Author's note: I'm overwhelmed by the love you left on the previous chapter! I have the entire story planned out, so if you notice little quirks or inconsistencies - they're there for a reason! But I can't wait till you start guessing who did it!

"All up in the blogs

Saying we met at the bar

When I don't even know who you are

Saying we up in your house

Saying I'm up in your car

But you in LA and I'm out at Jermaine's"

"Obsessed," Mariah Carey

Friday

October 23rd, 1998

Number 16 Montpelier Square

Knightsbridge, London

"Hermione! I have pizza!" Harry called out into the flat as he removed his coat. He couldn't shake the guilty feeling that was gnawing at him. It was after nine, which meant Hermione had been alone with Teddy for hours. In May, following the Battle of Hogwarts, Hermione offered Harry to stay at her parents' flat in London while Harry set up Grimmauld so he and Teddy could live there. He had intended to stay a couple weeks, at most a month. But May turned to June, which turned into July, and now they were nearing November and he was no closer to moving out.

Harry had protested when Hermione had originally suggested the idea — he didn't want to be an imposition, and he had Teddy, who was barely a month old. But in true Hermione fashion, she had made it seem like he was doing her the favour. Her parents were still in Australia, the flat seemed too large for just her, and she was nervous to be alone, especially after spending so much time together over the past year.

It seemed cliche, Harry mused, but defeating Voldemort seemed to pale in comparison to parenthood. Suddenly, his life was consumed with midnight feedings and sleep training and taking Teddy to the doctor to get his jabs. And Hermione was there. Harry wasn't sure how she did it, but suddenly they were sharing parenting duties. When they started their various trainings — Harry to the Auror Academy with Ron and Neville, Hermione to Healer school — Hermione had shouldered even more of the childcare burden.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Hermione called out.

When he walked into the kitchen, he did a quick appraisal of the situation. She looked exhausted, with spit up dotting her dark jumper and her curls wild. She was scribbling notes ferociously, and she rocked Teddy's bassinet with her foot.

"Hermione," Harry said slowly, "I didn't mean to get back this late, you-"

Hermione waved him off. "I get it. You're not in control of your hours, and really, Teddy was easy today. Is Ron coming over?"

Harry shrugged. "He didn't say anything about it."

She sighed, and Harry knew what she was thinking. Ron and Hermione had fought just the night before — Harry had heard it through the walls and desperately wished he didn't. Their living arrangements were a source of constant tension between Hermione and Ron. Ron didn't understand why Harry was living with her and why she had opted to essentially co-parent with Harry. Their bickering was exacerbated by the press's fascination with the Golden Trio and any gossip associated with them. It seemed that every time a photo or article questioning Harry and Hermione's relationship appeared in the Daily Prophet or the other Wizarding publications, Hermione and Ron would fight.

"Anything from Ginny?" Harry asked, as he placed a slice of pizza on a plate to hand to Hermione. Ginny had headed back to Hogwarts for her last year, and he anxiously awaited letters from her. She was getting scouted for professional Quidditch teams and studying for her NEWTs. She was busy, and while he knew all of these things it did nothing to assuage him of the feeling that he was being left out of her life, like she was going to grow out of him.

"No," Hermione shook her head. "But Harry, she's-"

"Busy, I know," he said, tersely. "How was school?" He slid the pizza over to Hermione, who smiled at him gratefully.

"We learned about basic charms to fix broken bones," she said, biting into the pizza. "It's actually pretty complicated, cause you need different charms for different bones, and even then, there's still a healing period."

They ate in companionable silence with Hermione still rocking Teddy's bassinet with her foot. Eventually, Harry scooped Teddy up to ready him for bed. As Harry changed Teddy into pyjamas, he couldn't help but think about how complicated everything was, and yet, when he walked into Hermione's flat, he felt totally at peace. He had his baby and his best friend and the minute he would cross the threshold, everything seemed to make sense.

Tuesday

October 9th, 2007

Auror Office, The Ministry of Magic

Whitehall, London

Harry surveyed the conference room, trying to focus on the task ahead. He had asked Neville to help him debrief the Aurors, but he hadn't told him about the internal intelligence leak. Hastings had entrusted the task solely to Hermione and Harry, and even Neville was to be kept in the dark.

The less who know, the better. Get this done quickly, quietly. Find the bent Auror, find the Death Eater.

