Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize that belongs to the lovely J.K Rowling…How I wished I did own it though…wishful thinking! Haha


Chapter Two:

April 14, 2004

Tragedy Strikes Once More; Where is the Ministry?
By: Juliet Loogan

Imagine; the sun has set, the doors of your home are locked, and you are settling down for one last nice cup of tea before it's time to crawl into bed. You are content, you are warm, you feel safe- but not for long. The quiet night is pierced by a blood curdling scream and before you know it, your town is under attack by the very people who were declared dead just over five years ago when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named fell at the hand of the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter. You look out your window to see none other than the followers of the tyrannical Dark Lord storming down the street, their wands held high, their hard covered masks gleaming in the light of the fires they started. It seems like something out of one's worst dreams, correct?

Wrong. For the small town of Tinworth this was their fate last night, being the third Wizarding town to be attacked by the small renegade band of Deatheaters. Few of the townsfolk stepped forward to fight, leaving six wounded and two dead, before the Auror's arrived on the scene- mere seconds after the disappearance of the black clad, maniacal dark fighters. For the first time since these attacks began a mere four months ago there is new information. Several eye witnesses have reported hearing the crazed voice of the once walking psychopath Bellatrix Lestrange. The same Bellatrix Lestrange that was confirmed dead during the Battle of Hogwarts five years ago.

Although the Wizarding community is desperate for answers the Ministry of Magic has their lips tightly sealed. No news has been released on how these Deatheaters, if they are in fact legitimate Deatheaters, escaped the hands of the Ministry who claimed to have the lot of the Dark Lord's followers either behind bars or six feet under. And if these are just imposters why in the world would people claim to hear Bellatrix Lestrange amongst the group? It has been four months, with eight deaths, three missing peoples, and numerous wounded. Where is the Ministry? Are they cowering once more in their pristine office praying for the Boy Who Lived to come running to their rescue?

"Rubbish!" Hermione Granger huffed in frustration as she crumbled the Daily Prophet in her hands before finishing the article and tossing it into her garbage bin. With ease she used her wand to light the paper on fire and then extinguishing it. The deep chuckle of her office guest caused her to turn her eyes on him, "It is not funny Harry."

"Of course that isn't funny." Harry Potter, the boy who lived, gestured to the now burnt contents of the bin, his face in a frown. "But you are taking a newbie journalist's article too hard; they always manage to get under your skin."

"She is creating problems Harry." Hermione leaned back in her chair and frowned, her curly brown hair piled messily on her head, a few tendrils falling loose. Her heels were kicked off underneath her desk and her legs were curled up underneath her. Harry raised a brow and the honey brown eyed twenty four year old rolled her eyes, "If people listen to this rubbish the community is going to lose faith in the Ministry."

"Well Kingsley hasn't really given the community much to go on, now has he?" Harry replied grumpily. Hermione sighed knowing that Kingsley's refusal to talk to the public about the recent attacks irked Harry. It reminded the green eyed young adult of the times he was a teen hoping for some news on the rise of the Voldemort and only finding horrendously written articles about the newest Quidditch Heartthrob by Rita Skeeter.

"Harry you cannot blame Kingsley, he has nothing to give the public. We have all been working on this case day in and day out and no breaks!" She groaned in frustration before reaching across her desk and grabbing the overstuffed case file balancing on the edge. "I must have spoken to three dozen witnesses who have nothing we can go on except the attackers being dressed like deatheaters. I have traveled to each Wizarding town and have scoured every inch of each of the towns with teams to find NOTHING!" Hermione grunted, "You and Ron both have been on the scene as soon as you were called and there was nothing you could follow. No magical signatures, none of the Deatheaters we have on files' wands have been used, no missing inmates from Azkaban. You, yourself Harry has spoken to local wand makers under Veritaserum and none of them have created unregistered wands. To put it simply we are stuck."

"Okay I get that Mione but honestly if he doesn't he show face and let the public know we are working on it they are going to start questioning."

"And they aren't going to question when Kingsley has to say no comment when asked about leads or suspects?"

"He has to figure out something especially now! Fucking Bellatrix Lestrange Mione!"

The fair skinned witch just gave her friend a deadly look and glanced off at her enchanted window of the midnight sky that was undoubtedly identical to the one outside. There was no doubt about it, with Bellatrix Lestrange thrown into the mix there was going to be chaos. The crazy, black haired, pureblood witch was one of Voldemort's biggest and most fearsome supporters. She had a dangerous knack at torturing prisoners and anyone they considered less than themselves into either insanity or death. There were very few playthings of the infamous Deatheater that walked away alive and Hermione had been one of them.

The night that she, Harry, and Ron had been captured by Snatchers during the War never left her mind. Over the years the nightmares had subsided from every night to the occasional once or twice but the mental scar was still there, as well as the physical. The etching carved into her arm, branding her as a lesser being then them in their eyes, still twanged with pain ever so often; the cursed dagger leaving the scar red and swollen. Even now Hermione could hear the crazed laughter of Lestrange as she cast torture curse after torture curse upon her demanding answers. The fact that she had managed to keep the truth hidden, her tongue just slipping lies still was a feat she didn't know how she managed when her body had screamed with pain and she mentally begged for Lestrange to stop. When the curses finally ended it was only for Hermione to open her eyes to the woman sitting astride her, the Black family dagger in her hand.

