Chapter Summary
Note:
A Calming Draught is most commonly used to treat anxiety and over-excitement.
Excess use of it may come with side effects, such as persistent apathy, recklessness, and feelings of detachment.
The words on the pages in front of her were beginning to blur together when Hermione looked up to find Harry poking his head into her office.
"Still working?" Harry asked as he walked in, peering around at the mess of newspapers and forms that had been piled on every available surface.
"It never ends, these days," Hermione said, barely glancing up from the report she was working on.
Her work had become nightmarish in recent weeks, as if she didn't have enough to deal with from her personal life. There were territory disputes among the mermaids, a rogue species of dragon that an illegal breeder had set loose across the Indian Ocean, and, just this week, several reports of missing house-elves had come across her desk.
That was the subject of the report on which she was currently working. With all the other goings-on, no one seemed to be paying much attention to the elves. But Hermione found it all extremely odd. They were, the evidence said, well compensated and on good terms with their employers Their family and friends were worried about them, claiming they hadn't made plans to go anywhere. Most mysteriously of all, none of them seemed to have any connections with one other.
One day they were doing well and living their normal lives-the next, they were nowhere to be found.
She crammed a small note on a scrap piece of parchment nearby, reminding herself to pin the locations of the disappearances on a map as soon as possible. She doubted the Department of Magical Law Enforcement would bother unless she did the groundwork first.
"Hermione," Harry said.
Something in his tone made her look up. An anxious crease had formed between his brows. "I'm calling an emergency meeting at Grimmauld Place. You need to come."
Hermione blinked in surprise.
"An emergency meeting?" she repeated. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper as she asked, "Of the Order?"
"Not really," Harry said evasively. "We need to leave now. I'll tell you when we get there."
Hermione furrowed her brows in frustration.
"Harry, is it truly an emergency? Because if this is about Johanna-"
"Just come, Hermione," Harry said, cutting her off. "Everyone's already there. This is important."
His grave tone left no room for argument. Harry wasn't often like this, but when he was, it was always over something crucial.
Hermione looked down at her report and sighed.
"Fine," she said, standing up. She stuffed her report and several other binders of work into her bag and hefted it onto her shoulder. She would work on it when she got home.
Harry led her to the lift at a brisk pace. She wanted to ask what was going on, but they were soon engulfed in the crush of Ministry workers heading home for the day. It was jarring to her, the sheer amount of people, when lately she'd going home at nearly midnight, after most of the lights had been turned off and the place was eerily empty.
She wished her late hours were just for the sake of her work, but these days, she had other reasons to keep an irregular schedule.
It had been three weeks since Harry's wedding, and each of them had been miserable
Shortly after the wedding, Hermione had gone to Hogsmeade to replenish her potion ingredients, which were sorely lacking thanks to her now habitual use of the Calming Draught. While she was there, she'd spotted a poster hanging on a lamppost. She wouldn't have thought twice about it, except that it bore the image of a familiar witch, smiling smugly as if she had some great secret to tell. Alongside her waving and winking were large, attention-grabbing letters.
Listen to The Shocking Truth! The newest radio show, hosted by Johanna Wolcroft! Find out what sordid details and scandalous secrets lie concealed behind the most prominent faces of wizarding politics! Tune in every Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. on WM 103.4!
Even then, it hadn't been hard to imagine who Johanna meant by "the most prominent faces of wizarding politics." To absolutely no one's surprise, her first episode had been entirely about the SOCKS Act and the corrupt woman behind it: Hermione Granger.
Johanna had even mentioned that a few house-elves had gone missing recently, though she heavily insinuated that the elves had chosen to run away now that the SOCKS Act had freed them. Clothes and money, according to Johanna, were all the elves had needed in order to abandon their homes and livelihoods. It was utter rubbish, and yet, Hermione hated to admit that the idea was beginning to spread. Her office had gotten many letters recently about repealing the SOCKS Act, only months after it had been passed.
Hermione kept her head down as she and Harry made their way to the hall to apparate. Fortunately, no one stopped her, though she did get some looks.
Harry brought her right onto the front stoop of the house, the way they had done in the days before Voldemort's defeat. She was grateful; if there were any reporters hanging around here, they wouldn't catch a glimpse of her.
Once they were safely inside, Hermione spoke up.
"Harry, what is this all about? Who else is here?" she asked.
"Just the gang," he mumbled, gesturing for her to go ahead of him.
By "the gang," he clearly meant Ginny and Ron, who were both seated in the drawing room when
they entered
Ginny glanced up at Hermione, then looked away without acknowledging her. Hermione did the same. They hadn't spoken much since their conversation after the wedding, when Hermione had confronted her friend about her ill-advised scheme to direct public blame at Ron in order to ease the tension on Hermione. Ginny, for her part, had been extremely annoyed when she'd opened the gift containing the film incriminating her brother, only to find that Hermione had covertly scrambled it with her wand the second Draco had left it on the gift table. Ginny was insistent that Hermione would regret destroying it.
