Chapter 8
Draco arrived at the office early on Monday morning. He wanted to make sure his notes were structured in a concise manner before Granger arrived to discuss more theories. He also wanted to double check that he had enough tea on hand to offer her when she arrived. His mother and the comportment classes he’d taken as a child had drilled into him the importance of offering your guest a beverage in welcome. He also thought he might offer her a Calming Draught if the subject became too overwhelming for her again.
He really wasn’t sure what to make of the episode he witnessed at lunch after the Quidditch match. And then there was the subject Theo had brought up afterwards. Draco and Granger….together? He hardly knew the woman she was now. In their youth, she’d merely been in the background. He hadn’t paid much attention to her other than using his insults towards her to get under Potter’s skin. He’d been irritated that a Muggleborn had somehow beaten him in every class except Potions. His prejudice he’d been brainwashed with from birth had made him see Granger as inferior, and thus beneath his attention. But he no longer held those beliefs. He’d seen first hand that Granger, and all Muggleborns, were no different in magical ability or intelligence than purebloods.
Plus, Granger and Potter (neither of whom were purebloods) had testified on his behalf after the war. Their witness accounts of how Draco hadn’t participated in Granger’s torture at the hands of his deranged Aunt, and had lowered his wand when faced with the chance to follow his master’s orders to kill Dumbledore had swayed the Wizengamot enough that he hadn’t gone to Azkaban. He would forever be in debt to the two of them, and he’d done his best in the last ten years to be a good enough man to make up for his past mistakes.
Still, he didn’t know if he had done enough to ever be worthy of Granger’s affections. He wasn’t entirely sure if what he felt towards the witch was gratitude, admiration, or the stirrings of fondness.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Draco walked to the wall across from his desk. He reviewed the photos and notes he’d taken on the rune translations, moved a couple sheets around in order to order the events more clearly, and added a few more based on what he and Granger had discussed at lunch.
A sharp rap at the door had him calling out for whoever to enter. Draco turned at the sound of Granger’s voice as she entered his office.
“Good morning, Malfoy. Is this a good time?” she asked.
He looked down at his watch, but quickly looked back up as his brain finally caught what Granger was wearing. She had on a high-waisted pleated skirt in a soft ivory color, with a black cap-sleeve button-down shirt tucked into it. His gaze traveled down to the sky-high black heels with a strap around her ankle, and then slowly back up to where her hair was pulled over one shoulder. He saw delicate silver hoops hanging from her ears, with an equally delicate pendant hanging on a silver chain around her neck. Her hand rose to brush an errant curl behind her ear.
“Malfoy?” he heard her ask.
His mouth closed with an audible snap as his brain remembered to function. Clearing his throat, he gathered enough of his wits to remember what she had come into his office for.
“Perfect. This is a perfect time, I mean. Please, come in.” He found himself staring back at her heels as she crossed the floor towards him. “Forgive my manners, could I offer you something to drink?” Finally, he remembered how to behave like a normal human again.
“Tea would be lovely, if you have any. Having a cup handy always seems to help my mind work better.” She shyly smiled. “I don’t know if it’s like that for anyone else though.”
“I don’t think I’m able to function before my second cup in the morning.” He smirked and agreed with her. Draco walked over to the tea service set in the corner and began brewing the pot.
Granger walked to the wall where his evidence photos were hanging and crossed her arms. She thoughtfully considered each photo and his notes in turn. Slowly she made her way on those extremely perilous heels, crossing one foot over the other, from one side of the room to the other. When Draco finished preparing the tea, he brought two cups over to where she stood and handed one to her.
“Before we begin, I’d like to ask you something. I’m afraid that my question will sound condescending, but I promise I don’t mean it negatively at all.” He paused for a moment and searched her face. From what he could tell, she was slightly wary, but she nodded for him to continue. “Is this topic going to be something that will be too much for you to handle emotionally? I want you to be confident that you won’t be distressed by continuing to work on this case in this capacity.”
“I appreciate your concern, Malfoy. It's surprising, but relieving to know you are considerate enough to check with me before we begin. I assure you that I am giving this case my full attention, and both of us will treat it with the seriousness it deserves.” The resolve in her tone was enough to continue today’s meeting, but Draco determined he would watch her for signs that it was becoming too much for her.
“If at any point you need to stop, please tell me.” At her nod, Draco continued on, “As you can see, I’ve been able to translate all but one of the runes. I wasn’t able to find any spells, curses, or rituals in the Archive texts I examined that used all of them in conjunction with one another. And none of them are specific for use with creatures or beasts. Most in this circle have a use in extraction, but they’re typically used in removal of an object from a particular space.”
“And these in the straight line? Do they have a similar underlying meaning?” Granger glanced at the wall before turning back to Draco.
