Working Overtime
Hermione arrived at Grimmauld place with fewer nerves than before. She was ready to enjoy her weekly dinner with her friends and decompress herself from everything that had happened over the past week.
"What's for dinner tonight?" Ron asked, stepping through the Floo.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "I know we settled on doing our weekly dinners here, but I feel we should start trading off on who is making dinner every weekend."
"That works for me," Hermione spoke, walking into the dining room as everyone followed in behind her. "I can cook for next weekend."
Ron groaned. "You all know I can't cook."
"Then bring something instead." Harry sat down in his seat. "I would settle for some take-out."
"Fine." Ron threw his hands in the air like a child. "We can trade off weekends on who is cooking or bringing food."
"Good." Ginny smiled, setting down a roast surrounded by roasted potatoes on the table as everyone took their seats. "Now, shut your traps and eat."
"Don't have to ask me twice." Ron immediately started to fill his plate with food.
Harry was halfway done with his plate when he looked up at Hermione. "I believe you said you would tell us how you and Malfoy..." He trailed off. "Well, you know. You said you would tell us today."
Hermione sighed, forgetting about what she had promised them. There wasn't too much to tell without all of the details that she didn't want her two guy best friends to hear. "There isn't much to it."
"I just want to know how two people who hated each other managed to create a baby," Ron said, food still in his mouth.
Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "It was really Theo and Ginny's fault."
"It was not!" Ginny yelled; mouth wide open.
"I'm sorry," Harry fixed his glasses. "What does my wife have to do with this?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Theo wanted Ginny and me to come to a Halloween party in the Slytherin Common Room. Ginny was insistent on going, but I didn't want to. Eventually, she and Theo forced me out of the safety of my dorm and into the snake pit."
"Okay, one," Ginny started. "We did not force you." She took a sip of her wine. "And two, how did you expect us to know that you'd end up in the ferret's bed by the end of the night."
"Woah!" Ron went to cover his ears.
"Too much information!" Harry also went to cover his ears.
Hermione shook her head quickly. "We didn't do anything that night I promise." She gave them both reassuring looks and waited until they removed their hands from their ears before she continued. "Ginny ditched me and left me with Malfoy. I ended up feeling sick from drinking too much, so he took me to his dorm. I ended up falling asleep and left in the morning. That's all."
Harry looked over to Ginny with a disappointed look. "You left my best friend alone with an ex-death eater while she was drunk?"
Ginny looked down at the table like a child who was being lectured. "It wasn't one of my finest moments, but on the bright side the most beautiful little angel came out of it."
Hermione smiled broadly down at her plate. Ginny wasn't wrong, she never regretted what Draco and she did during eighth year because it brought her the most wonderful and beautiful daughter. The moment Cassie was born she felt as though her life had been restored. If anything, she was grateful to Draco for giving her something to live for.
Ron furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait, so if it didn't happen that night then why did you two...well, you know."
"It kind of just happened gradually. We saw each other in the library and in the corridors. I started talking to Theo more often and I would find myself in the Slytherin Common room late at night where I'd run into him." She paused, taking a sip of her wine. "We ended up realizing how broken we both were from the war and that's how we connected. Soon one thing led to another, and I was pregnant with Cassie."
"After the first time?" Harry glared at her, shocked.
Hermione shook her head. "No, but it was rather quick. We had decided to end things for the better and a few weeks later I found out I was pregnant."
"That's it?" Ron asked. "I mean you two just turned to each other for sex instead of abusing drugs or alcohol as most did after the war?"
Ginny threw a dinner roll at Ron. "Seriously, Ronald!"
He put his hands up in surrender. "I didn't mean it in a bad way. I was just asking for clarification."
The eyes at the table turned to Hermione and she took a deep breath. "Yes, Ron."
"See." He looked at Ginny, gesturing his hand toward Hermione.
Ginny rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "Whatever."
