Dennis wasn't a coffee person really. He had no clue why coffee had to taste different. Coffee with no milk with different names, coffee that was all milk with even more names. People just invent new names for the same drink, only making it more expensive.

Coffee was ridiculous, over-hyped and confusing. Tea was the way. Yes, you can get all the posh stuff, Chamomile and Earl Grey, Herbal tea. Sure, but not everyone is a Duchess or Duke, the common folk are always content with a simple teabag in a cup. Tea is universally good exactly the way it is, the only extras being a nice scone or biscuit to go with it.

Sadly tea does nothing for your raccous head after a night of drinking, so here was Dennis sharing a coffee with Hermione at a local Starbucks. Dennis had to drink his foul mood away after his terrible night-out in the gents.

A whistle from one of the cafe coffee machines was set off, and there goes his head in a million pieces. "Ahhhh, bloody Parkinson. I'll kill her."

Hermione broke out of her reverie. "Huh, who are you killing?"

"You-Know-Who, version two" Dennis displayed the exact number of fingers, unaware that he had flipped Hermione off in the process. She fortunately took no offense.

"Oh Dennis, Pansy didn't mean anything. She just has problems with people she doesn't trust, and doesn't show the right amount of respect. She's working on all that."

"Is that what she told you?"

Hermione pointedly raised her eyebrows "I happen to believe her through her actions. I got a decent conversation out of her, and you got an apology of some degree. That's a lot more than what you'd have got three years ago, albeit still not enough."

"Right, I'm so grateful she's working on it, everytime she makes a mockery of me I'll just think how much nicer she's being." Dennis was really Mr Sour Grapes today.

Hermione couldn't blame him, Pansy had really humiliated him for no real reason. Hermione herself felt guilty, particularly for how quickly she forgot about Dennis the night before. She invited him for drinks, yet all she did was spend the night talking to Pansy.

But it wasn't mindless chatter, and a lot of progress was made. That's why she invited Dennis for coffee, to fill him in on what he unfortunately missed.

"So you're breaking into the Minister's office?" he asked for confirmation.

This was heavy muggle territory and he was barely audible over the whistling pipes behind the counters. But Hermione still did a quick scan around, eye-balling the general public for any signs of someone overhearing. Satisfied she hissed back "not breaking in, more like taking an opportunity and improvising from there."

"Improvising? I thought you had a plan. Improvising is not a plan" Dennis pointed out.

"It shouldn't be hard for me to improvise with Kingsley, he trusts my morals too much. The plan is more about how to keep him away once I'm alone in there. For that, I'll need a distraction".

Hermione was merely explaining her strategy, yet Dennis was already jumping ahead. "A job for Dennis to once again make a fool of himself."

"You will simply keep the Minister occupied for a solid half hour, I don't require something outlandish. You won't have to sacrifice any dignity." Hermione's reassurance came on deaf ears.

"You're not doing my image any favours. People will go from never noticing me, to recognising me as that guy who did that crazy thing in the atrium." Dennis cringed at all the possible things he could do to gather such unwanted attention.

"You're being way too dramatic about this Dennis, all I'm asking you to do is distract the man. Just keep him talking or something, I don't care how you do it."

"Why can't I be the sneak and you the distraction?" he asked.

"You could, if there was ever a likely reason for you to be called in to see the Minister of Magic. I'm a safer option on the basis that I'm closer to him personally" Hermione justified.

"You'd be better though at thinking up ideas to distract him."

"What if I help you with ideas, will that do you?" Hermione gulped a mouthful of coffee before leaning across the table. "Look, we cannot get the ball running on this without all the names of the pure-bloods that are being victimized. If we attempt a rescue with Pansy and Daphne too early we risk...well, we could exacerbate the problem."

Dennis peeked between his fingers that clawed at his pounding head. "Just a distraction?"

"A distraction, nothing more." Hermione put her hands together, mildly begging.

Dennis sighed "Ok, I will be your distraction."

