Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment and began making notes. She didn't want to show up for a conversation with the Minister of Magic without a list of possible solutions to a problem he'd already told her he didn't have the resources to deal with.

A few minutes later, Purdy reappeared. "The Minister is very busy Miss, but he says you can have lunch with him in his office in ten minutes."

As if to answer, Hermione's stomach growled. "Tell him I'll be there."

Purdy disappeared.

Hermione conjured a mirror, cast a spell to smooth her hair and put it up in a bun, and then gathered together her notes. She stood and straightened her robes. Blowing out a calming breath, she headed for Shacklebolt's office.

The same harried receptionist was outside. She scowled at Hermione. "I don't like him having lunch meetings. It's the only time he gets to himself all day."

Hermione felt bad. She knew the Minister was insanely busy. "I understand. I won't keep him."

"See that you don't. He's got five more meetings scheduled today." The receptionist flicked her wand at the door to Shacklebolt's office and Hermione entered.

As usual, he was behind his desk. Blue's music played softly on a magical Victrola in the corner of the room. The magical windows displayed a view of the ocean instead of the one of London that they'd had the last time Hermione visited. Shacklebolt noticed her noticing.

"I find the ocean soothing. Good for digestion." He pointed to a tray of sandwiches. "Something to eat?"

"Yes, please." She took a sandwich and sat opposite him in a large leather wingchair.

"Your elf said it was urgent."

"Yes, sir. I've been approached about a young Squib."

Shacklebolt looked surprised. "Really? I didn't realize you'd been working on that. I thought you started with the Muggleborns at Hogwarts."

"I did. Molly and Fleur are running enrichment classes, and so far, it seems to be going well."

Shacklebolt smiled. "That's what I've heard."

"As for the squib situation, we had a party at our house and invited some friends. Specifically, Ron suggested we invite Penny and Dean. Penny works at the Leaky Cauldron and she's a talker."

"I'm not sure I follow." Shacklebolt took a bite of his sandwich.

"The point of the party, in addition to catching up with our friends, was to casually bring up the plight of Squibs among the other topics discussed and clearly it worked, because Penny's been talking about it a lot. When Draco approached me—"

Shacklebolt frowned. "What's Malfoy got to do with this?"

"He's dating a girl who's cousin's son appears to be a Squib and she's desperate for a way to keep him."

Shacklebolt set down his sandwich and let out a low whistle. "Are you saying a pureblood came to you for help with a Squib?"

"Yes, sir."

"Oh, my stars." Shacklebolt shook his head. "I wouldn't have expected that."

"Nor I, but here we are."

Shacklebolt rubbed his chin. "Unfortunately, the situation with resources remains the same. I can't divert much for one child."

"Is it just one child, sir?"

"Have others approached you?"

"No, but after just one party, I've got a pureblood asking for help. Asking me, a mudblood, for help."

"That is extraordinary."

"Right. I've been in the library researching fairy laws for the last few weeks. In addition to that, I've been looking for information about Squibs."

"Really? What have you found."

"Not a lot. Precious little about either, but compared to Squibs, there's loads of information on fairies. Which is to say, we have no idea how many Squibs are born to magical families because, unlike Muggleborns, no one tracks Squibs."

"Just because we don't track them now, doesn't mean in the past—"

"No, sir. I've wracked my brain for any possible search term, I've asked librarians, I've enlisted Purdy who's enlisted other Ministry elves. No one has ever tracked them. Or if they did, those records have been destroyed."

"I see."

"I personally only know of three: Terry at the Leaky Cauldron, Filch at Hogwarts, and a neighbor of Harry's that worked for the Ministry."

"Well, of course, I know the ones you mentioned and perhaps a half a dozen or so more that work for the Ministry."

"Alright, so you know several. Doesn't that imply that we're not just talking about one child?"

Shacklebolt closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment. "Since we last spoke, I've done a little digging of my own. All the Squibs currently in the Ministry's employ are the product of half-blood families and the Muggle parent managed their care."

"Right, but what is a pureblood family to do?"

Shacklebolt shook his head. "I don't know. I suppose I can put together a committee to study the problem."

Hermione let out a frustrated sigh. "We don't have time for a committee. That child and his mother need a solution now, but I think only you can make it happen."

"I appreciate your confidence but I don't have the time—"

"I don't think it would take a lot of time."

Shacklebolt looked at her in disbelief. "How's that?"

"We're in the UK. We have state schools and national health. To raise a Squib child mostly requires citizenship, which is why it works in half-blood families."

Shacklebolt shook his head. "I can't just grant citizenship to some pureblood nutter and foist them on the Muggle world. That's a bridge too far. I'm holding things together by a thread with the Prime Minister now. He wants our people more locked down, not less."

"But I told Draco we could help. A child isn't going to be a pureblood nutter. This kind of sharing between worlds is the sort of thing that stops that pureblood business. Besides, you said we need to keep our Squibs."

"We do, but I didn't expect the first one to come from a pureblood family."

"I didn't either, but that's what's happened. Surely, there must be a way to funnel them into the system."

"Leave it with me." Shacklebolt stood. "I'll get back to you shortly. I understand time is of the essence."

Surprised, Hermione stood too. "Oh, uh, yes, sir. I'll wait to hear from you then."

"Very well."

She hustled out the door still carrying her uneaten sandwich. When she got back to her office she dropped into her chair. She'd pressed Shacklebolt pretty hard and she knew he was overworked. She looked at her uneaten sandwich and sighed. Her stomach was in knots. While she was in no way anxious to help Draco, she couldn't help thinking that having pureblood Squibs around would help toward changing hearts and minds in that community.

