Disclaimer: I do not own harry potter. I just own the plot.
"Ginny, Ginny!" Hermione Granger said as she shook her sleeping girlfriend early on Monday morning. She looked over her lovers sleeping body and saw three bright red numbers flashing five fifteen AM. "Ginny, honey wake up," she tried once more before finally being able to make her sleeping partner stir.
"What time is it?" Ginny asked drowsily while she stretched her arms out above her head.
"It's five fifteen," Hermione replied.
"What! I was supposed to be at work fifteen minutes ago!" Ginny shouted bolting out of bed like someone who had just been splashed with cold water. She quickly turned on the light in their bedroom and grabbed the duffle bag hanging on the bed post that Hermione had given her for Christmas. She scrambled to the bathroom grabbing a towel and underwear on the way.
Hermione tried to fall asleep for the next few minutes. She tossed and turned in her bed trying unsuccessfully until she heard the shower running and decided that she was losing an uphill battle. She got out of bed and started to get dressed when Ginny came running out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around her soaking body, her wet hair sending droplets of water on to the carpet.
"Have you seen my training uniform?" Ginny asked looking in the dirty clothes hamper for her uniform. "Uh I forgot to wash it last night," she said pulling dirty clothes out of the hamper looking for it. She pulled an old t-shirt out and sniffed it before discarding it again.
"I washed it Saturday night and hung it up in the closet," Hermione said pointing to their closet in the corner of the room.
"Oh my god I love you!" Ginny quickly ran to the closet grabbed her uniform and stuffed it into her duffel bag. She sighed and searched her mind for anything she might still be missing. "You didn't happen to wash my sweats Saturday night too, did you?" Ginny asked sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck after remembering that those too had been dirty and she had forgotten to wash them.
"They're in the dresser," Hermione sighed before finally finishing getting dressed. "Are you still going to want to stop by my office so we can get something for lunch?"
"Well I'm going to be out by ten thirty, so how about I make you something here?" Ginny replied nervously while she put her sweats on over her uniform
"Why don't you want to stop by my office? Is it because you think someone will suspect something, because everyone knows we've been friends since Hogwarts," Hermione asked buttoning up her blouse before walking over to her work bag on the dresser and pulling out paper work she needed to fill out. "No one is going to think we're together."
"No it's not that, it's just your assistant always comes on to me," she lied while she tied her trainers.
"If you're uncomfortable then I'll just stop by here, like you said," Hermione said knowing the real reason that Ginny didn't want to go to her office. She couldn't afford to have anyone spread rumors about them, not after what had happened to her brother Charlie. When he had told his family about his boyfriend, his family disowned him. He was devastated and went back to Romania with his partner. Ginny was still in contact with him secretly; he was the only one in her family that new the truth about Hermione and her. Ginny knew that if anyone found out about her relationship with Hermione word would spread like wildfire and her family would disown her.
"You know it's not that," Ginny replied softly, looking down at her shoes. She knew that keeping their relationship a secret was eating away at Hermione, but she couldn't afford having her family find out. "You know I love you Hermione," she said before looking Hermione in the eyes hoping she could see the sincerity in her statement. Hermione however looked at her coldly.
"You're going to get into trouble if you don't leave soon," Hermione replied completely ignoring what Ginny had said a few moments prior.
"Fine, whatever I don't care. I don't need to give you any more excuses," Ginny shouted angrily before swinging her bag over her shoulder, turning away and apperating to work.
/
"Ginny where were you? You missed our morning jog," Emily asked as she pulled her curly blonde hair into a messy bun.
"I went to sleep late and my alarm clock didn't go off and my roommate ended up having to wake me up," Ginny replied not looking up at her.
"Your 'Roommate'?" Emily asked inserting air quotes for the word roommate. She knew all about Ginny's relationship and teased her about it anytime an opportunity arose. Ginny was hesitant to tell her at first, but when Emily had introduced her own girlfriend to the team, she knew she could trust her.
"Yes my roommate," Ginny snapped in irritation and immediately after the words left her lips she felt a wave of guilt overcome her. She knew she was being unfair to Emily and to Hermione for that matter but she couldn't let her secret get out. "You know I don't have a boyfriend,"
"Well Ginny I don't remember her saying anything about a boyfriend," a familiar voice said from behind her. Ginny turned around to find her teammate Janet standing behind with only a sports bra and sweat pants on. She looked Ginny up and down lustfully before putting on her shirt.
"I don't know what you're trying to imply," Ginny replied coolly.
"I don't know, maybe you play for the other team," Janet said narrowing her eyes at Ginny and causing some of their other teammates to stop and listen in on the conversation.
"I'm not a lesbian if that's what you're trying to say. Gay people are disgusting, gross, and perverted," Ginny said with a scowl before grabbing her broom and storming out of the locker-room, leaving half of her teammates and Emily dumbstruck.
