A/n: Hi again! Hope you enjoy the newest chapter! Early update so enjoy! Thanks again to my beta MorbidKitten2!


And his brother said

He was a Good Friend

When Hermione awoke the following morning, the first thing she registered was that her back hurt. Groaning as she attempted to sit up, wiping sleep from her eyes, she glanced around, noting that she had fallen asleep in the chair in the living room.

Strange, I always sleep on the couch.

And then they hit her. Memories of the previous night flew back to her, arriving in miss-conjoined snippets that she tried to put together as her mind began to fill in the blanks. She recalled everything that happened after Malfoy shared with her such shattering news, including when he took her daughter upstairs to her bedroom when Hermione herself was too distraught to move. It was one of the most thoughtful things he had ever done on her behalf.

Then she recalled being dragged downstairs, the blonde man gripping her hand. He led her to a chair, told her to not get up, and actually got her a cup of water. When he inquired whether or not she had whiskey, she rolled her eyes and refused to reply. And then, the silence came.

Silence like this with Malfoy was unheard of. Usually if they were alone but not speaking it meant that they were working, but this situation wasn't like that at all. She sat staring at her cup, finding it the ideal object to use to avoid looking at him. He had taken to staring- practically glaring- at the ceiling, seemingly searching for something of interest up there.

Yet he stayed, despite the fact that she hadn't needed him to. He stayed around and waited until she seemed calm- or calmer- about the subject. And when she finally seemed to be acting semi-normal again, he spoke.

"You don't have any sleeping potion, do you?"

"Malfoy, taking a potion to sleep is bad for you and can become addictive. Why would I have that?"

"Why? You're widowed; you just learned that your darling husband cheated on you for Merlin knows how long, and that he also got his favorite side woman pregnant. Why wouldn't you have a sleeping potion?"

She sighed at that, moving out of her chair and to the kitchen. He followed, but remained in the doorway as she searched through a cabinet for her old container of the potion. When she did find it, she looked back at him with heavy eyes.

"I've been avoiding using this since his death, you know."

"Well, if you don't use it tonight, I can guarantee that you won't sleep. And considering that you probably scared your daughter, you should at least try to seem decent in the morning. Just take it Granger; one time won't kill you."

Although she didn't believe him, she leveled with his thinking for just one night. Returning to the living room, he remained until after she had taken the potion, and began feeling the effects of it.

"Do you plan to come to work tomorrow? Or shall I tell Nott that you quit?"

Part of Hermione wanted to say no, she was done with the place, done with figuring out things that hurt her more than helped, but she knew that was foolish. If she only ever wanted to hear the good, she would never have started going there to begin with. Yawning, she settled deeper into the chair.

"Yes, I'll be there."

"Good. See you in the morning, Granger."

Recalling what happened last night, she partially regretted her decision to go back. She wanted a day to herself to mourn, but if she didn't show up again she ran the risk of having Malfoy back at her door, and she simply couldn't handle that. Besides, they probably had more than enough things to discuss that morning, and she didn't want to waste time sorting things out.

And in case it came in, she wanted to hear the report on Chang. Despite the grotesque scene that would forever haunt her nightmares, she wanted to know what honestly happened to the woman. If the murder was at all related to Ron's death, then she could help honor more than one person by continuing with this case. And that was the main reason she decided to take up this case in the first place and agree to Malfoy's ludicrous offer, right?

Well, she thought so anyway.


"We're going up to autopsy," he said, leading her down the halls. Hermione had convinced Harry to watch her children for the day, after making Rose a super special breakfast and promising to go see Harry after her shift. "It's kind of like what muggles do, but the process moves along quicker here."

"And so then they have a diagnosis on Chang? They know what caused her death?"

Draco paused walking, turning to look at the woman following him. They hadn't spoken much about the night before, or her deceased husband since arriving, but he wasn't entirely sure about bringing her upstairs with him. "Look, Granger, this isn't the kindest thing to go see. There might be a lot, or very few, similarities between Chang's murder and Weasley's. It's a bit… disturbing to see sometimes. I attempted to convince Nott to not have you come-"

"Would you stop trying to convince people of things on my behalf?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "I'm perfectly capable of deciding what I can and cannot handle. I survived a war, and I'm a grown woman. If I didn't think coming along to this visit for me was good for me then I wouldn't. I'm not out to scar myself more."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Just like you were sure you wanted to come along when we initially found Chang's body?"

Biting the inside of her lip, she searched for a cunning remark. Did he have to bring that up? "All the more reason to go now. I've seen the initial damage, the blood and all, and now I want to see the actual wounds. Now would you stop being so unusually concerned and just take me?"

Throwing his hands up, the blonde turned around and began walking again. "Fine, whatever. But don't make a big deal out of things if you can't handle it. I actually need to listen, and I can't watch you lose your lunch again if I'm supposed to be listening to the doctor up there."