He watched the Aurors who were involved in the incident be shepherded into a holding area. Their clothes had been collected by forensics, and they had been swabbed for any residue from the explosion. They all looked exhausted. Harry felt a pang of sympathy. They had just come off of a surveillance mission that turned into a botched op leaving five of their co-workers dead. And now Harry and Neville were going to interrogate them about every sordid, horrifying detail. Some of the faces in the holding area he knew, and others were new to him. He recognised AS Yusuf, a surveillance expert, leaning against the wall, and AC Humphries, a Special Forces Auror, sitting cross legged, staring dead ahead. They were surrounded by the other Aurors, who looked devastated, all with varying levels of injuries. Three of the Aurors were in St. Mungo's for more serious injuries — Harry made a mental note to pay them a visit when they were healed.

One of them sold out the Auror Office to protect a Death Eater.

The thought rattled Harry, and he tried to steady himself. As he gripped the table anxiously, his gaze fell on Hermione.

Hermione was the second most senior Auror on the mission. How long had she been hunting Death Eaters and he hadn't known? He knew nothing about her life anymore, except for the office gossip and whatever was published in the papers. She was talking to a tall, brown-haired man. She put her hand on his shoulder, and then laughed, her blinding smile on full display.

"Harry, you ready?" Neville asked as he entered the conference room. "The Auror Federation reps are here, and people are getting anxious." Neville slid a navy folder marked "top secret" across the table and Harry moved to open it.

Operation Venomous Tentacula

Personnel

Mission Leadership

Mission Commander - (One-One) ACI Pryce Garner*

Senior Tactical Auror - (One-Two) AI Hermione Granger

Mission Operations Officer (One-Three) - AS Jeremy Waldron

Team Two

Two-One - AS Gideon Stibbons*

Two-Two - AS Quirin Hill*

Two-Three - AC Emmannuel Yusuf

Two-Four - AC Athena Brewer

Team Three

Three-One - AI Julian Welch-Boone

Three-Two -AS Minjun Park

Three-Three - AS Morgana McCarty*

Three-Four - AC Sunita Ramesh

Three-Five - AC Malgier Selwyn

Team Four

Four One - ACI Halliwell Sutherland-Reese

Four Two - AS Antoni Kowalcyzk*

Four Three - AC Leslie Biggeloe

Four-Four - AC Nigel Humphries

Four-Five - AC Daniyah Ali

*Asterisks denote the Auror has died in the line of duty.

"Call them in randomly," Harry said to Neville, his eyes still staring at the list of personnel. "It'll throw them off a little."

Neville nodded, and opened the glass door. "Auror Three-One, we're starting with you."

Auror Inspector Julian Welch-Boone turned out to be the brown-haired man Hermione was speaking to earlier, and Harry hated him instantly. Debriefing him was an excruciating experience - Julian had a pompous demeanour and responded to every question with sneering condescension. He didn't mask his displeasure that Harry was the one questioning him. He knew that people thought he made it into the Auror Corps because he was Harry Potter, and even though he was an excellent Auror, it did nothing to assuage the naysayers that he was there on merit as opposed to fame.

Slowly, as Harry and Neville worked their way the list, the story became clear. An unnamed handler had received intelligence from a CHIS that a known Death Eater who had evaded capture was spotted in Knockturn Alley at around 9pm the night before. Team Three had been dispatched to survey the location, and over the course of the night, they had made a positive identification of the suspect and several other persons who had aided Death Eaters during the war. Gamma Four-Five was convened in the early hours of the morning and they created a plan. They waited for legal and headquarters to approve the mission, which took several hours.

And the operation had gone flawlessly — until the explosion. They had captured the subject of the mission (Harry still didn't know who it was, because the material was classified and hadn't been released to him), and walked the subject and the collaborators back to where the other Aurors were gathered. And then, suddenly — there was an explosion, and the subject and collaborators were gone, and five Aurors were dead.

"We checked them when we arrested them," AC Athena Brewer said, shaking her head. "I checked him. There wasn't anything there, and we confiscated his wand. I did everything according to procedure. I don't understand where he got an explosion - and how they were gone so quickly — they didn't have their wands, so they couldn't apparate."

"We didn't know who it was until about five am," AC Ali said, anxiously lacing her fingers together. "I got paged at approximately four-fifteen -- I was in bed, I came here to get suited up -- we went to the location, and that's when ACI Pryce told us about the mission. We were planning things out and waiting for legal to approve the mission."

