Ancestry 47 - Problems Not Brought By Death Eaters, For A Change. by Voracity2

Ancestry 47 - Problems Not Brought By Death Eaters, For A Change.

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Ancestry 47 - Problems Not Brought By Death Eaters, For A Change.

Hermione was on campus, they had found a shared dorm suite for her to use. Her roommate wasn't *bad*, but was fairly uninteresting and hardly ever there. Though the girl did have a job on campus for spending money, and was actually studying, unlike so many students apparently. It wasn't bad.

Slightly annoying now and then but she could handle it. She only had one problem with her literature teacher. Who had clearly read those books and thought they were allegorical. He had mentioned that it had allusions to racial disparity.

Which, she assumed could be correct but all races had purebloods and non-purebloods so not as much racial inequality like in the States. She put up with him, she only had the one literature class with him. She had told the aurors that he might have a slight idea, so they were warned in case he tried to get her attention. They had told her to figure out a cover story and use it then tell them so they could back it up.

She could do that she supposed. She was reading the latest drivel the literature teacher thought was *important* when her roommate came in huffy. "You all right?" she asked, looking up. "You sound upset."

"I'm fine, Hermione. The fraternities are being idiots tonight with their party and they made my job in the Rec center all sorts of problems," she sighed.

Hermione got up to give her a hug. "Guys like that won't ever do much. Probably if they have parental money they'll do *something* but probably flunk out before they graduate. You, however, can graduate and build up to where their families are."

She smiled. "Thanks for the pep talk. Aren't your family rich?"

"Not really. They're dentists." She smiled her perfect smile.

"Huh. That figures with the way you're so careful and picky about how you eat and what you eat."

"I am, yes." She laid back down on her bed. "I've got to finish the chapter for Professor Ingmar."

"Have fun. I hated his lit class last year." She flopped down with a sigh then decided to go take a shower. A long, hot shower. She took her stuff up the hall to do that, nodding at the girls in there. They all nodded back. "The frats are having a party tonight and they're being annoying," she warned one girl getting ready to go out for the night.

"Great fun then." She sighed and finished her lipstick then put her makeup bag back. She headed for her part-time job at the convenience store, Hermione going with her. "You sure you want to go out tonight, Granger?" she asked her.

"I need popcorn. I'm having a desperate craving for white cheese popcorn before I start to yell back at the literature reading."

The other girl giggled at that, nodding some. "I can understand that. We all hated lit class."

"If the book was interesting it might be nice, but it's not. I've read thousands of books and even some of the oldest, most boring texts are better than that one." They nodded at the security guard they passed. He nodded back. They ran into the frat boys nearer to her job.

They tried to gang up on them but Hermione glared. A few laughed and one tried to grab her wrist so she slapped him. He yelped and backed up. "I don't think that's *your* arm to touch, now is it?" She stared at him until he backed off, then finished walking the girl to her job just in case. She cleared her throat. "I hate boys like that."

Her dormmate looked at her. "You hit him. He can charge you with that."

"He can try awfully hard. There's cameras and if they don't work, well, I can take an assault charge if I must." She smiled at her. "I've had to hit more important than that boy to protect myself."

"I didn't think London was that way."

"Depends on the area, like it does here." She opened the store's door. "In you go. Let me get popcorn and find a more subtle way back."

"You sure you want to go back alone?" the girl asked. "What if they try again?"

Hermione stared at her. "Then I'll wallop him again! If I have to, I can kick a buttock while leaving a half an ass laying there moaning that I'm mean." She smiled. "I had to learn." She got her popcorn and paid for it then walked back there. The boys had disappeared. She nodded at the same guard. "If they report me, I had to slap one of the drunkards for grabbing my wrist."

"We saw, ma'am. They're idiots. Going back to your dorm?"

She nodded, sighing at him. "He's not the first I've had to hit. I spent a year hitting people who decided I had to give myself to them." She grimaced. "They were less drunk but..." She shrugged. "Have a good night, Officer."

"You too, Miss. Let me walk you."

"All right. I never mind such safety concerns." She smiled at him. They walked back together. One of the drunk boys tried to grab her again so she ducked and glared, making him back down when the guard did the same thing. He ran off complaining about girls that were too full of themselves. "No, women want *real* men, not drunken toads!" she called after him with a smile and a wave.

"I'd never want a boy I had to finish raising." She walked off again with a sigh. The guard was quietly laughing. "I wouldn't. My boyfriends are both very well trained by parents and have manners." She smiled as she got to the dorm. "Thank you, kind sir. Have a good shift."

"You as well." She went inside and up to her room to get back to studying. He made a note for his log for the night then went back on patrol. He found one girl being harassed as they shoved her so broke it up and got her back to her car so she could head home after a good cry. That let him break up the group of morons with the other campus security people.

***

Hermione raised her hand, staring at the literature teacher. "Professor, it's not like that in England. We don't really separate out by race. Sometimes by nationality, because we do have enclave areas, but we don't really have the racial disparity that you have here. We ended slavery long before the US did."

"How would you know, young lady?"

"Well, let's see. I've lived in London my whole life outside going to school in Scotland." He slumped, grimacing at that. "While it has some parallels, if you read the book, there were non-purebloods and purebloods that were of non-white personage. Including the Patil twins in the books."

"Oh. I didn't think about that. Would you say they were purebloods?"

"I think that they were side characters so she never noted it, but I figured they were halfbloods. Many Indian families have out-married from the community over the generations. It's not common or uncommon for that to happen really.

"I went to school with one who had a totally white father, more than I am, and he was quite the stereotype of white, British man, and a few who had fully Indian parents but had a sibling that married someone not fully Indian. And two who had fully Indian families that would've been horrified.

"We're not split on the lines of race, but we do still have some enclaves of Muslim or Hindu or even expats from other areas who're in to work. The German one near the parent's practice was quite fun sometimes." She smiled. "We have our share of racists but they're against people from other countries completely, and sometimes the Irish, but if they're already Brits they can't say too much."

"Are you certain?" he asked dryly. "Sometimes you don't see where you come from the same way outsiders do."

"Yes, I'm quite sure of where I grew up." She stared at him. "I spent nineteen years there."

"It could have subtly changed over time."

"I was there six weeks ago," she shot back.

"Oh." He grimaced. "Holiday break, dear?"

"No, actually I had to start late due to the last college I wanted to attend having a problem with me liking to study things."

"Not to one in-country?"

"No, I didn't want to deal with the malfunctions I kept seeing." She stared at him. "I did get accepted to a few. I didn't want to put up with the sneering because my parents are dentists."

He slumped, shaking his head. "So not upper class?"

"No. They do fine but no, we weren't. We'd be what you'd consider middle class."

"Do you know anyone upper class?"

"Yes. Every boarding school has at least one. We had a few in our school. None were ones I wanted to hang out with, though a few have turned quite nice since we all graduated." She smiled. "We've had a lot of talks about the books we're reading."

"Were you perhaps misplaced?" he asked smugly. "Like from that book?"

"No. Were you perhaps misplaced from _To Kill A Mockingbird_, Professor?" He looked horrified. She stared back. "The UK isn't perfect, far from it, but we do have different community standards that come with cultural inclusions and exclusions. It comes from our history of colonialism and how we have to apologize for a lot of it."

"In the humanities?" he asked with a smirk.

"Pre-med. Hoping for orthopedics." He slumped again, shaking his head. "I don't have to be in the humanities to care about people."

"True." He looked at her. "The books were released internationally."

"And by her author blurb, she was in Scotland, so therefore was using UK cultural norms. I haven't studied a lot of Scotland's culture but it's been colonized by the UK too. They fought against it for centuries."

"What is the most maligned culture in Europe then?"

"The Rom," she said. "Everyone hates on them, tries to drive them off, and uses words like gypsy, which is a slur."

He gaped. "What?"

"Yes, it is. I talked to a few while we were on holiday in France. Her son had broken his jaw and the local hospital wouldn't treat him so she came to see if my parents could. We talked while my father helped wire his jaw back together again in a friend's office he was borrowing. I noticed her glaring at a sign and asked why. I was all of twelve and had no idea."

"You went on holiday?" he taunted with a smirk.

"Yes, Europeans get mandatory vacation time and half the country shuts down when we take it. It's common to go off for a few weeks of our month off."

