Wake Me Up

Chapter 4

The banging on the door interrupted her wonderful sleep. Hermione rubbed her eyes, noticing the clock read six-forty seven. Now who in the hell had to come at this time of the morning on a Monday. She had to be at work around eight, she could still sleep for fifteen minutes. She groaned and considered putting an undisturbable spell on the door. Then she heard her name called and figured she better got up before someone blew up her door.

"What!" she yanked the door open, then shut it again realizing who was on the other side.

Resting her head against the door she groaned. "Not again."

Fleur blinked and her eyebrow rose at the unexpected picture Hermione had presented. Harry had said the woman was up at six-thirty to get ready for work and she cursed him under her breath. Well she was here already and had awoken the other woman so she raised a hand to knock more softly when the door opened again.

"Come in." said the brunette pointing her wand towards the kitchen. The sound of the coffee pot could be heard as she dropped to the couch.

"Sorry, I…" Feur muttered, a little unsure. It was evident that Hermione had been sleeping and that once again she hadn't been expecting a guest.

Two cups came floating towards them, one almost crashing against Fleur chest before she was able to grab it and take a quick sip of the warm liquid.

"Thank you." She said brushing a hand through her golden locks.

"What is it this time?" Hermione said not apologizing this time around. She was sure a headache would star anytime now and she tilted her head backward closing her eyes.

Fleur's cerulean gaze move around the space finally landing on the younger witch. She was wearing a white satin robe that didn't quite cover her and her hair was a mess, making her look adorable and sexy. SEXY? Where did that thought came from? "Ginny asked me to come return this to you. You left it there yesterday and she said you'd need it today. Harry said you woke up at six-thirty."

Hermione blew out a breath before looking at the other woman who was holding her notes and lab coat. She had decided to go to work in the morning yesterday, since Fleur had already woken her, and had gone directly to Ginny's after that. "Thank you."

"You really are an early bird, aren't you?" said Hermione.

"Well since I was coming to London, I decided it wouldn't hurt to do some business."

Chocolate orbs locked with blue. Hermione becoming a little intrigued. "What do you work on?"

Fleur took a sip of her coffee almost moaning in pleasure. "I work for the Ministry. Magical Relations."

Chocolate eyes widened. " Really? You don't seem like a person interested in that kind of things."

"Of course I am. Um… don't you have somewhere to be?" The clock on the wall was already pointing to seven.

"Fuck!" Hermione rushed to the bathroom leaving Fleur standing there a little stunned before disappearing with a pop.

"Hello Mr. Abbott. How are you feeling today?" Hermione entered the white room as she scribbled some formulas and directions. She looked up from her papers and gave a genuine smile to and old man whose face looked Yellow and swollen.

"I'm feeling good, dear. They said my face already turned yellow." He said trying to open his eye but unable to move his swollen eyelids.

Hermione cast some quick spells on the man before making a few more annotations. "Yes it did. I think you'll be able to leave this afternoon."

She said her goodbye to the man and started to do rounds, taking her time with one patient before going to the other. She loved the work she was doing here because it was always changing and even though she didn't like to see anyone hurt, intellectually this was a challenging job. After her time at Hogwarts and all they had gone through she hadn't been sure what path she should follow. She had considered working on the Ministry of Magic and they had offered her the chance, but her heart wasn't really in it. When they had offered her a job interview at St. Mungo's she had jumped at the opportunity and here she was.

"Hey, watch it!" she said as and explosion almost burned the tips of her heir as she walked by some of the cubicles.

A dusty looking young man apologized. "Excuse us Miss Granger, we haven't been able to figure out the source of intoxication."

"It's ok, Adrian. Just be careful next time." She said, softly dismissing him.

After five hours of continuous work she was almost sleepwalking. The lack of sleep on the last few days was starting to catch up on her and she felt tired and grumpy. She entered her office, looking around at the piles of papers covering her desk and even the floor. It was a mess, unlike her apartment, the bookcase on one side was filled to the brim which had resulted in more piles of books on the floor. She would have to do an expandable charm on that one; she just hadn't had time in the last few months which had been chaotic.

She slowly made her way around the piles to reach her chair and sitting down she let out a breath and closed her eyes.

"Miss Granger… MISS GRANGER!" Hermione jumped in her seat at the sound. If she wasn't mistaken it was her boss. Great, she didn't need her boss finding her almost asleep or walking inside her messy office.

"I'm sorry, Millie. I was just working on some paperwork." The brunette said, receiving a dubious look from her boss.

Millicent stared at the young witch for a minute, noting her tired posture and dark circles under her eyes. "Why don't you go home and take the rest of the week?"

"What?" came Hermione's incredulous retort. "But there's still so much to do, so many patients I haven't seen today, there's a mass muggle mind erasing that needs to be done this afternoon and I need to be-"

Knowing what was coming, the older woman interrupted. "Hermione we have five hundred people working at St. Mungo's in every department. Don't you think your colleagues and subordinates can take care of things while you're away?"

"I have total confidence in them but-"

Seeing the 'no nonsense' look the other sent her way made Hermione give up with a sigh, knowing she couldn't win that argument. Besides she could take this time off to finally get some sleep and catch up on her writing and maybe study some new books she had acquired a while back. A flash of blue eyes shot through her mind… or maybe… no, what am I thinking. She shook herself out of her thoughts and gazed around the room noticing its state once more. Maybe she could take some time to sort the mess and do that expandable charm she had been thinking about earlier.

"Alright then let me arrange all this mess before I go" she said, as her wand was pulled out of her robes.

She was stopped by a firm hand taking her by the arm. "Oh no you're not!"

Hermione tried to keep from stumbling as Millicent dragged her out of her office and tried to avoid the astonished looks of her colleagues as the older woman continued to walk all the way to the exit. The older woman released her grip and left her standing just outside the building. Walking inside she turned to the young witch once more while she took out her wand, pointing with it at the door that now separated them.

"Now then, you will not put a foot on this building for a week, you hear me?" the woman had a serious look on her face but behind those piercing eyes there was a hint of a smile which finally made its way to her lip.

Hermione brushed her hand through her dark locks and smiled tilting her head to one side. "I can be a little obsessive sometimes, can't I?"

"Now go have fun." with this she turned on her heels and left.