He was as handsome as she'd expected, having seen photos of him near daily in the papers. A true hero of their world. His presence dominated the room without even trying and she had to admit she was a little bit smitten. He was everything she'd dreamed of and he was so close.
Despite them both working in the DMLE, he as an Auror and she working in the Family welfare division, they had never worked together and never been introduced.
This was actually an informal get together after office hours to officially welcome Hermione Granger to the department, having left Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to join the legal team here.
She circulated with her colleagues, talking work stuff and life-away-from-work stuff. They were an eclectic lot and an interesting group of people. But somehow her eyes kept finding him in the room as he circulated.
Was it her imagination that he kept looking over at her too? She moved on and looked up again and yes, he was looking. She tried it several times with the same success. One time she was sure their eyes met and she smiled somewhat shyly but he didn't acknowledge her by smiling back or anything.
Finally she'd moved around enough that she was now in the vicinity of the group around Hermione, and she was comfortable enough to join them. Even better, he was standing there next to the guest of honour.
“ Hermione hi, welcome to our legal team,” she said in a pleasant tone, not too over the top friendly but not snobby either.
Hermione offered her hand and she took it, unsurprised at the confident shake.
“ I'm so pleased to be here, you work in the family department, don't you?” asked Hermione.
She nodded in reply, her eyes shifting to Harry Potter, who was looking over at where she had just left. She followed his gaze in time to see a red haired woman enter through the door.
“ Ginny's here,” he announced happily, and he left the group to go to her side.
This 'Ginny' turned out to be the Ginny Weasley of the Holyhead Harpies and of course, she had read that they were dating but she was sure there had been a recent article by Rita Skeeter saying they may have broken up as they hadn't been spotted together around town recently.
The group around Hermione continued talking as she watched him with her, laughing as they went from group to group until finally they were back at her group, or rather, Hermione's.
“ All right, Ginny?” asked an amused Hermione.
“ Oh you know, everyone offering congratulations,” smiled Ginny. She looked at the group around her friend and soon to be sister-in-law. “ So, are you all lawyers? My dad told me lots of lawyer jokes to tell you, Hermione won't let me tell her anymore.”
Everyone chuckled while Harry looked on proudly.
Her coworkers went around the group, telling Ginny their legal specialty. Ginny honed in on her when she mentioned she dealt with family law, specifically the welfare of magical children.
She found herself talking with the famous couple as Ginny asked her questions about her job and situations she dealt with. Harry also seemed interested, although invested might seem a better word.
She found herself falling under Ginny Weasley's spell as the other witch drew her out, sharing stories of her time at Hogwarts under the Snape and Carrows regime, and how she'd heard there was still ex students dealing with the fall out from that harrowing time.
She couldn't say that Ginny Weasley was classically beautiful but there was something captivating in her interest, the way her eyes twinkled when they shared an amusing story and she honestly felt like she was the most important person right there to be able to hold this witch's attention for so long. She simply lit up the room, enough that everyone seemed to hang on her every word. She asked intelligent questions; they both did. Harry stood next to her, an arm around her, interjecting every now and then when she asked his opinion, but seemingly content to just stare down at her with tenderness.
“ Well, you're doing interesting work. It must be – oh Hermione, are you going?” asked Ginny, as Hermione interrupted them.
“ Yes, the shindig is winding down, and I'm sure Harry wants to get his wife home. After all, you just got back from your honeymoon,” she joked in reply.
Wife.
Of course.
How ironic, to meet the man of your dreams,
and then meet his beautiful wife.