Chapter 34 - 30somethings
I'm back! This is getting really complex. Hope you enjoy it!
He held on to her hand. His grip was strong. Hermione squeezed his hand reassuringly but it didn't look like he felt it. He gave her no response. Moments later, the metal door lifted slowly. It would have made for a dramatic scene in a movie but to them it was nerve-wrecking.
'Yesterday, I had the best birthday – heck, best day – ever. So if I have a heart attack right about now I want to say thank you.' Draco said with a nervous laugh, looking straight ahead. She smiled, placing her other hand on top of their intertwined hands.
The grey door stopped when it reached the ceiling. A deafening clang reverberated through the corridor. Draco turned paler. The young Ministry officer on their right gestured for them to proceed. They started down the corridor. The turned right with the corridor. A group of young officers appeared straight ahead. They remained stoic and unmoving till Hermione and Draco were three feet away. Then, they parted. Draco's breathe hitched as grey met grey. Hermione too was startled. They stopped in their tracks. It appeared to be a standoff as they stared astounded at Lucius Malfoy.
'Father' a whisper escaped Draco's lips. He sounded like he was chocking on something. Hermione loosened his grip on his hand and moved her left hand back to her side. She didn't think he would notice. But, he did. He tightened his grip on her hand, took a deep breath and marched forward. His sudden movement alarmed Hermione and she unwillingly accompanied him because she had no choice. He was pulling her along. Draco stopped right in front of his father and held out his other hand.
'Mr. Malfoy, still alive and kicking, eh?' he said nonchalantly.
'Indeed. It's not that easy to be rid of me.' He shook his son's hand. If he was surprised by his son's change of demeanor and lack of acknowledgement of his father, he didn't show.
'Unfortunately' he replied, 'Mr Malfoy, I'm sure you'd recognize, Miss Granger here.' He gestured towards Hermione.
Lucius' eyes travelled to Hermione's face and then down to her hand…in Draco's. 'Ah of course, Miss Granger: it so nice to see you. I see you've come back from the dead.' He said in a silky sweet voice, referring to her disappearing act.
'Mr Malfoy,' she nodded, 'As have you.'
'Quite right' he replied, 'Now, if you'd both follow me.' He turned around and started leading the way. The Officers around him too walked beside him. Hermione looked up at Draco, trying to take back her hand because she was uncomfortable with the fact that Lucius had seen them. But Draco looked right ahead, ignoring Hermione's attempts to take her hand back. If he wanted to hold her hand, he would. So he did.
Lucius led them into a large laboratory sort of area. It looked just like a muggle lab except for the wands and the cloaks and the magic. There were about half a dozen workers bustling about the room purposefully. Hermione and Draco however had no idea what the 'purpose' was.
'This is where we work on Project X' he said loudly gesturing to the room.
'What are you working on Mr Malfoy?' Hermione questioned, unable to pry her eyes away from a certain glowing spell in the centre of the room.
'I hope you're aware of the MPS, Miss Granger: the Ma-'
'She knows; she's the one who told me.' Draco answered for her, cutting his father short. 'What's it got to do with this?'
'Once the Great War started, not only did the MPS start breaking away – it also allowed the dark spells to be more dangerous than they are. So we are trying to restore the MPS.'
'How?' Hermione spoke up, her voice laced with curiosity.
'The same way it was first made. The right combination of spells that are required to create the MPS that is strong enough to withhold should any such war occur again.'
'What's the problem?'
'Under the…dark lord…they meant for the MPS to be broken so that the Death Eaters would become twice as powerful. So, unfortunately all the data that was used to create the MPS was destroyed during the war and so we had to start over. We have to find the right combination of magic and spells. Moreover, the MPS has been infected. Hence, the MPS depletes daily. To start repairing the MPS, we need to reverse the dark magic cast during the war but we don't have a big enough power source.'
'How does this help Seamus?' Draco asked, thoroughly confused.
'If we remove the infection from the MPS, the dark magic will weaken…'
'Allowing us to remove the dark magic within Seamus' body.' Hermione slowly finished Lucius' sentence, brightening up considerably.
'But he has a Fiendfyre egg inside him Hermione. Weakening the dark magic does nothing to help us.'
'It does. Think about it, we haven't been even able to touch Seamus or cast any kind of fixing curse on him because the dark magic on him is too strong. It keeps the effects from our spells from actually occurring. Once, the dark magic is weakened, we can reverse its effect; maybe even touch Seamus and extract the eggs and then treat him for Sectumsempra.
'So where do we start?' Draco asked them.
Lucius made a disgusted face on having to admit failure 'We are working on it but we don't know yet for sure how to reverse the dark magic.'
'But we do.' Draco responded
'We do?'
'Yes Hermione. You solved this one weeks ago. 'Who did it?' Remember?' He continued when Hermione didn't catch on. 'You've got to find out who did it.'
'Their wands Mr Malfoy; you need to assess their wands.' Hermione had caught on. They were going to solve this. The same thought crossed both of their minds and they smiled, albeit unconsciously, towards one another.
Twitter: BattlerRune
Reviewerz:
Loivissa17 - Thank you! Hope you liked this one too! Did you enjoy the wedding? :D Gossip at work? Harry and Ginny or Draco and Hermione? xoxo
hilda-gatita - and more loveee btween the two. ugh they make me feel lonely haha. Pace okay? Should I make it faster? Slower? xoxo (P.S. Best birthday ever or what? :P)
yourloved - aww Thanks love! Hope you liked this one! xoxo
Guest - Kiss? So far, I don't think they're aware of their feelings but don't despair, it shall all happen soon. xoxo
FandomsUnite98 - Ikr haha. Hope you liked this chapter and their subtle emotions! xoxo
MissNerdyGirl12 - Aw, will do! xoxo
Sorry for the delay in updating! Keep reading! Love you all!
xoxo
BattlerRune
(p.s if you have any questions/ requests - pls do tell me on twitter! I am more accessible there than here!)