The Interview
Exhaustion was about to drive Hermione to the brink of insanity. Or maybe it was the needless back and forth that she was listening to.
At nearly eight in the morning, she sat in the dark observation room watching as Roberts and the Head Auror Frey interviewed the seller, Seamus Craggy. Craggy clammed up hard the second he was arrested, they only managed to get a few words out of him the first few hours of his arrest.
She sipped the strong coffee, it wasn’t until they shoved him into a holding cell for a few hours, interviewing the buyer instead that they were able to start getting information out of Craggy. His buyer sang like a fwooper the second he was pulled into the interview chamber.
Basil Kirkby, the buyer, obviously didn’t know much, a low-level Ministry employee was trying to regain the favor of his department lead after being passed over for a promotion, but he was more than aware of the ongoing gangs distributing different potions throughout London. According to the limited information he was able to provide, he had reached out to a contact in the Dugogs and met up with Craggy.
After throwing him back to the holding cell awaiting charges and sending the Invenies quod periit to be analyzed by the illicit substances department, they had pulled Craggy back into the interview room where they’d been arguing since seven. Observing the entire interaction through the spelled glass was giving her a headache. At first, they couldn’t get him to speak at all, the second Roberts called him a Dugog he wouldn’t shut up.
“Listen, bruv, I don’t know anything, they give me the potion and I meet with the buyer,” Craggy sat back in his chair, his knees spread with confidence he definitely shouldn’t have.
“Don’t fuckin’ ‘Bruv’ me, who handed off the potion to you?” Roberts was on his feet, pacing the room, three hours of useless questioning and he was about to lose his temper while Frey sat watching and sipping the coffee she’d delivered a while ago.
“Dunno, bruv, some guy,” Craggys face split into a disgusting grin, he knew he was close to driving the auror to do something wrong. Roberts finally broke, she couldn’t blame him, they were all tired after being awake the entire night. He charged across the room, face determined as though he was fixing to slam Craggy into the table.
Frey stopped him, grabbing Roberts by the arm before he could reach the perp, snatching him down he whispered in his ear. Roberts glared at him, snatching the file off the aluminum table before storming out of the room. Evidently, Craggy was going to be a tough nut to crack. He knew more than he was saying, the completely unjustified bravado was more than enough evidence for her to believe that. She sighed scratching at her burning scar as she watched Frey continue with his pointless questions.
“Listen, Seamus, we’ve already got you on the hook for distribution of controlled potions, soliciting dragon eggs, poaching dragon eggs, and consolidation into gang activities, do you really want to take the rap for all that?” his voice was calm as he faced down with Craggy, sipping from his coffee.
“I can’t say I know about any of that, mate,” the arrogance exuded from his person, a slimy smile plastered to his face.
“We know you know more than you’re saying, mate, it’ll be a lot easier if you just tell us what we want to know rather than getting the serum,” Frey played the unphased professional, she chuckled knowing he’d blow up as soon as he left the room, the man cursed worse than any sailor she’d heard.
Craggy’s face flinched, ever so slightly, before returning to the arrogant grin, “You’re not gettin’ any serum, mate, Wizengamot’s not even gon’ be in for another hour,” Hermione frowned as he called Frey’s bluff, verita serum needed a vote from the Wizengamot to be used.
“Well, luckily, our lead investigator had the forethought to call an emergency convention as soon as you were brought in,” Frey shrugged his shoulders, coffee to his lips, “At this point, it’s just a matter of waiting until it’s finished and the order issued,”
She groaned, Frey was calling on her, she hated being the same person to conduct her interviews, the boys in the bullpen spoiled her like that.
“Yah? That same fine piece a’ cunt that arrested me earlier?” the nasty man licked his lips, bringing his cuffed hands to his lips, “That sweet lil’ pussy can question me any time,” he laughed to Frey.
She shuddered at the thought as she watched Frey chuckle, “You might want to be careful there, son,” the older wizard’s eyes glinted knowingly.
