12.
sorry for the gap, I had a lot of work to do. So here is chapter 12. (please excuse lack of scientific knowledge)
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"Obvious trauma to the chest area. Cause: in my opinion it is from the residue of unsuccessful stunners sent by the Ministry team." Hermione quelled the urge to wipe the hair off her forehead, sweaty from her goggles. Behind her, she could hear the Quick Quill scribbling furiously to take down her oral notes. She wished she had her muggle tape recorder, she would have felt more secure.
"Transparentus." She muttered, and the skin of the cadaver before her turned a sickly clear color, exposing the muscles and bones without having to make an incision. "Transparentus." She repeated frowning, and another layer of the body went clear. She frowned and brought her scalpel down through the now jelly like layers to touch his lungs, when she felt a hand land heavily on her shoulder. She whirled around, brandishing the blade like her wand.
"We have to stop meeting like this." Said Draco, his hands up in the surrender position. He cleared his throat, and Hermione slowly lowered her arm.
"You shouldn't be in here." She said curtly, turning to complete the tiny incision. Draco turned green and covered his mouth to prevent himself from vomiting right there. Yesterday's vodka was now churning in his stomach.
He lifted a delicate handkerchief embroidered with the Malfoy Crest to his nose to block out the smell of formaldehyde and took a deep breath.
"I know." he answered, muffled. "I'm not medically regulated. But I have to be present as an official ministry presence." He said a little gruffly. Hermione wasn't listening, as she lifted a small piece of lung tissue from her scalpel and placed it on a Petri dish.
"What's that for?" he asked, his interest piqued despite the grossness of the whole situation threatening to make him sick.
"Inspection, Malfoy. Now, I would be pleased if you would allow me to continue. I need some stomach tissue and a photo of its contents to prove my point. She made another large cut in the bean shaped organ, and Draco held himself from retching as the smell of the entire contents of the stomach wafted through the air. Hermione behind her face mask was protected from the stench of the bile mixed with what looked like a green and gray fluid. She lifted the heavy Magic Cam from the floor and took three shots at different angles. She pulled the negatives out of the back, and shoved them into Draco's hand and he awkwardly waved them about as they developed. She then spooned a teaspoon of the contents into a test tube and capped it.
"What is your point?" he said, still muffled.
"Opaquenta Totalus." She said wearily, and the body instantly went back to its normal state, and she covered it with a sheet. "What did you say?"
"I asked what your point is? What are you trying to prove?"
"That this is not the assassin."
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Draco stood dumbly behind Hermione as she scrubbed her arms in the basin in the Morgue Washroom.
"I don't understand." He said finally, and held out a towel for her to wipe her arms on.
"What?"
"How do you know...? Fourteen Aurors went after this man. He wouldn't even stop when he was stunned, just kept running. He only stopped to perform the Cyanide Curse...."
"It's not him." She said, walking out of the washroom and pulling off her lab coat to reveal her light pink tweed skirt and jacket. She primly tucked a wisp of her hair behind her ear, and Draco followed her into a dark room. She flicked a switch and an elaborate X-Ray machine glowed into life on the wall behind her, though a more advanced ministry version of the muggle instrument, and showed everything besides the solid structure of a body.
"First of all, you are forgetting a key fact. I was there. This body is 6ft 8, a hefty 243lbs, and 16 oz. The figure I saw was shorter than me and was much more thin, at least her arm was."
"Her?" he said, perching himself on a chair.
"Yes. The figure I saw was either one emaciated male, or more practically deduced, a female."
She flicked another switch and the slide disappeared with a loud pop, and was replaced by a cut away view of the body.
"Also, a closer view of this body's eyes is what started my suspicions in the first place." The slide seemed to zoom in on the skull and the green eyes seemed to bore into Draco's matching pair, and he shivered.
"What was in the eyes?" he asked, the Quick Quill continuing to record their conversation.
"They weren't. Eyes I mean." She pulled out a plastic bag from her skirt pocket, which contained two eyeballs. She jiggled the bag and they clinked audibly.
"Glass...?" he said a note of disbelief in his voice.
"Right. This body has no eyes. A quick look in his mouth also furthered my thoughts. He has no tongue."
"So...he's a ..."
"Living Cadaver. Or was at any rate. He didn't perform a Cyanide Curse, he simply dropped after his spell had run out. I'll perform the test on his lung tissue, and guarantee you there is no oxygenated blood. He never breaths. And his stomach contains nothing but bile and acid. He hasn't eaten in years I'll wager." She said with a sigh. "We were duped. The assassin left behind an Animated Living Cadaver, probably with a Performance Spell, and escaped. She's still out there."
"I'll have to report this to Neville." Draco said, getting up to quickly and his head pounded in protest. He was a large man, but his drinking binge yesterday was starting to wear him down.
"And I'll finish up this report." She said, clapping her hands, and the Quick Quill immediately flopped down.
There was an awkward moment of silence, with neither one looking at each other.
"Well, I'll be going then." He said, clearing his throat consciously.
"And I'll, you know...be finishing up the official report. I need to stay to..."
"Good." He said shortly, and he abruptly swirled his robes and left the room.
Hermione closed her eyes. The tension was tangible, and she wondered what she would say when they were alone in a room together again. She shivered to let go of the feeling that he was going her murder her in cold blood himself.
