Chapter 1: Hermione's Victory
The golden rays of the setting sun painted her office floor and furniture in golden and orange hue. Even though the sun was setting from this part of the world, in her life, her sun of fortune was shining like an ever bright permanent star.
Today was the day Hermione Granger was made a permanent part of Magic Folklore. May 1st, 2010 would be forever special. Earlier this day, she was sworn as the Minister of Magic, the first woman to get this honor in recorded history.
Life had been a rollercoaster ride for her just after she discovered she was a mother way back in July 2000. The subsequent journey of discovery and redemption had nothing been short of marvelous. She discovered new friends such as PANSY, KATIE and ZABINI and started a new relationship with Draco. Her direct contribution to the 3rd Wizards War with Bellatrix earned her the medal of Purple Cross, an honor received by just 3 people in the past, one of whom was Professor Dumbledore. It was the highest global award for Intelligence and Bravery known to the Magical World. It was one rank above the Order of Merlin, which was the highest National Honor that she shared with Harry and Ron.
With Draco as her life partner, they undertook the journey of parenting together and watched Aurey grow from a shy but cheerful 2 year old to a confident 11 year old boy sorted into Gryffindor House 2 falls back. He was already the seeker for his team and counted friends from all Houses as his intellectual buddies. Hermione initiated his muggle education and supervised his magical education. By the age of 11, before he received the Hogwarts invitation, Aurey knew all about Magical and Muggle Fables, Religions, Geography and Cultures, aspects of which were required for seamless integration in a multicultural Hogwarts residence. Apart from that, with Hermione's encouragement, Aurey took a keen interest in all 3 branches of Muggle Sciences and Mathematics. Draco initiated him to all Magical folklore and monitored his magical ability. They might have missed the first 2 and 3/4 years of his life but were with him every step of the way after that. His sports life was keenly supervised by the rich sporting legacy of Draco, Harry, Fred, George, Bill, Charley and Ginny Weasely. They guided him and gave him incrementally tougher challenges to overcome. They were delighted to see him have the natural speed and courage of a seeker.
Even as life settled in for them under the garb of normalcy post the war, for Hermione, her career took on an extraordinary path. She took up healing a month before Aurey's fifth birthday trying to duplicate the healing effects of the ring. After 3 months of rigorous full time training she resumed her law enforcement duties and continued her healing research in evenings.
Meanwhile, Kingsley retired in 2004 and Arthur was chosen as Minister of Magic in recognition of his contribution to 3 wizard wars. From day one, Arthur took Hermione under his wing and guided her on expectations and responsibilities of the post. He assigned her tasks far more challenging than her normally expected work profile but she handled them with ease and quickly she became an expert in strategy, law enforcement and healing with enthusiastic support from Weaselys, Harry and Draco. By the time Arthur decided to retire, he nominated Hermione as successor and she won by a sweeping 350-13 vote.
Hermione stared in awe at her office. The surface area could encompass two muggle football fields. At the right of her office was a range of delicate and special instruments that she had seen only Dumbledore possess earlier but this range of instruments outnumbered even his at Hogwarts. On the table was a manual that could be opened only by the Iris of the Minister for Magic and they gave all instructions on the purpose of those instruments and how to use it. Above the lab like area were 20 most recent magical portraits of Ministry of Magic. All the learned Wizards smiled down on her and bade her welcome. On her left there was a smoked panel of oak that housed a wall length world map and red buttons connecting her office to all 420 countries and their Wizard/Witch heads of Magic Ministry. All had sent her congratulatory messages. She was surprised to know that there were 2 more witches at the global level who headed their respective Ministries. Just beside the map panel hugging her left wall was Directory of Special Creatures at her service. Representatives of Giants, Goblins, Centaurs, Sphinxes and other intelligent self-thinking bodies had already spoken to her and so did Mystical Creatures from faraway lands. There was a separate log for Magical Herbology and Magical Creatures that were dominated by Wizards and Witches such as Dragons, Gnomes and House-Elves. All knew and appreciated her record of kindness and fairness and she calmly managed her demanding schedule taking tips from Arthur.
She was taking it all in when there was a knock on her door.
"Come in," she called out.
Standing in her doorway was Harry, Draco, Ron, Fred and George. She smiled and bade them welcome to sit in plush 13th century royal furniture.
Author Note: I apologize for the delay in posting my first actual chapter but I read Bitty's story repeatedly to achieve a smooth transition between her and my story. Hermione remains a focal character in my story but increasingly more important is Harry, Tom Riddle and my own character. Aurelian, Draco, Weaselys, Grangers, Malfoys, Tonks, Pansy, Zabini, Katie, Neville, Luna and other members of DA and Order of Phoenix fill out the rest of the Character Landscape.