The Fire Within

CHAPTER ONE

Page count: 7

"Granger! Granger!"

Hermione Granger sighed, dropping her quill onto her cluttered desk and bringing her hands up to her temples, trying to apply pressure to relieve the ache that was slowly spreading through her head. It didn't help with the male voice that was shouting and it was steadily getting louder and angrier.

"Granger! Where are you!"

She grumbled a series of words beneath her breath that would make Charlie Weasley blush and she dropped her head into her arms, leaning over in her chair and onto her desk.

"GRANGER!"

'Every bloody day!' She thought in annoyance.

It was every day this happened. It was always the same wizard and it was the same abuse she was forced to endure, and honestly, she wasn't sure she could deal with it today without snapping and hexing the idiot.

She knew she was being a bit harsh, after all, the wizard in question had a wizarding illness that was similar to Dementia, except he had access to magic, making things more dangerous for anyone that upset him.

"There you are! Granger, what in the name of Merlin do you think you're doing in my office? You're trespassing, get out! Get out now!"

Hermione took a deep, calming breath. In through the nose and out through the mouth. In through the nose and out through the mouth.

'You can't hex him,' she reminded herself. It was her mantra whenever he was nearby, or when it was anyone else that annoyed her, actually.

It was every damn day and it was all taking its toll on her. This had been occurring every day for the last three years, ever since she had taken over as Head for the RCMC Department at the young age of twenty-one, the youngest department head in history.

The old wizard currently hurling abuse at her in her own bloody office was Philip Camden, her predecessor. Before she had taken over, he'd been the department head for almost twenty years and if you asked Hermione, she didn't know how he'd managed to get the job, he hadn't been particularly good at it before the dementia set in and once it did, he'd only gotten worse.

He'd been removed from his post and forced into retirement three years ago, and Hermione had been the first choice for his replacement and since then, the department was booming, paperwork was always on time, employees were actually happy to come to work, field work was dealt with quickly, carefully and professionally and their annual reports and department analysis were better than had been seen in a long time.

Ever since that day, he returned to The Ministry and haunted the RCMC Department and verbally attacked Hermione and he'd even tried to duel her a few times, until security was called and he was escorted out of the building. Hermione had no idea how Camden was able to get into the building day in day out, but he was a crafty old wizard which she could respect if he only stopped shouting at her.

He needed to be placed into a magical nursing home but the wizard's daughter was a simpering idiot who couldn't even spell her own name properly and she refused to do so, and such, not only was Camden able to harass her department, he was not only vulnerable, but dangerous too.

"GRANGER! Get the hell out of my office and get yourself..."

Her headache was in full swing. She'd been staring at the same reports since the night before, having pulled an all-nighter in her office. It was now mid-morning, she'd not yet been home, she'd not yet had breakfast but her lovely PA, Kara, had brought her a strong coffee the moment she stepped into work. She'd been working the same case for the last three months and she kept hitting a brick wall, and the stress she felt only increased when Camden showed up.