Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

**Harry Potter and The Phoenix Rangers**

**Chapter 1**

The loud tapping on the window woke Hermione from her sleep in the morning, getting up and grumbling about not-getting-enough-sleep she went to the window, opened the latch and let the brown owl come in. It stuck its leg out so that the owner of the letter can retrieve it. "Who might have sent a letter so early in the morning? Not even the prophet owl has delivered the newspaper" muttered Hermione to Crookshanks as the cat made its way from the warm comforting bed to its master. Taking the letter from the owl's leg she started reading it:

_Miss Granger_

_Emergency meeting of all high post hit-wizards/witches has been scheduled today at 9.00 am in the Minister Of Magic's Office. Please reach there right at time. _

_Sorry for the late notice._

_Head Of DMLE_

_Amelia Bones_

Hermione sighed. 'An emergency meeting of hit wizards/witches was never a good thing'. It definitely was a national threat otherwise it would have been given to the aurors. Hermione too had been an auror but due to her rigorous work and effort she had been promoted to the special ops team of Hit Wizard. Ron following her shortly after a month as he was always lazy to do things. Chuckling at the thought she wondered how her life was now after 'The Incident' 5 years before. A sad smile made its way to her face as she remembered Him. It had been 5 years since she... Another owl flew in from the window breaking her train of thoughts. 'Ah, here's the newspaper...' she thought. The daily prophet since the removal of Rita Skeeter had been a better newspaper since it delivered only important and true news. Proceeding to the kitchen she started making the coffee when the wards announced her that someone was trying to connect to her floo. Grabbing her wand from under her pillow in the bedroom she quickly went to the floo and saw Ron's face hovering in the flames. "Hey.." said Hermione

"Hey. Good Morning" was the reply she got from Ron.

"What's up? It's not like you to get up so early in the morning.." Chuckles

"Hey! Did you also get the letter?" said Ron ignoring her friendly insult.

"Yeah. What do you suppose it would be about?"

"I have no bloody idea.." sighs.

"Well I guess we will find it later only.."

"Okay. See you at the Ministers office later. Tada"

Hermione closed the floo and proceeded to the bathroom to take a nice warm bath.

Hermione quickly got ready and floo'ed to the ministry. As soon as she entered the atrium the familiar feeling she was used to washed over her. Like as usual people were bustling all around everybody trying to go to their offices on time and hurrying. On her way to minister's office she saw a lot of familiar faces from Hogwarts who waved to her. Waving back and exchanging hello's she found herself standing in the minister's office. The minister of magic Kingsley Shackelbolt was standing sitting at his usual place and an average-sized table was laid in front of his desk with 3 chairs around it and the head of DMLE Amelia Bones was standing near the desk reading some file.

"Ah, Miss Granger please have a seat you are the first one to come, always punctual I see" Hermione smiled at the Minister as he complimented her. She went to the first seat and sat on it. "So, what's this all about?" asked Hermione. Amelia replied," Wait till everyone gets here" Hermione waited for further information but none came she turned her head towards Minister and saw him reading some papers, clearly no-one was going to tell her who was 'everyone' and what's this about. Could it be a new dark lord rising? Or was it a cold war going on between two-ministries of magic of different countries? Just then Draco Malfoy entered the office if the situation would have been 10-15 years ago Hermione would have been on guard around Malfoy but it was not the situation. After Voldemort defeat Draco had changed considerably. People didn't believe in him first because everybody saw him as the new dark lord after all he was raised by Voldemorts special servants. But Draco had changed everybody's view when he joined aurors and caught his Father, Lucius Malfoy who was on the run from ministry. It had been quiet a day to see Draco Malfoy bring Lucius Malfoy by the neck in the ministry to be captured. He had been rewarded with an Order of Merlin 2nd class for catching a high-profiled Death-Eater. Since that day he had worked very hard and changed his way of behaving. The old snotty Malfoy was replaced by a Good natured and kind Draco Malfoy. He took a seat beside Hermione and muttered a good morning to everyone and asked the same question Hermione had asked and got the same reply.

"Who do you think is the third person that's going to join us today?" asked Draco to Hermione "And please for Merlin's Sake don't say its Weasley!" Hermione smirked and replied "Why yes, the third person to join us today is Ron!" Draco groaned and Hermione smacked him on arm and asked "How's Luna?" Strangely enough Draco Malfoy had fallen in love with Luna Lovegood who also had fallen in love with Draco after he had saved her from the Death Eaters one day. They had a very blossoming relationship for one year and then Draco had proposed her which led to a marriage ceremony six months later and now Luna was pregnant with their first child.

"She is okay. Mum's looking after her" replied Draco. Narcissa Malfoy had avoided Azkaban by helping in the defeat of the Dark Lord. After paying a small fine she was living with her son and daughter-in-law in the modified Malfoy Manor. She had not been happy that Draco had married to Luna. She had wanted him to marry the Parkinson's daughter in order to fulfil the marriage contract and to increase the Malfoy wealth with the galleons that were to be received in the form of dowry. So she had not particularly warmed up to Luna but after watching her son and Luna interact she knew that she didn't have any choice. After that she and Luna were like daughter and mother to each other like they never had. Luna wanted a mother and Narcissa wanted a daughter so it was a nice relationship between them. "Good, and how is the baby? Have you checked whether its a boy or girl?" replied Hermione. "The baby's fine just had a checkup day-before-yesterday and we don't want to check the sex of the baby we'll be happy with anything a boy or girl and we want to be surprised with a boy or girl..." He trailed off. Not knowing what to reply she settled for silence. Soon Ron came in rushing, sweat all over his forehead and he was panting. "Again late Mr. Weasley?" asked Amelia in a stern voice. "Sorry Boss" replied Ron wiping the sweat on his forehead and sat on the remaining seat beside Draco. Before he could say anything Amelia started talking, "You all must be wondering why you all are here? So let me tell you. The ICW has requested me to select minimum 3 best aurors/hit-wizards from the Britain ministry to aid them against a threat of a new dark lord, whos name is not known, yet, but the ICW believes that some late activities all-over the world in Magical communities lead to the possibility of a new Dark lord rising" Hermione raised her hand to ask a question. "Yes, Miss Granger?"

"What activities are we talking about?"

"Some random killings of lower tribe of African Magical Community, the break-in of Nurmengard and the stealing of Grindelwand's Wand from the prison and the latest being the Voldemorts Wand being missing from the ICW secret chambers... This all events and many more like this have made the ICW worry about a new Dark Lord. All the countrie's Ministers will be told to select a team of thre-five of the best wizards/witches from their country to aid the ICW, but this will be done after one or two weeks."

"So why have we been informed so early?" asked Draco in a neutral tone because a new Dark Lord meant new threats against the family to join him and he didn't want that after Voldemort had mostly ripped of the Malfoy Family Vault.

"Because before a team of best Wizards and Witches is formed they want to collect enough information about this new Dark Lord and his group. They received an intel about the possible whereabouts of these people. After these attacks they were tracked to the Northern Pole... and the ICW claims that there have been huge magical activities in the North-pole and its not like magical people live there. Not even the muggles are mad to live there. So our country being the largest population of magical community has been chosen to provide help to ICW" replied Amelia sarcastically. Then she continued ain a normal tone, "Do you have any objections?"

Three negatives was the answer she got. Draco, Hermione and Ron were the people who would do anything to protect their family so it was not a surprise that they readily agreed to take the job.

"That's good, now tell me have any of you heard of the group called 'Phoenix Rangers'?" spoke Kingsley for the first time since Hermione had entered the office.

"Yeah, I've heard of them, it is secret organisation that helps both the magical and muggle community against any threat of Dark lords or Terrorist in the muggle world, I know this much only because not much information is know about them, I think its to protect their their families..." Draco trailed off in deep thought.

She also knew about them and Ron also most probably knew, thought Hermione.

"Yes, you will be working with them on this mission.. The ICW has notified us that a group of three best rangers from that association has been paired up with you lot to collect information about this group. Your mission will require quiet a time because you will need to proceed with caution and stealth. Getting caught is not an option here, so pack your necessary belongings and be ready to go. You will be going after a week..." she stopped talking as a paper-plane flew in from the window and went to Kingsley. "That must be the names of the rangers that will be coming here to portkey with you" said Amelia.

"Yes, it is and the list is quiet amusing to me" Said Kingsley.

"So who are they? Anyone known to us?" asked Ron, excited about working with the rangers.

"Yes, well you will be helping Soap Mactavish, Kelly Anderson..." he trailed off.

"And?" asked Hermione in patience-less tone.

Kingsley was quiet for a moment and then he replied,

"Harry Potter..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**A/N: The characters of Harry Potter don't belong to me they belong to J. . I'm just writing this story for entertainment; no money is being made from this. Thank You!**

Somewhere in the middle of the Sahara desert a man with piercing green eyes and messy hair was walking. Instead of being in the middle of the desert he was wearing black coloured tight clothes, a tight T-shirt and tight black coloured jeans and on the top of it he was wearing black coloured armour that covered his body like a sleeveless shirt. You might wonder how he was even walking with all those clothes in the very hot climate, but Harry Potter wasn't bothered by the heat because he was a wizard and had cast several cooling charms on his clothes so that he remained in a mild temperature. After the defeat of the dark lord Harry had been confused with what to do in his life now that his part in the prophecy had been filled. 'The damn prophecy...' thought Harry. The prophecy had been the reason that Harry didn't have parents. 'Its all in the past... not good to dwell on it' he thought as he continued his way deep into the desert. After walking for another 10 minutes a cactus came into view. If any non-magical person were to walk near it he would have suddenly remembered about some important work he had to do in the opposite direction. Because this cactus was not any normal cactus it was just a statue of cactus which led to the secret path towards the entrance of the Headquarters of the Phoenix Rangers. This association was formed to protect the human race from any kind of threat. Both magical and non-magical people were recruited from various sections of countries and were trained in all types of combats and finally they were given the rangers badge. The rangers were divided into different team of 3-5 people and their teams were named. The team's position depended on their work. Harry was the captain of the Team A, the best team that was available, the team being the best only consisted of three people, Harry as the captain, Soap Mactavish as the muggle lead, that is he was expert in muggle matters and Kelly Anderson, she was a magical person and she was the strategy of the team, her responsibility was to plan and accomplish the missions and to bring her team back in one piece, she also was the Healer of their team. Breaking his thoughts Harry detached his badge from his armour and touched it to the cactus, the statue immediately recognized it and slided to left side revealing a set of stairs going inside the desert. After walking on the stairs for 2-3 minutes a telephone booth came into view. Harry stepped inside it and dialled the password to activate his transportation, more like apparition, through the ward of Headquarters. As soon as he finished typing the password he found himself standing in the atrium of Headquarters. The actual shape or the structure of the building was not known to anyone as it was buried deep within the dessert and the only entrance was through that booth because the whole base kept changing its position around the dessert. The only information available was that the building consisted of 5 very huge floors including the ground floor. The ground floor was the atrium where the receptionist checked the identity of the people entering and it also served as type of living room for people outside of association like hostages of visiting ministers asking for help. The second floor was the room chambers for Rangers who didn't have family and settled within the headquarters. The third floor was the training facility and duelling chamber, the name pretty much explains the purpose of the floor, the fourth floor was the control centre, where the official that were in the association but not rangers would check on different kind of activities all around the world, this floor also contained information about every ranger and every mission, it was like a office for retired rangers to work and still help the association. And the last floor was the office of the Boss of the association, Captain Price. He was the one who had started this association and he was a powerful wizard as good as Dumbledore himself. He was over 100 years of age and he wasn't much famous in the outside world because he had helped the world in an indirect way, never putting his name, it was the way he preferred to live.

