Dream Team
Hermione was barely late. She had finally been able to doze off reading Pride and Prejudice and was dreaming peacefully when Ron had woken her up with a shake and asked if she still had that meeting to go to. She did. Without even showering she bolted to the bedroom, changed into a pair of black trousers and a light blue silk blouse, grabbed a pair of heels and ran to the Floo. She ran through the Ministry, heels still in hand, and only stopped to put them on when she was outside the meeting room. She heard Kingsley say they were waiting on her just as she opened the door. She desperately needed a cup of tea but seeing as they were waiting on her, she didn’t want to delay them any further, so she took the only seat left, the one across from Harry near the head of the table. When he looked up, she gave Harry her practiced warm smile that didn’t fully reach her eyes. Harry didn’t seem to notice and returned hers with his own genuine smile.
“Right,” Kingsley began, “Obviously you all know why you’re here, as we’ve been working together for months. You’ve all compiled research leading to some very promising locations of potential Death Eater hideouts. Now it’s time to see if they hold any weight.”
“This will not be an easy task. It will not be an ‘apparating in and out with the bad guys’ kind of situation,” Kingsley followed.
“Exactly,” Harry continued. “Thanks to you all, we have a good place to start, but now is the time we put in the heavy groundwork. We will need to spend a lot of time doing reconnaissance before we can attack. We will first need to see if these locations are even accurate. Once confirmed, we’ll need to scout the terrain, look for any pitfalls or advantages the areas can provide; see if there is any danger to civilians if a fight were to get ugly. These attacks need to be planned down to the smallest detail or risk the Death Eaters escaping and alerting any others to run further underground.”
“Harry and I have determined the best way to do this while still being efficient is to divide into two groups and scout out two possible locations at a time. That way if one or both sites is a bust, we will be ruling them out faster than if we focused our whole team on one.”
Harry looked a little nervous before he spoke this time, which Hermione found odd since he was such a natural leader. She wondered what was coming next.
“Task Force One will consist of myself, Ernie, Michael, and Susan. Roger, Anthony, Angelina, Malfoy – you’ll make up Task Force Two,” he said already wincing by the end of his sentence.
“No fucking way am I going with Malfoy!”
“You can’t be serious Harry!”
Ahh now Hermione could see why Harry had been nervous for this part. No one wanted a former Death Eater on their team to hunt down Death Eaters, even if he was deemed reformed by the Wizengamont.
Harry waited for the group to calm down before he said in his most authoritative voice that Hermione still found funny coming from her life-long friend, “This is not up for discussion. You all have been chosen for a reason, same as Malfoy. He wouldn’t have been asked if we didn’t think we could trust him.”
Everyone turned to look at Malfoy who was leaned back in his chair sipping his tea like he was watching a morning cartoon.
“Court ordered,” he said with a smirk. “No getting around it. I’m deeply sorry,” his voice dripping with sarcasm.
The rest of the meeting continued, but Hermione had stopped listening. She couldn’t stop analyzing the blonde on the other side of the table. His eyes were the same shade of grey as storm clouds; she could’ve sworn they were blue when he was younger – but she hadn’t seen him in years and it’s not like they were friends so why should she even know something like that anyway. She remembered thinking his face was pointy and harsh, but looking at him now, all she saw was a strong squared jaw, high cheekbones, and soft brows. He had broad shoulders and she could tell beneath his perfectly tailored suit, that the muscles in his arms were well defined. He looked like a marble statue of some ancient Greek hero. It was annoying.
His face stayed impassive as his attention remained on Harry’s discussion. She wondered what he thought about being here; wondered what his life had been like since the war ended. Hermione remembered hearing about him a couple times when soldiers would come to the infirmary after a battle, but never anything of great interest. She recalled the time she stumbled upon him and Snape in the middle of a very intense conversation in a corridor outside Slughorn’s party. In hindsight, she knew they had been discussing his attempted murder of Dumbledore. Harry had told her and Ron all about what happened on the Astronomy Tower that night. The pieces had all clicked together with that last bit of information. He had been struggling all year with the orders from Voldemort and in the end, he couldn’t do it. She didn’t know why but knowing that secret about him – something she was confident that only she knew – made her feel a bit of relief. She felt like it finally confirmed her sneaking feeling towards him. Like the clues she’d been picking up on had finally revealed the mystery. Draco was not a bad person. He was forced to do awful things because of the choices his father made and required of him. She realized she’d been staring too long, because his passive expression towards Harry changed to something between taunting and quizzical as his eyes slid to meet hers. As if he caught her doing something she shouldn’t. Hermione forced herself not to blush, returned her gaze to Harry, and glued them there for the rest of the meeting.
She tuned back in just as Harry was asking, “Any questions?”
Angelina perked up, “I have one,” she said as she caught the room’s focus. “And I mean this is the nicest way possible, but why is Hermione here? What does she have to do with this?”
“Ah, yes. That leads me nicely into my next point of business,” Harry replied. “Hermione will be joining both task forces for alternating periods of time while we are out doing our recon.”
Shockingly, it was Draco who spoke up first, “And why are you allowing her to join on these missions?”
He didn’t say it nicely and Hermione knew why. Of course he wouldn’t want to have to hunt down his former alliance members, while also having to protect someone like her – someone with her blood. She tried her best not let it affect her.
“Not only is Hermione one of the best healers I know,” Harry responded, “but she is also brilliant enough to be close to developing a tracking potion for hunting down dark magic – aka our targets.”
“Woah Hermione, that’s wicked,” Anthony piped up. “How did you manage that?”
For the first time that meeting she spoke, “Well I haven’t quite managed it yet, but I think I’m close. Which is why Harry is allowing me to accompany you all.”
“Hermione’s potions still need some adjusting. So, since we will be tracking these Death Eaters all across Europe, that will allow her to collect the rare ingredients needed for her potion, while also being available to help us should any of us get into trouble,” Harry explained further.
Now it was Hermione’s turn to be nervous for the words that would come next. Without looking up, keeping her eyes on her hands she said, “I was actually thinking, if it was possible, that is.. well maybe I could take a little bit of the magic out of your Dark Mark, Malfoy? I think it could be a key piece in the tracking potion. Of course, I’ve been working with other dark magical objects instead so it may not even be necessary...” she was rambling and Harry knew it.
“I’m sure Malfoy would be more than happy to assist you Hermione,” Harry said while also implying that he didn’t really have a choice.
Hermione finally looked up at Malfoy. His pale skin had a faint green tint to it. He looked as if he was on the verge of being sick.