Chapter 8

A battle between cellos was playing while Draco sat watching two kelpies weaving in and out of the kelp ribbons shown in the enchanted windows of Hermione's lab. The fingers of his right hand tapped the top of the table with the rhythm while his left hand was resting on his lips, lost in his thoughts, waiting for his potion to simmer for the full hour it needed to.

There was a significance to the broken neck, Draco knew it, he was just trying to piece it together with what it had to do with the powder they had found at both scenes. He played with the idea that it might be a calling card, knowing some muggle killers had done something similar. A way to make sure everyone knew who was responsible for the death, even if the name of the murderer wasn't known, they would be called things like The Ripper or The Zodiac Killer. That thought was squandered when he realized that if it was meant to be a calling card, it would have been a lot more and in more obvious places. No, it was definitely not purposefully left by the killer, but he had yet to be able to figure out what how the ingredients were combined and what the purpose might be.

Two could not be considered a pattern, not in an official sense, but he and Hermione had agreed it appeared the killer was going after Slytherin Alumni. So far, both had been from the same year, but he was having a hard time connecting the victims further. He tried to tell himself that it really wasn't his job to figure that part out, he was just supposed to find the pieces to pass the them along, allowing the aurors to actually complete the puzzle, but these cases felt personal to him somehow. Maybe it was because Marcus Flint was connected to him by Pansy and she was completely miserable since his death, or maybe it was simply because of the connection to his prior Hogwarts house. Either way, he wasn't leaving this in the hands of a gormless wanker like Harry Potter, he thought.

"Why break the neck if you've already stabbed them repeatedly?" Hermione asked just loud enough to pull him out of his thoughts.

"What?"

"Flint. He was slashed apart and bleeding out, he was dying already. Why break his neck?"

"Good measure?" Draco said annoyed before he actually thought about her question. "Or he just hit the desk on the way down and it snapped."

The cause of death had been determined quickly for Marcus Flint, blood loss. By the pool of blood that had surrounded the body, Draco knew that would be the ruling. He had been found close to the desk, so the broken neck could have easily been a result of the fall after being stabbed.

"There's no injury to his head though." She said a puzzled look on her face. "No, this was done before he fell."

He hadn't thought of that, if Marcus would have hit his head, especially hit it hard enough to break his neck, there would have been evidence of that on his temple. Draco turned to look at her straight on and saw she was twirling a loose strand of curl around her finger while she thumbed through a file, gnawing at the corner of her lip. If she bit it any harder, Draco was sure he would see blood. Bending forward, he read the file upside down and saw a note he had forgotten about.

"Diakopi." Draco muttered.

"It's a simple spell, used to fracture…"

"I know what it's for, Granger." He grabbed the file and turned it towards him.

"Hey!" she reached to pull it back towards her, but he grabbed her hand and held it down, ignoring the heat climbing up his arm.

No defensive marks on body, no signs of struggle at the scene. He read that line then looked up, noticing Hermione was trying to free her arm. Letting go he said, "Marcus wasn't too much smarter than Crabbe, but he knew how to fight."

"Good for him?"

"These wounds… he would have been facing whoever did this to him."

"So, they were stronger?"

"That wouldn't have mattered. He still would have fought back. Like I said, he wasn't smart. It says here there are no defensive wounds and I remember no signs of struggle."

"Okay, he was taken by surprise then."

"How can you be taken by surprise if you're facing them? Come on, Granger." Draco knew she was smart enough to figure it out, eventually. But he knew they didn't have the luxury of time on their side if they wanted to stop the killer before someone else ended up dead. It had already been too long, much longer than it should have with how well he knew Flint.

"He knew them." He was leaning on the table towards her and after a moment of concentration, her eyes went wide with understanding. The amber of aged whiskey encompassing dark chocolate and full of fire and excitement having discovered something that had been vexing her for months. The warmth radiating from her was enough to thaw even the coldest heart and he hated that looking so deeply into her eyes was denied to him for so many years.

Nodding in affirmation, he theorized, "That might be why we were not able to find any fingerprints that didn't belong, because whoever did this had been welcomed into the home at least once."

"So, we are looking for someone he considered a friend. We need to tell Harry and Kat." She jumped up and ran out of the lab, presumably down the hall into the auror offices to find the other two members of her team.

The next step in the process of elimination would be to find out who was friendly with both Marcus and Nathier, a tedious process Draco was sure, but one that would ultimately result in figuring out exactly who was behind the murders. Pleased with the large step forward he just helped them take, he went back to his potion and saw the timer was almost done and he would be able to add the rest of the ingredients before it had to sit for the next 12 hours. Checking his watch, he saw it was a quarter past midnight and began to gather up his things.

