The work day dragged on with the sluggish pace of a snail. Hermione’s head was killing her, but she’d gotten most of her paperwork done for the day. It had began to rain again, pulling her bad mood to an even lower setting. She rubbed her temples with her fingers in small circles, trying to numb the pain she felt.
A short, rapping sound came from the outside of her office door. She guessed it was probably Ron or Harry.
“Come in.” She said irritably.
She was surprised to see not Harry or Ron, but her boss.
“Granger, we have a new case for you.” She said as she sat in a chair opposite Hermione.
“What is it?” Hermione asked with curiosity.
It’d been so long since she’d seen her boss, she was beginning to think she was dead. Her boss was Kendrina Harwick, and she was in charge of all the cases that came in their department. Usually when she came around, it was pretty big news, so Hermione stayed hopeful.
“We have reason to believe that several death eaters have evaded capture from the battle
five years ago. Though … you-know-who is dead and most of them were rounded up, we have reason to believe that a fair few were never caught. We are merely acting on tips at this point, but we can’t let this case go if it turns out to be serious.”
Kendrina looked uncomfortable at the mention of Voldemort. Witches and wizards were still afraid to say his name, even if there was nothing but a haunting memory left of him.
Hermione nodded. She was beginning to feel an odd panic. She thought that every single one of Voldemort’s death eaters were captured, but you could hardly trust anyone, anymore.
“But if Voldemort – sorry,” Hermione said sheepishly as she watched Kendrina wince over dramatically.
“If he-who-must-not-be-named had more, how did we not find this out sooner?”
“Miss Granger, when it comes to dark wizards, we cannot rule anything out. They’re slicker than dragon blood; some of them have been avoiding escape even when he was alive.
They’re very tricky, and we cannot be too careful.”
With that, Kendrina stood up, adjusted her skirt, and started towards the door. She hesitated when she reached it.
“I’m not sure you’ll be able to work with Mr. Weasley or Mr. Potter on this one… we’ve brought in a new team. They need both of your friends elsewhere. Be here Tuesday morning for the briefing at exactly seven o’clock.”
She then left, leaving a confused and tired Hermione to worry over this new information.
Ron came bolting in the door not two minutes after Kendrina left.
“Did you hear?!” he nearly yelled at her, gasping for breath.
“Yes, I heard. It’s so frightening.” Hermione shuddered.
Ron walked towards her and awkwardly extended his arms. He pulled her into a hug and said, ”It’ll be fine, don’t worry.”
Hermione pulled away and looked at Ron’s perplexed and ecstatic face.
“You’re…you’re not excited about this, are you?” she inquired in an accusing tone.
Ron looked as if he were trying to repress a grin.
“Oh, Ronald! Honestly, this is scary!”
“Hermione, Harry and I have been waiting for a job like this. It’s so exciting! We might actually capture something dangerous!”
“You’re such a boy.” She muttered.
Harry walked into the room with the same happy look on his face as Ron.
“Hermione, don’t be such a downer. It’ll be fine. It’s probably only a couple of idiots who still think they stand a fighting chance with their leader gone. It’ll be easy. A couple of stunning spells, and we’ll have got them.”
Harry’s words didn’t placate Hermione at all, but she felt the corners of her mouth pull up into a tired smile.
“You’re always so sure. You can’t underestimate anything, Harry.”
Ron scoffed.
“I’m just saying that not everything is as easy as it may seem.” Hermione said a bit more angrily.
“This isn’t that big of a deal, Hermione. It may not even be a real thing. It’s just a lead. We can’t be sure of anything yet.” Harry said soothingly.
He pulled Hermione’s hand in his and squeezed it briefly.
“What, lost faith in us, have you?” Ron said with a grin on his face.
“I know you’re perfectly capable. I have all the faith in the world.” She said, not entirely convinced by her own words.
“Hermione, trust me, the last thing you need is more worry on your plate. I’m sure your hand is about to fall off, as it is.” Ron said, gesturing to the nearly finished paper stack.
“Yeah, come to the burrow for dinner, and then go home and get some rest. You need it more than we do.” Harry held out his hand to help her up.
Hermione took it and stood, realizing how much sleep she needed when she felt everything spin.
“To the burrow.” She said in a sleepy, but cheerful voice.
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