- CHAPTER TWO: MEETINGS
"Hello, Hermione! I'll let Mr. Potter know you're here!" Angela smiled, already lifting her wand to her throat.
"No need, Angela. I want to make this a surprise visit," Hermione smiled sweetly, clenching her teeth together.
She waited until she could see Angela dropping her wand to her side before she bellowed, "HARRY JAMES POTTER!"
Thunk.
Hermione grinned evilly before winking at Angela. Although they were in separate departments, Harry and Hermione saw each other quite frequently throughout the office. They often ate lunch together, vented about office gripes, 0r occasionally bounced ideas off each other. Angela smiled. They knew each other's assistants very well, and they would often attempt to steal them for their own departments.
"Say hello to the kids for me, would you dear?" Hermione asked Angela, walking to the door.
"Of course, Hermione! They're already begging for you to come teach them wandwork!"
"They'll be in Hogwarts in no time!"
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Hermione shut the door to Harry's office as she stepped inside.
"Gah, Hermione! What was that for? Trying to give the chosen one a heart attack? What's got your knickers in a twist?" Harry said, attempting to clean up a bundle of artifacts he had dropped, "Yes, come in, by the way."
"Don't get smart with me, right now, Harry Bloody Potter," Hermione glared, "The number of times I've saved your stupid ass from getting killed along with that idiot sidekick of yours rewards me with the right to tell you to piss off!"
"Piss off? What are you going to do? Get Ginny to give me her Bat-Boogey Hex?"
"I will if that chosen one doesn't explain why he didn't tell me about Kingsley's ambush!" Hermione countered standing straight at him, arms crossed.
The Chosen One gave his endearing smile, giving a shrug, "He made me take an oath I wasn't to tell you."
"So, what, the way to make me agree to do anything is to ambush me?"
"No- Hermione- just… agh, well…" he sputtered, "You're a hard one to convince. We all know you love your position, but you are more than a middle man."
"I like education. I'm doing good work," Hermione fired back.
"But you're meant for more, 'Mione," Harry sighed, "We've all seen it since First Year. You're the brightest witch of our generation! Bloody hell, you've would have kicked Kingsley out of Minister by now if you had accepted the promotions that have been offered to you…"
"Because of…"
"I know what because of, Hermione!" Harry gasped. His white knuckle fingers clasping his desk. His bushy haired friend could be a real stubborn, pain in the ass.
Hermione gave him her best death glare.
Then, a moment snapped and they both sighed.
Harry began more gently, "I know you're hesitant because you don't want your friendship with me to dictate favoritism or nepotism…"
"Nepotism?"
"Come on, we're basically siblings, Hermione."
Hermione gave in a smile at him. She rounded his desk, and she wrapped her arms around him. She breathed in the smell of her best friend. How many times had she wrapped her arms around him when she thought she was going to lose him…
"But your Gryffindor is showing, Hermione. Your stubbornness is creating a wall for yourself you don't need. You deserve every promotion you've been offered. It's just time you see it for yourself."
"You gave him this idea, didn't you?" Hermione said from underneath his chin.
"I may have," Harry laughed.
"I bloody hate you sometimes, Chosen One," Hermione grumbled, "You know me far too well."
"Well, you saved my life far too many times," Harry countered. "OW!"
Hermione had punched his arm before she had even realized it, "Don't even joke about that!"
Harry laughed, "Hey, hey, hey! Violence! I don't think that is behavior appropriate of the head of a department."
"Oh, shove it, Harry Bloody Potter!"
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Hermione sat in her office pondering how she would convince Narcissa Black she was the most qualified candidate for this position.
Hermione began to think about the committee that had been chosen for her. McGonagall, Neville, Harry, Percy- they had all known her for ages- they knew exactly how serious she would take the position. They knew how hard she would work. Maxine was a different story. She had a few encounters, but Kingsley didn't bring her up as a possible roadblock which meant that Kingsley thought that she could win her over during the presentation.
Then how to convince Narcissa Black. She was a worldly woman. Hermione knew she attended galas, charity actions, she served on several boards, and she went to the most prestigious events in the Wizarding World. She was around the smartest and wealthiest witches and wizards. Calling her part of the social elite was an understatement, in Great Britain, she was the social elite. She could command a room in a heartbeat, but her eyes were always concealed with her cold stare. She was the epitome of Ice Queen. Hermione shuddered for a moment, remembering the few times she had encountered Ms. Black. The Quidditch World Cup, Madam Malkin's, The Malfoy Manor incident - another shudder (and a slight twitch in her arm) - and right after the final battle. She had gone to hear Harry's statement that eventually allowed the Malfoy clan to avoid Azkaban.
