SIDE NOTE: I do not own any of the people, I just borrow, otherwise I would be JK Rowling, of which I am not... Thank You
Chapter 1Hermione had no choice but to run, so that is exactly what she did. Ron had just gotten down on one knee in front of his entire family at dinner. She could see Molly's eyes filling with joyful tears at seeing her youngest son finally proposing to the girl of his dreams. What she didn't know is that Hermione had planned for this to be her last family dinner, because tomorrow morning she was going to break up with Ron. It wasn't that she didn't love him, she loved him with all her heart, she just wasn't inlove with him anymore.
Ron had started to become almost suffocating, always wanting to know where she was going and what she was doing, not stopping to think that maybe just maybe she needed some privacy. He accused her many, many times of cheating on him, and even hired a private investigator to try and track her. It didn't ever occur to him that it might be a little overboard. She spent most of her time at work, she had just finished training to be a healer, and could finally get out of the boring hospital and find somewhere more interesting to go. Well she assumed this was why he was proposing now, he knew that she wanted to leave, and this was his way of making her stay. He had even resorted to accidentally 'forgetting' to do a contraceptive spell so she might get pregnant, on the rare occasions he could even get it up. He had finally just started taking a potion to get erections, so they could actually have sex, so she had been taking a contraceptive potion everyday at work just in case he got the bright idea to start trying to get her pregnant so she would have to marry him.
She had spent the past two months trying to slowly extricate herself from Ron's grasp, or find a way to let him off easy, but as he dropped down to his knee she realized that she was going to have to end it in front of the entire family. Her mind was reeling as Ron started to actually speak.
"Hermy…" God how she hated that nickname "I know that with us living together this is just a formality, but will you… you know… marry me?" Hermoine could tell that Ron's breathing was shaky, that boy just couldn't do anything without being utterly nervous. "Hermy?"
Hermione snapped back to reality, and looked around all the faces of the Weasleys, trying desperately to memorize them so she could remember them later. All of them were smiling eagerly, and staring at her awaiting the answer, all but one. As Hermoine turned towards Bill it seemed as though he was almost frozen in shock. He hadn't really been happy since he got injured, and Fleur left him for some Spanish Wizard that lived on the ocean. He had been forced to move back to the burrow because he couldn't focus long enough at his job to be of any help. He had been back for over two years now, and while he had a pretty good job with the Ministry in Understanding Magical Creatures, he couldn't find an apartment that was sturdy enough for him to live in, that didn't cost a fortune. Hermoine was silently bidding everyone goodbye as she turned to face Ron, who looked as though he was almost angry that she was making him wait.
"Ron, I can't marry you." The entire family gasped, and Ron's face turned down in a terrifying frown that Hermione knew would only lead to his anger. As if on cue his face turned the brilliant shade of purple that everyone knew so well as purely Ron.
"AND WHY THE HELL NOT!!!" Ron shouted so loud Hermione was afraid the windows would break. "It's another guy isn't it, I knew that that investigator was wrong, I know that you're cheating on me..." Ron continued on in his brainless rant while Hermione shook her head he still didn't get it.
"Silencio" Everyone turned to Bill to see his wand drawn, and pointed at his brother. "Hermione, why don't you tell Ron what you need to?" With a nod from Hermione everyone turned back to Ron.
"Ron, I love you, but in the last two months you have suffocated me beyond belief." Ron opened his mouth apparently to contradict her, but when nothing came he quickly crossed his arms over his chest and resumed an angered expression. "You didn't use contraception charms in the hope that I would get pregnant, that's when you're actually confident enough to get it up, oh wait, make that you took enough potion to get it up." A few stifled laughs escaped from the twins and Ginny, even Bill smirked a bit. Hermione looked around at the others, before turning back to Ronald's angry face again. "You hired a private investigator to try and catch me cheating, and even when he told you that I hadn't been anywhere but work you still didn't believe him. You are so insecure that you've pushed me farther and farther away. I can't take it anymore Ron. I'm leaving the hospital, and I'm going to be working for the Ministry privately. They've been looking for a private healer to work on the premises so they wouldn't have to transport everyone to St. Mungos whenever they get injured. I'm going to stay with my parents for a week, and find an apartment." With that Hermoine got up, and walked towards the back porch where the apparition point was for the house. "Good-bye everyone, thank you." Hermione spoke to the door, but said it just loud enough for the whole room to hear her.
