Harry is pondering how best to get into the building when an elderly lady shuffles up, dragging a wheelie cart full of laundry. He slips inside the door as she struggles to pull her wheelie cart through behind her. As soon as he is inside, he realizes his mistake.
There are no visible doors to any other part of the building inside of the laundromat. He curses himself for not having looked harder through the windows before following the old woman inside. But now he is stuck until she leaves, or until someone else comes in.
He supposes he could leave and hope anyone watching the area thought that the wind had blown the door open, but as it is a very still, clear day he doesn't think that seems plausible. He is about to sit down and wait when he remembers McLaggen. McLaggen bringing laundry to a laundromat is not something that would arouse suspicion to someone watching. And that would mean McLaggen could be around if something goes wrong even while Harry will has the opportunity to stay hidden.
Harry quickly casts a circle of silence around himself and relays his message to McLaggen. It is a long message as he perhaps over-explains what he wants McLaggen to do. Then he waits for an agonizing three minutes until McLaggen responds.
Right-o. Be there in ten.
He hopes that McLaggen has understood what Harry wants him to do. He had tried to make it as clear as possible, but it is an odd request to be sure. But McLaggen isn't an idiot. Right? Harry wonders if instead he should have messaged Draco. Except McLaggen has more training than Draco. But what if Draco gets upset that Harry called McLaggen and not him?
After a minute's fretting, Harry tells himself to stop worrying. He's not usually so concerned during missions, but it's Hermione. He can't not be worried.
This, of course, sends him down the mental rabbit hole of what he would do if Draco were kidnapped. He had told Pansy he would be fine, but would he? Shit. He loves Hermione like a sister, but that's nothing compared to the depth of feeling that he has for Draco. It has only been five months, give or take a few days, but he is starting to think that Draco might be the one. And as soon as he thinks that, he stops himself. Now is not the time. He needs to focus.
He paces under the invisibility cloak, his movements mirroring the back and forth of his thoughts.
A moment later, McLaggen comes into view outside of the laundromat and Harry hurries over to the door. McLaggen opens it and makes a fuss of trying to get his laundry bag inside, which lets Harry slip past him with a quick, whispered,
"Thanks."
Outside again, Harry contemplates the building. The laundromat is in a long line of shops that are all connected. They span the length of several blocks. He walks along, trying to find a way to the back and eventually reaches the end of the row. He turns down the street and finds that there is a small alley running behind the shops.
There is a man lounging outside one of the back doors to the building, smoking a cigarette. As Harry walks past him, he notices that the man has propped the door open with a brick. When Harry walks up to the door, he realizes he's not going to be able to get in without moving the door, so he waits while the man smokes his cigarette down to the filter. Then he follows him inside.
…
Cormac has never used a washing machine before. Why would he have any cause to? He's a wizard. He just waves his wand at a bucket of soapy water and then hangs everything up to dry. Or, when he's feeling particularly lazy, he sends it home for his parents' house elf to clean. (If he's being honest, he does that more often than not.)
He watches with fascination as the machine in front of him spins the clothes around in circles. He had followed the instructions on the wall, putting the clothes in, then the powder, and then starting the machine with the Muggle money from the emergency stash he had found in the Cooler. Now, however, there's nothing to do but wait for the machine to finish and by the looks of it, he has at least forty minutes before then.
With a sigh, he sits down on one of the benches and pulls out a book. He half hopes that Potter will need him, but at the same time, if Potter needs him again, it will mean that something has gone wrong, and he does not want that. So he settles himself down for a nervous wait.
…
The inside of the building is a maze of corridors, but Harry is undeterred. He waves his wand around his head and then projects a tiny map onto the palm of his hand. Perfect. He figures out the part of the building where he thinks Hermione might be and starts to cautiously make his way over to it, scanning for defensive magic as he goes.
He knows that he is going in the right direction as the surveillance spells start to appear more frequently. Most of them are just camera spells, so he walks past them, safe under the invisibility cloak. However as he reaches the door he wants, he slows as there are tangles of spells guarding it.
