Hermione Weasley stepped over the grate. The sound of roaring flames still booming her ears as emerald fire spun around behind her. Merging into the great throng rushing through the Atrium. Hermione was an expert at working through the crowd. Cutting through the smallest gaps and shuffling through the briefest gaps. Passing the great glowing golden fountain, the gurgling of water momentarily competing with the murmur of conversation.

Finally, after a long elevator ride, Hermione stepped onto a carpeted hallway while a woman's voice echoed Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Another minute or two, and Hermione was stepping into her office on the edge of the Auror cubicles. The curtains were drawn on a large bay window behind the desk. Plants wound up one corner and books were everywhere, magically rearranging themselves. Hermione flicked her wand to the window, the curtains drew back and magical sunlight filtered through.

Fifteen minutes and Hermione was already over her head in work. Being the best Lawyer in the Ministry had it's perks yes, but it came with the price of being constantly swamped in work. But Hermione had just Summoned a thick novel whose title had long past peeled away when someone knocked. Tilting her head in inquiry, Hermione flicked her already brandished wand at the door and it clicked before swinging open.

"Good Morning."

"Er, good morning to you too," Harry said, frowning a bit in hesitant amusement, as he was used to a less formal greeting from his female best friend---something along the lines involving his name. He could only assume, then, that Hermione was bogged down with work, causing her to be just a little distracted.

He did have something rather pressing to discuss with her, although he didn't know if she had already heard about Nolei Nitemare's attack and visit to St. Mungo's. Normally he wouldn't find it necessary to alert Hermione of such happenings, but as the attack happened dangerously close to Hogwarts, and the girl in question was indirectly linked to both Hermione and himself, as well as the rest of their family and close friends, Harry thought she needed to know. He could always use the insightful words of Hermione Weasley.

"Bad time? I can come back, if you want...."

It's true, Hermione was busy enough not to take her eyes off her work and look to see who had come in. At the familiar voice, the witch flicked her gaze upward and smiled a tired smile. Waving her wand to magically insert the last sentence, Hermione dropped her eagle feather quill in the bottle of open ink. After Harry's comment, Hermione looked at him intently.

"No, no it's fine. Sorry, but ever since Ronald went undercover with the Kenmar Kestrels...it's been a little harder on me to take care of Hugo and keep up with work. Mom helps a lot though."

By 'Mom' Hermione knew Harry would know she was talking about Molly. Rapping the tip of her wand hard on the desk, all of the books that were strewn hither-tither on the large space shimmied into piles and the parchment organized itself. Discarding said wand on the now empty space before her, Hermione stood and moved forward to give a warm hug to the man. Then, returning to her chair, she gestured for Harry to sit in one of the comfortable chairs on the other side of her desk.

"What's the matter Harry?"

Harry gave a faint yet genuine smile at her hug, and he returned it with a mirrored warmth before taking her direction and seating himself in front of her desk. At the mention of Hugo, he thought of Caryn's entertaining story about the boy, and although he wondered whether or not Hermione had heard about that incident, he wanted to get on to the matter at the front of his mind first.

With a furrowed brow, he started. "Did you hear about the Nitemare girl? She was attacked, by a creek near Hogsmeade Village. And that's upsetting in and of itself, but what bothers me is the fact that Nitemare claims that someone is after Bill...she reckons this person would do anything to rid of him, including going after his family."

Hermione slumped in her chair, tired and overworked. Then, at the mention of a name, she instantly perked. Harry was, in a sense, her boss. And with the years they had worked together, Hermione had grown to know when something of importance was going to be mentioned. The witch waited until he was done, her fear growing more with each word. Finally, when he finished, Hermione stood.

"No, actually, I didn't hear anything about that. Probably a memo that was enchanted incorrectly. I'm sending a message to Molly, just to warn her. You know what she's like, with all the things that have happened against her family. No doubt the house is enchanted defensively...the least she could do is activate the basic enchantments."

With a prod of her wand, silver mist came in a single wisp from her wand that instantly swirled into a silvery otter. The Patronus did a graceful back flip in the air before shooting off in a white ray of light that vanished into the wall. Now, Hermione was pacing, this was bad.

"Perhaps you and I should go investigate? I mean...with your rank, and my know how we could unveil this a little more. . .I would say for the Aurors to do this, but I just don't feel right...it would make me feel so much better if I were the one at the scene. But...there are so many rules and laws to do with this incident...."

Instantly Hermione was having a conversation with herself, something that even Harry wouldn't understand as half of it was in her head, the other she muttered.

"Well, there's more," Harry said, making a face.

"I don't know for sure that we can trust Nitemare's word, but apparently she says she knows who's going after Bill. Brian Sayne---Professor Brian Sayne. Nolei said he put a portrait in Bill's office as a spy. I haven't heard word directly from Bill yet to confirm that, but...I've been trying to put Sayne away for months. If we could find solid evidence against him...."

