Author's note: Whee...
Disclaimer: Ce n'est pas a moi.
A few days later at the Ministry, Hermione plopped herself down at her desk, albeit on time, and stared hard at the stack of names sitting in front of her.
She picked up the top one and stared vaguely at the name. As she read information already known about the magic user, her eyes began to widen – there was an ad attached to the page which was apparently placed there to provide information about the 'business' this unregistered witch had founded:
Uranai Baba's Fortunetelling Franchise! 10,000,000,000 zeni for the answer to any question! Or, exempt the cost by defeating five warriors!
There was an address at the bottom of the page.
Hermione raised an eyebrow, then slowly pulled herself from her chair.
An hour later, she had located Uranai Baba's castle and had apparated there. She glanced around the premises slightly nervously – it was quite empty.
She walked through the nearest doorway, trying to adjust her eyes to the dim lighting.
"Miss Hermione Granger," a voice behind her cackled amusedly. "I knew I would be receiving some interesting company today."
Hermione whipped around at the sound and was confronted with a witch even tinier than Professor Flitwick.
"You must be Uranai Baba," Hermione replied, swallowing a little more loudly than she intended. "I've been sent here by the Ministry of Magic – you've been singled out as an unregistered magic user."
"Is that so?" Baba smirked, further straining Hermione's nerves. "In all 500 years of my life, I've never before been required to register."
Hermione gawped rather impolitely.
500 years!? She's almost as old as Nicolas Flamel was! But he was the only one who used the Philosopher's Stone…
"I – I know, ma'am, and I'm very sorry to have to require you to do so," Hermione finally regained some composure. "But there have been recent issues in the wizarding community which have driven us to take extreme safety precautions, this being one of them."
"I can assure you, I'm very safe on my own."
Hermione didn't believe a word she said, but nodded anyway.
"I don't doubt it ma'am, but regardless I must ask you to accompany me back to the Ministry to register."
"Will it take long?" Baba rolled her eyes and sighed.
"I don't think it will take more than a few hours, but I wouldn't be able to tell you for sure."
"Alright, alright," Baba grumbled, consenting. "I'll go."
"Excellent," Hermione replied with a grin, before placing a hand on the tiny woman's shoulder and apparating back to a location near the Ministry.
After taking the call box route to get into the wizarding hub, Hermione led Baba to the visitor's line to obtain her registration forms.
She explained to Baba what she needed to do, and was about to leave when she heard the small witch call out to her.
"And where do you think you're going?"
Hermione returned a resentful smile.
"As much as it pains me to have to leave you to the workings of the Ministry, I do have a job to do."
"Well consider keeping me company part of your job then. I refuse to register unless I have someone keeping me company during this boring wait – and I'd prefer someone with an interesting future to the rest of these dull queuers."
She had said it rather loudly, earning her disdainful looks from the people around her.
Hermione pursed her lips in agitation, but gave in and took the place in line next to Baba.
"So I have a bright future, eh?" she crossed her arms rather annoyedly.
"Oh yes," Baba smirked again. "This will not be the only time we meet."
"And that makes it bright, does it?" Hermione couldn't decide whether that was a good or bad thing. Not wanting Baba to elaborate on it in case it was under unfavorable circumstances, she changed the subject, lowering her voice.
"So how did you manage to come across the Philosopher's Stone? I always thought it was well guarded."
"The what?"
Hermione turned and stared hard at the little woman.
"You know what I'm talking about – the stone used to procure the elixir of immortality."
"Shenlong gave me immortality; not some lousy rock," Baba snapped.
"…Shenlong?"
"You know what I'm talking about – the Dragon God," Baba mocked with a slight cackle.
Hermione raised an eyebrow. She was beginning to get the feeling that Baba was not completely right in the head.
"So…" she changed the subject again. "What have you been doing with your life all these years?"
"Surrendering myself to my greatest pleasures of course."
"Which are?"
"Money and fighting."
"Well your business idea makes a little more sense now," Hermione gave nod of disbelief, and was glad to see that they were finally at the front of the line.
They were handed a stack of forms, and Hermione subsequently led Baba to a small table to complete them.
Once finished, they returned the forms, and Baba was told to await confirmation of her registration. At this point, Hermione was finally able to take leave of the fortuneteller and return to her desk to check who was next on the list. As she turned to walk away, Baba's voice caught her attention.
"I have one last thing to tell you."
Hermione turned around; Baba was smirking again.
"You were recently almost hit by a lorry, were you not?"
"H-how did you…" Hermione could not contain her shock.
Baba cackled.
"Never you mind. I just wanted to let you know that you eventually will meet the young man who saved you again. Consider my reading of your future a small repayment for your tediously standing in line with me."
Hermione opened and closed her mouth several times, at a loss of whether she should be glad she would meet her savior again, or frightened that Baba had knowledge of the incident when she was sure that no one but Harry knew. When she could not think of anything sufficient to say in reply, she quickly turned around an stalked off, Baba's cackle still ringing in her ears.
"Magical Law Enforcement Squad to the Atrium immediately!"
Hermione looked up from her papers to listen to the resounding voice, and arched an eyebrow before returning to her work.
Ten minutes later, Harry ran in.
"Oh good, you're still here! You just missed the most amazing thing, but I can tell you, so don't worry!"
"Yes?" Hermione was getting rather tired of her schedule being bent for others.
"Well, I went with the Squad when they got called to the Atrium just a few minutes ago – they were called to arrest someone on charges of not only purposefully exposing magic to muggles, but exploiting muggles for fun.
"I went because we thought it might be one of those dark wizard, muggle-hater types. Turned out to be this tiny little witch, about ye high - "
He held his hand but a few feet from the ground to emphasize her shortness.
"And – Blimey, Hermione your eyes are as big as saucers! Do you know her?"
Hermione nodded.
"Her name's Uranai Baba. I just brought her in today for registration. She was very strange, but she didn't strike me as a muggle-hater…more like someone who would hate muggles and wizards equally."
"Hmm, well I guess we can never be too careful nowadays. But regardless, the amazing things occurred when the Squad tried to catch her. She kept jumping out of the way of all the spells – a real lithe little bugger! Would've never expected so much agility from someone who looked so old."
"Nor would I," Hermione gasped. "She told me she was 500 years old…"
It was Harry's turn to gape.
"What are they going to do with her?" Hermione asked.
"Well, since she resisted arrest as well, they're going to take her to Azkaban for a few days until the Wizengamot tries her. When they finally got hold of her, she started yelling about how they wouldn't be able to hold her long – that she has powerful connections. It was all a little unnerving."
Hermione glanced behind Harry, having heard some commotion outside her door.
"That'd be Mafalda," she rolled her eyes. "Listen, let's get dinner again after work, and I'll tell you the whole story of my encounter with Uranai Baba."
End note: Lawl.