"You get a month off?" he demanded.

"Everyone gets a month off," she shot back with a smirk. "You don't?"

"No!"

"Oh, well, I'm sorry about that. Perhaps you can work up a good social protest to get worker's rights restarted." He slumped again, shaking his head.

"I still say you're displaced from the books."

"No, were I her I'd be suing the author for making my namesake seem quite annoying," she said dryly. "And see if she's one I've met in the past."

He stared at her. "It could be because of the name."

"I don't see how being named after a witch in a Shakespearean play would make me uptight."

"You read _The Tempest_?"

"Yes of course. It was my father's favorite play of his." She smiled. "That's why I got my name. He read it with me when I was about seven. I wondered who I was named after."

He blinked a few times. "You read _The Tempest_at seven?"

"With some help for the words I didn't know. And him explaining a few historical concepts to me. That year I also read the _Satanic Verses_ to see why everyone was having such a fit about it. I still don't see why. It was rather annoyingly boring. I figured it had to be cultural and I wouldn't understand until I knew more about their culture."

"Probably," he said, staring at her oddly. "What's the last book you read outside the ones I've assigned?"

She considered it. "A manual on how to fix a car engine to be honest. I was bored and at the office, that was the only one I hadn't read. Before then was the book I read on mythical creature husbandry and care. It was dated the mid-eighteen hundreds and was quite interesting about how they thought certain species should be treated."

He blinked a few times. "Where would you find such a thing?"

"My boyfriend's family has a library they've been collecting for generations. It was in there. The aunt it was noted to be owned by did some paintings and things so it was probably a reference."

"Oh." He nodded at that. "That's very odd, Miss Granger."

She smiled and nodded. "Sometimes we all are, Professor. That's what makes us human instead of dvergers. Which is apparently the proper species name for those she calls goblins according to that same book."

He huffed, shaking his head. "Great." He got back to the discussion since he couldn't make her feel ashamed of having a different viewpoint. He stopped her after class. "Have you traveled extensively?"

"The parents have traveled for conferences and I went with them sometimes. I wouldn't say *extensively*. I have done some mild traveling. I went to a spa in Mexico because my mother wanted me to have some wild times on my gap year. It turned out to be a very different location and had things I didn't want to deal with, but I managed it and did spend a week by the pool."

She smiled. "You should visit England, sir. We have some great things to study." She left, going to her next class. A few of her classmates were giving her odd looks. She shrugged back but one grinned. "I know about my own people," she told them quietly as she walked past them. They giggled at that.

***

Hermione found out that author was signing books at an upcoming event so she decided to skip math class, after telling the teacher of course, to go see who that really was. And perhaps put a tracker on her for Harry to find her. She smiled at the author, who was staring at her oddly. "Hello." She handed over the book.

"Your hair got tamed."

"Yes, back in fourth year," she said dryly. "Do you really think I'm that annoying?" she asked dryly but quietly. The woman winced but shook her head, signing it. "Do have fun. I know the others were looking forward to their own signings." She left, calling Harry on Xander's floo phone.

Harry came in a bit later, buying his own book of book three. He smiled at the author, who was blinking at him. He stared back, holding out the book. "Here, for Harry's biggest fan, his grandfather."

"He has a grandfather?"

"Why, yes, he does." She winced but did sign it. Harry called Brad, who came to get that author once she was done with the signing. He looked at Hermione. "How's UCLA?"

"Not bad. I did have to tell a professor he had no idea about racial disparity in England the other day." He snickered but nodded, patting her on the hand. "How's the houses?"

"Not bad. Things are finally settled back in. Dobby is doing fussing things for Winky," he said quietly, moving closer.

She smiled. "I'm sure he enjoys it."

"He does. Did you end up renting a flat?"

"No, I have a shared dorm suite."

"Ah." He nodded.

"Really, Sophie's not bad. She's smart, she's actually studying and not partying, it's nice to find someone who I can be friends with."

"That's good, Hermione." He patted her on the arm. "I'd have told the other one but he's really mad right now. Plus hiding from his mother."

"Why now?"

"Tipsy's pregnant."

"Yes, I was there when Draco found that out. He can see power flows."

"Oh, I didn't realize that." He nodded once. "Well, his mother found out." She winced. "Ron did get her that same calming potion. It was needed. She's in hiding and the twins are letting Ron run the shop."

"That's good of him." She looked at someone staring at them, smiling at them. "Just catching up on the gossip among our friends group."

"You're Brits?"

"I'm in college, dear. An exchange student."

"Oh." She went inside to get her book signed.

She grinned at Harry again. "Are you coming over to visit soon? I know Draco and Xander are coming this weekend. We're going to have some time on the beach."

"I might join for an hour or so." He patted her on the arm. "Let me disappear." She nodded, walking away so he could find a secluded spot to do that from. He knew how to do that easier than she did.

She smiled at the aurors coming out, waving a bit. "Do have some fun." She produced the lawsuit paper to hand to one of them. "For her if you could please."

Brad the auror looked at it then nodded. "Yes I can. Your parents?"

"Absolutely freaked out when someone told them. I nearly got put into therapy after them reading that." She walked off to go back to the campus.

The aurors shared a smile. Granger was calm but a bit evil leaning. It was nice to see.

***

Ron stared at his mother then at the store then at his mother again. "No, Mum, they're not giving up the store. This is what they want to do for their lives."

"It's not proper!" she said sharply. "Get your behind home, Ronald."

"No, Mum, I'm working with the twins while I decide what I want to do with my adult life." He stared at her. "I'm not going to let you harm the twins or Tipsy or me or Ginny." She glared, moving closer. "Mum, I will swat you back," he warned. She huffed off again, slamming the door hard enough to break it. He fixed it with his wand then put it down, then looked back towards the apartment.

Tipsy was apparently still asleep with whichever twin it was. The other was in the lab so probably hadn't heard her threats. He did send his father a message the fast way, via a house elf he asked if they could take it. Then he settled in to wait on the kids coming in today.

Luna skipped in and stared at him. "Your mother was telling people the store was going to close."

"Reading minds is creepy," he quipped back with a smirk. "We're working on it."

"Your mother's really loud, Ron."

"I know. Oh, I so know." The twin from the lab came out putting on his jacket. "Going to shout about a sale?"

"Yup. Or put up a sign." He went outside to do that, putting a nice sign of lights up saying that they were not closing, his mother was wrong, and they were happy to announce they were about to bring out a new collection thanks to their wife's mood swings. He came back inside to smirk at Ron and Luna as he went back into the back to check on Tipsy.

Ron went out to look and knocked it a bit crooked so it matched the roofline better. It drew more attention. He smiled at a staring auror. "My mum is a horrible bitch today. We're not sure why." He went back inside.

The auror nodded. "We knew that years ago." He went to spread that news. And that apparently the twins were going to spawn. Arthur hadn't shared that news.

Xander and Harry walked past the store, Harry ducking in to buy something, and Xander loaded it into his tranq handgun on the way to the Ministry. He walked in, nodding at them. "Here for Molly 'my way or else' Weasley," he told the checking auror. "It's just tranqs." He went up to where they could hear ranting and shot her with the tranq dart, then watched her fall. He stared at Arthur. "Want her at home, Mr. Weasley?"

He stared at him. "Why did you do that?"

"I got asked to intervene before someone went off and told her what they thought of her." He put the gun back in his waistband then shrugged. "It's just a tranquilizer. She'll nap for a bit. Then probably go back to trying to ruin your sons."

"Who asked?"

"Bill. Because she tried to tell the bank he was retiring so he could come home like a proper son and give her grandchildren."

"Oh, dear. Is Fleur pregnant?"

"No. They're waiting." He grinned again. "Bill's livid. Told Fleur to please visit her mother for her own safety while he vented." Arthur winced, but nodded once. "So I'm paying off the poker debt I owe your oldest. Want her at home?"

"Please, boys. I'll deal with her later."

Harry nodded. "The twins are having to advertise for the first time thanks to her telling everyone they're closing."

"I'll help them with that. Thank you for the help."

"Welcome." He picked up Molly's head, letting Harry get her feet. They used the camp moving spell to get her home, dropping her on the couch then heading back to Dumass Glenn. Harry got a drink because he had her voice ringing in his head. Xander went to tell Fleur it may be safer and she could come there if she needed to.