She glanced longingly towards her coffee cup, in no rush to enter the conversation. Craggy’s lewd laughter sent chills down her spine. She rolled her eyes, Frey was buying her a new cup of coffee later. Tapping her wand, she transfigured her coffee into a small potion vial, the liquid coming out to the perfect petrol-looking swirl before snatching it off the table in front of her and heading out of the observation room.
The interview room was just across the hall, opening the door as she picked up the file from the mail slot outside where Roberts had left it, “Mr. Craggy, good to see you again,” a saccharine smile graced her face as she took a seat next to Frey, “Normally, I would conduct your interview myself,” Never, if I could avoid it, “However, I’ve been hung up in meetings all morning, care to catch me up?” Her eyes glanced between Frey and the wannabe gangster.
Frey gave her a smile, “Of course, Ms. Granger, Seamus here was just telling us about how he came to have the quod periit in his possession to begin with,”
Craggy scoffed, “I told you, I dunno who gave it to me, some guy,”
She chuckled, “Of course, I don’t have the best memory either, would you be willing to give us your memory of the interaction?” the arrogant smile faltered.
“Hells, No, I ain’t giving you no memories,” the bravado disappeared, “I ain’t talking to you guys no more,”
Frey sighed, “C’mon, Seamus, you said you wanted to be questioned by the lead investigator,”
“Uh-uh, no more questions,” the haughty drug dealer pulled his arms back in.
Hermione and Frey looked at each other, “Well, I understand your unwillingness to.. share, however, I have been with the Wizengamot all morning, and we received an order for verita serum,”
Craggy’s eyes looked like dinner plates and his adam's apple bobbed in his throat, “You see,” she gave him a strained smile, “I thought you might be averse to sharing information with us,” taking her fake serum out of her pocket, she shook the little bottle for a second setting it on the table.
Seamus’ eyes bounced back and forth between Frey and her, “Listen, these guys will kill me, verita serum or not,”
“Well, it’s a good thing, you don’t have to worry about that,” Hermione chuckled, “With the charges of distribution of illicit substances charge, this would be your third strike,” Craggy swallowed, Wizards convicted three times meant he would be in Azkaban until a council declared him fit to reenter society, which was a rare occurance.
His head shook, “That don’t matter, luv, these guys got contacts everywhere,”
She nodded thoughtfully, “Mhmm, which guys?”
He froze looking at her, mouth snapping shut with a snap.
Frey looked at her, she could nearly see the mirthless grin hiding behind his eyes, waiting to call out her mistake until they were outside.
“Seamus,” Her eyes turned back to the scum sitting across the table, “you can give us the limited information we’re asking for, or we can feed you verita serum and listen to you sing like a fwooper about every tiny distinguishing detail you’re aware of,” the smile plastered to her face no longer reached her eyes.
Craggy’s face sank into a scowl, huffing across the table, “I got the periit from another Dugog,”
“Name?” Hermione probed.
“Edward Shetty,” he rolled his eyes.
She hummed as she wrote the information down, “And the potion’s master?”
“Eugene Prewett,” he deadpanned, no longer entertained by the questioning process.
“Craggy, where were the dragon eggs obtained for the periit?” she glanced up from her notes.
He scoffed, pushing back in his chair, “Fuck if I know, lady, some guy in the ministry,”
Her eyebrow went up, “Would you be able to point out his face?”
Craggy shook his head, “Fuck, yah, I guess,”
She flashed a smirk to Frey as he sipped his coffee, fishing out Dawlish’s photo from the back of the file to put in front of Craggy.
“Yah, that’s him, sweaty muthafucker too,” Craggy’s rough fingers pushed the photo back across the table, “Idiot was gloating about having some contact at a Dragon sanctuary,”
Her eyebrows went up, “Anything else he mentioned? Anything about a place to hide out for a while?”
Craggy shook his head, “Nothing like that,”
She felt her disappointment grow, but it should be enough to put out a warrant for his arrest, “What about attacks?”
He scoffed, “Nah, got in got out, not much talking happened,”
She sat back in her chair, crossing her arms, “Where’d he deliver to?”