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She stared at the window, tired and wondering how much more Ginny was going to spend. The amount of galleons Ginny had in her purse had stunned both Hermione and Lavender that morning.
"You're going to spend all that." Lavender had said deadpan. It was a statement and not a question, which from normally gossipy Lavender was an event.
"Yes."
"On a gown." Hermione had said equally as deadpan.
"Of course."
"Not the food. Nor the flowers."
"No."
"The dress." Continued Lavender.
They had looked at each other and shook their heads. "That's what you get when you have two of the richest people in the world joining in holy matrimony." Lavender had said in a rueful voice.
"Quite." Hermione had answered, and Ginny had let out a noise of annoyance. Now they were in Belinda's Magical Bridal Shoppe and it was the sixth store that they had been through with Ginny not liking a single one.
"No! I look so disgusting! Harry will run if he sees me!" Ginny almost sobbed, rushing back into the dressing room in what Hermione thought was a rather elegant simple strapless gown with simple beads on the skirt edge and a thin cord of gray silk around the high waist.
Lavender came up to where Hermione was sitting with her Witch Weekly.
"That's it. I give up. You have to help. She's acting like she's pregnant, or in menopause, which I can assure she is not going through."
"She's probably still moody from the attack. She's under a lot of tension, what with the constant guard and all." Hermione had sighed, jerking her thumb to point at the same green haired and ringed Auror, Peter, the auror who had gone for help during the assassination attempt, standing outside the boutique's door. He was desperately trying to look nonchalant, but it was hard when he was a man who was tagging along behind three women who were shopping in a high fashion district of Diagon Alley. He looked as though he would be happier with the likes of Charlie Weasly, and his other pierced and tattooed friends. The fact that Ginny had insisted he carry their purses if he was going to make himself a little useful as their bodyguard wasn't helping his ego any either. He shot a murderous glance as two girls passed by him giggling.
She got up, and tentatively knocked in the dressing room door. "Ginny? Are you all-"
"I'm fine." She snapped, and the door abruptly opened. She looked fierce.
'Well can you please-?"
"Well if I could get this dress off, it would help." She said a little sarcastically, and Hermione obliged by yanking half heartedly at the stuck zipper. Finally she just ripped it, and used her wand to repair it.
"Reparo."
"Now, Ginny, you must choose. Shlip!" she said making the cutting motion across her throat to signal quiet as Ginny opened her mouth to protest. "Now, Lavender has taken a day off from the Catering Business, and I have out aside some pressing ministry work for you. You have dragged us all over Diagon Alley, and frankly we are getting tired of it. You, Virginia Weasly, are turning into a-"
"No! Don't say it!" Ginny protested half laughing.
"A Bridezilla. Utterly useless. Now, you have at least three gowns here that would look lovely on you. Pick one. Now." Hermione said, shutting the door on Ginny's shocked face.
"Now see, if I had tried that, she would have hexed me." Said Lavender conversationally.
"And I would have hexed her back." Hermione replied, sitting down to finish the article she was reading.
Lavender shook her head, and went to hang up the thirteen other gowns that Ginny had rejected. Ginny may be a firecracker, she thought, but Hermione was the Queen of Ice.
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They walked out of the boutique, after Ginny had agonized for another hour. Ginny and Lavender were a few paces ahead, gossiping, while Hermione walked behind them thinking to herself. It had been a few days since she had met with Draco in the Morgue. She had not heard from him since, Neville only told her that he would be back from some business after a week's time.
The report had been filed, but nothing could proceed until Draco came back, and the case was stalled. What ever could he be doing?
"It better be damned important." She muttered to herself.
"What was that?" asked Peter, walking next to her.
"Oh nothing. I suppose you know Malfoy?" she said, turning to the bodyguard, realizing she could get some information from a knowledgeable source.
"Dragon? He doesn't like that, but we call 'im it anyway." Peter said laughing lightly.
"I would imagine. You wouldn't know where he is right now?"
"Holding up your case? He's done that often enough. Usually he's getting' information, or he's taking a break to hold back the berserk."
Hermione stopped walking abruptly. "Berserk?"
"Yeah, you dinnint know? I thought you were the smartest witch of all time..." he said nudging her with his elbow.
"This generation. What don't I know?" she said her mind working furiously.
"He's got Berserker blood. You know those ancient warriors who would go mad with Battle Fury? They couldn't hear, see , or think straight til what they wanted dead was dead. Well, Dragon's got that in him. He went mad at the Final Battle. Now he goes to Dumbledore to curb it."
Hermione stared at Peter, who looked back at her expectantly.
"Peter, would you mind meeting me at Madame Rosmerta's Bistro tomorrow? At say 9 o'clock?"
"Why sure. I haven't had female contact in about three months." He said grinning and wiggling his eyebrows. Hermione was strongly reminded of Fred and George Weasly.
"Don't get your hopes up." She said smiling. "I just want to talk. About our friend Dragon."
He shrugged. "Sure."
They continued walking to catch up to Ginny and Lavender, but Hermione's mind was already off cakes and dresses, and the gears in her mind were turning and wondering about one man. Draco Malfoy.
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A.N..- yes that was short. It was another more informational chapter, but the next one will contain more drama than CSI.
Teaser- Peter spills his guts.....Hermione and Draco get some news....and it's time to start the big plan....