Hermione apparated to Ron's apartment, and gathered all of her things. It didn't take long because she had been preparing to break up with Ron for weeks, so most of her things were already packed or easy to throw in her trunk. With one last look around her old home she went straight to her old bedroom.
ONE WEEK LATER ONE WEEK LATER ONE WEEK LATER ONE WEEK LATER
Hermione was ready for her first day of work at the ministry, though she still hadn't found an apartment that was to her liking. Everything she found was either too big, or too small. Though she did find an apartment that she absolutely loved, but she couldn't afford it on her own she would have to find someone who would be her roommate. After breaking up with Ron however, she hadn't been in touch with anyone. She had expected at least a few owls asking her what happened, but none came. Leaving her wondering if everyone blamed her for everything that had happened.
Hermione apparated to the ministry, and quickly found her way to the information desk. "Hello, I'm Hermione Granger. I'm supposed to be starting work with Mr. Grundy today, could you tell me where to find him?"
"He should be on floor B5, office 1033." Hermione thanked the woman, and found her way to the lifts heading down, she knew that all of the dangerous offices where kept underground, and being the healer it would be the most efficient location for her office to be. Hermione found it fairly simple to navigate the B5 level; it was the same level as some of the Unspeakables, though she wasn't sure if her office was on this floor. She found herself quickly just outside of office 1033, and she quickly knocked on the door. "Yes?"
Opening the door slightly she spotted a somewhat portly bald man sitting behind a desk that was piled high with papers. "Ah, Miss. Granger, come in, come in. I hope you are ready for a bit of a busy first day, we have some rather interesting folks coming in today." Hermione pasted on her best pleasing worker smile, and nodded her head. " Well then I have your office number in here somewhere." Mr. Grundy rummaged through the various papers on his desk until he found a large sheet of bright yellow paper. "Ah ha, here it is. You are on level B12 in office number 3391, and you will be working quite closely with the Department of Understanding Magical Creatures, the head of the department is William Weasley." At hearing Bill's name Hermione had to force her smile a little more, all she wanted to do at that moment was run, but she waited to hear out Mr. Grundy. "Mr. Weasley will meet you at your office in approximately 1 hour, so that should allow you time to get acclimated with your new surroundings, and organize your office and patient rooms. Also there are stocking lists that will be hung by the potions cabinet, should you need anything simply write it on the list, and it shall be acquired for you. If there is nothing else that I can help you with Miss. Granger, then I hope you have a pleasant day, and I shall see you later on." Hermione nodded, "Oh, and Miss Granger." Hermione paused at the door, and turned back towards Mr. Grundy. "We down here in the basements find it much easier to work in more casual attire, so we forgo business robes, and most of us do wear rather casual muggle attire. Just so you are aware that the dress code may be forgone if you so desire." Hermione gave him one last smile and a thank you before disappearing back towards the lifts.
The ride down the lift was short, but it came to a screeching halt right as it reached B12. "Proper identification must be issued to enter level, please enter identification into slate." Hermoine was a little confused, but entered her ID into the slot, and the door slid open easily. It wasn't until she entered the hall that she realized why they needed to have extra security measures. The entire hall way was lit brightly with overhead lighting, and to either side of the hall were huge glass walls. Some of them held different odd animals; others were like dorms with glass doors that could be opened with a creature or two in each. She walked a little faster as she passed by two vampires arguing loudly within their room. Her office was at the very end of the hall, and required her own ID to enter as well.
Her office was more like an entire emergency ward at the hospital. There were a dozen sterile beds, including 3 private rooms for patients. There was a fully stocked potions cabinet, along with some of the rarer potions that took longer to brew and were normally very expensive. Her actual personal office had white walls, and a large mahogany desk, which was fronted by two large wing back chairs, where as her chair was a classic rolling office chair in order for her to have easy mobility. She decided that her office needed a little something, and began to change the shades of the wall, settling on a deep burgundy for the wall by the door, and a light beige color for the remainder of the room. The burgundy color helped to frame the picture window that looked out over the room, but still allowed her some sense of privacy. She finally turned to face her desk, rearranging the order of the bins and files over and over again until she was finally satisfied and stood back to admire her work.
