Extra Ordinary

“Hello, peasant,” Draco’s voice drifted down from above her.

She adjusted her hat and looked up at him on his horse, a brood mare almost as blonde as he was. The scent of the sea eased the tension between her shoulders and made her smile despite his sneer.

“So, you’re back to following me?”

He sneered, “I would have you know that I am here on official Malfoy business.”

She nodded, “Well by all means, continue on.”

“You would think rabble like you would know when you’re beaten,” Draco said chuckling with his companion. “Malfoys always get what they want.”

Hermione snorted at that and shook her head as they rode on. Malfoys thought they always got what they want. She knew as she’d put the pieces of her entrance to the Malfoy house and so many other things in her life, that Narcissa was beginning to realize how far ahead William had planned.

How much her parents truly loved her.

“Hermione!”

Harry came to join her, brushing the dust off his robes and adjusting his glasses.

“Well?” Hermione asked, her eyes still looking out to sea.

“I have it,” Harry said, opening his bag. She peered in and checked the packages with a smile. “And for a steal.”

“You brilliant angel,” Hermione said and locked arms with him. “Let us be onwards towards the docks. They should be here soon.”

He nodded and looked down the way. Draco dismounted to meet a captain on the ship down the way. They spoke briefly before the captain put cargo on the small cart that he’d brought with him.

“Isn’t that Malfoy?” Harry asked.

“It is,” Hermione said, facing the pier and waving to the boat that was coming into port. “Blue flares, please Harry?”

He sent them up from the edge of his wand. The ship sent up a volley of blue flares in response.

“Now, here’s the fun part,” Hermione said, standing beside him and pointing to the bow. “Aim for the mast and produce the anchoring charm I showed you.”

He worried his lip but focused and flicked his wand the way she’d taught him. A thin line of silver shot out, attaching to the stern of the boat. From the stern of the boat, a golden thread shot out and attached itself to the pier and slowly the large boat drifted towards them.

“What now?” Harry asked.

“Tie the anchor off here,” she said patting the large pole beside her.

He did as she asked as the boat docked. The ramp sprang out from the side of the boat and the captain came down.

“By the heavens, I thought your mother had risen to greet us!” The large man chuckled lifting her from the ground in a warm hug. “I see she passed on more than just her brains to you, little Hermione. You wouldn’t happen to be interested in one of my sons, would you?”

She glowered at him and he chuckled. “Fine! Fine! Onto business.”

She checked his log books as his crew began to unload. Harry watched the pile grow and grow and wondered if Brego would be okay with the load.

Probably not…

“As always, excellent!” Hermione said and handed over a satchel of coins. “Thank you, good sir. Will you be back before the ball?”

“Of course, my sons are all coming. Speaking of--”

“Well then, I’ll see you all then!” Hermione said hurriedly, shaking his hand before he could get started.

He tossed his head back and laughed before squeezing her tightly. She turned to Harry and got him to levitate the parcels onto the cart attached to Brego.

“Erm, Hermione, won’t this be a bit heavy?” Harry asked.

“Nonsense Harry,” she said. “Brego is half bahuvrihis.”

“Er, what’s that?”

“It’s a species of magical creature that much resemble horses capable of pulling immense loads.” Hermione said and pet Brego. “The cart is goblin made. It won’t break.”

Harry shrugged and loaded it up carefully. She threw ties over the top and secured them before taking Brego’s reigns and leading him away from the docks and back into town.

“What is all of this?” Harry asked as they walked.

“Supplies, dear Harry.” She said. “You think I fulfill all those orders without supplies?”

Harry wasn’t really sure what orders she was talking about, but suspected that it had something to do with all the letters she’d gotten the night they struck their deal. They made a stop at a few other places, both muggle and wizarding until they had gotten through her list for the day and headed to the Granger Estate.

When they arrived, she led Brego through the gate and helped levitate everything behind the house.

“So, what now?”

“Now?” Hermione said. “You should probably get out of your robes unless you like the idea of perhaps fainting from the heat.”

*

“What is it that you’re trying to say, Severus?” Narcissa grit out.

Severus gave her an unamused look, “At the rate Miss Granger makes payments, she will have the debt paid off three to four months before it is legally due.”

“HOW?!” Narcissa hissed. “Let me see!”

Severus gave her the books and waited. No matter how long she stared at the pages, the numbers wouldn’t change and he dared her to ask if he was sure about his calculations considering his years of experience.

“How is this possible Severus? The little bint is only seventeen! Where could she be getting this kind of money?”

The little tramp, Narcissa thought viciously.

