"Hermione!"
"Miss Granger!"
"What can you say about the recent Werewolf Bill that you helped pass?"
"Did you use your War Hero status to pass the Bill?"
Hermione momentarily freezes at the last question before pushing through the crowd of reporters. She finally makes it through the doors of the Ministry Atrium, which have been warded against anyone who isn't a Ministry employee or doesn't have legitimate business with the Ministry. Her assistant, who she spots leaning against the wall and talking to a group of other employees, immediately pushes off it and walks over when he sees her. She hands him her files, and he follows her from a few feet away while she makes her way to the elevators. Everyone around them is mysteriously quiet, and so is Dominic. He stays silent until they step onto the floor of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, at which point he starts speaking.
"Deputy Head Granger, good morning. As you can see, word has gotten out about your contributions to the bill that we passed. The Head of the Department would like to congratulate you on your achievement, and the Minister sent a bouquet to your office with a card. The werewolf organization has also sent you a basket containing various items." Dominic pauses, and his professional tone is momentarily taken over by that of an excited fanboy when he speaks again. "Auror Harry Potter sent you a bottle of wine." He clears his throat. "There are also letters that have been addressed to you, and have passed inspection. Would you like me to go through these again and sort them?"
She shakes her head as she enters her office, which is, as her assistant was saying, full of gifts and letters. She takes it all in for a second before sitting behind her desk. "Please put aside all of the gifts in a box so I can take them home later. Just be careful with the wine from Harry. Sort through the letters again and make sure to remove anything that might be dangerous, then give me whatever is left. Can you tell me what the agenda is for today?"
Her assistant rattles off her schedule: lunch with the entire Department to celebrate the Werewolf Bill, and a meeting with the Head in the afternoon. She nods and waits for him to leave before slouching in her seat. Her next major project, a bill for the goblins, isn't going well. The goblins have been refusing to meet with her the past few months, when she took over the project. She's stuck, and she doesn't know how to get them to talk to her about the new laws and regulations to be implemented. When she spoke to Bill recently, he said that the goblins don't trust any humans - specifically, they don't trust Hermione because of the breaking-into-Gringotts incident. Even worse than that, however, is their refusal to work with the DRCMC because she's the Deputy Head of the Department.
She's tried different ways of getting them to have a discussion with someone, but they still refuse to do so as long as she works in the Department. She's almost entirely sure that she'll have to leave the Department before anything changes for the goblins. Her boss refused her first offer to leave, but she can tell that it's been weighing on him as well. Passing a bill for the goblins has been his goal for the longest time, and the fact that her presence is preventing it from coming to fruition is probably torture.
She manages to get some work done, although the dilemma with the goblins is still in the back of her mind. After an hour, the door rattles a bit before it swings open widely, and she looks up to see her best friend. His hair is unkempt as ever, although possibly more messy than usual, and his green eyes glimmer as he makes himself comfortable in one of the chairs opposite her. They just stare at each other for a second before he barks out a laugh and calls out Dominic's name. Her assistant immediately runs in, faster than she's ever seen him move, and carefully places the wine and two glasses on her table before sprinting back out. Harry's grin is wide. "Dominic is getting a lot faster."
She sticks her tongue out at him as she opens the bottle using her wand, then pours the dark liquid into the glasses. "That's your fault, Mr. I-Saved-The-World. Why don't you take some time to talk to him a bit? Maybe then he'll realize what an idiot you are and stop with his hero worship of you."
He laughs again, drinking the wine in one go, much to her displeasure. She watches on disapprovingly as he pours himself another glass, swirling the liquid around while leaning back. "Hermione, I did try and talk to him at the start, you know that. What you don't know is how it just got kind of weird. He'd ask me about things I said in interviews, or recent news articles. He was trying to act normal, but it was hard for him. It was hard for me to ignore it, too."
Hermione winces at this, understanding how Dominic could have done those things. His common sense usually goes out the window when it comes to Harry Potter, and so does his professionalism. He becomes, to put it like Ron would, a massive fanboy. "Okay, no need to tell me more. I get how that might happen. In his defense, he is a very capable employee. He's just..."
