Chapter Three: A Promise to Live Free
Everybody in the room stared at the man, startled by his sudden appearance. Finally, after a few seconds Jay spoke up.

"I'm sorry guys, I tried to stop him but he was just too hysterical for me, he kept darting every which way and I couldn't hit him with my stunning spells."

"It's alright Jay. You can return to your post now, we'll take it from here." said Hermione

Jay nodded and walked out of the room. Hermione walked cautiously towards the man and took out her wand, in case he was armed.

"Sir, my name is Hermione Granger and I am chief investigative auror for the Ministry of Magic. You are intruding upon a closed area of investigation. What is your name?"

Slowly the man raised his head and looked at Hermione with a tear stained face and she couldn't help but feel pity towards the otherwise handsome man.

"My name is Todd Carter; your victim was my fiancé."

"Well, Todd, may I ask how you knew about Ms. Carroway's death? I gave instructions that only those I called in to be questioned were to be notified."

"A letter from her just arrived at my flat. I apparated over here as soon as I read it."

"You did? Do you have the letter with you Todd? If I could see it, it may give me a lead on who did this to her.

Todd was hesitant as if he didn't trust her but in the end he nodded, took a small piece of parchment out of the pocket of his cloak and handed it to Hermione with a trembling hand. Slowly Hermione reached out and took it from him. She read it to herself quickly then out loud for the others.

I'm not alone, I sense it, I sense it. All that I said, I meant it, I meant it. In just 1 hour they'll be laying flowers on my life, it's over tonight. I'm not messing no I need your blessing and your promise to live free please do it for me.

I love you Todd, but please promise that you won't let my death affect you for long. Mourn for me, mourn for the girl you thought I was, for the girl I wish I was but don't let grief consume you. I want you to be happy and if that means I can't be in your life, well…so be it. I wish I could tell you everything, but I can't. Please just promise me that you'll live a free life when I'm gone. Just remember…I'll be watching over you…and I love you so much.

All that I said, I meant it, I meant it…

Always yours,
Cecilia

"Todd, how did you know to come here?" asked Hermione after she had read the letter once more to herself. She was completely at a loss about why Cecilia would write such a cryptic letter.

"It was delivered by a Malfoy Industries corporate owl, the kind that she usually uses only to send business letters and such. It struck me as odd since whenever she owls me, she uses her own owl, Cosmos. So I figured she must be here."

"I see, when is the last time you saw her?"

"This morning right before she left for work, we share a flat nearby."

"Alright Mr. Carter, I would like to question you further, but now is not the time for it. I will keep in touch with you on the details of the case, but I must ask you to leave for now. Would you mind if I kept this letter for a while?"

Todd nodded and allowed himself to be escorted out of the room by Ginny after one last look at Cecilia's body.

"I'm very sorry for your loss" was all Ginny said when she saw the immense pain in his eyes.

Todd nodded once more and then turned the corner out of the room.

Hermione and her friends spent a few more minutes searching the scene and Hermione cast another transparency charm on the body so that she could see the damage done herself. Harry was right; this poor girl had been through so much. Hermione had seen some pretty gruesome deaths before, but this…this was definitely the most horrendous by far. Finally, fearful that she would be sick (despite the lack of food in her stomach), she took the charm off and called for Harry and Ron to take the body down to the morgue at St. Mungo's.

After they had gone, Hermione, Ginny and Pansy made their way to the employee lounge where Blaise and Draco were having a quiet conversation; they abruptly stopped when they saw the women enter. This roused Hermione's suspicions, but she chose to hold back from making unnecessary accusations till she had more evidence. Instead her gaze fell to Draco.

He had grown up quite a bit since their Hogwarts days. He was now around six foot one, which was still at least three inches taller than Hermione in her favorite Stiletto boots. She also noticed that he probably still practiced recreational quidditch since he appeared to be well toned. He was still as pale as always but somehow it was now a handsome type of paleness, as opposed to him looking sickly all the time. He, like Blaise was also in khaki slacks, but he was sporting a black polo which brought out the smoky grey color of his eyes. Hermione couldn't help but be mesmerized by his good looks. Suddenly she was shaken out her reverie when she heard Draco's voice talking to her.

"Granger, what are you staring at?"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry Malfoy, I was thinking about the case." she lied coolly.

He smirked at her but didn't say anything more. Instead he turned to Pansy and started up a conversation. Hermione was tired, it was now 5 o' clock in the morning and she had been up till two am that night with her cousin Nicole because it was her twenty first birthday. Hermione had refused to have any liquor because she was the designated driver, but she still felt as if she had a terrible hangover, which had only increased since she had arrived at the crime scene. She turned to everyone in the room and excused herself, saying that she wanted to get some sleep. They all nodded and she walked over to the fire place and stopped short; she really didn't feel like taking floo twice in one night, especially since she had a splitting head ache. She walked over to where Draco was still having an animated conversation with Pansy and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Draco, is it possible to apparate in this building?"

