Harry Potter: Syndicate of Heroes

"Mum, I'm home!" Hermione called as she walked through the door to her parent's home.

"In here, Hermione!"

Following the sound of her mother's voice brought Hermione to the door of the kitchen. One look was all Hermione needed to find her mother sitting in the small breakfast nook enjoying the mid-morning sunlight. A cup, most likely of tea, and the daily newspaper lay on the table in front of her.

Hermione bounded across the room, a great smile on her face and, once she was close enough, she launched herself at her mother, wrapping the woman who looked like an older version of herself in a great hug.

"Not that I'm not pleased to see you, Hermione, but why do I suspect that this greeting is more because of the letter that you know is here for you rather than the fact that you're happy to see me?" Jane Granger asked mock-seriously.

"Mother! You know that's not true. I love getting to spend time with both my parents," Hermione protested.

"Hm-mmm," her mother hummed, clearly not believing her daughter.

She sat a little straighter, then and folded the newspaper before her.

"In that case, take a seat and I'll make you some tea so that we can catch up," Jane said, indicating said seat across from her as she stood.

Knowing that she didn't have much choice, Hermione complied, albeit with a sigh.

"Cream and one sugar?" her mother asked as she clicked away into the kitchen.

"Yes, Mum," Hermione replied.

Soon her mother came bustling back, sliding a cup of tea in front of her daughter, a plate of biscuits placed on the table between them.

"So, how's work?" Jane asked.

"Oh, you know, about the same as always," Hermione replied with a careless wave.

"I refuse to believe that, Hermione Jane," her mother countered. "You work in a magical law office, in the department that specialises in magical creatures. There has to be something interesting happening there."

"Well, I suppose so," Hermione allowed.

"We-ll?" her mother asked expectantly.

After taking a sip of tea, she placed her cup carefully down and resigned herself to a lengthy wait until she could get her hands on the reason that she'd come in the first place.

"At the moment, we're working repealing some of the laws that were put in place during the war against centaurs," Hermione began.

"Wait! I thought that you were doing that for the werewolves," Jane interrupted.

"We were," Hermione nodded, "and we had some success, but it's stalled at the moment, stuck in some committee that the Wizengamot created to look at both sides of the argument. So, while we're waiting for that to resolve itself, we've switched focus to the centaur laws. Hopefully, they'll be easy to have revoked."

"If they'll be easier, then why didn't you start with them?" Jane asked.

Hermione sighed. "Simply because the centaurs didn't care about the laws. Really, those laws didn't affect them anyway. They've got their own land and they never venture off of it. The laws that Umbridge put in place simply ensured that if they ever did want to leave their forests, then they'd be breaking the law and be subject to imprisonment or death. Most likely death, since even imprisoning a centaur would amount to being a death sentence for the free-spirited race."

Her mother nodded, giving Hermione hope that she understood why they'd focussed on the werewolves first.

"But what about the house elves? I thought that that was where your passion lay, in getting laws in place to protect them," Jane asked.

Again, Hermione sighed. "Yes, that is my ultimate goal. But obtaining rights for the house elves is always going to be an uphill battle. And it's not one that we'll win anytime soon. Our goal at the moment is to be taken seriously as a legal department by obtaining wins for other magical species first before tackling the hardest cases."

Seeing her mother frown allowed the tension that had just arisen in Hermione to dissipate slightly. She, at least, could see the injustice of it all.

"What you need is a sponsor," her mother suggested. "Someone high profile and with a great deal of political or public clout that could get the ball rolling for you."

"Yes. Well. I thought that we had someone like that," Hermione stated. "Unfortunately, he's been travelling the world for the last five years and refuses to come home!"

"Speaking of which," her mother said, a small smile turning the corners of her mouth upwards, "there's a letter for you on the desk in the library."