The Burning Pen

A New Beginning
by Ruth Solomon

The story content is adult in nature and can contain graphic sex and violence.  Those under the age of 18 are asked to leave this site immediately.  You are not welcome here.  The author is not responsible for those under-aged who view these works.

CHAPTER 9

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 9 ~ A Solution

Hermione once again missed her hour outside. Eli showed up and made her lunch and was told to set it in the cooler, next to the uneaten dinner. Hermione did have a bit of toast and tea when she first woke up, and washed her face…but was so anxious to get back to work she neither showered or brushed her hair.

Eli shook his head and returned to his Master’s domain. Severus, who had gone inside expecting Hermione to take her hour out, handed Eli a parchment.

”Deliver this to Mrs. Weasley and impress upon her that she must read it and follow the instructions. It’s from Bartleby,” the wizard said to the elf, who took the parchment, bowed and winked out. He reappeared in Hermione’s study. He walked up to the desk and watched as Hermione furiously leafed through a book for a moment.

“Miss, this is a very important message from Mr. Bartleby. You must reads it,” the elf said, waving the parchment at her.

”Later,” Hermione muttered.

Eli scowled and pointed a finger at the desk, whirling it. All the books and parchments floated up into the air beyond reach.

Hermione cursed.

“What the fuck are you doing? Can’t you see I’m working?” she yelled at the elf.

His face frowned up, Eli shook the parchment at the witch.

“You must reads!” he declared.

Scowling, Hermione looked up at the floating research then snatched the parchment out of Eli’s claw.

”Fine,” she spat, tearing open the parchment and reading it. Her eyes widened.

”What? This is so inconvenient,” she said, “Why do I have to put everything away?”

Bartleby’s message said that workmen were coming to install a special unit in her bedroom this afternoon and that it was necessary for all paperwork, books and other objects to be in their proper places when they arrived. A representative site specialist from Sparse Venues would be accompanying them as well.

Bartleby worked quickly.

”Oh, this is bullshit,” Hermione breathed, throwing the letter down. Eli lowered the research back to her desk and winked out.

According to the letter, the workmen would arrive “sometime” this afternoon. That could be in five minutes from now as far as Hermione knew. In bad temper, she put away her books, research and quills all in the proper places, then sat back down behind the desk, highly irritated.

What were they going to put in her bedroom anyway? Her bedroom? She could see something being installed in the work area or in the exercise area, but her bedroom? That seemed rather invasive. If she didn’t like it, she was going to complain.

Hermione ran her hand through her tangled hair and sighed. Well, she wasn’t going to be able to get anything done until the workmen arrived. She couldn’t even study. After a minute or two she decided to go to the exercise room and take a little soak in the Jacuzzi. That might make her feel better. She walked into her bedroom to change.

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Hermione woke up as the annoying female voice announced there were authorized visitors. She had fallen asleep in the Jacuzzi, and was now pruny from the neck down. She quickly climbed out of the tub, dried off and pulled on a terrycloth robe over her one-piece bathing suit, slipped on a pair of shower shoes and hurried down the hall in time to see two burly wizards carrying a large box into her apartment. A third wizard with lank blonde hair and a white cap pulled down low on his eyes stood outside the door watching her approach.

He wore a white uniform and a name tag that read

Sean U. Vespers
SV Site Specialist

“Mrs. Weasley?” he asked in a kind of raspy voice.

”Yes, that’s me,” Hermione said, looking up at him. She couldn’t really see his face clearly.

”It will take about an hour to set up your Medi-Box,” the wizard said.

”Medi-Box? Why in the world do I need a Medi-box?” Hermione asked him.

“I imagine to make sure you’re healthy,” Sean said in his strange voice, looking at her messy hair. “Sparse Venues takes care of their people.”

The wizarding world had become more health-oriented and over the years the Ministry’s Department of Health and Wizarding Services had taken to installing Medi-Boxes in stores, on street corners, in lobbies and other areas magical folks frequented. They were similar to blood pressure and weight machines distributed in muggle areas. Anyone could enter it and get a printout of their overall physical health and what needed improvement.

Sean entered the bedroom and stood aside, observing the two work wizards as they removed the Medi-Box from its packaging.

Hermione entered her bedroom and watched the workmen set the box up against a far wall. Hermione thought that should be it, but one of the workmen looked at a piece of parchment, then approached her.

”Can you show me where you keep your research in this apartment?” he asked her.

Hermione looked at him.

“Why?” she asked.

“It’s part of the work order,” he said obliquely as his partner walked up.

Hermione led them into the study and watched as each wizard took out a wand and began waving them about, over the books, desk, and file cabinets. Then they walked back into her bedroom and fiddled around with the Medi-Box. Then they left her apartment and again waved their wands around the entrances to her work areas, going from door to door. She noticed they didn’t go to either the exercise room or Room of Requirement. Again, they returned to her bedroom and did a bit more magic over the Medi-Box. Finally, one of the work wizards walked up to Hermione and waved his wand over her. The tip of it glowed and turned blue. He carried the lighted wand over to the Medi-Box, pressed the tip against it and murmured an incantation. The entire box glowed blue, then the light faded.

