Chapter 12
Hermione POV
Hermione stepped into the flames of her fireplace early Monday morning. Crookshanks watched her curiously from his spot on the couch, his large tail swishing back and forth in the air as the green flames surrounded Hermione while she checked her watch.
"7:30," she thought to herself as she sighed uneasily. "Well, here goes."
Her surroundings flashed past her in a whirlwind as she catapulted through the floo network towards the French Ministry. Suddenly everything stopped and she stepped out of the fireplace. She'd been here once before, but the aesthetics of the French Ministry still took her breath away. Their version of the Atrium had a glorious fountain in the center made of white marble, and in fact, their walkways were white cobblestone and the walls reached high above Hermione in a wide, white arches. Though the French Ministry was underground, just as the British one was, the ceilings had been enchanted to make it look as though they were outside. A blue sky with white clouds flowed across above Hermione, even magical birds flew along in the enchanted scene.
The brunette heard the fireplace roar behind her and she refocused her mind enough to move herself along behind the dozens of other Ministry employees. She followed a small group of employees into a vacant service lift. The ones here were similar to the British ones in function, but they appeared somewhat different. The lifts had golden frames and appeared to be made of glass. While the British service lifts jerked into motion and moved in a rather abrupt manner, these service lifts seemed to float from one location to another.
Hermione traveled up to the third level of the Ministry and got out of the lift; she being the only one left in the lift by that time. She tentatively, but swiftly walked down the corridor until she reached the large circular desk at the end of the hall before it branched off into two separate, smaller hallways. Behind it sat a blonde woman, probably in her late twenties.
"Good morning," Hermione greeted with a dip of her head. "I'm Hermione Granger, I'm working with Mr. Noirent, do you know if he's in?"
"Hello, Miss Granger," the woman greeted with a smile. "I'm Antonia. I've heard a lot about you, it's great to finally meet you. And yes, Mr. Noirent just got in. He should be in his office. Do you know where it's located?"
"Oh, it's nice to meet you, too," Hermione reciprocated as she held out her hand to shake the blonde's. She had to admit she was slightly unnerved to hear that her name had been circulated around enough to qualify as 'a lot'. She continued. "And yes, I stopped by the office over the weekend, so I know where Mr. Noirent's office is." She gestured down the hall. "Do you mind if I go in?"
"Not at all," Antonia replied. "Again, nice to meet you. Enjoy your day," she smiled.
"It's nice to meet you, too," Hermione nodded once more. "See you later, have a good day."
With that, Hermione headed to her right and down the hall that housed the office that would be Mr. Noirent's for the duration of this project. She reached the office and though the door was open and she could see him at his desk, she knocked and waited just outside the threshold. He looked up at the sound.
"Miss Granger," he smiled, "Excellent to see you. Please, come in, have a seat."
She stepped inside and sat down in the cushy chair set up in front of his desk, setting her briefcase down next to her.
"Good morning, Mr. Noirent, how are you?" She asked, trying to keep her nerves and anticipation from making her voice shaky.
"I'm doing well, thank you. Yourself?" He asked.
"I'm doing fine, thanks," she replied with a small smile.
"Nervous?" He asked, eying her with a hidden smile.
"Yes," she laughed. "Very much so, sir."
"No need," he reassured her as he leaned back in his chair. "Today you'll meet the rest of the team and we'll just organize ourselves. Nothing too major. And I understand you already know Mr. Weasley?"
Hermione felt a wave of relief rush through her just at the mention of Percy. Though she wasn't sure how he would act towards her, especially after that incident at Christmas, she was still happy to have someone familiar around. Ron had informed her that Percy had moved to Paris a couple of weeks ago, but Hermione wasn't sure where he lived and hadn't heard anything from him.
"Yes, sir, that's correct," she replied.
"Small world," he smiled. "We'll be meeting everyone in the main boardroom at 8:30. In addition to Percy, Ted Higgit of the International Magic Cooperation department will be here, and of course, Ms. Vivian Blake."
"Are they all here for the duration of the project?" Hermione asked.
"Percy, myself, and Ted, are, yes. Ms. Blake will be here periodically. She was not supposed to be heavily involved at all actually, but recently the Minister announced that she was to take on a larger role in this project," he stated. Hermione watched him closely for any indication of his feelings on the matter; however, his straight face and even voice gave nothing away.