Even if she was whoring herself out, which Narcissa doubted that she was, she wouldn’t have enough clientele so quickly to make payments like this. Narcissa had made sure to get Draco to blacklist her from as many high ranking wizards for tutoring as possible. She was barely seventeen and didn’t have the training to get a real wand yet, let alone a wizarding license. This should have been impossible.

“How? How? How?!”

“That would be a question for her accountant, Mage McGonagall, Narcissa. Is there anything else you’d like to ask?”

She practically threw the book back at him and Severus took it as a firm dismissal.

“This cannot happen,” Narcissa growled.

The paltry amount that Hermione owed was nothing compared to what Narcissa needed to settle all of the debts that breathed down their necks. Lucius had been as efficient at being cruel as he had been spending and mismanaging money. The Granger Estate would have been enough to settle the debts and more.

William Granger was a muggle and his wife had been too, but they were shrewd business people.

“Mother?” Draco called into the study and entered at her response. “There’s been a decree in court.”

“Oh?” Narcissa asked, “About what?”

“The king and queen will be hosting a ball to commemorate the end of the war. Every witch and wizard eligible for marriage is to attend.”

“What?” Narcissa asked, holding out her hand for the decree he carried.

She’d worried when she had to relinquish the Malfoy seat to Draco upon his seventeenth birthday, but felt a bit of hope rise in her chest as she read the decree.  A gathering of all the magical kingdoms? It was bound to be a large affair, bound to an opportunity of a lifetime. Honoring the youngest prince back from war as a hero and a memorial service the day after?

“We have to keep her from this ball,” Narcissa said.

And they had to put Malfoy Enterprises in the best light possible.

Granger Enterprises had fallen little under McGonagall’s watchful eye. With Hermione now old enough to be announced as the official heir and probably running Granger Enterprises again, this ball could ruin the whole plan.

Curse that bint, she thought. Hermione had known those three years in the Malfoy house, slaving away what was waiting for her at the end. She’d known all this time.

If only Narcissa had known--

It doesn’t matter. Focus on the problem at hand.

If Granger Enterprises was the source of Hermione’s capital, if she ran the company the same way that her father did, she only took a small percentage of profits. William had settled on five percent of any orders and contracts he personally fulfilled in order to take care of the needs of his family and do whatever it was that he wanted. The rest of the profits remained in the business in the form of investments and liquid galleons.

Given that Hermione was more than likely following in her father’s footsteps, it meant that the money was coming from the same source. The payments had fluctuated in the amount per Snape’s records. The last was the largest payment Hermione had ever made, meaning that she’d had a few new contracts come in.

Narcissa’s only hope was to keep those contracts from growing. She had to keep Hermione from the ball at all costs. The girl had the charm of her mother’s people on her side and her father’s head for business. There weren’t many people in the magical and muggle kingdoms who hadn’t at least heard the name Granger.

Narcissa turned to the bookshelf and looked for her warding book. She had time to perfect it, to get it right, to make something that even Hermione wouldn’t be able to get out of and devise a way to get her into it.

*

Minerva looked over the pages that Hermione brought with her, those that would be fulfilled first as Hermione sat on the low couch and sorted through another stack. It had only been a week since the ball’s announcement and the mail had kept coming in. Hermione was busy all day, every day and long into the night even with Harry’s help. She’d rebuilt the greenhouse and started replanting the fields for more than just what she needed to survive with great success. From what Minerva could glean from the pages, Hermione had re outfitted and expanded the greenhouse on the estate, replaced a few pieces of equipment in the company and done a lot of visiting of the Granger Enterprise outposts.

“Good heavens, my dear!” Minerva said looking at the most recent reconciliation from Severus. “How have you been making such payments?”

Hermione chuckled, “You don’t think I just read all day on my days off do you?”

Minerva gawked at her.

“I polish boots, shine and maintain swords, work tables, meet with clients, work the fields, sell produce, fix things,” she started, going on to detail the way she spent her weekends. “There’s also the matter of my mother’s beauty recipes.”

“What?”

“The exclusive contract my mother had with Essence Care?” Hermione said. “It’s separate from Granger Enterprises.”

Minerva nodded, remembering the file, remembering that she’d handed it over to Hermione on the day the woman had laid out her plan to get her debt paid as a part of her inheritance.

“Yes of course dear, but I wasn’t aware that you had the recipes. Let alone the ingredients.”

Or the time, she thought incredulously.

Hermione smiled and tugged the necklace from around her neck, “A gift from my mother.”

Minerva gawked, “My dear a Time-Turner is serious-- How did you-- How did she?”

“I don’t think she knew what it was,” Hermione said. “I didn’t until I saw it in a book from school. She told me that the women of her family passed it down since it came into the family.”

