"What I want to know, is why Malfoy looks like someone force fed him a bottle of U-no-poo" Ron whispered close to Hermione's ear.

"Ron!" Hermione admonished in a scandalised whisper.

Ronald Weasley shrugged.

"You can't deny that's what he looks like" he replied sullenly, turning his attention back to the file in front of him.

Hermione pursed her lips and stole a look at the tall black-clad blond.

He indeed looked thoroughly peeved; an intense scowl marring his aristocratic features. There was also a stiffness about him that was giving off clear signals that he was not in a mood to be trifled with.

During the past day and a half since their big blow-up in her office, Hermione had come to the realisation that perhaps she had been a tad immature in avoiding Malfoy and in jumping down his throat when he merely wanted to talk. She knew she had to apologise for her impulsive behaviour at some point and preferably before they all went their separate ways after this meeting.

The past three days had yielded very little information. The most they had done was identify an old wizarding Manor in Geneva that had somewhat resembled one of the sketches they had found in France.

A thorough search of those premises had revealed two dead bodies; those of the caretakers of the Manor, both wizards. Interestingly though, they had both apparently been killed by the killing curse instead of by the amulet. This suggested that most probably Lucille Malfoy had not been there in person but had rather sent her master's to do her bidding whatever that was.

They had also not finished their perusal of the original sketches that Tracey had discovered in France.

That set of sketches was why they were at a ministry meeting room yet again, perusing old architectural books. Theodore Nott had sworn there was something vaguely familiar about one of them.

This was to be the last meeting however.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and the other aurors had already been sent new cases to begin work on by tomorrow and Malfoy had already informed Shaklebolt that he too would be returning to his own work.

Hermione let out a frustrated sigh and dropped her head into her hands.

She would have loved to have gotten through this case without distractions, but it was not to be. This was the biggest case that she had helped to crack, and her one goal was to see it through. Instead, she was not allowed on the field, her magic was unpredictable, and she had kissed Malfoy.

Hermione sighed into her hands again.

How did she get herself into these situations?

Finally, at a quarter to four, Harry stood up and threw down the large volume he had been holding.

"Alright guys, we have to stop now. Hopefully we can keep working on this while we work on our other projects. We'll also have eyes and ears out for any news. Let's keep our communication lines open at all times in case one of us learns or hears something" here Harry stopped and glanced meaningfully at Malfoy who nodded his acquiescence while rubbing his eyes.

Hermione noticed he was still clutching the copy of the sketch that Theodore had said was vaguely familiar.

"I'll open the floo at my apartment for you" Malfoy drawled.

"Your apartment? Aren't you at the Manor?" Ron asked looking up.

"I haven't been at the Manor since Greece. I don't usually live there Weasley, I'm only there when mother is. The Manor's closed until she comes back from visiting with her friends" Malfoy replied still looking down at the sketch in his hands.

"Right, well make sure you do that. As soon as there is any kind of information or sighting, we'll be on it" Harry finished.

He then strode over to Malfoy who was getting up from his own seat and held out his hand.

After a brief handshake, Harry then shook hands with the rest of Malfoy's team while the others gathered up their things and prepared to leave.

"Hey 'mione, what say you about a late afternoon snack?" Ron asked conversationally.

"Um… can you give me a minute Ron? I need to speak with Malfoy" Hermione muttered.

"Oh… somethings up?" Ron asked.

Hermione waved away his question and stuffed papers into her bag, keeping Malfoy's retreating back within her line of sight.

Finally, she straightened up and hurried after him.

"Malfoy! Hey, Malfoy wait. Malfoy!" Hermione shouted afterthe wizard who was walking away in a swirl of black robes.

Malfoy was either ignoring her or becoming hard of hearing.

"Draco please" Hermione said in a quieter tone.

Malfoy slowed down and then stopped. Hermione hurried up behind him.

"I… I need to talk to you. In private" she stammered.

Malfoy didn't look back, but the rigidity of his shoulders relaxed fractionally.

"Can you come to my office?" Hermione rushed on.

Malfoy's head bent slightly as if he was considering her request. He then sidled over to the wall of the corridor in which they were standing. Hermione noticed that he was still clutching the sketches from before.

"Whatever it is you might have to say Granger, I'm sure you can say it here. We're in relative privacy" Malfoy's voice was calm, without even a hint of anger or malice or any emotion at all in fact.

