Chapter 21: Tipped Off

O-o-o-o-o-o-o

Hermione and Lucius looked at each other for a moment, the tension in the room still heavy from the intrusion of the Aurors.

"I did everything in my power to stop it from happening," she said, squaring up with him, "No one notified me about this. They came here when I was in an interview this morning with the murderer's sister."

"I'm sorry, Hermione," Harry said, "He's been working with some of the other Aurors while we've been digging into Daphne's background. We had no idea until we were told during our morning mission meeting. We tried to get ahold of you as quickly as we could."

"I know," she gave them a half smile, "Really, I appreciate what you did. That Robert Bones is a piece of work."

"I thought you were supposed to be helping Draco," Lucius kept his voice calm, but his eyes were raging, "Perhaps you should be spending less time in his bedroom and more time in your office."

"It's none of your concern where I spend my off time, Mr. Malfoy," Hermione looked at him rigidly, "I have been doing everything I can for your son. We've worked together to bring in countless Death Eaters, with your help as well. Cases like these take a lot of time. We just need to find one string to unravel what's going on and we are going to."

"It is highly of my concern who you've been spending your off time with, Ms. Granger," Lucius said heatedly.

"Father," Draco cut in, still sitting in his reading chair, staring sullenly at the ground, "Could you please drop it for now."

"Draco you need to look at the world around you. It's people like her who are always going to see you for what you were in the war. It's people like them," he gestured to the group, "Who are always going to drag you back into the dark when it's convenient for them."

"I don't see him for who he was in the war," Hermione countered, "I see him for what he overcame walking away from it and who he is outside of it all."

"Granger," Draco finally looked up, his eyes empty, "Could we please drop all of it for now."

Lucius and Hermione both stared at him, unsure what to say. Narcissa had finally walked back in the room as well, looking around trying to figure out what had happened.

"Father, I appreciate your dedication to fighting for me, and you as well, mother," he glanced over at Narcissa, "And Granger, I understand you didn't know this was going to happen and I appreciate you pushing back against the Head Auror and standing up for me like that," he turned again to Harry, Ron and Alden, "And I should also say thank you to you for alerting Granger and showing me some kind of respect today that Bones obviously wasn't going to. Now," he addressed them all with a tired expression, "I'd really appreciate being alone for a while."

"We'll do what we can to get this fixed," Harry told him, "Hermione believes you and we're all working hard to figure this out."

With that, he, Ron and Alden took their leave from the den. Narcissa looked back at Draco sadly, "I'm going to walk them out. I'll be in my sitting room if you need anything," and she left with them.

Lucius looked back and forth between Draco and Hermione, who were currently staring at each other, and huffed, walking out of the room as well.

Silence hung in the air as Hermione searched his eyes for emotion but she couldn't find it.

"Malfoy-" she started.

"I need to be alone," he said quietly, "I'll see you when you come home from work tonight."

She closed her mouth tightly, giving him a small nod, "I'm sorry," she said, her voice shaking.

Draco moved his gaze back to the floor and Hermione turned and left, eyes burning from the tears that wanted to slip out.

Outside the door, she met Narcissa who was coming back from the gates with the last group.

"I thought you might be staying a while," she quipped, stepping aside so they could walk together back to the gates.

"He just wants to be alone," Hermione said, a stray tear fighting its way out and falling slowly down her cheek before she had the chance to wipe it away.

"You love him," Narcissa said softly, "I'm sorry if I was brash the last time we spoke. I see that you love my son very much."

Hermione didn't say anything, she hadn't confessed how she truly felt to herself yet and she didn't want to acknowledge it with Draco's mother.

"He has a lot of demons he's still fighting from the war," Narcissa told her, "He's not whole and you can't fix him. I know because I've tried."

"I don't want to fix him," Hermione looked over at her, "I just want to be there to support him. I wish he wouldn't push me away."

