A/N: I started a group where I'll be unleashing my plot bunnies for those of you who would like to use them. The link is in my profile, and I hope to see some of you there, even if you've never written before!
Okay, on with the story!
Ginny landed at the bottom of the stairs as the clock struck 9; at the same moment Hermione stepped inside the Gryffindor common room waving Ginny's pass.
"Damn, you already got it?"
Hermione nodded as a grin split her face. "Of course! I've been up since 7. I'm more surprised you're actually up and ready."
"Shut it," Ginny shot back and stuck out her tongue. The two girls laughed and Hermione pushed the portrait open once more, gesturing for her counterpart to exit. Ginny bounded over to her and out of the room; when Hermione turned around the girl was halfway down the stairs.
"Fuck, dude! Wait up!" Hermione called out as she sprinted towards the stairs. Seamus, who was walking towards the common room door, turned to his best friend Dean.
"Did Hermione Granger just say 'fuck'?"
The giggling girls turned right after entering Hogsmeade, closing in on their destination. "Ooh," Ginny whooped loudly. "Is this where your lov-er lives?"
"Nope," was all Hermione said as they walked the last few feet to the posh building. She looked over at Ginny and waved a hand towards the structure. "This, dear Ginny, is my whorehouse."
Ginny looked at the house again, then back to Hermione and once more to the house. Raising a brow she looked at her friend, waiting for the punch line. When Hermione just grinned even bigger Ginny threw her hand up to her mouth, a loud gasp emanating from behind it. "Oh my GODS! Oh, for shit, Mione! I thought you were fucking kidding!"
"Come on," Hermione said suddenly, grabbing Ginny's arm and leading her through the gates, up to and inside of the house. Her gasps were amusing Hermione greatly, and so she gave the girl a tour of the entire house and answered all of the questions that wanted to burst out. A knock at the door signaled the arrival of the other girls, which Hermione confirmed by peeking through the peephole. The girls looked a little confused when she opened the door, but followed her into the Lounge and took seats, politely greeting Ginny as they did so.
"Welcome back, girls. As I can tell by your faces you are wondering who I am. I am still Madame X, but this is what I look like without appearance altering charms," she paused as the realization set in and the girls visibly relaxed. "As Rose and I explained yesterday, we are a family now. We will be living and working together and that is why it is imperative that we get along, which is also why you will be helping to choose the staff today. But, before we get into all of that, I would like you to meet my best friend Miz Gin. Gin, these are my girls: Rose," the girl smiled brightly and gave a little wave, "Kitty," a short black girl with bright green eyes, "Lizzy," a tall girl with platinum hair and fair skin covered in freckles and tattoos, "Ashley," a tiny Japanese girl dressed like a school girl, "Morgan," a voluptuous girl with red hair who would have passed for one of the Weasley's, "and Shell," a cheery-looking girl with softly tanned skin and oak-brown eyes who reminded Ginny of a mermaid.
"Hello, everyone," Ginny smiled at the girls and turned back to Hermione, but her attention was diverted by another knock on the door.
"That should be our first staff applicant of the day," she said happily while clapping her hands together.
The girls sat happily in various areas of the house as evening edged closer to night. They had just eaten their first dinner here after the hiring process was finally done. In the end they found a young man named Thomas for a bartender, a burly black man with one eye named Jim as a guard, an elderly witch named Kate as their cook, and her daughter Elise joined her mother as the maid. There was a little tension at dinner and it was cleared away quickly by Jim, who transfigured his fork into a spiked collar and joked about being their big scary bulldog. The girls laughed and he entertained them all with jokes and stories until everyone else began opening up as well. Neither Hermione nor Ginny wanted to leave, but they explained their situation (under an oath, of course) to the rest of the house. Kate chided them, saying that they had better head back and get plenty of rest for the morning's classes and the girls said their goodnights before hurrying off towards the castle.
"Miss Granger, kindly explain why you are late," came the dangerously silky voice of the potions master.
"I--"
"50 points from Gryffindor, and no more excuses."
Hermione gave Professor Severus Snape an annoyed look and held out a slip of parchment for him.
"This simply means that I will not give you detention for being late. But if you do not take your seat this instant I will give you detention for further disruption of a learning environment," he sneered and swept up to the front of the class. "Oh, and Miss Granger?" She looked up at him just as her bottom touched the chair. "As you have missed most of the class, you get a zero for today."
