Aurora tried to not fidget as she sat next to her parents; the great hall of the Ministry of Magic was filled as the next Minister of Magic was due to take office. The last few weeks had been almost a blur; Hermione had started her training and only last week had turned it over to her husband, Lucius Malfoy. It had been alternately frustrating and rewarding; she had trouble with control, of course and most of the time even simple spells did not work as they should; but when they did it was incredible. Hermione had told her that while Aurora would never be as powerful as Hermione was, she was definitely on the upper part of the scale. But of course she had a long way to go before she was proficient.

Hermione centered herself; it would not do for the new Minister of Magic to require the services of the Accidental Magic squad on the day of her inauguration. Hermione smiled as she relaxed; it had only been in the last few years that she had really even decided to become the next minister; and she would be the youngest ever. Just 35; while it seemed very young to a lot of people, it was not that young to Hermione. True she had worked at the Ministry since she was 18; except for leave of absence for her pregnancies she had hardly missed a day. And she had indeed worked her way up through the Magical Mystery department and then to the Diplomatic Department; which was somewhere she had never thought she would go. Harry had laughed at it when she announced that Arthur had wanted her to become a diplomat almost 8 years ago.

"Mione, diplomats are supposed to talk in circles and mouth a lot of words without saying anything. You are one of the bluntest people I know."

And yet it had turned out that her form of straight talking worked a lot better than anyone had thought it would. Her triumphs there had pretty much put her in line to be the next minister; with her record and support from all sides there was really no doubt about it when Arthur announced his retirement. Lucius had been as amused as anyone; then she had tweaked him about how his position was the same as the American First Lady. Once explained he was not happy.

Lucius. Now that was a story in itself. They had had virtually nothing to say to each other for years after the war ended. Then one day they had run into each other when Hermione was in Flourish and Botts to pick up a rare book she had ordered. Lucius had seen it and had arrogantly remarked that he had a better copy in his own library. Hermione had promptly snarked back and the verbal battle was on. It had gotten so involved that the owner had asked them to leave; the argument not done they promptly took it outside; then Hermione had challenged him to show her his library. Never one to back down Lucius had then floo'd them to his manor and shown her the library. Entranced Hermione forgot all about the argument and began to wander the library. Lucius, very much amused, had found himself thinking how much he had enjoyed the argument. Severus was the only one he talked to much; Narcissa had divorced him a few years after the war ended and she never really had much to say anyway.

One thing led to another and Lucius decided that Hermione would make an excellent second wife. However the courtship was anything but smooth; Hermione was not impressed and told him in no uncertain words that Pureblood courting rituals were a joke. That argument ended when an exasperated Lucius simply grabbed her and gave her a devastating kiss. That event triggered an extreme amount of snogging which ended with them in Lucius's bed.

Despite enjoying the time immensely, Hermione was still reluctant to marry Lucius. Their shared history was one problem; the reaction of Harry and her friends another. But Lucius was nothing if not determined and though it took almost a year Hermione gave in and married him a month after her 25th birthday. She had never regretted it and to her amazement found herself in love; luckily Lucius fell as well. Their 10th anniversary had come only a month ago; hard upon the birth of their third child and right before Hermione met her sister.

Aurora. Hermione felt a smile come to her face at the thought of her sister. She was coming along pretty well in her magical training; Hermione had no doubt that by the time she was 18 she would be fully trained. Hermione was hoping that in a couple of years she would be well enough along to finish her training at Hogwarts. She reminded Hermione of herself so much; only much more outgoing and assured.

Aurora hoped this would be over soon; she had never been the one to be able to just sit and be patient; now if she had had a book it would have been ok. She looked up as the audience grew quiet.

Arthur Weasley walked into the hall to the lecturn at the far end; he looked around at the large crowd.

