Work summarySSummary:
After a failed romance with one of her colleagues, Hermione Granger is in desperate need for a change of scenery. Ginny comes with the perfect idea: join her and the rest of the English National Quidditch Team as a sports healer and join their Quidditch World Cup 2002 campaign. The Argentine sun makes her forget all the troubles of her love life. That is until a certain Seeker makes her question her "no love in the workplace rule" all over again.
A?N: Hello all,
I've mixed my interest in sports with Dramione, which will hopefully lead to an interesting story.
The beta'ing for this chapter has been done by EarlGreyPanic, do check out her new one-shot collection!
She had slept terribly the previous night, tossing and turning the entire night long. Something about going back to work on Monday morning after having had that row with Robert on Saturday night just would not let her get a good night of sleep.
Normally on Monday mornings, she couldn't wait to put the new angles she thought of over the weekend to the test to tackle the translations with a different approach. However, now the only thing she could think about was having to be in that tiny office on the top floor of the St. Mungo's building alone with him, for the entire day.
Oh god, how was she going to handle this? Why did she ever think dating a colleague was a good idea? She still had to work with Robert on the Hatra scrolls full of ancient Mesopotamian healing methods every day. Why couldn't she just join Ginny and her teammates on one of their nights out on the town and find some random, intelligent, interesting guy? Wizard or muggle, she did not even really care anymore after all these failed dates, as long as the man would challenge her intellectually.
Robert had been so nice on their late nights working on the ancient scrolls, though. How did it end so damn bad? Couldn't she just have a common short office romance just like any other person? Did everything in her life need to be so god damn difficult? She was stressing out way too hard for a normal Monday morning.
She might not even see him, she tried to reassure herself. He might have gotten the message and asked to work on another scroll, or just in another office. There were numerous freshly discovered parchments that needed translating and new translations that needed tweaking for modern usage. She could've asked to work on other scrolls herself. Why had she wasted her entire Sunday sulking about the failed relationship, not thinking about her future at work?
Hell, if push came to shove, she could always ask to transfer to the practical healing branch of St Mungo's. She had always said that she wanted to get back into the field of practical healing eventually anyway. Plus, the head healer of St. Mungo's had asked for ages if she really didn't want to reconsider. She had shown this amazing fine wand work that had worked perfectly for the most intricate healing spells during training.
Hermione had hoped to reach the office with some time to spare before Robert would arrive. She could've used some time to collect herself and focus her brain on her work. Unfortunately, when she entered the tiny office, she saw Robert was already sitting at the desk facing her own. A steaming cup of coffee next to his right hand.
He took a sip of his coffee just as the sound of the door penetrated the silence of the office.
"Morning," The dark-haired wizard didn't even bother to look up from the scroll he was working on.
"Morning," Hermione replied quickly as she hurried towards her desk to bury her head into her work and hopefully forget this ever happened.
Nothing this day was going the way she wanted and, nothing on her desk seemed to be where she swore she had left it on Friday afternoon.
"Uhm, Robert, sorry, I've got to ask you something," Hermione broke the silence after what felt like hours but probably were just a mere ten minutes.
Robert looked questioningly up from his scrolls but didn't respond.
"Uhm, well, do you have the Seleucid Runes cypher? I can't seem to find it on my desk, and I could have sworn I was the last to use it before the weekend," Hermione felt a wave of awkwardness washing over her by merely mentioning their damned weekend.
Robert just rummaged through the stacks of parchment on his desk and handed her the cypher without uttering a single word.
This was going to be an awfully long morning indeed.
Lunch couldn't have come any quicker. Hermione simply couldn't wait to get out of the tiny research office. Luckily, she had already had the mind to schedule a lunch with Ginny to discuss their weekends.
At least she could count on a hopefully infectious amount of enthusiasm from her best friend. She had just heard she made the fourteen wizard English National Quidditch team practise squad for the upcoming Quidditch World Cup in Argentina. Not that had been very surprising for Ginny's friends, she had been the leading top scorer in the domestic competition for the past two seasons. However, the redhead still had been very anxious about whether she would make the practice squad.
