Anything recognizable does not belong to me! This story is complete, and I will be updating every few days as I edit. There is also a small prequel called a Litany of Apologies.
The first chapter is a lot of setting up, so I hope you give the other chapters a chance because things move along fairly quickly!
I hope you enjoy!
As she cast a final diagnostic spell, Hermione could feel a bead of sweat slip down her neck. A small sigh of relief escaped when everything appeared to be normal. Turning away from her patient, she tapped her wand to a small button on the wall. "Could I please have a nurse in OR 9?"
"One will arrive in a few minutes," promised a pleasant female voice, as Hermione studied the chart on the wall that automatically noted every spell, potion, and any actions she had taken over the past few hours. Severe internal bleeding and many shattered bones had made the operation slightly complicated, especially for a Junior Healer to take on her own. Hermione sighed and tapped the chart to indicate that the operation was complete.
"What happened in here?" gasped a St. Mungo's nurse in her light blue uniform who had just opened the door. Hermione cringed as she took in the room. Blood was all over the table and her bright green Healer robes.
"Sorry, I was going to clean up while I was waiting." Hermione cast the proper gentle scourgify on the patient and a harsher one on the room.
The nurse just nodded and raised her own wand to levitate the patient onto the hospital bed she had brought with her. A few more flicks of her wand had the man in a hospital gown and a blanket pulled up to his chest. "Please send a copy of your charts to room 38 when you are finished."
Hermione managed a tired smile and promised to send the notes to the appropriate Healers once she organized them. The doors shut behind the nurse, and Hermione groaned. She cast a quick scourgify on her robes before she grabbed her notes. As she was organizing the rest of the room, she made a mental note to ask Daphne about her progress on the advanced blood replenishing potion they had been discussing for the past few weeks. It would have been useful in today's operation.
There wasn't anyone else in the corridor as she exited, and the growl of her stomach echoed in the usually busy operating ward. She realized it was already past four in the afternoon and hoped that everyone else was available. She just needed to find five minutes to eat her sandwich. No one else was in the small Junior Healer Trauma office besides Alicia Spinnet, who gave Hermione a small wave and followed her to her desk.
"How's your day going, Alicia?" Hermione sank into her chair and hunted for the small sandwich and the cup of coffee she had picked up that morning.
Alicia cast a small warming charm on her coffee and perched on the edge of the desk, agilely avoiding disturbing the stack of reports and healing texts. "It's been pretty crazy, but that's normal! I did a major operation this morning with Head Healer Park and another one around noon with Healer Jones before I was told to prepare some reports for the trainees to work on."
Hermione nodded as she took a sip of her thankfully hot coffee. "That sounds nice."
"Merlin, you look tired. I would imagine you would be used to long operating hours by now." Alicia frowned as she took a look at the chart on Hermione's desk. "I noticed you were in the operating room when I finished my second operation, but I didn't realize you were alone. You didn't even have the assistance light on outside."
"Oh, it just worked out like that." Hermione took a bite of her sandwich and swallowed quickly. "Everyone was busy, and the patient came in so quickly. The operation was pretty simple in theory, and I didn't think anyone else would be available soon."
"I still can't believe you're in the Trauma ward. I always imagined you would go for the Research ward or Long-Term Care ward. You always liked doing the research instead of doing everything quickly like Harry does," mused Alicia, as she studied the chart and took in the timing of the actions and the number of spells cast.
"You talked with Head Healer Park after your operation," groaned Hermione. Their Head Healer was not Hermione's biggest fan and was always suggesting she move divisions.
Her fellow Junior Healer laughed. "I really don't think he hates you. He just thinks you would be happier in a different ward. You're doing great work, but you don't seem to relish working at lightning speeds and having to make split-second decisions."
Hermione snorted into her coffee and smirked. "I had perfectly good split-second decisions and instincts during the war, thank you very much."
"Oh, I forgot about the dragon!" Alicia snorted as she shook her head. "Head Healer Park just wants everyone to be happy, and he still wants to poach Harry."
"Harry's happy where he is. Can you imagine how many more witches would somehow hurt themselves to potentially be treated by the Boy Who Lived? Besides, he doesn't want the hardest division in all of St. Mungo's."
"I just want to make sure you're happy, Hermione. You don't have to do the hardest things because you feel like you need to, oh Miss Brightest Witch of our Age," announced Alicia with a flourish of papers.
Hermione blushed. "I know the work doesn't come naturally to me, but I'm ok with where I am right now. We'll see what happens in a few years."
