Party for Credits
Hermione figured attending the party with Dr. Schofer was a great way to end the semester. A final hurrah in the words of her college roommate. And she could admit that getting college credit to travel abroad was a plus.
And Stuttgart was a beautiful city. Spending the semester in Germany on an internship was well worth it. Yes, she didn't really understand what they were doing. She knew they were electrorefining materials to get iridium as a by-product. And that the iridium was expensive and highly sought after.
So she got to play with chemistry, which was okay. It felt like potions, just with a little more math. Luckily, Hermione was always good at math, and her parents ensured she kept up with the subject (as well as history and current events) so the internship, and university in general, she made for a passable Muggle. She just wasn't very well-versed in science. But that was actually something a lot of Muggles could relate to.
At Culver, she had avoided the majority of the science courses since she was lacking the basic understanding. Plus, the professor who helped convince her attending the university was a good idea no longer taught there. Which was unfortunate. Supposedly the man was a brilliant scientist. And Hermione could imagine herself working extra hard to catch up to speed in order to impress the man.
It was her Boggart in third year, all over again.
But he wasn't there, and instead she took other classes, just like many of her fellow classmates. She had started as a Philosophy major, thinking it would be her cup of tea.
She was wrong.
It was like the House-elf thing all over again. And yes, Hermione understood that she was sort of wrong in that regard, but she didn't want to spend four years of college reminding herself of that fact.
The only plus side was that she had made a friend. Another young woman, who was a year older than her, sat in on that first class, listened to the professor lecture on the syllabus, and never looked back. Hermione did give the class a week, though. When she transferred out to Women's Studies (thinking that in this, at least, she could do no wrong) she found that same girl. Hermione found a new study partner, and friend. Granted, she was Hermione's only friend, but it wasn't like Hermione was used to have a huge group surrounding her all the time.
Hermione was living alone in a nice three bedroom flat her grandmother had kept from right after World War II. The same flat that her mum lived in when studying at Culver. It had great sentimental value and the third bedroom was a treasure of a library. Hermione spent most of the summer after moving stateside in that room, just breathing. She felt especially close to her Muggle family by being there, and it only validated her decision. Something that she actually needed often, as the Wizarding world continued to bother her.
When she felt lost and that she was too far from her past, she would take out her wand and simply play with magic. Occasionally she would research new spells and potions from books she borrowed from Harry and the Black library. It made for good breaks from her actual studies.
During mid-terms, she found unexpected guests at her flat. Ron, Ginny, and George were on the stoop of her building. And if Hermione didn't have the foresight to place numerous wards on her building, on top of her flat itself, she would have showed up to a full apartment. Five minutes after showing the younger Weasleys in, Harry was knocking on her door. Ron and Ginny were there on their mother's orders to convince Hermione of her mistake and return back to England. George was trying to talk them out of it, and Harry was there to see them home.
The same thing happened again, just before Christmas. Molly insisting that Hermione needed to spend the holidays with family. To prove a point, Hermione had invited Harry, Andromeda, and Teddy to spend Christmas in America. Even better, Andromeda was mending her relationship with her only living sister, and Hermione, feeling spiteful, invited Narcissa along. The Malfoy bride had brought her son along, too. So Hermione spent the holidays with the Malfoys over the Weasleys.
Molly was horrified, and shunned Hermione for a short while. That is, until several of their classmates started getting married. The older Weasley was determined for Hermione to join her family, and Hermione became so frustrated, she did something she promised to never do.
She would keep any new magical discoveries she made to herself.
In a nook in her library, she continued to research magic, developing new potions and spells. The first magical restraining order was created, and Molly would spend time confined at the Ministry should she try to contact Hermione.
Hermione was always one to do what she had to do.
So after that first year of avoiding the Weasleys, acclimating herself to being a Muggle, and getting to know her new friend better. Hermione felt she was back to living a normal life. Especially when her friend had moved in with her right after that first year. It was nice, as they spent much of their second year of uni attending the same classes, more soft science courses and some liberal arts mixed in.
Then her roommate changed majors again, so their upper level courses no longer coincided. They didn't see each other as often as they used to, but they still maintained a weekly night out - her friend's prerogative.
When it became apparent that both of them were not going to graduate without those pesky science credits, they sought the easiest means to get them. Hermione would usually work hard, find a class that fit, and studied her arse off, but her friend had other ideas.
A semester long internship.
A semester long internships worth six credits.
Unfortunately, they couldn't get internships together, but Hermione lucked out and got the one abroad. Her friend was not so lucky. She was stuck in the desert in America somewhere.
But it was all for the best. Her internship was officially completed that morning, four months of her life finished. In a week she'd be back in Willowdale, Viriginia, having drinks with her best friend. A week after that, they'd be walking the stage, and Hermione Jean Granger would find herself with a nice degree to be proud of.
