Alright this is my first official Harry Potter fanfiction, so I apologize ahead of time if their dialogue doesn't sound very accurate, it's my first time writing in a British dialect. I would also like to warn people a head of time that this story is going to be rated M because of violence, and minor mentioning of rape. I will also probably make a few things graphic, so if you have a fear of gore than I would skip that part. Other than that, I do tend to write fluffy romance scenes. So I hope you enjoy Dramione as much I do. By the way this story had been Submitted into the NaNoWriMo contest. This chapter all on its own is 9288, I'll end up keeping track as I go into chapters.
Summary: A new rule in the Ministry now requires that all Aurors have partners, the new rule causes Draco and Hermione to partner up. A new case now develops causing the two to put aside their difference and work together before more muggleborns turn up dead. Can the two get along and find that there suited for one another or will their partnership be short lived.
Chapter One:Partners.
A hazy fog had settled over the empty streets of Diagon Alley. Normally in the daytime these streets would be bustling with frantic shoppers and merchants, but tonight the streets lay vacant. Vendors and shops closed up tight for the night, their candles already doused causing the midnight shadows to loom over the alley ways and flood into the streets. The overcast sky only adding to the darkness of the vacant streets. Not a living soul to be seen tonight.
All save for one.
A young woman ran from street to street, darting through alley ways, cutting across streets. Her heels clicking, the sound bouncing of the walls echoing through the streets.
She ran faster and faster, her heart beating so loudly it seemed to stay in tune to the sound of her heels. The woman was too frightened to look behind her, too focused on getting. All she could focus on was running and getting away.
"Mobilicorpus." Her attacker shouted.
Why wasn't her magic working?! She had tried to defend herself before she ran but nothing came out of her wand. None of the spells she used had work. What was going on?
She turned down a side street hoping to find a place to hide and catch her breath. But the moment she reached the corner she felt her legs buckle up, and a rush of air. She had fallen face first into a puddle.
The spell took effect, she felt as if thin wires had wound themselves over her neck, her wrist and her legs. Oh god, her mind cried, the tears burning her eyes.
She craned her neck to look at the man who was now looming over her. She watched in her frozen state as the man bent down and picked up her wand. He then pointed at her with s sneer on his face. "Why are you doing this!" She shouted her fury mixing in with her words, "I don't even know you!"
He only snickered at her and pointed the stolen wand at her, "Quietus." And with that any another words she had wanted to say caught in her throat.
The man bent down over her, his pelvis pinning her to the ground and his legs tangling up on hers. Hot tears trickled down her cheeks as she felt the man's breath on her ear, "Are you the one?" His voice rasped.
He pointed the wand at her once more, and placed his free hand on her breast, and the other he pointed the wand at her tear stained face. He laughed as the woman pleaded in her mind for help.
"Cruico."
Her silent pleas had gone unanswered that night.
Today was going to be one of those days, Hermione Jean Granger decided the moment she woke up that morning. She had woken up exhausted and with a slight throbbing pain in her left temple. But that's what she got for staying up late researching.
That hadn't been the only red flag she had received that day. During her morning shower she had realized too late that she had forgotten to buy the only conditioner that tamed her lion's mane of hair. She wasn't one that devoted time to making herself pretty. But she did try on her hair. Her hair always got in her way, when she cooked, when she read or when she was working on a case. It was definitely a problem.
Nothing to be done about it now. Her mind sighed. She could pick up more later, nothing to get too upset over.
On her way to the kitchen though, she had spotted a book on her floor that had been shredded into confetti. Crockshanks. Her mind hissed. Upon further investigation of the book she found that it had been one of the newer books she had just purchased. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep to stop a shout that rose to her lips. Well, he'll just have to go without supper tonight. She could just go and purchase another after work. She cleaned up the mess and had shot a glare over at the sleeping bundle of fur that had curled up on the couch. She sighed frustrated and headed to the kitchen.
She had quickly made herself a light breakfast without burning anything, she was thankful that she hadn't been cursed with the same misfortune as she had earlier that morning. Her headache even seemed to be fading. Guess my luck is changing. She smiled as she gathered her files.
She had only transferred to the auror department a few month ago. It had been a hard decision. She enjoyed her work and accomplishments in the department of Magical Creature and Elf Rights. But after doing all the goals she had tasked herself with she had begun to get bored with her job and had grown to miss the action and challenges she had faced when she had been younger. After much internal debate she had placed her request in and had been reassigned on the spot.
Neville and Harry who both worked in the auror department had been trilled and congratulated her. Ron on the other hand had been less so. Since the fall of their relationship he had been distant and moody to anyone other than Harry and his family.
Her relationship with Ron had been a sore topic since she had gone back to school, which he hadn't approved of. Right before she had announced that she had planned to return to Hogwarts. He had proposed to her. When she had turned him down, as gently as she could she told him that she hadn't been ready to settle down. He had understood she hadn't been ready, but what he hadn't understood was the fact she had wanted to return to finish her education. He had failed to see how important that had been too her.
