A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I'm getting such a kick out of knowing that real humans are reading what I'm writing. It's so bizarre! And it motivated me to write this next chapter in less than 24 hours. Don't get used to it! If you're a returning reader, I recommend you go back and refresh yourself on what happened in Chapter 3. I'm excited to know your reactions to this one!

Edited: 8/6/22, spelling/grammar, but also made substantial changes to Draco's conversation with Hermione (nothing that changes the plot, I just wasn't happy with it before), I also changed the chapter title from "New Year, New Me" to "Operation Man Hunt"

TW: The emotional torture of a slow-burn romance, but at least Draco and Hermione interact in this chapter, right? Also, a bit of gore at the end of the chapter.

Friday, December 31, 1999

"--and you're going to be nice to her or so help me I will--"

"I know, Pansy. Believe me, I get the picture already," Draco forestalled what was promising to be yet another diatribe about the creative ways that his friend would make him suffer if he so much as breathed aggressively around Hermione Granger. Pansy just looked at him sternly, lips pursed, before muttering 'you'd better' and stalking off to find out when the canapes were going to be ready. This left Draco to his own devices with - he looked down at his watch - another fifteen minutes to kill before other guests would start to show up.

He had arrived at the Parkinson estate fashionably late to Pansy's New Year's Eve gala only to discover (to his immense annoyance) that Pansy had given him a different start time than everyone else, knowing his penchant for tardiness. She'd made use of this extra time to lecture him about his 'prickly' attitude and to ply him with expensive booze in the clear hope that an inebriated Draco would be a more relaxed Draco for the duration of the party.

This was usually a fair assumption, but Draco found that even a couple of top shelf glasses of firewhiskey weren't enough to unclench his jaw given the special circumstances. The day had finally come that Pansy decided to pop the pleasant, Granger-free bubble around Draco's life. He supposed it was her perogative to invite whoever she wanted to her own birthday party, but he wished that the plus one allowance on his invite (that he hadn't made use of) could have been a minus one privilege instead to spare him from the special torture that this evening would undoubtably be.

He might've been conflicted about who to uninvite though, if he'd been granted that power. There were just so many undesirable elements. There was Granger, of course, but also Goyle, who Draco had been avoiding since Crabbe's funeral, and the Greengrass sisters, who were avoiding him after their parents had broken off betrothal negotiations. At least he'd heard that Ginny Weasley had RSVP'd 'will not attend' of her own accord a few days ago, which meant that by proxy Harry 'the hero' Potter wouldn't be in attendance either.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Draco Malfoy, literal wanker!"

Apparently, Draco had been misinformed because that was the unmistakable voice of his childhood enemy turned parole officer. He tossed back the full contents of his third glass of liquor with a grimace and turned around to greet the menace.

"I thought we agreed to never speak of that fairy-forsaken first check-in ever again."

"I agreed to nothing," Potter chuckled, clapping Draco on the back like they were old friends. "So, discover anything new and interesting on the internet lately?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Draco ignored him and shrugged his shoulder to dislodge the chummy grip Potter had on it.

"Couldn't afford dress robes?" Draco parried, gesturing questioningly at the full auror uniform that Potter was wearing, a gauche choice for what was clearly described as a black-tie event on the invite. Pansy would have kittens.

"Unfortunately, I'm not here as a guest tonight," Potter pointed a thumb behind him and Draco craned his neck to see over his head (not all that difficult, Potter clearly didn't drink enough milk as a child and remained several centimeters short of his eye level). Filtering into the front door was a small army of aurors, decked out in not just their uniforms but full dueling gear.

"What exactly are they expecting tonight?" Draco drawled, realizing belatedly that he sounded like a displeased Lucius Malfoy. He cleared his throat. "I'm hardly going to cause trouble at my best friend's party."

"We're not here for you, don't be such a narcissist," Harry gave Draco a thin smile to let him know the jab wasn't serious. When had their insults become playful rather than intended to maim or seriously injure? Were three Wizengamot-mandated meetings enough to dismantle almost a decade of solid dislike? Was nothing sacred anymore? Draco decided to be bitter about it later.

"Why is there a band of aurors tracking mud onto my marble floors?" Pansy screeched. She must have sorted out the canapes.

