"Doru's still not back yet?" Hermione asked as she grabbed a handful of magic-enhanced hay.
After collecting her belongings from the cabin and settling into a room at the Dennfyre, Hermione had returned to the visitors section of the sanctuary where Charlie currently oversaw the trainees inside the goat enclosure while they all fed the hungry animals.
Charlie yelled at one of the keepers to pay more attention to his hay stash where one goat was treating itself to more than its fair share.
"Not yet," he confirmed when he turned back to Hermione. "Either the Ministry's making him wait an insanely long time, or he really isn't leaving until they agree to investigate."
Hermione sighed. "Let's hope it's the latter."
A baby goat with a patch of gray fur on its forehead trotted towards Hermione, and she got down on her knees to feed it.
"Have you learned anything else in the meantime?" Hermione asked, keeping her tone casual as she pried for as much information as she could without being obvious.
"Llewellyn and I took our brooms and checked the perimeter for any breaks in the wards, but we found nothing. Though that doesn't necessarily mean much."
"How so?"
Charlie shrugged before walking to a part of the enclosure where several unfed goats were bleating. "Keepers go into town all the time. One drink too many, and who's to say what will slip out of someone's loose lips and fall upon interested ears." He let out a short snort and then knocked his head towards one of the nearby trainees. "Especially these young ones, looking for a drunken night out on the town or perhaps a bit of company."
Charlie raised his eyebrows in double succession, and Hermione felt her cheeks needlessly flush, much to Charlie's evident enjoyment.
He barked out a laugh. "What did you expect? Just because there are hardly any witch dragon keepers doesn't mean we live a life of celibacy out here."
"I never assumed that." The topic hadn't even crossed her mind.
"Yes, well, it can be quite the concern for some keepers when they first arrive." Charlie grabbed the final handful of hay from the satchel draped over his shoulder. "When you're bringing a partner back to the sanctuary while simultaneously drunk and horny, making sure you don't say the Ward-Opening Charm too loud isn't high on the priority list."
One of the goats rammed its head into Charlie's thigh, begging for more food. Hermione reached into her satchel to grab more, but she, too, was running low. She secured the final few handfuls of food and gave it to the hungry animals. When she finished, Charlie was watching her, eyebrow raised and grin wide.
She raised an eyebrow right back. "What's that look for?"
"Nothing," he said, but his grin only grew. "Just that our conversation reminded me of how much time you and Draco have been spending together lately."
He started walking towards the hay shed, and Hermione chased after him.
"And that's related how?"
He turned to give her a short glance, just long enough for Hermione to see his grin shift into a smirk. "You must admit, it's rather interesting that you only decided to stay after you returned to the sanctuary with him last night."
The flush that had coloured her cheeks spread down her neck. "That's only because he convinced me to stay for the hatching of Norberta's eggs," she rushed to justify alongside a silent thank you to Merlin for that pre-planned excuse. "And you were the one who wanted us to be civil!"
"Oh, yes, that's right," Charlie said, clearly amused. "Remind me, what part of being civil requires you leaving his cabin so early this morning?"
Hermione halted in her tracks.
Charlie stopped along with her, a knowing glint shining in his eyes. "Thought I wouldn't find out?"
"It was completely innocent," Hermione defended once the initial shock wore off. Her cheeks blazed. "We both woke up early, and he wanted to show me his book collection."
"Ah, so that's what the young kids are calling sex these days."
"Charlie!" Her palm struck his shoulder, and Charlie cackled. "You don't see me asking about your sex life with Julia."
"Well, if you must know—"
"I'm still not asking!"
She glowered while his chuckles continued to ring in the air, intermingled with the surrounding sound of bleating goats. When his laughter finally subsided, Charlie adjusted the satchel on his shoulder and raised both hands in surrender.
"All right, fine. So what I saw over breakfast was just two civil people engaging in completely casual conversation," he seemed to only partially accept before they resumed on the path to the hay shed. The teasing evaporated from his tone. "I will say, though, if there was something going on between you two, I'd approve."
She shot him a sidelong glance, refusing to acknowledge the way her heart hitched at his comment. "Big brother or not, I don't need your permission."
"I'm well aware that there's no telling you what you can and cannot do." They reached the shed and Charlie set down his satchel. "All I'm saying is that he's a good guy."
Another pulse of heat rushed to Hermione's cheeks. She didn't need Charlie to tell her that; she already knew it herself. Though she still didn't know much about how Draco's change came to be.
Charlie refilled his satchel with a Levitation Charm while Hermione sat on a nearby barrel.
"You never ended up telling me," she started saying while her feet knocked against the curve of the barrel, "how did you and Draco become friends?"
He lowered the suspended hay bundle into his bag before releasing a short sigh. "As I'm sure won't come as a surprise, we adamantly avoided each other at first. He went by Draco from his very first day here, but I knew he was a Malfoy, and he knew I was a Weasley. The war was still fresh."
