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Friday, 14 September 2012

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Hermione opened her eyes in the circular tower room that was Draco's bedroom at Nott manor. She had gotten the grand tour yesterday. Aside from his own bedroom, Draco had his own living room, a study, a big bathroom and the large balcony that stretched between the East and the North-East towers of Nott manor. Now that she had seen it she completely understood why Draco had chosen to live at Nott manor, especially when the alternative was Malfoy manor. And after the events of last night she also understood that it could be useful to have the defences of Nott manor at one's disposal. She let Draco sleep, but got up herself to look around a little bit. A little while later Draco found her looking through his book shelves.

"Find anything interesting?"

"Of course."

"Want breakfast with those books?"

"Yes please."

Draco took a moment to observe Hermione going through the books. He only had two bookshelves in here. With both the Nott and the Malfoy libraries at his disposal he didn't really see the need to establish a whole library if his own. He kept his favourites close though.

Hermione took a book from one of the lower shelves and raised it in his general direction. The title read "The Magic of St. Mungos."

"Is this one any good?"

"Yes, I think so. It's a bit old though. It was written in the late eighties by the head healer at the time. He discusses those parts of the hospitals history that he finds interesting and those that he thinks we could learn something from. There are also subtle hints in there about what the ministry could do to make St. Mungos better. I think it's a bit of a shame that it never got much attention. He died shortly after publishing it and the book sort of died with him. No publishing tours or promotions or any of the other things a book needs to gets noticed."

"Do you mind if I borrow it?"

"Seriously, Hermione. Do you think I would ever stand between you and a book? I'm not that crazy."

They got themselves comfortable on the balcony. Batty brought them breakfast and the papers. Draco started with the Daily Prophet, saving both the White Wizard and the newest edition of Witch Weekly until later. Hermione settled down besides him with her book and started to read.

It was exactly as Draco had anticipated. Hermione's mysterious disappearance from Blaise's party was dominating the news. Someone had snapped a picture of the two of them running at full speed past the bar. There was also a picture of a serious looking Auror saying that he would not divulge information about the ongoing investigation. Now all they had to do was to get Hermione on the wireless this afternoon so everyone could hear for themselves that she had survived yet another attack.

They heard a knock coming from inside and then a door opened. Theo's voice yelled: "Are the two of you dressed or do I need to keep covering my eyes?"

"We're out here," Draco yelled back.

Theo found them and took a seat across from them.

"Well, well, well, Hermione. You just bounce from one wizard to another these days."
"Be quiet Theo. We are fully aware of how weird this Louis thing is."

"Yes, and keeping all of this a secret from Emily is going to be the death of me. How long do I have to keep this up?"

"You seriously think we have a plan?"

"I was hoping."

"We don't. We're just trying to survive here and hoping Potter catches whoever it is. Someone seems pretty determined to become a murderer."

"Yes. Maledictapes take over a week to breed and you need some seriously banned ingredients. Almost makes me wonder if it's anyone we know from 'the good old days'."

"I've considered that. I just can not come up with any reasonable names. You can't fool the orbs, so it would have to be someone that didn't end up in the rehabilitation program."

"Didn't they catch everyone?"

"Who knows. Apparently a whole bunch of marked graduates of Durmstrang showed up here only a few weeks ago. It could be a foreigner. Seems pretty random to attack Hermione, though. What could she possibly have done to piss someone off this badly?"

"What do you say, Hermione? Have you been traveling the world making enemies?"

Hermione briefly looked up from her book and smiled.

"Good morning, Theo."

The two of them scrutinized her.

"She seems pretty harmless."

"Yes she does, but looks can be deceiving."

"Should we be worried?"

"Who knows. Maybe she turns into a monster at night."

"I think I would have noticed that. But there are other possibilities. Maybe she is a witch."

"Yes. That could be it."

"Lay off it, you two. You know I haven't done anything that could possibly explain why someone wants me dead."

"Sure there is. We just don't yet know what triggered this. Maybe Edgecombe finally snapped."

"Me and Marietta are fine. I apologised to her ages ago."

"I guess we'll find out sooner or later. Have you talked to Potter today?"
"No, not yet."
"You should see if he got any clues from the maledictapes. If we're lucky they can catch this maniac now."

"You think so?"
"Well, as Theo so helpfully pointed out there are some banned substances involved when you want to breed maledictapes. Hopefully our would be assassin can be traced through those."

Hermione decided to fish up her Fred and see if Harry was awake yet.

[Hermione:] Any news?

[Harry:] Some. But I'm not telling you via the fred.

[Hermione:] Anything you think I need to know right now?

[Harry:] Not right now, no. But we can try to meet up later to go over things.

[Hermione:] That's fine. My plan is to lay low until this afternoon and then go talk to Lee.

[Harry:] Are you still where I left you last night?

[Hermione:] Yes. It seemed safer to stay here.

[Harry:] Good. I want to come with you to Lee when you go. Extra security.

[Hermione:] Sure. That sounds good. Want to pick us up at two?

[Harry:] Make it three. We have a case briefing at two.

[Hermione:] I'll message Lee and tell him when to expect us.

[Harry:] Ok. See you then.

- # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # -

Draco and Hermione stayed in the east tower until Emily left and Theo told them it was all clear. Theo did not like to lie to his girlfriend, so he just didn't mention them at all to her.

