Authors note: A second chapter- this one was only half finished when I published the first and has turned out much longer then expected. Please let me know what you think. Enjoy- Nx
"Get out of my way Percy Weasley!"
As the angry yell rang throughout the conference room, Minister Shaklebolt paled upon recognising the woman's voice, several foreign trade envoys gave him strange looks prompting him to continue with his presentation of a proposal regarding tougher regulations of the transnational trading of magical creatures.
"If you could all turn to page 147 you will see a summary table of…"
Outside the door Percy Weasley was desperately trying to prevent the furious witch in front of him gaining entry.
"Hermione," he started weakly "Please if you just go upstairs to the Minister's office, you can wait there- Miriam will get you a cup of tea and you can collect your thoughts," behind Percy was a stylish impeccably tailored witch, presumably Miriam, glaring at him with an expression that was caught somewhere between the morbid curiosity of waiting to see her colleague potentially disemboweled and the horror at the suggestion of her making tea for anyone- let alone the junior public servant stood in front of them.
"Collect my thoughts! Percy I don't need to collect anything- what I need is answers from the Minister," Hermione was beyond mad now, although just when she thought she had broken Weasley, a smug self-assured look appeared on his face. Percy wiped the nervous sweat from his brow straightened his robes and said in an overly confident tone,
"Now listen Ms. Granger I acknowledge that you have concerns you wish to raise with the Minister however, he is currently unavailable. Given your recent outburst and your position, I would advise you follow these gentleman and next time you use the correct channels to make an appointment with the Minister after receiving approval from your supervisor" Hermione turned to see two Aurors approaching her cautiously, she rolled her eyes at the sight and raised her wand saying to them,
"You really don't want to do this, I can assure you that you are solidly out of your league and I really don't have the time or inclination to deal with you. So you have two options, in less than a minute you can walk away and pretend you didn't receive a summons from Weasley, or I can hand your arses to you. Either way you end up back at your desk but, at least there isn't a mountain of paperwork with the first option."
Inside the conference room Kingsley Shaklebolt stood still. In fact, the entire room was so quiet you could hear a pin-drop. Unfortunately for the Minister it wasn't his presentation that had captured everyone's attention, instead it was the goings on outside that everyone was listening to with rapt attention, trying to learn what had 'the brightest witch of her age' in such a fury. Many of the delegates were actively avoiding eye contact with their counterparts so, they didn't laugh at the pathetic attempts of an out-of-his-depth Percy Weasley.
Suddenly, they heard an explosion and the doors burst open. Various delegates stood defensively unsure of what to expect, and several others turned to the British Minister seeking reassurance, but he himself had backed away from the open door as if trying to make himself invisible, no easy feat for the 6ft something man. As the dust cleared a tall witch dressed like she had stepped straight out of Witch Weekly's Professional Witches edition entered the room- her gait was unhurried, actually she may have even looked bored if not for the small smirk gracing her lips and a sardonic glint in her eye. There was nothing in her immaculate appearance suggesting that she had just come from the partially demolished hallway as she announced,
"Ms. Hermione Granger to see you Minister- she insists that the matter is urgent sir"
"Yes thank-you Miriam however, as you can see I am in the middle of something right now," Kinsgley replied attempting to regain control of the situation.
Miriam's smirk widened as she said "Yes Minister, and Mr. Weasley tried to explain this to her. However, Ms. Granger was quite insistent, to the extent that Mr. Weasley and two Aurors are currently restrained in the hallway- and Ms. Granger has assured me that she intends to continue utilising such methods with any other Ministry employees should they try and prevent her meeting with you sir,"
Kingsley seemed to have forgotten the other people in the room as he almost shrieked " SHE WHAT?! She cannot restrain the entire Auror Department in an hysterical attempt to see me,"
"Actually Minister I rather think I can," a slightly shorter but no less impeccably presented witch, had entered the room behind Miriam "thank-you Miriam for your assistance- also I would hate to speak out of turn but I would like to suggest that the Minister arranges a meeting with the head of the DMLE because if they were Britain's finest we have a serious problem." By this stage Kingsley's mouth was agape as he continuously failed to compose himself, meanwhile several of the delegates present sniggered at the witch's unsubtle dig at the Aurors.
