Characters: Hermione Granger and Octavius Lovegood Date: January 26th, 2000 Location: Order Headquarters (Canary Wharf, London) Rating: PG Summary: Dumbledore has sent Hermione on a mission to assist Octavius. Impromtu dinner and a lot of awkwardness ensues. Status: Complete
Ever since her escapde into the Ministry, Hermione had been keeping an extremely low profile. Except for small trips out to check on Harry, and another to offer her help to the new healer, she didn't leave the safe house she had come to know of as home. She had settled back into her old routines and habits from before; helping Molly around the safe house with cooking and cleaning, and monitoring a comatose Ginny for any changes in her condition. It wasn't her first choice of ways to pass the days, but she knew her face was no longer as anonymous as it used to be, and she was under orders from more than one Order member to not venture to far and risk being recognized.
Dumbledore though had plans for her, and much to Hermione's confusion, it involved the Quibbler. Hermione never read it, had always found it far too ludicrous to be taken seriously, and that was even faster it seemed to become the unofficial publication for the Order and the rebellion. She knew the main editor, Octavius, and his cousin Luna were under Order protection now and had taken their publication underground, but she never read it. Why read what she already knew?
Hermione assumed her job was to be interviewed, to give them something to publish to keep people's minds full of the Order and their presence. She was also a decent writer, and being the analytical mind that she was, would be a decent editor. Whatever her purpose was for being sent to Octavius, Hermione didn't complain. It was a far better mission than running around the English country side with Harry and his boyfriend.
She entered Headquarters through the dumpster in the back, and once inside had to blink to adjust to the lighting. Headquarters was not somewhere she ventured often, and large meetings weren't as common as they used to be. She brushed a few stray curls away from her forehead and called out, "Hello? Mister Lovegood?"