Hermione

August 19, 2002 London, England - Hermione's Flat

It wasn't like Hermione to leave work early, especially on a Monday. But she'd had rough weekend, and the night before had been the worst night she'd experienced in a long time. Her nightmares were back, it seemed. She'd tried every Muggle remedy she knew of, but she hated taking sleeping medicine as much as she hated using Dreamless Sleep potions. So she'd been dragging all day, and she was terrified of dozing off in her office, both because she could lose her job, but also because of where she was. She wasn't sure how she'd react if she was jolted awake from a nightmare just to find herself in the Department of Mysteries.

She had gone to the store to talk to Alex, in all truth. It was usually him who she talked to about these nightmares, since he was so removed from the pain of the war. She could talk to him freely without worrying about bringing up painful reminders for him, and that was something that she treasured.

But when she encountered Theo there, instead of being disappointed, she was thankful for the to new people wasn't something she did a lot these days, and for some reason, he fascinated her.

Even now, as she sat in her living room, she couldn't help but think about how odd it was that Theodore Nott didn't think to use magic to fix one of the problems in the shop. It made her wonder about his opinions on Muggles, and it certainly made her want to have an actual conversation with him. Well, another one.

She glanced up at the clock. It was only four-thirty, and she knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep any time soon. What was the harm in slipping down the block and grabbing a coffee, maybe seeing if Alex was back? She kept trying to tell herself it was Alex she wanted to see, that he was the reason she was making a second trip to the shop. She checked her hair in the mirror by the door, grabbed her purse, and headed out.

As she approached the door to the cafe, she saw Theo and Alex heading out the door of Calloway's. That struck her as odd. They didn't close until six on weekdays. She smiled and called out to Alex.

"Looks like I'm not the only one calling it a day a little early. Family problems?" she said, coming up to the men.

Alex smiled at her voice and turned around, pulling her into a hug in greeting. "I wasn't expecting to see you today, not after Theo told me you dropped by at lunch." He told her. "Actually, we're closing up shop a little early today because I'm taking Theo out to eat to show my appreciation. He ran the shop for me today from about eleven until damn near five. I didn't mean to be be gone so long, but he handled it like a pro." He said, looking over his shoulder at Theo.

Theo shrugged. "We only really had a handful of customers. The rest was just cleaning and tidying, and if there's anything I'm good at, it's being an OCD neat freak." He grinned at Alex.

Hermione was taken aback by his grin. That was the first time she'd really seen Theo genuinely grin at someone since school, and she wasn't even sure his grins then were all that genuine. It seemed he and Alex were actually getting on pretty well.

"Say, why don't you tag along, Hermione? If you don't have any plans, that is." Alex asked, catching Hermione completely off guard. She spluttered, looking for words she didn't have.

"I- um, wouldn't want to be a third wheel, you know?" Hermione said, looking at Alex with wide eyes. Alex laughed loudly at that and shook his head.

"It's an appreciation dinner, not a date, Hermione. Theo, what do you say? Would you mind if she joined us?" He asked, turning to the taller man.

Theo was quiet for a moment, studying Hermione carefully. "I think you should come if you're free. You seemed a little… frazzled when you came in earlier. Maybe just relaxing with friends could help? And perhaps we could even talk about that book you bought." He smiled at her warmly.

It took Hermione a moment to pull herself away from his eyes. For some reason, she got lost in those blue eyes every time she met them. They were like windows into his soul, and she was almost drawn to them. She finally shook herself out of her trance and smiled back. "Sure. I suppose I will tag along, if you're alright with it." she said, tugging at her sleeves nervously. She noticed Alex eyeing her, and looked down to hide a blush.

"I see how it is, your best friend invites you and you don't want to 'third wheel', but then Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome pulls out the baby blues and you fall head over heels." He smirked, heading to his car parked on the curb. Hermione turned bright red and looked at her feet, as Theo shifted his weight, looking anywhere but at her.

"You'll both have to sit in the back, though. I've got a metric shitton of breakables strapped in to the front seat that Mum wanted me to have." he rolled his eyes. "Tell me what I'm going to do with forty year old china, Hermione. Tell me."

