present
"Mrs. Weasley? I was wondering if I could have just a moment of your time." Hermione was torn out of her reverie by the timid voice at the door. Of course, she really should be relieved. She had work to do, and spending her time mulling over the beginnings of her sordid affair weren't going to accomplish anything. Besides, if she were too distracted surely somebody would notice it and unanswerable questions would wind up being asked.
"Mrs. Weasley?" the voice came again. "It really is rather urgent…" The girl began to chew on her lip wondering whether or not she should leave. Hermione wasn't mean by any standards, but she could be rather curt when she was busy. And Genevieve was intimidated by her boss. She herself was not the brightest person by far, but until she had been assigned to work under Hermione Weasley, she had had no doubts in herself. She had quickly learned that Hermione demanded excellence from her staff, and Genevieve often felt left in the dust.
"I'm sorry, Genevieve, please come in." Hermione forced herself to pay attention to what the girl was saying about some bill that the minister wanted to introduce to the Daily Prophet just that afternoon, but that Hermione had held up just that morning because of ambiguous wording. She had only been in charge of the department for a year, but she had made a name for herself as unyielding in her quest to assure equality in the wizarding world. Many pieces of legislature had been turned away because of wording that could be twisted to suit those with prejudices against so called "lesser creatures".
"Tell the minister that I will not be rushed. If he is that intent on introducing it to the public, then we must be assured that it is correct and ready to be put into effect don't we? He will have the documents just as soon as I am finished with them and he will have to sit tight until then I'm afraid. And if he gives you any fuss, please remind him that if I had not taken my time with Decree 694, phoenix hunting would have been allowed. He would have found himself quickly out of a job over that one! "Genevieve nodded and ducked back out of the office, leaving Hermione slightly frustrated but glad for the pull of reality.
Stuffing the parchment back under a packet of papers and began tackling the bill that the Minister had gotten himself so worked up over. Oh no, this would never do. Some idiot had set forth a petition to name July 31st Harry Potter day and make it a national holiday. Harry would never go for this. Obviously he just wanted to live a quiet life with Ginny and their children, doing his job as an Auror. He had never been one for public attention. Penning a note quickly, Hermione folded the parchment up into an airplane and sent it whizzing to the Ministers office with her objections noted.
Harry and Ginny. They were always so happy. They had a small row now and again, but it didn't seem like they had ever had the troubles she and Ron had experienced. By mutual agreement, they told neither Harry nor Ginny about it. Ron didn't want his family to know that they were arguing. Hermione could have cared less. For all that she loved him he was still just as stubborn and pigheaded as he had always been. She was pretty darn sure that there was a filter somewhere between his brain and his mouth that needed replacing occasionally. They had worked past most of those problems by now of course. One couldn't honestly expect to be married for nearly eighteen years and not have been incredibly angry at one another a time or two. Although frankly if it weren't for the fights that they had, or his pleading not to tell Ginny what was going on, perhaps she wouldn't have found herself in the position she was in now. Things had gotten so bad, she had needed someone to vent to. Someone who wouldn't ever talk to Ron and let on that they knew how often they were fighting.
Hermione tried to shake those memories, but it was no good. It was time for lunch anyway. Picking up the files she had been working on, she handed them to Genevieve to deliver to the Minister herself and instructed the girl that she would be out of the office for the next couple hours as she had some errands to run. She was so wrapped up in her own memories that she didn't even notice the letter peeking out on her desk, the heading Dearest plainly visible.