A/N: Hiiiiiii! I'm so excited that this story is kind of picking up! Well... I like my detail and I like to be in the moment, so I'm sure it's long and very fluffy, but I like to set the scene and be in it :)

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Chapter 20: Meetings and More

Hermione awoke the next morning with a pressing headache. She should have known all the crying would result in this. She forced herself out of bed and made her way towards the children's room. She peeked in to see they were still sound asleep and began her morning routine. She made her way to the kitchen and magicked the appliances to make breakfast for their little family.

'What to wear', she wondered as she returned to her bedroom. She stood in front of her closet, her hands on her hips and her foot tapping. Honestly, she had no patience for these things. Her ears perked as she heard Alice and Oliver coming towards her room.

"Mummy", Alice started, pushing open her bedroom door, "are we going to Aunty Ginny's house today?"

"Actually", Hermione smiled, remembering her letter to Luna, "I've got a surprise for you two!"

"A surprise, mummy?", Oliver said, excitedly.

"Yup!", she replied, "why don't you two go get dressed and then mummy will come and do your hair?"

"Okay, mummy!", Alice said, already halfway through the door with Oliver following behind her.

It was a relief that her babies had learned to put on their own clothes; if only she could learn to put together an outfit for herself. She noticed a simple blue dress that Daphne had shown her the day she picked up her wardrobe. She quickly dressed and paired the dress with nude heels.

'Maybe I should put on a touch of make up today', she thought as she glanced at her reflection. She had a great feeling about today and, surprisingly, she felt quite confident. With her headache long forgotten, Hermione began applying a light touch of makeup. Ginny had taught her well and, although her best friend believed she had been ignored, Hermione did pick up some of her tips quite easily.

She headed into the kitchen where breakfast had been set and called for the twins.

"So, do you want to guess what we're doing this morning?", she asked as she set plates for the children.

"Mummy are you sure we're not going to Aunty Ginny's?", asked Alice.

"I want to play with Teddy", Oliver interjected with a pout.

"Well, you will get to play with Teddy today", Hermione answered, "but you'll also be playing with lots of other children."

"Mummy, I don't know if I want to", Oliver replied, nervousness etched onto his toddler face.

"Why don't we see how it is and if you don't like it, we can come home", Hermione compromised, "is that okay, cricket?"

"Okay", Oliver replied after some consideration.

"Well, mum", Alice said, "I'm going to play with everybody!"

"That's lovely, sweetheart", Hermione smiled, "let's finish up breakfast and head on over, shall we?"

The little family finished their breakfast and before they knew it, they were stood in the daycare office.

"Luna!", Hermione smiled, hugging the witch, "I'm so glad to see you. How have you been?"

"I'm good", Luna smiled warmly, "the nargles are hibernating."

"Well, that's lovely", Hermione chuckled, she still didn't believe in the creatures, but it was far from her to judge Luna on her beliefs.

"Hello", Luna said, kneeling to greet the twins, "I'm Luna. I'm quite sure you won't recall, but I met you two quite a while ago."

"Hello missus Luna", Alice replied, "I'm Alice and this is my brother, Oliver."

"Hullo", Oliver replied, shyly.

"Why don't you two head on over to the play room?", Luna said, pointing towards a room behind her, "I believe your friend Teddy is already in there."

"Go on", Hermione said, smiling, "I'm just going to talk to Miss Luna for a moment."

Hermione watched as her babies disappeared into the room and turned to Luna. The witch was giving her a strange look.

"They'll be alright", she said, knowingly, "don't worry yourself too much. I've got some paper work for you before you head out, though."

Hermione spent the next half an hour filling out paper work and emergency contact sheets. She hesitated for a moment before leaving the father portion blank. No need to start with that; especially not so early in the morning.

"Alice, Oliver", Hermione said, entering the play room.

"Hi mummy", Alice answered, "guess what! We met so many new friends already!"

"And mummy, they have so many colors here", Oliver continued, enthusiasm in his voice.

"Well, I'm glad you're having a lovely time", Hermione smiled, relieved, "mummy has to go to work now, but I promise I'll be back right after to fetch you. Can you promise me you'll be good for Miss Luna?"

The twins nodded, and the little trio said their goodbye's. Hermione's heart eased with the knowledge that not only Alice, but Oliver, too, was enjoying himself. She said goodbye to Luna and disapparated to the Ministry to begin her long day.

She glanced at her watch as she entered her office. It was half past nine. Technically, she was late, but as she was ahead with her paperwork and her meeting wasn't until 10, she was in the clear.