"Put it in a nice china cabinet and don't touch it for another forty years?" Hermione suggested, moving to open the car door and get into the back seat.

"You could always sell it. Some of that rubbish is considered antique these days and will sell for quite a bit." Theo told him as he climbed into the back seat beside Hermione. "I had to get rid of some of my families' china not too long ago, and it paid my rent for three months."

"And break me poor Mum's heart? I think not." Alex almost offended at the very thought.

"Are you living here in London, then, Theo?" Hermione asked, looking up at him. Even sitting, he was nearly a head taller than her.

"I am. Just a few streets over, actually. It's like a fifteen minute walk." He told her, and she was glad that he wasn't so embarrassed that he wouldn't talk to her. She was surprised she was even able to formulate sentences.

"I didn't realize you were so close," She said, her eyebrows shooting up. "If we're going to the restaurant that I think we are, we'll be passing my apartment on the way. I'll point it out." She said, smiling.

He arched a brow at her. "You don't mind me knowing where you live?" he asked, cocking his head at her. She shrugged.

"I live above a boutique, and I work for the government. Lots of people know where I live. It's not really a big deal to me." She told him with a smile. "Besides, if you were dangerous, you would've hurt me already." She said, looking up into those blue eyes again.

"Just because I'm not dangerous to you," He said, leaning slightly closer to her. "Doesn't mean that I'm not dangerous." He murmured. Goosebumps ran up her arm, and she leaned in closer almost automatically. She searched his eyes, trying to see if he meant what he said, on top of trying to decipher what he was trying to tell her.

"No flirting in the car, kiddos." Alex said, looking back at them with a shit-eating grin through the rear-view mirror as he was stopped at a light.

"Aw, Dad, come on!" Theo said, grinning at him, and then tossing a wink at Hermione. She turned pink, a giggle escaping her before she could stop it. This was so… odd. He was very clearly flirting with her, but it was also like he was trying to warn her to stay away from him. She looked out his window and pointed.

"There's my flat. It's just a little two bedroom on the second floor, but the rent is decent and the view from the balcony is pretty nice." She told him, shrugging.

"I may have to come visit you sometime." Theo told her, looking from the flat back to Hermione. "I've got a feeling I'm going to be seeing a lot more of you." He said softly.

"My flat's been a pretty lonely place lately, if I'm honest. I wouldn't say no to the company." She told him, and she was surprised that she meant it. If someone had told her a month ago that she'd be basically inviting Theo Nott into her house, she'd have called them insane, but here she was.

Theo studied her face and eyes carefully then smiled down at her. "Good to know." He said, nodding.

Hermione tried hard not to bite her lip, or play with her hair, or pick at the hem of her shirt, but all of her nervous tics were out in force. Thank Merlin for Alex and his impeccable timing.

"Who wants pizza?" He asked, pulling into the tiny parking lot behind a small pizza place. She grinned as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Only if it's Hawaiian." She told him.

"Oh, honey. That's okay, you're entitled to your disgusting opinion." he said, shaking his head.

"What's wrong with Hawaiian pizza? I love pineapple and ham on pizza." Theo said, frowning at Alex.

"Oh, not you too!" Alex groaned, shaking his head. "Fine, you two can share a Hawaiian, and I'll just get a personal pan." He shook his head as they climbed out of the car. "Talk about feeling like a third wheel." He said.

Hermione shrugged sheepishly. "I tried to talk myself out of it. I blame you." She said with giggle.

"At least you're laughing." He said, turning to Hermione and looking serious for the first time. "I haven't heard you laugh in a few months. I was starting to worry. You work too much." He told her, putting a hand on her arm.

"I know." She said, meeting his eyes. "But I'm okay right now." She said, stealing a peek over at Theo, who had gone ahead inside to get them seats. "Yeah, I'm definitely okay for now." She said with a little smile.

