Author's note:Hi! Sorry if this has been a while since my last chapter. I try and try to work on it but sometimes you got other crap to do. Enjoy and feel free to provide feedback!
Disclaimer:All belong to J.K. Rowling, this is all based on her work.
Draco Malfoy stepped through the door proudly wearing a smirk on his face.
"No, no way. No, not at all. Nu-uh. No," Draco's smirk faded and was replaced by a hard frown.
"Granger, I hate this more than you do. I've tried everything to get out of this and no way, no how," he glared at her. It was brutal, his grey eyes pierced like knives into Hermione's chocolate iris'.
She hadn't noticed the first time she ran into him, literally, how much he had filled out since the war. He was always a little bit taller than Hermione and scrawny as hell. Now he was much taller than Hermione and sported broad filled out shoulders and strong arms. Hermione was a little taken aback at how he turned out, he looked well, he looked good. Quite fit actually. She would never admit that to him though, his head is big enough as it is.
"I believe I am the one who hates this more, Malfoy."
"Whatever, I don't really give a fuck."
Arrogant bastard.
"So that's why I bumped into you last week? You were here to talk to Shacklebolt?"
"The reason why you bumped into me is because you had your head down while walking."
Arse.
"You know what I mean. But fine, have a seat and I'll interview you."
Draco looked highly offended. Who does he think he is? Just because the Minister suggested him, it doesn't mean he gets a free ride, prick.
"Actually," Draco pulled a small folded up piece of paper from his pant pocket. "I have this," and tossed it onto the desk before taking the seat furthest from Hermione. She glanced at his clothes, black pants, black shoes, and grey button shirt with a narrow black tie. He wore so much black, probably to match his heart.
Great, another note. Hermione thought about all the notes she had gotten this past week. She's pretty sure not even Lavender and Pavarti passed these many notes in their seven years at Hogwarts.
Hermione slid the note off the desk and into her lap, there she carefully opened it.
Mr. Malfoy has been thoroughly checked out by myself and several people. You are allowed to question his post-war past if you are not convinced, he is to answer anything about his work, home and that's it, anything else he's not entitled to answer. Play nice.
Shacklebolt
Play nice? Hermione is convinced that Draco Malfoy knows absolutely nothing about being nice. But now that Shacklbolts brought up his post-war past, Hermione is curious. Best thing about it, he has to answer. Shacklebolt said so!
When she brought her attention back to Draco, she noticed him looking at the shelf behind her that was filled with books and a few photos of herself, Ginny, Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus, Dean and many others.
"Right, so Shacklebolt said that you've already been interviewed, perfect. But he says that I am allowed to ask about your past," Draco grunted.
"So instead of an interview, I'm now getting an interrogation?
"No, I'm just asking about your past. I'm curious to see why you're so trust worthy."
"Fine, it'll be quick so listen up. Ever since the war ended, I have been working for the Ministry. Mainly I keep a look out for any Voldemort supporters or ex-Death Eaters. I help identify people who have been brought in on suspicion of Voldemort activities."
"Explains why they trust you. But if you've been working for the Ministry for five years, how is it that I've never once seen you around here? I mean, I know this place is huge, but I have seen at least everyone who works here more than once."
"I have my own floor that is only allowed to be entered by myself and Shacklebolt. If anyone needs me, I am to go to his office. I have my own fireplace in there so I can come and go without notice and I am the only person who is allowed to apparate into Shacklebolts office."
"Wow, they must really trust you then," again, Draco looked offended by what she had said.
He gave a low growl, "I have given them no reason to not trust me."
Did he really just growl? Holy jeez. Physically, Hermione didn't tremble, but on the inside she flinched. It's weird to think that someone would growl at you, but this growl was pure hate and anger. There is no messing around with that growl.
"Just so you know, Malfoy, if you call me a mudblood even once. I will have you fired," Hermione said that with so much intensity, she actually frightened herself a little. But all he did was giggle. Giggle! Like a school girl! Just bloody gig-gled! Git. But it lasted only a short moment then went back to being cold as stone.