Hermione inched closer on the barrel's top. "When did he arrive?"
"January? February? Sometime around then? All I remember is that snow was on the ground."
"So shortly after he disappeared from Hogwarts."
"Makes sense." Charlie dropped his filled hay bag to the ground. "Matters were still going through some transitions after Doru had replaced Tavian a couple years earlier, and I was starting to get a few leadership opportunities since I had been here so long." He snorted. "And just my luck, Doru assigned me to mentor Draco."
"I imagine you weren't too happy about that."
"Not in the slightest," Charlie returned with a mild laugh. "I tried to switch for literally any other trainee, but Doru wouldn't hear it. He said a good leader can work with anyone. Draco obviously wasn't pleased about the pairing either, but I think he was just grateful that the sanctuary was accepting of him despite his past and the fact that he didn't have a N.E.W.T. in Care of Magical Creatures. We were short a few keepers and he proved competent, so Doru let him stick around. Anything he might have missed at school, he's managed to catch up through his share of reading about dragonology."
Charlie pushed his fingers through his hair. "Needless to say, we were forced to spend a lot of time together. It was strained at the beginning, neither of us saying more than necessary, but as the first anniversary of the final battle approached, we couldn't ignore it much longer. He must have heard I was heading home to be with the family, and the night before I left, he came to my cabin with the finest bottle of firewhisky I've ever had and a long list of apologies." He chuckled. "We stayed up all night talking, killing half the bottle and laying it all out there. Trust me, there were more than a couple times that we lashed out at each other, but by the end of the night, we realised we'd both been holding in too much. As odd as it seemed at the time, it was nice to have someone else at the sanctuary who understood what the war did to us."
Hermione blinked in surprise. "No one else here was involved in the war?"
"Back then? Not really," Charlie answered. "We're far enough away that most people here stayed removed from the fighting and only got impacted from a distance. Draco was one of the first to come here from Britain in the aftermath, and almost anyone old enough to have fought during the first war had already moved on from the sanctuary by then. Merlin, I'm pretty sure Llewellyn's the only one left."
"I didn't know Llewellyn fought!"
"Llewellyn? Actually fight? Not a chance," Charlie said with a shake of his head. "I'm only saying he's old enough to have been there. Nah, Llewellyn's originally from Wales but fled pretty much as soon as the first war started getting serious. He's been here ever since. Don't think he's got much family left over there, but I think he's only willing to transfer to the Wales Sanctuary now that Voldemort is undoubtedly gone."
The information churned over in Hermione's mind. Llewellyn was far from the only one who had left Britain to escape Voldemort's reign. Muggleborns, half-bloods, and purebloods alike had fled to the continent rather than face the war's uncertainty. Others were still evading its aftermath.
Her insides knotted, curiosity still not satiated.
"So what happened between you and Draco after you returned to the sanctuary?"
Charlie smiled. "We actually started chatting during our daily check-ins for one. Now that the air was cleared between us, he stopped being so stand-offish. He started showing up in the mess hall for meals, and one night, I invited him to join me, Aurel, and Markus at dinner. Haven't been able to get rid of him since."
"Even though he doesn't work with the same dragons as the rest of you?"
He pulled out his wand, and Hermione jumped off the barrel to stretch out the opening of her satchel.
"Actually, I was the one who recommended to Doru that Draco work with the Norwegian Ridgebacks." Charlie floated a bundle of hay into the bag. "He'd completed his year of training, and it was time for him to start working with dragons more dangerous than the Common Welsh Greens. It came out one night that he had tried to get you, Ron, and Harry in trouble your first year for helping get Norberta out of Hogwarts, so it felt fitting that he now take care of the Ridgebacks here."
Hermione snickered at the memory of a nightgown-clad McGonagall dragging Draco down the staircase by the ear as he yelled about Harry having a dragon. "That feels like forever ago."
"We've both seen a lot since then," Charlie said before a pause. "You more than me."
She inhaled deep. There was no denying how true that was.
After Charlie finished filling her satchel, they were heading back to feed more goats when he turned to her once more.
"Do you mind not mentioning anything about me advocating for Draco and the Norwegian Ridgebacks around Julia?" Charlie glanced down at the grass-covered ground while his freckled hand rubbed the back of his neck. "It was long before we were dating, but she was trying to transfer to the Ridgebacks before Doru placed her with the Short Snouts instead. She loves the Short Snouts now, but it's still a bit of a sore subject."
"Not a word," Hermione promised.
Charlie looked back up and grinned. "Good. Now let's finish feeding these suckers. I told Markus we'd meet him at four for Quidditch."
...
By the time she and Charlie arrived, several keepers were already gathered in the field. Markus and Aurel both had a broomstick in hand while they chatted with Julia, but Hermione found herself scanning the area for a different familiar face.
