Story Summary:

Three years after the defeat of Voldemort, Hermione Granger is a qualified Auror who can't seem to find her place in the office amongst her male (-only) colleagues. After jeopardising a mission, Hermione looks set to be doing paperwork for the rest of her career!

However, her best friends- Harry and Ron who are also Aurors- have other plans for her…

A new Dark Lord is steadily gaining power and his next target will be the Miss Magick pageant. So Hermione is sent undercover as a Miss Magic contestant:

Will she help uncover the New Dark Lords' dark plot? Even though the NDL is using different muggle devices to attack? And what are Malfoys' true intentions behind helping the Ministry of Magic- and Hermione?

DISCLAIMER: THE HARRY POTTER UNIVERSE WAS CREATED BY THE BRILLIANT JK ROWLING- NOT ME.

THIS STORY WAS INSPIRED BY THE SANDRA BULLOCK MOVIE Miss Congeniality, AND I ALSO GOT IDEAS FROM THE MISS WORLD, MISS UNIVERSE AND MISS USA PAGEANTS; I DO NOT HAVE ANY OWNERSHIP OVER THE MOVIE OR PAGEANTS MENTIONED.

HOWEVER, Miss Magick IS MY OWN CREATION.

CHAPTER 1: A Failed Mission

Three Years after the defeat of Lord Voldemort (Tom Riddle)

A women with her bushy hair tied in a loose ponytail, tendrils of her long locks escaping their tie, was sitting in a small diner booth in a rather dirty restaurant; the name had faded from the sign outside, but in front of the women, the restaurants slogan Joe's Restaurant was imprinted in black ink on a beer-stained menu. A newspaper was sprawled out on the table in front of the women, beside a bowl of chips.

Hermione Granger picked up a chip which was covered in tomato sauce and unconsciously placed it her mouth while reading the paper, accidentally letting a drop of the red condiment fall onto her newspaper. Rather then being annoyed at her bad aim, Hermione gave a slight smile as she wiped away the sauce stain and held the newspaper in front of her towards the centre of the room.

In the middle of the newspaper print was a small camera that taped a couple of men, sitting at a table right in the middle of the restaurant, exchange small-talk, laughs and… was that man taking something out of his pocket?

Hermione felt like there were butterflies flying around in her stomach.

'This is it' she thought to herself, her brown eyes sparkling brightly beneath her rather hairy eyebrows. 'No more disgustingly boring Auror assignments for me'.

The man had begun to withdraw an item from his pocket (Hermione was slightly perspiring with anticipation) when a rather large waitress began to clean the table situated between Hermione's booth and the men's table. Trying to get a view of the men, Hermione stretched, holding the paper above her head. The woman's head was in the way. Then she tried stretching to her left, but the women's behind got captured on film rather then the men's…whatever it was they had…

'Granger' an angry voice hissed in her ear piece. Her boss, Ernie Macmillan. 'Stop piss-farting around and get them on camera! And tell fatty to get out of the way. Her arse is so big that…'

Hermione chose to ignore the rest of Ernie's instructions (and insults).

'Excuse me Miss' Hermione gestured the waitress to come to her booth; the waitress placing her cleaning gear on the nearest table to approach Hermione.

'Iz your chipz alrighty Miss?' the Polish waitress struggled to say in English.

Hermione stood, left paper in her hand, and, to the waitress's amazement, hugged her.

'Yes, thankyou. The chips are very well cooked, and the tomato sauce- or ketchup, as the Americans call it- is just superb when drizzled all over the food. I actually went to America last year. It was absolutely fascinating. And it's such a great country! I especially liked-' Hermione rambled while positioning the camera so that it captured the men sitting at their table.

She watched as one man with a gorilla-like appearance passed a small brown package to another man who mumbled something incomprehensible.

'-and then the funniest thing happened. He actually approached from behind, and went 'got ya!'

Three trained Aurors had now entered the restaurant through the main door; while Hermione unattached herself from the waitress (telling her to get on the floor), and took out her wand walking towards the men. The newspaper and cold chips were abandoned on the table.

'Place your wands on the table and put your hands on your head' Ernie yelled, not noticing Hermione move closer to the table where the men had previously been sitting. The men did as ordered, but Hermione noticed that one of the men was still holding onto the brown package.

'Place the package on the table, Goyle' Hermione instructed him. He followed Hermione's instructions, but she saw his hand lingering beside his wand. 'Put your hands in the air!' she instructed loudly, but Goyle didn't obey her orders.

'Don't do it Granger-' Ernie yelled at her, but she ignored him and took a step towards Goyle. '-STOP!'

