[A/N] Once again, thank you to Calamity Owl for beta-reading this! I hope you all had a great holiday season and new year!

Hermione awoke refreshed and much less anxious after an hour or so. Harry was still out like a light and appeared likely to remain so for the foreseeable future, so Hermione went back downstairs to check on things. No trace remained of their surprise visitors beyond a piece of parchment laid by itself on the far end of the coffee table from where she usually worked. It read:

Dear Ms. Granger,

Thank you for having me as an unexpected houseguest today. It is rare that I can find a place where I can rest totally assured that no one would disturb me and I appreciate that you provided that to a stranger without hesitation. I also appreciate that you were willing to take me to task for my decisions regarding Mr. Potter. I'm afraid such candour is also rare in my line of work. I wish you the best of luck with your studies and, now that I'm allowed to be aware of your existence, I hope you and Mr. Potter will come by for dinner now and then.

Sincerely,

Amelia Bones

P.S. Susan will return to the Ministry with me. Please tell Mr. Potter he has the rest of today and tomorrow off with my compliments.

Hermione smiled at the parchment. She could hardly believe her interaction with the Minister hadn't been a dream. Before meeting Harry, she would probably have been tongue-tied in dealing with even a mid-level bureaucrat, but now she was somehow standing up to the head of the government. She wasn't sure where this new Hermione had come from, but she liked her.

Just as she was settling back down to her Potions work, a soft pop heralded the arrival of a familiar house elf.

"Hello, Mistress," Enny said. "Cans we talk?"

"Of course." Hermione put her work back down on the coffee table. "Would you like me to free you?"

"No," Enny said, "Enny feels…useless. Mistress doesn't need Enny, does she? Enny can tell."

"You're right," Hermione said. As Enny's ears drooped, Hermione continued, "Harry doesn't need Dobby, either. That doesn't mean Harry doesn't value Dobby's friendship. I'm learning to value it, too."

"What?" Enny cocked her head. "How can Master Harry value Dobby if he doesn't need Dobby?"

Hermione thought for a moment about how to synthesise centuries of ethical philosophy into an answer comprehensible by an uneducated non-human intelligence. "Enny," she said eventually, "you're bound to keep my secrets even if you leave my service, right?"

"Enny is a good elf and never speaks secrets," Enny said.

"Very well," Hermione said. "You must never tell anyone this, and if any other house elves are listening to me right now, I order you to stop doing so for the next ten minutes." She paused before continuing. "Do you know what the Black Family did to house elves that could no longer work hard?"

Enny's eyes widened and she shook her head. She'd clearly heard of the Blacks.

"They would cut their heads off and mount them on the wall," Hermione said. "Enny, Kreacher is dying. He's over three centuries old and will probably not survive the decade. Our adventure with the document distribution showed us he was more frail than we thought. Do you know what Harry, Sirius, Remus, and I will do when he is too weak to work?"

"Mount him on the wall?" Enny asked.

Hermione shook her head. "We'll move him into Regulus Black's old bedroom and let him live out his last days in peace. If he needs anything, one of us or Dobby will help him."

"A wizard…will help a house elf?" Enny asked.

"We will," Hermione said. "He's family, Enny. He's not a servant we would fire at will or toss aside when he can't serve us anymore."

"But why?" Enny grabbed her ears and pulled them down toward her jaw. "House elves that can't work are…nothing."

"If Harry couldn't work, do you think I would mount him on the wall?" Hermione asked.

"Well, noes, but humans don't need to work," Enny said. "That's what their magics is for."

Hermione paused. "Huh. That attitude explains a lot about the Wizarding World, actually. But it's not true. Even if Harry and I didn't have magic, I wouldn't discard him because he couldn't work. I care about him regardless of what he can do, just like he and I both care about Dobby and Kreacher regardless of what they can do."

Enny shook her head. "Enny is glad Mistress cares so much for her family's strange elves, but Enny doesn't want that kind of life. Enny wants to be useful. Enny wants to be needed. Mistress is the most wonderful and kind witch Enny has ever met, but Mistress doesn't need Enny and Enny suspects Mistress never will."

"That's wonderful, Enny," Hermione said with a sad smile.

"Wh…what?" Enny asked.

"You finally told me what you wanted," Hermione said. "Even if it's not me, I'm excited that you know yourself enough to want something."

"Oh." Enny lost herself in thought for a moment. "You is right! Enny does want something for herself. Is yous mad at Enny for not wanting to be free, though?"

Hermione took a deep breath and tried to answer carefully. "I am definitely not mad at you. I'm disappointed that you don't want what I think you should want, but I don't want what my parents think I should want, either, so I don't think I can really complain about what you want."

