Hello there! Here's a new chapter for you.

I apologize for confusing some in my first chapter regarding London streets. I've never been to London so I looked up places on Google and picked out the first ones I saw, so if I stirred a bit of a confusion apologies :)

Also, I have changed the rating to M, deciding it is the best thing to do. I don't want any complaints regarding the sexual material and *potential* language ahead.

This chapter is slightly shorter than the last, but fear not, as the suspense and mystery builds up a bit. I won't say anything else, other than enjoy!

Chapter 2: Missions & Competition

"Six?" Harry said, jabbing his finger on the front of Kingsley's work desk. "Six? Are you meaning to tell me that six Death Eaters have escaped from Azkaban?"

Kinglsey, who looked tired, dark circles evident under his eyes, looked up at Harry. "Potter, I require your calmness if I am able to speak to you and Weasley about this situation."

Harry dropped his hands impatiently to his side and turned to look at Ron, who was leaning against the wall and staring at the floor. He looked up once he sensed Harry's eyes on him. "It can't be that big of a deal, Harry. They're Death Eaters."

"'Not that big of a deal'?" Harry questioned angrily. "These are Voldemort's followers we're talking about!"

"Well, yes, Potter," said Kingsley's deep voice. "But without Voldemort, what are they? We can't find a reason as to why they would go out and start causing trouble again."

"Right," said Ron, walking up to Harry. "They've got no reason to be dangerous at all, mate."

"Which leads me to my next point," said Kingsley, and Harry and Ron both turned quickly to look at him. "Since you are still in your first year of official Auror duty, I would like to assign the both of you a light mission to investigate these Death Eater's actions. Track down where they are, re-arrest them, and then all will be well."

Harry raised his eyebrows at Kingsley. "This is our first mission? Why can't we join Savage and Williamson?"

"Because they are senior Aurors and are therefore tasked with even more dangerous missions," Kingsley said, as he took out a piece of parchment and dipped his quill into ink. "I'm going to write down the names of the known escapees. Potter, Weasley, you're job is to research their offenses and report to me by Thursday morning what they are responsible of so we can arrange the sentence. That's my final word."

Harry eyed Ron, who wore the same expression of dread. He felt as if he was a little muggle child not tall enough to ride a rollercoaster at a local amusement park, which wasn't good at all.

"Well, there goes hope," Ron sighed as Harry shut the door of Kingsley's office behind him. "We're never going to go on missions."

"Yes, we are," Harry said, unfolding the parchment that Kingsley gave them as he spoke. "It's like Hermione said. We'll get our turn. We're only junior Aurors, remember?"

Ron shook his head and raked his fingers through his red hair.

"Hm," Harry said, staring down at the parchment. "Rookwood, Dolohov, and Macnair. Ring any bells?"

"Dolohov definitely does," Ron said, scratching his chin with the tip of his wand. "He attacked us at that café ages ago. Rookwood, I think, was at the Department of Mysteries, though I couldn't see his face, he was wearing that bloody mask."

"And I'm pretty sure Macnair killed Buckbeak," Harry finally said. "This isn't that hard."

"We've got three more escapees to go," Ron groaned. "I feel like I'm back in fifth year."

Harry patted his friend's back. "Hey, we'll get through this. It will be just like old times."

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Ron said, starting to walk away from Kingsley's office to the office they shared together. "Being chased around by a bunch of prats and having the darkest wizard in the world targeting you wasn't peachy, mate."

Harry chuckled a bit, before patting Ron's back again and sighing. "Hermione'll be happy for us. This is our first real mission."

"Paranoid's more like it," Ron said, as the two reached the door to their shared office. After opening it, he looked down at his watch, staring intently at the legs before grabbing his jacket, his wand and rearranging his hair. "Damn, I promised Hermione I'd meet her for lunch."

"Oh, a lunch date with Ron Weasley. What could go wrong?" Harry said sarcastically, trying to refrain from grinning as Ron glared at him.

"Aren't you supposed to be meeting my sister or something?" Ron demanded, putting his jacket on.

