Lunchtime

“Lunch is on the table, Ginny came by, too.” She said. 

Hermione followed Ron and Harry into the kitchen, inhaling the wonderful aroma of tomato soup. She pulled up a chair and helped herself to a butterbeer. 

“Hey, how are you?” Ginny asked, her mouth full of steaming soup. 

Harry took a seat next to her and kissed her on the cheek when she put down her spoon. 

“Great. We just caught one of the most dangerous wizards of the year!” Ron said, his excited mood from earlier re-surfacing. 

Hermione listened to Ron’s story get more exaggerated by the minute. He went from taking five minutes to capture Aerope to an hour long duel, throwing in gruesome details of terrible curses and injuries. Ginny concentrated on her soup and nodded every so often. While Ron was ranting on, Hermione took the time to talk to Harry. 

“So, do you have any new leads coming in?” She asked, her headache growing when she thought of all the paperwork that would bring in. 

“Well, we do have a tip, but we don’t have enough to act on it yet.” He swallowed a mouthful of soup and continued. 

“There may be a witch who is selling enchanted mugs to muggles. Any time you try to put a drink in it, disappears as soon as it hits the bottom.” 

Hermione sighed. 

“Well, it least it doesn’t back up our department. Let Misuse of Muggle Artifacts have THAT one.” 

Harry smiled. 

“I just feel bad for Mr. Weasley. He gets the worst of it.” 

Ron jumped into the conversation. 

“Yeah, I talked to Dad this morning. He’s been getting a lot of busy work. It’s starting to take its toll on him.” 

“The Ministry has been so backed up on paperwork recently that it’ll be nice for us to have a break.” Hermione said with a hint of anger lacing into her tone. 

“You shouldn’t spend so much time on work, Hermione. You look really tired. 

“Well, if I don’t do the paperwork, who will? I’d much rather be out there with you two. I never see any of the action.” 

Harry shrugged. 

“It’s not that much of a thrill, anymore. Ever since Voldemort died, there haven’t been many dark wizards at large. Most of the death eaters either died or got chucked into Azkaban.” 

Ron nodded. 

“Really now, Ron? Seems as if you had to fight for your life, today.” Ginny cut in sarcastically. 

Ron went pink and concentrated on his soup. After half an hour or so, Harry glanced at his watch. 

“We should probably be getting back, now. They need us to file our reports on the capture.” 

Hermione nodded, not looking forward to the huge stack of papers she had to finish on her desk. The three stood up, said goodbye to Ginny, and disapparated