"This was definitely a kidnapping," Pansy says, looking down at the readout from her wand. "There's confuso bomb residue on this wall." She and McLaggen have gone over every inch of Winola Swinn's house. It has taken them several hours, but she's glad that they took the time to be so thorough because now they have the evidence they need.

"Are you sure?" McLaggen asks.

"It's very faint, but it's there. Whoever took her tried to clean up after themselves." McLaggen nods.

"It's what I would do if I were kidnapping someone."

"Is this a confession?" Pansy asks archly.

"Fuck off. No, it's not." She smirks at him. It has been a while since she has worked with McLaggen in the field and she has been pleasantly surprised at his diligence.

"You know," she says. "You're quite efficient when you're not busy trying to get into my pants." McLaggen gives her a humorless smile.

"You're hilarious."

"I try." She holds his gaze for a long moment before turning back to the parchment in her hand. "We should get this information to Granger." She taps her watch with her wand and sends Granger a message with their findings. "I wonder how they're getting on with Swinns."

"If they brought Potter, I'm sure they're doing just fine."

"You really don't like him, do you?" Pansy says.

"No, I don't."

"May I ask why?"

"He's just mediocre," McLaggen says. It seems to Pansy like he's been holding this in for a long time. "There is nothing special about him. And don't give me the whole 'he defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named bullshit. He got lucky at the Battle of Hogwarts."

"Did he?" Pansy hadn't been there (for which she is still ashamed), but she's heard many first hand accounts and none of them seemed to say that Potter had 'gotten lucky'. In fact, he'd made a long, drawn out speech before Voldemort's spell had backfired, killing him. From all accounts, Harry had known exactly what he was doing.

"Voldemort's wand didn't work," McLaggen says. "He got lucky."

"Were you there?" Pansy asks.

"Yes."

"So you saw it?"

"Uh, no," McLaggen says, looking suddenly uncomfortable. Pansy resists rolling her eyes and instead stares at him. "I was, er, unconscious. I'd been dueling and someone hit me with a Stunner."

"So you don't really know what happened then?"

"Yes, I do."

"I mean, we all do, but you didn't witness it firsthand."

"I suppose not."

"Why don't you ask him about it?" Pansy suggests.

"What, really?"

"Why not? Ask him to show you in a pensieve or something."

"I don't think that will go over well."

"It might not, but it might make your working relationship better," Pansy says. "Hell, it might actually be beneficial for all of us to see what was going through his head during those moments."

"So you'll bring it up then?" McLaggen asks.

"No."

"But you just said-"

"-You're the one who works with him at the Parlour every day," Pansy points out. McLaggen rolls his eyes.

"Fine," he says. "I'll think about it. Why do you care anyway?"

"Because you're wrong," Pansy says with a smirk. "And I would love to see it you proven wrong in person." She walks forward and pokes him in the chest with her index finger before she can stop herself. She steps back quickly, irritated by her own actions. No wonder McLaggen thinks about sleeping with her; she seems to flirt with him at every opportunity she gets. Damn his stupid attractive face.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. and Mrs. Swinn," Hermione says as she and Harry leave the Swinns' house. "I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. Here is my card. If you should need to contact me about anything, please don't hesitate to fire-call." Hermione hands over a small square of parchment that has her contact information on it. Sylvia Swinn takes the card with a tight lipped half smile and hands it to her husband.

"Thank you Ms. Granger," she says. "If we hear anything, we will be in touch." She shuts the door and Harry and Hermione turn and walk down the front stairs. When they reach the pavement, Harry turns and looks back at the front door as if he expects it to open again. It does not.

"What do you reckon?" he asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you really think they haven't heard anything from her kidnappers?"

"Harry, we don't actually know for sure that she's been kidnapped," Hermione says. But then her watch flashes purple and she looks down at it. Harry watches as she reads the message. He tilts his head to the side, quizzically. After a long moment she looks back up at him. "She has been kidnapped."

"Oh?"

"Parkinson and McLaggen just confirmed it."

"Should we go back in?" Harry asks, but Hermione shakes her head.

"No, they said they hadn't heard anything and I'm inclined to believe them." Harry nods. He's not sure he's convinced, but Hermione knows Sylvia Swinn better than he does, so he lets it go.

