Setting A5 - Laboratory

Fall A1 - Ceramic Mug

Shipping Bingo D2 - Finish Each Other's X

Stacked With: SoC; PP; LL; NC; SIN; ToS; FPC; Cluster; Rum; MLG; ER; Fence; Star; T3; FaB; Set; Ship

Individual Challenges: Short Jog (Y); Bucket Listing (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Neurodivergent (Y); Rian-Russo Inversion (Y); Ethnic & Present (Y); Disabled (Y); Setting Sail (Y); Hold the Mayo (Y); Zed Era (Y); Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; Magical MC; Old Shoes (Y); Adult Activities (Y)

Primary & Secondary BCs: Under the Bridge; Soul-Like; Second Verse (Muck & Slime; Deadliest Catch; Middle Name; Unwanted Advice; Spinning Plates; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; Ladylike); Chorus (Sitting Hummingbird; Seven Gates; Unicorn; Machismo; Bee Haven; Endless Wonder; Wabi Sabi)

Tertiary & Generic BCs: T3 (Thimble)

Team: Earth Tones

Word Count: 1078

Warnings:

~o0o~

Unspeakables rarely interacted with each other. They had their assignments and working as a team was a twice a year sort of deal. The really dangerous stuff was typically handled by Curse-Breakers, An Unspeakable's job was to experiment and observe. If you needed to interact with another Unspeakable, there was a memo board and the copper letter tunnels that ran through the entire Department of Mysteries. Hermione liked it that way. She never was one to interact with other human beings and it made sure she spent more time alone than ever. Harry had Blaise, Ron had Luna. It was fine. She was fine.

The lunch reminder tolled. Just because it did, however, it didn't mean that everyone went to lunch at the same time. Hermione finished documenting her notes before taking her favorite ceramic mug with her to the coffee station. As she was assembling her next cup, she realized she forgot her oat milk in the fridge and hurried off to fetch it. In hindsight, she should have brought her mug with her, but she had a lot on her mind that day.

Upon opening the community fridge, she found that she had brought her lunch that day. She was so sure she'd forgotten it. Opening it up, she found her avocado and cheese sandwich, though she could have sworn she used challah bread instead of ciabatta, but she was half asleep when she packed this morning. Grabbing that and her creamer, she returned to the coffee station to find her mug missing.

Great.

Huffing, she grabbed a paper cup and filled it. She liked her mug way better, but it was her mistake for leaving it alone. It often went missing but turned back up eventually. Sometimes she even found it in the sink. Once the creamer was back, she returned to her desk to eat. The sandwich was amazing. When did she think to put ranch dressing on her sandwiches? She devoured it and opened the bag of crisps to munch on while she continued her work.

She had been documenting the long-term effects of time-turner usage (having been a user herself) in order to both improve the magical object as well as provide St. Mungo's medical teams with a list of side-effects that would then be cured.

"YOU!"

She turned around to see Cedric Diggory who worked on the other side of her cubicle. He was tasked with modernizing the wizarding world in order to better hide in plain sight. He was a pretty good neighbor most of the time, though her favorite time was when he was working on Walkmans. They had similar music tastes and he never failed to send her a kind smile when she passed.

However, he was glaring at her and looking furious this time.

"So you're the lunch thief!" he said. "I knew I remembered to pack it today!"

"What are you on?" Hermione retorted. "Limited edition Star Trek lunchbox?"

"Yeah! My mum bought it for me when I was a kid." He stormed over and turned it upside down. "See? C.D. Cedric Diggory. That's mine."

As he leaned over, she saw the mug balancing on the tray on his lap.

"Well, that's my mug!" she said indignantly. "I knew it didn't just walk off on its own. Again, but that was a weird day for all of us."

"What? World's Greatest Grandpa," he squawked, holding it up. "No way, this is my mug. I'm the World's Greatest Grandpa!"

Hermione snorted and he chuckled before both returned their scowls.

"Well…" said Hermione. "It seems… I was mistaken with the lunch box, but I do promise that I have the exact same lunch tin and this is what I packed for lunch this morning. Avocado, gouda, lettuce, tomato. Though I must say I like the touch of ranch."

He scoffed lightly and took the remains of his meal. "Yeah? Well…" He paused. "Hold on."

He backed his wheelchair out of her office and returned several minutes later, bearing two of the same coffee mugs and a blush.

"Er… I don't suppose you use the oat creamer," he said.

"Yeah! I drink that because it's easier than worrying about keeping things Kosher," she said. "Just in case I have to grab a meat sandwich when I forget my lunch."

"Me too!" he said. "The vegetarian options in the cafeteria are seriously lacking."

"Right?"

He chuckled and handed her one of the mugs. "Here… topped it off."

"Thank you." She sipped it and looked back over at him. "Sorry for stealing your lunch. What time do you get off work? I'll buy you dinner to compensate."

"Just after six," he said and opened the lunch box to eat the apple inside. "I thought I was going mad. My mug and lunchbox appearing and disappearing at random times."

"Me too!" said Hermione. "I thought maybe it was a prank or an experiment from a different department."

"I actually threatened them once to tell me if it was an experiment," said Cedric. "In my defense, I was hangry."

"I did too, but I'm just mean," she said.

He laughed and she felt butterflies in her stomach. She had a minor crush on him in school, but she got them so easily that she learned to stop paying attention to them. She thought she had grown up since then, but evidently not.

"Again, sorry about the mix up," she said. "I brought those because I thought nobody else would have them."

"Well, great minds and fools and however that saying goes," he said. "I bought that mug because I thought it was hilarious."

"George bought it for me for my birthday one year." She took another sip of coffee. "And I've had the lunchbox since I was a kid."

"Yeah, same!"

"Really?" Hermione furrowed her brow. "I thought you were pureblood."

"I am, but I was always fascinated by the muggle world and so my mum took me to the movie theater in town and surprised me with this lunchbox for Hanukkah." He glanced at his watch. "I should get back to work if I'm going to make our date on time."

"Date?"

"If you make plans, it's a date," he said. "Platonic or otherwise is entirely up to the other person."

He grinned and Hermione was sure she was blushing. Taking a deep breath, she returned to her work, but for once she looked forward to the end of the day.