Hermione sighed silently as she marvelled at his calm and collected façade.

"Malfoy, I want to apologise" Hermione began quietly, marvelling a little at her own collectedness "I was being immature and impulsive. I should have spoken to you or at least explained my situation instead of avoiding the issue altogether"

She searched his grey eyes for some sort of reaction.

His face was a blank slate. He was also apparently, bent on keeping his silence.

"I needed time and space to figure out my own thoughts" here Hermione fell silent as two junior aurors walked past them, giving them quizzical glances.

"We were in the middle of a case and I was struggling with my magic and with you… it was just a little too much" Hermione took a deep breath "I'm also sorry about the things I said without thinking, in my office, I was just overwhelmed".

Still Malfoy maintained his stony silence. Moreover, he was now not even looking at her, instead choosing to keep his eyes trained at a point above her head.

"Say something Malfoy" Hermione deadpanned, her shoulders dropping in defeat.

"I accept your apology Granger" Malfoy's eyes dropped to hers finally "Good luck with your cases" he said, turning to leave.

"Wait!" Hermione exclaimed "That… that's it?"

Malfoy turned back to her, his own shoulders drooping slightly "What exactly do you want from me?" he asked, voice just a fraction warmer.

"I… I don't know. Not this. Not now" Hermione struggled to put her thoughts into words.

Malfoy was silent, and they stared at each other for a few painful moments.

"Perhaps we are too different" Malfoy's voice was strange and detached, as if he was speaking to someone who wasn't there.

"No. It's not that. We just have a lot of history and not any of it good. But that shouldn't mean that we can't build something out of it… eventually" Hermione replied, trying to catch his eye.

After a few minutes, Malfoy shook himself slightly as if coming out of a reverie. He looked down at her and nodded curtly.

"Well, you know where to find me when that eventuality occurs" he said, his voice again slipping into blandness.

Hermione opened her mouth but had no idea what to say.

Either way, Malfoy was already striding down the hallway. He turned a corner and was gone.

Hermione let out a loud huff of frustration and literally threw her hands up in the air.

Malfoy was being a nerve-wracking dolt. But there wasn't anything she could do now. She needed to focus on her cases and in regaining her magic. She would deal with Malfoy later.

Hermione also decided against going back to her office as she was quite sure Ron would be there waiting to ask her what's going on between her and Malfoy and that was a line of questioning she didn't want or need.

So, she went home.

A nice warm bath and a cup of tea later, Hermione was feeling much more equanimous.

Putting her feet up on the ottoman in her living room, she picked up another ancient magical architecture book and settled in.

WHOOSH

Hermione's fireplace had come to life and Harry's head appeared in her floo a second later. His hair was dishevelled and from the look on his face, something big had happened.

"Harry! What's wrong?" Hermione jumped up from her seat and fell to her knees in front of the fireplace.

"Malfoy figured out what building the sketch was of" Harry said in a rush "Nott was right when he said it was vaguely familiar".

"But that's great news! Where is it?" Hermione asked, cursing the fact that she couldn't join them in their raid.

"It's been here in our backyard all along. 'mione it was a sketch of Malfoy Manor" Harry said turning to look at something over his shoulder as he spoke.

"What? How? Why didn't Malfoy realise this earlier?" Hermione asked, her mind reeling with this new information.

"He said the Manor's been renovated so many times that it looks nothing like the sketch they found. He's never seen it the way it looks on the sketch. He finally identified it by comparing old land drawings and survey plans of the grounds" Harry replied, still turning every so often to look over his shoulder.

"Well at least we know she isn't there. She couldn't possibly be at the Manor. It's so heavily warded and I'm sure Malfoy would have known if someone had broken into his own house" Hermione said.

"That's the problem. They only have one house elf who has gone with Narcissa to Austria. There's no one at the Manor right now. And yes, it's warded but according to Malfoy, even if she can't disable the security wards, the only other thing the Manor will look for is blood. And she has Malfoy blood… No! honestly…" Harry had turned around again and was shouting to someone behind him.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, her worry ratcheting again.

"That utter prat. I'm sorry Hermione I have to go" Harry was already turning to leave as he spoke.

"No! Wait. What happened?" she shouted.

"It's Malfoy. He's gone to the Manor" With those words, Harry was gone.