AN: You all are amazing. Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. We are getting closer to wrapping this story up. Big thanks to Bex for beta reading for me.
Lost Souls of Nott Castle
Chapter 37
Hermione woke slowly to the feeling of Draco's hands rubbing across her back and gently shaking her shoulder.
"Hermione, time to wake up."
She mumbled a response that was incoherent and she nestled further into the crook of his arm. Her head was on his chest, her arm thrown across his waist, and her legs tangled with his.
He chuckled at her response, or lack thereof, and tried again.
"It's getting late," he said as he shook her shoulder again.
She sighed deeply.
"I told you I never wanted to move from this spot." She answered groggily. Her eyes stayed closed.
"Yes, well, be that as it may, we still need to get up." He didn't seem to be in a hurry to move either, though. His hands continued to rub circles across her back, soothing her and lulling her back to sleep.
"Why?" She managed to ask.
"We have less than two hours before we have to be at the Ministry." He sighed.
Her eyes blinked open. The room was still covered in shadows.
"The Ministry?" She asked sleepily. "What for?"
"It's Monday," he answered, as though that should clear up the matter.
"Well, in that case..." she rolled over, pressed her back against his chest, and closed her eyes. She had been sleeping better than she ever had before and she was not ready to get up just yet.
He sighed and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her back tight against him.
"Fine," he relented. "Fifteen more minutes."
She smiled to herself and drifted back into oblivion.
Before she knew it, he was moving again, shaking her gently.
"We really need to get up," he told her.
She groaned, but realized he wasn't going to let up. With every bit of effort she had, she sat up.
They took turns using the bathroom, then they stepped into the shower together. She was still half asleep as she started washing her hair. She was just going through the motions.
By the time she started rinsing out the conditioner, she was a little more alert. It wasn't until she was out of the shower and drying off that she realized she still had no idea why they were going to the Ministry.
"Remind me, why are we going to the Ministry?" She asked as she combed through her hair.
Draco was in the middle of buttoning his shirt. He stopped, froze in place for a moment, before he looked at her with his brow furrowed.
"We have a standing appointment on Mondays with Agent Kimmey."
She raised her eyebrow.
"My probation agent." He continued.
Probation. Of course. His trial.
"Right. Got it." She sighed.
"One of the details you didn't relive, I take it?" He asked.
"Apparently so." She rolled her eyes. "Is there anything specific I need to know?"
"Not really. She loves you, so it'll be fine."
She could actually hear the smirk in his voice.
"She hates me, doesn't she?" She groaned.
He chuckled.
"She's warming up to you," he assured her.
She shook her head to herself, knowing that probably wasn't true.
She dressed in a red sweater, black pants and her favorite black boots. Her hair hung loose in the back and was pulled up on the sides. The locket Draco had given her hung around her neck.
They went downstairs for breakfast together and found Theo and Blaise already there.
"See," Theo said with a grin. "I told you they were still alive."
"Why wouldn't we be?" She asked as she took her seat.
"Well, you both missed dinner last night," Blaise pointed out.
"And the screams coming from your room could have been interpreted as very good or very bad," Theo continued with that same grin on his face.
Hermione felt her face heat at the implication.
"Ignore them," Draco told her. "I silenced the room after they left."
Theo and Blaise shared a look and cracked up laughing.
"Sorry mate, but no you didn't." Blaise managed through his laughter.
"Oh. My. God." Hermione muttered to herself as she cradled her face in her hands. They had not made any attempt to be quiet. The thought had never even crossed her mind.
She should have been mortified. Maybe she was a little. But it wasn't like she could change what happened. Thinking back, she wouldn't change it at all. It had been perfect. The best night of her life.
She took a deep breath before she looked at Draco. He was watching her, gauging her reaction. She bit her lip as images from the night before flooded through her.
He smirked at her, obviously remembering the same thing.
"At least we don't need to bother with them in the future," he told her with a grin. "Obviously these two like to listen."
She laughed and shook her head. Was she embarrassed? Maybe a little. Was it the end of the world? Not even close.
"Uh, yes you do! We do not need to hear what the two of you do behind closed doors." Theo clarified.
"We definitely did not listen, either!" Blaise laughed. "As soon as we heard, we cleared out. Promise."
Theo and Blaise continued to tease them relentlessly while they ate their breakfast. It was all good hearted, though, and Draco and Hermione laughed through it all.
They ate their breakfast quickly, though, and left for the Ministry.
Hermione let Draco guide her through the hallways to Agent Kimmey's office. When they stepped through the door, the woman behind the desk glanced up from her paperwork, saw them and sighed.