Craggy pressed his lips together, and she arched her brow sending a pointed look to the faked vial of verita serum.
“There’s a warehouse, muggle London, off of Eighth Street and Charles Lane,” his eyes rolled in his head.
“Is that where the Dugog’s do the brewing?”
He gave a tight nod, pulling back from the table.
She hummed, looking at him, “What about ‘the Basks’? Who are they?”
“Rivals,” he shook his head, “Don’t know much, they hear someone crossed ‘em and that someone disappears,”
“You mentioned something about the leader returning to London?”
Craggy shrugged again, “Look lady, like I said, I don’t know much about the Basks, just rumors that their bossman was operating somewhere else then came back to London recently,”
“Do you have a name?”
“No,” He deadpanned, chair groaning as he leaned back into it again.
“Well then,” She closed the file in front of her, looking to Frey “Am I missing anything?”
Frey gave a shake of his head, “Perfect, I have a meeting with the Minister,” she whipped out her wand, giving the fake vial a tap, picking up her restored coffee cup as Craggy gaped at her exiting the interview room.
The bullpen was bustling with activity and Roberts was still there sitting at his desk, fuming over paperwork.
“Hey, we got him to chatter a bit,” She greeted him, perching on his desk.
“Fuckin’ arsehole he was,” Roberts threw down his pen looking up at her from his desk chair.
“Well, here’s a location to make up for it,” She chuckled, opening the file and passing her notes regarding the warehouse.
“Shit, you got that?” his gaze broke into a smile, blond hair lighting up the pearly white teeth, “You’re an angel, Hermione,” the yellow blond was attractive, but still, something was missing from it. She used to have a small crush on him, seeking him out for extra dueling practice in the morning.
“Well, ya know, I try,” She giggled, sliding off his desk and heading to the elevator for her own office.
“Hermione!” He called after her, “Can I take you to dinner tonight?” she paused turning back to him, mind flashing back to the white blond and tattooed fingers, running over her legs, hooking under her chin. The ‘No’ was on the tip of her tongue as she stared back at Roberts, sure, he was attractive and kind, but something just felt wrong about it. Then Ginny’s voice popped into her head, egging her on, it’ll piss off Malfoy.
“Sure,” She nodded hesitantly.
His grin grew, “Meet me at the leaky? Sevenish?”
She chuckled, “Sure, I’m going to go get some sleep,” a glance at her watch told her she’d been awake for well over thirty hours.
Finally collapsing into her office, she was struggling to form thoughts. That was it, the Dragon eggs were solved, and presumably the mermaid scales. The murtlap venom still needed to be accounted for, but depending on what Roberts finds brewing in that warehouse, it could be. Still, things weren’t adding up. Why was Malfoy meeting with Dawlish? What was his involvement?
She groaned rubbing her temples, depositing the file on her desk as she scratched at the burning scar on her arm. Kingsley should be in any second and her head was throbbing a beat loud enough to play music to. The adrenaline had long since worn off and she needed sleep.
The wards vibrated with a knock on her door as Kingsley poked his head in, “I thought I told you to take the rest of the week off,”
She sighed, “Yeah, well, I’ve never been good at that,” she chuckled quietly.
“How’re you feeling?” His powerful voice, even when quiet, boomed through her office.
Hermione winced, “I’m still getting headaches, but it should clear up soon,”
He nodded, “And the case?”
“I have a witness placing Dawlish and selling dragon eggs to a gang brewing Invenies quod periit,” she handed off the file to him, “I handed off the address of the brewers to the general crimes department downstairs to handle,”
He clapped his hands, “Amazing,” his head shaking with a laugh, “I’ll talk to the Wizengamot about getting an arrest warrant and a search party for Dawlish,”
She laughed, “Fantastic, because I could use some sleep, I ended up getting the arrest on a stake-out last night,” her hand inched towards her burning arm.
She frowned, “But, I still have questions about it thought,”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s a report in there, from when Roberts tailed Dawlish, mentioning a meeting with an individual sounding a lot like Draco Malfoy,” she gestured toward the file.