In that second, Goyle raised his wand and aimed a spell at Hermione. Anticipating the curse, Hermione had raised her wand, ready to mutter a counter-curse but instead she felt herself being pushed by someone who, in place of Hermione, was hit by the stupefy curse.

Ron was on the floor beside Hermione, not moving. Above her head, she could see the different coloured curses being sent around the restaurant.

'Ron' she whispered, crawling over to his petrified figure. 'Enervate' she directed, pointing her wand at him. Nothing happened. 'Enervate!' she said urgently, not caring who heard her. He still didn't move.

Rage consumed Hermione and, without thinking, she stood up quickly and got hit by a curse.

The sound of a machine beeping beside her had caused Hermione to wake up. Groggily opening her eyes, Hermione found herself lying on a white bed in an equally white room. Beside her bed was the noisy machine that kept on beeping as it recorded her heart rate. As she watched the lines on the heart monitor change directions, she instantly remembered the mission- and her contribution to it.

'Oh -' Hermione swore. 'Ernie is definitely not going to be happy with me'

Right on cue, she could hear an angry voice in the hallway shouting 'Where is Granger?' A muffled reply came from the hallway, and Hermione couldn't hear what was said. Obviously, that person had more concern for the sleeping patients then Ernie.

'I don't care if she's asleep' Ernie had resumed his yelling. 'If she is then I'll bloody wake her up' he shouted before storming into Hermione's room.

Hermione had hurriedly closed her eyes before he entered, but this didn't stop him from switching on the lights, shaking her shoulders, and saying, quite loudly, 'Wake the hell up, Granger!'

'Hmm' she mumbled innocently before slowly opening her eyes, and looking into Ernie's furious eyes. 'I didn't expect to see my boss paying me a visit-'

'Shove it Granger' Ernie interrupted rudely. 'What do you have to say for yourself?'

'What do you mean?'

'Last night. At the restaurant. You were-'

'I don't remember anything,' Hermione lied.

'You don't remember anything?' Ernie asked suspiciously.

'Nothing'

'Fine. Do you remember the mission at that shit-hole of a restaurant? That you disobeyed my orders and jeopardised the entire assignment? And Ron protecting you, which resulted in him now being in a coma?' Ernie's voice grew louder as he made each point.

'Is Ron alright? I didn't mean-'

'So you do remember'.

Hermione didn't answer.

'Well Granger' Ernie said menacingly, walking over to her. 'If you think that it's alright to disobey my orders' he was standing beside her bed. 'Jeopardise a very important mission' he was staring at her intently, causing her to blink. 'And put your fellow Aurors at risk, then there is nothing I can do'. He walked back over to the doorway.

'What?' Hermione asked stupidly.

'I meant' Ernie corrected. 'that I can't do anything except banning you from further Auror raids. You are, from this moment, to only do paperwork and run errands for me…' Hermione opened her mouth to protest but didn't say anything. 'You should be grateful that I haven't fired you- most bosses would not have been as lenient as I' Ernie was about to exit the room but stopped. 'By the way, the mission was successful although Ron is still in a coma. I expect you at work tomorrow- Monday- at the normal time. No excuses. And if you disobey my orders again then I'll have no hesitation in firing you. Have a nice rest'.

Then he departed from the room, leaving behind a flabbergasted Hermione.

'So much for getting a promotion' Hermione mumbled, attempting to get out of bed.

'STOP!' a young medi-witch shouted from the doorway, before rushing to Hermione's side. 'You were hit by a rather nasty curse. In fact, I'm surprised that you are up- although, I do have Ernie to thank for that…' she added bitterly.

Hermione looked at her quizzingly.

'Don't look at me like that, Hermione Granger' the young medi-witch scolded, her blonde hair bouncing as she checked Hermione's heart rate. 'even though Ernie and I have been dating for seven months, I don't agree with him visiting my patients during 'nap' time- now, put this in your mouth-'

A weird looking instrument was placed in Hermione's mouth. It was a round, silver ball that acted like a muggle thermometer but tasted like strawberries, and Hermione had the greatest urge to suck it. She had obviously been around Ron for too long.

'- he is a great kiss- err –guy and everything, but I definitely do not agree with him causing such a racket at my place of work. And he expects me to take time off work when he visits! If I did that at the Auror unit, he definitely wouldn't be happy! I mean, I'm not an Auror but being a medi-witch is just as challenging, time-consuming and important. Just think about-'

The thermometer started beeping, so the medi-witch took it out of Hermione's mouth (much to her dismay) and checked its recording.

'All looks good, Hermione. Now, if you can, please stand up- you can hold onto my hand if you need to…' Hermione then stood up, wobbling slightly, but managed to walk over to the door without the medi-witches' assistance. '…very good Hermione. You are free to go' Hermione moved to leave but was stopped by the medi-witch. 'After you fill out the paperwork, of course' she concluded and, with a wave of her wand, a stack of parchment appeared on Hermione's vacant bed.

