Chapter Three: Tests

"Harry, I said, what is he doing here?" Hermione asked again, ignoring Malfoy's salutation. Her tone was short, and her eyes, when they flickered briefly to him, were suspicious and cross.

Draco watched her carefully, prudent enough to keep his expression neutral and very firmly stuffing his previous thoughts about her into a very dark corner of his mind in hopes that they might erase themselves. She had grown, as they all had, although she was still short in comparison to him and Potter. Her face would have had a feminine curve to it as her body did, but her jaw was currently tight with irritation, lips thin and pursed. No matter how much time had passed, Granger was still Granger, and Granger clearly still had a grudge. He could hardly hold it against her. She seemed intent on ignoring him, however, and for the moment he was simply pleased to have breathing space.

"Malfoy's working on the new case with us, Hermione," Harry said levelly, flicking his eyes at the recruits who were listening interestedly to the exchange, sensing the tension radiating off the three and well aware of all the gossip interlinking them.

Hermione took the hint, and turned to her class. "Training is dismissed until I call you back."

The class broke up with a mixture of disappointment and glee, and Harry and Draco exchanged nervous glances, both thinking the same thing. If Hermione didn't want the class around indefinitely she had to be angry. Very angry. This was all kinds of not good.

It wasn't until Hermione was sure that the last of the trainees had cleared the top of the spiral staircase that she turned her glare with full force on Harry. "I better have misheard you, Harry." Her tone could have stopped a blast-ended skrewt in its tracks.

Harry shook his head, willing himself not to cave under her pressure. There were times when his friend genuinely scared him, and he couldn't help but remember her petrifying Neville in their first year. He swallowed. "Malfoy's agreed to work with us – he's already been extremely helpful." He kept his tone bright yet conciliatory.

Hermione shot a disbelieving glare at Draco, who aimed for a pleasant and encouraging smile. She frowned. "So why is he here here, then? If he's just a consultant–"

"He's part of the team; Hermione," Harry interrupted quickly, "not just consulting. It's too serious."

A dangerous spark danced in Hermione's eyes at that. Harry and Draco gulped.

"Why wasn't I asked about this, Harry? I'm on the case too – I'm practically heading it with you. Doesn't my opinion matter?"

"Of course it matters, Hermione; you know it does," Harry soothed.

"Then why wasn't I conferred with, or even informed of your decision?" she exclaimed, ignoring his attempt to appease her.

Draco understood what she was getting at. It was the fact that she hadn't even been consulted on the decision that was getting to her more than anything else – besides the fact that she probably still hated his guts. He had to admit, if their roles had been reversed, he would have been pretty peeved not to be kept in the loop too. For the moment he was happy to let Potter deal with his infuriated friend, however. He was quite sure that Granger would have more than enough ire stored to unleash on him later, and he had no intention of accelerating her progression towards him.

Harry was losing his patience for the topic. The morning had been stressful enough already, and looked only to get more so as the day progressed. "Well I'm informing you now. Hang it all, Hermione – the case was only just turned over to us this morning! I can't give you second by second updates!"

Hermione's frown deepened at the change in her friend's attitude, and her hands went to her hips. "I wasn't asking for second by second updates, Harry!" she cried, her voice increasing in decibels to match his. "I was asking to be kept informed of important updates to an extremely important case that I'm involved in! Not being filled in after the fact! That's pretty standard procedure! Especially when you're making decisions about bringing in ex-Death Eater gits that I'd rather curse than collaborate with!"

Draco winced slightly at that, but conceded that she was quite within her rights to speak so, and really considered himself to have gotten off lightly.

"Well I'm sorry!" Harry bellowed back. "There just wasn't enough time, OK?! Do you know how many memos and owls I've had since I woke up?! I've been working since five a.m.! There just hasn't been time to keep everyone informed!"

"I'm not everyone, Harry. I am asking you for the bare minimum," Hermione replied sharply.

"Well this morning the bare minimum is just a bit much, OK?!"

They both stood, glaring at one another, faces red with their anger and exertion.

"Fine." Hermione's tone was worryingly calm all of a sudden. She turned to Malfoy, eyeing him up and down, her arms crossed tightly across her chest, her face tight and irritable.

Draco aimed for a mollifying expression, knowing that if he looked in the slightest bit standoffish or flippant she would eviscerate him all the faster. He'd learned his lesson in third year never to under-estimate this particular witch.

"What makes you think I should trust you?" she asked, addressing him directly for the first time.