Alicia sighed and returned the papers. "Fine. But take a ten minute break. The others should be back soon, and you should take advantage of the peace and quiet after your operation."
"I will, thanks! I'm going to visit Harry, but send me a message if anything comes up." Hermione smiled and popped the last of her sandwich into her mouth as Alicia waved her away.
Hermione had barely set foot in the Pediatric Ward before she spotted her best friend. "Harry!"
He glanced up from his papers and grinned. "Hi Hermione! I'm just heading to my last patient of the day. You're welcome to join me."
She nodded and made her way further down the corridor to where Harry was waiting outside a door. Harry hadn't changed much in the five years since the war. Their Eighth Year at Hogwarts had eased them into normalcy, and they had all gotten the opportunity to put their year hunting horcruxes behind him. His bright green robes fit him well, and the slight slouch in his stance was due to being near the end of a twelve hour shift instead of being on the run and starving. Harry was definitely happy working with children instead of chasing down dark wizards.
His green eyes crinkled as she stepped closer. "I was actually going to talk to you about this case over dinner. It's nothing we've seen before, and I thought I could use your big brai—"
"Junior Healer Potter," a loud voice boomed in the corridor and caused several nearby nurses to flinch.
Harry rolled his eyes at her and pasted on the smile reserved for the fangirls who snuck into the ward and for Prophet photographers at large events. "Healer Smith. Can I help you with anything?"
Benjamin Smith, Zacharias's older cousin, gave a similar smile back. "Ah Junior Healer Granger. I see you've deserted your post again."
Hermione hoped she had a smile that matched the others, but it probably came out as a grimace. "Just taking a small break after a five-hour operation. I thought I would stretch my legs."
"Five hours, Hermione?" Harry shot her a worried glance and looked like he was about to cast a diagnostic spell on her.
"I operated on a patient for eight hours not too long ago. Anyways, I'll take over your last patient Junior Healer Potter. I've already finished my rounds, and I think the Head Healer would like to see some results on this novel case instead of more reports." Smith held out an expectant hand.
"That's fine. I'll swing around before I leave to say hi to Alex later then. We can get in our daily game of chess then." Harry quickly handed off a chart and dragged Hermione down the corridor. "Five hours? I know you did a four hour one just yesterday by yourself," Harry angrily muttered as he tried to push her down into a nearby chair.
"I'm fine, Harry." Hermione managed to brush him off and glared at him. "We're all working the same hours. I just happen to be operating for most of them, and I don't get a chance to stretch my legs."
He frowned. "I bet you did this one by yourself again. You're going to wear yourself out, and it's only Tuesday."
"I'll be fine. I should be good to go right at seven if you want to floo home for dinner together. I can ask Daphne if she wants to come over for dinner."
He brightened at that. "Sounds good, and Ginny will also be there. I don't have too much paperwork to finish up. I'll just be in Alex's room, so you can come whenever you're finished."
Hermione nodded to a few of the other Junior Healers in her office before sitting down. It's not that she was being unfriendly, but it just felt pointless when they would be gone after a couple months. Because of how small their Hogwarts class had been, there weren't nearly enough Junior Healers. A lot of Junior Healers were from America and continental Europe, and they only came for a short internship. Alicia was the only one who would be staying long-term. Most of the trainees were from Hogwarts, so she would have more long-term colleagues in a few years.
She scrawled a note to Daphne on a charmed notepad left over from their trainee days. Daphne Greengrass had lived with her parents, and Hermione had just moved into Grimmauld Place at the beginning of their healing education. It had been too much of a hassle for them to work on homework and study for exams with each other in person, so Hermione had charmed a notebook so they could work together.
Hi Daph, Let me know if you have any updates on the new blood replenishing potion? It would've been useful in an operation today. Also, you're welcome to come over for dinner tonight. – Hermione
Hermione flipped through a couple charts for the next few hours and made notes for the Healers working on the patients she had operated on. Because of the nature of her ward, she never saw patients again after they went to the appropriate Healer, who would then be in charge of the patient until they were discharged. She still liked to keep track of them and see if she could help out with any follow-up procedures. Her notepad rippled with a response.
Hello Hermione, I am quite busy this week with some things at home, but thank you for the offer. I do have some progress. Will you be in the office Saturday around lunch? -Daphne
She grinned as she penned off a note and marked her calendar. Her Saturdays were for supervising trainees and helping out with scheduled surgeries in the late afternoon. It was the one predictable part of her week.