So yes, she was going to enjoy the last day of her internship by attending the gala her boss insisted she attend. She was a little upset with Dr. Schofer for only telling her about it as he was signing off the final papers for meant for her credits. But whatever, she had her wand. She could Transfigure one of her work outfits into a nice gown.
Finding herself dressed in a tight strapless emerald gown that Andromeda and Narcissa gave her the Christmas the year before, she walked down the red carpet to meet with her boss. The affair was highly formal, and Hermione was glad that the older Black sisters forced etiquette training on her and her roommate whenever they visited. Hermione was never one to be rude, but the stuffy atmosphere was something she definitely wasn't used to. Especially when she lived in a college town, and the fanciest she had dressed up in the past year was when taking out her out-of-town guests in Norfolk, the largest town only because it housed a Naval Base. They had to Apparate to get there.
Maybe Hermione broke the Statute of Secrecy because her roommate was pretty awesome, but Hermione was pretty sure that Draco was secretly hooking up with her friend, and Hermione had to encourage that change in the pure-blood's behavior. It was the betterment of the Wizarding world, and all that. Sadly, the pair didn't really last, but the point was that Hermione could snob with the snobbiest because of it.
And right now she was with the snobbiest. The whole room seemed far more pretentious than anything she had ever been to before, and that included the dentistry conventions her parents used to drag her to as a child.
String instruments, really? Hermione wanted to gag. As politely as she could, she grabbed a glass of champagne, and walked up the steps leading away from the guests. Trying to find an empty alcove or somewhere that she wouldn't be seen, she figured she could Apparate back to her rooms. Her boss wouldn't miss her, surely. The man was busy schmoozing, preparing to give a speech.
Not truly paying attention, being busy holding up her skirt, while reaching for her wand, Hermione bumped into a tall man. The well-dressed man had long dark hair that would have reminded her of Professor Snape if it didn't appear to be well taken care of. His tight suit, and green scarf caught her eye, and she found herself rethinking leaving.
"I'm sorry," she breathed out, just noticing then her wand in her hand. As quickly as possible, she pushed it into her beaded bag.
"What is this?" The man asked, wrapping his fingers around her wrist.
Being manhandled, Hermione no longer found the man attractive and pushed him away before he could grab her bag. "Excuse you," she sneered, in her best impression of Draco.
"I sense magic in you," he drawled. "No matter. I shall see you soon, my pet." He eyed her from head to toe, waved his cane, and continued down the steps.
For a brief moment, Hermione was speechless, not really sure what had just happened. The man sensed magic in her? Was he a wizard? And what did he mean by seeing her soon? And who did he think he was calling her pet?
She was outraged. Pulling out her wand and casting a Disillusionment Charm on herself, she grabbed her skirts and rushed after him. Before she could catch up with the man, he had Dr. Schofer on his back on that huge alter type statue that the Gala was celebrating. Just as she decided to Stun the man, he pulled out some sort of device, and stabbed her boss' face with it.
She screamed. Watching the other guests run out, it took her several moments to think of what to do. No longer battle ready, she began muttering as many healing spells to herself as possible, in hopes of saving her boss. The man was busy watching the crowd, but Hermione could have sworn she saw him smirk in her direction as he passed her by.
Watching him walk away, his clothing shimmered and became leather and metal. Hermione was stunned at the level of magic. There was no visible wand anywhere, and she had never seen that level of Transfiguration, ever. Casting every known detection spell she could, she tried to determine who this man was and what he wanted. She was not going to let another Lord Voldemort rise on her watch.
She checked her boss, and to her dismay, he was dead. Eyes blurring with unshed tears, she wiped it away and ran after the possible wizard.
Duplication? What sort of magic was this? There were several version of the possible wizard holding the crowd at bay. Hermione, who regardless of living as a Muggle for the past four years, was very well versed in magic. She had access to the Malfoy and Black libraries for her research, and nowhere in her research was anything of this magnitude ever mentioned.
Ducking from a car crashing into the planter in front of the Gala, she listened as the man monologued to the kneeling crowd. She sadly smiled at an old man who stood up to would-be dictator.
As the villain was distracted, she figured a Stunning Spell was called for. Flicking her wand, she had to point her wand elsewhere as a man in a blue suit and a shield jumped in front of the blast.
Stunned, she listened as the American telling off the wizard. A hovercraft of some sort was in the air and a large gun descended from it. A voice called the wizard Loki, and he began fighting with the soldier. Shaking her head, she started casting Protego at the civilians, hoping to keep them from being collateral damage.
When the square was finally empty, she was ready to take out Loki, but AC/DC began playing out of the hovercraft. All of a sudden Iron Man had joined them in the square and had guns pointed at the magical man.
There was no reason for Hermione to stay in Stuttgart; her internship was finished, and her boss was gone. She had all her things in her beaded bag, as she always did. She would follow them, figure out what was going on, and learn more about this man named Loki. Like she thought earlier, there was no way that she would sit on the sidelines and let a new Lord Voldemort come into the world.