Kingsley shrugged, “It could’ve been something completely unrelated,”
“I guess so,” She rubbed her temples, “Something just doesn’t feel right about it,”
“Hmm,” He flipped through the file pages, “Do another review to make sure all the odds and ends are tied up after the raid on the warehouse, and take Monday and Tuesday off in the meantime, actually off,” he gave her a pointed look, getting to his feet.
She gave a noncommital shrug, laughing as he turned towards the door, “I mean it, Hermione, get rest and heal your damned head,”
The floo roared as she stumbled, exhausted, back to Grimmauld Place. Ginny sat on the couch, her latest dirty read sitting in her lap as her wand waved, gently rocking a bassinet next to her. Hermione collapsed in the couch across from her, immediately crumpling into a mess on her back.
Ginny chuckled, “Well since it’s now ten in the morning, I’m assuming your stake-out went well?” She put her book on the coffee table passing her a tea cup across the table.
She sighed, resting the cup on her stomach, “It did, I made an arrest, and we should have a warrant for Dawlish soon,”
“Well, that’s good at least. One problem down, now we just need to solve your Malfoy problem,” Ginny’s words couldn’t have come at a more inopportune moment as the floo flared, Harry and Ron walking through the flames.
They dusted the leftover ash off their cloaks, propping brooms next to the fireplace, “Malfoy? I thought you were aiming to arrest our old boss?” Harry strode to the couch, kissing his wife on the head before reaching into the bassinet to do the same for little Lily. Ginny’s apologetic eyes met hers as she pushed herself up, carefully balancing the teacup as she went.
“Arresting Dawlish? Now this I need to hear about,” Ron laughed, discarding his robes on the back of the sofa before dropping hard onto the cushion next to Hermione.
She cleared her throat, “We should have a warrant out by the end of the day for Dawlish. Malfoy had limited involvement,” She spoke carefully, “He had met with Dawlish and we had some suspicions but we found where the dragon eggs were being sold, so I’m not so sure he was involved at all,” trying to subtly add some distance between herself and her ex, she sipped her tea scooting over and away from Ron.
“Was that what all that prophet stuff was about?” Ron pushed closer to her again, “I assumed it was just nonsense,”
If she could hear thoughts, Ginny would be screaming in her head, the ginger had shoved her face into her tea trying to hide her expression and leaving Hermione to dig them out of this one.
“Uhh—“
“Yah,” Harry chuckled, “You two looked cozy on the dance floor at the gala, I wouldn’t have guessed it was business related,” the little snitch clearly knew something was going on, taking great joy in riling up Ron, who’s face had currently flushed as dark red as his hair remembering the night. She flashed a glare at Ginny, the couple’s ability to conceal classified information from each other was nonexistent.
She swallowed feeling Ron’s anger rise off him in waves, trying to slide farther from him once again, “Well—“
“The ferrety bastard had his hands all over you that night, ‘Mione, was he trying to influence the investigation?” he closed the gap between them once again, putting a hand on her knee as his furious scowl turned to her.
His hand sparked her fury, springing up from the couch she strolled behind the bassinet, opting to stand during this conversation, “No, Ronald,” she said firmly, “There was no attempt to influence the investigation, and the Gala last week happened before he was spied meeting with Dawlish,”
Ron was outraged by the implication, “Then what the hell was he doing?” Harry tried to hide his smirk, stealing his wife’s tea to sip on, for someone so bad at potions he was definitely good at stirring up shit.
Hermione’s words caught in her throat, Ron sitting on the edge of the couch, demanding answers, she was caught. Unless she lied outright, there was no way to get around the truth of his intentions that night, “He—uh--,” her words stuttered out, she was a terrible liar and every person in this room had been around her long enough to know her tells, she sent a panicked glance to Ginny “He apparently declared some feelings to me,”
Ron’s glare narrowed, “Feelings? He’s a ferret, what feelings does he possibly have other than hate?”
Her anger boiled over, “He has a great many more feelings than you, Ronald, don’t blame him if you’re the only one who hasn’t grown up at all since the war,”
Harry snorted into the teacup, blowing the tea all over the couch and coffee table before breaking down in laughter.
