Opening one eye, Hermione could tell that she was laying on the plush carpet of the Burrow's sitting room. She slowly noted that a vial of hangover potion and a glass of water sat on the ground beside her. Thankful, she grabbed the vial. She drank the contents and slowly sat up before gulping down the water. A cursory glance around the room told her that she was the last to wake up, so she cast a Tempus charm to check the time. 2:43 P.M. She groaned and pulled the blanket, which she assumed Molly had covered her with after she'd fallen asleep, up around her shoulders.
Climbing to her feet, she trudged into the kitchen where she found Harry, Charlie, Neville, Ron, and Draco eating. She'd forgotten that the couple had ended up joining them after the interview. They'd asked why they'd seen Rita Skeeter leaving the Burrow as they had arrived and Hermione, Charlie, and Neville let Harry handle the explanations as they were all a bit too sloshed to explain it coherently.
She groaned once again, Rita's voice in her memory grating on her nerves. She had the wizards' attention though and they all kindly greeted her before gesturing to the seat closest to where she stood, silently telling her to sit down. Molly hurried over with a large platter of what looked to be a full English breakfast. Hermione served herself quite a few fried eggs, a veritable mountain of sausage and bacon, a few tomatoes, some beans, and toast. She didn't think she could stomach the black pudding so she didn't take any, especially after watching Ron consume an extremely large amount of it.
Harry grinned at her but didn't comment on the amount of food on her plate. She knew it almost rivaled the amount on Charlie and Ron's plates, but she was hungry, dammit. She rolled her eyes at Harry and started eating her mid-afternoon breakfast.
"Are you feeling better, dear?" Molly asked as she took the seat beside Hermione.
"I am, thank you. I appreciate you letting us have the interview here and for supplying most of the firewhiskey," Hermione grinned sheepishly, "I can restock your supply."
"Don't you worry about that, dear. Rita Skeeter was surprisingly not a poor guest and didn't seem all that awful considering how she has been known to be, she sent an owl this morning with a check with a note saying she probably owed us for the interview and whatever alcohol we ended up consuming because she herself had to imbibe after she'd finished her article," Molly smiled.
Harry snorted, "That's because she's scared of Hermione."
Ron, Draco, and Neville nodded in agreement and Hermione shook her head with a small smirk. Charlie and Molly looked like they wanted to know more. Hermione was about to speak up when Draco started speaking.
"I always knew Hermione should've been a Slytherin. She caught Skeeter in her animagus form and trapped her in a jar for the summer after our fourth year. Skeeter had been writing those awful articles all year and writing some awful things about Hermione. She was getting information about things that she shouldn't have after Dumbledore had banned the bug from the school. Hermione caught her talking to Pansy and saw her turn into her unregistered animagus form. She conjured up an unbreakable jar and put some grass in it, and then stuffed a stupified animagus Skeeter into the jar."
Charlie guffawed so loudly that he almost choked on his food, while Molly looked a bit proud. Harry, Neville, and Ron were all snickering as Charlie started coughing trying to dislodge the food that must've stuck in his throat when he started laughing. Serves him right, Hermione grinned, for laughing at something she did as a juvenile. She wasn't the same fifteen-year-old girl she was back then. Well, I suppose sixteen-year-old, Hermione thought as she remembered everything from yesterday. Fuck. She needed to look up the records from her birth and send copies to Rita for the article. Rita agreed to hold the article for a few days so that Hermione could tell her friends before they found out from the Prophet, only if Hermione would give her copies of her birth records from both the magical archives and the muggle records department.
Hermione began shoveling her food into her mouth almost as ravenously as Ron used to at the Gryffindor table in school. She barely stopped to take a breath.
Once she'd finished eating, Hermione stood and told the men that they needed to tell their friends of the developments from the previous day, while she went to the Ministry and picked through the archives for her birth records. She also figured she should get her death record reversed or expunged. She would also need to go to Gringotts and find out if she had an inheritance. The goblins would be able to do a full inheritance test and figure out if she had any magical, financial, or creature inheritances. She vaguely remembered when Harry had gotten his done, they used some sort of potion and the witch or wizard's blood to determine genealogy and inheritances.
She grimaced, but nodded, she would do that all today. She asked Harry to go with her because Neville and Charlie would be occupied with their families. Harry agreed and floo'd home to change, he returned with Ginny and James. The Weasleys would be having a family meeting while she and Harry were out. Neville mentioned that he too needed to head home for a family meeting. Hermione wanted to ask but assumed it was a normal pureblood thing to have family meetings to discuss important family matters. She wasn't a part of either family legally (yet in terms of the Longbottoms, anymore in terms of the Weasleys), Harry was married into the Weasley family, but he already knew everything that was going to be discussed so he didn't need to be there.
