Worthy

Chapter 1: A Change of Circumstance

After the defeat of Voldemort, very gradually, things returned to near normal for some while politically and socially the wizard world remained in an upheaval. Despite the harsh ramifications of social prejudice, discrimination remained much like after the Civil War in America in the land of muggles. A few tried to change the government; some decided reverse discrimination was fair payback; however, most wizards and witches just went about their business. For some of them, business was business. After all, for pure-bloods, mudbloods and everything betwixt, the almighty galleon made the world go around, up and down and possibly beyond.

At Ninety-Three Diagon Alley, two young redheaded wizards stocked the shelves on a slow Wednesday morning. Now George and Fred continued to run their shop, Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, filled with jokes and gags of all sorts. Since George seemed to have other diversions lately, Ron helped Fred with the shop this day.

Late that morning, a very attractive statuesque witch not much older than them with strawberry blond hair entered the shop, carrying shopping bags from a few clothing stores. Fred vaulted over the stairs while Ron zoomed through the maze of isles to get to her first. "May I help you?" Both of them looked at each other begrudgingly for having spoken at the same time.

"Such attentive service, I'm impressed." As her hazel eyes scanned the shop, she noted the candy. "Hmmm...licorice as long as it's just plain cherry." Ron darted away to get some. "May I have a Kaleidoscope, a deck of self-shuffling cards and a laughing yo-yo?"

"Your wish is my command." Fred bolted away to fetch those items.

When Ron returned with her licorice, his hopes were dashed. "My little shpoolka," she cried. A scholarly looking wizard with brown hair walked in carrying a very young boy of nearly four who stretched out his arms to her. She tussled the child's near burgundy hair.

"Mum, we went to the bookstore. I got a picture book." Shpoolka beamed and pointed to the bag the wizard carried. "Can we go to the park?"

"Of course, it's such a beautiful day."

The child's bizarrely vibrant green eyes glowed delight as he kissed his mum's cheek. Seeing the spectacle before him, Fred lumbered back to the counter to give her the merchandise. Shpoolka looked at Fred and shrieked a scream so blood curdling that witches and wizards outside the shop stopped to look in.

"Shh...my little shpoolka, what's wrong?"

Eyes wide with fright, the child pointed at Fred. "ZOMBIE! ZOMBIE! ZOMBIE!"

"Look at this." The scholarly wizard quickly distracted the child by walking a coin through his fingers. Then the child looked back to Fred at bit confused but not frightened before turning back to the wizard. "C'mon, I'll show you how I did this." After he took the child, the wizard looked at the worried witch. "Let me calm him. It's my job now." As he took the child outside, the child kept glancing back at Fred with a concerned but confused look for the entire time.

Once they left, the blond witch flashed a brilliant smile to Ron and Fred. "I'm so sorry about that. I think my son's been on one too many movie sets with his grandfather." Both Fred and Ron looked at her dumfounded. "I'm sorry. That's muggle." She placed a few galleons on the counter. "Please keep the change for your trouble."

"Thanks," Fred replied. For a moment, he looked deep in thought. "Do you have any relatives here in London?"

"My father but he's a muggle, why do you ask?"

"An explosion at Hogwarts during the battle, caused me to hit my head. When I came to, I saw a wizard who had eyes like your son and very similar hair. He muttered something about even the pure-bloods were filth and vowed never to return."

The young witched paled. "I have to go now."

After she left, Ron looked at Fred. "Did you use some sort of gag on the kid?"

"No, that was the weirdest thing ever."

After that brief and only excitement, the rest of the day crawled by. "Fred, I love Hermione but I can't help but think there should be something more."

Fred stocked the shelves with Edible Dark Marks, among other things. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't feel that ...oomph with her." Ron grimaced. "Maybe I'll feel it with someone else but I don't know." Then he shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe I feel it but I just don't know it. I mean she's been there most all my life."

"You never got to explore," Fred concluded.