“Really, Ronald, his feelings and mine are none of your business, haven’t been for nearly two years now,”
“ ‘Mione, how can you say that? I’m just looking out for you! I mean feelings for Draco bloody Malfoy? You’ve got to be batty to think Malfoy has feelings for Potter’s swotty, mudblood friend” She stopped, staring at him, betrayal still striking through her at his words.
“Well, I don’t need you to look out for me, especially when I did need you, you were balls deep in Lavender Brown,” Ron’s face fell, sitting back on the couch and crossing his arms to sulk. Shit, I went too far, she rubbed her temples, “We’re not friends anymore, Ron,” she sighed, “You made sure of that at the last gala,”
Harry had sobered, taking a massive interest in his stolen tea.
“You can’t mean that, ‘Mione,” his voice was small while Ginny’s gaze turned from her trainwreck of a brother back to her, almost begging her to give him hope again.
“I can’t trust you, Ron,” she stared at him, “And why would I? Every time I’ve taken an interest in anyone since we broke up, you’ve been unbearable and jealous, when we’re not even together,”
“I-I have not,”
She stopped short “You got into a duel with Ernie McMillian Jr. and I wasn’t even interested in him!”
“He corned and proposed to you on the dance floor!” Ron sprang to his feet yelling back at her.
“And I’m more than capable of handling myself, Ronald!” He stopped, stunned into silence, mouth opening and closing like he was trying to think of what to say.
“I—” her hand stopped him.
“I’m not talking about this with you anymore, Ronald,” she shook her head, “I need to sleep, and you,” her gaze turned to Harry, “Set some boundaries,” Hermione clopped upstairs, regardless of her exhaustion she was furious, where did he get the audacity? Trying to interfere in her life, she was done, had been done. She snorted to herself, throwing off her robes and clothes to curl up in the small bed that Ginny and Harry had given her for the time.
Still, defending Draco Malfoy felt weird, not wrong, but certainly not something she ever thought she would do. Regardless, he’d grown past whatever beliefs he’d grown up with. Apologized even. It was time for Ron to figure it out and do the same. Her eyes started to close of their own volition, thoughts drifting back to his hands, scratching across her back and drifting to sleep thinking of him.
Hermione groaned; she’d only gotten a few hours of sleep before the kids woke up from their naps. James decided he wanted to hang out with Aunty ‘Mione, jumping into her bed and directly onto her stomach. Quickly pulling on a pair of pants and joining Ginny downstairs in the sitting room while James ran down ahead of her.
Collapsing into the couch again she looked to Ginny, giving her a pointed stare while James danced around the room, take two. They sat in silence for a few minutes, the tension building in the air while the words clearly danced on the tip of her friend’s tongue.
“What?”
She rolled her eyes, turning to watch the children, “Nothing,” she did her best to shrug nonchalantly.
Hermione snorted looking at her, Ginny couldn’t hold her tongue if her life depended on it, and it had a fair few times, “What?”
She shook her head, “You just really, really, shot him down hard,”
Hermione groaned, “He doesn’t get to walk in here and talk about my life choices like I’m doing something wrong,”
Ginny chuckled, “Hey, I’m with you there, he needed to get put in his place at some point,” she stilled, “I’m sorry for what he said, we shouldn’t have been pushing you to get back with him, even as friends,”
“I don’t know what happened to him, Ginny,” she sighed, “Maybe, nothing,”
The ginger shook her head, “Maybe. Maybe he just stayed the same while the rest of us moved on,”
She nodded, silently watching the kids, James leaning over the baby making faces until she laughed.
“So.. the case is solved then?”
Hermione pulled her attention away from the babies, shaking her head, “I guess so,”
“So, Malfoy was what? Making a social call?”
She laughed, her smile didn’t reach her eyes, “I honestly don’t know. I don’t know where to go with any of this,”
Ginny chuckled, “But now that Dawlish is out of the picture, it’s not your job anymore,”
“Yeah, I guess so. But I can’t stop thinking about one thing we heard from the gang-banger,” she shook her head, “When he was talking to the seller, he said if the ‘Basks’ found out they would be killed,”
Red brows furrowed as she looked over, pouring Hermione a cup of tea, “The Basks?”