They had fought for hour. He had warned her that their time apart would cripple their already shaky relationship She had thought their partnership had been stronger than that.
She had been proven wrong on that front.
She had left for Hogwarts. They spent the first few months not speaking to one another. Hermione on her part had been too stubborn to be the one to apologize first. Maybe if she had things might have ended differently.
But now she knew that had been a false hope she had clung to.
She had gone to the burrow during Christmas Break. Everyone had greeted her warmly, all except for Ron. He had been distant, avoided her gaze. He didn't even embrace her. After a few days of that she had confronted him. At first he tried to brush her off, that he had been feeling under the weather and hadn't wanted her to catch it. They both knew that had been a lie. Some few words later he had confessed that he had cheated on her.
It had been a one night stand. He said it meant nothing to him. He had gone on and on, about how lonely he had been while she had been gone. He apologized over and over. She had been furious with him, eventually she had calmed down and rationally thought about it. After a while of not speaking to him, she had forgave him and took him back.
She had been wrong to do so.
A year later, Hermione had graduated, (Head girl might she add), had gotten her job in the ministry and even acquired a cozy flat in muggle London. She had even considered taking Ron's marriage proposal up. But that had been before another one of his secrets revealed itself
A woman had approached Ron and herself one day, the woman had been four month pregnant and had declared Ron had been the father.
He had cheated on her again. There had been no excuses that time. She didn't buy into anything he said. She gave him no time to explain she just walked away and refused to even see him after that.
It was what he deserved, she told herself. Harry who didn't know what had happened had tried to get her to speak with Ron, but she refused. After a bit, she had met with Ron privately. She told him they could never be what they had been, but she still wanted to try to be friends for the sake of not only the memory of their old friendship, but also for Harry who would be caught in the middle. She told him she forgave him which he returned with scorn. He blamed the whole thing on her, that if she hadn't gone away to school than he wouldn't have cheated.
They had fought some more, but they had agreed on one thing. That Harry and everyone else could never know of the real reason they had separated. On her part she knew why Ron wanted to keep it a secret. She knew he didn't want to look like the bad guy, even though he had been. But on her part she knew that if Harry knew it would drive a wedge between her friendship with him. She knew even before that incident that Harry would always side with Ron, no matter what. They were best friends after all. She knew that he would always take Ron side over hers. She hadn't wanted to lose her friendship with him so she agreed to withhold the truth from him.
Though everyone could see the tension between Ron and herself. It had been obvious. At first they had tried or at least she had to be civil with one another but it had been in vain. There had been too much bad blood between them.
Harry had asked, so had Ginny and the rest of the Weasly's but they both had brushed it off, and eventually they stopped asking. There had been times where Harry and Ginny both had tried to convince them to get back together, those attempts had stopped after a while as well.
The three; Ron, Harry and Hermione hadn't hung out all together after that. She knew Harry had been disappointed but it became too painful to be around Ron and his snarky curt remarks towards her. Eventually she had distances herself from the two and had immersed herself with her work. Passing up times to be around the two claiming she had been too busy with her paperwork.
Then she had switched departments. Every now and then she would be invited to lunch with the two of them, on most days she would claim she had too much work other days it couldn't be avoided. She felt guilty for ignoring Harry. On those days Harry had seemed happy, talking about how it was like the old days, while Ron's attitude only seemed to worsen with her around. She wandered whether their friendship could ever return to normal. But after all this time, his anger towards her fermenting she knew that it wasn't a possibility.
She shook her head, now was not the time to dwell on the past, she had to get going or she would be late for work.
She glided over to her fireplace only to find that she was out of floo. "Wonderful I forgot to stock up." She grumbled. Now she would have to apparate to work. Just thinking about it made her stomach do flips. Unfortunately for her the Ministry had an anti-apparating charm casted on it, so she would have to apparete outside the building, in the pouring rain, on a cold September day. Oh today was getting better and better. She thought sarcastically.
She never enjoyed the feeling of apparating, but then again she knew she wasn't the only one. After having her insides jostled and ripped apart she arrived at the ministry all in one piece. Regaining her senses she managed to get inside before she got drenched. With a quick wave of her wand her clothes dried. She quickly ran to the break room to pour herself a hot cup of coffee. Sure the office coffee was bland and stale, but it was still coffee and it was still warm. The perfect thing to warm her up, and hopefully give her the strength to make it through the day.
With her favorite mug in hand she made her way to the auror department office. On her way she couldn't help but recalled all the changes that had been made since the war. Before the war the ministry had been corrupt, and incompetent. Rather than prevent a catastrophic event from happened they turned a blind eye and pretended it had been happening. Now the ministry worked to prevent events like that from happening. They also changed the task of aurors, instead of only handling cases where dark wizards were involved, they now handled anything that seemed odd. They were basically the muggle equivalent of detectives. The past five years had been dedicated to making the ministry stronger so in case they ever ran into a situation where a power hungry wizard or witch rose to power they would be ready.