Her excitement dimmed when she didn't see Draco. After leaving his side only once Norberta started to wake, Hermione wasn't sure Draco would be in the mood to play Quidditch. But when a shadow cast over her from above, Hermione felt foolish that she hadn't checked the skies.
Three wizards soared overhead: two keepers she recognised as having helped sedate Norberta and the other, Draco. He was flying so fast, Hermione could hardly get more than a blurred look at Draco's face, but at least she could tell he was smiling.
Good. She was happy he could get his mind off Norberta and the other dragon attacks, even if just for the length of a Quidditch match.
Markus, Aurel, and Charlie hopped on their brooms and joined the other players for warm-ups while Hermione remained with Julia on the sidelines.
"I brought this for you," Julia said, handing Hermione a black ribbon. "Quidditch fan or not, you ought to show your support for the team you're rooting for."
A similar black ribbon draped from the top of Julia's ponytail. Hermione didn't need confirmation to know which team Julia was rooting for, but when Hermione looked at the wizards flying, she noticed Charlie, among others, had transfigured their shirts to black while the other half were clad in green.
A small smile tugged at Hermione's lips when her eyes found the opposing Seeker. After seeing Draco in black the past few days, it felt right to see him back in green and perched atop a broomstick.
She tied the black ribbon into a bow around the end of her plait then peered up to watch Draco and two other players in green practice some Quidditch play. She had always known he was good at Quidditch, but based on how much smoother Draco pulled out from the dive than his teammates, Hermione could tell he had gotten even better.
Draco floated suspended mid-air as the other players flew off to practise passing the Quaffle. He adjusted the straps on one of his gloves, but when his gaze travelled past his wrist, he locked eyes with Hermione and smiled.
A warmth bloomed across Hermione's cheeks. She hadn't intended for him to catch her looking. Yet he had and immediately flew down to join her on the ground. When he landed, his vision fell directly on the black bow at the bottom of her plait.
Draco clapped a hand over his chest. "I'm wounded, Granger. After I so kindly lent you some of my books and let you peruse my collection, you're really going to root for Charlie?"
"And Markus and Aurel," Hermione swiftly added, willing her cheeks to cool. "I simply know more players on their team." She folded her arms against her chest. "Besides, I don't see you giving me a green ribbon."
He smirked. "Where's your creativity?"
In the matter of a heartbeat, his wand was out, and a flash burst from its tip. With a flicker and a crack, the black bow turned into green.
"See? All better."
Hermione rolled her eyes at his far too pleased expression. "I hope you're happy now."
"Immensely." He extended his fingers so they brushed the edges of the green bow. "After all, you and I are a team now."
The snag of her teeth against her lower lip was the only thing that stopped a massive grin from splitting wide.
A team. She didn't hate the sound of that.
But it was a much different team that they were focused on right now.
"You know," she said, smile teasing the corners of her lips despite her best efforts, "I wouldn't be as opposed to rooting for you if your team was anything other than green. Aren't you a bit old to still be picking Slytherin colours?"
Draco laughed. "Salazar strike me down, but I am long done playing in emerald. The match is Hungarian Horntails versus Norwegian Ridgebacks. Black versus forest green. The colour of our dragons, Miss Brightest Witch."
Hermione couldn't help but roll her eyes again, but that pesky smile kept fighting with her cheeks to push up higher.
The sharp blow of a whistle pierced her eardrums and saved her from any further unwarranted smiles. In the centre of the pitch was a wizard dressed in red, the referee.
Draco hopped back on his broom but hovered only a couple feet off the ground. "I better not catch you changing the colour of that bow," he warned, though his teasing tone would have negated any threat that could have followed. "I quite like it when you're on my side."
It was a completely innocent statement. Then why did it make Hermione's stomach flip?
With a firm kick, Draco pushed off the grass and soared to where the other players gathered in the game ready formation. Hermione definitely didn't let her gaze linger on him longer than necessary before she snapped herself out of it and looked around to notice Julia nowhere near her anymore.
Spotting Julia in the stands, Hermione took the steps two at a time to make sure she got to her seat before the game began. As soon as Hermione sat on the worn wooden bench, the other witch's gaze drilled into her.
"So"—Julia's lips quirked as her eyes moved to the green bow—"care to explain what that was between you and Draco?"
"It's nothing," Hermione answered far too quickly.
But even as the words left her mouth, her eyes never wavered from the patch of blond hair bobbing dozens of feet above her in the sky.
Cheers and cries erupted from the stands as the Quidditch match entered its second hour. While the atmosphere was nowhere near as intense as those at professional matches or even Hogwarts, the witches and wizards who had come to watch their fellow keepers play were plenty enthusiastic. After the intense morning, it seemed everyone was in need of something to boost their spirits.