Once she left and they ventured downstairs Theo informed them that Blaise was home, but probably still sleeping. Apparently it was one of the side effects of being master of the manor. He always knew exactly who was on the property and approximately where they were.

After lunch Draco and Theo decided to gave Hermione the grand tour of the manor. She had already seen several parts of it, but it was large enough to get lost in so there was still plenty to be seen. As she had suspected, the grand hall was equipped with an impressive extension charm. It had been large enough to fit over 300 seated guests when Theo had thrown the gala, but now it was back to a more reasonable size.

They ended up in the library. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that Theo and Draco never got Hermione any further than the library. When it was clear that the tour was over and they had lost Hermione among the books they just sat down and started playing wizards chess.

"So you and Hermione, eh?"
"Apparently so."

"II owe Pansy ten galleons."

"You made a bet with Pansy?"

"I know, I know. I broke our rule. This one just seemed so far fetched."

"Pansy is always right. You know that."

"I know. I just momentarily forgot. But tell me; How come Hermione hasn't hexed you yet?"
"I guess it helps that i keep saving her whenever she gets herself in trouble."
"So that's your secret."
"Either that or my astounding good looks."
"Considering you keep taking polyjuice, I doubt she keeps you around because of your looks. Do you think there is any chance she might just be using you?"

"I guess anything is possible, but I doubt it. She really isn't devious enough for such things."

"How refreshing."

They stayed quiet for a minute just playing their game. Theo always played the black pieces which always left the white pieces to Draco. He didn't mind. Now that he looked at the players he almost thought that the fierce little white queen looked a little bit like Hermione.

"So you think it might work between the two of you?"
"Maybe. If we manage to stay alive long enough. It's still rather fresh in my memory how we were running for our lives last night."

"She really is a magnet for disasters, that one."
"A walking target for trouble."

"Just your type then. Something to keep things interesting."
"I might have to let her go though. If she wins this election I really shouldn't ruin it for her."
"Stop being so self sacrificing all the time. You deserve something good in your life for once."
"We'll see."

"No, Draco. Seriously. Don't ruin this for yourself just to be noble."
"We'll see."
"Remind me to smack you if you sabotage this."

"Sure."

Hermione who was flipping through a book on the other side of a bookshelf decided to quietly slip away and pretend she hadn't heard all of that. But she had. And she agreed with Theo. It would not be fair to end whatever she and Draco were doing just because the public wouldn't like it. She refused to give in to public opinion like that.

As she tried to quietly manoeuvre further into the library she heard Theo get up and leave. Draco also got up and came looking for her. When he found her he slipped his arms around her and hugged her from behind holding on to her as if he was afraid she was about to disappear at any moment. She turned around in his arms and kissed him.

"Hi," she said when their lips parted.

"Hi yourself."

"You missed me that much?"
"Just taking advantage of an opportunity. Theo went downstairs to get Potter."

"Well, don't let me stop you."

Their lips met again and Hermione's hands fell around Draco's shoulders. There is even a chance one of her legs lifted slightly. They parted and took a breath when they heard Theo returning with Harry.

Harry was looking sleep deprived, with his hair sticking out in every direction, but he seemed relatively happy. Hermione asked for news of the case, as all four of them sat themselves down on the couches.

"Well, we have been quite busy. Tracing purchases of the substances needed for the breeding of maledictapes, going over evidence from the other two attacks and generally working our asses off. I only got 3 hours of sleep. But, all's well that ends well. We made an arrest."

"Really, who?"

"Henry Stephenson."
"From Purple Palace?"

"That's the one."

"What did I ever do to him? He seemed like such a nice and quiet boy."

"Well, he was a very angry quiet boy who for some reason started blaming you for his troubles."

"But how?"
"Well, we aren't finished interrogating him but as far as I can tell his parents died in the war so he grew up with his aunt in Salisbury."
"The McCracken's?"
"You know them then?"
"No, not really. But I am starting to see where this is going."
"So yes, he was living with the McCracken's who seemed to have had an interesting view of life. They were not exactly criminals, but they weren't exactly law abiding either. They got into some legal trouble recently. I'm not really sure what happened there, but they ended up getting three months in Azkaban and their house got confiscated by the ministry. No one seemed to have given a second thought to Henry or where he was supposed to go. He is not their son and he is of age, so he somehow got overlooked in the process. He moved in with his grandmother, who is her own kind of batty and didn't even realise he was living with her."
"Poor kid. I never realised."

"But why attack Granger? Was she behind his parents dying or something?" asked Theo.

"No, as far as I can tell they were killed in a Death Eater attack. His father was muggleborn. We can never be sure, but we think the Lestranges along with Rowle and Nott senior may have been behind that one."

Theo and Draco paled a bit and got quiet at that. Harry continued as if he had not just accused Theo's father and Draco's aunt of murder; "Honestly, it doesn't make much sense to me why his hatred started to revolve around Hermione. We have to talk to him more to figure that one out. But as far as I can tell he has strong opinions on what Hermione should and shouldn't be doing."
"I am guessing he blames me for the arrest of the McCrackens. They called me over for some legal advice when they were getting in trouble and I told them to stop breaking the law and to pay the fine that had been issued. They didn't take my advice."
"So that's what happened. Well, yes there is that then. And then apparently he saw you hanging out with these two and did not like that you were friendly."
"Yes, he was there when Theo and Draco came to Purple Palace that one time."
"Apparently war heroes should only talk to other war heroes, according to him."
"And not to relatives of those he thinks responsible for his parent's death."