Minerva worried her lip. A muggle family being in possession of a magical artifact of that caliber was unlikely. It could have been a counterfeit from the earlier days of the war, or it could have been real.

“How often do you use it?”

“Oh not at all!” Hermione sputtered. “I’m not so desperate to fiddle around with time magic and apparation after all.”

Minerva wasn’t sure if she should ask anymore questions given that every answer Hermione gave her seemed to put her closer and closer to a heart attack.

Hermione gave the Time-Turner a small smile, “It feels like she’s with me when I think of it and it makes me keep going.”

“Well, my dear, I suppose that so long as you are safe and you’re confident that you can deliver on all of this.”

Hermione smiled, “I am.”

Something chimed and she perked up, at the tone. “It’s time for me to get going.”

Hermione packed up and stood at the edge of Minerva’s desk, “Is there anything else you need from me?”

“Not at the moment,” Minerva said. “Just be careful.”

Hermione nodded, “I swear it.”

*

Viktor pressed his back to the wall and slowed his breathing. He had to get out before someone else accosted him. He’d forgotten how dizzying and how taxing life in the palace could be while away at war.

Since the ball was announced, someone had come to his chambers to retrieve him early every morning and kept him hostage throughout the day. He ate his meals with his siblings and his father when he got the chance, but most of the day was spent enduring Ekaterina and Aella’s stringent etiquette training.

There isn’t much time before the ball, we have to be sure that you can at least dance a decent waltz!

He wept at the thought.

Today, he was going to get out of the palace and far away from it. He deserved it.

“Your Highness?” Someone called as he slipped down the hall, unnoticed and unseen. He remained in the shadows, careful to keep his footsteps quiet across the floors. If only he was able to do magic inside the palace, none of this would be a problem, but the old castle was warded against all manner of spellwork in the palace that wasn’t medical in nature and in certain areas.

“Your Highness?”

He tensed and took off running from the sound of the guard.

“Your Highness!?!”

He took off running towards the open balcony.

“Vitya?” Aella asked as he rushed past.

“Just one day!” Viktor yelled over his shoulder and took a running leap over the edge of the balcony.

Ekaterina shrieked, “Vitya!”

He pulled his broom beneath him and twisted in the air to catch the current that would take him away from the palace and his mother yelling after him.

“Vitya!!”

He laughed, looking over his shoulder at the balcony before taking the currents towards the forest and the mountains that surrounded Kula. The trees seemed to glow in the early dawn light as he laughed into the wind and pressed his broom to go faster. It’s lovely and perfect. The longer he remained in the air among the winds and clouds, the more relaxed he grew.

His mind eased and it was almost like he hadn’t gone to war at all. He slowed his flying and descended towards the tops of the trees, drifting towards the sound of a waterfall.

There on the banks was a woman, dressed in a rough tunic and pants, kneeling in the shadows with a bow aimed into the trees. Her face was covered and her hair was braided back. She let the arrow fly and he heard the sound of it striking its target and the thud of the body on the ground.

She moved through the brush and stepped onto the banks of the pool around the waterfall. Viktor froze as she spun, kneeled, strung another arrow and fired. He yelped and flew out of the brush, narrowly dodging the arrow.

“Who goes?” She asked, aiming another arrow at him.

“Someone who means you no--” He frowned and dismounted his broom. “Have we met?”

She lowered the bow slowly and stood from her position and approached him. Her eyes were a deep brown, intelligent, and searching.

“Sir Knight?” She asked, that warm voice washing over him and making him smile.

“It is you, madame,” he said with a small bow. “I thought for sure that I would never see you again, madam siren.”

“Siren?” She asked with a snort and walked beyond the tree line to grab her kill. He strapped his broom to his back and followed her.

“Your voice, madame,” he said. “I am sure there is a touch of magic there, unlike normal witches.”

“You flatter me,” she replied with a chuckle. “But I have no knowledge of such things.”

Viktor hummed and stopped beside her as she kneeled to gather her kill. Her gloved hands worked quickly and efficiently to pull out the arrow and prepare the large beast for transport.

“You are an impressive shot.” Viktor said. “Are you heading to market? Have you a horse?”

She snorted and roped her kill up to drag.

“No.”

“Let me--”

“No,” she said plainly. “My kill, my carry.”

He huffed, “You are not one for chivalry.”

She laughed, her head tilted back and her eyes gleeful, “Of course I am. I simply have no need for it at the moment. Rules of a hunter.”

“At least let me take you to market,” he said. “It’s a long way to town.”

“On… your broom?” She asked eyeing it on his back.