Hermione clapped twice excitedly and patted Dennis' wrist. "Thank you Dennis, we've got work in ten minutes so we'll begin preparations at lunch. Meet back here?"

Dennis watched Hermione collect her handbag and stand from the table. He rolled his eyes and contemplated how he'd be able to focus on the job with his brain busting out of his skull. "Yeah, let's hope it's just paperwork today."

Hermione and Dennis side-along apparate the moment that they found an unpopulated area, and landed in the Ministry atrium. They entered one of the elevators and a hazardous nest of raven black hair greeted them.

"Harry!" Hermione chirped in surprise.

The man, wearing his smart auror robes rather shabbily, smiled at them. "Mione, Dennis, good morning to you both."

Dennis grumbled, still rubbing his temples. "Is it now?"

"Oh yeah, Ron said you two had gone out last night."

"Merlin, I regret everything" Dennis assured.

"I feel ya, me and Ron have those regretful nights almost weekly, eh Mione?" Harry winked.

"Yes Harry, you do indeed, to my complete displeasure" Hermione replied.

"And how did your night's drinking go Hermione?" Harry asked with a mischievious eye.

"I didn't get hammered thank you, I had an enjoyable evening as a matter of fact."

"Much better than mine" Dennis complained.

"Honestly Dennis, the hard-done-by attitude doesn't work on you." Hermione felt annoyed, too annoyed. She reigned herself in quick, hoping they wouldn't question her on her sudden hostility.

"You two went to, the uhh, Siren's Club right?" Harry asked.

Hermione automatically corrected "Siren's Call, who said we went back there, I didn't tell Ron where I was going?"

"Well there was an incident last night, and I happened to see you in there" Harry answered and Hermione's heart froze.

"W-what incident was this?"

"A guy on our wanted list of illegal potion supply, apparently he has been spotted in there a few times. Here, you didn't see anything going on did you?" Harry piped enthusiastically.

"Errr, no. What-what time was this?" Hermione glanced at Dennis who also appeared to be nervous.

"Eleven, eleven-fifteen."

Hermione was still talking to Dennis at that time and she breathed a sigh of relief. "No, I didn't notice anything like that going on Harry."

"No worries, but yeah, didn't think that place was your scene Hermione?"

"No, well the press can't get in so that's a huge pro for me" Hermione had recovered from her narrow escape.

"Still, that place has issues, one of these days it may even be forced out of business. By the way did you know Parkinson was there last night?"

Now Hermione wouldn't have felt so cautious to answer if she didn't know Harry's abilities as an auror. Harry had a technique of appearing to be curious when already knowing the answers. It was almost impossible to decipher whether he had genuine interest or was performing a convincing role.

Harry may well know a lot more than he was letting on. He could've been scouting Hermione's reaction and internally wittling out any lies that he knew existed in her response. Harry told her about these techniques, and would actually be disappointed if Hermione believed his false curiosity.

She realised the longer she remained silent the more guilty she'd become in his eyes. He may know that she spoke at length with Pansy at the club, but he wanted to know whether she'd been involved in some trouble. On the other hand, he may know nothing. She needed a quick response that didn't compromise their plans, but would not risk her lies being exposed.

"Yeah I did, she found me in fact. We had a bit of a jibe at each other but it turned into a civil conversation for once. It appears she'd putting in the effort to be nice."

Harry raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. "Draco Malfoy did the same with me after the trial. Still you can never fully trust their intentions simply on their word. What did you talk about?"

"Hogwarts of old, you know the parts where me and her didn't clash, as rare as those moments seemed to be." Hermione looked at Dennis, who looked ready to blow a blood vessel to keep the wrong things from coming out his open mouth. He'd be mincemeat in an actual interrogation.

"Weird, Malfoy just awkwardly wished me luck and thanked me for my testimony. Do you really think they're genuinely turning over a new leaf?" Harry asked.

Hermione's inner smile was a mile wide, if Harry could be that positive on his own then perhaps winning him over with this investigation would be easier than she thought. "I don't know about Malfoy, but I get the feeling that Pansy was just fed up of rivalries and grudges. She wants harmony like the rest of us."