"Ah, Granger." A tall Asian man had walked up to her desk and was peering down at her. Head Healer Park reminded her of her old Potions professor, though not in appearances. The man in front of her had perfectly coiffed black hair that never seemed to be out of place, even in the operating room, and had horn rimmed glasses that didn't quite hide the smile lines by his eyes. However, they both moved silently and gracefully, and they had eyes that judged her for every single one of her actions. "I heard you had a solo operation."
Hermione stood up. "Head Healer Park. I did do an operation earlier." She found the chart and offered the pages to him.
"Hmm, not bad. No complications, I assume. Although it did take quite some time." He raised an eyebrow. "You're lucky it worked out the way it did. If you had taken someone else with you it would've saved time and prevented any hiccups if they came up."
"Yes, Sir. It was a unique situation. If there are other people around next time, I will be sure to grab them." Hermione could feel a blush as she watched her supervisor flip through the pages with his wand. Everyone had been busy when the call had first come in, but she really should have turned on the assistance light. If something hadn't worked properly, the operation could have ended badly.
"See that you do. It would help to have someone with instincts and who can make split-second decisions in the operating room. Carry on." He neatly put the pages back together and turned to the next Junior Healer.
Hermione took a deep breath and looked through the chart from that day's surgery. Head Healer Park's neat penmanship littered the pages with modifications and improvements. There were notes questioning the necessity of complicated spellwork, adding spells, and highlighting how long the operation had taken. There was still an hour until her shift was over, so she pulled out her notes and started to write an alternate plan for next time.
At 7:05, she cleaned up her station and dropped her notes in her satchel to study when she got home. They couldn't take any charts home in the interest of patient confidentiality, but they could take home notes with specific details they wanted to review. She walked Alicia to the staff fireplaces before continuing to the Pediatric ward again. The ward was relatively quiet with all the children in their rooms for the evening. A voice called for her to come in when she gave a small knock on the door Harry had been outside earlier.
"Ah my dinner reminder is here," said Harry with an impish grin. A groan came from the bed. A boy who couldn't have been more than eight years old pushed the chess set in front of him away.
"Does this mean we have to stop?" Alex had light brown hair and a frown on his face. His blue eyes were currently pulling puppy eyes, and Hermione wished she had come a few minutes later.
"I'm afraid so, Alex. It's ok, I'll keep my board in my office and we can continue the game tomorrow." Harry cast a stasis charm on his pieces and set his board aside. "Let me do one last quick check on you, and Nurse Davies should be coming by with your dinner. I should be able to come in before your parents tomorrow morning." He was already pulling out his wand and waving intricate movements.
"Will the wards come down tomorrow?" asked the young patient. Hermione frowned and noticed that there was a quarantine ward around the bed, which explained why they were playing chess on two sets.
Harry chuckled. "Yes, we've determined that nothing's contagious. If the diagnostics stay the same overnight, I'll take the wards down before your parents come to visit. Hopefully it's a sign that you'll be back to normal soon. Anything else you need in the meantime?"
"No. Thanks, Harry." Alex set aside the chess table and made room for his impending dinner.
"No problem! I'll see you in the morning." The charts and chess board were summoned into Harry's waiting hands. He banished the board and charts to his office and sent the a packet of notes into his own satchel with an undetectable extension charm, courtesy of Hermione.
Hermione smiled at the young boy and followed Harry out of the room. "Quarantine wards?"
Harry groaned, "It's been a nightmare of a case. We can talk about it over dinner. Kreacher popped by a few minutes ago and told me that dinner will be ready in a half hour, and Ginny should be there just in time."
"Wonderful, just enough time for a shower." Hermione led the way towards the staff fireplaces and grabbed a pinch of powder. She softly spoke, "Grimmauld Place." They had dropped the Fidelius Charm last year, and the house was extensively warded, but it had been a habit to keep the official name quiet.
She quickly stepped through before Harry could bump her and began to clean her robes. A pop sounded to her right. "Miss Hermione and Master Harry. Dinner will be ready in about a half hour. Is there anything you would like Kreacher to do?"
Hermione still relished hearing the ancient house elf say her name with a modicum of respect. "Just dinner would be lovely, thank you." He nodded and popped back to the kitchen. She dodged the coffee table cluttered with healing textbooks and dropped her satchel on her couch. Harry did the same with his couch and they both made their way upstairs.