"Mr. Malfoy," she said. "Miss Granger. Has it been two weeks already?"
She sighed and held her hand out. Draco handed her his wand and sat down in a chair in front of her desk. Hermione followed suit, sitting quietly next to him.
"I trust your tests went well last week?" The agent asked.
"I suppose they did." Draco answered, glancing over at her. "We never actually looked at our scores."
Thinking back, she realized he was right. They hadn't even opened the envelopes that they received during graduation.
"We've had other things on our minds," she reminded him.
Agent Kimmey looked like she wanted to ask, but then changed her mind. She made a few marks in her file, then handed Draco's wand back to him.
"Have you had any problems since our last meeting?" She asked.
Hermione felt herself tense up. She wasn't sure how much this woman knew. Draco answered for her, though.
"Actually, yes," he said. "Granger was attacked after her exams were over. She sustained several injuries and was cursed. We are still trying to find a trustworthy curse breaker."
Hermione glared at him for a few long seconds. His probation agent surely did not need to know all of that. The woman was a complete stranger.
"Harry Potter?" She asked incredulously, looking back and forth quickly between Hermione and Draco.
Hermione found herself wondering what, exactly, they had discussed with this woman during their past appointments.
"No, it wasn't Harry," she answered as she rolled her eyes. "It was Malfoy's ex-girlfriend."
"Woah, Pansy was never my girlfriend," he retorted with a scowl. "And let's not forget that Potter did attack you."
She froze. Even her breath caught in her throat. Let's not forget. Except, she had forgotten, hadn't she? She had forgotten everything that had happened for two whole months.
Was he really mocking her for that?
She inhaled sharply.
"Yes, Malfoy. Let's not forget, shall we?" Her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him.
"Shit. Hermione. I didn't mean it like that." His eyes were as wide as saucers.
"It's fine," she ground out through clenched teeth. Except it wasn't fine. There were still holes in her memory, and the last thing she wanted to do was advertise it to the world. She took a deep breath. "Harry tried to attack me. He failed. Pansy pushed me down the damn stairs, then cursed me when I couldn't defend myself."
Her words sounded bitter even to her own ears. She couldn't help it, though. Being bested by Parkinson was a blow to her pride. Especially since it hadn't been a fair fight at all. Not that it matters. She had learned the hard way during the war, constant vigilance is the only way to even have a chance of survival. Her failure wasn't that Pansy had cursed her. It was that she hadn't even seen the threat coming.
"Are you blaming yourself?" Draco asked her incredulously. "You know it wasn't your fault."
"Of course it was my fault! I let my guard down. I know better." The enormity of what had happened, what very likely could have happened, settled over her chest like an elephant.
Draco stared at her for a long moment.
"You cannot possibly believe that," he said finally. "She ambushed you."
She blinked at him. Why would it matter if she were ambushed?
"Draco, if she had wanted me dead, I would be. Period. End of story."
Her words struck home. He hadn't thought of it that way. His hand held hers and he sighed deeply.
"You told me once that the only reason you survived the war was dumb luck. You told me that we are all still here only by the grace of the Gods." He squeezed her hand gently.
She chewed on her lip and huffed out a laugh.
"I said that?" She asked. When he nodded, she sighed. "Well, that is true, but still."
She didn't want to admit that he was right. Part of her was quite angry with herself for allowing Pansy to get the better of her. Another part was acutely aware, yet again, of how fleeting life could be.
Agent Kimmey cleared her throat, drawing their attention back to her.
"I've added this latest development to your file. Is there anything else I need to know about?" She asked impatiently.
"No," Draco answered. "That covers it."
"Very well." She made a few more notes in her folder. "I will see you both next Monday. Miss Granger, you have been requested in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
She handed a memo across the table which Hermione took and opened. Sure enough, it was a request for her to see Sergeant Rupert in the DMLE.
"Thank you," she said as she stood to leave. "And I'm sorry for that." She motioned between herself and Draco. "It's been a rather rough weekend."
"I understand, Miss Granger." Agent Kimmey opened her desk drawer and pulled out a card. "You might consider talking to someone that can help."
She handed the card to Hermione. Flipping it in her hand, she saw that it was contact information for a therapist. She raised her brow, but put the card in her pocket.
"Thank you," she said again. Then she followed Draco out of the office to the lifts.
Instead of going to the atrium, though, the lift took them to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as requested.
"What do you suppose this is about?" She asked as they stepped off the lift.