He went on. "We have a very capable, devoted team," he asserted as he sat up in his chair. "Yourself included. I have complete faith that we will be very successful here."
"I'm very happy to hear that, sir, and thank you. I'll do my best," Hermione promised.
"I know you will," he smiled. "I don't think I've heard Dumbledore talk so highly of a student before."
Hermione tried not to blush. "Well, Professor Dumbledore is always extraordinarily kind."
He smiled at her once more before standing up. "Would you like to see your office? Sorry it wasn't ready when you were here before, but you should have everything you need now. We still have a bit of time before our meeting, so you'll have a chance to get settled."
Hermione stood and followed him down the hall. Her office was at the end on the left. She looked at the office across, its door was closed, but she saw Percy's name on the nameplate and felt relieved that he would be so close. Hermione turned back to her own office and felt a sense of awe when she saw her name engraved on the nameplate that was displayed on the door.
"Here's your new home," Mr. Noirent said with a soft laugh as he held his arm out to showcase the office.
The office was smaller than Mr. Noirent's, understandably, but it was still quite nice. There was a good amount of room to walk around, and Hermione had a very nice desk, better than the one she had at home, a large chair and another, less luxurious chair for any visitors. She had a bookcase that currently held a few volumes, all appearing to be on the French Ministry and on laws in general.
"It's wonderful," Hermione said sincerely.
"Glad you like it," he nodded. "Well, I'll leave you to get settled. Again, 8:30, we'll meet in the main boardroom in the other hall," he instructed.
"Great. See you soon. Thank you," Hermione smiled.
After he left, Hermione set her briefcase down on her desk and sat down in her chair. She looked around in amazement; she couldn't believe this was actually happening. She was unbelievably nervous still, but just from this talk with Mr. Noirent, that nervousness transformed into excitement. Big things would be happening.
"Thank you everyone for being here on time. Shall we go around the table and do some introductions? Not everyone here has met."
Hermione watched Vivian Blake intently as she chaired the meeting. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a bun and she wore a very sharp, fashionable outfit that was probably worth the price of the rest of the team members' clothes combined. Her voice was confident, and commanded attention, yet was somehow unintimidating. Next to her lay a notepad with a magical quill floating over it. The device looked far too much like Rita Skeeter's Quick-Quotes Quill for Hermione's liking and she really hoped that it didn't function exactly the same. Though the correlation irked Hermione, such charmed items made perfect sense for taking meeting minutes.
They went around the table saying short blurbs about their backgrounds and expressing pleasantries. Hermione felt horribly unqualified in comparison to the rest of the people at this meeting. Even Percy's verbal resume was very impressive and put a nick in Hermione's usual academic confidence. Hermione gave her speech as eloquently and composed as possible, she felt self-assured in her delivery, but was momentarily unnerved when she noted how Percy looked on at her unimpressed. Perhaps he wouldn't be such a comfort to have around after all. Despite his seeming lack of support, Hermione was surprised to see Ms. Blake giving her the smallest smile and gave an almost imperceptible nod. The brunette scrutinized the woman's actions looking for any sign of mockery or jest, but she finally, reluctantly, concluded that it was genuine and even encouraging.
After the introductions, each member of the team was assigned a task. Essentially they had to assess the current situation for themselves, gathering facts and evidence so they would know how to proceed. Ultimately, the French Ministry had the say on how the project would move forward, but Ms. Blake was insistent on the team having its own, independent idea of the current climate and how to tackle this issue.
"Granger," she said in her easy, yet forthright manner.
"Yes, Ms. Blake?" Hermione responded, feeling her heartbeat suddenly increase.
"You're responsible for knowing exactly what the current laws are. I want you to know how long they've been in place, what was before them, and determine what the weaknesses are. Document the latter and make sure you're up to speed by our meeting with the French Ministry in three weeks."
"Yes, ma'am," Hermione confirmed as she jotted down her assignment. A question popped into Hermione's mind and she saw that Ms. Blake was ready to move on, but she rose her hand anyway.
"The-" Ms. Blake stopped and directed her gaze back to Hermione. The blonde looked bemused and chuckled lightly. "Yes, Miss Granger?"
