Draco Malfoy contemplated his situation. He was in the Department of Mysteries. He could still back down and leave. However, it had been two months since his twentieth birthday and the Soulmate mark appearance on the inside of his right arm, just above the Dark Mark. It was funny how love and hate were inked on him, next to each other. The Runes could almost touch the black skull and the snake would sometimes intertwine itself with the bar of the final Rune, its tongue tasting the letters.

The reason for Draco Malfoy presence in the Ministry was that no one had reported any Soulmate mark appearance. Desperate, he had checked The Prophet and the WICA, Wizarding International Chronicles Accounts every single fucking day for the last two months. The usual fashion would be that the Witch or Wizard first seeing the mark would announce it publicly to let their counterpart know of their identity. A Soulmate was seen as a benediction in the Wizarding world. It is said that Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw had shared such a bond. Not many archives had recorded history of Soulmates, but as the heir of one of the oldest lines of Purebloods, he had the Malfoy library at its disposition. Draco Malfoy knew the real secrets of a Soulmate mark. Thus, he wanted to find her and the only place recording such things was the Department of Mysteries. He had the feeling that the anonymity of his half was that she did not want to be discovered. There had been refusals of Soulmates in history, but it might have been the first time that a Witch or Wizard would ignore the mark altogether. Draco Malfoy, renown ex-Death Eaters could not afford the luxury of announcing the mark to the press, this would surely result in a flat out rejection for him, except if she was Pureblood. However, he was not counting on it as the Sacred Twenty-Eight had been reduced to the Sacred Eight during the last War and the last eight families had united their heirs, leaving him left out (Weasley married Potter, so yeah life sucks). The Greengrass had insured him that their youngest one could be his. She was graceful and nice on the eyes, but so frivolous he would have bit Buckhead the Hippogriff before marrying her.

The result would be that his intendee would surely be a less pure Pureblood (if it made sense), a halfblood or a muggleborn Witch. In any of these three cases, most of them had stood against Voldemort during the War and the chances of his Soulmate despising him were quite high. The only way to find her was to look at the Department of Mysteries' records. The person he was meeting today went to Hogwart with him in the same year. After the War, the fellow had gone back to Hogwart for his 8th year. Acclaimed by his fellow and admired by most of the people of his house, the man grew a backbone and graduated in the top three students of his promotions with four O's and two E's in his NEWTS. He worked at the Department of Mysteries as an Apprentice for a year before challenging the Head, Nathaniel Shadebrisk and criticising how the Department was led. He succeeded in rallying two third of the Unspeakables to his cause and overthrowing Shadebrisk in two weeks. It was the first time in Wizarding history that Unspeakables had been in the middle of a politic affair. The Ministry had no right to get tangle in that web as the Department of Mysteries was one of the only Departments completely independent from the core politics.

The man sat behind an expensive desk made of the finest wood literally oozed confidence. Draco had to say, Longbottom crisp suit and casual demeanour made him doubt about his memories of the scared and clumsy little Gryffindor.

"Malfoy." Greeted the other man.

"Longbottom."

"What brings you here ?" Longbottom inquired.

Longbottom and Malfoy's relationship was unusual per say. They were never extremely friendly to each other, but Malfoy did consider him a friend and vice versa. However, Slytherins were never quite the type to reveal themselves or show their real persona. They were always polite, but Draco never shared any of his real motivations to Neville nor did he ever deny any suppositions Neville made. It was the game of the cat and mouse.

"I was just around, so I thought about ducking here to visit you." To support his innocent claim, Draco kept his face straight and indifferent.

"I see. Would you want some tea ?" Longbottom was looking at him with knowing eyes.

"Sure. I have seen a couple of Unspeakables running around. It looks like you have been busy."

"Yes, we have. Couple of unexpected things happening here and there." Neville kept kept his head on the parchment he was 'reading'.
Malfoy waited for him to elaborate and maybe win this round without uttering any word, however, the room stayed silent. Damn, the Gryffindor is good.

"Couple of things ? Sounds ... interesting." Draco said casually. Longbottom stayed silent. "What has been happening?" The Slytherin propped on his elbows, his shadow partly covering the parchment. Opposite to him, Neville smirked before laying back in his sit.

"Why are you so interested Malfoy ?" Draco's hands tightened. He contemplated jumping across the desk and smacking the other person's face. Instead, he managed self-control, kept his cool demeanour, grabbed the red quill on the desk and pointed the tip of it to Neville's neck.

"You know what I want." Said the blonde with a sneer. The Unspeakable laughed, not flinching a second.

"What do you want ?" "You know why I am here." Reiterated Malfoy. " I won't help you except if you say it aloud." And then, the freaking Gryffindor managed to give him the innocent puppy look.

"I want her name." Really, there were not any details needed. They both knew what they were talking about.

"What do I get in exchange ?" Asked Longbottom. Gryffindors were evils. They were manipulative monsters. Courageous and Saints my fucking ass. Slytherins did not get trapped, particularly Malfoys and Draco had no idea how he ended up in this position. Malfoy stared, expecting him to go on.

"I heard that the Malfoys possess a book on Unbreakable Ties."

Oh, so that was the goal ? The Department of Mysteries had a whole room dedicated to the study of the power of Love (made notorious by Lily Evans-Potter). The Malfoy library possessed some of the most ancient and powerful bonding rituals linked to affection. This was a rare and important book. For a moment, Draco thought that Neville had suspicions about the Soulmate bond. Or maybe not. Draco debated, he could make Longbottom more suspicious and refuse the trade or he could accept the offer and pray that Longbottom brain was bottomless enough that he would not link anything that was in the book to the Soulmate bond. Somehow, he doubt that Neville was stupid enough to miss the connection when reading the book. His eyes narrowed but he extended his hand to the man.

"Done." The War Hero shook is hand.

"Hermione Granger."

Malfoy complexion became pale as Neville had a contented and amused look on his face. Gryffindors were evils.