A/N: This was originally posted in December of 2007 on my LiveJournal as a sort of "Choose Your Own Adventure" story, a Christmas gift to my friendslist there. The short beginning is the same for any story, but instead of skipping to the next chapter, use the chapter drop-down menu to choose which paring you'd like to see. The options are Viktor, Charlie, and Severus. (There are a couple more options with the story on LJ, but the ratings are high enough that I'm not including them here. If you're interested, there's a link to my LJ on my info page.) Enjoy!
Hermione kicked off her heels and sank into her cushy desk chair. There was nothing worse than a Ministry faculty meeting on a month when the Minister's campaign wasn't going well. He believed that the low votes were based on the Ministry's performance—not his own. In her job as an archivist, Hermione knew that her work didn't affect typical Wizarding society much, but she had always hated destructive criticism and felt like the Minister was speaking directly to her.
She rolled her head to try and lessen the growing tension. This day seemed like it would never end. For starters, it was the last day the Ministry would be open before Christmas, and everyone was anxious to begin the holidays. This morning some papyrus scrolls she had been excitedly anticipating had arrived from Egypt—and she'd realized that the hieroglyphics were in a different dialect from the one she'd learned. Hermione would have to do enough research to teach herself how to read them before she could study the spells contained within. She had written to Madam Pince—sadly, the Hogwarts library was better equipped than the Ministry's—to ask to borrow a book for the research. Shortly after, she had realized that Hogwarts had dismissed for the holidays three days earlier and Madam Pince had probably already left to visit her mum in Wales. She had gone to her favorite café for lunch, only to discover that they'd quit serving her favorite dish. And then she'd attended the depressing, stressful meeting.
This day could not possibly end soon enough. Hermione mumbled a fervent prayer to Merlin for a relaxing evening, and buried herself in a pile of loose papers from Scotland. At least she could decipher the spells and legends of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
Fifteen minutes into her work, a knock sounded on her door. Hermione groaned: what now? Harry stuck his head in. "A lot of us are cutting out early; want to leave? The Minister stormed out for the day after the meeting. Moody said he's probably going to kiss some babies or whatnot."
She shuffled the papers together and dropped them into her top drawer, then thanked Harry and walked down to the foyer with him. Leaving early had never sounded so good! She couldn't wait to get home tonight.