"No, it's impossible to apparate anywhere in the Wizard business district."

A look of confusion overtook Hermione's features "Why?"

"Because a while ago it was discovered the corporate spies were apparating in and out of their competitors' offices and stealing plans. So they petitioned for the ministry to outlaw it."

"Oh. Ok, then is there any other way to get home? I don't want to walk all that way back to my flat."

"Can't you just floo there?"

"I have a splitting headache and flooing would only make it worse."

"Well, is there anyone here with a car or something besides me?"

All the people in the room shook their heads and said they had either flooed there or in Blaise's case flown on his broom.

"Fine Granger, I guess I'll drive you myself; can't have the great "Sherlock" Granger losing any sleep by walking" said Draco sarcastically.

Hermione wasn't too thrilled about the prospect of getting into a car with Draco Malfoy, but she nodded her consent only because she knew she had no other choice; of course, not without a comeback of her own.

"Wow, I didn't know they gave ferrets driver's licenses." she bit back at him in an equally sarcastic tone.

Draco cringed at the memory but led Hermione out of the room and down several flights of stairs towards the parking lot after saying goodbye to everyone else. No conversation transpired between the two until they reached Draco's car when Hermione let out an audible gasp. Draco smirked and took this as a chance to flaunt is extreme wealth.

"You like my car Granger?"

Hermione nodded absently. Draco drove a silver BMW sedan which screamed "I HAVE MONEY LET ME FLAUNT IT FOR YOU!!"

"Well Granger, are you going to get in or will I have to drive off without you?" asked Draco, the smirk never leaving his handsome face.

Hermione shook her head and got into the passenger side of the car which Draco had graciously opened for her.

"Well Draco, holding the door open for a lady?" she said somewhat mischievously to lighten the somber mood.

For the first time that night Draco actually cracked a smile, nothing toothy but just a sincere smile and said "Chivalry isn't dead you know."

Hermione smiled back and decided that if she was to be in a car with Draco Malfoy for any period of time, she might as well make it more tolerable. Draco walked around to the driver's side of the car and got in. He started the car and pulled out of the lot.

Draco made his way down the street at a moderate pace, almost as if he wanted to prolong the trip. Hermione, of course, was too indulged in soothing her aching head to notice. Draco, on the other hand did notice that the girl sitting next to him was constantly rubbing her temples and letting out soft groans. Finally, after about a minute of hearing groan after groan, he couldn't take it any longer and pulled the car over.

"What are you doing Malfoy?"

"I'm going to get rid of your head ache."

"And how do you propose you will do that?"

"Easy, open the glove compartment and there should be a vial of Lurex Potion. It's used to relieve major migraines. Take two sips of it and your headache will be gone almost instantly."

Hermione was hesitant to follow his instructions and instead chose to question him.

"Why have I never heard of Lurex Potion?"

"It's a new miracle potion from the US. It just passed inspection by the WDA." said Draco in an exasperated tone, as if he was talking to a 10 year old. (A/n: think of the WDA as the wizarding equivalent of the FDA)

Hermione was still wary of trusting Draco, but by now her head was in excruciating pain and she just wanted some relief. She opened the compartment and low and behold, there was a vial filled with a bluish silver liquid. She uncorked it and sipped from it two times. Immediately she felt the throbbing pain in her head begin to ebb and the continual ringing start to subside. In a matter of minutes she felt as if she had just awoken from a relaxing dreamless sleep.

"Thanks Mal…Draco."

"Yeah, I just didn't want to hear your groaning for the whole car ride."

"Oh, well…thank you anyway."

"Whatever…"

An awkward silence ensued, which lasted for at least five minutes when it was broken when Hermione's stomach rumbled loud enough to give even Crabbe and Goyle a run for their money. Draco took his eyes off the road and looked at her with one eyebrow raised as she looked down at her feet embarrassed.

"Hungry Granger?"

"Maybe a little" she admitted sheepishly.

"Well, we can't have that."

Draco turned left at the next intersection, which was the opposite direction of Hermione's flat.

"Draco, you were supposed to make a right."

"I know that Gran…Hermione but you're hungry and I happen to know a restaurant that is open twenty four hours."

"Why do you care? I do have food at my apartment."

"Well, that may be so, but like I said 'chivalry isn't dead' so I'll be a gentleman and take you out to satiate your appetite."

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather just drop me off and get me out of your car?"

"And what would make you think that?" asked Draco as he focused on the road and made a left turn.