Well, I guess Draco, really. Narcissa never bore the mark, not like her husband and son. Clearly she didn't care what happened to Lucius considering she divorced him rather quickly, Hermione pondered, Blood purist in every sense of the word, but not necessarily helping other than providing housing… which… who in their dark mind would turn away Voldemort? Someone wanting a death wish, maybe…
Hermione continued to ponder Narcissa Black. Narcissa Black who seemed remarkably different than Narcissa Malfoy. They were almost like two different people. Narcissa Malfoy had been cold and calculating. Narcissa Black was still… really cold. Hermione had born witness to watching people in powerful positions shrink underneath the Black Glare. Something different always happened though, Hermione considered, it was not calculating, it was… different.
Suddenly, Hermione wondered why Narcissa Black even worked at the Ministry at all. She had enough riches and power to never work a day in her life.. then why…
For the same reason that Hermione always would. She loved the work. Love. Narcissa Black was the version of Narcissa Malfoy that valued love. She betrayed the darkest and one of the most powerful wizards in the world because of the love for her son. Instead of taking a more elite position in the Ministry, she took a job in education. She wanted to prove herself the same way Hermione did…
With that, Hermione was up. She swung open her office door.
"Hermione?" her assistant called behind her.
"I'll be back," she snapped back before rounding a corner and heading towards an office she never expected to go to. After a few minute walk to the center of the department, Hermione reached her destination. She was so in her own head trying to think of what to say to this woman, that she didn't even realize she was standing in front of Narcissa's assistant.
"Can I help you?" the young man asked.
"Is Ms. Black in?" Hermione asked casually.
"What's your name?"
"Hermione Granger."
"Granger… Granger…" he muttered, running his finger over the floating sheets, "I don't see you on her schedule."
"Does she have a free minute?" Hermione asked annoyed, watching the assistant shake and give her that look as if her request might be an unforgivable curse in disguise. She knew Narcissa was strict with her employees, but she didn't realize they were quite that terrified of her.
"Well, yes, but… Let me ask if she would be willing to see you," with that he scurried away to poke his head in through the door. He was a young lad, probably fresh out of school. She could only hear murmurs, but she vaguely recognized a woman's voice snapping, him apologizing, then silence.
"Fine, send her in," she heard the slow, deep, annoyed voice of Narcissa say. Hermione could almost hear the eye-roll.
The young man walked back, "She will see you now."
Hermione gave him a warm smile, hoping it would do as an apology for snapping at him earlier. She moved past him and walked through the door. The office was magnificent. Although she didn't really expect much less from Narcissa Black, social elite.
"Ms. Granger, I have a lot of work to do, what do I owe this… pleasure," Narcissa sighed impatiently. She was sitting behind her desk, hair pinned tightly back, fingernails tapping the side of her skull as if she was having a migraine.
"Ms. Black, I would like you to schedule out an hour a day to meet with me," Hermione said sternly, trying to appear as professional and assertive as she could muster.
"And why, pray tell, would I do such a thing?" Narcissa drawled, "I have many important things to do."
"More important that picking the head of the department you work for?" Hermione countered. She watched as Narcissa's apathetic eyes turned to curiosity.
She set her parchments down, leaning back, and crossed her arms over her chest, "Go on." Permission to continue.
"I do not want to waste your time, Ms. Black. So let's just assume we are both on the same page. You do not want me to have this job, correct?" Hermione said bluntly. A woman as powerful as Narcissa could not like to be ass-kissed and bull-shitted.
"You are correct, Ms. Granger. If you are here to beg-"
"That is exactly the opposite," Hermione said. "I would like to meet with you every day to discuss ongoing topics of debate in this department. As someone who is a leader in this department, you should know my stances and what my beliefs are on certain matters. I would like to prove to you that I know this department inside and out, and I have plans for it."
Narcissa seemed to ponder this for a moment, her red lips pursing into a smirk. Her eyes narrowed at Hermione, as if she was trying to gauge whether Hermione would break at a simple stare. She could feel every inch of that cold icy stare the same way she had in Madam Malkin's several years ago. Hermione held her ground, and she stared right back. She was not the same. The war and years of working had hardened Hermione.
"Fine," Narcissa said dismissively, waving her hand in the air. "We will meet during lunch. I do have other work I cannot simply throw to the wayside because you feel you need to try and convince me."
"I understand," Hermione said, uncontrollably showing a satisfied smirk on her face.
