The Edge of Nowhere

Chapter 8: Troubled Waters

June lingered relentlessly. Thirty days felt more like sixty. Work was monotonous. Cold case after cold case mocked her. Evidence mishandled or misplaced, rendered useless. No new leads, old witnesses gone or untraceable. She felt trapped in a job that should have been her forte. Buried in the bowels of Ministry drudgery. Exactly where Director Fudge wanted her. 

Hermione found herself longing for Ireland as the call of the wild Atlantic coast beckoned. Her desire...?...yes, desire to be near Severus again tugged with increasing fervor. She had grown quite fond of him, her mind constantly drifting back to that extended weekend in April, desperate to hold it dear. The poetry. His breath on her neck. 'Such stuff as dreams are made of'. She smiled at remembering that bit of The Tempest and apply it aptly. She was beginning to sound like Severus, quoting literature at will.

In the Ministry lobby, Hermione was lost in her thoughts. She literally bumped into Harry Potter near the Atrium. Harry seemed a bit distracted himself,

"Uumph. Oh good! I thought I was late."

Hermione shook her head back to the present,

"Huh? Oh. No, we're both on time. Want to go out or brave the canteen?"

Harry ran a hand through a shock of black hair.  He still possessed that boyish air inside a grown man's body. He wasn't tall like Severus, perhaps five-ten at best, but he was strong and well-muscled.

"Mind if we do the canteen? I have to get straight back after lunch."

Hermione placed a comforting hand on the shoulder of the man she considered a brother.

"Is everything all right?"

Finding a table at lunch hour was no mean feat but they managed.

"Yeah. Just that blasted Fudge again. Has me buried under a ton of paperwork. The git wouldn't accept my application for the D.I. exam. Said I lacked the experience to be an Inspector. I hunted horcruxes and fought a bloody war, for Merlin's sake, while he slipped off to hide in France!"

They shared their concerns that Director of Magical Law Enforcement Rufus Fudge was deliberately holding them back for some reason. Harry offered,

"I know the reason! He blames Dumbledore for his uncle's fall from grace. We are closely associated with Dumbledore, good or bad, and Fudge is punishing us because he can't punish Dumbledore."

Hermione had gone off her tuna salad.

"That's not fair."

"I know. But that's the way he thinks. And we are pretty much powerless to do fuck all about it. He has Kingsley 'protected' twenty-four seven, surrounded by aurors."

"And we don't have an 'in' with any of those aurors, do we?"

"No. All loyal to Fudge for one reason or another."

"That has to be breaking some rule somewhere!"

Harry pushed his plate of chips away.

"Can't find one. Worse case, he is over zealous in his duty. If we could only get to Kingsley...but Fudge's men stop any of my communications and I suspect yours as well."

"There has to be something we can do. I think I've done what Fate or Destiny or whatever put me in Cold Cases to do. Now I'm stagnating. I accepted the position as a condition of my promotion to Inspector. I see now it was a means to an end for Fudge."

Harry reconsidered his chips, bringing the plate closer to grab up a greasy potato wedge and pop it into his mouth.

"Well, the good thing is Fudge is looking to move up too."