Hermione stood in front of her closet, staring at the wall. This is how most mornings went, when she didn't know what to wear, and she didn't feel like putting on clothes. She groaned, before picking a long, grey dress, and black shoes. Hermione was too tired to spend time on her appearance, so she did a quick glamour spell, and made her way to the Ministry.
The night before, when they had gone for dinner at Bill's, Draco and Hermione had gotten quite close. Harry and Percy failed to make an appearance, as they had been kept late by the Minister, so Ginny and Fleur planned to watch horror movies after putting all the kids to sleep. Hermione and Draco had a laugh, pointing out the mistakes in the low budget film that Ginny had chosen. An angry Fleur asked them to leave and join Mr. and Mrs. Weasley outside. They spent the rest of the night talking about ancient wizarding history, while drinking firewhiskey. Hermione found it very easy to talk to him, which surprised her. She usually annoyed Ron, with her talking, and Harry seemed to tolerate her. But Draco and Hermione seemed to get along, and had told Ginny afterwards that she liked this new Draco very much.
"Good morning, Miss."
Nadia came inside her office, and placed a coffee cup in the middle of the desk.
"Here's your morning tea, and here," she said, as she passed over a thick envelope, "is a letter you received early morning."
Hermione took a sip of the tea, before opening the envelope. As usual, she had forgotten to eat breakfast, but the tea would keep her satisfied till lunch. The envelope contained a small note, and on the bottom Hermione saw that it was signed by Harry.
Hermione, we need to talk. Hogwarts, after the Ministers introduction. I'll meet you outside at Hagrid's place, at 12. Destroy this message, after you read it.
Harry Potter
Hermione reread the short message quickly, before she folded it up and light it on fire. The letter burned up slowly, letting out pink flames.
"Nadia, could you retrieve my other mail from the Head Office?"
Nadia nodded, before disappearing out the door. Hermione thought it was odd that Harry wanted to meet at Hagrid's home, but then again, he was still always getting into mischief.
Once Nadia brought Hermione her mail, she quickly went through it all and filled out her agenda. She would get so busy with work, she needed to write down every little meeting or moment so she wouldn't forget anything. Today, Hermione had to meet Fleur for lunch; they had to plan an event which would include their guests at Hogwarts tonight. It was last minute, but Headmaster McGonagall had many duties herself, so she could not give them more than a couple hours to fix up the Great Hall. Hermione had already been to Hogwarts a week prior. She had expanded the wings magically. Each House at Hogwarts, would have guest students who would mingle with Hogwarts' students, and inform them about their world as well. This was going to happen at every wizarding school on Earth. The following year, the top students at each school would be selected to go to another world, and learn what they had to offer.
Hermione didn't have any hard work to do before lunch. She was asked to do a quick greeting with the guest ministers. Hermione had just gotten into the elevator when Minister Sampa walked in behind her. The handsome man was accompanied by a far more beautiful woman. She was tall, and her skin gave off a green tint. The woman had on a thin green gown, and a thick gold bracelet around her left upper arm. Hermione suddenly blushed, feeling very self conscious.
"Good morning, Minister Sampa."
Minister Sampa looked at Hermione, smiling brightly.
"Hello, dear friend."
Hermione put her hand forward, and shook hands with him. After they let go, she put her hand out to shake with the beautiful woman, but she took a step back. The woman glared at Hermione with her piercing green eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Miss Granger. My friend here is a Nagin. She does not take well to strangers." Sampa explained.
Hermione apologized, before asking what Nagin meant.
"Oh, well my friend can demonstrate." Sampa said, smiling.
He leaned forward, and whispered into her ear. The woman looked at him and then smiled. Hermione blinked, and looked over at Minister Sampa, shocked. The woman had disappeared, in the time it took Hermione to blink. Sampa chuckled, before pointing at the ground. Hermione gasped. There was a beautiful, large snake on the floor, where the woman had just been standing.
"Nagin, meaning snake." Sampa explained.
Hermione watched in awe. The snake had beautiful, sparkling, green scales. Hermione watched, as the snake turned back into the woman in a split second. She looked over at Hermione, giving her a cocky smile, and wrapped her arm around the ministers.
"Well, I'll see you tonight my dear. I must be on my way."
The elevator door opened right on cue, and Minister Sampa and the Nagin walked out swiftly.
The other ministers had all been at a meeting with Kingsley. Hermione waited patiently outside the door, while they exited out the doors of the meeting hall. Kingsley greeted Hermione first, informing her that the ministers would all be going to lunch, in Italy. The other excited ministers greeted Hermione, and she quickly reminded them about dinner at Hogwarts.
