Curious and Curiouser

1: The Department of Mysteries

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THE DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIES

Hermione leaned forward excitedly, tongue between her teeth, wand extended in front of her, pointing at what looked like a large floating marble. Upon closer inspection, one could discern that the 'marble' was black at the center and emitting a faint blue light, not unlike that of a Patronus.

"Reale." Hermione said under her breath, as a bright gold light shot from her wand towards the floating orb and ricocheted off of it, bouncing off the walls, ceiling, and desk before Hermione had a chance to aim and stop it with a quick, "Protego!"

Damn, she thought to herself, she really had been hoping that would work. There was a knock on the door and Hermione looked up, calling out a quick, "Come in!" before scribbling down the effects of her attempt on a piece of parchment.

She looked up from her notes at the short, blonde woman who had graduated just a year ago, from Hogwarts. "Cassie," She said with a smile, "how are you?"

"Great," Cassie replied, "I just thought I'd stop by and let you know that I was heading out for the day."

"Already?" Hermione asked, surprised, it couldn't be later than-- she glanced at the clock over her door, "7:22!" she exclaimed. She had promised Ginny she would be over for dinner by 7!

"Lost track of time?" Cassie asked with a small smile at her boss, who looked frazzled as she used her wand to move a strange glowing orb into a heavy-looking black box and snapping the lid shut.

"Yeah... haha" Hermione replied, mentally cursing herself for not setting an alarm, before remembering the ministry wouldn't let her bring a phone this far into the Department of Mysteries.

Cassie looked at her boss as she shoved notes into an impossibly small beaded bag and cleared her desk with a wave of her wand. Cassie stepped back and held the door open for Hermione while filling her boss in on her own experiences that day with a mysterious horn-like object that had been recovered off the coast of the Isle of Man.

Hermione nodded along, occasionally pointing out a flaw in Cassie's logic, or asking for more information about a specific experiment that had been done in an attempt to classify and understand the object, smiling when she sensed how excited her protege was.

Gin is going to kill me, she thought to herself as she bid Cassie goodbye and used the floo network to get to her apartment. After a quick shower and change of clothes, Hermione stepped into her fireplace with a handful of floo powder and called out, "Number 12 Grimmauld Place!"

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NUMBER 12 GRIMMAULD PLACE, LONDON

"Harry! Ginny!" Hermione called, stepping out of the grate on the other side, "I'm here! I'm so sorry I'm laa--"

"Hermione!" She was cut off as Ron came around the corner into the kitchen.

"Ron!" She started, surprised to see her best friend, "I thought you were on duty tonight." She said as she gave him a quick hug and moved to hang her cloak up.

"I was," he responded, "but Blaise offered to cover for me, I've had a lot of late nights this week and he thought I could use the rest."

Blaise was another Auror that worked cases with Harry and Ron.

"Shouldn't you be using the time to actually rest and not hang out with old school friends?" Hermione asked him with a light smile, accepting the glass of wine he handed her.