Chapter 1
Draco Malfoy had just opened his bottle of Scotch and lifted it to pour a glass. Before a drop even left the mouth of the bottle, his Auror badge blared out in the Catterwalling charm. He hung his head and replaced the cork. Grabbing his official Auror’s robes, he Apparated to the location displayed on the badge.
He landed in some forest, but he couldn’t have told you which one. The forest was extremely dark, so Draco lit his wand with a Lumos.Potter was already there waiting for him.
“Malfoy, glad you made it so quickly. New case for you. This one is a bit delicate, so I need you to handle it with kid gloves.”
Draco suddenly stood taller as a charcoal colored centaur stepped out of the shadows and towards where Potter and he stood. “Harry Potter. I am Bron. My herd dwells in this forest. And it is my herd that grieves tonight.”
Potter sketched a small bow towards the centaur. “Bron. My condolences are with you and your herd. We were called here by a family that had been camping just outside the Forest of Dean and discovered the body. Due to the nature of the crime, wizard laws dictate that wizards investigate.”
Bron looked up into the night sky. “The moon is new and dark. And the stars are dark.”
Potter glanced over at Draco, who remained silent. He still didn’t know what was going on here.
“I understand that your kind typically does not welcome the help of wizards, especially when it concerns one of your own. While I give you and your herd my utmost respect, I will need to have my team investigate what happened here. Will this be a problem?” Potter asked.
“Potter, care to share with the class whatever the fuck is happening here?” Draco quietly asked from the corner of his mouth.
“Bron, this is Draco Malfoy. He’s an Auror on my team. I would like to assign this case to him, and show him the body. He would be investigating and working to find who is responsible for what happened tonight. Do I have your permission?” Potter kept looking right at the centaur.
“When a wizard commits such an atrocity, a wizard will be held liable. You may see. We have also seen. We have looked to the sky and prepared. Yes, Draco Malfoy will be allowed. This way.” And with that, Bron led Draco and Potter further into the forest.
The wizards held their wands in front of them to light the way, but Bron didn’t seem to need any light. He stepped confidently through the trees. He led Draco and Potter to a small clearing about 300 meters into the treeline. There, Draco could see the still prone body of a chestnut centaur.
“Bron, could you tell us their name? We wish to pay them the proper respect.” Potter seemed to be giving the beast a large amount of deference, so Draco figured he would follow suit.
“Sylvanus. His name will be remembered with great pride, for he trusted the stars with his entire heart.” Bron lowered his head and cleared his throat.
Potter lowered his own head. “We will treat this tragedy with care and respect. You have my word on that. Is there anything we should do to honor your culture or beliefs as we investigate?”
“Thank you Harry Potter. Please do not remove Sylvanus from where he lays. Other than that, I put the matter into your hands.”
Bron strode away from the men and the body on the ground. Potter released a forceful breath, put his hands on his hips, and turned to face Draco.
“Malfoy, I’ve never seen anything like this. Not ever. And we’ve both seen some shit over the years.”
“How the fuck is a dead centaur DMLE jurisdiction?” Draco asked.
“Come see.” Potter led Draco over to the body, and increased the light to Lumos Maxima.
The centaur had been brutalized. Besides having his throat slit, his body was also riddled with arrows. There were slash marks covering the entirety of the human torso, as if a slicing hex had been fired at the beast repeatedly. Over the horse portion torso, there were runes and brands laid out without any real pattern, rhyme, or apparent reason.
“Fucking hell. You were right. I’ve never seen anything like this either.”
“What could any of those runes mean? Do you recognize them or the brands?” Potter wasn’t afraid to utilize Draco’s knowledge of the Dark Arts when it came to solving a case. It had proved useful in numerous cases, especially when trying to catch any remaining Death Eaters that had been in hiding after Voldemort’s fall.
“I recognize a few. However, I’d rather not stand out here all bloody night and analyze them. I’ll take photographs for now, and try to work out any meanings at the office. Have we secured the scene? Can we secure the scene in the middle of a fucking forest? What about the herd? Any regulations, policies, or customs I need to be aware of?” Draco’s mind whirled with everything they needed to get done to stay inside the DMLE regulations, but how did they do that and respect the beasts that just lost one of their own?
