Two – Diagon Alley – 12:25pm
Hermione spent an abnormal amount of time in the bustling streets of the wizarding shopping street. Besides helping shopkeepers add Muggle inventory to their selections, she also had to make sure that no one was misusing any of the products.
Meaning she had to conduct weekly random searches in both Diagon and Knockturn Alley. The darkened area where the deranged hang out still gave her the creeps but she never feared for her life. The Death Eaters, along with their master, were long gone. Either locked away in Azkaban or far away from England.
She didn't know the specifics and frankly didn't care. As long as they weren't walking among regular citizens, she could care less. Perhaps it was foolish of her to be so nonchalant about them, but honestly, she just wanted to forget it all. And out of sight, out of mind was a great phrase to use in these instances.
Walking down the long street, she looked on at the familiar shops from when she was eleven years old. It brought back happy, nostalgic feelings. She thought of happier times, before the war caught up with them all and ruined their innocence.
She stopped outside the rundown and empty Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. After Fred had died, George lost whatever spark he had and shut himself off from the world. He rarely left the Burrow and when he did, it was only to get belligerently drunk. The family thought he would grieve and then move on… but it'll have been six months in a week.
He refused therapy and whatever medication Molly had been attempting to sneak into his food hadn't worked either. Hermione sometimes wondered if he would ever be completely healed from losing his other half.
Other people had been negatively affected as well. Neville did both counseling and medication to cope with the torture he had experienced at the hands of the Carrow twins while they were at Hogwarts. Lavender had therapy for her contracted lycanthropy, curtesy of Greyback. Seamus needed Dreamless Sleep to get the images of the dismembered and desecrated Creevy brothers out of his head.
It really seemed like no one had walked out of that final battle unscathed. Even Luna attended group therapy to discuss some of the images that still bother her. Granted, she never seemed as affected as the others, but Hermione knew that if she was in therapy, they scared her.
As she breezed through the rest of the shops she had to check, her mind continuously wandered back to what Harry had told her this morning. Something big was happening in his department and no one but the higher ups new what it was about. She had half a mind to meet with Kingsley for dinner and just confront the head man himself but she wouldn't abuse their friendship like that.
Finishing up with the last shop, she checked the box on her notepad and left the building, heading towards the area where apparation was allowed. After the war, many changes had been made in certain wizarding areas. One of which was the new Anti-Apparation wards surrounding the two alleys.
Whatever was happening that had everyone so worked up, the Ministry would tell them when they were ready. In the meantime, she just had to wait until tonight to find out from Harry.
Chuckling at the thought of having to pull it out of him like old times sake, she almost missed the turn she had to take to her Apparation point. But in the process of attempting to correct her miscalculation, she ran headlong into another person.
Stumbling backwards, a hand lurched out and helped to steady her. She heard a masculine voice with a teasing lilt say to her, "Sorry 'bout that. Had my head up in the clouds for a moment. Didn't hurt you, did I?"
Opening her eyes, she focused on the fairly handsome man in front of her. He had long brown hair that he kept just above his shoulders. His eyes were a striking blue and his clean shaven smile was friendly enough. But she had the oddest feeling that she had seen him before.
"Oh, no. I'm fine. I'm afraid I wasn't watching where I was going either," she said with a small chuckle. The man flashed her a toothy grin before his eyes sparkled in recognition.
"Many apologies, Miss Granger. I didn't even recognize you there for a minute." Despite not recalling who he was, Hermione knew it was easy for people to know her nowadays. She still had something of a celebrity status.
"Quite alright. But, I was just leaving to get back to work, you see-"
She had been in the process of excusing herself when a deep voice called out from the end of the alley.
"Rabastan."
Hermione's head swiveled to the right as she spotted a dark figure standing in the middle of the empty space. Her heart began to beat at a frantic pace. If the other man had seemed mildly familiar, this one was like a bucket of ice water being poured over her head.
Dark, messy brown hair, penetrating black eyes, an intense, haughty stare, large, intimidating frame, an aura surrounding him that screamed danger throughout all of Hermione's senses.
Antonin Dolohov.
The last time she had seen him had been at some point on the battlefield. She would never forget the sight of the man who had almost successfully killed her on two separate occasions. She felt herself rooted in place as his eyes roved over her for a moment before turning back to the man next to her.
"Ah, sorry Antonin. Got a bit caught up for a moment," he moved to walk down the alleyway but not before turning to look back at the shocked brunette. He gave her a conspiratory wink and a grin, "Nice seeing you again, Miss Granger. But we'll have to catch up some other time."