"Sorry to interrupt, but regarding the documentation of current policy weaknesses, I just wanted to know if you would like me to run them past you prior to the meeting with the French Ministry."
"No, that won't be necessary," Ms. Blake responded, all serious now. "I just need you to know so that you're on the alert when they present their initial assessment. I want you to be my eyes and ears looking for flaws."
"Okay, I'll take care of it," Hermione responded with a nod.
"Excellent. As I was saying..."
The rest of the meeting went by smoothly. Percy was assigned to work alongside Mr. Higgit in ensuring that relations with the French Ministry were well and intact. If they needed anything from the British Ministry, Percy was responsible for it. As important a job as that was, and Percy was quite obvious in how he, too, felt it was important, Hermione was thankful she had her task rather than his. She wanted to get into the nitty-gritty of things and this task let her do just that.
"Is everyone clear on the action items they're responsible for?" Ms. Blake asked as she eyed each of them. A series of nods and a few 'yes's were heard and she stood.
"Excellent. Thanks, everyone. This is going to be a great, successful project. I'm back to England later today, but I'll be here next week for our weekly Monday meeting. Enjoy your day," she said as she disabled the quill that was taking notes, swiftly gathered her things and walked in sure strides out of the room.
"Communicae Protea."
Hermione sat back on the couch and waited for a response. It had been a long day, but a good day. After this morning's meeting, Mr. Noirent had spoken to her briefly to check in on her to see if she was comfortable with how things were progressing. She expressed that she was very eager and feeling inspired and with a laugh he let her get to work.
Mr. Noirent, Mr. Higgit, and Percy had lunch together. It was a nice, casual lunch, though Hermione couldn't help but feel that Percy disrupted the easy chemistry that the group had. Hermione knew she was uptight and a bit of a know-it-all, but she did find that Percy was worse than her.
Hermione's recollections were interrupted as a life-sized image of Ginny appeared before her. Ginny was in her pyjamas and, presumably, sitting in her bedroom at the Burrow - a few days left until the school year started.
"Hi, Mione!" Ginny greeted excitedly. "How was your first day?"
Hermione laughed as Crookshanks jumped down off the couch and walked over to Ginny. Ginny must have noticed because she waved at him.
"Hi Crookshanks."
Crookshanks stilled momentarily before prowling in a circle around Ginny, both girls watching in amusement. Eventually, he crouched and tentatively swatted at Ginny. He scurried away into the other room when part of Ginny disappeared into smoke.
"Awww, Crookshanks," Hermione called. "You've scared him, Gin," she teased.
"Me? I didn't do anything," the redhead laughed.
"Crookshanks," Hermione called again. A moment later he peeked his head around the corner of the hall, his beady eyes honed in on Ginny.
"Hang on a second," Hermione said to Ginny as she got up and went over to Crookshanks and guided him back over to Ginny. "It's okay, Crookshanks," she said softly. "Come here, now," she said as she lifted him up and brought him back over to the couch and sat him down on her lap.
Ginny gave her an apologetic look. "Poor thing."
Hermione smiled at her girlfriend and once again took notice of Ginny's attire and surroundings. "I didn't wake you, did I? I hope I didn't keep you from sleeping," she said with concern as she studied the redhead.
"No," the younger girl laughed. "I was reading - believe it or not," she declared as she reached over to her bedside table to grab the book that lay there and hold it up for Hermione to see. "Are you proud?"
Hermione chuckled. "Extremely," she relayed in a flat voice, though she had to laugh further at how Ginny gave her a self-satisfied smirk.
"So, your first day, how was it?" Ginny asked as she set the book back down and settled herself into the bed once more.
"It was good," Hermione smiled. "I'm really excited for this project. The team is really good and we're all getting along fine."
"Even Percy?" Ginny joked.
"Yes," Hermione laughed. "Although, I think he's just being polite. I don't think he likes me much anymore," she added.
Ginny's eyes narrowed. "What happened?"
Hermione frowned as she tried to put the feeling into words. "It's nothing in particular, he just seems...cold, I suppose. His office is right across from mine, but he didn't come over to speak to me once during the day, and I couldn't go see him because his door was closed or he wasn't in. We did have lunch together, with Mr. Noirent, and Mr. Higgit - he's from International Magic Cooperation - and it was okay, but he barely acted like he knew me."