Once everyone was clear on what they were going to be doing the group dispersed from the Burrow. Hermione and Harry apparated into Hermione's study, she needed to change before going into the Ministry and Gringotts. She'd skipped an entire day of work yesterday. She was going to have to catch up on a lot of work, luckily Lavender had sent a note that Hermione grabbed as she moved up the stairs to her bedroom.
Looking over the note, she surmised that Lavender was going to be getting a promotion very soon as she was handling things much better than Hermione originally thought she might. She needed to stop underestimating her friends.
Hermione changed quickly into a pair of denims, a light purple sweater, a pair of brown boots, and a brown leather bomber jacket. Simple but stylish. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail, leaving a few pieces to frame her face. She tucked her wand into her wrist holster and grabbed her beaded bag from her bedside table before heading back down the stairs to where Harry was waiting in her study. She reactivated her wards and unlocked the floo to connect to the Leaky Cauldron. Harry stepped through before her and she joined him after setting a charm to shut the floo after she'd gone through.
Once they made it through the Leaky Cauldron, after being accosted by the various patrons that knew the Minister for Magic and the Saviour of the Wizarding World, Harry tapped his wand on the bricks in the alley to open the passageway to Diagon Alley. Hermione figured they could go to Gringotts first to get the longer portion of the day out of the way sooner rather than later. They made their way into Gringotts, only to get stopped by the guards for their security check. They'd been doing this every time Hermione, Harry, or Ron came into the bank. It had been ten years since the war. Goblins could hold grudges much longer than humans, so Hermione assumed this would continue until the current goblin leader passed away or they did.
As much as this exasperated Hermione, it amused Harry to no end and he made regular trips to the bank to see if they would continue to check him every single time. They never disappointed him. After they'd been checked over, they stepped into the queue to wait to speak to the goblin in charge of Hermione's accounts.
When they reached the front of the queue, Hermione greeted the goblin in Gobbledegook. The goblin replied in kind. Continuing in the language of the goblins, Hermione asked the goblin to get Ragnold, her accounts manager, for a private meeting. The goblin asked if it was personal or if it was Ministry business, and she informed him that it was personal. The goblin nodded, left, and came back a few moments later, saying that he would take her to Ragbold's office.
The goblin led them behind the counters and towards an office in the back of the bank. Harry had never met Hermione's account manager, but he recognized the office they were passing as the Potter account manager's office. Harry assumed that being the Minister for Magic meant that Hermione needed a goblin that was higher up in the ranks to handle her accounts. She had not only her personal account but the Ministry's accounts to keep up with. They reached a stone wall and the goblin pressed his hand against the wall to open a door that was embedded into the stone. Harry was impressed.
The duo followed the goblin through and Ragold stood beside his desk to greet Hermione. He gave Harry a cursory glance but didn't question his presence, merely waving him in towards a chair beside Hermione's. The goblin that had brought them here left after a quick word with Ragbold.
"Minister Granger," Ragbold inclined his head to her, "May fortune bless you."
"And may fortune bless you, Ragbold," Hermione bowed her head towards him.
"How can I assist you, today?" Ragbold asked, taking the seat behind his desk.
Hermione grimaced, "Well, I've just discovered that I am not a Granger by birth…I was hoping you could assist me with an inheritance test?"
Ragbold eyed her and then Harry, beadily, "You trust Mister Potter to be present during the test?"
"Yes," Hermione nodded earnestly to the goblin's question.
"Very well. Give me a few moments to send out the proper forms. You will need to sign them before I send them so that we can be sure that you are not under duress," Ragbold said calmly as he gathered parchments from a drawer in his desk.
"Of course," Hermione smiled beatifically at the goblin. Harry controlled the urge to roll his eyes at the goblin that kept sending him suspicious looks.
After signing at least fifty pieces of parchment, Hermione's wrist was painfully stiff but she had finished all the paperwork and Ragbold had sent it. He told them it would only be a moment for the other testing goblins to arrive.
Exactly five minutes later, three other goblins entered the office, first greeting Ragbold and then Hermione before ending in a short greeting to Harry.
"Minister Granger, this is Beaty, Ragar, and Bandi. They are the goblins assigned to inheritance testing. They all have healers training and potions training on top of our usual warrior and financial training," Ragbold introduced the three smaller goblins.
"They are also, my daughters," Ragbold said smugly, he sounded to Hermione to be almost proud.
"It's nice to meet you, Beaty, Ragar, and Bandi," Hermione smiled at them.
"Beaty will take your hair, Bandi will take a few drops of your blood and Ragar will add them to the potion before I will have you weave the spell over the potion before we pour it on the parchment," Ragbold explained.
Hermione nodded as she let Beaty pull a few pieces of hair from her scalp before Bandi stuck her with a pin and took a small vial of her blood. The two goblins handed Ragar the hair and the blood and Hermione watched as the third goblin added the hair, stirred the potion in the bowl she had seemingly pulled out of thin air, and then added the blood before stirring in the opposite direction as before. The potion took on a murky silver sheen before settling on a dull silver color.
