Chapter 1: My Goodness, You've Grown

Head Auror Harry Potter circled the desk as he briefed his fellow Auror and sister-in-law, Hermione Weasley on her next assignment.

"Your mission, which you have now accepted, will be to hunt down the werewolf Greyback and bring him to justice. Our last reports indicate that he has been sighted in the Pacific Northwest over in the States. Oregon, Washington."

Hermione nodded. She missed being Minister for Magic, having lost her reelection campaign for a second term in a heart-breaking squeaker. Harry had been a godsend, offering her a slot in his Auror ranks to fall back on. Working with her husband Ron again added some stress to the job, but Hermione felt that she was learning skills from back in her prime, before marriage and bearing two children. Hugo had just started his first year, Rosie in her third.

"Now, if you want to catch a werewolf, you need to think like him. So, I have assigned you a partner - a fresh cadet - who has close connections to their kind."

"Brilliant. Who?" Hermione asked as Harry crossed to the door.

Her brother-in-law smirked. "You'll see."

The door swung open, and Hermione choked out a breath at the six-foot tall man looming in front of her. It took her too long too recognize his handsome features, and before she could think much of it, she blurted, "Teddy? My goodness, you've grown."

Merlin, he looked different than the last time she'd seen him. When was that? A couple years maybe, longer than it should have been. But things had been hard all around since taking the Minister's chair; it left little time for socializing.

He was certainly thicker than she remembered him. Whatever Andromeda had been feeding him had gone straight to his shoulders and not at all to his trim waist.

"Minister Granger." Teddy nodded, his chin parallel to the floor and his jaw clenched. "So have you. Grown more beautiful, I mean." He started to stammer. "Well, for a former Minister, I mean."She's going to think I'm an idiot.

Hermione smiled. "You can just call me Hermione, Teddy. I'm not the Minister anymore." Though even former Ministers were addressed with the proper respect, she knew. For some reason, she wondered why she hadn't told him to call her Aunt Hermione. Merlin knew Molly treated him as her 13th grandchild.

"Teddy here has completed his advanced training and done a preliminary twelve months on duty." Harry slapped a proud hand on Teddy's shoulder, earning a small sideways smile before the young man's features steeled into his stoic facade. "His practical and written exams would give even our old Minister a run for her galleons, but moreso, he's also one hell of a young man."

The pride Harry had for Teddy was plain on his face, and Hermione even felt a little sentimental as she watched the two of them together. He certainly didn't have to get as involved as he did after the war, but as in all things, Harry had risen to the occasion.

"Now, I know you can handle yourself, but I wouldn't trust your safety with anyone else," Harry beamed, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

"Well," Hermione said brightly, clapping her hands together, "I'm sure the rest of the team will be glad to know they're just second choice! We're glad to have you Teddy."

Teddy's green eyes drifted towards her, and she felt a flutter burst to life in her chest when his gaze quickly scanned her body and returned to meet her stare. "Thank you, Minister Granger. Whatever you need, I'll be here."

There was something in the flash behind his mossy-coloured eyes—or maybe the quirk to his full lips—that Hermione could have sworn this kid was getting a bit cheeky with her. Nodding once she turned to return to her desk, her heart thundered for reasons she was going to blatantly ignore.

She'd known Teddy Lupin practically since his birth, though decidedly less so in the last decade, what with him being off at school and Hermione busying herself with becoming London's youngest Minister for Magic. And still that didn't stop her attention from being drawn to his well-fitting trousers and the defined curve of his bum.

A fervid blush spread to the tips of her ears and shaking her head, she stared blankly at the neat scrawl on the parchment from the Undersecretary.

"Just a new job partner," she mumbled to herself, straightening her spine and returning to work.