Clothes zoomed through the room, and Hermione and Draco scrambled to right themselves. The token's surface waxed and waned in a beacon of foreboding. Never before had Hermione seen the coin glow: Draco had only described it to heat when a message appeared—the same as hers to the DA. But Draco must have made additional modifications to the Protean Charm. An alert for the most dire of situations.
Hermione snatched her beaded bag, summoned their evidence off the walls, and clasped her grip tight with Draco's. Their temporary oasis swirled away. Gone were the moments they had managed to steal for themselves. The gravity of the situation wrenched them back to reality while physical gravity landed them back inside the sanctuary grounds.
"But I thought we couldn't Apparate after—"
Her curiosity cut short when she gasped at the awaiting scene.
"Draco! Hermione!"
Charlie ran forward, knuckles white from how hard his fist clamped around his coin.
"What happened to them?" Draco demanded.
"Not sure yet. Walker discovered them when leaving the mess hall post dinner clean-up. He ran straight to my cabin since this makes me the highest ranking conscious keeper on the grounds right now."
The beaded bag trembled as Hermione stared at the three Stupefied bodies: Markus, Aurel, and Doru. All members of tonight's night patrol. She cast a nervous gaze to Draco, but his storm grey stare remained locked on his Stunned friends. His clenched fist wavered at his side.
A rolodex of ideas whirled through Hermione's mind. They needed to act. Fast. She kept her grip loose enough around her wand and concentrated on the spell she'd mastered only a few days prior. "Notitia Revelio."
The blue mist poured out from her wand tip and surrounded Aurel's body. One by one, the diagnostic charts appeared over each of the unconscious forms. Steady heartbeats and unaffected metabolics gave her temporary relief before she analysed their cognitive levels.
"Markus and Aurel have both been severely Confunded."
Charlie paled. "And Doru?"
"He's fine," Hermione said after a thick swallow. "Which is good because Confunding can cause permanent damage to someone of his age."
"An unlikely coincidence," Draco said beneath his breath.
His gaze met Hermione's and a shared theory passed between them. Whoever did this didn't want to hurt the night patrol. They only wanted to inflict enough spell damage to make sure the night patrol wouldn't catch them while executing the rest of their plan.
Which meant the dragons were in danger.
The charts vanished with a pop as a frantic urgency pricked Hermione's words. "Revive Doru. Markus and Aurel will need Clarity Potions, but we need to know what Doru saw."
Draco didn't wait for Charlie to give approval. The same sense of urgency ran through them both. "Rennervate."
Life returned to Doru's limbs and he slowly dragged himself from the grass. Painful groans accompanied his stiff movements as he gripped his forehead and blinked back to consciousness. Surprise jolted him when he recognised Markus and Aurel Stunned beside him, and then stared incredulously at Charlie, Draco, and Hermione. "What happened?"
"You, Markus, and Aurel were Stunned," Draco said. "What do you last remember?"
"I— Nothing out of the ordinary. When nine struck, I cast the Anti-Apparition Charm before Markus and Aurel offered to take the first shift so I would be more refreshed before it was my turn to take charge." Concern wrinkled Doru's already troubled expression. "What about the dragons? Are they all okay?" He patted his trouser pockets and blanched paper white. "My coin and maps. They're gone."
Heightened fear spiked through Hermione like a thousand sharp needles. Maps. Plural, not singular. Which meant Doru wasn't just missing his map of the dragons; his attacker had taken the map of the keepers as well.
"Message everyone on the grounds," Doru directed without a second's hesitation. "Tell them to get to as many dragons as possible while I remove the Anti-Apparition Charm. In partners. I want no keepers alone while the attacker is on the loose."
"There are twice as many dragons as there are keepers," Hermione protested before Charlie could follow orders. "We can't possibly get to them all."
"I'm well aware, but how else do you expect me to make sure my dragons aren't currently being attacked?"
Her own map of the grounds burned a metaphorical hole through her psyche. Was it worth exposing her and Draco's personal investigation to share the map with Doru?