"Now, Minister, if you would repeat this incantation over the potion and parchment," Ragbold held out a scrap of parchment for her to read. She stood before the potion and parchment that was set on his desk and nodded.
"Cape crinem et sanguinem eius, et ostende familiam, quae illi alligata est," Hermione invoked above the parchment and potion. (Latin - take her hair and her blood, and show the family that is bound to her.) She took a step back when they took on a brief bright white shine.
After the light dissipated, Ragar, Beaty, and Bandi rushed forward. Bandi and Beaty held the parchment between them, firmly, as Ragar took the potion and slowly poured it over the parchment. Once the entire potion had been poured and absorbed into the parchment, the goblins set it gently on the desk again. The room was utterly silent as the parchment slowly began forming a family tree. The potion was obviously being used as ink in this case as it was drawing the tree in the same dull silver color as the potion. It looked like lead or graphite to Harry, similar to the pencils muggles used.
It was another few minutes before the parchment flashed a bright white again. Bandi and Beaty picked the parchment up again between them and Ragar stood in front of the parchment to read it. Nodding to one another they turned to Hermione and Ragbold.
"Minister Granger is the daughter of Marlene McKinnon and Remus Lupin. She was born on Thursday, December 14th, 1978. A Full Moon. She was conceived on Thursday, March 2nd, 1978. Also a Full Moon," Ragar spoke calmly.
Hermione frowned, "That's not possible, Remus Lupin was a werewolf, he couldn't have had sex with Marlene McKinnon during a full moon."
Harry frowned then, and spoke quietly, "Unless, Marlene was also a werewolf."
Hermione sucked in a sharp breath, looking at him, he shrugged.
"The McKinnon family was blessed, they were what is known as shifters. The gift must have passed to Marlene, who then ended up forming a relationship with the werewolf inside Remus Lupin. Their relationship was unaffected by his lycanthropy," Ragar spoke sagely.
Bandi looked at Hermione curiously for a few moments before she spoke, "As it is, your magical core looks to have been locked until your thirtieth birthday. We can unlock it, or you can wait until your birthday. But you will most likely either take on the werewolf inheritance of your father or the shifter inheritance of your mother. We cannot say at the moment, because your core is currently locked."
Beaty nodded, "But, I would advise that you take the whole of December off from work, or at least take it easy and work from home. It's likely that it will cause your magic to be out of sorts for a few weeks."
Harry wasn't sure how he felt about what the goblins were telling Hermione. He didn't think they knew her well enough to advise her to stay home from work. She was a workaholic. She would go crazy if she didn't go to work. Hermione looked to be taking all this news in fairly well, but he suspected that she'd have a breakdown when she got home, and he figured either he and Ron or Charlie and Neville would need to be close at hand to help her when that happened. Maybe they would take shifts to keep an eye on her. It was going to be a rough few weeks for her. He made a mental note to contact Kingsley and Lavander as well.
Ragbold thanked his daughters and sent them off to gather the Lupin and McKinnon family account managers for him, while he helped Hermione slowly take her seat again.
"Minister, can I offer you some tea?" Ragbold asked kindly. Harry was surprised by the soft tone of his voice.
"Yes, thank you, I would appreciate that," Hermione gave the goblin a smile.
Ragbold nodded and went to the sideboard in his office, gathered what was needed for tea, and brought it over to the witch and wizard. He set the tea tray on his desk and touched the teapot. He never used his magic in front of wizard folk, but he knew and trusted the Minister, so he used a small amount of his magic to make the tea before he handed her a cup. He offered some to Harry as well, who accepted it with quiet thanks. Ragbold nodded and returned to his seat behind his desk.
Some fifteen or so minutes passed, before the door to the office opened again and two more goblins entered. They introduced themselves.
"Minister, I am Rambol, account manager for the Lupin family," the taller goblin bowed his head to Hermione.
"And, I am Bagnold," the second goblin bowed as well, "Account manager for the McKinnon family and McKinnon Businesses Incorporated."
"It's nice to meet you both," Hermione smiled, kindly.
"Bagnold, Rambol, take seats, we're to go over and combine the McKinnon and Lupin accounts with the Granger account," Ragbold said with a bit of authority in his voice. Hermione assumed he was trying to assert his dominance over them because he would be her primary account manager even if she was no longer a Granger.
The other two goblins took seats next to the desk and set their binders on the side of the desk.
"Now, Minister, which account would you like to go over first?" Ragbold asked Hermione.
Hermione frowned, "Can we go over the Lupin account first? And then the McKinnon family account? And we can do the McKinnon Businesses last?"
"As you wish, Minister," Ragbold smiled, "Rambol, enlighten us."
