I own nothing from Criminal Minds or Harry Potter other than the plot.
Chapter Four
The BAU had been in England for over a week, the time thus far being used as a chance for the humans to become acquainted with the magical world. To make things easier on the different departments within the ministry the team had been split into pairs and rotated through each department, spending a day or two with the wizards and witches in those departments to gain more of an understanding. Unfortunately for Gideon, and the ministry workers, Strauss was included in the rotations and had been paired with Gideon much to his annoyance.
For the rest of the team, however, the time spent with each department and partner was not only educational but also filled with amusement. For Hotch and JJ their partnership was spent secretly discussing the prospect of revealing their newfound relationship with the rest of the team. As Hotch had hoped the trip had allowed them to become even closer not only on a work basis but also a personal one. If he thought he could read the media liaison before he now declared himself an expert at understanding that when she was nervous her hands would tap tunelessly against each other and when she was excited she'd bite her lip to hide the wide smile that was creeping across her face. It wasn't just those that he could read with ease; the slightest change in her facial expression allowed him to read her thoughts like a book.
While Prentiss was partnered with Reid, and would have undoubtedly been giving statistics of absolutely everything he could think of (which was a lot) Morgan and Garcia were partnered together and created a whole lot of amusement for the departments. Mr. Weasley was particularly enthralled by Garcia or rather, her job as a technical analyst and made her repeatedly describe what a computer was.
However their time with the ministry was coming to an end and Morgan couldn't help but wonder if it would be Hermione returning with them or someone else. Since that moment in the kitchen Morgan had been unable to have another moment alone with the muggle born witch who was more often than not arguing with Reid over some book or fact. He struggled with his annoyance over the unresolved issue, wanting to know whether she actually wanted to go to Quantico or if she was pushing the chance on someone else. It was this that bothered Morgan; he couldn't understand why he cared whether she took the job or not. There was no doubt that Hermione was an intelligent, beautiful young woman and more than capable of working in the BAU especially with her qualifications magical and not but he knew that wasn't the only reason he wanted her within the team.
Morgan shook those thoughts out of his head as he entered the kitchen where the rest of the team was sitting. They had started meeting here after tea where Harry along with either Ron and Hermione or both of them would go into further detail about their time at school and what was left unexplained. Tonight they were waiting to hear about their fifth year with much awaited excitement after having heard about the return of Voldemort in his fourth year.
His attention went straight to Hermione, smiling slightly as he leant against the kitchen bench and watched as she threw her head back, laughing at something Garcia said to her. His growing attraction to the young Witch was unnerving, and he struggled to accept the feelings for her. He knew even if she did come back with them that working with someone who you're romantically involved with was not only a precarious situation but also dangerous particularly when in the field. He had seen how long it had taken Hotch and JJ to come to terms with their feelings for each other and he couldn't be happier for them that they finally seemed as though they were beginning to date. He chuckled to himself knowing that they probably believed they were hiding their changing relationship well from the rest of the team.
"What are you smirking at?" Ginny asked from beside him, one hand on her lower back and the other dangling at her side.
He looked at her worriedly for a moment before smiling again, "JJ and Hotch are starting to become romantically involved." He told her, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
She rolled her eyes, "Seriously, who says 'romantically involved' these days? Just say they want to sleep with each other." She said bluntly, "And what do you mean starting? I thought everyone knew they were dating."
"That just shows how bad they are at keeping it a secret." Morgan laughed, "They've always flirted outside the office whenever we go out to celebrate a job well done but never when they're supposed to be working."
"They're not supposed to be working now." Ginny said exasperated, "Only when they're at the ministry."
She was looking him over critically and Morgan shifted under her calculating stare, "What?" He asked after a few paused beats.
She crossed her arms and peered up at him, "I'm trying to figure out how a wanna-bee macho guy like you can't seem to grow some balls and ask my best friend out." She said, using a tone so very similar to what Reid uses when he discusses statistics.
