294Chapter 1
Hermione almost tripped on the fifteen something bottles of Sleakseazy Hair Smoothener that were adorning the floor of her bathroom. She carefully walked to the door and back and then looked at Ginny – glaring, daring her to point out a fault.
Her red headed friend only smiled self-satisfactorily, before encasing her in a careful hug, not wanting to mess up the hair do she had spent the last two hours on.
"You look perfect!" Ginny squealed, releasing her and then ushered her out the door of her bedroom and down the narrow, rickety stairs of Grimmauld Place. "Now hurry up! You're late!"
"As if that is my fault. I was being held against my wi-"
Ginny snickered at the irritated witch, and waving her a quick goodbye, shut the door in her affronted face.
"Three hours of make up and pish-posh, only to flush myself down a toilet." Hermione grumbled, as she dusted her clothes after stepping out of the green flames into the polished dark surroundings of the Atrium. She was wearing an expensive black silk frock that actually belonged to Ginny. It suited her though – reaching her knees, drawing perfect attention to her upper body curves and fanning out at the waist with a deep cut.
Since the Ministry was still building up steadily, Kingsley had not bothered to change the way of main entry, and it had been irritating many officials. Sure, she pitied the man's current situation, but that didn't mean she was happy to flush herself down a toilet everyday.
She followed the large instruction banner in the Atrium and took a lift to the Ministry's newly installed Ballroom.
It had hit the exact six month mark today, from the day Hermione had joined the Ministry of Magic. Straight out of Hogwarts, she and Lavender had joined the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures as mere interns, though the work load and dependence on them had been much more than on the normal intern, due to the lack of staff in the department. It was one of the major problems of the complete refining of the staff that Kingsley had single-handedly attempted, though he did have to seek out the help from his own trustworthy members of the Wizengamot and what had remained of the Order.
Their boss, Jeffery Jameson, an old man of forty-five, had stepped up for the charge of the Department on Kinglsey's request. He was a traveler and expert on Animal Habitat, and had written two muggle books, which were considered of no importance in the magical world. He was a kind hearted man though, an average magician, and one that Kingsley trusted, so Hermione respected him. Though his appearance reminded her of Horace Slughorn, he was not nearly so in his nature and habits.
Her boss had preferred her for the post of his Secretary after he had met her and interacted with her on a regular basis. So she had been promoted to that post after two months of internship. Lavender had been promoted too, though she was still junior in office to her.
The blonde girl was no longer the same, no longer just the blonde classmate, ex-girlfriend of Ronald Weasley. No. Lavender Brown had changed a lot. They had all changed in fact, all starting after the war.
Anyone who came to know that this group of people hung out together, would never believe how close knit their group actually was. It had all started when Harry had decided to help get the charges off Draco and Narcissa Malfoy. His proposal was well met – but with the condition, that he extend his statement to include Lucius as well, or they rejected his offer. Everyone had been shocked to say the least. Harry had begrudgingly agreed and the Malfoy family had been released with his assurance to the Ministry.
After a few months of silence, Harry had received a proposal – to invest in the newly developed Malfoy Business, headed by Draco. He never met personally, but the proposal was discussed by Theodore Nott – and well, these two clicked immediately. All everyone knew about Theo was that his mother had married and remarried seven times, having a few children, and inheriting a shitload of wealth along the way. Theo had been handling his family's finances since sixth year; and after finding out that Blaise Zabini was actually his half brother, Zabini's finances as well.
Now he had been looking into the Malfoy finances too, on Draco's request and trust – which was what had indirectly exposed them all to Draco Malfoy. Theo had once asked Draco and Harry, both separately, if they knew that they were cousins, and after pushing them a few times, finally got them to hang out with each other.
Harry had always been hyper aware of the fact that Draco was the only family he had left, by blood. They had bonded over that, and the three Slytherins were suddenly a part of the trusted circle. They were not all good, but Hermione had to admit, they weren't all that bad either.
Sure, they had had their… problems, in the beginning, with Ron especially, but eventually, everyone had calmed down. Fights took place, hard words were exchanged and some nasty curses were dealt with, but in the end, even Ron couldn't ignore the happiness of his best friend.