He sighed heavily, letting his fingers run through his messy black hair. "I haven't talked to Gin yet about it. But if this is a serious threat...there's Potters and Weasleys everywhere. And according to Nolei, it's more than just Sayne, which makes sense. Professor Darani's sister, for example, Celia. She's been trying to off Luna for ages, and there's rumor that she's in cohorts with Greyback. The whole lot of them are trying to take Bill's place, like Umbridge did with Dumbledore, only they're going about it through attempted murder, going against the Ministry instead of trying to get them on their side. Seemingly they think that if they rid of all Potters and Weasleys, then there will be no one left to stop them."

"Harry," Hermione said, placing a comforting hold on his arm. "I've studied the criminal mind nearly since I got out of Hogwarts. That does sound exactly like what the Death Eaters would do. I know Voldemort is gone for good, but no one could have thought that that would rid the world of evil." Hermione resumed her pacing in front of the bay window. She shouldn't have warned Molly, that would only lead to worry...if only she could aha, with a complex whirl of her wand, Hermione redirected an already cast spell. Beings as there were so many magical protections over the Ministry, the Patronus would most likely just getting through them. And, sure enough, her silvery otter glided through the wall and her voice began to echo through the office. Giving a nervous wave at the thing, it turned into silvery mist that vanished quickly.

"In a sense, if all Weasley's and Potters were vanquished, well...we are a large beacon of hope to the magical community. I mean not to be vane or anything but the truth is what it is." Hermione finally stopped in front of her desk and took a deep sigh. "Our children should be safe. I mean they're with Neville and Bill and the Hogwarts Staff. But I don't think we should allow them trips to Hogsmead any more. The youngsters are usually with Molly at the Burrow when not with me and Ron or you and Ginny, so that's not a large problem. I don't think we have enough evidence yet to rectify that all of these things are true, though a lot of it makes complete sense logically. If worst comes to worst I think I might be able to pull of a Fidelus Charm. But again, I mean that as a last resort."

Hermione was never used to jabbering. But that's something she did when nervous. Her mind swept to Rose, praying she was safe. As a Second Year she was not allowed to participate in weekend visits to the village. Then work overcame her...this afternoon she was to lead a case for a Centaur who allegedly attacked a Wizarding Household. (said house hold has grudge against creatures of near human intelligence) Hermione dropped in her chair and sighed a deep, tired and exhausted sigh.

"Did you, perhaps attempt using Viretaserum on the girl? That would be our only fail-safe way of finding the truth. Though my Legilimency would be a ninety-five percent fail safe way. It's usually easy to spot magical tampering within the conscious but masters of the art can be kept hidden......sorry to talk your ear off......I'm just so tired I don't know what to do."

"No, it's quite alright---you've got a lot on your plate right now," Harry said, mentally kicking himself for a moment, as he wondered if he should have visited Hermione at her home instead of at work. But this involved their children---Hugo, Rose, Lily, James, Albus---were potentially all in danger. There were also Bill's, Percy's, and George's kids, as well as the their maternal cousins...so many to take into account. Perhaps it was time for a Potter and Weasley family meeting.

"Veriteserum is a possibility, but we'd have to get the girl to agree. I don't know her all that well...but Bill does, as does Caryn," Harry said. It had been Hermione's and Harry's niece, Bill's second daughter, who had told him all this information.

"Nolei is Caryn's best friend. You'd think if we can trust Caryn, we can also trust this Nitemare girl. And if she at all means to help our family, then she should agree to veriteserum, you'd think."

He took off his glasses for a moment, and distractedly rubbed them on his robe. "I think you're right, about the Hogsmeade trips. Rose is too young just yet, but James isn't. He won't like this though, not at all...."

Hermione smirked at his last comment. The corners of her lips twitching in an attempt to get into a wider position. James was...well, a teenage boy. Exactly like his father. However, thankfully, a few aspects of Gin got into the kid and he actually had a sense of better judgment. Too many times, Hermione was the person to remind her two best friends of what they should do and what was right, instead of what they wanted to do.

"Perhaps you should have Ginny go visit him? He respects you but, you know how Gin has a way of making people see reason. She didn't get to being a reporter in the Daily Prophet by not having a way with words."

Hermione sighed once more and thought vaguely of going off to get a coffee in the Muggle streets above them. In fact, the idea was doubled in it's enticement as she lingered on what type she would order. Shaking out of her daze, the witch leaned forward as an inter-departmental memos slipped under the door and landed on her desk. Opening it quickly and scanning the thing quickly. Hmm...good. With a wave of her wand, the ink on the note faded and then was replaced by her own magically written words. Charming it with a lazy wave of her wand, the thing folded up into an paper airplane and shot off under the door.

