15

Post Game

Deloris Umbridge uprooted her desk in a rage. She then proceeded to throw anything she could reach against the wall. "How could this have happened", she thought to herself angrily. The attack against the American Football game had been a total failure. She had been told there had been no fatalities and only one serious injury. She knew the reports had to be wrong. She had hit Ron Weasley with a killing curse.

That filthy Mudblood had hit her with a stunning spell. For that she would have to pay. Umbridge looked at Yaxley, took a deep breath to calm herself. He then asked, "Did we lose anyone?"

"The Aurors were not using deadly spells. It appears they were trying to capture us." He looked uncomfortable as he finished. "This was a trap."

Umbridge slammed her hands on her now empty desk. "A Trap, How could they have set a trap? They had no idea what we were planning?"

"I would bet Granger had something to do with that." A raspy voice stated. Umbridge fixed her eyes on Gregory Goyle "Just how would Granger know what we were planning?"

Goyle glared back at Umbridge. "I did not say she knew what we were planning. She probably just figured out where we would most likely try another attack."

Goyle looked at both Umbridge and Yaxley as he continued. "She may be a Mud Blood but she is very smart. I do not think Potter or Weasley would have been able to beat the dark lord without her help."

Umbridge could not believe what she was hearing. She had been beat by a Mud Blood! She did not say anything as Goyle continued.

"Unless we can get rid of those three we are not going to bring down the ministry." Goyle picked up one of the chairs that Deloris had knocked down, and sat down.

"So you are saying we need to get rid Potter, Granger and Weasley." Yaxley sounded unhappy as he spoke. "May I remind you these three raided the Ministry of Magic and freed a bunch of Muggleborns, the only ones to ever successfully rob the Gringots bank and to top that off they defeated the dark lord. Not to mention the several times they have been able to beat us."

Umbridge flinched at the last statement. She could not argue with Yaxley because everything he said was true. Even though he had not made his point, she knew where he was going and she agreed with him. They would not be able to take on the three of them.

Goyle looked at the two of them, "And you say I am thick. Did you not understand my point? Without Granger, Potter and Weasley are nothing! If we can get Rid of Granger then Potter and Weasley will be much easier, Granger is the brains behind those two. Take out the brains and the body will die."

The more Umbridge thought about what Goyle was saying the more it made sense. She did not like the Idea of a Mud Blood beating her. She remembered how Ms. Granger had tricked her into the Dark Forest to be captured by the Centaurs, as she thought about it, Potter was following Grangers lead. Goyle was right, eliminate Granger and Potter and Weasley could be easily taken care of.

****

This is getting to be all too familiar, Harry thought to himself as he looked around another hospital waiting room. Hermione looked absolutely devastated. Luna had her arms around her, whispering to her gently. Hermione's mother and father not far away, but letting Luna comfort their daughter for now. Harry saw in there faces they had a lot of questions for Hermione, however now was not the time.

He could also hear Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arguing softly. Molly was not happy that Ron had been bought to a Muggle Hospital instead of St. Mungo's. He overheard Mr. Weasley

"He was hit with the killing curse Molly, the Muggles did something to keep him from being killed and we do not know what it was they did. That is why Ron was sent to a Muggle Hospital."

Molly relented but Harry could tell she was not convinced of the wisdom of letting the Muggles handle Ron's treatment. Harry felt someone take his and squeeze his hand. He was happy to see Ginny at his side, but he wished it was under different circumstances.

****

Hermione's mind was in a fog. She heard Luna's soft whispers. Letting her know Ron was alive and that he had a fighting chance. Hermione appreciated the fact that Luna did not say he was going to be OK. Luna did stress the fact that Ron was strong because of that he would fight to come back to her.

She was not sure why it was Ron had not been killed. She remembered clearly seeing him being hit by the killing curse. Everything that happened after that was a blur. She remembered running to Ron and someone pulling her off of him. Then she heard someone say he was still alive.

"Hermione," said her mother's voice, not Luna's. Hermione looked up and her mother was kneeling in front of her. She saw her mother give Luna a quick look and Luna stood up and headed towards Molly and Arthur. Her mother sat down where Luna had been sitting and pulled Hermione into a hug.

