CHAPTER 43

October 24th 2001

Draco Malfoy stared blankly at the witch in front of him, unsure if he heard her correctly. Her mouth kept moving but his mind was numbed by a fuzz that blocked his ears. Denial flooded his perspective, dismissing any possibility that he was being outsmarted by his receptionist.

"Hold on, hold on." Draco interrupted what he assumed was Hermione's explanation. "Start again. In what hell is Astoria capable of doing any of this?"

"I can't believe we didn't see this earlier, it was right there in front of us the entire time!" Hermione sounded more pissed off with herself than she was with the person who was torturing them. "This person has always been one step ahead of us, right? They knew all of our plans and knew where and when we were almost at all times. All of Britain thought that you and her were dating, and yet all of the threats were being sent to me because she knew that you loved me and not her. It has to be Astoria, what other explanation do we have?"

"But what does she have against my family? The Malfoys have had next to no relation to the Greengrass' in order for there to be bad blood. Even if you're right, there has to be more to it than this."

Hermione scrunched her hair in her hands, pulling at the strands. "Draco, there has been so much that your family has yielded from telling you. How can you be certain that nothing happened without you knowing?"

"But it just seems too easy! It can't be this simple!" His voice cracked at the final word.

"I'm not saying it is." She replied calmly. "This is merely the tip of the iceberg and we have to go to Astoria and make her tell us the truth."

"No! We need to think about this some more, we need more proof before we just run in and risk everything!"

They were both too hard headed and self aware of their intelligence to reason with one another. Draco knew he was overreacting over her leap of faith, but he ran off of logic. Hermione led with her heart and he had no idea how to keep up.

Taking a deep breath, he rubbed his face until the back of his eyelids saw stars.

"I am sorry for yelling." He surrendered almost immediately. "I just- I don't want to fuck this up by rushing. You run into these dangerous traps like there aren't people waiting for you to come home."

Hermione nudged herself to sit in between his legs, cupping his face and stroking her thumbs across his cheeks. "If we don't do something there may be no home for me to come back to. One of the reasons why I love you so much is because of how protective you are, but you have to let me be brave as well."

"But I just got you, Granger. I can't lose you."

"You won't." She kissed him quickly. "We have both survived much worse than the empty threats of the Greengrass family. Trust me. Astoria is involved somehow."

Draco knew she was right. He knew that she would have thought of every doubt and every hole to ensure that they weren't making a mistake. But a part of him wanted her to be wrong, or that she would have gotten it right a little later. Maybe then, he would have been able to enjoy this pretend peace for just a day more.

Why did she seem so ready to escape it? A voice in the back of his head told him it was because she didn't actually want to be with him, however deep down Draco understood this was her way of protecting him. The sooner they did this the sooner they could live happily ever after.

"Okay." He gave in. "What's the plan?"

October 25th 2001

Draco was calmer than he expected to feel the next morning. His stride was strong and steady as he walked through the ministry foyer, wand clenched tightly within his grip. All he had to do was pass the receptionist desk without breaking character.

"Miss Greengrass." He avoided Astoria's eye contact, trying his best to give off an awkward impression.

The red lipped witch gave him a tight smile that flowed into a quick flash of her teeth, and then bowed her head to continue whatever task was at hand.

His feet just reached the lining entrance of his office as he swiveled around to face her once more. "Oh, Miss Greengrass. Could you please bring a fresh brew of tea into my office in five minutes? Two cups. One for myself and Miss Granger."

Astoria seemed to chew at the inside of her lip before nodding agreeingly. In the corner of Draco's eye we could see Hermione exiting the elevators confidently. Not a slither of fear on her. She gave him a discrete wink that fuelled him all the further courage he needed.

He took quick steps over to his desk leaving the office door open, intertwining his fingers and waited patiently. His heartbeat was fast. Blood rushed all over in anticipation for what was to happen next.

It took Astoria 7 minutes before she finally arrived with a full tray. Approximately 5 minutes later than Draco's patience could withstand. Her eyes focused on her hands as she silently placed everything on his desk, careful not to overstay her welcome.

"Thank you, Miss Greengrass." Draco grumbled.

"Is there anything else I can get for you, Mr Malfoy?" She finally looked him in the eye.

"Yes, actually." He started. "You could-"

Before he could finish his sentence the hot glow of a Petrificus Totalus curse hit Astoria in the back. Her face froze in an expression of shock seconds before her body collapsed all over the tray of tea and spiralled onto the floor.

"...Tell me where my father is." Draco finished his sentence. "You couldn't have let me have 1 second more?" He frowned at Hermione across the room.

"You are so dramatic." She rolled her eyes, closing and locking the door behind her. Her wand whispered a silencing charm over the room as she crouched down to lift Astoria off the floor. Draco assisted by dropping her into a chair.