"Exactly," Ron agreed. "But I don't want to break up with her; she could be the one. She probably is." Ron stocked some Fever Fudge. "I just don't know."

"Maybe you could just put your relationship on hiatus while you explore the world and date around. You were thinking about traveling anyways." Fred began stacking some Puking Pastilles on the shelf next to the fake wands. "You can always come back to her."

"You're right," Ron stated. "I'm meeting her for dinner. I'll tell her then."

On a fine spring evening, at a table beneath a multi-colored umbrella at The Buffoon, a café in Diagon Alley, consisting of grey patterned mosaic tiles and red awnings with a clown logo, Hermione ate dinner with Ron. Ron's red hair flopped over his face as he hunched over his food, trying not to look into the eyes of the petite witch across from him. Frequently, she pushed her long, slightly frizzy brown hair over her shoulders as the evening breeze blew it towards her food. After a bit of small talk, Ron got a confused, nervous look and his hands shook a little. Oh please, do NOT let him propose to me at this place. This is soooo unromantic, but I suppose a proposal is a proposal.

"Hermione, we both are relatively new to relationships." As Ron raised his glass of juice, the ice rattled from his nerves. "After everything that has happened, I've come to realize that I want to explore the world before things get more serious. I just need some time before we get too serious. We should know what our options are."

Despite the stone lump in her throat, she managed to squeak out a few words. "Are...are you... breaking up with me?"

"No, it's more like just a chance to travel." Ron placed some coins on the table. "Once I'm done traveling, I'm sure we'll date again."

Anger, hurt and betrayal welled in Hermione. Her first impulse was to throw her drink at him and scream but she looked around at the crowd. Not wanting public humiliation, she surpressed her feelings. "That sounds reasonable." As Ron paid for the check, Hermione darted away with tears welling in her eyes. "I ...have to go now."

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After a several days of tears and moping at her parent's house, Hermione received an owl from Hogwarts.

Dear Miss Granger,

Upon completion of the restoration of Hogwarts, we would like to request you for an internship program. Since you have already graduated via our correspondence program, your help tutoring and possibly mentoring students would be greatly appreciated. During this internship, you will have a flexible teaching schedule and you may reside at Hogwarts if you choose. Even though the war is over, many of the hostilities between the different factions remain. Your presence will detour acts of hostility and help promote a much-needed healing process. Additionally, the presence of several interns would ease the concerns of many of the parents.

Further, because of your potions talent, we have accepted you into the Provectus Potions competition that you expressed interest in. Through it, you have the opportunity to compete for the Coeus Award.

Please let us know of your acceptance or refusal.

Yours,

Minerva McGonagall

Hogwarts Head Mistress

The Coeus Award in the wizard world held the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the muggle world. Eagerly, Hermione accepted, but still faced a long summer of pity from her friends, as well as infinite reminders of Ron. However, the next day, fate granted her a favor. Her cousin Mickey, who lived in New York, requested her presence over the summer so she could familiarize him with the magical world and keep him company, since his parents were on holiday. Apparently, she wasn't the only one in the family with talent, since Mickey, who was just a few months older than her, had just discovered his magical abilities. Though it was extremely rare to bloom so late, Hermione reasoned that maybe it just happened that way with muggle borns sometimes. Welcoming a departure from the norm, she accepted the invitation.

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A spacious old brick house in Greenwich Village, New York, became Hermione's home for the summer. The rectangular five-floor home, which had been abandoned for years before the family purchased it, had finally had all the refurbishing completed. The moment the door opened, Hermione hugged the sandy haired teenage boy who answered. "Mickey, it's great to see you! I can't believe this!"

Quickly, he ushered her in. "Who would believe that after all this time of envying you, I would become like you."

"I've always wanted a magical family and I now have one." In her to her room, her cousin helped her unpack when she noticed a pin on his collar. "Mickey, why do you have a Ravenclaw pin?"

