Ethereal

The next day, Alex surprises her at work.

A quiet knock had dispelled the tranquil silence.

"Come in."

A familiar pair of eyes captured Hermione's almost immediately. Alex steps into her office, closing the door quietly.

"H-Hi. Hi, Alex," Hermione stutters, realizing she hadn't exactly prepared what to say during their next encounter.

Alex smiles radiantly.

"Hi. Umm... I brought you lunch, and umm for myself as well obviously, I just thought maybe we could have lunch together?" Alex trips over his own words, and now it's Hermione's turn to smile.

"Of course. Thank you," Hermione responds, taking the bento box being offered to her. "You didn't have to, I have a personal stash of all sorts of packed food here."

"Well I didn't want to raid your stash," he replied.

"It's okay, I could share. I don't usually but I'm told it's good to make exceptions."

He laughed.

"I'm glad I caught you for lunch. I was worried you'd be in a meeting or something when I came by," Alex says.

"I'm glad too, this is delicious!" Hermione praises. "And the company is very much appreciated."

"I really wanted to see you yesterday, but I figured I should probably give you some time after our date," Alex's honesty catches Hermione off-guard.

Alex seems so comfortable opening up about his feelings. "Sorry if that was too forward," Alex said immediately after.

"Oh no, it wasn't," Hermione quickly assures. "I felt the same."

"Your friend Ginny came by the committee to see me yesterday," Alex says.

"Please tell me you're joking," Hermione covers her face in humiliation.

Ginny and her ever so meddlesome nature. Hermione shouldn't be surprised that the red head found the time and the address.

"Don't worry, it was sweet. She even gave me the idea to bring you lunch."

Hermione offers no response and picks at his food. Alex laughs at the brunette's obvious discomfort.

"So, you told your friends about me?" Alex continues, with a teasing tone.

"Only Ginny, and well, Ron was there when you asked me out so..."

"Did they say anything about me?"

"Well if anything, they are just exited to see me engage myself in something that has nothing to do with paperwork."

"Did you tell anyone?" Hermione asked hesitantly, she really hopes he didn't but doesn't want to ask that of Alex.

"That I'm seeing the Ministress of Magic? No, I don't think any of my friends could keep that big of a secret," Alex chuckles and Hermione smiles. "They probably wouldn't believe me anyways, I still kind of don't believe it."

The conversation flows effortlessly, and Alex wonders how someone as renowned as Hermione, The Brightest Witch of her generation, can be so humble and approachable. She's charismatic, and has an alluring personality. Alex zones out, and Hermione is more than happy to let the comfortable silence set in.

_____________________________

Days pass by and Hermione can't help the anxiety slowly taking over her. Harry still hasn't returned and with the state of mind he left in, it's hard to not be concerned.

He has done this many times, used missions as means to let his frustrations out. He is never in town on halloween, or the anniversary of the war. There are high scale missions reserved for him on those two occasions.

The head of aurors understands, has some kind of a deal with the heir of his position.

Harry also produces good results, so Hermione has no official grounds to intervene.

But every time he returns injured. Draco's healing team stays on standby. With each of those dangerous missions there are more injuries littering around Harry's body and Hermione breaks watching those scars every time.

It's the sixth day since he hasn't been in town, and this is Hermione's third day without any sleep.

Confident she wouldn't be able to sleep today either even if she tried, Hermione remains at her desk long into the evening hours. Over the past few days, she's accepted no distractions from work, other than the occasional meal with Alex. Had she even eaten today? She can't remember, the days meld together.

She hates that this is the kind of power Harry has over her.

She lays on her bed, head buried in the pillows and blanket clenched in her fists. She sulks, and sulks until a notification pops up. The guard at her apartment alerted her of Harry's presence. It was an unusual thing for the guard to do. There was more to the message but she paid it no heed as she rushed to her best friend.

As she runs, her pace is faltering. Well the lack of food and sleep definitely have their consequences. Her fatigue is taking over and she reduces her sprinting to long steps.

As she reaches the main gates, she spots a trail of blood.

"Harry you're bleeding," Hermione says, finally catching sight of the wound. She sees a deep gash on the right side of Harry's abdomen, a dark red patch staining his clothes.

"You're observant as ever, Mione" Harry attempts to say with a mocking smirk, but the stinging pain makes him groan.

"What the hell happened?"

"Well, I was returning and came across a bunch of robbers. I underestimated them, and one of them was hiding. I let my guard down and he got me."

Hermione can scold him later, reprimand him for playing with his life so carelessly. But right now-

"Let me see if any healer is on duty nearby right now," Hermione rushes.

"No," Harry interrupts. "No, I'm fine. I can handle this myself."

Harry forces himself to stand up, but quickly loses his balance and Hermione grips his shoulders securely.

"Harry you can't even stand," Hermione's voice sounds panicked.

"I'm o-ok," Harry's words are slurred and his eyes glazed over, he's becoming delirious from the blood loss.

"Come here," Hermione ushers her friend inside her apartment. "Let me help then."

"Mione, I said I'm--" but Harry can't seem to finish his thought when Hermione reaches out to wrap her hands around his own.

"Stop talking and let me focus," Hermione orders, kneeling before Harry and concentrating on drawing her powers to perform a healing spell. "Just don't resist the energy, it will heal you."

Why would he ever? Harry wonders. Why would he ever resist this blissful warm magic flowing through him? He'd gladly let his guard down more often if it meant Hermione holding him this intimately. Harry teeters in and out of consciousness, with only deep brown eyes to ground him.

Harry hates how much he has craved her touch. Even with an injury that he will accept to himself, hurt like a bitch. He finds himself focusing on the tenderness of her touch, rather than the stinging pain.

Harry soon drifts out of conscious and wakes up to Hermione applying a cool ointment on the cut that has mostly sealed up.

Hermione's tongue is sticking out a bit, all her focus on the movement of her hands as if she would put pressure on the wrong spot and end up hurting Harry. The raven is weak, and his eyes barely open but he still watches her take care of him. Watches her thin hands expertly wrapping a bandage around his torso.

"You feeling any better?" Hermione asks, doing a poor job at masking her concern.

Harry adjusts his position and winces from the pain, admittedly much milder now than before.

"Yeah," Harry responds.

"Here," Hermione hands him a glass of water. "Drink."

Harry obeys somewhat reluctantly.

"The theives..." Hermione starts, her tone deep and serious. "Could you identify any of them?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm going after them."