DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to anything you may recognize from the Harry Potter books.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Me and my brother used to role play our own fan fiction stories before we even knew what fan fiction was (which wasn't that long ago). This story is a new version of one of my favorites.
It had been many, many years since they had graduated from Hogwarts, and Voldemort had been defeated at the end of their seventh year. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had become aurors, but their job seemed more like that of muggle police (only they dealt with magic). They even had muggle police ranks! (Hermione had recently been promoted to captain, and Harry and Ron were still lieutenants). Their particular job was to go undercover and catch evil dark wizards. Even though Voldemort was in fact dead, there were still death eaters and dark wizards out there who refused to believe their master had gone and that he was once again biding his time. There were even rumors that one death eater was trying to replace Voldemort as the leader of the group. The three friends had always been assigned to the same mission together and would work as a team, until one day the commander assigned Hermione to a mission and refused to assign Harry and Ron to that mission as well. Despite this, Hermione continued to try and get the commander to reconsider.
Harry and Ron were heading back to their cubicles one day after lunch. They had wondered why Hermione had decided to stay behind. As they walked by the commander's office, they heard a man and a woman arguing from inside. They turned to look through the window in the door and saw Hermione standing in the room, facing the commander as he talked to her from behind his desk.
"Uh oh," Ron said, nudging Harry with his elbow and pointing at Hermione, "I hope she's not in trouble."
Harry shook his head. "She's not," he replied, "She's probably trying to get the commander to change his mind about that mission again."
"Well we should probably wait out here until they're done. We can talk to Hermione when she comes out," Ron suggested. He and Harry turned around and leaned up against the wall, waiting for Hermione.
Meanwhile, the commander was busy telling Hermione, once again, that he refused to let Harry and Ron come with her.
"For the last time, Capt. Granger, Iwill notassign them to this mission!" he said, looking through some papers that were scattered on his desk and not making eye contact with Hermione.
"Why not, sir?" Hermione asked, trying to remain respectful as she questioned him.
"Because I can tell you have a lot of potential," the commander explained. He set down the papers and looked up at Hermione, who, even though she was staring determinedly back at him, still looked somewhat intimidated. "I've noticed that in almost every mission you've had together, you are the one who makes all the decisions and plans! Lt. Potter and Lt. Weasley need to start making decisions on their own, and you need to start making decisions for yourself and not for other people! You're an auror, not a babysitter! I will not let Potter and Weasley come with you on this mission and that's final! Now go see Sgt. Longbottom, he has some more information on the mission." As he finished the discussion, the commander picked up the papers again and continued reading.
Hermione lowered her head in disappointment. "Yes sir," she said. She walked out of the commander's office, where Harry and Ron were waiting for her in the hallway.
"Should we even bother asking you how it went?" Ron said, noticing how upset Hermione was. They had heard some of the discussion and knew exactly what it was all about.
"He's not giving in," she sighed, "He's right you know. I've been making almost all of the decisions and plans in each of our missions. You two need to start making your own decisions and plans without my help."
"But we need you!" Harry exclaimed, "You're probably ten times as clever as we are! We could never come up with the kinds of plans you come up with, let alone make them work!"
Hermione looked as though she was about to cry. "Thanks Harry," she said, "You're the best friend a girl could ask for. You too Ron," she added. She hugged both of them. They all went over to Neville's office so Hermione could get more information about the mission. Since Harry and Ron were not assigned to the mission, they were not allowed to go into Neville's office while Hermione received information. They told Hermione that they'd be waiting for her back at their cubicles (the three of them had neighboring cubicles. Harry's was in the middle, Ron's was to the left, and Hermione's was to the right.)
A few minutes later, Hermione came back to her cubicle carrying a file folder full of important documents. As she sat down and started looking through the papers, Harry and Ron approached. "So," Harry asked, "What's the mission? Or is that classified?"
