A/N: This fic is based on a challenge by Lily H. Potter over at . Sorry if the first chapter is kind of bad, I promise it will get better.

Hermione Granger was in a rut. In the last several years since the war with Voldemort ended she seemed to have fallen into a rather dreary routine: Wake up, make breakfast, work, come home, make dinner, read, and go to bed. That was pretty much all she did, although for some unfathomable reason, the few friends she had (she was never a very social person) seemed to think her life, or at least her job was one big adventure. Hermione didn't see what made her occupation so fun. It was exciting at times yes, but hardly fun.

For the past several years, Hermione had been working as a freelance journalist for various Muggle and Wizarding newspapers, though mostly muggle. Her (mostly self-appointed) job was to keep the actions of the many death eaters left over from the war in the tabloids were no one outside the Wizarding World would take them seriously. Hermione's friends seemed to have it in their heads that this was a great job since Hermione often found herself on the scene after (and sometimes during) the attacks, risking her life to keep it all quiet, and after doing it for six years, it had lost whatever 'fun' it ever had.

Luckily, Death Eater activity had dropped to the minimum in recent years so Hermione had to find other things to write about in order to keep food on her table, and it was times like this that she regretted not accepting the teaching position the headmistress of Beauxbatons, the wizarding school she had attended, offered her when she graduated.

But through it all Hermione Granger persevered, and now at age 24, she had a decent sized flat, a career she (usually) enjoyed and excelled at, and, as previously stated, she was in a rut.

Hermione's alarm clock rang at exactly 9:30 am one Sunday in late April as usual, and the minute she opened her eyes Hermione knew, 'today is going to be a rather tiresome day'. This was not good news for her, because Sunday was the only day Hermione's routine was slightly different and that rut was just a bit smaller. Today was the day she always took off from work. That was the good thing about working freelance, as long as she didn't have a deadline rapidly approaching, Hermione was pretty much in control of her work schedule. On Sunday, she usually just relaxed around her apartment, sometimes she went out to walk in the park or see a movie, but usually she just stayed in and caught up on her reading.

So the fact that she had this gut feeling that today was going to be a bad day didn't put her in the very good mood. She switched off her alarm clock and drowsily got up to go take a shower. Twenty minutes later, Hermione stepped out of the shower and, after toweling off and casting a quick charm to dry her hair, dressed in a pair of jeans and a white shirt. Upon entering her kitchen, she noticed that the owl that delivered the Daily Prophet every day had arrived. Hermione paid it and then turned away to sit down at the table. She casually glanced at the headline and saw a familiar face plastered across it. 'THE GREAT HARRY POTTER CAPTURES THREE MORE DEATH EATERS!' The headline screamed. Hermione almost giggled aloud at the picture of Harry Potter, where it seemed he had been trying to cover the camera lens with his hand in a futile effort to avoid having his picture taken for what Hermione figured must have been the hundredth time that year.

Sometimes when her mind wandered, Hermione would think about the wizarding world's hero, and often wondered if she would ever meet him. She knew that she possibly could have her parents not decided to move to France when she was ten, for then she would probably have gone to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the very same school Harry had attended. Harry's story had fascinated Hermione from the moment she heard it. She admired The Boy Who Lived for his courage and for the fact that he had personally dueled and defeated Lord Voldemort, something she knew she would never have been able to get up the courage to do; she had had a hard enough time dealing with death eaters who had attacked her school during the final battle. There hadn't been a lot of them, but enough to put a serious threat on the school…

According the article, Harry had single-handedly cursed the three death eaters into submission using only one spell and with his wand arm badly sprained. Hermione knew they were exaggerating greatly though, which probably explained why Harry didn't look to eager to have his picture taken by their photographer. She put the paper down on the kitchen table and went to make a much needed cup of coffee when the first bad thing of the day happened: She was out of coffee.

"Damn." Hermione muttered.

Sighing, she walked into her bedroom and snatched up her purse from the nightstand, and then once she had gotten her shoes on, headed out the door.

At the market, Hermione was having a bit of a problem. She had found the coffee she liked easily, but had decided to pick up a few other things she was running low on. She had been going to get some bread, but it seemed that the idiots who ran the place found it necessary to make some changes in the placement of their products. She looked down five aisles before she finally found the bread and as she was looking for the kind she liked, the thing that would soon break her out of her mundane routine struck her…or rather, slammed into her.

Hermione recoiled back about a foot and almost dropped her basket. She caught her balance by grabbing on to a shelf and once she had steadied herself, she took a look at who had crashed into her. It was a little girl who couldn't be older than five. Her black hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and she had a startling pair of green eyes. She was thin but not malnourished and judging by her expression, something had made her very, very scared.

"I- I Sorry. Sorry." The girl stammered before taking off in the other direction and running out of sight.

For a moment, Hermione tried to figure out what to do, the girl probably had parents in the store with her, but she had looked scared for some reason, so maybe she was in trouble, but that couldn't be, could it?

