Chapter 23

Hermione POV

"How are you, dear?"

Hermione did her best to not smile as she sat across from Ms. Blake in the woman's closed office.

"It hasn't been easy, but work has kept me distracted," Hermione offered. The older woman nodded in sympathy.

"Well, I guess there's a loss for every win," she stated with a subtle shrug. "At least the project is moving forward. Try not to worry about Ginny, she seemed rather juvenile. You're better off."

It took all of Hermione's strength to not let her emotions get the better of her. She had to remind herself that this is what she wanted. As such, she managed to hold back her natural response and merely offered her a nod of acceptance. "Thank you, Ms. Blake."

"Please, call me Vivian," the woman smiled.

Hermione nearly stammered, but surprised herself by replying, "Thank you, Vivian." She paused before continuing on. "I apologize if the recent news has caused more problems for us with the French Ministry."

Ms. Blake sighed and leaned back in her chair, setting her quill down on the desk in the process. "No, I've sorted it out. Though I hope that with Ginny out of the way, that will have been the last of your fame. I've been able to smooth things over thus far, but I don't know how much longer I'll have the same luck."

"Yes, ma'am," Hermione assured her. Before Hermione could lose control of her composure and crack a grin, she hurriedly blurted out, "I'm still amazed by the amount of support we were able to garner for the reform."

"Yes," the older woman smiled, "Rufus is very pleased to hear that the project hasn't been derailed. I told you everything would be fine."

"I'm sorry I ever doubted you in the least," Hermione stated as she gave a faint smile. "Ms. Blake -er, Vivian, do you have any idea of who would have wanted the project to fail? I mean, I know you were right about things working out, but I, admittedly, had my doubts initially. I feel the French Minister was setting us up for failure."

Perhaps Ms. Blake would know who in the French Ministry would keep an eye on them. If Ms. Blake was being watched, Hermione was sure that it would be put to an end almost instantly, so she was fairly certain that their leader was in the clear. However, Hermione didn't quite feel comfortable enough to tell her that she was being watched. She wanted to know a bit more before saying anything.

"Hm," Vivian voiced as she sat up. "I suppose there were some who would've initially been inclined to reject the reform, but it appears as though they changed their minds. Why do you ask?"

"Just trying to gauge who we will receive resistance from during the implementation process - internal or external," Hermione responded with no hesitation.

"Internal," Ms. Blake repeated as she raised her eyebrows in quiet disbelief. "My dear, what has been going on?"

"Nothing, ma'am, I just always like to be prepared," the brunette insisted as sincerely as possible.

The older woman sat back in her chair and rested her head against a raised hand and smiled curiously at Hermione. "Like any good employee." The next second, Ms. Blake dropped her gaze and leaned forward to clasp her hands together and rest them on the desk. When she looked at Hermione, her eyes twinkled. "Well, you certainly disgraced that French analyst. He's a possible candidate for dissent. I upset his boss by calling out faith misplaced in a public meeting. Mr. Weasley seems more unimpressed with you every day - however, I wouldn't worry about him," Vivian listed off the possibilities easily with a shrug. "Politics, dear. It's a tricky game."

Hermione gave a small nod as she considered the people named.

"Even Jacob has hinted a couple of times about you," Vivian noted lightly with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"What?" Hermione frowned, her posture stiffening subconsciously. Ms. Blake eyed her sympathetically.

"I'm afraid so. Nothing major, really, he's harmless. But I think that's half the problem. He knows you're outshining him and he's the Department Head for heaven's sake."

"But," Hermione started as her mind worked itself into a frenzy, "you and Mr. Scrimgeour are the only ones who could dismiss or demote him. He's done an excellent job with the Ministry for years! And I'm so new, and," she worked herself up so much that she started to stumble over her words. She frowned. "It's silly."

"You are very new," Vivian admitted, "but Rufus has had his eye on you since he heard word from Albus that you were interested in a career at the Ministry. He's eager to have you move up - scandals withstanding. Not that I don't want you to," she added on, "but I work closely with Jacob and better understand how complicated the matter is."

Hermione's frown deepened. There was no way they could be considering her as a replacement for Mr. Noirent - the notion was beyond ridiculous.