It wasn't the whole truth. Of course, there was more to it. They didn't just have sex to forget about the war. Though it did seem to help, that wasn't the entire story. She and Draco had conversations where they talked about things they had never told anyone else. He knew things that even Harry, Ron, and Ginny didn't know.
But they didn't need to know that. Hermione knew what she was doing all those years ago when she gave Draco the option of staying or leaving. They were just kids, and she didn't want him to have to deal with something that he didn't want. She would never admit it out loud but when she was standing at the top of the astronomy tower that morning, a part of her wanted him to stay.
"Someone has a birthday coming up." Ginny's words pulled her from her thoughts.
She sighed. "I just want to spend my birthday soaking in the tub." She turned to Ginny with a stern eye. "I do not want any surprises or parties. Understood?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "I don't know why you don't like celebrating your birthday."
"We could just hang out here." Harry budded in. "Have some wine and fire whiskey. Nothing big."
"Yeah, we could watch one of those movies you like to torture us with." Ron grinned.
Hermione clicked her tongue. "13 Going on 30 is a fantastic movie." She shook her head. "You just don't have good taste."
"I don't get it!" Ron threw his hands in the air. "Who would want to be thirty when they could just be a kid and not have to deal with adult stuff!"
Hermione and Ginny laughed as Harry went to speak. "You know, I actually don't get it either. I would do anything to be a kid again." He paused for a moment, rethinking his word. "Well, actually... maybe just our first year at Hogwarts."
"Even then we were still dealing with things, Harry," Ron spoke into his cup.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, but it was a lot less than what we went through in our later years."
Everyone seemed to think back to when everything seemed so simple. A time when three best friends played life-sized wizard's chest all to find a stone. Hermione couldn't even think about Cassie doing something so dangerous. They must have worried their parents way too much in school.
"On the topic of birthdays," Hermione cleared her throat. "Cassie's birthday is next month."
"Oh, yes." Ginny got excited. "The little pumpkin is turning eleven!"
"She's growing up way too fast." Harry shook his head and everyone agreed.
"I wanted to ask for all of your opinions on something." Hermione set her fork down on her plate and looked at everyone.
"Go for it. Our ears are open." Ron smiled at her, going for his third plate of food.
"Well," Her stomach swirled with nerves, but she couldn't understand why. "Malfoy said he wanted to get to know Cassie before we told her that he's her father. I was thinking about maybe...possibly inviting him to her birthday this year." Hermione had thought about it a lot over the past week. She knew that he wanted to get to know Cassie more, she just couldn't think how to go about it.
"I think it's a great idea, 'Mione," Ginny spoke, lifting her wine glass to her lips.
"Yeah, I don't see a problem with it. Plus, all of us will be there as well in case you need something." Harry spoke.
"I agree," Ron stated. "I think it will be better with having other people around as well."
Hermione smiled and sighed happily. "Okay, then. Once Cassie settles on what she wants to do for her birthday, I will send out the invites."
~
Hermione returned to her empty and quiet flat around 9:00 pm ready to change and jump into her bed. She didn't realize how much wine she had at dinner until they were saying their goodbyes and she had to hold onto Ron's shoulder to keep herself from tripping.
She tumbled through her bedroom, taking off her clothes as she made her way to her bed. The moment she was under her goose-down comforter she could feel her eyes falling heavy. In just a few short moments she would be sleeping peacefully. Only if it wasn't for the damn owl tapping on her window.
She pulled herself from her bed, wrapping the sheet around her body. The moment she opened her window the cool breeze of the night brushed against her skin. A small scroll was attached to the talon of a black tawny owl. The owl seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite place whose it was.
She threw the owl a treat expecting it to fly away but it stayed perched on her windowsill. "Just make yourself at home then." She threw her hands in the air before they slapped back down at her sides.
Hermione walked over to the single-lit candle in her room and unrolled the parchment. Her eyes were blurred with sleep as her belly stirred with the warmth of alcohol. The moment her eyes adjusted she was surprised and yet confused at the same time.
