Chapter 11
Arriving in a swirl of grey smoke, Hermione felt Malfoy’s magic slip away from her like a caress. She exhaled slowly before she realized she was still holding onto his arm. She let go of him and took a step away.
“Is it always like that for you?” She asked.
“It’s gotten better over the years.” He replied, looking down. “Before I entered the Auror program I always Apparated with the black smoke. It’s faded to the grey you just experienced, but I never have managed to do it without. I’m sorry, I should have warned you.”
Hermione found that she didn’t actually mind it. “Don’t worry about it, it didn’t bother me. In fact, your magic feels rather nice.” She blushed and looked away quickly so she missed Malfoy whipping his head towards her.
There was a snapping sound behind them, and both turned with wands drawn. Malfoy stepped forward in a protective stance in front of Hermione before a centaur came into view. Malfoy lowered his wand off to the left, but not completely relaxed, and inclined his head towards the beast.
“Draco Malfoy. You have returned.” A charcoal colored centaur approached them slowly.
“I have. Bron, this is Hermione Granger.” Malfoy gestured behind him, but didn’t relax his protective stance in front of her. “She’s been assigned as a liaison between our government and Centaur-kind. She’s here to make sure that during this case your herd is shown the respect it deserves, and that your customs are followed.”
Hermione stepped forward to stand next to Malfoy. “My deepest condolences to you and your herd on the loss of one of your members.”
“Thank you Hermione Granger.” Bron inclined his head. “We are devastated that this has come to pass. The stars are aligning in a disturbing way for Centaurs.”
“Have, uh, the stars or anyone else seen something that could tell us why this is happening?” Hermione asked him.
“You do not believe in Divination. Your mind is closed.” Bron stomped his front hoof. “It happened as it was foretold it would, but the stars do not spell out the name of a murderer.”
Hermione started to respond, but Malfoy cut it. “We meant no offense. We simply wish to find the culprit and bring justice to a terrible situation.”
Hermione stowed her wand away in her thigh holster and dropped her hands to her side. “Bron, I assure you my disbelief has no bearing on my respect for your species. I apologize for my badly phrased question. I truly do want to work in your best interests. Is there anything I can do to show you I’m on your side?”
Bron raised his hands to rest on the string of his bow that was slung across his back. “Actions always speak louder than words Hermione Granger. Show us that it isn’t all wizards that would take advantage of us. Prove it with your deeds, and I will forgive misspoken words.”
“I can do that.” Nodding, Hermione fell quiet and Malfoy began speaking again.
“Bron, we came back to make sure there wasn’t any evidence we missed. With your permission, we would like to search the area again today and tomorrow.”
Bron nodded. “Yes. You will not wish to stay inside the treeline overnight. My herd will withdraw while you search, but once night falls they will patrol the borders and you will not be welcome. You may return again tomorrow once the sun has risen.”
“Understood. Thank you Bron.” Hermione kept her eyes trained somewhere around Bron’s chin, until he turned and entered the dense trees once again.
Malfoy used a Point Me spell to lead them to the crime scene. As they began to walk, he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “When’s the last time you saw a Centaur in person?”
“Not since the Battle of Hogwarts. But I haven’t actually spoken to any since fifth year. I forgot just how important the words you say are, and how quickly they get angry. I tend to just remember the strength of that anger.” Hermione kept her eyes on her feet so she didn’t trip over any branches or rocks.
“Bron’s the only one I’ve spoken to besides Firenze, and I don’t think Firenze is a good representation of the species as a whole.” Malfoy smirked.
“I’d agree with you there. He saved Harry a couple of times, and from what I’ve gathered it's extremely frowned upon for Centaurs to interfere with wizards at all.” She looked at Malfoy. “Do you remember detention in first year looking for the unicorn?”
Malfoy huffed. “Sure. Discovered later that the hideous thing crawling along the forest floor was actually Voldemort, which does nothing but make me question what the hell a bunch of eleven and twelve year olds were doing in the Forbidden Forestat midnight searching for whatever was killing a bloody unicorn.”
Hermione’s smile was rueful. “You have a point there. But Firenze actually stopped Voldemort from attacking Harry that night. He was scolded by his herd leaders for it.”
“Glad I didn’t stick around for that then.” Malfoy climbed onto a log that blocked their path, then lowered a hand to help Hermione over.
