A/N: A few minor typos were fixed in this chapter…

Chapter Three

Of Mysteries and Apprentices

The following year was difficult for everyone in the wizarding world. At first, there were massive celebrations held in every major wizarding settlement in the world, but then the reality of the situation began to sink in. Many people had been killed from both sides. Families were shattered as some found out which side the dead had fought on. Families who had supported Voldemort found that they had lost a few members to the light side, and had died fighting against their own family. A few of the more prominent families who had always supported Dumbledore's cause found a few traitors among the dead and wounded Death Eaters.

The Weasley family, including Percy, had led the recovery efforts by assisting in repairing and rebuilding homes and businesses that were affected by Voldemort's reign of terror. Arthur Weasley had been promoted in the Ministry of Magic to a Section Director, which included muggle relations and wizarding services. With the extra money he made from the promotion, he and Molly started a foundation for orphaned children whom had lost their parents in the war. Molly kept herself busy working with the Weasley Children's Shelter, in Ginny's honor.

Ron had passed his first year of Auror training with some of the best marks they had seen. He was at the top of his class, and was well liked by the entire group of Aurors that were training him. He was finally making his own mark in the world, and many times he had been called in to assist with the strategy and tactics section of the training. He dated here and there, but had never let it get too serious, as he thought that his job was too risky and unpredictable to have a stable relationship.

Hermione ended up working for the Department of Mysteries, especially since her strongest point was researching and finding the solutions to previously impossible problems. She never was seen dating anyone, and she was rarely seen without her nose in a book, working late. The Weasley family worried for her, hoping she would not lose herself in her work. Hermione missed Harry terribly, and used her work as an excuse to keep her mind occupied.

No one had heard from Harry since he had disappeared, not even Hermione or Ron. Many people had different theories on what he was doing, and even some that his wounds were too great and he had died. Occasionally, there were miscellaneous sightings, but no one could verify it was Harry, as they would be too far away from who they thought was Harry, or that the person would move so quickly and disappear without a trace. The Ministry of Magic had set aside numerous awards for him. But that did not seem to matter to him as he never stepped forward to claim them. Hermione understood why. Harry would despise any award that would remind him of that day.

George and Fred's shop was one of the most successful businesses in recent history. True to Ginny's last comments, their shop was always busy and they sold so many products, that they had to hire several new employees to keep up with the demand. They had also donated an obscene amount of money to the rebuilding effort and the Ginny's foundation. They would also bring a large amount of the most harmless products from their store, and donated it to the foundation for the children to play with every few months.

The school had been repaired almost immediately by the resident house elves following the battle. The school had reconvened by the proper start of term; however there were a couple of new teachers. Oliver Wood had replaced the position of flying instructor, as Madam Hooch had sustained devastating injuries during the final battle, and had to retire. Professor Sinistra had perished in the battle. They had offered the teaching position to Hermione, but she turned it down.

ooo

Hermione was slowly descending into a depression. Sure, she had her work, but things just were not the same. Ron was in training and hardly had time to even write. She had received a few letters, but they were few and far between. She had been asked out a few times, but she had politely said no to each one that had asked. One had even asked why, and she just said that she did not have the time for it. She made excuses like work was really taking up her time, or that she had a function she was about to attend. The truth of the matter was that she was completely miserable. With her family gone, Ron hardly writing due to his busy schedule, and that Harry was nowhere to be found, Hermione felt truly alone. She kept her despair behind a thick mental barrier, and never let it show. If the barrier cracked, it would all come out and consume her mind. She had to meditate every night to keep the walls up; otherwise all of the grief and despair would break free and destroy her. So she busied herself with her work to keep her mind off of things.

Her projects had been intense at the Department of Mysteries, but her true passion was working on the Veil. She had researched everything there was written on it, as well as very carefully inspecting the runes on the arch. Occasionally she would hear some whispering from it, but she had firmly ignored it, as she knew it could lead to her walking through it.

She had a close call one night as she was copying down the runes. The runes were in an ancient form, and she was preparing to study them to see if she could decipher them. She had turned a little too fast and her cloak had partially gone into the veil. Before she could move, it felt like someone grabbed her cloak and was pulling her in. She instantly screamed and dropped to the floor and hung onto the pedestal stairs as hard as she could. Her grip was pulled loose from the steps, and she was slowly sliding towards the Veil. She managed to get the brooch holding the cloak loose in time to see her cloak pulled right into the veil. Suddenly, she heard a howl of despair come from the Veil. She swore it sounded like Sirius crying out, but it was soon drowned out by many other howls and yells. She pressed her hands to her ears as the noise grew to a deafening roar, then suddenly it stopped. She opened her eyes and slowly uncovered her ears. She heard a quiet whisper floating through the air. She could not make out what it was saying, and she turned and ran from the room. She did not stop until she reached her office. Slamming the door, and leaning her back against it, she sat there and tried to catch her breath, trembling with fear.

After about a half an hour, she slowly got up and sat behind her desk. Only then did she realize that her wand had been in the pocket in her cloak. Frustrated, she dropped her head onto her desk with a resounding thump. She kept thumping her head on her desk until she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in," she said tiredly. She looked up saw who entered her office. She groaned and her head went back down to her desk and she started thumping her head again. Her boss, Gavin Frost, slapped his hand to his mouth to keep from laughing. He sat down in front of her desk.