Enny's eyes widened. "So Mistress will help Enny find a new family?"

"I'll help you right now," Hermione said. "Let me ask Dobby to keep an eye on Harry…no, wait, I asked him not to listen to us. Enny, could you fetch Dobby for me, please?"

"Of course, Mistress!" Enny popped away and returned a moment later with Dobby in tow.

"Hello Wise Mistress My-knee!" Dobby said. "How can Dobby be helping?"

"Hush!" Hermione hissed at him. "Harry's asleep."

Enny glared at Dobby, who grabbed his ears and pulled them all the way down around his jaw while he stared at the ground. "Dobby is sorry," he whispered.

"It's OK," Hermione said. "Dobby, I need to step out for a moment while Harry is sleeping off mild Magical Exhaustion upstairs. Can you watch over him and let me know if he needs anything?"

Dobby nodded enthusiastically. "Dobby is happy to!" he said, still barely above a whisper. "Dobby will defend his title as best sneaky watcher ever!"

"I've no doubt you will," Hermione said. Dobby popped away and she turned to the other elf. "Enny, I think I know someone who will need you and treat you properly. If I floo somewhere, can you follow me?"

"Of course," Enny said. "Enny is a good elf and can always find her mistress."

"Oh, good." Hermione wasn't sure if she'd ever get used to being chastised by something two feet shorter than her. She rose from the chesterfield and walked over to the floo. After tossing in a pinch of powder, she said, "The New Briefcase," and leaned into the green fire.

"Luna?" she asked. "Is anyone home?"

The blonde witch walked into the room a few moments later, a baby bump just barely visible under her loose dress. "How lovely to see you, Hermione Granger! Would you like to come through?"

"Yes, please," Hermione said. Luna pressed the rune cluster on the fireplace and Hermione tumbled through.

"One of these days I'm going to get better at that," Hermione said as she clambered to her feet. A whisper of wind played over her as she did so and she realised Luna was using her wand to 'dust' the soot off of her clothes.

"Thank you," Hermione said. "I hope I'm not imposing, but I wanted to ask you something." She paused. "Two somethings, actually."

"Not at all," Luna said. "Were you finally going to break down and ask me about the name of Rolf's house?"

Hermione blinked. "Yes, that was the second thing. How did you know?"

"Whenever anyone says the name you get a new wrackspurt," Luna said.

"Oh, I see. That makes sense." A part of Hermione screamed at her that no, it made no sense at all, but she ignored that part. Paying too much attention to that part inevitably ended up giving her a mild hangover later and she still had studying to do.

"It's apparently a joke between Rolf and Newt," Luna said. "Something about an unusual briefcase Newt used to own. I'll let you know if I ever see it."

"Thank you," Hermione said. "I'm terribly curious. Anyway, the other thing I was hoping to talk to you about was whether you might want a house elf."

"That would be lovely," Luna said, "but we couldn't possibly afford one and we would never ask our friends for money for something that frivolous."

"Wait, what?" Hermione asked. "People buy and sell them?"

"Well, yes," Luna said. "They're relatively rare and the old families that have them won't usually part with them otherwise."

"Oh. That's…um…kind of disturbing, to be honest," Hermione said. "I didn't know there was a literal market for sentient beings."

"I understand," Luna said. "I hadn't thought about it like that, but I see what you mean now. It's just something I grew up with. Father could never have afforded it regardless of what we thought of it."

"I would never suggest you or anyone else buy a house elf," Hermione said. "However, I know one who needs a family who will care for her and give her lots of work. You and Rolf are wonderful people and, with a baby on the way, I thought you'd have plenty of work."

Luna raised her eyebrows. "I have no doubt we will have lots of work, but free house elves are terribly rare."

"Well, she's not technically free at the moment," Hermione said. "Enny?"

The elf popped up just to her right. "Yes, Mistress?"

"This is my friend Luna," Hermione said. "She and her husband are lovely people and they're expecting their first child in a few months. Would you like to work for her family?"

Enny wrinkled her nose. "Enny does not want to work for them."

"Oh, al—" was as far as a surprised and dejected Hermione got before Enny cut her off.

"Enny is a good elf and doesn't need a salary like Dobby. Dobby is a strange elf who makes Enny want to pull her ears off sometimes when she talks to him," Enny said. "Enny wants to bond with Mistress's friend like a good elf."

For the first time in her acquaintance with Luna, the smaller woman looked genuinely flabbergasted. "You…have an elf? And you want to give her to me?"

"I'm not gifting anyone a sentient creature," Hermione said. "She told me she wanted to be with someone who would treat her well and need her, so I thought of you."

