I bet these morons won't notice I'm gone until the coffee runs out. Hermione knew she had to take a break. The mediwitch at St. Mungo's flat out told her that she could not continue in this manner. Her blood pressure was too high, her enzyme levels were out of whack and unless she got everything under control, she would be another Muggle-born statistic.
Never doing anything by halves, Hermione decided to quit. She penned a short note, well, short for her, telling her superiors to take the job and shove it. Of course, as long as her note was, only the most astute would realize what she said. The rest would consider it as another wordy missive from Miss Granger, not noticing for a few weeks she had said she was leaving for good.
She had plenty of money put away, as her plans to buy a small house with Ron failed. After much contemplation, she realized it was as much her fault as his. When she sat him down and told him she couldn't figure out how to make it work, he kept flinching.
When he realized she wasn't blaming him, he grinned his beautiful lopsided grin. "We both messed up, didn't we, love?"
"We hung in for too long, Ron. I will always love you, I know. I just don't know whether I was ever really in love with you," she said, making him nod sadly.
"Me too, Hermione. Me too."
They hugged tightly and left their small flat, each moving back to their parents' home, waiting for the next phase in their lives.
I've always wanted to visit Greece. So I'm going to start there. After a week there, I will see where the fates decide I should go.
Hermione looked around her childhood home, making certain that her wards were strong. She picked up her little beaded bag, spun around on her heel, and Disapparated.
"Hi, Percy!" She waved at the familiar redhead behind the desk.
"Hi, Hermione. Aren't you going to ask what I'm doing in the travel office?" Percy asked.
"No. If the people in charge think you are best suited to handing out Portkeys, it goes to prove they are complete idiots," she said.
Percy looked startled, then grinned. "You turned in a resignation letter and not a vacation request, right?"
Hermione's bright smile lit up the room. "How long will it take for them to figure out that I resigned?"
"Well, if your letter said resignation anywhere, after two weeks it will register in the employee files. You will no longer get paid. You had enough leave to cover two weeks?"
His raised eyebrow made her giggle. It was reminiscent of professor McGonagall.
She nodded.
"They will probably not get to their memo stating your resignation is final until, oh, a month after that. So, by my calculations, you have approximately six weeks until you get an owl. Unless they are embarrassed by their ineptitude, at which point you may never hear from them again… but don't expect to ever get another job in the Ministry," he said, scratching his head and pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
Hermione was looking around the office, observing the schedules and the… "Percy, are those abandoned Portkeys?"
"Wha––," he said, getting up to see what she was looking at. "Oh, yes."
"You are a better person than I am. Because if I didn't have anyone to go home to, I would use those Portkeys. A new place every night. Dinner in Rome, a night at the Paris Opera, all on someone else's sickle. They don't get reused, right? Pre-paid?" Her enthusiasm for the idea showed.
Percy's eyes widened. The box she was looking at held almost a thousand unused and pre-paid Portkeys. "Hm. I've quite recently decided my next job is to catalog those, Hermione."
"Have fun, Perce. Now, may I have my Portkey to Greece?" She held her hand out.
Percy impetuously took her hand and kissed it, then turned it over and placed the old brooch in it. "It takes off seven minutes after you touch it. Have a good time, Hermione."
"I will, Perce." She looked at his face, which already seemed lost in the possibilities of free travel. "You, too."
Hermione let the little brooch drag her to Greece, and landed gracefully at the arrival point. She smiled to herself, remembering the first time she Portkeyed, with Harry and Ron and the rest for the World Cup, and the heap they all landed in.
She walked toward the hotel she had booked, a few streets east from where she had landed. The scents of cooking lamb and spices permeated the air, and the chattering sounds of the city washed over her. She took a deep breath, taking all of it in, pleased to be somewhere she had always wanted to go.
As she entered the hotel, she bumped into a man who was walking out. "Oh! I'm so sorr- Viktor!"
Recognition lit the man's eyes. "Hermione! It is wery good to see you!" He leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Are you staying here?"
She smiled up at him. "Yes, I am! I'm on vacation. I will be here in Greece for a week. After that I have to decide where to go," she said.
"I vill keep you company vhile you check in, da?" He put his arm around her shoulder and led her into the hotel.
"Certainly! How is Magda?" she asked while they walked.
"Wery vell. She is wery close to birthing the baby. I am only here for another night. Then, I vill be home to stay for at least six veeks. She vill be glad to hear I saw you!" Viktor smiled, eyes distant.
Hermione was glad he was so considerate of his wife, even if she was days from giving birth. Especially because she's so close to giving birth, she thought. They reached the counter, and she began the minutiae of checking in. She finally got everything to her liking and was handed her key. She turned to Viktor only to see him talking to another dark-haired man.
"Ah, Hermione! I vould like you to meet, or maybe remember is the better word, a good friend and colleague, Theo Nott," he said when he realized she was done.
She cautiously held her hand out to the man. She remembered he had been in Slytherin in her year, but since he wasn't one of the more vocal students, she couldn't do much more than place him.
Theo was surprised she had been willing to allow him to touch her, but being raised properly, he took her hand and kissed the back of it.