After checking-in at the ground floor Harry proceeded to the elevator and went to the 5th floor to Price's office. Harry was on a mission where he had to follow a new suspect of Nurmengard break-in, when he had received a letter to abort the mission and report to Captain Price immediately. The 'ting' sound announced his arrival on the 5th floor. The doors of the elevators opened to reveal the office. It was a middle sized average office one could imagine. Captain Price was sitting there on his chair. He had a few hair left which were plain white; his eyes were blue just like Dumbledore and he was a well-built person even when he was old.

"Ah, Harry come-in and please lock the elevator so that no one disturbs us" said Price.

Only Harry was on first-name basis with Captain, all other rangers were ordered to call him either captain or boss, whatever they preferred.

"So what is this all about? Why was I pulled out of the mission?" asked Harry not happy about leaving his mission.

"It had to be done, there is something important we need to discuss... and before you ask let me inform you that another ranger has replaced your position and continuing the mission so don't worry about it" replied Price

"So what do you want to discuss about Price?" asked Harry, now in a friendly and normal tone.

"I know, you said to me once that you don't want to return to Britain or help on any mission that required going there but..."

"I still stand by that, I am not going to there at any cost" cut off Harry before Price could continue.

"Harry...Harry... Harry..." said Price shaking his head " This isn't about what you want or don't want, this is a matter of International security, and I am afraid for the next mission you will have to go to British Magical Ministry"

"What International threat are we talking about?" asked Harry, knowing that he had to break his promise to himself of not going back there... It had been 5 years since he had seen her...

"Do you remember about those murders in Africa, stealing of Voldemort's and Grindelwand's wand? And the high levelled magical activities at the North Pole? The ICW and our board of members believe that a new dark lord is behind all these things, and considering the face that he is stealing precious dark lords's wands and is yet to show his face... we believe he is up to something big. His motives are not known yet... it can be anything. So we need to be prepared for anything that is about to come up" replied Price in a grave tone.

Harry sighed, "So why do I need to go to Britain?" He was confused, what this thing had to do with the British government?

"Before we can start a defence or attack mechanism, we need to have information on this new lord, we don't even know his name!? We need to know exactly what his motives are and we also need to know what we will be facing against. So the ICW has asked for ranger's assistance in helping British hit-wizards to collect information about them, according to ICW's Intel these all activities were traced back to North Pole. So you will be taking your team with those hit-wizards to north-pole, and this is just for collecting information, under any circumstances do not engage the enemy, just collect enough information..." Price trailed off.

"So I just need to help them... Phew... it doesn't require for me to stay there. Right?" asked Harry.

"No you will just go to the British magical ministry from where you'll portkey" replied Price

"So do you know the names of these hit-wizards names?" asked Harry afraid of the answer he might get. He had not kept himself up-to-date with any of Britain's happenings but he had heard some rumours about her becoming a hit-wizard... or witch he thought to himself

"Yes, and I am afraid you won't like the answers"

"Do I know them?"

"Yes I believe you know all three of them"

"Just tell me the names..."

"You will be helping Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy..." replied Price.

It was as he had feared. He had to work with them. Oh god! Help me. He had to work with Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and...WHAT!?

"Draco Malfoy!? You've got to be kidding me" said Harry.

"No I'm not kidding" replied Price neutrally.

"Do I have any other option?" said Harry trying to find a way to get himself out of this shit...

"No, yours is the bestest team that is available. So you will have to face them, and it better be sooner rather than later" replied Price in a grandfatherly tone

"What about I don't see them for my whole life?" asked Harry bitterly

"Oh! Come on! You actually believe that you will never see them again? It was going to happen someday... and that someday is after a week, so prepare yourself for it" Price replied in a little stern voice.

"Do you know where Kelly is? I really need a friend now..." and with that Harry got up and left the office immediately without waiting for an answer.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**A/N: The characters of Harry Potter don't belong to me they belong to J. . I'm just writing this story for entertainment; no money is being made from this. Thank You!**

It had been a week since they were told that they would be meeting with the rangers and portkey. Since then Hermione had been always been distracted, she hadn't been able to complete any work properly in the week. Her boss had had given her day-off for today so she could mentally prepare herself for tomorrow when she would see him...

'Why did it have to be this way?' thought Hermione.

She had thought that after the war everything would be simple, she and Ron would settle in a perfect relationship then marry and have a child or two and Harry would do the same with Ginny. But no, it had not been that way. She and Ron used to fight everyday and the fights were becoming worse there was no blossoming relationship. Honestly the number of kisses, not even snogs, she could count on her fingers, they were so less. What was she thinking? She was in love with Harry and how could she possibly have a good relationship if she didn't put enough effort in it? Harry and Ginny also had a fight or some mutual talking where they had decided not to patch-up and be friends. Nobody knew exactly what they had talked but it seemed that both Ginny and Harry were happy to be just friends. But she remembered that day very perfectly as if it were yesterday... It was 'The Incident' as Hermione had termed it which had ruined everything.

_*Flashback*_

_Hermione stormed into Grimmauld Place. As soon as she entered the old house she started searching for Harry. First she checked the kitchen and his living-room but he was nowhere to be found. So she took the stairs to his bedroom and reached in front of his room. She tentatively knocked on the door but got no reply, so she opened it slowly and found him asleep on his bed with his auror-trainee uniform still on. She closed the door behind her softly and walked near the bed to see his face. His hair messy as usual was sprawled all over his forehead. His scar very light had almost become invisible but if check clearly, a thin bolting sign was still present. 'He must be really tired...' thought Hermione as she adjusted the pillow perfectly under his head. Suddenly Harry's head whipped to the other side and he started thrashing around his bed, his eyes moving rapidly beneath his eyelids. It dint take time for Hermione to realize that he was having a nightmare._

_She started shaking him by his shoulder "Harry, wake up... it's just a nightmare" but still he didn't wake up so she shook him with force and all of a sudden he sat up like a flashing bolt with wand in his hand and searching for threat around his room._

"_Harry... it's just me..." replied Hermione soothingly to him._

_Harry looked at her and sighed "Hermione, you scared me..."_

"_Sorry about that but I had to wake you up, you were having a nightmare"_

"_Yeah, it was the usual nightmare..." replied Harry._

_Hermione knew his usual nightmares, they were the ones that Harry used to have if he was very tired. These usual nightmares were Voldemort torturing the people that were close to him and taunting him._

_Hermione took the glass of water from the bed-side table and gave him to drink. "Do you feel better now?"_

"_Yeah, thanks... But what are you doing here? Not that I mind you being here but it's late and didn't you had a date with Ron today?"_

"_Yes, but it didn't turn out as it was supposed to be..."_

"_What happened this time?" asked Harry tiredly._

"_It was a silly topic of which restaurant we should go, then one topic lead to other and we had a big fight in my room only, at the burrow, where he was supposed to pick me up that's why I came here. I hope I didn't disturb you"_

_Harry chuckled "I'm and I will always be free for you no matter what..." he replied honestly._

"_Why can't Ron be like you...?" she trailed of tears started falling from her eyes_

"_Hey... come here..." said Harry drawing her into his arms._

_As soon as she embraced him she started sobbing, she was really confused why Ron acted this and this new feeling she used to get every time when she was near Harry was not helping any. She really liked Ron and wanted to give him a chance but he was acting like a real prat. And she was really frustrated at herself._

_For how many hours they sat there on his bed hugging each other they didn't know. After calming herself a little she moved her head to see him and gave him a smile which he returned. This reaction caused many butterflies to fly in her stomach. The next thing she knew was her hand was caressing his cheek and she was slowly leaning in towards him. He also started leaning and soon their lips met in a passionate kiss. This was nothing like she used to have with Ron. This felt much better than kissing Ron._

_Soon their positions were changed. Now Harry was lying on top of her and trailing kisses along her neck and shoulders. Then he started removing her top and she allowed him to remove... and soon both of them lost themselves into a night of passion. They both gave their virginities to each other._

_The next morning came very early for her liking but she had to get up. Hermione had work to do. As soon as she tried to move she felt a hand around her waist and soon it all came crashing down to her. She had sex with Harry! The realisation hit her like a train and she bolt out of the bed into a standing position covering her body with the bed-sheet. This reaction caused Harry to wake up and he sleepily said "Hey, Good morning..." and yawned. Harry had somehow managed to slip in a boxer before he fell asleep for that Hermione was thankful._

"_GOOD MORNING!? THAT'S WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY? HARRY WE JUST HAD SEX LAST NIGHT!"_

"_Wh...Why are you so angry about it?" stuttered Harry a little._

"_Angry! I have every right to be angry at you, angry at me for letting this happen!"_

"_What!? You didn't want it to happen?" asked Harry now sounding a bit angry._

"_Of course Not! I'm with Ron, your best friend, for Merlin's Sake" replied Hermione getting more irritated at his angry tone._

"_Don't be daft Hermione you and I both know your relationship is a failure and it's not going anywhere... I wouldn't be surprised if he broke up with you within a day or two considering the amount of times you two fight!"_

_This statement caused a lot of feelings to go through her. But most of all she felt angry. She didn't know what she was angry for. Was it because she had sex with Harry and cheated on Ron or was it because someone was telling her that she had actually failed in something... Hermione didn't know but at the moment she directed all of her anger towards Harry because he was the reason she had been confused and frustrated and the anger made her do something that she would regret everyday of her life. She slapped him as hard as she could and replied_

"_I LOVE RON! WHAT DO YOU THINK? THAT I WILL JUST BREAK-UP WITH HIM AND LIVE A HAPPILY-EVER AFTER WITH YOU. I LOVE HIM HARRY AND I... I HATE...YOU!" with that she stormed off his room collecting her clothes and apparated to her parents house inside her room and fell on bed to cry for the whole day._

_Doing all this she didn't know the hurt flash on Harry's face neither did she know that it was the last time she would be seeing him._

_*Flashback*_

Silent tears made their way down her cheeks as she remembered that she had broken the heart of the man she had loved and she still loved. Had she known then...?

'I should have sorted out my feelings first by talking with mum then maybe it wouldn't have been like this. We could even have been married and had children living nicely in a flat in London... But it was not' she thought bitterly.

It wasn't good to waste time thinking about the past. What has happened has happened nothing could be done to prevent it. With that thought she continued packing enough clothes and necessary item into her beaded bag that she had used during the horcrux hunt.

After leaving Price's office Harry had gone to Kelly's flat in Australia where she was currently staying in. There he had openly talked about his feelings with Kelly, she had been very patient with him and had let him ramble about his feeling and then she had comforted him and together they made himself prepare for the upcoming mission. Harry didn't know whether he was still in love with Hermione or not. Sure he had gone on multiple dates and had multiple counts of one-night stands but they were nothing like his first-time. But his first time was the best because it was his first-time or was it because it was with Hermione? That he didn't know. But one thing was for sure that he still was angry on her. There was no specific reason for his anger but it was natural to feel anger for someone who had harshly broken their heart as Kelly had told him. He didn't know how he was going to go through this mission? And he didn't even what he would do? What if he was still in love with her and she was with Ron or worse married to him with a child? What if his love for her had vanished? Would the still be friends? Multiple thoughts travelled in his head like a bullet-train. 'Get a grip on yourself... You need to successfully complete this mission' thought Harry to himself and continued to pack necessary equipments in his Bag. All his questions will be answered tomorrow when he will see her. With that Harry turned off the light of bedroom of his flat, which was neighbouring to Kelly's in Australia and tried to get some sleep.