"Ahem, well, the Lupin family was not as prolific as some pureblood families. Lyall Lupin was the last Lupin I had contact with, as Remus Lupin was not allowed by his father to enter the bank. Lyall was very outspoken against werewolves, you see. I tried to get in contact with Remus after Lyall passed away, but never was able to reach him," Rambol explained with a frown, "But, the Lupin family still had possession of a family cottage in Wales, a townhome in London and a penthouse apartment in Singapore. The townhome in London is rented out, annually. The apartment in Singapore is also rented out but is worth much more than what the price is currently being listed. The cottage is not being leased, but the land is worth more than the cottage. I would honestly advise tearing the cottage down, it has sat empty since your grandfather passed."
Rambol handed her sheaves of parchment with the information for each property and let her look over it for a moment before continuing, "The Lupin family vault mainly has family heirlooms, not much coin left after Lyall was sacked from the Ministry. We can have the heirlooms moved to your personal vault and close the Lupin vault if you would prefer?"
Hermione nodded, looking up from the paperwork on the properties, "Do you think the properties would generate more if I continued to lease them or if I outright sell them?"
Rambol hummed as he thought about her query, "I believe if you sold the land the cottage is on, it would generate more income than leasing. As for the Singapore apartment and the London townhouse, I would say that if you spent a few galleons to update them and raised the lease amount, they would generate more income than outright selling them."
Hermione nodded, "Very well. I want you to use any income that has come in through leasing the townhouse and the apartment to update them and raise the lease amount to what you deem suitable for the area, as long as it is reasonable. You can move the family heirlooms to my personal vault, but leave the Lupin vault open. I want you to tear down the cottage and sell the land, then I want you to set up a monthly allowance of 100 galleons to go to the Potter Foundation Orphanage. I would also like for you to set an allowance of 50 galleons a month to go into the trust vault that Nymphadore Tonks set up for my little brother. As Remus wasn't able to come into the bank with her at the time, I'm sure he would like some of the income from the properties to go to Teddy too."
Rambol nodded as he made a few notes on a piece of parchment in his lap, "I will set that all up for you and send you the paperwork regarding the lease properties and the sale of the land in Wales. Ragbold can have the family heirlooms transferred to your personal account. I will also set up the allowances for Edward Lupid and the Potter Orphanage." The tall elf bowed to Hermione, gathered his things, and left.
"When you are ready, we can go over the McKinnon family account, Minister," Ragbold said graciously to Hermione. She smiled and nodded, setting the Lupin property information to the side as she turned to Bagnold.
Bagnold opened his binder and gathered multiple packs of bound parchment, he handed them to Hermione and began, "The McKinnon family was much more prolific than the lupin family. They have one family vault full of heirlooms, books, furniture, and the like from various ancestors. I would recommend keeping that vault intact as it is quite full. They had a separate vault for family income, Marlene McKinnon's parents were both high up in the Ministry when she was born. Her mother retired to be a stay-at-home mother. Your grandfather retired from his job but kept his seat on the Wizengamot, which generated a fair amount of income. As your mother passed when she was fairly young, that family vault has been untouched. It has continued to accrue interest, so the content of the vault has since almost doubled since it was last opened in 1978."
He pointed out the amount of the vault on the first set of papers he'd handed her. She balked at the amount and passed it over to Harry to look over. He blanched at the numbers on the parchments before he handed it back to her.
"You could almost rival Lucius," Harry said with a huff of laughter.
"Yes, the McKinnon family was the financial and business rival of the Malfoy family for many generations," Bagnold nodded, before continuing to explain the vault information to Hermione.
"Leave the vault untouched for now, Bagnold. We can set up charitable allowances at a later date, I need to think about it for a few days, I can owl you about it once I've had time to think it over," Hermione said decisively.
Bagnold nodded before having her flip to the next bound set of papers, "These are the properties owned by the McKinnon family. As you can see there are many. Most of them are leased out at a suitable amount, which also adds to the family vault income. The McKinnon Manor has sat empty since the first war after the family was found after the death eater attack. No one has been there besides myself and a few house elves that regularly clean the house. They are McKinnon elves and are bound to the property, they are still alive because they are bound to the McKinnon family magic, and that magic has made it known that there was still a McKinnon living in the world somewhere."
Hermione nodded as he showed her the multiple different flats and apartments scattered around the UK and the United States that had been leased since 1978. He showed her the Manor and let her look through the house elf details and the photographs with that section of parchment. Finally, they ended with the last piece of property, an island off the coast of Belize. It also included house elves that had stayed bound to the island to keep it in good condition. He pointed out in the photographs that came with this set of parchment the various parts of the island, and the house on the island, which looked more like a mansion than a beach house, as well as the yacht that was docked near a boat house.
"I would advise that the leased properties stay leased, as they generate a fair amount of income, and the personal use properties being the family Manor and the island, well, I would say to keep them as well. They might need a bit of updating but otherwise, they are in fair shape," Bagnold said with a proud look.