Over by the corner, the supposedly idle couch moved, revealing Potter from being hidden under his invisibility cloak. His smugness wafting up the office.

"Not a bad shot, 'Mione." He tapped her on the back. "Just like the old days, eh?"

Hermione shook her head in disapproval. "This isn't a good thing, Harry. But… I'm not going to lie, that did feel good."

"Okay enough with the nostalgic bullshit. We have a killer to kill." Draco shoved Potter with his shoulder, pushing through the two to roll Astoria's neck so that she faced forward. "I'll wake her up. Granger, you ask the questions."

"Are you sure you want to do this, Hermione? I can take over if you feel like this is too hard."

A gentle smirk crept up at the crease of Hermione's mouth. "Don't worry. I've got this."

Draco pointed his wand at Astoria's chest and casted a stiffened 'Enervate'. She jolted abruptly, being awoken from her unconsciousness, choking on her own breath as she looked around the room with stress. He and Potter stepped away so that the dirty work could be accomplished.

"What have you done?!" Astoria spat. "What is happening?!"

"We know." Hermione said casually.

"Know what? That you're a crazy bitch?"

"We know that you're behind all of the attacks. Do not bother to deny it."

Astoria rushed to try and escape but by a surprise amount of strength, Hermione held her down by pinning her wrists to the arms of the chair. Despite a few kicks of resistance, there was no way she could get out.

"I am not going to tie you up by ropes or charm you to the chair, we both know that you can't beat all three of us and make it out of here alive. So just tell us what we need to know and we'll go easy on you."

"What are you talking about? I don't know anything, I swear."

Hermione slapped Astoria across the face and pressed the tip of her wand into her neck. "In case you have not noticed, Miss Greengrass, I am not an idiot. I have seen and fought people much more treacherous than you and do not care for your lies."

A drop of blood leaked from Astoria's red lips and down her chin. "I think the entire country is well aware of how righteous you are, Miss Granger."

Potter stepped forward to interrupt the integration but Draco held out an arm to keep him by the wall. Hermione had something to avenge, she needed to do this on her own.

"Then you will know that as soon as Harry says the word, you will be locked up in Azkaban for the remainder of your life."

"Please, you will find the word fear is not in my vocabulary."

"Yes." Hermione pushed her wand a little harder. "But it is in your eyes."

The colour in Astoria's face dropped two shades. Draco could see her pride slowly retreating and in its place stood panic. The grand master's plan was being interrupted and she was scared of the consequences of being caught.

"Who are you working for?" He asked straightforwardly. "Who are you afraid to tell us of?"

"Wh-what makes you think I am working for someone?" Astoria struggled to talk by the pressure of Hermione's wand. Her breath cut short and strained.

"Your family is broke and has nothing against the Malfoy family. Someone within the Sacred Twenty Eight is paying you to do their work so that you can stay relevant. Does that sound about right?"

Draco wrestled with the smirk forming at his mouth. When Hermione reminded him last night that they had overheard his mother share that the Greengrasses were broke, it was the defining fact that made him go ahead with their plan. Seeing her expose Astoria like this was all sorts of arousing, if she didn't get an answer soon he may just have to leave the room.

"I have a bottle of Veritaserum right here in my pocket, Miss Greengrass. We can either force you to tell us the truth, or you can keep a slice of your dignity and tell us only what we need to know."

Hermione was merely bluffing that she had truth telling serum, but the confidence in the way she went to reach for something in her pocket even made Draco believe she did.

"FINE." Astoria yelled with a croak, surrendering to the threat. "Fine. I'll-I'll tell you what you want."

Draco glanced over to Potter and gave him one of those 'told you' looks. In return he gave one of those 'I know my best friend is brilliant and you just barely know what she is capable of' looks. It made them both want to punch each other in the face.

Hermione lowered her wand so that Astoria could breathe, but not without pressing her wand as hard as she could before releasing. This whole interrogation tactic was rather out of character for a soft hearted Gryffindor, nonetheless it was what was necessary.

"Yes. I am working for someone within the Sacred Twenty Eight." Astoria confessed, rubbing her throat with an expression fiercer than a peeved globin. "My family had lost next to all of their money after the second war, I was given no other choice. They said that if I just took a job within the ministry and gave them intel on what you and Draco were doing then I'd be paid 1000 galleons a week."

Hermione folded her arms and leant on her hip as if she was being told something that she already knew. "Lucius Malfoy is under the imperius curse. Yes or no?"

"Yes."

"Then you would know that Lucius threw Draco out of the manor long before you started working here. Someone was sending hitmen for two years, who was it?"

"I don't know. My job was to just get close to Draco and find out who was closest to him."

Astoria flicked her eyes over to look at Draco. If he didn't know any better he would think there was an apology hidden beneath her gaze.

