She stood in the lobby of the ministry, trying to keep out of the way and peer through the crowd to find Harry.
A large witch clipped her with a trolley cart as she blew passed. Hermione spun around and watched cart pass, the jars rattled as what looked like brains sloshed inside behind evidence labels.
"Hermione! Over here." Harry's voice called out from behind.
"There you are Harry," she said, turning to find him at her side. His backpack was slung over one shoulder and he was casually gripping the shoulder strap. It looked nearly empty and she had no doubt he had charmed his luggage as well. She wasn't sure why, but that little act made him seem more grown up. Of course, her own luggage was charmed and resting weightlessly in her purse.
They made their way into a crowded elevator, the whole ride to the department, she was aware of him standing just behind her. They were all set to travel, and headed toward the portkey departure lounge.
Harry had come to the Ministry a few days back to make travel arrangements, and apparently it was commonplace to also depart from the department. A team of specialized charmers were on-site, ready to create departure and return portkeys.
"Alright Harry Potter" said the witch at the counter as they approached the departures office. Her bit of Yorkshire and chipper smile was instantly endearing. She looked down to pick a paper out of her tray.
"Yeah, it's me and Hermione Granger," he said, placing his arm on the counter. "Are we all set to go?"
"Indeed" she stated, "You will depart at 4, but we don't make return portkeys for America, so you'll need to visit the Department of Magical Transport in the Federal Hall of Magic. You'll find the office easily enough from within Boston's magical quarter." The witch stamped a few papers with gusto. "Come this way, please," she motioned for them to walk around the counter. Hermione followed, folding her sweater over her arm uncomfortably. She rather wasn't looking forward to travel by Portkey, she never could get accustomed to the feeling.
"4pm to Boston." She called out as they entered a back room. She plopped a small muggle garden gnome statuette down in front of a slightly round older wizard sitting at a desk. He didn't look up as they approached, his eyes sluggishly fixated down at the statuette and the paper the witch had deposited. He had a mustache that covered most of his mouth and a small top hat that sat too low, covering most of his eyes. All of a sudden, in a flourish of concentrated energy he slashed his wand about over the gnome. It glowed a pale aqua for a moment and the giant clock that was fixed to the desk beside the gnome started ticking the seconds loudly.
"Hurry along kids," he gestured them quickly forward, looking up for the first time since they entered the room. "Just a moment to go," he said in a jolly voice.
Harry and Hermione placed their hands on the statue and stared down at the large clock fixed to the desk. The moment the second hand struck the hour, Hermione felt the dreaded pulling sensation and they were off.
They went spinning up as the ministry opened like a jack-in-the-box then folded and away below. The swirling colors of ocean filled her vision and she held on tighter. In just a few moments they had spanned an ocean and were hurled into.. the center of a giant child's ball pen!
Harry looked down for a moment, picking up a red ball and laughed. He threw it playfully at Hermione. They picked themselves up heavily and stepped down into what must be an arrivals hall of some sort. Four other arrival stations were situated along walls. There was a giant mattress, a foam pit Hermione recognized from her failed gymnastics days, even a magical pile of snow.
"Harry, Hermione!" A happy voice called out nearby.
Harry looked around to see a tall, bald man, bouncing with energy approaching them.
"Stan?"
"Your man! Welcome to Boston!" He said, throwing his arms out and coming in for a hug.
"Er, thanks!" Harry said brightly. When he stepped back slightly, Stan was already swooping in on Hermione.
"Awesome! Welcome to you too, Hermione!"
"Thanks," she managed to say hurriedly before Stan continued talking.
"Look, I didn't mean to ambush you at the arrivals hall, I just wanted to make myself available to you guys and give you a huge welcome state-side. We are all set for tomorrow morning. I got you some sweet digs up on Highland Park. I think you'll love it. Very great hotel, we work with the owner off and on in the R&D lab, he keeps coming back for more. Oh, and here is a list of places to try if you've never been to Boston. Don't forget to check out Muggle Boston too, the Muggles of this city really know how to live."
"Wow, all right." Harry said, impressed. Stan spoke quickly and his energy was infectious, but an intense breed of infectious.
"Stan, thank you," Hermione intoned, looking down at the list. "We've never been to Boston before. This is excellent."