He pulls out a piece of parchment, sits down next to the door and gets to work. As he undoes each ward, he notes it down on his parchment so that he can replace it once he has rescued Hermione. This way, he hopes that they can keep up the charade that Hermione is in fact whoever it is that's impersonating her. It is tedious, slow going work, but so are so many parts of Harry's job.
It takes him the better part of an hour but with a flourish, he removes the last of the wards and places the information on his parchment. Then he slumps, exhausted, against the wall.
He allows himself a minute of rest before he stands up. He is not sure what to expect when he gets inside the room, so he puts up a shield charm just in case. Then he unlocks the door and pushes it slowly open.
The room is as dingy as the outside of the building, and the rest of the corridors would have Harry expect. The floor is covered in a threadbare carpet and there are only three pieces of furniture: a bed, a chipped side table and a rickety wooden chair. Hermione is asleep in the bed, her chest slowly rising and falling with each breath. There is an IV stand attached to the bed, and the bag that dangles from it connects, by way of a long tube, to her arm.
His breath catches in his throat when he sees her, and sees that she is alive, and it takes all of his self control not to run over to her. Instead, he closes the door behind himself and sweeps the room for more surveillance spells.
Once he is sure there are none, he sends the coordinates of the room to McLaggen and makes his way over to the bed. McLaggen appears just as Harry sinks onto the bed next to Hermione.
"You found her," McLaggen says, stating the obvious. Harry nods. "Is she?"
"Alive? Yes." Harry reaches out with a shaking hand and touches Hermione's cheek. It is warm to his touch. He moves his hand to her shoulder and gently shakes her. She doesn't move. Her eyelids don't even flutter. When he had seen the IV bag, Harry had suspected as much but his heart still sinks.
"She's unconscious," he says. McLaggen nods.
"Did we want to move her to the Cooler?"
"I think that would be best," Harry says. "Yes. Then I'll come back and re-apply all the wards." McLaggen cocks his head to the side and looks quizzically at Harry, so Harry quickly explains his own surveillance idea.
"Potter, I don't give you the credit you deserve," McLaggen says. "That's a brilliant idea." Harry rolls his eyes and waves away the compliment.
"Let's get her to safety." Harry unhooks the IV bag from the stand and then bends down to reach under Hermione's arms. McLaggen takes her legs and on a verbal count of three, they apparate back to the Cooler. Then they take her to one of the holding cells and lay her down on the cot there.
"I'll get a Medi-wizard," McLaggen says.
"Get someone discreet," Harry says. "Actually, take Draco with you."
"Draco?"
"To make sure he doesn't spark on whoever you bring."
"Of course."
"I'll go reapply the wards." McLaggen nods and starts to leave. "I'm going to lock her in."
"What?"
"For her safety."
"How do you reckon?"
"So that no one can steal her again. What if the imposter Hermione comes by?"
"Why not call Parkinson?"
"Good point. I didn't think of that."
"Eh, I have my uses," McLaggen says with a half smile and a shrug. "I'll run over and get the pair of them from Flourish and Blotts." Harry nods and watches as McLaggen takes the stairs two at a time. Then he turns his attention back to Hermione.
He crouches down next to the cot and reaches out for her hand. He squeezes it gently as he sinks from his crouch until he is sitting on the floor. He doesn't realize that he's crying until two tears land on his knee.
"I'm so sorry," he whispers, even as he knows Hermione can't hear him. "I let you down. I let them take you and I almost didn't notice that you weren't you." He clutches her hand like it is a lifeline and that is how the rest of them find him when they walk in.
…
"I haven't been here in years," Draco mutters as he and McLaggen walk into St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. The last time he was here, in fact, was when his father had had his slight mental breakdown and burned down all their hedges. Lucius had accidentally set himself on fire along with the shrubbery and so had been admitted to the burn unit for a week. It was a miracle, the Medi-wizards had said, that Lucius looked anything like himself by the time they were finished. Now Lucius spends a good twenty minutes each morning applying various glamours in the mirror so as not to alarm his mother or any of their sporadic visitors.
"I try not to end up here too often myself," McLaggen says. "Which is difficult, given the job." McLaggen smirks and puffs out his chest. Draco barely restrains himself from rolling his eyes.
"So who are we looking for?"