"Granger, if I was still running around calling people mudbloods, I wouldn't have this job. Hell, I'd be dead. Maybe worse, shut up in Azkaban. So don't be such a judge mental uppity-bitch."
It hurt, why, Hermione wasn't sure. Probably tried to convince herself that he might actually be turning into a good person during his little speech there. Oops, her mistake. The uppity-bitch part ruined it. She shook it off, they'd be working together now, and even though he irritated her more than anything on this planet, she was determined to solve this case. Absolutely determined.
"Thanks Malfoy, appreciate it. We both hate each other. So can we just at least tolerate one another in a business sort of manner?" He went back to his glaring method, good, at least that shut him up.
Basically, they spent the rest of the morning arguing as to what their first step would be. Hermione wanted to review all of the files to see if locations and dragon types made any sort of patterns. Draco wanted to go out to Romania and talk to Ron's brother Charlie. Well, "Weasel-Faces older brother Weasel-Breath" was what he actually said.
By the time lunch came around, Hermione became extremely hungry, for a break of Draco and maybe even a bagel and tea in the cafeteria. Draco agreed and apparated back to his office to eat and whatever else he did there. Probably coming up with some plan to rule the world or map out a way to his father's love, who bloody knows.
They arrived back at Hermione's office at the agreed time of twelve-thirty.
"Alright, so during lunch I was thinking-"
"Don't you always?"
"Shut up and listen. I was thinking about a compromise on our first step-"
"I was thinking the same thing," not to lie, but Hermione was shocked.
"Oh... Okay, well let's hear your compromise first."
"My compromise is that we," Draco began with an unnaturally sweet voice. "Kick your idea into the rubbish bin and we go talk to Weasel's brother! That is all the "compromise" you will get," ah, the anger in the last part of that statement really channelled his true self.
"How about we-"
"No."
"Would you just-"
"No."
"Malf-"
"No."
"You're hopeless."
"And you're a bitch."
As for the rest of the afternoon... Let's just say it was exactly like the morning they had to endure, except the fact that Draco said no almost every time Hermione opened her mouth. Wanker.
The following day, Hermione woke up in the study in her flat. Her head was nestled on a pile of case files and she gripped a notebook close to her. She faintly remembers seeing the clock at three a.m. but isn't too sure what time she actually passed out at. Draco was so adamant on wanting to do everything his way that she had to take the files home and go through them like she planned herself. She managed to get through half of them; the other half will have to wait until tonight.
Hermione sleepily stretched out her arms and managed to let a yawn slip her lips. She looked towards the window to see the bright day greeting her through the opened blinds. As she was stretching, she glanced at her wrist to see what time it was. Ten forty-two?! Late! She was late! Hermione has never once been late to work in her entire life! Crap, crap, crap! She fell out of her chair and raced to the bathroom. She produced a cleaning charm on herself and hurried to her bedroom to change into a burgundy cardigan with a black tank-top underneath and a dark jean knee-length skirt. Hermione barged back into her study and gathered all of the files and her notebook, making sure she separated the ones she already went through and the ones she didn't. She slipped into a pair of black shoes as she hurried to the fire place to floo to the Ministry.
As she got there, she was greeted by several people but was in too much of a rush to stop and say hello back. As she burst into her office, she saw that Draco was patiently there, waiting. He sat in the exact same chair as yesterday. This time, his shirt was white and his pants were a dark, gun-metal grey. He didn't even turn around to look at who came through the door, perhaps he was simply not that interested. Hermione walked around him and her desk and placed her bag full of files onto it then sat down herself. He looked pissed off. She couldn't really blame him... Actually, she could.
"Finally decided to show up, hmm?"