"It's how he deals with things. He yells and he pushes people away. I can see he cares for you, but Draco will be fighting these demons until his last day. He'll never accept the things he did in the war because they broke him. Things like what happened today, it only makes it that much more clear to him that his history will always be a part of him."

"I'm going to solve this case," Hermione looked over at her seriously, "I'm going to clear his name and give him back his freedom. We're tracking down the girl that murdered Tracey Davis today, I think we can find her and get some answers."

They had reached the gates and Narcissa grabbed her hand, cupping it with both of hers, "I admire your determination," she said with a small smile, "Thank you for everything you've done for him. Even if he pushes you away today, know he's more thankful to you than he could put into words for just giving him a voice." She let go and pulled out her wand to take down the wards past the gates.

"I won't stop fighting for him," Hermione returned the smile as best she could before she walked out and apparated back to the Ministry.

When she entered the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she heard Harry, Ron and Alden in Alden's office.

"Do you think he's innocent?" Harry was asking Alden.

He paused and so did Hermione outside the door, which was cracked open.

"Granger has never steered the department wrong before, but the longer this goes on, the more worried I get that maybe we're being had. Do either of you know Draco Malfoy like Granger does?"

She heard Ron scoff and Harry give a faint laugh, "We do not," Harry said, "We knew Malfoy for who he was in Hogwarts and that would be the opposite of what you'd like to hear about to defend him."

"Her faith in him is just so strong," Alden sighed, "We'll keep backing her though, she's got great intuition. Do either of you think there's a reason to doubt her? Weasley? I know you're certainly not a fan of the Malfoy boy."

"I don't doubt her," Ron said a bit quietly, "I'm sure if she trusts him, she's got her reasons. Doesn't mean I'm going to be friendly with him after the pain in the arse he was at Hogwarts."

Alden gave a burly laugh, "We certainly do keep our school day grudges, don't we. Potter? What do you think?"

"I vouched for Malfoy at his trial. I saw it then and if Hermione sees it now, I trust her too."

Listening to the conversation made Hermione smile a little on the inside. They supported her even if they didn't entirely know why.

She finally started walking again, pushing the door open and stepping in, "I was hoping I'd find you all in here," she said as if she hadn't be listening in, "I wanted to talk about my interview with Astoria Greengrass this morning."

Harry stared at her an extra second, "I almost forgot you even had that interview today, after everything else that went on."

"Yes, me too," she said dryly.

"Did you learn anything that will help with Daphne?" Ron asked.

"I think so," she said, "You said she's been corresponding with Rowle a lot. I think we should look at his file and find his address. Maybe she ran there after she killed Tracey."

"That's a great idea," Alden said, "Good place to start. Do you think Astoria had any part of it with her sister?"

"Not at all," Hermione shook her head, "She was a nice girl. She's been through a lot and I think she wants to see this end as much as the rest of us do. She told me to look into the other Slytherin girls though, Pansy and Millicent. She doesn't know if they're involved but felt they were the influence that turned Daphne at Hogwarts."

Alden nodded, "Alright, why don't you take Potter and Weasley and search Rowle's house first and we'll go from there."

"Mr. Northcott," came Chantel's voice from the doorway, "You received a duckie from the Auror department a little bit ago," she held it out and it spread its wings to fly over to him, "Your door was closed, so I held it for you until I saw it open again."

"Thank you, Chantel," he said, grabbing it out of the air.

She nodded, closing the door. Alden squeezed the duckie:

"Alden, it's Robert Bones. I think we should discuss the scene that was made this morning. The Auror Department is going to make decisions we feel are the best course of action given certain circumstances that arise, and while our departments may not see eye to eye on everything, we can't go around questioning each other's authority in front of the public. I'd like to hear how you plan to discuss this with your detective, Ms. Granger. I think it's important that we're all aligned against our common enemy. I didn't appreciate being yelled at in front of the Malfoys."

The rubber duckie gave a dull squeak at the end and Alden looked over at Hermione, "Guess we should have seen this one coming," he rolled his eyes.