As for the rest of them – Neville had matured a lot, so he was an adult about it, admittedly the only one, and George and Ginny – well, those two loved a laugh, so they got along fairly well. Lavender and Luna had somewhat of a clean slate, so there was nothing much to worry about.
Hermione, on the other hand, had a different connection with each of the guys, and she now considered them a huge part of their small family. But those were musings for another time.
Right now, someone out of their small group needed to keep up with what was happening with this world. And seeing that Draco and Harry had convinced Theo and Lavender and Luna to cancel their plan to attend the night's event in favor of the small party they were throwing at Grimmauld Place, she was the one who felt responsible to do it. Being the official nerd and all.
Slughorn's tea party was more exciting than this!
The evening was a completely simple and an infuriatingly boring one. A few speeches by Kingsley that updated them about progresses in all sectors over the few months, introductions to new people, sucking up to some of the higher officials, avoiding some people who wanted to do the sucking up to her, and mostly waiting till it was polite to leave.
Just after the New Year and the New Century had been officially welcomed, Hermione was ready to leave the premises and go back home to drink something stronger than whatever was being served. Whatever it was wasn't strong enough. It was around 12:30 that she spotted her boss at a bar, looking somewhat red, in discussion with a tall official, whom she recognized as Peter Podress from the Department of Mysteries. She watched as they argued over something while her boss kept shaking his head and looked like he was trying to come to a very difficult decision. After Podress left, she made her way towards the bar, and saw Mr. Jeffrey crack a relieved smile on seeing her. He poured her a drink and invited her to sit beside him, "Ah Ms. Granger, just the person I wanted to see."
"To what do I owe the pleasure, Sir?" she said, draining half her glass at once.
Her Head of Department grimaced as they settled on a table, his demeanor mostly resigned, "I'm afraid you won't like what I have to say Ms. Granger."
Hermione frowned at his tone, but was forced to ask nonetheless, "Is this about Mr. Podress and your discussion with him just now, Sir? He looked rather insistent."
"Yes. He is insistent on having you."
Hermione almost upset her glass at the disturbing implication. "I'm sorry, but what? I don't know him – I've never even spoken to him."
"This is not about your work in the Ministry Hermione. This is about something more specific." He paused and raised his glass for a refill, watching the liquid fill somberly. "The Department of Mysteries wants you to go on a mission. It is mostly a research mission and they asked specifically for you because they think that you are the most capable. Who better than the Golden Girl of the Wizarding World?" he chuckled, as Hermione made a face at the stupid new nickname.
"Well, Sir, I suppose it wouldn't be that bad if it's only a research mission. I do rather like to play the field. Paperwork does get boring after a while. I don't see what's there to be upset about..."
"Hermione, the topic of your research is Vampires."
She raised her eyebrows at the still sad expression of her boss, not understanding how that would be a problem. Wizards and vampires did not have much of a difficulty co existing and if all they needed was research, what was the problem?
Unless he didn't want her to go. That would be rather unusual for her boss though – he wasn't that much of a selfish person. He was good to them, always granting leaves whenever they asked and did not generally mind doing some work himself.
"Uh... I still don't see how that's a problem, Sir. However, I won't go if you don't want me to. I'm happy to s-"
"So you wouldn't mind researching about vampires?" he said suddenly, looking up at her curiously.
"No, Sir. I would actually enjoy it I think."
He laughed out loud at that, relief evident on his face, "Now I see why they thought you would be perfect for the job."
"What would the job require exactly, Sir?"
Mr. Jeffrey had this mixed expression on his face. He looked somewhat apprehensive to talk about this and his voice lowered as he spoke, "Well, that is actually the part where most candidates lose the enthusiasm. You have to mostly gather information, analyze it, keep the archives updated, and track one."
"I'm very sure I'll be able to fulfill it Sir. It sounds interesting. Whom do I have to track?"
He nodded impatiently at her now, "Hear me out. The one we have to track, wizards have been keeping an eye out for that one for centuries. Unfortunately, his records haven't been updated in over a hundred years. He's the one we need to watch mostly."
"What's his name?"