It wouldn't have worked anyway. The situation had evolved far past Ron now. Since Johanna's radio show had begun airing, Hermione had found herself facing down allegations of fraud, extorsion, bribery, and even alleged connections to a few missing persons. "Alleged" was
Johanna s new tavorite word.
There had been press conferences and hearings and endless, endless meetings. No one could seem to figure out where Johanna was broadcasting from. Each time Hermione was cleared of the allegations from the previous week, the show aired anew, and Hermione found herself thrown back into the thick of it. Johanna was spinning quite a complex conspiracy around Hermione, mixing truth and lies with expertly delivered dramatics.
She'd hoped it would all die down eventually. Apparently, Harry did not share her hopes.
Ron looked at her warily from his spot near the window. He seemed nervous.
"Have a seat, Hermione," Harry directed.
Hermione perched on the corner of the sofa opposite from Ginny's spot, feeling a trickle of unease
roll down her spine.
"Now," Harry said, clapping his hands together. "We need to talk about what we're going to do.
With the whole Johanna situation."
"This isn't your problem, Harry," she said wearily.
"You're family, Hermione," Harry said flatly. "And no one here is prepared to stand by while someone threatens our family."
She looked at her hands, feeling a lump building in her throat. She had never met James Potter, but she imagined he would have looked and sounded exactly like Harry did in this moment.
He wasn't likely to leave her to sort it out alone. Harry had a front row seat to the whole thing, after all. Since Johanna's show had begun, the hate mail was pouring in faster than ever, so she let Harry's office handle it all. The precise contents of the mail was a mystery to her, but Harry had informed her that things were escalating. He didn't need to say it, though. Hermione knew, from the news and the dirty looks she got every time she went out.
The worst blow had come a few days ago, when the head of her department told her that he was considering placing her on leave, despite knowing that Johanna's show was a pack of lies. As much as it hurt, it made a sort of sense. For weeks now, she'd been hounded by paparazzi, especially outside her flat. A few days ago, they'd caused such a commotion that Ministry wizards had been forced to come out and obliviate dozens of muggles, including several muggle policemen.
New enchantments to keep them away had been placed around her building, though she still
sometimes had the ominous feeling that she was being watched.
"Are you any closer to finding Johanna?" Hermione asked.
"We're working on it," Harry assured her. "Magical Law Enforcement is doing everything they can to stop her, but at the moment, my priority is protecting you."
"Our priority," amended Ron.
Hermione looked over at him to find Ron mirroring Harry's grim, resolved expression. Nervously, she fiddled with her nails in her lap.
"And I'm assuming you've already devised a plan for how to do that. Without me," she said.
Ron and Harry exchanged looks. Ginny only looked at the floor, keeping her silence.
"The issue is," Ron said, "that people don't know what to think about you. No one can figure out
why Johanna would be saying this stuff about you if it wasn't true."
Hermione had to admit he was right. Now that she wasn't involved with Ron anymore, Johanna seemed to be lacking in a motive for trying to attack Hermione this way. More and more people were starting to believe her
Harry Potter was still trusted by the public, however. He'd gone on record defending Hermione multiple times now. Hermione had thought it would help, until claims that Hermione had blackmailed him into speaking for her arose. It was endlessly frustrating. She had no idea how she was supposed to have found the time to carry out all this extortion and fraud when she was up to her ears in work. She was feeling truly worn down by this point.
"Ron and I had an idea," Harry said, looking a bit nervous now.
Hermione looked to Ron, who shrugged.
"I thought maybe, if we said that Johanna is lying about you because she's jealous of our relationship, that would make people believe you," Ron said.
Hermione rurrowed her brows.
"But we know she's not," Hermione pointed out. "We broke up and it's only gotten worse. And you haven't been in contact with her since she started her show, have you?"
Ron shook his head vehemently.
"I haven't seen her in ages," he said.
"Then I don't see how that would work," Hermione said.
Harry looked extremely nervous now. As he began to pace, Ginny huffed and spoke up.
"They want you to get fake engaged to Ron," Ginny said bluntly. "To sell the idea that Johanna's still just jealous of you."
The floor fell out from underneath Hermione. She gripped the armrest of the sofa, wildly looking at each of her friends in turn, waiting for someone to laugh and tell her it was a joke.
No one did.
Hermione's jaw had gone slack.
"Y-you want me to what?"
Ginny sighed frustratedly.
"I told you she wouldn't like it," she said to Harry. Then she turned back to Hermione and said,
"You don't have to do it, Hermione.
Harry gave his wife a strange look. They stared each other down for a moment, until Ron spoke up.
"It won't be a real engagement, Hermione," Ron said sullenly. "My family will know what's going on. But we've been thinking about it, and this seems like the best way to take Johanna's power away from her. We need to start playing offense instead of just defense
, "9
Hermione sat for a moment, processing her shock. She felt her Calming Draught kick in, soothing her while she scrambled to collect a single coherent thought.
