Hermione woke up the next morning to sunlight streaming in through her open window, not wanting to miss even a moment of the spectacular sight she had slept with the hotel room's curtains and window open to enjoy the glorious view of the Eiffel Tower glittering over the mismatched rooftops of Paris.
A swirl of excitement and nerves welled inside her stomach and she rambled her way through breakfast with Fred at a quaint cafe neighbouring their hotel. Fred could tell she was anxious about going to pick up the samples and meeting her french colleagues so he quietly listened to her rambling on about the differences in sample collecting techniques and the pros and cons of muggle versus magical transport for sensitive vials. Once their cups of coffee and plates of fruit filled pastries where bare and Hermione's knee was bouncing at hyperspeed under the table Fred calmly placed his hand on her lower thigh to still her jittery movements and suggested that they set off for Madam Alady's hospital.
It was a short walk through the streets of wizarding Paris to the nearest entrance for the magical hospital, considering that most people using the hospital would be wanting to enter the building as quickly as possible the founders had decided to build more than one arched entrance into the building across wizarding Paris which worked almost like portkeys. An ivy covered arch in the side of a building on the nearby Place Cachée housing an apothecary and patisserie, topped with a curved metal sign spelling out the name of the hospital and a wand encircled by a snake, marked the doorway they had been directed to by a local sales witch.
A strange tugging sensation pulled at Hermione's navel as she passed through the archway's double doors, there was none of the dizzying spinning she had become accustomed to from long distance port key journeying but instead it felt as though she had been dragged very quickly along a straight line and her eyes quickly adjusted from the bright summer sun to the bright sterile balls that were floating along the ceiling of Madam Alady's entrance hall and casting a pure white light to illuminate the circular room.
The curved green steel they had seen at the Ministere de Affaires Magique was mirrored here, curved beams ran from floor to ceiling in the dome shaped entrance hall, separating each section of wall like slices of a cake. Instead of glass between these beams however there were bright white painted walls and each section was clearly marked with a curved green steel sign above a set of white arched double doors. Looking behind them Hermione noticed the doorway they had just entered through was labelled with the street name 'Place Cachée' before slowly twirling to take in the other signs. In total there were twelve sets of doors, three others as entrances or exits set out like the twelve, three, six and nine positions of a clock while the other eight were hospital departments.
"Accident and Emergencies," Fred translated quietly in her ear, the intimately close whisper caused a delightful shiver to run down Hermione's spine as Fred took her hand in his and Hermione continued to turn to look at each set of doors and accompanying sign in turn "Spell Damage, Major Trauma, Entrance from Rue de la Cité."
"That's the one we need to leave from later, it's the only real exit" Hermione gushed, her extreme nerves were causing her to blurt out any relevant facts she knew and Fred stifled a grin as he remembered her doing the same thing about the ceiling in the Great Hall on her first night at Hogwarts "that was the original entrance as it is opposite the muggle hospital 'Hôtel-Dieu'. It's the oldest muggle hospital in the city and its name literally translates to hotel of God which is the old name for hospital. They set up the two hospitals opposite one another to share good practice well over a century ago. Some muggles believe that their hospital has been rebuilt in different locations since it was first founded due to fires but that was actually a myth created by memory modifying witches and wizards in an attempt to confuse the magical hating muggles of the time and protect both of the hospitals. There's some heavy tension between muggles and magicals still in the culture here, and it's particularly prevalent in the medical community, perhaps that history has contributed to it."
Fred gave her hand an encouraging squeeze and shot her a disarming smile as her excited voice trailed off into worry about how she would be greeted by those they would soon be meeting since she was a muggle born witch herself.
"So what do the other signs say?" She asked with a timid but grateful smile at her friend, turning clockwise to continue their investigating.
"Bites and Burns, Pharmacy, Poisonings." Fred turned following Hermione's lead and continued translating. "Entrance from Rue de Montmorency, where Flamel's house is." Fred added before Hermione could nervously spout any more information and they became late for her meeting. "Deadly Diseases, Diseases and Ailment Research Facility, Discomfortable Diseases. Entrance from Place de Furstemberg, that's the one closest to their ministry of magic. Ailments from Artefacts, Long term Residents, Visitor's Centre including cafe and emotional support services."
"Thank you" Hermione whispered and placed a gentle brushing kiss on Fred's cheek. She wasn't sure if she was thanking him for the translation, for calming her down or for being there for her but she was sure that she was exceedingly grateful that it was Fred who was by her side.
Following the nearest green steel beam, each of which continued from the wall along the floor marking out a pattern of pathways between the waiting area chairs in each section, the pair approached the circular welcome desk and Fred gave their names to the welcome witch who directed them to the triangular section of teal upholstered chairs near the 'Diseases and Ailment Research Facility'.
…
The day had gone remarkably well.
Hermione had swiftly bonded with the french healers over the intricacies of their chosen research methods, safely collected the samples and taken them to the security of her hotel room at lunchtime before returning to the hospital to spend the afternoon experiencing the new techniques some of the french healers were testing and sharing some of her own suggested interventions for their stalled research and more difficult long term patients. By the time the research lab was closing for the day she and Fred had happily accepted an invitation from the head healer of the research facility (Monsieur Orgueilleux), one of the hospital's most senior healers who dabbled in research (Monsieur Mal Élevé) and his son Julian who had recently finished his training and was quickly becoming one of their best young researchers.