"I was going to ask my friend Veronica to help us out," McLaggen says. "But Potter wants you here just to make sure I haven't picked anyone untrustworthy. Or someone who is overtly part of the Sim Soc."
"Does he really think anyone at St. Mungo's is going to be part of it?" Draco asks. McLaggen shrugs.
"Can't be too careful." Draco thinks they're all being a tad bit paranoid, but he doesn't say anything, just follows McLaggen to the stairs. They climb until they reach the third floor and then they make their way down several corridors until they reach one of the general wards. Draco makes to push the door open, but McLaggen shakes his head and leads him a short way down from the door to a painting that depicts a group of horses in a field. McLaggen knocks on the frame of the painting and a moment later, it swings forward to reveal a Medi-witch.
Draco is surprised when he recognizes her as Susan Bones from his year from school. He hasn't thought about her in years. In fact, he had forgotten she even existed. And of course, now the Reliquary has provided more details on her than he ever thinks he would have needed to know.
"Is Ronnie in?" McLaggen asks.
"Who's asking?" Susan shoots back.
"Susie, you wound me," McLaggen says, placing a hand over his heart.
"There are things called owls, you know. You could have sent one."
"We're looking for a medi-witch," Draco interjects. There is clearly history between McLaggen and Bones, or perhaps with this Veronica person, and he doesn't want it getting in the way of finding a medical person for Hermione.
"Yes," McLaggen says. "My colleague and I-"
"-Colleague?" Bones asks. "Last I heard, Malfoy, you were working at Flourish and Blotts. Did you change jobs, Cormac?"
"He meant friend," Draco says quickly. He leans closer to Susan. "You know how these Gryffindor types are - terrible with vocab. Always trying to use big words." He winks at her and Bones frowns for a moment before shrugging.
"Well, Ronnie's not here," Bones says to McLaggen.
"Eh," he says. "You'll do."
"Oh, gee thanks."
"You were part of Dumbledore's Army, weren't you?" Draco asks.
"What?" Bones asks. She is clearly thrown by the question.
"You were," he says again and she nods. "Then you're perfect." He leans close and lowers his voice. "Hermione Granger needs discreet medical attention."
"Oh," Bones exclaims, her cheeks turning pink.
"Can you help?"
"Yes," she says quickly. "Let me just get my cloak." The painting closes behind her, leaving Draco and McLaggen alone in the corridor.
"So," Draco says by way of conversation. "You two have history?" McLaggen looks down at the floor, a small frown on his face. He ears turn red. Draco takes this to be a yes. He leans back against the wall, crosses his arms across his chest and smirks with unconcealed amusement. He knows he is being a bit of an arse, but as he considers McLaggen to be a bit of an arse, it feels justified.
McLaggen perks up a moment later as another medi-witch walks past them in the corridor. He nods at her and gives her what he clearly thinks is his winningest smile.
But Draco's attention is on the woman because the Reliquary has just informed him that, against all odds, she is part of the Simurgh Society, as evidenced by the tiny purple Simurgh on her collar. It is all he can do not to gape at her. Instead he keeps his face impassive as she passes. McLaggen continues to leer until she has turned a corner. Well, he'll be damned. They weren't being too paranoid.
"Do you know who that was?" Draco asks.
"No."
"Shit."
"Why?"
"The whole reason I'm here." McLaggen frowns at him for a moment and then his face clears.
"What?" McLaggen asks, flabbergasted. "Seriously?" Draco nods. "Holy shit."
At this moment, the painting opens again and Susan Bones steps into the corridor.
"Shall we?" she asks.
"Quick detour," McLaggen says. He takes her arm and attempts to pull her down the corridor but she shakes him loose.
"What this idiot meant to say," Draco says quickly. "Is that we were wondering if you could tell us the name of one of your coworkers."
"So he can sleep with her and then never contact her again?" Bones sticks her nose in the air. Draco turns to glare at McLaggen, who shrugs.
"No," Draco says. He thinks quickly. "I thought she was the daughter of a family friend, but I can't remember her name. I want to tell my mother over Christmas that I ran into her, but it's going to sound stupid if I can't remember who she is. Please, Bones, my mother already thinks I'm a fool for dating Harry Potter. I can't have her thinking I'm an idiot as well." Bones sighs.
