After Hogwarts

Written by Ginger

"Let's see what we have here...ah yes bill, bill and bill." Hermione Granger sighed and leaned back in her office chair. The desk in front of her supplied this morning's mail, which she'd received at home before quickly dashing to the New Ministry of Magic. "Nothing of surprise."

The door to her office suddenly burst open and half a dozen paper aeroplanes come zooming towards her desk and began racing each other around the room. Hermione raised her wand irritably and sent all the memos (which were the paper aeroplanes) into her invoice tray.

The clock on her office wall struck 10 AM and began emitting a sweet little tune followed by a soft voice: "Ten o' clock appointment with Madam Olga Marsh."

Hermione straightened up in her chair and began tidying the papers on her desk. There came a polite knock on the door as she hastily stuffed some files into the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet.

"Enter," said Hermione and waved her wand at the door, which automatically swung open in response. In the doorway, a swat woman in green robes shuffled into the Portkey Office.

"Good morning Miss Granger," mumbled the witch as she sat down into a comfy armchair opposite Hermione on the other side of the desk. There was a few minutes silence as Hermione scribbled a few words on some parchment. Behind her on a long wooden table were ordinary Muggle items and a few whirring instruments similar to those you'd find in Dumbledore's Office at Hogwarts.

"Ok then," said Hermione as she finished writing. She put down her quill and looked across at Madam Marsh. "How can I help you?"

"Well," said Madam Marsh. "I was wondering whether I could have an Abroad Portkey scheduled to Paris as me and my husband tend to go there for our summer vacation each year. Usually we take the Knight Bus to the southern coast and take the Muggle ferry, but as I've lately become sea sick as well as Knight Bus sick I thought another method of transport would be easier and more comfortable," she sneezed into a handkerchief, "in a manner of speaking."

Hermione gave a nod and waved her wand in a few quick movements to various areas of the room. Soon enough, a group of files, a few rolls of parchment and a golf ball appeared on her desk in front of her.

As Hermione began leafing through a particular file, Madam Marsh noisily blew her nose in a small tissue. "Sorry, got dragon flu."

"I have some aspirins in my handbag..." said Hermione helpfully.

Madam Marsh cringed slightly, "No thanks, I have a Pepper-Up Potion brewing in my cauldron at home."

Hermione knew that Madam Marsh didn't take to Muggle medicine, even though Muggle remedies these days were being introduced and used for some cases in St Mungo's Hospital.

"Ok, well," Hermione shuffled some papers in a business-like manner. She usually made a habit of doing this, especially whenever Harry or Ron came into her office for enquiries. "Er- from looking at this year's planner I have a lot of places already booked up for June, July and August. What date were you planning on going away?"

"Late August, if that is possible."

"Hmm," she examined a foot-long sheet of parchment. "There are a few spots left open. Seventeenth?" Madam Marsh gave a nod of agreement. Hermione made a few notes. "Now I can make the time of department at either nine in the morning or nine in the evening – I'll send a few letters to the Holidaying Witch Agency to sort out accommodation and arrival. You'll need to fill in these two forms here for you and your husband, just so we've got your details filed in case of emergency. And you'll also need to sign our Travel Terms and Conditions contract for payment fees."

Half an hour later, Hermione dismissed Madam Marsh from her office and soon afterwards decided to visit Harry. She would usually visit Ron as well when she had a free time slot in her schedule, but Ron was off sick today.

Patting her curly brown hair, she left her office and headed for the lifts. In the lifts she met Susan Bones who was dressed smartly in black robes and clutching a small briefcase in one hand.

"Hello Hermione, how's things going in the Portkey Office?" Susan Bones asked as the lift doors closed and began juttering upwards.

"Ugh." Hermione literally moaned. "I'm overloaded with work, this is my break now and I bet it will be the only one I can manage today, especially as my colleague, old Archie, is off-sick."

Susan hummed in recognition, "Hmm, yes. There's been some illness going around the Ministry lately. People below are blaming the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, they say Seamus Finnigan brought in an odd cross-species that might have had dragon flu." She shrugged. "Of course, he denies any of it."

The door swung open on Level Three and Susan waved goodbye cheerily as she stepped off the lift. The lift closed and continued to rattle upwards again. Hermione glumly looked at a few memos flying above her head. She stepped off the lift at Level Six and groaned as she saw the aeroplane memos trail behind her. She waved her wand and sent them to her office. "Bloody inter-departmental memos."

"Hi Perkins!" called Hermione as she passed the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. She finally reached Auror Headquarters and made a beeline for Harry's cubicle.

All along the walls were posters of wanted Death Eaters, Hermione grimaced at a few she'd known from school. She passed a large black-and-white picture of a sneering Draco Malfoy and peered over a sideboard of Harry's cubicle.

Harry Potter himself, was sitting at his desk, face down rested in his arms, evidently fast asleep.

"Psst!" Hermione hurriedly entered Harry's cubicle and poked him on the shoulder. "Harry! Wake up! You don't want Kingsley to catch you sleeping on the job."

Harry said a few incoherent words and buried his head deeper into his arms.

"Harry!" said Hermione in a more serious tone. "If you don't look lively I will ask Luna Lovegood to go out on a date with you."

"Morning Hermione!" cried Harry, head jerked up straight and eyes wide and awake. He then smiled and shoved a folder aside to make room for his elbow to rest his head on. "Honestly, though. I can hardly keep awake. I was out almost all night with Moody and Tonks tracking a group of Death Eaters. It wasn't until nearly the crack of dawn until Moody realised he'd been wrong and we ended up trailing a herd of cattle in the Derbyshire farmlands." He yawned and rubbed his eyes vigorously. "Tonks wasn't mooing happy, she changed different shades of purple all over whilst constantly lecturing Moody about his false senses."

"Uh-huh," Hermione responded. "Do you wanna go down to Mademoiselle Weasley's café?"

"Just as long as you don't try and set me and Ginny up on a date again." Harry said, leaning back on his chair. "Honestly, you might as well be my personal dating adviser or something."

Hermione grinned. "Well you're just the same with me, you're always setting me up with wizards," Harry looked up at her hopefully, "and no I didn't enjoy that date with Ernie Macmillan. He's always talking about his mother for some reason." Harry opened his mouth to say something. "NO, I am NOT going out with Ron, his got enough on his plate with Luna," Harry looked puzzled, Hermione sighed as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Oh, come on! You must have realised that she was his secret admirer. And anyway the last time we went on a date was just after graduation."

Harry laughed. "Oh yeah! I remember Ron's hair afterwards. How exactly did he set his hair on fire?"

"It doesn't matter," muttered Hermione, "the point is, we'll only argue over everything, Ron is sweet sometimes, but he can be so agonising, he's just such an unbelievable horror at times."

"Ron? A horror?" the Auror replied wistfully. "Man, I'll never understand girls now. I thought you and Ron would be perfect."

"Arh! Just drop it, ok?" Hermione looked at her watch. "I've got half-an-hour until I have to get back to the office."

Harry got to his feet and draped a thin navy blue cloak around his shoulders. "Are you paying or am I?"

"You can, I paid last time and as you bought those muffins as well, I had to pay Ginny more..."

Hermione and Harry left Auror Headquarters still chatting animatedly and debating who should pay for what. Tonks stuck her head out of her little cubicle and grinned at the twenty-year-old Ministry workers as they turned a corner into the corridor. She swivelled her head around at Kingsley who was also grinning to himself while fixing a large Sneakoscope.

Tonks turned her head to one side, "They'd make a cute couple, don't you think?" Kingsley nodded.