Chapter 14

Solutions

Hermione storms into her office, tossing her bag angrily onto her chair and pacing the room as she mutters to herself. "Wouldn't remain impartial. I'm perfectly bloody impartial."

"I'd ask how your night was, but it's pretty obvious."

Hermione startles turning to find her dark haired friend seated on the couch on the opposite side of the room. "Harry," she exclaims, "when did you get here?"

"Been here for about twenty minutes or so," he says, chuckling softly at his friend. Pouting playfully he continues, "You were so angry when you stormed in, you didn't even notice me."

Hermione rolls her eyes, leaning against her desk and folding her arms angrily. "Kingsley just won't listen," she explains with a sigh. "The Malfoy's can't stay in the Manor; it's becoming far too unstable to be considered safe. He had the audacity to claim that I was not remaining impartial. Me! That's laughable." Throwing her hands up in frustration, she continues pacing across her office. "It's not like just anyone would be willing to take them in. I wasn't offering because I wanted them there but because I couldn't think of anywhere else they would feel safe."

"Wanted them where?" Harry watched his friend for a moment before trying again, "Where did you plan to take them?"

"My apartment," she replies as though it were obvious. "But the Minister says that, if I let them stay with me, I'll have to step down from the case. I can't do that, Harry. You know I can't do that. Who else will actually give a damn whether Malfoy gets killed by ghosts?"

"Hermione," Harry states, standing and starting toward her.

"It's getting so much worse, Harry," She continues as though he has not spoken. "There were ghosts in the hallway yesterday. The hallway. It was one thing when they were confined to the dungeons but then the dining room, his work and now the hall…what's next? Nowhere in that house is safe for him, and what if they start to go after Narcissa? She doesn't bear the mark but…"

"Hermione," Harry calls out once more, stepping before her and grabbing her by her arms to stop her movement. "There are other places they can go."

She blinks up at him as her mind works over what he has just said.

At her silence, Harry breaks out into a grin, "Come on, Hermione, use that giant brain of yours. Where else could he go?"

"I thought that maybe Andi would take them in but, with Teddy there, I didn't think he'd agree to that."

"And he shouldn't," Harry replies with a nod. "Come on now. You're missing the obvious solution."

She stares up at him for a long moment before her eyes widen slightly in realization. "You'd do that? Oh, Harry, I couldn't ask you to take them in. What would Ginny say?"

Harry crosses his arms, leaning back against the wall and shaking his head at her. "Ginny will understand, you know she will. She may not be happy about it but I can deal with that when the time comes. She's out of town at the moment, anyway. Grimmauld Place has plenty of rooms so, if they're still there when she comes home, she probably won't even have to see them if she really doesn't want to."

"You're really willing to have Malfoy in your house?"

Harry shrugs as he responds, "You were willing to. Besides, he's been almost tolerable throughout this whole case so we may be able to get through it without me cursing him too badly. I'm the best choice you have anyway. I'm, technically, not part of the actual case; I'm more of a consultant. Impartiality won't be a problem because everyone already knows Malfoy and I can't stand each other. Hell, they'll probably think of it as a punishment for the git really."

"Oh Harry, thank you."

Pushing away from the wall, he walks over to her desk, situating himself in the guest chair and gesturing for her to take her own. "Now, where are we as far as the case goes?"

"I'm almost certain it's a curse of some kind," she states, quickly joining him at her desk, grabbing her bag and setting it at her feet. "Though I've never seen one exactly like this. It's either very old or something someone invented themselves."

"So I'll be finding you in the library later then."

"I've been through the Ministry library so many times, Harry, and I don't remember seeing anything of that sort in all of my reading. I might need to call in an expert for this one."

"Hermione Granger, admitting that she can't find an answer in the library? Someone alert the prophet," Harry exclaims with a laugh, earning himself a playful glare from his friend.

"I'm serious, Harry," she replies, swatting his arm gently.

Harry sobers, leaning forward in his chair to rest his arms on the desk before him. "You think you need a cursebreaker?" At Hermione's nod he gives her a small grin, "Lucky for you, we've got a few of them to choose from around here."

"No, I need someone who won't find out who the victim is and decide that the case isn't worth their time."

"You have someone in mind?"

Hermione picks up her bag and begins rummaging through it, "Narcissa gave me a name but I'm hesitant to contact him." Finding the small piece of parchment containing the other witch's neat handwriting, she hands it over to her friend, who lets out a loud laugh. "It's not funny, Harry!"

"I mean, I can see why you'd hesitate. Losing yourself in the den of snakes now, aren't you?"

Snatching the parchment back, she lays it neatly on her desk and glares over at him. "I'm sure Narcissa wouldn't have recommended him to help her son if he wasn't good at what he does."

"Oh no, nothing but the best for her precious baby boy." The laughter is still evident in his voice as he speaks but he sobers at the darkening of her eyes. "I mean, I'm sure he's perfectly capable. What do you need from me?"

Hermione sighs, shaking her head slightly. "You're doing plenty, for the moment. Maybe come with me when I try to convince Malfoy to come to your place?"

"Oh, no. That one's on you. You get to convince the ferret to come into the lion's den." He lets out another chuckle as he continues, "Good luck with that one."

"You're horrible, Harry."

"And yet, you call me your best mate. What does that say about you, then?"

"That my tastes can be rather questionable at times."