"Don't look at him." Hermione leant down to meet their faces closer together. "No one believes that sorry look. Not anymore. You had to report your findings to someone, tell us their name."

"I c-can't." She stuttered, a twang at the back of her throat as if she was about to cry.

Potter scoffed, shaking his head. "Tell us their name, Miss Greengrass. In case you haven't noticed but you've got nothing to lose here."

"No, Harry." Hermione slowly pulled back from her close proximity to Astoria. Barely breaking eye contact as something clicked together in her mind. "She literally cannot tell us."

Draco pushed himself off the wall, taking a step forward so that he could truly look Astoria in the eye. "She's been cursed not to tell us their name. You'll have to kill yourself if you do, won't you?"

Astoria clenched her jaw. Dried blood stopped at the centre of her tensed neck. No words left her mouth and yet the desperation of help that spread itself across her face spoke for her. She was just as helpless as his father in his mission.

"They said that if I said any indication as to who is doing all of this that they'll force me to kill my entire family. Make it look like a murder suicide. If you were smart you would stop looking for them. They're more dangerous than you think."

"I think we can handle it." Potter answered for everyone.

"You might not be able to tell us who you are working for, but I'm guessing that there wasn't a threat for you to say who you aren't working for." Hermione half asked, half assumed.

Scanning each person in the room, Astoria gave the idea that she was trying to find an excuse to help them. Weighing up between finally being released from her abuser and saving her family. Only favour didn't look like it was on their side.

Draco didn't want to take over from Hermione's dominance so he chose to stay hidden behind but came forward enough so that Astoria could see the misery he was in.

"Please, Astoria." He unashamedly begged. "It is not just your family's lives on the line. So are mine. And I'd be willing to die for them as well."

"The Malfoys are a curse on the wizarding world."

"I'm not talking about that family."

Astoria lazily turned her focus to meet Hermione's. She knew how much Draco loved her, even before he knew it.

"If I say a name and it is wrong, can you at least nod so we know who not to go after?" Hermione asked, probably unaware of how much Astoria really knew of what kind of hold she had over Draco's life.

"Okay." She breathed her agreement.

Several names ran through Draco's mind, some with pureblood heritage and some without. He didn't have enough fingers on both hands to count the amount of people that both him and his father would have poisoned over the years. Names upon names and yet none seemed to be adding up to everything that had been happening. It was at this moment he was grateful that Hermione was asking the questions. She no doubt knew who it was but was just waiting for something to confirm it.

There was a minute of silence before she asked her first name. "Crawford?"

A nod.

"Pansy?"

A nod.

"Narcissa?"

A nod.

Hermione let out a short breath through her nose before asking the next name. "Ron?"

"Hermione." Potter interrupted with offense on his tongue.

"I need to know, Harry."

Astoria took a second before giving the answer. Nodding her head and relieving everyone in the room. Draco especially. He never would be able to live with himself if all of this was because of a Weasley.

Potter pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. It felt like they were getting nowhere, just running in circles until they drove themselves mad. Whoever was behind this knew exactly what they were doing and who they were dealing with.

Hermione bent down to whisper something in Astoria's ear. Neither Draco nor Potter could hear what she said but it must have been important by the way in which Astoria frowned in response. Her eyes frozen with panic.

Taking a deep breath and turning to face the wizards, Hermione spoke the beautiful words that they had all been waiting to hear.

"I know who it is."

Draco's knees felt as if they were going to buckle from underneath him. This was it. They were almost free.

However the remorse from Hermione's face told a different story. She had to do something that they had promised each other they wouldn't do.

"Whatever you are thinking you need to do. Don't." Draco spoke through clenched teeth. "I am begging you here. Please just tell us who it is and we can help you."

"Draco, I need you to trust what I say. They won't hurt me."

"You-you can't guarantee that!" His voice was shaky and his heart was shattering.

Looking over to Potter for back up, he was only given a subtle shake of a head in return.

"Granger, don't do it. Don't do the heroic thing." He pleaded, gripping Hermione by the shoulders and shaking the courage out of her.

"I'm sorry." A single tear trickled down her cheek. "I have to."

Within seconds Hermione pushed him by the chest so forcefully that he fell to the floor. His head hit the tiles so hard that when he looked back up there were two of every person in the room. Draco's entire body pranged with fear for a reality that he worked so hard to avoid. She was leaving him to save the day.

"I love you, Draco." She grabbed Astoria by the hand and lifted her from the chair. "But do not follow me."

And just like that a crack filled the room and both the witches were gone.

Draco scrambled up to his feet, spinning around trying to figure out what the fuck just happened.

"How are we supposed to know where she went?!" He yelled, throwing everything off his desk as a way out of his anger.

"We do." Potter answered calmly. "Don't you get it? She just told us without telling us."

"Are you daft? She didn't tell us shit!"

"Yes. She did."