She rolled her eyes, following behind him. He might seem hostile, but she knew from experience that he wasn't so bad. He could be nice at times, if he tried. He just didn't want to admit it, so for now she would leave it be- or at least, until after their appointment visiting Chang's body.

Autopsy wasn't the best place Hermione had ever visited, considering that she knew that bodies lay just out of her view, placed on cold metal slabs. That idea wasn't exactly comforting as she followed Malfoy into the room, but she tried to block the thoughts out. She was there for a purpose after all, and she wasn't going to let her mind wander any further than it already was.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy," came the voice of a man, someone she had never seen before. He had a balding head, round glasses, and a grin from ear to ear. She thought that was a bit controversial considering his job, but didn't comment on the subject. "I was wondering when I would be seeing you today."

"I wanted to get down here quickly," Draco replied, leaning against the wall, "You're report will hopefully shed some light on certain things."

"I see," the man replied, nodding. His eyes shifted past the blonde to Hermione, who stood back with her arms crossed, letting the two converse. "And this is?"

"Hermione Granger," she said quickly, cutting in before the man could. Draco glanced at her, wondering about the last name she gave. After all, hadn't she been on his arse about calling her Granger?

The man's eyes twinkled. "The Hermione Granger? War heroine? Wife of the deceased-"

"Yes, her," the blonde man snapped, intersecting again, "In the flesh. Now Mr. Steiner, the body?"

Mr. Steiner hesitated a moment, glancing over at the woman again as though he wanted to say something to her. He never did however and instead turned away to face one of those dreadful medal slabs, with what could only be presumed to be Chang's body hidden beneath a white sheet. "Ah yes, about Cho Chang."

Before saying anything else the man took a folder off a nearby table and handed it to Malfoy, sending Hermione a gentle smile. She returned the gesture, thinking the old man seemed rather kind indeed.

"Miss Chang suffered numerous blows to the body. The cuts and scratches located on the legs were left by a blade, nothing long but certainly sharp. They weren't deep, but seemingly were inflicted before she died. The torso was torn open using a slicing spell, leaving nothing really to trace. Once the insides of this young woman were revealed, the heart was stabbed through, using a broken piece of glass that was left within the body. The scalping, which removed much of the young woman's hair cut through the skin and left gashes, which would've caused severe problems had she lived."

Reaching for the sheet, Mr. Steiner paused. He was staring at Hermione again, a guarded look adoring his features. Everyone knew what she had experienced, and he was not different, acting like she should be guarded around her.

"Go ahead," the blonde man said, speaking before she could. Hermione moved up to his side then, choosing to have a better look. She might regret the action later, but hopefully for now she would be able to handle things. And why wouldn't she? At least now, the body was cleaned up a bit.

The sheet was removed, only showing the top of Chang's body down to her shoulders. Even to just that point Hermione couldn't help but cringe. The man began speaking once more, but she found herself unable to focus as she took in the true extent of the damage.

She was able to tell where the gashes were deep, long, missing chunks of flesh. It was horrible to look at, to know that someone had suffered such pains before death finally took them. She gently gripped the table, studying the missing patches of hair, where cuts could be seen. Strangely, she wasn't as alarmed by what she saw as the first time when they found Chang, Regrettably, she had seen this type of torture before.

Ron, he had been scalped. Chunks of his lovely red hair torn from his head, leaving behind uneven patches. She recalled though that when she found his… corpse, he had a large gash across his forehead, as though someone meant to cut the top of his head off…

She stopped thinking, deciding to not go any further with her thoughts. If she kept envisioning Ron, she was going to cry, and that was just going to prompt another agreement with Malfoy, as if she needed that. Looking back at Chang again, she forced her emotions down, focusing solely on studying the girl.

There was nothing else really that caught her attention that seemed exceptionally peculiar about the body. Releasing her grip from the table again, she stood back and attempted to fall back into the conversation.

"… Interesting thing is really the gashes on her arms. They almost appear to form a word."

Glad that she was listening now, Hermione glanced at Malfoy to see his reaction, but the man's face was masked. She didn't know why she expected anything else, and glanced back at Chang in time to see the sheet pull back and reveal her body, the necessary precautions already taken now that she was dead. Oddly enough, it looked like something the girl was used to seeing off of NCIS.

On her torso, the violence appeared more profound. Hermione didn't even bother studying it at length this time, knowing her mind would wander towards dangerous topics again. Yet she couldn't focus on the man's words, and could only follow his finger with her eyes down to a set of scars on her stomach, placed around the large incision that split her torso open to begin with.

Bleed. The word had no in depth meaning to the woman, but the fact that anything at all was written into the Cho's flesh was alarming. She remembered Ron bore a similar word, Blood. Looking at Malfoy now, he glanced her way. It was very possible that both parties were killed know, he glanced her way. It was very possible that both parties were killed by the same madman.

