Chapter 3 - Lab Work
"Hermione! You okay?" Harry charged down the basement hallway towards them as they exited the lift.
"I'm fine. Nev noticed something was wrong before either of us touched anything."
"Good man. Thanks, mate." Harry gave Neville a pat on the shoulder before gesturing towards the closed door marked "Authorized Personnel Only" in front of them. "Malfoy's finishing his initial tests. A couple more minutes then we can go in."
Neville's eyebrows lifted. "Malfoy? Draco Malfoy? That's your expert?"
Hermione nodded. "If you recall, both Draco and I both missed parts of our final year at school so we went back to complete our education. Not a lot of what they referred to as 'eighth years' made that decision. We avoided each other for a while but were forced to pair up in some classes. After some rather 'spirited discussions' we eventually reached..." She struggled to find the correct word.
"A rapprochement?" prompted Neville.
"Oui! Ton français est très bon!"
"I don't know about that. Thankfully the students at Beauxbaton's spoke English well enough to understand my lectures. My French is okay but apparently they found my Northern accent a bit off putting."
"I think you sound delightful."
Harry cleared his throat. "I'm sure this is all 'delightful' but would you mind translating for those of us who still struggle with English?"
"Sorry. Rapprochement means a type of reconciliation," Hermione explained before turning back to Neville. "And you're right. I believe that would be the correct term. Too much water under the bridge to achieve what one might call a true 'friendship' but enough understanding to establish a truce and work together effectively. For all his faults - and there are many - Draco is incredibly clever, especially when it comes to alchemy and dissecting other people's spell work."
"Pair that with his father's extensive collection of Dark Arts materials, which Malfoy voluntarily donated to the Ministry library upon Lucius' death, you get the expert we need in this situation," added Harry.
Just then the door swung open and a familiar voice drawled, "You may enter."
The trio made their way into an impressive laboratory, filled with all manner of cauldrons, beakers, bottles and glass fronted cabinets overflowing with books and ingredients. Standing in the middle of it all was Draco Malfoy, dressed in a well-worn, yet impeccably tailored lab coat. He lifted a pair of top of the line safety goggles from his face and nodded in their direction.
"Potter. Longbottom." He said the last name with a touch of surprise before turning to his other visitor. "Hermione."
This floored Neville. He'd never heard Malfoy use anyone's given name before. He was even more stunned at Hermione's response.
"Hello, Draco," she smiled warmly. "How's Astoria?"
"She's doing well. Thank you for asking. She's enjoying the tea you sent her."
"I'm glad. I'll have more delivered soon. And Scorpius?"
"They aren't called the terrible twos for no reason but he's great. Loves the stuffed ferret you got him for his birthday." The tall blonde made a face. "Don't think I'm going to forget that anytime soon."
"Be nice or I'll send him a toy hippogriff for Christmas," she said, pulling a face in return.
Neville gave Harry a questioning look. The other man simply shrugged. "I know. It's weird but you kind of get used to it after a while."
Harry reached for the parchment on the table in front of Draco only to get hit with a stinging jinx.
"Don't touch anything, you idiot!" snapped Draco.
Harry pulled back his hand, wincing in pain. "Ouch! That hurt!"
"Would have hurt a lot worse if I hadn't stopped you. I haven't worked out all the ingredients used on that so I can't promise to be able revive anyone who handles it without the proper protective gear."
"What have you learned?" asked Neville.
"The preliminary assessment that Potter provided from you seems to be correct, Longbottom. There are a myriad of concealment and secrecy charms layered on this but the few ingredients I have been able to isolate are both rare and toxic."
Harry glared at Hermione. "Will you listen to me now about the threat level?"
Hermione began to protest but Draco cut her off.
"As much as it pains me - and I must stress that it causes me actual, physical pain to say this - I must concur with Potter and Longbottom. Whoever did this wasn't just mucking about. These aren't easy ingredients to get hold of, not to mention the time needed to actually brew the concoction. This isn't someone with a petty grudge, Granger. This is a person who's willing to play the long game if necessary and make no mistake regarding their intent. Whoever cooked this up unquestionably wants you dead."
The room went silent until Neville asked, "How long a brew time are we talking?"
"Hard to say without a more detailed work up. Could be as short as three weeks, could be as long as three months. Really depends on the specific combination of ingredients and the ultimate strength of the potion."
Harry glanced at Hermione. "When did you publically propose the werewolf legislation?"
"A month ago."
"So, for the time being we have no way of determining this person's motive or identity. Great." Harry paced around then looked at Draco. "How long will it take to figure out the brew time and specific ingredients?"
"Not sure. I'll need to reverse engineer the thing. Could take a few hours, could take a few days."
"Do what you can. If you need additional resources, let me know."
"Will do." Draco headed towards the door then paused. "Hermione?"
This time even she looked mildly surprised at this rare repeated use of a given name. "Yes, Draco?"
"Be careful. The amount of people whose very presence don't bore me senseless is small enough as it is. Don't need the number dwindling because of your stupid Gryffindor pride." He disappeared into the hallway before she had a chance to respond.
"Who the hell was that and what has he done with Draco Malfoy?" asked Neville.
"We caught him on a good day," Hermione chuckled. "Although I'll admit that Astoria and Scorpius have been a positive influence on him. He's transformed from completely intolerable to largely insufferable. I hold out great hope that one day he'll simply be a run of the mill pain in the arse."
"I'm glad you're able to find humor in this because I confess I'm having trouble finding the lighter side to an attempted assassination," said Harry dryly.
"Sorry. Dark humor has become one of my defense mechanisms," replied Hermione.
"I suppose asking you to back out of the gala is going to be a pointless exercise," said Harry.
"Yes, so don't even try. Can we keep this quiet? I don't need Skeeter in my face about 'poison pen' letters."
"Several people saw us moving the owl from your office so they'll guess that you're still receiving hate mail but only the three of us and Malfoy know the full story. I'll have to fill Kingsley in but I think we can keep the details under wraps for the time being."
Harry glanced at Neville. "Shacklebolt wants to see you as well. They hadn't processed your final paperwork yet. I think he wants to delay your resignation so your classification stays at its current level in light of all this."
Neville nodded. "Whatever we need to do to keep her safe."
"Nev, I don't want you to..."
"Hermione, I'd be going with you regardless of my job status. If remaining an Auror helps protect you then that's what I'm going to do."
"But..."
"No buts. I'm assuming you're going to insist on spending the rest of the day in your office as if nothing happened?"
"Of course."
"Hermione," Harry injected, "This person knows where you work."
"Everyone knows where I work, Harry. It's not a state secret. Besides, an owl would have found me no matter where I was. At least here I was close to the lab."
The two men shared exasperated expressions but they knew better than to push her.
"Fine," said Neville. "Where and when shall I pick you up for the gala?"
"My flat at seven? You can floo directly from Harry's office."
"Seven it is. Please, try and keep out of trouble until then."
She was already halfway out the door as she called back over her shoulder, "I'll do my best!"
As she disappeared around the corner, Harry gave Neville a sympathetic look. "Good luck tonight, mate."
"Thanks. I think I'm going to need it."