Dearly Departed,

1.

Soft fingers grazed the cracked mugs, reaching the top of the shelf to pull them out she held onto a maroon mug, his favorite. Him. Her hearted aches at the thought of him, Harry Potter.

The day he'd left, he left with her heart in his arms. But, Hermione had no reason to wonder why he left, she already understood why, he hated it. He hated the thought of the blood on his hands, the people that had suffered for him, just for him to be the 'boy who lived.'

Hermione pressed her lips tightly, she had tried hard for Harry to even comprehend that he was loved. She couldn't blame Harry, she never would. He was everything she and plenty of others ever needed him to be, he did it for their sake. Then when society no longer needed him, he's left for his sake.

She sighed into the couch cupping her warm mug and gazed onto the table. She selfishly thought to herself,  'He was wrong, he should've known that I'll never not need him. If he hadn't gone through so much, if he had a chance to heal, if he could at least have a family to fight for. Maybe then he would've stayed. Maybe, he wouldn't have even thought of leaving with no trace."

She was ripped from her wrenching thoughts to a patronus telling Hermione to report to her office for a rare case. She furrowed her eyebrows and pushed herself off quickly scurrying through her three bedroom apartment. Making her way to the master bedroom, her haven. It seemed more like a library rather than anything else.

She hummed looking through her closet taking out her black traditional robes, it was simple although she absolutely adored it for the details. A  blue sapphire adored the clasp of the robe and the inside of the robe was the same color of the gem. She smoothed down all the wrinkles  before wrapping her hair up with wasps of it dressing down her face.

She hurried through the fireplace and into her office. She walked to the file that ominously appeared the second she had arrived. She had worked in the department of mysteries for a good year, it caught her interest in 5th year and from then on it was history.

She held the file tightly she leaned onto her desk, one leg onto the other, skimming through the file. Her entire body stiffened at the names of familiar people, familiar people that were allegedly dead or missing.

She threw the file back onto the desk, scurrying quickly go out of her office and onto the Auror's department, she had to speak to Ron.

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Ron paced around his office, watching the other Auror's-to-be train outside his office. He had officially been an Auror for 2 months, although he was still fairly new, he was greeted warmly amongst the other Auror's and got along with most fairly quickly.

Hermione passed through the young trainers and reached past to Ron's office, she held tightly onto the knob swinging the door open which slammed the wall, cracking Ron from his dazed state of rhythmic pacing.

He whipped his head back, pulling his wand out. Ron sighed at the sight of the brazen woman, burning her eyes into the depths of his soul.

"What is it, Hermione?" He asked knowing something important had come up.

"What a lovely way to start a conversation, Ronald."

"We see each other every other day we might as well be attached to the hip, i don't need to start the conversation, it's always there. So what is it?" Ron expressed.

Hermione huffed before retorting, "Well if you insist, but it's pretty concerning and before you jump to conclusions I need you to understand we have no idea if these people are impersonating or not. That's my mission."

Rons eyebrows furrowed with concern, gliding to his chair, he threw himself onto it waiting for her explanation, while Hermione pulled her chair close to the desk.

"So recently, there has been sightings of people that have been dead or were missing. They haven't gone too far or figured out anything if they ARE real, but the ministry has managed to gather a whole flurry of people to be questioned by a few of us. Some of these people we know Ron."

Ron's eyes had shot up, he straightened his posture, leaning to the desk he whispered the name of someone he hasn't uttered in months, Fred.

Hermione nodded slowly, eyeing him with caution careful not to set him off, "Sirius Black too, the names of his parents and remus are there, but they have yet to be collected. I-We can't be sure they're real."

"How do we know this isn't some death eaters form of a sick joke?"

"I mean there's only one way to test it and that's by interrogating them, maybe vertiserum or looking through memories. I have no idea yet, the file still hasn't been fully pended as they've yet to collect all the countless of people mentioned."

"Do they have any idea why it's happened if they're even real?"

"I don't think they know, but I have a hunch that it has something to do with Harry."

"Harry hasn't been here for a year now though!"

Hermione gulped and rubbed her eyebrows, she had no idea how to proceed with this information. As a worker in the department of mysteries, it sure seemed like a mystery how she got through everyday without going insane.
It was a very rewarding job though, she took the confusion and worry that came with unraveling the truth.
Because she knew, she'd rather be exposed to hurtful truths than deceitful lies.

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960 words

I Hope you guys like this one, I'm super excited abt this one, esp since it's the first romance I'm working with. Dw darlings I'll make sure to feed you soon 🤞