Hermione was furious.

After all the elapsed years that felt like eternity now, she was used to doing it all, all on her own. If she were truly honest, she secretly preferred it. The control over every microscopic step in the whole entangled project gave her a fleeting sense of security and stability. Yes, it meant almost never-ending working hours. And yes, she was handling it - thank you kindly for asking.

Given the sheer breadth of the topics she needed to cover and master during her orneous overnight study sessions in order to be able to grasp the complexity of the topic at least somewhat objectively, there was hardly enough time left for sleep, nutrition and exercise. And definitely not enough for small talks or ruminating about her personal life. Unquestionably, some may perceive her relentless routine as suffocating and leaving no room for freedom or unwinding. However, the only thing she was feeling while living in this constellation was pride.

To her, using every moment of the given day effectively felt like perfection. Her freedom was hiding in the dark corners of her room, far from the dim glow of her bedside lamp, peaking out while she was voyaging through knowledge in the flow state of her dedicated mind, giving her no time to think or feel anything but pure curiosity. Yet the artistically built paradise suffered a crack, fine as a spider's thread.

Unexpectedly, a sudden change intruded upon her delicately crafted masterpiece of surroundings. Kingsley Shacklebolt was currently indisposed with a severe case of dragonpox, and the professionals in St.Mungo's were struggling to pinpoint the rare immunodeficiency that left his body defenseless to the malicious virus. Which subsequently led to the only possible outcome - from a chain reaction reassigning skilled managers in order to fill the suddenly vacant position, a new temporary supervisor of her department arose.

Poetic justice, it seemed, had a name.

Perkins.

Everybody expected him to fulfill the expectation of his freshly earned post and let Hermione's relentless work slide quietly by the official reports. Conversely, he chose otherwise. Therefore, Hermione now faced a formal order to publish her advance under a thread of halted funding in case she refused to comply. What an audacity!

Her abrupt appeal has been dismissed; Perking possessed all the rights to issue the order. The deadline for submitting an unpleasantly detailed report that would endanger the project at its core was set in only six days. Her freedom was under threat. Which meant Hermione was preparing for war.

But first, she had a birthday party to attend. She already promised, after all - however meaningless it may seem now.

Because at the end of the day, she could never say no to Ginny.