Black and green blurs swept through the sky while Markus whacked a Bludger towards one of the Norwegian Ridgeback players. Hermione winced when the small, iron ball whammed the wizard on his shoulder, but her sympathy didn't last long.
Aurel zoomed through the sky with the Quaffle tucked securely in his hold. The other Bludger headed his way, but Aurel flew out of its path before it struck him. He darted past several players and wove his way towards the three goalposts. The Ridgeback Keeper leaned forward on his broomstick, prepared to move wherever necessary to block Aurel's shot, but when Aurel threw the Quaffle, it passed several inches away from the Keeper's touch and led straight through the right hoop.
Julia bellowed a cheer, as did Hermione. She was terrible at rooting for only one team when she had friends on both sides.
The green ribbon at the end of her plait remained unchanged.
The scoreboard turned to reflect 170-140 in favour of the Horntails. The two teams had been back and forth all game, but the only way a winner could be decided was when either Charlie or Draco caught the Snitch. A couple of times, Draco and Charlie had raced for the Snitch, but so far, the tricky golden ball had evaded their capture.
Drifting her eyes away from the main part of play, Hermione searched for Draco overhead. The sunlight reflected on his hair as he flew in circles around the Ridgeback's goalpost, the Snitch seemingly nowhere in sight. He was at least fifty feet away, yet when Draco looked towards the stands, Hermione could swear that he was looking directly at her—especially when a smile lifted his lips.
A second later, Draco flew elsewhere, but Hermione didn't let her gaze follow him this time. Instead, she looked down at her feet, affording herself a small, private smile of her own.
She liked being civil with Draco. It was so much more enjoyable watching him fly when she didn't fear he might try to knock Harry off his broom. He was focused. Determined. Irritatingly impressive compared to Hermione who still struggled beyond basic broomstick manoeuvring. Perhaps his strong muscles helped. Not that Hermione was thinking about what Draco had looked like this morning without his shirt. It was just an objective fact. Though she did have to admit: as much as Hermione didn't consider herself a Quidditch fan, she had never minded admiring an attractive wizard play.
The whistle's shrill blow blasted that thought out of Hermione's mind. The crowd murmured in confusion, trying to figure out what foul had been committed to warrant the pause in play.
That stopped when they all spotted Doru walking across the field.
The players dismounted their brooms while several spectators stood from their seats to see what was going on. Julia grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her down the stand steps. They pushed through the accumulation of keepers until Hermione and Julia stood next to Markus, Aurel, and Draco. Charlie was already mid-conversation with Doru.
"That's not fair," Charlie said. He waved his hand at the nearby listeners. "Half of us were there this morning. They all deserve to know what the Aurors said."
Chimes of agreement chorused around Hermione, but from his unwavering expression, Doru didn't seem inclined to change his mind.
He cut his gaze to the other keepers and their remarks ceased. "This is an ongoing investigation," Doru matter of factly stated. "While I thank everyone for their help with Norberta and the other dragons this morning, from this point forward, all information is on a need-to-know basis—reserved to me, Charlie, and Llewellyn." His features remained stern, even as he took in a deep breath. "So while I hate to break up the game, I'm afraid I need Charlie to discuss next steps."
Doru walked away, and Charlie gave everyone an apologetic look before following the senior dragon keeper.
Disappointment loomed over the field while some of the keepers started speculating about whether or not the Aurors had agreed to investigate. But speculation wasn't sufficient for Hermione and Draco's purposes.
Latching onto his arm, Hermione dragged Draco away from the crowd. He eyed her with confusion, but Hermione had no time to explain.
She pulled out her wand and conjured a quill and parchment.
"Granger, what are you—"
"Shh."
With a few more charms, Hermione enchanted the quill to write on its own, then shrunk it along with the parchment so they were no larger than a button. Intrigue lined Draco's wind-kissed face as Hermione whispered a Tracking Charm and cast them in Doru and Charlie's direction.
"I don't intend to stay out of the know," Hermione whispered just loud enough for Draco to hear. "If Doru insists on being secretive, we can't rely on getting any more information from Charlie. That quill is charmed to record their conversation, so after I summon it back, we will know exactly what Doru tells Charlie, allowing us to proceed accordingly."
Draco glanced at the two wizards walking farther away from the Quidditch pitch, then back at Hermione. "Impressive."
Hermione slightly blushed. "I can't take all the credit," she said, though she sported a proud smile nonetheless. "When used for good, Rita Skeeter's methods can have some merits."
"You've never seen me oppose them," Draco returned. He reached across to graze his fingers over the bow in Hermione's hair. "Perhaps green is more fitting for you than you think."
Hermione felt her flush deepen. "I thought you said this green bow wasn't meant to mean Slytherin?"
"That bow can mean whatever you want it to mean."