"What are our next steps?" he asks instead.

"Let's join Parkinson and McLaggen up in Scotland. We can see what they've learned and if they have any leads."

"Should we bring Draco?" Harry asks. Hermione frowns. "In case the Reliquary has anything to add."

"Anything we find up there won't be in the Reliquary," Hermione says. "It would be too recent." Harry isn't sure she's right, but he's not in the mood to argue, so he takes her arm and they apparate together up to the Isle of Skye.

Harry and Hermione find Pansy and McLaggen sitting on the stone wall outside of Winola Swinn's house.

"That didn't take you long," Pansy says. "How were the senior Swinns? Did they have any insight?"

"They haven't been contacted by anyone yet," Hermione says. "But I gave them my personal information in case they hear anything." Pansy nods, but she catches Harry's eye and raises her eyebrows briefly as if to ask if he agreed with Hermione's sentiment. Interesting. He twists his lips slightly to the side.

"Where's Draco?" Pansy asks.

"I don't think there's anything here that he could help us with," Hermione says

"I disagree," Pansy said. "We don't know what the Reliquary might pick up." Hermione purses her lips.

"What have you found that he might be able to help with?" Hermione snaps. Pansy shrugs and regards Hermione cooly.

"As I said. We don't know what he might pick up on." Hermione's eyes flash in irritation and she crosses her arms. Pansy stands opposite her and as Harry watches, she ever so slightly squares her stance to face Hermione head on.

"I'll go get him," Harry suggests. He does not want to be around when this power struggle comes to blows. He glances at McLaggen and sees the he has edged closer to Pansy, as if to back her up. Also interesting.

"You do that," Pansy says, keeping her eyes locked on Hermione. Harry gnaws on his lip for a moment before finally apparating away.

He quickly ascertains that Draco isn't at either of their houses, so he surmises he must be at the Cauldron. Sure enough, when he walks in, he finds Draco sitting with Greg at the bar chatting with Hannah. He can't stop the smile the spreads across his face when he sees them. He walks up behind Draco and puts his arms around him. Draco must have figured out from Hannnah's face who was walking up because he doesn't turn around, merely leans back against Harry's chest.

"We need you," Harry whispers in his ear. To the other two he says, "I'm going to have to steal Draco away, I'm afraid."

"Can you stay for one drink?" Greg asks. Harry checks his watch and shakes his head.

"We have tickets to Wicked," he says.

"Oh how lovely!" Hannah exclaims.

"We do?" Draco asks.

"Last minute. I was wandering through Leicester Square and thought it might be fun."

"Right."

"So finish your drink and let's go so that we'll be on time."

Luckily Draco is almost at the end of his beer, so he picks it up and tips the rest back. Then he stands up, bids Hannah and Greg goodnight and follows Harry out into Diagon Alley.

"Where are we actually going?" he asks once they are outside. He swings his cloak around his shoulders and fastens it at his throat.

"Scotland."

"Seriously?"

"Isle of Skye."

"Do I need a scarf?"

"I'll keep you warm," Harry says. He threads his arms under Draco's cloak and pulls him close.

"Are the others there?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"-Then I shall be stealing your scarf," Draco says. He reaches up and plucks it off of Harry's neck. He ignores the fact that it's a Gryffindor scarf. In fact, he relishes it, because it means he's wearing his boyfriend's scarf. He stops himself there. This is serious. He is needed on serious Reliquary business. He can't be distracted by their relationship.

"Fine, take it," Harry says, but he's smiling. He leans in and pecks Draco quickly on the mouth and then apparates them back to Winola Swinn's house. It is much the same as Harry had left it, except worse.

"I am in charge of this team," Hermione yells.

"Then you should do a better job running it," Pansy spits back. "Use the goddamn asset. What the fuck do you think this team is for?"

"Protecting him."

"Protecting him?" Pansy asks, incredulous. "You're the one who suggested we train him. And may I point out, he's been an absolute boon in the field." Pansy notices then that Harry and Draco are there. She gives Draco a nod welcoming nod before turning her attention back to Hermione.

"I just worry-" Hermione starts to say.