She took his hand without hesitation and continued. “My only other interaction with the herd in the Forbidden Forest was the night we went to the Department of Mysteries, and they were decidedly unhappy with me then. I was ignorant of how my actions would anger them, but to be fair to myself, I was only sixteen.”
The temperature of the forest had risen while they walked, so Hermione wrapped her hair into a messy bun and stuck her wand through it to hold it up off her neck. Malfoy pushed the sleeves of his jumper up to his elbows and cast a cooling charm over them both. Hermione did a double take. There was a lot of lean muscle hiding under his sleeves, with prominent veins running the length of his forearms.
First his hands, now his bloody forearms Hermione? She thought to herself. She should not be turned on by the mere hint of skin showing like a Victorian man seeing a lady’s ankle. To her surprise, the Dark Mark wasn’t the thing she focused on.
“We were all fairly ignorant at sixteen.” Malfoy glanced down at his left arm. “I am particularly glad to have learned more and grown since then.”
They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence for a little while as they continued to walk. Malfoy checked his Point Me spell again and adjusted their path through the trees. There was a crackle of magic as they neared the area Hermione had warded the night of the first murder. Stepping past the protective enchantments, Hermione took in a deep breath.
“I forgot just how gruesome it was. Photographs just don’t provide the impact that seeing it in person does.”
“How did you want to begin? With the body or canvassing the scene again?” Malfoy asked.
“Let’s start at the body and work our way out from there.” Hermione cast a charm to cover her hands in a protective layer so she didn’t contaminate anything.
They both approached the body, which had been held under a stasis charm to preserve the evidence. Malfoy tugged his trouser leg up so he could crouch next to the corpse. He pointed out the different wounds over the torso, and then the runes. Up close, it was clear to see that they’d been drawn out jaggedly, like the killer wasn’t very confident in the use of runes and how to correctly write them. It was also clear that they’d been drawn out post-mortem.
Hermione walked around the body taking notes using a notebook she’d pulled from her beaded bag. She documented everything she saw, no matter how trivial it might seem. Then she walked away from the body in a measured spiral pattern. Malfoy stood and walked to the edge of the wards to work his way inwards.
A few moments later, he called out to Hermione, “Granger, come look at this.”
She walked over to where he was and peered down where he was pointing with the tip of his wand. “Is that….Oh Merlin, how did this get missed?”
Draco stared down at the torn bit of parchment. It was partially hidden under leaves and could easily have been overlooked.
“Those are the runes. The same runes on the body.” Draco looked up at Hermione. “This confirms what I said while looking at the body. It seems the killer wasn’t confident in runic knowledge, perhaps they didn’t know which runes they would be using.”
Granger pulled a large pair of tweezers from her bag, along with a plastic evidence bag. “I agree. They brought notes with them, and look! The translations are written underneath, almost as if they don’t know what the runes mean.”
The parchment was a small strip torn from a longer scroll of notes. The handwriting was messy, hurried looking. The ink was smudged as if it hadn’t dried fully. Something niggled in the back of Draco’s mind about the handwriting, but he couldn’t be sure if he’d seen it before.
“We’ll document this and keep looking. It's great evidence, but doesn’t give us a clue as to the identity or motive of our killer. I can put it in my rucksack.” Draco accepted the evidence bag from Granger and resumed his canvassing of the area.
When the sun was directly overhead, the pair turned to each other and agreed it was a good time to stop and eat something. Draco led them both back out of the woods towards a clearing, and transfigured a couple of tree branches into seats for them.
“We should discuss sleeping arrangements for tonight. Bron said to not be within the trees once it's dark, so we might want to set up camp near here.” Draco said as they both pulled packed lunches from their respective bags. “I was able to secure two one-person tents from the DMLE but I must warn you that they’re extremely utilitarian. They offer little more protection than an awning at a picnic.”
Granger’s face turned slightly pink. “I have an alternative if you’re open to it. We didn’t plan this out with each other beforehand, so I brought my own tent. Its charmed to have two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a sitting area inside. You’re more than welcome to use the second bedroom.”
“Granger, where do you store all of these things? You’ve produced evidence bags, a notebook, and your lunch and you’re telling me you also have on your person a house-sized tent?” Draco raised an eyebrow at her.