Potter stared down at his shoes thinking. Draco watched as the Chosen One seemed to war within himself, deciding on the best course of action. Potter paced away a few steps, looked up at the sky, turned and walked back towards Draco. It seemed he’d made up his mind.
“Right. Well, there’s only one person I can think of that would have any of that knowledge, and they happen to have all of that knowledge. But I don’t know how well you two would work together.”
“As long as it isn’t Weasel, I’ll work with anyone. But it couldn’t be him, as he’s not nearly sharp enough to know anything about centaurs or wizarding regulations. Which means….Potter, you can’t possibly mean…” Draco let his voice drift off in accusation.
“I do. Look, you’ve proven to me and the world that you’ve changed. I know you’re professional enough to not let the past interfere with your work. I know it’s different with her, but I don’t see any other option. I’ll have to call Hermione.” Potter said firmly.
Fuck, thought Draco.
Hermione Granger didn’t expect a stag Patronus to appear in her living room. Harry’s voice rang out with a curt, “Mione. I need you now. Forest of Dean.” before the stag disappeared.
Huddled for warmth around a conjured fire. Fresh powdery snow. The silence of a tent. The gnaw of hunger after weeks of hiding with Harry.
Hermione pulled herself out of the memories, and steeled her spine. Whatever Harry needed, she would do. Grabbing her wand and her extended bag she still kept in case of emergencies, she Apparated to the place that haunted her nightmares.
“....can’t be serious Potter. We haven’t needed her help in the last seven years we’ve worked together. There has to be someone else.” Hermione caught the tail end of whatever conversation Harry was having. The cool voice sounded vaguely familiar to Hermione.
“Hermione’s the best resource we could possibly ask for. She’s actively researching centaurs right now for a new bill, so she’s the most knowledgeable person for the job. Plus, she knows the Auror procedures for securing a scene since she helped write those too.” Harry was pacing back and forth in front of the tree line.
“Harry, what’s happened? What about Aurors and centaurs?”
Harry froze, then slowly turned towards Hermione. It was then she saw the other wizard behind him. A shock of platinum blonde hair, a black suit under Auror robes, and a Hawthorne wand lit at the end showed Hermione the last person she could have expected. Her gaze bounced back and forth between the two men as she furrowed her brow. Her breath was still coming quickly, and her heart rate wasn’t slowing.
Draco Malfoy’s posture was rigid, his wand held in a white knuckle grip. His grey eyes stared at Hermione like he’d rather be anywhere than here. Hermione glared back at him.
“Mione, we just got a new case. I need Malfoy to work it because Dark Magic is involved. But I also need you to advocate for a community. It’s a unique case that requires your knowledge and experience. Do you two think you can be professional and work together?” Harry’s voice took on the Head Auror tone he used at work.
Hermione scoffed as Malfoy smoothly replied, “Of course we can. We’re all adults here.” He lifted a questioning brow at Hermione, as if she hadn’t caught his denial as she arrived.
“Professional adults. Of course. I’ll ask again, what’s happened?” She pointedly turned towards Harry and waited for him to answer.
“I’ll let Malfoy explain. I’ve got to get back to the office to send more people out here to secure the scene. I really appreciate it, Hermione. I’ll list you as an official advocate on the case.” Harry turned and Disapparated before she could get another word out.
Malfoy turned and walked into the forest. After a deep breath, Hermione followed. Her beaded bag swung against her hip as she picked her way across the forest floor. “Well? Are you going to explain anything?”
Malfoy didn’t turn around. “A centaur has been murdered. Potter thought we needed someone with knowledge of both DMLE procedures and centaur regulations. It’s new territory for us, since the herds typically handle their affairs internally and don’t trust wizards with anything.”
“Can you blame them? They claim to see the future in the stars, and wizards have mucked up their fair share of things in the past. We certainly know that first hand.” Hermione finished quietly.
She watched as Malfoy’s shoulders tensed, and prepared herself to be the recipient of venom being spewed at her. Instead, he turned towards her with steel in his gaze. “We certainly do.”