"Hermione?" She jumped at the sound of her name, coming from an all too familiar voice. "You're the new girl?"
"Apparently" Hermione spun around in her chair expecting the worst, but Bill had a huge smile on his face.
"I can't say I ever expected to see you again. Speaking of which, why do you seem happy to see me?" She was confused as to why he didn't seem upset that she had told his brother off, though he did seem almost glad that she had declined Ron's proposal.
"Because I am happy to see you. Ron's a git, and I have to say that I completely understand why you didn't say yes. Though you running off and thinking that everyone was going to hate you after everything we've been through with you was a little crazy." Bill chuckled and sat down in one of the wing back chairs, easily making himself at home in her office.
"I just don't get it Bill, why would he propose? He doesn't even trust me, why would he want to marry me." Bill's smile left his face, and he turned almost serious looking.
"Miney, Ron he's a git, and he doesn't think things through until it's too late." Hermione gave a knowing smile, and nodded.
"That's true." Bills smile returned slowly.
"You know, mum gave him a thorough yelling at after you left. None of us knew any of what he had done, if we had you can bet we would've put a stop to it." Hermione gave him another small smile.
"Thanks Bill." Hermione walked over to him and hugged him tightly while she wondered if Ron would ever come to his senses and stop being a prick.
"Have you found an apartment yet?" Bill asked with a smirk as Hermione let him go and headed for her chair.
" Why do I get the feeling that you have the answer already?" Bill laughed again, and snatched a piece of paper from the front pocket of his jeans and handed it the Hermione. The paper had a picture of an apartment on it that was located in muggle London.
"This is the apartment I was just looking at, but I can afford the rent." Bill smile widened.
"Neither could I, but can you afford half the rent?" It was Hermione's turn to smile; as she rolled the thought over in her head she couldn't find anything wrong with his solution.
"That's perfect, but are you sure that your family would be okay with us living together. I mean after Ron and everything."
"I don't care what they think, and it's the perfect solution."
A thought popped into Hermione's head as he mentioned that it was the perfect solution. "Why did you just happen to have the picture of the apartment in your pocket?" Bill's grin returned.
"I was planning on tracking you down today to ask if you wanted to get an apartment together. This just made it that much easier." Hermione returned Bill's grin, then laughed her first real laugh in months.
"Bill you are the sweetest. Why don't we go get the apartment after work today, hopefully we can move in right away."
"Well actually…"
"Bill what did you do?"
"I kinda already signed the papers, I was really confident that I could convince you, had a whole speech and everythin'." If it had been anyone other than Bill, Hermione would've argued but she could never argue with Bill. He always sounded so sure of himself, like no matter what happened everything would always be ok, just because he deemed it soon. "Anyway, now that that is settled I'll show you around, and help you understand what you'll be doing."
Smiling up at Bill, Hermione knew that she would be fine here. Bill spent most of the day describing what they did, and how she would be needed. She thought her day would be pretty textbook until she heard of what was happening today just as they were leaving the last confidential room.
"At around 5 o'clock tonight we'll be getting in a Corshin."
"What's a Corshin?"
"They didn't teach you anything at Hogwarts about Magical creatures did they?" Bill still had a smile on his face, but he was a bit worried. "Let's go sit in your office, and I'll explain to you what you're going to need to know." They didn't talk on the way back to Hermione's office, Bill just let her look around, and take in her surroundings. Once they had returned to her office they both sat in the high wing back chairs, and Bill started to tell Hermione of the Corshin.
"The Corshin are an ancient race, some say that they stem from a type of mer-fish. The Corshin start off life just like any other person, they normally have some latent magical ability. They only grow fishlike appendages when they are submerged in water." Hermione knew that mer-fish could be dangerous in certain situations, but she had no idea why it was such a big deal.
"No offense Bill, but why are they so dangerous?" A huge grin spread across Bill's face.
"I'm getting there… Oh, hell I'll tell you now." Bill looked as excited as a fat kid with cake. "The Corshin have a normally cheery disposition, but they absolutely hate those that are not of their kind. Every so often however an outcast of a pod decides to become a member of wizarding society. The Corshin outcasts are a very dangerous breed that has caused many murders throughout time. Most are able to assimilate, and suppress their urges to kill those not of their kind, but some find the urges to much. The Corshin have the ability to control others minds, and they can cause a lot of damage in a matter of seconds. A trained handler can withstand their mind control, but even after that they are skilled in weaponry and they have the ability to grow their finger nails into long sharp unbreakable talons that would slice through skin and bone effortlessly." Hermione's jaw dropped, and she stared unbelievingly at Bills still smiling face.