***

Harry called the bank for Xander the next day. He waved at Blackrock. "Xander is giving shelter to a few of your guys. All of Bill's team, Arens, who I just met, and a few others are here at Dumass Glenn hiding from Molly Weasley."

Blackrock sighed but nodded. "She's tried here already."

"Fleur got so mad she lost control. Draco had to force her to calm down with Alex helping." Blackrock winced at that. "I have no idea how long this'll last."

"It'll last until she's forced to stop," he said dryly. "Which may be tomorrow." He sighed again. "I'll tell the higher ups over the cursebreakers. Is everyone healthy?"

"So far. Though Fleur's still pacing and mad. Bill's temper is still so high he's out fighting the plants in the garden for house defense."

Blackrock nodded. "He does have a magnificent temper. I'll let them know, Mr. Potter. Thank you." He hung up, going down there to tell them that. "Bill Weasley's team is hiding at Dumass Glenn," he told the head dverger cursebreaker Marblehead. "Bill's temper is still ongoing. Fleur lost control." That got a big wince. "Arens is there too. They're seeking sanctuary."

"It's good Dumass can give it. How long will they be there?"

"Probably until she has to stop it. Which will probably be when Arthur gets punished for it."

"Probably. I'll tell them to look up a few artifacts for us." He went to floo there to tell him that. Fleur could use the calming down time and activity. He found out she was still seething enough that her veela heritage was fully on and she looked like a creature at the moment. He wished her well, told her to let him know when they'd be able to come back to work, and left it there. He did not want to face down an enraged veela. No warrior was that brave.

***

Xander walked into the library and picked Fleur up, carrying her outside even though she was struggling. He put her down beside Bill then walked off. "She scared Marblehead. Curtis was worried about her being in miscarriage or something so called to see why she was being protected here thanks to hearing gossip."

Fleur huffed. He stared at her. "You know you have to have emotional control. Want me to ask Emilia if she can help you meditate by floo? Not sure if she can pop over right now since she's pregnant. Her guy's being more protective than I could be."

"I ..." She looked at Bill, who cuddled her. "I may call her myself later. Thank you, Alexander."

He shrugged. "It's nothing. But I don't want to have to force you to back down again either. It's not healthy for you." He went back inside.

"I do not know why I lost it suddenly."

"Because it threatened our nest and family," Bill said gently. "It's the protective instinct." He cuddled her from behind. "We'll figure it out, my flower." She nodded, turning to hold him, nose against his neck to breathe in his scent. He let her, it helped her calm down. Helped them both calm down.

He settled on a bench out there, letting her cuddle on his chest for now. A unicorn came over to check on them then went inside to find mash. Harry stared at them but got some out to warm up and feed her. It made her a happier pregnant mare.

***

Ron walked out of the store, finding a familiar kid. He grinned down at her. "Our Mum was wrong and she's really mad at the twins but the store's not closing." He pointed at the sign. "Mum's just mad so shouting. She's not here right now. It's safe." The girl cheered, running inside. He looked at the mother then sighed. "She found out Tipsy's pregnant. Nearly got Bill fired from the bank too." He went back inside to help her find what she wanted.

The mother shook her head and told a few friends. The kids were back soon but they were ready to escape in case Molly showed up screaming again. The twins even put a special cabinet to let them appear outside if they couldn't run for the door. It'd send them to the apothecary up the street. It had a sign for parents about where it led. A few tried it to make sure it was safe but Tipsy got hugged for that idea. It'd be fine and the customers were coming back so the shop didn't have to close.

***

Arthur looked at Amelia Bones. "I have no idea how to stop her, Amelia. I've tried. It was nice she got hit by whatever tranquilizer Alexander Dumass used."

"It was a unicorn strength dart, Arthur. And it didn't keep her down for very long. She wore it out too fast." He winced at that. "I can have her banned from the building."

"Can you? I don't want to lose work time or have others get mad at me because she's yelling."

"Of course. I'll have that fixed today and send her the official letter telling her she's banned." She stared at him. "The other kids?"

"I have no idea about Charlie. I think Bill's hiding with Fleur. Ron too probably but I know he's been helping at the store." She nodded. "I have no idea if they're alone or not."

"If not, we can fix that, Arthur." He smiled and nodded. "Let me talk to her woman to woman and we'll see if I can't stop her faster than putting her in for a medical hold."

"That would embarrass the family greatly," he complained gently.

She nodded. "Yes but your wife's been ranting for weeks now. She tried to interfere with Bill's position too and the bank is mad at her." He winced but nodded, looking down. "That might stop them. Really, she could probably use the rest."

"Probably," he agreed patiently. "Thank you, Amelia."

"You're welcome." He went back to work while she did a few things then went to talk to Molly once she had the order to ban her from the Ministry building for the next six months unless it was an emergency. And the paperwork to have her committed for a long rest. She paused to look up at the sign on the twin's shop then leaned in. "Ronald?" she called. He leaned out of the stacks where he was putting stuff up. "Is that why she lost her mind?"

"I think it was the final straw. Ginny may've been arguing about future relationships."

"Ah." She nodded. "Your mother's being banned from the Ministry for six months."

He grinned. "Good luck with that!" He waved a bit. "Bill's with Xander."

"I can talk to him as well." She went to talk to him first. Ron was helping the twins and could probably get Potter to help with some of that. Bill looked up as Library let her into the study he was reading quietly in with Fleur. "Are you all right?" she asked. "I'm banning your mother from the Ministry for six months."

"Good luck with that," he said dryly.

"Your youngest brother said the same thing." She stared at him. "I could have her committed for your father, so the bank's not mad at him as well."

"No, they're just mad at Mum. She ignored a few safety concerns over the years. Like sending a howler to me while I was in a tomb." She winced at that.

Fleur looked up at him. "She did what?" He nodded. "But that would probably bring down the roof on your head."

"Set off the protections we had blocked," he said dryly. "The cave-in wasn't nearly as bad as the traps, Fleur." She moaned, putting her head back down. "They fined her for that then."

Amelia sighed. "Any idea what the real cause is?"

"She's not in control of everything," Fleur said dryly.

"Probably true," Bill agreed. "Her plans for Ginny have gone to hell sideways. Her plans to have kids who're safely following Dad in the safe, steady job has failed. It's like we ruined her dreams and hopes."

Amelia sighed but nodded. "Great. Would a few days in mental exam help?"

"The uncles could kick her from the family and make us illegitimate," he said dryly. Then he smirked. "Which would mean the curse on Ron may end."

"No it won't," Xander called from up the hallway. "It's already hit him. It may end it if he's expelled and disowned both for his last born son."

Bill shrugged. "He's studied family level curses a few times." He grinned at the minister again. "We're all just really tired of it." He nodded a bit. "I can't go back to work for a few days until she's calmed down because me being there will make her come attack the bank to scream at me. They'd consider that an act of aggression."

"Like starting a new war?"

"Ya think?" Fleur said, looking back at her. "The warriors guarding the lobby have warned her already that she's acting too aggressive and it would be considered a starting act to a new war. Twice. I doubt they'll do it again."

"I see. I'll have a talk with her about that as well." Xander walked in to hand over something with a mad grin then walked off again. She looked at it and winced. "Oh, that's bad."

"She came to yell at Tara and upset a unicorn mare with a newborn foal so much Bill had to stop her from being stabbed. She's been pushing at Tara since she heard she uses other types of magic."

She looked up the hall at his back then at Bill. "It hurt either one?"

"The foal Tara was bottling nearly stabbed her in the stomach with his horn. I carried Mum off and dropped her on the road then told her she was breaking the law about unicorns. She brought an auror, who called Species, and they found the unicorns were just fine and healthy, even praised Tara for that. And the auror was a blood bigot but he still praised her with Draco f-ing Malfoy standing *right there* to make sure he didn't hurt Tara." He grinned. "Then Xander came home. Mum decided to flee."

"Probably a wise idea on her part. I'll talk to them," she decided, going back to the Ministry to do that first. She found out Molly was facing a few charges with the Species department and the aurors. Only one overlapped. She took the copies of those with her to talk to Molly. Who flung open the door then huffed off again.