Hermione came back into the lab with a satisfied look on her face and went back to the book she had open on her end of the table, Unusual but Effective Potions and Their Uses. She had been reading that particular book for a month now, probably had read it 20 times over if Draco knew her swotting behavior as well as he thought he did.

"The book will be there tomorrow." He said pulling on his coat.

"I'm missing something." She said not taking her eyes off the book as she turned the page.

"Sleep, food…" he said getting closer to close the book on her. "a shower." He added with a chuckle.

Draco snapped the book closed on her fingers causing her to exclaim in surprise. She shook out her fingers and gave him a look of complete loathing that made Draco want to laugh more, but he knew it wouldn't be productive. Now that he knew her better, it was very clear when her looks were genuine and he knew that at this moment, the look was more out of annoyance of herself than anything Draco could do.

"Let's go. I'll walk you." He said holding the book out of her reach as she tried to take it back.

"You go, I'm perfectly fine here. Thanks."

"Go home, Granger." He stacked the files and put the book on top and held them for her. "I'll even let you take the book home with you."

Narrowed eyes tried to sear through his forehead before she turned in a huff and grabbed her own coat. "Fine! But only because I'm starved."

"Whatever you say, Love."

"I told you not to call me that." She glared at him with one arm halfway in her coat.

"Oh, I remember." He said with a smirk.

Her eyebrows furrowed and eyes narrowed while she bit the inside of her cheek. Gears were turning in her head, trying to figure out why he had said that to her, especially after the warning she gave him during their time at Hogwarts and the last time someone had said it to her. That person being Viktor Krum during their fourth year. Hermione told Draco one night after several glasses of firewhiskey how she detested it when he said it because it felt demeaning. "It didn't feel genuine." She had said. Then proceeded to smack him when he began to use it while talking to her. Insisting she'd only appreciate it under certain circumstances.

This is why he said it, he wanted her to think about it, because it would keep her mind off obsessing over the files she was bringing home with her. It was a long shot, but he knew that it would work for at least the walk home.

Darkened shops and homes lined their path down the unoccupied muggle street towards their respective flats. Taking in the trimmed trees and polished lamps, he laughed gently to himself. If someone would have told him that he would end up working for the Ministry alongside Hermione Granger, who also happened to be his neighbor while living in muggle London, he would have hexed them instantly or sent them to Mungo's thinking they had lost their mind.

St. Mungo's, the career he almost had. He was going to go through a training program then get a position at the hospital. He and Hermione were walking silently so he left his mind wonder, remembering how he went from being miserable and taking over the family company to his decision to become a healer.

"You can't honestly believe that's your best option." She said with laughter in her voice.

"I don't know why you think it requires your opinion." Draco defended.

"What good is sitting behind a desk running a self-sustaining company?" she questioned from across the common room table with a raised eyebrow. "You won't be happy there."

"Don't you have some exam to study for, Granger? Isn't Reading other's letters below what is acceptable for the image of the Golden Girl?"

"Don't turn this on me being nosey." She grabbed the letter from under Draco's hand before he had a chance to stop her. His face flushed with anger as she read it. "It's obvious that's not what you want to do. I can hear the disdain in your words as I'm reading this."

"You know nothing about what I do or don't want to do." He snatched the paper back from her, wishing there was some truth behind the words he just growled at her.

"If that were true, you wouldn't be so offended. You, Malfoy, are so easy to read. Have been for a while now." Confidence radiated from her while she crossed her arms across her book on the table.

Draco gave a dry laugh. "If that's the case, then please Granger, enlighten me. I know how much you love being the biggest swot in the room, so I'll be glad you bring you down a notch or two."

Her smirk matched his and answered. "You are a self-entitled, spoiled brat that isn't used to being told no. You can hold a grudge longer than any person I've ever met, outside of Ron, and will do anything to show people just how important you are." She took a breath and to take in Draco's annoyance before continuing. "At least that was you before Voldemort came back."

Draco didn't say anything, he knew she wasn't far off, but those were all superficial things that anyone could tell about him if they had known him as a child. Knowing that she wasn't done, he just watched her with silted eyes.

"You mastered occlumency sometime in our fifth year." She said with squinted eyes looking for confirmation. She must have seen it somewhere on his face, because she smiled. "I think you're not as dark as you want people to believe."

"What are you going on about?"

"When you think no one is watching, you actually let your guard down. You help underclassmen with their homework in the library, and make sure no one messes with the Slytherin first years. You beat and have always beaten my marks in Potions, and we have always been even in Charms. In fourth year, the buttons you made were brilliant. Mean and unnecessary, but brilliant. I tried to enchant them to say something different, but it just made the insults worse. You're quite witty and actually a stickler for rules. Being a Prefect and part of Umbridge's obnoxious squad for snitches, how could you not be. Not to mention, I don't think you ever fully believed in what you were being told growing up. That's why you snuck that ripped page into my bag in second year." She gave him a looked that dared him to challenge her observation.