O-o-o-o-o-o-o

After reviewing Rowle's file, they found an address and apparated a little ways out from it in case there were protective spells in place to keep unwanted visitors from apparating there. There was a bit of a walk down the dirt road before their destination.

"Thank you for supporting me, back at the Manor," she said to both of them, "I know it's not inherent for either of you to stand behind Malfoy."

"What makes you believe him, Hermione?" Harry asked, "We'll always trust your judgment, but how did Malfoy gain your trust so definitively?"

She thought for a minute about how to describe it before answering, "I think I had forgiven him a long time ago for how he treated us at Hogwarts. Knowing he walked away from Voldemort helped. Seeing him at Fred's funeral helped," she glanced sideways at Ron, who's head had shot up.

"He was at Fred's funeral?" he asked. It had been such a blur to him, partially because it didn't feel real, Fred couldn't have been gone, and partially because of everything else going on after the war while the wizarding world repaired itself. He felt like he'd only half been present himself.

Hermione nodded, "He was back by the trees, I saw him as we were leaving, he was walking up to the grave. I wanted to see what he was doing, but he knelt down and it looked like he started crying and I didn't feel right intruding on that moment."

"Why on earth would he cry over Fred?" Ron sounded a little annoyed.

"When I asked him about it he told me he felt he needed to apologize to one of the fallen for the part he played in it all. He didn't give me any other details, but I imagine he broke down apologizing to all of them while he sat there with Fred. He has a lot of resentment for who he was then and what he felt he had to do," she told them, "The boy that strutted around Hogwarts calling me a Mudblood, that's not who he is. It's just what he was raised to be. Once he grew into his own person, he was stuck and had to find a way out without putting his family in danger."

"Even if it's not the person you might know, how can you just put it all behind you like that?" Ron pushed, "He did call you a… you know… for years. He was mean to all of us. He tried to kill Harry."

"Crabbe tried to kill me," Harry corrected him, "Malfoy was really mad he started that FiendFyre."

"Regardless," Ron said, "He's done terrible things, Hermione."

"I know he has," she said quietly, "But he's answered for all of those things and he's just trying to move on from it all."

"So may as well date him and help him retain some of his image?" Ron looked away.

"Not to be rude, but what is it about him that would make you want to date him, forgiven or not?" Harry asked her.

She sighed, really not wanting to discuss this in front of Ron, but feeling she owed them some sort of explanation, "He's got a good sense of humor, under the smug comments," she started, "And he reads as much as I do, we've got that in common. Other than that I can't really explain it," she said honestly, "I just enjoy being around him and I think he's a good person overshadowed by a lot of bad circumstances. He's had a lot of time to spend around me to do something that would make me doubt him, but he hasn't. He cares about me very much."

"So much that he didn't want you to stay there with him this morning?" Ron asked.

"Ron you're being a little harsh," Hermione looked at him, eyebrows furrowed, "I know this is difficult, but I'm trying to be honest with you right now. If these are questions you both need answered, I'll answer them. He does care about me, but he's still dealing with a lot of… demons," she liked the word when Narcissa had used it, "He's trying to move forward and he keeps being brought back into it all. He's frustrated."

Ron sighed heavily, "I'm sorry, it's hard to be nice about it. I don't think I'm ever going to understand why you chose him."

Harry cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Sorry, Harry, but I don't understand it," Ron acknowledged the situation, "But you're right, that doesn't mean I need to be a git about it. Your honesty is appreciated," he said the last sentence with a bit of sarcasm.

Hermione stopped a moment, pulling Ron back. Harry looked back, "I'm going to keep walking."

"Ron, I care about you very much as well," she said, "I didn't choose him over you, I was living my own life and he got forcefully placed into it and everything else just happened organically over time. I'm sorry you're uncomfortable and I know this came out of nowhere. It hit me like a truck when I realized I had feelings for him. But I do and it's a bit complicated with all the noise of the case going on right now. Your friendship will always mean the world to me. I want us to be open with each other."