"Madam Weasley, we need to speak," she said bluntly. "I'm here as the former head auror and Minister for Magic, your husband's employer." She followed her into the kitchen to talk to her about that. She laid out all the charges, all the problems, all the facts about Arthur about to lose his job, making her wince.

Then she pointed out one of those was a writ of banning her from the Ministry's building for six months and they were about to do the same thing to any descendant she had contact with plus one generation past them. That way no one else acted like that around the Ministry while they were trying to run the country. She stared at Molly, making sure she got the point. "I can have you admitted to care for a few days so they can figure out what's wrong with you if you wish."

"I do not," she said firmly.

"Then quit acting like a bitch," Amelia said bluntly. "Or I'll have no choice. I've already warned Arthur about that when he asked what he could do to help you. Then I found out about the charges." She stared at her. "You're about to make sure that no Weasley will *ever* be able to work for the Ministry again."

She left it there, heading back to her office to make that note then talk to Arthur about those charges. They were going to pull her to court in a few days. It made him very upset but she couldn't help that. Molly had done it. She had to be held to the same standards as everyone else.

***

Charlie looked at the message he got, taking it from the owl. "Thanks, dear. You good? Need a treat?" He gave over some meat he had ready for a baby dragon, making it a happy owl that went to sit in a tree to rest. He read the letter, wincing at that. "Oh, fuck me." He went to talk to his boss. "My mum call up screaming?" he asked bluntly.

"Yup, twice now. I told her we can't find you in the field, you're out on egg watch, and I'd tell you to call her someday when you got back but we don't take resignations from parents unless someone died on a holiday home." He smirked. "That bad?" He let him see the letter from Bill. "Oooh. Species won't be pleased. Not about unicorns."

Charlie sighed. "My sister got picked by a certain winged horse."

"I heard that ranting from that howler, Charlie." He grinned. "I walked the other way. I'm about to ban your mother from writing you with those things."

"The school did ban them finally."

"Good!"

"The bank fined her for doing it because it nearly got Bill killed. She still sent another one."

"Your mum's got a problem."

"Yeah. I'm not sure what I need to do to help about it though."

"Go home for a few days?"

"Would that really help or just reinforce it?"

"You and the others can stand against her together if your dad can't."

"Point. Yeah, I might like that. Thanks." He nodded, filling out the paperwork. Charlie started for home that night after his shift. He walked into the store, after staring at the sign. He looked at Ron since he was behind the register reading. "No kiddies?" he asked dryly.

He grinned at him. "They're watching Tipsy make something that floats." He pointed at them. "It's a new experiment."

Charlie looked then at Ron again. "Why didn't I hear about her?"

"We were hiding her from Mum?" Ron guessed.

"We did but Dad intercepted it," one of the twins called from the back. He leaned out with a grin. "If you brought Mum, send her home again."

"Nope, I came up to help you lot stand up against her though."

"Thanks. We could use it. She's stressing out Tipsy and the twins are doing it enough already." Charlie's face scrunched up. "She's a twin too."

"Ah." He nodded at that, then smiled a bit. "Good to know. I should've met your woman before now, Fred."

"True but we're hiding her from Mum." He grinned. "We can have dinner tonight if you want. You can have Ron's closet."

"I can go camp on Harry's floor probably. Or maybe with Hermione."

"She's in the States at college," Fred told him. "It was in the paper." Ron rolled his eyes but just nodded at that. He waved Charlie into the back to talk to them so he got a full account of what was going on, and they called Bill to join the talk.

Ron leaned in. "Don't forget to send Ginny stuff." He went back to the register when the kids burst out cheering. The bubble had popped and slimed them but it was what it was supposed to do. They were pleased with that and let her package it up so they could take the new test versions home to try with their siblings.

"Remember not to get it on an animal," Ron told them. "They hate being gooed on. Hermione's cat hated to be sneezed on." They grinned at that and nodded, trooping out to talk to their waiting parents, who were amused. He looked at Tipsy. "Charlie showed up."

"I figured it was him or an uncle you had hidden." She patted him on the arm. "It's not toxic but cats would hate getting it out of their fur." She went into the back, staring at Charlie. "Huh, I did get the pretty ones." She grinned, holding out a hand. "Tipsy Ramvette."

He shook it. "You sure did, the rest of us are pretty scarred up and kinda tough. Except maybe Percy." He smirked at her. "You're good to them, right? I can let the dragons play with you. The littles would *adore* having a toy they chased through the woods."

"Of course I am. We understand each other pretty well."

"Good!" He grinned. "You should come visit anyway. The dragons love preggy tummies. They nuzzle it fiercely."

"Why?"

"I guess the scent. They lay eggs but some are just like that." He shrugged but grinned. "You should probably sit. Your twins or the older two twins probably gave you a pain in the arse at least once today."

"The twins haven't. It's been a few days," she admitted, sitting down and putting her feet up. "The ones I'm carrying are worse." Fleur looked at her. She grinned. "It's okay, kiddo. I'm pregnant."

"I can sense the power flows." She blinked a few times. "I've never noticed that."

"That's how I found out I was pregnant. Draco spotted the energy flows."

Charlie looked at her then at the twins. "Malfoy?"

"Dating Alex," George said happily. "And Hermione."

"Huh. That's...different." He shrugged. "If they're happy and he's not being an arse anymore it's good." They went back to talking about how to handle their mother. The two women talked about pregnancy things. Fleur wanted to wait but she wanted to know how things went and happened. She could write Emilia later to see if she'd share tips too.

***

Hermione was in trouble. A lot of trouble. A whole lot of trouble. There were people attacking her and a few of her dormmates who were having lunch to talk about an upcoming dorm-wide event. She had gotten the girls inside to a safer location. The guys were idiots who were partially that drunken fraternity and some others.

A few of the girls were shaking in a corner and one was crying but Hermione, she knew about idiots with ideas. Though she could not openly use magic. One got punched and backed off with a yelp. She got inside the building and held the door shut with another girl. "Someone call for the security team?" she called.

"We have, Granger. It'll be a few. I called the regular emergency number too. So we may have LAPD here too."

"Good!" She had to struggle to keep the door closed. She couldn't pull her wand. She could not, it'd get her in trouble. But if she didn't help, the girls were going to be attacked. She made a quick decision to try that stuff Rosenburg did. Her mind went through her arsenal of spells but she decided on an easy one. She concentrated really hard.

Not a lot of luck but a few froze. Then she blinked and centered her breathing for a second then nodded. "Impedimentia," she hissed in Latin under her breath. The guys mostly froze. A few who didn't tried to run off and ran into officers. "Oh, thank God," she muttered, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She had a huge headache.

She blinked a few times, getting helped to a seat by the other girl guarding the door. "Go check on them," she said quietly. "I'm fine. Just a bit shaky. It's been a while since I got threatened." She nodded, going to do that. One officer came in and right to her. "Officer," she said with a nod.

"Ma'am, do you have your student ID?"

She pulled it. "Hermione Jean Granger, foreign student in for pre-med." He shook his head quickly. She grinned. "I get that a lot! Including from a lit teacher!"

He nodded, leaning closer. "What did you do?"

"I heard about a young woman named Willow Rosenburg and decided to try what she had suggested once upon a time. Apparently it helped." She shrugged. "No idea. I just reacted."

"All right. We have some of your kind in the LAPD and I'm getting a liaison in to come take a statement we're all going to ignore."

"That's fine. I made sure the girls got into the building when they tried to pounce us all." She waved a hand. "Make sure they're all right?"

"Of course we will. Campus security is out there helping us. Do any of you ladies need medical attention?" he called.

"Just nerves," one called back. "A few panic attacks."

Hermione came over to help with that. "Hey. I had those when I was younger," she said gently, rubbing her hands since they were clasped. "Let's focus here on your hands. All right? Focus on the feeling of them not being alone, that someone who cares is right here," she prompted then took a deep breath to prompt her.

She tried but got it the next round. Hermione sat in front of her. "I'm right here and I'm not moving yet. It's all right. They didn't get you. They didn't get any of us. You're safe again." She stared at her and prompted another deep breath.

The girl followed, nodding and swallowing. "I'm here if you need me. I've had a few stress cries after big incidents of my own. If you want a hug I can do that, no strings or anything." She grinned a bit. "Sometimes it helps."