And then he was gone. They both were.
She knew she should have called the Aurors, or Harry at the least. But it was like her brain had stopped functioning properly. She couldn't process what had just happened. Two notorious Death Eaters had just appeared in front of her on a Monday afternoon in a back alley adjoining wizarding London's hottest shopping center.
How was it even possible?
She went back to work, hoping that those few minutes had only been a figment of her imagination and that she was just experiencing some new, late form of PTSD. There was no way. No conceivable way that the Ministry knew Antonin Dolohov and Rabastan Lestrange were just waltzing around London and not doing anything about it.
She finished the rest of her day in contemplative silence. No one around her bothered her, having learned about her changing moods, and she was able to leave on time for once with zero distractions around her.
Arriving back at Grimmauld Place, she put her cloak on the rack and then went straight for the kitchen, determined to wait until Harry got home. She'd run her story by him and see what he thinks. If she's crazy, she'll have him take her to St. Mungos for an evaluation. If she's not… Well, then he had some explaining to do.
He walked in less than half an hour after she did, looking almost equally in thought as she had. When he spotted her, he knew that something was wrong. She would usually be in the middle of making dinner, not just sitting at the kitchen table staring at him.
He took the seat in front of her slowly and clasped his hands together on the table. He gave her a concerned look before asking her, "Everything alright, Mione?"
"You tell me, Harry. Because I'm almost certain that whatever you were told earlier today has something to do with who I saw today," she watched as his eyes widened a fraction. Got him.
"Who? Who did you see today?" He looked a bit frantic and Hermione had to admit that it was pretty unlikely that she was crazy.
"Dolohov and Lestrange. Inside the wards of Diagon Alley, ironically enough."
"Hermione!" Her friend admonished. "Why didn't you call the Aurors? Why didn't you call me?"
"Because I couldn't even believe that the man who got the closest to killing me and the brother-in-law of that crazy bitch were anywhere near England, let alone directly in front of me!"
Harry went silent for a moment as the two looked at one another. "I just found out about it today…"
"What did you find out about?"
He exhaled raggedly, "A lot of the Death Eaters who didn't die in the final battle weren't captured like the Ministry made it out to be. The biggest names that are in Azkaban are Rodolphus Lestrange, the Carrows, and Thicknesse. A few lesser known Death Eaters, some Snatchers, and other smaller supporters were trialed but as for the others… They're in the wind."
He paused for a moment as his features turned solemn, "The Ministry hadn't been worried, at first. All of those who escaped left the country. But now… They're returning for some reason. People sighted Yaxley in Bristol, Avery was seen near Belfast, and Selwyn was picked up in Cornwall. They keep getting closer and closer and now you've seen two of the worst in wizarding London…"
"It's not looking good, Hermione," he spoke dejectedly.
"Because this is going to freak out a lot of people?" She offered.
"Because we don't know why they're coming back. What's their master plan? Are they going to try to regroup and attack again? The Ministry just doesn't know. And those we've caught, aren't talking. They keep coming up with lousy excuses like they were just trying to talk to their wives or wanted something from their abandoned manors."
"Has the Department tried Veritaserum?" That would be Hermione's go to. Truth serums exist for a reason.
"They have. But either they're immune to it or someone's slipping them the antidote before we bring them in for questioning. The higher ups are looking into the history of everyone in the department but haven't found any discrepancies. Everyone appears to be clean."
"There has to be a leak. They wouldn't be able to beat the serum if there wasn't…" She thought aloud. But Harry agreed with her.
"Promise me something," he added, a serious tone hitched into his voice. "Be careful while you're out there. If they can get into Diagon Alley without any problems… They could be anywhere."
"I know how to protect myself, Harry," she glowered at him.
"I know, I know," he threw up his hands in defense. "I'm just saying, it's really not safe right now. And I don't even want you to be in a situation where you'll have to protect yourself."
Hermione was silent for a moment. "Is it really as bad as you're making it out to be?"
He nodded slowly, "I think so. It's why no one has been talking about it. We only just got out of the war and now we've got this new threat… No one knows what to do or really how to even handle it."
She reached out to pat his hand in support, "You'll figure it out. And it'll be over before anyone else even knows about it."
He smiled weakly before placing his hand over top of hers, "I hope so. I really do, Mione…"
They ordered takeout for dinner, both too mentally exhausted to cook anything. Hermione's head was still spinning as she got ready for bed. The image of Dolohov's figure imprinted on her mind as she attempted to fall asleep.
But for the first time in weeks, she would be plagued with nightmares.