mad woman
January 11, 2004
After a few more hours of searching, Draco and Potter had been able to figure out what the last date was on their list.
September 1st. The day everyone went back to Hogwarts each year.
The discovery filled Draco with a sense of relief. He wouldn’t have to face his father to ask about it. They wouldn’t have to talk about those years.
His father’s portrait was in his old study in the Manor, but neither Draco nor his mother had been in the room since the portrait was put up. It sat there, hung on the wall, collecting dust. Exactly the opposite of what Lucius would’ve wanted.
But sometimes you don’t really have a choice… do you?
There hadn’t been another murder since the one on December 31st, New Year’s Eve. This meant that Draco and Potter didn’t have any new evidence to work with in their case. The only information that had to work with was what they were given from the previous crime scenes.
Neither of them nor Magical Law Enforcement had been brought in until now, so they hadn’t been able to collect their own evidence or be there in person, either.
It felt like they were starting a step behind.
Both of them had been at the office every free chance they got. Draco was there more than Potter, though.
When Draco would stay late or be there early in the morning, Potter never asked questions. And if he noticed that Draco had been accidentally falling asleep and staying the night in his office, he didn’t say anything about that either.
Even though they had been putting in so much work, it felt like they hadn’t gotten any closer to having a person of interest.
According to the files they were given, there had been no witnesses. No connections in the victims, other than them being Muggles. No magical traces at the scene other than the Dark Mark.
The only information they had so far were the dates, the names of the victims, and how they died.
Draco was staring at their whiteboard in the conference room trying to find more connections when Potter opened the door.
“Feel up for a bit of quidditch?” Potter asked in a light voice from the doorway. He noticed Draco still staring at the board. “Malfoy, we’ve done all we can today. C’mon.”
Draco looked over at Potter from where he was leaning against the table then glanced once more back at the board and sighed. “Fine. I guess you’re right.” He walked towards the doorway and joined Potter in the hall.
They walked to the lifts in silence. Once inside, Potter said, “I noticed you weren’t at the match this weekend.” Potter hadn’t said anything about it before, and Draco was really hoping that he wouldn’t need to explain himself.
Draco started to explain himself anyway. “Yeah, sorry about that. I had some things to deal with at home–”
Potter cut him off midsentence, “Malfoy, you don’t have to explain yourself. I just wanted to say that your absence was noted. I don’t want you to feel unwelcome, just in case that was why you stayed away. Any other explanation is none of my business unless you want it to be.”
Draco didn’t really know how to respond to that. He had gotten so used to explaining himself over the years. If it wasn’t to his father, it was to Voldemort during the war or Snape at school. Now it was Astoria.
It was nice to know that he could just be and not owe anyone anything. A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Thanks, Potter. I really appreciate that.”
“I would want someone to do the same for me,” Potter concluded as the lift doors opened to the atrium.
As they walked through the large room, Potter added, “Most of the guys are excited to meet you properly and play with you, actually. Don’t tell them I said that, though,” he laughed.
Draco glanced over at Potter in surprise. “Is that right?” He had assumed that he would be hated by everyone and be very unwanted on the team.
“Sure is. Not sure if you remember, but you were quite the quidditch player back in school. They’re absolutely thrilled to play with you.” Both men laughed as they moved to the apparition point in the atrium.
It wasn’t lost on Draco that Potter said most of. Potter had told him that most of the men in the auror department respected him. They knew that Draco had spent the last few years working to put away the people that he used to be aligned with. They could respect that he was a changed man. Even though he had been changed for much longer. But they didn’t know that.
Draco and Potter apparated to the Ministry quidditch pitch in a large clearing outside of London. The area had Muggle repelling charms around it so they could play and practice safely.
Once they were outside the pitch, Draco looked up to the signature Ministry “M” on the outside of the stands. It looked so similar to the one at Hogwarts, except for that one bit of Ministry flare.
Potter began walking into the building and Draco followed. They walked through the tunnels that encircled the pitch itself. The stands were stood atop them, the same as the pitch at Hogwarts.
After entering the locker room, Draco realized that most of the guys were already out on the pitch. They went out to meet everyone else after they had put on their department practice shirts.
If Potter had noticed the still there scars and new tattoos covering Draco, he didn’t say anything.
As they joined the rest of the Auror department on the field, Draco mentally took attendance of who all was there. He recognized most of them from his school days but only knew a few of their names.
Draco recognized Katie Bell first. He would never forget her face. How could he? It haunted his nightmares often. He had never wanted to curse her, she was never meant to get hurt.
