Prologue

"I'll be fine Harry." Hermione sighed for the fourth time this evening.

"Hermione, I know you think you can handle that and you're probably right, but… Merlin." This time it was Harry who loudly breathed out the air. "You know what I am talking about. Grindelwald is dead, but that doesn't mean prejudice is gone. He is a Slytherin, Hermione. All I am saying is you should be careful around him, okay? They're called snakes for a reason." He looked in her eyes and started to shake his head.

"You think I'm overreacting?" he finally asked and Hermione noticed the first signs of irritation in his eyes. "A bit," She answered, and proceeded to wash the dishes. She cooked the dinner for them since Ginny was away on some training trip with her Quidditch team.

Hermione thought it will be a perfect occasion to catch up (Harry was abroad for the last two months), and casually mention her plans of proposing an amendment which would abolish house elves' slavery for good. Hermione thought, that since Harry seemed to be rather taken with Blaise Zabini he will not mind if she was to work with him. ("He was quite good in duelling, you know… for a Slytherin, I mean… Turns out he can drink half a bottle of raki rrushi without throwing up, which is considered an achievement by the locals. I guess that's why we never had any problems with bogins. Finch-Fletchley found one in his closet, poor bloke couldn't sleep for a week…"). She was wrong.

"You worked with him, Harry, and as you said it yourself 'he's good at his job'. Plus, since he was tolerable enough for you –"

"Yes, he was," said Harry unexpectedly, nodding his head "Because he was watched by Moody the entire fucking time."

He took a sip of water and then put the glass in a sink. "Do I really need to say that Hermione? For Gods' sake…You are a Muggle-born and they keep on being murdered… No one knows by whom. You are in constant danger and volunteering to work with a Slytherin who was Malfoy's best friend is not the best idea. " He looked both irritated and concerned, and somehow Hermione could not be angry with him. Her best friend Harry - always on a mission, always trying to save everyone.

"They don't talk with each other and you know it Harry. Bloody hell, thanks to Skeeter everyone knows it. He's never called me… that. Being Slytherin and Malfoy's ex-best friend doesn't make him a criminal."

"Yeah, well it doesn't make him innocent either." He looked at her pointedly. "I know you're gonna do what you want anyway, but just listen to me and don't trust him. At least not entirely."

Hermione closed her eyes, and then said "If I promise to be cautious and tell you about anything suspicious…"

"I will be mildly happy, but I'll stop arguing. I really understand that it's a big chance for you Hermione. I know that house elves' rights are… You know… Your thing. And that this might be the first and last chance to fulfil your dreams. I really get that, and I am not trying to ruin that for you, okay? You know that I would go with you to the Minister, and sign any papers you may need, if I was able to." He spoke sincerely, and Hermione was touched by his support for the cause, despite his opinion on Zabini.

"I know Harry. Honestly if there was anyone else, I wouldn't pick Zabini for this. But you are going to be somewhere in Albania, Cedric is on the leave, and Ron transferred to another department, so it's not like I can ask him to do that." Hermione caught his hand in hers and squeezed it. "It's a small trip to another ministry department. There will be other people around, and I promise to have my wand handy all the time. If he tries anything you will be the first person to know, okay?" He gave her a small smile and a firm nod, then kissed her on the hand and grab his jacket.

"Can I use your floo?"

"Of course, and please make sure to tell Ginny to visit me someday. I haven't seen her for ages and with the Ministry Ball coming up I am in desperate need of help with shopping. If she plans to leave me with Lavender again, you may tell her that she can't call herself my friend ever again."

"I think doing anything with Lavender must be awful, she's a terrible company. How her parents can stand her is a mystery to me," said Harry. Hermione suddenly became serious.

"Don't say that Harry. She may not be my best friend, but she stood up for me in school when Malfoy's gang tried to make me suicidal. Her friendship means a lot to me."

"I am sorry, but you've got to admit she can be a nuisance. I mean, even Ron says he can't stand her for a longer period of time and he dated her."

Hermione smiled, "She is a bit eccentric I guess…"

"A bit? Are we talking about the same person here, Hermione? All right, I am not saying anything." He gave her a quick hug, and stepped into the fireplace. "Be careful Hermione."

"I will." She waved him goodbye when he disappeared in green flames.