Harry continued to the third floor, while Hermione opened her bedroom door on the second. Eager to shower the day away, she shrugged her Healer robes into the laundry basket and quickly entered the bathroom. The lights flickered on, and she was looking at herself in the mirror as she unbuttoned her shirt.
There were bags under her eyes, and her bun was dangerously close to coming undone. With a sigh, she took the pins out and continued to toss clothing into the laundry basket. The hot shower was definitely helping, and she could feel her muscles relaxing as the hot water pounded down on her shoulders. It hadn't been the worst day, but she could tell she needed an early night.
She quickly dressed in a simple t-shirt and shorts before hurrying downstairs. Ginny was already sitting next to Harry at the table and sipping a butterbeer. "Hi Ginny, how was your day?"
The pretty redhead turned and grinned. "I got to update some traps on the Potter vaults today! Apparently, they belong to someone important or something."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Or something. Please don't destroy my vaults. Also, isn't there some kind of conflict of interest in working on your boyfriend's vault?" He playfully pulled Ginny's ponytail and dodged her counterattack.
"Don't worry, I put in some of the latest ones I've been learning during my apprenticeship." Ginny took off her Gringotts robes to reveal her Holyhead Harpies team t-shirt from two years ago. "Can we start eating now? I need to go back to work in an hour."
"I think you might work worse hours than us, Ginny." Hermione grimaced at the thought of going to work after dinner. She grabbed her plate and dug into the salad bowl.
"Actually, it's not that bad. It's still nothing like your trainee period." Ginny grinned at the twin expressions of disgust on her friend and boyfriend's faces. "I should be getting hours that are more like yours next year." Ginny had moved back in with her parents after she exchanged her brief but successful quidditch career for a career as a Gringotts Curse Setter. The hours of her apprenticeship were the opposite of Harry and Hermione's schedule, and having even more exhausted Healers and Curse Setters was a bad idea.
Harry grinned as he dug into his chicken. "Finally. Say the word and I'll grab your things from the Burrow to move you in."
"I still have a few months before my schedule will calm down, Harry. Speaking of schedules, I'm having lunch with Ron and Lavender on Saturday if either of you are free." Ron and Lavender had gotten together during their Eighth Year and had gotten engaged a few months ago. The two of them had more freedom in their schedules as the manager of the Hogsmeade Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and as a reporter for Witch Weekly.
"Hmm, I might be able to make time for lunch on Saturday. There's a weird case in my ward, but they should be able to spare me for a longer Saturday lunch. Hopefully it resolves itself before the weekend."
Hermione swallowed a bite of her baked potatoes. "Weird case?"
"Oh yeah, it's Alex. He's had some weird symptoms that seem like the muggle cold, but his parents said that nothing's been working. We've been quarantining him all day in case it was contagious, but it seems like it's fine. All of our usual diagnostics haven't shown anything out of the ordinary beyond his symptoms and none of the treatments we've tried today have worked. It's baffled everyone." Harry took a sip of butterbeer. "Hopefully he'll just feel better, but the other Healers are starting to get interested in his illness."
"None of the diagnostics showed anything out of the ordinary? That's odd." Hermione frowned and thought about it. "They should detect muggle diseases as well. I'm assuming he's not a pureblood if he's having cold symptoms?"
"His mom's a muggleborn at least from what I could see from the patient history."
"Hopefully you'll figure it out soon. Hermione, what about you? Lunch?"
Hermione shook her head. "Sorry, I already promised my free time on Saturday afternoon to Daphne. She has some updates on a potion I wanted to see. But we should see them on Sunday at the Burrow?" Even though things hadn't worked out with Ron the summer before their Eighth Year, Hermione got along with the couple. Due to their schedules, the only times they had time to see each other were Sunday lunches at the Burrow.
"Lavender has an assignment in Paris for the next week, so they're both leaving Saturday evening. Ron's decided he wants to see if the new employees can hold down the fort while the village is quiet for summer holiday. I think he just wanted a free trip to Paris" Ginny popped half of her roll into her mouth.
Harry laughed. "Spending your free time on a potion again? Are you sure you don't want to work in the Research ward?"
"I'm fine where I am, Harry. Although, everyone still wants you in the Trauma ward because they think you'll take to it like a fish in water."
"Nope," muttered Harry with a scowl, "I'm perfectly fine with the kids and no major injuries." He thought as he took another sip of butterbeer. "I still think you're being wasted in the Trauma ward. You're good at what you do, and you've proven that you can do it. But Hermione, I still don't think you're entirely comfortable there, and I think you would be much happier in a lab. I think it might challenge you more than constantly operating on patients."