"My boyfriend is in Latin," she said, then sniffled. Hermione moved to hug her. "Thank you, Granger."

"It's not a problem. I've seen a lot of these when things happened at school that weren't nice. Just breathe and relax. Know that you're not alone. You're surrounded by people who care that you're okay." She nodded, calming herself again. Another girl came over to get a hug and Hermione gladly gave one. "It's all right. We managed it. We're women, we manage things." She nodded, getting a nod back from the second girl. She felt a magical person walk in and looked over then went back to helping the girls.

The magical came over, looking at them. "They going to be okay?"

"Panic mode," she said gently. "Which is perfectly reasonable and logical after huge things like being attacked by idiot men." She grinned at them. "Hopefully the college will kick them out. If not, we'll start a protest to tell them to kick them out for this." The girls all nodded and finished calming down. She got helped up, staring at the magical. "Hello. Hermione Granger."

He tipped his head. "You're...."

She grinned but shrugged one-sided. "We can go talk in a corner. I was helping guard the door and made sure the girls got in here."

"We can do that." He walked her to a corner, staring at her. "You talked of Willow Rosenburg?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, I met her through my boyfriend Xander. Though he is a bit...odder than usual from that town up there."

"Harris?" he demanded in a squeak.

She grinned and nodded. "Quite." She leaned closer. "I couldn't pull my wand, I had to improvise so I did what Willow told me to do while she was being detoxed. I used the most simple I had in my arsenal of spells, impedimentia." She sat up again, staring at him.

"How did you meet her?"

"She was being detoxed at the school I attended. Our infirmary had to weed out a lot of what she learned in Sunnydale. Didn't fully work, but she did need a lot of detoxing."

"Oh. So you've met Miss Summers?"

"Once or twice. She came to talk to a few of my classmates." She shrugged a bit. "They shared an after-school job at that time."

He blinked a few times. "Are you one of our type?"

"No, not really. I'm the other sort." She let her jacket show her wand for a second then hid it again. He nodded once at that. "But I know the rules," she said quietly.

"True. That would cause a lot of stress. So you improvised?"

"I do have some experience dealing with stupid things like men with plots."

He blinked a few times. "Those books," he muttered.

She shrugged. "Not my doing."

"Point." He nodded, making notes. "Are you well?"

"Mad as hell that I had to go that way. I should've seen them massing or something. It's like I forgot all that I had learned over the seven years and a bit." She pressed her lips together. "I'm mad as hell that I didn't see it starting."

"Not your fault," a campus security guard said, coming over. "They did that nearer to their house, ma'am." He handed back her ID card. She tucked it into her wallet then into her pocket. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I've seen worse." He nodded, going to talk to the others. She looked around then at him. "How do we make sure they can't do it again?"

"That's my job, Miss Granger."

"How do I help them make sure they're safe then?"

"Self defense classes, that's a good place to start. This is an aberration."

"I damn sure hope so." She sighed, slumping against the wall, staring around again then at him. "I relaxed too much. I need to stop doing that. I thought it was safer."

"It should be. They probably won't try this again. If so, evacuate those you can and do what you must."

She stared at him for a moment then grinned. "The last time I heard that I ended up punching one of the UK's aurors in the face for trying to kidnap me again," she said quietly. "But it did feel good." She got up. "Kinsey, let's get you some water, you're splotchy." She got her some ice water from the machine in there, handing it over.

"C'mon, we'll get you to the bathroom so you can puke. That's a perfectly normal reaction, like crying is or shaking or even ranting at any deity you choose." She nattered at her all the way to the bathroom, staying to hold her hair. She didn't have a hair scrunchie to use for now and the girl could use the support.

***

Hermione came out of class that night, staring to the side where she had felt the magical spike to come see it. "Thankfully I'm on break," she said, coming over to the auror. "If it happens again what am I allowed to do?" she asked quietly. "How far can I go?"

He blinked a few times. "You did good earlier. How did you do that?"

"I talked with Willow a few times while she was detoxing. She told me how that works." She tipped her head, glancing around then at him. "I lost my battle senses. That'll be ended. I'll make sure they can't do it again."

"It's not your job."

"Yes but I'm there, that makes it my job. Then you get there and take it from me. So how much am I allowed to do? What if I had to pull it?"

He blinked a few times. "If you had to pull your wand to protect yourself and those women, you do that and we'll handle it. I won't promise there won't be some bitching. I won't promise there won't be an investigation." She nodded. "If you can do it the other way, it's subtle."

"I tried."

"You did and it worked."

"I was lucky. I'm not going to count on luck. That's a good way to end up dead."

He nodded. "You have experiences most students wouldn't and we hope they never do." She tipped her head at that, nodding slightly. "The ones on campus often use a hidden way of holding it. Or something that can be an alternate focus. If you ask your boyfriend he can help you with that probably. I know he's learned a few types by what's been said."

"Xander? Yes, he has." She smiled. "About eight he admits to. Including house elf."

"Good." He patted her on the arm. "Fast thinking. Don't think it can't happen again but it should not. It's not a war, Granger. This time it's just stupid humans."

She nodded. "I'm aware that they're all over. And what happens."

"Good. If you must, you must. Make it as subtle and unseen as possible. Do what you gotta do to protect yourself and the other students and then we'll handle it with you." She nodded, stepping back. "But nice job. Learn more of that?"

"If I can. It did give me a right good headache."

"Yeah, it can." He grinned. "The one on campus who deals with that is Mr. Ingmar."

"The literature teacher who thinks that we're racially divided in the UK and swore up and down I was a refugee from that book?"

"Yes, him. I have no idea why he was so down on you."

"I'll talk to him tomorrow about that. Is he American?"

"Yes. As far as we know, yes."

She grinned. "We'll talk tomorrow then. Thank you for that advice. Am I in trouble for earlier?"

"Nope. You were subtle. You were concise. You handled it in a way that let the LAPD handle it. That was good. Keep doing that." She nodded, going back inside. He went to file a supplemental report on that. That way they knew that she'd probably step in if she had to. Even if it meant outing magic to the whole campus.

***

Hermione smiled at her teacher as she walked into his office and kicked the door shut then stared at him. "You literal asshole, Professor Ingmar." He blinked at her. "You know exactly who I am, don't you?"

He winced. "I was hoping you weren't."

"Yes, well, the one in Canada hated that I studied." She shrugged. "England's had blood status problems."

"That figures."

"And there are all races among the purebloods. They immigrated or were colonized by the UK too." She stared at him. "Yesterday I had to save some of the girls."

"That's been all over the campus, Granger. How did you do wandless?"

"I talked to Rosenburg when she was being detoxed at the school. It was a last ditch before I pulled my wand."

"Get an alternate focus to use instead. Jewelry is useful for that." He stared at her. "You're still a nosy little bratling."

She shrugged. "I enjoy myself and so do both of my boyfriends." She smirked. "Draco really does enjoy how sunny the campus is and when he visits we go to the beach."

He winced. "Really?"

"Yes. Quite." She smirked. "Must we really read that most boring shite ever book the whole way through? I've read countless academic works that're more interesting than that novel of bad writing."

"It's an important one socially in the US. It has cultural value."

"So would reading comic books. At least they're entertaining."

"That's a whole other class. You only have that one book and the one after it."

"What's the next one? Dante's Inferno? I read that in my fourth form."

He groaned. "I hate students like you."

She grinned. "We look good on colleges because we end up supporting it later."

"I know." He stared at her. "You did fine. We laid a compulsion not to do that again."

"Thank you. That'll solve me a few problems. One tried to get in to see his girlfriend and they had a stunning row last night at one in the morning."

He winced. "You knock him out?"

"Kicked him in the knee then ranted back that the rest of us were trying to sleep and him trying to prove he wasn't the arsehole he had proved himself to be earlier was not a good thing to do at one in the morning. The RA hauled him off."

"That's good." He stared at her. "You're very reactionary."

"Of course I am. I had to be." She shrugged. "I had to fight people who wanted to force me to marry someone against my will for over a year."

"You did?"

"Oh, you should read up on all that." She smirked. "I did get to hit a few aurors. I can throw quite a mean punch when I have to."