"I'm sorry for being late, but I woke up late. I was up all night studying these case files to see if there were any patterns, like I wanted to do yesterday but someone thought it was a waste and that there is no point. Maybe it will turn out to be a waste but I had to try anyway! Anything at this point is helpful. So if you just agreed to help me yesterday I wouldn't have been up all night and I wouldn't have slept in and been late and for that, I take my sorry back." Hermione was out of breath at the end of her rant and was pretty sure Draco wasn't going to react well. But he just stared at her, was that all he could do?
"We're cleared by Shacklebolt to go question Charlie Weasley. We'll get a portkey from here at eight a.m. It'll be a stapler, so if you get here early, don't touch it," he got up from his chair and turned for the door.
"I thought you apparate in and out of here?"
"New system. When I walk out this door I am right back in my office and vice versa," he sounded so cold and distant. Guess that isn't anything unusual coming from him. "Bring the case files if you want. I've been through them all and there aren't any patterns," he opened the door and slammed it shut when he was through.
Hermione looked at the notes that she had already taken and concluded that he was right and there were absolutely no patterns. Damn him, how did he know? When did he get a chance to look through all of these? She spent the rest of her day catching up on stuff that she missed in the past couple of days and didn't see Draco again. By the time it was six in the evening, Hermione headed over to the Auror's Department to see if anyone was still around.
She ran into the usual people, Dean and Seamus. Both of them confirmed her thought that Ron had been absent from work since he found out about his dad. That was almost two weeks ago, Hermione wondered if he was still at the Burrow, probably. She knew Harry was around and she let herself into his office where he looked like he was thinking deeply about something.
"Hi Harry, how are you? How's everyone?"
"Oh, hi Hermione. I'm alright; everyone else in the Weasley family is still taking it pretty hard. Ron hasn't even come back to work yet."
"Yeah, I heard. Has Ginny gone back to work at least? I know that she can handle a little more than Ron."
"Yeah, she was back to work two or three days after what happened. She's strong."
"Yeah, she is," Hermione could feel herself starting to get a little emotional. "So listen, it's only six I was thinking of heading over to the Burrow. Would you like to come?" Harry looked at all of the papers on his desk and even a stack that was situated beside it and sighed.
"Yeah, I do want to go. Just, give me a couple of minutes to organize this mess and I'll be ready to go." Hermione offered to help but as always, Harry refused so she took a seat and waited for him.
Hermione and Harry were greeted at the Burrow with sad faces and few words. They spent the night comforting the wounded. Hermione even offered to make dinner that night so Mrs. Weasley could take a break. Hermione had learned a few cooking skills from her mum, the basics really. She ended up making spaghetti with a creamy tomato sauce. It was a good thing she made lots because just as she was serving Bill, Fleur, George and Angelina showed up. They gathered around the table and even made jokes like old times; Hermione thought that everyone needed a night like that. Angelina brought some of her homemade Trifle for dessert. Everyone laughed at least once that night, it was magical. Ron looks better than before; maybe he'll even come to work soon.
After dessert was done, Mrs. Weasley and Angelina told Hermione they would take care of the kitchen, they insisted. Hermione joined the boys and Ginny in the living room and later were again joined by Mrs. Weasley and Angelina. They had more laughs and soon enough it was almost nine o'clock. Bill and Fleur went home and shortly after George and Angelina left as well. Mrs. Weasley excused herself about around nine thirty and Ginny hugged Hermione and Ron good night and kissed Harry on the cheek and told him she'd see him later. That left only Ron, Harry and Hermione left in the living room.
"So Hermione, I heard that the interview process didn't go that well. And sorry to hear about who your partner is. Shacklebolt told me, I didn't know he worked at the Ministry either..."
"Interview process? Partner? What's going on Hermione?" Ron looked confused, Hermione was sure that Harry would have filled him in on what had been going on at work these past couple of weeks. Hermione looked at Harry.
"You didn't tell him?" Harry looked at her and then to Ron's scrunched up face.
"I told him everything else, just not the interview part. Or who you're partner is." Hermione felt dizzy, Ron was going to flip when he hears all of this. Might as well tell him now, who knows how long she and Draco will be in Romania for.