"Sorry, Pansy, bit of a last minute scramble here," Potter glanced sideways at Draco seeming to consider him. Draco subconsciously straightened his posture under the scrutiny, but he must have passed whatever evaluation Potter had mentally run through because he continued. "I don't suppose there's any harm in you both knowing the details. We recieved an anonymous tip this morning that there would be an attack on this party."

"An attack?! By who? Why would they want to ruin my party??" Pansy demanded, stomping towards Potter with teeth bared as though he had orchestrated the threat to her event. He raised his hands in the universal symbol of pax.

"Allegedly, they are targeting someone on your guest list," Pansy jerked backwards in alarm. "I'm sure you've seen the news about Ron's murder..."

"Greyback is coming here??" Pansy's voice had reached new heights of shrill and may actually only have been audible by dogs. Draco was similarly unenthused at the prospect of such a beast coming anywhere near him tonight, but kept his composure.

"Maybe. We have reason to believe this tip was credible, but we can't be certain of course. I don't want to alarm your guests and we'll try to be unobtrusive, but Pansy, I was hoping we could set up some defensive perimeter wards."

"Of course, whatever you need. Linney will show you the property line." Pansy's house-elf had popped dutifully into existence and bowed in supplication as she recieved her task before trotting off to guide the group of aurors. Potter stayed behind.

"I'll be patroling outside during the party with the others, but listen..." he looked both ways to ensure they were alone and then cast a strange spell that Draco didn't recognize. "The target tonight is Hermione." Pansy gasped and metaphorically clutched her pearls (she was wearing sapphires). "I don't want to take any chances with her safety, so can you both please help me look out for her?"

Pansy nodded immediately, a feral gleam of protectiveness in her eye, and Draco gave a slow, begrudging nod as well. There really was no question that he owed Potter several favors - for pulling him onto a broomstick away from Crabbe's Fiendfyre, for stunning Rowle when he'd discovered Draco wandless in the corridors at the final battle, for testifying at this trial... the list really went on, so he supposed he couldn't deny a direct request for help.

"And Malfoy, be nice," Potter added in an undertone before he walked off to rejoin his colleagues. Draco inwardly bemoaned the fact that his plans to be wherever Granger wasn't tonight had been thoroughly dashed.

"Wait, why does he trust you to babysit his favorite sentient shrub?" Draco only just registered that it was odd for Potter to have bestowed either of them with this task. For Draco's part he figured it came from Potter's confidence in their collective awareness of the debt between them, but last he'd known, Potter and Pansy weren't friendly. Pansy had been downright hostile about both Potter and his red-headed adoptive family just a few weeks ago.

"Oh look, Theo's arrived," Pansy smoothly dodged the question and pranced toward the floo parlor to welcome Theo with a bise on each cheek.

"Where's Granger? We shouldn't leave her alone tonight," Theo stated without preamble, walking fully into the ballroom where Draco had been waiting. "None for me, thanks," Theo declined when Draco indicated the bar. "Have to keep my wits about me."

'What the fuck is going on with all my friends?' Draco thought petulantly, turning to Blaise who had trailed in behind Theo.

"How about you? Or are you also too obsessed with Granger to drink?"

"Martini for me please. I have no idea what Theo's on about."

"How did you already know about Granger? Potter only just dropped by with the auror squad," Pansy queried as she slapped Draco's hands away from grabbing an early bite to eat from the mountain of hors d'oeuvres that were appearing on floating trays throughout the hall.

"The aurors are here?" Theo seemed surprised, which surprised everyone else (except Blaise who was still generally confused and sipping quietly on the drink that Draco had put together for him).

"Oh, Morgana's left tit, look at what your mother just arrived wearing, Blaise." Everyone's head swiveled to where Madame Zabini had waltzed in wearing what was unmistakably a wedding gown. She must be on the prowl for husband number... eight? nine? Draco certainly didn't know. "Come help me convince her to change. I'd like all my guests to leave here alive tonight and that seems to be a diminishing likelihood." Pansy grabbed Blaise by the lapel of his suit jacket and dragged him behind her to confront his mother.

"What are the aurors doing here, mate?" Theo leaned over to whisper once they were alone.

"There was some sort of anonymous tip that Greyback would be after Granger, so they're here to guard the perimeter," Draco took the opportunity of Pansy's absence to dig into the salmon crostini.