"You're mental." Draco's eyes went wide at the last statement, he had no idea she knew he was the one that planted the information about the basilisk in her things.

"Am I?" she laughed. "The only reason you're willing to sit behind a desk at that ridiculous company is to make sure your mother is taken care of now that your Father is in Azkaban. As much as you used to idolize your father in the past, you cherish your mother to this day. She still sends you sweets every week."

She knew she was right, that was why her smile widened. Draco narrowed his eyes but remained leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest without saying a word, waiting for her to finish. He was impressed she had noticed that much about him, and wondered why she took such an interest in his comings and goings.

"But she is the reason why you need to do something that will allow you to take those preconceived notions people have about you Malfoys and shove them up their arse. Just like you're trying to do now at Hogwarts. Use your strengths, Potions and Charms. Heal the Malfoy name, don't keep dragging it through the mud." She winked at him before closing her book and heading up to her dorm.

She was the one that gave him the idea to look into and eventually go into the Healer's program with her choice of words. Helped him focus on the subjects he enjoyed and excelled at to make the ultimate choice of what he was going to do with the rest of his life. Before his mother died that is. It was only after her death that he switched his training program; better benefitting his plan to get revenge for her.

"Why did you go CSI?" He asked suddenly.

"Why did you?" she probed quickly looking up at him. There was a chilled gust of wind and she wrapped her long coat tighter around her.

The amount of people that knew of his reasons was few and he did not want to extend it further, especially to include Hermione Granger. The brains of the Golden Trio. He would not be able to extract the revenge he wanted, and needed, if she was involved. Insisting that the Ministry would bring the proper amount of justice to whoever it may be. And that's if she listened beyond him telling the Ministry report was wrong. No, he did not want to go down that road with her.

"It seemed like a better fit." He said eventually. They had stopped walking, reaching the stairs to their homes several minutes ago. Still they stood outside, in the cold late September night looking at each other, knowing that the other was hiding something but refusing to say it. Draco's attention was pulled when he saw a light turn on in Hermione's flat. Turning he saw the large silhouette of her boyfriend and he just shook his head scoffing.

"That simple of a reason?" She asked.

He knew she didn't believe him, but he didn't care. "Go inside, Granger." Draco snapped. "He won't like being kept waiting." He turned and went inside, leaving her looking utterly confused.

The warmth of a dying fire flooded over him as he walked into his front door and he instantly relaxed, all tension from seeing Sebastian a moment ago, dissipated and he gave a sigh of relief. Relief that lasted only a few minutes until he found Astoria asleep in his bed. This was the third time in a week he had come home to this exact scene and he was beginning to tire having to share his space with her. That was until he got closer to her. Sliding into the empty side of the bed, she began to stir, and his mind became a haze. Enjoying the feeling of her soft lips on his bare chest, he decided he would deal with her disregard to boundaries another time.

It took several weeks for Harry and Katrin to run down every person they could think of to bring in for questioning in regards to Marcus and Nathier's murders, including several Slytherin Alumni such as Gregory Goyle, Miles Bletchey, the Carrow Twins, Pansy Parkinson, who was pointless to bring in in Draco's opinion, as well as Astoria and Daphne Greengrass.

Hermione had shown him into the observation room that allowed him to watch the interrogations and Draco had to admit, he took some pleasure at watching how uncomfortable Astoria was when getting questioned by Katrin, who Draco referred to as Otrera, the first Queen of the Amazons.

"Your ability to name so many powerful females from muggle history actually impresses me, Malfoy." Hermione laughed.

"You're easily impressed." Draco looked sideways at her, "I'm not surprised though. You spend most of your time with Potter and Weasley."

"Why must you always insult them?" She asked giving him an annoyed look.

He shrugged thinking of a reply. "It's fun." He admitted. He had gotten over the school rivalry ages ago and pressed Harry now simply for entertainment purposes, save for when he was actually being an idiot.

"Chuffer." She said with a smile and turned back to watch the interrogation.

"Ninny." Draco laughed.

Astoria was released after an hour of questioning, and Draco walked her to the lifts. He had planned to walk her to the floo gates, regardless of her frustrated ranting about having her time wasted by someone as intrusive as Katrin, but he was averted from doing so when Director Ingram called him into his office.

AN:

So I have finally started to settle into the home I'll be staying in for the next couple months! Yay! Super excited about this new chapter, but that being said, I'm even more excited about posting new chapters for you all.

Because I'm a few days late, I've decided to go ahead and post two new chapters today! I'm so excited to see what your thoughts are on the next ones and can't wait to see your reviews with your thoughts. Also, if there are any errors I might have missed, please message me and let me know so I can fix them. I have no beta so all mistakes are my own, although I do read over everything several times to make sure I catch as many as I can, no one is perfect.

I hope you all enjoy!