**A/N:**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**A/N: The characters of Harry Potter don't belong to me they belong to J. . I'm just writing this story for entertainment; no money is being made from this. Thank You!**

**: As you asked I will try to make the further chapters short. Just bear with this chapter for now. Thank You!**

**Man of Constant Sorrow****: I needed someone who had experience with dark arts and was not evil. Malfoy was the perfect character for this and he will also play an important part later in the story. Thank you!**

**And everybody who reviewed I would like to thank you... and all other readers please review... It gives me motivation to write and update fast.**

Once again this week Hermione woke up to the sound of tapping on her window. And just like last time the ministry owl was there with a letter tied to its leg. Hermione quickly took the letter from the bird's leg and dropped it on the bed to get some more sleep. She woke up after what felt like 15 minutes but the bedside table clock proved her wrong she had been asleep for 1 hour. Getting up she read the letter still rubbing sleep out of her eyes, the letter read:

_Miss Granger,_

_I hope you are well, and have prepared yourself for the upcoming mission. I hope you used you day-off to relax._

_Anyway this letter is just to tell you the place and time where you will meet the rangers and travel with their portkey_

_You are to meet the rangers at platform number nine and three-quarters, yes the same platform that you used to go to Hogwarts, at 10 am sharp they will be disguised so they will find you. You just have to wait at the platform outside the barrier._

_Head of DMLE  
Amelia Bones_

_P.S: The minister wishes luck for your mission._

Hermione sighed, she wasn't actually prepared neither mentally nor physically and it was already 8.20 am she just had 40 minutes to get ready and go to the station. Just then the bell rang. She went to the door and opened it. Standing there was Ron completely ready with his bag around his shoulders. The smile on his face quickly turned into a frown as he saw her.

"Hermione! You are not ready yet!? We have to go in half hour to reach there in time; Draco will be here within 10 minutes." Said Ron urgently. He had been really happy to get to work with rangers but most of all he was eager to see his best friend for 7 years. Sure he was angry but he was willing to at least listen his reasons for his sudden disappearance. Hermione hadn't told him anything, hopefully Harry will tell.

"Yes... I will get ready as fast as possible, come on in and wait here, I'll be back within 15-20 minutes and make sure to open the door when Draco comes in..." with that she started to leave but suddenly stopped and turned, "and please keep this room as it don't mess it up..." and she left without seeing him chuckle.

By the time she got bathed and wore her clothes Draco and Ron had somehow managed to keep the place as it is, both were sitting on the couch listening to the radio that was playing. Hermione quickly took one look at all her belongings, checked her bag and announced her arrival in the living-room

"I'm ready! Come on lets go, we have 10 minutes to reach there" said Hermione shooing them out of her flat and putting up all the wards on her house. As soon as she finished Ron spoke up

"How are we going to go to the barrier? We can't apparate there's too many muggles around?"

"We can take a portkey to the side alley behind the platform where no one will see us" replied Draco.

"It's a good idea but where the hell is the portkey?" asked Hermione sarcastically.

"Right here..." said Draco removing a Galleon from his pocket.

"How did you...?"

"Amelia gave me, because I'm in charge this time" smirked Draco

Hermione huffed and replied "Whatever, come on let's go..."

All of them touched the portkey and were whisked away to a dark alley behind the platform.

After portkeying they silently made their way inside the station and started walking towards platform 9.

"We have to wait outside the barrier, right?" asked Hermione for confirmation.

"Yeah, Amelia said to wait here, they will find us and they will be disguised..." replied Ron.

They were just about to sit on the bench there when suddenly an old woman came to them. She had white hair, but for being old she was wearing some normal clothes. She watched them for a moment and said in a very low tone.

"Don't waste time sitting around go through the barrier and wait there we'll be in a minute" Hermione had to strain her ears to listen correctly.

Without waiting for a reply the lady turned around and walked away into the crowd.

Not wasting any more time they went through the barrier. Everything was same as it used to be, noticed Hermione. The tracks, the walls, pillars, benches everything was same just it was empty. No students hurrying or parents waving. Hermione's thought were broken when suddenly 2 loud pops were heard.

There standing was a lady and a man. The lady had blonde hair and she looked quite beautiful, her blue eyes were sparkling and she had the figure of a model. She was wearing a baby-pink top and black jean with a bag around her shoulders. She must be Kelly, thought Hermione.

And the man standing next to her was... Harry!

He had changed totally, his messy hair had grown up to his shoulders, his body had completely changed, he was taller, his muscles had increased and his face had taken a sharp edge. But his emerald eyes remained just the same. 'Harry...' Hermione mentally lost herself because of all the feelings that had been locked up suddenly burst out. She just realised that

'She, Hermione Granger was still in love with Harry Potter...'


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**A/N: The characters of Harry Potter don't belong to me they belong to J. . I'm just writing this story for entertainment; no money is being made from this. Thank You!**

Harry was on his way to bathroom to take a bath when suddenly there was a knock on the door. He went to open it and found Kelly standing there in shorts and a blue tank top, panting and sweat covering all her body. Obviously she had been to her morning run. Harry had skipped his walk to get some more sleep, yester night he had been working late in to night completing some paper work.

"You just got up...?" asked Kelly with amusement as he was standing there in his night-wear and his eyes still sleep.

"Yeah..." he said yawning and running his hand through his messy hair, "So what brought you here?"

"Just wanted to check on you, you were not there for the usual walk and well we are going to see her today, so I just wanted to check if you were ok?"

"I'm fine... Just tired and little sleep deprived other than that I'm ok, was just going to take a bath when you decided to show your mighty presence" smirked Harry, "Anyways why are you standing out there? Come in, come in"

"No, I'll just head back home and have a shower and by the way Soap dropped by in yesterday, apparently he is busy on his mission with the muggle military about some Nuke weapons, so he won't be coming with us on this mission it's just you and me" with that she turned around and walked into her room.

By the time he got ready and checked his bag it was already 9'o clock. So he went to Kelly's Apartment and together they took the portkey to platform nine and three quarters. As soon as they touched Kelly removed her wand and started changing her appearance and clothes into an old woman and spoke

"I'll go and bring them you make sure that everything is alright and then meet me near platform 8, we'll make sure that no one's following us." And then she walked through the barrier and disappeared.

Harry turned around to face the platform and actually see it after 5 years; it was still the same ol' platform as it used to be. Harry grinned as he remembered his days of school. Taking out his wand he started waving it and checked if there was any problem with anything. Finding everything perfect he too walked through the barrier and started walking through the crowd towards platform 8. As soon as he reached there he spotted the blonde hair of his friend standing there and scanning the crowd.

"Everything alright?" both spoke at the same time and started laughing.

"Yeah... the platform is alright nothing wrong" replied Harry as the laughter subsided.

"Hmm... nothing seems wrong here also... Ok let's go face 'em" said Kelly.

"Yeah lets go" Kelly took his hand and walked outside the station to the side alley.

"What are you doing?"

"The barrier is attracting a lot of attention from the muggles, since it has not been used for months I think its muggle repelling charms might have worn out a bit, so we'll apparate to the station"

And with that she side-apparated him without waiting for his reply.

As soon as his feet touched the ground he spotted three figures standing in front of them.  
The first on had an average masculine body, blonde hair and grey eyes, Malfoy... Harry thought bitterly.  
The second person was also a male with red hair, freckles on his face and blue eyes, Ron... thought Harry with a smile

And standing next to him was Hermione, her brown hair now not so bushy but a little tamed, her figure had improved and she had gained height too, her honey brown eyes the same, in his opinion she still looked beautiful but the feelings he expected to come never came. No butterflies in his stomach. He stood there in shock with a blank emotion on his face and thought

'He was no more in love with Hermione Granger..."

**A/N: Oh poor Hermione, looks like Harry has moved on... but what will she do? Will she try to make him fall in love with her again or will she settle for just friends? **

**You obviously know that she is Hermione Granger and I'm a H/Hr writer so she will make him fall in love with her! Yeah! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**A/N: The characters of Harry Potter don't belong to me they belong to J. . I'm just writing this story for entertainment; no money is being made from this. Thank You!**

**The stargate time traveller: Harry is not going to warm up to Hermione so easily she will have to win his trust, his friendship and then something more...**

**pawsrule: Don't worry, I'm a H/Hr fan so it'll be Harry and Hermione relationship in the future.**

** : I'm new to all these things, this is my first story so i don't know much about these things but hopefully I'll learn and from now on the chapters will break on certain end points which I want, like this chapter was just for H/Hr to meet and go, first I was going to continue writing their travelling through the North Pole but I decided to make it a new chapter, sorry for disappointing, just bear with me, I'll learn and get better.**

**And to other readers: I'm serious guys review so I'll know that you are still reading so I can write more chapters**

The awkward silence that had settled in them was deadening. No one moved for a minute, they just kept staring at each other. Harry purposefully ignoring Hermione eyes as she looked at him. Getting tired of the silence Draco broke it,

"I thought there were going to be three of you who would be accompanying us?" he asked moving his hand towards his wand getting suspicious about it.

Kelly rolled her eyes at his obvious attempt to hide his hand movement and replied," Yeah, but Mactavish is on a mission right now so he won't be with us"

"And what mission is it?" Draco arrogantly asked. "That's none of your business Malfoy" sneered Kelly getting irritated of him; he was just like Harry had said always getting on the wrong side of people.

Completely oblivious to the conversation Ron spoke," Harry... um... How are you?" not knowing what to talk to his best friend after 5 years.

"I'm fine" Harry replied allowing a pleasant smile to his friend, he had been expecting the familiar Weasley-temper but it seemed Ron had matured considerably over the last five years.

Seeing the smile on his face made her heart flutter, his smile was still as beautiful as it used to be.

Seeing her chance Hermione opened her mouth to speak something, but before she could speak Kelly spoke up.

"We need to follow the default protocol... I guess you don't know it?" she added as she saw their confused expression

"Okay, I'll give you the short version, any emotional response is to be neglected, any personal issues you have need to be ignored or to be solved after the mission, as the mission continues you are teammates and you will act like it... um... and you will need to talk with everyone even if you are angry" she directed the last part towards Harry. He just nodded his head and surprised Kelly as he smiled and started looking in his bag for something, Kelly had been expecting a nervous and angry Harry but he had completely caught her off-guard, as he removed three necklaces, black string and a small pendant of the Rangers logo, a phoenix with fire around it, and handed them to Ron

"You need to wear them, they are heating charms that'll keep you warm enough in the ice-cold temperature of North Pole" he explained them.

Ron took one and passed the other two to Draco and Hermione as they wore it around their necks and it became transparent.

"That is to hide your association with us" explained Kelly," You all will still need to wear those heavy clothes, gloves and sweaters to make you look like normal muggles who have been lost in the snow... and before you open your mouth Malfoy we are also going to wear them so just do your work"

Draco just sneered to her and started removing his sweater from his bag. The others did the same and soon they were all wearing sweaters, gloves, socks, shoes and all types of clothing that people use in snowy-regions.