"You have been seen around a lot of snakes lately. Apparently he had issues with that. But mostly, I think he is just a very angry kid who needed someone to blame for his lot in life."

"Poor kid. What's going to happen to him?"
"Well, the investigation has just started. We have to figure out if he was acting alone or if anyone else was involved, and we have to make sure he hasn't left any traps lying around. But when we have it all figured out it will be up to the Wizengamot to decide what to do with him."

- # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # -

Draco decided to stay home and not go with Harry and Hermione to the interview. Head auror Evans would be issuing an official statement later, but The public would need more than just the official (and dry) statement. So it was the two of them who meet up with Lee that afternoon at the Wizarding Wireless Network. They hadn't realised they were running late, but when they arrived Lee was already on air.

- Lee: -

"And who do we have here? Not only is it Hermione-Cinderella-Granger who left the party in a hurry yesterday minutes before midnight, but right behind her I see none other than our favourite Auror-extraordinaire; Mr. Harry Potter. Come and sit down, both of you."

They did and then they started telling him all about what had happened last night. Of course they realised as soon as they sat down that they hadn't talked in advance about what they were going to say. How were they going to explain things if they were to leave Draco and Theo out of the story? Calling Draco Louis was easy enough but then what?

Hermione took a deep breath and decided she didn't care if it was political suicide. It was time for at least part of the truth. She decided that if she couldn't tell people about Draco she could at least tell people about Theo. No one had thrown tomatoes at her yet for being friends with Pansy. It was time to take it up a notch.

So she told Lee, and whoever was listening, about how Louis had recognised the tell-tale sound of maledictapes. Lee, needed an explanation for what maledictapes were so Harry gave an extensive background to what they were and how they had been used during the war. When that had been covered Lee turned back to Hermione.

- Lee: -

"So, tell me what happened. Did you know how dangerous maledictapes were?"

- Hermione: -

"Yes, and fortunately I have a friend who knows how to stop them. So I summoned my patronus and told it to find Theodore Nott. He was in our year at Hogwarts and as the master of Nott manor he has some powerful magic at his disposal."

- Lee: -

"Since when are you friends with Theodore Nott? Wasn't he in Slytherin house?"

Harry quickly picked up on what Hermione was doing and helped her out here.

- Harry: -

"We are not at Hogwarts anymore, Lee. Dividing people by what an old hat told us when we were eleven would just be ridiculous. Me and Hermione have friends from all Hogwarts houses. You may even have read in a newspaper or two that Ron's new girlfriend used to be in Slytherin house."

- Lee: -

"Yes, miss Parkinson. From what I can tell she has quickly gained acceptance by the golden trio."

- Harry: -

"Pansy is a nice girl. I'm not at all surprised that Ron likes her."

Lee decided to get back on point rather than explore that particular avenue.

- Lee: -

"So, tell me Hermione. Did you find Mr. Nott."

- Hermione: -

"Yes, my patronus led us right to him. As soon as he understood the gravity of the situation he offered his help."

- Lee: -

"How could he help?"

- Hermione: -

"We decided to use the defences of Nott manor to set a trap for the maledictapes. Basically he would go home and adjust the wards so I could apparate onto the grounds but that there then would be a trap waiting for me. In this trap I would be safe from the bugs and when they tried to come for me they would be trapped too."

She then told Lee about the running while waiting for Theo to get the trap ready and about what happened when 'her' fred notified her that Theo was ready. It was all very dramatic and Lee oh-ed and ah-ed at all the right places. Once she was done with her part Harry took over and talked about the investigation and how they had now identified a suspect and had him in custody.

Lee tried to get Harry to divulge who the culprit was but he refused to give a name. They did however talk about why the wizard had been after Hermione. It was not because she was muggleborn, nor was it something she had done in the war. This was because of her ability to forgive. Some people seemed to think that a member of the golden trio should not be seen talking to people that had been on the other side of a war that had ended over a decade ago. Harry talked about the rehabilitation program and how successful it was and Hermione said in no uncertain terms that she had no problem with anyone who had completed rehabilitation. It did no one any good to hold on to grudges forever.

- Lee: -

"So tomorrow is the day. Voting started already this morning, actually, but the big day is tomorrow. Remind me; what is your pebble colour, Hermione."

- Hermione: -

"They were kind enough to give me purple."

- Lee: -

"Have you perhaps voted already?"

- Hermione: -

"No, I was thinking of going to the ministry tomorrow morning. I hear it is quite spectacular down there."

- Lee: -

"It sure is. I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to go down to the ministry and vote there. Of course you can also vote from home, and many people have done so already. The instructions are quite clear. Just turn your pebble the colour of your chosen candidate and it will be added to the appropriate pile at the ministry. In alphabetical order that would be green for Thomas Bulstrode, purple for dear Hermione Granger over here, blue for Rowena Lestrange, red for Neolin Parkinson, white for Septima Vector and yellow for Blaise Zabini."