“A witch must have her secrets.” She grinned at him. “And she certainly wouldn’t tell an Auror about an illegal extension charm she performed during a war.” She patted the beaded bag she could usually be seen with. “What would the statute of limitations be on something like that anyway?”
Draco scoffed, “Hypothetically, an extension charm should be registered with the Ministry before being performed and failure to do so can be grounds for prosecution until the item is destroyed. If the item no longer exists, there’s no evidence to prove the charm was ever applied.”
“Hypothetically, of course. I would never admit to a bit of illegal magic. But somehow a tent does fit inside this bag, and so luckily we have it for our use.” She laughed. “I’d think one of those DMLE tents would be unacceptable to a posh prat like yourself.”
He chuckled as he finished his meal. “Ah, it warms my heart when you talk so sweetly, Granger. Much more familiar territory for us.”
“You’re the one who said you had almost as much money as God!” She pointed at him in mock outrage. “And I’ve been very civil to you since the start of the case.”
“Actually, Blaise said that, I only confirmed it. And it was you screeching at me in my office because I dared to acquire texts before you.” He stood and brushed the crumbs from his hands.
Granger shoved her arm into her bag and it disappeared up to her elbow. “Stole them out from under me, you mean.” She glared at him with humor shining in her eyes. “Help me set this up, and we’ll see if it’s up to your princely standards.”
Working together with a combination of magic and muscle, they quickly set up the tent and charmed the area around it to keep anyone else from being able to enter. Once it was secured, Draco opened the front zipper and gestured for Granger to go in first. He followed her, and was pleasantly surprised at how much room there was. It was a reflection on the witch herself, so very Granger looking with bookshelves overflowing in the sitting area, soft neutral colors with pops of darker greens and purples, cozy blankets and throw pillows, and delicate floral dishware in the kitchen.
“There’s one bedroom on either side. To the right is mine, and across from my room is the bathroom. Yours, if you’d like to stay with me, is off to the left of the sitting area.” Granger looked timid showing off her space. “It's not the fanciest, but it's sure to be much more comfortable than the DMLE tents.”
“It’ll do, Granger.” He winked. “Thank you for offering. And we definitely should have discussed arrangements for the overnight stay before we set out. If we find ourselves in a similar situation in the future I’ll be sure to plan things out a little better.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You said to the left, yes?”
He started walking that way adding, “I’ll just drop my things in the room and we can head back out to widen our search area. See if there’s anything else we missed the first time.”
Draco walked into the bedroom and took a deep breath before dropping his bag to the floor. In a strange turn of events, not only was he spending the next four days with Granger, alone, he would also be sleeping mere meters away from her. He was doing his best to keep his control without Occluding, as he didn’t want to be emotionless around her. He enjoyed being in her company, but there was no way in seven hells she felt the same attraction towards him that he felt about her. She said she liked the way my magic felt though, he thought. No one had ever had a positive reaction to my magic or Apparition before.
He glanced down at his arm again. He’d had his sleeves rolled up for most of the morning, but Granger hadn’t commented on his Dark Mark.
It had faded some. Not nearly enough. Not even as much as his father’s had faded during the years Voldemort had been hiding in Romania. One would think that the opposite would be true, with the maker of the Mark now dead it stood to reason that the Mark would disappear altogether. Rubbing it slightly, he debated on covering it back up before deciding to leave it be. It hadn’t come up before now, and if Granger said anything about it, he could only offer her the truth. Taking the Mark and joining Voldemort’s ranks was the biggest regret of his life, and he really had had no choice in the matter.
Draco unzipped his rucksack and took out his mobile phone. The group chat with his fellow Slytherins had several messages, but he put it away to check later. He wouldn’t be busy after nightfall.
Returning to the sitting room, he checked that Granger was ready to go. They went back into the forest and continued to search for evidence the evidence techs may have missed. The hours passed and the sun steadily made its way across the sky, but no new discoveries were made. Draco finally called their efforts to a halt and they trudged their way through the underbrush back to the tent.
“I’ll get started on dinner. Any allergies?” Granger said once they were inside.
“How is it that you came prepared enough to make dinner?” He kept being surprised over and over again by this brilliant witch. “I threw a few protein bars into my bag and figured we could Apparate somewhere for a meal when we needed to.”