"Okay, here is our disguise, we still go by our names, but we are not magicals, we are non-magical people who have lost their way into the snow, okay?" everybody nodded.

"But why do we need a disguise?" asked Hermione," It's not like someone is going to be there in the snow, is it?"

"There won't be anyone but we need to set-up everything before-hand, because there's a possibility that we may be intercepted" This time it was Harry who answered with a slight quirk of his lips.

'He is talking to me! Oh... the protocol' thought Hermione getting Happy and sad at the same time.

"And this is just an information gathering mission, you will not engage the enemy, I repeat do not engage the enemy and before we go please give me all the wands you are carrying with you." Spoke Kelly in a commanding tone.

"What!? Are you mad? We will not give you our wands, what if the enemy attacks us first? We are just going to take it? Hello!? For them we are muggles they'll directly AK us on the spot" Ron replied, his face getting little red because of anger.

"I know but we are not to use magic, they are direct commands we have to follow them, so please give me..."

"No, I'm not going to give you my wand" Ron cut her before she could speak any further

Kelly was about to argue but Harry put a hand on her shoulder letting her know that he is going to handle the issue.

"Ron, trust us, please, they are direct commands we cannot neglect them, and as for being the enemy attacking part leave it on us, I promise that I'll not let anything happen to any of us, just trust us" he spoke with an air of finality that the discussion was over.

Ron reluctantly gave his wand to Kelly, Hermione did the same and Draco also gave but he spoke," I do not trust you Potter, I gave my wand only because they trust you" Harry just rolled his eyes and replied," I said I need all your wands, it means you have to give me your secondary wands also that are strapped in to the invisible wand holster above your elbow, yes I know about them, it's the basic rules of your study, always keep a secondary wand up your sleeve to save your-own ass, I have heard it many times" Harry chuckled," Now give those wands to me"

All of them were surprised and had to give their wands seeing no other option out of this.

Kelly then removed a device from her bag, it looked like a mobile but it didn't have any buttons on it, thought Hermione, Wait! Is that a touch screen phone, observed Hermione as Kelly started tapping and sliding her finger over the screen and spoke.  
"Okay we are set, now Granger before you ask any question hold them I'll explain it to you later, everybody get a hold of this device"

Everybody touched their fingers to it and then Kelly tapped on the screen one last time with her free hand and soon they were all gone.

The station remained empty without showing any clues that there were people standing here just before a minute.

Any magical person checking for residual magic would have found nothing because of the special mobile-portkeys created by the Phoenix Inc. of Phoenix Rangers Association.

**A/N: Next chapter survey of North Pole and explanation of cool gadgets made by Phoenix Inc. **

**Phoenix Inc. = It is the researching department of phoenix rangers, I have some cool ideas which would hopefully amaze you.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**A/N: The characters of Harry Potter don't belong to me they belong to J. . I'm just writing this story for entertainment; no money is being made from this. Thank You!**

On the North Pole, the cold wind was blowing very mildly, everything was quiet when suddenly with a soft pop five people landed on the soft snow, well, the four landed, one fell on his bum.

"Bloody portkeys..." muttered Harry as Kelly laughed at him and got up and started cleaning his pants with his hands.

"You still got that problem Harry?" asked Ron with mirth in his eyes.

Harry just grumbled and started looking at the surrounding

"It's very quiet here, it's good that there's no storm otherwise we would have had one hell of a hard time looking for clue" said Harry as he surveyed the snow covered grounds. All you could see was snow in all direction, nothing else.

"Which direction do you think we should go?" asked Hermione to the group as there was no sign or any clue for them to follow in a specific direction, for all they knew they could be going away from their target, and Hermione didn't like the idea of walking so much without getting any progress on her mission.

"We should go in that direction?" replied Draco pointing towards the direction where wind was blowing.

"No, that's not where we need to go..." replied Harry neutrally as he started looking around once more, then he closed his eyes and started to search or reach for any type of magic around here, as he was doing his chest started to glow a white light around his heart, and he felt a tug towards the direction from where the wind was coming.

"We need to go towards that way..." he replied pointing to the direction opposite to where Draco had pointed and started walking towards it.

Still in awe of him Ron managed to speak "What the hell did Harry do? It was cool!" he asked to Kelly.

"He searched for magic around this area and I guess he sensed some magic in that direction, come on lets go before we lose him" she replied and started walking behind Harry.

Ron started walking with Draco side-by-side in silence, both looking around for any sign or clue.

Hermione caught up with Kelly and started walking with her. She still wanted to know about that device that had brought them here but she felt it was it was too impolite to ask about so she just kept looking at it where it was strapped to Kelly's belt around her waist.

Noticing her glancing at the object, Kelly removed it and gave it to her. Hermione looked confused for a minute and then realised she had been caught, she blushed a bit but took the device nonetheless and started looking at it, she was just about to ask what it was when Kelly started speaking like a teacher,

"Its a mobile-portkey, it is what we use for travelling for mission, it is made by combining non-magical technology and magical power, yes, I know magic interferes with electricity" she said as she saw that Hermione was about to speak "but the researchers at Phoenix Inc, created a rune which when embedded on the chip of the device will make it work properly in a magical areas, they are researching more ways to use these runes in helping the magical world advance like muggles, many prototypes have been made ready to be tested but these are some handy things that they have created, you just need to turn on the device by pressing the side-button, press it I'll show you" she said pointing towards a button on the right side of the device

Hermione pressed and suddenly the screen turned blue and displayed the words 'Please state your name and your position' with a blank space and a keyboard below it

"The headquarters needs to know all the things about the mission so they need this information, if I'm using it they'll know where I am when I used this device, right now only rangers are allowed to use these things, but in a decade or so you'll see them with everyone, if you are a magical person it will draw magic from you but if you are a muggle you will need to have magical battery cells to give it required power to portkey, you just need to type the latitude and the longitude value of the place where you need to go" Hermione was absolutely amazed about this device she wanted to ask many question but finally settled on one question.

"What is a magical battery cell?" she asked Kelly.

Before Kelly could answer Draco spoke loudly enough for all of them to hear, "Potter, I'm telling you we are going in wrong direction we should have gone in the opposite direction there's nothing here" he spoke arrogantly with a sneer.

"Shut up Malfoy! I don't have time for your childish complaints, just keep walking or bugger-off in the opposite direction and if you find something then come and speak to me" said Harry getting irritated by his childish response.

"Maybe I'll go and when I find something I'll show to you that I am right" Draco answered and turned around to walk in opposite direction

"Shut it both of you! Don't fight like small children, Draco you will not go in that direction and Harry mind your language!" scolded Kelly in a stern voice which made Draco stop for a moment but then he turned around and spoke "Oh yeah? And who are you to order me Anderson? We were not told that we have to follow you?"

Getting angry Kelly was about to yell at him when Harry spoke urgently, "Hey! Did you feel it?"

"What are you talking..." Kelly didn't complete her sentence when suddenly the feeling of warm water being poured washed over her body and she shivered by it.

Everyone must have felt it because everybody shivered and started looking around in panic.

"What do you think it was?" asked Hermione getting afraid, normally Hermione would not have been afraid but right now she was without a wand and she felt kind of naked without it and if something was to come up she didn't have anything to protect herself.

"Don't panic we just entered a ward of some kind and by guessing the feeling I think it was some kind of detection ward, what do you say Kelly? You are experienced in this area more than me" spoke Harry.

"Yeah, it was a wand-magic detection ward, I think we are near our target, see that is why we took your wands, knowing you hit-wizards you would have probably used your wands to erect a magical shield and would have gotten yourself caught" spoke Kelly looking around for any sign of enemy or danger

"But what if the enemy know that we are here and come to attack us what will we do?" asked Ron frantically.

"Leave the protection part to us, we have some surprises for the enemy" replied Kelly with an evil-smirk on her face.

The evil-smirk calmed off her, because Hermione felt a little at ease, she was a ranger after-all and if she is confident then there's nothing to worry, she told herself. Then she noticed something Harry was unusually quiet and looking to the right side of where they were standing with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Harry...?" she spoke moving towards him and touching his arm "What's wrong?" She knew Harry only reacted this way when there was danger around.

"They are coming..." he replied with a hollow voice and touched her hand and moved in front of her as to protect her. This gesture made her heart flutter, but she quickly shook those feeling this was not the time for such things.

"Kelly get in position" he commanded and Kelly walked and stood beside him in a defending position.

Draco's face had gone pale and Ron's face was showing fear, his eyes moving rapidly in all direction searching for cover...

When suddenly about 10 meters from them snow erupted from the ground and black smoke came out of it blocking everyone's view. When the smoke cleared off Hermione paled,

There stood 10 people with black robes around them and their faces hidden in the cape like a shadow. They were standing there with their wand drawn pointed towards the five people...

**A/N: Cliffhanger! Bear with me! Next chapter will have Harry and Hermione talking about the past...**

**A/N: Help me find a story, it was a H/G/Hr story, where Ginny talks with Hermione and convinces her to do a three-way relationship, I don't remember much but there was this dialogue which Ginny uses while talking to Hermione "You have what I need, and I have what you need" please tell me the name of the story**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**A/N: The characters of Harry Potter don't belong to me they belong to J. . I'm just writing this story for entertainment; no money is being made from this. Thank You!**

Nobody moved for a minute. The ten people in black robes stood there with their wands pointed at the five people in front of them. Not knowing what to do Hermione just stood there fearing the worst. She was about to ask Kelly for her wand quietly when one the black-robed people came forward and stood in front of them and said in a low dangerous voice

"Our lord knew you would come, you fool ICW wizards, oh yes we know you are wizards, so don't even try to deny it, now tell me why are you here? Or else get ready to die!" he said pointing his wand towards Harry.

"So this was a decoy huh? I thought your lord was fool but I was mistaken, he set this all for us didn't he? Doing some heavy magical activities here so the ICW thought he was here only, but your lord was fool enough to let you come here, if we take even one of you back to our base we may have all the information we need about your lord and his whereabouts" said Harry with a sneer on his face.

The black-robed man in front of Harry looked afraid for a minute and then suddenly snapped out of it and shouted,

"Don't say anything about my lord you filthy scumbag, you all are just some mudbloods or half-bloods who were stupid to even dare come here, now enough of chit-chat it's time for you to die"

With that he levelled his wand upon Harry's face and spoke "Avada Ked-"

But before he could cast the killing curse, a red beam of light came and collided with him. He was thrown 20 meter away from where he was standing. Everybody, confused, looked towards the source of light; there stood a man, with brown hair, well-built body and black coloured eyes. He was standing there with a gun in his hand. 'A gun?' though Hermione as she looked at the gun. The gun was very different; she had never seen such type of gun. It looked modern with a different shape and coloured in white and blue. Then she remembered she had seen such type of gun in the video game her father used to play. Hermione glanced around and saw that Ron was watching the gun in awe. His mouth agape and his eyes showing amusement. Even Draco's, most of the time, non-emotionless face showed surprise. She then looked towards the rangers and was surprised to find that both Harry and Kelly had their wands out and Kelly looked relieved, Harry was moving his wand in a complex movement pointed towards them. The other black-robed people stood in their places not moving, confused and shocked, but the attention was brought back when a red light flew from Harry's wand and another black-robed man was thrown into snow unconscious.