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Harry sent Hermione home after the interview. Purple Palace had been closed by the Auror office that morning and was being checked for traps. She hadn't been home that night so Spike fussed about and tried to be extra nice to her. Once she had calmed him down a bit she took up her fred.

[Hermione:] I'm home now if you want to come over.

[Draco:] Maybe later. I have some stuff to do.

[Hermione:] Ok. What did you think of the interview?

[Draco:] I'm not particularly happy with you throwing away votes like that.

[Hermione:] Like what?

[Draco:] Publicly announcing you and Theo are best friends was not smart.

[Hermione:] Whatever. He was painted a hero and he deserves it. So do you for that matter.

[Draco:] Don't you dare drag my name into this. You have done plenty of damage already.

[Hermione:] Don't you tell me what to do! If I want to tell the world I like you then I will.

[Draco:] You will do no such thing! We're trying to get you elected here.

[Hermione:] Come over here so I can yell at you properly.

[Draco:] No. If I come over there I'll say something stupid.

[Hermione:] Like what? That you care more about this stupid election than you care about me?

[Draco:] Don't get all hormonal on me, Granger.

[Hermione:] Oh, that was low. If you don't come over here right now then I'm coming over there.

[Draco:] I'll lock my door.

[Hermione:] What are you? Nine?

[Draco:] Just leave me alone.

Not a chance that was happening. Hermione was seething now. Did Draco really think he could just keep her out like that. No, she would not accept that. She had heard him talking to Theo just this morning about how he was thinking of breaking up with her 'for the greater good'. Oh, how she hated that expression. She was not going to throw him to the Dragons just because of public opinion. She would never bow to public opinion. If that was the kind of Minister for Magic that the people wanted, then they would have to vote for someone else. She grabbed her wand and stomped to the floo.

Blaise and Theo were plotting in a corner when she arrived at Nott manor. They looked up when she arrived.

"Draco is in the East tower," Theo said helpfully.

"Well, don't jump to any conclusions here. Maybe Hermione is here to see me. How about it Hermione?"

"Not today, Blaise. I'm here to yell a bit at Draco."

"Ah, puppet wants to cut her strings. Well, it was bound to happen at some point. Up the stairs and to the right. Let me know how it goes."

Hermione left them and stomped up the stairs. This was ridiculous. She was half way up the stairs when Theo called after her.

"I heard you on the wireless."

"Are you also going to try to tell me I shouldn't be friends with snakes?"

"Wouldn't dream of it. Getting the stamp of approval from the golden trio felt kind of nice."

When she tried the door to Draco's quarters, at least it was open. Draco was lying on the couch with a book on his lap. He had barely looked up when she threw an expelliarmus at him and his wand came flying towards her.

"What the hell, Granger! Give me back my wand."
"When you act like you're nine then you don't get to play with wands."
"What is wrong with you?"
"You are being an idiot."
"How am I being an idiot?"
"I chose to give Theo the credit due to him and sooner or later I am going to drag you too out into the spotlight and you are just going to have to deal with it."
"Don't you get it? You had an assassin after you just because you were seen talking to me. You should stay as far away from me as you possibly can."
"You don't get to tell me what to do and what not to. If I want you around then you stay."
"And I don't get a say in the matter?"
"No. You do not get to break up with me until I say you can."

"You're being unreasonable. You're better off without me."
"Says who?"
"Says me."
"Well I disagree."
"Disagree all you want, but you almost died yesterday. You can't deny that."
"Harry caught the guy."
"And what about the next one."
"I'll be careful."
"You don't know the first thing about being careful. If you knew how to be careful then you wouldn't have bragged about being friends with snakes on the wireless today."
"Don't tell me what to do."
"Don't do stupid things."

Hermione's frustration was getting the better of her. They were actually screaming at one another. She was so tempted to hex some sense into him. To stop herself from doing anything stupid she slammed both wands onto a table by the door, walked to the couch, threw herself onto it and closed her eyes. Draco, who was also seething, sat down besides her as they tried to calm down a bit.

"This is a ridiculous argument."
"Not really. I'm right and you're wrong."
"Ok, let's at least try to think about this logically."
"Ok. Point one: You want to live to see next year. Point two: Anything associated with me brings out the worst in people. I am the villain of the story. The one they love to hate. Point three: It's not too late to back out. Ergo: You should leave and never look back."
"Not going to happen, Draco."

They sat quietly for a moment. Hermione put her hand in Draco's and their fingers interlocked.

"So if you are rejecting my plan to break up with you, do you have a better one?"
"Come with me to vote tomorrow."
"You can't be serious."
"Perfectly."
"No."

"We can bring Ron and Pansy."
"And make it look like a double date? Definitely no."
"We can bring Theo and Emily."
"What? You want to go voting with three marked ex-Death Eaters."
"Yes."

"You're insane."
"How about me, Harry, you and Theo?"
"You're not going to let this go."
"No. I was on the wireless today and I want to strike while the iron is hot. Drive the point home. I will not be intimidated by assassins. I will not let anyone dictate who I will and will not spend my time with."

"You'll lose the election."
"I don't care."
"Theo will get my Lamborghini."

"I'll buy you a new one."
"You can't. It's a custom made limited edition."
"Will he want it if we have sex all over it?"
"Probably not."
"Then that's our plan."
"You're insane."
"You like me anyway."
"Maybe."

