Chapter 15 - Search
Hermione's lungs burned by the time she made it down to the Slytherin dungeons and into Malfoy's room. She had passed by McGonagall speaking with Professor Slughorn about entering Malfoy's room on the way, so Hermione knew she didn't have much time.
It was strange, entering his room without him, and she half-expected to encounter wards against her. Had he promised to protect her from entering his room without his permission? She couldn't remember. However, it was clear he hadn't followed through if he had.
Her eyes darted around the room, trying to determine what would need to be hidden to ensure he didn't get arrested and removed from Hogwarts. "Oh, the fireworks bag," she muttered, spotting it next to the coat rack where she had left it the night before. She picked it up and slung it over her shoulder, then began looking for the book that had the entry on her cursed bracelet. "Accio cursed items book!" she said, waving her wand. Nothing happened. Hermione sighed and blew a loose strand of curly hair out of her face. "Accio books!" she tried instead.
Books came flying out from Malfoy's desk, his wardrobe, and several other places, including under his bed. Hermione yelped and closed her eyes as they flew towards her. She heard a series of thuds hit the door behind her and looked down to discover she had phased through them. "Well, that was lucky," she said and gingerly stepped out of them to a clear spot. There were at least thirty books in the pile, and while Hermione was able to quickly find the cursed bracelet book, she had no idea which of the others might be considered contraband as well. She chewed her lip for a moment, considering, and shrugged. "It's not like I have time to go through them now."
Hermione cast charms to make the stack of books feather-light and tiny, then swept them into her bag with the fireworks. "I'll just have to sort out returning them later," she said. "Now, what else?" Her eyes went to his desk, and she recalled that they had written out scripts for what she would say. The desk was cleared now, but he had a wastebasket beside it that had not been cleared. Hermione opened her mouth to cast a spell that would destroy the evidence, but then thought better of it and dumped the contents in her bag as well.
Voices came from outside the door then, and Hermione stood still by his desk as she heard Professor Slughorn say, "Alohomora!" and Malfoy's door opened to let in Professor Slughorn and Professor McGonagall. "Now, Minerva, I still don't quite feel right about doing this without the boy present. It is his room, and if he's warded it at all…"
"I had the castle dismantle any wards on his room before I went to find you," McGonagall stated crisply as she slowly took in the room. Hermione had to step back to avoid having McGonagall walk through her. "Odd. His desk drawers were left open. I didn't think Malfoy would be so careless."
Hermione's eyes widened as she realized that McGonagall's actions may well have been what allowed her in the room. Professor Slughorn seemed shocked too. "I hadn't realized that Hogwarts had such power, and no, it is unlike Malfoy to leave his drawers open. Are you certain we cannot wait for him?"
McGonagall paused in her perusal of the drawer's contents, sighed, and closed her eyes briefly. "Potter would never trust our investigation if he had any reason to believe Malfoy could have interfered with it. Do recall that we're doing this to help protect Malfoy as well. I have great respect for Potter, but there's no question that he has lost his temper on more than one occasion when Malfoy was involved. I am trying to prevent an even greater incident."
Hermione ducked out of the way again when McGonagall stepped closer. Sighing, Hermione went to stand in the middle of the bed, taking advantage of her phasing ability to safely watch her professors search the room without risking the discomfort of going through them in her current state. She was tired enough that she was tempted to lay down, but she knew the professors would notice if the bed suddenly sank to accommodate her.
McGonagall continued to search the desk and underneath it while Slughorn went through Malfoy's wardrobe. "Nothing of interest here. Just a bunch of expensive clothes. What exactly are we looking for anyway, Minerva? We'll need his wand to know if he's imperiused her or similar."
"Books, I suppose. Madam Pince mentioned that he had borrowed something from the restricted section yesterday that he asked her to keep off record."
Slughorn shrugged. "Well, the boy does like to read some, particularly where potions are concerned, but I've not seen a single book in his room yet."
McGonagall froze, straightened up, and stared carefully at Slughorn. "Neither have I. Accio books," she said, waving her wand.
Hermione clenched her bag shut as its contents tried to fight their way free to answer the summoning spell. "Don't you dare, or I'll transfigure you into toothpicks," she muttered at the books. After a minute, McGonagall dropped her wand hand down, and the books settled again within the bag.