"I think this news calls for some celebratory drinks, doesn't it?" Hermione said as they sat down in a cosy muggle pub near St. Mungo's.
"Hermione, you know I can't drink right now. Drinking and top sport don't go well together. Especially in the months before you have to perform at the highest level," Ginny laughed. "Plus, I still need to perform during the training camp to make the final World Cup squad, I still could get cut, you know?" She added concerned.
"As if coach Hoogh would cut the best chaser of the season in the British and Irish League!" Hermione reassured her. "And sorry, I had a really bad morning. So I guess I could just use a drink myself." Hermione admitted, "Mind if I drink on your selection?"
"Be my guest," Ginny grinned, "was it that bad this morning?"
"It was disastrous. He didn't even look up when he said 'morning'," Hermione explained as she signalled for the waitress. "And wouldn't even talk about work-related stuff either, or reply to my work questions with actual words."
"What a prick!" Ginny exclaimed. "What did he do exactly?" She added at a softer tone "You only send a letter to me late on Saturday night telling me you were sooooooooo done with the tosser and he just would never understand you and that we should meet for lunch so you could explain the whole story." Ginny gestured towards the table between them with her hands. "So out with it, what happened?"
"Ugh" Hermione started to get bothered, just thinking about the events of Saturday night. "We went to the West End," Ginny looked puzzled, "you know the place with the muggle plays and musical plays," the brown witch quickly added the explanation. "We went there with some of your teammates after the Euros last year." She clarified further when Ginny still seemed utterly lost.
That seemed to have done the trick. "Aaaah, that play with all those French guys killing each other with those gun thingys for no apparent reason," Ginny said proudly, finally recalling their trip to the West End. "I'm so sorry, Hermione, selection has just been a total bitch, the training schedule is absurd." She indeed looked exhausted underneath all her enthusiasm.
Well, that certainly was a way to describe Les Mis. "Yeah, well, I planned to take him to that specific musical play as well. But it started to go downhill when he was late, without giving me any notice. Therefore we ended up being at the theatre a bit on the late side and didn't have the best tickets." She added, still feeling slightly offended, "Next thing you know, he began lecturing the cashier as if it wasn't his own fault we were late."
Hermione was so caught up in the retelling of her disastrous Saturday night that the waitress seemed to have appeared at their table out of nowhere.
"What would you like to order, just drinks, or would you also like to see the lunch menu?" The waitress asked. "It's up above the bar, I'm not sure if you can read it?"
"Uhm, what kind of food would you recommend?" Hermione asked the waitress. In her rage, she hadn't had time to have a look up at the lunch menu.
"Customers often say our Fish & Chips is outstanding," The waitress answered, "We get our Cod straight from the harbour at South-End every morning."
"I'll have one of those then," Hermione replied, "With a pint of cider, please."
The waitress eyed her a bit suspiciously for ordering an alcoholic beverage on a Monday at noon wearing a modest pencil skirt and a blouse. "We've got something to celebrate," Hermione quickly added.
The waitress just gave her a small smile and turned towards Ginny. "And you?"
"I'd like to have your chicken salad with a mineral water, please." Ginny smiled at the waitress, beckoning her to move on from their table swiftly so she could resume her interrogation on Hermione's date night.
"So, What happened next?" Ginny urged impatiently as soon as the waitress had left their table.
Hermione's anger instantly sparked up again. "We missed the opening 10 minutes!" she exclaimed.
"Hadn't you seen that one, like, a million times before?" Ginny asked; frankly, Hermione had literally dragged all her wizarding friends to see Les Miserables at least once.
"That's not the point," Hermione snapped. "It sets the scene for the entire story."
The waitress soon returned with their drinks to cut off the rest of Hermione's rant about her failed love life. "Your food will be with you in a minute," she said as she put the drinks in front of the girls.