“Well, yes. Have you never flown before?”

“No,” she said.

Viktor grinned and pulled his broom off his back and set it to float, “Get on.”

“Are you sure about this? I mean it is a broom.”

“You are a witch, aren’t you?” He teased. “You apparate without fear but not fly?”

“It’s completely different,” she defended.

Viktor lifted his eyebrows and waited for her to explain her reasoning. She huffed.

“On my honor,” Viktor said. “I will get you there safely.”

She sighed but nodded approaching it warily. Viktor set her to float and anchored it to the broom before taking her hand and helping her mount the broom. It wavered and she squeaked.

“Easy,” he said. “It’s okay.”

She gripped the broom tightly and leaned back only to let him mount in front of her.

“Hold on,” he said and felt her arms wrap around his waist tightly. He smiled and guided the broom into the air and beyond the canopy of trees.

“Please don’t do anything crazy.”

“I promise,” Viktor said. “Tell me, where are you from?”

“Surtse,” she said into his shoulder. “A-And you?”

“Surtse,” he said. “Have you not taken your mage examinations yet?”

“I don’t even have my wizarding license yet.”

His eyebrows drifted up, “What?”

The broom wavered and she shrieked, squeezing tighter.

“Sir Knight!”

“Forgive me, but I am shocked. You have such power.”

“I haven’t been able to go through training until recently. I’m still using a practicing license.”

“You’re still in school,” he said. “If the war was still going on, you would have been hurried through training because of your power.”

“I know.”

Viktor swallowed, “Well, what is it that you do? Are you a hunter by trade?”

“Among other things.”

Viktor frowned, “I take it that you are hesitant to speak with me for a reason.”

“You do have me hostage on a broom at a height that could kill me easily.”

Viktor chuckled, “So when we get to the ground, we can have a conversation?”

“I’ll definitely be more open to it.”

Viktor laughed at that. When they landed in town, she wobbled on her feet and thanked him. Viktor invites himself along to the market where she makes the sale. They pass a ball proclamation.

“Are you going to the ball?”

“I am told that every eligible person is required to attend.”

Viktor frowned at her choice of words, “Have I offended you, madame?”

She shifted her weight as if to think and spun around to regard him.

“What is your interest in me, good sir?” She asked.

“What is any man’s interest in a beautiful woman?” He asked seriously.

She flinched, her eyes widening in apparent shock. What could she have been shocked by?

“You have no idea what I look like?”

“I am a wizard,” Viktor said. “Appearances mean very little to me.”

Her brow furrowed and he smiled, “I take it I am not handsome in your eyes.”

She snorted, “I hardly think my opinion of your appearance means much. After all, you seem to be a man aware of his worth.”

Viktor smiled, “Is that so?”

“It is.” She turned to walk out of the market with the satchel of coins secured in a pocket on her belt. They stopped to buy food before walking back towards the forest and away from town.

“What is it that you do in the forest?” Viktor asked.

“Practice magic,” she said. “I need the privacy.”

“Am I interrupting?”

“Not at all.”

Viktor took a seat on a large rock in the clearing that she selected and watched. She stretched towards the sky and ate as she paced the clearing. Eventually she took off her boots and dug her feet into the dry earth.

“Are you preparing for an exam?” Viktor asked.

“Growth spells,” she said. “Resurrecting dead earth is something that I struggle with.”

“Would you like help?”

She turned and Viktor’s heart tripped. That look in her eye was telling.

Ah, Viktor thought, he smirked.

This witch’s heart was in her head. He stood and pulled off his shoes. He approached her  and bade her to sit down. She met his gaze and he smiled at her.

“Let’s start from the beginning.”

*

Hermione wandered home in disbelief, but with a whole new understanding of magic and the knight she’d met.

Viktor, she thought with a smile. Viktor.

She shook her head.

Focus, Hermione, she thought.

He taught her stuff, yes. That wasn’t a reason to get all gooey eyed. She had things to do. She had contracts to secure, plants to grown, potions to brew, tests to take and--

Save me a dance, he’d said and kissed her gloved hand.

“Stop it!” she cried throwing up her hand and marched into her office to get some work done.

When she found herself daydreaming and growing flowers in the small pot of dry earth on her desk, she gave up and went to the greenhouse to start production on hair potions for Essence Hair Care.

“Hermione?”

She turned to see Harry there. Was it that time already? She looked to the bottles of potion on the table. She’d bottled them all in a daze it seemed.

“Come on in Harry, help me cork these?”

Harry asked her something as he set to work and she knew that Viktor had done exactly what he’d set out to do when approaching her in the forest.

Even more troubling was that she liked it.