“A rival gang,” She sighed, “He said the leader just got back,”
“Back from where? Who are they?”
Hermione shrugged her shoulders uselessly, “I’ve got no idea, but Malfoy’s meeting with Dawlish doesn’t make sense,”
Ginny groaned, “I know that look,”
“I don’t have a look,”
“You do, you’re going to hyper-fixate on this until you figure it out,”
She sighed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, “It’s not my job anymore remember?”
She chuckled, “I’ll remind you of that in a few days. What’re you thinking of doing about Malfoy?”
“I have no idea,”
“You don’t know a lot of things these days,” Ginny laughed, “He does seem really into you,” she sang
Hermione scoffed, “Didn’t we already establish why that’s a horrible idea?”
“Yeah.. I know, but he’s built,” she smirked at Hermione, “and you’ve already said he’s brilliant in bed,”
“NO,” she sat up to look at her, “Ginny, that’s not happening,”
“No matter how hot?” The redhead pouted, “Or rich? You could at least get a free dinner out of him, it could be a really fancy one”
Her eyes snapped to Ginner, “Dinner,”
Ginny clapped, “That’s my girl, you said he was different, maybe it lead—”
She shook her head, “No, Ginny, dinner. I said I would go to dinner with Roberts tonight,”
“R-Roberts?” her mouth dropped open, “Since when have you been interested in Roberts?”
She shook her head, “I dunno, he’s kinda cute. What time is it?”
“Like six thirty,” Ginny’s head spun looking for a clock, “Wait, so you’re going out with him, on a date, just because he’s ‘kinda cute’?”
Hermione finally just pulled out her wand, casting a tempus, 6:37, “Great, I have time to shower,”
Ginny shook her head in amazement, “‘Mione, you’re going to get ready and leave for a date in twenty minutes, completely forgot about it, and just described him as ‘kinda cute’ like you were describing a puppy,”
She ignored Ginny’s air quotes, rolling her eyes as she tried to drink her tea quickly, “So?”
“You’re doing this just to make him jealous, aren’t you?”
“What? No, Ginny, Roberts is nice, I like him,” Ginny shook her head.
“No, you don’t, you’re thinking of Malfoy!”
“Malfoy, Malfoy!” James danced around the table singing.
Hermione rubbed her face, picking up the wiggling child to make the singing stop, “Ok, maybe, I was thinking it would make him back off a bit,” she looked at Ginny with a pointed glare, “Remind him that I’ve got my own life and he clearly has no place in it,”
Ginny rolled her eyes, taking her teacup and picking up a laughing James under her arm, “Sure, babe, whatever you gotta tell yourself,”
Hermione groaned watching her friend go to wash the glassware, flashing another tempus before running to get ready.
Theo poured the bourbon as Draco collapsed onto the couch in his sitting room. Lacking Crabbe and Goyle was wreaking havoc on his operations. He and Theo stepped up with the collections, but distributions were suffering. They would be fine for a few weeks, as long as Blaise stepped up selling out of the tattoo shop.
One thing was made extremely obvious the longer they were doing the collections, he needed more people. Theo handed off one of the tumblers, while his mind spun. He could hire ex-auror’s to watch and protect his witch, but the finer details needed people who were more discreet, people he could trust implicitly. Theo dropped into one of the chairs across from him, the fireplace lighting up the smile across his face, “It definitely makes me appreciate Crabbe and Goyle more,”
Draco grunted, “Maybe if we didn’t have to worry about anything else it wouldn’t be that bad,”
“Well, we’ll have to be nicer when they’re back,” Theo chuckled, taking a sip, “I got some news on Granger today,”
Malfoy fumed at the name, which was going to change as soon as he could make it happen. He waved his hand, indicating to Theo to continue.
“I got some news from my ministry contact, Granger closed that case,”
Malfoy glanced towards the door, taking a long pull of the bourbon, “Should I be expecting a raid?”