"That's a relief. He will be here tonight." Theo's surety was unsettling. With a gulp from his fresh glass of firewhiskey to wash down the dry toast, Draco gave him his full attention.

"Did you See it?" He asked in a low voice. Theo nodded. Draco was the only friend he'd ever confided in about his visions. Theo had dreamt of Draco before, usually seeing some quidditch injury or another, and always tried to warn him. Draco would get hurt anyway, exactly the way Theo would describe beforehand, but he supposed it was the thought that counts. In any event, Draco had quickly learned to respect his friend's ability. "So, you must have been behind the anonymous tip then?"

"Wasn't me," Theo shook his head, "Bloody good idea though, and I sure am glad for whoever did because I can do fuck all against Greyback without my wand. Can you believe they wouldn't even give it back to me just for tonight? My probation is technically up at midnight and they won't release it a second earlier. Of course, tomorrow is a Saturday, so they're going to make me wait until Monday 9 a.m. to retrieve it. Merlin forbid a Ministry worker put in any overtime," Theo snorted, only momentarily sidetracked by the joys of government bureaucracy before a haunted look overtook his face. "What I Saw... Hermione Granger is going to die tonight and it is going to be painful."

Draco set down his glass, suddenly keen to join Theo in his sobriety. Like Theo, he was still unarmed per the terms of his probation but maybe he could manage a wandless side-along apparition to get Granger out of harms way. He definitely wouldn't be attempting to fight. He'd had a front row seat to a lot of Greyback's 'playtime' during the war, so he knew just how far his brutality could go. And Granger... well Greyback had been fantasizing about what he'd do to Granger if he caught her again ever since their encounter at Malfoy Manor. Draco wouldn't wish that fate on his worst enemy, and Granger hardly qualified as any kind of enemy these days.

As though his thoughts had summoned her, Hermione Granger walked into the room. She was wearing a flowing black dress with a slit down the side so he could see her sky-high stiletto heels clicking against the floor. She wouldn't be outrunning a werewolf in that outfit, but begrudgingly Draco admitted that she cleaned up well. He refused to notice anything further about her appearance.

One more thing: her hair was as bushy as ever.

He watched from afar as Pansy ran up and started introducing her to several other guests. The ballroom was really filling up at this point. Still, it didn't take long for them to reach the bar where Draco and Theo were still perched.

"Be nice," Theo hissed at Draco as they approached. Why did everyone think he needed to specifically be told how to behave?

"Draco, I've decided," Pansy began imperiously as soon as she was within earshot. This wouldn't be good. "Granger is distressingly single and we are going to help her find someone at this meat market masquerading as a party. You and Theo can play the role of male advisors."

"Er, hello," Granger said timidly in a much better approximation of a normal human greeting. Pansy 'didn't do small talk,' so Draco had never heard her say so much as 'hi, how are you?' before launching into whatever it was she had on her mind.

"Granger, good to see you. It's been a long time," Theo said suavely as he shook her hand. He was good at filling in social gaps. With friends like Pansy and Draco he had plenty of practice doing so.

"Yes, um, so, what have you been up to since graduation?" Theo didn't have a chance to respond though before Pansy seized control of the conversation again.

"Theo breaks time turners, Draco is learning to tolerate muggles, and Granger is terrorizing house-elves," Theo, Draco and Hermione all frowned at how Pansy summarized their post-grad endeavors. "It's all very interesting, I'm sure, and we can cover it later if we run out of better things to do, but right now we need to focus. We need to find Granger a man." She snapped in front of their faces to maintain their attention.

Granger blushed deeply, pink visible despite her tan skin and reaching all the way down to her exposed collar bones. "Or we could find Theo a man," she offered.

The three Slytherins blinked at her in surprise.

"Er... why do you think I need a man?" Theo rarely got caught off guard, but Granger had accomplished it in less than thirty seconds.

"Oh! I'm sorry, are you here with Blaise then? You're a very cute couple."

Theo gaped at her and then his face went as red as hers had been moments ago. "You think I'm gay?"

"Well, aren't you?" Granger looked mortified but also genuinely confused.

"Let's get Granger a drink so she can stop putting her foot in her mouth," Draco suggested, and despite the fact that they were standing directly in front of the bar, Theo mumbled something about going to get her one and dashed off.

