Chapter 4: CONFESSIONS

When Hermione entered the Ministry of Magic the next morning to begin the several-day mission with Ron, she still had no idea what to tell him. She wore deep shadows under her eyes, having spent most of the night trying to think of a plausible story as to why she didn't want to talk about her family. Only half a pot of coffee could prevent her from sleeping through her mission in the morning.

"Great, what I need now is to get careless on our mission because of acute fatigue . More trouble with Ron..." she muttered to herself as she was jolted out of her thoughts by a, "Hey, Granger!" Startled, she looked up and almost ran into Harry, who was holding her by the shoulders with outstretched arms to prevent just that.

"Woah, careful, young lady!"

"Oh, hey Harry. Sorry, I was in thought." replied Hermione, running a hand over her face.

"I noticed that... Man, Hermione... No offence, but you look like shit," Harry said, looking at her with concern. "Is everything okay?"

"Thanks for your compliment... Just what I need today. And yeah, it's fine," Hermione answered grumbling, and was about to push past Harry. But when he caught her by the elbow, she rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed sigh. She was really in no mood to discuss her problems with Harry, especially after the embarrassing situation at the hospital.

"Okay, let me guess... you still haven't talked to Ron? The icy atmosphere between you two has now been picked up by everyone of the Auror department. Are you sure you should be going on a mission together like this? I honestly don't feel like picking up the scraps from either of you just because you got careless with your childish arguments."

"Listen! You don't have to worry about your wonderful friend Weasley. I'll think of something so he doesn't have to get all in a huff any more! And if anything happens to me again, I don't want any help from you! I can take care of myself. I just want to get this damn first year of training over with, then I'll get my own apprentice and you'll be rid of me. Goodbye, Potter!" she said angrily and stormed off in the direction of the lifts.

Left behind was a perplexed Harry, who shook his head in bewilderment and muttered, "Merlin's dirty pants... And I thought Ginny was irritable lately. Poor Ron..."

As expected, the greeting between Ron and Hermione was frosty and they both waited silently in Ron's office for Kingsley to give them the most important information about the upcoming mission. While they waited, Ron glumly flicked through a few files on cases they had already solved, trying to memorise anything that might become important later. Hermione played nervously with the zip of her coat and kept casting a furtive glance at Ron. He was looking stubbornly down and the tension in the room could be cut. Hermione bit her lower lip hard and she didn't know whether to explode with anger or cry in despair.

Frustrated, she exhaled loudly, causing Ron to look at her with a raised eyebrow. He looked at her expectantly for a moment, but then rolled his eyes and let his gaze wander back to the files when she blurted out, "I... I have no contact with my family!" She narrowed her eyes and inwardly slapped herself for this pathetic excuse.

"What?" asked Ron, puzzled, looking up from his files in amazement.

Hermione kneaded her hands in her lap as she panicked, trying to embellish her white lie. "My family cut off contact with me, that's why no one came to see me... At St.Mungos, I mean..." She didn't dare look up because then he might read her lie from her eyes.

She heard him closing the files and pushing loose sheets together as he finally replied, "I'm sorry about that. How did it happen? I mean... If you want to talk about it, Miss Granger!?"

His voice suddenly sounded gentle and there was no trace of his irritation of the past days and weeks. Hermione looked up briefly and saw that he had a slight, but at the same time worried smile on his lips. She quickly returned her gaze to the hands resting in her lap.

"You can call me Hermione if you like and …well, my family was totally against my choice of profession. They think it's too dangerous and believe I'm not able to do this job… since there's more to this profession than just memorising books... But since I am extremely stubborn... (she heard Ron snort briefly at that moment and gave him a stern look that made him stop immediately)... I didn't let all that stop me, we got into a huge fight and now there's been radio silence for months."