And then the chaos began. Every black-robed man started firing curses towards Harry, Kelly and the new guy. Harry was fighting with three men, Kelly was engaged in a duel with two on the far left and the new guy with gun was fighting with the three on the right. She was once again surprised to find that the new guy was fighting only with his gun. He would fire a curse at them from the gun and when a curse would be fired at him, he would just turn the gun in his hand clockwise like a shield and press a button on top of it. The curse fired at him would get deflected before it reached him and then again he would start firing at them. Kelly was using her wand to fight against the two people who were rapidly sending different coloured curses towards her. She was barely holding her protego shield and then suddenly she jabbed her wand towards them and curses started flying through her wand. Harry on the other hand was using both a wand and a gun to fight. The gun he was carrying was smaller than the one the other guy had but effective nonetheless. He was using his wand to deflect curses thrown towards him and using his gun in his left hand to fire at them. Curses were flying here and there, any stray curse coming towards them would be deflected before it reached them, and this surprised Hermione. The new guy was starting to take control over his fight, he had a bruise on his right shoulder and a cut in his left arm but he continued fighting, Kelly had not taken any hit and Harry had a cut on his chest. But he looked fine, the black-robed men had taken many hits some were limping, hand's cut, unconscious all in all they were losing.

Deciding to help them, she turned towards Ron and Draco and said in her battle-mode as Ron liked to call it, "Let's help them."

Draco just nodded and Ron replied, "Yeah... let's take our wands from her bag" he said pointing towards Kelly's bag that lay on the ground in front of them. To take their wands they started moving towards the bag. But as they tried to take second step they collided with and invisible shield and fell on the ice.

"What the...?" muttered Draco as he eyed the place where the invisible shield was present and then Hermione realized that Harry's earlier wand movement towards them was this protection shield to from which neither anything could go out nor could anything come in. But what surprised her even more was the silence that surrounded them. She looked around and found that the fight was over and the black-robed men were lying on the snow. Harry, Kelly and the new guy sported a bruise or two but looked fine. Then Kelly ran towards the new guy and hugged him. Harry walked towards them and he also gave him a manly-hug they then started talking in whispers and turned around to look at them and then again turned around to talk. Hermione was confused what was going? Then suddenly Kelly walked towards them, she looked at all of them and then said in low tone, "Sorry"

This confused Hermione even more but then her eyes widened as she saw Kelly point her wands towards them and then blackness took over her.

Kelly then turned towards to face the men, Harry's eyebrows had disappeared in his hair and his eyes were wide.

"Kelly!" shouted the other man.

"It had to be done Soap" answered Kelly, "We need to take them to headquarters and they need to be debriefed, the ICW cannot be trusted, it is clear that there is a spy among the ICW who told these bastards about our mission, so we can't let them go before we prepare them"

"You could have just blindfolded them?" asked Soap

"Soap these are hit-wizards, do you really think they will allow us to blindfold them and even if we are able to they will not stay silent, believe me" said Kelly. Soap looked unsure but a quick glance at Harry and a nod from him made him quiet for now.

"Lets bind these other filth-men and take them with us" said Harry as he removed his wand and was about to cast a binding charm when a pop sound filled their ears and one of the black-robed man disappeared.

"Shit, portkeys, Harry cast an anti-portkey ward on the man behind you, he is near quick!" said Kelly hurriedly.

Soap watched as Harry started moving his wand rapidly in various complex movement and air shivered around the black-robed man for a moment and they waited as the other fled via portkey which had been automatically activated.

Harry felt a wave of magic trying to break his anti-portkey ward but the ward did not bulge. After a few moments the wave of magic stopped. "It's clear" said Harry as he removed the wards and cast the binding charm on the man and tied magical ropes tightly around his body with his wand.

"Send a message to headquarters, tell them we are returning" said Soap to Kelly.

She removed her wand and said out loud "Expecto Patronum!" a large white eagle burst out from her wand and floated in front of her

"This is Alpha One to the headquarters, the mission was a fail there's no dark lord base here. It was a decoy, we were ambushed by ten followers of the new lord, but we are Oscar mike, nine out of these followers managed to escape, we have captured one and are bringing him to Headquarters for interrogation, over and out!" said Kelly to the Eagle "Take this to the head quarters" The Eagle nodded his head and took off in the sky

"I think we should go to a safe distance from there we should portkey, lets not portkey from here, it might be dangerous" said Harry eyeing around suspiciously

"So where should we go?" asked Soap.

"I think we should go to the point where we came from" replied Kelly looking towards Harry for confirmation

"Yeah let's go" said Harry and started walking towards the direction from where they came from, the bounded man floating behind him.

"Take them" Soap said eyeing the three hit-wizards that lay on the snow, "Lets get out of here quickly, my temperature charm is losing its magic" he said touching the necklace.

The journey to the point took half-hour and was made in silent with four people floating behind them.

As they reached the point Kelly took out the portkey, tapped her location in it and motioned for Harry and Soap to touch it.

They touched the portkey and with a last touch from her finger they vanished into thin air and the wind continued blowing on the North Pole as if nothing had happened there.

**A/N:**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**A/N: The characters of Harry Potter don't belong to me they belong to J. . I'm just writing this story for entertainment; no money is being made from this. Thank You! Sorry folks for the late update but I had my exams going on, this chapter was actually written a long time ago but due to exams wasn't able to upload it. Thank you everyone for reviewing.**

It was dark. Darkness surrounded her everywhere. She didn't know where she was. Then muffled sounds reached her ears, it looked like there were people nearby who were talking. Slowly she opened her eyes and was greeted with a very white coloured surrounding. If she didn't knew she was alive she would have thought it was heaven. But where was she? It looked like an infirmary... But what was she doing in an infirmary? Then everything came to her... The mission, ambush, and then they won, then... WHAT!? Kelly stunned us?

"Oh! You are awake Miss Granger, good" a voice interrupted her thoughts. Turning her head to the right she saw a woman dressed like a nurse. If not for the wand in her hand, she would have mistaken the woman for a nurse. Before she could say anything the healer continued

"Everything is alright with you... Heartbeats... check, BP... check, internal organs... check... Hmm... Everything is normal as usual, you are ready to leave and do anything you would do normally but I have been ordered to not leave you from here, any questions?"

"Where is 'here'?" asked Hermione stressing the word 'here' and motioning with her hand around.

"I'm afraid I am not the right person to tell you this, be patient, all will be informed to you in good time, meanwhile let me revive Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy" with that the Healer turned around and walked to the next bed, where she saw that Draco was kept on the bed and he appeared fine. The healer also checked everything with him and proceeded to Ron's bed and revived him also.

As soon as the healer left the room, Ron blurted, "Who the hell does that Anderson think she is?"

"Yeah, who gave her the fucking right to stun us? She stunned us!? Maybe we should sue her in our court, and then she'll know what it costs to stun hit-wizards" replied Draco.

Hermione huffed," Oh, honestly? Don't act so childishly, I'm sure there must've been some reason behind this?"

"Why do you think so?" asked Ron

But before she could answer the door opened and Harry and Kelly entered the room. They were dressed casually, though Hermione's attention was on Harry who was looking at Draco with an unreadable expression on his face. And Draco was glaring at him in return.

"You! How dare you stun us?" Ron shouted at Kelly his face becoming little red.

Kelly's expression didn't falter a bit. She stood there with a calm expression and turned her head towards Harry and motioned with her head to explain.

"Ron, don't get angry, there was a reason we did it, I think you should listen it before you make any unnecessary conclusions" said Harry motioning with his hands to stay calm.

"And what reason of yours would guarantee that I won't sue her?" Draco retorted with a cool tone.

Harry merely raised his right brow a bit and answered in calm voice, "Because right now you are in our Headquarters, and the papers Amelia gave to you which you signed, stated that if under any circumstances should we need to bring you here we can take any means necessary to make sure that you don't know the locations, so Kelly was in her full rights when she stunned you."

Draco didn't answer to that question because he was as surprised as Hermione and Ron, no person on the planet who was not a ranger had seen the Phoenix headquarters let alone be inside it and here they were in the infirmary of the headquarters. Before she could wonder any more a thought came to her mind.

"But then why did you bring us here? If the mission was a decoy why not sent us home?" asked Hermione to Harry.

She didn't expected him to answer so she turned towards Kelly but Harry started talking in a cold tone with an expressionless face

"Granger, as you know we were ambushed, so it is quite clear that someone from inside told them about the mission and since this was a secret mission I don't think anyone from your ministry would have given our position, but the ICW knew all about this mission so I bet there is someone inside the ICW who is working for the new Dark criminal. So before you could've been debriefed at the ICW we brought you here so that the person in ICW doesn't interfere with your minds."

Hermione turned her head sideways to hide the tears that were threatening to fall, she didn't hear single word, the cold words and the way he addressed her had terrified her. She knew the road she was going to take on this mission would make her face things that only a boggart can do, she had prepared herself but all broke down when she practically faced him and knew that she had truly lost him. It was silly but she had fantasized that one day she would meet him again, she would apologise to him, he would be happy to see her and forgive her and then they would kiss. Yes, it was cliché and cheesy, but she had fantasized. But all her fantasies were broken when she heard his tone and she knew that she would have to work hard to get him back as a friend and then maybe something more... with this new determination she blinked her eyes to make the few tears disappear that had been collected in her eyes. She shook her head and turned around to see Draco's and Ron's concerned faces looking towards her and Kelly's look of sympathy, Harry was nowhere to be seen.

"Miss Granger, you didn't answer my question?" asked Kelly breaking her thoughts.

"Pardon?" said Hermione confused.

Kelly sighed "I asked whether you would like to take a look around the headquarters? Because I think you'll be staying here for quite some time."

"Yes, of course" she replied trying to forget what happened moments ago.

"Ok, then let's go" with that Kelly turned and started walking towards the door.

Ron, Draco and Hermione also got up from the bed, before she could take a step towards the door Ron came near her,

"Hermione, you okay? You spaced out for a minute" asked Ron

"I'm fine" Hermione lied and smiled towards him to reassure him. Ron didn't look convinced but before he could say anything Kelly poked her head through the door,"Are you coming or not?" asked Kelly.

Seeing her chance of escape she quickly said yes and started walking towards the door motioning with her hand "Come on, let's go"

Ron sighed and turned towards Draco who shrugged his shoulders and they both walked out of the door.

As soon as they stepped into the corridor, Hermione saw many doors to her left as well as right and there were some rooms behind her also.

"This is the infirmary, there's nothing here to see, let's go the ground floor I'll show you everything" said Kelly and walked towards the end of corridor where she saw the doors to the lift.

They quickly stepped into the lift and proceeded to the ground floor which came very quickly to her surprise.

"We were on the first floor only, the infirmary is located there so that it is near to the entrance in case of emergency" explained Kelly as they stepped into the atrium.

The atrium was just like the ministry atrium but instead of people bustling around Hermione saw a desk where a woman was sitting behind a door which looked like the security door she had seen at airports and two guards were standing near it.

"You need to... um... check in to enter the other floors of the headquarters" said Kelly and walked them through the door.

"This door makes a quick peek into your mind and gives necessary information to give you badges which you will require to enter the headquarters. After walking through the doors they were given badges which had their name on it.