Draco dragged Hermione into a tight hug and just held her for a few seconds. When he finally let her go she kissed him and asked; "Does this mean I win the argument? Are you're going to stop trying to dump me for my own good?"

"Do I get make-up sex if you win the argument?"

"You'd probably get that either way."

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Saturday, 15 September 2012

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At 11:33 on election day a large group of friends came out of the floo at the grand reception hall at the Ministry of Magic. Hermione had followed through with her plan and wanted to show the world that she meant it when she said she had friends from every Hogwarts house. With her she had Harry, Ron, Pansy, Draco, Neville, Hannah, George and Marcus Flint. Then there was also Alice Thompson and a couple of her friends, Isabella and Eric (who had been shocked to find out about Henry) and some of her co-workers from the F.R.E.D. research division. All in all there were 18 of them. Seven graduates of Gryffindor house, four from Ravenclaw, three from Hufflepuff and four from Slytherin.. Ginny had not been feeling well so she had opted for voting from home, and Iris was not voting for Hermione so she had not been invited along. Most of the group did not know about Hermione and Draco being more than friends, so Draco just kept quiet and stayed close to Pansy and Marcus. At least he was there.

The view from the balcony down onto the grand hall was very different from what it had been like at the ministry gala. The grand decorations, including the chandeliers, were gone. Instead there were dark green screens set up in small booths along the walls, behind which one could go to get some privacy while voting.

Dominating the grand hall were six gigantic glass cylinders that stretched pillars from the floor towards the ceiling. About two meters in diameter each and probably close to eight meters tall with a golden lid on top. Each glass cylinder held a collection of coloured pebbles. This was democracy in action. When someone voted, all they had to do was to perform a simple spell to change the pebble's colour. The pebble then disappeared from the voters hand and then appeared again inside the appropriate cylinder. The cylinders recognized the magical signature of the wand used and would not allow the same wand to vote twice. It was not perfect, in case someone still had some old wand lying around, but one could expect a hefty fine if one tried to vote twice so very few people even contemplated the idea.

Hermione's eyes looked for the cylinder containing purple pebbles. It wasn't too bad. People seemed to be voting for her despite what she had said on the wireless yesterday. If she had to guess she would say that her cylinder was probably had about 3 meters worth of pebbles in there already. The red and the white cylinders had similar amounts of pebbles, while the yellow, blue and green cylinders were slightly behind at the moment. Beyond the six great cylinders there was a seventh smaller cylinder had been added to hold black pebbles. Those were the votes that got disqualified. Hermione saw a pink pebble appear at the top of the cylinder. It turned black as it fell to join the others. Apparently Fawley was getting votes too. His colour would have been pink if he hadn't withdrawn his candidacy.

"Let's go then. It's showtime." Hermione said to the crowd.

+ Wait a minute. +

Draco shot out his hand and stopped from walking towards the staircase. He then quickly withdrew it.

"What?"

All eyes were now on Draco, which made him extremely uncomfortable. He sighed.

"Well, since you dragged us all down here to publicly support you, then we should probably make a proper spectacle out of it."
"What are you thinking?" Harry asked.
"We should do something that looks good on a picture. See if we can get onto the front page tomorrow. I suggest we walk in formation down the stairs, three by three with the golden trio up front. Try for slow and dignified. Then we can split and go get a pebble each. And then we gather again by the purple pillar to vote simultaneously and very publicly."

"Excellent plan!" Hermione said, happy to see Draco speaking up in front of other people for once. "Let's do that."

They lined up with Harry, Ron and Hermione in the first row, followed by Pansy, Neville and Hannah. Then came Marcus, Draco and George, followed by Alicia and the rest of the younger crowd. They looked spectacular marching down the grand staircase in formation. The press took notice and photographed their progress. Several of them already had pebbles, but the rest broke away to get some. Once everyone had a pebble they headed to the purple cylinder. Hermione suggested they form a ring around it, which they did. Then everyone took out a wand and held their pebble high.

George took charge shouting "For Hermione!" He then counted down from three and they all turned their pebbles purple. Eighteen pebbles disappeared and eighteen pebbles appeared just under the golden lid on the top of the cylinder. They fell down together and added to the growing pile of pebbles. Alicia cheered and so did many of the others. A few people present gave a little applause at their antics.

After that the press wanted to talk to Hermione so she stood there and answered questions for a little while. When asked she decided to credit Pansy for the idea of a large group going voting together. Pansy was close enough to hear her and winked at her when their eyes met.

Draco stood to the side with Markus when he spotted his parents across the hall. Narcissa's eyes held his as she drew out her wand and turned the pebble in her hand purple. Draco heard it as it hit the growing pile in the cylinder. Then he heard her voice.

+ I'm voting for her because I believe she can make this a better world for all of us. +

Draco just nodded his head towards her and then followed after Hermione up the grand staircase.

- # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # -

By some unspoken agreement people had started gathering at Nott manor around dinnertime. Hermione had been there most of the day but now people were just pouring out of the fireplace. Ron and Pansy were chatting with Daphne, Alexey and Eloise. Blaise and Astoria were holding hands, both wearing yellow. Emily was off somewhere with Theo trying to arrange food for all these people. Hermione had suggested to Batty when she saw her that she invited her house elves over to help out with everything.