"How are you so calm about something so vile coming here?" Bill outright chuckled at her exclamation, looking her up and down while he had the chance. Bill had been harboring a crush for Hermione since she was just a wee thing at the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Since then she had just become more beautiful with her years. Stress seemed to pass her by, though she did look slightly beyond her 23 years, more so as if she where 25 or 26. It was too bad he had this condition really, though surely she wouldn't shun him too much.
"I'm calm because this is what we do Hermione, we are all trained handlers here, and we plan to be the first to study a Corshin in captivity. They're bringing a male Corshin outcast in about 30 minutes, and he'll be locked in the solitary unit's containment center. The containment center will be guarded 24/7, and has not only trained handlers guarding it, but it also is impenetrable by it's mind control, and the walls are 12 inches of reinforced steel with a magical bond weaved throughout it. We know what we're doing Hermione, the most you are going to have to do is serve out a few doses of bone repairing potions, and some blood replenishing potions. We really do know what we're doing, I promise." Hermione still looked skeptical, but what was she supposed to do? This was her job, and she had to do it well, which meant dealing with the dangers of their work. If there were no dangers then there would be any need for her.
"Alright Bill, but if you get seriously injured I'm going to kick your butt." They both broke out in laughter. "Ok, maybe not kick your butt, but then I'll just make you take time off work, and…" A loud siren rang through the floor. "WHAT IS THAT?!"
A smirk slid across Bill's face as he stood. "That is the warning that the Corshin has arrived early." Bill started bounding towards the door before his senses got the better of him. "Hermione your room is sealed with the same magical bonds that the confinement area is, so his mind control won't break through here." Bill was insanely close to her now, it seemed it took him only a second to return to her. "I won't let anything happen to you, and when someone is injured they will automatically be transferred to the first available bed. The beds are numbered because that is the order they will be filled. We shouldn't fill more than 3 if all of us do our jobs correctly." Hermione looked a little nervous, but she forced a small smile of encouragement on her face. "You'll do fine, and remember this, we all go into this job knowing the risks." Bill placed a kiss on her temple, and bounded out the door.
Hermione paced the length of the infirmary, pausing ever so often to make sure that she had all the proper medications laid out. She wasn't ready for what happened next however. In the time span of 30 seconds 5 men lay on the designated beds, two screaming, two gasping, and one eerily silent. Hermione quickly rushed to the one who wasn't making a sound, knowing that it was most likely that he had been hurt the worst, and was in too much pain to stay conscious. She through diagnostic spells over the other four, so as she catered to one the others would have lists of what were wrong with them so she wouldn't have to run individual diagnostics and prolong their pain.
The silent man had five deep gashes in his chest, his arm was dangling almost detached, and his breathing was labored from what Hermione found was a punctured lung. She used a bone-knitting spell to repair his arm, then a blood replenishing potion as well as a tissue replacement potion to strengthen his arm. It was a miracle that he hadn't broken a rib, or suffered any more internal injuries except his lungs. She poured a knitting potion directly into the wounds so it would seal the lungs, and followed that by a few quick swishes of her wand to fix as much of the gashes as possible. Finally she just had to bandage up his arm and torso, because magic could only go so far.
She quickly hurried to the two whom where screaming, and found that they were both in the same condition. They had severe psychological damage, and that had caused them to begin cursing themselves. The first was covered in boils and sores; they were bursting every second with blood spilling over the white cotton sheets. She uttered the counter curse that she had learned in her 6th year, and quickly bandaged his entire body. With that kind of spell you could stop the boils from appearing, but other than that you just had to wait out the pain. She administered blood replenishing potion, as well as dreamless sleep. The second was in better shape, though his legs were going to need some fancy wand work. He had managed to curse his legs to turn backwards, and grow spontaneous bones at random. The bones were breaking through his skin, and while some may find this to be worse it was fairly simply to cure, though it would be very painful for him as well. Hermione waved her wand twice, and all of the bones in his lower body disappeared. The man stopped screaming immediately, and turned his face towards Hermione. "Thank You" He whispered. Hermione looked at him with healer's eyes, and flicked her wand towards her table of potions, bringing a pre-mixed bottle of skele-gro to her hand.