"I don't know," he told her nervously.
"You don't have to go in with me if you don't want to," she told him. She could imagine this would be the last place he would want to go.
"I'm good," he assured her.
Sergeant Rupert was in the last office on the left. He was a gruff man with a graying beard and an opaque eye.
Hermione knocked on the door and waited for him to acknowledge her before entering.
"Sir," she said in greeting. "My name is Hermione Granger. I was told to come see you?"
The man appraised her for a moment then motioned to the chairs in front of him.
"So you are the famous Hermione Granger?" He raised his brow skeptically. "I expected someone a bit more...well, you are a tiny little thing, aren't you?"
She was stunned for a moment, not sure how to react.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Rupert." She said finally as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"I'm not disappointed," he laughed. "Just surprised. The way my prisoner described you does not do you justice in the least."
She tensed, her hand flexing into a fist then straightening again.
"And who would that be?" She asked.
He didn't answer her. Instead he focused on Draco. His eyebrow raised again.
"You must be Draco Malfoy. Please, sit." He gestured to the chair next to Hermione.
Draco sat next to her. Automatically, his hand found hers without even thinking about it.
"Your prisoner?" He asked.
"Ah, yes. Miss Parkinson. A friend of yours, I believe?"
"No," he ground out. "She is not a friend of mine."
"I suspected as much. Although she tells it much differently." He chuckled and leaned back in his seat. "Miss Granger, I called you down here because I need a formal statement from you."
Hermione glanced at Draco and squeezed his hand.
"What do you need to know?" She asked.
For the next hour he asked questions and she answered them the best she could. When she was finished, he thanked her.
"That should be all we need. I'm going to question her again. You are welcome to watch if you would like?"
She considered it for a moment before agreeing.
Rupert led them into a small room that had a window overlooking another small room. He left them and closed the door. A few minutes later, the door to the other room opened and Pansy was led inside. She sat down in the chair and played with her hair, admiring herself in the mirror that doubled as a window.
She looked like she didn't have a single care in the world.
Rupert entered the room and sat down across from her.
"Are you ready to send me home yet?" She asked airily. "I need some serious spa treatment after this weekend."
"There aren't any spa treatments in Azkaban, Miss Parkinson." He told her gruffly.
Her brows crinkled and surprise flitted across her face.
"What are you on about?" She asked suspiciously.
"You maliciously attacked someone, Miss Parkinson. You placed a curse on her that could have had dire circumstances. Do you think you won't be punished for that?"
"What do you mean, could have had dire circumstances?" She shifted in her seat.
"Oh, didn't I tell you? Miss Granger is fine. She was able to block the curse herself before she caused bodily harm to herself or others." He sat back in his chair and grinned at her. "She'll be quite well enough to testify against you at your trial."
Her eyes widened almost comically. Her mouth gaped open like a fish out of water. Then she slammed her hand on the table.
"I knew I should have used Weasley instead," she muttered, just barely loud enough to be heard.
"What an interesting statement," Rupert tilted his head to the side and wrote a note in the file in front of him. "It begs the questions, instead of whom, and for what, exactly?"
Hermione held her breath and grabbed Draco's hand as she waited for Pansy's response.
Pansy seemed to realize she had said something that she should not have said. Her face grew pale. Her wide eyes darted around the room, looking for a way out.
"Miss Parkinson?" He asked after a few moments. "Answer the questions."
"No." She said stubbornly. "No. You don't have anything against me. If that mudblood skank Granger told you anything, she is lying. You can't trust people like her. She fooled Draco, but she won't fool me."
Rupert sighed. Then stood up and left. Once alone, she relaxed into her chair once again.
A moment later, the door to the room they were in opened and the detective walked in.
"Mr. Malfoy," he said with a slight grin. "I wonder if you would mind helping me out here?"
"How?" Hermione asked before he could answer.
"All I want you to do is have a chat with your former housemate. That's all."
"Have a chat?" Draco asked. "You mean you want me to see if I can get her to confess."
"You don't have to do this," she told him.
"She's right, you don't." Rupert shrugged. "Of course, I could always put in a good word for you. Maybe get your remaining fifteen months of probation cut in half. If you help us out here."
"Maybe?" Hermione asked skeptically.
"I can't make any promises."
"It doesn't matter," Draco interjected. "I'll do it."
He squeezed her hand gently, then followed the investigator out the door.
AN: So here we go! Five more chapters and an epilogue. All edited and ready to go. From here on out, updates will be on Wednesdays and Saturdays until done.
Until Wednesday!
-mezy