"Ms. Granger, why on earth are you doing that?" he half chuckled. She let her head hit one more time, and let out a muffled groan of frustration. She lifted her head and rested it in her hands as she looked at him.

"Because I have got to be the dumbest smart person I know," she sighed. Gavin burst into a gale of laughter at that comment. She merely scowled at him.

"My goodness, I haven't had a good laugh for a while. I thank you."

"Sir, may I –" she started to say, When she saw his glare of annoyance, she corrected herself. "Sorry, Gavin. May I have tomorrow off? I, uh, needtogetanewwand…"

"I'm sorry, Hermione, what did you say?" he asked curiously. She sighed and let her head hit one more time onto her desk and talked through the papers on her desk.

"I need to get a new wand, Gavin," she said pitifully. She looked up to see Gavin covering his mouth shaking with laughter. Her eyes narrowed at him.

"MY GOODNESS! Did you sit on it or something?" he chortled. He immediately stopped laughing when her face went white and she started to shake. He quickly got up and circled her desk and put his hand on her shoulder. "Ms. Granger?" He got no response from her. "Hermione?"

"It was horrible Gavin. I was working on copying the runes on the archway on the Veil, and I don't know how, but my cloak somehow went a bit into the Veil. Gavin, something or someone grabbed onto it. I was almost pulled in. I got the cloak undone, and then there was this horrible noise and yelling from the Veil. I think something wanted to drag me in there," she explained quietly.

Gavin pulled her into a fatherly hug. He knew that she had no one to really support her since her parents had been killed two years prior, and that her two best friends were not available. He cared for her like a daughter, and was always trying to get her to step out of the self-destructive trend she had been in for a while now.

"Of course you can have the day off, Hermione. I'll keep the wand issue out of the report, but from now on, you must have another person with you when you get the time to work on the Veil again." He held up his hand when she started to protest. "You are not going to convince me otherwise. This is not open for any debate. Am I clear?"

Hermione sighed and nodded. She knew it was no use to argue with Gavin, as he was as stubborn as she was and they would be arguing about it all night.

"Now, go home and rest. You look like you could use it. Take tomorrow and the following day, so you can get used to your new wand," he said. "I don't want to see you until Thursday. I mean it!" he finished as she looked ready to argue again. She just rolled her eyes and nodded.

Hermione arrived into Mr. Ollivander's shop bright and early the next morning. After he recited her old wand statistics, and asked how it had been working, she explained what had happened and apologized for losing her wand.

"Nonsense my dear, I have refitted many people for replacement wands more times than I would care to remember. Now, let me see… Ah! Try this one. Ten inches, mahogany and veela hair. Quite bendy," Mr. Ollivander said.

She gave it a wave and nothing happened. He took the wand back and went to gather another couple of possibilities. He returned with three boxes. It seemed yew and dragon heartstring, maple and unicorn hair, and oak with a sphinx hair did not suit her as well. While he was mumbling and sorting through more boxes, an owl arrived with a large parcel. He walked to the counter and took the package, giving the owl a sack of galleons. The owl immediately took off.

Hermione felt a strange pull to one of the smaller boxes that he took out of the large one.

"Mr. Ollivander, excuse me, but may I?" she asked pointing to the box that seemed to be calling out to her. He nodded and he gently opened the box. He took the box and handed her the wand. She rose off of the ground, glowing with a gold aura, and a wave of warm air rushed through the store and surrounded her. Her eyes were glowing and she had a shocked look on her face. After a few moments, she gently touched back down to the floor, staring at the wand. She ran her fingers over it and smiled. She thought she heard it singing to her. The song sounded like phoenix song.

"My word! I have only seen one other wand react to a witch or wizard that way! Impressive. It seems my apprentice surely knows his skills by now," Mr. Ollivander said with a slight smile. "You and this wand will do very impressive things."

She lifted her eyes to Mr. Ollivander's piercing eyes.

"Sir? May I ask who this other witch or wizard was? And also who is your apprentice?"

"Well, to answer your first question, the late and great Albus Dumbledore was the last one to have this reaction that I know of. And for your other question, I'm afraid I cannot answer that one. He would rather keep to himself."

"Well, could you tell me what is in this wand?" Hermione asked.

"Hmmm… Interesting combination. Redwood with a phoenix feather and dragon heartstring together. Very interesting… A very powerful combination." he said after looking at the writing that was on the packing list. "A dual core wand. I have not seen one for many years, as my grandfather was the last person capable of creating one."

"In any case, please let your apprentice know that this wand is incredible!" she exclaimed, excited at having a dual core wand. She left ten galleons on the counter and left the store. Mr. Ollivander quickly wrote a note to his apprentice explaining who received the wand. He ran to the fireplace, used a pinch of floo powder, and said the location. Moments later, the letter was delivered to the destination.

A day later, when the letter had been read, the maker of the wand was very impressed, as he had been hoping that his experiment had been a success. He had been sure that it would have been years before he knew, but the wand had only been finished three days before he received this letter. He would keep a closer eye on Hermione Granger in the future.