AN: A big thank you to all the followers and reviewers for showing so much love already! I hope the next chapter doesn't disappoint, do let me know your hotughts if you have a moment.

Always,
Sybilla


After a quick shower, Hermione dressed warmly against the autumnal chill and picked Apollo up to apparate safely. Most animals did not do well with apparition but as Apollo was partly magical and a familiar, he was okay as long as she was the one apparating him.

"Prrrawr," he complained loudly. Not only did his human wake him up in the night, she then woke him ridiculously early an hour ago and now it was too cold. Disgraceful.

Hermione huffed, shivering slightly under her heavy cloak. "If you didn't squirm so much, I would have the door opened sooner, grumpy-puss," she said as she took down the wards and searched for her keys.

Diagon Alley was still quiet at this hour but it would soon become busy with the early Ministry employees rushing in and out, so she enjoyed the few moments of peace that were left. Once inside, she set Apollo down and watched him slink over to the fireplace. The wood was stacked neatly since Saturday, but currently lifeless. He looked at it in displeasure for a moment, as only cats ever managed to do, and then hacked up a loud sneeze. A small ball of fire hit the wood stack and it burst into magical flame, instantly beginning to warm the room. Now pleased, Apollo curled up on the small rug in front of it and closed his eyes contentedly. Hermione rolled her eyes at his antics but cast a few warming charms, glad that he was so comfortable in the shop.

Just as she was sorting out the mail and starting the coffee machine, the door opened and closed again, a shuddering form with emerald green hair bustled in. "Morning! It's a chilly one today, isn't it? How was your weekend?" Grace managed to ask in one breath while taking off her heavy cloak to reveal washed out jeans and a bright orange sweater. She was quirky and bubbly, straight out of Hogwarts and trying to save up for a couple of years to go traveling the world with her boyfriend. And Hermione was happy to give her the chance to do so.

"It was good, thanks. How was yours? How is Arch?" she asked as she checked a few of the bills and requests over.

"He's good, though his shifts at the hospital are crazy right now," Grace said while making smooth but strong flat whites for them. Every Monday morning they had a quick catch up to see if there was anything in the front of the shop that needed to be ordered or improved.

Enchanted Book & Tearoom was more than what may appear at first glance. Flourish and Blotts were an excellent book and stationary shop but they catered mostly to the magical culture. Hermione thought there was a market for muggle books, both non-fiction and fiction of course, as well as the amazing range of muggle stationary that may be more ordinary than the wizarding one but still beautiful and more familiar for those who were muggleborn. So she filled the shelves and set up a small reading corner for those who wanted to stay and have a cup of tea or coffee with their book. That was merely the front of the house. Hermione trusted Grace to handle everything that needed to go with it while she focused on the accounting, orders, and her own niche market. Her reputation as the best resourced British book collector, restorer and provider of rare magical and muggle books grew very quickly. She loved special requests, took great joy in restoring aged tomes that smelled like history and dust, and did a special mail order if needed throughout the whole of Europe. Acquiring these texts sometimes required traveling as well, which in her mind was an added bonus. The front of the shop was the steady income, her niche market was her passion and provided another extra income that let her invest even better than she already was. Though at the rate they were going, she may need a secretary soon.

They settled down at one of the tables and Hermione opened her folder to look over the accounts summary. "I have to say the tea and coffee corner adds a nice touch to the shop and despite the fact that we had to invest initially I can see how popular it is through the profits. We already nearly covered the initial investment," Hermione praised, glad to see Grace was handling her role well.

The green-haired witch picked up one of the sticky notes she kept with comments for their meeting and handed it over. "This is how many times I had to pop out to get some tea or milk though. I think what we need is to hire another member of staff. They can deal with the customers and making drinks while I look after the shelves. I love this job, don't get me wrong, but I don't get to restock the shelves sometimes because we get too busy. Do you think it's just the season or is business growing?" she asked in her straightforward manner, knowing Hermione didn't mind sharing the information honestly.

"We've been growing. I have more requests now and will need to travel a bit more sometimes as well," Hermione admitted, looking at the numbers and nodding. "If I were to offer you the position of the front of the shop manager, ask you to help with the accounts and increased your wages to two galleons an hour, would you accept?" she asked, knowing she chose well in Grace.

And as she expected, the young witch positively beamed. "I would love to! Do we have enough in the budget to hire additional staff? Just one for now to help with the till or with restocking?" she suggested, hoping to get someone to help and be a good company.

Hermione smiled and nodded. "I'll draft a description and figure out what we can offer in terms of salary and let you handle the advertising," she agreed. "And I'll draw up a new contract for you to sign when you're ready."

"Thanks, boss," Grace grinned and handed over another sticky note. "That's what we made on tips, and the smaller number is the number of donations in the used book section. We have some interesting ones but no oldies for you,"

"Thanks, I'll have a browse in a bit. I'm still hoping for another gem like that beautiful print of Madam Bovary," Hermione mused before returning to their meeting agenda. "Just to let you know, I'm still finalising paperwork from my trip to Sweden, so I'll need a couple of days of no interruptions. So unless it's absolutely necessary, I'll need to be undisturbed," she explained.