She had to think through this swiftly.
"If the attacker took your coin, they'll know we're coming," Hermione tried to reason instead. "They'll take it as an opportunity to escape."
"Good," Doru deadpanned. "Then they'll leave my dragons alone."
"But we'll lose our chance to catch them!"
"Then you'll just have to catch them another day," Doru snapped in finality. Hermione jostled at the edge in his tone as surprise at his own bluntness frazzled Doru's edges. He breathed in and let out a sigh before saying more calmly, "Unless, Miss Granger, you recommend a different plan? Otherwise, I have to do the best I can before it's too late."
Hermione turned to Draco, hoping that in the few seconds they had, they could come up with something, anything, to tell Doru. Based on the flicker of Draco's gaze down to her beaded bag, he had come to the same conclusion. Only problem was, they couldn't tell him. Not if they wanted to maintain Doru's trust.
When no one said anything, Doru looked at them with a disappointed glean. "That settles it."
Doru raised his wand, and with a silent command, silver streaked upward into the night sky. Thin bands seemed to crack the night sky as the Anti Apparition Charm dissolved while Charlie rushed to code the coin's message.
With the two leadership team members distracted, Hermione seized the chance and pulled Draco to the side.
"Our map," Draco said the second they were out of earshot. "Doru's isn't the only one."
"Already on it." Hermione worked to open the beaded bag. They had mere moments to check it before the sanctuary became scattered with innocent keepers.
Under the security of darkness, the parchment unfolded easily in their hands. Before them stretched the inked landscape spanning hundreds of acres. Hermione searched the printed surface. The mountains, the rivers, the plains. Not a single human dot appeared anywhere outside the visitor areas.
Hermione stared at the map, dumbstruck. There was no way the culprit had had enough time to reach a dragon, steal something, and escape unnoticed without Apparating. It had only been seconds since the wards were removed. Unless they had attacked the night patrol after they'd stolen it? But what was the point of attacking after?
Draco pointed to one of the dots. "There she is."
Julia's name hovered near the supply shed, pacing back and forth. Hermione fixated on the specific dot as the ones at the nearby cabins began disappearing and reappearing elsewhere on the map. Julia's didn't move.
"What do you think she's doing?"
"Not sure," came Draco's deep whisper. "But whatever it is, I don't trust it."
"We were with her most of the night."
"And the attacks happened after we saw her last."
Hermione skirted her gaze to Charlie. "There's an easy way to find out if she was involved."
"Assuming she's working alone."
The night air suddenly felt crisper. They couldn't rule out the possibility.
"Doru may not have seen anything, but we still have to hear Markus and Aurel's accounts," Hermione said, no use wasting time with speculations they couldn't yet prove. She reached arm-deep into her beaded bag and rummaged around until she found one vial at the bottom, only just now remembering she had it. "It's only one dose, but it should be enough to clear away most of their side effects."
Draco inspected the seafoam green substance. "You just happen to carry Clarity Potion with you?"
Hermione avoided eye contact as she secured her beaded bag around her wrist. "You're far from the only one still affected by the war."
Even without looking, she felt Draco somber at her statement. They could discuss the war for weeks on end, but neither one of them would ever fully recover. Some scars ran too deep to ever completely heal. It was a part of their shared past, as painful and tumultuous as it may have been. While some tried to forget the war happened, others spent every day prepared to protect themselves and the ones they cared about in case something ever happened again. Hermione only wished she never needed a purpose for such precautions.
She turned back to the Stunned bodies and joined them in the grass.
"Renervate," she cast upon Markus first. He startled as he regained awareness, and Hermione quickly calmed him. "You were Stunned and Confunded, but you're safe now. Here, take this."
Markus downed his designated half of the Potion before Hermione repeated the process with Aurel. Much to Hermione's disappointment, both keepers struggled to answer their questions about what happened.
"We couldn't have been on patrol for more than a half hour," Markus said. "We got there, cast the wards, and told Doru to sleep while Aurel and I took the first watch. Last I remember, we were laughing about something before everything goes fuzzy."
