Author's note: I had some extra time and was able to finish the story. There will be this chapter, one more full chapter and a short epilogue. I hope you all enjoy. Redfrog
Chapter 13:
Hermione appeared in the long distance portkey room at the Ministry feeling dazed from the long distance travel. She staggered slightly as she headed over to the customs agent's desk, not noticing the other two people in the room. Before she was able to say anything to the woman at the desk, one of the two other figures in the room stepped forward and addressed the customs agent. "This arrival will remain unrecorded," the female voice said and flashed an Auror badge. Hermione was confused but once she looked properly at the woman she noticed pink hair sticking slightly out of the auror's hooded robe. Tonks had come to get her and she was relieved, the only snag to her plan had been if someone caught sight of her leaving the ministry or heard about her arrival from the customs agent.
"All long distance arrivals have to be cleared through customs unless approved by the department of mysteries," the lady at the desk snapped at Tonks, she hated it when she didn't get to know everything that went on in her department.
"As the auror stated," the second figure spoke up, this time male, "this arrival will remain unrecorded." He showed a department of mysteries badge and the woman instantly shut up, realizing she had at least two very powerful people in front of her and even more curious of who the arrival was to be meeting with both the Auror department and the Department of Mysteries. Hermione was one again confused, but glad as she had hoped for an audience with the DOM to be able to get permission to continue her goal of creating a wizarding internet as well as being able to pilfer muggle satellite TV.
Hermione was surprised when she was handed a silvery invisibility cloak and donned it quickly and followed the two out of the portkey room. She was reviewing all her research in her head about satellite TV and the internet, hoping to get the chance to plead her case. They ushered her into the golden elevators and then down the same hallway from her 5th year and into the entry room of the DOM. Tonks threw down her hood and pulled the invisibility cloak off Hermione before almost tackling her friend in a huge hug. Hermione laughed and hugged her back, glad to be home.
"What are we doing down here?" She asked Tonks, looking towards the cloaked unspeakable, who had been joined by another in an identical cloak, making them look like twin statues as they stood there silently watching the women. "I know I asked for an audience sometime after I returned but only the twins and you knew I was returning early."
"Your audience had been granted Miss Granger," one of the unspeakables told her. "Please follow us, this should not take more than two hours Miss Tonks you may retrieve her then." Tonks nodded at the two, winked at Hermione and headed back to work.
Hermione remained silent as she was lead into a small conference room off of the main room, glad it wasn't into one of the revolving doors. They motioned her to sit in one of the chairs and took seats opposite her, leaving the chair at the head of the table open; they were obviously waiting for someone else. Shortly after that another cloaked unspeakable entered the office and sat down in the available chair. "Miss Granger we are aware of some of your research and are greatly impressed. Your ability to transfigure muggle electronics will revolutionize our world. We know of your wish to bring satellite television and the internet to the wizarding community and are willing to help you in that endeavor." The man told her.
"What's the catch?" She asked, knowing they would never give in that easily. The two across from her sniggered and she was reminded of the Weasley twins for a moment before they composed themselves.
"We want you to join our department," the man told her. "There are many different areas of the Department of Mysteries, ours is a more covert area as our members are not known to the public and are in fact thriving members of the community. We ask that you share your research with us, in hopes that we can use it to further the aims of the department and the security of the wizarding world."
"I would need to know exactly what was expected of me and how much time this would take. I plan to run my two businesses as well as be an apprentice over the next year and then from there on will be focusing on my businesses and my research." She told him.
"That is understandable; if I could have a secrecy oath that you will not reveal what you hear in this room then we can reveal ourselves to you and give you more information." The man told her again, impressed with her and glad he had made this decision.
After Hermione gave her oath the two men across the table from her flipped their hoods down and she gasped in shock. Across from her, wearing identical devious grins were the Weasley twins. "Who in their right minds would make you two unspeakables?" Hermione laughed and got up to give her business partners a hug.
"That would be me," the third man said revealing himself to be none other than Mr. Ollivander, the wand maker from Diagon Alley. She was surprised as she never would have thought of the old man to be anything other than he appeared to be. "I am the head of the civilian division of the unspeakables," he told her and shook her hand, happy he was able to shock her; he loved shocking and startling people. "Each civilian in the department uses their unique talents to help keep the department informed and on the cutting edge. The reason I was recruited many many years ago was because of my ability to sense auras, which was why I am usually able to match a witch or wizard to the correct wand with little difficulty. My ability to read auras had allowed me to brief the DOM on any upcoming witches and wizards that appear powerful or have blocks on their magic. I am also able to keep the ministry appraised of who owns each wand and the ability to secretly sell second wands to the unspeakables."