"Well…Potter trusts me?" Draco ventured. Even he had to admit it was a pathetic answer, but he was certain that Granger was more likely to believe him if he said the sky was green than that he had reformed himself since school. Granger certainly seemed to think his answer ridiculous if her raised eyebrow was anything to go by. She snorted, rolling her eyes as though Potter's trust had little credibility.

Draco knew it was meant as an insult to him as much as Potter, but even so he had to restrain a snicker. He'd never admit it out loud, but now that he was here, face to face with the bristling termagant, he actually missed riling her up and seeing her reaction. A wistful sense of nostalgia curled in him at the look on her face. He had seen her angry many times during their school career, enjoying needling her, but this was quite different. She was a fully-fledged witch now, and the fact that she was in charge of Auror combat training didn't bode well for him if he pushed her too far. Things had changed; boundaries were in different places, and he'd have to get to know her a bit better before he tried pushing her buttons for his own amusement – if he dared to. He snuck a glance at her. Her cheeks were flushed with anger, her eyes bright, and even in her ponytail her voluminous hair seemed to bristle and crackle with energy. He very much dared to. It was a deliciously dangerous prospect.

"He signed a contract, Hermione," Harry interjected – very unwisely, in Draco's opinion. "He's trustworthy."

Hermione's expression cleared for a moment, surprise flitting across her features, but then irritation clouded them once more.

Draco's brows contracted. "What's the significance of that, Potter?" He didn't like the slight smirk that was playing around the corner of Granger's mouth as her eyes met the Auror's.

"If you hadn't been trustworthy – or if you still had affiliations with Death Eaters, upon signing the contract you would have been cursed," Harry answered casually.

Draco's eyebrows shot up, and he frowned. "A little detail you conveniently left out," he growled.

Harry shrugged. "Everyone has to go through the test without knowing. Besides, you obviously had nothing to fear."

Draco gave him an unimpressed look. "And just what would have happened to me if I hadn't passed it?"

Hermione actually let out a snigger at that. She had progressed a bit beyond her fifth year accomplishment of acne notices across a traitor's forehead. "Without the correct counter-curse you wouldn't sire a Malfoy heir," she answered coolly. "Even Death Eaters have that weakness."

Draco's eyes widened.

"Hermione invented it," Harry supplied. "She was reading about eunuchs in the Imperial Chinese court at the time."

"Thanks, Potter, that makes me feel so much better," Draco snapped, paling at the thought. He eyed Granger with a frown. "Your mind is a dangerous thing, Granger."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, her previous levity dispelled again. She pulled her wand out of a slim black holster strapped around her thigh, swishing it in a business-like fashion that put Draco on edge. "Let's get started then."

"So you trust him, Hermione?" Harry clarified anxiously.

Hermione gave Draco an assessing look that made him feel uncomfortably transparent, raking him up and down as she twirled her wand and marched off to the slightly raised open ground of the arena. "We'll see."

Draco gulped. "Don't leave, Potter," he muttered.

"Scared, Malfoy?" Harry asked with a hint of a laugh, tactful enough to keep his tone soft so Hermione wouldn't hear.

Draco gazed uneasily at Granger who was moving further into the open space of the arena, swinging her arms and limbering up for what was to come. "Terrified," he answered truthfully. "I don't trust her not to hex me into the next continent if you leave us alone. I'm no fool."

Harry grinned. "Very wise."

"Come on, Malfoy; I haven't got all day. Some of us actually have to work for a living."

Draco forced down the snarl and comment begging to be released to correct her assumption. It would not do to further infuriate the woman. Instead, he warily took up a position opposite Granger, his wand raised.

There was the briefest of pauses, then Hermione brandished her wand. A vast wall of fire blasted forth from the tip, roaring towards Malfoy, crisping the air before it.

She was determined to break him – no one could pretend they were reformed indefinitely in a fight, and no matter how long it took, she would hammer the truth out of him. Eventually he would resort to Dark magic, and she would be ready for him when he did. Although it was extremely unlikely, it was possible for a powerful witch or wizard to fool the charm on the contract. Whether Malfoy was that powerful remained to be seen, however.

Draco had barely a second of surprise at the brutality of her attack before he quickly conjured a wall of water. The fire roared against it, the elements doing battle, great clouds of steam billowing up to fog the battleground.

Hermione cancelled her spell and vanished the fog with a slash, glancing at Malfoy for a second before hitting him with an impediment jinx to the chest.

Draco was knocked backwards, the force of Granger's spell much greater than any he'd ever experienced, the wind driven out of him as though he'd used his chest to stop a bludger. His ribcage felt as though she'd crushed it, but he knew he'd be in excruciating pain if she had, and he forced himself upright as he staggered, holding back a string of obscenities, and fired off a stunning spell.

