A/N Here is Chapter 3. Trying to get updates quickly!

Chapter 3

Enough is Enough

Hermione signed her name and, with a swish of her hand, sent the paper on its way. Again, she signed her name and swished the paper away. And again, she signed her name, swished her hand. Sign, swish. Sign, swish. Sign, swish…

Hermione was once again leashed to her desk when she heard a knock at her office door. She froze for a moment; she never fully knew what to expect whenever someone came to her office. Was it more reports of death and horror, was it Molly with a delicious, homemade meal or had the death eaters finally found a way in? The brunette set down her pen as if it may shatter upon her desk. Her tired hands gripped the arms of her desk chair, as she stood her heart beat harder. Her mind instinctively made note of her wands location on her hip as she began to take quiet steps to the door.

Her mind raced as fear surged through her. "Your hand, Hermione, your hand needs to turn the doorknob." Electrified, she dropped her eyes to her motionless hands that hung limp at her side. Pushing through her fear, Hermione's hand finally obeyed and flopped onto the handle. The faces of anyone who had ever been behind the door went through her mind, she prepared herself for the one she dreaded most.

Another short knock whipped her back to her senses and her eyes locked onto the door. She held her breath and turned the handle. There was a mop of shaggy black hair she instantly recognized, and she let out a quiet sigh of relief that left her winded. She had to gulp down a breath to speak out, "Harry?"

The shaggy mop turned around and Hermione forced a smile on to her face. "Hello Harry, come in!" She spun around before Harry could respond, furious with herself. She should have known it would be Harry. How could she be so stupid! It had to be someone close to her because anyone else wanting something done officially would have sent a memo or asked for an official meeting. Harry's dark mane of hair poked into the crack of her door that had just opened up, Hermione groaned loudly as she fell back into her seat.

Harry jokingly frowned and said, "Hey why the groan?" Hermione smiled and answered.

"You only visit me personally when you want me to do something that I probably won't want to do or that I won't have time to do. You need a haircut by the way," Hermione took a break from signing her name and continued working on a report for Kingsley as she spoke. The brunette motioned for Harry to make himself comfortable in the chair across from her desk.

Harry and Ron both seemed to think that the action gave them free reign to put their feet up on her desk. True to fashion, Harry plopped into the chair and had his feet on her desk before she had even finished the thought. Rolling her eyes, she began, "How can I help you today, Deputy Minister?" Hermione purposefully used Harry's official title knowing he hated it and was uncomfortable being called it.

"I have a few things I wanted to talk about actually, and I like my hair a bit longer. I looked at that report you submitted yesterday evening about the large group protection spell, and how you weren't able to get it to work," Harry began.

Hermione shifted to a comfortable spot and felt herself coming alive, confidently she responded, "Yes, we had a few successful tests. However, spreading the spell over a large area on multiple people ended up making the spell so weak that using Protego personally was far more effective. Ultimately, the board decided that the group protection spell wasn't worth the resources and that we should move on." Hermione found mild comfort in the cold logic of her work; it was as comfortable as potions class with Snape.

Harry nodded with a thoughtful look on his face for a moment before saying, "I know I'm not known for my spell development skills, but I was talking to Arthur the other day about cursed muggle objects that he ran into, back when he ran the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office, and it gave me an idea about using muggle objects…."

Harry paused so long Hermione looked up from her report and said, "You think we should curse the Aurors?" Hermione asked being cheeky. Harry rolled his eyes. He liked having verbal sparring matches with Hermione it made him feel like they were back at Hogwarts and that things weren't as bad as they actually were.

"Of course not," Harry said, "Not curse but maybe protect. Or track! We could add some type of protection or tracking or communication…. I don't know. The details would be your responsibility, whatever will work. Something small, like a necklace or ring or bracelet that wouldn't be noticed by most Death Eaters and would give us the upper hand in battle."

Hermione's eyes went wide. Of course! Why hadn't they thought of something like that before! Leave it to Harry to take a massively large protection spell that they had been working on for months and condense it into an idea that would probably work very well.

Ideas began to flood Hermione's mind; what spells they could add to something small, like a ring that could help protect, track or communicate. Wondering if they could develop simple charms that wouldn't bother the integrity of the objects construction and work together without causing a large magical mess.