Hermione picked up her pint of cider, "Well, Gin, cheers on your selection!"
"So spill the beans. Who are your teammates? Any interesting new additions to the training squad? What is Skeeter going to write about?" Hermione gladly changed the subject, to not have to think about her disastrous dating life for a moment was a blessing.
"Well, the usual, all the big players in the league," Ginny began, "And George was luckily fit enough to make the squad after that nasty drop in the league semi's." George had been caught off guard by a Bludger during this year's Semi Final's against Ginny's own Holyhead Harpy's. He had made a 70 feet drop, resulting in a list of nasty long term injuries. Ginny clearly seemed happy to have a family member with her during this long training camp abroad.
"But I think all the headlines are going to be about Haley making the squad." Ginny continued.
"Haley?" Hermione asked, confused.
"Haley Dakota, she's the seeker of the Gryffindor team," Ginny explained.
"Huh? She's still a student?" Hermione replied, surprised.
"Well, yeah, supposedly, the Harpy's coaching staff have already signed her for the post World Cup season." Ginny's team had been in dire need of a new Seeker since the sudden early retirement of Cho Chang. After coming back to playing following her two pregnancies, she had suffered a nasty injury. This had lead Cho to decide that being there for her children was far more important than risking her health playing Quidditch for a couple more years. "Though that might turn out to be a difficult one, seeing as she should've started her 6th year this coming September."
"Fascinating, so she's going to compete for Malfoy's spot?" It was not that Hermione was particularly interested in Quidditch or the English national team or Draco Malfoy specifically. Nevertheless, being best friends with Ginny meant she wanted to be at least in the know about what was happening in Ginny's world. Which meant she knew Draco Malfoy was the seeker and captain of the Bath Bombers. His personal performances alone had led his team to several league finals over the years. Even winning a couple, like this year's final against Ginny's Holyhead Harpy's. He had also been a part of the England squad for ages.
"I can't wait for that bit of healthy competition, he's been way too comfortable in that starting seeker position for far too long now." Ginny certainly was not over the loss in the disastrous loss in the league final yet. It had been a bitter pill to swallow, as they would've had a much better chance of winning had Cho not retired mid-season.
The waitress returned with their lunch orders not long after, and Hermione hungrily dug into her fish and chips.
"Wow, Gin, that salad is actually looking quite good for a pub salad," Hermione said while looking at her friend's lunch order.
"You think I'd bring you to a pub with shitty menu options within my limited diet?" Ginny smirked at her.
"Fair point," Hermione said before digging in to finish her plate full of Fish and Chips.
As soon as the end of her lunch break approached, Hermione started to feel anxious about the prospect of returning to her office and spending the rest of the day in complete silence with Robert. Ginny, the observant witch that she was, detected it almost immediately.
"Your lunch break is almost over, isn't it?" she asked, concerned while checking the clock on the wall for the exact time.
"I can't work like this morning for much longer, it feels like my brain is malfunctioning in the uncomfortable circumstances," Hermione confessed.
"Have you considered speaking to him about it? You were friendly before you started dating, you might still be capable to go back to being colleagues?" Ginny attempted to be helpful.
"Tell that to him," Hermione scoffed, "I mean, I want to, and I feel like I tried this morning. Just going back to colleagues, you know? He just didn't respond well, at all," she added.
"It's only been a couple of days since you had that fight with him," Ginny tried. "It might get better over time."
"I feel like it just erupted on Saturday, all the frustrations I've been feeling towards him for ages," Hermione tried to explain her feelings, "Maybe if I don't see him for a while we can just go back to being colleagues."
"Well Coach Hoogh did say something about still needing an assistant for Healer Williams for the training camp and the World Cup," Ginny suggested, "Didn't you do a sports healing internship during your healer training?"
"I can't simply take four months off work," Hermione replied, shocked.
"Thank you for assuming we'll make it to the semi-finals," Ginny quipped.
