"Miss Granger?" someone called, again and again, but it was the soft tapping on her shoulder that finally caught her attention. She blinked a few times, trying to push those painful memories from her past that kept coming back out of her mind so that she could focus on the young witch that was calling her. "Miss Granger, are you all right? You look a little pale," the witch said as Hermione turned away from charmed window displaying a stationary sunrise. There had been a time, years ago, when she would have found the image beautiful; now it just broke her heart to watch it.

"I'm fine, thank you," Hermione replied, forcing a small smile to her lips. She saw the witch hesitate for a moment, as if not sure whether she believed it, but then went back to the charming smile.

"Healer Thompson will see you now. This way, please."

She let the witch guide her through a few busy waiting rooms and down a hallway, stopping when they reached what seemed to be the largest room in the entire hospital. With another broad smile, the witch knocked on the door and opened it for her without waiting for a reply, motioning for her to walk inside.

"Miss Granger," the small, balding wizard inside the room greeted her, quickly walking around his desk and towards her. "It's such an honour to meet you," he said, shaking her hand excitedly. "Thank you so much for coming, especially under these circumstances and on such short notice. Please, take a seat."

"Thank you. Your message said it was urgent."

"Yes. I met with the Minister, and…well, we are aware this is not exactly the manner in which you conduct business, but you see, under these circumstances…" Thompson trailed off, looking unsure of what to say. He made his way back around his desk in silence, and only when he was seated again did he speak. "Would you like a drink, Miss Granger?"

"No, thank you," she said, surprised by the sudden change of subject. "I'm afraid I don't have much time, I have a meeting with the Minister at six."

"Oh, of course. I will try to be brief, then," he said, with a broad smile. "The Minister spoke most highly of you. You see, we contacted the Ministry first, of course, when it became obvious that we were dealing with something…unusual, but after more than a week there have been no results," he explained, in hurried words. "When I spoke to the Minister about this, he assured me they are putting every effort in solving this situation, but it would take time. He told me if there was someone that could help us, that it would be you, Miss Granger. You seem to be the best in your…line of work. And so young, it's most impressive."

"I'm sorry, Mr Thompson," she interrupted as politely as she could, trying her best to keep her impatience in check, "but if the Ministry cannot help you, I don't see how-"

"Oh, such modesty," the wizard said, before she could finish, that broad smile back on his lips.

"What is the reason you contacted me exactly?" she asked, before he got sidetracked with more praising.

"Well, you see, there have been a series of attacks over the last few weeks."

"Attacks? Of what nature?"

"We don't know, exactly. You see, none of the victims remember what happened to them. As far as they know, they suddenly woke up on some deserted alley, with no memory of anything strange happening until then, and barely an hour lost. Nothing seemed to be wrong with them at first, but after approximately a day symptoms began to appear.

"What were these symptoms?"

"At first they matched those of a common cold, with fever, dizziness, the usual," he said, with a small wave of his hand. "After a few more hours their condition worsened. The fever produced hallucinations, you see. Mild ones at first, harmless, but that quickly changed. The victims became violent, started attacking anyone near them until Ministry officers were called, and they had to be disarmed and restrained."

"How many victims are there?"

"The patients were brought here as soon as it became clear they were under the effect of some kind of magic; we have fourteen so far."

"I'm sure you are aware of the fact that I'm not a healer, I still don't see-"

"I have every healer in this hospital at my disposal, Miss Granger," he said, rather briskly. "If this was something a healer could do, the patients would have been healed by now, I assure you." Then he seemed to catch himself, and smiled again. "Shortly after the patients were brought in, their magic became unstable, and we were forced to isolate them in order to keep them and our employees safe. We cannot run any tests on the patients once they reach critical level, and we have not been able to simply bind their magic, either. The Ministry has Aurors tracking down whoever is responsible for these attacks, but they haven't found them yet, and our patients' health keeps deteriorating; they're running out of time. The Minister himself told me to contact you, Miss Granger. I'm sure you understand the gravity of this situation. We do not need more healers, or more Aurors. We need something else."

"What is it that you expect me to do, Mr Thompson?"

"Whatever needs to be done, Miss Granger. You will have a team of our best healers at your disposal, as well as anything else you might need. Anything you need, we will provide. We have to find a way to break the magic affecting them and save our patients soon."

"I don't usually work with others, Mr Thompson."

"I'm aware of that. You can contact the team through someone else, or we can provide you with an alias in order to do this. The Minister made the conditions for hiring your service very clear, and I'm more than willing to oblige. Only the three of us will know about this, Miss Granger. "

"I cannot give you an answer until I have more information about the case."

"I understand. We have all the files ready for you, there is just one detail we have to discuss first."

Her eyes darted to the clock on the wall. It was five to six; she was going to be late. She hated being late.

The wizard seemed to notice her impatience, and spoke again. "There are certain aspects of this case, as you can imagine, that neither the Ministry nor the hospital would want the public to know. I was assured by the Minister that I could count on your absolute discretion, but you see, the hospital's policy-"

"I assume what you are trying to say is that you want me to agree to a Non-Disclosure Binding Spell?"

"I assure you, Miss Granger, that it is not a matter of trust," he hurried to explain. "It is simply a legal requirement before I can give you access to classified information."

"I understand."

Thompson hesitated for another moment, as if afraid he would offend her by asking her to sign such a contract. She was more than used to it; in fact, almost every one of the jobs she was hired to do required such agreements.