Sulking, Hermione made her way back to the bed and sat beside her paperwork. The medi-witch was grinning at her.

'Thankyou…' Hermione glanced at the medi-witches name tag. 'Hannah? Hannah Abbott? Is that really you?'

'Yes Hermione' Hannah's grin grew wider. 'I was wondering how long it would take you to recognise me. It's been a while that we've seen each other, due to the war and everything. But I just knew-'

A loud siren was heard by the two witches, echoing around the hallway outside, and both saw people in dark blue robes run frantically down the past Hermione's room and out of sight.

'- oh oh' Hannah whispered, her smile fading. 'Well Hermione, please fill out the paperwork and I hope to see you later'. With a last smile, Hannah left the room and ran down the hallway where she saw the others medi-witches and medi-wizards run past.

As soon as Hannah had left, Hermione released a loud sigh and began looking over the forms that Hannah had left for her. And she thought about Ron, one of her dearest friends and steady boyfriend, lying in a coma because of her lapse of judgement. Tears silently falling down her cheek, she began writing on the forms Hannah had left for her and a little voice inside her head said, 'this is only the start of paperwork for you'.

'As you all know, there have been several slightly unusual attacks in the past few months, by someone claiming to be a 'New Dark Lord' Ernie's eyes landed on Harry Potter's emerald eyes. They were at the Ministry of Magic at the Auror department. 'the reason that I said that these attacks are slightly unusual is because-'

'The attacks were caused by the use of muggle weapons, rather then magic' Hermione Granger interrupted, walking into the Aurors conference room whilst carrying bottles of butterbeer in her arms. 'As we all know, Voldemort was against muggles, muggle-borns, and half-bloods, so for a wizard or witch claiming to be a New Dark Lord it is strange that they choose their main weapons to be muggle-made rather then…'

'Don't you have paperwork to do, Granger?' Ernie asked rudely, causing Hermione to blush.

'I just thought that it would be beneficial to acknowledge…'

'You're not involved in this mission' Ernie dismissed her; both were glaring at each other. Hermione put the butterbeers on a side-desk where cockroach clusters, berties bots every flavour beans and some savoury snacks were placed, slightly spilling the butterbeer in her anger. She then sat at her desk and began sorting through the paperwork Ernie had left for her. 'now, there have been further developments in this case. Last night, a team of Aurors did a raid' Hermione felt Ernie's eyes on her but continue scraping her quill on the parchment. 'on- who we believe- to be alliances of the NDL. This is what we found' a slide of a note appeared on the wall behind Ernie, as he stood on a podium at the front of the room. 'A package was recovered from Gregory Goyle that contained a bag of fireworks- muggle explosives that make patterns in the night sky' Ernie explained as some Aurors looked confused. 'and the package also contained this vital clue. You should all be aware of the notes that we have received before some previous attacks are similar to this one. You will also know that, most times, the codes only become clear after the attacks. By having this clue, we have more time to figure out what that moron is trying to do and prevent it. Every Auror is expected to take a copy of this code and attempt to figure it out. All findings should be reported to me immediately. That is all for now'.

All of the Auror's (including Hermione) took a copy of the code. Hermione stood beside Harry, linking her arm in his, and began walking towards the door when Ernie's voice stopped them.

'Wait a minute' Ernie had shouted, causing the Aurors to stop in their tracks. A black owl was flying out of the room and Ernie was holding a piece of parchment. 'It has come to my attention that Ron Weasley has awakened from his coma. He will be able to return in a few days, and he expects lots of presents' a few laughs was heard, 'his words not mine. You can go now. Oh, Harry, may I have a word with you for a moment'.

Harry looked at Hermione, who nodded and exited the room amongst the other Auror's. Standing outside the door, waiting for Harry, she heard Ernie say to him:

'Both you and Ron will be in charge of this mission. Even though you both have only been here for five months, your previous fighting experiences and your response to last nights raid have shown that you are capable of running this mission. Are you up for it?'

Hermione realised that she was eavesdropping but couldn't help herself; she even silently wished that she bought one of the Extendable Ears that the twins had given her before Harry defeated Voldemort, to hear more clearly. She knew that Harry and Ron would be ecstatic about being given this opportunity, but she couldn't understand why Harry was taking so long to respond.

'What about Hermione?' Harry finally asked, shocking both her and Ernie with his reply.

'What about her?' Ernie responded. Hermione was starting to dislike Ernie immensely.