Granger,
I was looking over an old unsolved case file and I believe I may know something about it. I know it's late but if you were up to it, I am at the office. My owl will wait to leave until you have given him your response.
~ DM
Hermione rolled her eyes and groaned. She was too drunk to apparate or use the Floo. She could just say she would meet him at the office tomorrow, but an unsolved case did spark her interest. She always liked to look back at unsolved cases where it was believed that a cursed object was used but no one could figure out what the object was. It was her favorite pastime when things were slow at the office.
She sighed and dragged her feet as she crossed her room to grab a piece of parchment and her quill. She tried to focus on her writing as much as possible to make sure it wasn't too sloppy.
Malfoy,
Drink too much to come to office. My Floo is open and Flat's address is below.
413 Sparrow Lane
Apartment 12
London
England
~ Me
She rolled up the parchment and attached it to the owl's talons, watching as it flew away. She turned toward her armoire and pulled out her favorite cozy red jumper and black pajama shorts. She threw her hair up into a messy knot and slipped on a pair of slippers.
The moment she walked out of her bedroom she heard her Floo being activated. She walked down the stretch of her hallway that led to her lounge room. Stepping into her lounge room she saw Draco dusting off his black dress pants and navy dress shirt.
His hair looked ragged from exhaustion and the top two buttons on his shirt were undone. He held nothing but a large file in his right hand and his wand in his left. He turned to her, causing her to snap out of her trance. "Hi."
"Hi." He responded, glancing down at what she was wearing before finding her eyes. "I brought the file."
Hermione nodded very slowly. "I'm going to make coffee." She started to walk toward her kitchen, head feeling light. "Do you want some?" She threw it over her shoulder.
"Sure." Draco followed her into the kitchen, finding a spot at the dinner table that only sat four. "You said you had too much to drink? Where did you come from?"
She nodded her head. "I was at Grimmauld place with Harry, Ron, and Ginny for our weekly dinner." Hermione started a fresh pot of coffee as she turned to see Draco sitting down with his eyebrows furrowed. "Right." She paused, walking over to sit across from him. "You're not used to muggle contraptions."
Draco shook his head. "Yeah, I have no idea what you just did."
Hermione let out a small laugh. "It's a coffee pot. It brews coffee for you." Draco still seemed to be confused so she brushed it off. "Nevermind, what case did you bring?"
Draco set the file out on the table and opened it. "It's the Jenkins case. I was reading over it and may have some information that could help with the case."
Hermione stood from the table and went to fill two mugs full of coffee. "I remember the case. It was one of the first I worked when I first started in the department. Jenkins was a 64-year-old man who lived alone with no kids or wife. One day he was found murdered in an alleyway in knock turn alley."
"Correct," Draco said, laying out all of the papers in the file. "The medical report read that he died from what seemed to be a sharp object being stabbed into his lung which caused him to suffocate until he eventually died."
"Yes," Hermione walked back over to the table and sat down, handing Draco his cup of coffee. "It was almost missed as the body had no external wounds and the puncture to his lung was only a small incision."
Draco took a sip of his coffee. "Which is why you and Phillip believed it to be a cursed object."
Hermione nodded. "There was no explanation for why the external wound would be healed while the internal wound was not. I've looked back on this case over the years, but I've never been able to crack it."
"I believe I may know what the object is." Draco looked up from the file and directly into her eyes.
"What?" Hermione's chest leaped at the thought that she might be able to close a case that had been cold for so long.
Draco sighed, looking back down at the file. "When he was at the Manor, I saw a lot of different cursed objects. A lot of them which I know for a fact are not in possession by the Ministry."
Hermione noticed the way he couldn't look at her while he spoke of the past. It was what he did when they were younger and would have conversations about everything they had been through. Most nights they would lay in bed and stare at the ceiling and just talk.
He leaned back in his chair, reading over the medical report. "There was a knife I had seen once." He swallowed harshly. "I had seen it used."
