Hey all! It's me again. I had a quick question for all who read the notes here: There are two ways to explain what happened between Bellatrix and Hermione before all of this. I can either write a prequel, or I can write it into a scene. Fair warning, I can't write any further than I already have done until I get an answer.
That is all.
Enjoy!
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The next day, a dishevelled-looking Hermione entered The Ministry of Magic and headed straight through The Atrium to the elevators. Working in the ministry for nearly half a decade helped her school the look of disgust that threatened to wash over her features at the ridiculous fountain set up in the lobby.
The fountain, depicting a house-elf, a centaur, and a goblin, with the trio gazing at a witch and wizard in adoration.
She allowed a scoff to pass through her defences before she boarded the elevator. The brunette thought it ridiculous that the fountain was there in the first place, as centaurs wanted nothing to do with the wizarding world, and goblins and house-elves were little more than slaves.
Kingsley had yet to respond to her letters, however, so Hermione punched in Level 4 and pushed the daily thought out of her mind. She walked down the corridor of The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and walked into her office.
It was a relatively decent sized office, with a bookshelf occupying one side, and a window on the other. Today, it was charmed to show a sunny morning, with birds chirping outside, most likely to combat the pounding rain in the streets above.
Besides that, a polished mahogany desk, neatly organized, sat facing the door. A leather chair was behind it, and a fireplace for floo calls behind that. In front of the desk were two smaller leather chairs, for guests.
Hermione hung her cloak on the rack by the door, and dropped her bag beside her as she sat down. She'd just taken her quill out to start on the mountains of paperwork piled on top of her desk, when the sound of an impatient throat clearing interrupted the silence.
Looking around, Hermione saw no one, until she looked down between the two guest chairs. There, an irritated young goblin stood by the chairs, his arms crossed in front of him. He had a shock of brown hair atop his head, and a golden earring in his left ear. The goblin's face was contorted into a scowl, and his suit-clad arms were crossed in front of him.
"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, pushing the papers out of the way and placing her quill in its holder, "My apologies. I wasn't expecting anyone so early."
"Early?" he scoffed, "I've been waiting in this accursed office for hours! Lazy humans, all of you."
The woman looked at the small clock on her desk. Eight o' clock.
"How did you get in here? The door only allows in people after it picks up my magical signature."
The goblin waved her off and cover into a seat. "Nevermind that. I have important business to discuss, and I believe you to be the most competent in maters such as this."
Hermione pushed the irritation that threatened to spill out into her words away, and pulled out a clean roll of parchment.
"Alright, I'd be happy to help, sir, but might I ask why you're coming to me, and not the goblin liaison?"
"And risk having this mishandled or swept under the rug by that insufferable twit? He-" The young goblin cut himself off.
He took a breath, but didn't look much calmer. "The goblin liaison is nothing more than a prized pig .He's chosen so your superiors can give themselves a pat on the back, and pretend like they care. The plights of my people never make it farther than his desk. This particular case is highly sensitive, and I do not want this to be misconstrued."
Hermione nodded, and readied her quill. "Alright then. Let's get started. May I ask your name and your grievance?"
The goblin straightened up in his chair.
"My name is not important. What's important, is the horrible quality in which my people are treated."
This was going to be a long day.
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Three hours later, after a tense talk with the young goblin, Hermione had a basis for her case. She'd be lying if she said the goblins didn't have a reason to be as irate as they were. The war hero had to admit it was unfair as to how they were treated. She'd lobbied for Gryffindor's sword to be returned to them after the war, and Kingsley had agreed. The rest of the Wizengamot, however, did not. So it became another dusty relic in a museum.
On top of that, it was an insult that they, along with their house-elf cousins, were not allowed a wand. Furthermore, the goblins were expected to run the wizarding economy, for no benefits other than the threat of harsh punishment should they refuse.
She thought back to the goblin's demeanour. His anger was barely concealed, and she could only assume that his people felt the same way. This would be a tricky ordeal to navigate, but the witch would give it her all.
Hermione quickly rescheduled her appointments for that day, and locked her door to keep the rest of her coworkers from barging in.
With a wave of her wand, the bright young woman called for a few books from the bookshelf to stack themselves neatly onto her desk. The resulting pile was a few feet tall, but Hermione would not go into this half-cocked.
From what the goblin had said, his people wanted their freedom. They wanted to be allowed wands, which they would make themselves. They wanted to be properly compensated for the long hours their people put in to Gringotts, and they wanted the ministry workers that came in to monitor them to be put away.
Hermione completely understood, and admired it, in a way. She worked on her case for the rest of the day, until the timer on her clock signaled it was time to go home. She quickly owled Kingsley and grabbed her belongings.
A Wizengamot session needed to be called. This was too big of an issue to wait.
Outside, the storm raged on.
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Another chapter down! The storm's a metaphor, if you haven't been assaulted by the symbolism enough to know. I thought it kind of appropriate, if a little (a lot) cliche.
I hope you enjoyed! I don't get many reviews on this, but I do love when I get them! Leave me a review (I feed on them and ya girl is HUNGRY), and I'll see you all in the next chapter!