The elevator shuddered to a stop at the auror department, clicking Harry back into attention. "Right anyway, so see you at home Hermione, and I'll see you around Dennis. Duty calls."

Hermione nudged him lightly on his way out. "See you later Harry, don't overwork yourself alright?"

"Says Hermione Granger, " Harry sent a cheeky smile back at her on his way out, and in a swoop he was gone.

Dennis observed Hermione closely "that was good right?"

Hermione hummed in uncertainty. "You really can't know for sure, I'll likely only find out when I get home and not have a suspicious duo bombarding me the moment I step through the door."

It was this uncertainty that haunted Hermione throughout the day.

#

#

#

The period after lunch was a bit of a bore, even for a hermit writer like Hermione. With other more pressing issues that were waiting to be addressed, the enthusiasm for wrapping up a report of yesterday's call-out was non-existent.

Even with Dennis' argument to the contrary, Hermione believed he lucked out being on today's investigation team. His hangover aside, at least he had the benefit of an active mind and body. It was fair though, for Hermione had been on three consecutive call-outs and Lavarri refused favouritism.

With her thoughts hindering the progress of her report, Hermione decided enough was enough. She never took breaks away from the office even though employees were entitled to a fifteen minute period every working day. But if Hermione could remove one of the items from her list of personal concerns, it might satisfy her enough to focus on getting her work done on time.

With barely a hesitation, Hermione shot up from her desk and made a bee-line for the department head office. Knocking on the door three times, she waited only a few moments before Lavarri answered "come in."

Hermione opened the door, leaning into the room but not entering. "Hey, I am about to take a personal break, if I'm not needed for anything that is?"

Lavarri looked up from his reading, his glasses reflected the candleflame on his desk. He adjusted them to see Hermione better, and only then did he fully register what she said. "Well bless my soul, you are human after all. I require nothing urgent from you Miss Granger, but if such a matter occurred I will swiftly let you know."

"Understood, and thank you sir."

Before Hermione could close the door Lavarri quickly halted her. "Actually, before you go I want to talk about yesterday's witness statement."

Hermione suppressed a groan of disappointment, even though she expected this conversation she'll still prayed that it would just get overlooked. But this was Lavarri; not a person to leave loose ends untied. "Yes sir."

"I realise now that your hesitance towards this task was a personal one between you and the witness involved, I apologize if I appeared ignorant of that fact. After reading through Mr Creevey's recorded script and audio sample it was apparent that Greengrass was unhelpful and very hostile. But more alarmingly, she comes across very defensive, which makes me dubious of any honesty in her statement."

Hermione nodded, internally dreading to think what possible action he may take. After all he didn't know the identity of the boys, nor was he aware of the words exchanged after the recording had finished. As far as he knew Greengrass was hiding something, and it looked suspiciously illegal.

She summoned the nerve to ask him the question that could drastically affect the compromising position both Pansy and Daphne were locked in. "Are you going to alert the auror department?"

Lavarri did not sense the nervous lilt to her voice. He scratched his chin and pondered a few seconds, before making eye contact with her again. "You were the senior investigator, what do you think?"

She felt a small wave of relief sweep through her body, but it only numbed her anxiety to a more managable level. On one hand she had control of the circumstances, on the other she had to be logical in order to not appear suspicious herself. "I wouldn't look too far into Greengrass' statement, we could overestimate the situation and make it a fabrication. The last thing this department needs is accusations of libel, and the bad publicity that would bring."

Lavarri nodded but was not yet convinced. "You're adamant that any issues Greengrass had with the statement, pertained to your own relationship with her? Nothing else?"

Hermione steeled her expression, preparing to conceal such a huge lie. "I'm positive sir."

Lavarri looked at a paper on his desk, which Hermione knew had the written recording of the interview, before resolving himself to a decision. "Then on that note I will not be contacting the auror department regarding the issue. I only hope that your instincts are accurate, otherwise we may have overlooked a potentially very serious crime."