"Got it. Do you want me to bring you some lunch and tea around half twelve as usual?" Grace asked while she subconsciously doodled on one of her sticky notes.

"That would be great, thanks. Do you mind keeping an eye on Apollo as well? Too much dust makes him sneeze," Hermione smiled fondly at the snoozing bundle of fur in front of the fire place.

"Sure thing. Also, these need to be purchased. We're nearly our of napkins and this stationery, I've added them onto the bottom of the list for the muggle supermarket," she indicated to the scribbles at the bottom of the page. Her handwriting wasn't the neatest Hermione ever saw, but after reading other people's writing and different types of print for years, she had no problem making it out.

"I'll take care of it," she promised and got up, heading upstairs to her part of the shop after depositing the empty cup in the sink.

She touched the smooth wood of the door to her studio and let her magical signature lower the wards. The space above the shop used to be a small flat for the owner. Hermione had it converted to an open plan studio with a book repair station, shelving for materials and potions that she needed for book upkeep, and a brewing station for her own potions. There was a small shelved area with books that she found and kept after repairing for her personal library, and the windowsill was magically enlarged and hosted a comfortable cushion so she could curl up and rest her mind during lunch break. Her desk for accounts and correspondence rested close by the window to make most of the natural light coming in through the large window as well.

There were already a few packages by the fireplace, delivered through floo mail, a new feature in the delivery industry that she was very grateful for. It was much quicker and safer than sending off owls with large packages in this kind of weather. It took her a couple of hours just to sort through everything that arrived that weekend and prepare letters to be delivered to those who sent a request. She was just getting ready to finalise her report on her Sweden travels when there was a knock on the door. Startled she found a slightly flustered Grace standing there.

"Customer, says he urgently needs your expertise and services. I need to get back to the orders, it's a busy morning," she said in a hurry.

"That's fine, go. I'll see who it is," Hermione sent her off and closed the folder before heading downstairs.

To her great surprise she found a very familiar redhead waiting for her by the counter. "Bill? What are you doing here?" she asked in utter surprise. It has been nearly two years since she last saw him at one of Ginny's New Year party.

Bill looked up in surprise at the familiar voice as well. "Hermione? You're the owner and specialist?" he asked, baffled but clearly amused at the situation.

To be honest he nearly didn't recognise her, the last few years have done her a lot of good. Her wild curls were shiny with health and untamed as ever, there was a healthy rosy tint to her cheeks, and her curves have filled out nicely. She looked very professional but also warm in the long sleeve burgundy wrap dress and knee-high boots. And despite the overwhelming aromas of books, tea and coffee, he picked up her familiar scent, hibiscus mixed with bergamot and old books.

Hermione smiled and returned a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. "That would be me. You are here on business I presume?" she asked, seeing the large folder under Bill's arm. They rarely caught up but they were on friendly basis and she always enjoyed talking to Bill when they found themselves in the same company.

They spent a lot of time discussing Egypt, Gringotts, runes, and curse breaking in the summer months near the end of the second Wizarding war, and always caught up when they bumped into each other through Ginny's parties or at the twins' shop which she occasionally visited for tea. He was great company and she was surprised not to have heard more about him from Ginny.

"I am. Can we go talk somewhere more private?" he asked, the shop getting busy now.

Hermione nodded and seeing how busy Grace was prepared them a pot of earl grey herself, before leading the way to her studio. She sat down at her desk and offered Bill the seat across from her as she took out an inquiry form to fill in while they talked. "How have you been, Bill?" she asked, seeing how well he looked.

Most would not consider the man classically handsome, and a lot of people still stared at the three pink scars across his cheek as she last remembered. In her mind she couldn't see him without the scarring anymore, considering them a part of the man's visage. He still had that handsome smile, piercing green gaze, and the slightly rugged long-haired look, though the fang earring was gone and replaced with a simpler small thin gold hoop. He appeared to be in full business mode, judging by the waistcoat and the elegant but practical travel topcoat.

Bill sat back in his chair and regarded her with those vibrant eyes. "I've been busy the last couple of years, I don't work for Gringotts anymore," he explained. "Instead, I work privately as a curse-breaker, with a silent business partner who does some detective work. We travel the world where the cases take us."

"That sounds like a dream job for you, I remember you like traveling. I do a fair share of it myself for some rare tomes, and I must say it is refreshing to pack a duffel bag and take a portkey at a moment's notices," she offered sincerely while she quickly twisted her wild curls into a bun and stuck her wand in to keep it in place and out of her face. "Does Fleur travel with you or is she busy? Do you still live in Cornwall?" she asked, the memories of the cottage not in her fond memory bank due to visiting it at a difficult time in the war.

Bill looked surprised for a moment. "I guess you wouldn't have heard. We have been divorced for over a year now. I live in Wales these days," he explained.

Hermione looked up in surprise. "I'm sorry, Ginny didn't mention anything," she admitted.