"The collaborators are all known to the Office," ACI Halliwell Sutherland-Reese remarked. "I don't think any of them were that proficient in wandless magic."

"What are you saying?" Neville asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Nothing," Sutherland-Reese responded. "I'm just saying it's curious."

"So what's your theory?" Harry interjected. Something about Sutherland-Reese set him on edge.

"I hate to say this," Sutherland-Reese began, absentmindedly using his finger to trace the rim of the glass. "But the mission started so quickly and so air tight that, well — the only way is if - no, it's not possible."

"What's not possible?" Neville asked.

Sutherland-Reese shifted in his chair. He looked as if the weight of the world had settled on his shoulders, and he took another sip of water.

"Look, I'm not accusing anyone and I really don't want to be right. But the only way they could have figured out what was going on is if someone sold us out."

Sutherland-Reese placed his face in his hands, and his Federation rep patted him on the shoulder. Harry had never lost a team member before, and by all accounts, AS Kowalcyzk had been a valuable member of his team and a respected member of the office.

"Speaking of curious," Harry said, opening the folder in front of him, "Isn't it odd for a Chief Inspector to serve on a tactical team in this role? Aren't you too senior?"

Sutherland-Reese sighed. "I'm being promoted to head of the Special Forces division in a couple weeks. It's not being publicly announced yet, bit of a secret, but I wanted to participate -- show that I've got their back, I'm one of them. So when Pryce -- sorry, ACI Garner -- knew there was a mission, he added me to one of the teams."

"Did you know ACI Garner well?" Harry asked.

Sutherland-Reese nodded. "Garner was two years above me in Hogwarts. I'm Muggleborn, and I was really overwhelmed and I missed home -- Garner's mum was a Muggle, and he just kind of… showed me the ropes. He was like my big brother. I followed him to the Auror Corps and…" He put his head in his hands again.

With a pang, Harry thought about Fred and George. Fred and George had been Harry's de-facto big brothers throughout Hogwarts. Losing Fred had been one of the deepest losses Harry had felt, and it was compounded by watching George struggle in the aftermath. Almost ten years later, George still wore the marks of a man who had a portion of his heart permanently lost. He was now one of Harry's closest friends and Teddy's favourite babysitter, but it was impossible to miss the markings of loss that pervaded George's whole being.

"Look," Sutherland-Reese said, snapping Harry out of his thoughts, "I don't have any inkling who it is -- and I know you're not anti-corruption, but if you recommend the case to them, I want to help. I want to find out which bastard did this."

"You seem pretty convinced that someone in this office did it," Neville commented. "But a couple minutes ago, you were barely able to talk about the possibility."

"I'm not mad about the idea that someone in this office is bent," Sutherland-Reese said evenly, "but I don't see any other possibility. I've been an Auror since 1991, and this bears all the signs of an inside job." He stood up, and extended his hand to Harry. Harry shook it tentatively, and watched him leave the conference room.

"Do you think it could be an inside job?" Neville asked when the room emptied. Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"We're here just to debrief them, and fill out the reports. If Special Forces and Hastings thinks there's an issue, they'll form an anti-corruption investigation," Harry said, hating that he was lying to Neville.

Harry began to fill out a post-interview form, thoughts swirling in his mind. While AI Welch-Boone had been a tosser and AC Biggeloe seemed a little odd, nobody seemed dodgy or having the capability of selling out their fellow Aurors. Only Sutherland-Reese had suggested that it could be an internal leak.

"Mate," Neville said slowly, "we have to call Hermione in."

Harry felt his throat close up. Of course they would have to interview Hermione. But their discussion this morning had been the most they had spoken in seven years, and interviewing her -- even if it was just to maintain her cover -- seemed like an uphill battle.

"Right, err," Harry bit his lip. "Bring her in."

"Auror One-Two!" Neville called out, and Hermione walked into the conference room with her Federation rep. A blonde man entered after them. Harry recognised him as a member of the Legal Branch of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"OI Turpin, rep for AI Granger," the rep introduced himself, and shook Harry's and Neville's hands. "If you don't mind, I brought a legal advisor."

"I'm Matthew Parkinson, I'm just here to observe," the advisor said, smiling broadly, which felt jarringly inappropriate for the situation. "AI Granger has had a well documented personal history with the two of you, and it's just to keep everything on the up and up."

"As it should be," Harry grumbled. "Take your seats."

Neville queued up the recording equipment and Harry nodded at him to begin.

