37 Questions

Hermione sat somewhat anxiously on the seat in her office at the Order. After a very heated conversation with her, Harry had left to attend to his own business. He was an Auror, after all, and all faithful, diligent Aurors were always burdened by piles of work from morning to evening, or at least so Harry said. Secretly she thought he had been visiting Ron's cell trying and most likely failing to get through to him. It was starting to become apparent that he had been hexed for a long time now. Something similar to the "Imperius curse" but not exactly the same either... It's similar because he does actions he wouldn't normally do such as getting the dark mark or turning on his friends. How it differs from the imperius curse is he isn't directly controlled, he is actually making these decisions. It's complicated and makes my head hurt, but the Weasleys are calling Bill to attempt to break this new unforgivable curse.

Fortunately her fame still granted her privileges most people wouldn't have. Such as, being able to set up a law practice in a office close to the ministry. It had been going well, thankfully Percy had been by her side the entire time. Until this morning when she started to have a heated discussion with Harry.

Now she was waiting for Percy's return. It had been almost two hours, and the man she loved was nowhere to be seen or heard from. It was just then she realized that she was not aware of Percy's contact information, no phone number or email or anything. Another mistake, she cursed to herself.

While she did get to work on some of the important court cases while she waited, for a good amount of time, Hermione paced around in her office, waiting. Perhaps it was the politic talk that frightened him? Or the debate about Ron's sentancing, could he hate the red head so much he was fed up with her too? Hermione bit her nails, chastising herself for maddening so in front of Percy, but she really could not help herself when she was facing a tasteful argument like that.

After another half an hour or so, there a was knock on the door. Hermione, who had given up on worrying and was flicking through a package of case papers, carelessly replied, "come in."

It was her witch assistant, a recent graduate from Hogwarts with the freshness of a beginner brightly lit on her face. Rose Muylor was the name, if Hermione remembered correctly (she knew she did but nonetheless). Rose's cheeks were colored, and the girl herself looked quite flustered, as if she witnessed something scandalous and knew not what to say. Hermione sighed.

"Yes, what is it?"

"It's, um, you have a visitor…"

Rose finished her statement like a question, unsure if she was right to call the person a visitor. Hermione, confused, asked back.

"I don't have any appointments today, do I?"

"No, no, you don't, Ms. Granger. It's, uh, your, your… sir."

Hermione stared at Rose who decidedly refused to meet her eyes. Only seconds after she realized what Rose was talking about. Percy.

It was as amusing as it was painful for Percy to watch Rose speak to Hermione in her office. The girl obviously had read that newspaper's headline about Hermione and him and was having an extremely difficult time finding words that would not offend her boss. When she struggled and finally came up with a 'sir,' Percy really had hard time restraining himself from snorting out a laughter. But soon, Rose popped out of the office, followed by Hermione's hurried footsteps, he no longer needed to restrain a smile. Hermione exited the door, and her eyes widened at the sight of him. She rushed toward him, uncaring of Rose's ever pinkening cheeks, and hugged him tightly.

"Where were you?" She whispered, her concern apparent.

"I'm sorry to have worried you." He pulled out from the tight embrace and pecked a kiss on her nose. "I forgot that I didn't bring my phone."

Hermione, though responding to his nose peck with a kitten like behaviour, affectionate and cuddly, frowned at his remark.

"No phone?"

Percy thought he was seeing a lot of incredulity from Hermione as of lately. He nodded sheepishly.

"Yeah, not a really a techy person, and I accidentally ran off without it."

Then there was a disturbed coughing, perhaps a clearing of throat, and Percy found red-faced Rose eyeing them. Hermione, noticing as well, hopped out of the embrace in a very sudden, embarrassed manner. She cleared her throat as well, maintaining her disinterested face before proceeding to talk to her assistant.

"Thank you, Rose," she turned to Percy, "Why don't we talk in my office?"

Percy grinned and nodded again. As he followed Hermione into the office, he witnessed Rose fanning herself madly with her hand and let out a chuckle, which in turn made Hermione turn around to look at him with an amused smirk.

"What are you laughing about?"

"It just seems that you've got a real nice assistant."

Hermione wore a sly grin on full force now as she almost seductively approached him. Hermione stood right in front of him, her hand on his chest, snaking up to his shoulder. Heat rose in him, and Percy sneaked a look at the door to see if it was closed. It was. Hermione spoke slowly in a low whisper.

"Are you complimenting another woman in front of me?"

Percy cleared his throat nervously. He had not seen such a voluptuous side of Hermione yet, and it made him almost too weak to stand on his legs.

"Of course not, I wouldn't—"

Then Hermione pressed her lips on his, and they engaged themselves into a passionate kiss for a long while. When their face finally came apart, Hermione's eyes were a bit tearful.

"I thought, I might have scared you with all of… that."

Percy planted a chaste kiss on her forehead.

"I'm sorry I scared you, but no worries, I've seen worse."

At that, she looked up at him again she could guess what 'worse' meant but didn't really want to talk about it.

