A/N: In this chapter, we're going to visit Hermione.  I couldn't find anything about where she lives or what her parents' names are, so I made them up.  If you know this information and can't deal with me making it up, let me know and I'll change it.

~~ Chapter Twenty: The Visitor ~~

            It had been two weeks since Hogwarts closed, and Hermione Granger had officially decided that she hated Muggle high schools.  Her parents, not wanting her to go who knew how long without an education, decided to enroll her in a public school until Hogwarts was open again.  What seemed like a good idea at the time quickly turned into one of the worst experiences in her life.

            Technically, Hermione was a little young for high school, but more than capable as far as mental capacity went.  Unfortunately, she had a difficult time fitting it.  It was hard enough for her to find her niche at Hogwarts, but here, she didn't even have the luxury of being in the company of other wizards and witches in training.  After almost two weeks of Muggle high school, she had no friends and was officially labeled a freak.

            It was on a Wednesday that Hermione decided she'd had enough.  After school, she went to her parents' office as usual, but today, with the intention to inform them that she wished to drop out of Muggle school.  Upon arriving at the office, Linda, the receptionist, greeted her and informed her that both of her parents were busy with patients at the moment.  Hermione thanked her and sat down at one of the tables in the waiting area with a copy of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

            Several minutes passed.  Hermione heard the door open, but didn't look up from her book.  "Can I help you?" inquired Linda.

            "I'm looking for someone," a male voice said.  "I thought she might be here."

            Hermione stopped breathing as she recognized the voice.  She set the book down and turned around in her chair.  "Oliver?"

            The boy turned around, and smiled when he saw her.  It was indeed Oliver Wood.  Hermione stood up, and he walked over to her.  "What are you doing all the way here in Carlisle?" she asked as they hugged each other.  "I thought you lived in Edinburgh!"

            "I wanted to make sure you were all right," Oliver said.  "You didn't seem too happy in your last letter."

            The two had written to each other every few days since leaving Hogwarts, and Hermione told him that she was going to Muggle school for the time being.  Oliver, being a pureblood, had never attended any sort of Muggle educational facility.  He wanted to know how it worked; Hermione insisted that he didn't.

            "School's dreadfully boring," Hermione said, "and everyone is mean to me.  Oh, what I wouldn't give for a Divination final or some other academic undertaking."

            Oliver laughed.  "That's the Hermione we all know and love."

            "Trust me, it's awful," she said.  "Give me Potions over politics any day."  She asked him if he would like to sit down, and he accepted.  They sat.  "How are things with you?" she asked.  "Anything exciting happening in Edinburgh?"

            He shook his head.  "Not really."

            "I hear they elected a new Minister of Magic."

            "Yes, Eko Chang.  I'm not surprised."  He paused.  "Have you heard from Harry and Draco at all?  How are they doing?"

            Hermione's cheerful expression was quickly replaced by one of alarm.  "You didn't know?" she asked.

            "Know what?" he asked, concerned.  "What happened?  Are they all right?"

            "Harry and Draco are… well, I don't want to say fine, but they'll be okay.  Big Malfoy, though, is completely incoherent."

            Now he was just confused.  "What happened?" he repeated.

            "It's a long story," she said.  "Professor Snape told Professor Terringer that the Malfoys were going to talk to the Dursleys about letting Harry stay with them.  Professor Terringer met them there and put on a wonderful little act that made the Dursleys think the Malfoys were nobility or something and that they should feel honored that they wanted Harry to stay with them.  So Harry went with the Malfoys, and they extended the invitation to Professor Terringer because she didn't have anywhere to go.  The next day, they got an owl from the Ministry of Magic asking them to come to London, and somewhere between that time and getting on the train a few hours later, Big Malfoy and Professor Terringer decided that they were going to hook up.  Harry and Draco were somewhat disappointed; they wanted to have a hand in getting them together.  You follow?"

            Oliver smiled.  "I follow.  Those little troublemakers."

            "Anyway," Hermione continued, "after they got to London, though, they found out what attacked Malfoy Manor and killed Fudge and Su Li."

            "What was it?" asked Oliver.

            Hermione bit her lip, and her eyes darted to the left, and then to the right before fixating themselves on him again.  "Technically, this information is still classified," she said, "but Harry said they're planning to release it soon."

            "Point taken," he said.

            She beckoned him to come closer with her hand, and they leaned their heads toward each other.  In his ear, Hermione whispered, "It was a Nundu."

            Oliver pulled away in shock.  "A Nu-" he started to say, but covered his mouth just in time.

            She nodded.  "There's more.  It killed Professor Terringer's parents."

            His eyes grew wide with surprise and concern.  "But… but aren't they…"  He shifted uneasily, then said, "You know…"

            Hermione frowned and looked at the table out of the corners of her eyes to avoid looking at him.  "Muggles."

