Chapter 2
Hermione Granger sat amongst a table of aurors with Harry at its helm. Letters and crude diagrams danced over the chalkboard on wheels as he paced about.
“Leaving the muggle car was a distraction then.” Interrupted a cool masculine voice from her left. Draco Malfoy flashed her a smirk from his end of the table as their eyes met. She did not return it.
“I agree. We should expand our search to the east. If he’s gone anywhere else it’s this way. Otherwise he wouldn’t have had enough time to leave the country so quickly.” Harry went on, pointing at a map on the wall with his wand before turning his attention back to his subordinates.
“I’d like for someone to accompany Miss Granger to the site of the crash to gather more information for the analyst.” Malfoy raised his hand calmly in response from his lax position in his chair, not sparing a glance at anyone.
“Alright, thank you Malfoy.” Harry said simply and turned back to the board to continue talking.
If Draco had been looking, he would have died in impact from the absolute daggers she now glared at him with.
Why did she even need a chaperone? She’d been consulting for the auror department for Harry on and off for quite a few years now and had been a ministry official herself some years ago, although she’s been out of the country since then.
And alas, the tag on her breast only read ‘Consultant’ now.
After some more deliberation, Harry declared the table dismissed. Everyone stood and started making their way to the door. Draco approached her instead.
“Alright there, love? Ready for our date?” Draco stood awfully close, towering over her with a dangerous smirk as if he was trying to intimidate. It certainly didn’t work, at least not on her. Hermione rewarded him a withering glare instead.
“You’re a boar, Draco Malfoy.”
He simply smiled his slimy smile and chivalrously offered her his elbow, which she turned away from and towards the door with her nose in the air.
“Let’s get on with it then.” She declared to him.
“See you back home, Hermione.” Harry said absentmindedly as he busied himself at his desk.
“See you, Harry.” As she stepped through the door, a memo flew up and hovered at her face. Draco snatched it before she had time to react, holding it open close enough so that she could also see the words.
“You have an owl waiting for you.” He announced as she snatched the paper from his hand and set off again.
The walk back to the entrance was silent. Hermione strolled quite gracefully in her red frock dress, a contrast to the relaxed swagger of the tall dark auror behind her. Who, unbeknownst to the woman, was leering at her swaying hips.
Reaching the crowded main entrance, Hermione walked up to the awaiting owls, who sat patiently on a pole. One of them perked up at her so she took its letter and it promptly flew away.
“New library card, Granger?” She ignored him and stuffed it into her enchanted red clutch bag as soon as she spotted the Hogwarts seal.
She made her way to the apparition point with the tall blonde at her heel and they vanished, popping back into existence somewhere in a dirty alley behind a muggle diner.
Draco mumbled a spell under his breath while Hermione made towards the car down the street, not bothering to wait for him.
“Are you planning on teaching anyone that spell or do you plan to keep it to yourself so Potter keeps coming back to you?” Draco asked her blandly, pulling a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it with his wand as soon as they passed the anti-muggle wards around the crash site. He’d transfigured his auror robes into slacks and a white button-up.
“Are you asking me to teach you?” Hermione didn’t spare him a glance while she made her way around the car waving her wand at the ground In careful shapes.
“Generous of you to offer. I’m honored.”
“Come here then.” She canceled her incantation with a whispered Finite and a somewhat surprised Draco came up to her. Without complaint or prejudice, Hermione patiently taught the man her tracking spell. He managed to successfully cast it on his first walk around the car, revealing a dim silver glow that permeated the area.
This didn’t surprise her at all. She’d worked with Draco many times over the years. She had stopped being impressed with his intellect a long time ago. He was quite good at tracking charms, but his true expertise lay in medical charms, surprisingly enough.
The both of them went around casting various spells and writing down their findings, occasionally making comments on their discoveries.
Hermione noted a residual magic in the driver's seat. It was blue and felt vaguely familiar as she touched it with her wand. Draco wrote down their findings, concurring that the signature left by whatever magic was cast in the drivers was odd and not like anything he’s ever seen himself.
She took the liberty of casting a complicated stasis charm, congealing the residual magic into a single drop and stoppering it into a small vial, where it became invisible once again. She handed the empty-looking vial to Draco, who dropped it into his breast pocket.