She hated to admit it, but he and Harry had a point. If they couldn't expose her true motive, their best shot at discrediting Johanna's lies would be to fabricate a lie of their own. It was fighting fire with fire.
She sank back into the sofa, suddenly feeling the full weight of the exhaustion and stress that had been bearing down on her for too long now
"We'll put out an announcement in the Prophet," Harry said, continuing on with his plan as if Hermione wasn't still reeling from the absurdity of it all. "Send them a few pictures, maybe schedule an interview or two. Then we'll release a tell-all article to discredit Johanna. We've even got photos of the two of them from the Christmas ball, to make the story believable. Then, after the fuss has died down and we've caught Johanna, you two can quietly end the engagement."
Hermione looked to Ginny, who had gone silent once more.
"What do you think of all this?" Hermione asked.
Ginny chewed her lip, looking disturbed.
With a sigh, she admitted, "I don't like it, but I haven't come up with a better plan."
Hermione's three best friends all looked at her, waiting.
Finally, when she didn't answer, Harry pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to her.
Inside the tiny velvet box sat a diamond ring. Hermione looked up at Ron in alarm.
"It's fake," he explained, holding up his hands in surrender. "Just a prop."
It certainly looked real to Hermione.
Something occurred to her then, and her face screwed up with distaste.
"I suppose you'd expect me to live with Ron while this is happening," she said.
Ginny said "Of course not!" at the same time Harry said "That would be ideal, yes."
Ron only looked at the floor.
Harry went on.
"If the paparazzi follow you home, living with Ron would make it all more believable. Besides, I don't like the idea of you living alone while someone is after you like this. Those angry letters you've been getting, they've gotten serious, Hermione."
"But if they fight so much that the whole flat burns down, that would compromise the believability as well," Ginny snapped.
Hermione shut the ring box with a sharp snap. Everyone looked at her.
"One month," she said. "That's all. If it doesn't work, we try something else. But I refuse to move in with Ron again. That's where I draw the line."
Harry's mouth tightened, but he didn't fight her on it. He had already gotten the main thing he
wanted
Ron wasn't looking at her. He seemed to be deep in thought.
Hermione stood, wanting very much to leave.
"Was that all?" she asked Harry. "I've got work to do."
Stiffly, Harry nodded, and led her out of the room. Ginny and Ron let her go without saying goodbye.
When Hermione got home, she didn't give herself time to think about the agreement she'd just made. As Ginny had said, she didn't have a better plan. Best to just get it over with and hope it worked.
She threw herself back into her report on the missing elves, writing and researching until her eyes burned with achy tiredness. Groggily, she rolled up her finished report, checked the time, groaned,
and stood. attempting to stretch the weariness from her bones.
Hermione could barely make it to her bed before she passed out, not bothering to change. Grunting with effort, she pulled her wand out of her pocket to set next to her alarm clock for the morning, ignoring the shiny, silver envelope that was sitting on her nightstand.
It had arrived a few days after the wedding. Hermione could neither bring herself to open it, nor throw it out. So there it sat, glinting near her bed, day after day.
She hadn't spoken to Draco since the wedding. She knew he was angry with her. His letter was almost certainly some variation of "goodbye forever," and she just couldn't face it. She was positive that if he still wanted to talk to her, he would have phoned by now.
The thought of what Draco would think when he saw the engagement announcement made her feel sick.
Oh god. Engaged. To Ron. Publicly.
Taking hard, shallow breaths, Hermione laid her head on her pillow, trying to banish her racing thoughts. Her clock radio glowed faintly in the darkness, taunting her with green, blocky numbers that read 2:06 a.m. She blinked at it slowly, waiting for sleep.
At 2:17 a.m., she gave up.
She reached over to her table, turning on the lamp before rummaging in the drawer below. The worn edges of a leather folder met her fingers, and she pulled it out.
Inside was a newspaper clipping, one on which Hermione had used a spell she had never tried before in an attempt to make the small scrap of paper impervious to tearing, water, fire, and age.
She'd encased it in old magic, spells she suspected that Voldemort had used, among others, on his Horcruxes. But her purposes did not involve making herself immortal. It was only this memory that she wanted-needed-to live on forever.
The grainy, black and white picture was about the size of her hand. In it, two people were dancing, looking at each other with identical, tender expressions of wonder. The taller of the two figures, dressed all in black, gently guided the shorter figure in slow, swaying circles. One said something to the other. They both laughed a bit. Then the taller figure looped his arm over the shorter figure, twirling her around before bringing her back into his close embrace. In a minute or two, they would do it again. And again after that, forever.
It was a good thing the photograph was waterproof. Hermione's tears might have ruined it by now if it wasn't.
With the photo clutched in her hand, she finally fell asleep, and slipped into dreams of dancing and laughing in endless loops.