She had smile to herself proud that she was a part of this when an intern had an intern absent-mindedly crashed into her, spilling her hot coffee all the way down her blouse and causing her mug to fall to the floor shattering the moment porcelain met tile. Lucky for her she knew she could fix her mug, though her clothes were not as lucky. There was not a spell in the world that could remove coffee stains. Hopefully someone would get on that.
After that she reached the door the door to her office hopefully her strain of bad luck had ended. When she was about to enter her office she heard voices inside the room. Who would be in her office at this hour? She listened closely to the two voices, she thought it might have been Harry and Ron, until she recognized Kinglsy's voice, but the other, it sounded familiar but she couldn't tell who it was. Hopefully this wouldn't be more bad news she had enough already. But the feeling she got had been telling her otherwise. She took a deep breath and gripped and handle and pushed the door opened.
"Miss Granger." She heard Kinsley say but had been preoccupied to comprehend. She was too focused on the other person who had perched himself on the side of her desk. Dressed in what she assumed was probably a custom tailor suit probably made from the finest material that seemed to contour to his every curve, was the overly proud, conceited narcissistic Draco Malfoy.
What the hell is he doing in my office? Her mind screamed. It had been at least five years since she had last seen him. She had recalled seeing in a few of her classes when she had returned to Hogwarts to finish school. She remembered he had hardly said anything to anyone. He hadn't picked on anyone, nor did he play his usually pureblood supremacy card. It was strange how he kept to himself. He didn't even make any snide comments about her "dirty" blood. He didn't even try to belittle her. In fact it seemed like he had done everything he could to avoid her.
She had also read about him in the papers after the war. He had been pardon and had been given a probation period of three years. She also knew that his father was still serving his life sentence in Azkaban and his mother had just been released a year ago but was still under probation and had an auror who she had to check in with everything month. But other than that she didn't know what else had happened to him after graduation.
Other than the fact that he looked so much more mature and sophisticated than he had in school. Especially while he was looking at her with those cool grey eyes, his eyes were very nice-
No! She stopped the through before it went any further. This was Malfoy the prat king who used to bully and belittle her for her blood. She would not allow herself to think he was good looking, even if he was. She did wonder why he was he though. He couldn't have possibly go himself into any trouble. Maybe he had crossed some ex death eater and he needed protection. That couldn't be it considering the smug smirk he was giving her.
Kinsley cleared his though bringing her full attention back to them, he smiled, "I'm sure you remember the new rule I enforced," He smiled.
She did not like where this was going, "Yes sir, the one where all Aurors are now required to have partners assigned to them." Thanks to Harry and Ron's reckless behavior and there talent for always getting themselves into danger, Kinsley had to create that rule to keep the aurors safe, and to make sure all aurors kept in line. Last thing they needed was corruption in their ranks.
He smiled at her, "Mr. Malfoy here has just been assigned to you."
She felt her heart skip a beat, and a lump rise to her throat. She hadn't been assigned a partner yet, she had only assumed that there hadn't been enough Aurors in the department. But Malfoy wasn't in the department. She would have known if he was. Harry and Ron would have been the first to protest against it, yet she hadn't heard them complain about working with him. "But sir, Malfoy isn't with the Auror department." Hopefully there had been some mix up with the paper work, she hadn't seen his name in the ministry registry. She glanced over to Malfoy who seemed too relaxed and cocky for his own good. Why was he so calm? Why didn't he throw some sort of hissy fit about having to work with her? She knew he hated her, yet he didn't show any sort of distain or disgust at the fact. Unless this was a new way for him to torment her. It was working.
Though in some part of her mind she did wonder, maybe Malfoy had changed after the war. It could be possible, and he had redeemed himself during the war. He hadn't confirmed it was Harry when they had been trapped in the Malfoy Manor. Whether that was out of cowardice was another story, but she had hoped it was because he didn't want Harry to die.
Kingsley raised an eyebrow, then strode over to her and right before he left the office he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Mr. Malfoy transferred to our department last week, the paper work just went through." He smiled, "Why don't you show him around before you work on your next case."
And on that final note, Kingsley left the two. To say she was shocked would be an understatement. How could the ministry allow an ex-death eater into their ranks? She knew that a lot of people Aurors included would be not only suspicious but hostile towards him. Even if he hadn't killed anyone during the war that didn't stop others from assuming he had. He might as well put a bull's eye on Malfoys forehead. No one would accept him, they wouldn't even give him a chance she knew Harry and Ron wouldn't. She also knew that Harry and Ron would both over react to him joining the aurors. She hoped Kinsley had a good reason for letting him join. She had also been shocked that he had joined the Auror department willingly. He had to have known he would face prejudice when he joined. Honestly she felt sorry for him. That he would be watched and judged with every move that he made. It couldn't have been an easy choice for him to join the auror department.
She could still feel that awkward silence hang in the air as she watched him. "Alright Malfoy, I'll show you around." She said trying to make her voice as docile as possible. She was already having a horrible day, she didn't want to antagonize him into an argument. One could only hope he had matured in the last five years.
She watched him as he hoped off her desk and walked directly in front of her, and with a conceited grin plastered on his face, he opened his mouth and made her day worse;
"Woah Granger who knew you had a body like that!"