He looked about suspiciously, before leaning in and whispering, "They call him The Hybrid."
Hermione's mind was swirling with all the new information that she had. While there was a part of her that was rather disappointed that she would have to travel to the States to start her work on her 'New Project', she was mostly excited at the prospect. She had strict orders that she could absolutely not tell anyone, especially her friends, about this new development.
That all went out of the window as soon as she entered the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Harry's wide I'm-as-hammered-as-Peeves grin welcomed her, flanked with the Blonde Brooder Malfoy and Ron's cross-eyed expression. Who knew that the Malfoy boy was an emotional drunk and that Ron was completely incapable of human speech when there was an excess of alcohol in his system. Neville and Luna were sitting along the end of the long table, immersed in conversation, but looking cozy.
Neville and Luna had repeated their last year at Hogwarts with her and they had bonded even more, along with Blaise and Theo, who had been the only Slytherins repeating the year. Things had been rather stiff among the 'eighth years' but there had been a mutual understanding among them. A silent one.
Draco had also been willing to let go of his past grudges, not that his personality had improved much. He was still the same obnoxious prat, only less insulting towards those within their merry little circle. Plus, he was a rather intelligent conversationalist, when it came to that. George had also found surprisingly eager customers in the slytherins; they were always up for fun pranks.
After school had finished, Hermione and Lavender had joined the Ministry, while Ron and Harry had started training in the Auror Department one year previously. Blaise had enrolled for a Muggle degree in Bio technology of all things, while Theo handled the financial accounts of the four wealthiest families of the Wizarding World.
Neville was training at Hogwarts for his dream job, under Proffessor Sprout, while Luna had joined the Apothecary right after school. She was collecting money for her tour for research purposes. Which was what they were talking about when Hermione entered. They cheered her drunkedly and Hermione revelled in the freedom of finally removing her heels.
It was nine in the morning next day, when everyone was stirring, that she decided to drop the bombshell.
She was probably a bit drunk still, since she decided it would be a great idea to wake everyone by opening Mrs. Black's curtains.
"MUGGLE FILTH IN THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS! INCOMPETENT BLOOD TRAITORS! CHILDEREN OF VILENESS AND DUST! CREATURES OF DIRT! DESTROYING THE HONOR OF MY RESPECTFUL HOUSE! MUDBLOODS AND BLOOD TRAITORS ALIKE! BRINGING FILTH AND BESMIRCHING-"
"Oh my God, PLEASE!"
"Someone in the name of Merlin, CLOSE IT!"
"What the FUCK Hermione?"
Hermione grinned hugely at a very pissed off Draco, who stood in the doorway of the kitchen, hands covering his ears, and his eyes scrunched up in obvious pain.
"Just give her a minute until everyone is up."
"Are you still drunk Hermione?! Or have you finally gone mad?!" Ron shouted above the shrieks of the old woman, his eyes so bloodshot that they were darker than his hair. He stood next to Draco, in the same position, only looking somehow more in the pain than the other. She grinned at him too.
Within five minutes, everyone had grumbled up, Luna had put up the kettle, Lavender assisting her, because of course they didn't trust Luna in the kitchen. Then she shut off the shouting portrait and returned to the kitchen. They were all shooting different levels of glares at her, while slowly gathering around the kitchen table, still smelly and probably half-drunk. When the tea was made and served, and after Blaise had graciously offered everyone sips of the Hangover Potion, they sat facing her expectantly.
"Sorry about earlier. But it was important to wake you guys up. There is a matter that needs our immediate attention."
Harry and Ron shared a look and sat a bit straighter in their chairs, while Draco, Blaise and Theo merely looked interested. Lavender, Luna, Ginny, George and Neville looked only half-awake.
"I have an assignment from the Department of Mysteries."
There was moment of silence as everyone exchanged glances. "But you work in RCMC?" Neville asked confusedly, and she nodded at him. "Yes, but they've specifically asked for me."
"In the fear of sounding obvious, that doesn't make sense." Draco said, tilting his head sideways. "I know that the Department of Mysteries is allowed to pick employees from any department, but it's only in the case of underground missions."