Hermione was tired. She was tired of her blood status blowing up in her face every now and then, she was tired of constantly having to prove herself, and she was tired of the paranoia that spread over the wizarding world like wildfire. Of course she felt frightened by the Muggle-born purges that were happening in Britain for several months now. It was terrifying to feel Death's breath on her neck each time she read about new victims in that parody of a journalism that Daily Prophet was. She wanted a break from this madness, a break from chronical insomnia and panic attacks that were resurfacing every time she was in elevators or small rooms. Harry constantly reminding her of how she is practically dead certainly did not help. Actually, the only person who has never mentioned this topic in front of her was Lavender. Probably because she was too self-involved to really see what was happening, and too silly to even think of some murderer as a potential threat. She thought that death was something that happens to other people, and her involvement was limited to choosing an appropriate robe for the funeral.

However, underneath all that shallowness and naivety that Lavender carried around like a shield and sword to fight all her life problems with, there was a genuine goodness that shined through from time to time, making Hermione proud to call herself Lavender's friend. She will never forget how Lavender took care of Ginny when she, Harry, and Ron skipped last year of school. If it wasn't for her, Ginny would probably lay in St. Mungo's for weeks. With her skinny silhouette and looks of an angel it was easy to forget how skilled Lavender was with her wand.

Hermione would have never guessed that she will be friends with her, especially after she basically snatched Ron away from her in their fourth year at Hogwarts. They broke up soon enough, but Hermione vowed to never speak to her anyway.

They made up few years later during post-graduation party which was thrown by Dean Thomas. The girls were forced to cooperate when they got lost after appariting on the outskirts of muggle London. Dean being in a permanent state of intoxication since the previous evening when he celebrated coming of age with his family, forgot to take the wards down and in consequence landed everyone few streets away from his home. Neither of them knew his address, so they spent three hours wandering the streets in search for anyone who could help them find a way. In the end it was Flannigan's pyrotechnic experiments that showed the way – he set Mrs. Thomas' rose bushes on fire and caused panic among muggles living in a neighbourhood.

They haven't spoken about Ron, but they reached some silent understanding about pretending to be oblivated of Ron's involvement with Lavender and begun to talk to each other again, like the whole thing has never taken place.

Lavender however, remained Lavender and as such she has never made it into Hermione's inner circle of friends. They met often enough due to being from the same house. Additionally, Lavender was involved with Andrew Goldstein who was Hermione's partner in Herbology during both her fifth and sixth year. And so, few years after graduation, Lavender Brown sneaked into Hermione's life.

Hermione went to her desk and started to look through the papers she was supposed to present to the head of Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures tomorrow morning. There was a unique opportunity to end house elves slavery for good – possibility of adding an amendment to the Hogsmeade Ordinance. Thanks to Luna, she already had a report on house elves' living conditions, but she still needed the opinion of an Auror as it would determine if freeing house elves will not prove to be dangerous to muggles, or witches and wizards.

Zabini was an Auror with all possible permissions and certificates, and so Hermione asked him to back up her proposal. All he had to do was go to head of the department with her, testify, and give his signature. Then someone from said department would present it to the Minister, who will present the amendment to the Wizengamot, and if they were lucky house elves should be free before noon.

Hermione still could not believe that it was happening. After all those years she was finally able to keep the promise she made to dying Dobby. She had to make sure that the documentation was complete, and therefore was checking the page count for the fourth time this evening.

Cold sweat running down her spine made her shiver, and Hermione knew that her nerves will not let her sleep today. She should expect her insomnia to kick in, and buy crossword book, or at least take that pile of paperwork from her office. Sighing, she left the papers on her desk and went to the kitchen to grab dust wipes. She could always clean her flat, and since it looked like she won't be having any sleep tonight, she might as well do it the muggle way.

It was 7 in the morning when a floo call woke her up.

"Granger? Granger, are you there?" Blaise's low voice almost made her jump. "Zabini? Did I sleep over?" Her panicked voice was few tone higher than usual as a sense of panic washed over her.

"No, but you need to get to the Ministry right now. And don't worry about the house elves, we have a situation here and Minister postponed all of his appointments until Monday."

"What? What happened?" she said, trying to remove cat hair from her sweater.

"Listen Granger, I cannot tell you anything over the floo, but you need to be in the Ministry in ten minutes, or else we're both fucked. Like, royally fucked. Ten minutes. Can you make it?"

Hermione looked over her crumpled clothes and rubbed her eyes. "Fifteen minutes and you owe me an explanation Zabini."

"Oh, I could kiss you Granger! Floo directly to my office, trust me you don't want to be in the main hall right now."

As soon as the call ended, Hermione run to her bathroom. Not paying much attention to clothes was one thing, but showing up in her workplace with clothes she wore the day before, and which she then used to clean her entire flat was another thing entirely.