Later that night, she was explaining the situation to Ron over dinner.

Ron was about to take a bite of roll when he paused. "Couldn't you just do the same thing you did when you were working on the Obliviation countercurse?"

"I don't see how that group could help with this."

"Yeah, no, not them specifically, but if Shacklebolt knows half-bloods raising squibs, then couldn't you try and get a group of them willing to help a pureblood do the same thing? Even if it was just that Draco brings this child to a half-blood house and the Squib children go to school together."

Hermione considered that for a moment. "That's rather brilliant. It would be more useful than going to Terry or Filch."

"Much better than Filch. He's never going to admit to being a Squib anyway. Honestly, I think his cat's got more magic than he does."

"Probably, I wonder if she's part Kneazle."

Ron shrugged. "Who knows?"

"I also wonder how it is Filch has managed to hold on to his job. He's horrible to the students."

Ron scratched at his late-day stubble and considered. "I reckon some kind of family connection got him the job and that's why he's allowed to keep it. I mean, it's rubbish, isn't it? He just wanders around and says he's the caretaker, but the house elves do all the real work around the castle. He just tries to catch student's breaking rules so he can threaten them, but for anything serious, he has to involve the headmaster or at least a professor, so what's the point of him really? He's easy enough to avoid, and without Mrs. Norris, he'd be even easier to get around."

"You're probably right." She shook her head. "That school needs a good overhaul."

Ron chuckled. "Planning on being headmaster after you finish being Minister of Magic then?"

She rolled her eyes at him.

"You wouldn't be the first to take that career path."

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response."

He chuckled and winked at her.

She frowned at him, but not seriously.

"Oh, I almost forgot." He held up two tickets. "For tomorrow night. Harpies vs. Arrows. Should be a good match."

"Oh, Ron, I'm so—"

"Don't say you're too busy. You've only ever been to one of Gin's matches and she's noticed."

"Is that true? I didn't mean to miss so many." Hermione twisted the napkin in her lap.

"I know, but you have. You let work take over everything. It's worse than when we were in school. You've got to take breaks, not just for yourself, but for your friends and family."

She sighed. "You're right. I know you are. We'll go tomorrow."

"And the holiday we're meant to book?"

"We'll book it. Have you settled on where you want to go?"

"Somewhere hot and sunny, where you can get one of those sexy dark tans you used to have when you got back from summer hols and I can wear a hat and do a sunblock charm every half hour."

"So that magical island in the Virgin Islands then. What's it called?"

"Carvel Rock."

Hermione smiled. "Doesn't sound very inviting."

"It's not meant to, is it? Looks like a big rock in the ocean to Muggles."

"Right, but it will be lovely for us."

"Exactly. I can book it then."

She squeezed his hand. "Absolutely. Now I have to go write Shacklebolt to tell him about your brilliant suggestion."

He shook his head affably. "Go on then."

The next night, Ron and Hermione joined Harry in the family box for Ginny's match at the Holyhead Harpies stadium in Wales. In the interest of being able to actually watch the match, they all went under glamour charms. Because the family box was just that, people naturally were going to ask who they were, so they all went as Weasley cousins. Ron changed his look to long hair and a beard but otherwise stayed the same. Harry went with spikey red hair and a goatee and Hermione switched to straight red hair. It was enough of a change that no one at the game took a second look after they introduced themselves as three of Ginny's cousins.

The game was close. Ginny was having a good night. She scored seven of the teams' goals. The Arrows had a hotshot new seeker, but when the Snitch finally showed itself, the new seeker had lost track of the score, and although he got the snitch, the Arrows lost by twenty points. The Harpies fans poured on to the pitch. The Arrows fans grumbled about the idiocy of the catch and began Apparating home. While most of the crowd was on the pitch, Ginny flew up to the family box. Harry dropped his glamour and she swooped in for a kiss. Flash bulbs went off.

"Come to the after party," Ginny said.

"Are you sure?" Harry said.

She grinned. "Oh yeah. I'm in the mood to show off."

He laughed. "Alright then."

She flew back toward the team entrance. Harry looked at Ron and Hermione. "I'm not the only one going as me."

They sighed and dropped their glamour charms too. More flash bulbs went off. "Come on then." They all apparated down to the pitch and Harry led them over to the team entrance. Security let them in and Harry showed them to a large room where family and friends could wait for the players. Banners and team photos from previous years lined the walls of the room. It wasn't long before the trio were surrounded by other people. They made small talk, shook hands, and had their photos taken with what seemed like everyone in the room.

When the team finally arrived, freshly showered and excited by the win, the mood in the room changed. Everyone cheered. Music was put on. Food and drink appeared on long tables and blissfully the crowd's attention shifted from the trio to the team. Harry, Ron, and Hermione relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the party.

They were all a bit drunk as they took the team Floo home. Harry and Ginny returned to Grimauld Place while Ron and Hermione returned to Heathgate. Ron thought about that as they arrived in the living room.

Hermione was dusting Floo powder off her shoulders.

"Do you think we should name the house?"

Hermione blinked at him. "What?"

"Name the house. The house doesn't have a name."

"I never thought about that. Muggles don't generally name their houses unless they're massive estates owned by the aristocracy. Although, I suppose the odd cottage also gets a name. Why?"

Ron shrugged. "Our lot generally name their homes."

Hermione looked around. "Name it what?"

"Dunno, we should have a think when we're on holiday."

Hermione smiled. "Alright then."