/
"The minister wishes to see you Miss. Granger," Frank said shyly looking up from the stack of papers Hermione had asked him to review earlier.
"Did he say what he wanted?" Hermione asked looking up at him.
"Um no, he didn't actually. He just told me it was urgent and that he needed to speak to you right away," he replied sheepishly. As much as Hermione wanted to review the new bill she wanted to pass, she knew that the minister wouldn't bother her if it wasn't something important.
"Reschedule my lunch with Ginny Weasley will you? Tell her I'm in a meeting," Hermione said to her assistant before leaving her office to meet with Kingsley. She walked down the halls of the ministry ignoring the stares of her coworkers. No one ever saw Hermione Granger, she flooed directly into her office for work and only associated with people in her department during meetings. Other than that she would only communicate with people through her assistant.
Hermione didn't enjoy being asked for autographs or having pictured taken of her. She enjoyed being a private person which is exactly why she avoided walking around the ministry unless absolutely necessary.
After ten minutes Hermione made it to Kingsley's office. She rapped on the door twice before it opened by itself. "You wanted to see me Minister?" Hermione asked standing at the doorway of her boss's office.
"Ah that's right, take a seat Granger I have something very important I need to discuss with you," the Minister replied gesturing at the seat in front of his desk. Hermione walked over and took a seat in the chair and waited for the man to tell her why he had called her in. Surely she was not in trouble, she couldn't think of any reason why she might be.
"Hermione the reason I called you in here today was because I wanted to extend an offer to you. I want you to lead the Department of Law Enforcements legal team. I think it's really time for some major changes and reforms to take place; I need a front runner for this and I want that person to be you," he waited calmly for Hermione's reply
"Minister, I mean no disrespect but I work for the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," Hermione replied "I think you could find someone better qualified for this job in the aurors department,"
"There is no one I could think of who is better qualified for this job than you Hermione, I want you to lead this project. I need someone young on this, someone who has been personally affected by the war. Someone who will take this project seriously, you are that person."
"What do I have to do? What does the job entail?" Hermione asked finally giving in.
"Your will be getting pro-pureblood laws outlawed and writing new laws with the help from the departments other legal staff and you will have to attend Wizengamot hearings,"
"I understand that it's a big change-" Kingsley started to say but Hermione cut him off
"It's a huge change," Hermione whispered to herself
"I know you more than anyone understands that there needs to be changes in the ministry. A reform can prevent another war from happening," Kingsley's words echoed in Hermione's head. Preventing another war from happening? Could the war have been prevented by laws? Yes, it could have prevented the purebloods from taking over the ministry and torturing innocent witches and wizards without even a fair trial. It could have done prevented things from happening. She needed to do this.
"Fine I'll do it,"
/
"Um Miss. Granger I couldn't get a hold of Miss. Weasley," Hermione's assistant said once Hermione got back to her office after her meeting with Kingsley.
"It's okay my meeting didn't run as long as I had thought it would," Hermione replied as she organized the papers on her desk.
A knock at the door made Hermione's eyes snap up from where they were to a strikingly attractive blonde.
"Hello Miss. Granger, my name is Charlotte Sandoval. I was appointed by the minister to be your new assistant," Charlotte said walking over to Hermione and extending her hand. Hermione shook it and looked over at Frank whose face had become pale. "The minister told me to tell you Frank, that you will be assisting the new Head of this department,"
"Oh okay, when d-"
"Effective immediately," Charlotte interrupted.
"Okay well I have a lunch date to get to. Good meeting you Charlotte, Frank I'd be happy to write you a letter of recommendation if you wish to work with someone else. Excuse me," Hermione said before exiting her office.
/
Hermione arrived at a small flower shop in muggle London ten minutes later. The last thing she needed was a newspaper article saying how she was seen getting someone flowers.
"Hello my name is Abby, how can I help you?" a short woman about Hermione's age asked.
"Um what flower says 'I'm sorry I snapped at you this morning?'" Hermione asked feeling a blush creep up her neck when she saw the florist look her up and down.
"Well the purple hyacinth means I'm sorry," the woman replied turning around and reaching over some flowers for the purple hyacinth. She pulled it out and showed Hermione who looked at the flower with contempt. "I guess not. How about you tell me who it's for and I can have a better idea of what I'm looking for," she suggested.
"It's for my girlfriend, we got into a bit of an argument this morning," Hermione answered. "How about this one," Hermione asked picking a white lily from its lilac colored vase.
"It means virginity,"
"Maybe not," Hermione mumbled setting the flower back down.
"What was the fight about?" Abby asked curiously. Hermione recounted the fight between Ginny and her as Abby listened silently. "I have the perfect flower for you," she said after Hermione was done. She walked to the other side of the store and pulled out a beautiful white flower. "It's a gardenia it means 'I love you in secret', it usually means secret admirer but I think you could use it for this particular situation as well,"
"I'll take it,"
/
To say that Ginny's teammates were mad at her would be an understatement. They were scrimmaging against each other and it seemed that even the girls on her team were giving her a beating. Not a single person had passed her the quaffle in the forty minutes that they had been playing.