Nova was the last one to come out, and he asked her if he could talk to her momentarily. Hermione agreed, and Nova led to an empty meeting hall. Once he closed the heavy doors, he walked towards Hermione and stood very close to her. Hermione looked up at him. He had a beautiful smile, and when she looked into his eyes it was like she was looking at into the universe.
"How are you?" Nova asked, smiling down at her.
"I'm fine, Minister Nova." She replied.
Nova laughed.
"Just Nova, please."
Hermione nodded, looking down at the ground.
"Well, I just wanted to ask you, if you would like to go sailing with me one day. I know how much you enjoyed it back at my home."
Hermione blushed. She was hoping he wouldn't bring that up and now she was embarrassed for the way she had acted.
"I hope you can give me an answer by tonight Hermione, I have to go my brother's calling me." Nova said, softly.
Hermione looked up at him, confused.
"Telepathy." Nova explained. "See you, tonight."
Nova leaned down, and pecked Hermione on the cheek, before walking swiftly out the door. Hermione watched him leave and then took a deep breath. She had to talk to Ginny and ask her for her opinion before she answered Nova. Hermione felt that she couldn't trust her own judgement when it came to men. She quickly took out her phone to text Ginny, so she wouldn't forget.
Need to talk to you about something. Tonight at my place?
Not even a minute later, Ginny replied.
Yes! I'll sleep at your place tonight. Harry's coming late.
Hermione smiled, putting away her phone. Just last year, Hermione had spent days convincing Ginny to get a mobile phone. Harry prefered contacting each other through mail or just visiting each other, but Hermione felt that phones helped people stay closer. It was also easier to get in contact with others. Ginny was hesitant at first but eventually fell in love with her new phone. It made things much easier for Hermione. The only other people she couldn't convince to get a phone were Ron's mother, and Fleur's husband, Bill. They all preferred the good old way.
Looking at her watch, Hermione realized she was going to late for her meeting with Fleur. She walked out the door and went on her way. Fleur had asked Hermione to meet her at a small coffee shop just outside London. It was a favourite spot of hers and she claimed they made the best cup of tea. Hermione had let her pick their location place. Fleur was very difficult to meet nowadays. With many events coming up she was getting overbooked in the time she took out of her day to spend at work. Fleur chose to work for only a few hours, since she wanted to spend time with her husband and children.
It didn't take long for Hermione to reach the small shop. She had made a quick stop home to get her coat, and was back on her way. Hermione had almost missed the stop, it was incredibly small and there were no proper signs. Hermione walked inside, and searched for a tall blonde woman but there was only three people, other than the owner. Two large men sat at the front, drinking tea and chatting about the weather. In the far corner, Hermione saw a blonde man facing away from her. He was looking up at the clock at the wall, and then went back to looking at the menu in his hand. Hermione took out her phone, and messaged Fleur.
I'm here. Where are you?
Hermione sat down at the nearest stall, and waited for Fleur to reply. Two minutes later, her phone vibrated.
Can't make it sorry, coworker will help you out.
Hermione looked up at the blonde man. That must be the coworker, she thought. Hermione stood up and straightened her dress before walking up to greet him.
"Hi, I'm -"
The blonde man turned his head to look at Hermione.
"Draco?"
Draco smiled.
"That's my name." He said.
Hermione sat down across from him.
"So you're taking over for Fleur?" She asked.
Draco explained to her that he had been moving around different departments in the Ministry, to see which one he would enjoy working for. He had joined Fleur not long ago, and was second in command to her. She had to meet the Head of Animagus Registry, so she sent Draco.
"Well, it's just us, so we have a lot of work to do." Hermione told him.
Draco nodded.
"I'm caught up. I was thinking it would be more convenient for us to eat at Hogwarts. We can leave now, eat, and get to work right away."
Hermione agreed this was a better idea.
"Well, let's get going."
"You look beautiful." Ginny said before kissing Hermione on the cheek.
Hermione smiled brightly. She had to admit, she looked good. It was even better knowing that she had gotten dressed in less than two minutes, right before guests began to show up. Glam spells were clearly Hermione's favourite spell. Tonight, she had decided to wear a knee length, black dress.
The introductions began. Before the event, with the help of Draco and Professor Neville Longbottom, Hermione had expanded the ballroom, and at Neville's bidding, they had added a separate room with dessert and "adult beverages". Hermione had to agree that it was a great idea, for people to socialize before they entered the great hall. Draco replaced the regular tables with round tables, like Fleur had ordered. The candles that always floated above had been replaced with the sky of the Horizons Galaxy,where the Ministers came from. Hermione and Harry walked around the Hall introducing the Ministers to the professors of Hogwarts. Ginny sat down with Ron and Padma at a table near the front, where he was surrounded by a group of students.
"I've always wanted to meet someone from the Golden Trio!" A second year student exclaimed.