They were strolling out the departure lounge when Stan pointed enthusiastically at a plaque near the exit. "We won an award for this arrivals hall recently. We used to have people landing in the park until a toddler got kicked in the face. After that, the community came up with this. Morning Mike!" He raised his hand at a passing man who shot a greeting back.
The arrivals hall opened into a beautiful atrium with giant windows overlooking a square. The park was brimming with children, young couples and the elderly. Shops and restaurants lined the perimeter. Stan led the way and stopped a little out of the way of the main thoroughfares and handed over a map.
"Here's us," he said pointing down at the map, towering a little over Harry, "and this is your hotel, almost on the water! Our labs are a few blocks away toward the city center. All the better, because why should we obstruct the gorgeous ocean views with our building? Are you guys hungry?"
Harry and Hermione looked at each other.
"Not much," Harry said.
"Nah, it's a weird hour. Let's grab brunch tomorrow. In fact, I'll meet you at your hotel, say 10 AM?"
"Sure, that sounds great." Harry said, feeling a bit like a broken record but grinning all the same. "It's great to meet you Stan, I'm truly looking forward to tomorrow."
"Likewise! See you later Harry, Hermione!" He gestured back at them with his raised arm as he started walking away, his tall, bald form swaggering slightly into the crowd.
Hermione turned to Harry, "well he's a handful!" she said.
"He has so much energy! It's great, but I hope all American wizards aren't like that," he said. "I wouldn't know what to do with myself."
The buildings surrounding the park wouldn't have looked out of place in Diagon Alley and the kids in the park were playing with toy broomsticks. This was Boston's magical quarter.
They were still standing out of the way, glancing down at the map. "Shall we go?" he offered.
"Yes." She said slightly wonderingly. "Harry, it looks like England here."
"Yeah, never thought I'd see another like Diagon Alley."
She became aware as they walked how at ease she was. The new sights and sounds, the new shop names, it was all so familiar but so new. And it was all the better to be experiencing this with Harry.
Their hotel made Inns in England seem like a seventeenth century cottage. The witch at the front desk had proudly boasted the technology of the Inn was far superior to others in the States. But it was also more beautiful than even the nicer ones in Diagon Alley. Hermione's mind was starting to open up to the possibility that a cultural revolution may be afoot. Wizarding had out shined Muggle technology for so long that innovation had hardly been necessary. But the muggles had been catching up, and surpassing in areas. Of course magic was still far superior in most ways, but for how long, who knew?
"Do you think we have become complacent with our magic?" she asked, surveying the cover of a wizarding entertainment magazine sitting on the room's desk.
"What?" Harry asked, filling a bedside glass with water from his wand.
She adjusted her purse on her shoulder and sat down on his bed for a moment. She had just come in to check out his room with him. She didn't feel right to put down her bag in his space, a small rune that was her key. The witch had told her that using runes as security was inspired by muggle technology. Removing the need to place new wards on rooms between each guest.
"I mean, as a society. They are so forward-thinking here, in the states compared to England."
"Yeah, I had noticed that. I mean, the whole department we are visiting tomorrow wouldn't exist in England. Well, it does, but that's the Department of Mysteries. And it's been a century since they revealed anything new to the public. A lot of what Marinda explained to me about the Magical Military Division was along those lines." He took a drink of his water glass as he offered another to Hermione.
"It's why I agreed to come, actually. These people are wizards but it is a whole different world here. It's not the past we've been used to with carriages and fireplaces."
"Thank you," Hermione said. "Thanks for inviting me and convincing me to go. It would have been worth it just to come stay in this hotel. I'm sure tomorrow will be amazing."
Harry smiled, plopping down on a chair station near the bed. The harbor view that opened up from Harry's picture window captured their gazes for a while. White sails dotted the water and they could hear the low thrum of the city.
"Well, Boston," Hermione said after a while, "let's see what you have to offer!"
The two laughed easily as the imagined themselves doing various items of the list. In the end they chose an upscale restaurant in downtown muggle Boston which happened to be Stan's utmost recommendation as conveyed by enthusiastic circles. Some gelato, walking on the pier, exploring the heart of the city, and touring a joke shop in the magical quarter later, they were exhausted. Harry had bought a bag full of items to take back to Ron and George to rip off.
Their whole night went by with no newspaper reporters or admiring fans. In fact, no one besides Hermione even knew Harry's name. Harry decided he liked that very much. And for the first time in a long time, they completely forgot about Voldemort.