Aurel rattled his head. "I don't even remember hearing anyone approach."
Whoever had done this clearly thought everything through to leave so few breadcrumbs. When to strike, who to target, what to take. Any disillusion that the perpetrator wasn't someone from within the sanctuary was now firmly broken. The only question remaining was who?
And then there were the Seven Brothers.
Yes, Julia had been with them most of the night, but nothing was stopping her from giving the Seven Brothers the spells that allowed them entry past the sanctuary's exterior wards. Had Hermione and Draco inadvertently given Julia the perfect alibi while simultaneously enabling her to enact a plan which let the Seven Brothers inside?
Items flew through Hermione's hands as she rummaged through her bag. When she latched onto parchment, she pulled out the old newspaper pictures and showed them to Markus and Aurel.
"Do any of these faces look familiar?"
Seven men scowled and screamed in their mugshots. Seven wanted posters for seven different "brothers."
Markus narrowed his eyes, Aurel peered in close. Neither showed any sign of recognition.
"What do they have to do with any of this?"
Hermione peered over her shoulder to find Doru standing behind her. He looked horror-stricken at the two-dimensional versions of the infamous group. Even the mere insinuation that they could be involved seemed to put Doru at even higher alert. No doubt, he knew what they had done to Tavian.
Hermione summoned the posters back into her bag. While they couldn't reveal everything to Doru, she could at least share this.
"It's still just a theory, but Draco and I think they might be—"
From a distance, Hermione spotted Charlie running up to them alongside a witch with a slick ponytail.
Julia.
The remaining words sealed inside Hermione like a high-security Gringotts vault.
Julia's breaths were short when she stopped in front of them, her gaze passing over each dragon keeper. "I can't get ahold of Llewelyn. He's not answering his coin."
Doru frowned. "The finalisation of his transfer shouldn't take that long."
"It's two hours earlier over there," Julia said. "Maybe he decided to stay for dinner? A tour?"
"He should still have his coin on him."
"Doesn't help us either way," Charlie cut in. "Regardless of the reason, Llewellyn doesn't appear to be coming, which means we need to handle this on our own," he concluded. "And as much as I want you to be a part of this, Doru, I think it's best if you get checked out by the Healers in Verdell. Stunning Charms can have belated side effects."
Doru's face reddened. "Absolutely not. I'm not going anywhere until we make sure the dragons—"
"I respect you, but this is not something up for conversation," Charlie said, slipping firmly into a resolute tone. "You trust me, yes? Trained me for this. So let me take charge. For your sake and the dragons'."
No one said a word for several moments. Hermione knew the validity of Charlie's words. The same charm had sent McGonagall to St. Mungo's during their fifth year. While Doru seemed okay now, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Doru, it seemed, eventually came to the same conclusion. "All right, Charlie. I'll go."
Discussion started over the best way for Markus and Aurel to take Doru to the Verdell based hospital without the dangers associated with Apparating so shortly after Confunding when Draco interjected.
"Julia should take him."
The other keepers looked at Draco in confusion while Hermione strained to keep her expression neutral. Draco was right. They needed Julia away from the sanctuary. Keep her occupied with Doru while Hermione and Draco had enough time to figure out what was going on here.
"Markus and Aurel should also get themselves checked out," Charlie said while Markus spat, "We're fine , mate," and Julia huffed, "And just why can't you do it, Draco?"
Argumentative retorts danced on several tongues, but a sharp knife cut through the conversation when their faces all fell blank with apprehension. Draco, Charlie, Markus, Aurel, and Julia reached into their pockets in a near simultaneous move, right as Hermione caught sight of the pluming smoke from over a patch of trees.
"Fuck," Charlie hissed as his eyes met Julia's.
Doru scowled. "What happened?"
"We'll tell you later. Find another keeper to take you to the hospital. Take care of yourself."
"Charlie!"