Blaise's mother was there with a few of her friends and she spotted Emily's brother with some of his friends. Marcus Flint had shown up with some of the Falmouth Falcons players. He had his arm around one of the Ballycastle Bats chasers, Rachel Thorn, and all animosity between him and Blaise seemed forgotten.

Hermione grabbed Theo as he ran by and asked if she could invite some friends to which he just responded; "The more the merrier." So she fished up her fred and starting sending out the word. Shortly thereafter George and Iris were there and Neville showed up without Hannah, who was working tonight. Harry declined her offer to join them but word was spreading and people were pouring out of the floo. When Theo announced that a buffet dinner would be served in the great hall at eight she had spotted Oliver Wood, Alicia Spinnet and her boyfriend, Ernie MacMillan, Anthony Rickett and Justin Finch-Fletchley.

"Do you see what's happening?"

It was Pansy who put one arm around Hermione's shoulders as her other held on to Ron. Together they watched as the crowd moved slowly towards the great hall.

"No. What?"

"You've redrawn the lines. They are all here; The children of the war. Those who remember. The ones that never had a choice. Whatever you want to call them. They are here."
"I suppose they are."
"You went on air yesterday and you removed the house lines. At least for this generation. People who never would have considered to step foot in Nott manor or talking to snakes are here because you said it was Ok. This is all you. I'm so proud of you."

"You're exaggerating."
"I'm not and you know it. Whatever happens with the elections tonight, you have done a very good thing here and you should be proud of yourself. Things will be better from now on. I can feel it."
"So you don't think I'll win?"
"I'm saying it doesn't matter. You've already won."
"You're sweet Pansy."

"Don't get sappy on me. Let's go get food."

- # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # -

The three of them found Neville, Luna and Rolf and together they went hunting for a free table. They had barely started eating when Draco, with a determined look on his face, suddenly took a seat besides Hermione and across from Pansy.

Pansy greeted him kindly, but the rest of the table remained silent. It was George who broke the silence as he, Iris and a friend of hers joined their table.

"Well, well, well. Who do we have here? The prince of darkness himself. You seem to pop up everywhere today."
"It was a dare, Ok. Theo thought it would be funny to challenge me to go sit at the hero's table. Don't look but there is a whole table of Blaise supporters back there that are waiting to see which of you lot jinxes me first. Personally I am putting my trust in Pansy to cover my escape when the wands come out."
"There will be no jinxing anyone today. And especially there be no jixing of my voters." Hermione said. "I meant what I said on the wireless yesterday. The past is in the past and you are welcome to sit with us if you want to, Draco:"

"Oh, so it's Draco now?"

"Yes it is George. Play nice or maybe you will get some jinxes thrown your way."

"Come on little brother, surely you are on my side here."
"You don't seriously think I'm brave enough to start jinxing Pansy's friends."
"Well, I guess I'm outnumbered then. If this is how it is then I guess you are welcome to sit with us. Draco."
"Thank you. George."

Pansy decided that a change of topic was needed, and with Hermione's help they started discussing recent events. Hermione told them that the Reflections articles were being printed as a book as of this afternoon. If she won tonight then those books would be handed out at Purple Palace, free of charge, tomorrow. If she lost then they were to be recycled, the lot of them.

Draco and Ron stayed rather uncomfortably quiet while the rest of them talked. George leaned back and observed the scene for a little while before chuckling and turning his attention to Iris. Hermione knew him well enough to realize that he had probably figured it out. Oh well, she had needed to tell him sooner or later. Then Luna winked at her. Another one that was a bit too observant sometimes.

"So what happened to Louis?"

It was George who asked. Hermione hadn't thought about Louis at all since the arrest yesterday and she had no answer for his question.

"Shouldn't your new boyfriend be here celebrating with you?"

Hermione's glare at George would have scared most wizards.

It was Luna who answered. "Well, George. It's always complicated with foreign wizards like that. They may be fun for a while but I for one never saw any future there. I hope we have seen the last of Louis. If you asked me then Hermione shouldn't be dating some foreigner who has no clue about who she is or what she has been trough or what she has accomplished. I would much rather see her with someone who was there and sees her for who she is."

+ Crap, your friends are smarter than I gave them credit for. Coming over was a stupid idea. +

George looked amusingly at Luna.

"So you are siding with Hermione then?"
"Of course. I always stand with her. Hermione is the smartest witch of our age. You should know that, George."

"If you say so."

"Just lay off her, George," came from Ron.

"Oh, so no teasing the future Minister for Magic then?"

Neville looked around the table. "Am I missing something here?"

But before anyone could answer that question Theo and Blaise showed up.

"Come on Hermione. We should give the crowd what they came for," Blaise said.

+ Well, I'm not staying if you're leaving. +

Draco stood up too and the four of them headed to where the buffet had been set up. The house elves were almost done cleaning up and together they erected a stage. Draco somehow managed to disappear into the shadows as Theo, Blaise and Hermione headed for the spotlight.

"Good evening everyone," Theo said with a big smile on his face.

"I admit that I was pleasantly surprised at how many of you wanted to await the results here at Nott manor tonight. I wasn't quite prepared but somehow Emily and I managed to find enough food and I hope it all worked out Ok. In the end all you need for a party is some good company, and it appears we have plenty of that tonight."