"Ron... I," why was this so hard? It's not like they were still dating, he can't be possessive over her like this anymore. "You know about me working on this case now, right?"
"Yeah..."
"Okay, so I had to get a partner who could protect me and could mentally keep up with me. I had to interview several new Auror's, but none of them could have done the job."
"Alright, so where did that leave you?"
"Well Shacklebolt said that from the very beginning that if I could not find a partner, he has someone who would do perfectly well in the position that I need."
"Why didn't he just give you that person then?"
"Well, I thought the same thing. So I told Shacklebolt that everyone I interviewed wasn't fit for the position, he told me my partner would show up the next day."
"Alright, well it can't be that bad. It's not like... I don't know... Draco Malfoy popped into your office and was like, "hey Granger, guess we're partners," right?" Hermione didn't say anything; she couldn't even look at Ron. She managed to sneak a peek at Harry; he had his head down and was looking away too.
"You're kidding," Hermione kept her head down, she knew it was coming any second now. "You've got to be FUCKING JOKING! HOW COULD SHACKLEBOLT DO THIS? HE WAS A DEATH EATER, HE KILLED PEOPLE. AND HARRY SAYS HE'S BEEN WORKING FOR THE MINISTRY?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM? HAVE THEY ALL GONE MAD?!"
"Ron please-"
"NO! HE SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED ANYWHERE NEAR YOU!"
"Ronald, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you."
"WHAT ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AT HIS HOUSE?!" Hermione managed to forget that painful memory. When her, Harry and Ron were supposed to be in their seventh year of Hogwarts but instead set off to find and destroy Voldemorts horcruxes.
She still remembers the vial Snatchers that captured them. She can still hear Bellatrix Lestrange's haunting laugh in her worst nightmares. It's been five years and it still rocks her to her core if she dare think about it.
"Ron, anything that happened at the Malfoy Manor is not Malfoy's fault. As much as I'd like him gone from my life for good, he never actually did anything wrong."
"So you're defending him now, huh?"
"In this case yes, only because we know that he didn't do anything! It would be different if he had! You know that! I have spent five years putting people in Azkaban, his name was never questioned."
"Fine, have a nice life with Malfoy."
"You're acting like I'm marrying him or something! We are working together, nothing else! We hate each other; you don't even realize how difficult it is to get any work done with him downing everything!" The room stayed quiet for a moment.
"And since we're on the work topic, I'll be going to Romania tomorrow morning with Malfoy to go question Charlie." That did it; Hermione thought she saw the worst of Ron.
"DON'T YOU DARE! KEEP HIM AWAY FROM MY FAMILY! I'm not there for a couple days and all hell breaks loose at the Ministry."
"Well maybe if you weren't off work for two, bloody, weeks Ronald, you'd be in the know."
"MY DAD JUST DIED!"
"I know that! Why do you think I'm so determined to solve this! Get over your issues with Malfoy. Life's not fair, you should know that," Hermione got up from her chair and looked at Harry who finally lifted his head and made eye contact. "See you soon Harry."
Hermione stormed over to the fire place listening to the mumbles of a still fuming Ron. She flooed home, she didn't need to hear this.
This was the day, who knows how long she'd be gone for. Hermione enlarged a small backpack to fit inside a few books, the case files, clothes and toiletries. Anything is possible when travelling, so she intended to be prepared.
She got up at five thirty that morning to sort all that out, she had a proper shower and made sure that Crookshanks would be set. She threw on two thin long sleeve shirts, a dark grey jumper, jeans, a white scarf and a white pair of wellingtons. She thought it be best to be dressed warmly. It was December after all and Romania was sure to be cold. At a quarter to eight, Hermione wrestled to put on her dark brown winter cloak and then flooed to work, letting herself into her office and taking a seat ready for Draco at exactly eight.