"-Well don't," Harry cuts her off. Hermione turns and spots the pair of them. She presses her lips into a thin line.

"Hello Malfoy," she says.

"Granger," Draco intones. He turns his attention to Pansy. "Harry mentioned you needed me?" And Pansy, bless her, walks over to Draco and takes his arm and leads him into the house and away from Granger, who stares at them the entire time and looks like she wants to hex them.

"Darling," Pansy says once they're alone. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"It's fine," Draco says. "Thank you for sticking up for me." Pansy waves off his thanks.

"I meant it." Draco doesn't know what to say to this so he just nods awkwardly and starts to look around the room. Nothing jumps out at him.

"Is there anything in particular that you wanted me to see?" he asks.

"The confuso bomb went off in here," Pansy says, dragging him into the next the next by the arm that she is still holding. Draco shakes himself loose and then looks carefully around the room. He's not sure what he is looking for. After all, how is he supposed to see something that both Pansy and McLaggen missed?

The room is dark, so he pulls out his wand and lights it. The light throws strange shadows onto the walls, making all the furniture look large in relief. He ignores this and instead takes in the room as a whole. Nothing sparks. He figures that doesn't mean anything, so he sits down on the floor in front of the doorway and instead painstakingly moves his eyes up and down the room, taking in everything. He imagines a grid pattern over the room so that he won't miss anything, and on the horizontal sweep of his grid, something sparks.

It's small. It's so small, he almost doesn't find it again as his eyes sweep the area he had been looking at. But he does. He is so thrilled with himself that he almost cheers aloud. He's proved himself on a mission that Granger clearly didn't think he was needed on. And fuck if that doesn't feel sweet.

He stands up carefully, keeping his eyes fixed on the earring on the floor. It is purple and has an ornate bird carved into it. The bird is the symbol of the Simurgh Society, Draco now knows. A Simurgh, the Reliquary informs him (and any good Care of Magical Creatures book would also tell him) is mythical bird, similar to a phoenix.

Once he is crouched next to the earring, he motions Pansy over and shows it to her, being careful not to touch it. He explains the simurgh to her and she nods.

"Good job, Draco," she says.

"Do you think we would be able to get a print off of it?" Draco asks. Pansy shakes her head. She reaches into her robes and pulls out a small, paper envelope. Carefully, she scoops the earring up into the envelope, careful not to touch it with her hands.

"It's too small to get a print from."

"That makes sense."

"But at least we know who took her," Pansy says. "Or, at the very least, what group took her."

"Not that we know who any of them are," Draco says.

"But this might help us figure out motive."

"Should we go tell the others then?" Pansy takes a deep breath and straightens up. It's clear to Draco that she doesn't want to talk to Granger so soon after their argument. "Perhaps I should keep looking," he says. "There might be more here." She shoots him a small grateful smile and Draco goes back to surveying the room. He does this for every room of the house, but nothing else sparks, so he makes his way back to Pansy.

"Nothing?" she asks. He shakes his head. "Well, let's report to Granger then." She turns her eyes skyward for a moment and then walks to the door.

Harry doesn't know why they have to wait outside. It's December. In Scotland. And it's bloody freezing. He wishes Draco hadn't taken his scarf. He would be a lot warmer if he were still wearing it. Of course, he would be much warmer if he were just inside the house.

But at the same time, he knows exactly why they're waiting outside - it is so that they don't disturb the crime scene. So he stamps his feet to ward off the cold and pulls his cloak tighter around his shoulders. He pulls out his wand and looks over at Hermione, remembering her favorite spell in their first year at Hogwarts. He conjures a small, bluebell fire, thinking fondly of the time she used it to distract Professor Quirrell in order to save his life. He holds the fire in one palm and watches as it flickers. He puts his wand away and spends some time shifting the fire from one hand to the other, enjoying the warmth that it puts out.

"How did you do that?" Hermione asks, walking over to him. Harry frowns at her.

"You taught me," he says. "Since you used to conjure them all the time during First Year?"

"Oh, right," Hermione says. "Of course." She laughs. "I had forgotten I used to do that." Harry smiles blithely at her, keeping any confusion he is feeling off of his face. After a moment, she drifts away again and Harry watches her retreating back.