Terry Boot was the second face he recognized. The Ravenclaw house table was right next to the Slytherin table in the great hall, so he saw Terry Boot often. The two had never interacted, though.
The team greeted him happily. There wasn’t any outright hatred thrown his way like he expected. It was nice. Until he felt someone staring at him, and when Draco looked in their direction, he knew why. Ron Weasley’s eyes were pinned on him menacingly.
Draco was deciding whether he wanted to engage or leave it alone. He really, really wanted to give Ro Weasley a piece of his mind. Especially after what he heard outside of Potter's office about his breakup with Hermione. Something about the way he had talked to Potter about it just rubbed him the wrong way.
But he came back down to reality when he remembered that over half of the auror department was here. And that Wealey was considered a war hero, when Draco was considered a war criminal.
Draco knew he needed to pick and choose his battles, and this was not one of them.
His first practice went better than he expected it to. He hadn’t played since school, and it showed. But he got back into his old rhythm pretty quickly.
Both he and Potter were great seekers, even though Draco would never admit that to Potter's face, so it raised an issue. But Draco was pretty good at being a beater and a chaser, too. They were able to practice smoothly after that realization.
Draco avoided Ron altogether, as much as he could.
After their practice was over, Draco was headed back to the locker rooms with the team, when he had this nagging feeling that he needed to do something.
It had been a little over seven years since he had given Katie Bell that necklace. And he had never apologized.
He saw Katie a few feet away from him, chatting with some of their coworkers. Draco walked over and tapped Katie on the shoulder lightly, shyly. He never was good at this kind of thing. Katie turned around at the feeling.
“Yes– Oh. Hello Draco,” Katie said with a hint of surprise.
“Hi, Katie. Um, could we talk?” Draco was nervous about this interaction. He wanted to make amends where he could, and this would be the first time he tried, aside from Potter.
She had every right to deny him. To tell him to fuck off and to never talk to her again. He honestly wouldn’t blame her. But he had to try. He wanted to try.
Katie glanced back at the people she was talking to and nodded, silently telling them that she would be right back before looking back to Draco, “Sure, I guess so,”
They both walked over to a bench on the side of the field. Once they sat down, they sat in silence for a minute. It was Draco who broke that silence.
“Katie, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Draco said quietly.
She looked over at him, almost in surprise. “Well- I… Thank you, Draco.”
“You didn’t deserve that and I wish every day that I could take it back.”
“Draco, it’s okay. I forgave you years ago,” Katie sighed. “If I would’ve been in your shoes, I can’t guarantee you that I wouldn’t have done the same thing.”
Draco looked at her in surprise. That was the last thing he expected to hear out of a Gryffindor's mouth. She must have seen the surprise on his face.
“The others may not have seen it, but I did. You were just trying to protect your family in the only way you knew how. How can I blame you and be angry at you for that?”
Katie’s words washed over Draco like cold water. She had forgiven him, but would he ever forgive himself?
Draco thought that maybe now, he would be able to try. It felt like taking the first step, like he was given permission to move on. He knew that everything he did would still haunt him, that it would never truly go away, but it felt like a weight was lifted.
“I– thank you, Katie. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I thank you for giving it to me anyway. I hope we can be friends and put the past in the past…” Draco asked in a questioning tone, allowing Katie to deny him.
He didn’t necessarily want to be social with his coworkers, but being on good terms and being able to call them friends would be nice.
“Of course, Draco,” Katie stood from the bench, and Draco followed. They began walking off the field and toward the locker rooms where their bags were. Katie and Draco parted ways into their respective locker rooms.
Draco stood in the quiet hall for a minute after Katie disappeared. He just kept going over the conversation in his head. He made his amends with Katie, something he never thought he would get the chance to do.
Before Draco could realize that the locker room door was opening, Ron Weasley stood in front of him.
“What is it you’re up to, Malfoy?” Ron was close to Draco, and yelling loudly in his face. Draco didn’t respond, he didn’t feel that Ron deserved one. He owed him absolutely nothing. It would seem that Ron didn’t like the silence that Draco was offering. “Well?” Ron wouldn’t take Draco’s silence as an answer.
Draco tried to go around him to walk into the locker room to grab his things and leave, but Ron pulled the same move as his sister the night before. Must run in the family. Ron let him pass, though, bumping Draco’s shoulder aggressively as he passed.
Draco was trying not to let it get to him, but Ron was already on his shit list and this was just making it worse. He decided he would at least attempt to be civil. “Just playing some quidditch, Weasley,” he said in a bored tone.