"When I became Minister 10 years ago we were still recovering from the war; now it seems we have finally gotten back all we lost. But one must remember the past to ensure that history does not repeat itself. The next Dark Lord is always lurking; waiting for us to become complacent and careless. Eternal vigilance is the only way to make sure it does not happen again. I am so very proud to present the next Minister of Magic; a young woman I have known for almost 24 years. One of the greatest witches of her generation; one of the Golden Trio; awarded the Order of Merlin; Hermione Jane Granger Malfoy."

To great applause Hermione walked with dignity to the lecturn and embraced Arthur. Then they faced each other and each brought their wand up to within a few inches of each other.

Arthur: "By vote of the Wizangamot- So MOTE IT BE!"

A bright blue spark flew from Arthur's wand to Hermione; then she began to glow; a blue light that brightened almost to the point of being blinded; then it died away.

Hermione felt the power of her office to her toes; taking a deep breath she bowed to Arthur who moved to the side.

"I, Hermione Jane Granger Malfoy, do solemnly swear to perform the duties of the Office of Minister of Magic to the best of my abilities no matter what the cost; my life and all that I am I pledge to the Wizarding world. SO MOTE IT BE."

The audience cheered, many remarking that they had never seen such a powerful glow before.

Hermione took another deep breath and raised her hand for silence.

"It is amazing to me that I stand here this day in this position. A muggle from London; never knowing a thing about magic until the day I got the Owl to come to Hogwarts. That should have tipped me off; an owl with a message. How strange to someone of the muggle world. That first day I met Harry Potter; who would become my best friend; then the Weasley family; who became my second family. And then began the adventure that brings us all together this day. I can only promise that I will do the very best I can to see to it that the wizarding world only gets stronger and more unified; that in no way shape or form will I leave anything undone to prevent another Dark Lord appearing. Having fought in one war I never want to do it again; as Arthur said those that forget the past are doomed to repeat it. To one and all; Blessed Be."

It was by far the shortest opening address by any Minister of Magic; but then that was already the hallmark of Hermione Jane Granger Malfoy. Brevity and briskness.

Aurora was really glad both her sister and Arthur had no patience with long winded speeches. She got up with her mother and father as they waited for those around Hermione to finally dwindle. It took awhile.

Finally Hermione was left with Lucius and the Weasley's and Harry; all the rest had left. She took Lucius's arm and moved towards where her parents and Aurora were waiting.

Jane and James had been suitably impressed by the quickness and brevity of the ceremony; certainly not the norm from anything they had ever seen.

Jane had whispered to James right after it was over "Beats a coronation or an inauguration any day. Quick and to the point."

James nodded "I wonder how much of that was because both Hermione and Arthur had no patience with frills and appearences?"

"No telling. But I bet that was a big factor."

Hermione and they had finally talked things over; apologies were given on both sides; and all hoped nothing like this would ever happen again. Upon being told that with her magic unblocked Aurora would probably live another 150 years, Jane had smiled sadly.

"Strange we never really realized how long you would live; almost twice the normal lifetime. And I am so glad that Aurora will have that; even if I wish she was going to stay in our world no one can argue that you would have had as rich a life anywhere else."

Later that afternoon Lucius was again working with Aurora on her control; she was reasonably disciplined for a teen and worked hard. Right at the moment they were working on simple levitating spells using items that would not break if dropped.

Aurora took a deep breath as she picked up a block of wood from the floor; then maneuvered around a chair and table to sit it on another chair. It wobbled some but it got there. Letting go the breath she had held she looked at Lucius.

"Better. Now keep working at it; make the movement steady and fluid; not jerky and stop and start. And keep breathing; holding your breath does not really help and will tire you out faster."

Lucius had found much to his surprise that he was a good teacher; the patience and discipline he had learned through the years dealing with Voldemort and the like had come in handy.

Aurora did it four more times before she got it good enough for Lucius to call a halt.

Sitting down and resting, Aurora looked at Lucius and started to chew her lip.

Already recognizing that as a sign she wanted to ask something not connected with her training Lucius nodded at her and said "Ask away."