The best thing that came from her torture was the revelation that Bellatrix Lestrange undoubtedly had a horocrux hidden somewhere inside of her vault at Gringotts. The bad side of that was so shortly after being brought to the point where she almost screamed for death Hermione then had to take the form of the woman who had been her tormentor. She was grateful when the Poly-Juice potion had been washed away by the magical waterfall in the undergrounds of Gringotts and that she was able to carry out the rest of their mission as herself, with an Imperioused goblin of course. Still to this day the three friends were not allowed into Gringotts unless under official Ministry business, their money handled by a smaller, unknown bank based in Scotland with a small building in London for those no longer welcomed at Gringotts.

After Gringotts everything came to a head rather fast and before there was much time to plan, to Hermione slight annoyance, they were at Hogwarts and a war was starting. Growing up as a Muggle Hermione had learned about plenty of different Wars but never had she imagined she would be fighting right in the thick of one at the mere age of eighteen years old. Through the bloodshed and tears, the hexes and destruction they had come out victorious with too many casualties to count. After the War ended the Trio spent all of their time attending trials, going to funerals, and helping with the restoration of the castle they had all considered home. Six months after the fall of Voldemort Hermione joined the Ministry of Magic as a Magical Criminal Investigator. It was a new branch that Kingsley opened up after the end of the war with hope to give the Auror department a helping hand with investigating and compiling the evidence for trials. Hermione, who had not wanted to be thick in the fighting like her two best friends, found the career offer enticing knowing she would be happy behind the scenes doing the research. She had prospered in the career and rose in ranks to Assistant Director of the branch.

"I know Harry…" The brunette sighed heavily only to feel her friend's hand rest over hers as he stretched across the table.

"I'm sorry Hermione; sometimes I forget and speak before I think."

"You wouldn't be you if you didn't." Hermione forced a small smile before glancing at her watch that had been given to her as a birthday present from Harry. "Oh dear god, Ginny is going to have my head for keeping you here this late!"

Harry checked his own watch and his emerald eyes widened slightly, "I think it's time we both start heading home. Tomorrow is another day."

"Full of more disappointments." Hermione couldn't help her pessimism as she slipped her feet back into her heels and stood from her desk. Grabbing her case file she slid it into her shoulder bag and closed the top. Every day Hermione came into the Ministry being let down with the lack of new leads or some sort of break.

"Keep your head up Mione, tomorrow might hold something new." The boy who lived attempted to cheer her up as he handed her the traveling cloak that had hung on the coat rack in the corner of the room. Without a comment she took the cloak with a small smile of thanks and pulled it on before walking with her best friend out of the small office that had been hers since her last promotion six months ago. Together they walked through the darkened Ministry hallways until they reached the fireplaces. Turning to face each other Harry pulled Hermione into a tight hug. "Please try to get some sleep tonight. I don't need Oliver hunting me down because his fiancée isn't sleeping again."

Chuckling, the smart witch shifted her briefcase further onto her shoulders. "I will Harry, I have to go to Tinworth tomorrow anyway to speak with the witnesses about Bellatrix." She scrunched her nose at the mere thought and Harry patted her shoulder in comfort.

"If it helps Ron will be one of the Auror's with you when you go." Harry offered causing Hermione to smile brightly.

"That does help, thanks Harry." She gave her friend who was more like a brother another hug before stepping into a fireplace and shouting her destination.

No matter how many times she had traveled by way of floo the constant swirling always made her head ache. Keeping her eyes closed as tight as possible she felt her feet land on the ground and her body stumble forward only to be caught in strong arms. Opening her eyes she smiled up into the face of her fiancé, Oliver Wood, who was dressed for bed, his hair messy from him undoubtedly running his fingers through the brown locks waiting for her arrival. He opened his mouth, most likely to reprimand her for being late once again, but Hermione took the opportunity to place her hand on the back of his head and pull his head forward into a searing kiss that he all too willingly returned, his arms pulling her flush against him.

It was a shock to a lot of people when a year after the fall of Voldemort Hermione Granger started dating Oliver Wood, Quidditch hunk and star. When asked about her and the possible love interest in Ron Weasley the two friends laughed and admitted that though they shared several kisses they knew that a relationship between them would never prosper and most likely would ruin their friendship. Hermione had run into Oliver when the rebuilding of Hogwarts started a few short weeks after the battle ended. They ended up on the same team working on the North end of the castle, piecing together the rubble and returning stones to their proper spot. The work was hard and depressing, the atmosphere quiet and suffocating. It had been Oliver who had broken their working silence first by mentioning that he had seen her during the battle, fighting the Deatheaters and commenting on her abilities.