"I know," he said with a halfhearted grin, hands in his pockets, "I'll work on my snarky comments."

She pulled him into a hug and he took his hands from his pockets and wrapped them around her waist.

She stepped back after a few seconds, "You've been snarky alright, but you also stood up for him to Bones today and I was so impressed by you putting your differences aside and doing what was right. Thank you for that."

Ron threw an arm around her shoulder in a friendly way, trying to lessen the tension, "Yeah, yeah, alright, enough with the mushy talk. Let's go get some Death Eaters."

She laughed, "Alright."

They caught up with Harry, who had stopped another hundred yards up the road.

"I think he's got wards up," he said, "I reached a point where I started feeling like I should turn around and go home and it didn't feel natural."

His wand was up and faint criss-crossing lines could be seen in a dome shape extending into the sky from the revealing spell Harry had cast.

Hermione walked around it slowly, looked at how the lines were weaved. She pulled a book out of her bag and started flipping through pages.

Ron looked at the front cover, Awarded Wards and How to Break Them.

"What's that going to tell you?" He asked.

"It's got a lot of protective and evasion wards in here. I've read through this a few times, there's always patterns that show what kind it is and if we can pinpoint it - aha!" She exclaimed, "Here is it. Come here, read this with me quick and if we all do the counter spell together, we should be able to break through pretty easily, it doesn't look like a very complex ward."

They read over her shoulder and the three of the stood up, pointing their wands at the dome and recited the spell, flourishing their wands appropriately. As they said the last word, they lowered their wands. Hermione put her face closer to inspect it, "They're down," she said, "We're in."

They continued their walk forward, still a few houses away. It was clear whoever put the wards up was hoping it would be enough to keep people away. As they approached the house, they saw smoke coming out of the chimney.

"Someone's here," Ron breathed. They walked up to the front door, "Alohamora," he whispered.

The door creaked open and they crouched into the room. The house was small, but lavish. "Homenum revelio," Hermione said. They waited a moment but nothing happened, "I- I don't think anyone is here," she said, standing up fully and looking around. The kitchen was to the right and there was a half eaten bowl of porridge on the table. She walked up to it, putting her hand on the bowl, "It's still warm," she said with a frown. Next to it was a piece of parchment that looked like it had been haphazardly ripped from a larger sheet. It read:

Looks like you almost found me. This would be easier for all of us if you just joined the dark side. As they say, the grass is always greener on the other side ;).

"'The grass is always greener', come on, she's making her own catch phrase now?!" Ron said in disbelief.

"Someone tipped her off that we were coming," Harry said, confused, "Who even knew we were going to check Rowle's house? Especially now? We just decided this afternoon in Alden's office."

"Maybe she had a detection charm further outside of the wards," Hermione suggested, agreeing that it was odd, "Alden's door was open, also, we could have been overhead. But I mean there was barely anyone in the office today. And that would have to mean that two Death Eaters were impersonating Ministry workers. Someone slipping into the Auror department is crazy enough, but the Auror department and an investigator for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement?! That seems like a stretch."

"It does, but who knows anymore," Harry shook his head, "Let's look around while we're here."

They searched the house, finding more letters written in code in the bedroom at the back of the house. Hermione stashed them away in her bag but didn't find anything else that looked helpful.

"Let's go back. Maybe what we're looking for is in these letters. Can't believe we found her and she got away."

"Do you have any other ideas from your meeting with her sister?" Ron asked.

"Yes, she mentioned her Aunt and Uncle's house and possibly her parents, but I would guess if she came to Rowle's first, she probably went to another Death Eater's."

The three of them apparated back to the Ministry and went up to Alden's office, shutting the door tightly behind them before they relayed what happened.

Alden sat with his chin resting on his fingers, looking highly concerned, "It was just us here in my office talking about where you would go," he said, "Get straight to duplicating those letters and let's get this figured out. I don't like having them one step ahead of us."

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