"I was thinking about dropping by her practice, but she actually might be at home fixing something. I don't mind travelling."

"Right," Ron said, racing out of the office as Harry called out, "Don't forget! We need to get the reports done by tonight!"

"I know," Ron muttered as he jabbed his finger on the lift button and waited patiently for it to come.

-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-

Hermione sat in silence in her own office, the only audible noise being the scratching of her quill on some parchment as she took notes on a recent document regarding the mistreatment of a local house elf named Biscuit. As she wiped away sweat, she looked down and realized she had finished the fourth paper on the report and sighed in frustration, realizing she had two more sheets to go.

As she raised her favorite sugar quill to dip in black ink, there was a loud knock on her door. Focused on the sheet of paper she was scribbling on, she said, "Come in," and waved her wand at the door knob to allow passage.

Her eyes shot up as she saw it was Kingsley, and she stood up from her work desk to greet the Minister. "Minister Kingsley…I … I didn't know you'd be coming by today."

"Please, Hermione, call me Kingsley. I've known you before I even had this position, it seems unnatural."

Hermione smiled at him and parted a loose hair to the side. "May I ask what brings you here?"

"Yes. As you know, the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures has been needing a helping hand .You, Hermione, have been absolutely wonderful in your post, but I decided that we need someone to help hold the department on its shoulders. I would like to introduce to you Constance Abernathy."

Hermione's smile slightly evaporated as a slender girl with long, raven black loose curls, ruby red lips and green eyes walked into the room, smiling at her. She held out her nail-polished hands and said, "Constance Abernathy."

"Hello," Hermione said, holding her hand out and shaking 'Constance's' slowly.

Kingsley took out a crumpled piece of parchment from his robes and read: "Constance here achieved 9 O., and got her N.E.W.T before applying for the job and is looking into the field of Magical Law," Kingsley finished, looking impressed at what he had just read aloud. "Well, it looks we have two brilliant young women looking to get the job done. Hermione, you'll be next to Constance's office, so I realized you might as well meet now than later."

Hermione smiled, and looked at Constance. "Well, I'm sure you'll love it here. The cases we work on very vital and it makes me happy to see people lend a helping hand."

Constance only smirked at her, and Hermione didn't sense friendship.

"Well, I'll leave you two to get to know each other," said Kingsley, looking at his pocket watch. "I have an important meeting regarding the whereabouts of an Azkaban escapee. I'll see you soon, Hermione. If you see Weasley around, tell him that he and Potter need to report back to my office as soon as possible. It is very urgent."

"Oh," Hermione said, upset as she stared down at the floor. "How urgent?"

"Very urgent. In regards to the, erm…" he glanced slightly at Constance before turning back to Hermione. "I cannot say anything at the moment. I trust you to ask Weasley, he'll tell you quite soon. Cheers," he said, exiting the room, closing the door behind him.

Hermione looked at Constance and smiled, but saw a gleam of curiosity in her eyes. Hermione was sure it was not a good curiosity. "Ron's my, er, boyfriend," Hermione explained to her.

Constance folded her arms, looking surprised that Hermione had a boyfriend at all.

"Well, Constance, I'm sure we'll have a lovely time working together, I'm sure you'll love the department, it's just fascinating," Hermione continued.

Constance giggled a bit, but regained her poised face before cracking a smile again, but an unnatural, forced smile. When she spoke, Hermione felt the hairs on the back of her head rise. "It's really nice to meet the 'war hero', Hermione, but quite frankly I'm not going to suck up to you and play boss-intern. I'm not here to make friends, and I'm not here to have an experience with one of the golden trio."

Hermione's eyes widened. This girl was pretty, smart, and beyond bitchy. "I…I never said…"

"That you get special treatment just because you know Kingsley personally and that you accompanied darling old Harry Potter to defeat the darkest wizard of all time? Honestly, I don't care. I'm here to get an open position at Magical Law Enforcement. You can join me if you like, but I like competition. And I never lose." With that, she strode out of the office, leaving Hermione looking dumbstruck and at the floor, taken aback by what she had just heard. "Constance Abernathy" was nothing more than a stuck up, pompous and competitive bitch, and Hermione didn't need any more of that.

