Parade of the Sun - Dramione

PART SIX.

April 6; 7:32am

"Yes, I know I performed magic in front of a Muggle, but it was for the sake of my investigation. I had to distract him in ord--"

Her boss cut her off with a wave of his hand. "All right."

"...All right?"

"You used a transfiguration spell, a fire spell, and then a charm that rendered that fire nothing more than decoration. Nothing damaging or--" He held up a finger, catching a paper airplane above his head. "Sometimes those in the Magical Law Department have to use certain tactics for an assignment. Your spells match with that. Tell me about it in the report. Good work."

Hermione blinked at him as he left his office.

April 7; 2:59pm

She had spent hours in the Pensieve, staring at her short memory of the map, coming out of it, and retracing the exact lines on a large board. She had needed to be very careful in making sure that she got it exactly right. She had also needed to watch out for any other visitors to the room, in case they saw what she was working on.

She wouldn't call it lying. She withheld some choice information for the sake of the assignment. She was convinced that her supervisors would think she was getting too far into things that made no sense and wasting time. Or they would think that the rumors were making sense now, and put someone more experienced on it. She was in too deep now to be reassigned, and she was positive that no one else would do it properly. They would end up with Malfoy jumping through time and ruining the world, or Voldemort being resurrected.

She wasn't sure which one was worse. Some days she woke up, convinced she would see the top of that stupid tent. She forgot sometimes, and she didn't know how that could be possible. She would be making tea, and would think about the next thing she had to research, or figure out, in order for them to move forwards in the war. She would tie her trainers really tight in case she would have to run, or walk into the Burrow and fully expect to see Fred popping up behind George, and Lupin and Tonks sitting at the table. She would look at Harry and worry about how it was all going to end, instead of worry about how he was doing now that it had. A lot of times she just had a lot of anxiety, all thick in her bones and chest, and it wasn't until she reminded herself that it was over that she could calm down.

There had been so many years of building up to the war, and then the war itself. Harry, Ron, and herself, always waiting to fight the next thing. It had been peaceful for almost a year now, but she still wasn't completely used to it. It was like she was still expecting Harry to run in and tell her he was back.

Knowing that there might be a plant out there that could bring the dead back to life did not allow her to sleep any better. There was no time for Ministry reassignments, or some other person to come in and try to find it instead. Hermione was getting closer now, and she knew what she was doing. Holding back a little information was okay for something this important, she figured. The only things she had really withheld had been Malfoy, as she didn't need them to find out she had teamed up with him for an assignment. She also left out Astherbey, and the potion she had found and what had happened because of it. While she had told them about the Vietnamese antiques, she had said it was a dead-end, and that it came from a rumor on the list. Hopefully they accepted her magical use for the sake of a Vietnamese Flora figurine.

Hermione rubbed at her headache, spreading out several atlases, and then her copy of the map. Right now what really mattered was finding out what the map was even of. Then maybe she could sleep.

April 25; 3:17am

A Happy Dance. There were several different versions of it, and they might have even be like snowflakes - no two alike and all that rot. There was a rhythm to happiness, and while some busted out into versions of the Cabbage Patch or the Running Man, Hermione was pretty sure hers was...just hers. Wild arm movements, head rolls, bouncing, and spinning hips. Very few people had the...privilege of watching her look like she was on drugs, or a kid in a house made of candy after eating the entire living room. This was probably a good thing. Spontaneous victory dances were best left for the moments when others around you were also partaking in their own seizure of delight.