"Anyway..." Pansy watched Theo's retreat with interest, but quickly remembered her mission. "Operation Man Hunt. I'm going to pick the target and then Draco, you are going to be the wingman."

"What the hell does that mean?" He said nervously.

"It means," Pansy drawled with impatience, "that you will help introduce Granger to the men I pick. If the conversation starts going well you fade into the background, and if it doesn't then you perform extraction duties."

"Why can't you be the wingman?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Pansy looked at Draco like he had the same number of brain cells as a piece of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum - after it had been chewed. "There are complex gender politics at play here. If a woman introduces another woman, she might accidentally steal away the attention. I am uncommonly beautiful, and the birthday girl, so this is a near guarantee." Pansy tossed her glossy, pin-straight hair with pride. "Men also see women introducing themselves as too forward. It's barbaric, and I will write a manifesto about it later, but tonight I am willing to sacrifice the advancements of women's rights everywhere to pursue the advancement of one woman, Granger, into a fulfilling partnership."

"This is stupid, Granger doesn't need to be introduced to anybody. Name one person that doesn't know who she is already," Draco argued.

"Tristan Arco-Zinneberg, Yousef Al Saud, and Fernando Rivera." Pansy spun Draco around by the arm and pointed to each man in turn. "They're all foreigners. I invited a more wide-reaching guest list tonight for this very purpose."

"Granger, say something," Draco snapped, his arguments soundly defeated and so appealing to the one person that might be able to stop this disaster.

"Sorry, you don't have to help," she meekly replied, not at all the fiery Granger response he had been expecting. This was a woman who had once slapped him for being rude about a hippogriff, so he'd anticipated vehement refusal of this scheme. Then it dawned on him.

"You actually want Pansy's help finding a boyfriend?" It was unfathomable to him that anyone would welcome Pansy's meddling into their life. Granger and Pansy must be better friends than he'd originally thought.

"Yes, well, I asked her... it's part of my Four-Step Action Plan. My healer says... well, this is step three. You don't have to help. I should just go..." Granger rambled and nearly succeeded in fleeing out of sheer awkwardness, but Pansy snatched her wrist before she got too far.

All right, fuck it. Granger was going to die tonight anyhow (according to Theo, who was always right about these things), so what would be the harm in helping her out this once? It could be his good deed for the New Year. Like the Make a Wish Foundation - making dreams come true for the terminally doomed.

Draco abandoned his drink and surveyed the crowd to find the three men Pansy had indicated earlier. "Which of those blokes are we targeting first then?"

"Oh good, you're in a helpful mood now," Pansy clapped, having successfully wrangled Granger back into their circle. "But no, none of them. The Arco-Zinnebergs descend from the Hapsburg dynasty and are so inbred they make the Malfoy genepool look diverse," Draco found himself frowning again. Pansy needed to stop casually insulting him. "Al Saud has a reputation for domestic violence, so he's out too, and Rivera is ugly."

"Who do you recommend then?" Pansy unfurled a parchment approximately three feet long and squinted to read the tiny writing on it.

"Let's start with Hayden Reynolds," she said after a few minutes of contemplation, pointing at an average looking wizard in a blue suit. "He's a researcher based in Switzerland. Does something with arithmancy. Granger, you'll understand better than I would. He's just your type. Get going!" She shooed Draco away with an impatient shove.

Stumbling to regain his footing, Draco straightened his tie and turned to guide Granger through the crowd with a hand on the small of her back. It was instinct, how he'd been raised even, but it felt strange to do with Granger. She didn't seem to feel the same tension though.

"How do you even plan to introduce me to someone you don't know in the first place?" Granger looked up at him through long eyelashes as he maneuvered them to approach this Reynolds fellow from an advantageous position.

"Watch and learn," he hummed before striding purposefully up to Reynolds, heedlessly interrupting his conversation with a portly, balding, gentleman, and said, "Reynolds, so good of you to come! Have you met my dear friend, Hermione Granger?"

Granger lifted her eyebrows as if to say 'It's that easy?', and lifted them further when she witnessed what Draco had already known to be true: people would rather avoid the discomfort of contradicting someone in a social situation, and most would go along with anything if it was presented with enough confidence. Reynolds began asking her questions about her work and from there conversation flowed freely. Draco flashed her a wink while Reynolds rummaged through his pocket for his business card. 'It's that easy.'