"And what would you want me to do?" She asked, realizing that if Ollivander had time to make all his wands, run his store and still be the head of the department it couldn't take up too much of her time.
"Share your research and help us develop new products like the twins here do. Any potions work you need tested and would have to have the proper documentation can be done here to minimize the red tape and we can fast track all your patents on your potions and spells. We already have a team working on the internet project and would appreciate your input as well as having you transfigure the laptops we have been using in a dampening field. The satellite TV project can also be worked on, as we have the authority to grant you permission to charm as many muggle objects as you wish as long as they will still function in the same capacity in case they get back into muggle hands." Mr. Ollivander told her with a smile, knowing she was hooked. It was a great deal; they got the help of the ministry in any of their research as well as didn't have to actually work for the ministry. The only people who even knew the department existed were the head of the DOM and the Minister of Magic and only the head of the DOM knew who the civilians who worked for them were
"How long have you two been doing this?" Hermione asked them curiously."Ever since we left Hogwarts," Fred told her with a smile, knowing that it shocked her to know they could keep a secret that long.
"Yep, Mum has no clue that we are the reason that Dad's department was enlarged and he got a promotion. Ever since Harry made it clear that he wanted total separation between muggle and magical the Muggle Artifacts department has been looked upon in a better light." George told her with a smile. They may still be mad at their mother with how she treated Harry but they loved their father and were glad they were able to help him.
"Yeah, we were even able to get Ron's application to the Auror department thrown out," Fred laughed. "You know the only reason he wanted to do it was so he could get famous and make a lot of money. He would have made a horrible auror as he had no desire to help anyone and only applied once the war was over."
"Well, it seams like my best option at the moment," she told Ollivander. "My only question is, if I do ever get married, will my family be allowed to know?"
"Only if you place them under wand oath, so you husband would be able to immediately and your children would have to wait until they were 11," He told her with a smile and handed her a stack of parchment to read and sign. "You will receive about two months of training, which can take place through the use of one of our long distance time turners and you will never actually be gone in the real world. You can do that now if you like, or you can wait and do it sometime in the next two months."
After reading all the small print and agreeing with all the terms stated she signed her name to the magically binding parchment. "I think now would be the best time for the training as I would not like to be away for another 2 months once I have my friends back," she told him with a smile, "besides I have all my stuff with me now."
"Wonderful, well the twins will lead you to the training area and I will see you again in two months or in a few minutes actually!" he laughed and left the room.
"This is great Hermione!" George told her with a grin, "Now we will be able to talk to you about all our new ideas that we are working on here!"
The training she went through was great for her. She was taught advanced Occlumency techniques to be able to better keep the department's secrets as well as being taught all the rules and laws of the ministry and how to get around them. She was able to skip the sections of training that had to do with human transfiguration and potions identification so they gave her some stealth training for her dealings in the muggle world. She was also allowed access to the gigantic library in the DOM and issued her credentials as well as her cloak that she was to wear when coming and going from the ministry so no one would know who she was. She was also issued a permanent portkey to the DOM for easier access and ability to stay disguised.
When she shook Mr. Ollivander's hand at the end of her training he smiled and handed her the time turner that would take her back two months. "Just remember that you cannot come here yourself until now, send any information you need with the twins. We have decided that your code name will be Rex after you animagus form. The twins are called Sherlock and Watson." She thanked him and then turned the time turner two turns, one for each month she was there.
The twins were waiting for her when she reappeared. "Hello Sherlock, Watson," she said shaking their hands, she was already wearing her cloak since she was still in the building as her other self training and didn't want to be seen. "I am Rex," she introduced herself and the twins grinned and lead her back out of the department so she could meet up with Tonks.
"Did you have a good meeting?" Tonks asked her when she came back in to get her. She handed her the invisibility cloak, "We have to go have you get your dress fitted and then I'll take you to the realtor office to pick up your keys and deed."