“That’s the best part, Dawlish was selling to the Dugogs too” Theo laughed as Malfoy paused, nose in his glass, the shocked look taking over his face, “She caught one of their distributors red-handed during a deal, got their brewing house,”
Draco ran his hand through his hair, falling back in his chair with shocked laughter, “She got the brewing house?”
Nott nodded into his glass, throwing back the rest, “Got their whole operation in one fell swoop,” His laughter echoed across the sitting room, “Dawlish officially has a warrant out for his arrest,”
Draco sobered, “Prewett?”
Theo poured again, “On the fast track to Azkaban, his name was mentioned a few times and they now have a witness who watched him brew,”
Draco’s grin broke out across his face as he accepted the top-off from Theo, their glasses clinked together as a hesitant chuckle left his lips. Collapsing back against the chair he shook his head in amazement, his witch was incredible.
Theo dropped into the chair again, “Cheers, mate, your witch is already earning her keep and she doesn’t even know it,” his laughter rang out again, Draco finally joining in. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind, she was meant for him.
He sighed, finally relaxing back into his chair again, “Now I just gotta convince her,” he watched the ice clinking together in his glass, “Well, that’s one problem off our plates, we’ve jus—” the muggle phone interrupted him.
Frowning, he looked at the time, maybe Hermione was heading to a victory dinner, “Yes?”
“Mr. Malfoy, letting you know Ms.Granger has left the Potter residence, currently at dinner in the Leaky Cauldron, with a..,” papers rustled in the background, “Michael Roberts,” a date? With that tosser?
He growled, “Keep eyes on her, I’ll be there in five,”
Theo looked over, eyebrows furrowing in an unspoken question.
“Feel like some dinner?”
Hermione was late to the dinner, Roberts was already halfway finished with his beer by the time she got there, a smile lighting up his face to give her a hug and an awkward kiss on the cheek.
“Sorry I’m late, I was ambushed before I got to sleep,” her smile felt plastered to her face. Sitting across from him felt wrong, but he didn’t seem to notice anything.
“Ach, no worries, I get how that is,” he waved to the bartender for another beer, which was brought over quickly.
“Thanks,” She eyed the ale, taking a fortifying sip before turning her attention back to the blond. She smiled at him, trying not to think of the silver eyes that had been haunting her every movement for the past week.
“How’ve you been feeling? Since your attack, I mean,” Roberts smiled back.
“I’ve been good for the most part, just occasional headaches now,” she chuckled, waving for the server to come over.
Roberts face sobered “I’ve been thinking about you for a while now,” his eyes met hers, “Asking you out,”
Hermione tried to hide the grimace, Roberts was attractive, any witch would be lucky to date him, and he’d certainly earned himself a reputation in the DMLE as a player. Her mind still flashed with memories of Draco’s strong chest weighing down her back as he whispered about the delightfully sinful things he wanted to do.
“Hermione?” Her gaze snapped back to Roberts, “Sorry, I don’t mean to be so forward,”
“No! No, I appreciate it, honestly,” She reached out, covering her hand with his own, “I—I’ve liked you too,” Maybe a night with Roberts would help her to forget Malfoy. Hermione tried to shrug off the guilt of wanting to use him to forget someone else, the door behind her ringing as more patrons walked in.
Roberts smile broke out across his face again, “Thank Merlin, I was worried,” he shrugged, “After the whole thing with the papers and Malfoy, i—it didn’t really seem like you were interested,” His eyes glanced over her shoulder as the door rang again, widening just the smallest amount before turning back to her.
“What was he there to talk to you about the other day anyway?”
Her eyebrows furrowed, “Last week? I can’t quite remember,” The lie rolled off her tongue.
He shook his head, “No, on Wednesday. Some of the guys said he didn’t want to leave, they’d had to walk him back down to the lobby area when you refused to see him. Said he left you a message,”
“I-I don’t actually know,” She reached to her pocket, where she’d hastily stored the letter before rushing from the ministry, “I never actually read his letter,” the crumpled parchment with the Malfoy insignia blazing on the wax seal met her fingertips, before she ripped it from her pocket, staring at it like she thought it would yell, “I’m sorry, do you mind? I completely forgot about it, it could be relevant to the Dugog files,” Hermione threw him an apologetic glance before unsealing the letter.