She blushed as she turned towards him but kept her eyes on the ground in front of her. “I tend to over prepare for everything. I packed enough clothes to last two weeks. I brought the tent and half of my kitchen stores. I have potions and a medical kit for every possible emergency. It's a habit I can’t force myself out of.”
Draco realized where it came from. Her year on the run with Potter and the Weasel had no doubt caused her to make backup plans for her backup plans. “Granger, the things you went through in the past shaped you into the person you are today. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. You survived something that most wouldn’t have recovered from. You’ll hear no complaints from me about your vigilance.”
He knocked twice on the butcher block counter with a knuckle. “Thank you for making dinner. I have no allergies. And tomorrow we’ll go to a town nearby for dinner. You provided the lodging so it’s only fair that we spend my unholy wealth on food.”
“Its no trouble, Malfoy. But dinner in town tomorrow sounds lovely.” She gave him a small smile and started to pull things out to make a meal.
“If you don’t mind Granger, I’m going to take a shower. I can help you finish up cooking once I’m out?”
“Take your time, it’s really a simple meal so I’ve got it handled.” She said over her shoulder.
Draco brought his toiletries into the bathroom, which was decorated in shades of grey with small honey bees on the wallpaper pattern, and a large sunflower shower curtain. It was clear that Granger had decorated the inside of this tent with care, as an extension of her home.
As the water heated up, he tried to ignore the fact that he was about to be naked with Granger just on the other side of the door. It had been several months since his last…he couldn’t really call it a relationship. More of a mutual understanding with a woman. And he really honestly tried to keep his thoughts away from the way Granger’s hair would slip free of the messy bun as she worked, leaving a frame around her face and neck as if in invitation for him to stare and place his lips in the junction of her neck and shoulder.
Draco stood under the spray of hot water for just long enough to wash his hair and body thoroughly. The humidity within the canopy of the trees, combined with the dirt of nature had left him feeling like he was coated in a layer of grime and he was glad to be rid of it. He cast a quick drying charm and donned his favorite pair of black joggers and a steel grey henley. He shoved the sleeves up once again and exited the bathroom.
Entering the kitchen once again, he took a moment to watch Granger. She hadn’t noticed him yet, so he leaned against the door frame. Her cheeks were flushed as she stood over the stove stirring something in a pot that smelled of basil. She muttered slightly to herself as she pulled something out of her bag and cast a cooling charm on it before pulling a pair of plates and wine glasses off the shelf.
“--absolutely ridiculous, Hermione.” Draco heard her say to herself.
“I think it’s impossible for you to be ridiculous. Swotty, yes. Witty, yes. Engaging, absolutely. But never ridiculous Granger.” He watched as she jumped at the sound of his voice and whirled around with a hand to her heart.
“You could give a warning when you enter the room, you know. Slinking around and spying on someone could be considered impolite.” Granger seemed as if she was trying to catch her breath while her face flamed a bright red.
Draco laughed. “Slinking and spying is more your lot. I’m not even wearing an invisibility cloak.”
She turned back to stir the pot. “Harry would never let you borrow his in any case.” Dishing up the food onto the plates, she said over her shoulder, “Could you pour that wine? Dinner is just tortellini in a basil pesto sauce.”
Draco uncorked the wine using his wand and poured each glass a generous portion. It seemed he’d gotten under her skin, and he loved to see her blush. She carried the plates into the sitting room and Draco followed with the wine. Settling himself onto the couch next to her, they traded dishes and began to eat. The scene was so domestic, Draco could almost picture nights like this continuing with Granger in the future.
Taking a bite of the pasta, Draco groaned. “Granger, this is really good. Italian has to be one of my favorite foods.”
She blushed. He seemed to be making her blush a lot today. “I didn’t even do anything really. Boil water, boil pasta, drain, add pesto.” She took a bite, quickly chewed and swallowed. Draco did not watch her throat. “I usually add some grilled chicken as well, but didn’t have any on hand tonight.”
“You mean you didn’t have the ability to keep chicken at the correct temperature in that completely legal bag of yours?” He tsked. “Your skills are slipping, Granger.”
She side-eyed him as she chuckled. “You’re right. I’ll try harder next time.”
“Good girl,” Draco said before he took a sip of his wine. It was perfectly chilled, and paired well with the pasta. Until Granger choked, and Draco had to pound on her back while she caught her breath
And when Draco went to bed that night, he definitely did not think about her choking on something entirely different while he called her good girl.