            Knowing Hermione's parents were Muggles as well made Oliver feel guilty about making that observation, and he apologized.  She didn't look at him.  "Hermione," he said softly, but firmly, "you know I didn't mean it that way."

            She remained silent and still.

            Oliver reached over and placed his hand on top of hers.  He said her name again, in a tone of voice barely above a whisper.  "I'm sorry," he said.  "Please don't be mad."

            "You don't understand," she replied.  "You were born a wizard.  You were raised a wizard.  You're accepted by them.  I'm not."

            "You're right; that was insensitive and I'm an idiot.  Will you forgive me?"

            Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but then looked down and saw that Oliver's hand was still covering hers.  Oliver noticed this, too, and he quickly pulled it away.  His cheeks flushed, and he mumbled, "Sorry."

            She almost smiled at the thought of Oliver getting embarrassed, but stopped herself just as the grin played with the corners of her mouth.  "It killed her parents," she said, getting back to the story, "and nobody knows why.  On top of that, Professor Terringer has left."

            "Left?" Oliver repeated.  "What do you mean, 'left'?"

            "I mean, she left, as in she's not staying with the Malfoys anymore," Hermione explained.  "She left London the day after they arrived and went to Switzerland."

            Now he was more confused than ever.  "What's she doing in Switzerland?"

            "Teaching."

            "She's leaving Hogwarts?" Oliver said, a little too loudly.

            The sudden sound grabbed the attention of Linda, and she looked over at the two teens.  "Is everything all right?" the receptionist asked.

            Oliver turned red again, and Hermione allowed herself to smile this time.  "It's all right, Linda," she said.  Then, to Oliver, she said, "She's not leaving Hogwarts; she's just teaching there until Hogwarts reopens."

            "Why isn't she staying with Malfoy anymore?"

            Hermione's face darkened.  "I don't know," she said.  "All Harry told me is that it did not go well.  Big Malfoy was practically begging her to stay, and she refused.  Now he's in a horrible mess, and Harry and Draco don't know what to do about it."

            The two of them then heard a door open and a female voice say Hermione's name.  They looked up and saw her mother, Dr. Emily Granger.  Emily was a tall, slender woman with brown eyes like her daughter's and thick blond hair pulled back into a French braid.  She wore glasses with thin gold frames and a white lab coat.  "Is everything all right?" she asked.

            Hermione nodded.  Her mother asked if she had any homework.  Hermione laughed and replied with, "Of course not.  No teachers at this school ever assign homework that takes longer than five minutes of class time to complete, and even so, everyone complains about how much homework they get.  Supposedly, the world history teacher, Mr. Carpani, assigns a lot of homework, but he's nothing compared to Professor McGonagall."

            "McGonagall's backed off a lot lately," Oliver commented.

            "True," Hermione admitted, "but she still gives out more homework than all the other teachers at Hogwarts put together."

            Emily Granger smiled and looked at Oliver.  "Who's your friend, dear?"

            "Oh, of course!"  Hermione got up and stood next to Oliver.  Oliver stood as well.  "Oliver, this is my mother, Dr. Emily Granger.  Mother, this is a friend from school, Oliver Wood."

            "Nice to meet you, Dr. Granger," Oliver said, shaking Emily's hand.

            "So you're the famous Oliver Wood," Emily replied with a smile.  "The one that's so good at…"  She looked at Hermione.  "What did you say the name of that game was?"

            Hermione grinned.  "Quidditch."

            "That's right, Quidditch."

            Oliver smiled sheepishly.  "Thank you, Doctor."

            "He's also an accomplished violinist," Hermione said.

            Emily's brown eyes grew wide with curiosity.  "A violinist, you say?" she said, now deeply interested.  "How nice.  My husband used to play the cello."

            "And I can still play it," a male voice insisted.

            The three of them looked up to see who had spoken.  It was the other Dr. Granger; Hermione's father, Martin.  Martin Granger was shorter and stockier for his sex than his wife, with dark brown hair with a forming bald spot and a beard.  Underneath thick eyebrows, his nearly black eyes sparkled brightly as they darted around the room, taking notice of anything and everything.  Like his wife, he wore a white lab coat, and also had on a pair of latex gloves.

            Emily smiled.  "I'm sure you can, dear."

            Hermione introduced her father to Oliver, and they shook hands.  "Where are you from, Oliver?" Martin asked.

            "Edinburgh," Oliver answered.  "Hermione and I are in the same house at Hogwarts, and we're also both in the Musical Enchantment study group."

            "That's right," Martin said, snapping his fingers.  "I remember hearing your name one or two times.  You play… what's it called?"

            "Quidditch," Hermione and Oliver said in unison.

            Martin nodded.  "Yes, Quidditch.  You know, Oliver, why don't you come over for dinner?  I'm sure Emily would like to get to know you better as much as I do, and this is really neither the time nor the place to do it."

