After All, Harry

out of the question

"Miss. Granger!"

"Minister, what are you doing with the Potter situation?!"

"Hermione Granger!"

"Hey, Hermione, what's the update with Harry Potter?"

"Is Harry Potter confirmed dead?" Flashes of light and clicks of the cameras firing off at Hermione and Kingsley, swarmed by paparazzi as they entered the St. Mungo's Hospital. Hermione tried not to let the things the men were yelling get to her head. Harry wasn't dead, and Ginny wasn't either. She kept telling herself that.

Kingsley smiled at her supportively, but Hermione knew that he was just as uneasy as she was, so it didn't really change her mood. The day was already pretty awful, they were trying to keep a low profile about this, but with the reporters and cameras all around, that idea was already thrown out the window. Hermione took a deep breath and waved politely to a few cameras that weren't shouting at her.

Once they entered, got their badges and everything, they headed up to the floor where Darnell used to work, and walked to up to the receptionist's desk. They'd already formed a plan for this, so Hermione waltzed up to the desk and tapped on the counter lightly while Kingsley slowed down and watched from afar. The woman looking over her paperwork's eyes widened when she saw Hermione and cleared her throat.

"Anything I can help you with, Miss. Granger?" She asked lightly, looking apprehensive. Hermione was pretty used to this by now, it almost being a full year since the war ended, most people were in shock or awe at seeing her, Ron and especially Harry.

"Yes, actually," Hermione replied kindly, folding her hands neatly, "I was wondering if you could looking into these patient files for me?"

The receptionist stared.

Hermione grimaced, she should've been more specific, "I've a friend in the Auror office who needs to check out if these are real St. Mungo's papers, or fake." Hermione pulled out a neat stack of papers with random information and fake names on it, setting it gently onto the desk.

"Oh!" The receptionist looked startled, but immediately jumped up to help, pulling out her wand. Hermione smirked. There was no friend in the Auror office who gave these to her, she'd just scribbled these out in what looked to be similar to Mungo's paperwork. The woman smiled, "Of course, no problem at all." She began to spread out the papers and fuss over them, using her wand to scan them.

Giving a quick glance around the room to make sure there was no one watching, Hermione tapped her foot twice slowly to give Kingsley the 'okay'. They were lucky it was a slow day at Mungo's, since only an old lady was there, currently dozed off in the corner.

"So, I'll just use a academical memory spell for this, since I've scanned certified papers before," The receptionist explained conversationally, and Hermione smiled, "My wand will recognize the print and signatures if it's real."

"Clever, I wouldn't have thought of it that quickly." Hermione complimented, and the woman flushed, biting back a grin.

As the receptionist was bent over the papers, Hermione watched as Kingsley cast the muffliato spell on himself so the lady wouldn't hear him. Once he made sure the spell was cast correctly, he then started to rummage through the cabinets and files behind the woman's back. It was taking him quite a bit, so Hermione slipped her hand into her pocket and nonverbally casted a wind charm so the papers scattered across the desk. Luckily, the lady scrambled to pick the up but didn't turn around, buying Kingsley more time.

Finally, he pulled out two folders, and Hermione squinted her eyes to see the label. Employee Information/Ex Employee Information. The two folders were slipped quickly into the inner pockets of Kingsley, who easily slipped out from behind the desk, grinning. It was just in time, too, as the nurse set her wand aside and quickly stacked up all of the papers and handed them back to Hermione, a slight frown on her face.