Fred's cheeks ached from spending all day beaming in pride at the woman by his side and how remarkably intelligent she was. It was clear that the healers and researchers at Madam Alady's were mightily impressed by the witch and the comments and questions she had to offer, so it came as quite a shock to them when one of the old healers made an off hand comment about the blood status of the waitress serving them their dessert after a delightful meal.
"Incompetent." Monsieur Mal Élevé, the senior healer, spat in French as the waitress fumbled with the slippy white wine bottle as she replaced it into the ice bucket "This is why these blood immigrants should not be allowed. Can't even pour us some wine without splashing the ice everywhere."
"Dirty blood immigrants, they should never have been allowed to join our society let alone touch the food and drink we consume." Monsieur Orgueilleux contributed with a sneer at the departing tearful waitress.
Noticing the disgusted glare Julian was sending at his father and colleague and the white of his knuckles as the young healer gripped his cutlery tightly, Fred decided not to translate this conversation for Hermione straight away and instead, already thinking he knew the answer but wanting to make sure before accidentally embarrassing Hermione, asked Julian a question.
"What is 'blood immigrant'?"
"It means those useless fools who come from dirty parentage, you may say 'non-magical parents' over in England but as they invaded our superior culture to steal our magic and wealth we call the things 'blood immigrants' now in France." Monsieur Orgueilleux explained loftily before Julian had a chance to even open his mouth.
"Not all of us." Julian countered stubbornly "Not all of us have a problem with those from the non-magical world bringing us useful insight and sharing their information and skills."
"Useful insight? Sharing information and skills?" Monsieur Mal Élevé bristled in outrage "No, this is not possible. Have I not taught you well enough son? They are all stupid and ignorant, there is nothing any of those people could ever teach us or say to us that is of any value."
Grabbing hold of Hermione's hand under the table to stop himself knocking out one of her important work contacts Fred gave her a quick summarised translation as she had picked up enough of the conversation, and enough of Fred's behavioural clues, to know that she should be offended but not enough of the details to do anything about it yet.
"Was I of no help today?" She asked standing up and carefully placing her napkin beside her still full plate of brownie. "Shall I terminate the agreements between our research facilities then based on the fact that I was deemed the best researcher to come to you and if I have nothing of value to share due to my heritage then no-one in St Mungo's or British wizarding medicine will? Thank you for dinner but I suggest you hurry back to your hospital and undo all of the work that has been started based on my suggestions if this is how you truly think. Good bye."
"No! Wait! Mademoiselle Granger!" Monsieur Mal Élevé called out in panic as Fred quickly finished translating and stood to leave with her. "We did not know! You are born of non-magical parents?"
"Yes. I am and I am proud of my heritage." Hermione said proudly "Much of my intelligence and ability to think of innovative ideas comes from the fact that both of my muggle parents are non-magical medical professionals so I can approach magical problems from more than simply the obvious narrow minded rut of an angle that you seem to be stuck in."
"Please do not terminate the agreement. We are very sorry for offending you, I have never met such an intelligent witch or wizard before and I thought that the newspapers must have been wrong that you are a blood immigrant, I'm sorry I mean of non-magical parentage." Monsieur Mal Élevé continued looking thoroughly contrite as the three Frenchmen stood too.
"Please accept my sincere apologies Mademoiselle Granger." Monsieur Orgueilleux added, anxiety over his comments having cost his hospital a very valuable allyship "I am truly sorry for my comments. I do not expect a decision now but please do consider not terminating our arrangement, we have learnt so many valuable things from you today alone and perhaps with your further input we can change our misconceptions. We shall leave you to your evening having ruined it already, please stay and enjoy the food and wine. I will leave my personal account details with the staff and have everything charged to me. Please order as much as you wish and enjoy the remainder of your evening to make up for our blunder."
"I am sorry for my father and colleague" Julian said sincerely, his french accent was heavy on his words as he switched the conversation to English now that all those in attendance could speak the same language "we do not all think like this. I and many others in my generation are trying to make this change in our culture but it is hard work. I have been out of Beauxbatons for five years now and feel like I am barely making an impact."
"Your comments today made an impact" Hermione replied with a sweet smile, taking the handsome man's hand and returning to her seat at the table for a fortifying gulp of her wine "standing up to those more senior than you and especially those in your family who think a different way is very brave and it does make a difference even if you don't see it straight away."
Fred couldn't help but notice the way Hermione and Julian's eyes met and how their hands stayed in contact for a long while. Without the need to translate anymore Fred felt a little out of place as the pair continued to drink and discuss culture and healing in detail. He also couldn't help but notice how unfairly attractive the man was, standing at just over six feet tall Julian's body was clearly well sculpted and his fit physique was enhanced by the perfectly tailored emerald green suit he wore. His caramel coloured finely coiffed hair wafted gently each time he moved but never fell out of place and his hazel eyes sparkled each time he spoke about some highly intellectual piece of research just like Hermione's always did.
After several excessively expensive bottles of French champagne and numerous plates of delicious dessert, consumed in an attempt to soak up at least some of the alcohol, Hermione was giggling serenely as Julian flirted outrageously with her. Little touches of knees bumping together and hands stretched out across the table had become so frequent that they now sat hand in hand as the laughing Hermione lent into the dashing healer's side for support and to prevent her from falling off her chair entirely.
"May I write to you Hermione?" The dashing healer asked when the trio finally left the restaurant in the early hours of the morning.
"I would love that" came her reply and she leaned in to give her new friend a kiss on the cheek but he turned at the last moment and stole a proper kiss on the lips from her instead.