Hermione had taken his comment with as much appreciation as she could muster and in returned told him that he did his fair share by commanding the fighters on brooms alongside of Kingsley half way through the battle. The two tentatively started talking, at first their conversations centered on the war-much like everything was at that time, what he had done during the months and years leading up to the final battle since his graduation and her time on the run with Ron and Harry. There were some things they skirted around, like the death of their friends and loved ones and her capture at the Manor although it was no secret to the world. As time moved forward and they began to feel more at ease things turned more personal.

It had to be several months after Hermione left the nearly completed Hogwarts and started at the Ministry when Oliver, who she had been keeping correspondence with through letters, showed up at her cubicle. He was dressed from Head to Toe in his Quidditch gear and for the first time in a long time he was sporting a large grin that was rather contagious. He informed her enthusiastically that Quidditch was starting back up with hopes of performing the World Cup that summer to help raise the spirits of the Wizarding community and demanded that she come to the Leaky Cauldron with him for a celebratory lunch, on him. Hermione, although having plans to skip her lunch break that day, found herself agreeing realizing she needed something to celebrate. It was the first time they had ever spent time outside of Hogwarts together and the catalyst to many more.

Their first date had been on Saint Patrick's Day where Oliver took her to a newly opened club by the dark skinned Slytherin Wizard Blaise Zabini, who had remained neutral during the war. They drank, laughed, and danced the night away with no worries or regrets looming over them for the first time in nearly a year. After walking her home to her flat she shared with her two best friends he confessed that he would have asked her out sooner except that by the time he had worked up the courage it had been bordering on Valentine's Day and he thought a first date during the time of love was rather corny. To his relief Hermione laughed and agreed with him, kissing him on the cheek and thanking him for a lovely evening. Their relationship only boomed from that night forward.

Despite how he behaved during his school years Oliver Wood had much more to talk about then just Quidditch. Hermione learned that although the sport was his passion he also loved Herbology and Astrology. On her first visit to his home he confessed his love of the stars by showing her his large telescope that he worked with ease, enjoying pointing out constellations and discussing different alignments over some homemade elf wine while sitting on the grass. The couple had plenty of things to talk about as well as teach, and surprisingly Oliver had managed to talk Hermione into learning how to fly once more with him as her instructor. Although she still didn't enjoy Quidditch as much as Oliver, Harry, or Ron Hermione found herself having much more fun at matches and getting more enthused into the game.

It was three years after they started dating that Oliver popped the question. Honestly, Hermione had no clue that the chocolate brown eyed man was going to propose when he took her to visit Lake of Menteith in Scotland, a location he visited often while growing up. They had spent the day out on the lake, the water frozen over during the harsh winter, skating and laughing. It was as the sun was setting and they were sitting around a small fire that he brought the small box out of his pocket, Hermione's jaw dropping instantly. His nervousness was obvious although unneeded because as soon as he asked the question she was in his arms with a loud yes and kissing him enthusiastically. They made love on the shores of his childhood lake that night in the bitter cold with their bodies and a sleeping bag with a charm on it to keep them warm. The engagement ring was a one and a half carat diamond Princess cut ring with side stones that equaled out to a quarter of a carat diamond. The stones were situated on a 10 carat white gold wedding band that formed to Hermione's finger as he slid it on. Despite her friends excitement along with her adopted family's enthusiasm the newly engaged couple had agreed on a long engagement. It had been a year since she said yes and just recently they picked their wedding day for a year away.

"You are late." Oliver growled as he pulled away from her lips, keeping their bodies touching intimately. Hermione blushed in guilt and leaned up to kiss him again but he jerked his head back, his eyes reprimanding her.

"I'm sorry Oliver, this case is just getting to me." She sighed heavily as she stepped back and out of his arms. Instantly his hand came up to take her cloak as she placed her briefcase on the floor next to their coffee table.

"It's getting to me as well Mione, I would like my fiancée home when I fall asleep." He whined as she bent over to take off her heels. The young witch could feel his eyes roaming over her ample behind with heat and felt her face flush. Hermione stood up straight and gave him a warning look although the look in his eye had her insides warming.

"You are right, I am sorry." She reiterated pulling her shirt out from the waistband of her skirt, his eyes following her movements. Smiling coyly she looked up at him through her lashes. "I'm home now if you are ready for bed."

"You Miss. Granger are something else." He teased before pulling her into their bedroom eagerly, his tiredness forgotten.


Author's Note:

Well…another chapter the next day. I didn't plan for it to happen like this but I have the thoughts in my head so I might as well write, right? I hope you all enjoyed this chapter; I have to admit it was fun writing it but I think that is because I am just enjoying writing again, and it's nice to be creative once more :)

So on with the routine- read and review and wait for the next chapter which will be focusing back on a certain pureblood wizard! Keep in mind I did say this was going to be slow. The 4th chapter should have the two finally meeting (something to have you look forward to).

Just FYI's: I still have no beta and am looking for someone to make me a cover if possible :)

-Maria