“Give that to Ducky. She’ll know what to do with it.”
“You’ll have to teach me all your new tricks, Granger.”
As unfortunate as this duo was to Hermione, Draco was actually quite a capable investigative auror, and as much as it pained her to admit, they also worked quite well together.
Perhaps she might even enjoy his company if he weren’t such a pig.
“You should open that letter.” She glanced up at him, expecting a smirk or some sort of jab, instead he seemed very serious.
“It had an urgent stamp on it.”
Hermione blinked.
“It did?” She reached into her purse and pulled the letter out, finding that it did in fact have an urgent stamp. She must have missed that.
‘Miss Granger,’
‘I have a young man in my office now that is in dire need of your protection and expertise. Tell no one of him. Please come see me at your earliest convenience.’
‘Headmaster M. McGonagall’
“Is that what this library sent their best librarian to do at Hogwarts? Babysit?” Draco spoke so startlingly close to her over her ear that she nearly jumped. He had been reading the letter over her shoulder.
Hermione resisted the urge to elbow him, instead, she shot him a glare, which he smiled at almost fondly. She folded the letter and dropped it into her bag, attempting to ignore him.
“You know, it seems a waste of your talents if you ask me. Hermione Jean Granger, brightest witch of our age, a librarian. I’ve never understood it. You could have gone places in the ministry.” It was an insult and a compliment both at once.
“I’m not a librarian, I'm a historian! for the Library Alexandria.” She defended with the haughty signature brand attitude that Hermione Jean Granger was known for. Draco smiled in triumph.
“I’ve been approved to write a compendium of every single spell that has ever been cast in and around the Hogwarts castle and how they have collected and compounded since its founding in 990 A.D. It'll be the most extensive documentation of the history of the castle since Bathilda Bagshot's Hogwarts: A History. I think that's substantially more interesting than a ministry desk job.” Hermione huffed in annoyance.
“Of course you do. Honestly, Granger, you and that book.” He shook his head with a short deep chuckle.
Just then someone walked into the warded area, causing both witch and wizard to swivel towards the disturbance with their wands pointed in surprise.
“Malfoy. Granger.” A tall dark-haired man about Draco’s height strutted in fearlessly, despite the expert wands trained on his head.
“Nott.” Draco greeted back flatly. The pair lowered their wands in unison but kept them at the ready because this was not Theodore Nott. It was Cain Nott, Theodore’s disowned brother and former heir of the Nott family.
“Forget your department? This is an active crime scene investigation. Go back to your cubicle.” Draco said dryly.
Hermione was glad to have him with her for once. A great many of the aurors were afraid of Cain Nott, allowing him to bully his way into crime scenes with no discernible reason for being there. He never explained himself as he didn’t have to. His position as an Unspeakable for the Department of Mysteries was all the justification he needed to ruin anyone’s crime scene. Unspeakables are, unfortunately, above the jurisdiction of the majority of the Ministry.
“I have permission this time, from your very own. See for yourself.” He produced a paper from his coat and placed it into Hermione’s outstretched hand.
It was indeed express permission from the Head Auror, Harry Potter, to inspect the crash site alone. Hermione sighed and handed the man back his note.
“I suppose we’re done here anyways. Come Malfoy.” Draco ended their tracking charms with a silent finite and followed the witch’s clicking heels out of the wards, glaring at the other wizard as he left.
“Prat.” Draco spat as soon as they were out of earshot.
“I agree with you for once.” Hermione thought she saw Draco smirk at her from the corner of her vision.
“Cuppa?” Malfoy gestured at the rundown diner as they neared it. Hermione couldn’t quite tell if he was taking the piss or not.
“Afraid not. I’ll be off to help Minerva with her problem.” Draco nodded absently, glaring back at the warded area where Nott now inspected something near the back of the car.
“I’m staying to see what the git does to muck up our crime scene.” He sneered as he said it. Hermione nodded and Draco looked back down at her and split a devilish grin.
“Send the old hag my love will you?” He said disingenuously before heading into the muggle diner, hands in his pockets. Hermione shook her head and slipped back behind the building. Chancing a glance at the wreck just as it vanished behind a wall, she found Cain Nott staring back at her.
She vanished with a pop, wondering why an Unspeakable was interested in this case.