"That's actually a really good idea, Harry. I have some ideas that could probably work. I will draft up a request to Ernie today to get him setting up a team and maybe thinking of some ideas we could begin to try out tomorrow," Hermione said, excited to have something new and encouraging to work on.

"Make sure Macmillan knows that this is top priority. We have been losing a lot of people. The law states that we can't use deadly force until deadly force is used on us. Unfortunately, that means we usually lose one or two people before we can retaliate in kind. These protection objects could save lives. It would absorb the blow and give our troops a chance," Harry said with a slightly haunted look in his eyes.

"I understand" Hermione stated, she didn't need to ask to understand how Harry felt. She watched him sink into some nameless pain and felt compelled to draw him back out. She knew there was no real comfort she could offer, so she tried to move on. "Did you need something else, Harry?"

Harry nodded but leaned back in his chair uncomfortably. Hermione got a bit nervous. She could tell that Harry didn't want to say what he was about to say.

"On the topic of losing people… we need more people. I know you won't like it; I don't like it; But Kingsley has gotten permission from the governors at Hogwarts. Headmistress McGonagall is planning to, begrudgingly, … start a pre Auror class for upper-level students at Hogwarts," Hermione's jaw dropped, she really didn't like where this was going. Harry tried to push on, "The class will ready 6th and 7th year students to join the Ministry as Aurors or Law enforcement almost directly out of Hogwarts. It won't be mandatory or anything, it will just focus on training those students in the skills needed to become an Auror," Hermione's hands gripped the fabric covering her leg and she felt herself starting to shake as she tried to remain calm, "It's for students that are wanting to join anyway!" Harry tried to get out as much information as possible before Hermione protested.

Hermione most definitely didn't like it, "Harry!" Harry stopped abruptly and looked at the brunette. "Are we really going to begin recruiting troops from school? They are too young! Inexperienced! Cannon fodder! This is horrible! This is something Voldemort would do!" Hermione's breath caught in her throat, she exhaled and tried to calm herself as she continued, "Look at Draco. He almost lost himself because he was forced to become a Death Eater at 16 years old. If it wasn't for Narcissa and you, he would have followed his father and we would be chasing him right now too. If not that, then having buried him already."

Harry hung his head. "I know, Hermione. Draco had it hard and he doesn't like this either. But we can't fight without troops, and our troops need to be properly trained before being thrown into battle! If they are training at Hogwarts with the teachers that taught us to fight, they have a better chance than being rushed through Auror training and thrown on a team because we need them so badly. Draco, Daphne, Millicent and Blaise have all volunteered to spend some days helping the professors. They felt a strong Slytherin teaching presence may help some of the young Slytherins realize that they don't have to be Death Eaters if they don't want to. No matter what their families are telling them. Neville, Michael and Hannah have volunteered as well."

"They are just so young, Harry," Hermione began, "They shouldn't have to deal with this yet."

"We were the same age. Bloody hell, even younger when we began fighting dark witches and wizards! Luna and Ginny were about 16 years old when they joined the ministry. They can handle this, Hermione. We did," Harry stated as he looked to Hermione.

She felt his eyes on her, he already knew what she was going to say, and he already knew she was right. Hermione shifted in her chair; she pulled her left sleeve down a bit further to be sure to cover the scars she still held. "We paid a heavy price, Harry. We are all scarred, some physically, some mentally and some both. They shouldn't have to endure the horror that we did at such a young age."

Harry nodded his head in agreement, "They shouldn't have to, but Hermione, if we lose this war the alternative will be worse. What other choice is there?"

He was right, Hermione hated that he was right. The brunette sighed and rubbed her hands on her face. Giving in, like she always did, she pushed herself forward, "What do you want from me then, Harry?"

Harry sighed as well, only a little relieved. He slowly ran his hand over his light goatee and stubble on his chin he begrudgingly began, "I need you to oversee it. Take charge. Work with Headmistress McGonagall to set up a curriculum and requirements for the class. Also, how to advertise it, and to have someone keep a close eye for people who could be using it to infiltrate the ministry and to deal with any backlash from parents about the class…," Harry inconclusively paused.

