(Part 3)

"Alright then, Cormac, can we please get this over with?" I snapped.

He turned back to me. By this point the bar had lost interest and all the eyes that had been on the fight before had turned back to their own bustling affairs. It made the room feel like it was closing in on us, particularly after Higgs disappeared with the frozen aggressor.

"Yes, of course. Let's just go over to a booth and we'll get it all sorted," he explained, gesturing to the corner of the room.

I followed him and slid into the seats in a huff. He whipped out a pad and a quill and got ready to write, "Name?"

I looked blankly at him, "For the love of God, Cormac, you know my name."

"I need your full name for the record," he explained. "Last time, I checked, we never swapped middle names."

"Hermione. Jean. Granger." I responded, fussily.

He started to write, before stopping, furrowing his eyebrows, and setting his quill down. He sat up and leaned over the table towards me, his voice softening, "Listen, Hermione. I really am sorry about this, and I know you thought I was a real twat in high school, and as it turns out, I probably was, but that doesn't change the fact that I have to do this now. It's not how I'd like to spend my Friday night either, but I'm glad I got to step in, and I'm not allowed to do that part without this part. Alright?"

I started to open my mouth to argue, that I hadn't needed his help anyway, but he added something before the words could even escape my mouth, " I know you didn't need me saving you. I've seen you fight. You can handle yourself. I just… You've done a lot for the world and you deserved at least something."

"Well," I said, a bit taken aback still. "Thank you."

"Moving on."

We went through all the basic questions. Address. Date of birth. Wand details. Etc. And then he asked me to describe the incident. Which I did curtly at first, but he kept asking question after question. Was I provoked? Was the aggressor intoxicated? Was I intoxicated? Did I ever fire a curse? Who drew their wand first? At what point? It went on and on.

Finally he magicked his quill and ink and papers back into his box, and for a moment they were suspended and twirling in air, organizing themselves, as Cormac straightened his shirt and vest and jacket, then it all flew in place. He tapped his fist on the table with finality.

"That's all I need from you Ms. Granger. I'm sorry for taking up so much of your time. Would you allow me to tempt you with a drink by way of apology?" He offered, tilting his head in a charming, politician sort of way.

Ugh. Gross.

I opened my mouth to decline, politely - after all, he had stopped me from getting cursed at - but then my boss's horrifically frustrating and intimidating face appeared in my mind and I thought how it might not be such a bad idea to be on good terms with his nephew.

"Well… sure. Just one, though," I forced a smile that I hoped didn't look as awkward as it felt.

"I'm sorry. I'm sure after all these years I'm just repulsive to you but I promise I'm not as bad as I seem. I've gotten so much better!" He smiled, the dim light somehow still finding a way to glint off of his teeth.

"No, I'd never find you… repulsive!" There was no way I sounded believable but still…

"Ah, no need to lie to me," He laughed heartily, standing. He put a hand on my shoulder before I could rise beside him. "No worries, I'll go fetch them and bring them back. What's your poison?"

"Firewhiskey," I said tentatively, before finding my center again. "Make it a double."

"Coming right up," He winked at me, and turned on his heel and took off for the bar with a cool and confident stride that gave me the impression he was trying to milk it.

I stifled a laugh at his overly Hollywood mannerisms. I still wasn't used to this "nice" Cormac. And then a terrifying thought occurred to me. I stiffened, snapping my head to stare at my hands, my feet, the walls, the ceiling, anything but him, and prayed he wasn't doing this because he still thought he had a chance with me.

Cormac slid back into the booth again, with a smile, that faded into a snap of confusion the moment he looked at me, but that too disappeared quickly, and he nudged my drink over to me. I didn't move at first.

"Don't worry. I don't bite, I promise. I'm only trying for a conversation with the girl that saved our world. I'm not expecting anything," He tried to look encouraging, but still came off a bit stiff and overzealous. But it did actually quell my nervousness a bit.

"So… Uh… How are… things?" I asked. Ah, so eloquently put. Well done, Hermione.

To my great relief, he let out a hearty laugh. Loud but not too disruptive and incredibly full. "Well, Hermione - may I call you that?" He interrupted his thought with a polite asking gesture towards me. I nodded, and he continued. "Things, Hermione, are going well. I am not, as you pointed out earlier, an Auror, but I do work in the department of Magical Law Enforcement and I'm making my way up the ranks so I can't complain. Although I heard you were trying to slash my budget earlier today."

He looked at me in a knowing way and I blushed, "Yes. I suppose I did. But you have to agree, plenty of the spending in your department, as you called it, is quite wasteful and could be put to better use, somewhere."

He busted out a smile again, "Oh don't worry. You're absolutely right. But Uncle's right as well in some respects. You can't cut money from law enforcement and get away with it right now, at least not in the court of public opinion. If you really want to get money out of us, you'd probably have to find a way to work in the confines of where things already are."