\.../\.../\.../
His cheek stung. If he had known Granger would have slapped him for his compliment than he would have just insulted her instead. She couldn't just take a compliment and leave it at that. But noooo she had to go and slap him. Full force might I add. "Last time I compliment her…" He grumbled.
"What was that?" She snapped.
"Nothing." He replied stuffing his hands in his pockets. Currently the former Gryffindor Princess was showing him around the office. Thankfully they hadn't run into Potter and Weasabee. He knew they worked in the same department, but they didn't know he did and he would like to keep it that way. Last thing he needed was them jumping him thinking he was a spy or something. He'd imagine Weasely to say something about him making a new death eater cult and him being the leader trying to worm his way into the ministry to get info.
What he hadn't know was that Granger worked as an Auror, he would have thought she'd be part of a muggles rights department, or fighting for creatures rights. Or something else that was overly self-righteous and right up her alley. He never would have guessed she was a part of the auror department, he was definitely surprised, but even more so when he had been assigned her partner.
If someone had told him when he was younger that he would be partners with Hermione Granger, he would have laughed, and probably said something along the lines of how he would rather swim in a leech and disease infested swamp than work with a "mudblood". But now that didn't matter to him. Her being a muggleborn wasn't so much of a concern to him as it had been in the past. In the years after the war, and if he was being honest, in his sixth year, his views on muggleborns had shifted.
His father had shoved so much prejudice down this throat that he never once questions why he had thought he was better than them. In his sixth year, before he had been given the dark mark, he had witnessed his father and Voldemort torture then kill dozen of innocent witches and wizards because of their blood status. It made them feel powerful, but he didn't share that feeling. It left him feeling disgusted and ashamed. He had been forced to watch his aunt torture Granger. Granger had been strong, she held out longer than he through she would. His aunt had been relentless, but Granger never gave up. It had been horrible and even he had wanted to run up and snatch the wand away from his aunt. But he had to think of his mother. She had only supported the Dark Lord because of his father and himself. The Dark Lord had known that and had his followers watch her. He was threating her to make his father perform better. He had also used his mother to ensure he would remain loyal. He couldn't do anything to help Granger, not when he had his mother's safety to worry about.
He did regret not helping Granger, her screams still haunted him.
As he followed behind Granger he couldn't help but notice the subtle changes that the years had graced her with. He had to say he had been slightly taken back when she had walked into the office. He was right when he told her she grew into her curves. In school she had always worn baggy sweaters that did not flatter her in the slightest. But now she wore a nice blouse and dress pants that seemed to hug every subtle curve she had. She had that right kind of shape, where she wasn't skin and bones, and she wasn't heavy. He couldn't explain, it was just a nice shape. Her hair had always been a bushy mess that if you happened to sit behind her in class you wouldn't be able to look over it. Now it seemed to have calmed down into waves, and slight curls. Sure it was still bushy, but it didn't occupy the room. She looked good.
And he couldn't believe he thought that. He was checking out Hermione Granger, the bookworm know it all herself. Must have been a momentary lapse of insanity.
He had been taken out of his thoughts when Granger turned around abruptly to face him with an expression that could turn him to stone. "And that's the office, questions?" She asked curtly. Maybe she realized that he hadn't been paying attention. That was mostly likely the case, since that look was not pretty.
"Yeah what's out mission?" He wanted to get right into the field. Hopefully he wouldn't be stuck doing paperwork or research, if Granger was involved it was more than likely.
She groaned and shot him a look. "Well I was assigned to look into a recent burglary at diagon alley." She then walked back to her office with him in tow. She went over to her desk and handed him a small file. "About four days ago, Slug and Jiggers Apothecary had been broken into. The thief had made off with a number of items; one jar of Doexy Eggs, one bag of monkshood, one bushel of nightshade, three bushels of bloodroot, one bottle of peppermint oil and one moonstone had been stolen. A team of aurors had done a sweep of the place and had found no trace of the robber, and no witnesses have stepped forward either. We're not even sure how they had gotten in, anit-aparating charms were placed on the story daily, and the floo system is private. No visual signs of forced entry, and no magic had been used on the locks."
Draco rolled his eyes, great his first case was about a petty thief. Probably a teenager getting ingredients to prank someone with. "Is this case really worth looking into? It's just a robbery."
She shook her head, "If this had been "just" a robbery." She emphasized and shot him a look, "Than there would have been signs of a forced entry, or the door being busted down, or spell had been cast on the locks or a windows could have been smashed. No. There were no signs like that. And the anti-burglary charms hadn't gone off. So were dealing with someone who knew how to get past security charms and not get detected by magic, and by people seeing them."
She still was her know it all self, that hadn't changed about her. He let out a groan and crossed his arms, "Can't they assign that case to someone else?" There was no way he would start off with a case like that. He had needed something to prove to Kingsley, to prove to the rest of the wizarding world that he could handle this job. He also needed to prove to the wizarding community that he wasn't a death eater, he served his probation and he hadn't done anything illegal in years. No one seemed to believe him. This case wouldn't be the one to show anyone what he was capable of. Not to mention this case was a dud.