Morgan blushed, something he hadn't done since he was an awkward teenager, "I don't know what you're talking about." He said defensively.
Ginny snorted, "Don't play the dumb game with me – I see the way you look at her whenever she's in the same room as you." She said pointing a finger at him accusingly. "So man up and ask her out already. I want to know that if my best friend is moving to Quantico with you guys that she's at least getting some with the guy that she continually bugs me about."
"She talks about me?" Morgan asked dumbly, and then what she said caught up with his brain, "Wait – she's accepted the job?" He asked hopefully.
Ginny sighed loudly causing a few heads to turn and look at her worriedly before looking away again, "I thought we had already established that fact!" She whacked him over the side of the head, "Focus Morgan; you have one very simple task. Get with Hermione so you both stop pining over each other." She said the last sentence slowly as though she was talking to a child. "Gees, this kid will be out of me before you even make a move." She muttered moving towards the tables.
Morgan watched as the red head took a seat next to JJ, Harry standing behind her so he could rub her back. He couldn't help but glance back over at Hermione, smiling at her when she caught his gaze. She smiled back shyly and turned back to Garcia who was in the process of convincing Hermione to help her put a few spells on her equipment to make tracking phone calls and such quicker for her. Hermione, however, had gotten to know the computer expert and could quickly detect her personal motives for wanting such advances on her equipment and politely denied her such abilities.
"It is now officially quiet time." Garcia declared once she accepted defeat for the moment, "Go ahead and reveal the year that was your fifth!" She said excitedly causing everyone to laugh.
Harry chuckled and continued to rub Ginny's back, "Well for starters I was back at my aunt and uncles once again," Collectively the entire room shuddered having heard about his relations already, "and it was the hottest summer that we could remember. I had received no news from anyone about what was happening and there had been no news by the Ministry about Voldemort's return and I was a little aggravated." Harry admitted, blushing when Ron snorted incredulously at his words.
"Anyway," Harry continued with a glare at his brother-in-law and best friend, "I spent the summer paying attention to any unusual news from both the muggle world and magic world. On the rare occasion I wasn't doing that I was at the park where my delightful cousin Dudley was beating up a kid with his gang watching. After our usual insults I threatened to curse him when two dementors appeared. Dudley, of course, couldn't see either and so I managed to get them away and carry him back to the Dursleys who didn't take the sight of Dudley drooling too well." Harry said laughing at the grimaces on the girls faces.
"So before they tried to get him to the hospital we got a lovely letter from the ministry saying I was expelled." Harry smiled at the gasps that went around the room, "Five or so letters later – all of which telling me not to do anything stupid and wait for further instructions – I was told that my case would be settled in court."
Ron took over speaking, "While Harry was at the Dursleys we were at the new headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, a secret society that opposed Voldemort during the first war and had been reinstated when he returned. We weren't allowed to say anything to him about where we were or what was happening in case our letters were intercepted." Ron explained.
"So we had to wait at headquarters while a group were sent out to finally bring Harry in. They had devised this whole fake competition that the Dursleys thought they had won just to get them out of the house." Hermione explained, "Since Harry was underage they couldn't apparate in aside from the fact that all Floo networks are watched and making a portkey is illegal they had to fly him back."
"That was no problem." Harry said grinning, "But I was still pissed when I got there because I still had no idea what the hell was going on."
"And Harry is well known for having a few hissy fits." Ginny piqued up.
Harry mock glared down at her, "You can talk." He muttered and continued, telling them about the Order and then his hearing. They were all naturally infuriated at the right spots and all waited to hear how Harry's trial had ended even though they already knew the answer, "They finally dropped all charges." Harry revealed after a moment, "And I came back to Ginny and her brothers doing a victory dance that they had prepared."
Ginny smirked, "Well we couldn't very well do the so-sorry-you-got-expelled dance. We were prepared for both outcomes."