Hermione stared at him wide eyed, waiting. After only a few moments her words burst forth, "Is that all?" She sternly sniped at him, "So basically you want me to set everything up, write a curriculum, train children for war, look for Death Eater spies and handle angry parents! Parents who have every right to be upset that we are using the school to manipulate their children into joining what is basically going to be the beginnings of an army? On top of all of the work I do for Kingsley, the Department of Experimentation and Development of Magic, and all the other departments I help out with…..it's just,… it's a lot, Harry," Hermione felt her heart pound in her chest and felt her strength wavering. She let out a quick sigh, knowing what Harry was about to say. Dreading what Harry was about to say.

"I know, Hermione! But if anyone can do it, you can!" Harry said enthusiastically, perceiving that Hermione was giving in. Hermione couldn't help but feel defeated, she faked the best smile she could. Harry smiled genuinely enough back and jumped up from his seat. His eyes wandered to look at Hermione's clock, "Well, look at that! The clock says: it's time for you to go home, so I'm guessing mine says the same thing! I will get you the specifications and times to work with the volunteers and Minerva tomorrow morning. Thank you Hermione, we couldn't do this without you."

Hermione flexed her fake smile, gave Harry an acknowledging nod and felt her eyes weaken.

Harry turned to leave, then quickly spun back around, "Oh, by the way, the home switch is going to happen a bit early this time. Susan is having trouble finding enough places and setting up the proper security for so many of us at once. She's going to have to start doing it in smaller stages and groups, Cho said the Floo set-ups need to be spaced farther apart for her team to do them correctly, too. So be sure you don't leave the flat! You never know if the change will happen while you are gone! We can't afford for you to get locked out or left unprotected. Okay?"

Hermione's smile was starting to burn, "Of course, Harry. Good night."

Harry quickly smiled and said, "See ya, then!" He knew that being confined to work and home was something that made Hermione extremely angry, so he hurried out and tried not to slam the door.

Hermione gritted her teeth and clenched her fists to keep control of her temper. She swears Harry does this kind of last-minute bollocks to her on purpose. She lost track of the times that her and Harry had gotten into an argument about her being too isolated. He insisted that she couldn't, "wander about," because she was too important to the war. Despite being someone who was supposed to be so important, she had never felt so alone.

Hermione was sick of it. She felt so isolated. She rarely saw people at work, she was always too busy and anyone she did see usually wanted something from her. Once she was home, she was utterly and completely alone. 'No visitors, minimal use of magic and blah, blah, blah make it very hard for Death Eaters to track blah,' she had heard it enough to have it etched in her brain. Rubbish! She understood the risk! What she couldn't understand was how everyone trusted her with their lives in the war but didn't trust she understood her own needs!

She had already lost her temper on Ron. She asked him to talk some sense into Harry and he took Harry's side! She could barely control her temper when she talked to Arthur, and he said it was Harry's call.

She had tried to take comfort in the fact that they clearly saw how capable she was, she had been made responsible for so much. No matter how hard she tried to let that be enough, she was starting to feel like it was just another passing grade in class. She wanted more from her life than being recognized for her cleverness, ambition and determination. Her head was beginning to hurt, she felt like her brain was being crushed by her swirling thoughts. 'I need to get out of here,' she realized.

She angrily shoved her belongings into her bag, locked her door with a mindless whip of her wand and marched through the halls with a fury that blurred her eyes. She fumed until she found herself at the floo network. Hermione tried to quiet the storms inside her, she took a deep breath, stepped into the fireplace and readied herself for the inevitable fear she always felt when flooing home. She landed in darkness, her fear was less intense tonight, only because her anger was still so high. She felt dangerous.

Hermione considered following her normal routine of nightmares and potions to sleep, she didn't want to keep thinking about anything. She was approaching her living room when a thought crossed her mind, she thought of those wretched pajamas, her horrid room in that ridiculous flat; and she felt something in her change.

Rage then boiled over, "If I don't do something I'm going to lose my mind!"

She made her decision. 'I'm going to go out and have some fun. I haven't had fun for what feels like years. If I just walk out the door, Harry could never know I left the flat. I can find a pub or somewhere nearby, it won't be too dangerous in muggle London… yes, I'm doing it!'

She threw her bag onto her favorite reading chair and went to her room to put on a more appropriate outfit.

A/N Please Review! :)