"You can't just say no to the mission your assigned to. " And the know it all tone surfaces, "There are certain protocols that stop an auror from doing that. Not to mention were assigned missions based on our skills."
"Do you always follow the rules?" He sneered, "Oh wait your Granger, the ultimate rule follower."
She scoffed at him and sat down behind her desk. "Oh shut it Malfoy. This case is a perfect one to start off on." He could tell she was annoyed. Wonder how much more it would take to really get her angry.
"You said it yourself, the other aurors had already done a sweep and found nothing. What are we going to do research?"
"Well we need to show the shop keep we are doing everything we can," She argued back, "And trust me, I would much rather work on another case, but we were assigned this one and we have to finish it."
"You mean you were assigned it. I wasn't here when you got it so I'm not on it."
"If you're my partner now that mean you are too."
"Does not!"
"Oh grow up Malfoy!"
"You first Granger!"
"Urg you're infuriating!" She shouted throwing her arms up.
He smirked, it was fun getting under her skin. Maybe this partnership wouldn't be as terrible as he thought it would. He sat down on the other side of her and watched her pull out a notebook of some kind and then she began to jot down some notes, most likely it was in regards to the burglary case. After a few minutes of him just sitting there he thought it would be a good time to break the silence. "So Granger, how long have you've been in the auror department?"
She looked up from her notes, her eyebrow arched, "Why do you care?"
"Consider it small talk." Did he really need a reason to ask?
"Six months ago."
She had only been here for six months, "Where did you transfer from?" He wasn't sure why he was curious, he just was.
"Only if you tell me why you transferred to the auror department." Bullocks, he would have to come up with something. No way was he confessing anything to her. He had to come up with something believable too, Granger wasn't stupid and wouldn't take just anything without questioning it.
"I didn't want a desk job." She would have to buy that for now. He didn't want to pour his heart out to her. She'd probably run off and tell Potter and Weasely. "Now you." He half expected her to give him a half assed answer like he had but he was surprised when she thought over her answer."
"I was happy in the department for regulation of magical creatures, but something didn't seem right." She shook her head and looked back down at her papers, "I thought that after the war I would have just enjoyed the peace and quiet of that position, but after a while it had gotten a little, well boring. So I switched departments, and I actually love it here. It challenges me."
He hadn't expected that kind of an answer, and he had to admit that he felt guilty that she had given him a true full answer. He was about to reply when the door swung open, turning in his chair he was greeted by a mousy looking woman with messy short cropped hair with her hair hung low. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything…" The woman squeaked. Draco could tell she was looking at him by the way she was hiding her gaze behind the rims of her glasses. He flashed her a smirk which made her entire face turn reed like a tomato, and he could swear he thought he saw her glasses steam up a bit.
Hermione sat back down in her chair and gave him a warning look at him. She was such a kill joy. "No you aren't Penelope." Granger smiled, jeeze she could really switch her mood like a flip of a coin. "Malfoy this is Kinsley Secretary Penelope Ramley, Penelope this is-"
"Draco Malfoy!" She blurted, diverting her eye away from the two of them. How the heck did a mousy woman like her get a job in the ministry? He wondered. "Y-your uh new partner, Kinsley briefed me about it before you came in." He smirked, he still had a fan club even after the war. I guess somethings stay the same. He thought smugly.
"Hey." He smirked.
The mousy secretary squeaked out another reply, but it was too quick to understand. Before he could ask for a repeat, Granger cut in, "What do you need Penelope?"
"Oh!" She blurted, her blush turning ten shades darer, "Kingsley assigned you a new mission. He said the burglary case can be set aside since no new information has surfaced." She mumbled. Had to have been a Ravenclaw or a Huffpuff. He was sure there wasn't an ounce of Courage in that mousy body.
"May I see the case file? Granger asked.
"Of course…" Penelope replied, she glanced back at him then darted her eyes away from him. This woman needed a back bone, "I better get back to work."
Granger flashed her a smiled and sat back down opening the case file, "Thank you Penelope."
"You're welcome Miss Granger."
Right before she left she looked back towards him. He smirked, this outta be fun. "Yeah thanks Penelope." He emphasized her name and she ran quickly from the room saying something to high pitch and fast to be audible. Mouse lingo. He thought rolling his eyes, he turned back to Granger who did not look happy. But when is she ever happy? "What?"
"Your impossibly you know that?"
"Impossibly handsome you mean." He smirked.
"No you're impossibly arrogant. Why did you have to do that to her?"
"Do what?"
"Oh don't play innocent! You teased the poor thing. She won't be able to speak clearly all day now!" She huffed. Is it me or is her hair frizzing out? He thought as he watched her hair frizz around her. Maybe her hair portrays when she's angry.
"Are you even paying attention?" She snapped.
"Did you know your hair frizzes when you're angry?" He could feel her anger radiating off of her, and she the silent struggle in her eyes to calm down. She was way too easy to read.