They took the badges and proceeded to the second floor with Kelly via the lift.

"This is the Chambers of Rooms, as we like to call it, but it's just an expandable floor of rooms for Rangers who don't have a family and live here."

She quickly walked them through the floors, Hermione was shocked to see that were many rooms there, around 100-200, many Rangers waved to Kelly who waved them back and then she took them to the third floor.

As soon as they stepped out of the lift they saw a huge wall of glass in front of them, but what caught their attention was the space beyond it. The space beyond it was a vast floor with many equipment like dummies, muggle training machines, dumbbells etc. There were people scattered on the floor who were using these equipment, some were practicing magic, some were doing boxing, fighting etc.

"This is the training facility and the duelling chamber, as you can see new recruits are trained here by experienced rangers, and if you look to the extreme right you can see the duelling chambers, where they practise duelling."

As Hermione turned her head towards right she saw many people there duelling, they were all types of duels going on, one on one, many on one, many on many etc. It was really magnificent to see them duel.

"Unfortunately, right now there is a training session going on so we can't go beyond this glass, enough of this lets go to next floor.

On the fourth floor Hermione saw many people, who were a little aged bustling around, the room itself was like a office, there were many desks placed around with many people either scribbling on some paper or reading papers. On the left side Hermione saw a huge screen which covered the whole wall, the screen was showing the map of world spread out like a sheet and some regions on it were glowing green in colour, some were blinking green colour, and some were not showing anything.

"This is the office of the rangers, mission files, information about rangers, information about anything could be found here, it's like Google for us" said Kelly, she either didn't notice the confused expression on Ron and Draco's face or she ignored them. Hermione knew what Google was but she could bet on her wand that they didn't knew. Her thoughts were broken when Kelly again started speaking.

"To the left side, do you see that screen? It is like a scanner, which scans the whole world for magical activities, do you see that constant green colour glowing in Scotland, it's Hogwarts, like that it also scans for any unusual non-magical activity."

"Behind this room is a lab, known as the Phoenix Inc. where experts from all around the world are chosen and they work here and invent new things, the mobile-portkey you saw with me is one of their creations"

"Well this concludes our tour, maybe in the future I could show you everything perfectly but right now you need to go to fifth floor, Harry and Captain require your presence for some discussions"

Nervous feeling filled her stomach at the thought of meeting him again.

"What discussion?" asked Ron with an amazed expression after touring the headquarters, his earlier anger forgotten. Draco also looked surprised and amazed.

"That you will know when you see them, now go!" she ordered

"Wait, aren't you going to come with us?" asked Draco in a neutral tone, Hermione was also confused at this.

Kelly shook her head negatively and motioned for them to go.

They quickly went in the lift silently and proceeded to the fifth floor

They were surprised when they toured but they didn't know that the events that were going to occur on fifth floor would take their breath away.

**A/N: R&R, next chapter, I promise there will actually be a talk between Harry and Hermione, I was initially going to put it in 8****th**** chapter but I changed my mind about it. Next chapter a surprise and the talk!**


	10. Chapter 10 beta'd

**Chapter 10**

**A/N: The characters of Harry Potter don't belong to me they belong to J. . I'm just writing this story for entertainment; no money is being made from this. Thank You!**

**This chapter is way better than all the chapters that I have written thanks to my beta reader , Thank You!**

Lying on her bed next morning, in a room in the headquarters, Hermione was thinking about the events that took place in Captain Price's office; Hermione was once again stunned as she recalled the events...

_Hermione, Draco and Ron stepped out of the elevator on the fifth were floor and were welcomed in a regular medium sized office. Mr. Price sat behind the desk similar to their late headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, back upright, elbows on the desk, fingers of both hands intertwined in front of his nose as he watched them. But what caught her attention was a person standing in front of the desk shuffling through some files. Hermione didn't get a chance to see who it was, before they were acknowledged._

"_Please, have a seat all of you" said Mr. Price, motioning with his hands towards three seats situated in front of the desk._

_As soon as he spoke Harry glanced behind him, he immediately closed the file and went to stand by Mr. Price. Looking at the three with a neutral expression. _

"_Why were we called here Mr. Price?" hesitantly Ron said as he was once again amazed, Harry chuckled lightly, Ron looked at him questioningly._

'_Please call me Captain Price or just Captain would suffice, people here think it's odd for an old man like me to play games and name myself like that" Captain Price said looking pointedly at Harry, who just chuckled once again._

_The hit-wizards were completely baffled and confused at what was going on, but before they could think anymore or ask anything Price spoke again_

"_As to your earlier question Mr. Weasley, you all are here so that I can tell about the information revealed by the person who was brought here, according to the interrogators, they successfully extracted the actual location of the hideout of their lord, and according to them the hideout is on Lakshadweep island, at the base of India" said Price._

"_Ok now everything is confusing here" Draco started speaking "first you say that there's a traitor in ICW so you don't want us to get information and debrief there but now you are telling us some vital information about the hideout, why?"_

_Price chuckled "Ok, I think I'll have to tell it you now only, there was one other reason you three were called here"_

_He paused and then looked at the three wizards with a calculating look before continuing_

"_You see, we have people everywhere, and literally I mean everywhere. We have eyes and ears in every government body around the world. It doesn't matter which department, or which government, either magical or muggle. There is somebody providing us with necessary information to ensure the safety of the world. The Ministers and Presidents of their respective countries know of our existence. They are cooperating with us, and have allowed our infiltration. They understand that we work on global scale and will not interfere in their day to day operations of their country. Even your very own Minister knows of our existence and our people in your Ministry of Magic. We don't get involved with local disputes and crimes, otherwise you people would be jobless now wouldn't you?" Price chuckled at his own joke and continued leaning forward and looking each Hit Wizard in the eye,"The Hit-Wizards department is the one area that has eluded us, so I thought to take advantage of this opportunity by asking you if you would want to join the Phoenix Rangers."_

To be honest all the three of them had been so surprised that they didn't say a word right away. But after some discussion with Price they were informed that they will be continuing their work as hit-wizards and informing the headquarters about necessary information. They maybe sometimes required to go on a mission for the Rangers if required but mostly they would be working as hit-wizards. Their minister would be informed about the situation should they accept the offer.

After some debating the three accepted the offer and since no decision were made about the ICW's traitor, whoever they were, the hit-wizards were allowed to stay at headquarters. Hermione had no idea at what time she was revived in the infirmary, but as soon as she had entered the room and looked at the time. She was surprised to find that it was already 11 o'clock at night. Quickly changing into clothes that she had brought with her. Hermione eyes closed and she promptly fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

!- HHRShipper06 -!

Hermione awoke from her slumber, quickly looking around at the strange surroundings. Her mind quickly caught up to everything that happened in the last few days. Laying back down on the pillow with a sigh, she contemplated how her life has turned so quickly. Not only was she a Hit-Wizard, but a member of the Phoenix Rangers. Suddenly, she sat up as a thought passed through her mind. Quickly she got up collecting her clothes and some accessories. Hermione rushed into bathroom to get prepared. What she was preparing for and her main thought that was consuming her now...Talk to Harry...Privately.

After getting ready Hermione stepped out of the one bedroom apartment that was provided for her. Stepping out in the corridor, Hermione looked down and saw around her many of the same doors for what she assumed were the same type of apartment. She quickly went to the elevator and thought about where she could find him. After some thinking she went to third floor where the training room was located. There were many rangers who were working out and practicing but, Harry was nowhere to be seen. She sighed and then decided to go to the atrium and ask the receptionist.

"Excuse me? Can you help me if you are not busy?" asked Hermione to the receptionist after coming to the atrium.

"Yes, how can I help you Miss Granger?" said the strawberry-blonde haired woman.

"I was wondering if you could tell me where Ha- Mr. Potter is?" she corrected herself before the receptionist could notice it.

"Sure, right now I think he must be at his flat since he hasn't shown up yet and he doesn't have any particular errand to do."

"Um..." Hermione bit her lower lip. When she was nervous and or thinking of a problem to be solved. It was a habit that she had since she was a little kid and one that she never grew out of. "I don't know if you're allowed, but could you tell me where his flat is?"

"Sorry Miss Granger but we are not allowed to pass information about any Ranger to anyone other than to the Captain"

Hermione sighed disappointedly and nodded her head to the woman and moved a little away when the sound of someone apparating reached her ears. She turned around and saw Kelly there talking to receptionist. Soon Kelly turned around and was approaching her.

"Miss Anderson."

Kelly just smiled, "Please call me Kelly. I don't like all these formalities."

Hermione gave a grateful smile in return, "Only if you call me Hermione"

Both girls grinned at each other and then Kelly spoke, "So?"

Hermione didn't want to appear desperate, but she was so close to rectifying one of the biggest mistakes she had ever made. It had been years of her reliving that moment over and over again. She needed to try and make things right and her pride was not going to get in her way this time. Coming closer to Kelly, speaking in a tone only she could hear. Hermione had a feeling Kelly knew where Harry lived. "Kelly can you tell me please, where does Harry live?" Hermione asked with pleading tone.

Kelly sighed, "I knew you would be asking me this question, but I cannot tell you where he lives." Hermione's face fell but Kelly continued "but I can tell you that I live at 36th street, Sydney, Sunshine Bldg, Room no. 201" Hermione was confused why was she telling her this " and I can also tell you that Harry is my neighbour" Kelly grinned.

Hermione returned the grin as she understood what she was trying to imply, Kelly didn't give her Harry' address. But soon all happiness came down as she realised that he was halfway around the world in Australia.

Kelly as if reading her thoughts spoke up "Don't worry about the distance; the headquarters is a place from where you can apparate to any place anywhere, regardless of the distance. Why don't you try this since it's your first time." with that she removed the mobile-portkey Hermione had seen earlier and tapped few time and gave it to her "The coordinates are set to take you to a side-alley behind the building, you just come out of the alley and turn to your right you'll see the entrance"

Hermione took the mobile-portkey from her hand and saw a rectangular box on the blue screen with the words 'APPARATE' written on it. Out of curiosity and excitement she quickly touched it and was whisked away. She was too excited and didn't pay attention to Kelly when she was saying that this may not be the right time for her to go and see him in his flat.

Hermione suddenly appeared in a dark alley and then remembered Kelly's word. Apprehension was over taking her as she was coming closer to the building entrance. Steeling her nerves and bringing forth that Gryffindor courage, Hermione opened the glass door to the building. After entering she quickly went to the elevator and pressed the button for 2nd floor.

Stepping out of the lift, Hermione felt a number of emotions going through her. Hermione berated herself. She was an adult and a hit wizard and here she is acting like she was still at Hogwarts. Getting her emotions under control, Hermione walked by room 201 and came to room 202. As she was about to knock the door opened and standing in front of her was a very beautiful woman. Even if she had to admit that herself, blonde hair, more than necessary sized bosom, perfect model figure and her head was turned sideways as to talk to someone inside the house.

Hermione didn't know what to make of it? Was she in the wrong address? No Kelly wouldn't do that...would she? But all her thoughts came to halt and the feeling of excruciating pain passed through her as she heard what the blonde. What she said next made Hermione heart break into a million pieces. Of all of the scenarios she dreamt about this moment. This wasn't one of them.

"Bye Harry! Thanks for the great night" She blew him a kiss, and in a very seductive voice. "Don't forget to call me lover boy." She turned around and bumped into Hermione, after muttering a quick sorry the blonde walked away.