"I have heard a lot during the time I have been here about Voldemort and his fanatics. What I cannot see is how you were part of that; you are so smart and perceptive; how could you swallow all that garbage?"

Lucius sighed. "Your sister asked me the same question years ago and I will give you the same answer. Pureblood society was very rigid and conservative; arrogant and very sure they had all the answers. It had been this way for hundreds of years. It was how I was brought up as my father was before and his father before that. When you are taught something from the earliest moment you can remember constantly for years it becomes second nature. Originally Voldemort was all talk; no real action. To get along and not make waves I went along even though early on I had to ask questions of myself; so many purebloods were not worth a bucket of warm hippograph spit. Voldemort himself was crude and low class; many of his most fanatical followers were thugs at best. To keep anyone from seeing my doubts I parroted the words and put up a front of being right in line. That was to frankly save my life and my family's life during the war. IF I had turned against the pureblood way before Voldemort returned the family would have been ostracized and attacked; after he came back it would have meant certain death. I attempted to help the Order of the Phoenix after my stay in Azkaban was ended by Voldemorts puppet Minister of Magic. They were understandably suspicious and ironically it was your sister that first began to believe in me. That was very ironic since she was a symbol of what was wrong with the Pureblood beliefs and also probably after Potter the most hated of their opponents. "

Aurora sat and thought about that for a few minutes. "When did you first become attracted to her?"

Lucius smirked. "She was always attractive in a physical way to me; I have teased her by telling her that there were times when I was tempted to make her my mistress just after the war; and that if Voldemort had won I would have asked for her to be given to me. I found it hard to admit to myself that I liked arguing with her; very few people have the ability to debate in many different subjects like she can."

Aurora smirked herself. "I think I can imagine her reaction to the mistress part; and above all the being given to you by Voldemort part."

"She told me that she had figured out a wandless way to make a man's, er, equipment fall off."

Aurora's eyes widened then she put her hand over her mouth and started to giggle; then completely lost it and laughed out loud.

Hermione came into the ballroom where the training was taking place at that point; she stopped and looked at Lucius with an eyebrow raised.

Lucius smirked at her. "I was just relating the rather creative threat you made when I told you about making you my mistress or being given to me by a victorious Voldemort."

Hermione looked at Aurora who was finally able to stop laughing. "Did he tell you the part about what I would have done to him after his parts fell off?"

Hastily Lucius said "Now precious no need to get graphic. She is still young."

Intrigued Aurora looked at her with an inquiring gaze.

"I told him that I would figure a way using wandless magic to extract his left kidney through his right nostril."

"EEEEEEEwwwwwwww."

"I thought so."

"Now precious that was unnecessary. The poor girl will learn your true nature soon enough. No reason for her to find out how vicious and nasty you can get now. There will be plenty of evidence later as it is."

Hermione opened her mouth to retaliate but Lucius rather efficiently stopped her attempt with his lips. Both then lost all awareness of anything but snogging.

Aurora watched this with growing amazement and nausea; on one hand she had never seen such passion on real live people before; only on the telly or in movies. On the other hand it really was sickening the way they were trading spit.

Finally Lucius let go and Hermione just slumped against him; even after all these years he could still make her go week in the knees and basically swoon like an old fashioned movie heroine. Lucius looked down at her still aroused and dazed expression with his usual arrogant pride; he did love reducing her to a quivering mess.

Aurora was making gagging noises but inside she was really envious; she hoped someone some day would kiss HER like that.

Somewhat recovered, Hermione stepped back and looked at Aurora.

"So how are you doing under the slave master here? Thoughts of escape yet?"

Lucius glared at her as Aurora giggled.

"I seem to be slowly improving; I can now do simple spells pretty well."

Hermione looked at Lucius.

"She is getting there. A lot more work to be done but there is progress being made."