“They relate to the others in the row, all having to do with stability and sustainment.” He rubbed his jaw where it was clenched. “So it looks like whoever did this is trying to remove something and keep it in its original state. The problem is I have no idea what they’re trying to remove, and because the murders occurred in remote forests, there are no witnesses to lead me to a suspect.”
“Was your evidence collection team able to find anything at all out there?” Granger finished her cup of tea, and walked to put it down on his desk.
Draco did the same. “Not a single thing. Which is frustrating beyond belief.”
She stared back at his wall of evidence. “I keep going back to what Zabini said: love, money, or power. I agree that power is the most likely motive here, but we need to narrow down what power the killer is trying to remove from a Centaur. They are most known for their Divination abilities and Archery skills. They also possess supernaturally magical healing.”
Draco’s head whipped to Granger. “Healing? Really?”
She crossed her arms in front of her. “Yes. It isn’t well researched, and it's barely mentioned in passing in all of the texts I’ve been able to find.”
“But healing isn’t something that can be removed from a body.” Draco pulled out a piece of parchment and an eagle feather quill. “Could you tell me all known abilities and skills of a Centaur?”
Granger took a seat in front of his desk and started counting things off on her fingers. “Divination and Archery, magical healing, high intelligence, and I don’t know if this counts or not but they’re extremely territorial with violent reactions to the smallest offences.”
Draco wrote down the list, with added asterisks next to the things he thought most likely to have a significance towards motive. He stuck it to the wall with a sticking charm and stepped back. “Based on this list, I feel confident ruling out archery, intelligence, and violence.”
Granger stood back up and turned to face him. “Why those specifically?”
“First, violence and archery skills are something our killer already has. You would have to possess both in spades in order to bring a Centaur down in this way. Secondly, those three aren’t things that can be removed and transferred to another person.” Draco looked back at Granger. “You said you were certain another Centaur couldn’t be involved in helping a wizard commit the murders. How do you know?”
He watched her carefully, since this was the moment in their prior interaction that she’d frozen.
She took a deep breath in. “I’m not sure how much you know about what Harry and I did the night of the battle in the Department of Mysteries. It’s hard to explain without a lot of backstory.”
“How about I tell you what I remember and you fill in the blanks?” Draco offered. She waved her hand for him to continue. “Umbridge gathered the Inquisitorial Squad because someone,” he lifted his eyebrows at her, “had entered her office. There was a bit of back and forth, before you and Potter led her out into the forest. From there, your merry crew of do-gooders flew off to the Department of Mysteries where my father and other Death Eaters were waiting to ambush you. The Dark Lord wanted a prophecy about himself and Potter, which got smashed–along with a fuck ton of other prophecies and the time turners– and a battle ensued. The culmination of the evening was that my cousin died, the Dark Lord revealed himself in the lobby of the ministry, people were arrested, and a war began. Did I hit the high points?”
“Just about. The relevant part here is when Harry and I led Umbridge to the forest. I knew the Centaur herd that lived there would stop anyone from traveling too deeply within it, and Umbridge had such a deep seated hatred for anything less than one hundred percent human. I thought she might say something to provoke them and hoped they would retaliate towards her. Not my finest moment, but not my worst either. Anyway, they did react violently to her calling them half-breeds, but then they also wanted to harm Harry and I. They were arguing back and forth about whether they should take us, and yelling about never being able to trust a wizard. I’ve heard it directly from Centaurs’ mouths–they want nothing to do with us.”
Draco had to blink a few times before he absorbed the whole tale. “How did you escape the herd?”
“Oh, um, Hagrid’s giant half-brother came stomping through looking for Hagrid–he’d left because of Umbridge–and the herd started attacking him instead of focusing on us. We were able to use the distraction to run back to the castle.” Granger said all of this without embellishment, so he was inclined to believe the outrageous narration of events.
“Eventually I’m going to ask more about Hagrid having a giant hidden in the Forbidden Forest. But after all of that, I’ll trust you that our killer doesn’t have a Centaur accomplice.” He shook his head. “The three of you got up to so much more than we ever knew, didn’t you?”
“Oh, you have no idea Malfoy. That was just one night, imagine what happened the rest of the seven years!” She smirked.
“I think we’ll need a few drinks before we can relive all of that.” He chuckled.
“Maybe once this case is solved, we should do that.” She blushed slightly.
Draco eyed her up and down again. “Maybe we should.”
Her blush deepened. Curious, he thought. “But, back to the case. I have a suggestion.” She began.
Draco raised his brows again. “Go on.”
“I’d like to visit the crime scenes again.” Granger stated firmly.
“That's unnecessary. We have all the evidence we need here.” He dismissed her easily.
“I haven’t seen the second scene, and sometimes it helps to look at things again when you have more information. I’d also like to speak to the herd in the Forest of Dean again, to see if anything else unusual had happened recently.” Granger placed her fists on her hips as she stood her ground.