Hermione let the tears she had been holding back since she Ron go down flow. It had taken her seven years to get together with Ron, and now she might lose him after only a few short months. It was not fair.

The door to the waiting room opened and a healer from St. Mungos and a Doctor stepped in. Hermione stood up quickly and headed towards the doctors that were now getting ready to speak to the Weasley's.

The Dr. looked at her as she approached. Before he could say anything Molly took her hands and said "This is my son's fiancé."

The doctor nodded. Then he began to speak.

"Mr. Weasley is in extremely critical condition right now. We will need to keep him on life support while his heart recovers."

Hermione looked at the Healer confused.

The healer spoke.

"Ron was definitely hit with the killing curse. I am going to ask Dr. Smythe explain to you what happened."

Dr. Smythe continued.

"I don't know what this Killing Curse is." He stated "Ron's heart was stopped by an electrical charge. The charge is similar to the electrical charge from a defibrillator. Since his heart was stopped by an electrical charge our paramedics were able to restart it with adrenalin and by using a defibrillator to restart the heart."

Hermione was not sure she understood everything. All she knew was Ron was still alive. The doctor continued,

"We are going to want to keep Inspector Weasley hear to monitor his condition. We think he should make a full recovery."

Hermione felt overjoyed as the Doctor finished his statement. Ron had survived the Killing curse. She could not believe how lucky she was.

****

"Hermione Your fiancé was almost killed, and he is not out of the woods yet!" Annette Granger glared at Hermione angrily.

Two days had past since Ron had been hit by the killing curse. He was in extremely critical condition according to the muggle doctors. His heart had stopped two more times over the last two days and each time the muggle doctors were able to start it again. They assured her that Ron would recover but his heart needed to heal. It had been badly damaged by the killing curse. With the treatments from the Muggle doctors and potions similar to those she had taken when she was cursed in the Ministry of magic they felt he would recover.

Hermione knew her parents were not happy with her. She had not told them all that was involved with being an Auror, and they had now found out that she was also an Inspector for the muggle police as well. They had no idea the potential dangers or the past dangers Hermione had faced in the Wizarding world. They did know the dangers a Muggle Police inspector faced.

They also had seen her duel with the robed figure on the muggle news. They also saw how Ron had been struck down by the killing curse. This had been shown on the muggle news stations over and over again. It seemed Hermione was considered some kind of hero by the muggles.

Over the last couple of days her parents would accompany Hermione to visit Ron in the hospital, but they passed much of the time in an uncomfortable silence. Hermione knew her parents did not want to say anything because they knew she was worried about Ron.

Hermione was not sure now what had set her mother off. She had taken a phone call from William Davies who wanted to know how Ron was doing. He had also wanted to know if it was ok if he bought some visitors by later.

When she hung up he mother asked who it was. When she answered it was Davies her mother could not hold back any more. That is when her parents started in on her. Hermione held back her tears as her mother continued.

"You just sent us off to Australia, making us forget about you! You never told us you were risking your life!" Her mother turned to her father, not able to say anymore.

"Mum, Dad. I did that for your protection" Hermione said almost whispering. "Lord Voldemort would have tried to use you against me. Maybe even kill you. He and his death eaters killed a lot of non magical people while he was in power."

"We understand that." Her father answered "Kingsley explained everything to us. He also said that it was over!" Her father stressed the last part.

"It is over" Hermione answered "Lord Voldemort has been defeated."

Her mother shouted "Don't tell us it is over! Not after seeing you Sunday! You were almost killed Hermione! We saw it, that magic you were doing was not harmless!"

Hermione understood now where her parents were coming from. They did not think of magic as anything more than a few tricks that could not hurt you. Like many Muggle Born parents they thought of the Wizarding community as harmless. She hoped that was all, she would not be able to bear the thought of her parents thinking she was one of "Those" people like the Dursley's thought of Harry.

"Worse than that you are also an Inspector for the London Metropolitan Police! Why would you put yourself in even more danger Hermione?"

"I told you those uniforms were just a disguise"

Hermione was starting to feel her own anger build up. The fact that Harry, Ron and herself were in inspectors with the London Metro police was something she had hoped her parents would not find out. Ron had told them the uniform were just so they could work with the London Police and maybe learn new techniques to bring to the Aurors and Magical law enforcement squad. She thought that had been settled. Her thoughts were broken by her father's voice.