"Well, I hate to cut this short but I have a meeting in London that I have to leave for," Ms. Blake announced as she rose from her seat. Hermione reciprocated the action without even realizing it.

"Take care of yourself. And don't you worry - I know it must be devastating, but you're better off on your own, don't need someone interrupting your business with their drama," Ms. Blake remarked as she gathered up her paperwork. Looking up, she asked lightly, "Would you like for me to speak with a few of the scouts? Make sure that Miss Weasley slips their minds when they're assembling their rosters for next year?"

"No, no," Hermione shook her head fervently while giving a soft, if not nervous chuckle. "That won't be necessary at all. But...thank you."

Hermione wasn't sure if Ms. Blake was joking or not, but she supposed that she should be thankful that Ms. Blake was so concerned. Although Hermione didn't approve of even a joke such as the one Ms. Blake delivered, again, she had to remind herself that this is what she and Ginny had been aiming for. She offered the older woman a smile.

"Thank you, Ms. Blake. Enjoy your day."

Now, at least Ginny should be free from the Ministry's watchful eye.

"Mione!"

Hermione nearly jumped at Ginny's exclamation the second she appeared, her voice echoing across Hermione's flat and startling Crookshanks enough to send him scurrying off into the other room.

"Ginny," the brunette chuckled a little uncertainly as she eyed her girlfriend who very clearly was eager to share some news.

"Are you alone?" Ginny asked in a conspiratorial whisper that Hermione couldn't help but be amused by. She laughed in response.

"Yes, since when do I ever have visitors over?"

"Just checking," Ginny whispered as here eyes flitted around. "I found out some very interesting news today. Like, huge."

Hermione frowned. "What? Is everything okay?"

"I don't really know," the younger girl admitted. "I'll start from the beginning though." Hermione gave her a nod and Ginny began her story. "Okay, so I sent a snarky letter to Percy after the article first came out, remember?" Hermione gave her a hesitant nod, still unsure of where this was going. "And then, he wrote back and he was all, 'I know plenty about what's going on and I'm so important. I know more than your EX would ever know' blah blah blah," Ginny spoke hurriedly as she mocked her brother. "Then I wrote another snarky letter, taunting him furthermore. Something about his comment about knowing more than you set off alarms in my head so I probed, discretely, and then he spilled on Ms. Blake," Ginny announced energetically.

"What do you mean?" Hermione frowned.

"Remember that whole story Ron told us about how Ms. Blake freed her house-elf?" Ginny asked, calming down just a fraction. Hermione nodded. "Well, that was complete bullocks. Percy just told him that because that's what the known story is, however, he's known all along that Ms. Blake actually dismissed her house-elf, as in fired him. Apparently, his 'insolence' motivated her to do so. I don't know what he meant by 'insolence' though - he wasn't specific. Anyway, I told you she can't be trusted," Ginny said in accusation.

Hermione shook her head in an attempt to clear her head. "Hold on, so where is this house-elf then?"

The younger girl shrugged regretfully. "I don't know."

Hermione frowned as she wrapped her mind around this new information. "Well, we don't exactly know what the context of this dismissal was...we shouldn't jump to conclusions-"

"Why are you defending her!" Ginny exclaimed. "You must know that there's something off about her. Come on Hermione! You're smarter than this."

Hermione flashed back to Ms. Blake making rude comments about Ginny earlier and also how Ms. Blake may have planted some seeds of doubt in Hermione's mind about other members of the British and French Ministries. True, she'd initially had a fairly strong dislike for Ms. Blake, but some of her actions had overshadowed some of Hermione's doubt and ill-will, particularly when Ms. Blake had come to her rescue and defended her in recent times. Until now, and even now was debatable, Hermione had not seen evidence to support the argument that something was truly off about Ms. Blake. She truly was Hermione's strongest advocate and had made much of the reform's current progress possible.

The brunette wanted to believe that Ms. Blake had a good excuse for firing her house-elf, but from Hermione's personal experiences, house-elves would only cause 'trouble' if they were being mistreated. That initial dislike that Hermione had stowed away began to fester and grow at a disturbing rate. With a bit of apprehension and reluctance she had to conclude that perhaps Ginny was right. Yes, maybe the dismissal was nothing, but on the other hand, it just might be. Either way, Hermione knew she couldn't just let this slide - they had to look deeper into it.

