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This Physical Fascination (HG/SS/LM)	By : Remarkable Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 71599 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: JK Rowling and associates own everything Harry Potter including characters and fandom. I do not own any of the aforementioned. I make no money from this work of fiction.

Chapter List
- 8
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What do you get when you take one witch, one auror, the Minister of Magic, put them in a crazy situation and stir? A few things that make you go hmmmmmm.... (brownie points if you get the song reference there). Even amidst chaos my muse was itching to write. So without further ado, here is the update sooner than I'd planned on posting so I spose there will be another within a week or two. Please review! Thanks my lovelies!

By the end of an eventful, whirlwind type of week, Hermione was ready to hand Kingsley her resignation slip and throw in the towel. Somehow, word of the internal Ministry uproar had been leaked to the press. Every day she had left the office a swarm of wizarding reporters were almost rabid in their attempt to corner her and get answers regarding the reformation project and the injustice of the Head Auror.

Jack was being held in a special high security cell in the bowels of the Ministry guarded by an Unspeakable. Hermione had never heard of this sort of arrangement in the past, but she trusted Kingsley enough to figure he knew what he was doing.

The rest of the Auror department, including Harry, had been subject to questioning. Eight other members of the department were under suspicion for carrying out part of the kickback operation Duggan had had going for the essential sabotage of the program.

The Governor of Azkaban, Ted Milton, was also under investigation for human trafficking, embezzlement, fraud, ethic violations and a smorgasbord variety of other wizarding charges that if convicted, ensured the top dog a minimum life sentence in the very facility he presided over.

This was only the tip of the iceberg. Various foremen of the differing construction sites were either under investigation, observation or being questioned in conjunction with the investigation. A veritable rat’s nest of lies, bribery, and all things devious were being uncovered. It was enough to give Hermione a migraine of the first degree

. -- Hermione stood in front of Harry’s new office. She allowed the corners of her mouth to curl into a brief smile before knocking on the door.

“Come in!”

Hermione pushed the door open and stepped into the office of the acting Head Auror; Harry Potter. She threw her arms around her best friend and gave him a giant squeeze.

“How are you feeling?” asked the emerald-eyed wizard of Hermione. He pulled away from her, keeping one hand pressed to her upper arm. “I’ve been worried about you. You don’t look like you’ve been sleeping much this week.”

Hermione shrugged. “Well, have you? The Prophet hasn’t allowed anyone time to rest on their laurels since the outbreak of this scandal. My project is under severe scrutiny after already being subject to intense unpopular public opinion, and now I have to find a way to keep it operating for the last six months, or the remainder of my charges goes back to Azkaban under default of the bylaws. I’ll have to pull a miracle out of my arse to keep it running.”

Harry just sighed and ran his fingers through his messy black hair. It was still as unruly as ever. Despite the intervening years from his childhood, he still preferred to keep it longish to dissuade people from gaping at his scar. “There are a few things I wanted to talk to you about.” He turned around and shuffled some papers on his desk. Picking up a small packet with “Ministry: Top Secret” stamped across it in big red letters, he tossed it to the confused witch.

“What’s this?” Her honeyed eyes looked from the packet and back to Harry.

Very quietly he replied, “That’s what I’d like to know.”

Twenty minutes later saw the two of them settled on the settee in Harry’s flat. Extensive wards were placed around the exterior and interior of the environment along with numerous silencing, muffling and anti-spying charms. Harry wasn’t taking any chances with this conversation. After they were sat next to one another, Harry motioned to the packet Hermione still held clutched within her grasp.

“What is this?”

“Open it.”

With trembling fingers Hermione pried the flap from the parchment and peeked inside. What she saw contained within made her gasp in astonishment. She flipped through the contents in silence. When all was said and done she quietly put the magical photographs back into the packet and handed it back to Harry. "Where did you get these?" she asked quietly.

“Care to explain?” Harry countered, unable to let her know of the random checks on the worksites due to their top secret nature. It wasn't a matter of unwillingness to let her know; he had had to take a wand oath before being inducted in as acting Head Auror to keep such information private.

Hermione sighed, resigned that he wasn't going to grant her an explanation.

Harry kept his eyes averted to a pattern on the carpet just in front of him. This was not something he had been looking forward to confronting Hermione about, but he had kept the initial conversation private to give her the benefit of the doubt. He didn’t want to believe what the pictures so plainly told him. There had to be another explanation. "Please say something," he whispered.

“No, Harry. There’s nothing I can say. You obviously already know enough to have me sacked. I’ll tender my resignation Monday morning.” Hermione kept her face carefully blank as her hands sweated against the sensible business skirt that draped gracefully over her knees.