"Thank you Steiner," Draco said, suddenly cutting the evaluation short. "I'll take the rest of the report with me to study later."

The old man seemed completely unfazed by this sudden interruption, and merely handed over the documents with a gleam in his eyes. "Connecting the dots are we, Malfoy?"

"I hope," he replied, looking a bit uncertain. Bidding the doctor goodbye, he turned and headed out.

"Goodbye Miss Hermione," the man called, and the girl glanced back to wave, sending him a small smile. He was probably the most pleasant person she had met thus far in this portion of the Ministry.

Wandering back to Malfoy's office seemed more like a race than a paced walk. The blonde moved quite quickly, and the girl's body simply did not want to have to follow him at a jog. Why he was suddenly so apt to get back escaped her, though she couldn't deny that she was also quite curious to get back and study the report. Although the few similarities between Cho and Ron were unsettling, they were something. And that gave her a spark of confidence that they might actually catch the killer. Lately, her confidence on such matters had been wavering.

"Malfoy, would you walk like a normal person?" He paused his jogging to turn and wait for her, one eyebrow raised high on his forehead as he did so. Hermione caught up easily at that, falling into step beside him moments later. "Well, that's better."

"A bit tired, Granger?"

She looked away from him. "I had a long day yesterday."

"Oh, I remember." She glared at the wall when he said this, knowing he was referring to when he made her a drink and dragged her down the stairs, after she alarmed her daughter. Git.

"I wanted to thank you for yesterday," she continued, having let silence sit between them for a moment. "After you shared your bit of information, you didn't really have to… help me."

"Granger, you didn't seem capable of helping yourself then, much less your daughter when she appeared. Look," he said, stopping in the hallway, and Hermione stopped as well, curious now what he was going to say. "I've gone through the cheating stage of marriage- granted, my circumstances were different, but nonetheless I've done it. It's quite an unpleasant realization, okay? You don't need to thank me for anything- I've been there, done that already. I just ensured that you didn't terrify your daughter any more than you already were."

"And you got me back downstairs," she reminded, smiling lightly at him, "You didn't have to do that. And you convinced me to take that dreadful potion so I could sleep."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, well, it wasn't going to do me any good today to leave you in a mess. We still have to work together and I didn't want my bleary-eyed partner showing up for work barely awake and possibly still crying."

To that, Hermione broke into a grin, ignoring half of his statement. "Did you just call me your partner?"

Cringing, the man shoved past her, continuing down the hallway. "Shut up, Granger."

And she followed behind him, grinning from ear to ear. His slip-up was endearing, even kind in a way. Maybe there was some honest kindness in him after all.


"So how did that letter really get into this office?" Hermione asked later, crossing her arms. For once she sat in the chairs directly on the opposite side of Draco's desk, instead of in the one across the room against the wall.

Looking up from the papers he was reading, the blonde's gaze narrowed. "Are we really going into this again? I've already told you Granger, I've never seen the bloody note before. I don't know where it came from, much less what it was doing in here."

"Yes but… if it wasn't something that you had, then that means that someone either left it inside one of your numerous folders and it accidently got in here, meaning that someone else had possession of the note, or someone intentionally dropped it in here."

He sighed, setting aside what he was reading, knowing very well that he would need to focus on her now. "Out of this department Granger, only Nott has access to rooms that are not his. Advisors and the Minister himself obviously have the keys as well, but they rarely come down here, which again leaves us with Nott. Now if you haven't caught on by now, we can't tolerate each other. The last thing he would want to do is come into my office, and touch my things. He might be my boss, but I have more power outside of work. He knows that. There's a reason why we try not to fuck with each other, even if we can't stand one another."

She tapped her quill against her chin. "Unless he came down her simply to sabotage you."

"You're thinking too outside the box," he muttered. "Having a letter between Weasley and Brown would do what for the case exactly? Nothing! It connects Lavender into this mess, but that's all it ever really did, and she did that herself by announcing she's pregnant. If someone was trying to pin this murder case on me, then they would take different measures. It's probably something that accidently got stuck in my belongings, as you said."

"Yes, perhaps," she agreed, although she wasn't really convinced by anything he said. Something still seemed fishy about this, and she didn't like it.

"Can we focus on the case now? We need to make as many connections as possible so we can hopefully set up a better list of suspects."

"Very well. They both had words carved into them, but it was done by a… enchanted blade. Handwriting can't be traced."

"I know." He sat back in his chair, running long fingers through his hair. "They both knew you."

"Don't remind me," she replied quietly, looking down. That fact didn't sit well in her stomach.

"But it is something we must document," he reminded, scribbling something down on parchment. "Their jobs had no relation to each other."

"No."

"Do you know if they ever spent time together?"