From there they went on a Pansy-directed tour of eligible bachelors in the ballroom. There was Jack Gibbons, a reporter from New York, who he could tell Granger found dull as he did nothing but talk about himself. Next were Luca Bianchi (an astronomer from Milan who had far too much body hair), Charles Owusu (the Ghanaian Ambassador to the wizarding EU, with terrible gingivitis), and Viktor Krum (Bulgarian meathead). Pansy hadn't requested an intro to Krum, not that Granger needed one, it was just coincidence that they ran into him and 'Hermy-own' (as Krum called Granger, too familiar by half, if you asked Draco, though no one did) had been requested to dance with him for old time's sake.

Then came Magnus Anderson, an Obliviator for the Norwegian Ministry of Magic with hair nearly as blond as Draco's. He had leered openly at Granger's chest instead of making eye contact and merited an extraction after only a few minutes (they'd agreed that tugging her earlobe would be the signal). After that, they took a break from the matchmaking and found some fresh air out on a balcony overlooking the rose garden, which was currently lit by thousands of fluttering fairy lights.

"That guy looked like he was ready to drag you off and then obliviate any memory of what he would do to you," Draco glared back through the swaying sheer curtains towards the ballroom where that creep was probably still ogling women. Pansy needed to more thoroughly vet her guest list.

"On our way out, I hit him with a modified caterwauling charm that'll be set off if he touches a woman without her express, verbal permission," Granger confessed with a giggle as she sat down atop a stone bench near the balustrade. She took off her heels and massaged her sore feet. His mother would be appalled at the lack of decorum, but Draco felt nothing but jealousy. He wanted to take off his oxfords. Patent leather was very unforgiving. "And I have no idea when it'll wear off. My hexes can be pretty strong!"

"Devious! You might've made a decent Slytherin," Draco whistled, as he leaned backwards on his elbows against the balcony railing. He was impressed. He could hear a distant wail and wondered if her charm had already been triggered.

"Thanks again for helping me. Pansy turned this into a much more elaborate production than I was envisioning."

"Yes, well, 'elaborate' about sums up Pansy. I've come to expect it."

"She's absurd," Granger giggled again. She'd had a few drinks over the course of the evening and it seemed to have put her in a silly mood. Draco had never seen her like this. It was a far cry from the swot he'd known at school or the soldier she'd been during the war. "Still, I'm glad Pansy is in my life."

What a Hufflepuff thing to say. Pansy would hate it. Draco would be sure to tell her. "How did that happen by the way?" He couldn't help but be curious. "From our perspective, she just showed up to breakfast in the Great Hall one morning and declared that she was friends with you."

Granger giggled more. "Oh, she declared it to me too. I had almost no say in the matter." Draco waited for her to elaborate. She didn't. She changed the subject. "Pansy told me a bit about how you guys grew up together. I can't imagine how amazing a childhood with magic must have been."

Privately, Draco thought that her childhood was still likely the better of the two. Death Eaters make shite fathers. Who could've guessed? He didn't know much about her parents though, despite having technically met them once, years ago in Diagon Alley. He'd been rather distracted by his father's fight with Arthur Weasley at the time. Draco didn't feel like discussing any of that, so he said nothing.

"Although, I suppose there was magic in my childhood, we just didn't know that's what it was," she mused aloud. "Accidental magic is quite scary when you're muggleborn. The first time it happened, I was about four years old," Draco gawked. That was remarkably young for First Magic. He'd been six himself and his parents had bragged to everyone they knew. Unaware that she'd said anything extraordinary, Hermione prattled on about the first time she'd set her mushy peas on fire, then got lost in her own thoughts before continuing with a non sequitur.

"I'm very jealous of you, you know?" He looked at her in complete disbelief. His life was far from enviable. He was the disgraced son of a disgraced father and an altogether disgraceful family line. Truly his mother was the only redeemable Malfoy, and even she had more or less been run out of society.

"Your university course," she clarified, seeing his scepticism, "It sounds fascinating, being able to compare potions and chemistry. I'd always assumed I would pursue higher education," she sighed dreamily. Not such a far cry from the swot he'd known after all.

"Why didn't you?"