"Thank you, Bagnold, I'm inclined to agree with you," Hermione smiled at the goblin. He nodded and set the family binder aside to pull open the McKinnon business binder.
"We can go over the business account next when you are ready," Bagnold said nicely.
Hermione handed all the parchment in her hands to Harry to hold for her while she took the binder that Bagnold was handing to her.
"As you can see here," Bagnold pointed at the first page, "McKinnon Business Incorporated has three vaults. The first vault is dedicated to the potions businesses. The second is for the business rentals, mainly the shops the McKinnon Business rents out to small businesses like the businesses in Diagon Alley. This includes a large number of muggle businesses as well, the McKinnon Business owns some building called a mall."
Harry chuckled as the goblin shrugged, unsure of what a mall was, but stopped laughing when Hermione glared at him.
"A mall is where several businesses are located in one building. It's like Diagon Alley but all indoors," Hermione explained to the goblin.
Bagnold hummed before nodding, "That's good to know. I will make a note of it. Now the third vault is actually a silent partner vault. It is the vault that is used when new businesses need an angel investor. Of course, the money given is always repaid, but it's a nice way to help young business owners gain confidence in their business without worrying about how they're going to pay back their friends or family."
Hermione smiled, "I think that's lovely."
Bagnold nodded, flipping a few pages, "These are the contents of each vault with a monthly estimation for each vault. I update it annually."
Hermione nodded as she looked over the charts and information, "Well, it sounds like you have this all under control. I'd say you could just send me a monthly owl about how everything is going with the business and I can give consent for any angel investments once a month."
Bagnold nodded enthusiastically, "That will be perfect, Minister."
After getting her consent for a specific day each month to owl her, Bagnold was also dismissed.
Ragbold reaffirmed everything Hermione wanted to be done and agreed to make sure it was all done and handled by the end of the month. He gave Hermione an official copy of her family tree so she could have her death certificate reversed at the Ministry before he escorted Hermione and Harry out of his office and to the front entrance of the bank himself. Hermione thanked him again in the goblin language and assured him that she appreciated everything he'd been able to help her with today and wished him good fortune before she and Harry left the bank.
Once they left Gringotts, Hermione sent a Patronus to Lavender asking her to meet her and Harry in the records and archive department in the Ministry. She and Harry made their way back through the Leaky Cauldron and back into the muggle world. Then they made their way towards one of the entrances to the Ministry in muggle London.
The Ministry wasn't as busy as usual, it being a Saturday, and only the weekend shifts were working today. Hermione led Harry through the Atrium and into a lift much quicker than it would have been during their normal work week.
"How are you feeling, Mimi?" Harry asked her once they were alone.
"If I think about my emotions right now, I'm going to have a breakdown, Harry. I'd like to get everything handled and done with before I deal with that," Hermione said quietly.
Harry nodded, "Okay. I know how you get, so I'm here when you need me."
Hermione noted that Harry hadn't said 'if' she needed him but rather when. It struck her that she hadn't even thought about the fact that he had legally been replaced by Teddy as her brother.
"How are you feeling, Harry?" Hermione asked, giving him a worried look.
Harry cleared his throat, and threw her a small grin, "I'll always think of you as my sister. Teddy being my godson and your brother, well, I think that makes us closer to legal family than we were before."
Hermione smiled at him, "I'm glad you feel that way. I would've been sad if you resented Teddy or me over this whole thing."
"I could never resent you for anything, Mimi," Harry said as he pulled her into a tight hug.
Hermione let him hug her for a few moments, but stepped back as the lift came to a stop at the records department. Lavender met them as they stepped out of the lift.
"Minister, Auror Potter," Lavender greeted them with a bright smile and an incline of her head.
"Hermione and Harry, Lavender, it's the weekend, no need to be so stuffy," Harry chuckled at the witch.
Lavender huffed a laugh before nodding, "So, how is everything going?"
Harry explained everything to Lavender as Hermione lead their small group through the archives and toward the receptionist's desk in the center of the department.
"Hello, Madeline, could you please bring me the birth and death records for the McKinnon family?" Hermione asked the weekend receptionist.
"Of course, Minister! Anyone in particular or the entire family?" Madeline smiled brightly, she was a recent Hogwarts graduate and new to the Ministry. Hermione knew she was still excited about working for the Ministry in any capacity.
Hermione smiled, "If you could bring me the records for Marlene McKinnon, her parents, and her daughter?"
Madeline nodded and filled out a form before rushing away from the desk to get the records Hermione had requested.
"Wow, that's a lot," Hermione heard Lavender reply to Harry after he'd finished informing her of everything that had happened since yesterday. Hermione was inclined to agree with her.
"Lavender," Hermione said absently as she thought about her next words.
"Yes?" Lavender smiled sweetly at her boss and friend.
"I need you to draw up a promotion contract," Hermione said calmly.