"I'm…I'm honoured. You have no idea how honoured, and one of the reasons you and Harry have such great souls is that you never will understand how honoured I am." Luna knelt down so she'd be at eye level with Enny. "Enny? We would also be honoured by you if you wanted to become part of our new family."

"Enny would like that," the little elf said. "Enny can feel how much yous needs her help. In fact, yous magic…" her eyes widened. "You is going to need lots of help."

Luna's smile turned sad. "I'm afraid so. If it's too much—"

"No!" Enny shook her head forcefully. "Enny is a good elf and can't wait to work so hard."

"Then we'd love to have you," Luna said.

"Luna?" Hermione said carefully. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything is going well," Luna said as she rose back to her feet. "But it never stays like that, does it? Sooner or later things stop going well. Never forget, though, that things eventually stop going poorly, too. We'll get through everything, you and I, and I think our children are going to be great friends one day."

Hermione shivered. "I think you're right," she said.

"Don't worry, really." Luna placed her left hand gently on Hermione's right arm. "Remember what I told you."

"I'll try." Hermione took a deep breath. "It's just…a lot right now. I don't even know if I'll be a witch in a few months."

"I have faith in you." Luna gave her arm a little squeeze. "But even if I'm wrong, do you think that would matter to Harry?"

"Well, no, but I would have failed—"

"He thought you were a muggle," Luna said. "He didn't care when you met and he cares even less now that he knows how wonderful you are."

"I…I know," Hermione said, "but I'm still scared."

Luna nodded seriously. "You should absolutely be scared. If I were you, I expect I'd be terrified. But not of Harry's feelings. Of the Rotfang Conspiracy, sure, or a coup backed by the secret heliopath army, but never, ever Harry's feelings."

"Um…I understand," Hermione said. She wasn't entirely lying, since she was pretty sure she got the gist of it. In what was hopefully not too obvious a change of subject, she knelt in front of Enny and pulled off her right shoe, then her right sock. "Here, Enny. You're free again now to do whatever you want."

"Enny knows what she wants, Former Mistress." The little elf turned to Luna. "May I bond with you?"

"Yes, you may," Luna said with a hitch in her voice. She held out her hand and Enny took it. Forest green magic enveloped their hands and faded away.

"Does you have any orders, Mistress?" Enny asked.

Luna shook her head and instead pulled the surprised elf into a hug, followed a moment later by grabbing Hermione and pulling her into the hug, too. "Thank you," Luna choked out. "Thank you ever so much."

"It was the right thing to do," Hermione said. "You don't have to thank me. But…um…"

"Do you need something?" Luna asked, releasing them from the hug.

"Well, I just realised the sock I gave Enny is one of my favourites," Hermione said. "I bought that pair from Allison as a splurge and they're really comfortable. Enny, would you be willing to give it back to me?"

The elf scrutinised the sock closely. "Is good workmanship for a muggle, though Enny suspects Kreacher would disagree. Enny will give this back to Former Mistress and, unless Mistress objects, knit Former Mistress a new pair every year for Yule. Enny is a good knitter and will not be outdone by muggles."

"I would never dream of objecting," Luna said. "That's a lovely idea."

"Thank you." Hermione gratefully accepted the sock and put it back on. "You really don't have to, but I could always use good socks."

Luna nodded seriously. "You should never turn down good socks," she said. "I've gone without before and it wasn't fun."

"Mistress will never go without socks again," Enny said just as seriously.

Hermione returned the nod as she put her shoe back on. She appreciated people who took socks seriously. Speaking of whom…

"I'm sorry," she said as she rose to her feet. "I should probably go home and get changed. Harry and I have a date tonight."

"That's great!" Luna said. "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking him to see a new play," Hermione replied. "It's called 'A Lie of the Mind.'"

Sue leaned back in the chair and luxuriated in being off her feet. She and Harry had just gotten off a shift and returned home to their significant others, and she had to admit she could understand why Harry so enjoyed having someone to return home to.

"Did anything interesting happen at work?" Neville asked.

Sue sighed and motioned him over. Harry probably didn't have to deal with patching up Hermione every other day, at least. "Nev, you're bleeding again."

"Oh, right," he said. "The Venomous Tentacula had a bit of dragon dung fertiliser blow onto it and you know how it gets when it has that."

"Um…no, I don't," Sue said. "How does it get?"

Nev shrugged. "Bitey."

She shook her head and started healing his cuts without even rising from the chair. "Do you have to keep that thing around?"

"It really is useful," Nev said, "but I understand the concern. The greenhouse is at least warded against anyone too young to bear a wand."

"That's better than nothing," Sue said. "There you go. You're as good as new."