He snorted. "I don't doubt that. You're fine. Find an alternate focus to take the place of the wand."

She nodded. "I can ask Alex about that."

"Who is Alex?"

"Dumass." She smiled. "His whole family are cursebreakers." He gagged. She shrugged. "His family's library is quite extensive and full of things that make me a very happy girl, and Draco very happy to study in it as well."

"No wonder you were reading eighteenth century care of magical creatures texts." She nodded with a smile. "Fine. Begone with you, young lady. Test next class."

"Charming!" She smiled. "I've already written the essay you wanted on both books. Want them this week?"

"No. You can wait. I may change the parameters thanks to you." She shrugged and left to go back to her dorm. He groaned but let the other magical professors know he had been right, she was that Granger, she was that pushy of herself, and she was that paranoid thanks to the war. They could all watch out for that to become a necessity. The campus wasn't fully safe for students at times.

***

Hermione flopped down on the bench in the front hall of Dumass Glenn, staring at Harry. "I need to find an alternate magical focus."

"I have no idea about any of that."

"He's supposed to be here today. And I can't pull my wand on campus even if I need to unless I *need* to. And I nearly did." He stared at her oddly. "Drunken idiot fraternity brothers who wanted to attack the girls. Plus a few others. I managed an impedimentia wandless."

He gave her a hug. "You good?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, Harry. I just need to quit feeling so safe on campus." He nodded, patting her on the arm. "Is he not here yet?"

"I think he's sleeping. He was earlier when I called because he's supposed to be here today. Tara's out back if you wanted to talk to her."

"I can do that. No Draco either?"

"Not this week."

"Huh." She went to talk to Tara, who made her tea and sat her down to talk about what had happened and how she had managed that spell. She could walk her through a few exercises to help with that.

Harry went to call Draco, getting a very harried looking Draco. "Hermione's here. She's talking to Tara about how to stop idiot men without a wand."

"She can't punch them?"

"Not all of them. There was apparently a few men who wanted to attack some women. She cast wandless."

"Oooh. That's bad. She all right? I'm in the middle of arguing with an aunt."

"Stressed. Talking to Tara."

"Where's Alex?"

"The last I knew he was in bed."

"I can talk to him and then come cuddle her. Give me a bit." He hung up, going to talk to his aunt. She was still huffy about his relationship. He stared at her. "No, my future child will probably come from a surrogate. None of us like children." She pouted. "But I have to leave. Hermione had to defend part of the campus." She huffed off again. He locked things up, told the house elves to only let a few people in that he trusted, and listed them, then went to check on Alex. He ran into Me. "Where's Alex now?"

"Resting," he said firmly.

"Hermione's back from UCLA."

Me winced. "He still napping."

Draco nodded, heading up there. He got the spell unraveled around him then grinned at the grumpy man. "Hermione had to defend part of the campus from idiot men."

"What the fuck?" he demanded, sitting up.

"Apparently. She's talking to Tara."

"We can go cuddle her." He got up to go pee. "How long did I sleep for?"

"It's Friday if that helps."

"Me, what the hell happened?" he shouted.

"Artifact, Master Alexander."

"Bullshit. Let me destroy that thing again." He cleaned up and went to destroy that thing by kicking it into a rock repeatedly. Then he went to hug Hermione with Draco. He hugged her. "Sorry, an artifact put me down for a long nap. It was Tuesday the last I knew." She snorted but looked amused and let them cuddle. "What happened?"

"Idiot fraternity brothers. I managed a wandless impedimentia." She pulled Draco over to cuddle him as well.

"That's good. Any side effects?"

"Huge headache?"

"That's normal," Tara promised. "We can work on that."

"They suggested an alternative focus for magic," she told Xander.

He nodded. "We can figure that out too. And let Tara teach you wandless magic." She grinned and nodded, pulling Tara over to cuddle too. It made her feel better.

***

Hermione faced off with a doctor in the campus' ER. Her dormmate was in a room, sedated and about to go into surgery. "It is up to her to report it," she said firmly. "And I fully understand why she wouldn't. But I can't let her go untreated for the injuries either."

"No, you can't. Nursing student?"

She smirked. "Pre-med. Probably orthopedics."

"Oh. That's interesting. You could do GYN."

"Yes but I don't...I want to make a real difference and help those who need my services and who I can do something fundamentally fixing. A lot of GYN problems are more about management than fixing. I want to *heal*, to fix and make whole. GYN is a lot more handling and doing more mundane things."

"A lot of us started that way, Miss Granger."

"I know. My parents are dentists. They do charity work as well. I'm going to follow them into charity work. I actually sat down one week and went over each speciality to see how it felt to me. I thought about neurology but I'm scared stupid that I'd screw up someone's life for good trying to help. And I can't really see myself delivering babies."

"No, that's a good point. That is a lot of GYN work, it is management and handling long term and short term issues. You did good getting her here."

"Like hell I'd let her go to her room when she came in covered in blood and cuts. Plus what if he had something."

"That's a great reason and a lot of friends wouldn't have helped her more than here." She stared at her. "Know her very well?"

"No. I know she lives up the hall from me." She shrugged. "That doesn't matter to me. She needed me."

She patted her on the shoulder. "You'll do fine in medicine but it'll sink your spirits. Sometimes you can't fix and you can't manage and you can't even help."

"I know. I've seen that before at the mass charity events where a lot of different specialists show up to work in an area that doesn't usually have access. I've seen a few of them break down and cry in the van too."

The doctor nodded. "We have days like that. You're prepared?"

"Yes, because they need people like me to give a damn. It's the most important factor in why humanity's survived this long and we're not losing it on my watch."

The doctor smiled. "Good woman. Your friend will be fine. You can go sit with her until we bring her upstairs then you can visit her tomorrow."

"I can do that." She went to do that, patting her on the wrist. "Just me. You're going to be okay. When you're in surgery I'll go back to the dorm and tomorrow I'll bring you some tea or something to suck on." She waited with her so she wasn't alone. It was a bad time to be alone.

She went back to the dorm, going to the dorm monitor's room, knocking gently since her lights were on. "They're taking Hannah, up the hall from me, into surgery tonight," she said quietly when the angry young woman answered. "I saw her coming in covered in cuts and blood. So I took her to the ER."

"I can pay attention to her room. She'll be okay?"

"They say she should be. I totally nagged her into going to get treated even if she didn't make a report. Which she refused to do."

"I get that. It's hard."

"I understand that." She nodded a bit. "But it's more important she does get treated. It'll probably be at least a day before she's back though."

"That's fine. That's a good thing to know. I'll talk to the girls about telling me and I'd go with them." She stared at her. "You all right?"

"I'm fine. It just sucks that humanity is lowered to that level at times." She sighed. "Sometimes humanity isn't worth saving, you know."

"I do." She nodded. "Then you meet some incredible people. Or you go nap on your boyfriend."

"I'm going to do that next weekend. He's coming to come to the beach with me again. Both of them." She went back to her room to write in her journal for a bit. Sometimes humanity was the problem. A huge problem. Maybe she'd find an animal shelter to go volunteer at. She hadn't yet because she didn't want to overload herself but now, she could use the puppy and kitty cuddles.

***

Grissom was once again stomping around claiming he couldn't find Greg. "Did he run out for coffee again?" he demanded. Everyone in the lab pointed at where Greg was sitting staring at his back. He turned to look then huffed. "When did you get there?"

"An hour ago when I sat down to work on this slide, Griss. I'm not invisible. You walked past me a few times earlier too. Again." Grissom handed him papers then walked off. He sighed, looking at the other lab techs, who shrugged. He got back to work after looking at the test results. It countered what he was seeing so he got with Nick over that. They could figure out where they intersected.

Nick stared at both results, frowning but idly scratching a spot on his neck. "That's weird. They shouldn't go together."

"That's what I thought. Quit scratching. Before I get itchy by contagion."

Nick rolled his eyes. "That's all in your head, Greggo."

"I know that and so is yours." He looked at it. "Well, no, I'm wrong." He tipped his head to the side then hauled him up and off to the morgue.

"Greg!" Nick complained.

"Quit for a minute." He walked in. "Doc, can I have you for a second please," he called. The ME came over to look. He pointed at Nick's neck. "Super itchy spot. Looks like a melanoma."