"Okay! What is the promotion and who is being promoted?" Lavender asked, eager for a little bit of gossip to get ahead of the Ministry gossip before Monday.
"You are being promoted from my senior assistant to my Senior Undersecretary," Hermione grinned.
Lavender's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. "But you haven't had an undersecretary since you became Minister."
Hermione's grin turned into a full-blown smile, "I didn't trust anyone enough to hold the position, besides as Harry mentioned, I'll be needing to take a few weeks off when the spells that locked my core fall away. I could be coming into a second magical maturation or a creature inheritance because of the spells that were used. So, I'll need someone to handle things here while I'm on sick leave."
Lavender was shocked. She wasn't expecting a promotion and she definitely wasn't expecting such a jump in status. Her standing in the Wizarding World had fallen a bit after she was attacked by Greyback during the war, Hermione had saved her then and she had been helping her since in every way she could. Lavender felt tears prick in her eyes and she couldn't help but launch herself at her boss in a hug as she started to sob.
Hermione wasn't altogether surprised at Lavender's emotional state, although it was two weeks to the next full moon and though Lavender didn't change with the moon cycle, she still had some difficulty regulating her emotions, especially since she had a newborn at home keeping her up at all hours of the night. Lavender, like Bill Weasley, started feeling the effects of the moon up to a week before the full moon and their appetites began changing around then which was most of the issues they dealt with. Hermione attributed Lavender's emotional outburst to the new baby at home and gently rubbed her hand across Lavender's back as she calmed down.
"Thank you, Hermione, I won't let you down!" Lavender said heavily as she released Hermione.
"I believe in you, Lavender," Hermione smiled at her friend, wiping a few tears off Lavender's cheeks.
"Here are the records you requested, Minister!" Madeline smiled brightly as she set a few folders on the desk in front of Hermione.
"Thank you, Madeline," Hermione smiled at the teenager, taking the files, "I'll return them by Monday."
Madeline nodded and wished them well as the three of them left the department and took the lift to Hermione's office.
Lavender immediately got to work on drawing up her promotion contract, which Hermione said she would sign and send to the Ministry lawyers before she went home for the weekend.
Harry and Hermione took seats by the fireplace in her office. Hermione flipped through the files on Marlene McKinnon and her parents. Hermione knew they were her grandparents, but she couldn't stop thinking of them as Marlene's parents. They'd all died before she could meet them, so there was a bit of disconnect in her mind where she logically knew who they were but couldn't fit them into her family in that way. She could understand Marlene as her mother, but couldn't call her her mother. She just knew her therapist was going to have a field day with this new information.
She handed the files over to Harry as she slowly opened the file on herself. Inside, she found her birth certificate and death certificate, with very little information on herself as she was presumed dead at one year old. Her birth certificate listed her birthdate as December 14th, 1978, with her mother as Marlene McKinnon and her father as Remus Lupin. She weighed 7 pounds at birth and was 19 inches long. Her death certificate said she died the same day the rest of the McKinnon family died. The cause of death was listed as a house fire. Hermione frowned at that but knew that it was true that after they were killed the McKinnon Manor had been set on fire. It hadn't burned down of course, but the front drawing room where the bodies had been found was scorched beyond recognition.
Closing the file, she handed it to Harry and stood to grab some floo powder, tossing it into the grate of her fireplace and calling out for the muggle Prime Minister's office. She was greeted by one of the Aurors that was assigned to the muggle office and she asked him to get her muggle birth records sent to her. He gave her a strange look but agreed. He must have thought it odd that she would want her birth records, but he knew not to question her.
She sat back on the couch with Harry as he looked over the files. Neither said anything, but Hermione didn't mind the quiet. She moved to her desk after a while to look over the stacks of paperwork that were set on the side. She hummed as she checked over a few things. She did come across three new contracts for Wizengamot members and grinned. One for Kingsley, one for Arthur, and one for Adrian Pucey. They must not have needed as much time as she'd given them because all three contracts had been signed by the men and the Ministry lawyers had added their seals. That meant she just had to sign and file them and set up the new payroll for the wizards. She also came across a contract for Percy Weasley to take his father's former position. She looked over this contract and after agreeing to the terms set in it by Percy. He'd asked for an extra week of vacation, which she assumed Audrey forced him to ask for, as well as a new office, stating that his father's old office was smaller than the rest of the department head offices in the Ministry because their department was looked down upon. Nothing outrageous, she signed the contract.
After filing the contracts away, she sent an owl to the Gringotts goblins in charge of renovating the Ministry and asked them to come to renovate the Department of Misuse of Muggle and Magical Items. After she was finished with that, she went to check on Lavender.
"How's it coming, Lav?" Hermione asked her friend with a smile.
"I think it's finished?" Lavender seemed to be asking, so Hermione leaned against Lavender's desk and read over the contract she'd drawn up.