Hermione dodged, whipping a tripping jinx under Malfoy's ankles and following it with a quick stinging hex to his wand hand, a tiny bead of satisfaction bubbling into her at his snarl.

Draco threw up a shield charm before he alleviated the stinging hex with the appropriate counter jinx, glad that he had taken time to protect himself when red and purple flashes of light exploded against and glanced off the silvery shield.

Seeing his shield, Hermione directed her wand at the ground, drawing a fault line towards Malfoy where he lay, recovering and struggling to his feet. A rumbling of shifting rocks sounded, followed by a great tremor that nearly threw them off their feet, and an enormous fissure opened up along the route she had indicated, eating up the ground towards Malfoy who had regained his feet.

Draco pointed his wand at the heaving ground, his shout lost in the thunder of breaking rocks.

Hermione frowned as Malfoy shot up into the air, changing spells as he began to fall, and levitating himself to land several feet away on solid ground. Slippery ferret.

Draco, knowing it would only infuriate her more, but needing a moment of respite to think, directed his wand straight at Granger. "Obscuro!" A blindfold appeared over her eyes, wrapping her head, and she clutched at it, screeching her displeasure.

"Finite incantatem!" the blindfold vanished, and Hermione glanced around, her eyes instantly settling on Malfoy a second before a body bind curse left his wand tip. She flung up a shield with milliseconds to spare.

Harry watched the fight progress with an unsettled feeling settling in his stomach. It was clear that Hermione was in no way trying to test Malfoy's abilities, but rather his patience. Malfoy seemed to have guessed this, but his defensive tactics served only to infuriate Hermione more. He was wise not to go on the offensive in retaliation, but even so, Harry did not envy the situation Draco was in. Hermione's attacks increased in frequency and strength, and Harry pitied Malfoy as she began to levitate the rocks from the fissure, pelting them at her opponent, his retaliation leaving the boulders floating stationary in mid-air, or exploding into clouds of dust.

Hermione's hair began to come down from her ponytail, hanging in curls around her face and at the nape of her neck as sweat gathered on her skin. She was determined not to give in until Malfoy either showed his true colours or surrendered. Her wand arm had begun to burn and felt like lead, but she kept it up through sheer fury. She would outlast him.

Draco, still in his suit and robes, was faring worse. He had to constantly blink the sweat out of his eyes, his hair soaked with it and falling across his field of vision. At one point he managed to banish his outer robes, and as they continued their duel he gradually shed his suit blazer and tie, a quick spell rolling his sweat-dampened sleeves up. He could feel bruises developing all over his battered body, and was extremely grateful that Blaise had managed to badger him into playing the occasional game of Quidditch on weekends. Without that occasional exercise he knew he wouldn't have lasted as long as he had. He could see Granger was tiring despite herself, but he knew unless he was extremely lucky he wouldn't be able to sneak a spell under her guard. He only had his Seeker's reflexes on his side. She was the professional here, and he'd never really been in a real battle.

Resigned to fighting until one of them dropped, Draco continued.

oOo

"OK, Hermione – that's enough. Stop." Harry had had enough. The duel had gone on for well over half an hour, progressing until both combatants were panting and leaning over, their hands on their knees, the sweat dripping from them and peppering the ground like raindrops.

"No!" Hermione gasped defiantly, shoving herself upright again and attempting to level her wand at Malfoy, fighting her screaming muscles as she staggered backwards. "I don't trust him!"

Draco lifted his head to glance at her, too tired to even care if she turned him into a ferret. Let her have her way, blast her; the woman was too tenacious.

"No, Hermione. I said that's enough. You've done what you wanted – accept that Malfoy is on the team." Harry stood between them now, frowning at his friend for her juvenile behaviour.

"I'm still not satisfied!" Hermione protested, her voice weak despite her best efforts.

Harry sighed, his brow creased. "Well what would satisfy you then?" he asked tersely.

"Nothing." Hermione answered firmly. "Don't you remember what he did to us, Harry? Six years. Six years! And then becoming a Death Eater – watching while Bellatrix tortured me?! Saying he's sorry doesn't cut it."

"I do remember, Hermione – but that was when we were kids. And I'm not saying it wasn't wrong and hurtful, and I'm certainly not trying to belittle it," he added quickly, seeing indignant anger flood her expression, "but people make mistakes. Big mistakes. And you know as well as I do that he couldn't have done more than he did when we were taken to the Manor. We were all still kids then. And kids do stupid, awful things. But then they grow up. They change. I've seen that he's sorry in every good thing he's done since then. He hasn't said sorry – he's behaved sorry."