"Irrational?" Harry chimes in, looking amused at the conversation. She throws him a dark look before clearing her throat primly.
"Well, yes. Quite. At times. Sadly, that is a word you could use to describe him."
The man in question is trying to see how many times he can look in through the glass walls of her office while looking busy. She huffs at this and flicks her wand, making the glass significantly more opaque, then throws up additional privacy charms. Harry shakes his head, entertained. "Leave him alone. I didn't come here to talk about Dominic, anyway. I came here to personally congratulate you on yet another success." His smile is bright before the corners of his mouth suddenly start to turn down. "I'm sorry, Mione. I tried to get out of it, but I couldn't. Robards basically forced me into going on that mission."
She sighs in irritation. "Harry, I know it's not your fault that you couldn't be here. It's not like it's that big of a deal, either. We're both busy Ministry employees, and I know you have the best record in the Auror Department when it comes to these missions. It can't be helped."
Her best friend is still looking at her sadly. "Mione, you've done so many things in the last few years. But I can probably count how many times I've been there to celebrate a new achievement with you on one hand. I hate not being there with you all, drinking and celebrating or keeping you from getting anxious while waiting on decisions. The best I can usually do is talk to reporters about what you're doing, and even then I can't do that much. How pathetic is that?"
Hermione looks at him sternly, but he looks so genuinely sad that she falters and lets the stern look on her face go away. She takes his hand in hers carefully. "Harry, you try your best. You're always there when you can be, even if you need to go on a mission soon or just got back from one. You drink and celebrate each achievement with me after, like this, and you hate talking to the press. You still do it when you can, anyway, because you want to help me as much as you can. I appreciate everything that you do, okay? And you are not pathetic, Harry James Potter. Don't talk about my best friend in that way."
By the end of her small speech, he's looking a bit happier. He squeezes her hand. "I love you too, Mione. I'll always be here for you, okay?"
She nods, squeezing his hand back. "Same here, Harry." She pauses, thinking carefully. "And speaking of you always being here for me, I need to tell you something." Harry looks curious now, and she tries not to tear up when she speaks again. "I'm leaving the Department."
He stares at her for a few minutes after her revelation, only snapping out of it when she starts fidgeting in her seat. His face is taking on a thunderous look, and she silently thanks Merlin and Morgana that she had the forethought to use a more advanced silencing charm earlier when he opens his mouth. "What do you mean you're leaving the Department?"
She untangles her fingers from his to push her hair away from her face. "You know how I've been working on that goblin bill for months, ever since I took over the project, right?" His mouth opens again, but she fixes him with a look and he immediately shuts it, looking a bit sheepish but still angry. "Well, I've been having trouble talking with the goblins about it. And by that, I mean that they absolutely refuse to work with me. I tried to have a few of the other Department employees work with them, but they don't want to work with anyone from the Department as long as I'm the Deputy Head. Or at least as long as I'm part of the Department."
By the end of her explanation, her best friend's eyes are stormy, and she smiles at his predictability. "I'm mostly okay with it, Harry."
"Are you really?" he asks in a clipped tone, eyes boring into hers. She holds his stare for a few seconds before letting her own eyes drop to her lap.
"Well, no, not really. But I'm not really sure I have much of a choice. The goblin bill needs to get passed to make things better for them, even though they're being stubborn about it. I've been thinking about this for a few weeks now, and I think the only way it's gonna happen is if I leave." She swipes her hand under her eyes. "It's okay. It's all gonna be fine." It's years of her life, her work, her sacrifices down the drain, but it can't be helped.
She hears a squeak and thinks for a second that maybe Harry decided to leave and confront someone - her colleagues, her boss, or maybe even the goblins at Gringotts. But she suddenly feels a pair of warm arms wrap around her. He silently tucks her head in the crook of his shoulder, hugging her gently while patting her on the back, and she lets herself take a few minutes to fall apart a bit in his arms.