Hermione was impressed with the bridesmaid dress; she had envisioned a hot pink nightmare due to Tonks' usual fashion tastes. Even though it was hot pink it was nice and looked good on her. It was a strapless, tea length dress with a matching ribbon at the waist. Very simple but elegant and did not overshadow Tonks' dress. Tonks was wearing a gown only slightly longer than Hermione's that had a hot pink sash around the waist as well as three bands of pink around the hemline. It was very simple but totally Tonks. They had a good time picking out accessories before Tonks took her to the realtor's office. She hugged Tonks good bye and told her to call if she needed her for anything before the morning of the wedding.
She was so glad to get the deed to her house and the keys. She was even more excited about being able to decorate the place. It was hers and she could do anything she wanted and no one could say anything about it! The garden was nicely tended as she had continued having the listing firm take care of the property until she took possession. As she placed her key in the lock she felt the wards accepting her as the new owner. It was a great feeling as she opened the door to her own place for the first time. She wandered around the house, just looking at it in detail. The house was HUGE! She knew that it would be big, but the photos didn't do it justice. She spent 30 minutes in the library just envisioning it full of books and what type of desk and couches she wanted. The rest of the house was partially furnished but all personal items had been removed, which unfortunately included all the books, paintings and tapestries. She already had some idea of what she wanted to do in the master suite but for now she was going to leave the guest rooms alone. Her first priority was getting a potions lab set up in the basement so she could get her research back on track.
She headed out into the back yard to admire the gardens, especially the potions garden. She was hoping to get Neville to come and revamp her garden. She opened the door to the guest cottage and was shocked when a house elf popped into existence in front of her. "Is yous my mistress?" the elf asked her. Hermione wondered if this was an elf child as the creature was very tiny and had no wrinkles. "Is yous going to stay here with Misty? Misty has been alone for long time."
"I thought the elves that lived here before were sold?" Hermione asked her. The little elf began to tremble and cry and Hermione was unsure of what to do so she just did the only thing she thought could work and called for Winky, hoping that she would still answer even if it had been years since she called her.
"Is Misses Hermione calling for Winky?" Winky asked as she popped into existence.
"Hello Winky," Hermione said to her little friend. "I just bought this house and need to know how Misty came to be here. I was told the elves that had been bound to the house were sold 5 years ago." She watched in shock as the two creatures started jabbering in rapid elvish, or what she assumed was elvish as she had never heard it before.
"Misty is still youngling," Winky told Hermione. "When the bad men came to get her mummsey and daddsey she hid. No one knew she was here and they left. She is trying to take care of house but only knows small things as she is only 7."
"Do you know where her parents are?" Hermione asked, thinking how horrible it would be to be abandoned when you were so young.
"Winky does, theys being sold to the ministry to cleans." She told her, "Does you needs Winky to teach Misty?"
"If you have time Winky that would be great but you can't tell Harry that I am back until after the wedding as it is a surprise." She told the hyper elf.
"Winky will help Misty," she told Hermione firmly. "No youngling should be alone." Hermione agreed with her and would head back to the ministry and see if she could buy the elves back. She didn't need that many elves but at least she would reunite the family and they could help at Hogwarts if they ran out of work at Hope Cottage.
She put her unspeakable cloak back on and apparated to the ministry, showed her new credentials to the security guard and was let in with no hassle. It was nice being able to walk around without anyone recognizing her. She headed to the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures to discuss the elves. When Amos Diggory came out to meet her, she realized she must have scared the clerk with her unspeakable credentials and she called for the boss to be safe.
"Hello Mr. Diggory," she said bowing her head in respect since he could not see her face. "I need to speak with you about two house elves you employ here at the ministry." The two talked for quite some time and when she explained that the child of the two elves she was speaking of was left alone and still bound to the house he immediately agreed to release them. She was glad that things had gone as smoothly as she hadn't given any real details of her property, but maybe everyone expected that of an unspeakable. When the two, obviously terrified, elves were called in she was sad to see how scared and depressed they seemed. The only other house elf that she had ever seen look so sad was Winky. Knowing she couldn't reveal herself to them yet she ordered them to follow her to their new place of employment. They nodded and followed her out of the building. She took their hands to guide their apparition and smiled at the gasps they gave when they saw their old house.