"Make plans with Barney on the way out, he will put it into my schedule," she finished, looking back down at the parchment she had been studying earlier, "Is that all?"
"I will see you tomorrow for lunch," Hermione said, turning and sauntering out of the room. She didn't dare look back at Narcissa, who she assumed wasn't even looking at her anyway. Little did she know that Narcissa had a very intrigued look on her face as Hermione left her office.
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Hermione sighed. It had been a long week. She had spent every day in Narcissa's office detailing and debating with the blonde about various aspects about Education. So far, they had discussed how to create harmony between the different schools in the region, the funding discrepancies between different classes, transitions between school and work in the Wizarding World. Although they disagreed on the specifics of most of what they had discussed, Hermione held out hope that didn't mean the end.
"Well, it seems we disagree on a great deal of issues, Ms. Granger," Narcissa drawled, lazily swiveling around in her chair.
"I'm sure we could find middle ground on most things, Ms. Black," Hermione said, flipping through her notes.
"And what do you think of the standardization of the OWLS?" Narcissa asked, keeping her eyes down.
"I'm against them," Hermione stated.
Narcissa's eyebrows quirked upwards, "And why so?"
"Historically and scientifically, standardization does not measure a student's knowledge and practical application. It only measures memorization. If we spend all our time measuring our student's memorization, eventually we will only have students who can recite the names of spells rather than students who can actually perform spells."
Narcissa nodded, "Go on.."
Hermione sat up straight, "You can see during the times of my own education at Hogwarts, there was a significant drop in the application process practice of Defense…"
Narcissa continued to nod.
"Out of the applicants that applied for the Auror Training Program after Hogwarts, only 10% of the applicants were accepted during those who were in Hogwarts during that year. We are seeing a statistical drop in the graduating classes during that time especially for any employment opportunities that require practical application for almost every Ministry position that requires a hands-on approach.."
Another nod.
"There have been two reasons for this. Multiple years of multiple students being denied, multiple years, accessible teaching to practical magic. One, parents kept their children from attending Hogwarts due to security issues. These students mainly studied by textbook because of the illegal use of underage magic. This has also been attributed to Dolores Umbridge's attempts to dispel any actual practice against the dark arts during that year. In fact, the only members that were accepted came from the rebellion group 'Dumbledore's Army' which practiced in secret."
"You were part of that group, were you not?" Narcissa asked, peeling an orange from her lunch.
"I was," Hermione stated.
"But you did not… teach… it correct?" Narcissa followed up.
"No, I didn't."
"And why was that?"
"I thought Harry should be the one to teach it."
"Any why not yourself? You were, after all, labeled the 'brightest witch of your age'", Narcissa asked, "And clearly, you have a persuasion towards education. Why not take the time to gain some teaching skills?"
"I was not aware at that time I would be going into the department of Education," Hermione admitted.
"Really? You had no thought of where you would be going?"
"That wasn't what I said," Hermione shot back.
"Then what was it?" Narcissa asked, leaning forward. Hermione watched as Narcissa clasped her long fingers together. Her blonde hair falling forward. Her eyes piercing so deep towards Hermione.
"We knew that we would be facing a war. The media and the government kept trying to deny it, but we knew the truth. I knew I wanted to fight for justice."
"What kind of justice?"
"In all senses of the word," Hermione clarified.
"You seem to be talking about two different things, Ms. Granger. On one hand, you have education, and on the other, you have advocacy and battle. Which is it?"
"Without education, you can have no advocacy. An educated mind is a warrior," Hermione let loose.
"And how does this play into the famous DA?" Narcissa questioned.
"Even though I had higher grades, Harry had a better practical skill set and had faced more experiences with the Dark Arts than I had at the time," Hermione answered, "Sometimes knowing who to put in charge is the smarter choice."
"So, even though you were the "smarter" one, you put Mr. Potter in charge because he had a better skill set than you in this particular area?"
"When it came to book smart, I could easily breeze by him. In the real world, other than strategy, I was hardly an accomplished duelist."
A cold silence fell between the two.
"This is your explanation for being against standardized testing?"
"Currently, the OWLs are a fantastic range between knowledge and practical application. If anything, I would love to see new, fresh ideas that continue to challenge the students and highlight their strengths and weakness so we know where to better succeed rather than making them all conform to each other," Hermione finished.
For the first time, Hermione saw the red lips of Narcissa twirl up into a smile, "Well, Ms. Granger, it seems like we've finally found something we agree on."
Out of nowhere, Hermione's heart exploded.
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