She sighed. "It's not just wanting to be intellectually challenged, Harry. I want to get better at split-second decision making and learn some new skills before I think about going back to research. Today's events clearly showed I have some more work to do."
His bright green eyes stared at her. "Do you think you'll get nightmares again tonight? I have a vial of dreamless sleep in my satchel."
"I'll be fine Harry. You don't need to worry about me." Hermione turned away to drink her butterbeer, avoiding her best friend's doubtful expression.
The nightmares came after stressful solo operations. They were about the patients she operated on, but it was the feeling that was the worst. It was the sense of utter helplessness she had gotten when Ron had splinched himself and Harry had been bitten by Nagini in Godric's Hollow. The feeling that her patient was going to die because she didn't know what to do. It was much worse than the pre-exam panic that had held her captive during her Hogwarts years. And she had lost patients, but she had never lost a patient when she worked by herself. The one time she almost did had her waking up with nightmares for a week.
It would be fine. Nothing she couldn't handle.
"Draco? The rest of the house is secure. Anything else to do down there?" Blaise's voice drifted through the cellar door. His friend's tone was professional and could be used as an example in Auror trainee classes.
He surveyed the destroyed cellar. There were scorch marks on the walls where misfired spells had landed, and a pile of storage boxes in the far corner had been incinerated. He called back, "I just need to make a couple notes. Did Theo take the suspects in already?"
"Yes, a couple hitwizards came to help with the transport." Blaise was making his way down the cellar steps and let out a sigh as he surveyed the damage. "For people who were working the black market, they were terrible with their spells." Draco finished jotting a few notes in his notebook to make writing up the report easier before facing his friend.
Blaise had his easy-going grin he reserved for outside of work on his face. A small cut marred his hand. "One of them still managed to nick you though, Blaise. You're going to have to use your mother's special cream if you don't want it to scar." Draco smirked at his friend and started up the stairs, blinking a bit in surprise when he noticed that the sun was setting already. The raid had happened at noon, but there had been too many objects to catalog after they had incapacitated the house's residents.
"I don't think either of us were expecting one of his misfired spells to splinter a chair." The Italian Auror grimaced and pulled out a handkerchief to dab at the cut. "I'll see you in Robards's office in ten minutes? I have some bruise paste for your cheek, and I can grab mother's potion. And I know you'll use it because it's on your face instead of elsewhere on your body." Blaise pulled out his wand and cast a flurry of charms on his robes and Draco's robes so that they looked brand new and freshly pressed. "We need the Malfoy heir to look his best as always." With a wink and a small crack, he apparated away.
Draco just rolled his eyes and pulled his wand out to apparate to the Ministry. While Blaise, or Blaises's mother, was obsessed with keeping his body free of scars, Draco had given up caring on how marred his body was and didn't particularly like to be treated. He only made an exception for his face because his mother would move back from France in a heartbeat if she had the slightest hint that he had been injured. He knew she would be anxious to be in Great Britain without her husband, so he focused on sounding happy and looking injury-free whenever he visited her. He had already cast a numbing spell on his cheek where a small box had hit him from a minor explosion.
A few dirty looks darted his way in the atrium, but it was far fewer than when he had first become an Auror trainee. Draco, Theo, and Blaise had finished the program as the top three recruits respectively and had impeccable case records. The Prophet always liked to feature them in the Case of the Week, marveling at how efficiently the partners wrapped up cases. It also helped that Blaise's mother had been keeping quiet with her latest husband in Italy, Lucius Malfoy was safely in Azkaban, and Theodore Nott Sr. had died in the Battle at Hogwarts. Their fellow Junior Aurors and senior colleagues had been wary until they realized how skilled the three were. It was excellent if you could get one on your team, but the real prize was if all three were on the same team.
He was grateful for Blaises's spells when he entered a lift with other Wizengamot members. He usually did keep his robes neat to keep up appearances, but it had seemed pointless when there was a small chance of anyone important lingering in the Ministry in the evenings.
"Mister Malfoy. Are you coming back from a case?" Draco turned to the side to see Augusta Longbottom next to him. Even though the old woman was much smaller, Draco felt like he was looking up at her.
"Good evening, Madame Longbottom. We arrested several smugglers and just finished cataloging their wares. I think their information will help the Wizengamot's next session regarding the black market that has picked up recently." Draco kept his professional mask up. He couldn't give a lot of details, but he knew the Wizengamot would find out eventually, especially since there had been more smuggling cases in the past month than the past year.