Hermione stood there with her mouth slightly open, her lower lip trembling a little bit as moisture was gathering in her eyes. A hurt expression came to her features as her mind process what was said. Her mind was going a mile per second with thoughts like, who was the blonde? What did she mean by 'Thanks for the great night'? Was she Harry's girlfriend? Or worse fiancé? The thought literally broke her heart, and as soon as she was about to turn around and walk away Harry came to the door.

He was about to close the door when his eyes fell on her. Harry was surprised to find her standing in front, and then his surprise slowly turned into anger at her and little bit at Kelly. "What do you want?" asked Harry in a neutral tone,

Hermione's pain, if possible, grew even deeper as she heard his tone toward her? At least in the infirmary he had shown some emotion even if it was anger, but now he didn't even show any emotion.

Harry stood there waiting for a reply with his left brow slightly raised and then repeated his question as she was still there standing staring at him. "I asked... . ?" he said forcing each word out.

"I came to apologise" she stuttered as she was about to burst in tears but she quickly gathered herself, she was not here for this, she was here for apologising and even if Harry was married or in a relationship she would at least have his friendship.

"Can I Please come in?" Hermione asked looking like a fool asking such question.

Harry for his part just opened the door wide and stepped aside. Taking this as an invitation Hermione quickly stepped into the room.

Harry's room surprised her; she expected a room like a normal wizard would have clothes everywhere on the floor, food droppings on the carpet, untidy and dirty like his flat in London. But this room was the total opposite of it. Everything was neat and clean, no clothes or food on the floor, no dirt, it was absolutely immaculate.

Taking one more look around she turned and saw Harry waiting with his arms crossed and his weight on one leg and an impatient expression on his face.

"Well?" he said once again with a neutral tone

Now that she was standing in front of Harry, Hermione didn't know what to say. Gathering herself, she came here for a reason. "Harry, I came here to say sorry. I know it won't make much of a difference, but I'm sorry for whatever I said to you back then. If I could go back in time and take those words back I would do it in a heartbeat, but life doesn't work that way. Your heart wasn't the only one I broke that day, I was a young girl who didn't know what her emotional state was and I hope that you would please find it in your heart to forgive me? It was only after you left that I realized what I truly lost. If you need time it's ok, we can be just friends, if you want it or we can be... if you want but I am sorry for all those things that I said" Hermione knew she had blabbed and she was embarrassed at how her apology sounded.

"Well, you can go now?" was all that Harry said.

"What...?"

"You came to apologise, you apologised, now you can go"

"Harry..." now tears were pooled up in her eyes. Harry finally dropped his neutral tone and his anger came up.

"What do you want me to say Hermione? That it's ok and then we can again be best friends and I should just forget whatever you said... Welcome to reality Hermione! Life doesn't work that way" Harry shouted and the tears continued to flow down her cheeks. "Well let me rephrase it like you- 'WHAT DO YOU THINK? I SHOULD JUST FORGET EVERYTHING AND THEN LIVE HAPPILY-EVER AFTER WITH YOU? WELL I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE!"

Realisation hit her like a train and at that moment she knew how much pain she had caused him by all those things she had said. Not knowing what to do, she just stood there sobbing, her body trembling.

Harry took few deep breathes and calmed down, then he took the mobile-portkey from her hand, put the co-ordinates in it and gave it back to her, She was about to press the apparate button on screen but she stopped mid-way and looked towards Harry and asked "Who was the girl?" knowing that the answer will only cause her more pain. But she deserved it after all she had done; pain was the only thing that she deserved.

"That's none of your business" Harry sneered "But I'll tell you anyways, she was someone I met last night in the pub, I don't even know her bloody name." he trailed off

Hermione didn't know whether to be happy that she was not someone serious in his life, or to be sad that Harry had a one night stand. His earlier words once again came to her and tears started flowing down her cheeks, she quickly pressed the button on the portkey and disappeared.

Hermione arrived near the elevator in the atrium of headquarters, as soon as she came she quickly ran towards the elevator and went to her room, not noticing Kelly looking at her with a worried expression neither did she notice Ron with the same expression.

She quickly entered her room warded it and then fell on bed fully releasing her sobs as she clutched the pillow tightly in her hands and continued to cry.

Little did she know that half-way around the world in Sydney a green-eyed person was also crying in his bed, regretting about how he had reacted and hurt her. He hadn't meant to sound so harsh but his anger took control of his mouth once again.

Not knowing what the future held for him and her he closed his eyes and drifted into sleep...


	11. Chapter 11 beta'd

**Chapter 11**

**A/N: The characters of Harry Potter don't belong to me they belong to J. . I'm just writing this story for entertainment; no money is being made from this. Thank You!**

**Beta'd by , Thank You!**

**Ruinus: As pawsrule and have already said, Harry also has a sensitive side, on the outside he is a tough guy but on the inside he is still the boy who loved Hermione so it's natural that he feels bad about what he did ( I agree with his character is just like 007)... and well he is just crying silently not sobbing like Hermione.**

**Ravenmore45: Don't worry Hermione is not going to give up because... well just read this chapter you'll know.**

**Guest: Well just like you said, sometime people say what they don't mean, so in anger Harry also wanted to hurt Hermione because he was angry and he just repeated her words to hurt her and make her realise his pain. And well give him some time to adjust with her, after all he has seen her after five years, so it'll take time... just be patient and keep reading and reviewing.**

** . : Read this chapter and then you'll know if he is still in love with her or not?**

**Bobcox26: You have to understand that in this story even though Ron abandoned Harry two times but they quickly got over it, there friendship was not same like it used to be but it was still present and like Hermione, Ron didn't break Harry's heart, Ron didn't even knew about Harry's feeling. So I think it should be the other way round, Ron is the one who should be forgiving Harry, who just disappeared without telling anyone... There will be no bashing of any characters in this story... The next chapter i.e. chapter 12 will have everything sorted out don't worry.**

**Thank you for reviewing: Starboy454 and ****FrancieAusten.**

Hermione quickly woke up to someone trying to break her wards to gain entry into her room. For how long she had been asleep she didn't know but she had slept for a long time that was sure. One glance at the clock confirmed that she had been asleep for four hours, it was one pm now.

Once again her magic stirred inside her body letting her know that someone was still trying to break her wards. Taking her wand in her hand she stood beside her bed preparing for whatever came through the door. Thinking, Hermione relaxed. She was in a secret organization headquarters. There are no sign of an alarm. Whomever was on the other side of the door was just worried about her and wondering if she was alright.

Her magic stopped stirring inside her body informing her that whoever was standing outside the door had given up breaking the wards. She dropped back into the bed and contemplated whether to drop the wards and let the intruder in or continue to pretend she was still sleeping. She still needed some time to herself to think over what had happened with Harry, so she opted to ignore the person on the other side of the door and try and lay back down in bed, but her thoughts stopped as a knock was heard on her door. Grumbling to herself, irritated at the intruder she sat up on her bed cross-legged and with flick of her wand she dropped the wards and opened the door.

Standing outside her door was Kelly dressed in what Hermione supposed was the ranger uniform. It was like the swat commandos she had watched in some movie. Black latex pants that hugged her leg tightly and showed her perfect long legs. The material of the cloth also looked hard if seen properly, her eyes travelled up to her waist, where a belt hung around loosely with a pocket on the right side where she saw the mobile-portkey had been placed. 'Wait... when did she take it back from me?' She didn't have time to solve that problem as a hand waved in front of her.

Shaking her head she saw Kelly standing in front of her with an amused expression on her face. Her upper body was also covered like the hard latex of the pant, it was a full sleeved shirt, she realised, and it was accompanied by thin armour that hugged her body like a sleeveless shirt. It suited well with her fair skin and her blonde hair and her blue eyes. She looked really nice in that uniform. Before she could compliment her Kelly spoke

"Like what you see?" said Kelly, posing like a model, with one hand on her hip and other hand twirling a strand of her blonde hair.

Hermione chuckled at her antics but replied nonetheless, "Yes, it suits you well and you look very good in it"

Kelly bowed little bit and spoke with a mischievous spark in her eyes and smirked "Thank you for your gracious compliment Miss Granger"

This time Hermione laughed out loud and soon Kelly joined her. Hermione looked towards Kelly and thought how much she had come to like this blonde lady, she was nice, funny and kind-hearted, even though after meeting only two or three times Hermione could see that Kelly was really a nice woman, sure she maybe a little biased as it was Kelly who gave her the address to Harry's room. Harry... Then she remembered that she was in her room trying to be alone when Kelly had tried to break her wards and gain entry into her room.

"So was there any particular reason you were trying to break into my room?" said Hermione, her tone truly confusing and without any hostility.

"As a matter-of-fact yes, I was trying to enter your rooms for full ten minutes, first I knocked but didn't get any answer, that's when I sensed your wards, so I tried to break them to get your attention" Kelly said with a sheepish look on her face "Anyways, I am here to inform you that you need to get out of your room, your official recruitment as a Phoenix Ranger will begin in" she glanced at the wrist watch on her left hand " about half an hour"

Hermione's eyes widened and she exclaimed "Half an hour!?"

How was she going to get ready in half an hour? Since she was sleeping her hair was probably like a birds nest and she was sure that her face was tear stained. Quickly she tried to get up to get ready, but her legs didn't cooperate as she was sitting cross-legged. Quickly trying to get up was probably not a best idea as she landed face first on the floor beside her bed.

Laughter reached her ears as Hermione turned over; grumbling when saw that Kelly was outright laughing at her. Hermione crossed her arms on her stomach and feigned annoyance "Hey!"

Seeing that her friend needed help, Kelly offered her a hand which Hermione took and stood up massaging her face.

"Go quickly get ready and come to Price's office wearing this uniform" Kelly said indicating with her hand towards a duplicate pair of Kelly's uniform neatly folded on her bed.

Hermione just nodded her head.

"And listen, after that meet me at the atrium I want to talk to you, ok?"

Hermione was not sure what Kelly wanted to talk but she could guess that it was something about her earlier meeting with Harry

"Okay, I'll meet you" she replied.

With that Kelly turned and left the room closing the door silently behind her.

!- HHRShipper06 -!

Half an hour later, Hermione, in her Phoenix Ranger uniform, was standing in Price's office. Beside her Ron and Draco were standing, both wearing same type of uniform, the difference being that there shirts were half-sleeved instead of full-sleeved.

"This is exciting, isn't it?" said Ron as they waited for Price who was nowhere to be seen in the office

"Trust a Weasley to get exciting at such small things" said Draco with fake arrogance and sticking his nose up in air.

Before Ron could retort anything or Hermione could admonish him for his behaviour, the door to the elevator opened and Price stepped out of the elevator with some papers in his hand and went to sit behind his desk in front of which they were standing.

He glanced at them and opened his mouth to speak something, but stopped mid-way and glanced towards a red button, and then he pressed it and spoke "Harry Potter", the button red light blinked and beeped once, then turned normal.