The look that she gave him made it clear that was exactly what it was. Realization dawned on everyone's face as the meaning of her non-answer struck.
"You do know that no one, I mean no one is supposed to know when you go on those missions." Draco said, narrowing his eyes dangerously. She nodded. "So you are telling us this, why? Because even having knowledge of this could be dangerous for those who know it."
She looked around at the half shocked and worried faces of friends, and sighed slightly. "The point is that I cannot refuse. I am sorry for telling you all but... the nature of this mission is such, that it could be dangerous."
She saw Harry open his mouth, just as Ginny did but continued before they could start, her voice smooth and professional, making it clear that there was no room for discussion. "I know that you all would have been worried if you happened to hear it from somewhere else. So I decided to tell you. Just not the exact details, only that the mission could be dangerous. For everyone else, I'm going to Seattle to meet my long distance family-"
"What's the point of telling us if we can't do anything about the danger?" Ron said, voicing something she had really hoped someone would ask.
"Yes, about that." she left the kitchen quickly and hurried to her room. There she dug out the bag of fake galleons she had left, back from their fifth year. Some Gryffindors had later returned them, seeing no point in keeping them and she had stored them away. She performed a quick transfiguration spell on them as she entered the kitchen again.
"These are for us all, and special green and blue ones because I know you guys will whine if they're all red and gold." she said, as she overturned the sack on the table and eleven huge rings glittered eerily in the low light.
Hermione's flight was scheduled to leave on the second day of the year. She would leave at around 8 in the morning and arrive at Richmond in the evening, according to US time. One day, or 23 hours was all she had to prepare for her stay. She had the previous Ministry archives with her, but in the haste of everything that had been happening, she had no time to read them. She had been helpfully informed that the last recorded appearance of their 'Main Concern' was around 1864 in Mystic Falls. No one had noticed that information on the section had been missing for more than a hundred years now but when they had, they had called for Hermione Granger to set things back in motion.
So, along with preparing her friends for the possible danger, she had also needed help in preparing herself since there was no firm duration of her stay in Mystic Falls. She could even have to move. So, she had to seek out some help regarding everything.
All kinds of books that she could need were Luna's duty, she knew that she could trust the girl to not ask questions and keep the information to herself. Lavender was responsible for handling everything inside the Ministry, without letting their boss know, of course. No one could know that she had told them anything at all. Lavender circulated the story of the long vacation everywhere she could while picking up archives and other documents for her from the Ministry.
Harry was responsible for collecting her clothes, and even buying a few wherever necessary, as she wasn't so much of an idiot to put Ginny to the job - she would finish shopping a month later.
Other than her and Harry, Blaise was the only one who knew how things worked in the muggle world. Hence, he was getting her tickets and preparing everything for the flight while Ginny was helping her get everything organized. George had rushed off to the shop to collect as much weapon-y stuff from there as he could but she had told him to calm down and that she would write him a separate letter telling him exactly what kind of things she needed.
Ron and Draco were trying their best to keep her sane, making drinks and tea and coffee and eatables throughout the night. It was midnight when she realized that she hadn't made any living arrangements.
She hence decided to Floo Theo, and against her better judgment, asked him if he could arrange a well-maintained house for her. He had asked for the specific city and she had told him somewhere near Virginia Beach. As it happened, Blaise' family had a very old manor there, surprisingly near Mystic Falls, which almost made her mentally sag with relief. She only replied with a short 'It will do' though.
She travelled for 12 hours on the plane and spent most of them catching up on her sleep from the last two days. She was itching to either read a book or take out some archive papers so that she at least had an idea on what she was facing. As it was, she only remembered that Vampires preyed on human blood and were known as creatures of the night because they couldn't come out in the sun. And that was about it. She knew no technicalities and that was why she was dying to read at least something. Unfortunately, she had foolishly packed no books in her handbag – at least none that Luna had gathered. So she took out her copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard and kept to it.
She landed in Richmond at about 3 o'clock. A man leaning against a large black SUV was holding a board that had her name on it. She walked over confusedly and the man put the board down, as if recognizing her.
"Hi, is this for me?"
"Yes, Ms. Granger."
"How do you know me?"