After a few minutes she seemed to have calmed down a little and opened the case file. He watched her face pale slightly as he eyes skimmed over the files. It must be something gruesome to make her flinch the way she was. "So what is it?" He asked as he leaned against the desk.
She let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose before she shook and head and closed the file. "It's a murder case."
"What are the details Granger?" He asked leaning over the desk.
She let out another sigh and handed him the file, "The pictures are a bit graphic." Her voice sounded as if there was a heavy burden on her chest.
She hadn't been lying. The pictures were bad. The file had shown a young girl that looked to be around their age, twenty something the woman had been in pretty rough shape, her clothes had been torn, her hair sprawled out, mixing in with the blood and mud on the ground. Her eyes were bulging out and had turned a disgusting shade of greenish yellow. While her mouth, tongue, and gums had all turned a dark shade of blue, almost black. But that hadn't been that strange, there were many potions that could turn someone's mouth black, what had been strange was the fact that her blood had turned black. Darker than the color of her mouth.
"Gwendolyn Hopkins." Granger stated raising from her chair. "Age twenty-five, a house elf doing errands had found her this morning." She added grabbing her bag, "Come on Malfoy."
He hopped off the desk and followed her, the file tightly gripped in his hands. He hoped that this case would help him start off on the right track but he also hoped that they'd be able to catch the guy who had killed her.
/….\/….\.../
Hermione had been completely wrong when she thought her day couldn't get any worse. They had arrived at the crime scene only to get caught in another downpour. Luckily the aurors on scene had already placed charms on the scene to prevent the rain from washing away any evidence they might have missed. But she still had gotten drenched before she reached the crime scene.
Stepping into the charmed area she glanced down at the body. It was one thing to see a picture of the victim, but to actually be around the physical body was another story. The first murder case she had been assigned to had given her a rude awakening. She had been used to seeing a body dead, because of the war but it hadn't prepared her for a mutilated body. During the war she would witness wizards using the killing curse which had been a quick death. But the bodies she would examine all looked like they had suffered a very slow and painful death. With time she thought it would get easier but it would seem that with each new case it would get worse.
She crouched down to examine the body further. The aurors that had been called beforehand had thankfully left everything as is, which made her job a bit easier. She looked over to Malfoy who seemed to be looking around for more clues. Good he went right to work, hopefully he won't bother him for a while. She had to focus, she couldn't afford to be distracted by him doing.
She glanced around, they were in an alley way, near nocturne alley. She didn't expect many witness to come forth since the residents there kept to themselves. The body had been placed near the trash cans on the side of the alley. Could this have been the dump site? The murderer probably didn't think too much of the victim by the way he had left the body. He didn't bother to cover her up or hide her. Didn't bother to cover up her torn clothing. She then took in the victim's appearance.; she was lying belly up, her eyes locked straight ahead as if she were still looking at her attacker before they had killed her. That hadn't unnerved the murderer which meant they were dealing with a seasoned killer. Anyone who hadn't had the training nor the experience wouldn't be able to have their victim's eyes on them. Her arms were still sprawled out after rigor mortis had set in.
She glanced down at her legs, they looked as if they had been bound together before she had been killed by the way they laid. Must have been a spell since there were no signs of physical restraints. That was why there had been barely any signs of a struggle. Her clothes had been torn exposing her chest and her torn bra. Her skirt had been shredded and barely covered her hips. The cuts on her looked as if they were made by magic, not by hands. In fact the only sign that he had touched her physically was that there were hand prints on her breast and on her thighs. She looked away, she could tell just by the hand prints that she had been sexually assaulted there was no need to look under her skirt to see. She couldn't tell if it had been post mortem or not. She shook her head the murderer was definitely sick in the head. She looked at the cuts, they were definitely caused by magic, possibly the crutiatous curse.
She glanced over at the victims face and felt herself frown. Her brown eyes were forever frozen staring above. Terror had washed over her features. Her last hours had been spent being torture and raped, and possibly poisoned. She surveyed her it was definitely some form of poison that had died her gums, tongue, and blood black. She would need a toxicology test and whatever spell had been used last on her. She didn't know of any poison that could stain her gums that color.
So not only had the victim endured torture, and had been sexually assaulted, she had to also suffer through being poisoned and by the look of her physical features. At this point in their investigation, she couldn't assume that whatever poison was used on her was also used to kill her.
She looked over to the coroner who was sitting on a bench near the entrance of the alley way, "Sir!" She called over to him, "What can you tell me about the victim? Other than what had been listed on her profile?"
The coroner popped his head up from his ledger, and bounced over to her almost like a giddy school girl. He was an eccentric fellow with brown messy hair. He was young probably only a couple of years older than her. He was a tall guy, and skinny too. "Oh yes Miss Granger." He replied quickly, he then started flipping through his ledger periodically pushing his glasses back up on his face. "We performed a search for fingerprints, none of the spells came up with anything. If there had been any fingerprints they've either been washed away by the rain we've had these last few days, or the criminal had a spell that removed them. There is no evidence that could point them to the murder and judging from her wounds, time of death puts her at two days ago around eleven pm."