Just as she looked down to her watch to check the time, someone walked into her office. Startled, she raised her eyes and there he was, on time. He sported a blue-green jumper under a midnight-black cloak and jeans as well, obviously felt the same about the cold. He carried a small black duffle bag with him as well, also prepared. Interesting bugger he is.
"Attempted to tame that head of yours?" He said while eyeing her hair and making an odd face.
"I just let it do whatever I want now, I could care less."
"I see that," and smirked. He was such an arse!
"So are we ready to go?" Draco looked in his bag and checked his pockets; made sure his family crested ring was on his finger and nodded.
Hermione looked at the stapler that was situated on her desk, directly in the center of it. Draco looked at his own watch and put his right hand on it.
"Grab on Granger, want to fucking miss it?"
Hermione scrambled putting her backpack on her shoulders and then raced to grab the stapler.
Just like every other time with travelling by portkey, she felt the tugs and pulls and spinning and finally after a few moments landed on her feet. She opened her eyes to see a lush green forest in front of her eyes, it was gorgeous.
"Never seen a forest before, Granger?"
"Yes actually, the Forbidden Forest. The one you got scared in, remember that?" She smiled at him but he just looked away and mumbled something.
"So where are the grounds we're going to?" Draco pulled a map out of his pocket and studied it. Hermione had to admit that his thinking face was quite attractive. The way his lips were left slightly apart or how they contorted into a hard, thin line. The creases on his forehead spelt curious, not old or worn. His eyes moved rapidly, taking in every bit he saw. What it would be like to see the world through his eyes... Never thought she would wonder about that.
Draco caught her looking at him, he humphed in return, embarrassed, she looked away. After a few moments of planning a route to the dragon grounds, Draco lifted his eyes to gaze upon the forest surrounding them. He lifted his left hand and pointed west.
"We'll be going that way. Try to keep up." And he set off.
Hermione, surprised at his seeker's speed, jogged after him and was soon right on his heels. Every ten minutes bother Hermione and Draco were casting warming charms into their gloves and pockets, it was absolutely freezing! They walked for about two hours before arguing to take a break. Luckily for Hermione, she won and they looked for a place to sit.
Draco took notice to a tree that had fallen. He situated himself on the ground with his legs stretched out and his back rested against the fallen tree. As he sat, he rummaged through his duffle bag and pulled out a deep green scarf and wrapped it around his pale neck. Hermione decided to sit on the tree itself. She pulled out a canteen that was three quarters full of water; she had already had some to drink when they were walking. She leaned back a little to take notice of the everlasting tree heights and the snow threatening clouds above.
"Why were you looking at me earlier?" That caught Hermione completely off guard; she choked a bit on her water.
"W-what?"
"You heard me Granger, why the fuck were you looking at me like that earlier?" Hermione didn't know what to say, she couldn't admit to admiring his looks. She had to think of something else.
"I... Was trying to get a look at the map."
"You're a terrible liar."
"I'm not lying!"
"Sure you're not."
"You're so full of yourself."
"Oh, and you're not?"
"There's a difference in being proud of yourself and being a complete arse, Malfoy."
"I was thinking the same thing about you Granger." Ugh, he was such a jerk. Also, how did he know she was lying? He couldn't have, he was just hoping for her to say that.
After a couple more sips of water from her canteen, Hermione slid off the log and gestured for Draco to get moving. Of course he groaned and mumbled a bit, but eventually got himself off the ground and resumed in the leading position.
They walked for another hour in silence, the only noises that erupted where from the cracking of branches they stepped on them, the warming charms and the occasional animal.
"Malfoy, how long until we're there?"
"I don't know! I'm not one of those muggle inventions where it tells you where you're going and how long it'll take!"
"That's a GPS, Malfoy."
"I don't fucking care," he growled back.
And just as soon as he did, they stumbled upon the dragon grounds. At least thirty dragons were there. They were either caged or they were on ropes, or bound in some other way. There were even a couple roaming free. Hermione marvelled at the sight of these majestic creatures. She turned to look at Draco's expression he looked unimpressed, bored even, like he'd seen this a hundred times!