"Sorry to leave you to the slave master but I have to hit the ground running as Minister. I will never have more influence than I do right now so I intend to push the most important changes immediately; that means you will not see much of me for the next few weeks or month or so."

"I understand Hermione."

"I am glad you do. I think I will be able to slow down in a month or two then take some time off a month or so after that. Then we will spend more time together; that is a promise."

A few weeks later at breakfast Aurora was reading the Daily Prophet (she considered it about as reliable as the Guardian or the Daily Sun-but there was not much else in the Wizarding World.) Hermione had been up early as usual and had already headed to the ministry. She looked up at Lucius.

"Why is there so much controversy about what Hermione is proposing as regards the werewolves? Calling them magical creatures is demeaning; with wolfsbane they only change one day out of the month; and frankly anyone with any magic at all could be considered a magical creature."

Lucius sighed. "The Wizarding world changes very slowly; I agree that its been wrong to classify them in that way but it has been tradition for over 500 years, ever since the wizarding world really organized a Ministry of Magic. Prejudices die hard; and it did not help that many werewolves backed Voldemort."

"Well after their treatment, why shouldn't they have listened to someone that promised to make things better for them?"

"Once again I agree; but their backing Voldemort only justified their treatment in many wizards eyes. Yes it was wrong and bigoted but people are like that; muggles are just as bad."

"Just that it seems the wizarding world is about a century behind everyone else as regards basic human rights; I mean the fact that only now a woman has become Minister of Magic says a lot right there. I bet there were more than a few women who could have been minister in years past."

"As I said ours is a very tradition oriented society; and they tend to change slowly. Most not only do not know what goes on in the muggle world but could care less."

"Considering the muggle world is 99% of the world that is pretty stupid. And more and more muggles are coming into our world, aren't they?"

"They as yet do not have that much influence even if it is steadily growing."

"Hermione will change that."

"Undoubtedly."

There had been a fair amount of talk about the appearance of Hermione's sister and that she was a witch as well. However Hermione had made it clear that any crass speculation in the Daily Prophet would have dire consequences; and since Rita Skeeter was long gone the owner quite rightly decided that discretion was required. It had basically been limited to what Hermione planned to do about her magical education; and that was pretty much it.

Draco had been working in Italy for some time; he had found he liked potions and had snared a very lucrative post for the potion industry in southern Europe; not that he had to work but he had found he was too bored otherwise. While initially he had not been happy about his father marrying Hermione, once he saw how happy he was he had settled down; he still snarked at her every chance he got but it was more for the enjoyment than anything really hostile. It had been a very busy few months and he was just now catching up with the news in England. The part about Hermione's sister interested him greatly and he decided to visit home.

Lucius was once again directing Aurora in a relatively simple spell when Draco came through the floo. While it was in the other room they both heard it; Aurora managed to end the spell without any dire consequences; Lucius was glad to see that. They both walked into the other room.

The Manor had not changed much; but then Hermione really had very little interest in that sort of thing so no surprise. He turned to look at the door as it opened and his father came through; followed by someone who looked exactly like Hermione in her third year. His mouth dropped open.

"Catching flies, Draco?"

Draco glared at his father. "I admit the resemblance to Granger in her third year is very startling. I came to enquire about the newest resident of Malfoy Manor; I just now read up on things. This time of year is the busy season for potion masters in sourthern Europe."

Aurora was examining Draco; he certainly was handsome. Very like his father only more slender.

Advancing on her Draco took her proffered hand and kissed it. Aurora blinked at this old fashioned behavior; and was startled to feel frisson of something go through her.

She really looked like Granger in her third to fourth year; except that her hair is not a bushy mess. Attractive little chit. That was when he remembered that during his fourth year was when he found he was attracted to her; and of course in reaction was nastier than ever.

Lucius watched this with narrowed eyes; he had thought back then that Draco was attracted to Hermione and watching this display he began to think that it had lain dormant only to reawaken only with Hermione's sister. This could bear watching.