"It's a trinket I bought in New Amsterdam in honor of you." Hermione just stared at him. "That's the house you were in, right?"

"No, I was in Gryffindor but I appreciate the thought."

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A week later, over dinner of a genuine New York Pizza, Hermione ate with her cousin while they watched a muggle-only treat, television. "Mickey, you've really been learning your spells quickly."

"I'm making up for lost time." Mickey adjusted his rather thick glasses, since no spell could help near-sightedness. "Maybe I could intern with you at Hogwarts?"

"Well its invitation only and you're not familiar with Hogwarts."

"I've studied Hogwarts: A History. With your recommendation, I'm in." With an unwavering gaze, Mickey scooted his glasses down so he could look her directly in the eyes. "Wouldn't it be nice to have family there with you?"

For some reason, it now seemed feasible. Plus, it would be nice to have a magical family; albeit a two person family. "I'll send an owl." After Hermione finished writing her note, she thought about how her cousin had learned spells so quickly and had read so much about the magical world. Also, he seemed secretive. "Mickey, let's spend tomorrow together. You still haven't told me about how you discovered your magical abilities."

Tapping his fingers, he just stared ahead at the television, when a commercial for a local spa came on the air. Then Mickey smiled as he stared directly into Hermione's eyes once more. "Why don't you spend the day at the spa, my treat?"

Before looking at the advertisement, Hermione blinked a moment. "That sounds like fun." She handed her cousin a stack of loosely bound parchment. "I've chronicled the events of the war but it reads like a fiction. I thought it became more personal that way."

For a little while, her cousin perused it. "You should complete this over the summer. Maybe you can publish it."

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The next day after being waxed, exfoliated, highlighted, massaged, coiffed and made over, Hermione returned to her summer home. When Mickey saw her, his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. "You look fantastic!"

"Really," she said. "That was so nice. Thank you so much."

"I'm glad you enjoyed your day. You'll have many more." Mickey unwrapped some Italian subs from a local eatery. "From what I read, you went to school with a Draco Malfoy?" Hermione nodded. "Tell me about him."

"Draco Malfoy is an arrogant, egotistical, bullying prat." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, everyone could see that he really didn't want to follow Voldemort but he had to because of his family. I guess he's not totally rotten."

After he chewed a bite of his meatball sub, he contemplated that for a moment. "He's a Malfoy, so he is completely rotten just like his father." Mickey poured them both some soda. "Tell me more."

Over dinner, Hermione recounted every incident and encounter she had with Draco Malfoy. "Who knows, maybe he's rethought some of his anti Muggle born beliefs with all that has happened?"

"I doubt that; he's a Malfoy." Mickey sliced some genuine New York cheesecake. "They never change."

"That's rather cynical. Besides, how would you know?"

"Just a guess," he answered with a smile. "Plus I read up on some of the families in London so I'll be familiar with them."

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A summer of dozens of spa and shopping days, classes of yoga, pilates, spin and dance, not to mention novel writing, kept Hermione busy enough not to think about her relationship on hiatus. A week before school started, Hermione returned to England with her cousin. For their internship at Hogwarts, Mickey asked her not to let anyone know they were related so he could pretend to be a pure-blood. By his reasoning, it would prove that pure-bloods received favoritism even after the defeat of Voldemort. Also, it could further his career plans.

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Boarding the Hogwarts Express with Mickey, Hermione spotted her nemesis, Draco Malfoy, whose tall lanky form had now added some muscular bulk, just enough to make him sturdy but not huge. Growing his hair long, he resembled his father more closely, with the classic Malfoy hawkish features. While she wouldn't call him handsome, she had to admit that he had a striking something. During their school years, secretly and reluctantly, she found him attractive at times. Walking down the train aisle, being bumped into by several fellow interns, she handed Crookshanks to Mickey, who entered the train car. At that moment, Draco once again demonstrated why those sparse moments of attraction she had for him always remained fleeting: he spoke.