Harry rolled his eyes, "Thanks for the support." He muttered and continued, "So the rest of the holidays were uneventful; Hermione and Ron were Gryffindor prefects much to the horror of Fred and George."
"Well Ronald definitely wasn't a very good prefect." Hermione huffed, "He wanted to try and order a fire whiskey not to mention he completely ignored his brother's testings on the younger students!"
"Anyway the first bad point is Professor Umbridge." Harry told the team, spitting the old teachers name out with disgust, "She was basically sent to literally dumb us down because the minister was worried that Dumbledore was trying to overthrow him because of all the talk about Voldemort returning." Harry said rolling his eyes at the stupidity that was Fudge, "We weren't allowed to use magic in her classes and by half way through the first lesson with her I had five detentions or so with her." Harry pulled the hem of his shirt up slightly to reveal his wrist, the words 'I must not tell lies' scrawled across his skin.
"What the hell did she do?" JJ asked looking at the words with horror.
He shrugged, pulling his sleeve back down, "She gave us a blood quill – instead of using ink to write the quill uses the writers' blood and marks the words on the wrist." He explained. "So she quickly became slightly obsessed with power and the minister announced her as the High Inquisitor and she began sitting in on other teachers' lessons and making all these stupid rules. And it got to the point in the year where Hermione couldn't accept the fact that this teacher may cause her to fail an exam," Harry said looking at her with a teasing smirk, "So she came up with the brilliant idea of making a defence club only it was secret."
Hermione beamed, "It was one of my more brilliant ideas. I convinced Harry to meet with a bunch of students who had taken to the idea and we met down at Hogsmade. Of course half of them were initially there to see if Harry would talk about Cedric Diggory but in the end all of them signed up and we became Dumbledore's Army." Hermione explained, "I didn't tell anyone at the time but I put charms and jinxes on the parchment that they wrote their names on so that if anyone went to snitch on us they'd be an unfortunate consequence for that person."
They continued to explain the DA classes that they secretly carried out in the Room of Requirement and more of Umbridge's ridiculous threats. They listened raptly as Harry told them about Dumbledore taking the blame for the club when they had been caught, and how Umbridge was appointed Headmistress in his place. The dreams about Sirius and the Department of Mysteries had them all in suspense, knowing by the sad looks on the wizards and witches faces that the story would not end well. They listened silently to how Harry and Hermione tricked Umbridge by luring her in to the Forbidden Forest and couldn't help but wonder how fifteen year olds had managed to go through so much during their time at school.
When Harry had finished their fifth year Prentiss shook her head in wonder, "I'm kind of glad that my high school experience wasn't anything like yours."
Hermione laughed, "I don't think that you'd have quite as many problems when math and English subjects are involved."
"Although not having to do math would have been heaven." JJ added smiling as she felt Hotch's hand squeeze her own under the table.
JJ grinned to herself as Hermione excused herself heading outside to sit on the veranda and she shared a knowing look with Ginny as Morgan followed her none to subtly. She peered over the tope of Ron's head, hoping to get a better view at the two that had spent the past week stumbling around each other and staring at the other when they thought no one else was looking.
"What are you looking at?" Hotch asked, leaning in to speak quietly.
JJ shuddered slightly as the sound of his voice vibrated through her, "Morgan may finally be asking Hermione out." She whispered back.
Hotch laughed, "It's taken him long enough."
"What has?" Ron piped up interested.
Ginny rolled her eyes, "Not everything is about you Ron or concerns you." She said pointedly but the older wizard ignored her.
"Why's everyone watching Hermione and Morgan?" He asked confused and a moment later his eyes widened and he blurted out, "He's asking her out!" He all but shouted.
The entire room collectively told him to be quiet as Harry subtly connected an Extended Ears to the window and made the other louder so they could all hear what was being said between the two.
A/N sorry for the long explanation of fifth year. Thanks for the reviews so far and the encouragement for this story. Read and review.