“You sure about that?” Their coworkers were beginning to make their way out of the locker rooms. “Because I saw you talking to Katie over there. Trying to curse her again, are you, Malfoy?” Draco could hear a few whispers among their coworkers.
Draco knew that Ron was trying to provoke him, to make him angry. But he didn’t want to give in. He just channeled all of his rage into his stare. Ron was beginning to shift on his feet.
Ron was getting a bit nervous but wasn’t backing down. “You think that just because you’re, supposedly, not a Deatheater anymore, we’re all just supposed to forget everything you’ve done?”
“That’s a bold claim, even for you, to make to a supposed Deatheater,” Draco stated frankly as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“A snake can shed its skin, but at the end of the day, it’s still a snake,” Ron spat coldly.
Draco just huffed a laugh and walked up to Ron again. He leaned in close and whispered in his ear, low enough for just them to hear, “You’ll do well to remember that, Weasley.”
He walked past Ron and out of the hallway, leaving him and all of their coworkers behind, into the open air. Draco apparated home without gathering his things.
January 11, 2004
Hermione woke up to the worst headache of her life. Her eyes felt swollen and her mouth was dry.
The television was playing “Do-Re-Mi” on a loop from the DVD menu screen. The memories from last night came flooding back at the sound.
She got up and walked to the kitchen to get some water. As she poured her glass, she kept thinking about Theo and how kind he was.
It was nice to not have to watch what she said so as to not make him angry. It was nice to not have to act a certain way. It was nice to have someone do something for her for once.
Hermione decided then that she wanted to make an effort to hang out with her friends more often. After Theo had helped her through her panic attack, she had a really good time just being.
She finished her glass of water and headed off to shower. About an hour later, before she left, she sent an owl to Theo, thanking him for his kindness.
Once Archimedes was on his way, Hermione grabbed her coat flooed to Republic Records to meet with her producer to start recording.
Pansy had told her that there would be a new producer working with them. Pansy liked to be very involved but wanted Hermione to have someone who was just as musically inclined to bounce ideas off of.
Hermione stepped out of the floo and into Pansy’s office. Pansy was sitting at her desk working on her desktop computer with stacks of papers. “Hey, Hermione! Before you go down, come here, I need your input on something,” she said without even looking away from her work.
She walked over to Pansy’s desk and sat in one of the guest chairs, “What’s up?”
“So, I know you said you wanted your music to be liked because of your talent and not your name…”
“I did.” Hermione was a bit confused. She hadn’t changed her mind, so what was this about?
“Well, you may not be recognized by your name but your face and that head of curls will be a dead giveaway,” Pansy said deadpan, looking over her reading glasses at Hermione.
Hermione was dumbstruck into silence. How had she not thought of this? She wasn’t necessarily planning on putting her face out with her music, but it would be an issue at some point.
Album covers. Interviews. Public appearances. Even possible tours in the future.
How had she not thought of this?
Pansy’s voice shook Hermione from her stupor. “Lucky for you, I have a solution… which is what I wanted to run by you.”
“What’s your idea?”
“Well, the muggle world doesn’t know you like the wizarding world does, so that’s not really an issue. But you are basically royalty to the wizarding world.”
Hermione couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Pansy raised her hands in defense but continued, “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just stating facts.”
After letting out a heavy sigh, Hermione responded, “Fine. Go on.”
Pansy sat back in her chair, ready to give her pitch. “I propose that when you go to do things in the muggle world you just look like you… but when you go to do things in the wizarding world, we glamour you to look like someone else.”
It was a good idea, actually. As much as she hated to admit it, the wizarding world didn’t care enough about the muggle world to look into their musicians and stars.
But she couldn’t help but think about the things that weren’t in person.
“It’s a great idea. But what about the other stuff? Photos and album covers and stuff like that?” Hermione asked.
“Oh, Hermione… you wound me! I have that figured out, too. We spell the photos to look one way to muggles and another to witches and wizards. Once it’s done, the spell carries over to each picture, and applies each time it’s duplicated.”
Hermione was impressed. Very impressed. She probably wouldn’t have even thought of this herself.
“That’s– wow. Pansy, that’s bloody brilliant. I– thank you.” It was genuine. This meant Hermione could still live a semi-normal life and still be able to do what she loved. The only time she went to the muggle world was to see her parents or for the occasional drink. Her life in the wizarding world would be pretty much the same.
“Well, of course! Anything for my favorite client,” Pansy said with a mock bow from her seat, “we can discuss the details of the glamour later, so be thinking about what you want it to be.”
Hermione didn’t even need to think about it, but she just nodded and agreed.
“Well, I’m off to meet the producer. What room should I go to?” Hermione asked Pansy.