"Mr. Nott was very clear over your appearance, Miss." The stranger said with a friendly smile, eyeing her hair, and she smiled back tiredly.
"So, are you here to drop me or is the car for me?" she said, hoping it was former, as she was sure she couldn't sit for much long anywhere.
"I am to drop you on this-" he fished out a piece of paper from his jacket and handed it to her,"-address, and then leave the car with you."
"So the car's mine?" she said, moving to inspect the beast. She could tell it belonged to Theo – there was a sticker of a green and silver dragon along one side and the quote "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titilandus".
"Well, let's get on with it then."
Before she could fully question the fact that Theo had such a personalized car out here, in the States, she was asleep. She spent the next three hours knocked out on the back seat of the car. There was absolutely no energy in her to even check if it wasn't a kidnapper or something. On the up side, she would have at least some energy in her to check out the town.
The house was a few miles out of town, a large dark three storied building. It seemed to be made of paneled wood, and there was a bike parked outside.
The stranger parked the car in an old garage off the left side, and bid her welcome. The bike was his and he left after giving her the keys. The inside of the house was rather large and dirty. A staircase led off to rooms on the first floor. The ground floor had a large kitchen, a living area and a bar. There was a garden attached somewhere around the back, and all of it was in severe need of dusting.
Hermione wanted to collapse right on the dirty sofa but her stomach was growling quite loudly. She could tell that there was nothing edible inside the house, so she dumped all the luggage in her small bag in the living room, and fished put the car keys.
Her ride into town was smooth. The car was comfortable, the people helpful and she found the one cheerful restaurant that could provide her food.
'Mystic Grill' was absolutely packed, and she could tell without getting inside. She parked the car in the lot, and got out. There was a crowd in the front, or towards the front of the grill. A huge gaggle of people seemed to be leaving – the main doors kept opening and closing again and again, and she knew that her going against it would draw attention.
Making up her mind, she started walking towards the back, determined to find a back door. There was no one around this side of the building. A side door looked like it would lead inside the Grill, but she couldn't be sure. She was just about to cross the road towards it, when a large black jeep arrived and stopped right outside the place. She hid further into the shadows, as a tall man got off the vehicle. She could tell he was nicely built, broad-shouldered and muscled.
The man walked towards the opposite side of the road to where she was standing, away from the door, as if heading for someone. But she saw no one there, except-
"Damon? What, more dog jokes?"
Another man walked forward, as if out of nowhere, dressed in all black. She couldn't see his face, but she could see the broad shouldered one. They seemed to know each other already.
"Nah. Those got old." the other one said, and he promptly stabbed the man.
Hermione just stifled her gasp, as she turned away from the scene with wide eyes. What was going on here?
She did not dare to move though, what if one of them was a vampire? When she looked back, the stabbed man was huffing on the ground, and the other seemed to have walked away out of her line of vision. She was about to move forward and see if she could help, when the man himself pulled out the knife and got up.
She stumbled back again, keeping her eyes fixed on the men. She could now see the other guy – Damon –just some steps away, and he looked as shocked and confused as she felt.
"You know, I think it was werewolves who started this whole silver myth. Probably for moments like this."
Wait, werewolves?
"Duly noted." Damon said, backing away from the other guy slowly.
"You know, I was really looking forward to the last call." the possible werewolf said, feeling around his chest for a wound that was obviously not there. Yep, werewolf confirmed. "And now you've made an enemy."
Hermione was too shocked at the nature of the scene she had just witnessed, to notice that Damon was standing in the middle of the road. She needed to get out of there soon or he would discover her. Did that mean that this Damon guy was a vampire? A mere human would not be stupid enough to stab a werewolf. But what if he didn't know the other guy was a werewolf? This made absolutely no sense.
She apparated as quietly as she could, right inside her car. There she had a moment to breathe and gather her wits – she now recognized at least one werewolf, one possible vampire, and she hadn't unpacked yet. This town was absolute madness!
She pulled out her wand from her purse and stuck it inside her jacket. She really needed to write to George about those weapons soon, if there were werewolves being stabbed in the back of pubs here.
By Merlin, this evening just kept getting longer and longer.