Hermione smiled, gently reminded of Percy's enthusiasm earlier, which unexpectedly made her newly introduced companion smile back at her.
"I never believed I'd be on the receiving end of one of Hermione Granger's beautiful smiles," he said.
She furrowed her brow. "Why?"
"Too different, I imagine. Slytherin/Gryffindor, Muggle-born/pureblood, really wealthy/…" he eyed her clothing, "fairly well-off?"
The last made her laugh. "Too many generalities, Mr. Nott. I'm just Hermione Granger, failed champion of the house-elves and currently unemployed," she replied.
"You finally realized you were too good for the Ministry?" he asked.
"Not really. I'm too different for the Ministry. I'd make a good poster girl if I could keep my mouth shut, undoubtedly." She winked.
Viktor, interrupted, looking quite pleased with himself. "If you don't mind, I vill add you to our reservations at Ideal. The vizarding part of the restaurant is much older than the mundane, you vill like it," he said, looking at her hopefully.
"I won't be a third wheel?" she asked.
"No, ve just realized ve vere in town at the same time. No business to discuss, just old friends," he answered.
Hermione looked at Theo, who did not look averse to the idea. "Sure, why not?" She grinned outright when Viktor pulled out a silver cell phone and adjusted the reservations.
"What is he using, Granger?" Theo asked her quietly.
"A cell phone. Muggles have found a way to transmit calls over the air, like the wizarding wireless, only for communication," she said.
"Interesting," he replied.
Hermione studied Theo, who appeared to be thinking hard. She realized she really wanted to know what his thoughts were about. The quiet man had her more intrigued than her last year's worth of work at the Ministry.
Viktor led the other two through the maze of streets that made up Athens toward the restaurant.
Two blocks into the walk, he wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her from stepping into the street while admiring a gargoyle or pretty flower.
Hermione looked up at the man walking next to her when she realized he had put his arm around her. "I'm sorry, Theo. All of this is just so beautiful… " She stopped when he gently placed his finger across her lips.
"Don't worry, Hermione. I can do the navigating, and you can sightsee to your heart's content," he said.
She nodded and they continued to follow Viktor's expert lead through the winding streets. Hermione couldn't think of the last time she had such a pleasant time simply walking and gawking at her surroundings. She felt safe with Theo's arm around her, yet another thing to ponder.
"Here ve are!" Viktor's voice boomed out, cutting through her reverie.
She gazed upward at the ornate door to the restaurant. "This looks lovely, Viktor."
"The food is ewen better than the appearance. This vay to the vizarding side," he said, directing Hermione and Theo to a bricked in archway to the left of the main entrance.
He tapped the bricks in a familiar pattern and they shimmered, allowing them passage in a manner similar to that of platform 9 ¾.
They sat down and ordered their meal. They had egg-lemon soup and both tzatziki and eggplant dip with pita bread and olives to start with. Then they had moussaka and roast lamb with lemon potatoes. They followed that with a creamy, cheesy, honey covered dessert that had Hermione licking the last bits off the spoon.
She realized that all conversation at the table stopped, with both men staring at her with wide eyes. "What? I like food," she said.
"Yes, you most certainly do," Theo answered after swallowing hard. "I apologize for staring at you. Most pureblood women of my acquaintance are happier nibbling at things rather than enjoying their food to any extent."
Hermione shrugged. "I'm not a fashion plate. I'll never be thin enough to be a model, so why not enjoy my food?"
"Vomen should be soft and curvy. Unless they are playing Quidditch. Then they should be hard as nails!" declared Viktor, making his companions laugh.
Theo shook his head, watching Hermione respond to Viktor's deliberate barb with some of her own, making the big man laugh hard. He realized he was enjoying her wit and intelligence as much as her beauty. iShe may not be model thin, but none of those magazine girls ever made me hard by licking a bloody spoon!/i
Viktor looked at his companions and realized he was no longer necessary to the conversation… or anything that might follow. "Good-bye, my friends! I must head home to Magda. Enjoy your time in Greece," he said, catching hold of the owner to pay for the meals.
Theo stood and watched Viktor walk off, as Hermione just grinned and waved. He turned to his companion, "Is he always that abrupt?"
"I take it you've only been dealing with him in mostly professional capacities?" she asked.
Theo nodded.
"He can be. He did have someplace else to go, and since we were comfortable, he just left. He wasn't being rude, just himself, you know?" She raised her hands and an eyebrow, attempting to decide if he understood.
Theo smiled. "Since he paid for dinner, shall we take another walk back to the hotel? I'm sure there are lots of places you would like to see," he offered. He was pleased when he received a brilliant smile in response.
"I would love to, Theo. Thank you," she said as she rose from her seat to join him. She took the arm that was offered to her and they walked out of the restaurant together.
Many years later, Hermione would not remember much about the walk back to the hotel, except for the strong arm around her shoulder and the solid warmth of the man she had almost become instantly comfortable with.
Viktor was visibly pleased with himself when he discovered that Hermione and Theo had decided to travel the world together after that first night in Greece.
As for Percy, well, if you happen to see a glimpse of red hair wandering past your hotel room, it just might be him.