Finally he managed, "Thank-you Miriam that will be all, no meeting is required as you can imagine our Aurors should not be required to expect senseless attacks in their place of work, especially during peace time" by the end of his little speech Kingsley hoped he won a few of the spectators over however, a quick assertion suggested otherwise.
"Why Minister forgive me I must have miscommunicated in some way- the attack on departmental staff wasn't senseless actually given it was 3 against 1, I ensured that the method I used was highly calculated. But really I'm not here to discuss the fact that what I just did uncovered the kind of departmental incompetence usually reserved for page 500-and-something of a consultant's report that would cost the Ministry upwards of a thousand galleons, no Minister I would like to raise a few concerns brought to me by Madam Marchbanks this morning."
"Really Ms. Granger whatever you have to say will not justify attacking senior Ministry personnel and causing a diplomatic incident. I am surprised at you, especially since the matter we are discussing today is supposedly one that you are passionate about," Kingsley decided that condescension was the best route when one was losing the moral high ground. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him,
"Yes Minister especially since I wrote the report you're presenting, but if I have embarrassed you in front of your colleagues please forgive me." Hermione's reply was without any trace of actual remorse before she turned to the room and continued, "Ladies and Gentlemen I thank-you for your time and patience today, as you can see I have had to interrupt today's meeting as I recently discovered the Minister has been lying to me for almost 4 years about my role here at the Ministry. Minister Shaklebolt led me to believe I was completing an apprenticeship of sorts gaining experience across a variety of departmental roles, both desk-bound and in the field. Whilst at the same time he was claiming sole credit for the bulk of the work I was producing and telling other senior officials that I was lacking focus and direction within my chosen career path. Can you imagine my surprise when a senior member of the Wizengamot came to me offering me support, as she could no longer sit back in silence whilst I floundered in my career with the Ministry by changing positions again and again? When I explained my apprenticeship she was genuinely shocked as no one else had any knowledge of this arrangement."
Hermione paused and turned back to Kingsley gauging his reaction, unsurprised to see that he was pale and sweating profusely again Hermione added, "Honestly Minister, Madam Marchbanks explained that no such arrangement would ever be considered necessary within the Ministry as it has long been held that staff can progress through the ranks by taking jobs in different departments thus gaining a broad range of skills and knowledge. A question I raised with you initially when you proposed this arrangement, and again at several intervals throughout the years, to which your response was always how this role was the start of a new hiring practice at the ministry and would be a trial for future employment practices, reassuring me that said trial had the full backing of the Wizengamot. This continued deception and blatant sabotaging of my career mean that I am tendering my resignation effective immediately, since you seemingly have no actual response to the assertions I have raised," Hermione waited several moments for the Minister of Magic to come up with something however, Kinsley had taken a seat in the corner of the room, and appeared to be unable to articulate a response, simply staring at the floor.
So, Hermione decided that her final act of employment for the Ministry of Magic would at least be something worthwhile and turned back to the delegates, with a brisk flourish of her wand resulting in several small visible changes to the reports in front of them.
"Again forgive my interruption, I do feel very strongly about the need to update the standards around the transnational trade of magical creatures to a model that not only acknowledges the needs of ancient business practices that many witches and wizards the world over have relied upon for their livelihoods, but to one that also recogises the fluctuation of populations of magical creatures in the wild and the changing ethical standards of the broader magical community regarding this issue. You are all very busy and this afternoon's meeting has taken many unexpected turns however, I have marked your booklets with tabs highlighting the following key areas- the red tabs are economic impacts, the yellow environmental and the blue are social impacts and expectations. I have also included a green sheet with a list of key contacts for your countries and regions, all of which were consulted in the development of the report, in addition at the bottom of the page you will find a list of the team members here at the British Ministry who assisted in writing the report. Without a shadow of doubt I can assure you that anyone on that list will be available to answer any questions you may have. Thank-you again for your time, I believe there are some light refreshments available across the hall, and Miriam is just outside to provide any assistance you may require with your travel arrangements for your return journeys."
As she finished speaking, the round of applause she received from the room surprised Hermione. She made her way to stand by the exit farewelling the delegates, and was thoroughly astonished but very pleased to receive several job offers there and then, given that it was right in front of Kingsley who had spent so much time and effort stalling her career made it even better.