"Ouch," Harry replies, wincing slightly. "That truly hurt." Pausing for a moment, he leans forward, taking her hand in his and squeezing it reassuringly. "Look, owl your cursebreaker and set up a time to meet. Maybe you can get him to do a preliminary scan on Malfoy. If we can prove that there is a curse linked between him and the Manor, he might be more willing to leave. Convince his stubborn arse that the safest place for him is at my place, don't give me that look I know you can do it, and I'll see you all for supper. We'll go over everything then and come up with a full plan of action, alright?"

Hermione nods and he releases her, standing and smoothing his hand over his Auror robes. "I've got to get back before Robards realizes I've gone but, you know where I am if you need me."

"Thank you, Harry."

"Anytime, Hermione."

As the door clicks shut, Hermione stares down at the parchment before her and sighs. "May as well get this over with." Picking up her quill and grabbing fresh parchment from her top drawer, she begins to write.

Hermione looks up at the soft knock at her door moments before it opens to reveal a tall man with dark wavy hair. She quickly stands and walks over to meet him, extending her hand. "Thank you so much for being willing to meet with me on such short notice."

"Come now, Granger, we went to school together. No need to be so formal." He smiles down at her, dark eyes twinkling with mirth. She begins to lower her arm and he quickly grabs it, shaking it firmly before walking past her and taking a seat at her desk. "I was surprised to receive your owl. I figured the Ministry would have plenty of experienced curse breakers at your disposal."

"I need someone who's a little more forgiving of someone's past."

Dark eyebrows raise slightly as he leans forward in his seat, "You have my attention."

Hermione walks calmly back to her desk, pulling a stack of parchments from her bag and setting them on the desk before her. "At the moment, I have only suspicions that a curse has been placed on the victim but no real, concrete evidence. I know that there are spells that can detect curses but am not practiced enough in them to trust the results were I to attempt the scan myself and because of the darker past of the victim, I am concerned that Ministry employees may not be quite as impartial toward the subject as I would require."

"If there is a curse, I can find it."

"I understand that you are more well read in this field than I am, Nott but, are you certain? Its characteristics are unlike any curse I've seen. I don't even know where to begin looking for something like this."

"Look, Granger, someone obviously pointed you in my direction. This person trusts my skills and my judgement. If we're going to work together, you're going to have to do the same. If I say I can do it, I assure you, I can." Reaching a hand out, he continues, "Now, why don't you hand over those lovely notes of yours and I'll see what I can do, eh?"

Hermione slides the parchments across her desk and watches as his eyes scan the pages. His brow furrows in concentration as he quickly pulls out his own parchment and quill and begins making notes of his own. "These manifestations appear to only be drawn to one person?"

"Yes."

"There are others present at the times of presentation?" His eyes continue to scan the page as he speaks, his quill never halting across the parchment.

"Yes. At the beginning, his house elf was present. Then a family member. During a few myself and Harry were present as well. We were left relatively unharmed."

"Relatively?" At this he glances up at her.

"Harry was pushed aside by a gust of wind and hit his head on a cell door. It doesn't appear he was directly targeted, however."

"Rate of escalation?"

"Seems to be hastening within the last few days. It was reported that it started as every few days now it seems to be an almost daily occurance."

"You state that there were no unusual artifacts found in the residence that could not be accounted for by the victim. Did you check for markings on the individual themself?"

"I ran a diagnostic spell the first night I was in the home, along with the injuries he sustained during the manifestation, there was evidence of spell damage that he refused to explain. I, honestly, assumed it was from previous injuries caused by those who…dislike the individual."

"Any emotional markers?"

"Emotional markers?"

He glances up from the parchments once more, setting his quill down and folding his arms. "Emotional markers. Some curses have an emotional trigger. Was this person angry, scared, sad, happy? I'd honestly be more likely to lean toward the more negative emotions in this case but, a skilled witch or wizard could come up with a curse to turn positive emotions against the person. Not all curses have emotional markers. If yours does, it could make it easier to identify."

"I'm sorry, I don't know him well enough to read his emotions. He's seemed pretty down every time I've seen him. I know that he has been feeling scared, angry and guilty if that helps at all."

"It honestly could." He gets another note on his parchment before turning back to her once more. "Your notes detail everything rather well. If this is a curse of some kind and not just some bizarre haunting, whoever cast it really wants your victim to suffer for his perceived sins. I'll have to meet the person to run my own diagnostics. I'll have to check my schedule and I can let you know this afternoon when I will be free to meet with them."

"You'll help then?"

"Of course. I know better than most that not everyone who is perceived as guilty by the public deserves it."

Hermione smiles at him, pulling her parchments back toward her. "Thank you, Nott…"

"Theo."

"Pardon?"

"I prefer not to be called by my surname. If we're going to be working together, I'd prefer you call me Theo."

"Theo…Thank you."

"Now, I'll send you an owl once I get back to the office to let you know my schedule." He stands, quickly shrinking the parchment and quill and placing them in the pocket of his trousers and heads for the door. "I'd like to meet with this person within the next few days if you can arrange it." He pauses and turns back toward her. "Who is your victim anyway?"

Hermione's eyes fall to her desk and she clears her throat before looking back up at him. "Draco Malfoy."

She sees it when the realization hits, the widening of his eyes, his body stiffening. "You think someone's cursed Draco?" She nods and his eyes begin to dart around the room sightlessly, his mind running through all of the information in his mind. Walking quickly back to her desk, he grabs her by the arm, pulling her to her feet before starting back toward the door.

She has to practically jog to keep up with his pace as they continue down the hall toward the lifts. "Where are we going?"

"My schedules suddenly clear," his finger jabs the button impatiently, his face suddenly serious. "We're going to see him. Now."