Hermione shook her head stubbornly. "Some people never change."

"How can you know that, Hermione?" Harry asked exasperatedly. "You haven't even given him a chance."

"I –"

"Look into my mind."

Harry and Hermione paused at the interruption, both turning to Malfoy. He had finally straightened, and his grey eyes met theirs, tired but resolute and entirely truthful.

Draco sighed deeply. Why was he even doing this? He'd been involved in the case for less than an hour, and he was willingly offering to open his mind to someone, the very last thing he would ever wish to do. Why? He sighed. He already knew the answer. Voldemort. If there was even the slightest chance He was back there was no way he would stand aside and let him rise once more. Not again. Not now. Not ever.

"What?" It was Hermione who spoke, her eyes narrowed as though she expected Malfoy to rescind his offer or make a joke of it.

"If you know legilimency, I will let you into my mind." Draco repeated slowly, meeting Granger's eyes. "Then you can see for yourself, and judge me as you see fit. I won't fight your ruling – but it will be the end of it."

Harry gaped at Draco. "Are you sure, Malfoy? Surely veritaserum–"

"Of course, I'm sure," Draco snapped. "I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't. And if we used veritaserum Granger would probably say I'd found a way around it. Immunities can be developed." He frowned, pinching the bridge of his nose. What am I doing? He lifted his eyes to Granger's again. "Well?"

Hermione stared at Malfoy for a few moments, nonplussed, sure she had entered some unrealistic dream world. But no, it was really happening; Malfoy was offering to let her into his mind. She wasn't sure how she felt about it. Malfoy's mind... What nightmares might lurk in there? She sighed, knowing that in spite of herself, her decision had been made. "Tomorrow. Eight o'clock. Sharp." Then she turned and stalked back to the arena office.

Harry let out a deep breath once Hermione was out of earshot. "I'm sorry, Malfoy. I honestly didn't expect her to react like that."

Draco rolled his eyes, twisting to stretch a few of the muscles cramping down his arms and back before quickly returning his clothing to its pristine state with a swish of his wand. "I belittled her for six years, Potter. I behaved like she was less than the dirt on my feet. Granted, that was because I loathed you and Weasley, and what else was I to do but make her life hell as well," he added wryly, then shrugged. "I didn't expect her to welcome me with open arms. Not to mention…well – you know, what happened at the Manor." Draco grimaced. Granger's screams had woken him up many nights since then. It didn't matter what he did – they just wouldn't go away. His conscience would not be assuaged.

Harry blinked, surprised at Malfoy's curt admission as well as his lack of ire. The Draco Malfoy of old would have stormed and cursed and vowed vengeance. But then the Draco Malfoy of old hadn't been his…friendly acquaintance. Friend was probably pushing the envelope a bit far at this point.

"Well…I'll be there…just to make sure she doesn't go overboard," he replied lamely. "Hermione wears her heart on her sleeve – she feels things deeply, no matter how well she might hide it at times. It can take her a while to forgive." Then, as an afterthought, "You did really well out there. When she comes to her senses – Hermione will recognise that too."

Draco raised an eyebrow at Potter, but the Auror said nothing, giving him a brief nod instead, and marching back towards the staircase.


So first of all...OMG I AM SO SORRY HOW LONG IT'S BEEN SINCE I UPDATED! Got a bit busy with life, and then distracted """

So, apologies over. THE CHAPTER. AHAHA! THEY MEET! And explosively! :D
And Harry and Draco bonding over mutual fear of Hermione's magical prowess and temper I wanted because I want Hermione to be every bit as powerful and impressive as she was in the books, only even more so now because she's a fully fledged witch. And it's pretty funny XD.

I hope Hermione's anger about and with Draco (and Harry not consulting her) doesn't come across as overdone. I feel like of the three from the Golden Trio, she's really suffered the worst from the Malfoys as a family, what with Bellatrix's torture. So I really didn't want her to be at all pleased about Draco's appearance, especially without her being forewarned.

Anyway, thanks for waiting and I hope you enjoyed it! :D

The next chapter is a particular favourite of mine (yay for world building and legilimency!)

Please do review and/or favourite :) Tell me what you like or don't like :) Questions and speculations are always welcome :D As is incomprehensible flailing if that's what you go in for :)

If you want to get access to sneak previews to chapters before they're posted, you can like me on Facebook (JZJ Tomkins) or follow me on Twitter ( jtomkinsauthor) or Tumblr (jzj-tomkins):)