The Sweetest Thing

chapter 3

Author's note. I do not own any of the characters is the story, just the story line.
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Hermione POV
After our lovely day at the beach I went back to my flat to shower and get my stuff ready for the next day, which is a Monday, and of course, a work day. I make myself a snack, after packing my lunch, and then went to bed. I love my job though, I think to myself as I turned off the light in my bedroom, and get into bed. I finished my snack while reading a book by the light of my bedside lamp. I wasn't really focused on the book though, I kept thinking of the fun day we all had. I love seeing my friends happy, especially Harry, since he had gone through so much in his life. I did notice though, things seem a bit cold between him and Ginny today. Maybe its because she's leaving so, he always hates it when she's out of the country. I'll have to ask him about that tomorrow at work.
  I work at the ministry of magic, in the law enforcement department, as one of the resident positions masters. We brew and regulate all the potions for the ministry and supply the auror office as well. We also have to analyse foreign potions that the aurors come across when the raid houses of dark wizards and the like. As I've always enjoyed potion making, working in the potions lab at the ministry is really like a dream come true.
The best part of working there though, I must admit, is getting to see Harry and Ron, from time to time, as the auror office is not far from our lab, at the ministry. After the war a lot of things had changed and the war heroes would get hounded by the press, the Daily Prophet would have tons of stories on them everyday, it used to be a nightmare to go anywhere in the magical community and Harry had briefly considered living as a muggle until the hype died down. He even disappeared for a few months right after the war, while some of us finished our seventh year at Hogwarts, we were just a handful but the year went by fast and rather quiet.
Ron ofcouse were loving the attention back then. He took the year off, to be there for his mom and dad who were broken after the loss of their son Fred. I always thought it was so sweet of Ron to be there for them. He held the household together, really grew up, and stepped up so the Ginny could finish school. By the time Harry resurfaced, they decided to go into auror training together, and they both settled into the routine of working life after that. And look at us now, six years later and still just a bunch of misfits. A bunch of 26year old misfits that is.
I have to get some sleep though, I think to myself, and switched of my bedside light and fell asleep.

The next morning my alarm went off at 6:30am, its quit early as I only have to be at work at 9, but I like to go for a jog before work in the morning. So I got up, brushed my teeth and put on some joga pants and a T-shirt, and went for a run. It really clears my mind to be out jogging, breathing in the crisp morning air. On my way back I bought a coffee at a small street café, and went home to get ready for work.

When I got to the lab, all I could see was smoke, "what in Merlin's name, is going on here?" I say as I enter the smoke filled lab, and immediately started coughing. "Granger? Is that you?" I hear the familiar voice of one of my coworkers, Draco Malfoy. After the war he changed alto too. Especially after he's father received the dementors kiss, it really took a toll on him. And we get along quit well, I have to say, I mean Draco is not stupid and he too is rather good at potions. I suppose being Snape's favourite in class, back at school,did help that along too. But those days are long gone now and he even apologized for being so cruel to be back in school, when we first started working together.
Draco is good at his job, or usually that is, I'm not sure what happened this morning, though. "I'm not even in the door yet, Malfoy and you already seem to burn the place down!" I scowl at him, he emerged from the back all blackened in the face from the soot, his platinum blonde hair pointing in all directions. " Its not my fault, I swear. I just got in myself, I only went to put my lab coat on and was about to sit down and finish my coffee, ...now Granger don't give me that look," he says with a slight smirk on his face. He knows we're not suppose to have food in the positions lab and I'm always telling them off for breaking the rules. I just roll my eyes at him, and he continues. "anyway, I just sat down and then there was an explosion." I stare at him in shock. What could have cause the explosion in the lab? " Did you see anything suspicious in there when you got in? Anything out of place?" I ask, as I take out my wand to clear the smoke from the lab. "If i had seen anything out of place I would've said so, Granger." he replies while taking out his own wand to fix his hair can clean himself up. When the room comes back into view, we set out to find the source of the explosion.
Just then Neville Longbottom walks in, Neville started as an auror but later joined our team as the Herbology specialist. "Morning. What's that smell?" he says after putting down the box he was carrying, at his station. Neville was always brings strangers plants and weeds into the lab for testing. Some of the are for work, but most of the time its for his own amusement.
"Neville," I say to him, still searching the lab for the cause of the explosion, "Good morning, well there seem to have been some sort of explosion this morning, I found the lab in smoke when I got here. You don't happen to know who was here last, on Friday. Or if anyone had to come in over the weekend or something?"  He looked up at me, an unreadable look in his eyes. "Well, Friday I left after lunch and I don't know who came in over the weekend. Wait! Where my bubblehead bean sprout?" He runs over to a corner with a glass case against the wall. "Good, the still safe! What a relieve." He says closing the case lid again. Leave it to Neville to be worried about been sprouts when the lab almost blew up. "Seriously, Longbottom. Your worried about your bloody sprouts! I bet its out of his dumb plants that blew up or something." Malfoy says, now getting irritated by Neville's lack of interest in the problem at hand. But Neville just sighed. "Hey is that suppose to be there?" he asks, pointing at a blacken piece of metal that is seems to be stuck to one of the basins. The three if us move over there, it seem this might have been where the explosion started. But what is it...?