Hermione looked up at the large screen Astrid was working on. It was filled with numbers, a lot of numbers. She stopped bothering to keep track of them a long time ago. Astrid was the only one with the mind to be able to make sense of then anyway. It was frustrating though, to leave such an important task to another individual since Hermione was used to taking charge of the situation. It was important, though, to be able to delegate so Hermione exhaled slightly and allowed Astrid to continue.
Astrid was working on a probability. Every factor of every possible scenario was present on the screen to determine the exact probability of a location. This location was important. It was essential. It would lead Hermione to a man that has killed her parents in cold blood. This man destroyed her life and family. This man was Walter White and he had to die.
Hermione had left behind all her friends and loved ones behind in order to join the Fringe team and take down White. It had been their mission for months to find him and stop him. It broke her heart to think of the people she left behind, Ron and Harry especially. She could still hear Harry's last words to her. Don't give into hate Hermione. It'll destroy you. She has tried so hard to forget them but they rang in her head like sprites in a cage. She knew that killing another was something she had always been against. She had always been an active member in S.P.E.W., a group against the cruelty to elves. She had also always encouraged Harry against killing in revenge of his parent's death.
Hermione felt a light hand on her waist and turned to see agent Olivia Dunham. Olivia was one of the most trusted agents on the Fringe team and the head of the hunt for Walter White. She was cunning, intelligent and stunningly beautiful. Hermione grew to rely on her during the case and it didn't take long before the two developed a close bond. After 4 weeks they became partners. After 8 weeks they were sharing a bed. Olivia leaned in and kissed Hermione on the ear.
" How are you feeling?"
Anxious. She knew she couldn't hide it. Hermione had never been good at hiding her emotions. Still, she managed a small smile for Olivia's sake. Olivia squeezed Hermione's waist and approached the screen. She was gazing at the numbers intently but Hermione couldn't imagine that she could make sense of them.
"Astrid, any progress?" Olivia asked.
"Almost there," Astrid responded. Her answer was short and direct. Just like Astrid.
The numbers on the screen were moving around faster and grew with ferocity. Hermione didn't understand how any of it was progress. If anything they seemed to confuse the situation. But Astrid said they were close and she trusted Astrid. Once they had the final co-ordinate, Hermione could find White and end him in the same way he ended her parents. The numbers kept moving. They kept growing. It made Hermione dizzy and anxious, but they wouldn't stop. So she ran out of the room and sat herself down by the wall, her head between her knees.
Could she do it? Could she kill a man? Hermione had never felt a need to hurt another person but when she thought of Walter and what he did to her parents, all she wanted to do was destroy him in the most painful way conceivable. Living with herself afterwards was what she worried about. She could let the Fringe team take him, arrest him and give him a trial. But the verdict could be to let him live and her parents would still be dead. That outcome had no justice and she wanted justice. The ceiling started to spin and nausea filled her stomach so she put her head back between her knees and breathed hard.
Suddenly the light around her blacked out and she looked up to see Olivia looming above her. God she was tall. And beautiful.
"It's ready."
Hermione's stomach clenched.
"We have the co-ordinate.' Olivia said. "We believe we know where Walter is."