He was, everybody was. A crime that went all the way to the top.

"May I go now sir?"

Hermione's haste was misread completely. Lavarri smiled apologetically "of course, enjoy your break. That's an order."

Hermione thanked him one more time, closed the door and left the department with purpose. She was in desperate need for a sobering drink, one that cleared her head of worries and stress. Refreshment was her top-most desire at that moment, she cursed the workplace for not having any water dispensers.

Hermione headed towards the ladies and hurled herself at the first sink basin she saw. Her breathing was heavy and her nerves tingling uncomfortably. She was itching inside, unable to relax and the ailement leaving her so flustered would soon seriously start to affect her professional livelihood.

'Not an ailement' she corrected herself. 'An addiction is more accurate'.

Hermione washed her face with chilling tap water, helping to numb the agitated nerves. Meanwhile she was mentally analysing her behaviour, trying to understand how this secret operation has became her ultimate goal and priority. Why it meant so much to her. Whether it was those innocent Parkinson boys, or simply the humanitarian side of Hermione bursting through.

She stared down her reflection, as if trying to find clues within her own facial features. Her track record suggested that Hermione was once again thriving off her ideals of equality and welfare for all. Her greatest failure to this day was her house-elf campaign, S.P.E.W, in which Hermione swore to revisit once she got her name on a desk in Magical Creatures.

That was years away at this point in time. But had it not been for Kreacher, Hermione might've made a big blunder with the house-elf campaign. The organisation was meant for the welfare of all house-elves, as the acronym states, yet Hermione focused on freedom from house-elf slavery and believed that would improve elvish welfare.

Liberation to the house-elves was not a reward, but a punishment. The achilles heel of the house-elf way of life has always been their loyalty. Only extreme cases like a famous wizarding hero labelled as The-Boy-Who-Lived, inviting a house-elf he just met to take a seat, was a powerful enough incentive to betray his Masters.

Hermione came to realise that freedom comes in many different forms. Being rewarded for good work instead of being denied it, was a liberation house-elves appreciated. So Hermione's welfare mission became what it was meant to represent: fairness, compassion and gratitude towards house-elves.

Sadly her plans couldn't blossom until she had a decent backing and political influence. But reverting back to the issue at hand, this scenario had something more to it. S.P.E.W never made her incapable of working, and even though Hermione was disappointed in her lack of action, it wasn't haunting her life like this was.

Of course, perhaps this being a blood status issue made it more personal. But that didn't really make sense. All discrimination was wrong, and claiming justice for past crimes against Muggle-borns was not an excuse to condone the same behaviour towards purebloods.

As far as Hermione was concerned, she was right to fight against oppression that involved individuals at the opposite end of the blood purity spectrum. However that doesn't explain why Hermione could barely function without planning strategies against pure-blood discrimination.

After all, she wasn't beside herself when it was her own blood status that was under attack, and even though Hermione understood what the abused pure-bloods were experiencing, she wasn't the one experiencing it first hand.

So if it wasn't her nature, or her empathy, what was the main source of motivation?

Hermione cleared her mind, closed her eyes and evened her breathing to a very slow pace. She let the near silence of the ladies room consume her, halting her hectic thoughts.

With a deep breath she asked herself the question. "Why am I doing this?"

The very first thought that followed, the thought she knew revealed the right answer. It was the simple name, Pansy.

Before Hermione could do anything else, the silence was broken by a hum of a conversation outside. It came closer to the door, the people involved were about to enter which snapped Hermione back into focus.

The door creaked open and their voices cleared up enough to be understood. "They'll find him sooner or later. We've got spies everywhere. It was only last Tuesday that he was spotted in Bermuda."

"He's smart though, it won't be long before he's onto us. He'll start taking precautions then, and who knows where Sca-" the second speaker sounded like he was nudged in the ribs suddenly.

Hermione looked at them and noticed they were looking back at her warily. They tried acting casual and dispersed into two separate cubicles, but Hermione already knew her presence interrupted there conversation for some reason.