When the general applause died down he continued.

"Since this is all very informal I did not specifically ask any of the candidates to be here this evening. We are however fortunate enough that two of them happened to join us tonight. I would like to introduce my two favourite candidates; Miss Hermione Granger and Mr. Blaise Zabini.

There was some polite applause as the two of them stepped forward. Blaise pointed his wand at his throat to magnify his voice and Hermione mimicked him.

"Thank you, mate. I for one would not have wanted to be anywhere else tonight. My family is here and my friends are here and my wonderful voters are here."

"Oh, now Blaise. Some of those are actually my voters."
"Of course, Hermione. And they are all welcome, whomever they voted for."

"Well we will find out soon enough if you got any votes at all," came from Theo. "We only have a few minutes left before voting closes. If anyone here has not voted yet then the floo is that way. You can still make it."

Everyone laughed as Blaise pretended to start running for the floo.

"So Hermione," Theo asked when things calmed down again. "What are the chances that we will have a final result tonight."
"Well, Theo, it would very much surprise me if we did. We have six excellent candidates running. I find it highly unlikely that any one of us manages to obtain 40% of the votes tonight. When I was down at the ministry earlier it looked rather close between the lot of us. There was no clear front runner."
"So remind us, what happens if no one reaches 40%"

"Then the circus continues. Four out of six cylinders at the ministry will be removed and the top two candidates have to suffer another one of these popularity contests."

"Tell me, Hermione." came now from Blaise. "Will you vote for me next week if I get through?"

"Well, only if you promise to vote for me if I get through."
"Sounds great. And then we both get through and vote for one another. How about that?"
"Now that would be rather historic."

"I guess the question is then; Who will you vote for, Theo, if we both get through?"
"Oh, don't you dare try to put me on the spot like that. I think either one of you would become an excellent Minister for Magic."
"That's settled then. We'll just share the post."
"Problem solved. What shall be our first decree, Blaise?"

"Oh, I think we should establish some more holidays. We can start with the Granger day and the Zabini day. Just an excuse to get off work and school and such."
"Oh, I don't know, Blaise. Do we really want people to start worshiping us? I seem to remember some history book telling me that such rulers tended to end up headless."

"You misunderstand me. This will be about fun and games. No worshiping at all. Tha Blaise day will be dedicated to water wars in late January when things tend to be boring. We will put up giant frozen sculptures with hidden presents inside and people have to melt the statue with any means possible in order to get at the presents."
"Now that sounds like a great idea. In that case the Hermione day will be dedicated to books."
"Oh, Hermione. Always the bookworm. Couldn't you come up with anything more fun than that?"

"Wait for it Blaise, I'm not finished."
"Ok, tell me about your fabulous book holiday."
"Well first of all, the books must be purple. And floating. And you jump from one to the other as if it was a maze."
"Now it's starting to get interesting."
"Yes, and I think we have to have to include candy in there somehow. Maybe we hide candy in one of the books and you have to guess which one it is. And if you guess the wrong book then the floating charm abruptly ends and all the purple books fall onto the floor."
"This sounds promising."

"Ok, Ok. You two are very amusing but I think I will have to stop your scheming here," Theo cut in, "because we only have seconds to go until the results of the elections are in. Let's just go find our seats and listen to Lee make the announcement."

There was polite applause as they stepped down from the stage. The lights went back to normal in the hall and the Wizarding Wireless Network could be heard everywhere. Lee Jordan was interviewing a ministry official about how the election had gone so far and how the counting would be handled. In principle the pebbles would be magically counted and the results would be announced immediately. If there was any doubt then the the pebbles would be counted manually to double check the numbers. But usually one could clearly see from just looking at the glass cylinders who had won.

Hermione went to find Draco instead of heading back to the table. She found him hiding in the shadows at the side of the room.

"Can we go anywhere?"

+ Follow me. +

And he turned around and took her through a door, across a hallway and into a room that looked like someone's study. Draco waved his wand so they would be able to hear what Lee was saying on the Wireless. Then he turned around and hugged Hermione who hugged him right back.

"How are you doing?"
"Slightly nervous."
"You were brilliant on stage, just so you know."
"Thank you. And thank you for coming and sitting with me."
"I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that George and Luna figured out what I was doing there."
"Oh, those two can read me like a book. I can never hide anything from them."
"At least I didn't get jinxed."
"I might have to talk to George a bit, but it will be Ok."
"Kiss me."

And she did. While their lips were locked they listened to Lee announcing the results.

"It has been an exciting few weeks and the excitement is not over. I can now reveal that none of the candidates has managed to get 40% of the votes. Let's take a moment and just appreciate that we have six excellent witches and wizards willing to take on the burden of becoming Minister of Magic. But it is up to us voters to decide which one we want to see in the top chair. We have all cast our votes and here are the results. Thomas Bulstrode got 16% of the votes, Hermione Granger got 21%, Rowena Lestrange got 17%, Neolin Parkinson got 23%, Septima Vector got 8% and Blaise Zabini got 13%. About 2% of the votes were rejected as being invalid. I am being told that many of those were pink pebbles."

Their lips parted and Hermione sighed.

