Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I JK Rowling.
Chapter Ten
Draco tensed some muscles in his body, while relaxing others, automatically going into a defensive stance which would allow instant action while looking to a casual observer as though he were simply leaning against the doorway. When Harry and Ginny arrived, he asked the questions Hermione had suggested. He allowed them into the room while remaining on alert when they both answered correctly.
"If I can make a suggestion, with the exception of the staff, who already know I'm Granger's bodyguard, if someone visits and asks, we tell them I came to gloat. Given my history with Granger, that should be believable. However, a DMLE representative in the Constable ranks, as well as Aurors you've told, Potter, would know without an excuse why I'm here," Draco said, once Harry and Ginny entered the room. After exchanging glances, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione all nodded agreement.
"And if by chance, someone shows up who tries to harm Hermione while we're here, what then?" Harry asked, wanting to hear the plan.
"Then, Potter, we each protect the women for whom we are responsible. You'd protect your wife, and let me concentrate on Granger. No offense, Weaslette, but you don't have the kind of training Potter and I do, so I recommend you do your best to stay out of the way, and let me do my job of protecting Granger. Do the both of you understand?"
They were about to say they agreed, when someone in a Constable uniform came to the door. Warily, Draco turned so the others in the room could see the new arrival, moving slightly so he could only be seen once the Constable was in the room.
"How can I help you, Constable?" Harry asked.
"I have a few questions to ask Miss Granger, if you don't mind. I've seen the report, but these are for clarification purposes. May I come in?"
Without waiting for a response, he walked into the room, and started moving toward the bed. Moving soundlessly, Draco started walking closer to Granger. There was something about the way the Constable held his nightstick that didn't seem right to him. The Constable gripped it the way someone held a wand or a knife, with his thumb on top and slightly to the side. Draco knew from his training that while still on his or her side, a nightstick was held with the palm flat against the handle, so it could be removed from the belt holster quickly.
"What do you need to know, Constable?" Hermione asked.
"In the report, it says Mr. Weasley hit you with a backhanded blow. As you're in the bed, would you please demonstrate the blow with my nightstick for me?" he asked, pulling it from the holder, and shifting his grip so his hand was curled around it, fingers on the top of the handle. He lifted his arm as though preparing to hand it to Hermione, and alarm bells sounded in Draco's head. The stance, the grip, all of it was wrong. This wasn't a Constable, and Draco didn't hesitate.
Moving quickly, he slid under the outstretched arm of the person pretending to be a Constable, putting himself in the person's sight for the first time, and blocking Hermione's body with his own.
"Malfoy? What are you…?" the person began, before realizing his mistake and swinging the arm holding the nightstick viciously toward Draco.
Reacting reflexively, Draco grabbed the wrist holding the weapon and twisted it, slamming his fist into the person's elbow, and followed that with an elbow to the person's nose. Both times he felt the bones under the blows break. Pulling the person around, he wrapped his arm around the throat, holding the grip with his other hand. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harry pull Ginny behind him, and pushing her slightly to a crouched position slightly behind Hermione's bed. After the person in the hold began to slump into unconsciousness, Draco let go.
"Malfoy, are you out of your fucking mind? You just attacked a Constable," Harry said in shock.
"Trust me Potter, that isn't a Constable. Bind him so he can't escape, and remove the Transfiguration on the nightstick if you don't believe me. If I'm right, this is Weasley, and we'll need to keep him so he can't escape until a few genuine Constables arrive. His beginning to ask me why I was here didn't tip you off?"
Eyes wide, Harry did as suggested, placing a Petrificus Totalis on the person, and then removed the Transfiguration on the nightstick, revealing it to be a long, wicked looking knife. The realization that Hermione could have been severely injured, if not killed, right in front of him, caused him to sweat in fear and confusion.
"Ginny, tell the staff I need to make a couple of calls. The first to the DMLE to get some Constables here, the second to Molly and Arthur. Then come back here. You should be safe with Draco until I get back," Harry said.
"First names, Potter? I'm honored," Draco commented ironically.
"You just more than likely saved the life of one of my best friends, so I think that warrants more than a surname," he replied, before bending to see if the person rendered immobile had any other nasty surprises hidden. He pulled something from another pocket, which looked like a thin piece of metal or wire tied to sticks at each end.
"Well, well, a homemade garrote," Draco said, seeing it.
"Excuse me?" Hermione asked, confused.
"You must have been sheltered growing up in the Muggle world, Granger," Draco said, turning to face her, "a garrote is a device some Muggles use to strangle someone. The wire is wrapped around the throat and pulled tight by the handles. No telling how this person knew about them, much less how to make one. I know about them because I not only trained how to bodyguard from a Wizarding point of view, but also in a Muggle style. No knowledge is ever wasted."
Ginny returned, nodding to Harry, who left the room to make his calls. Eyes wide, she looked at the weapons on the floor.
"Did he have anything else?" she asked.
"Harry searched him, Ginny. That's all Harry found," Hermione said from the bed, voice shaking.
"So he checked all of the pockets? What about other places?"
"Such as, Weaslette?" Draco asked, intrigued.
"I grew up with Fred and George. You'd be amazed where they'd hide things from Mum to take them to school."
"Interesting point. I'll check him further once Potter comes back."
A Healer came to the doorway and stopped, looking at the person that looked like a Constable on the floor.
"Miss Granger, may I ask why your guard felt the need to…"and stopped, waving her hands in the direction of the person on the floor.
Before Draco or Hermione could answer, the features on the person under discussion began to shift. Hermione watched in horror as at the end she found herself looking at Ronald Weasley. She visibly began to tremble. Merlin, Ron had tried to kill her this time.