But Charlie tightened his grip on the coin and disappeared without another word. Julia followed close behind, then Markus and Aurel, and lastly, with his other hand clasped with Hermione's, Draco.
The tugging sensation pulled them from the visitor's area into the depths of the dragons' home. Ten other keepers were already at the site where a forty foot Romanian Longhorn howled and wailed as a steady trail of smoke billowed from its nostrils. While Hermione thanked their lucky stars for a lack of fire, a wave of nausea crashed over her for the suffering dragon.
"Draco," she rasped. The short syllables were a struggle through her shortening breaths.
She latched onto his arm to keep herself steady while the dragon continued to thrash in pain.
"Conjunctivitis Curse," Draco hissed. Hatred flared behind his stone grey eyes while the Longhorn struggled to open his swollen ones.
"One of the most effective spells against dragons," Hermione managed. "While their hide makes dragons resistant to most charms and hexes, their eyes remain vulnerable."
"Which is why it was so effective when Krum used it during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament."
Neither one said it. Neither one had to. But if Krum knew the efficacy of that curse, there was a high likelihood that other Durmstrang students learned it too.
The other keepers Apparated out and in, coming back with the large chains Hermione had seen in the supply shed. Stunning, it seemed, was a last resort.
Draco turned to Hermione, hopeful. "Any chance you also have an Oculus Potion?"
Hermione shook her head. She never considered it a need before now.
Aurel cast a Freezing Charm on the Longhorn and the dragon stalled long enough for Markus to successfully Levitate one of the open chains around its front foot. The chain latched closed and the thrashing grew more contained but the bellows no less loud. The dragon was in pain, and once again, Hermione was a useless bystander. Even Draco didn't seem to know what to do. Without the Oculus Potion, they wouldn't be able to cure the dragon's ailment until the Apothecary opened in the morning.
Once one chain was on, the keepers were able to secure the rest until the dragon was no longer a threat. One of the Longhorn keepers calmly tried reassuring the dragon that they were safe until slowly, the smoke dissipated and the worst of the damage became as clear as the cloudless night sky.
The Longhorn was missing one of its horns.
Draco's fingernails bit into the back of Hermione's hand. They had gone from her latching onto him to their fingers laced in desperate hold. Silence blanketed over the keepers where the smoke had been mere minutes earlier as the severity of the situation sank in.
Draco was stone still as Charlie locked eyes with him from the opposite side of the tree-filled area. The same shock paralyzed them both and now paralyzed Hermione too. What if lowering the wards didn't mean the culprit had the chance to escape… What if it meant they had gone and attacked more?
"Go," Charlie mouthed.
Hermione had little time to register subsequent Charlie's cry for the remaining keepers to get broomsticks from the supply shed before he sealed the Apparition Wards again. Draco didn't follow the command. He was on a different mission.
Draco quickly analysed his map and Apparated them with a hurried pop. Hermione's feet had barely touched the ground before he dropped his hold and ran forward.
"Draco!" she called after him, but Hermione knew there was no stopping him. Not until he knew.
She chased through the trees in the same direction. The constant beating of his urgent footfalls guided her through the dark path. There was little doubt where he was going, though Hermione cursed herself for not being able to run as fast. Leafs rushed past her, a blur of green when she only sought out iridescent.
Finally, through a crack in the forest, Hermione spotted Draco, arms draped over Ivayr, healthy and unharmed.
Hermione sagged against a nearby tree, giving Draco space as she welcomed in this small moment of levity. It was a selfish thought when there were hundreds more dragons, but Ivayr was safe. Safe. No new scratches or scars. Not a blink unperturbed. Ivayr opened her pupil-less eyes and a smile crossed her face. A dragon happy to be with her keeper.
"I would have never forgiven myself if something happened to her," he said when life returned to Hermione's bones and she joined Draco's side. His forehead pressed against the pearly scales. "Hasn't she already been through enough?"
Hermione placed her hand against his cheek and brought his face in front of hers. "Ivayr is safe because she was brought to the sanctuary, and despite her past, she has grown to be the most lovesome dragon here. She trusts you, Draco. I trust you. And together, we're going to make sure that no one is ever going to hurt her again, okay?"