She had interrupted something that didn't want her to hear. Hermione's hackles were up but she knew not a word would be said until she left.

Hermione twisted the tap shut and calmly dried her hands. She strode in a normal manner towards the exit, not too fast but not blatantly slow either.

She opened the door, allowing the full squeak of its hinges to resound through the room. Her shoes had soft soles which reduced their noise over the tiled floor. Ideal for sneaking around.

Instead of walking out she let the door close and took silent, tentative strides to the far corner. She waited for the door to finish squeaking and waited on silently. A full minute passed and Hermione feared the two women would just come out of the cubicles to leave and see her standing there.

Hermione didn't dare to disillusion herself, even silently, for the moment her wand clattered or her clothes shifted it would be heard in the virtually silent room.

She might have no real reason to spy on them anyway, these could just be aurors unwilling to openly speak about the details of a case with staff from another department overhearing.

But Hermione discounted that, she knew many in the auror department, and they weren't wearing the right robes for a start. They didn't look the type who worked in the Wizengamot either, far too casual.

Over than that who else could possibly talk about spies and catching people. Did we have potential Death Eater's on the rise again? If so Hermione had to listen in.

Hermione began to think they weren't going to speak at all. But then one of the girls did speak. "We need to be more careful Chlo, the Minister will skin us if someone finds out that the Ministry is on the hunt for Scamander."

Scamander?

"I don't see why Shacklebolt can't use Grampa Scamander. We know he follows his grandsons travels closely, and is also unaware of our true intentions" the other woman replied.

"Everyone knows he doesn't trust the Ministry, I don't think he ever has." A toilet was flushed followed by another, Hermione needed an escape quick. She used the loud sloshing of water to cover her escape, silencing the door creaks on her way out.

But Hermione didn't walk off, there was more to be heard. She heard the cubicles open and the conversation continue from the other side of the door. "We could threaten him, he's well past his prime."

"Oh nice one, disrespect a national treasure on behalf of the Ministry. That really is great thinking Chlo."

"Hey, just because you're soft on him because you've read his book a bigillion times."

"It's Newt Scamander, the guy knows everything about magical creatures, what's not to like about him?"

"So protective of Newt, whilst conspiring to capture his grandson. If you ever want that book signed after this I'd quit now."

Hermione was so absorbed in the conversation she didn't notice the voices gradually coming closer. Not until the last moment when she flung herself against the adjoining wall, effectively becoming hidden by the door as it swung open.

"It's not as bad as your obsession with Gilderoy Lockhart was. What was it you said to him, 'please sir, I have a boob waiting for your name on it'" The first girl teased in an unflattering imitation of the girl called Chlo.

"I did not say that, and I was fifteen at the time, I'd have been happy with Filch signing my chest."

"Eww, don't put that image in my head."

Hermione went unnoticed as the womens conversation became too distant to hear, and completely off topic by now. But Hermione remained against the wall, trying to make sense of what she just heard.

The Ministry were secretly after Rolf Scamander, but what she couldn't get her head around is why? Was it anything to do with the pureblood issue, or something unrelated?

Rolf was a pureblood, but he'd never been even closely connected to the Death Eaters, had he? Hermione didn't see much of him but Luna spout an entire encyclopedia of the man every time she herself returned to England.

Rolf was extremely introverted, but that's simply in his nature. "Entirely innocent timidness" Luna would describe him.

Newt was as much as a beacon of light as Dumbledore had been, so there was no chance of dark traits being passed down through the generations.

Hermione could see absolutely nothing to connect Rolf with the pureblood scandal quite frankly. But if it was something else then surely the aurors knew about it, how many secret operations can one man take on at the same time?

Hermione wanted to head up to the auror department now to check, but she didn't have that jurisdiction even for a famoue face like her. The only option Hermione had was a behind-the-scenes investigation of her own. If Rolf Scamander was connected to the pureblood scandal, Hermione would find out how.