She took her hood down and turned towards them, "My name is Hermione Granger and I am the new owner of Hope Cottage, I formally ask that you be bound to me and my house." She told them in the verse she had looked up for Harry when Dobby and Winky asked to be bound. "Before you accept I need to tell you my rules. First you will not punish yourselves without my permission, second you will wear nice clothes and if I wish to free you I will tell you, and third you will fully train Misty and help her as she has been alone without you for too long." The two elves were crying with happiness and quickly agreed to the bond. "Misty come here please." Hermione called out and then was able to watch the wonderful reunion of the house elf family. "No work today, I want you to spend some time together. You can start work tomorrow." Misty smiled at the new mistress in awe before she and her parents disappeared back to their cottage.
"Misses Hermione is great witch," Winky said, startling her as she still stood in the garden. "Most witches not care about elves like Misses Hermione."
"Thank you for your help Winky, I think Misty will be alright now that her parents are back. Will you do me one more favor and go pick out some clothes for each of them. You know what they will like and what size to get better than I." She asked smiling and handing her little friend a money pouch. "I will see you at the wedding!"
Hermione spent the next day with the twins at the new shop reviewing the candidates to hire and looking over the merchandise they were going to sell. She was impressed with the layout of the warehouse and hoped to be able to talk the owner of their shop into selling it to her early for a larger price. It would make things so much easier if they didn't have to transport the products through the alley into the store once they were charmed. Their largest selection of a single item was televisions; they had over 10 different models in different sizes, as they assumed they would be the biggest sellers. She taught Fred and George the transfiguration spell for the TVs and let them get to work while she worked out some of the new spell variations for the products she had never charmed before such as MP3 players, video game systems (Playstation 2, Nintendo Game Cube and Xbox), digital cameras, microwaves, etc…
She helped the twins get the store ready for their products by transfiguring most of the existing shelves and things to look more like a muggle electronics store. They had blacked out the windows and door so that no one would know what they were up to until they opened in a week and a half. She would begin interviews for new employees Monday morning and hope to find at lest two, hopefully three by the end of the week. She had ordered a light up sign for out front from a muggle sign designer and it would be ready for her to pick up Tuesday. She had told the man her business name was just for fun so he wouldn't get any ideas when making a sign for "Electronic Wizarding Wares".
That afternoon she donned her unspeakable robe again and went shopping in Diagon Alley for furniture, she knew she would have to head into muggle London as well since she hated the feel of the beds in the wizarding world, the muggles just made them so much more comfortable. She planned on purchasing one of those memory foam type mattresses. She loved shrinking and lightweight charms as she had three rooms full of furniture in a tiny little bag. She had found exactly what she was looking for for the library, her master suite and even the cabinets and benches for the potions lab. She was still looking for things for the breakfast nook and family room; she planned to keep the rest of the furniture the same.
The sales clerk in muggle London was harder to deal with as she needed to get the mattress out of the store so she could shrink it without drawing too much attention to herself. She finally had to steel herself to do something that she hated, even though she was fully trained and authorized to do it now. She had to obliviate the woman after paying for her mattresses; she purchased a total of 5 mattresses from the woman so she didn't have to obliviate her again. She purchased a king size for her bedroom, two queen sizes for two of the guest bedrooms and two twin mattresses for the final bedroom. She hurriedly shrunk her purchases and left the store while the woman was still dazed. As an unspeakable she knew it was the only way, but it had been the first time she had needed to do it and she was shaking.
Hermione decided while she was in muggle London she would go browse the electronics stores and pick up some more small things for her shop. She decided to have an entire kids section as well as small gadgets for those weirdoes like Mr. Weasley who liked to tinker with muggle things. She hadn't found what she really wanted and headed to a large discount chain store to their toy section. She picked up some Christmas rope lights that were on clearance and decided they would look nice around the windows of the store. The toy section was great as there were lots of different battery operated toys that she could charm. The infant/toddler section was the best as it seemed that everything either lit up or played music. She spent a small fortune on kids' toys things like a toddler table that played different sounds and light up when the baby pushed the buttons, different things that taught kids their letters, sounds, colors and animals. She had to tell the lady at the register that she was opening a daycare so she wouldn't be questioned too much as she had 4 carts full of stuff. She told them she had a van outside and took it all out herself and was able to discreetly shrink it all.
When she got back to the store the twins were laughing as she kept pulling small bags out of her purse until she had all her purchases for the store unshrunk and on shelves in the warehouse. The reason they were laughing so much was that they had gone shopping as well only they cleaned out a discount store that sold CDs and DVDs. They had also transfigured some shelves to hold all the titles like they saw in the store. Between all of them they had spent more money in one day than they anticipated making in the first month, but that was the way of business. You have to spend money to make money, or so the saying goes.