"How peculiar. Now why would Malfoy's room not have a single book in it?" McGonagall asked Slughorn.
Slughorn frowned with a corner of his mouth. "And his desk drawer had been left open. Do you think..?"
"Hermione?" McGonagall responded, looking around the room. "Hermione, are you here? Are you searching Malfoy's room for answers too?"
"I thought you said she couldn't speak to us," Slughorn said as he took in the room, as if he might suddenly spot Hermione now that he knew she might be present.
"She did cast a patronus to speak to me earlier today. No one could have made that patronus but her," McGonagall said.
Slughorn shrugged. "You might be going about this the wrong way, Minerva. They may be working together. Now, I know what you said about Hermione and Draco having a rough past, but I've seen my share of young witches and wizards overcoming great differences to find that they are more powerful working together, and I cannot think of a more powerful combination of witch and wizard."
McGonagall rolled her eyes. "He used to call her a mudblood, Horace. Furthermore, you told me yourself that they have hardly interacted at all this past year. When would they have had the opportunity?"
Horace paused, considering. "They could have written each other," he suggested.
"Be serious, Horace," McGonagall admonished.
Horace shrugged. "You're probably correct. Still, with all the books missing… Draco would have only hidden incriminating materials and left his school books. Removing all of them is definitely more of a Gryffindor move, but even Hermione would have no reason to take the school books with her, would she?"
McGonagall adjusted her glasses as she narrowed her eyes in thought. "Perhaps he transfigured his other books to look like school books, and so she took them all for that reason?" She frowned. "But taking them would surely alert Malfoy to what she was doing… It would be far more sensible for her to simply examine his books in his room when he's not present." She inhaled sharply. "The wards, though. Perhaps he had wards earlier, and this was the first time she was able to get in without him."
Slughorn's eyebrows raised. "That is certainly a possibility, but there's no question Malfoy would find out that she had taken them in that case. Would she really risk Malfoy's wrath in her current state?"
"I need to speak with her," McGonagall said and sighed. "I haven't found anything. Have you?"
"Nothing at all. Minerva, I do understand why you are doing this investigation, but it seems so unlike the Draco I know now. The war changed him. He's been a model student since his return. Older students complain that he's gotten soft and boring by not joining in their harassment of other houses. Some of the younger ones have shared that he's taught them spells to help defend themselves when attacked. You already know of his involvement in helping Hogwarts recover from the war. I just can't believe he would be behind anything so malicious as this curse that has caught Hermione."
Hermione's jaw dropped, and she felt nearly dizzy with shock. Malfoy had been helping the younger students learn how to defend themselves? She pulled up her legs to sit on the bed instead of standing in it so she could think better. The gasps of McGonagall and Slughorn alerted her to her mistake, and she cringed at her own carelessness.
"You are here, aren't you, Hermione?" McGonagall asked. "If you can't send another patronus, could you at least talk to me using that map again? You do understand Malfoy's fate may rest in your hands."
Hermione sighed, set down her bag in her lap, and pulled out the Marauder's map. She almost offered it to McGonagall when she remembered that Ginny didn't see it until she set it down. Hermione set it down on the bed next to where McGonagall stood.
"Fascinating. The map came out of thin air!" Slughorn said.
McGonagall snorted as she picked up the map and held it out towards where Hermione sat on the bed. "You sound like a muggle, Horace. Now, Hermione, do you have Mr. Malfoy's books?" she asked. "Two tugs for yes, one tug for no, if you don't mind."
Two tugs for yes. Hermione saw no reason to hide it now that they had discovered they were missing.
"Did she tug once or twice?" Slughorn asked.
"Twice. She has the books."
"Well then, why did she take all the books?" Slughorn asked.
"She can't answer open questions, Horace. She'll need us to phrase it as a yes or no question. Hermione, did you take all the books so that you could identify which ones contained the information you needed?"
One tug for no.
"She said no… How peculiar. Then why would she..?"
Slughorn rubbed his chin. "I'm going to go out on a limb here, McGonagall, and ask her a question of my own. Hermione, did you take the books to help Malfoy?"
Hermione took a deep breath and tugged the map twice.