Hermione seethed as Severus shot her a smirk before returning to his writing. Ron and Harry each nudged her softly and shot her questioning looks. She just shook her head and pulled out her potions text, quietly mumbling at the boys each time they were about to make a mistake with their potion. They rest of class passed quickly and Hermione was out the door before Severus could even think of opening his mouth.
"What was so important that you actually missed a class for it?" Ron asked as soon as they were completely out of the dungeons.
"Are you okay, Mione? Were you in the infirmary for something? Are you sick?" Harry asked, his concern growing with each question.
"No, no, stop worrying," she smiled warmly at her two friends. "I was with Professor Dumbledore – he wished to have tea and discuss my future."
"Oh, yeah? So what are you thinking about doing after this year?" Harry inquired, genuinely interested.
"I'm still not sure, but I'm narrowing it down a bit more now," gods, it's a wonder I wasn't put into Slytherin, she mused.
"You would make a great curse-breaker," Ron chimed in brightly.
"I know, but I don't know. I mean," she sighed and sat down as they reached their usual seats at the Gryffindor table for lunch, "There are many things I could do and would be good at, but I don't want to just jump into something that I might like and end up hating it."
Harry squeezed her around the shoulders in a one-armed hug. "Don't stress out over it, Mione. You'll figure it out. You never know, you might have an option you never considered before jump out and capture your heart."
"Thank you, Harry," she said softly, but he could see in her face just how much she really meant it. Ginny plopped down next to Hermione excitedly and the two made general conversation as they began eating. When the boys went off into a discussion about Quidditch with a few of their house mates Hermione leaned closed to Ginny and spoke in hushed tones. "I spoke to Dumbledore today after Charms, and he has agreed to let me stay there over the weekends," she whispered out excitedly.
"That's great!"
"That's not all – you're allowed to come down on non-Hogsmeade weekends, so long as you are back by curfew and it doesn't affect your prefect duties!"
Ginny let out a squeal of delight. "Oh my gods! And he knows what kind of place it is?"
Hermione nodded. "Since neither you nor I are 'working girls' he has no problem with it." She laughed as Ginny did a little dance of excitement. "When you're not busy keep a slip of parchment for name ideas and we can go over them with the girls on Saturday."
"Okay! Hey, what excuse did he give you for being gone all weekend?"
"That I'll be working on an independent project with his friend, Mr. Jonathan Brody III, who is well known for his research in medicinal potions for animals."
"I swear Dumbledore was really in Slytherin and has just always let us assume he was a Gryffindor," Ginny joked and winked at her friend.
"You're not the only one, Gin," Hermione replied and the two finished eating before returning to classes.
The week seemed to drag on, and the two girls were up early on Saturday morning, scrambling down the road to Hogsmeade. The house greeted them and they all got quickly settled in the study, pulling out bits of parchment to share their name ideas.
"Here's what we're going to do: each name will be read out loud and the ones that are a possibility will be written down on a new sheet. Then we can vote from there and decide on a keeper. Here," Hermione grabbed a hat she had brought with her and put her list in there, passing it to Lizzy on her left. "Put your list in there and pass it around, this way it's sort of anonymous and we don't have anyone feeling shy or embarrassed about what they put." After a minute the hat came back around to Hermione and she reached in deep, pulling out the first slip of parchment. "Okay, here we go…"
After two hours of talking, arguing, debating and contemplating, they had their final list of choices. Hermione mumbled a spell and tapped the paper with her wand, causing it to duplicate. Keeping one copy she handed the stack to Lizzy who took one and passed it on. "Mark off only one choice, guys!" She read over the sheet once more before choosing, placing her page in the hat and getting up to place the hat in the center of the room. Other footsteps soon followed and Ashley brought her the hat after putting in her choice. Everyone settled down as she tallied it all up and waited excitedly. After what seemed like an eternity she set down her quill and looked around the room at all the anxious faces.
"With the majority of the votes, I give you the simple, but elegant name of 'Madame's House of the Green Fairy'." There was excited chatter all over the room as everyone came together to work on the signs.
A/N: How was that so far? I totally had a name picked and I completely blanked out. 'The Green Fairy' is the nickname for the drink Absinthe, and I chose it for a multitude of reasons that really aren't so important. Argh, whatever. Anyways, please review!