Percy didn't want to swing the conversation in the wrong direction either and quickly made a joke "For example, I would much prefer you being a witch than a serial killer or something."

That made Hermione laugh and tease him lightly.

"And would you have stopped loving me if I were a serial killer?"

Percy pondered for a second before reciprocating Hermione's grin and answered.

"No, I can't say I would."

Throughout the week, Percy stayed with Hermione, and accompanied her to her work. While Hermione finished her hours at work, he would entertain himself with the magical newspapers and their moving photographs. Then when the work was done, the two would walk home together through muggle streets, arms linked together, and if not, their hands clasped together. There were owls flying in the office frequently, which Hermione explained as the wizarding world's post service, and a lot of the messages had rude and invasive questions about the recent turns of Hermione's private life. Percy gladly threw them into the fireplace for her.

Friday, on their way home, when they were passing the market street near Hermione's new place, Percy recognized a woman approaching from the opposite direction. She was cloaked in purple with golden jewelries and smiled mysteriously as her eyes met Percy's. Hermione sensed Percy's tensed body and looked at the woman confused.

"Do you know her?" She whispered.

Percy nodded but only used one word to describe their relationship. "Aunt"

The woman stopped in front of them. Percy found it so odd to see her carrying a basket full of grocery items like a mortal, looking casual as if she strolled through the street like that every day. The smile was still there when she began to speak.

"Hello, Perseus. Fancy seeing you on this part of the globe."

She spoke in a perfectly elegant posh accent, catching Percy off guard. Instead he bowed as he did for his father with stiff lips.

"Pardon my informal greeting."

Aphrodite smile did not faded so Percy considered it a safe line. She glanced at Hermione briefly.

"No worries, the circumstance is understood."

Meanwhile, Hermione was looking mildly annoyed at the appearance of a strange woman and her interaction with Percy. Percy squeezed her hand in his to reassure her in the best way possible. He had talked to his father and guessed that Aphrodite had come to give him some answers, but could she not have just talked to him through a dream or something? Did she really have to appear in front of Hermione like this?

"What brings you here?" He asked carefully to not sound impertinent.

"Obviously on my daily duties," Aphrodite gestured to her basket, which Percy assumed was just her cover for Hermione, "but seeing you here, I feel I should give you some answers to what you've asked before."

He almost sarcastically snapped back, "So soon?"

Aphrodite, however, unlike the other impatient, tempered deities, maintained her smile, almost endearingly at this point. She spoke to Percy as if he was her tantrum throwing nephew, which truthfully he might as well be.

"Now, don't be like that, Percy. I had to be careful to not be spotted by your uncle."

Percy now understood why she had to appear as another mortal figure and why it took her a while to get back to him. Zeus' temper was not a secret in the Grecian world. He sighed and nodded.

"My apologies. I'm not used to waiting, I think. So? The answer?"

Aphrodite pulled an envelope out of her basket and handed it to Percy.

"I happened to have it with me. I'm afraid it won't be too pleasing for you."

Percy grunted, already knowing what she meant, but Aphrodite gave him a mischievous grin.

"But accidents always happen, don't they?"

She winked at him, saying so. Percy did not yet know what that was supposed to mean, but he figured he would discover the significance once he read the letter. Hopeful again, he looked at Hermione, who was now clenching tightly on his arm and nearly glared at the goddess before her. He looked back at Aphrodite, letting out a relaxed smile.

"Thank you, aunt—"

Aphrodite stopped him before he could.

"No need for that, Perseus," She winked at them both, "good day." After that, she easily strolled past them, continuing the path that Percy and Hermione had walked away from until she met a corner and disappeared into it. Percy looked down at the envelope in his hand and put it gently in his pocket. Hermione let out a scoff.

By now, the two had properly introduced themselves to each other with their last names and all. Percy did not bother to tell her the origin of his name. So he smiled gently and replied teasingly.

"You've never asked."

"Well, I do know another Percy and didn't really think it as odd." Hermione admitted somewhat sheepishly, making Percy chuckle. But then she stopped and turned her head toward him fiercely.

"Who was that lady?"

Percy scratched his head.

"She's… Salena's mom." He concluded.

"What? Is she on her side? Should we be worried" Hermione asked, her eyes twinkling with near panic.

Percy sighed. "No, for all Aphrodite's faults she is loyal to her pantheon. I wanted to check with some of them about... something. I guess my father got her to tell me what they've said."

It was hard being ambiguous, but Hermione had yet stopped asking questions.

"Wait, what did you ask your father, and Salena's mom is aphrodite? Well, that answers a lot of questions."

"Whoa, Hermione, breathe. I'll tell you, just breathe."

Hermione blushed and mumbled, "Sorry..." but her eyes were still alight with questions, which Percy found too much and kissed her on the cheek, making her giggle.

At this point, they had arrived at the new apartment, and Hermione needed to get the key out. She spoke as she pulled it out of her bag.

"I'm going to wash first, if you don't mind. And don't think I'm going to let go of this interesting story! Prepare yourself!"