“I can speak with them and relay what they say back to you. I’m the Auror in charge.” He stood taller.
“And I’m the advocate for the Centaurs. I’m the person that needs to speak with them. You need to be there in order for it to count as an official questioning for the investigation. It is only logical that we both go.” Her hair started to spark with a tingle of her magic.
Fuck she’s stubborn. Draco thought. I wonder if you can feel the magic in her curls if you’re touching them. Focus, asshole!
“You would be needlessly putting yourself in harm's way. If something were to happen, I could defend myself better.” He focused back on their argument.
“I'm not just a swot you know. I've held my own in plenty of situations and I'm capable of defending myself. I'm the one that taught Harry every offensive spell he knows, save one. I'll be fine out in the forest.” Granger widened her stance, as if preparing to actually prove her point in a duel with him.
He crossed his arms. “I don’t like it, Granger.”
“You don’t have to like it, you just have to take me with you.”
Draco warred within himself. She made valid points on speaking to the Centaur herd as the advocate. She had probably single-handedly kept Scarhead alive since they met at Hogwarts, and she would have had to pass at least a basic Dueling exam to be attached in any capacity to the Auror Department.
He could feel himself giving in. He pointed a finger at her. “This wouldn’t be a field trip. It's an active investigation. If I give an order out there, you must follow it immediately. I can’t debate with you and have you questioning me if I believe our safety is in jeopardy. I have to trust that you will do as you’re told.”
She smiled in victory. “I can do that. I’m very good at following the rules when I want to.”
He grumbled under his breath, “It's the ‘when you want to’ that makes me nervous.” At full volume he said, “Ok Granger, we’ll go out to visit the sites of the murders. I’m not too proud to admit I need your help with this.”
She clapped her hands together. “Excellent. You set up the trip and text me the details. I’ll be ready to go once everything is finalized and approved.”
He gestured to the door. “Will do. Allow me to walk you out?” He placed his hand on the small of her back once again. “Who knows, maybe we’ll get out there and you’ll be able to show me exactly what I’m missing.”
Granger laughed. “Oh that’s a real possibility. I’m very impressive, if you didn’t know that already.”
As he ushered her out into the bullpen he leaned in close to say, “I can’t wait to see for myself.”
Hermione felt like she was floating towards the lift after leaving Malfoy’s office. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought he’d flirted with her a couple of times. What had she been thinking, suggesting that they go out for drinks?
She tapped the toe of her new shoes against the polished marble floor as she waited for the lift. The doors dinged open, and she made her way inside just as she heard someone call out, “Hermione!”
She held the door open for Harry as he ran to ride down with her. “Thanks.” He said as he ran a hand through his already disheveled hair.
Harry did a double take. “You look nice, Mione. Were you just meeting with Malfoy? Is that why you’re all dressed up?”
Hermione felt her face flush again. “I’m not dressed up, I just happened to get a new wardrobe from Parkinson & Co, and these are the first pieces I’ve worn.”
He appraised her yet again. “You know, if you weren’t like a sister to me, I’d tell you that you look hot. Those heels are really something.”
“Thank Godric for cushioning charms, or I’d never be able to wear them to work. Pansy told me which ones last the longest, and so far they’re working. I didn’t have any problems while with Malfoy.”
“Any updates I should know about?”
“Wh—what do you mean?” Hermione stammered. Had Harry heard Malfoy’s maybe-flirty comment?
“The Centaur case. Anything new?” Harry furrowed his brow.
“Oh! No, not really. We were discussing different theories and possible motives, which is difficult without a suspect. We actually intend to visit the crime scenes again to see if we overlooked anything before, and speak with the first herd. They might have answers if they agree to speak with me.” Hermione was glad the topic was back on track.
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, Mione. It’d be dangerous.” Harry stepped out of the lift with her when it reached Hermione’s floor.
“Harry Potter, you know better than anybody that I’m a fully capable witch who can take care of myself.” She admonished him.
Sheepishly, he glanced up from his lashes. “You’re right. But I’ll feel better knowing Malfoy is with you. His reflexes are quick, and his shields are the best I’ve ever seen.”
Unlocking her office door, Hermione invited him in.
“I can’t stay, I’m headed to a meeting with the Minister but I hadn’t seen you in a couple of days and wanted to say hi. Be careful out there, yeah?” Harry tapped on the doorframe before turning away. He threw back over his shoulder, “I wonder if Parkinson knows about Malfoy’s thing for heels.”
His what?! Hermione thought. Is that why he’d been staring at the floor for most of the meeting?
She used a file to fan her heated face. There was no way Malfoy had been attracted to her new outfit. He had to have simply been lost in thought. Right?
Suddenly, Hermione was anxious for this trip out to the crime scenes for an entirely different reason.