"For the DIR," Neville said, looking at his paper, "This is AI Harry Potter and AS Neville Longbottom, conducting a post interview operation with AI Hermione Granger and her federation representative, OI Turpin. Mr Parkinson from Legal is here as an independent observer."

"AI Granger," Harry began, feeling like his heart was stuck in his throat, "when were you informed that the operation was taking place?"

"I was informed at around two am this morning that a wanted person had been spotted and that I was to report to the office to meet ACI Garner."

"And what happened after you were informed?" Harry asked.

"I reported to the office and met with ACI Garner. We were receiving reports from the surveillance team on the ground, and we began to form a tactical plan. At around four we received the go-ahead from ACC Hastings to contact our special forces Aurors. By five am, we were briefing our teams and heading to the scene to await a final positive ID and the approval from legal and headquarters."

"When did you get the approvals?" Neville asked, as he wrote something down.

"Headquarters at around seven am, and Legal at 10am." Hermione responded. "After we got the approval from legal, we waited for ACC Hastings to give us the final order."

"Did you inform anyone outside of Gamma Four Five of this mission?" Harry asked.

"Of course not," she responded shortly. "Do you, AI Potter, make it a habit to inform irrelevant persons prior to highly classified operations?"

Hermione tossed her hair over her shoulder, her lip curling as she stared directly at Harry. Harry busied himself with his folder, trying to avoid her gaze. Her eyes were blazing, taunting him. He was technically in charge and yet he knew she was the one in control of the situation. It drove him mad.

We're on the same side, he tried to reassure himself.

Bollocks, his internal voice countered. You haven't been on the same side in seven years.

"Anyway," Neville said hastily, in an attempt to defuse the tension, "Did ACI Garner make a positive ID himself?"

Hermione nodded her head, but her eyes were still trained on Harry. "Yes, he did."

Don't back down.

Two can play at this game.

"Was it common practice for ACI Garner to include ACI Sutherland-Reese on operations?" Harry asked.

"No, this is the first time ACI Sutherland-Reese joined."

"And that didn't seem odd to you? That an Auror Chief Inspector would join on a mission?"

"ACI Sutherland-Reese and ACI Pryce are old friends, from what I understand. ACI Sutherland-Reese is about to be promoted and he wanted more hours on actual missions. The leader of team four is on leave."

Hermione sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. He was unconsciously reminded of sixth year, and all the uncomfortable moments when Hermione wouldn't speak to Ron. He had worried then if they would get together and forget all about him -- and now Ron was nowhere to be found, and Hermione wouldn't speak to him. His insides twisted again.

This isn't how it's supposed to be. This isn't what I wanted.

She's doing brilliantly -- without you.

He tried to shove the thought away as he moved to continue the interview. He made a feeble attempt at finishing the interview, but a feeling of overwhelm began to set in. His thoughts began to strangle him.

"Thank you, AI Granger," he said abruptly. "We'll contact you if we need more information."

She reached across to shake his hand, and he took it.

As he lowered his hand, he realised she had slipped a note into their handshake. Hermione, her rep, and the legal advisor left. When Neville was distracted with fixing the recording equipment, Harry glanced at the note.

16.

23.

Cloak.

Her house - Number 16 Montpelier Square, at 11pm.

Invisibility cloak.

This is going to be bad.

Tuesday

October 9th, 2007

Number 16 Montpelier Square

Knightsbridge, London

After the war, Harry realised he knew next to nothing about Hermione's family. She talked about them very little, and aside from the fact that her parents were Muggle dentists, he was mostly in the dark. Hermione, it turned out, was the only child of the Marquess of Townshend, the Most Honourable Dr Peter Granger. Hermione's late great-grandfather had been a titan of real estate, amassing a large fortune. As he learned more information, pieces began to fall into place. She had been bullied viciously in primary for being mixed race and rather "odd" (of course, this was due to her unrestrained magic that was unknown to her). It explained why she had none of Ron's hang-ups about money and why she felt so comfortable abandoning her parents' skiing holiday in Switzerland after only a few days.

He pulled the cloak around him more tightly as he made his way up to her home, his eyes darting around, making sure he wasn't being watched. He had barely knocked on the door before Hermione opened it, her expression unreadable. He followed her into the foyer, and then up the stairs into the drawing room.

"You've renovated," he said tentatively, trying to break the ice.

"Well, it was time," she responded, sitting down on her sofa. She wordlessly cast a spell, and a tea set scampered up to them and then deposited themselves neatly on the coffee table. "Sugar, no milk?"