"Don't thank me yet, you still have to do some regrowing. Here, drink half of this, then take the dreamless sleep next to you. Then you wont feel as much of the pain." The man nodded solemnly, as Hermione made her way to the last two beds. The men on the beds were talking quietly now, as though they had finally caught their breath. "You gentleman just have a some broken bones and scratches. Give me just a second and you'll be all healed up." The man closest to her flashed her a slightly crooked smile.
"And who would you be? Haven't seen a hot thing like you around in ages." Hermione fought against the urge to leave him in the condition he was in, he certainly wasn't going to be one of her favorite work friends. She quickly waved her wand around his chest, healing the fractured ribs, and healing the shallow scratches along his arms and face.
"I'm the personal healer for the ministry." She kept her sentence clipped, trying to keep a purely professional air to the situation.
"And what is the name of the personal healer for the ministry?" The man continued to bait her as she moved to his friend.
"Dr. Granger." As she waved her wand over his friend's broken arm she heard a shift next to her and turned to see the man standing. "And I must insist that you sit sir." He simply brushed her off, and leaned against the wall.
"I'll lay down later, right now I want to get to know you better." The flirtatious tone that was laced through his sentence made her want to gag, but she simply finished the spell work on the friend, and turned towards the man leaning against the wall. "Now Dr. Granger, what is your first name?"
"If you don't lay back down I'm afraid I may have to suggest bed rest at home for a week. I'm sure you would just love to be bound to a bed all alone for a week. Now I'm sure you wouldn't like that." Hermione started to back towards the door as he kept approaching her. He had a menacing look in his eye, almost as though he were going to attack her. Hermione kept an impassive look in her eyes as she fingered her wand. She really didn't want to get fired her first day for cursing a fellow employee that she was supposed to be saving.
"What are you doing Scott?" Hermione felt a solid chest connect with her back, and let out a breath of relief as Bill's rough voice rang through the infirmary. His arms snaked around her waist, and pulled her up against him. She caught on quickly that he was trying to get them to believe that she was his girl, and therefore she started playing along.
"He was just about to get back into bed." Hermione turned in his arms to see that he had a long gash across his face, but was otherwise unharmed. "Let me take care of that for you. Here lets go into my office." Hermione took Bill's hand, and led him across the infirmary towards her office, setting the status alarms so she would know if something went wrong with one of the patients. Once the door closed and her personal silencing charms were activated she breathed a sigh of relief and pressed her back against the door. "Sit in the chair, I'll take care of that. There shouldn't even be a scar."
Bill smirked at her. "It's not like one more scar would do much." Hermione smiled, and waved her wand in quick movements over his face, effectively sealing the gash, and repairing the skin.
"I like your scars." Hermione brushed a hand across one of the more prominent scars that cut straight through to his full lips. "Thank you for helping me with the jack-ass in there." She crossed to the chair opposite Bill and sat facing him. "Though you do realize that now they to are going to think we're a couple. Between your family finding out where you're living, and the work gossip we're going to be rumored engaged within a week. Either that or they'll be saying that I was sleeping with all the Weasley men. Though I do have to say I wouldn't mind giving Fred and George a go, I always wondered if they were completely identical." Bill's jaw dropped in shock, as Hermione burst out laughing. "You… should…see…your…face." Hermione said between laughs. Finally composing herself she looked up at the still confused and mildly irritated eldest Weasley. "I'm kidding Bill, scouts honor." Bill lost his irritation, but the confusion stayed.
"What's a scout?" Hermione giggled again, but kept most of her composure this time.
"It's a muggle cult for children, forget about it." Bill finally smiled again, a dirty little thought popping in his head.
"Besides," Bill stood, and crossed the office to the door, opening it before he turned to speak again. "Fred and George are identical in everyway." Bill's trademark smirk worked its way across his face. "Though in no way are they the best endowed in the family."
AUTHOR NOTE: Hey everyone, well hopefully everyone, I'm back and with a whole new set of problems and smut. I hope it's worth the read, and that everyone has fun.