"Let's find Weasel's brother and get to it."
Hermione couldn't agree more. Even though the sight was amazing, it made her nervous to be around all these dragons.
She inspected the grounds, finally spotting a tall red-headed man. She walked out into the grounds when an arm pulled her back roughly.
"Do you want to get yourself killed? Any of these dragons could go rogue. Call over someone who works here to get him." Hermione ripped her arm from his grasp.
"I can handle it, thank you."
She walked out again, taking notice of her surroundings. Luckily Charlie was away from the dragons at that point, so she hurried over to him before he left.
"Charlie Weasley?" He didn't look her way. Had he not heard her?
"Yes?"
"It's me Hermione. Hermione Granger, I'm really good friends with-" Charlie whipped around and greeted Hermione with a smile.
"Of course, I know who you are. What can I do for you?" Hermione reached for her Ministry identification card to show to Charlie.
"I work for the Ministry and we're here to ask you a few questions about your father and the incident."
"Oh, I understand. Wait... We?"
"Yes, I have a partner. He was too afraid to come out onto the grounds."
"Was not, I was being cautious. I would prefer to live," came in a third voice. Draco stopped at Hermione's side and also revealed his Ministry ID Card.
"Draco Malfoy, huh?"
"The one and only, Weasley." Charlie looked to his watch and behind him.
"I've got half an hour. We can ride those brooms into town and talk at the local pub." Hermione looked at the brooms he had mentioned. She hated flying, couldn't stand it, she was terrified!
"Uh, we can't just talk here?"
"I'm a bit hungry to be honest; it's only a quick fly into town." Hermione looked at the sky and decided that it was around twelve or one o'clock based on the suns positioning.
"I... Don't really fly."
"You can ride with me if that's better?" Hermione looked to Draco and he nodded. She felt hunger starting to stab at her stomach, he was probably feeling the same way.
"Alright," Hermione finally agreed.
They mounted their brooms and were off within minutes. Luckily Charlie exaggerated when he said the pub was a quick fly, it felt like Hermione was only in the air for a second. That worked for her.
They dismounted just outside of town and left the brooms in a tree that had been magically transformed into storing brooms for all the wizards in town.
They walked for two minutes and emerged from the trees into the streets of a small, yet busy town. The first building they came across was the local pub that Charlie had mentioned. He opened the door and let Hermione and Draco in before himself, he even ordered them their food and told them he'd take care of the bill.
"So, what sort of answers are you two looking for?" Hermione looked to Draco. They never even discussed what they were going to ask Charlie once they sought him out. Draco looked back at her and then focused on Charlie.
"First of all, you are positive that it was a non-fire breather who did this?"
"One hundred percent sure."
"From what you said the first time you were interviewed, you didn't actually see your father being burned?" Hermione could see the hurt in Charlie's eyes. It had been a few weeks since it happened, but there's no getting over that.
"No, I didn't see it."
"Than how do you know it wasn't a non-fire breather?" Draco pressed.
"One of my co-workers told me. He saw the entire thing." Draco eyed Charlie, and then looked to Hermione.
"Why didn't we question the guy who actually saw it?" He whispered to her.
"We tried but he was fired the day after and there is no one by the name that was given," she whispered back. It was Hermione's turn to ask the questions now.
"Charlie, what was the name of the co-worker who witnessed the incident?"
"Bruce Killermen." Hermione looked at Draco, but he shook his head declining any knowledge to who that was.
"Where is Bruce now?"
"No idea, he was fired the day after it happened."
"And do you know why he was fired?" Draco interjected.
"Not sure of that either, no one knows and there's no hope in hell that you'd be able to ask the boss." Draco raised his eyebrows at this.
"What is your boss's name?"
"Peter Hancock, he runs all the dragon grounds in the eastern world." Hermione and Draco looked at each other. Without even speaking, they knew what their next step would be.
"Thank you Charlie, and sorry for your loss. We'll let you continue your meal in peace. Malfoy and I have some work to attend to."