Ginny was all but ready to give up when she saw an opening and intercepted a pass from the other team. She heard the thud of a beater bat connecting with a bludger.
She turned back and saw a bludger coming hurdling towards her. Ginny screeched to a halt causing her face smash against the handle of her broom. She heard a deafening crack and felt warm liquid drip from her nose. She looked down at her shirt and saw her front soaked in blood.
Determined not to stop she shot forward once again and headed towards the goal posts quaffle tucked safely under her arm. Another bludger made its way towards her this time she didn't see it in time to dodge it. It smashed into her side sending causing her to lose her grip on her broom handle. She tried to grasp it but someone tackled her to get possession of the quaffle sending her falling down to the ground. She slammed down on the floor and darkness engulfed her as she fell into unconsciousness.
/
Hermione apperated outside her apartment and stood nervously outside the door, she wasn't sure how she was going to apologize to Ginny. She felt bad for the argument she had had with Ginny earlier she knew that Ginny wanted to be out but couldn't risk the love of her family. Hermione spun the flower between her thumb and index figure before sighing and knocking on the apartment door softly.
"Ginny I'm sorry for earlier, I didn't mean to be so harsh on you," she said through the door hoping Ginny could hear her and would forgive her. "I know your family can't know about us. I just get frustrated sometimes; I'm sorry," she knocked once more but did not get a reply.
"She's not home," a raspy voice said from behind her. Hermione spun around pulling her wand out of her pocket as she did so. "What were you going to do with a stick, foolish girl, and they say I'm crazy," Hermione's neighbor Mrs. Dakin said shaking her head walking toward Hermione with her walker.
"Sorry Mrs. Dakin I didn't know it was you," Hermione said sheepishly putting her wand back into her pocket "When did you get here? D-did you say Ginny wasn't home?"
"Yes, I always come around eleven to give her some of my homemade cookies, that girl works so hard, I'm not sure what she works in but anyways she wasn't here when I came today. I heard someone making a ruckus and thought I would see what was going on. I see it was just you again," Mrs. Dakin said disapprovingly. Hermione had always had a feeling that her elderly neighbor had harbored some sort of hatred for her; but whenever she had mentioned it to Ginny, the redhead would dismiss it claiming that their neighbor was a lovely old woman who could never hate anyone.
"Well thanks for letting me know," Hermione said awkwardly searching her pockets for her keys knowing she couldn't use her wand to unlock the door in front of her.
Once she found her keys she unlocked the door and quickly entered her apartment and set Ginny's flower down on their breakfast nook. Everything looked just as she had left it in the morning. By this time Ginny usually had lunch prepared for the two of them, even if they had had an argument in the morning. Something was not right Hermione quickly apperated on the spot to the Holyhead Harpies training site.
/
"Stay down Weasley before you kill yourself. Someone fetch the trainer," Gwenog barked pulling Ginny up on her feet. Ginny's back cracked when she tried to stand up straight making her hunch over in pain. She had just woken up from her unconsciousness to find herself in the locker-room after apparently falling off of her broom.
"The trainers not here he's on vacation," Emily replied before anyone could attempt to find him.
Ginny looked up for a moment to look at the time fifteen past twelve. Hermione would be worried. Almost as soon as she thought entered her mind she heard a commotion coming from the entrance of the locker room.
"I'm sorry Miss I can't let you in there-" the security guard said trying to block her path. Hermione side stepped him quickly and ran into the changing room of the Holyhead Harpies. She saw a crowd of players surrounding a blood soaked Ginny.
"Who knows how to fix a nose? Come you guys you couldn't have all skipped that day in health class," the captain Gwenog said loudly before swearing.
"Let me through," Hermione said pushing past the crowed and kneeling down next to Ginny.
"Is that Hermione Granger?" one of Ginny's teammates whispered to another.
"Hey Hermione," Ginny said weakly making Emily roll her eyes.
"Hey Ginny," Hermione whispered almost inaudibly before quickly getting started on healing Ginny's wounds.
"Episky!" Hermione recited causing Ginny's nose to pop back perfectly into place. "Are you ok?" Hermione asked softly holding Ginny's face in her hands before brushing a stray strand of red hair off of her face. Ginny flinched at her touch.
"I'm ok," Ginny replied looking down not wanting to give off the impression that the two were intimate. Hermione sighed and stood up letting her arms fall to her sides.
"Well I'll see you later Gin," Hermione said quietly walking backwards towards the exit.
"Wait, I thought we were going to eat together," Ginny said quickly standing up off the bench.
"No I just remembered I had a load of paperwork I need to catch up on. I'll see you later," she said before apperating away.
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