She quickly placed her belongings into her drawer and pulled out her case file on the Carrows. She had made no headway with the pieces of parchment attached to one another and she was getting quite frustrated with the odd enchantment. She decided she would have to bring it up during their meeting; maybe she was missing something.

'I truly, honestly hope that Ronald is not part of this meeting', she thought. She was quite certain he wouldn't be since he wasn't even close to the criminal departments of the ministry, but she had her doubts as he was one third of the 'golden trio'. Hermione spent the half an hour she had left organizing her notes and mentally preparing herself for this meeting. She was nervous; she was in charge of this case, it was her baby, but she wasn't sure how confident she was in her abilities to run these meetings.

The meeting was held in one of their many conference rooms. Hermione arrived a few minutes early to arrange her documents. She had dutifully made copies of her notes and distributed them around the table. She held her breath, wondering who was walking in when the door opened, but it was only Harry. She was relieved to see him. Next, Graham entered the room. She should have known he would be a part of the meeting. The minister arrived shortly after.

Hermione cleared her throat, preparing to begin, but the minister interrupted her.

"We are still waiting for two others to join us", he simply said.

Almost as if on cue, the door opened and in walked Theodore Nott and Draco Malfoy. Hermione's breath almost hissed from her lips. She quickly glanced at Harry, but he seemed just as confused and surprised as she was.

"You may begin, Hermione", the minister prompted.

"Yes, sir", she replied, automatically, "I've prepared copies of my notes and all of the information we have accumulated on the Carrows. Unfortunately, there isn't much available. I have, however, discovered a document that has not been identified."

"What do you mean by that?", Malfoy interrupted, "What do you mean it has not been identified?"

"Well, Mr. Malfoy", Hermione replied, "the document seems to have some sort of enchantment or spell that prevents anyone from separating the pages. I've tried hundreds of different spells and have even resorted to attempting to separate the pieces by hand, but I've had no luck."

"I see", he answered, deep in thought. It seemed that he, too, was taking the case seriously.

"Hermione", Graham began, sifting through her notes, "I notice you've discovered quite a bit, actually. We had no idea about them being spotted recently."

"Well, sir", Hermione said, "I mean, Graham, they weren't spotted per se. I was looking through articles and newspapers and read that two people with similar appearance were seen entering Knockturn Alley. I'm not one hundred percent sure it was them, but I'm also unsure that it wasn't."

"So, what's the next step then, Hermione?", Harry said, giving her the lead of the meeting once again.

"I believe that the next step in our plan should be to have a visit to Knockturn Alley. I doubt either you or I will be able to get any information from anybody there", she continued, "which makes it quite convenient to have Mr. Malfoy's abilities."

"So, you want me, the death eater traitor", Draco answered, trying to keep his temper in mind, "to go to Knockturn Alley and risk my life to fish around for information?"

"Honestly, Draco", Theo began, "I can go with you."

"Either of you have a better chance than the rest of us", Hermione replied, calmly.

"Mr. Nott", she continued, "I believe it'd be best if you also kept a look out for anything that seems out of the ordinary in international travel."

"Aye, aye, Granger", he replied.

"Graham, I think you and I should attempt to uncover that document again", she said, addressing her boss, "We might have better luck working together."

"Great", he answered, "I'm sure we can figure it out."
"Harry", she said, finally turning to him, "I think it'd be a good idea to instruct your team on how to react in the event that they do come across one of the Carrows. It might also be good to make sure they have visual on what they look like under different appearances. I have a deep-rooted feeling that they are under the influence of the Polyjuice potion."

"Yes, ma'am", Harry replied, a knowing glint in his eye at the mention of the potion. They were both well aware of the effects of Polyjuice potion.

"I think that's all I've got for today", she said, wrapping up their meeting, "I hope we make some headway at this as a team. I look forward to working with all of you."

The team dispersed leaving just Harry, Hermione and the minister.

"Meet me in my office for lunch?", Harry asked, making his way towards the door, "good day, minister."

"Yes, Harry", Hermione replied, "I'll meet you in about half an hour."

"So, Hermione", Kingsley began, "I'm sure you've got a few questions."

"Kingsley", Hermione began, ready to reprimand him, "you should have told me I'd be working with Malfoy!"

"If I had told you, you would have declined", he answered, calmly, "I simply took a more… strategic approach."

"Strategic approach!", Hermione said, chuckling, "you do have a way with words, minister. I'll forgive you this time, but I definitely dislike surprises such as these!"

"You forgive me every time, Hermione", the minister laughed in response, "go on now, you'll be late for your lunch."

Hermione left the minister and made her way back towards her office. Just as she turned the corner, her body collided with another.

"We've got to stop bumping into each other like this", the husky voice answered, steadying her.