'She also started this job when we did and everyone knows that she is the 'Brightest Witch of our time'. She is also a muggle-born, and more familiar with muggle weapons then most Aurors in our unit. Surely her mind would be put to better use if she helped me and Ron lead this mission, rather then waste her talent doing paperwork? She is a brilliant…'

'I'm quite aware of Grangers capabilities' Ernie stated, causing Hermione to suppress a snort. 'but the fact remains that she failed to follow instructions at last nights mission! For a so-called know-it-all…'

'I would appreciate it if you didn't speak about one of my best friends like that' Harry interrupted Ernie, making Hermione smile at her friend's faithfulness.

'And what about your other best friend? If I recall correctly, it was because of Hermione that Ron was in a coma, and the mission almost failed because of her!'

Hermione came up with several retorts in response to Ernie's comments but couldn't verbalise them. Harry was silent.

'Look Harry. I know that you three are the 'Golden Trio' but only two of you deserved to be labelled 'Golden' last night. This is a mans job- not a witches- however advanced her skills are. You and Ron are both highly skilled wizards and it would be a shame to have you both pass up this great opportunity. Do you want this position or not?'

In eager anticipation Hermione awaited Harry's answer. Its seemed like an eternity before he said, 'Yes'.

The rest of the day seemed a blur to Hermione. The paperwork of her desk had remained untouched as she scribbled on some parchment (such things as 'Ernie is a doofus') and drew some -rather bad- doodles (one of them was of Ernie holding a trophy that said 'Dickhead of the month'), as Harry and Ernie's conversation played continuously in her head.

Hermione walked into her London apartment after work carrying groceries, paperwork, and struggling to open her front door. She nearly fell over as she entered her apartment, somehow managing to drop the paperwork that she had so carefully rested on top of the groceries.

Stepping over the falling paperwork, she managed to get to the kitchen without tripping over anything and, placing her groceries on the bench, she put her food in there rightful place. After everything in the kitchen was in order, Hermione walked back to the place where she had dropped the paperwork and tentatively picked it up, the code slipping out of that pile. She looked over it once, realised that she couldn't begin to comprehend the code as she was too angry and walked into a room beside the kitchen which looked like a miniature gymnasium. Hermione had taken up boxing as a way of releasing tension that was caused by studying too much; her doctor had explained to her that she needed to exercise more- what with all of the books she carried!- to strengthen her back and arms.

There was a boxing bag in the middle of the room, gym balls, Pilate's mats, aerobics steps, and more gym equipment was placed around the room. Hermione walked over to the stereo system, which was near a window that overlooked a park, and placed her paperwork on it before turning on some music.

She began jumping to the beat, put on her boxing gloves and began to punch and kick the boxing bag furiously. As her training session continued, she began to make different sequences of movement.

PUNCH PUNCH KICK KICK PUNCH

Hermione imagined that the boxing bag was Ernie and started to kick and punch the bag so furiously that she felt a bit lethargic, and had to hug the bag to stop her from falling over. Then the realisation dawned on her: it was her fault that Ron was injured.

'It's ridiculous' she whispered. 'ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!' she shouted before punching the bag one more time, and took off her gloves.

Turning off the stereo, and grabbing the code, Hermione went back into the kitchen, made herself a coffee and went into her lounge room where she sunk into the couch. The lounge room was opposite the gym, and contained a white couch, coffee table and large plasma television. The walls were adorned with photos- both muggle and enchanted- of her parents, 12 year old Hermione dressed in Hogwarts gear for the first time, Hermione graduating from Hogwarts (the year after Voldemort was defeated, she, Harry and Ron had returned to finish their education) with Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, quite a number of photos of the Trio, and a photo of her and her boyfriend of three years. Ron Weasley.

Feeling a rush of sadness, Hermione glanced down at the coded parchment, determined to solve it. On the parchment was a set of seemingly random numbers:

41 - 18 - 26 - 22 - 102 - 217 - 220 - 23

230 - 9 - 85 - 69 - 67 - 67

41 - 52 - 72 - 42 - 108 - 201 - 276 - 2

24 - 82 - 17 - 95 - 45

23 - 5 - 192 - 88 - 24 - 8

Like she had done in her school days (in subjects such as Ancient Runes), Hermione spent hours looking over this assignment until she figured it out.

'Of course! It is so brilliant and logical! I've got to tell Harry…' she glanced at the clock on her DVD player. 3:47am. 'I guess I can wait to tell him the news when I go to work in 3 hours and 13 minutes'.

Putting the code on the table in front of her couch, Hermione stretched before accio-ing a pillow and blanket and fell asleep on the couch.

Like it? Loathe it? Please review!

Also, if anyone can solve the code then I will name a character after them. Clue: think maths.

Hope that you enjoy the story so far, but the best is yet to come.