The next day Hermione and the twins met with the landlord of their shop in Diagon Alley. By the end of the meeting Hermione was the proud owner of the shop and the landlord thought he had made a fortune, so everyone was happy. They spent the rest of the day cutting a passage in the back wall of the store into the warehouse behind. It was slow work as they didn't want any dust to damage the electronics, even though they were all covered in tarps. They had just finished the passage and Hermione had collapsed behind the counter holding the register when the door chimed and Ron walked in. She shot the twins a glare for leaving the door open before lying down further to stay out of sight.
"What are you two doing in here?" Ron asked in a huff. "I read that there were interviews for a new type of job being held here starting next week and thought I'd check it out. Where are the owners?"
"The owner is not here," Fred told him with a sneer; whenever they were not around their mother Ron was a downright arse to them. "We are helping get the store set-up for opening day. This is private property Ronald, you shouldn't be here."
"I have as much right to be here as you," he shot back feebly. "I was here to enquire about the job openings as they said the pay was lucrative."
"You will have to come back on Monday when everyone else will be here." George growled at his idiot brother, "As you can see from the sign on the door, the place is not open and not holding interviews until Monday."
"Although I wouldn't waste your time coming back as if you couldn't handle a job in our shop you definitely won't cut it here." Fred told him while pushing him back toward the door.
"Just because the owner was dumb enough to hire you doesn't mean they won't hire me. I'm sure they know talent when they see it." Ron sneered, he hated that fact that his brothers made more money than him and that he couldn't seem to hold down a steady job. He knew he deserved a higher paying job; he was appalled that they thought he should start at the bottom after everything he had done in the war! One day he would show his family and become the richest Weasley in generations, he just had to find a way to make it happen. Being friends with Harry Potter hadn't worked; helping in the war hadn't worked, so he needed a new angle.
"We're sorry," George said as he locked and silenced the door. "Ugh, can you believe his arrogance? I can't imagine why he thinks he is so much better than everyone else but it is getting very old. I think if he doesn't get a steady job soon Lavender is going to leave him. He had to tell her she couldn't go clothes shopping anymore as they had no money; I heard her crying to Ginny how she never thought she would be poor."
"Yeah and Ginny is the worst now she's a Malfoy," Fred said sadly. "She acts like she is better than the rest if us and flaunts her designer robes and jewelry. She told Lavender not to worry that she was sure Draco could get him a job in the ministry."
"Like the Malfoy name means anything anymore. They have no pull in the ministry or anywhere other than perhaps Knockturn Alley. She just married Draco for his money and he doesn't even care just because she is pureblooded. I swear I don't know what happened to our siblings! First Percy turned prat and abandoned the family then Ron, Ginny and Mum tried to connive Harry into marrying Ginny, it's like the people we thought they were were completely phony!" George sighed.
"Did you know that mum barely even congratulated us on getting engaged to Katie and Alicia? She just said, 'that's nice dears' and turned back to talking with Lavender and Ginny." Fred told her sadly. "Dad, Bill and Charlie pulled us aside later and told us they were happy for us but we don't understand mum at all."
"I'm sorry you guys are still dealing with all of this, I guess I thought it had all calmed down by now. I'm happy for you two for getting engaged! So when is the double wedding?" She asked with a grin, glad that she could cheer up her friends in person. They obviously were very hurt by how their mother was treating them and she totally understood as she hadn't spoken to her parents in over 4 years.
"We decided to wait another year and see how this business pans out, we want to throw them a huge wedding and if we make as much as we anticipate this year we will be able to buy a big house and have a huge wedding without taking a loan from Harry." George told her with a grin. "Besides, we are hoping that maybe things will cool off more with the family by then… we reckon that if either Lavender or Ginny gets pregnant then maybe mum will calm down and remember that she has more family that she has seemingly forgotten about."
"Well you can use my house for the ceremony if you want; it has big and beautiful gardens in the back and is in Hogsmead so people can stay at the Three Broomsticks or even floo in." She told them happily. They spent the rest of the day transfiguring products and placing them on shelves. They all left early to go relax before the wedding the next day. They knew that the wedding of Harry Potter was not going to be a small affair and decided they needed extra sleep before it!