"Malfoy", Hermione said, rubbing her forehead, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm just waiting for the minister", Draco replied.

"Well, carry on then", Hermione said, attempting to get back on her path.

"I was meaning to ask", Draco said, joining her to her office, "you're quite chummy with the minister, eh?"

"We're friends", Hermione replied, a smile adorning her face, "he's like a father to me."

"And Montague?", Draco continued, "is he like a father to you, as well?"

"What?", Hermione asked, stopping in her tracks. Her brow furrowed and she turned to him as if he had grown another head entirely.

"No, of course not", she answered, confused, "what do you want, Malfoy?"

"Nothing", he answered, shortly, "just saying, you seem quite chummy with him, too."

"Well", Hermione said, ignoring him, "this is my office."

Before he knew it, she had shut the door behind her. She turned to her desk and organized her files before disapparating to Harry's office.

"Ready for lunch?", she asked, "what shall we have today?"

"Come on", Harry chuckled as he ushered her out the door.

After lunch, Hermione had returned to her office. She was deep into her case on missing artifacts when an owl began pecking at her window. She rarely got owls at work; the ministry had been using their ages old in-office telegram delivery since as far back as she could remember.

"I wonder whose owl you are", she mused aloud. The owl was definitely rich and seemed to exude intelligence. She turned over his name card to see that his name was Jupiter

"Jupiter", she tried, "that's a beautiful name. I wonder if you know about it."

She handed the owl a treat and separated the envelope from its leg. She absentmindedly ran her fingers through its feathers as she opened the letter.

"Of course,", she said to Jupiter, "it should have been obvious that you belong to a Malfoy."

The owl puffed out it's chest at the mention of the Malfoy name.

'Haughty, are you?', she thought. She handed the owl another treat and sent it along its way.

"Honestly, I didn't think she was being serious!", Hermione groaned aloud, sarcasm etched into her voice, "Tea at the manor, tomorrow at noon. Lovely."

She knew she promised the Malfoy matriarch that she would come by for tea, but she hadn't expected the woman to be serious. Wasn't it just a courtesy thing?

She scribbled out a quick reply and accepted the invitation. She quickly pushed the thought to the back of her mind before she was overwhelmed and delved deeper into her case files.

She worked steadily until her wand's alarm rang and indicated that it was nearly five. She hurriedly packed up her belongings and apparated to the day care. She waited in the small main office, excited to see her babies and hear about their day.

"Mummy, mummy, mummy!", she heard them chime before she could fully see them racing towards her. Both twins wrapped themselves around each of her legs.

"Hello, loves", she laughed, "I take it you had a good day?"

"They had a wonderful day", Luna answered, her dreamy smile in place. The twins nodded their heads in agreement.

"I'm glad you both had a good time", Hermione smiled, signing the paperwork to release them to her, "Ready to go home?"

It had been a long day for all of them. The twins were so excited about day care. They sped through their day and told Hermione all about it over dinner. They had colored, played quidditch, had a nap, baked oatmeal cookies, and even learned to say thank you. She felt so proud. After the twins were nestled in their beds, Hermione poured herself a glass of wine.

With her wine glass in hand, she grabbed her mail from the window sill and a book from the shelf and settled onto her couch.

She sifted through her mail and stopped short on a letter. She saw the perfect cursive writing and remembered who, exactly, had writing so nice it had made her envious during her younger years.

'Great', she thought, 'another Malfoy letter. I'm not sure how much Malfoy I can handle in one day.'

She opened the letter and read its contents.

Hermione Granger,

I'm not quite certain what occurred that night at the ball, but I have been bothered so since then. What made you take off so abruptly? I don't recall being entirely rude. It was actually quite rude of you to disappear without even a goodbye, to be honest.

She scoffed at his indication that he was an innocent. He knew what he was doing when he brushed her hair behind her ear.

'Honestly, how can he be an arse even in written form?', she thought. She continued reading.

I have heard from my mother that you will be joining her at the manor for tea tomorrow at noon. I hope you heed my advice and dress for the occasion. Although, I do not feel the need to advise you as you looked quite nice during the meeting today. I could possibly give you a tour of the libraries tomorrow; a proper tour. You may venture through the shelves and I may allow you to borrow a book or two.

I look forward to seeing you, Ms. Granger.

Draco Malfoy

'Well… that's something else', she thought as a blush colored her face, 'he managed to insult me and compliment me all at once.'

She made her way to her bedroom, pausing to peek into Oliver and Alice's bedroom. She pecked their foreheads and tucked them in before getting into her own bed. She glanced at the letter in hand and placed it into her side table drawer. It felt almost special. She tucked in and opened up her book and lost herself in the world of The Great Gatsby.