"Did anyone file a missing person's report?"
"Oh uh yes. Her boss had. A mister Adalbert Abbott. He reported her missing yesterday." He replied adjusting his glasses. "She was employed at Obscurus Books. Whoever did this, is a professional. There is no way someone who didn't have any experience killing could have done this and not left any evidence."
She nodded her head, she had been right about that then. She smiled at the coroner, "Errol Elphick wasn't it?" She had seen him before at other cases, but the two had never been formally introduced.
"Oh yes Miss Granger." His mood had seemed to have brighten at that. Well glad she could make someone else's day better.
"Good work, thank you."
"You are quite welcome Miss Granger, always happy to help." He smiled and walked back over to his seat. He was definitely a cheerful fellow. She wondered how he coped with the task of examining murder victims and still stay so positive.
She was about to reexamine the victim when she had been called out of her concentration, "Hey Granger!"
Malfoy, she inwardly groaned. She glanced over, "Yes?"
"I found a wand." He said as he held up an evidence bag that held a broken wand. Was it the Victims she wondered? Or the murderers. Hoping it was the latter's she made her way across the crime scene to where Malfoy was standing. Why would they break the wand? They didn't need to. It could have happened during the struggle. Why would they hide the broken wand near the garbage bags and not just dispose of it? Was it just being lazy or sloppy? Or could it be the opposite, could they have done that to prove that he couldn't be caught. If that was the case than he was cocky and arrogant. Not a good combination. "It looks like a willow wand. I'll send it in, maybe they can determine who it belongs to and what spell had been used last."
She nodded her head, "See if they can get any fingerprints off the wand."
"Right."
She looked around the crime scene once more. They were already removing the body. "There's not much else we can do here. We'll go around here and question a few people, then we'll head to her employer."
"The two aurors had already questioned the people around here. No witnesses. It'll be a waste of bloody time if we go and do that again."
She rolled her eyes, he was so impatient. But he did have a point. If there were no witnesses here, or any that step forward than there was no point in doing it again. "Alright then have them send a copy to my office. Let's go talk with her boss." She stated as she held out her arm, "we'll aparate there."
He gave her a pointed look, "I don't bite Malfoy."
"But you do have a good right arm, I still remember that punch."
She was going to develop the habit of rolling her eyes, "Just take my arm Malfoy, we don't have all day."
"Alright!" He breathed out then mumbled under his breath, "No need to bite my head off." She probably thought she wouldn't hear him, Idiot.
After the two appareted to a different part of diagon alley they headed to the bookstore. Hermione took the moment to brief Malfoy about the etiquette of questioning potential witnesses. Something that needed patience and keeping a level head. Something told her he wouldn't be able to keep a professional demeanor. Last thing she needed was him to go and bully the poor man. "Alright Malfoy listen up." She said as she turned around to face him. "When we go, do not raise your voice, do not insinuate anything, and do not accuse or threaten him. We are here to ask questions only, and do not raise any suspicion."
"Jeeze Granger what crawled up your arse?"
She could kill him! How on Earth did he ever get a job as an auror? He must have used money to bribe his way in. There was no way they would let this immature get in. She shot him a look, "Just act professional, I know it might be hard for you but dig deep I'm sure your maturity is in there somewhere." She looked away and muttered, "Maybe under all that hair grease…"
He scoffed and crossed his arms, Oh look she got him mad. "Look Granger I know how to handle myself. It may be a bit of a shock for a know it all like yourself, but I was trained for this job."
She begged to differ, but now wasn't the time for another argument. "Just let me do all the talking."
"Whatever Granger." Was he pouting? Merlin she knew children that were more mature than he was.
She shook her head and turned to enter the older bookstore. The moment she stepped through the threshold she was greeted by that all too familiar sent of old dusty books. To many it was a terrible smell that would send someone into a sneezing frenzy, but to her it was familiar and comforting. She heard Malfoy stifle a cough before she headed up to the counter.
The desk like many of the shelves had been covered by a thin layer of dust. The wood flooring that might have been at one point stained a deep crimson oak color, now faded into a dull brown grey. On many parts of the wall the paint had begun to peel and crumble. You could see water cracks begin to form on the ceiling and on the walls as well. With the rain storm they had had, it was a wonder the roof wasn't leaking. This shop had seen the years and had not held up against the creeping of time. She felt a slight at her heart. She hated to see bookstores in this kind of shape. It could definitely use some renovating. She thought as she spotted a loose floorboard over to her right.
She waited behind the counter for someone to come over, she could see from the corner of her eyes that Malfoy was growing impatient. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She glanced down at one of the isle and to her luck an old plump looking man was stacking books on one of the shelves. She cleared her throat and approached the old man, getting her badge ready she spoke scarring the man and causing him to drop the books he had been carrying, the dust from the floor rose into the air. "Adalbert Abbott?"