"Burnout I suppose," she shrugged and averted her gaze. Liar. "What made you want to go a muggle university?"

"Curiosity," Draco could lie too, but Granger smiled brightly at him as though he'd admitted something wonderful.

"You're Draco Malfoy."

"Uh, I know?" Draco looked around, expecting to see a wand pointed at Granger to explain how she appeared to have been confunded.

"I just mean I guess I never really knew you before. You've been nice tonight. I almost forgot who I was talking to," That 'almost' stung more than it should have. Draco rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, remembering all the little ways he'd made her life in particular hell at Hogwarts in addition to the ever-present memories of his larger sins against the wizarding world in general. The 'almost' was well deserved.

"Nah, I'm still an arsehole, but I was told by no less than three people to be nice to you tonight."

Granger laughed, but Draco hadn't been joking. "Really? Who?"

"Pansy, Potter, and Theo."

"Harry is here?" Granger asked, spinning around in her seat as though he might be hiding behind the topiary. Actually, he might really be hiding there come to think of it. Potter hadn't said where exactly the aurors would station themselves, but he supposed that if their goal was to prevent panic among the guests as they'd promised Pansy then they'd stay out of sight.

Draco also wasn't sure if he was supposed to keep their presence, and the reason for it, a secret from Granger or not. He briefly imagined how she might react if she learned that Greyback was stalking the grounds outside at this very moment, and he decided that she might do something brave and stupid like go look for him. Better not risk it. "He just stopped by earlier to tell Pansy that Ginny couldn't make it," he couldn't meet her eyes as he said so.

"Oh, well that's too bad," Granger easily accepted the explanation and looked up at the stars, which here quite visible on this clear night.

"Aren't you cold?" Draco asked indicating her bare arms.

"I'm a witch, remember?" She answered, twirling her wand in her hand. "Warming charms. Why, were you going to be a gentleman and offer me your coat?" She was teasing him, he realized by the slight twitch at the corner of her lips threatening to turn into a grin. He hated it. He had been about to offer her his coat like an absolute moron.

"Don't be daft," he grumbled and pulled a cigarette out of his jacket pocket. "Mind if I smoke?"

"Go ahead, don't you need a lighter though? I thought you still didn't have a wand."

"Wizard," he smirked, then snapped his fingers to produce a small flame, just to show off.

"There you are!" Pansy's voice nearly startled him into dropping his cigarette. "I've been looking everywhere for you two. It's nearly midnight and I'm about to give a toast before the countdown, but I wanted to check in on you first. How was Anderson?"

"Pass," Granger and Draco said at the same time. Pansy looked between them with an odd, calculating stare.

"I think I'm actually ready to head home if you don't mind, Pansy. I had a really great time though." Granger started putting her heels back on her feet.

"Are you sure? Was Draco bothering you?" Pansy scowled at him as though Granger had already accused him of heinous crimes.

"No, of course not. He was lovely. I'm just exhausted. I want to fall alseep and wake up in another year. This one has been rubbish."

Lovely. She'd called him lovely. No one had ever used that word to describe Draco before and he didn't know how he felt about it. A vague lurch in his abdomen told him the feeling he couldn't identify might be nausea. Maybe he ought to go home and sleep too.

"I understand. Rest up and let's go out for brunch tomorrow. That's the perfect way to kick off not just a new year, but a new millennium!"

"Sounds great, Pansy. Thanks for getting me out of the house today. Happy birthday!" Granger forced Pansy into a brief hug and then she disappeared back into the ballroom.

Pansy turned to Draco with sudden agility and shoved her finger into his chest. "She. Is. Off. Limits." She snarled, punctuating each word with a jab to his chest.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Draco backed away rubbing his sore pectoral.

"You think she's attractive. Stop it."

"I do not!" Draco exclaimed.

"You do. I know you, and I know your stupid face, and I could tell. Off limits!" She shouted one last time before she yanked the face of Draco's watch towards her. Seeing that it was five minutes to midnight, she then left Draco alone again to go make her toast.

Several minutes minutes later, after he heard a chorus of cheers as the clock struck midnight, a sudden "hey," from the darkness startled the soul out of Draco.

"Fuck, where did you come from?"

Theo seemed to materialize out of thin air. He had disillusioned himself, which explained why Draco hadn't seen him all night. He was becoming too proficient at wandless magic.