He nodded, and didn't know how to feel that after all this time she knew how he took his tea.

"Honestly," he said as he accepted the cup of tea she handed him, "nothing stood out. The only thing that feels odd is Sutherland-Reese."

"What motive would Sutherland-Reese have to sell out Aurors to the Death Eaters?" Hermione asked. "We have to look at everyone."

"Was anyone behaving oddly when you got back to the office?"

"Of course they were behaving oddly, five of their co-workers just got murdered in front of them," Hermione said, contempt dripping from every word. "I think we should start with the surveillance team, since they knew the longest."

"What about the handler for the CHIS?" Harry asked. "Why have we automatically assumed that someone grassed? Maybe the CHIS double crossed us?"

"The handler for the CHIS was on the mission," Hermione said shortly.

"Who's the handler?"

"I can't tell you."

"For Christ's sake, Hermione," Harry said impatiently. "Stop leaving me out of details. I don't know who the CHIS is, I don't know who the handler is, and I don't bloody know who was the target! If you know something, say something. I can't do my job like this."

"You're just going to have to do it without this information, until I get the permission from Hastings to read you into this. We can't start breaking regulations now."

Harry sighed as he busied himself with his tea. He hated being back in this drawing room. It was filled with so many happy memories, and all of it felt like it was mocking him. He hated every inch of this feeling.

This is your fault.

You did something horrible, and you're paying for it. You deserve this.

"Look," she said, her tone softer, "I'm Special Forces. There aren't a lot of Aurors, and there are even less Special Forces people. We're a tight knit group. It's hard for anyone to think that one of us sold each other out, and now there's five people who are dead, including Garner, who everyone liked. Hastings will read you in, but I can't make that decision, especially when we're in this situation because of an internal leak."

Harry nodded. "Let's go through the list and you can tell me what you know about them. Welch-Boone?"

"Dad's muggleborn, and he's pompous, but he's good at his job. He's not planning on staying in the office, he has an eye at running for the Wizengamot. Big dreams. Ambitious. Has an ex-fiancee."

"Brewer?"

"She was a first year when we were fifth years. Gryffindor. Everyone likes her. She's good at the tactical side, but she's a so-so investigator."

"Park?"

"Has a mastery in Arthimancy, excellent at defence spells. Nice man, but quiet. Don't know much about his personal life except that he has two cats that he adores."

"Ramesh?"

"One of six children, parents live in Manchester, she loves Muggle telly. She's mad about those home renovation shows. She's rather good friends with AC Ali."

"Ali?"

"Born in Iraq, her father got a job offer as a researcher for Albertelli Apothecary when she was nine. She finished first in her class at the Academy."

"Hermione -- is there anyone you could think of that is possibly dodgy?" Harry asked.

"Harry, I don't know," she said, a note of desperation in her voice. "I don't like Selwyn and I know Humphries is having financial difficulties. But I've worked in Special Forces since 2003 and there's nothing that sticks out."

Hermione coughed and took a sip of tea. "We need to establish some ground rules."

"Alright," Harry agreed.

"No one in the office knows we're working on this. Don't talk to me in the office unless it's absolutely necessary. When I say something is classified, don't push it. I'll tell you what I know but if I can't tell you, you have to respect that."

Harry nodded again. "But you have to request for me to be read into the material."

"Okay," Hermione said. "None of our friends know we're working together. Not Ginny or Luna or George."

Harry sighed, but nodded a third time.

They'll get excited and think we've made up.

"And lastly — this is strictly professional. Don't ask me about my life, and I don't want to hear about yours."

It felt like a knife plunged through Harry's heart. A small part of him had hoped working together would open the door to forgiveness. But Hermione seemed intent on keeping the door closed.

"I'll contact you for the next meeting," she said, and it was clear to Harry that their rendezvous had come to a close. He stood up, and she followed suit, trailing him as he walked down the stairs to the front door.

He looked at her one last time — her expression had gone back to being unreadable. He desperately wanted to know what she was thinking. He was simultaneously furious with her about the last seven years and also filled with yearning to make everything right.

He turned the handle and walked into the inky blackness.

If it comes out, you're done for.

Whatever you do, they can never know the truth.

"It's clear that you're upset with me

Finally found a girl that you couldn't impress

Last man on the earth still couldn't hit this

You're delusional, you're delusional

Boy you're losing your mind"

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