Love's Enemy Rising

A Heated Meeting

Hermione

I haven't been this nervous in a long time. The man behind the desk examines my wand, entering the information into the Ministry's System and then hands me my name badge.

"Third floor. Ask for Victor," he says lazily, handing my wand back.

"Thank you." I head toward the elevator, paper planes zooming above my head. The Atrium is full of people rushing from one end to the other. People are appearing in a swirl of green fire from the fireplaces that line the wall and joining the throng. I try my best to look confident and like I know what I am doing as I follow a tall, thin witch to the elevator. 

I step out onto the third floor and I am surrounded my sound. Someone is wailing to my left and covering their mouth which has sprouted several identical in place of a tongue. A woman to my right is speaking rushed and panicked French as she holds what I assume was once a small child but now resembles a gnome covered in warts. From what I understand as I eavesdrop, the child stole her wand off of her night stand and it backfired on him. 

"Ah, you must be Hermione. I am Victor Grimm," comes a voice to my left. I turn to come face to face with an extremely attractive man. He is obviously older than me. His dark hair is dusted with silver over his temples and his eyes are warm and dark beneath silver rimmed glasses. A dark shadow of scruff covers his chin and when he smiles, I notice just how perfect his teeth are. 

"Uh, hi. Yes. I'm Hermione. Nice to meet you," I finally manage to spit out, holding up my hand to shake his which is warm and firm. 

"Nice to meet you too. We are so glad you decided to join our team. Things have been a little crazy here this morning so I will show you to your desk and then I am afraid you will have to jump right into the fray." He holds out a hand, gesturing for me to walk forward. I comply, heading past the French woman and her warty son. "When will parents learn to keep their wands out of their kids reach?" mumbles Victor and I am surprised to feel a hand rest on the small of my back as he steers me to an empty desk in the back.

Victor explains everything in a very rushed tone as more people pour into the room in various states of duress. I listen and try to take everything in, writing notes as quickly as I can. Then, before I can even ask any questions, he is gone and there is a line of people standing in front of me. So much for easing in.

By lunch time, I am sweaty and exhausted. I just finished chasing down a witch in a pair of cursed shoes that couldn't stop running and finally managed to hit them with a spell to blast them off of her feet. It took another round of racing to catch them and fight them into a cage to send to the basement for incineration. So I am breathing hard and my hair is a wild mess as I slouch into the elevator to go find some lunch. I am so distracted that the doors are closed by the time I notice who is in the elevator with me.

"Hermione?!" His voice sends a shock down my spine.

"Hi, Ron." I knew I would see him eventually, but I had really hoped to avoid the confrontation for a couple days at least.

"What are you doing here?" His shock is gone and his voice turns cold.

"I work here. I just started as a curse breaker. Today is my first day," I tell him. My heart hurts. I may not love Ron the same way I once thought I did, but suddenly I ache for the old days when we had an easy friendship. 

"Congratulations." He won't look at me. He stares above the door, watching the numbers change as we get closer to the end of our ride.

"Thanks. How are you doing?" 

"Like you care," he snaps. I guess I deserve that.

"Of course I care, Ron. We used to be best friends," I remind him.