“Dammit Hermione! I’m your best friend! Aren’t you at least going to tell me what you were doing at a construction site snogging Lucius Malfoy of all people?”

Hermione turned to Harry, her voice cold. “I repeat; what do you want me to say? It was a lapse in judgment.”

“I’ll say! You are seriously willing to sacrifice your career instead of tell me the reason behind these ludicrous photos? There’s never been anything we’ve kept from one another!”

“And what would you know about what my life has become. Huh, Harry? You tell me! Where were you when Jack was beating the shite out of me? What did you say to me when I asked you for help a year ago when I needed you?”

“I-“ Harry began, but the angry witch cut him off and picked up steam.

“I’ll tell you what you told me. You laughed! That’s right Harry; you laughed and told me to stop being an overachiever. When I needed your help lobbying to get the Death Eater parole program up and running and then kept on track, you were nowhere to be found! You were too busy living it up with your buddies and raking in the overtime from the extra patrols my project generated. And when I told you Jack was hurting me, you did all the bold posturing one would expect from a best friend but when push came to shove, you stood me up when I broke up with him.”

“That’s not fair! I got called away on assignment and wasn’t able to owl you beforehand!”

“Quit making excuses! Nothing ever stopped you before from being there for me. I have never turned my back on you.”

Harry’s shoulders slumped in defeat. Hermione was right. He had been a prat at times and ignored her when she had needed him. He blew out an exasperated breath and gestured helplessly in front of him into the air. “I can’t just ignore these photographs. I’m acting Head Auror now and I have a duty to uphold. If I pretend they don’t exist I’m no better than Duggan or any of his cronies.”

Hermione patted his shoulder. “I didn’t say you had to ignore them, Harry. I already told you I’d resign.”

“But why? I don’t understand!” he cried in frustration.

“Because I love him.”

A full minute of incredulous expressions, a gaping mouth and silent contemplation later, Harry stood from the settee and walked unsteadily over to a cabinet next to his fireplace. He took out a half-full bottle of brandy and poured two fingers into a snifter. Downing it quickly, he poured another and downed that as well before facing his long-time friend. “I’m not letting you leave until you tell me exactly what’s going on with you and Malfoy.”

It was a long evening filled with confessions, tears, hugs, arguments, and finally a few concessions before Harry accepted Hermione’s incredible explanation of events from the past week. He reluctantly agreed to support her in any way he was legally able, but in the end, said he needed to hand the file over to Shacklebolt for deliberation.

Hermione understood completely. If she had been in his position she would have done the same. There was little hope of the program continuing at this rate, and with her two lovers facing another extended stay in Azkaban, the most she could hope for would be to try and enact change from a grass roots perspective and visit them weekly until the end of their sentences. Just as quickly as her fantastic journey of a magical ménage a trois was realized, it was threatened to be extinguished from existence. The fate of her future would lie in the hands of her former Order companion and current boss but the question was, would he understand?

Harry embraced her one last time before he allowed Hermione to Floo back to her own flat. He would spend the weekend back at the office doing some research of his own for some answers and pouring everything he had into speeding up the investigation into the case.

-- Monday dawned bright and cheery. Hermione neither felt bright nor cheery as she dragged herself into her office and plucked the internal memo from her desk demanding her presence for an immediate audience with the Minister of Magic.

Hermione took a seat in the big plush chair opposite Kingsley’s desk as she nervously waited for his reaction to Harry’s report.

Kingsley had the photos in his big hands, shuffling through them over and over again, deep in thought. At length, he set them down onto the smooth wood grain of his desk and steepled his fingers together in a way that reminded Hermione of her Severus. “Hermione, I think you know the reason I’ve called you here this morning.”

Hermione lifted her chin a fraction and answered him firmly. “Yes, sir.”

“Then I am sure you understand that under the circumstances I have no choice but to remove you from your position effective immediately.”

Only the trembling of her lower lip gave away any indication Hermione was feeling both torn apart inside and relief from the insurmountable odds the project faced in light of events, despite losing the chance to bring her lovers through to the end of their parole. “I understand, sir. Thank you for everything. I will gather my things immediately and show myself out.” With that, the resigned witch rose to her feet and briskly clicked toward the door to his office.

“Hermione.” The deep, rich voice of Shacklebolt commanded her stop.

Looking over her shoulder, she saw the big man advancing on her position. He took her by the shoulders and turned her around firmly. His deep brown eyes sparkled in an amused fashion that thoroughly confused Hermione. “Sir?”

“I said I had to remove you from your position. I didn’t say you were fired.”