“You’ll go down two floors and it’s room number thirteen. I can’t wait for you to meet him. I think that you’ll really like him,” Pansy said with a smirk as she lowered her head to continue her work.
It made Hermione suspicious but she had work to do, so she let it slide. “Okay, well I’m off! Wish me luck.”
“Good luck, you’ll do just fine. I’ll come by after I finish up here.”
Hermione walked out of Pansy’s office and walked over to the elevators. She went down two floors and landed on the fifth floor. She walked out and looked at all the numbers on the doors, looking for number thirteen.
After walking up and down the long hallway, she found it at the very end. She kind of liked it, she supposed. It was a bit further out of the way. She figured that there was a bit more privacy and security in being at the end of the hallway.
Hermione took a deep breath and prepared herself to meet her producer. This man would be helping her to bring her songs to life. She was really hoping for the best.
She opened the door to see a man sitting behind a soundboard with a set of headphones resting around his neck. It was dim in the room, so she couldn’t see much more than the faint hue of red of his hair.
When the door clicked closed behind her, the man turned, realizing that someone had come in.
But when the man turned, she was stunned. He was sitting in the chair grinning at her like this was the funniest joke he had played to date.
“Well, hello Hermione.”
“George? What are you doing here?”
“What does it look like? I’m your producer… duh,” George said like it was obvious.
“I– What? You?” Hermione was so surprised that she was tripping over her words.
George laughed, “Oh, you should see your face! Priceless!”
“You’re actually my producer?”
“Honestly, I was just as surprised to find out I would be working with you. I didn’t know you sang, Hermione,” George turned back to the soundboard and started turning dials and flipping switches.
Hermione put her bag down and walked over to where George was messing with the board. “Well, I didn’t know you were into producing music, but here we are.”
“Touché, Hermione,” George looked up at her and Hermione laughed. He continued, “So, have you picked what songs you want to start with as singles?”
“Yeah, actually. I have three picked out,” Hermione went to her bag, pulled out some sheet music, and handed them to George. “This is the music for them. I’m not really sure how everything works on your end, but I figured you having this may help.”
“It does. Thanks. If you wanna walk me through the songs and your ideas so that I can get a feeling for what vibe we're going for, that would help, too.”
“Yeah, of course.” Hermione walked George through the stories behind the songs and the vibe each one was going for. It was only a little bit awkward because of her history with Ron. None of the three songs were about him, but it was still a bit awkward for her.
She kept the details vague and didn’t name who the songs were actually about. Hermione just gave him the basic stories behind them.
“The Prophecy” was about a woman who lost the love of her life and is begging the universe to change it. “champagne problems” is about a failed relationship. The man was ready to take the next step into marriage, but the woman wasn’t ready, she never would be. “Don’t Blame Me” was about a woman doing anything for love, even after people call her crazy for what she does.
That was all George needed to know.
When she was done, George seemed really excited. “These are all so different, but I like that. I think these will be great,” George grabbed a guitar from the wall of instruments and handed it to Hermione. She hadn’t brought hers today. “You take this and go in there and start playing the songs. I’ll make some backing tracks as you're playing that I think will go well with your composition, and we’ll start there.”
Hermione grabbed the guitar from George’s outstretched hands, “Got it.”
George cast a Muffliato over the room to keep prying ears from eavesdropping.
She walked into the booth and began playing “The Prophecy”. Once she was done, she walked back into the main room and George played her vocals over a track he created.
Hermione was speechless. She heard her songs coming to life and it was an emotional moment for her. It wasn’t quite perfect yet, but she could finally see it getting there.
“George, you are so talented! This is amazing!”
“Me? Talented? You should hear your voice! Even with one fully functioning ear, I can say with confidence that you’re going to be sweeping award shows pretty soon.”
Hermione couldn’t help her blush.
They spent the rest of the day working out the kinks of her very first single until it was perfect.
Pansy came into the studio a little after 6 PM with a few knocks on the door. “How’s it going in here?” She said with a mischievous smile.
“Hey, Pansy! We’re doing great. Almost done with this one’s,” George tilted his head at Hermione, “first single.”
“Do you wanna hear it?” Hermione asked.
“Well, duh!” Pansy closed the door and walked over to where Hermione and George were sitting and conjured a chair to sit in. She pulled up the chair closer to them.
Once Pansy was settled, George hit play on the recording. He had already mixed the music and combined it with the tracks of Hermione’s singing.
It would take Hermione a little while to get used to singing all day every day. She did it already, but to this magnitude was different.