"Don't you have a quidditch match coming up soon?" Hermione asked as she brought her gaze up to Ginny, who now wore a very perplexed look.

"Yeah, this weekend, what does that-"

"I think I may have to come by to support you," Hermione stated as she gave Ginny a pointed look. "And perhaps we'll have to venture out and go on a bit of an adventure."

Ginny's expression shifted from confused to mischievous. "I like the way you think, Miss Granger."

"Since I'm being watched like a hawk, can you speak with Harry and see if he can get Dobby to help us locate this house-elf? And try to be as discrete as possible, I don't know who else in the Ministry is being watched."

Ginny gave an eager nod. "Absolutely. By the way, is everything okay at work?"

"Yeah, Ms. Blake sorted things out...oddly enough," Hermione informed Ginny slowly as she re-processed the situation in her mind.

"Hm, well, let's hope that's true," Ginny replied sceptically before continuing with a smirk, "I can't believe your insane plan worked. You really must've spent way too much time with Ron and Harry - they're the ones are supposed to come up with plans like that, not you."

"Come on," Hermione scoffed before straightening her posture and speaking loftily, "I can be lots of fun."

Ginny laughed appreciatively before growing serious once more. "You know," she started, only to take a moment to gather her thoughts, "this whole thing...it just...I feel like it's much bigger than we're anticipating. Please be careful, Mione. I really don't trust Ms. Blake at all, and I mean, I can't really be there to look out for you right now and-"

"You don't need to look out for me," Hermione offered gently, being mindful of Ginny's emotions and apprehensions, but wanting to put a cap on the redhead's impending stress. This whole situation did make Hermione uneasy – rather uneasy in fact, but there was no benefit in distressing Ginny. "I admit, this new development has caught me off guard, but please don't worry. I can't make any solid claims yet on what I think is truly going on, but just keep in mind that if Ms. Blake was hoping to ruin my career or whatever else you may have envisioned, she's had plenty of opportunities by now. Even if she did dismiss her house-elf, that in itself isn't a crime – far from it, actually. It may make her a rotten person, but not a danger, especially to me."

Hermione looked on as Ginny seemed to struggle against accepting the older girl's reasoning. Keeping her eyes locked on the redhead, eventually Ginny released a short sigh as she shook her head.

"Let's not forget which class you didn't manage to get an 'O' in, shall we?" Ginny quipped with a faint smirk.

"Don't bring it up," Hermione snapped as her eyes grew wide in disbelief over the girl bringing up such a thing. The brunette's temper flared as a laugh that Ginny didn't quite succeed in stifling filled the air. Well, it was only fair to not have innate abilities in everything...such as Defence Against the Dark Arts...and flying. It had taken a long time to convince herself that "Exceeds Expectations" was satisfactory, and she'd be damned if she let Ginny take that hard-earned acceptance away.

"I'm just teasing, Mione, calm down," Ginny chuckled with a soft smile that slightly appeased Hermione, though the trace of a humour in Ginny's eyes didn't much please her.

"Why are you talking about Dark Arts anyway," Hermione continued a bit more severely than intended.

"Just teasing, love," Ginny replied. While she probably meant to sound relaxed or nonchalant, Hermione easily picked up on her girlfriend's underlying unease.

"Don't worry, Gin," Hermione assured the younger girl as her own previous irritation instantly faded away.

Ginny sighed heavily. "Something's really wrong when you're telling me to not worry. We appear to have rubbed off on one another – suddenly you're laid back and I'm high strung," she remarked with a hint of displeasure.

"I'm going to ignore that comment," Hermione relayed in a flat voice while offering her girlfriend an unimpressed look. "Anyways, speak to Harry for me? I'll take care of things over here."

"Yes, ma'am," Ginny retorted in the exact same tone, eliciting a huff of borderline annoyance out of Hermione.

"Ginny," she said simply and waited purposefully until she saw Ginny's acknowledgement. Only then did she provide the redhead with a gentle smile. "See you soon, Love."

A beat passed, but Ginny's sombre facade eventually cracked and she revealed a smile of her own. "I can't wait."

AN: First off, I'd like to thank everyone for dealing with the strange development in my last update and thanks in advance for being good sports about this one's lol. I hope everyone had a good weekend. Enjoy your week!