"That prat," Ginny scowled. "Well, in all honesty, you're better off. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets on people's nerves and steps on toes. His loss," she asserted.
"Thanks, Gin," Hermione smiled. "Enough about me, how's your day been? "
"Good, thanks," the redhead replied as she stretched and reclined further against the pillows behind her. "Got all my supplies for school, met up with Luna at Leaky Cauldron."
"How is she?"
"Same as ever," Ginny laughed. "Still searching for that elusive Crumple-Horned Snorkack."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course."
"Something on your mind?" Ginny asked.
A smirk crossed Hermione's lips and she looked up at Ginny through her eyelashes. "Very intuitive, Miss Weasley."
"When it comes to you, I would hope so," the younger girl responded easily. "So?"
"Well, Mr. Higgit asked me a bit about my personal life today. I was lucky to avoid the 'are you seeing anyone?' question, but I know I won't be so lucky for long. I still don't know what to say, and I could tell that Percy was starting to get on edge as the conversation inched that way," Hermione explained as she curled up a bit more on the couch.
"Tell him to screw himself," Ginny remarked, looking thoroughly irritated at the mention of Percy. Hermione just gave her a patient, yet disapproving look. "Honestly, he needs to stop," Ginny insisted further.
Hermione sighed. "What should I do if someone asks? I've thought it over a million times, but I need your opinion."
"Up to you," Ginny shrugged. "I understand if you don't want to tell anyone about us right away. But I know it's not so easy to just side-step the question. Tell them you have a boyfriend - one with a bad temper and has a proficiency in hexes."
"Gin," Hermione whined though she had to laugh. "I'm serious, what should I do?"
"I know, sorry," Ginny reluctantly said. "Honestly though, you could tell them you have a boyfriend."
Hermione fidgeted. "I don't know. I don't really want to lie."
"Well, it's either the truth or make something up. Maybe just say you're not seeing anyone."
"Maybe. I'd feel more comfortable with that," Hermione nodded as she contemplated that option. "But what about Percy? He knows."
"He isn't going to say anything," Ginny said.
"How do you know?" Hermione asked sceptically.
"Well, for one, he doesn't want anyone knowing his sister is a dirty lesbian cause that'd reflect poorly upon him and all his glory. Secondly, he knows that I'd hex him so bad he'd have bogeys the size of bludgers coming out of his nose."
Hermione made a face. "Charming." Ginny simply shrugged her shoulders, a complacent smile on her face.
"I'll speak with Percy, let him know what I intend to do," Hermione decided. "I think I'll go with the second option, you know, not seeing anyone. Are you sure you don't mind?" She asked, eyeing Ginny in slight uncertainty. Hermione believed that this was the best option for now, but if it was going to alienate or upset Ginny, she wouldn't follow through with it.
"It's fine, I understand," Ginny said. "Don't worry."
"Thanks," the brunette replied with a smile. She blew Ginny a kiss, knowing that was all she really could do since the girl wasn't actually within her reach. Ginny rolled her eyes, but reciprocated the action, a light blush on her face.
"I miss you," Ginny said quietly, dropping her gaze and toying with the covers on her bed.
"I miss you, too, Gin. I wish you were here," Hermione said, giving her girlfriend a sad smile.
"How's the Veela situation shaping up over there?" Ginny asked as she looked up to give the older girl a half-hearted smirk. "I actually have been working on my hexes, and I guarantee you that no amount of Veela sleaze could intimidate me."
Hermione laughed affectionately, despite the implied violence in Ginny's statement. The brunette didn't know how Ginny managed to make jealousy such a cute thing.
"There is no Veela situation," Hermione promised. "And considering the amount of work that I already have to do, I will be far too busy to notice anyone, not that I would in any case." Ginny didn't look entirely convinced. The right side of Hermione's lips tugged upward slightly in a smirk. "Trust me, Gin. Veela seduction just doesn't compare to Weasley charm."
AN: This is about as quick as it gets in terms of 'updating sooner' lol. So, things are changing for the girls! Thanks again to everyone for giving this story a chance. Have a great weekend, everyone!