He hadn't conjured the fire to prove any sort of point, but he can't now put away the feeling that there is something strange about Hermione. He makes a decision. He pulls out his wand and disappears the fire. Then he walks towards the house.

"Where are you going?" McLaggen asks.

"Just checking on how they're doing," Harry says. "I don't want to be out here all night. It's bloody freezing." As he opens the door, he almost runs into Pansy who is trying to leave. He stops and stares intently at her. She frowns at him and he jerks his chin ever so slightly towards her, trying to indicate that they should go back back into the house. Pansy raises her eyebrows and turns her head slightly, peering back into the house before flicking her eyes back to him, looking for confirmation that she's understood his ask. Harry gives her the smallest of nods and she turns around. He follows her into the sitting room, where he finds Draco.

"What is it?" Pansy asks in an undertone. But now that Harry is inside, he thinks he's overreacting. Of course he is. There is nothing wrong with Hermione. He's just tired and on edge. He chews his lip for a moment and then shakes his head.

"Nothing," he says.

"Bullshit," Pansy counters. "What's going on?"

"It's probably nothing," Harry amends.

"If it were probably nothing, we wouldn't have had that fun dance at the door. What's going on?" Harry takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.

"I might be wrong," he says. "But I'm worried about Hermione. She has seemed a bit off to me since we got back from Europe. I hadn't quite put two and two together until just now, but there have been small things that haven't quite seemed like Hermione. And I don't know what that means."

"Right," Pansy says. "If what you're saying is true, then this is not the place to discuss it."

"Well, yes."

"But Draco found something."

"We were about to come out and tell the rest of you about it," Draco says.

"But if you're suspicious that something is wrong-"

"- And I'm probably wrong about that," Harry interjects. Pansy shakes her head.

"No, if you think something is wrong in your gut, I'm going to trust that," she says.

"I've been wrong before," Harry protests.

"And you've been right before too," Pansy says gently. She twists her mouth to the side and frowns. Then she seems to come to a decision because she nods her head once. "We're going to go out there and tell them we didn't find anything." Behind Pansy, Draco's shoulder's slump. Pansy must see this in the reflection of the window because then she says, "Oh get over it, Draco. You can impress our boss another time."

"I'm impressed," Harry says.

"Yes," Pansy says. "But you're also sleeping with him, so that's not as much of a compliment."

"No, I'm not," Harry says quickly, even as he sees Draco's jaw go slack, which means that Pansy sees Draco's jaw go slack in the reflection. Harry can see the moment that she realizes what she's said is true. She closes her eyes, clearly summoning patience, before opening them again.

"Right now," she says. "I don't give a shit. I probably should, but at the moment, I have bigger concerns." She closes her eyes again and takes a deep breath. "Now, we're going to go out there and tell them that we didn't find anything. Then we're going to go our separate ways and meet up at the Leaky Cauldron-"

"-We can't," Harry says. "Our cover with Hannah and Greg right now is that we're seeing Wicked."

"Fine. We'll meet at a Muggle pub. What's closest to your house, Harry?"

"I don't know, but we could go to the one near my old house."

"Why would we do that?"

"Because I know what it's called and how to get there and I don't know what's near where I currently live."

"That doesn't help me much," Pansy protests.

"The pub is the Sporting Page and it's on Camera Place."

"Fine," Pansy says. She checks her watch. "See you there in an hour." With that, she turns and walks out of the house.

"Well," Harry says as the door swings closed behind her. "I guess Pansy knows about us then."

"I know I should think that's a bad thing," Draco says. "But honestly I'm thrilled."

"Do you think she's going to tell anyone?"

"I don't know."

"Fuck."

"But I don't think she will," Draco says. "I know you think Slytherins all stab other people in the back, but we're loyal to our friends."

"I'm not her friend."

"I think you two are better friends than you think you are," Draco says. "And anyway, I was trying to say that she's my friend. She won't say anything without talking to me first." Draco's face falls. "Oh, Circe. That's going to be an awkward conversation." It is this, if anything, that reassures Harry.

"OK," he says. Then he turns and the two of them follow Pansy out of the house.