Before Hermione could ponder further, a loud crash rang out pulling her away from her thoughts. She headed over to the source of the noise and found that a display of canned soup had toppled over and standing next to it, shaking in fear, was the little girl. Several other people had come over to see what the commotion was, but Hermione was the only one who seemed the notice the child. Slowly, she approached the girl, who hadn't noticed her yet. When she finally saw Hermione coming toward her the girl almost ran away again.

"It's okay," Hermione said quickly putting her hands up, "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to help you."

The girl looked Hermione up and down a few times as if she were sizing her up, and then, she did something Hermione never expected, she let out a small cry and launched herself into Hermione's arms and began bawling. She stood there stunned for a moment before awkwardly putting her arms around the child.

"Shh…it's okay," She whispered into the sobbing child's ear, "it's going to be okay."

"Excuse Me!"

Hermione turned slowly so not to disturb the child and came face to face with a rather irate looking man whom Hermione assumed was the store manager.

"Can I help you?" She asked politely.

"Is that child yours?" The Manager asked angrily.

Hermione took a moment to answer, "Um, yes she is."

"Well she just knocked over this soup display." The man cried pointing at the mountain of cans that now littered the floor.

"I know, I'm so sorry," Hermione said, amazed that her acting was working so well, "She just gets a little too hyper sometimes, you know how kids are, and I'm willing to pay for any damages." She added as an afterthought.

This seemed to satisfy the manager. Once Hermione had paid for the soup and her groceries, she walked outside with the child, who had finally stopped crying and set her down.

"Are you hurt?" She asked.

The girl just shook her head.

"Can you tell me your name?" Hermione asked.

"M-Mina." She answered.

"Mina," Hermione repeated with a smile, "That's a lovely name."

"Thank you," Mina answered softly while wiping the tears from her eyes, "its short for Wilhelmina."

"So it is," Hermione replied gently, "how old are you Mina?"

"Four." Mina held up four fingers as she spoke.

"Where are your parents?"

Mina looked a little nervous about answering but finally said, "My Mommy went to heaven when I was born and I can't find my Daddy."

Hermione felt a pang of sadness for the poor girl having lost her mother, but it was the part about her father she was focusing on at the moment. "Where did you last see your Daddy?"

"In my room," Mina responded, "He was reading me a bedtime story."

"And when was that?"

"I dunno."

Hermione was getting confused. She knew there was only one explanation if this girl was telling the truth. So, she nervously asked the child one more question.

"What happened after that?"

Mina thought about it for a second, "Well, I woked up and there was a man standing over me, and I wasn in my room, and then I rand away and then I met you."

Hermione's stomach was starting to drop, "What did the man look like sweetie?"

Mina glanced over Hermione's shoulder and then pointed to something behind her, "Like that."

Hermione turned somewhat sharply around and her insides froze. Not thirty feet away from where they were standing, were two death eaters. They were walking down the street looking in various shops for something, which Hermione could safely assume was Mina. Luckily, they hadn't been noticed yet and as long as they weren't, the death eaters probably wouldn't start attacking, they weren't that stupid. But Hermione knew it was only a matter of time before they would be noticed.

While Hermione tried to figure out what to do, she began to wonder why they were looking for this girl. She was probably magical, or at least from a magical family. Perhaps she was a squib born to a pure-blood family and they were trying to kill her for it, but if that were true, why had they kidnapped her? Why hadn't they just finished her off immediately? Unfortunately, Hermione rapid thoughts caused her to momentarily forget about the death eaters, and by the time she remembered, one of them had caught sight of her and Mina, and had already pointed them out to his partner. Hermione's heart stopped for a minute before she picked up Mina and began to walk forward.

She kept her eyes straight ahead and held a tight grip on the small child, not too tight though, she didn't want to hurt her. As she rounded the corner she became aware that she was being followed, and she didn't have to turn and look to know that it was the Death Eaters. Their heavy footsteps were getting louder, so Hermione quickened her pace. Mina was beginning to whimper in fear and Hermione knew she had to get them out of there quickly. She just had to figure out a way to do it without drawing any unnecessary attention. They were coming closer now, and Hermione had no choice but to break into a run, the Death Eaters following suit.

Her heart pounding in her chest, Hermione frantically searched for an escape route, but found nothing until her eyes fell on a fire hydrant, and inspiration struck. Reaching into her pocket, Hermione prepared herself for what she was about to do and as soon as she passed the hydrant, she spun around and pulled her wand out.

"Reducto!" She shouted pointing her wand at the fire hydrant, which exploded as soon as the spell hit it.

The ensuing eruption of water was enough to stop the Death Eaters in their tracks as they tried to avoid getting wet. This gave Hermione just enough time to apparate herself and the child back to her flat.

"Okay let me get this straight." Said the Auror, "You found this girl while you were shopping, she claimed she was kidnapped, and then you were almost attacked by Death Eaters."

"That's pretty much what happened sir." Hermione told the head in her fireplace.

"And where is the girl now?" He asked.

"She's asleep in the bedroom; she looked like she needed a good rest." Hermione answered.

"Alright," said the Auror, "I'll send some men down to get the child."

"Thank you sir." Hermione said as the head disappeared.