"It looks good, but you didn't include a salary. Add 50 galleons to your monthly salary and that should be good," Hermione said with a nod.
Lavender stared at her in shock, "F-f-fifty galleons? Monthly?!"
Hermione winced at the squeak in Lavender's voice but nodded, "Yes, that's the standard for the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister."
"But…but…are you sure?" Lavender asked, a wild look in her eyes.
Hermione nodded, "Yes, and once you've added that in, you and I can sign it, and then I can send it to the lawyers. And your first task will be to hire two new assistants, one for me and one for you."
Lavender nodded slowly and added the salary information to the contract before allowing Hermione to read over it once more. Hermione signed it with a flourish and then turned it back to Lavender to sign. Once they'd both signed, Hermione waved her wand to dry the ink, before she rolled it up and owled it to the Ministry lawyers' offices.
"Now, go home for the weekend. You can hire new assistants next week," Hermione practically dragged Lavender to the lifts and shoved her into one.
Hermione rejoined Harry in her office and found him taking a muggle envelope from the fireplace. She assumed those were her muggle records. She took them when he passed them to her and she made copies of both the muggle and magical records. She gathered them all and sent them off to Rita Skeeter via owl before asking Harry if he thought it was safe to return to the Burrow now.
Harry glanced at the watch that Molly and Arthur had gifted him with when he turned seventeen and nodded, "It's about dinner time. I'd say we can return now. It's been a long afternoon. Glad Molly keeps hangover potion on hand, huh?"
Hermione laughed and nodded, "I wouldn't have gotten anything done if I'd woken up at home with that hangover."
Harry tossed some floo powder into the grate and the duo stepped into the fireplace, calling out for the Burrow.
They landed in the fireplace in the Burrow's sitting room to find Victoire, Teddy, James, Roxanne, and Arthur II playing on Charlie and Neville.
"Oh, hello!" Neville smiled brightly at the newcomers.
"Hello," Harry said looking at the two men with the small children standing on their backs.
"We were playing dragons! Charlie and I were the dragons. Victoire was the princess and Teddy, James, Artie, and Roxy had to rescue her from us. We've been slain," Neville grinned.
Hermione smiled at the children playing on her soulmates and could almost picture them playing with their children. She felt a few tears prick at her eyes as she imagined Teddy playing with her children too, rescuing her daughter from the scary dragons. She took a deep breath and joined the children, swinging Victoire up into her arms, the eight-year-old girl still so small for her age, and cuddled her.
"Did Teddy, Jamie, Roxy, and Artie rescue the pretty princess from the big, scary dragons?" Hermione asked her goddaughter.
Victoire giggled and nodded, "Roxy didn't want to be a princess, so she showed the boys how to rescue me. But Teddy got hurt so I had to heal him."
"Oh, did he now? And how did the little princess heal our Teddy Bear?" Hermione asked with a small smirk.
"She kissed me," Teddy scrunched up his nose and made a disgusted noise.
Harry, Neville, and Charlie started laughing and Hermione shook her head at the men. Hermione ruffled Teddy's hair.
"Don't worry, lad, one day you're going to want her to kiss you!" Charlie laughed as he stood up and moved to kiss Hermione on the cheek. Neville followed suit and kissed her on the other cheek, tickling Victoire's sides as he did.
Hermione set a wiggly Victoire down, and let her rejoin the playing boys. Hermione kissed Neville and Charlie on the cheek as well before they followed Harry into the kitchen where Molly, Augusta, Andromeda, Ginny, Fleur, Audrey, and Angeline were sitting around the kitchen or in Molly's case, cooking at the stove. Hermione knew better than to ask Molly if she could help. Harry, Neville, and Charlie moved through the kitchen and out the back door to join the rest of the men. Hermione smiled at the ladies in the kitchen and joined them at the table.
The ladies asked her a few questions about how she was feeling but she deflected most of them, stating that she was still wrapping her head around everything. Augusta patted her hand and said that if she ever had questions about the McKinnon family, she would answer what she could as she'd been allied with the McKinnons long before her son had even been born. Hermione thanked her, quietly, before changing the subject from her parentage to the pregnant women at the table.
Just before Molly announced dinner to be ready, Hermione received an owl from Rita Skeeter. Hermione groaned as she read the note and rubbed her hand over her face. Rita's editor wanted to publish the story Monday morning.
"Have all our friends and allies been notified about my parentage?" Hermione asked as everyone began filing out into the yard where the tables had been set up for their large extended family to have dinner together.
Everyone gave her a verbal list of everyone they'd been able to tell during the afternoon. Hermione sighed but nodded, not everyone had been informed, but enough people had been told that word of mouth would reach those who hadn't been before the article came out. Hermione told them all that Rita was only able to get her editor to hold the article off until Monday. Everyone at the table agreed that that would be enough time for the news to spread to the friends they hadn't been able to reach today.
