I Love(d) You (Once)
Chapter Twenty-eight: It's a red file
Hermione's heartbeat quickened when she saw a small dialogue screen pop up at the bottom left-hand side of her monitor. She lifted her head up and to her side, she saw Draco flinch.
Mr Pucey and Prewett, the owners of P&P, AKA their bosses had just scheduled a meeting with them, in half an hour, at three o'clock this afternoon.
The message contained almost no information. Hermione tried to shrug off the small abject horror gripping her heart. A hand brushed against shoulder and she turned to see Draco, grimacing.
"Guess they called you in too," said Draco.
"What do you think it could be for?" she asked. She watched Draco empty a box of paperclips onto her desk and loop one paperclip with another to make a small metal chain. Without a word, she reached for Draco's hands and as she did so her fingertips trailed across his knuckles, slowly and deliberately.
Hermione gave Draco a sidelong glance. "Are you okay?"
"Well," Draco said, "the last time we were called into our bosses' office we got demoted. Remember that?"
"Of course I do," said Hermione. "What happened in the elevator afterwards was one of the life-changing things in my life. The fall from the status of a saint to a mere human."
"I'm glad you can appreciate the silver lining of all this. For all we know, P&P could be giving us a bad grade and firing us. Just how can you remain so calm? If we're kicked out on P&P, I can kiss the chances of looking at my file goodbye…"
Draco slipped his hands out of hers. One hand grabbed his arm and the other pressed its fingertips against her wrists. A slow methodical heartbeat. She could have been meditating.
"I am starting to think I am the only one being anxious here. Did you take a calming potion or…"
She scoffed. "Now you're being a little bit ridiculous."
Draco leaned in to inspect Hermione's face. As he peered into her face, he could see a faint hue grow on her cheeks. Draco's fingertips could feel each beat of her heart, despite her (mostly) cool exterior, it was giving away her agitated state. Hermione really wasn't as cool about this as she was pretending. That made sense. She was the uptight one between the two of them. She was the teacher's pet after all.
"Ha! I knew you were nervous about going in. You almost fooled me."
And now that he knew that Hermione was as nervous as he was, suddenly he didn't feel so bad anymore. There was indeed something to say about knowing someone was going to go through the same thing as you.
Hermione leaned back in his chair and pushed himself away Draco. "Sure, that was exactly why I was nervous."
Really, she wasn't any bit more nervous as she would have usually been meeting with his bosses before his demotion. Whatever the bosses would be speaking with them about would not include being fired. That much she knew. And even if they were fired, and with the loss of her sole source of income and set her career plans five years back, she lacked the passion or turmoil she would have anticipated that would accompany this situation.
Five minutes until three, Hermione and Draco rose out of their chairs, out of their office and alighted the elevator that transported them to the highest floor in the building, she was still fine.
The door opened to reveal, across a long corridor, closed wooden doors that opened to their bosses' office. She placed a hand on Draco's shoulder and squeezed it. Then they as they made their way along the corridor, at a pace Hermione considered neither brisk nor slow, she realised why everything felt quite all right. Through all of this, Draco would be with her. And that was good enough for her.
They stood in front of the door and Hermione gave Draco a quick smile and raised her hand. She rapped on the door pane three times in quick suggestion. A second later, the door swung open to reveal their bosses on one side of their meeting table.
"Ah Draco and Hermione, come in. We are going to have a very serious talk."
"Please take a seat." Ignatius gestured to the two leather chairs in front of them and the bosses eye-level with the employees on the other side of the table.
Unease shifted into Draco's eyes and he unconsciously extended his hand to his side under the table. Hermione didn't react as she laced her fingers around his own.
"We have examined your work log," said Ignatius, handing them back a cream folder which held the details of the number of cases and their nature within it. "We're most impressed with your work. Hullyton sends out its regards and they told us to tell you they have stopped using the Marsh Being as a figure to scare their children with. The Marsh Being is now a guardian. Much like what the Muggles call… the tooth-fairy."
"After further consultation with Scamander, they discovered the Marsh Being appeared in front of the fallen villages to warn them of the danger," said Maurice.
"But… that is not the reason why we have brought you here today."
"There is something which we are about to speak of, and before we continue I want you to consider something very seriously."
Suddenly every sound in the room seemed to be magnified. Draco could hear the sound of his own shuddering breath with startling clarity. As Ignatius pulled open a drawer to take out a heavy lever arch file, Draco heard the screams of a thousand slaughtered trees. A loud bang flattened his eardrums as Ignatius placed the file on the desk in front of them. And… the way red-haired man handled the sheets of paper within the folder sounded like crackling sparks of electricity…
Hermione kicked his foot under the desk and gave him a stern look. CHILL.
The crackling sparks of electricity turned back into audible rustling of paper. Draco shifted in his seat and crooned forward to see what his bosses were presenting them.
"It's a red file. The Ministry gave us the highest classified case as an assignment," said Maurice. "Of course, this means the most sensitive information that is likely to put you in life-threatening danger."
"Which means…" Hermione trailed off, her eyes wide.
Ignatius gave a smile to Hermione. "Yes, to give you a red file clearance, for all intents and purposes, you and Draco are hereby promoted… to your former position. Congratulations."
Ignatius said. "I can't begin to guess what the assignment is about. Of course, even as the heads of P&P we will not be privy to the information within the file if you choose to accept the case."
"A red case…" Draco leaned forward in his chair. His hand shook as he brushed his fingertips across the edge of the file. "That means full access to Ministry files, right?"
Maurice's eyes glinted with understand and he pulled the file back towards him. "Yes, you will have the highest clearance in the country. But remember exactly why you have been given this clearance. The file once open may put you in imminent danger."
"I'm taking this assignment," Draco said. "There is no one way I am giving this opportunity."
"Me too!" Hermione said in a rush. The words "life-threatening" had elicited a thrum in her heart. And it felt, after so many years of peace she was alive again… "I mean, someone's got to make sure he's kept in line."
Maurice looked uneasily at the couple. "No doubt… remember, this is different from anything you have been assigned to, but no doubt…"
"I think we have impressed upon them the seriousness of the situation quite thoroughly," Ignatius interrupted. "So the two of you are willing to take on this file?"
"I don't think you would have called us both up here if you had expected any other answer," Hermione said as Draco nodded.
Maurice sighed and pushed a quill and parchment towards them. "Now if you would two stop holdings hands under the table and sign this to read the red file that would be perfect."
"WHAT?" Draco spluttered.
"That is the most unprofessional accusation—" Hermione yelped when she realised that they were, indeed, holding hands in front of their bosses…
And they both turned as red as the file in front of them.