Chapter Text
Hermione Granger, after completing her N.E.W.T.S and unsurprisingly to all of Britain’s wizarding world, received eleven straight Outstandings, solidifying and confirming her title as the smartest witch of the century. She decided to leave Britain to complete her doctorate in Bulgaria, continuing on to surpass all her mentors and completing her masters. She’s now officially the youngest Senior Doctor of the Department of Spell Damage.
Unfortunately, nothing goes to plan, as Hermione received a high-priority owl from Healer Cassian Vane, the current Head Doctor of the Department of Spell Damage in Saint Mungo's. Dr. Vane was an old mentor of Hermione's whom she studied under for over 2 years before leaving to study abroad. As it turns out, the old bloke wants to retire and, out of everyone, he's set his eyes on her.
Which leads to her current predicament... Hermione was nearly ready to off herself at the thought. She knew well enough who the Chief Healer was, and she was absolutely dreading the thought of returning to London. But as it turns out, Dr. Vane knew Hermione well enough to know what exactly would tempt her to even consider the offer that even the current hospital department she was managing in Bulgaria wouldn't fully allow. Full, utter control over her department.
When she had sent her initial response to Dr. Vane, her words had been blunt, lacking any of the typical professionalism:
"If you don't come back, Hermione, the department will fall apart who do you expect me to hand over the department to?!! They are all incompetent!!" he had pleaded in his previous owl.
"If I come back," she had written back, her quill nearly snapping under the force of her conviction, "I'm tearing it down and rebuilding it from the ground up.”
You see, Hermione was a micromanaging final boss, if you must. And the idea of an entire department running exactly the way she saw fit was a lure too powerful to ignore. She’d simply had enough of holding her tongue back over the years and dealing with idiotic interns; some would even say Hermione resembles a walking pressure cooker ready to explode, but that's beside the point.
The decision was made. Within forty-eight hours, Hermione put her two week's notice in and apologized sincerely for her sudden departure, explaining her current predicament of the soon to be retired Dr. Cassian Vane. There were a few bribes made to attempt to make her stay, but Hermione was well-off enough to the point she could very well retire and live comfortably if she truly wanted to, so she declined respectfully.
She’s pretty sure she saw the Chief Healer and a few others from the board shed a few tears, but she didn't think much of it and continued to finalize her patient files and help to prepare the soon to be next head of the department. Her office was stuffed full of flowers she had to magically shrink and somehow find a way to fit in her bag as well as some cards left from the staff as a goodbye gift.
Hermione had packed her life in Bulgaria into a single, magically expanded trunk, mainly containing her vast collection of books. She didn't offer a tearful goodbye to the Plovdiv Institute; she simply handed over her final patient files and left a list of "constructive criticisms" for the interns that would likely haunt their dreams for years.
Before she fully left Bulgaria, she went out with Viktor Krum to update him on why she was moving back to Britain and to say her final goodbyes to her dear friend. He was quite sad to see her go, but nonetheless, he walked her to the portkey apparition point and told her to keep in touch.