Roberts shrugged, taking a sip, “What’s it say?”
You won’t escape me for long. The one sentence stared back at her, suddenly leaving her starved for oxygen as the walls closed in. She could almost feel his presence at her back, coming closer slowly but surely.
A hand landed on her shoulder, “I believe you’re in my seat,” The familiar drawl snapped her back to reality, Malfoy’s familiar scent wrapping around her as his fingers danced gently across the skin of her neck.
Roberts surprised gaze dropped to hers, “Actually, Malfoy, we’ve just sat down to enjoy our dinner, but I’m sure there are plenty of other tables for you,” Malfoy scowled down at her reply, before looking over his shoulder with a jerk of his chin. Theodore Nott shouldered his way past him, hands casually in the pockets of his muggle overcoat.
Stepping past where Roberts sat, looking up at Malfoy with an outraged expression, Theo hooked the leg of his chair with his foot, unceremoniously dumping Roberts onto the floor.
“You bastards,” Roberts sprang to his feet, coming up to grab Theo’s coat with his fist rearing back, the sound of ruffling cloaks loud in the empty tavern. Theo just grinned back at him, waiting for his hit to land. Hermione sat frozen in place, waiting for the fight to start, but Theo just chuckled in his face.
“Gonna hit an unarmed man, Mikey?” his hands still in his pockets, Theo was the perfect picture of entertained indifference. His words struck a nerve, if Roberts was seen in public starting fights, they would be able to remove him as an Auror.
Roberts eyes scanned around the Leaky, before dropping Theo with a push, “C’mon, Hermione, let’s go somewhere else,”
Theo chuckled again, sitting taking the beer he’d left, “Actually, we need a word with my fiancee,” Malfoy’s voice rang out across the pub, his hand keeping her firmly in place when she tried to rise. Hermione’s fingers clenched around the one-sentence letter he’d left for her, mangling it in her lap. Roberts eyes met hers, betrayal dancing across his face.
“I’m not—”
“Betrothal contract just needs to be signed,” Malfoys fingers snaked into her pocket, pulling out another piece of parchment before throwing it onto the table in front of them. Roberts eyes scanned over the paper in front of them, scoffing at Hermione before snatching his cloak off the commandeered chair and storming out into the cold fall weather.
She groaned, rubbing a hand down her face as she watched him leave. Malfoy’s annoyingly perfect spearmint breath ghosted over her temple as he pressed a kiss there, “That was an easily solved problem,” his voice whispered over her ear before he dropped into the chair next to her.
Hermione scowled at the infuriating man as the food was dropped off, Theo tucking into the abandoned meal, “What do you want, Malfoy?”
His tattooed fingers snatched up her fork before shoveling the candied carrots into his mouth, “Granger, I don’t need any excuse for having dinner with my fiancée,” she rolled her eyes at him, Theo chuckling through his filled mouth, “Besides, he was far too interested in you,”
She could feel her eye starting to twitch in the seemingly constant scowl before she jerked to a stand, “I told you already, Malfoy, this isn’t happening,” she turned to leave, letting her forgotten food stay for Malfoy’s enjoyment, only to make it a step before her cloak was caught, pulling her back towards the table. Hermione grabbed it, struggling to pull it back from Malfoy’s hands. Resistance was futile as she finally entered his space and gripped her hips, pulling her nearly down on top of him.
His chuckle echoed in her ears as his hand gripped her chin, “The next time you try and take another man on a date, they’ll show up dead in a ditch somewhere,” lips descended on hers, dropping open in surprise, eating her alive in the middle of the pub, before letting her go, and propping her back onto her feet and steadying her with a cocky hand on her arse.
Hermione huffed, before slapping his hand away and following Roberts to storm out of the restaurant, heading back to Grimmauld place for the night.