"Cheers, see you around Hermione. Malfoy."
"Later Weasley."
Draco and Hermione left the pub wrapping themselves again in cloaks and scarves. Since they decided it was only two in the afternoon, Hermione thought that they should find a place for the night.
As they walked through the little village, she noticed a building that looked almost like it could almost be a library. She looked to the signs indicating what it was to see that it was unfortunately not written in Engl... Oh, ho ho. It was! There it said in small print, Library. That will come in handy for later.
They continued walking until they saw another pub that was also an inn. Luckily for them, almost everything was labelled in English and the people spoke English well enough to understand. They paid for two rooms for the night, they decided that if they needed to stay longer, they'll just pay more at a different time. As of right now, one night is good. After Hermione was settled into her room, Hermione left and knocked at Draco's door.
"What Granger?"
"How did you know it was me? For all you know it could have been a maid or something."
"They would have said so. What do you want?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to go to the library to see if we can look up more information about this Bruce Killerman?"
"Not really, I'm quite relaxed here." Ugh, lazy git.
"Fine, be back later," Hermione began to walk down the hall when she heard him yell back.
"Don't care!"
Hermione slipped out of the pubs doors and onto the streets of the busy, little town. She headed back towards the other pub that her, Charlie and Draco had a late lunch. After a few minutes of walking, she found herself in front of the library. Good thing too, it was getting to be about four o'clock and it was getting colder than it already was.
Hermione was thankful that the librarian spoke English. She managed to book some time on one of the empty computers to see if she could find out any information on this guy in the muggle world. She spent three hours looking through all of the websites that popped up that had anything to do with a Bruce Killerman. Hermione realized, after three full hours, that she might need a picture of Bruce to see if anyone looks familiar. Hermione paid a pretty penny to the librarian to allow her to print off at least fifteen pages of paper, all including pictures and addresses of many Bruce Killerman's.
It was nearing seven o'clock, she wondered if Charlie would happen to be at that one pub for dinner. Hermione decided that it wouldn't hurt to try so she made her way over there. By the time she walked into the pub doors, the night had grown dark and the air stung her skin ten times worse than earlier that day. She removed her cloak, but left the scarf on, so far there weren't any signs of Charlie at all. Hermione asked the barmaid and a few of the locals if they had seen him but no one had seen him since he took his lunch break and none of them were sure where he lived.
The time crept to half past eight before Hermione once again put on her cloak and exited the pub. She made a journey back to the inn she was staying, knocking on Draco's door to let him know what had happened. When he didn't shout back at her, Hermione put her ear to the door to listen if there was any movement at all. After a few moments passed and there were absolutely no sounds, she banged on the door but still nothing stirred in the room.
"Malfoy, open up! There is no possible way you are asleep already!" She pounded on the door a couple times before she heard footsteps behind her. She whipped around to see a staggering Malfoy; clearly he had taken upon himself to enjoy the pub downstairs.
"Hiya Granger, fancy a drink?" She could smell the alcohol from down the hall.
"Not particularly. I wanted to let you know what happened when I was at the library but obviously you are not in the right state of mind to be receiving that information."
"You were at the library?"
"My point exactly, good night Malfoy."
"Wa-wait a second. Can you make sure I get into bed?" What? WHAT? What...? He must be so drunk right now.
"You're a grown man Malfoy, you can do it yourself."
"Maybe, maybe not. Can you just- can you just unlock my door?" Hermione breathed a sigh and took the key from Draco's outstretched arm. She turned to his door, unlocked it and handed him back the key.
"Good night, Malfoy." He glared at her, and then walked into her as he attempted to walk into his door. When he finally managed to get in his room, he turned to face Hermione and growled at her.
"What was that for?" In response, he slammed the door shut. That was pleasant.
Hermione walked next door to her room and slipped out of her heavy winter clothes and into warm flannel pajama's. Thankfully the room was heated and the bed was comfy. She would definitely have a good sleep here.