"Thank you. So, how was your day?"

"Blessedly quiet," Sue said. "I got caught up with paperwork and even made a little headway on a couple of side projects I've been working on. Remember how we lost track of the unknown party or parties that burgled Umbridge's house? I'm tracking some weird occurrences near where their apparition took them. I think they may have escaped on brooms or possibly even muggle transport, and I'm sure it's connected with her death and the eventual release of that blackmail material."

"Interesting," Nev said as he sat down next to her. "And none of the other Aurors are interested in pursuing that lead?"

"They think they're just coincidences, like a security camera that died because it was cheap and not because it was bespelled," Sue said. "Harry's been more supportive, but he's made it clear that he doesn't think there's much here."

"I see," Nev said. "I hope your progress convinces some of your colleagues."

Sue shook her head. "None so far. I've made some serious progress on the other project, though. You know that parchment Harry and I found that occasionally gives a meeting time and not a place? Well, I decided I was probably overthinking the problem and just started staking out some likely meeting locations in Knockturn Alley. I'm not positive, but I think they're using Borgin & Burke's."

"Nice work!" Nev said.

"Thanks." She smiled. "I had a hunch I wasn't dealing with a particularly creative bunch, and whoever is running the operation probably wouldn't trust the hired muscle enough to regularly let them through his wards. Rufus was impressed, too, but we're not sure how to make a collar on this. That parchment has only gone off three times since Umbridge's death and only one of those has been tentatively tied to a crime: the arson that destroyed The Dancing Hag bar in Knockturn. Even that's just speculative, though, based on the timing of the crime alone. We don't have any evidence pointing to who did it. Unless we can come up with a way to figure out what they're targeting, we can't do anything preemptively. I don't think I'll be able to get a warrant for more surveillance measures with the thin gruel I have on this group, and anyone with the means to borrow Borgin & Burke's would probably screen for all of our surveillance measures."

"That's a good point," Nev said. "That's not a place that would let a bunch of amateurs rent it out, as it were. This is probably Nott or Malfoy."

"I agree," Sue said. "So I want to take this slowly or I'm worried they'll just slip away."

"I don't blame you," Nev said. "I just hope they don't cause too much harm before you can put an end to their activities."

Travers glared daggers at Lucius, but didn't dare draw a wand on the man in his own home. Even on neutral ground, Lucius was a dangerous foe, but within his own wards he would be unstoppable. "What do you mean, you won't help?"

"Exactly what I said," Lucius drawled. "I am busy—"

"Yeah, yeah, with your 'project,'" Travers said.

"I am busy ensuring the future of Wizarding Britain, not the future of a mere scheme to defraud those idiots in the Ministry." Lucius allowed his tone to rise, but he didn't move from his armchair. "Come up with a new one, for Mordred's sake! It's not exactly spellcrafting to find a loophole in their regulations."

"I refuse to give up my livelihood," Travers said. "If you won't help us, Nott has promised to."

"Fine, get help from him, then," Lucius replied.

"You'd give up three of your most powerful clients for this?" Travers said.

"A miser hoards influence," Lucius said. "I choose to spend mine. This is what we put it all on the line for to assist the Dark Lord all those years ago, not mere profit."

"The Dark Lord is dead," Travers spat. "We must look to ourselves now."

"You are free to do so," Lucius said. "Do not expect my assistance when this blows up in your face. And it will, I promise you."

"What need would I have of it?" Travers asked. "I will have Lord Nott's. Goodbye, Lucius."

After Travers had stormed off, Narcissa strode into Lucius's study. "So Rowle, Burke, and Travers have all turned away from you?" she asked.

"And to Nott," Lucius said. "Short-sighted fools."

"Are you sure this is worth it?" Narcissa asked.

"Absolutely," Lucius said. "Besides, their plan is foolish. If they fail, they risk themselves for nothing. If they succeed, they create a martyr and attract the attention of both Bones and Potter."

She raised her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. "Why do you list those two separately? I thought Potter was her faithful hound."

"He plays that role in public," Lucius replied, "but he's more of a Grim. As our son repeatedly demonstrated at Hogwarts, that man has serious anger issues. Push Bones too hard and she'll 'drop' the leash, leaving us with the equivalent of a rabid Dumbledore on our hands." He shook his head. "No, I would prefer to limit my battles with Potter to the floor of the Wizengamot, where tradition and law fetter him and free me to play to my strengths."

Narcissa smiled, a gesture that still, after all of these years, tightened Lucius's trousers. "Clever, my dear, most clever." She turned to leave the room, then cast a glance back in his direction. "Are you coming?"

That got Lucius out of his chair, and quickly.