Her little story wasn't a complete lie, Hermione tried to soothe her conscience. Her parents didn't know much about the wizarding world, but even they had heard about the war, the Death Eaters and their immense hatred for Muggles and Muggle-born wizards and witches. Of course they were worried about their daughter and her desire to become an Auror scared them, but they trusted her and knew of her abilities. Hermione really only had sporadic contact with her family at the moment, as she had made sure everyone was safe from the Death Eaters before she left. Except for herself, because she wanted to see with her own eyes how one follower of Voldemort after the other was finally eliminated.

Ron cleared his throat, which snapped her out of her thoughts. "So... Hermione, your family isn't wrong... We've seen what can happen. I'm not saying you can't handle the training. I...we just need to work together and look out for each other, all right? No more playing a lone hand. I have to be able to trust you to follow my instructions, I'm fucking responsible for you... I can't take another shock like last time."

As he spoke, she was twice on the verge of telling him that he was the fucking reason she'd run away and that he too was the one who'd been in a huff for days. She swallowed it, though, because she wanted to avoid another fight at all costs, now that she could just about straighten the whole thing out.

"I will follow the rules in the future, Mr. Weasley, I promise. I don't want to jeopardise your job or my education. This is too important to me," Hermione promised quietly. She looked at Ron warily and her heart gave a short jump when she saw his wry laugh.

"Good, oh and Hermione?"

"Hmm?"

"Call me Ron please, this constant Mr.Weasley fuss makes me feel as old as Dumbledore looked."

Hermione let out a laugh, which eventually made Ron laugh too. The tension in the room was released as quickly as the air in a balloon before it was tied.

Just as the two had calmed down again, there was a knock on the door. Quickly Ron opened it and Kingsley entered. He directed the two to sit down while he spread out a file on the table.

"Your Portkey leaves in 15 minutes. I'll quickly explain the most important details and then we'll be ready to go."

Hermione and Ron just nodded and waited for further instructions.

"So. You two are to stake out a Death Eater who is currently in Ireland, Dublin to be exact. A couple of colleagues tracked his trail there after he somehow escaped from the battle. We don't know 100% where he is exactly, so you should be prepared that your mission might take a little longer. You two are to trying to find him and then shadow him. You will stay in close contact with us, the access will be done by the trained aurors, understood? No rash, heroic attempts!" Kingsley admonished with a stern look at Ron who just nodded his head rolling his eyes.

"Good! Your Portkey will take you to your house, where you will be staying for the time being. If you need anything, let me know!"

Hermione had already stood up and was about to leave when she noticed Ron frowning at Kingsley. Nervously, she looked back and forth between them, waiting to see what was to come.

"What's the name?" asked Ron, nodding towards the file.

"You're not going to like this, Ron. Please remember what I said when I tell you the name!" reminded Kingsley again.

"Well tell me, damn it!", Ron pressed out impatiently.

"Rookwood... Augustus Rookwood..." replied Kingsley and Hermione saw in Ron's gaze and from his clenched fists that the name triggered something in him.

"WHAT? You mean to tell me that the bastard who killed my brother is still alive?!!! Are you fucking serious?!" shouted Ron angrily and he looked like he would like to smash something.

Kingsley, however, remained calm and put his hand on Ron's shoulder to soothe him. "Listen Ron, I know this is a bitter potion you're about to swallow... But yes! He seems to have made it out of the rubble unharmed. We don't know how, but he was seen in Dublin and he's alive. And we need to get him back to Azkaban as soon as possible. I know you'd like to kill him with your own hands, but you have to follow my instructions, understand? Think of it as a test to pass your training! No rash actions, or you can spend the rest of your career at a desk! And that's certainly not what Fred would have wanted for you, Ron!"

With a stern look, Kingsley looked at Ron, who finally snorted angrily and replied, "Okay... But I'll be the one to close the cell door behind him. Just so we're clear! Come on Hermione, we have to go... The Portkey won't wait!" With those words he stomped out of the office and Hermione, after one last look at Kingsley, hurried after him.