"That is a melanoma, Greg. You're very good." He looked at Nick, who was pale. "We're going to get you a referral, Nick. Go sit in the break room for a minute while I call around?"

"I need to solve this one."

"Go sit down and think for ten minutes. The case will wait that long. Greg's working on it." Nick huffed but nodded, going to do that. The ME looked at him. "Forceful?"

"Yes! I know how bad that can get. I had a friend die of it because she didn't treat hers so it spread."

"Good. Let me call someone." He went to do that.

Greg went back to get back to work. Catherine leaned in looking confused. "I had to drag Nick to the morgue to be looked at."

"He's muttering about you. I was wondering why."

He looked at her. "Go look at his neck where he's scratching."

She frowned, going to do that and then sucked in a breath. "Oh, no, Nick."

"Doc's calling someone and told me to sit down and think for a few," he complained. "Greg dragged me."

"I'd do the same thing if I had seen that first." She patted him on the shoulder. "It's probably treatable at that stage. Just a bit of trimming off and maybe some lotion with chemicals if you must." He nodded and sighed. "I'll go help Greg with his case." She went to do that. She stared at Greg. "Nice work." He grinned and nodded. "Seen it?"

"One of the kids I went to college with died of it. She didn't get it treated fast enough."

"I've seen a few of those that metastasized." She looked at the results. "That makes no sense."

"That's what we were looking at when I caught him scratching."

"Huh." She looked at all the other results, then shook her head. "Is there a place where both could be possible?"

"If that's a fungal sample, yes. I can't identify what exactly the sample is. It's too small for the machine to determine if it's fungal or not." He stared at her. "If it's not, then I don't think they can exist because that would be a more normal mold and that other one is something that would kill mold."

"They could've been treating it," she offered.

"It was on the body itself and inside his mouth though. Like he had licked something."

"Huh. Yeah, that's weird. The mold would've killed by the heat at least and the chemical would've destroyed it and the mouth." He nodded. "Did it?"

"No. No damage from the chemical."

"Huh. So fungal.... How old was the body?"

"Few days. In the desert." He handed her that report. She went over it and nodded. "I can't assume either way and we can't trace where it came from. If it's fungal we could match the samples if it was big enough."

"True. The other evidence?" He handed it over. She frowned as she went over it. "That's not a great lot. It may be this one goes cold for a bit until we get more evidence. Or at least a missing person's case."

"He was put into the database for out-of-state searching. He didn't have a tan."

"So probably not from here, where we all get too much sun," she decided. He nodded. "Hmm. Was he staying somewhere?"

"It's been a week. No one's reported him missing and no hotel's said he's defaulted."

"Huh." She nodded. "We can call a few to check."

"There's dozens of motels and hotels plus the resorts."

"Point. Without a name it'd be harder." He nodded. "And we can't do a credit card search because we don't have his name. Which leaves us with a cold case until we get more information."

"Which we can't have, the Sheriff demanded we quit having those."

"Then he can come solve it." She grimaced, looking up the hall at the ME talking to Nick. "He'll be fine," she said quietly.

"I'm sure he will. Even if I have to force him to go see someone." He grinned sweetly. "Or make Emilia go with him."

She snickered. "She's fussing at the house?"

"No. Not really. Not yet. No nesting yet." She nodded. "We've been hiding from a friend's mother-in-law who's been causing stress for her."

"That happens sometimes. You just have to avoid the yelling."

He nodded. "A lot." She grinned. Nick came back. "Do we have anything not in here?"

Nick looked things over then shook his head. "No, and the Sheriff said he'd fire one of us if we went cold again this month."

"If we don't even have an ID we can't do much," Catherine said.

"Greg, where are you now?" Grissom complained loudly.

"In layout three," he called back. "Working." Grissom stomped in and he stared at him. "What? I'm not actually invisible, Grissom." He got handed a note. He looked at it then snorted. "It'll be fine. She likes to talk to them and if Tipsy's over it'll be great. They're pregnancy buddies." He tucked it into his pocket with a grin. "She's just making sure I won't worry."

"Why would you worry?" Grissom asked.

"My pookie used to work with diplomats, Grissom. She's been threatened to be kidnaped and taken out to get a hold on them before." Grissom looked horrified. He grinned and nodded. "Plus some people hate her heritage. Which means I get to snarl back at them. She was making sure I didn't think she was kidnaped."

"I guess that's normal with a pregnant wife." He left them then came back to look at Nick's throat. "Is that a scab?"

"Doc looked at it and I have a referral for tomorrow, Griss."

"Good. We don't need you shedding cells on bodies and scenes." He left again.

Greg looked at him, shrugging some. "I can have Emilia go with you if you want me to. Or I can drive you."

"I'm fine, Greg."

"Okay. Let me know if you need help." He got back into the case.

Warrick carried in their first aid kit. "Grissom said to cover it, Nick." He looked at it. "That's...."

"I told Doc," Greg told him.

"Oh, good." He sighed, handing Nick a bandage and the tape. "That way no one can fuss."

Nick did cover it with Warrick's help and then sighed in displeasure. "It's nothing, guys."

"Uh-huh," Warrick said. "Let me know if you need a ride to appointments." He left, taking the first aid kit with him.

Hodges leaned in. "Grissom's mind is obviously going," he reported. "He asked Archie about fingerprints."

"I'm going to have him examined," Catherine said, going to check on him. He'd been a bit off for a while now. Something was clearly going on. She got the ME to come look at him too. Maybe he'd have a reasonable excuse. Or maybe Grissom was getting early dementia.

Greg shook his head with a sigh. "Maybe if they figure that out he'll be able to spot me when he walks past me." Nick snickered at that, patting him on the arm.

***

Hermione looked at her professor. "You missed a class? You?" he asked dryly, smirking at her.

"I was bringing my dormmate in the hospital some sugar free candies to suck on."

"Oh. Car accident?"

"No comment for her privacy." The teacher winced. "I got her to the ER so I checked on her. I did leave a voicemail."

"You did." He stared at her. "Are you doing too much? Taking too many hours?"

"No!" She looked at him oddly. "I've done more than this to myself for private studying, Professor. I'm not having a problem keeping up with my coursework. I just had limited visiting hours to see her during today."

"You have a paper due."

"Which I submitted via email as you requested." He looked then huffed at her, staring at her. She looked at it then smiled. "Yes, that's my email to you. So probably my paper unless it ate the attachment."

"That's fine, Granger." He looked it over, one eyebrow going up. "Was that mine?"

"Is it on the importance of certain styles for social improvement of a woman's life?" He nodded at that. "Then, yes, that's for you." She smiled. "You told us to write it on the historical importance of that time period. Which I did based on a few different novels and histories I've read over the years.

"If you were looking to marry well, which was important as women had no right to their own property or money, then they had to be socially apt enough to follow the bigger trends that were tasteful and not be too gauche, too pushy, and too slavish to that sort of trending ideals. It's a lot like how celebrities do it now but back then it was literally life or death for her."

He blinked a few times. "You probably over-thought the exercise."

She shrugged. "You wanted it on societal and historical factors. Who a woman married was vitally important because she could easily die of it if her parents didn't make a good choice for her and do so in poverty on the streets if she wasn't careful. Not to mention the amount of domestic violence that was prevalent."

He sighed. "I expected it to be on social movements."

"Well, we've always pushed to be able to take care of our own needs. Even back then we were pushing for emancipation and freedom. Slavery ended but women are still kept in economic and permanent slavery all over the world just because we have a uterus."

He blinked again. "You're very forceful, Miss Granger."

She smiled. "I'm also correct."

"True," he admitted with a nod. "Though I wanted a simpler paper. This is graduate level work and you're an undergrad."

She shrugged. "I only know one way to write papers. I can't dumb it down because I'm a freshman. That wouldn't do my education any good."

"No, it probably wouldn't," he agreed with a nod. "Thank you, Miss Granger." She smiled and left him to read it for her grade. He read it over, it was a good paper. He got a friend in the history department to read it too for critique of her arguments. He agreed with a lot of it but made a few points she hadn't covered.