She summoned the pile of clothes she prepared to wear yesterday, only to discover that her skirt had a whole along the seam. She cursed, and went back to her bedroom to find something to wear. As she quickly realised, the only piece of clothing that didn't require permanent-pressing charm was the grey winter dress that Lavender forced her to buy on their last visit to Madame Malkin's. She still had some time but her hair will require at least five minutes to wash, dry and coax in a way that won't make her look like a wildling. It took three cleaning charms and four minutes to clean her body, as there was no time for a shower, and another two to brush her teeth while she was dressing up. Having only few more minutes, she hurriedly washed and dried her hair with a single charm. She picked up her bag and floo Zabini's office.

'"What on Earth has happened to you?" asked Zabini with a tone that clearly indicated worry mixed with fear.

"I fell asleep around four and slept on the couch, hence the dark circles underneath my eyes and –"

"- I'm not talking about your face Granger. It's actually the only thing that looks almost presentable. That dress, those shoes… Have you seen a mirror today? You look ridiculous.'

Hermione felt the urge to punch Blaise in the face as she once did Draco Malfoy, but she was not thirteen anymore and so she settled for a death glare. 'Well you don't look much better than me, I am sure.'

Zabini took three steps toward her and pointed at her head 'That is a mane worthy of the king of the jungle.' He pointed at the left sleeve of her dress 'And that is a toothpaste. I am not even mentioning the fact that this dress looks like something Romilda Vane would wear -'

"- You just did. Look, I am no supermodel. I get it, I really do. But it was you who told me to get here at this hour and I slept for three hours today, haven't eaten anything and I am not in the mood to hear a lecture about the length of my dress, so if you could tell me why exactly am I here and just ignore my looks I'd be more than grateful." Hermione tried to put all of the anger she had into the stare that she sent Zabini and apparently it worked. At least in part, as he stepped back and folded his hands on his chest.

"It's not about my personal tastes Granger. Moody wants to see us, and I needed you to be here as soon as possible, because I told him that you already were at the ministry when he asked." He sighed resignedly.

"Just put your robes on to cover that thing, do something about your hair and for God's sake tell Lavender to piss off next time she wants to buy you clothes."

"Why on earth did you tell Moody that I was already here, and how do you know it was Lavender's idea to buy that dress?" asked Hermione, as she was putting her black robes on, tying them tightly to ensure the dress won't be showing.

"I explain on the way to his office. I said we'll be there half past seven, so we should start walking," said Zabini, and opened the doors for her.

"And who else has a taste so poor, and the personality so engulfing that you chose to capitulate and buy a dress that I am sure you wouldn't normally even look at?"

"She said it's perfect for the Bell's luncheon. I didn't go in the end, and it hung in my closet for two years now. You gave me ten minutes and I just grabbed a first hanger," said Hermione, as if to explain herself which was absurd as Zabini was not a person with whom she would ever discuss her fashion choices. She opted to change the subject "So what is it that Moody wants me for?"

"I can't say for sure but I would guess it has something to do with what happened at the Unspeakable floor," he said, as they rushed through the corridor.

"And what happened at Unspeakable floor?" asked Hermione, feeling slightly confused. She had absolutely nothing to do with Unspeakables. She wasn't even sure which floor belonged to their department.

"That's where things get interesting. Finnigan's mother run from there as if her life depended on it, screaming something about blood, and passed out in the middle of a hallway. Next thing I know Moody's swearing and shouting something about Fudge's arse. He asked if I knew anyone in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and since I was waiting for you anyway… Then Lucius Malfoy showed up and said that you cannot take the case, because we should not let anyone in to the Ministry as the crime scene has not yet been taped off, that securing entry points is a priority and that Moody apparently has problems with memory if he doesn't know that, and that maybe he should resign… So I said that there is no problem, because you just went to the bathroom and will be back in a minute or two," said Zabini looking very proud of himself.

"I guess every occasion is good to make Lucius Malfoy hate you even more?" asked Hermione with a smile on her face.

"Oh yes. He can't look at me since the day me and Draco… you know, stopped talking. And he is a Head of the Unspeakables' department sooo… Is it really a stretch to assume he may want to hush whatever caused all this commotion up?" asked Blaise with a Slytherin smirk that usually graced face of Draco Malfoy after he came up with new mockery.

"I guess it's possible, although Unspeakables are completely independent from other departments. If an experiment goes wrong they have their own procedures to deal with it. It's the only department that answers directly to Wizengamot, we have no jurisdiction over anything that they do."

"What does that mean?" asked Blaise frowning his brows in confusion.

"It means that if we are involved, then whatever happened had to be either very dangerous for the entire magical population, or completely beyond the responsibilities of their Little Councils meaning- "

"-meaning that shit is about to hit the proverbial fan. Right on time Granger, Zabini." Moody inclined his head and opened the doors to his small office.