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Chapter 3: Furious

Hermione was livid. She wanted to strangle Malfoy. It's not as though she expected Ron to take the news particularly well, but Malfoy being there made it so much worse. Her eyes hadn't yet moved from the spot where Ron disapparated. She was furious. Furious at Ron for not being able to control his temper. Furious at Lila and the ministry for sticking her with Malfoy. Furious at the Death Eaters for being the evil bastards they are. But most of all she was furious at Draco Malfoy. Snapping her eyes to the focal point of her fury she grew even more enraged to see him smirking at her. Suddenly standing up, she grabbed her glass of water off the table and threw it right into the smirking bastards face.

"I told you to give me half an hour! Is that so much to ask for?!" She exclaimed.

Draco slowly wiped the water off of his face and stood up. Ginny and Harry braced themselves for the explosion that was bound to come. They both drew their wands inconspicuously.

Draco opened his mouth to make some snide remark, but was cut off by Hermione.

"I would think twice about whatever it is you're about to say right now," she growled threateningly, raising her wand slightly.

He glared at her. Up until she threw the water in his face, this had just been a ploy to annoy her, but nobody disrespected him like this.

He took a step closer and eyed her wand.

"I dare you," he said in a low voice.

"Hermione, c'mon, this isn't worth it," Ginny said imploringly, "People are watching,"

Hermione tore her eyes from Draco's and sure enough saw that they had made quite the scene. She reluctantly lowered her wand.

"Do not follow me," she said menacingly, and disapparated.

"Malfoy?" she thundered, "You couldn't get anyone else? Or better yet, trust that I can defend myself?"

Kingsley Shacklebolt looked up from his desk to find a fuming Hermione Granger standing in his doorway.

"Hermione, always a pleasure," he said with only a slightly sarcastic tone.

"I can't work with him Kingsley. I just can't," she said, closing the door and taking a seat, "He's insufferable, egotistical, unprofessional, and a bully. I won't have it. Surely, there is someone else."

"Hermione," Kingsley said reproachfully, "you would do well to remember who you are talking to. As for your request, no, there is no one else for the job."

Hermione blushed at the reprimand, she knew she was acting like a petulant child, but there was just something about Malfoy that brought out the worst in her. She couldn't let it go. Not yet. If Lila wouldn't budge, maybe Kingsley would.

"There has to be!" she exclaimed, "Of all the Aurors in your department, at least one of them has to be qualified."

"Hermione, you must know that this is a very serious assignment for the both of you. Malfoy is one of my best Aurors, and the only one I trust to take the situation as seriously as it deserves. I only wish you would as well," he said sternly.

Hermione slumped in her chair, the fight going out of her.

"He tortured me Kingsley," she said quietly, "He made my life a living hell when we were in school. Every. Single. Day. How can I ever trust him?"

"He's a different person than the boy you grew up with. And so are you for that matter," he replied.

When Hermione didn't respond, he went on.

"You don't have to like him Hermione, but you do have to work with him. You don't even have to trust him, just trust me."

"Of course I trust you Kingsley," she said emphatically.

She was embarrassed now that she let her anger get the best of her. She was better than this. She supposed that working with Malfoy wasn't the worst thing in the world. He just riled her up like no one else. But Kingsley was right, he wasn't the same schoolyard bully that she knew. He hadn't called her a mudblood yet, so that was an improvement.

"I apologize for my outburst Kingsley, it won't happen again," she said solemnly.

Kingsley chuckled, "If I had a sickle for every person who burst in here yelling about an assignment, I would be a very rich man."

She smiled weakly.

"Honestly, I was expecting at least one of you to show up," he continued, "especially after receiving Lila's letter yesterday."

"Yes, well, don't be too surprised if he shows up too. I kind of threw a glass of water in his face and then threatened to curse him," she said sheepishly, her cheeks burning.

Kingsley chuckled and then grew serious.

"There really is no one better for the job. Now, if you promise to go straight home and not leave your heavily warded flat for the rest of the day, then I will tell Malfoy to leave you alone for the night. This is a one-time offer,"

"Thank you," she said, nodding her agreement and preparing to leave.

Apparating back to her flat, she was pleased to find it empty. She had half expected to find Malfoy waiting for her, unaware of Kingsley's offer. Her stomach knotted at the thought of him and all the time they would have to spend with each other these coming weeks. Deciding to deal with him tomorrow, she walked over to her desk and began a letter to Ron.

