The Edge of Nowhere

Chapter 6: Revelations

Back in London, Hermione turned in her portkey at the Ministry's Transportation department and proceeded to her office. The building was virtually empty and the echo of her heels hitting the marble floors was all she could hear. Sundays saw minimal staffing at the magical Headquarters, only security and weekend shift workers. 

The Records section sat at the back of Law Enforcement on Level Two of the Ministry of Magic. Her office was conveniently tucked away at the end of the archives' very long hall that divided rows and rows of official Ministry Law Enforcement cases. Some still classified. Some still unresolved. 

The signage on the glass door read:

Cold Case Division

Records

Magical Law Enforcement

A smaller removable sign read:

Detective Inspector Hermione Granger

Those unresolved cases were her purview, their folders filling 3 walls of filing cabinets alone. She oversaw four Records researchers, two whose job it was to download everything to computer. The wizarding world was woefully behind in the digital age. 

Hermione sat alone staring at the file on her desk, rolling a biro between her fingers carelessly. She was loathed to use a quill and hadn't since Hogwarts save for the occasional lack of a pen. That unpleasant episode with the horrible Umbridge put her off quills for good. Besides, she thought them inefficient and obsolete, requiring the user to constantly dip the tip in ink, run out of ink, buy more ink. Not to mention cruelly plucking feathers from an endangered Magical creature. Laszlo Biro was a wizard after all so why not use his invention, the modern day ballpoint pen, aptly named in his honour.

Her thoughts focused once again on the file in front of her. What was she to do? Surely the Ministry and the rest of the Wizarding world didn't need to know that Severus Snape was alive. It had been seven years. He had been 'posthumously' charged, tried, exonerated and declared a hero. The history books told the true story. The matter put to rest. The file was only in her Department because his body was never recovered. And should anyone bother in the future, his dossier had been a casualty of upgrading to digital. She doubted anyone would ever really bother again.

She closed the file and tucked it into her briefcase.

The door opened giving her a start. Billy, from the mailroom, pushed his cart into the office.

"Oh, 'ello, Mahm. Di'in expec' ta see no-one on a Sunday. Anyways, a package for ya', Mahm."

"Thank you, Billy."

The young clerk placed the large rectangular something, wrapped in brown paper, on her desk then left.

The package was the size of a tea tray. Hermione wondered out loud,

"Hmm, no return address."

She took out her wand and ran a few detection spells over the parcel. All clear. She tore at the paper wrapping.

"The painting!"

A broad smile crossed her faced as she held it up admiring the bright colours and the brush strokes. A small card clipped to one corner read,