"You're the top side in the world right now, you know? Even Bulgaria couldn't touch you during the Euro's this year," Bulgaria had been the leading team in international Quidditch since the beginning of time. Only in recent years, England had started to make up the difference by implementing a new strategy under Coach Hoogh.
"Well, thank you," Ginny stated, "nonetheless, knowing you, you have stacked up an enormous amount of vacation days since you've started working there," Ginny gave her a knowing look over the rim of her glass as she took a sip of water.
"Not four months worth," Hermione defended herself, even though she was pretty sure she'd stacked up at least more than two full months of vacation days.
"Well, I'll give you coach Hoogh's contact information in case you want to interview for the job," Ginny stubbornly pushed on. "I want to get you out of that tiny office and what's better than spending up to - knock on wood -" the redhead dramatically hit her knuckles on the table twice, "four months in sunny Argentina, with me, your best friend." Ginny paused for a moment. "And all you have to do in return is take care of some absolutely chiselled bodies of professional Quidditch players." Ginny looked at her mischievously.
"GINNY!" Hermione blurted out, embarrassed while her cheeks turning scarlet red.
"Hermione Jean Granger, get your mind out of the gutter, both male and female Quidditch players have muscles," Ginny flexed her bicep to emphasise her point, "Though I must admit I wouldn't mind taking care of Davies' body if you know what I mean," Ginny winked.
"Ginny, focus," Hermione laughed, "You've got a boyfriend, and his name is not Roger Davies."
"Look, Davies is part of the 'appreciate, but do not touch' -category," Ginny explained, "He is an all-body, limited brains kind of guy, once you've been around those kinds of men long enough you'll love to go back home to someone like Harry, too," she laughed.
"Well, I guess I might find that out over the next four months." Hermione finally gave in, "I suppose I can think about the job offer," She continued solemnly, "I've always been wondering about how being an actual healer would be. This might be good practice."
"I knew the promise of caressing Davies' shoulder muscles would convince you," Ginny exclaimed excitedly.
"Still, I would first like to see if I can salvage the situation at work." Ginny's face fell, "But I suppose you could give me your coach's contact info," the redhead's smile returned to her face. "I just want to be able to return to St. Mungo's if I don't get the job, you know I haven't done any practical healing in years. I'm certainly not a shoo-in for the job, I should have a back-up plan," Hermione looked up at the clock to see that she was already running late. "I should really get back to the office now, Gin, I promise, I'll seriously think about it."
Hermione and Ginny stood from their spot at the back of the pub and exited the pub on to a busy South London street.
"Okay, you're allowed to go all Hermione Granger on this one, as long as you contact Coach Hoogh." The redhead smiled at her, "I'll owl you his contact info as soon as I get home," Ginny said as they reached the apparition point in the foyer of the St. Mungo's building. "It should be on your desk before you get there," She said as she apparated away in a blur.
Toying with the possible solution to her problems, Hermione walked up the stairs towards the top floor of the building. She was adamant that she wouldn't let Robert ruin her workplace experience. Even if she got this job as a sports healer, she wouldn't let him overshadow six years of amazing experiences and meaningful life lessons with his idiot behaviour.
As Ginny had promised, a letter was waiting on her desk as she walked into their tiny office. Okay, she had to suck it up and actually have this talk she had wanted to have with Robert ever since she had returned home from their date on Saturday night. Hermione sat down on her desk chair and took a deep breath.
"Right, Robert," She started hesitantly, and as expected he once again didn't look up from the scrolls he was translating in his hand, "We need to talk about this."
A/N: Please tell me what your thoughts are about this chapter and what you think might happen in the future for our Star Quidditch Players and lovable Healer. I've done way too much background work for this fic, I've got fancast for characters you haven't even met yet. So if you're wondering what those shoulder muscles from Roger Davies actually look like, just ask, I'm sure I can find a picture. This fic has been roughly plotted and will be updated on write and post as you go basis. But I'm sure I'll post the next chapter soon because I'm also excited to see where exactly this story goes.