"Congratulations."
"I guess."
"It's you against Parkinson now. Only a week more of this madness. You can do this and you can win this."
"If you say so."
"Look at me, Hermione. The thing that makes you such an excellent candidate is that you don't really want the position. Those who seek it, like Neolin Parkinson does, usually want it for personal gain. You, on the other hand, you can and you would help people. And not just people. If I know you at all I suspect you will make life better for all sentient magical creatures too."
"Thank you. I needed that peptalk."
"Just remember. You don't want Neolin in charge."
"I don't want Neolin in charge."
"Good girl. Now go out there and dazzle them."
"Will you come with me?"
"No, I think I've been seen enough today. Small dosages."
"I guess."
"Just come to my quarters when this all dies down."
"Sounds good."
"See you there."

When Hermione got back into the great hall Theo was back on stage and people were looking for her. She put on her best smile and joined Theo on stage. Blaise joined them too and gave Hermione a big hug. Pansy sent Ron, Neville and Luna up there too and they also hugged her. There was a lot of cheering and she could see someone snapping photos of them.

When it was quiet enough to speak Hermione thanked everyone for their support and reminded them of her promise. Tomorrow at ten she would be at Purple palace handing out her new book titled "Reflections on the colour Purple". Theo then announced that the bar was open and that Marcus Flint would be DJ-ing this evening. This was going to be a long night.

- # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # -

George caught up with Hermione as she was heading back from the bar.

"So did my eyes deceive me earlier or are you shacking up with a snake?"
"Keep your voice down George."
Hermione threw a muffliato as they walked together to a nearby alcove.

"So no denying it?"
"No, not really. Why? Do you have opinions on who is allowed to warm my bed?"
"I just don't want you to get hurt, that's all."
"Then you have nothing to worry about, George."

"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
"This can not possibly be what you want?"
"Someone that adores me and only me? Yes, pretty much."
"I'm just having a hard time picturing it. I mean seriously. You could do so much better. You must remember what he was like. What he did."
"Even insufferable little gitts sometimes grow up into decent human beings."

"I don't like it Hermione. I'm just not sure I am going to be able to master this urge I have to hex his balls off."

"George, listen to me. You are with Iris and you have no claim on me. I would even argue that you haven't had any claim on me for a very long time. I know you are my friend and I know that you love me, but as my friend you have to respect my right to do any number of stupid things. Many would even argue that what we kept doing again and again these past years was thoroughly stupid. I'm a grown witch and whatever stupid things I choose to do is just that: My choice! So no hexing anyone!"

George looked like he was oscillating between angry and sulky. He settled on sulky.

"Just be careful, Ok."

"I always am, George."

"He's an idiot and I'm here for you whenever he needs hexing."

"I'm sure he is fully aware that if he steps even half a toe out of line then I have a whole army on my side ready to take him out."

"Can I be the army general?"

"Sure. Just keep your wand away for now and try to give him a chance."

"Name one reason why I should."

"How about how he keeps saving my life. It wasn't Harry who got a bezoar in me when I was poisoned and you already know Louis was there to whisk me away when a chandelier was falling and it certainly wasn't I who recognised the danger last Thursday or got me safely to Nott manor."

George still looked pretty upset but they were out of time for this particular conversation. Iris approached them handing her extra drink towards George. Hermione quickly removed the muffliato and smiled as the talk went to more innocent topics.

=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=

Sunday, 16 September 2012

=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=

Hermione had been sitting at Purple Palace signing books for over seven hours. The que just never emptied. She had been there already at 8:30 and with the help of her staff they had rearranged the entire place. They were not serving any refreshments today so they removed the chairs and tables. Today was all about her book. When they opened at ten there had been huge piles of books everywhere. The staff was only there to guard the books and make sure people did not grab more than one copy.

There were two ques. One for getting a book and one to get it signed by Hermione. She had not expected everyone to want to line up for the second que, but most people did. The only reason why she had lasted this long was because Spike and Toad regularly came to her with refreshments.

She finished signing a book for a recent Hogwarts graduate that she was sure she had danced with a few weeks ago but could not remember the name of. When he left she saw none other than Narcissa Malfoy in front of her clutching a copy of her book.

"Mrs. Malfoy. Lovely to see you."
"You too miss Granger."
She handed Hermione the book and Hermione opened it on the first page as she had done a million times already today.

"I was very happy to see you get through the first round. I really hope you now manage to win the second round. You would make a lovely Minister for Magic."
"Thank you."
"You should do fine. You are quite popular. Just be careful not to get public opinion up against you for the coming days."

Hermione looked up at that. Was she seriously telling her not to date her son? No, that could not be it. She probably just shared Draco's opinion about keeping the Malfoy name out of the papers.

"I meant what I said on the wireless. I will not let narrow minded people dictate who I can and can not spend time with."
"That's good to hear, dear. But there is a time and place for everything. Just be careful."

She closed the book and handed it to Narcissa.

"Thank you for the advice. I must admit that I have heard something similar from a friend of mine. I however have a mind of my own and I will not lie to people just to save my own skin. If someone asks me for the truth then they may just get it."

Narcissa bowed her head at that.

"You have my vote, Miss Granger. You have a fire in you that will set the magical world ablaze. I look forward to seeing how this all goes."
"Thank you for your support, Mrs. Malfoy."