Still in awe, she strode over to her desk and rested her head in her hands, rubbing her temple as she processed the previous events in her head.

"Hello, love," said a voice, and Hermione' head snapped up. She saw Ron, smiling with one hand in his pocket, the other in the air holding a brown paper bag, his sleeves rolled up sexily on his arms. He wore a smirk and his tie was partially undone. "I brought lunch."

Hermione smiled slightly as she rose from her desk and took the bag from Ron. "Thanks, Ron."

"Hey, what's wrong?" Ron said, immediately sensing her frustration.

"Oh, nothing," she said, finding a way to change the subject. "Er…what did you bring?"

Ron still looked somewhat suspicious, but chose to ignore Hermione's obvious distraught. "Turkey sandwich, cranberry sauce with no cheese."

Hermione's mouth changed to form an O. "You know me so well," she said, winking at him as she tried to take the bag from his firm grip, but he resisted and held it back before she could lay a finger on it. "Ah-ah," Ron said, pursing his lips at her. Hermione rolled her eyes and grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him long and hard. She pulled away, looking lofty, but Ron still shook his head. "A snog's not enough, love."

Hermione smiled and threw her arms on him again, this time grabbing his hair, snogging the life out of him, and he responded; she lowered her hands to his chest and tried to rip open his dress shirt. He did it for her, and soon she could see his bare chest in front of her. He dropped the turkey sandwich on a nearby chair. "Oh, Ron," she mumbled, as he started kissing her neck. He picked her up and rested her on her desk table, continuing to kiss her neck as sensually as he could. "Ron," she kept saying. It was the only thing that mattered to her at the moment. "Oh, Ron…"

She inserted her tongue in his and began to graze it, sucking on it while still placing her firm hands in his blazing red hair.

He grazed his hands under her shirt and groped her breasts ferociously before proceeding to kiss her lips once more. She pulled away and began to kiss his neck as he continued grazing her breasts. She pulled away once more and he did the neck kissing next, nibbling on her ear as his hands continued to graze. She had her hands all over his back, going up and down before deciding to rest in his hair, rearranging it as she started moaning as he continued punishing her ear. She groped his arse and pulled him towards her, and he pulled away and gave her a long, hard and firm wet snog. Hermione opened her eyes, escaping her fantasy.

"Ron," she said, letting go of his arse and pulling away. "Ron," she said again, but he only pulled away to start kissing the other side of her neck. "Ron, I'm serious," she said, giggling. "We have to stop."

"Why?" he said, staring into her brown eyes. "I was starting to, er…you know…"

Hermione jumped down from her desk and started buttoning up her cardigan. "We're at the Ministry of Magic. We didn't lock the door. People could have heard us. God, we were so irresponsible…"

Ron looked rather disappointed as he began fixing his dress shirt. "Ah, the things you make me want to do, Hermione…"

Hermione smiled at him and straightened out her hair. "Oh, Ron, I forgot to tell you…er…Kingsley told me you and Harry have to report to him as soon as lunch break's over, it was quite urgent."

"Was it?" Ron said, rearranging her hair. "What did he say?"

"He couldn't tell me, because Constance was in the room."

"Who-stance?" Ron said.

"Oh relax, it's just my co-worker, Constane Abernathy. She's real…well, I don't see anything developing between us," she finished, sighing after she had finished talking. "Well. You had better report to Kinglsey, lunch break's over in ten minutes."

"Yeah," Ron said, grabbing his jacket and opening the door. Before he left, he said, "Maybe when we get home, we can, er…you know…take this there."

Hermione smiled and waved at him. "Bye, Ron."

He winked at her before closing the door. She took a deep breath before realizing that she had two more full parchments to fill out regarding Biscuit the House Elf.

There you have it – chapter 2! I have so many ideas on where this story can go, so I'm still jotting them down.

Please rate and review, it really keeps me going :)