She walked slowly into her bedroom and found Mina still asleep, clutching the blankets in her little hands. Hermione could only imagine the trauma she must have been going through, and what of her father? The poor man was probably frantic by now, especially since he had apparently already lost his wife. Hermione watched Mina sleep for several more minutes until she heard a thump sound coming from the living room and then another, and realized the Aurors had probably arrived.

Entering the living room, Hermione saw the Aurors brushing the dust off their robes. One was about a head taller than Hermione with brown hair and eyes. The other was blonde and rather short.

"You must be Ms. Granger," said the tall one holding out his hand for Hermione to shake, "I'm Auror Thompson, this is my partner Auror Davis."

"It's nice to meet you." Hermione answered shaking the Auror's hand.

"Where is the child?" Davis asked in a bored voice.

"She's asleep." Hermione answered, not sure she liked the man's tone.

Davis nodded, "Where?"

"My room." Hermione answered pointing to the open door to her right.

Without another sound, Davis turned and followed her gesture to the bedroom door. Once he disappeared from view Thompson turned back to Hermione and, as if reading her mind said, "I'm sorry about my partner, he's been up all night doing rounds, he gets like that when he's tired."

Hermione nodded a bit.

"Did the girl tell you her name?" Thompson asked.

"Yeah," Hermione answered, "She said her name was Mina and that she was four."

Thompson didn't answer right away, for a minute he just stared at her, then he asked, "Did she mention her parents?"

Hermione was a bit surprised by the question, but answered, "Yes she did actually, she said her mother was dead and from what I gather, she lives with her father."

Thompson's eye's widened now, which confused Hermione. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No," Thompson answered, "I just can't believe it."

"Can't believe what?" Hermione asked growing impatient with the man.

"This child is-"

"AAAAH!!" THUD!

The loud scream and following thud made Hermione and the Auror jump. Realizing where it was coming from, Hermione ran towards the bedroom with Thompson on her tail, entering the room they were surprised and, in Thompson's case, somewhat amused by what they found.

Mina was standing on the far side of the room, her back up against the wall and her face blanched. Auror Davis was lying against the other wall rubbing his head and looking rather agitated.

"What happened?" Hermione cried.

"She woke up," Davis grunted, "I must have frightened her; she flung me against the wall."

Thompson gave a loud laugh, "Accidental magic huh?"

"Yup…oh my head." The Auror moaned in pain.

Now Hermione had to hold back her laughter, she did feel bad for the Auror, but she had to admit it was funny that he was injured by a four year old. A small whimper of fear caused her to remember that Mina was still there. She rushed over to the child who threw her arms around her as soon as she was in reach.

"Is she okay?" Thompson asked.

Hermione nodded, "I think she's still scared, it's not everyday you're kidnapped by death eaters is it?"

Thompson just smiled a little and shook his head.

"So, what were you saying before?" Hermione asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean before…before this happened," Hermione explained waving her hand around the room to make her point, "You were about to say something about Mina."

Thompson sighed, "Okay, I'm sure you've heard of Harry Potter?"

Hermione noticed that Mina seemed to perk up at the mention of the Boy-Who-Lived. "What about him?"

"Well, Mr. Potter likes to keep his personal life secret, he has a daughter who vanished from her bed two nights ago. The papers haven't been informed so you probably haven't heard about it.." Thompson explained.

"His daughter is four years old and her name's Wilhelmina," Davis continued.

"And you think that Mina here is his daughter?" Hermione asked in shock.

She believed them of course, when she thought about it there was no way it couldn't be true. Why else would Death Eaters be after her, plus there was a resemblance, not only that but they were the same age and had the same name, Hermione just couldn't believe she was the one who found her.

"Only one way to find out," Thompson answered looking at the child in Hermione arms.

Slowly, Hermione put Mina down and bent over to reach her height, "Mina sweetie, do you know Harry Potter?"

For the first time since Hermione found her, Mina smiled, "O course I know my Daddy." She answered.

Hermione looked from Mina, to the two Aurors who had a mixture of shock and relief on their faces.

"Now what?" Hermione asked then standing back up.

"We floo Mr. Potter and tell him we found his daughter." Thompson answered.

"I'll do it." Davis said simply walking out of the room.

"The floo powder's on the mantle." Hermione called after him.

"What's goin' on?" Mina asked Hermione.

"You're Daddy's going to be coming to get you sweetie." Hermione answered.

Mina's face lit up which made Hermione smiled as well. A minute later Davis came back in and informed them that Mr. Potter would be there in a few minutes to get his daughter. In the mean time he tried to pick Mina up and carry her to the living room but she refused to leave Hermione's side, so she ended up having to do it. Once they were in the living room, Mina looked up at Hermione and asked, "I'm gonna see you again right?"

Hermione was a little surprised by this, "Why do you ask?"

"I like you, I wanna be friends, don't you?" she asked.

Hermione chuckled and bent down, "Of course I want to be you're friend Mina."

Mina grinned and cheered, making the two Aurors smile slightly. The roaring sound from the fireplace alerted the four to another presence in the room, and looking up; Hermione could see, for the first time in her life, the rather shaken looking form of Harry Potter.