"She said yes!" McGonagall cried in alarm. "But I don't understand… Hermione, why would you protect him? I know you claimed to have feelings for him in your patronus, but…" She cleared her throat. "Hermione, do you think of Malfoy… fondly?"
Hermione hesitated, but she knew what she had to answer. It wasn't even entirely a lie. She did wish she had become friends with Malfoy now. Two tugs for yes.
"She said yes," McGonagall said, clearly at a loss. "I thought Malfoy might have forced you to send that patronus, but you did it willingly?"
Two tugs for yes. Hermione might not be able to convince Ginny that she felt something for Malfoy, but if she could convince McGonagall...
"I don't understand. I don't understand at all," McGonagall said. "When did you develop this affection? How? We never saw anything of it."
Slughorn smiled. "Perhaps my earlier suggestion that they wrote each other is not so ludicrous as you thought," he said. "They would not be the first students at Hogwarts to have maintained a secret relationship through writing, and I hardly need to explain why they would wish to keep it secret."
McGonagall took a deep breath. "I suppose it's possible. Hermione, were you and Malfoy writing each other?"
Hermione tugged twice immediately as the possibilities filled her mind. If she and Malfoy declared they had been writing in secret, she could easily provide evidence of their relationship spanning several months in the past… of course, there were spells to determine how old someone's letter was, but if she and Malfoy simply transfigured their old notes, they could generate letters of the appropriate age to trick McGonagall and the others, and…
"We'll need to see the letters," McGonagall said. "You must understand how difficult this situation is for us."
Two tugs for yes.
"Well, where are they?" McGonagall asked, but her attention shifted to the door. The knob turned.
Hermione's heart thundered as she realized the map was out. She quickly claimed the map from McGonagall and hid it back into her bag as the door opened to reveal Malfoy. He entered with wary eyes, closed the door behind him, and casually leaned on it as he took in his unexpected guests.
"Greetings, professor, headmaster," Malfoy said in a drawl. "I hadn't realized my room was such a popular meeting place for the Hogwarts staff." He didn't acknowledge Hermione except to furrow his brow slightly as he glanced down at where she sat on his bed.
McGonagall lowered her head slightly. "My apologies, Mr. Malfoy, but circumstances have forced us to take a closer look at your activities." When he narrowed his eyes at her, she sighed and tilted her head sideways. "It was us or Potter, Malfoy. I was trying to spare you unnecessary grievances. Would you have preferred Potter to be here?"
Malfoy massaged the bridge of his nose and stepped forward, relaxing his shoulders. "No, no… you made the right call in that, but I would like to know why I am under investigation. I assume that this has something to do with Granger's curse?"
Professor McGonagall straightened her own posture. "Are you aware that Hermione Granger sent me a patronus? I'm sure you can see that she's in your room."
Malfoy cleared his throat and looked to his bed. "Yes, she told me of the patronus, and I had rather noticed her presence. It didn't seem polite to point out, particularly given that she's on my bed." He sighed as if disappointed and gestured with a jerk of his head for her to move. "Off, Granger. We've talked about this."
Hermione rolled her eyes and climbed off of his bed to sit at his desk instead. "I have your books in my bag, by the way, and they've figured out I must have been the one to take them, given you have no reason to hide all your books."
Malfoy frowned at her and came to stand close to her. He placed his hands on his hips and looked down at her. "You took all of my books?"
Hermione shrugged. "I didn't know what else you might need to hide, and I didn't have the time to go through them." She blushed as he continued to stare at her. "I was trying to protect you."
His eyes widened just slightly with surprise, but then he shook his head. "I've told you before, Granger. I don't need your protection. Take my books back out of your bag and place them on the desk for review." He took a deep breath and softened his tone. "I know you meant well, but refusing to cooperate will only bring me harm."
"I'm going to hold them up one at a time," Hermione said. "If I shouldn't reveal it, blink twice at me, okay?"
Malfoy didn't answer, but his eyes glinted with appreciation, and Hermione could swear she saw the ghost of a smirk. She got her wand ready, took out a book on potions, enlarged it, and held it up. Malfoy didn't react, so she set it down on the desk. One by one, she stacked the books on the desk. On the other side of the room, McGonagall and Slughorn quietly talked to each other and watched the pile of books grow. In the end, Malfoy only had her keep three books hidden. The one on cursed objects, as Hermione expected, a book on how to thwart interrogations, and a very old book on the imperius curse.