The song was four minutes and nine seconds long, but Pansy was hooked on every nanosecond of it. You could see it in her eyes, she was analyzing everything. When the last note played, Pansy looked over to Hermione. “You wrote this?”
Hermione nodded nervously, not knowing if this was a good or bad thing.
Pansy responded with a slight jaw drop. “Hermione, I knew you were a great singer and songwriter just by your demos, but this… this is… I don't have words. This is some of the best writing that I have ever heard.”
Hermione blushed again. Since she never let anyone hear her music until now, she never had anyone compliment her on it. She guessed that she would have to get used to this, however weird it felt.
Pansy turned her attention to George, “And you, George! I knew you were an incredible producer, but this is astonishing. I knew you guys would make a perfect match. I cannot wait to see what else you guys create.”
“Thanks, Pansy,” George responded like he hadn’t heard the compliment in a while either.
It was silent for a few moments, and Hermione took the time to just observe. She was given this incredible opportunity and she wouldn’t take one single second of it for granted.
“Hey, Hermione, when you two finish up, can you come up to my office? I have something to show you.” Pansy seemed troubled, and it made Hermione slightly concerned.
“Yeah, I actually think we’re all done here for the day,” Hermione looked to George in confirmation and he nodded. “I can just come up with you now if you want?”
“That sounds great.”
Hermione turned to George, gave him a tight hug, and whispered a "thank you” in his good ear. He would never understand just how much she meant it.
As the two walked out the door, George yelled, “See you guys!”
The two girls responded in unison, “Bye, George!”
As soon as the door closed, Pansy asked the question she had been keeping in from the second she heard the chorus of Hermione’s song. “So, who was that song about?”
Hermione froze but forced herself to keep walking to make it seem like the question hadn’t just thrown her completely off-kilter. “Uh- no one.” She started making up a story in her head and decided that would have to do. “I was watching a movie a while back and that song kind of sprung from that story. That’s all.”
They both stepped into the elevator. Pansy was watching her closely, clearly not buying a single word. Hermione could see the wheels turning behind Pansy's eyes, but she left it alone the rest of the way to her office.
When they entered Pansy’s office, Hermione sat in the same guest chair from earlier and Pansy dropped into her own desk chair.
“So what is it that you needed to show me?” Hermione asked, remembering why Pansy wanted her to come up here in the first place.
Pansy pressed some buttons on her keyboard and turned the monitor around so Hermione could see, “This.”
Hermione was shocked at what she saw, to say the least. It was Ron. He was doing an interview with Rita Skeeter and The Daily Prophet. The headline read “The Golden Girl… Not So Golden?" The bottom of the screen showed the original interview date, which was a few days ago. The video was playing, but there was no sound. “What’s he saying?”
“Are you sure you want to know?”
“Yes, of course.”
Pansy clicked another button and the sound began playing in time with the video. It picked up on Ron saying, “I have so much love to give, and it’s a shame that Hermione couldn’t see that. But I’m ready to move on and find someone who can appreciate me for who I am.”
Rita Skeeter replied, “Do you think that Hermione’s focus on her career played a role in your relationship ending?”
Ron sighed, “It was just crazy how much she was wrapped up in her work... but she wasn’t even happy. She was always stressed out and frustrated, and I think that played a big role in why things fell apart between us. She tried to act like everything was fine, but it wasn’t. Then, out of nowhere, she quit her job. I think she was struggling to keep it all together, and it really showed. It was hard being with someone who was so all over the place, both with her career and in our relationship.”
Hermione couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He was calling her crazy? She felt tears pricking at her eyes.
“Well, it sounds like both of you have been through a lot. We hope things settle down for both of you as you move forward. Thanks for sharing, Ron. Best of luck with everything!” Rita Skeeter said in conclusion.
“Thanks for having me, Rita.” the screen went black.
Pansy turned the screen back to herself and watched Hermione carefully. “Are you okay?”
Hermione was anything but okay. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she choked out, holding back tears.
“I just felt like you should know. I didn’t want to keep it from you.”
“I get it. Thank you, Pansy. I’m glad you showed me.”
Hermione got up to head home through the floo, but Pansy stood and stopped her. “Are you sure that you’re okay?”
“Yes. I just really want to be alone, Pansy.” Pansy nodded and pulled Hermione into a hug.
Hermione let go of Pansy and stepped through the floo and into her flat. Her feet were barely on the floor before the tears began to fall.
She thought about sitting on her couch and eating the rest of the ice cream from her night with Theo, but then she remembered that music was her outlet. It always had been and it always would be.
So into her music she went, to lose her mind and to find her soul.