He continued leading the way towards a clearing and the carcass of the slain centaur. “What we know so far is–to be honest– not much. His name was Slyvanus. This is where a family found him whilst camping. Bron, the herd leader, came and told us only to leave him where he lies, but other than that we could do what we needed. I know Potter said he was sending backup to secure the scene, but what I don’t know is the proper procedure. Are there any cultural customs we need to be aware of before proceeding?”
His question made Hermione’s brows raise. Malfoy’s first question was how to be considerate of the culture of centaurs? It definitely wasn’t what she’d expected.
“Not as far as I’m aware. I’ve barely begun to research herd customs myself, but seeing as there really isn’t any other prior knowledge out there, we’ll have to work off what I know.” She looked over at the body. “What makes this DMLE responsibility?”
“The nature of the kill. If you get a little closer I can show you.” Malfoy held his hand out towards Hermione in an offer to help steady her.
When she hesitated, he raised that damn eyebrow again. “Granger, I may have had a lot in my upbringing that was deplorable, but I was also raised to be a gentleman.” She narrowed her eyes at him, but slowly accepted his hand.
Once she was steady, she pulled her hand away from him. “Thank you.” She said quietly. She looked closer at the centaur and gasped. “This is monstrous. I don’t even know where to begin.”
She took in the cuts, the arrows, the runes and brands. She recognized some of the runes, but with no logical pattern to their placement she couldn’t decipher what their purpose was.
“Without being able to remove the body back to the morgue, I’ll have to photograph the runes to study later. As far as gathering any further evidence, I thought I might set up a close perimeter. There’s no telling how far out the crime scene goes, and it’s a fucking forest. There’s no way to keep everything from being contaminated.” Malfoy spoke matter-of-factly and crossed his arms.
“I wonder if a stasis charm would work. Or possibly a shield over the area? Oh, but you’re right, we don’t know how large the area is. We could….” Hermione trailed off as her mind sifted through all the possible ways to preserve the scene. Finally, she snapped straight. “We need a boundary, containment, concealment, and shield. I’ve used them before, to protect a large area. Close to here in fact. It’s a combination of Protego Totalum, Salvio Hexia, Muffliato, and Disillusionment.”
Malfoy’s eyebrows shot straight into his hair. “What could you have possibly used all of those together for?”
Shifting her weight from foot to foot, Hermione answered simply, “Snatchers.”
Silence descended between them. No matter how many years had passed, there were some things that would remain as stark reminders of the horrors of war. Malfoy cleared his throat. “Do you want to start casting the charms, or should I?”
“I’ll do it. I’ve got the benefit of muscle memory of how to cast them in succession. You head back to where Harry left from and wait for the backup.”
“Giving orders now, are we Granger?” Malfoy glanced at her, but then made his way out of the trees.
Several hours later, the team of Aurors had collected anything they considered evidence and taken detailed photographs of the entire scene. Hermione and Malfoy both decided to leave the charms in place for a few more days in case they needed to come back. The wards would allow only them and the inhabitants of the forest inside of the boundary. The night had bled into morning by the time they were finished, and all were looking forward to heading back to their homes.
“Granger.” Malfoy called. “I’ll see to the investigation, but if I have any further questions about the centaurs what would be the best way to contact you?”
“Well you could always send a memo at work. Or an owl after hours I suppose.”
“Do you happen to have a cell phone?” Malfoy asked nonchalantly.
Hermione stilled. “You know what a cell phone is?” She could feel her shock radiating through her entire body.
“I do. I happen to have one, and frequently use it to send texts since it's faster than waiting for an owl.” Malfoy smirked slightly at seeing her disbelief. It was always nice to surprise people.
“O-of-of course,” Hermioned stammered. “I’ll just put my number in your phone, shall I?” Her hand shook as she held it out for his phone. It was surreal. She was actually putting her phone number into Draco Malfoy’s cell phone.
“Great. I’ll be in touch if I need anything Granger. We’ve got it handled from here.” He turned away after dismissing her.
It took her a few moments to compose herself enough to Apparate back to her home. But it took her another hour, and a bar of chocolate, to recover from her shock enough to fall asleep.