't have time tonight and I didn't have time last week when you asked me, either. Today is going to be a big day for me, and I'm going to be tired and want to go home. I will send you an owl when I'm ready."

"What do you mean, 'today is going to be a big day' for you?" He looked suspiciously at her, trying to figure out what she was hiding.

The clock on her wall picked a perfect moment to chime. It was charmed to chime every time there was an appointment it heard and knew she needed to be at; a wonderful gift from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley when they found out that she got her job at the Ministry.

"I'd love to continue this conversation, but as it stands, I have a prior engagement. If you'll excuse me," she said as she took one more long drink of coffee and stood up, straightening her skirt as she walked towards the lift. He continued to watch her closely, and stomped in with her, clearly displeased at her dismissal. For a moment it looked as though he were about to continue their conversation, but when the Minister got on, he shut his trap pretty quickly. He and Harry had gotten into some trouble on the last mission for endangering themselves and their team while trying to save some civilians from a death eater attack. While Death Eaters were not common to come by, they did still exist and sometimes picked fights with unsuspecting citizens. Kingsley had not been pleased at the news and had suspended Ron and Harry both for a week.

The ride to the lobby was a slow one, but as soon as the doors opened, all three were bombarded with questions, flashing, and the familiar clicks of cameras. Despite the fact that Hermione had spent the past several years of her life dealing with the press, having her life publicized was never something she quite could get used to. With a deep breath, she plastered a smile on her face, stepped out of the lift and prepared herself to receive the promotion she had been so eagerly awaiting.