The old man turned around as quickly as his old bones would allow. He was balding at the top, the hair that he did have grew wildly on the sides of his head. He worse thick rounded glasses that made his eyes appear much bigger than they actually were. He was also shaped like a ball that had sticks for arms and legs.
She had to elbow Malfoy to stop him from snickering. Prat. She thought. "My name is Hermione Granger." She flashed her auror badge at him. After the war, the new ministry had required that all aurors were to carry a specialty charmed badge and license that could be replicated, duplicated, forged or tampered with at all times to prove to others who they were. It had also been blood bonded to the person so no one couldn't just pick it up, use a polyjuice potion and pretend to be that auror. "I'm an auror for the ministry and this is my partner Draco Malfoy. Would it be alright if we asked you a few questions?"
She saw Abbott flinch at Malfoys name, guess he wasn't a fan of the Malfoy family. He looked at him up and down trying to size him up. Hopefully his hesitance towards Malfoy wouldn't prevent them from getting information. After a moment Abbotts seemed to relax a little and looked back towards her. "Yes you may, but please make it quick, a customer might walk in."
"Doubts on that happening." Malfoy mumbled under his breath, causing him to receive another jab in the ribs
"Yesterday." She began, while taking out a magical infused quid and pad that began to record their conversation. "You had reported your employee Gwendolyn Hopkins missing correct?"
The old man nodded shakily, "Yes."
"How long has it been since you've actually seen her?"
"Um, I don't quite remember…um could you give me a moment please?"
"Of course."
The elderly man sat down on a stack of books, hand clasped together he started to mutter to himself. From behind her she could feel Malfoys irritation grow. After a few moments Malfoy broke the silence.
"Come on old man, we don't have all day!" He shouted.
Abbott shouted right back, his frail voice barely reaching a high pitch, "I-I beg your pardon sir?"
Hermione quickly jumped in hoping to stop the argument from escalating. Silently wishing Malfoy had had perception skills high enough to realize that he made the man on edge. "I apologize for my partner sir, he is just very impatient. Now when did you say she had gone missing?" She asked as delicately as she could. She would need to tread carefully. Obviously Abbot was weary of Malfoy, and with the tension that now formed in the room she could tell this conversation could tour sour at any moment.
Abbott cleared his throat, "If I remember correctly a day before I reported her missing…"
"And had she acted differently, any strange behavior? Had she been unusually quiet, or jumpy?"
"Let me think…uh…" He trailed off, which caused Malfoy to groan.
"Malfoy…." She hissed under her breath.
It looked as if Malfoy was about to retort when Abbott spoke up, "Well she didn't say anything strange…though she seemed jumpy, she kept looking around she even dropped the books she was carrying, she was never that clumsy before."
Most likely a stalker, or someone threatening her. Needed more info before she could come to a conclusion. "Did she say anything to you? Anything out of the ordinary that you noticed, maybe someone hanging around the shop, or waiting for her outside the store?"
"Oh um, let me think…"
Before she could even blink, Malfoy responded first, "Spit it out old man!"
"Malfoy shut it…" She snapped.
He glared down at her, "I will when, "He snapped his eyes over at the flustered elder, "he answers faster, we don't have all day."
"Give him a moment to think it over!"
"If we do that then we'll be stuck here till we reach his age!"
"Malfoy that's enough!"
"For all we know he could be the killer!"
"Malfoy I said that's enough!"
She had barely heard Abbott say, "I think it's time the two of you leave."
Malfoy turned back towards her and crossed his arms, "Now look what you've done Granger."
That was all she could take before her anger boiled over. She was frustrated and tired. All he could do was blame others and think of himself. He was a narcissistic prick who couldn't just keep his mouth shut. "What I did? You're the one that started being rude to him for no reason!"
Now that their voice had lowered, she could clearly hear Abbott, "You two leave now or I am calling your higher ups!"
Malfoy shouted back scarring Abbott, "Not until you answer our bloody questions!"
Abbott glared right back at Malfoy, his face had turned a deep crimson and sweat began to collect on his caterpillar eyebrows. "What is this all about?"
Before she could react and stop him, Malfoy blurted out the one think he should have held back, "Your employee, Miss Hopkins was found dead this morning in a trash pile!"
Abbott had fallen back, crashing into the book case causing a few books to fall to the floor. His face had lost all color to the point where he looked as white as a ghost. "Dear Merlin…" He grasped and held a hand over his mouth then grasped his chest in pain.
Dear God. Hermione thought as she rushed over to the elderly man. She caught him before his head had hit the floor.
Malfoy immediately shut his mouth, and rushed over, "I think he's having a heart attack." Hermione said as her panic brown eyes meet his anxious ones.
"Oh shite…"
And that's the first chapter, I know it seems like a lot for the first one but I had to cover a lot before we move into the rest. And please be warned this is not only my first Harry Potter fanfiction this is also my first time writing a murder mystery story. I normally just deal with romance and drama but I wanted to try something new. Let me know if Draco seems a bit out of character, I'm trying to make him a prick but I don't want to make him too immature so let me know. And wow that's over 8000 words for just one chapter, I've never had that many for one chapter before.