CHAPTER 4

Hermione reached her office and with a sigh of relief, she opened the door and smiled.

This room was her sanctuary.

The back of her office was graced with three tall windowpanes, the glass in the centre was adorned with a colourfully transparent landscape of the Scottish Highlands and when the sunlight streamed through it peppered colours of rich green across every surface in the room.

No curtains hung there, even in the moon and starlight the glass captured every moment and imprinted them across the stone walls inside her slice of heaven.

Her desk, broad and rich brown in colour was accompanied by a wide high backed love seat, perfect for curling up with her work when the mood stuck her. It was positioned carefully in front of the windows to let the warm light shine over her.

The fireplace was crackling now, it took the edge off the cold morning that swept through the castle. Hermione walked towards it; she threw her satchel on the red velvet chesterfield that sat just before the amber flames.

"Crooks?" Hermione called out, taking a seat on her sofa. Suddenly she heard a small meow and smiled when her fluffy, squashed faced ginger cat appeared from the meticulously charmed muggle cat flap she'd installed which allowed him to come and go from her apartment to her office as he pleased.

He leapt up on the side of the sofa, slower than he used to, he was much older now and the grey fur on his chin was a new development which would make Hermione's chest tighten every time she thought about it long enough.

She clicked her tongue and reached forward to rub his tiny little ears. "Oh, do you like that?" He purred in response and settled next to her.

Hermione's first lesson started in 20 minutes, so she allowed herself a moment to relax. She settled backwards and allowed her spine to sink into the velvet, her hair fell over the back of the sofa as she rolled her head backwards and pinched her eyes shut.

It wasn't long after her jaw relaxed when a sharp buzz echoed inside her satchel. She dreaded that sound, it made her throat dry, and her breath catch in her lungs.

"Not now, I don't need this right now." She snapped, her whole demeanour changing in an instant. Hermoine reached over for her bag and pulled out a small black item. Muggles called it a mobile phone, well, more specifically a burner phone.

Hermione had some experience with using mobiles, her parents had one and she'd sometime play a game called Tetris on it when she was waiting for her father to finish with a patient at his dental practice.

But what sat on Hermione's phone now was not a game, this phone was used for one specific purpose, a purpose that held her chest to ransom every time she received a message…

'Trial subject confirmed.

More information to follow at next meeting'

- FOX

"No," She gasped in disbelief. "We're not – I 'm not ready. Her thumbs burned in panic to reply, to press the digit buttons furiously until her response was written but she couldn't, that's not how this worked - that was against the rules.

No replies.

No trace.

Delete everything.

Hermione deleted the text and threw her phone back into her bag. She looked over at Crookshanks, blissfully unaware of the weight that message carried. "I'm not ready, I don't even know if this is right, if this will work."

Crookshanks only blinked, lifting a paw he swiped it with his tongue and hooked it over his ear to groom himself. Hermione rolled her eyes and placed both her hands on her forehead and dragged them both down her face softly.

Her brain was now contaminated with worry, anxiety and stress. The remaining 15 minutes she had left before her first class were no longer hers, if a trial subject had been confirmed then she needed to use every second that she had spare to be ready for testing, there was no backing out now.

"You seem distracted." Melanie stated through her mouthful of food.

Hermione looked up at her apologetically. "Sorry Mel, I'm just stressed about the OWLs."

"You've done more than enough to get the kids through their OWLs, the rest is up to them."

"I know." She smiled, poking her fork into the pasta Mel had brought them both. "Anyway, tell me about Shaun." Hermione was desperate for a new distraction; some hot gossip would make her forget about the mountain of worry piling up on top of her research notes over by her desk.

"I'm so glad you asked," Mel smirked, "So apparently he's been head hunted for a similar position over in the States, not entirely sure why, he's bloody useless."

"You're joking!?" Hermione giggled.

"Yeah, he's so smug about it, you should've seen the way he looked at me! Like I was beneath him." Mel said, raising her brows in disbelief.

"Well, he has always wanted you beanth him." Hermione grinned.

"Oi!" Mel smacked her playfully on the arm. "His replacement is arriving tonight at dinner; he'll be introduced to us all then."

"You've not met him?"

"No, I think Clare was dealing with it, apparently he's in his late 20s, taught at Durmstrang for a bit and then came back to the UK in the last 2-3 years at did a bit of work for the Education department at the ministry." Mel explained. "I don't know much more than that really."

"Returned to the UK? So, he must've been taught here then, Hogwarts I mean?"

"Yeah, probably in your year or mine. I've heard he's got good references anyway." Melanie shrugged. "But so did Shaun and he was dog shit."

"He was average." Hermione pointed out. "I just never really clicked with him."

"Good, you're not allowed any friends, you're only allowed me." Mel smiled. "Oh, that reminds me, you're coming to ours for on Sunday for roast."

Hermione paused for a moment; she felt that familiar sense of panic spike in her mind.

This Sunday? No, I can't, I've got the meeting Thursday which will being up more stuff I need to do – I don't have time, I don't have –

"Don't even start with the excuses," Mel interrupted with a glare. "You never have plans on the weekend and Theo's cooking so we all know it will be good."

'Mel I-" She noticed her friends face fall. She could deal with panic, but not the cocktail of guilt and panic from letting Mel down. "-I can't wait."

"Nice save." Mel smiled, with lunch now finished she packed up her stuff and waked with Hermione to the door. "I'm finishing early today so Owl me later about the new guy." They hugged goodbye and jut as Hermione was about to turn on her heel and grab her research papers, the bell rang to signify the end of lunch break.

With a frustrated growl, she snatched up her satchel and stormed out of her office, her chocolate curls ran wild around her in her frantic movements.

'Could this day get any worse!?'