"We all did on occasion," she said, focusing on a rather boring point on the wall. "It varied, but some of us would get together whenever we all had some free time and go out for a drink, for dinner, things like that. I wouldn't be surprised if they spent time together."

Draco didn't dare ask if she thought Chang perhaps slept with her husband. "So besides the same crews that you lot have been with since Hogwarts, did the two have any other similar friendships?"

Hermione shrugged. "From what I knew of Ron's friendships, I could list them for days. Some of his hidden friendships though, I couldn't begin to tell you. I was never very close with Chang either. Occasionally we attended the same gatherings with friends, but I don't honestly know anyone she associated with often outside of my typical group. Sorry."

"Don't apologize," he said tiredly, rubbing his forehead. "We'll make enough connections somehow."

Nodding, she stayed silent. It wouldn't help to say something negative now.

They worked in silence for a bit, Hermione working through Chang's documented history while Draco looked over some of his notes. Ron's was already noted, something the blonde had done before she even joined the case. Scanning down the pages, she lifted her eyebrow at something.

"Chang dated Theo," she said, sounding a bit surprised by the information. Draco glanced up briefly, seeming less than interested.

"You never knew that? Odd. It happened once during school for an amazing four days, and sometime last year they dated briefly as well. I don't know why that would be documented though."

"It says that during the time she was with him last year she was often seen bruised. Did you ever notice that?"

"Granger, we've been over this. I'm no longer friends with Nott. I haven't been for a long time. The only reason I even know that she dated him is because Pansy told me. She loves to spend time around Nott. After dumping Blaise two years ago she's been all over the place. Probably spent some special time with Nott as well."

Hermione shivered at the implication, wondering how anyone could want to be with that man. He seemed so creepy and… well, creepy. She couldn't fathom being in the same room as him, let alone kissing him. But maybe it was the rich thing that drove women to sleep with him. He didn't have dashing looks like Malfoy.

Did I just think that? I must be more sleep deprived than I thought.

"I suppose it's not really a lead anyway," she muttered. "Even if Ron was a cheater, one thing I know for certain about him is that he was straight. He wouldn't have been involved with Nott."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Well, that's reassuring."

"Why, yes, I thought so anyway."


"Should I be concerned about not seeing you tomorrow?" he asked as they prepared to leave that night.

"Why would you be?"

"Well, considering last night Granger, I'm not entirely certain you will come back here if the hysterics happen again. Maybe you should… I don't know… go to Potter's or something. Is his wife okay with that?"

Hermione chuckled, patting the man on the shoulder. It was a brazen action, considering how little they touched. "Ginny isn't concerned at all when I spend time there Malfoy, but I'll be fine. I want to spend some serious time with my children tonight. I owe them- especially Rose- after yesterday."

"I suppose that's true. See you tomorrow Granger, bright and early."

Nodding, she hopped into the fireplace first. After what happened the last time she was alone in that office, she didn't want to tempt herself to snoop. Picking up the floo powder she disappeared quickly, arriving at her home seconds later.

Immediately, her semi-happy demure disappeared. Practically leaping from the fireplace, she spun in a circle and surveyed her home. The living room had been torn to shreds, and she thanked Merlin that she decided to stop by the house before picking up her children. At least she wouldn't have to scare them with this terrible scene.

Dashing away from the living room, she glanced through the rest of her home. The other rooms- especially her children's- hadn't been touched as much, thank Merlin, but it was still obvious that someone had been there. Her heartbeat accelerated as she got closer to her own bedroom, where the door stood open.

Inside, it was destroyed. The pristine memories, left there due to her pain were suddenly dashed away, the room no longer replicating how her husband would lead a day-to-day life. All his clothing that had been purposely left out was shredded, as though the intruder was searching for something within the linens. Stepping numbly into the room, she could feel her resolve breaking.

Why would someone do this? Why can't they leave us be?

Falling down on her knees, she caught site of the image on the window. For a brief moment she thought the message was written in blood, and she nearly screamed, until she rationally remembered that no one had been there during the day. Looking closer, she realized it had to be her lipstick. But that didn't change the messages meaning.

You've been warned, Mudblood.

Someone wanted to get their message across, though she couldn't fathom what exactly that message was. Someone spent the time to break down her wards, break into her house, destroy the rooms and her family's belongings, and leave a message in lipstick on her bedroom window. And for what? What could the purpose be?

Forcing herself to stand, she backed out of the room, wand out now. It was foolish to run around the place without carrying it in the first place, but she had been in shock. What if someone was still there though? She could've been hurt!

Returning to the floo system as quickly as she could, she grabbed a handful of powder and left for Harry's. There was no way she could stay there now. And besides, she would need to speak to him about her living arrangement.

And, she was going to need to speak to Malfoy as soon as possible. This just had to be considered evidence.


A/N: Hope you liked it! Leave a review to let me know what you're thinking!

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