"Fine," she says. She follows Draco down the corridor to the ward and they peer through the window in the door. Draco spots the woman and points her out to Bones.
"The strawberry blonde? Oh, that's Millie Davies." Draco swallows his gasp of surprise. She's Chester Davies's sister.
"Blast, the name doesn't ring a bell," Draco says. "It must have been someone else I was thinking of. Thank you. Now let's go help Granger."
…
Harry has returned from reinstalling all of the wards by the time that Draco and McLaggen return to the Cooler. He is surprised to see Susan Bones with them. He had been unaware that she was a medi-witch. Or maybe he had known? And forgotten? He finds it hard to keep track of what everyone has done after Hogwarts.
"Hi Susan," he says. Susan is looking around the Cooler with wide, surprised eyes. She jumps when she hears him.
"Hi Harry."
"Hermione's this way." He motions for her to follow him and she does. She stops outside of the holding cell where Hermione is still unconscious.
"Oh," she says. "What's happened to her?"
"We were hoping you could tell us."
"Draco said she had a discreet problem, and I just assumed it was some sort of, you know," and here Susan lowers her voice. "Female problem."
"Ah," Harry says. "No. She's unconscious."
"Yes," Susan says distractedly. "I can see that." She fumbles in her robes and pulls out her wand before striding into the room. "Well, I'd best get started then." She shoos Harry away. He stands in the corridor until she turns and looks pointedly at him, at which point he shrugs and walks back to the main room, leaving Susan to do her work.
She emerges about fifteen minutes later with a frown on her face. Harry rushes over to her.
He has spent the entire time nervously pacing the room. McLaggen had tried to talk to him a few times, but Harry had brushed him away. After the second time it had happened, Pansy had taken McLaggen by the arm and brought him over to where she was sitting, leaving Harry alone.
"What is it?" Harry asks. "What's wrong with her?"
"Well," Susan says. "She's in a magically induced coma, but none of my tests have shown that there's anything wrong with her."
"Can you wake her up?"
"Of course but-"
"-Great. Then let's do that."
"But," Susan protests. "It could be dangerous to wake her up without knowing why she's in the coma. I wouldn't want to do any harm." Harry turns to Draco and McLaggen.
"Did either of you explain to Susan why she's here?"
"I wasn't sure how much to say," Draco says, running a hand distractedly through his hair.
"Hermione was kidnapped," Harry says to Susan. Her eyebrows rise in surprise and she claps a hand to her mouth. "By a group of people who were impersonating her. We just got her back."
"But then shouldn't she be at the Ministry?" Susan asks. Harry shakes his head.
"This is the Ministry," he says. Susan frowns and turns to stare at Draco.
"But," she stammers.
"I was just as shocked as you when the Ministry said they wanted me to work for them," Draco says. Susan seems to come to a decision as she nods once.
"Right," she says. "I'll go wake her up then." She turns to leave and then stops herself. "But before I do that, I feel like I should tell you that the type of coma she is in, is one that is only ever used by medi-wizards. It's very advanced and it's tricky to perform - I didn't learn it until my third year at Octogomery."
"So you're saying that the group must have hired a medi-wizard to do this?" Harry asks.
"I would think so," Susan says, nodding. "And they're still working together. The spells have been recently maintained."
"Thank you, Susan," Harry says. She chews on her bottom lip for a moment before turning and walking down the corridor. Once she's gone, Harry turns back to the others.
"They have a medi-wizard helping them," he says without preamble.
"I was trying to tell you that earlier," McLaggen says.
"What?"
"You were pacing."
"Oh," Harry says. "Right."
"Draco sparked on a medi-witch named Millie Davies."
"Chester's sister?"
"The one and same," Draco says.
"I'll put it on the board," Pansy says. The board is now several boards, spanning the entire length of the room. In fact, Chester has his own entire section. Pansy walks over and writes Millie Davies's name on a piece of paper and pins it on Chester's board.
There's a commotion down the corridor and a moment later Hermione bursts into the room.
"Where is my goddamn wand?" she demands. "I'm going to kill that woman." Harry grins.
"Welcome back," he says.