When Price once again glanced at them he was not surprised to find confused expressions on their face. But he ignored it for now and stood up and spoke

"So here we are, to officially make you Rangers, now you may be wondering if there's going to be a test, maybe some sort of procedure or ritual to make you Rangers, but it's not like that. All I need you to do is just sign these forms" He spread out the three papers that he was carrying when he entered from the lift "and to sign these forms you will use this" then he pulled one of the drawers from his desk and removed a quill and placed it in front of them "Normally we put new recruitments into training and then officially make them Rangers but you are already trained enough if you are hit-wizards, so we are just going to recruit you..." He trailed off. He cleared his throat once and continued

"These papers state that you have agreed to become Rangers of your own free-will. It also states that you're required to come-in without hesitation whenever you're called. This includes leaving any situation you would be involved in, except some reasonable situations, or else your Ranger badge will be revoked. Finally it also states that you vow to never betray or bring harm to this association in any way, and remember to abide by the Rangers the rules this documents states as it will be sealed magically by this blood quill."

Nervously all three of them signed the forms but surprisingly didn't feel any pain which they expected as was usual when using a blood quill. 'Must be some modified blood quill' thought Hermione.

"Excellent! Now do you have any questions?"

"Actually I have a question, but it's not regarding this recruitment... May I?" said Hermione a little nervously wanting to know what the little red button was, as the saying goes 'Old habits die hard' she still liked to gain more knowledge about things which made her curious which she had been doing for as long as she could remember.

"Well of course you can" Price replied with a motion of his hand to let her know that she may continue.

"What is that?" asked Hermione pointing towards the red button sitting on Price's desk

"This my fellow rangers" a different feeling went through them as they were addressed as ranger for the first time "is a device that the Phoenix Inc. has produced" even Ron and Draco leaned in to listen "I just press the button once and say the name of any Ranger and the badge of that particular Ranger informs him that I have called him"

"Speaking of badges, here you go" with that he removed three badges from the drawer and put in on the desk "they are yours"

The three of them picked up the badges.

The badge was pentagonal in shape, Hermione noticed, it was light brown in colour. On the badge was the logo of Phoenix Rangers just like the logo which was on the necklace Harry had given them before they had gone to North Pole. The logo, with a magnificent red phoenix surrounded by fire and its wing stretched making it look quite amazing. Below the logo was her last name 'GRANGER' written in white colour. All in all it was an amazing looking badge concluded Hermione and judging by the looks on Draco's and Ron's face they must have also thought the same.

"You need to put the badge in the armour" Price voice reached her ears taking her attention away from the badge.

'In the armour?' thought Hermione confused and looked at her armour which she was wearing currently and sure there was a... for the lack of a better term... hole shaped like the badge just above her left breast.

Hermione quickly put the badge in it, just as her hand came near the armour the badge was pulled from her hand into the armour just like a magnet. As soon as the badge fitted into the armour a surge of magic passed through her body and then the uniform which she was wearing became more comfortable. Sure it was nice but it was a little too tight for her liking but now it felt very comfortable.

"Wow" she heard Ron mutter beside her.

"Well now it's official, you are Rangers; all your papers have gone to the office, and copies of them to your Minister." Price trailed off as the door to the elevator opened and Harry stepped in dressed in his uniform just like them.

Much to Hermione's dismay, the smile on his face was completely wiped off as he spotted her and his mask of neutral expression replaced it.

"You asked for me Price?" Harry said as he stood in front of the desk beside Hermione with a considerable amount of distance between them.

"Yes, I wanted to have a meeting with all of you" he said indicating towards everybody in the room.

Harry merely raised an eyebrow, meeting with Price without Kelly and Soap beside him meant only one thing, but Harry held his tongue not wanting to argue with the Captain.

"This is regarding your first mission... as Rangers" said Price looking towards the new Rangers then his gaze switched towards Harry "And I want you to aid them in it"

Harry uncertainly looked at the three of them and hesitantly replied "Yes Sir, but what about Kelly and Soap?"

Price sighed "Soap is once again away on a mission for the UN trying to catch some international terrorists"

"And Kelly?" replied already knowing that she also won't be accompanying them.

"She is going to be busy on her project with the ICW with some potion experts regarding the cure to werewolf curse"

Harry remained silent not knowing what to say. He knew Price was doing this on purpose, he still believed that Harry was still in love with Hermione. 'Well he is going to be disappointed, I don't love her anymore...do I?' Harry thought not sure of himself.

Price continued speaking "As I have already told you that we have come to know the actual hideout of this new villain, which is somewhere on the Lakshadweep islands at the base of India I want you to go there and bring back whatever Intel you acquire, and I'm sure that this time we are right on track. This new Intel is quite accurate and that is why I need you to go and scout around the hideout and gain any type of information that you can get. The protocols are same as the last mission, don't engage the enemy, and stay out of sight as much as possible"

"Why are you so sure that it's not another trap?" asked Draco

"Because the interrogators have thoroughly attacked the mind of the prisoner you brought in. He is now in a holding cell here at headquarters, and the interrogators quite successfully avoided another potential trap because there was a fake memory in his mind which made it look like their hideout was somewhere in the forests of Africa. The interrogators found the real memory buried deep in his mind, and the person has also seen some part of the hideout. It's a castle they believe, so I can assure you Mister Malfoy this is not a trap" said Price in a calm tone.

Draco just nodded his head assured that they weren't going to be ambushed once again.

"I want all of you here at 0500 sharp. This will make it 0830 in India which can give you enough time to prepare yourself." Looking at each one of them closely, "You're dismissed"

As soon as he was dismissed, Harry left the room without as much a glance towards his new team and hurriedly left through the elevator.

Price had an amused look on his face but he remained silent and motioned with his hands that they were also dismissed.

!- HHRShipper06 -!

"Hey Hermione do you want to go out somewhere? Me and Draco are going to get a bit of fresh air" spoke Ron as they stepped into the elevator.

"Sorry Ron but I have agreed to meet with Kelly, she wanted to talk to me." Hermione explained to Ron not even bothering to correct him that it is 'I and Draco'

"Oh..." shrugged Ron.

They parted their ways as they stepped into the atrium, Ron and Draco went and talked to the receptionist and then disapparated somewhere.

Hermione walked towards Kelly who was standing in the atrium in casual clothes.

Kelly smiled as she spotted the brunette witch coming towards her, Hermione returned the smile.

"How did it go?" asked Kelly obviously referring to their official recruitment.

"It went well, we even got our first mission... with Harry" said Hermione with a smile.

"Really?" asked Kelly surprised that Harry was going on the mission, normally Harry didn't go on mission if she and Soap were not with him, but if he was going on this mission then she was sure Price was up to something. Kelly mentally grinned at his plan, because she also believed that Harry was still in love with the lovely brunette witch standing in front of her.

"Yes, We – that is I, Draco, Ron and Harry – are going to the actual hideout of this new dark lord and get information about them"

Kelly just nodded her head, she also wanted to go on this mission as it was quite important, but if Captain already had plans who was she to go against it?

"You said you wanted to talk to me?" asked Hermione as she remembered why Kelly had asked her to meet in the atrium.

"Yes, but let's go somewhere, I haven't had my lunch and I'm pretty sure you might be hungry as well."

Hermione knew she hadn't eaten anything since waking up in the infirmary yesterday evening, so naturally she was hungry. Her body proved this theory by grumbling quite loudly. Hermione looked at Kelly a little red in the face. "Sure, where should we go?"

Kelly just smirked at the Bushy haired brunette, "I know a restaurant in China where they make some of the best food I've found, let's go there"

"Okay... but don't you think I should change into something casual?" asked Hermione

Kelly raised a brow and said "Your uniform can change its appearance whenever you want it, just will it to change into something casual

After changing her uniform in to something casual, Kelly grabbed her upper arm and apparated away.

!- HHRShipper06 -!

With a pop they arrived in an empty underground parking area. Only two or three cars were parked in the garage.. Without saying anything Kelly started walking towards the exit, Hermione followed her. As soon as they exited Hermione noticed the time difference, it must have been around 7pm she thought as the sky had become dark.

They silently made their way into a restaurant to the immediate left of the exit.

Quickly getting settled they ordered something to eat, just as the waiter turned around and walked away Hermione spoke

"So...?"

"I know what happened between you and Harry today." Kelly said cautiously

Hermione just nodded her head not believing that she could speak.

"And I just wanted to talk to you about it. I know Harry told you that he doesn't love you anymore, but deep down in his heart he still loves you, he is just too thick to realise it... again" she said.

Hermione remained silent, the thought of him still loving her was too good to be true, she thought. She knew that if she were to be standing in front of the Mirror of Erised she would see herself with Harry, who would be telling her that he loved her, but it was not true, she sighed sadly

"Why do you say that?"

Kelly didn't speak anything, as the waiter came with their food and placed it on their table and walked away, she started eating and spoke

"From what I have seen from the past years, and the amount of time he has talked about you, I am pretty sure he's still in love with you."

"He talks about me?" said Hermione truly surprised.

"Now he doesn't talk that much, but you should have seen him for the first three years that I've known him. He always spoke about you and your other friend Ron, but mostly talked about you. After hearing him speak so much about you I can say that I know more about you than I really should, for example I know your favourite colour is green. It's kinda obvious why that" she winked at Hermione who just blushed "I also know what your favourite food is, books and etcetera and etcetera"

"But the way he reacted today, he made it pretty clear that he doesn't want anything to do with me anymore" Hermione wanted to cry but she didn't because she was a strong woman not some 'love sick' teenage girl who would break down every time Harry's rejection came up.

Kelly sighed "Hermione, he still loves you, you just need to understand him. He has been through a lot since the night he left"

Hermione felt guilty as she was reminded once again that it was because of her

"I am not saying this to make you feel guilty Hermione, but just think about it. He was in terrible shape, he hardly spoke to anyone during the training sessions. He hardly smiled, it took a lot of effort from me and Soap to get him out of his funk. As time passed, he just came to accept that you didn't love him"

At this point Hermione just wanted to kill herself for what she had done

"As days turned into months. Months became years, he just buried all his feeling deep within himself and concentrated only on missions that were given to him. Now this is the key, his feelings that he still has for you are buried very deep within his heart and his mind, you just need to find a way to coax them out and have him admit that he still loves you."

Hermione thought about what she said, "Why are you doing this for me?"

Kelly looked at Hermione, not with the same affection that was given to her earlier. "I don't have any ill will toward you Hermione. I actually really like you and understand how Harry can still be in love with you, but you hurt him really bad. I can see that you suffered with your mistake and I feel that you both can be great for each other again." Kelly thought some more, "Harry is like a brother to me. I care for him immensely, and just want to see him happy. His one night stands are just a form of protection he puts up to forget about you and keep from feeling for anybody else. He does this to keep from getting hurt again. I know that the only way for him to have a chance at being truly happy again is for you to get him to admit his feelings and break down that wall he put up."

!- HHRShipper06 -!

Lying in bed, Hermione kept replaying that conversation she had with Kelly. The more she thought about it the more it made sense. Before meeting Kelly she had been sure that she would never have the chance to be friends with Harry, but now with this new information and with a new determination Hermione knew what she had to do.

She was going to make Harry fall in love with her once again. She just needed to plan how she was going to do it.

And that was what Hermione was doing in her mind, lying on her bed hugging the pillow close to her.

Her plan would start tomorrow, on their first mission... She did not have any specific plan, she would just act differently around him and show him that there's still the old Harry somewhere in him who loved her and still loves her... Yes that was her plan.

With that Happy thought Hermione fell asleep dreaming about a certain green-eyed, messy haired wizard.


End file.