When the wizard opened a drawer and pulled out a roll of parchment, she held her hand out and took it, spreading the contract in front of her and waving her wand over it to check for any hidden clauses before taking a few minutes to read through it.

"The contract does not specify the reason you are given access to the information, of course, or even what files you are given," Thompson said, as she read. "It simply states your name and the terms of the agreement. We can change your name for an alias if you prefer, the Binding Spell would work as well."

"Does your assistant or anyone else know why I'm here?"

"Of course not."

"Then I believe that would be a better option," she said, waving her wand over the contract again to change her name to one of the aliases she used for work before signing it.

"Wonderful, wonderful," the wizard said, all but glowing with glee as he took the contract back, his previous nervousness forgotten as that broad smile returned to his face. "Now, I understand you are in a hurry," he said, then glanced sideways at the clock. "Dear Merlin, I didn't realise this had taken so long, you are late to your meeting," he said, flicking his wand to call for his assistant. "Miss Weaver, please bring the case files for Miss Granger," he said, as soon as the door opened, then hesitated and turned to her. "Unless you would rather we sent them to your office, instead?"

"I will take them with me, thank you," she said with a small smile. She didn't really have an office, she usually worked from home, and the last thing she needed was for someone, anyone, to find out where she lived. She'd had to deal with enough strangers knocking on her door after the war, most of the Order had. After a few attacks from rogue Death Eaters and many fans and stalkers, most of them had decided to move. She had made sure no one other than her parents and a few friends knew where she lived now, and she intended to keep it that way.

"Well, then I won't hold you up any longer. I'm most sorry for the delay," Thompson said, shaking her hand. "It truly has been a pleasure, Miss Granger."

"Thank you," she said, then followed his assistant out of the office.

They walked down another hallway this time, and the witch stopped a few doors down. Hermione waited outside as the woman stepped into a small office, then walked out a second later, a large box floating in front of her.

"All the case files are here," the witch explained, charming the lid off the box and pulling out a sheet of parchment. "All the files are sorted chronologically, but are cross referenced by patient's name, symptoms and treatment. Just tap your wand over the option you need, and they'll re-sort themselves accordingly. If you have any-"

"Patty!"

They both turned to the wizard running to them, and the witch took a step forward. "Brad? What is it?"

"I have a package for Hermione Granger; it was left at reception a few minutes ago. Please tell me she's still here," the wizard said, sounding desperate. When the witch turned to Hermione with a confused frown, he followed her gaze, only then noticing her standing there. "You're Hermione Granger," he said in a flat tone, reaching inside his pocket without waiting for a response. "I have to deliver a package to you."

She saw him pull a small box from his pocket and hold it out to her, but she didn't take it. She had a strange feeling about this. A wave and a flick of her wand moved the box away from his hand, making it slowly float closer to her. The second the box left the wizard's hand she saw his eyes focus as he blinked a few times, then tilted his head to the side as he looked at her.

"Who left it?" the witch asked him.

"Who left what?"

"The box, Brad. Who left that box?"

The wizard turned to her, frowning in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Hermione moved her wand over the box, checking for spells before opening it.

"What's that?" they both asked her, but she was too focused on what she was seeing to answer.

Inside the small box, cushioned in black velvet, lay a small glass phial filled with a silvery substance she knew only too well. Next to it was a note: 'Time is of the essence. We will contact you again soon.'

"Who gave you this box?" Patty asked.

"I know you, you're Hermione Granger!" the wizard suddenly said, looking incredibly pleased to be standing so close to her.

"Someone put a spell on him," Hermione muttered.

"What?"

Hermione used the few seconds she had to sneak into the man's mind, search through his memories, as the witch tried to explain to him what was going on. A quick glance was enough to tell her there was nothing to be seen. Whoever had left the box for her had done a very good job at covering their tracks.

She made the small box float into the one with the files, closed it, and vanished them both to her home. Checking up and down the hallway to make sure there was no one else there, she modified both the witch's and the wizard's memories, erasing everything related to the small box and making the witch forget about the files she had given her.

Plastering a smile on her face, she lowered her wand and said, "I'm afraid I must go. I have a meeting to attend to."

"Of course, I'm sorry," the witch said. "There are anti-Apparition wards in this area of the hospital, but you can use one of the emergency entrance rooms."

She followed the witch as she started walking again, leaving a puzzled wizard behind. That hallway led to a waiting room, and that to another. Finally, the woman opened a door to their right and stepped inside a small, empty office.

"You can Apparate from here."

"Thank you," Hermione said.

"It's been a pleasure to meet you, Miss Granger. Have a good day."

"You, too," she said, tightening her hold on her wand as she Apparated back home. The meeting would have to wait.

The second her feet touched solid ground again, Hermione walked into her living room where she had sent the boxes. With one hand she opened a cupboard by the door and reached for her Pensieve, while with the other she summoned the glass phial to her.

She poured the memory into the Pensieve as she walked to her desk, then quickly checked it for any kind of hidden curses, although she didn't think there would be any. As soon as she was positive it would be safe, she set the golden basin on the desk and leaned forward.

No one except for her and Healer Thompson had known she would be at St Mungo's that morning. She hadn't even contacted Caleb before the meeting. She was not, by any means, an easy person to locate, so she was certain that whoever had left the package for her had gone to great lengths to find her. It must have taken power, time and resources to do it, and they had been careful not to leave any clue about their identities.

With a small sigh, she bent forward and touched the twirling memory, knowing that whatever they wanted, it couldn't be good.