"You don't have to talk about it, Malfoy." Hermione leaned forward; her hands wrapped around her mug. "You know that you don't have to talk about anything you don't want to."
Draco took a deep breath and closed his eyes before shaking his head. "No, it's fine. It was years ago." He looked up at her and met her eyes to assure her before continuing. "The knife had this power to kill but once removed from the body it left no mark...no wound."
Hermione thought it over in her head. "It sounds like what we could be dealing with."
Draco set down the medical report and crossed his arms. "This certain object is not in possession by the Ministry, but I have no idea what happened to it after the war."
Hermione knew it was a long shot. There was a chance it wasn't the knife even though it sounded like it could be. There was also no way to tell who had the knife today or where it was located. "It wasn't left at the Manor?"
Draco shook his head. "No, most things were taken by the Ministry after the war but there were multiple objects taken by death eaters before the Ministry could get their hands on them."
Hermione crossed her right leg over her left, her mind becoming clearer as the coffee worked through her system. "But weren't most if not all of the death eaters captured and imprisoned?"
"Yes, but not all were captured right away, and some lower rank death eaters have already been released from Azkaban." He took a sip of his coffee. "Either way they would've had enough time to either store or sell the objects before or after they were taken away."
Hermione sighed and rubbed her forehead with her hand. "We would just have to figure out a way to track it."
Sitting across from him, she noticed the way he seemed lighter, but he still carried a weight on his shoulders. She saw it in all of her friends. Everyone who went through the war still carried the weight of something they couldn't forgive themselves for.
"I'm going to look into other cold cases and see if any of them correlate with the Jenkins case." He paused. "I'm sure if someone used the object once then they did it again. There's a chance it was overlooked as something else but there has to be something more."
"We can look over it more tomorrow. If it's a slow day then I can run down to the archive room and look into some other cases." She stood and walked over to the sink to put her cup inside.
Draco started to organize the papers and put them back into the file. "Jenkins was murdered in 2002 which means we need to look into the death eaters still alive and who were released from Azkaban before then."
Hermione leaned back against the counter with her arms crossed, processing the information. "Okay, I can pull the cases tomorrow and you can pull the records on the death eaters."
Draco walked over to set his mug in the sink when his eyes caught something. Hermione studied him as he walked toward her fridge and looked at the child-like drawings that were hung up. He stopped when his eyes landed on a photo of Cassie.
The photo moved as Cassie threw her head back laughing about something that someone did behind the camera. She was younger and her hair was so curly it looked like a lion's mane. Her crystal blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight as she seemed to be sitting in front of a window.
"How old?" Draco asked, never looking away from the photo.
Hermione walked over to stand next to him. "She had just turned four." She smiled. "Theo had put on one of Pansy's dresses because Cassie had asked him to. No one had ever been able to say no to her so Theo did as she said, and everyone started laughing because of how silly he looked. Harry snapped the photo."
Draco let out a small laugh as the corner of his mouth lifted. "She looks adorable."
"She was. Still is." Hermione looked over at him and noticed how his eyes glistened while looking at the photo. She took a deep breath and grabbed the photo off of the fridge. "Take it."
Draco looked down at the photo in her hand before looking up at her and shaking his head. "No, I shouldn't-"
"Malfoy." Hermione cut him off. "Take it. I have another copy that I can put in its place."
Draco sighed, pausing a moment before grabbing the picture. "Okay." He slid the photo into his pocket and walked back over to the table to grab the file. "I guess I will see you at work tomorrow?"
Hermione nodded, walking with him into her lounge room. "I'm sure I'll be there before you." She smiled up at him.
Draco let out a short laugh and shook his head. "We'll see about that."
The two of them stopped in front of the Floo and Hermione watched as Draco threw the Floo powder into the flames. "Goodnight, Malfoy."
Draco nodded to her once before stepping through the Floo. "Goodnight, Granger."