"It's not really classified. I've been assigned to go undercover in a small group of even smaller islands somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle," Hermione explained, looking up from the papers. "There's a pirate colony there that consists of only wizards, but there are some muggle tourists that go there occasionally. Some death eaters have gone over there and are apparently plotting to do terrible things to the muggle-born wizards and the muggle tourists. I have to go over there and stop them from doing this by any means necessary."
"Whoa," Ron said, leaning against the cubicle wall, "That's a pretty big mission to be doing on your own, especially since you would be one of the death eaters' targets!"
"I know, but the commander's already said that he won't let you two come with me," Hermione replied.
"When do you leave?" Harry asked.
"I leave tomorrow morning," Hermione answered, "I have to travel over there by boat like everyone else does. I'd appreciate it if you two came along to see me off."
"We will," Harry promised. Ron nodded, and then they both returned to their own cubicles.
The next morning, Harry and Ron went with Hermione to the port that she would be leaving from. The boat she would be sailing on resembled an old pirate ship. Once they found the ship, Hermione stopped and turned around so she could say goodbye to Harry and Ron.
"How long will you be gone?" Ron asked.
"It will take me at least a year to go fully undercover, maybe half a year if I'm good at it," Hermione replied, "I need to learn about their social customs or people might start suspecting that I might not be one of them. It IS a pirate colony, after all. There will be loads of criminals there, but not all of them will be dark wizards. There's a small group of wizards over there who work for us. They will help me fit in with everyone else. After that, who knows how long it will be before I actually catch the death eaters. In the meantime, I've also been given the authority to arrest some of the other criminals if it's absolutely necessary. My main target, however, is the group of death eaters."
"Which ones are they?" Harry asked.
"We don't know," Hermione answered, "I have to find that out by questioning the locals. That's why I've been given the authority to arrest some of the other criminals as well: so I can question them."
"That makes sense," Harry replied, "Well I know you'll do well and make it back safely."
"Thanks Harry," Hermione said.
"Send us loads of letters so we know you're okay," Ron said.
"I will, I promise, but it may take awhile for them to get here. The Bermuda Triangle is very far away, an owl couldn't manage THAT trip easily," she said. At that moment, everyone started boarding the ship. Hermione hugged Harry and Ron and kissed them on the cheek. "I'll miss you guys," she cried.
"We'll miss you too," Harry replied, "Right Ron?"
"Yeah," Ron agreed, "Good luck, Hermione."
"Thanks," she said. She grabbed her luggage and boarded the ship. Harry and Ron waved goodbye as the ship sailed away. They could see Hermione waving back at them. They stood there and watched as the ship sailed out of sight, and then they turned and went back home.
A few months later, Harry and Ron received a letter from Hermione telling them that she had made it safely. She went on about how interesting it was to be surrounded by pirates all the time and that she had caught on to their social customs relatively quickly. She included a picture of herself dressed up like a pirate (she had to be, she was undercover in a pirate colony). Her wand was concealed in her new sword. This was a law in the colony, because there would be muggle tourists on some of the main islands of the colony and none of the wizard pirates wanted to reveal their true identity by displaying their wands out in the open. The picture made Harry and Ron laugh. They sent a response back to her saying that they were glad she made it safely and thanked her for sending the picture. They asked her to keep sending letters so they'd know she was alright.
Little did they know that the first letter she sent would also be her last…
CLIFFHANGER!!! Chapter 2 coming soon!!! I'm gonna work on it as soon as I start getting reviews, so please review!!! I love positive reviews (who doesn't?)and I don't take flames too well. But, if no one sends even a negative review saying what I did wrong, I can never get better! And if no one ever sends any positive reviews, I'll never know how good I'm doing! I only want to know what people think of my fanfics, so just tell mewhat you think!(Of course, too many flames may make me stop writing until I can regain my self esteem, which can take awhile. So if you must flame, please just make it gentile, constructive criticism. And of course, positive reviews from fans are more than welcome!)