            "Thank you, Dr. Granger," Oliver said.  "I would like that."

            "You can call me Martin."  Dr. Granger looked at his daughter.  "That all right with you, dear?"

            Hermione smiled and blushed slightly.  "Yes, Father.  Thank you."

            Hermione then asked her parents if the two of them could walk to the house, and they agreed.  They lived about six blocks away from the office.  "Remember to be careful crossing the street," Emily Granger warned.  "There's no stop signs for cross traffic on Forty-third and Wimberley."

            With assurances that they would be careful, Hermione and Oliver bade them good-bye.  Oliver offered to carry her books.  She blushed, but accepted his offer.

            "What a gentleman," Emily commented when Oliver held the door open for Hermione as they left, even though his arms were full of books.  "I knew I would like him ever since we got that letter."

            "I almost think we should have told her about it," Martin said.

            "I think she liked being surprised," Emily replied.  "And I also think that boy is a keeper."

            Martin smiled at his wife.  "Remember, dear, our little girl is only thirteen."

            "And if I recall, we were seven when you said you were going to marry me."

            "That was on the playground in second grade, Emily.  You then proceeded to scream and throw gravel at me."

            Emily grinned broadly.  "You held true to your declaration, though."

            Martin laughed and planted a quick kiss on her cheek.  "Yes, I guess I did."

            "Knock-knock."

            Hermione laughed as Oliver started what had to be the tenth knock-knock joke in two minutes.  The two of them were about a block away from the office, and passing the time by telling jokes.  "Who's there?" she asked when her laughter subsided.

            "Interrupting cow," he responded.

            "Interrupti-"

            "Moo."

            By now, she was laughing so hard she was nearly in tears.  "Where do you come up with these?" she asked after regaining moderate control of herself.

            Oliver shrugged.  "Random places.  How many astronomers does it take to change a light bulb?"

            "I don't know.  How many?"

            "None.  Astronomers aren't afraid of the dark."

            "Oliver Wood, I think you are a few violins short of an orchestra."

            "Perhaps, but I do know that I am one cello short of a string quartet."

            She stopped walking and looked at him.  Oliver halted as well, and said, "And a viola, and another violin, but… but let's not get into that."

            "Better make that an entire clarinet section."

            Oliver slapped his hand against his forehead and cried, "No, not the clarinets!  Anything but the clarinets!"  He set her books down, then knelt on the sidewalk and took her hands.  "Take me instead!"

She smiled and shook her head.  "Sometimes I worry about you, Wood."

            Oliver stood up.  "Sometimes I worry about me, too."

            For a few seconds, neither one of them spoke.  And then, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, they kissed.  It was a light brush, and their lips just barely touched, but it was still a kiss.  It was over almost as quickly as it had begun.  Oliver opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by the sound of squelching tires as a large black van pulled a U-turn and came to a sudden stop on the road next to them.

            Thinking fast, Oliver stepped in front of Hermione and pulled out his wand.  Hermione had her wand out almost as quickly and peered over his shoulder so as to see what was going on.  She knew they weren't allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts, but it might be justifiable if it was in self-defense.

            The driver's side door opened, and a tall figure completely shrouded in a thick black cloak stepped out of it.  "Get in," it hissed.

            Oliver pointed his wand at the cloak and said some words.  A small blue fireball appeared at the end of his wand, and then shot toward their would-be captor.  Then, a gloved hand emerged from the cloak and stopped the fireball.  The hand then cast it back at Oliver, knocking the boy unconscious with his own spell.  It worked its effects on Hermione, too, and both of them fell.

            Their assailant knelt down next to them to make sure they were unconscious, then loaded them into the van and sped away.

A/N: Oooh, more suspense.  *shivers*  I hope you all remembered to laugh your heads off when Emily Granger made that comment about Oliver being a keeper… why, yes, as a matter of fact, he IS a Keeper!  (Sorry if I'm the only one that found that funny…  ^_^)  But anyway… I thought the Oliver and Hermione pairing would be interesting.  If it's already been done, I haven't been able to find out, but I have been able to find a lot of stories where Oliver is paired with Percy (PERCY!), so I thought this would be an interesting new take.  And yes, I know this update was a bit longer in coming than past ones… between college apps and a final exam in calculus, it's been slow going.  I also posted a new story the other day… check it out if you'd like to read a cute little tale about the beginning of Hogwarts.  (hint hint, nudge nudge)

One more quick thing.  In the last chapter, Arthur Weasley wasn't acting very Arthur Weasley-ish… he wasn't intending to be mean to Lucius or anything, it just kind of happened that way.  Besides, these two can't stand each other, and this story is supposed to somewhat sypmathetic toward Lucius, after all.  Okay, I'm done now.  ^_^