The book on how to thwart interrogations did not surprise Hermione, but she raised an eyebrow at the third book. "You're going to explain this later," she told him. Malfoy merely rolled his eyes at her.
"If that's everything, and I hope it is, you're welcome to leave. You know you're not supposed to be here without permission, Granger." He ran his hand through his hair as he said it, as if exasperated from attempting to keep her out of his room, and Hermione found she rather admired his acting skills.
"They think we've been writing each other," Hermione said, and he broke character to look at her with surprise. "Apparently, they couldn't think of another way for me to have formed an attachment to you without others discovering it. Of course, this means they'll want to see them. Making them will be easy enough… we could transfigure old homework to age them properly so they appear as if they've been sent throughout the year, but I haven't thought up an excuse to delay their delivery yet."
"What's she saying?" McGonagall asked.
Malfoy groaned and rubbed his face. "That you know that Granger and I wrote each other. I'm quite sorry to say that I can't share those right away. If you need to see some samples to verify the length of our relationship, I can bring them by tomorrow after I've had time to read through and remove those which contain sensitive information."
Hermione's eyes widened at his quick thinking. Malfoy snorted at her and raised his right eyebrow. "You can relax, Granger. Did you really think I was going to let them read every little embarrassing thing you ever wrote me?"
Hermione's jaw dropped, and she was torn between bursting into uncontrollable laughter at McGonagall's shocked expression and smacking Malfoy for his cheek. She couldn't feel too upset though. Malfoy's quick wit was helping fill the holes in her earlier Patronus testimony quite nicely. "You really are a Slytherin," Hermione said in awe after a moment.
Malfoy winked and grinned slyly at her, and Slughorn chortled. "Look at the two, Minerva! They're flirting as easily as any other young couple that ever batted eyes at each other." When Malfoy blanched and glared at Slughorn, the older man merely waved his hand at Malfoy to calm down. "Relax, boy. I'll keep your secret. I think it's a fine thing for you and Ms. Granger to join forces, and you would need to keep it quiet to protect her from your father." Slughorn's voice sobered and sighed. "Nothing personal, Malfoy, but your father's dangerous, and he hates muggleborns more than any other wizard I've met."
"I don't FEEL that way about Granger," Malfoy said with grounded teeth. His fists clenched, and Hermione half wondered if he would draw his wand.
McGonagall shook her head and stepped between the two. "Horace, why don't you take Malfoy's books and begin looking through them in my office. You know the password," she said. "Wingardium Leviosa," she added with a flourish of her wand, and the stack of books traveled over into Slughorn's arms.
"Right," Slughorn said, glancing at Malfoy briefly before making a quick exit.
"I'm sorry, Malfoy. Professor Slughorn really should know better than to tease you on such a controversial matter," McGonagall said.
"If word reaches EITHER of my parents," Malfoy said darkly.
McGonagall sighed. "I'll have Slughorn swear an oath not to repeat anything he's learned today in your room, and I think you can trust me not to gossip, correct?"
Malfoy relaxed slightly and glanced to Hermione. "McGonagall wouldn't gossip, Malfoy. She's not like that. We can write the letters in such a way to show your rejecting me too." Hermione looked away and wryly added, "It wouldn't be the first time I chased after a bloke who clearly wasn't interested in me."
Malfoy studied her with a strange expression for a moment before turning back to McGonagall. "I'll have the letters to you tomorrow. Now, if you're done here, I would like to speak with Hermione in private about what's just happened."
"Yes, of course, Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall said, moving towards the door.
"And Professor?" Malfoy added as McGonagall opened the door. She paused and looked to him. He took a deep breath. "Thank you for not letting it be Potter."
McGonagall smiled, nodded, and left his room in silence.
Thank you for reading! As always, I love the reviews, and thank you so much for letting me know what you're thinking!
Chapters 16 and 17 are written, and I know I normally update on Fridays, but I'm not sure I can resist posting on Christmas as a gift to y'all. :) Happy holidays!