“But- but the photos-“

“Oh yes, the photos.” Kingsley let out a loud, booming laugh that shook itself through the room and subsided into thin air. “I may not approve of your personal taste in men young lady, especially from a professional standpoint. As your friend, it is none of my business whom you choose to associate with. As a fellow Order member, my respect and admiration for your perseverance on this project knows no bounds. Your tenure so far with the Ministry has been exemplary. Yes, you will be censored. You will forfeit two weeks wages and perform one hundred hours of community service effective immediately, and the punishment will be guard duty of parolee flat quarters at a position you are already familiar with.” His eyes continued to emit and almost Albus-esque twinkle.

It was Hermione’s turn to gape. “Sir?”

Kingsley patted Hermione on the cheek in a fatherly fashion. “Harry told me all about your conversation last Friday. I, in turn, paid a little visit to one Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape. It seems there have been some extraordinary goings-on between you three.”

“Sir, I can explain, it’s not what you think!” Hermione was panicking now. The last thing she had wanted to do was to get Lucius and Severus in even more hot water than she had already placed them in!

“Hermione, calm down! Listen to me!” Kingsley ushered her back over to the plush armchair and took a seat on the arm, the aged wood and fabric creaking under his bulk. He studied her intently just then and took both of her hands in his own. “I am speaking to you now as a friend, colleague and Order member. This is completely off the record.”

Hermione nodded, biting her lower lip in consternation, hope and a bit of continued fearfulness at what he would say mixing in a whirlwind fashion within her chest. “There are some things in this world that are not contained in books. One can write about the virtues of religion, the purity of innocence, and extoll the eternal nature of love. In one’s lifetime there are very few opportunities that only come once before they are gone forever. A triad, or love between three people, is not a rare occurrence. On the contrary, it is entirely common as far as wizarding society goes, at least up until the recent past. A magically blessed triad, on the other hand, is an extremely rare occurrence. When one is discovered it is usually kept hidden due to the enormous amount of combined power that is involved. Such a union usually results in powerful offspring and incredible situations that do not have logical explanations. It would be a travesty to throw such a gift away.”

“Sir? What are you saying?”

Kingsley stroked her hair away from her face and curled it behind her ear in a kind gesture. “I am saying to go with my blessing. Be with them. Love them. I never thought I would say these words in my lifetime, but the love those two men hold for you is nothing short of sacred in the eyes of the Lord and the Lady. If there was ever a magically blessed triad, it is the one set before you. Your new position is Head Researcher for the Auror department.”

Hermione’s eyes lit up. It was too good to be true! She had coveted that position for a long time before settling for her current one. The position had opened up when the researcher was implicated as part of Duggan’s scheming. “Kingsley, isn’t that a conflict of interest considering my relationship with Lucius and Severus?”

“Not at all my dear. It’s all very tidy you see. You will simply oversee the day to day operations of the Research department. Harry will handle all research related to the case and his new assistant will carry on with implementation of the project.”

“Isn’t the project going to be shut down?”

Kingsley chuckled, his deep bass booming once more, sending a shiver down her spine. “Quite the opposite. Thanks to Rita Skeeter and her slander, this little side operation of Duggan’s has gotten quite the field day in the press. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I was really pissed off about it at first. Would you believe that because of her, I’ve been flooded with owls daily from the general public showing overwhelming support, due to the fact that we’ve uncovered and rooted out corruption within our own ranks? It has secured our image with the public as a Ministry run with integrity. No amount of political posturing could have done what Duggan’s little stunt has done overnight thanks to our conniving, loud-mouthed resident reporter.”

Hermione’s eyes practically popped out of her head. It was so much information to take in in such a short amount of time; her head felt like it would explode with the implications of it all.

Kingsley rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “I’ve saved the best for last.”

He grinned, making Hermione beg for the last tidbit teasingly. “Would you just spit it out already?”

“The best part is that the old pureblood families that have been wronged are now willing to fully fund the project and do whatever it takes to get their family members out of Azkaban and back onto work detail. They’re being given a fair shake. With their financial support, we won’t have any problems not only finishing the program and securing the freedom of the rehabilitated Death Eaters; we’ll be able to wrap up this investigation in record time, refit the prison, hire and train new staff and wrap it up just in time for my next campaign term! Won’t that look good on my resume as incumbent this next go-round?”

Hermione had no words but tears of joy for her dark-skinned mentor as she wrapped her arms around him in a fierce hug. Leaving a big, wet kiss on his cheek,Kingsley could have sworn her feet never left the ground as she tore from his office and Apparated with a sharp crack to reunite with her beloved wizards.
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This Physical Fascination (HG/SS/LM)