Ginny rolled her eyes, before politely asking them to give the three some privacy. Soon they were joined by Harry who informed them that the dinner was about to begin. They watched as the rest of the wizards around them took their seats, and it was just Hermione and Kingsley standing, who were seating the guest Ministers at the table near the front. Kingsley sat down at the end, and Hermione took her place at the small podium set up by Draco.
"Good evening, and thank you all for joining us tonight at Hogwarts."
Hermione gave her best smile.
"I would like to thank the students and staff at Hogwarts for the kind and warm welcome, and for planning a wonderful year for our exchange students. I would also like to thank the students who helped me plan for tonight, and lets not forget the elves who prepared our delicious dinner. And now without further ado, well because Minister Kingsley over there has been rubbing his belly, let us dine."
Kingsley chuckled loudly, and the Ministers joined in. In a second, the dinner appeared. Hermione started to walk towards Harry's table, when she caught sight of Draco. He was sitting at a large table with a few other members of the Ministry. She walked over to him and tapped his shoulder.
"Come join me."
Draco smiled as he got up and followed her to Harry's table.
"- And we have began to plan our own education plan for our future exchange students. So I hope to see some of you bright fifth year students in the following year…"
Harry nudged Hermione. She looked over at him, annoyed.
"What?"
"Come here."
He rose up, and walked swiftly out the hall.
Hermione rolled her eyes, clearly agitated, then followed him.
"I can't believe you're making me miss this, Harry."
Harry grabbed her arm, and led her outside. They walked down the path until they reached Hagrid's little hut.
"Hagrid's back?" Hermione asked Harry, as he knocked on the door.
Hagrid had told Hermione and Harry that he was off to someplace north, to visit his new girlfriend. They had met at Hogsmeade and according to Ginny, they were smitten.
"Yes, now be quiet."
They heard some scruffling, and a small bang before Hagrid opened the door.
"Hermione!"
Hagrid grabbed Hermione and hugged her tightly.
"It's so good to see ya."
Harry closed the door and sat down at Hagrid's table.
"You both need to swear, you will not tell anybody what I'm about to tell you."
They both agreed. So as Hagrid prepared a pot of tea for them, Harry told them about his trip to with Kingsley and Percy. When Harry got to the part about Xanthippe, Hagrid's eyes opened wide, and Hermione frowned.
"I don't know who I should tell, I trust you two to keep a secret." Harry explained.
Hermione grasped his hand tightly.
"Oh, Harry." She whispered.
He knew what she was thinking. They had all gone through so much from such a young age, and when finally things were turning around for the better, trouble came uninvited.
"Here, have this." Hagrid pushed two big mugs of tea across the table, before sitting down.
They sat in absolute silence as they finished their drinks. Hagrid had just opened his mouth to speak, but Hermione suddenly placed her hand over his mouth to silence him. With her other hand she pointed to her ear. Harry nodded, and they all listened closely. At first there was only some scruffling, but then they heard voices.
"Nova, you know that it's not right. They should have told us the motive behind the Wizard's protests."
Hermione slowly walked towards the small dusty window, while motioning for Harry and Hagrid not to follow. When Hermione peered outside she saw Minister Nova was walking behind Minister Celestia. Minister Nova stopped not far from Hagrid's home.
"Stop, brother." Nova ordered Celestia.
Celestia stopped and turned around.
"Nova, no. You know the Royal Family is in our homeland, yet they decide not to inform us on something so important."
"There's no need to be so angry. You shouldn't have eavesdropped and we should not have left so abruptly. What will they think of us?"
"Nova. How can you say that? When all we have ever wanted was peace and unity. For our King and Queen to go back to their rightful place, their home. How can you think about something so meaningless?"
Celestia put his hand on his brother's shoulder.
"We've only wanted this for so long. Unity. We were always so close with Terra, brother."
Nova grabbed his hand.
"Come brother." He said. "We will talk about this another night. Not tonight, let us go back to the festivities."
"I just needed to take a walk, alright?"
Nova didn't let go of his brother's hand. He just looked at him silently. His brother stared back, and then lowered his gaze.
"Alright, you're right as always."
They walked back hand in hand.
"What was that all about? Giving each other weird looks and all." Hagrid commented.
"Telepathy." Hermione whispered.
They quietly watched the brothers walk back up to the school.
Hermione turned around and stared at Harry. She couldn't believe what she had heard. Harry joined her at the window, and watched the two brothers walk back to the castle.
"I need to tell Kingsley." Harry said.
Hermione reached out and grabbed his hand.
"Harry what about the centaur. We need to find out if we should take what she said seriously."
Hagrid cleared his throat.
"Well 'Arry. I can go out into the forest tonight and ask my friend." He offered.
Harry thanked Hagrid.
"Now, about the Wizards."
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