"This is absolutely ridiculous," A woman sighed, placing a file on the table, she rubbed her hands over her face, stress was evident. She looked around her small office and felt the twinge of annoyance as she struggled to figure out what was missing. She picked up a piece of blank parchment; she spread it flat on the table, and took hold of a quill. Her writing was fast, but the lines across the parchment were clear. She singed it and delicately folded it, with a single tap of her wand the parchment shot into the air, disappearing out of her office. "Absolutely absurd."

The news had been something of a shock when it had first come through, magic happening in London, in one of the boroughs just outside the central city, however they were unable to explain it. There were no wizards in the area who they could pin it to. And now once again she'd sent for the list of wizards and witches who were yet to join Hogwarts. If it were a child who they had perhaps overlooked, clearly they needed to add them to the list.

She looked at a photograph that sat on her desk, it was her as a child, with her parents. They'd had the shock of their life when they had found out about her abilities as a witch, but she had always reckoned they had taken the news well. Not all parents did.

But there was something else, something small niggling at her. There were no witnesses to the use of magic. When it was a child, frustratingly, magic happened in front of others. It meant hours of work, removing the memories, finding proper excuses. This definitely was not the case, not with this one.

She was distracted form her thoughts as a folded piece of parchment flew into her office. She grabbed it in her hand and unfolded it.

Miss Hermione Granger,

I can assure you for the third time, that as far as we are aware there are no children in that area who are magic users, all children in the area, of which there is one, are known to us. May I suggest you explore other avenues.

Rufus Fudge

Hermione frowned at the note, it wasn't helpful, but then Rufus did not particularly like her. She placed the letter down, and frowned, looking back at the little girl in the photo frame. She was small with masses of half frizzy half curly brown hair, she was lightly tanned, a natural olive-ish tone to her skin. She was not an ugly child by any means, but she could have been easily over looked, if it weren't for the hair, with of course the added benefit of massive front teeth.

She looked at the note once more and sighed.

"Other avenues," The young woman muttered, she pushed her chair back and frowned. "Fine Rufus."

Hermione Granger had worked hard in her short time at the Ministry, she made the effort with other members of the ministry, she was twenty one, with her own office, unlike many others her age. She was highly thought of among her superiors, and supportive of those working under her. And while Rufus disliked her and her keen ability to get the job done without pissing off any of her colleagues, he still couldn't deny her uncanny ability to do a fantastic job at anything she set her mind to.

It had come at a cost, a cost which she regretted. Ron Weasley. They had begun seeing each other at the end of their seventh year, the relationship had fizzled out when she begun to focus more on her career he had begun wanting more from the relationship, their ideals did not meet in the middle, and even for seven years of desire under the surface, something had simply disappeared between them. He was doing well for himself however, and they had for everything remained close.

That was how she had ended up on his doorstep at the end of the day. She'd visited several offices after answers, and nothing seemed to come to light, they were just as clueless as she was. So she stood with a bottle wine in one hand, and a Chinese take-away in the other.

The door swung open, and he was there, tall, broad shoulders, freckled face, mop of orange red hair atop his head, he smiled when he saw her. His eyes looked at the contents on her hands and he chuckled.

"The great Hermione Granger is stumped." He stepped aside, letting Hermione slid into his apartment. He lived in wizarding London, near work. She moved into the sparsely decorated home, a couch, TV, a few pictures. It was nothing special, but suited him well.

"Very much so."

"No clue at all? Like there's no one on the radar, at all?" Ron sounded bewildered as he sat with a plate held loosely in one hand, a fork in the other. His face was set into a look of surprise, it wasn't often Hermione turned to him for help or advice, but he did have one thing over. He'd grown up in this world. But even for him this was something unusual. "Nothing?"

"Nothing, there's one kid in the area, muggle parents, but we're certain after close inspection that it isn't him," Hermione told her friend feeling frustrated, she had hoped Ron would be able to reveal something that no one else had considered.

Ron looked at his friend and frowned, he could have laughed to himself, this was almost exactly why he and her had spilt up way back when… She got too attached to her work, so he knew it was killing her inside.

"Give me a minute, I'll ask my dad," With that he was on his feet and out of the room.

Hermione smiled to herself, Arthur Weasley the head of Misuse of Muggle Artefacts department. For a while he'd been assigned to counter spells during the war, but when the war finished and it was deemed no longer necessary, he reverted back to where his heart was. Muggle objects. His department was moulded together and his team was bigger. And due to his knowledge and experience, Arthur was still the person they turned to in these kinds of unusual situations.

Ron reappeared within a minute, his face set into a frown.

"Erm, my dad says he'll come talk to you in your office tomorrow."

Hermione too frowned at this, that potentially meant whatever Arthur may have to tell her could be serious, very serious.