"Oh come on Draco, we both know how much animosity there has always been between us, starting back at Hogwarts. Why the sudden need to be a gentleman?"

"You want the truth Hermione?"

"That would be lovely." she answered sarcastically

Draco pulled over once again and looked Hermione straight in the eye.

"Maybe, I'm not the same person that held all that animosity towards you and your friends. Maybe, I've grown up since my Hogwarts days. Maybe during the war I realized just how much crap my father forced me to believe. And maybe, just maybe I could be willing to become friends with you. But whether or not you believe me is completely up to you. You're supposed to be the most brilliant witch since Dumbledore himself. Hopefully, you can figure out the truth."

With that he put the car back into gear and drove off again, leaving Hermione to think about what he said as she sat beside him in stunned silence. She began to contemplate what he said.

'He didn't seem angry, he seemed sincere. If he really wants to be friends I guess I owe it to him to at least give him a shot. He did help the Light side in the War. I just hope I don't live to regret this, I mean, technically he is still a suspect. Oh Merlin, I really hope I don' live to regret this.'

"Draco…?"

"Yes?"

"I'd like to try and be friends with you." She said sincerely.

He turned to her and smiled a sincere smile then turned his attention back to the road.

Within a few minutes Draco parked in front of an all night dinner/dance club simply called Jekyll. After he had gotten out he walked over to Hermione's door, opened it and held out his hand to help her out.

Draco led Hermione through the double doors and asked the hostess for a table for two. She led them to a secluded table in the rear of the club, where they could be alone but still have excellent access to the dance floor.

"A waiter will be over shortly to take your order." She said, and then walked away.

As soon as she left a tall, skinny brunette in a tight black dress walked up to Draco and sat in his lap.

"Drakeeeyyy" she cooed "Why haven't I seen you since that wonderful night we spent together. Where have you been hiding? And who is she?" she asked, throwing Hermione a look of disdain.

"Cara…" Draco rolled his eyes, but she seemed to take no notice. "I've been around and that's Hermione, she's a friend of mine." Cara giggled uncontrollably and Draco kept throwing Hermione pleading looks that seemed to say 'GET HER THE HELL OFF OF ME!' After a few more minutes of Cara ignoring Hermione and fawning over Draco, which had Hermione trying to suppress a fit of giggles, she decided to put Draco out of his misery.

"Oh Cara…"

"Yes Harmony?" she said never taking her eyes off of Draco.

"It's Her-mi-o-ne…and anyway, that guy over at the bar has been staring at you for the last ten minutes."

At that Cara jumped up and started looking around wildly.

"WHERE, WHERE?!"

"Over there…in the black beater."

"OOO, hello mister hottie! Look Draco, I'll see you around."

Then she left without as much as a fleeting glance at either Draco or Hermione.

"Thanks, she really is an airhead."

"Is that a common occurrence for you? I mean random girls throwing themselves at you?"

"Well, I don't mean I'm oversexed or anything like that…but I am quite sexy" he replied wiggling his eyebrows. (A/n: I'll name a character after you if you can tell me what book that line came from.)

Hermione rolled her eyes and laughed. They enjoyed a fine meal of the house specialty, steak and kidney pie, and decided to dance. Draco had to admit Hermione was a good dancer. She was no Isadora Duncan but she wasn't Goyle either. Hermione had almost the same thoughts about Draco, except she was comparing him to Harry and his horrible dance skills (or lack thereof). She knew that he was a fine ballroom dancer; they had been forced to dance at all the balls during seventh year because as prefects, they had to set an example for the other houses, but she didn't know that he could dance like that. Honestly she didn't know that he could even be that care free. Before they knew it, it was seven in the morning and Hermione asked Draco to take her home. They left Jekyll together after a most interesting night…err…morning.

"Bye Draco."

"Bye Mione."

Hermione walked up to her apartment humming a song from the club. She unlocked her door and walked into her bedroom. She transfigured her robes into pajamas and fell into bed. She had just fallen asleep when a distinct tapping came from the window. Sleepily, she got up and walked to the window and opened it. An owl flew in and dropped a red envelope into her hands, then flew back out.

With trembling hands she opened the howler. It immediately to the form of a mouth and screamed at her in a deep voice.

"STAY OFF THE CARROWAY CASE IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU!" with that the howler tore itself up and disintegrated in a burst of flames.

Teaser: Now Hermione and Draco are friends. What will develop between them? Who sent the howler? What will they do if Hermione stays on the case? Find out in the next exciting chapter of The Crime of Passion
Read and Review. No new chapter till I get at least 5 reviews. That's reasonable isn't it? I mean more than 5 of you have this story on your alert/favorite list. And I'm still looking for a Beta.