He dusted off his hands and walked over to Hermione with a pen and a piece of parchment.

“That’s it. Sign here, please,” the wizard said, giving her his work order to sign off on.

Hermione did so, looking quite confused. The two wizards walked over to Sean, who also signed the order, then left the building, leaving Hermione alone with the specialist.

“Try it out,” Sean rasped.

Hermione wrapped her terrycloth robe around herself and entered the Medi-Box. It covered her in a blue light, then the light ceased. A piece of parchment came out of the side of it. Sean ripped it off and read it as Hermione exited the box. She tried to read it too, but Sean held it away.

”Now, I want you to go take out the last thing you were working on,” the wizard said in his strange voice.

Hermione walked into the study and attempted to open the file cabinet.

”It’s stuck,” she said, yanking on it.

”All right, get a book or something,” Sean said.

Hermione walked over to the bookshelf and tried to take down the big book of plants she had been reading. She couldn’t pull it off the shelf.

”What’s going on here?” she demanded.

Sean walked to the apartment door.

”Come with me, Mrs. Weasley,” he said, exiting the apartment and walking over to a door leading to the work area.

Frowning, Hermione followed him. He pointed at the first door to the Spells Lab.

“Open it,” he said.

Hermione tried to open it, but found she couldn’t.

She looked at the wizard, who wore a little smirk on his shadowed face.

”Now you tell me what’s going on here!” she demanded.

He handed her the list the Medi-Box had printed out.

Hermione read it:

Subject has to address the following issues before being authorized to begin work:

Inadequate nourishment
Personal Hygiene ~ Body and Hair
Lack of Exercise
Proper Sleep

Once these issues are addressed, access to research facilities will be granted.

Hermione looked at Sean outraged.

“What? I can’t work?” she asked him.

”You can work, Mrs. Weasley, after you eat, shower, get some exercise and take a nap,” the wizard replied, “After you do that and the Medi-Box finds you in good form, you can start working. It’s for your own good,” he said, beginning to walk up the hallway.

”But, but I know how to take care of myself. I don’t need a damn Medi-Box to tell me what to do!” she called after him, seething.

Sean looked back at her.

”Apparently, you do,” he said, then exited the building, the door closing behind him.

Pissed, Hermione stormed back into her apartment, straight into her bedroom and retrieved her wand. She walked back into the study and pulled up the sleeves of her terrycloth robe. She pointed her wand at the file cabinet.

”We’ll see about this,” she said, attempting to break the ward.

Suddenly a loud siren sounded and the familiar female voice spoke.

”Attempted use of unauthorized magic. Individualized Dampening Spell activated,” it sang out.

Hermione’s felt coldness wash over her, then her wand stopped working. She shook it and tried again. Nothing.

”Magic will be restored in two hours,” the voice said.

Hermione let out an aggravated little scream. Her magic had been temporarily nullified. Damn it! She stood there, glaring at the file cabinet for a few moments, then sighed and headed for the kitchen.

If she wanted to get anything done, she had to eat, get a shower, brush her hair, maybe do a little bit of walking on the treadmill, then take a nap.

This sucked.

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Once he got a good distance away from the site, Snape removed his glamour. He had enjoyed riling Hermione up. It reminded him of old times when she was his student. She still had a temper.

The magic that surrounded the building Hermione worked in had a deception ward that required a visitor to identify himself with his proper name. In his case, Snape used anagrams, which weren’t considered deceptive by the wards. He wouldn’t set off the alarms that way. Sean U. Vespers was Severus Snape rearranged.

Working the Medi-Box results into the warding system of the building was a stroke of genius on the wizard’s part. Now Hermione would have to take care of herself if she wanted to get anything done. Problem solved.

Smiling darkly, Snape made a beeline for his labs. He had potions to complete.

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Later that evening, Eli popped in and made dinner. Hermione obediently, if sullenly ate her food. Then the Elf produced a parchment.

”For the Miss,” he said.

Hermione bad-temperedly took the parchment from the elf and opened it. She read it and smiled. It was from Rose and Hugo. They wanted to spend the weekend with her at Harry’s house.

She quickly wrote them back and said she’d find out if it were all right with Harry, then wrote Harry asking him if it would be all right if the children stayed, then gave both parchments to Eli, who took them to be delivered. She was sure Harry and Ginny wouldn’t mind at all.

Yes, she wanted to see her children and find out how they were doing.

Feeling better, Hermione sat back down at the desk and looked at all the paperwork she’d written out.

”I think that’s enough feasibility writing for now. I really need to start studying. I lost my focus,” she said to herself.

Hermione put everything away, then combed the bookshelf, selecting a very large book entitled:

Advances in Charms Development over the Past Decade.

She checked the printing date. It was the latest edition.

Hermione walked into the living room, took a seat in the comfortable armchair and began to read, once again in her element.

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A/N: lol. A Medi-Box. Why not? Too funny. Anyway, thanks for reading.

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