The evening passed smoothly enough. Hermione spent her time at dinner getting to know Teddy as her brother and explaining soulmate bonds to him as a way to help him understand that Neville and Charlie would both be marrying her at some point and that meant that eventually, they would all live together. Teddy asked if they would still let him live with them once they were married. Her heart broke at the scared look in his eyes. She assured him that she would never kick him out of her house. He seemed to believe her because he turned to Molly and asked what was for dessert. Hermione sighed and ruffled the younger boy's hair.
Andromeda, who sat on her other side, squeezed her hand and told her she was doing a good job. Hermione smiled sadly at her pseudo-grandmother.
After dinner, the children insisted that they play dragons again, but this time they wanted all the men to play. Watching Draco play dragon with the rest of the men was a funny sight to Hermione. The usually refined man was trying his hardest not to complain about being hit with sticks the kids were using as swords to slay the dragons. Victoire was still the princess, so she was being held on her father's shoulders. He would be the final dragon the children had to defeat to rescue her. Hermione grinned watching the children play.
"Hermione, this is for you," Augusta said setting a small flower pot down beside Hermione's hand as she sat down beside the younger witch.
"It's a token of our family's acceptance of you. Charlie received one earlier as well," Augusta said mildly, "Algie cultivated them himself in the greenhouses at Longbottom Manor. They're quite rare."
Hermione looked down to see the most beautiful magical snapdragon she'd ever seen.
"Thank you, Augusta, it's beautiful!" Hermione gasped as she gently caressed the live flower.
Magical snapdragons typically snapped at your fingers if they didn't like you, so Hermione was wary about it until the one in her hands nuzzled her fingers instead of snapping at them.
"They shift in color, Algie's invention. They're hybrids. He spliced them with Oenothera," Augusta explained as the snapdragon shifted from a pale yellow to a bright white and then to a mild orange.
"That's lovely! Does he sell them or is it just for his enjoyment?" Hermione asked interestedly.
"I believe he allows Neville to sell a few of the flowers he grows, but these are a new invention of his. He hasn't presented them to Neville yet. But he is very proud of them so he will be pitching them to Neville soon," Augusta nodded.
"That's amazing! Wow, well please give Algie my thanks as well. She's lovely," Hermione smiled demurely.
"We thought she matched you well," Augusta said, "Be careful of what papers you leave nearby though, she will set it on fire."
Hermione laughed at that but nodded, "I think I'll quite like her. Maybe I'll keep her in my office just in case."
Augusta and Andromeda both laughed at that but agreed that she might have need of it, at some point.
The rest of the night wore on until Augusta, Algie, and Neville bid the Weasleys goodnight, followed soon after by Andromeda and Teddy. Hermione begged off as well just after Charlie left with Bill, Fleur, and Victoire.
Hermione apparated home, greeted the Aurors on guard that evening, and went inside. She unlocked her floo as soon as she got inside, set the snapdragon Augusta had given her on the kitchen island, and went upstairs to change. She changed into a pair of joggers, an oversized sweater, and a pair of house slippers before she twisted her hair up into a messy bun and returned to the kitchen to prepare tea. She didn't have to wait long before Harry and Ron floo'd into her study and found her in the kitchen.
"Mimi," Harry said leaning against the doorframe. Hermione took a deep breath before she turned her back on the stove and looked up to see Harry and Ron looking at her as if she were about to break down. Their eyes were wary but understanding. She couldn't fight off the prickle of tears this time and let them out as Ron and Harry slowly moved into the kitchen to envelop her in a tight hug.
She felt safe between them and let herself slowly break down. After a few minutes, Ron turned her into Harry's chest to go tend to the whistling tea kettle on the stove. He prepared three cups of tea and levitated them into the study where Harry had slowly led Hermione.
The three of them curled up on the couch together and sipped their tea, Hermione's tears had dried up a bit and they quietly discussed how they felt about the newest developments in their lives. Not only Hermione's circumstances but also Ron's new marriage to Draco, and Harry explained how he was feeling about Ginny being pregnant with their second child. They felt like friends again, Hermione wasn't angry at Ron anymore and they didn't feel as awkward as they thought being friends again would have been. Harry was glad that they were able to be friends again. Hermione conjured up a small bouquet and handed it to Ron.
Ron, having also been instructed in the meanings of flowers growing up, like all purebloods, felt tears well up in his eyes.
Zinnia for lasting affection and thoughts of absent friends, yarrow for everlasting love, valerian for readiness, a sprig of arborvitae for unchanging friendship, ivy for affection and friendship, purple columbine for resolution, and daffodil for new beginnings.
"Flowers of acceptance and new beginnings," Hermione whispered to her former husband. He nodded jerkily before pulling her into a tight hug.
"Thank you," Ron whispered into her hair as he let a few tears escape. They landed in her hair, but Hermione didn't mention it and pulled Harry into their hug. They'd all be fine.