August 23, 2002 London, England - Department of Mysteries

Hermione sat her coffee and purse down at her desk, groaning as she looked over the fresh pile of documents that needed to be filed today. She cleaned her desk every day before she left, and yet somehow, there always seemed to be a new, and sometimes bigger, stack of envelopes and folders that appeared on her desk each morning. She dropped into her chair with a sigh.

Most of these were just projects already labeled and ready to be filed. She'd taught the secretaries in each department all about her system as it pertained to them, and so most of the new incoming folders were already sorted. However, she did still have to go through and check their work, and there were always files that weren't labeled at all.

Those were the worst. She spent the most time tracking down information about files that were blank, and more often than not, she ended up getting close to no answers from people, and she usually ended up just having to read through the file to find the applicable information. She tried really hard not to do that, because some of the things that were researched in this place were of a highly sensitive nature, and some experiments were downright disturbing. She never knew what she might find in some of these folders. She pulled the nearest stack of documents toward her and, after taking a sip of her coffee, she got started on her work.

The morning flew by, and her desk was over halfway cleared by lunch- which was no small feat. She left her door open when she went up to the cafeteria, as was her normal routine. She knew most of the Unspeakables on a first name basis, and she knew they'd never steal from her. It wasn't something that was gone when she returned that bothered her, anyhow. It was what had appeared.

Lying in the center of her desk was a folder, on which was written in large, black letters: DO NOT FILE. There was a sticky note stuck on the front, and in a sloppy scrawl that she'd never seen before, a small note was written.

Hermione,
This is for you. I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out.

Regards, X

She re-read the sticky note several times with a frown, not fully understanding. She looked around, as though someone might be watching her from a dark corner, but no one was there. She took a deep, shaky breath and flipped open the folder. At first, nothing out of the usual. It was the same cover page she'd seen on the last twenty folders, with the Department letterhead at the top. But then she noticed that the division wasn't labelled. Normally, when filing a project, the division sending in the file had their own letterhead. There was the space division, the time division, and so forth. But this didn't identify who the file belonged to, and that worried her immediately.

She reluctantly flipped the page and was shocked to find a normal research paper with a title reading Skeleton Key Located. She skimmed the paper, but couldn't make much sense of it from such a shallow read through. What she gathered was that the author of the paper had been searching for some artifact, but that just when they'd gotten close enough, it had slipped through their fingers.

The paper had alluded to a map, and Hermione quickly flipped through the file to find the map in question. It was old, and smelled like it had suffered salt water damage and been allowed to dry several times over. She wrinkled her nose at it, but unfolded it to look it over regardless.

"What on Earth is this?" She murmured to herself, then jumped when a knock sounded at her door. She quickly folded the map back up and reassembled the folder before storing it in her work bag on the floor.

"Come in," She called to the person at the door. The door opened and Harry stepped through, looking a little frazzled, but he smiled at her nonetheless. "Harry! What are you doing down here?" She asked, grinning at her best friend.

"Hey, 'Mione. I need a favor. I've got a case, but I can't give out too much information. I need files from the thought chamber from the last three months pulled for inspection." He said, running a hand down his face. Hermione's eyebrows shot up, but she nodded, getting to her feet and heading to the main archive room.

"I'm fine with little to no information. Secrecy is sort of my job." She smiled at him as she lead him back toward the appropriate row. "Do you need all the files, or just from one team?" She asked.

"Let's do all of them just to be safe. And if you get any unmarked files regarding that division, let me know, would you?" He asked.

"Of course," She said, immediately thinking about the file she'd just been looking at. It wasn't regarding thought, though. No, it seemed much more focused around a physical object. Strange. Maybe she should test the waters. "Harry, does the term 'Skeleton Key' mean anything to you? In regards to the case that is." She asked, wondering if she should tell him about the file and the map.

"No," He said, frowning. "Why do you ask?"

"I get loads of unmarked folders everyday," She shrugged. "One popped up on my desk, and I was just trying to see if it was relevant, that's all." She said, relaxing a bit now that she was certain that the two incidents were unrelated. She got to work pulling the files for her friend, and soon, she'd put the Skeleton Key and the folder neatly tucked away in her bag completely out of her mind.