"That's because my little sister hasn't been to the Burrow to hear my mother's opinion on the topic," Bill replied in good humour but she could see it was not a happy topic.

"That may be why," she agreed lightly before turning the catch up into business gracefully. "So what can I do for you today, Bill?" she asked.

He handed over the file he has been holding earlier and nodded for her to flick through its contents. Hermione opened it curiously and found a list of tomes centred around dragon history and maladies. Wondering why they would need such a list, she continued to the next page which turned out to be a close up magical photograph of a weeping wound and rotting scales. The photograph captured the moment someone attempted to take a sample of the puss and the abscess burst and more puss spilled forth.

Bill watched her leaf through the photographs curiously. Everyone who had a look at the folder so far either cringed, winced, or said that having a warning would have been nice. The woman before him was calm and collected in the face of the graphic photographs. He could practically hear her brilliant mind working from across the table as she got up and walked over to a tall large table in the corner. She quickly put away her book binding tools and turned on the electric lamp overhead, spreading out the photographs to create a full picture of what they were looking at. "Do we know what it is? Flesh-eating, scale-eating, a rot that is bacterial or viral?" she asked, hoping to get a better understanding of the collage before her.

Bill walked to her side and accepted the offered tall stool as he looked at the way she organised the photos. Even without knowing what she was looking at, she managed to organise them in the four different stages of the illness. "We can't tell yet. Charlie raised the alarm when the first case occurred at his reserve in Romania, but it wasn't investigated properly despite the pressure he put on the leadership. Now they have eight dragons showing various stages of this…disease, whatever it is, and in quarantine, with the rest of the reserve under strict observation," he explained.

"Has this not happened any time recently? Have they done any tests?" Hermione asked curiously, this was very intriguing and also terrifying for the majestic magical creatures.

"They did a lot of tests, and they tried to get the opinion of just about every dragon scholar alive, but they can't identify it," he explained.

"And this list, who compiled it?" Hermione asked as she read it over. Some of these tomes were very rare and some she had never encountered before at all.

"We did some research and took suggestions from the scholars we talked to, but they can't access them. We were told it would be best to get in touch with someone who is a certified librarian or deals in old books. That's how we got a reference to your business so I thought I would stop by on my way from Gringotts and meet whoever runs this place," he motioned around them.

Hermione nodded and leaned back in her seat. "Whoever told you that was correct. Some of these tomes are fairly young, no older than 200 years, but you have a few that are at least 600 years old and one that is nearly 900 years old," she pointed to a long title on the page. "These require very careful handling and translation, which is something only someone who is a true librarian or a similarly skilled person can do," she explained.

"And you would be that person?" Bill asked as he studied her, realising he would actually like to get to see her work.

Hermione offered a small smile. "Either myself or I have a couple of contacts I can refer you to that are true librarians and would be able to work with you. But I do warn you, unless you find the answer in the first few tomes, it will take a while. This list is extensive and examining and translating these tomes can take a few weeks, not to mention finding a cure or whatever will be needed for this disease," she explained.

"I don't know if they have weeks," Bill motioned towards the dragons in the pictures.

Hermione shook her head. "Perhaps not but we don't know what we're up against. One way to shorten the time is to try and prioritise the books," she suggested and got up, taking down a large and heavy looking tome from the top of her filing cabinet.

"How? We can't tell which ones would be most relevant, can we?" Bill asked, wondering whether there was a potential pattern.

"I think it may be something medieval or older actually. The researchers and specialists you consulted are taught about the illnesses and practices that are recent or occur often. If it's not something that has come to the scholars' awareness, it wouldn't be new, and it wouldn't be in the newer tomes as a reference point. It could be something like the muggle pox. No one really gets it any more so most academics these days don't research them or learn about them in great length. It could be something that killed a lot of dragons 800 years ago and then never occurred until now. Thought that does raise a question of how and why it reappeared," she explained, seeing he could see where she was going with it. "Can I write in this?" she asked, picking up the list.

Bill nodded for her to go ahead and watched as she picked up a muggle fountain pen and began leafing through the large tome, making small notes next to the more than thirty items on the list. A few minutes later, she closed the cover of the book and turned the list towards Bill.

"The bad news is, we don't have access to three of the listed tomes, they are marked as destroyed and no other copy has survived or is known to us. The good news is, the rest of these are in Europe. Here in Britain, in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic and Croatia. I know people who could help us sources them in most of these countries," Hermione promised.

"So you will help us?" Bill asked. "We have funds to hire a third party to investigate with us," he said but Hermione waved him off.

"I don't care about the salary on the cheque but I won't let magical creatures suffer if I can help find a cure for them," she said resolutely.

Bill offered her his hand and she shook it firmly but warmly. "Would you like to discuss the particulars and catch up over lunch?" he offered, now intrigued about this woman more than ever.

"Sure," Hermione found herself accepting with a smile and put her diary into her shoulder bag before they headed out.

She had no idea that this would be the start of a more than one kind of journey.