He pulled Hermione in for a kiss, sealing her words like a promise. "I can't rest until we stop them. This ends tonight."
Draco stepped away from Hermione, a man fueled with purpose, and moved in front of Ivayr. He lifted both hands straight in the air, then lowered them towards the ground while Ivayr followed the directions. Soon enough, Draco slid their fingers back together as he guided her onto Ivayr's back.
"Think you can hold the map of the keepers in front of us while I navigate?"
Hermione nodded, and within seconds, they were off.
Gusting wind from Ivayr's wings made it difficult at first, but Hermione secured her grip on the edges of the map, all while never loosening the hold of her forearms around Draco's torso. They soared into the night sky already dotted with other keepers zipping around on broomsticks.
"Anyone on foot would be moving slower on the map," Draco said once they bypassed the tops of the trees. "But there doesn't seem to be anyone."
Ivayr gave a firm flap and Hermione clenched onto Draco tighter. "What about Julia? Do you see her on there?"
"There," Draco said after several seconds of searching. "Looks like she's still with Charlie where we found the Longhorn."
They navigated the skies, searching for any sign of distress—smoke, flames, roars—all the while, hoping to find nothing.
Hermione's mind was a whirl, but one thought kept cycling back the forefront.
"Isn't it curious?" she asked, ruminating over the events of the night. "Why would the culprit only take one horn?"
Draco navigated Ivayr to the right. "You saw the Longhorn after that Conjunctivitis Curse. They were lucky to steal one."
"Yes, but a simple Severing Charm could have gotten both horns at the same time," Hermione said, not satisfied with his answer. "The same thing happened with Norberta's eggs. Why only take one when seven of them were right there? The culprit never takes all that they can. Even from the start, it was always just a little blood."
"The blood was purposefully minimal," Draco said, not sounding entirely convinced. "They obviously didn't want to get caught."
"So then something must have changed," Hermione suggested. "If we follow my theory that the culprit only increased what they stole when the Seven Brothers returned, then the culprit is continuing to only take what the Seven Brothers require and nothing for additional themselves."
"Like only one egg."
"And now only one horn."
"But that still leaves a hole in our overarching theory," Draco said. He tapped Ivayr's neck and the dragon dipped lower, giving them a better view of the trees below. "If the person who took the horn tonight was, in fact, the keeper who has been working for the Seven Brothers, that means that the dragon was attacked by the culprit, not one of the Seven Brothers. Which also means—"
"It couldn't have been Julia letting them in before dinner."
"My thoughts exactly."
"But the Conjunctivitis Curse."
"Like Krum."
"Which points to Julia."
"But when?"
"Or who else?"
"Working with her?"
"Or entirely separately."
They continued to patrol the skies while Hermione struggled with her thoughts, trying to make sense of it all. There were no other signs of harm anywhere in the sanctuary. All this for one single dragon horn? Longhorn horns were rated a Class B Tradeable Material. Rare, yes, but not Non-Tradeable like dragon eggs. The culprit had gone through a whole lot of trouble for a less valuable item.
And yet, one thing bothered Hermione more.
"Whoever did this purposefully didn't want to hurt Doru," she said, something about their theory still not feeling right. "Which leads me to think it can't have been Julia."
Draco peered at her from over his shoulder, confused. "Why not?"
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Have you ever heard her talk about Doru? She clearly doesn't like him. And he doesn't seem too fond of her."
"So you think that means Julia would want to hurt him?"
"Not exactly," she said. "It means I don't think Julia would have stopped to consider the potential dangers of casting a Confundus on him. Not maliciously. Just… not proactive about it. So whoever attacked the night patrol more than likely likes Doru. Which honestly could mean—"
A sharp gasp cut Hermione's words short as it all began to click. She tapped Draco's shoulder three times and told him to navigate them towards Verdell.
"I think I know who's attacking the dragons."