She sent him the full paper she had to cut down to fit nearly into his page length requirement. It covered those and a few others. The history teacher was highly impressed. The humanities class teacher, very glad he only had her for the one elective. Students like her were great but he had to put a lot of work into undergrads when he should be focusing on the graduate students in the actual program.

***

The girls on her floor looked at one that was complaining her mother got mad at her for pranking someone. Then shaking their heads.

"My mother once said messing with your parents is like trying to insert a porcupine into your body," Hermione said. "It may seem like fun for a few minutes but then the pain comes." A few giggled. "I asked why anyone would consider that fun but she told me to ask when I was older. By then I realized I didn't want to know." The rest of them giggled at that and a few nodded, including the pranker.

"Did your mum teach you any other wisdom?" their RA asked dryly.

"My father said that everyone wants to rule the world but no one wants to do the paperwork." That one looked horrified then burst out laughing and nodding as she walked off. "I've been told by someone else that's why they got minions." That got a few more laughs.

"Wow," the pranker said, shaking her head. "Did you ever try to prank them?"

"No. I knew not to upset their dental assistants or anyone at the office. I tried on a girl who was bullying me but it went sideways. Embarrassed her horribly still but not as I had planned. It just outed one of her bigger secrets." She shrugged but smirked a bit. "She still quit bullying others."

"You guys have bullies over there too?"

"Of course. We have schools." She shrugged. "That one heard I volunteered at an animal shelter on the weekends and decided I *had* to be one of those who wanted to kiss animals. Which I'm not but I do appreciate animals. I learned a lot doing that. And had my first pet that way. Depending on course load I'll be finding one over here to help with soon."

The girls shared a look then at her. "Why would you do that?"

"I wanted a pet. My parents did some charity work and donated to others. So I learned by helping them with that. Going to areas that didn't have specialists to make sure they got good treatment without having to travel hours. But I loved animals and I asked.

"My mother agreed I could do that. Went with me the first few times to make sure I could handle it and I knew what was needed. Plus it let me adopt a small pet. Now I have a cat at home. Mum claims it takes up a lot of their bed most nights."

The other kids shook their heads but were still smiling about that. One gave her the name of a nearby animal rescue group. They could help her find somewhere that could use the volunteering hours.

"Is it a black cat?" one asked.

"No, it's orange." She showed off pictures from her wallet with a grin.

"Did you get an orange cat thanks to the books?" another asked.

"I had him long before I found out about the books. We only heard about them when book two was coming out." They grinned. "My parents, very not amused. I got asked a lot by my mother about that. Nearly got put into therapy." She grinned. "Mum wasn't impressed but the practice did get new patients thanks to it." A few snickered, nodding at that idea. "How about you guys?"

"None of us got mentioned in a book," one quipped. "The closest I've come is a friend who paints badly did my portrait for my mother. It's...okay."

Hermione nodded. "It takes a lot of practice to be a great artist. It's not something I ever had the patience for." They looked up as the fire alarm went off and got up to go close doors and head outside once they had on shoes if they needed them. Hermione, having been paranoid for over eight years, grabbed her wand and jacket too. Plus her battle bag she had with her.

She hoped it was just someone doing something heinous in the microwave again. But nope, it wasn't. It wasn't the same group but a few of the same people. She hit the emergency alarm then threw out a spell grenade, making them choke and a few fall down. She stared at one. "Don't even."

They smirked and advanced so she tried wandless. Nope. So yup, she was going to break the rules and prove she was a Gryff. Out came the wand and they all screamed as they got inflated and floated a bit. The other girls got frozen for a few seconds while she dealt with the idiots. She stared at the guard rushing over, hiding the wand and making the men fall down screaming as they broke things by landing on them. "So, apparently they came back," she quipped.

"I can see that. How did you do that?"

"Do what?" she asked.

"Don't play stupid. Even if half of LA is that dumb, we know you're not, Granger." He stared at her.

"I'm assuming there's going to be someone huffy that I did that because I just broke a great many laws," she said dryly. "But my dormmates are safe."

"Good! Boys, get the girls unfrozen and inside. The guys were the problem."

She pointed. "He was with us," she reported. "That's his sister he's trying to push behind him." The security team nodded, one going in to check the building then turn off the fire alarm. The girls got to go back inside and Hermione went to the side of the building to wait on an auror to come yell at her. Which one showed up, she wasn't familiar with him. "Hello, Auror...."

"Smythers, Miss Granger. What the hell did you do!" he shouted with a point.

"The girls were being attacked. Again. They pulled the fire alarm so we had to come out. They had weapons. We didn't!" She shrugged. "What did you want me to do? Risk their lives?"

"No," he said more calmly. "Let me know what you did." She handed over her wand properly so he checked it for the last few spells. "You froze the women first?"

"About the same time. Trying to cover it up. Thankfully most of the idiots fell down and broke things they landed on." She stared at him. "I tried to do it wandless first."

"I figured you did." He handed it back and she stuck it into her holster in her jacket. "What else did you do?" She pulled out a second spell grenade to hand over. He tested that then stared at her. "Who came up with that thing?"

"Xander. I know I'm supposed to have an alternate magical focus. I'm having problems finding one. I'm looking up how to make one but I haven't managed it yet."

"No, I fully realize that." He pocketed the grenade, staring at her. "You're paranoid."

"I have a good reason to stay paranoid apparently. This is their second time."

"I didn't know that." He went to talk to the campus guys. They agreed this was the second attack and the idiots were pathetic. The women had to protect themselves however it had happened. So the auror came back, staring at her. "All right," he said calmly and patiently.

"What exactly did you do? Report like you would to Potter." She told him what had been going on and how they had reacted, why she had felt she had to grab her battle bag and wand. Why she wasn't sure they weren't going to try again. He nodded at that. "You've been looking for alternative magical foci?"

"I asked Mr. Olivander. He was almost offended at the very idea. I've looked around the places I know about and no one had any idea. I've looked in the local community's shopping area as well. They had no idea so I've borrowed a book on them to see if I could make my own but I've failed so far."

"No, it'd have to be someone like Olivander. We've heard about him." He stared at her. "The wand shop didn't have one?"

"They had a jasper bracelet cuff but I can't wear that and it's uncharmed he said. He said it'd take six months to get my magical signature into it plus he'd have to remake it in a metal I don't get hives from."

"I can see that." He stared at her. "Though I've seen them made in a day."

"Can I do that?"

"Probably not. It takes some specialist knowledge."

"Would a cursebreaker be able to do that? Or someone who had veela skills?"

He considered it. "The one with veela skills maybe," he admitted. "If they were experienced."

"Then I can ask Draco to ask his cousin if she can help me find one." She grinned at that. "It'll be handy." She looked back at the hand going around her waist, leaning into Draco's side. "The arseholes came back."

"I could tell. Are you all right?"

"Just a bit mad." She sighed. "I proved I was a Gryff tonight."

He snorted. "We all had no doubt about that, Granger. You've been a Gryffinclaw all your life." She snorted again but looked pleased at that. Draco stared at the auror. "Is she in real trouble?"

"No. Probably not. I'll let the others know. Especially since this isn't the first incident with that group." He looked at her. "Be more subtle?"

"I tried. That's why I froze them. Before I have to switch colleges."

"We can block the knowledge," Xander said as he appeared, staring at her. "You okay?"

"Bit peeved." He hugged her, stealing her from Draco. Who stole her back to cuddle. She grinned. "Guys, play nicely in front of an auror."

Xander grinned at him. "Hi, Xander Harris. Head of the clan Dumass." The auror winced and flinched away from him. "Hermione's ours." He grinned.

"Yes, you'll want someone with veela skills instead of his to help you create the foci," the auror told her. "I'll let the regional supervisor know. He'll probably have a few questions."

"I've got one class tomorrow at noon," she said. "Then I'm off again until Thursday afternoon."

"That's fine, Miss Granger. Thank you for handling it." He disappeared.

Hermione let the guys lead her back inside. Her roommate had met both guys and gave her a funny look. "They're here to calm me down."

"I can go find a couch."

"We're not having sex tonight," Xander quipped with a grin. "Just cuddling. We won't keep you up, Sophie." She just nodded at that but let it happen. Hermione's bed was tiny but Draco subtly expanded it and the room around it so it didn't look odd. They cuddled Hermione to help her calm down. Xander even took next to the wall for them.

***

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