She nodded. "Wonderful news. I'm glad you're keeping up with the Wizengamot proceedings. I know my Neville is only focused on his plants and students." She sniffed. "And the Potter boy is just running around St. Mungo's. I hope when all of you children decide to take up your family seats that you're well versed on how the proceedings work."
Draco managed to contain his smirk at her compliment. "I'll do my best to prepare when I make the decision." The lift landed on the eighth floor. "Have a good evening." He knew that there were several seats on the Wizengamot that were empty. Members had to be above the age of 35 before they could take on their family seat. He had already resigned himself to taking up his post when he turned of age because there was no way the Wizengamot would allow Lucius Malfoy to take up the post right after his Azkaban sentence. He was surprised Neville wasn't keeping up with the proceedings, as both of them had been raised as heirs and exposed to the politics they would be required to have some part in when they became old enough.
He made his way to Robards's office and found Theo waiting outside. His other friend and Auror partner was flipping through his notebook to prep for the briefing. "I have a few more notes to add about the damage during the raid here, Theo."
"Pass me your notebook then, and I'll organize it. I'm assuming Blaise will be here soon?" Theo gave a tired smile. He was the more studious one and typically arranged all of their reports even though Draco led most of the reporting.
"He just needs to pretty up his face a bit," Draco snorted and handed Theo the relevant pages.
"My face is already pretty, thank you very much," drawled Blaise as he walked up. He tossed the bruising paste to Draco, who neatly caught it before sliding the small jar into his pocket.
"Are you boys ready?" The Head Auror was studying them from the door of his office. He seemed amused by their antics. "You won't be paid more for your looks, Zabini. And Nott, I'm sure the report will be fine. I just want a brief overview and you can turn in an official report by the end of the week."
He invited them into his office and listened to Draco's brief overview of the mission. "Good job, lads. I'll have one of you join the interrogation team and it would be great if you could give me a formal report by the end of Friday" They all looked at Theo, who just nodded. The report would be on Robards's desk by noon of Friday at the latest, given the way Theo finished his assignments. "I also want to talk about your upcoming promotion."
The three former Slytherins straightened up a bit at that news. They had been Junior Aurors for a couple years, and they were looking forward to becoming formal Aurors. It would mean getting put on some more interesting cases. There were considerably less cases with the Dark Arts involved with all of the Death Eaters rounded up, but there were more exciting cases beyond dealing with smugglers.
Robards smiled at their enthusiasm. "I know all of you are very successful, and the Prophet has been singing your praises. I think I want to give you a different type of case just to round out some of your skills before we promote you. We should be able to give you something in a couple weeks. I'm having Deputy Head Marks look over your past cases and seeing what we can use to diversify your skills before we set you loose. Any questions?"
Draco glanced at the other two and shook his head. "That sounds good to us, sir. We'll keep an eye out and focus on wrapping this case up for the rest of the week."
"Excellent. You're free to go home right now. I'm sure Zabini wants you to take care of your face, Malfoy." Robards snorted and sent the notes he had written during their briefing into an empty folder.
Hermione pulled her hair into a ponytail as she boarded the hospital lift to find Daphne. She assumed Harry was off exchanging notes with other Junior Healers. They all had six hour shifts on the weekend, but this meant that there was more information turnover to keep track of. Quickly coming to the Research Ward on the top floor, Hermione opened the first door to see the usually elegant blonde with her hair in a messy bun and minding several potions with varying degrees of stasis charms on them. It was a sight that was familiar from Eighth Year.
The two had become friends in their Eighth Year when they had become Potions partners and worked together on their Arithmancy and Ancient Runes homework in the library. Daphne had been particularly skilled in Potions, and Slughorn had spent the year praising their extra credit work in preparation for NEWTS. The Slytherin girl had been close with Theodore Nott and Tracey Davis before the war, but had kept mostly to herself during their Eighth Year aside from joining Hermione and Harry in the library to focus on the NEWTS required for a spot in the St. Mungos training program. Hermione didn't think she had gone to the Slytherin dungeons for any other purpose beyond needing a place to sleep.
The blonde looked up and gave a small smile. "Hello Hermione, perfect timing as always. I have some arithmancy equations that aren't adding up for this potion. Can you take a look?"
Hermione grinned. "Of course." She felt a small thrill as she looked at Daphne's neat script and pulled out a quill to do some extra calculations.
It's been a while since I've written anything, and this is my first HP story. Thank you for reading! - Ameliortea