"How do you mean?" I asked, wondering if he was insinuating what I thought he was. I was starting to get comfortable with Cormac's way of being, so to speak. I was feeling a bit more confident in the situation again.

"Come now, Hermione. You can't be a stranger to a little inter-departmental cooperation. Sure, it'd make your bill more complex but if you filed duties under more than one department, so long as you followed up to make sure they were all implementing, it'd be all the harder to dismantle later with none of the pushback from removing money in areas of public interest. Simply put, you're not taking funds from Law Enforcement if your project is Law Enforcement," There was that knowing look in his eye again.

A wave of skepticism washed over me. What are you playing at? I thought.

"Cormac - may I call you that?" I asked, mimicking him earlier, with my own glint in my eyes. He laughed a bit at the gesture and nodded. "Cormac, what you're suggesting would require that someone on Law Enforcement might actually be with me in this sort of endeavor. Are you saying you know someone in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement that would be willing to take that sort of thing on?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"You!?" I asked in disbelief.

"You still haven't touched your Firewhiskey," He deflected my astounded tone with the cavalier comment. I understood that power play. A politician's approach to condescension, which usually meant a bit of insecurity. I had a hard time picturing Cormac McLaggen, or any McLaggen for that matter, being insecure. Nevertheless, I still didn't touch my drink.

"No, come on Cormac. You can't have me believe you'd support this just like that. There's no way any of this is that easy. For all I know at this point you planted that drunkard so you could step in and save the day. What's in it for you?" I demanded, shaking my head in defiance.

"Why does there have to be something in it for me?" He grinned coyly and took a sip of his own drink.

I simply raised an eyebrow at him.

"Alright, alright," he paused and looked away for a second. "Let's just say I have a personal interest."

"In what?"

"Come now. Can't I just be interested in a little humanitarian goodness?"

"No," I fired back. Things were still playful, but I wasn't letting him go that easily.

"Why not? I'm still a person. A politician but a person. Come now surely you can't think-"

"Cormac."

"Fine," He lowered his voice. "My family's house elf, Pippa, took care of me as a child. She deserved better."

I leaned back, reaching out for my alcohol and taking a sip, still eyeing him for any sign of an ulterior motive.

He seemed to be growing a bit uncomfortable with my continued skepticism, so I let him sit for a minute and maintained my silent stare. There's nothing more funny than watching a wizard who's always got the upper hand feel uncomfortable. It was clearly rare for him, and I watched him start to fidget as he broke.

Finally, he set his drink down in exasperation, a little too hard, "What do you want me to say? Do you want me to say that Pippa basically raised me because my father was a widower that was far too important at work to spend much time with me? Is that what you want to know? We all aren't as put together as we seem, Granger. That can hardly be of much shock to you at this point. Regardless, Pippa deserved better."

Well, not exactly what I expected. He was calming down now, deflating from his outburst, and composed once again. But you could see it in those green politician eyes like his uncle's. He was possibly more uncomfortable than he'd been before.

"Okay then, McLaggen," I echoed his use of my surname. "I'd love your help."

"Alright, brilliant," He still sounded a bit huffy, but he was smiling again. "I'm better than just any ministry official too. I've been exploring the legislative side of things lately and shadowing some of the members of the Wizengamot. I've got access to all their agendas and they'd trust me. The two of us would have a pretty fair shot, I'd imagine."

I nodded, smiling back now. I sipped my drink again. I was still studying him. He and Tiberius looked rather a lot alike. Same pointed nose and jaw set in a stately manor. I could see around his heavily lashed eyes that he was getting older than when I'd first known him. They were barely perceptible, but crow's feet were beginning to appear where his uncle didn't have any. I suspected because Cormac seemed to work a more attemptedly charming angle compared to Tiberius's gruff ways of intimidation. Cormac's style was younger though, but still more decidedly put together than any of my friends. He still appeared to be wearing his work clothes, but more than that, his face was shaved close and his hair styled far more meticulously than Harry or Ron ever had attempted, even on special occasions.

After a moment of quiet drinking, I asked, "So, did you stage that fight?"

He laughed, deep and full again, and shook his head at me, before making eye contact in an earnest manor, "No. I swear, I did not. I did come here to see you though. Just a…" he shrugged, "happy coincidence."

I nodded and finished my glass.

"Well, this has been lovely. But my one drink is up. I suppose I'll be seeing you on Monday then, to talk strategy," I offered, gathering my things and rising to my feet.

"I'll do you one better. I'll see you at the minister's Christmas party tomorrow."

Bollocks, "Oh yes. That. I keep forgetting. Sure, I'll see you then."

I turned to leave, and as I walked away, he called after me, "Oh come on now, Hermione. Don't look so grim! It's a party after all!"

I didn't turn back.