"Well, that heralded good news. My only case this afternoon was moved to two weeks from now. At least that will give me time to help. Thankfully I've no other cases to work on at the moment."

Shuffling a few papers on her desk, Hermione leaned on her elbows, her head drooping as bushy brown hair obscured her view.

"Yes, that's a good idea," Harry said, with just a pinch of enthusiasm, as he loved the idea of not having to be the one to tell James the bad news. Let him be mad at his mother for once.

He nodded somewhat distractedly at her suddenly freed up schedule, as he was wondering for a moment whether or not James would mind horribly about not being able to attend Hogsmeade visits---due to the recent Skeeter article. He wondered, too, whether or not Hermione had read about that incident. Harry didn't want to bring it up. Discussing it only stirred his anger.

"I think we should get a start on this soon as possible, then...we should alert the rest of the family...have a meeting, of sorts...at The Burrow, possibly. It'd be good to include the kids so they know exactly what's expected of them...just er...be sure to tell Hugo to remember his pants...." He broke into a wide smirk, letting his green eyes dart to the side in amusement for a moment. Before she could ask, he explained a bit further.

"Seems your son got into a bit of a...pickle...if you hadn't heard about it already...."

"No, I haven't..." said Hermione slightly bewildered. "I don't think we should include the children actually. I mean, yes I think that we should explain to them what's going on, but with our children there, we won't be able to discuss everything that should be discussed."

Hermione leaned over, letting her bushy brown hair fall toward the floor. Then, jerking her head up, she grabbed a ribbon and tied it all in a neat bundle with miraculous speed. The days were long at the Ministry. Though in most jobs a steady flow of labor makes the day go by faster, as a Lawyer it is just the opposite. She was sleeping horribly lately, with horrible thoughts that would no doubt be doubled and redoubled now that this news met her.

"Perhaps you and I should go to lunch in Hogsmead? That way we can investigate, as well as get away. Besides, you could send a note to Ginny, she could meet us there and go up to talk to James while we investigate."

"That sounds alright," Harry said, nodding thoughtfully. "If Ginny's free, but we'll know soon enough." He would have to pop into her office through the floo network in the atrium, as they were nowhere near an owlery, but it most likely wouldn't take long to do so.

"Suppose you're right about not including the children, but I can see a certain select few of them getting rather...indignant about not being allowed in on this. Victoire and Caryn, though, they should be allowed, they're of age. And as wild as she was in her teenage years, Caryn's proven to be quite helpful being at Hogwarts...giving a hand at looking after her younger siblings and cousins."

He furrowed his brow for a moment, clearly working on another thought. "I wouldn't be surprised if Bill decided to cancel Hogsmeade trips for awhile, for the whole school---with an attempted murder of a student...you can bet many of the other parents won't want their children there either."

"Yes, of course Victoire and Caryn. I think that Teddy should come to, no doubt beings as he is basically one of the family he would be targeted. We've all gotten so close to him he's as good as part of the Potters."

Hermione paused for a moment, thinking of what to do next. "Alright, this is what I think should be done. I'll leave now and go to the Three Broomsticks and get us a table. While you go and get Ginny. We'll have lunch together then while we investigate she goes to talk to James. Then I think that we should call the meeting tonight. The sooner the better, with all that's going on." She paused, standing and sending papers and books back to their places with a wave of her wand.

"Oh, and you should warn Ginny...our children are rather intelligent. No doubt they've found a few of the passage ways out of the castle. I just want to make sure she impresses as much emphasis on how important it is to make sure he understands. Though I can tell her at lunch, just reminding you." She had her cloak on now, beautiful lilac-colored with a gorgeous silver fastening at the top in the shape of a crescent moon. With a well aimed flick of her wand, a leather bag that resembled a more feminine briefcase assembled which she hoisted into the crook of her elbow. Another twirl of her wand and the curtains were drawn as she held the door open for Harry.

{you can post one more time and then we can lock the thread ^^}

"Alright," Harry said, nodding and smirking ever so slightly at the mention of the passage ways. Hermione was too right---both about Teddy being present, as he was Harry's godson, and about the next generation of Potters and Weasleys being horribly too smart for their own good.

"Yes, James Sirius Potter is a very intelligent, and very independent boy, which in this instance, worries me. I only hope giving him my Cloak wasn't a mistake. Ginny might be able to reason with him, but if James finds an excuse to ignore her reason....." He sighed, finishing his thought with a nonverbal shrug, and stepped over the threshold to the hall outside.

Hermione chuckled briefly at the comment. With a last wave of her wand, the door to her office creaked shut. There was many clicks and a rattling of a chain as all of the locks were replaced. "Alright Harry, I'll meet you and Ginny in the Three Broomsticks...I only wish Ronald could come." With that, and a brief hug, Hermione swept away, her cloak billowing magnificently behind her.