Ron,

I would like to apologize for what happened earlier this afternoon. I am not any happier about this situation than you are, but unfortunately it is what it is and I hope you can understand that this promotion means a lot to me. I will explain more at dinner on Sunday at the Burrow. Malfoy will not be there.

Love from,

Hermione

After sending the letter off with her owl Eliana she decided she better get to work. Even though she hadn't been assigned the Death Eater case until yesterday she had been collecting information for months now. She saved all of the articles Emma wrote, and notes of anything she found suspicious, and now she also had Emma's journal, although she was not sure that would be much help. It appeared that the Death Eaters had already taken the important pages.

She found that she could never quite get away from the evil in the world, no matter how hard she tried. After the war, she wanted to distance herself from it as much as possible. She didn't want to be on the battle lines anymore, which is a large part of why she chose to go into journalism rather than become an Auror or Healer where she would see suffering everyday. However, with all the activity surrounding the Death Eaters lately, she found that she couldn't stand idly by and let another war brew.

The Death Eaters hadn't acted publicly yet, but she knew it was only a matter of time. The death of Emma was proof of that to Hermione. However, she wasn't the first. There had been several suspicious muggle deaths, the murders of Dennis Creevey and Astoria Greengrass, and an attack on Blaise Zabini. He was lucky enough to escape, but not before getting badly beaten first. Unfortunately, he was unable to name any of the attackers. Some of the details of the attack had been left out of the papers, but being friends with Harry Potter had its perks. Harry often discussed cases with her to get a fresh perspective, and Kingsley sometimes brought her in as a consultant.

She knew that Blaise and Astoria had been attacked in Blaise's home by masked men and that he had no idea why. Blaise and Astoria had been seeing each other for a short time and had just come home from dinner when they were attacked. Blaise said the attackers separated him and Astoria. He heard her screams, but could do nothing to help, as he was being tortured as well. The next thing he remembered was waking up in pitch black, wandering downstairs to the parlor, and finding Astoria's body. He contacted the Aurors immediately after. Blaise and Astoria weren't the only ones to be attacked and tortured. Dennis had cuts and bruises all over his body, suggesting he had been tortured before being killed. They carved the word "MUDBLOOD" into his forehead, and branded his chest with the dark mark. Astoria also had the dark mark seared into her skin but it appeared to have been done after her death.

Hermione had a lot of questions swirling around in her mind. The attack on Blaise and the murders of Astoria and Dennis were the most significant incidents, but not the only ones. Dennis was the first to happen 8 months ago, the attack on Blaise and Astoria was 6 months ago, and since then there have been several suspicious muggle deaths and a few break ins. The aurors have yet to figure out what the Death Eaters are after or who their leader is.

Hermione really wanted to question Blaise about the attack, but she didn't know how she could without letting him know about her new column. And then it came to her; Malfoy. He was an auror so he could ask those questions without being suspicious and Blaise would have to answer them, plus they were friends so he would probably be more candid with him than anyone else. It was perfect. Malfoy could actually be useful. For once, Hermione was somewhat excited to work with him. Well, excited may be too strong of a word. She would talk to him about it first thing tomorrow. Right now, she was still mad at him and couldn't be held responsible for her actions if she were to see him.

After reading through the articles Emma had written, Hermione started compiling a list of all the Death Eaters she knew had never been caught. The most prominent of Death Eaters included Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, Antonin Dolohov, and Augustus Rookwood. The Lestrange brothers were also high on Hermione's list of possible leaders. If she hadn't known Lucius Malfoy was in Azkaban, he probably would have been at the top of the list. She sighed and rubbed her eyes. She had been at this for hours, it was time to call it a night.

It had been a long and emotional day. She hadn't realized how affected she had been by Emma's death until she visited her flat. Getting that peek into what her life had been and knowing that it would never be again filled Hermione with asadness and a fury that she couldn't push aside. Maybe that was part of why she had gotten so angry at Malfoy this afternoon. She sighed and rested her head in her hands. She didn't know if she could go through all of the death and destruction again. She could feel her heart start to race with anxiety and knew that she needed to get a hold of herself before it overwhelmed her.

Hermione decided to try to relax by watching some television. One of the few muggle electronics she simply couldn't give up. The benefits of living in a wizard/muggle mixed neighborhood were that electronics worked. Flipping through the channels, she landed on Pride and Prejudice. She recited the lines to herself, and eventually dozed off as the love/hate relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy played out on the screen before her.