"I followed Granger to make sure she made it into the floo safely then came back. Anyway, better stay away from her if you want your parts in working order. Pansy looked serious."

"For Merlin's sake, I don't think she's attractive!"

"Right," Theo said with a tone of clear disbelief. "Anyway, more important things are happening."

"What, is Greyback here?" Draco snuffed out his cigarette, despite just having lit it, and prepared to follow Theo.

"No, no, not that I'm aware, but Granger went home."

"Yes, I know, she said she would. And you followed her to make sure, right?"

"You don't understand. Granger being home means she isn't dead. She isn't going to die. Or, well... everyone dies someday I suppose, but I mean she isn't going to die tonight. This isn't what I Saw!"

"Oh," Draco said.

"Yes, 'oh'!" Theo added with considerably more panic.

"Maybe you're losing your touch?" Draco hazarded his best guess at how this could he possible. Theo's visions had never been wrong before, but it was bound to happen eventually, right? Theo clearly didn't appreciate this glib explanation of events and leveled him with an unimpressed stare.

"The only thing I can think of is the anonymous tip. That must have changed things. I didn't see any aurors in my dream, they were just arriving right before I woke up, and yet they were here all night because of that warning."

"And you're sure that wasn't you? Who else could've known to send the aurors here?"

"I already said it wasn't me!" Theo pulled his hair through his fingers in frustration. "Is Potter still here? I want to ask him more about that tip-off."

"Yeah, somewhere, but he has an invisibility cloak and he's a right sneaky bastard so good luck finding him."

"Fuck, okay, I'm going now. Oh and Draco," Theo paused at the top of the stairs that led down to the grounds from the balcony. "I think you missed your shot with Granger anyway. Some bloke was chatting her up in the floo parlor and she was all smiles. Looks like they exchanged phone numbers. You know what those are now, right?"

"Yes, I know what a phone number is," he growled before realizing he'd objected to the wrong part of Theo's parting words. "And I don't want a shot with Granger, for the last time!" But Theo had already gone and wouldn't hear him. "Fuck," he said to himself and took out a fresh cigarette. He hated his friends.

Flashing red and blue lights colored Theo's vision as he walked down the street he recognized would lead to Draco's apartment. There were several muggle emergency vehicles parked wherever they could fit and yellow barrier tape blocking any more vehicles or foot traffic from entering the area.

Being a disembodied specter though, Theo continued through the tape without regard.

What had happened?

Looking to the left, at Draco's building, everything looked fine. Looking to the right, however, Theo finally saw what had attracted so much attention. The glass and steel structure that had previously stood there had a hole blown out the side of it and flames were pouring out of the dark maw and reaching up to the sky. Muggle firefighters were battling the blaze, but weren't making much headway.

Sitting on the curb near the burning building, heedless of the window fragments littering the ground, was the huddled form of Harry Potter. He had clearly been crying, but was now nearly catatonic and unresponsive as a paramedic tried to convince him to move away from the wreckage, possibly to the safety of a waiting ambulance.

Nearby, a couple of policemen were arguing and Theo moved closer to hear what they were saying.

"A cat survived if you can believe it," one commented. "Half its fur burned off, but he'll live."

"And the residents?"

"It was a new building so only one lease signed so far, but looks like she perished in the blast. We need to find her body though."

"There's nothing bigger than this, I'm tellin' ya, and the fire brigade won't let us go in yet." One of the policemen was holding a clear plastic bag with something in it that Theo couldn't see.

"Think we can get a positive ID from it?"

"The fingerprints are damaged, but I hope so," the policeman held the bag up higher to look at it more closely, helping Theo to view its contents too.

It was a human hand. Severed messily at the wrist, and clearly female by its size. A hand.

Who's hand?

Who lived across the street from Draco?

Who would Harry Potter cry over?

Who had a cat?

Who's hand?

Theo knew instinctively the answer to his dream-self's questions before he was even aware of waking up.

It was Hermione. She was in danger again.

A/N: Oops! This chapter ended up being longer than I intended, but I have been excited about Pansy's party for a long time so... believe it or not it would've been longer if I'd kept all the side description of what Theo was up to at the party in there. Maybe I'll cover it in a future chapter... idk. Thanks for reading!