"Bullocks!" Her father grabbed her jacket and moved it aside.

Revealing her radio and the inspectors badge she was wearing on her belt. It had been explained to trio they would need to wear their muggle badges at all time, as well as having their wands with them at all times as well.

"If it's just a disguise why then do you have a radio? Why are you wearing a badge?"

"That's my Auror's badge…" Mr. Granger interrupted her before she finished.

"Hermione please don't lie to me. I had some friends check. According to them you have been appointed as a full inspector to the Special Service division of the Metropolitan Police. I have also been told this is not a temporary assignment."

Before Hermione could answer William Davies voice interrupted. "Mr. Granger, I will pretend I did not hear that last statement."

Mr. Granger turned around to face Davies. Davies continued. "If my daughter had been appointed as a full inspector and had done the things she had on Sunday I would be very proud of her instead of angry. Your daughter saved a lot of lives on Sunday. On top of that she has along with her friends earned the respect of not only the Wizarding world, but of many of us "Muggle" police officers as well."

"As well as the gratitude of the British Government", David Blake stated as he entered the room.

Mr. Granger did not seem to notice he was being addressed by the Prime Minister of England.

"What good is your gratitude going to do if my daughter gets killed?" Before he could say anymore Hermione's mother grabbed him by the arm and whispered. "William!"

Mr. Granger shook off his wife's hand and started to continue. Before he could say anything else he realized he was addressing the Prime Minister of England.

To his shock the Prime minister then went up to his daughter and hugging he spoke to her gently.

"Hermione, I have just finished a meeting with the doctors. They have upgraded Ron's condition to good."

"Thank you David." Hermione answered quietly. The prime minister had asked that she stop calling him Sir or prime minister the day Ron had been bought into the hospital. He then turned to her parents.

"You must be Hermione's parents. I have wanted to meet those responsible for raising this remarkable young woman for some time." He held out his hand to Hermione's father.

"I am David Blake and I am pleased to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Granger."

Her father looked shocked as he took the prime minister's hand.

Her mother and father said nothing more to Hermione about her job after that.

****

Over the next few days Ron's condition continued to improve. Ron was moved out of the ICU to a private room. Hermione spent her days working with Harry trying to identify members of the Order of the Dragon and her nights in the hospital with Ron. She wanted to be there when Ron finally woke up. The hospital staff tried to convince her to go home. Hermione did not want to go home for fear of another fight with her Mum and Dad. She also did not want to impose on Mr. and Mrs. Weasley so the Burrow was not a good option for her either.

Hermione realized she would have to find her own place but she did not know how she would be able to manage that. She did not have much in the way of savings and just did not see how she was going to afford a place with no way of earning money since she had not finished school.

Hermione found shortly that money for a place would not be a problem. She was at her desk in Scotland Yard reviewing the transcripts from the questioning of one of the two suspects captured at the football game. The secretary assigned to the Special Services Unit walked in and handed her an envelope. Hermione asked her if this was some new information regarding the case. The secretary laughed and told her that it was her paycheck. Hermione opened the envelope to find that a fair amount of money had been deposited into her savings account. She looked at her secretary who just laughed as she left the office.

She asked Harry about the paycheck, He told her He and Ron also had received one in addition to having some gold deposited to his vault at Gringotts from the ministry of magic, his Aurors salary. He was surprised to learn that Hermione had not expected to be paid. Hermione checked her savings account after speaking with Harry and found over the last month there had been four separate deposits made into her bank account. Two from the London Metropolitan Police and two others identified as transfers from Gringotts.

The surprise of finding that she was making enough money to have her own place and be on her was nice, the nicest surprise happened for Hermione that night when Ron finally woke up.

She was sitting by his bed holding his hand and telling him about her day when his eyes opened and he looked at her as if he was looking at an angel.

"Hermione?" he whispered softly.

Hermione gave him a gentle hug and whispered "Ron, thank god! You're awake!"

Ron whispered into her ear, "Always the tone of surprise."

Hermione just held Ron as tight as she could.