This chapter: Hermione gets some sass back.

They walked to the small group of witches and wizards congregated around a large chalkboard. At the sound of the pair approaching they turned towards the women with varying levels of regard. A man stepped forward, his hand outstretched.

"Hermione, it's good to see you again. Ernie Macmillan."

She brightened at the name. It wasn't entirely surprising that she hadn't recognized him at first glance. He had grown another couple inches since she last saw him at The Battle. Time had treated him kindly and his previously scrawny features had filled into a handsome face that Hermione was sure endeared many women to him.

"Ernie! You look great!"

"Well it's been, what, 7 years?"

"9."

"Blimey that's mental. You been good?"

"Better, definitely."

"Good, good. Well I'm one of the researchers on the Delta team." He pointed at the group gathered behind him. "We're in charge of the reversal efforts- trying to repair the damage done to the wards."

Hermione remembered the breakdown of each team's responsibilities from the file she had been given that weekend. There were three teams: Echo Team, in charge of identifying all triggered events caused by the disruption, Alpha Team, focusing on what caused the disruption, and the Delta Team, responsible for all repair. Hermione had assumed that encompassed the damage done to the surrounding area as well.

"Not the streets?"

He scoffed. "Please. We don't need to waste our time with that. Some junior Aurors took care of it."

Hermione gave an indulgent smile. "Who do you report to?"

"You, I suppose. Or Professor Delacour." He added, nodding in Fleur's direction. "We don't really do hierarchies on site. Weekly report responsibilities are rotated each week. We find it gives a more inclusive feeling to the team, really gets the camaraderie going you know?"

Hermione, who had never really done the whole teamwork thing, most certainly did not know.

"Makes sense to me."

She had, naturally, been a part of a semblance of a team when working with Ron and Harry, but for the most part her contributions were individual ones. She wasn't hurrying to ask Harry his opinion on basilisks vs cockatrices or run theory by Ron on the protean charm. Her research was, and had always been, solitary.

"You got the research brief right?" At her nod he continued, "Disaster of a file, that is. Thousands of pages to tell you we know next to nothing. I'm relieved you've taken up the case, the Prophet has been sending 'subtle' reporters to 'investigate' our work." He emphasized his words with air quotes and a dramatic eye roll. "Nasty bit o' work those reporters are."

He turned towards the blackboard and continued talking without waiting for a response.

"Here's everything we know for certain."

The blackboard had two pieces of parchment pinned to it.

"That's it?"

"For certain, it is. The report you got is speculation, preliminary research, and tangential theories that likely have little relevance to the case. We thought you might want it all anyway."

Hermione nodded in place of replying. She leaned closer to the board to read what had been printed. Fleur spoke up at the same time.

"We know the wards were set up as a protection of sorts a very long time ago in a way that we've never seen before. That's about the extent of it."

Hermione hummed. Still, she read the parchment, which unsurprisingly came to the same conclusion as Fleur, albeit in a more verbose way.

"Where are the other teams?" She asked when she had finished reading.

"Echo is at the flank of the cave, Alpha is in Muggle downtown. Delta is here." He motioned to the witches and wizards who had been watching to the side.

"I'd like daily reports every morning from each team here on out. You don't need to summarize or edit, just write down any and all thoughts your team has come up with. Is there a photographer on staff?"

"A photographer? What for?" Ernie said in a surprised tone.

"Generally, to take photographs." Fleur chimed in.

Hermione shot her a look before addressing the entire team she had up until this point been ignoring. She rolled back her shoulders and spoke in a commanding voice.

"I'd like to get one here as soon as possible to record each rune pillar. Anytime anyone tries a new spell on one, whether that be to disarm, rearm, destroy, or repair, a photographer should be there to record it. Basic diagnostics is fine to go ahead without, but anything, and I mean anything, even remotely resembling experimental I want recorded."

Fleur couldn't help but feel a little surprised at the self-assured tone Hermione's voice now took. She wondered when she first developed it.

The rest of the team tried unsuccessfully to hide their groans at the command. This meant more work. A lot more work.

"With all do respect, Ms. Granger," A shrill voice spoke out from back of the small group, "what would that accomplish? It seems to me it would only being adding more work! I understand you're just now getting on the case, but we've been instructed to solve this as quickly as possible!"

A couple of the group nodded sagely at her words while the others looked distinctly uncomfortable. Hermione was pleased those in agreement were in the minority, at least on this team.

"Unspeakable.. ?"

"Bulstrode, Amanda Bulstrode."

Hermione wondered what, if any, relation she had to Millicent Bulstrode; a rather unpleasant girl that had been on the giving end of many of the insults Hermione had thrown her way at Hogwarts. They had a similar pudgy face, but the woman in front of her had hardly any extra weight on her body, giving her an unfortunate cartoonish look that leant her no favors in beauty.

"Unspeakable Bulstrode. It has been approximately a week since the attack no?" She didn't wait for a confirmation. "In that week, despite what I can only assume is your teams' best work, you have come up with a grand total of two pieces of parchment of relevant information. Two pieces that are, as I am sure you are aware, scarcely populated and leave quite a bit to be desired. In fact, there was little more than a paragraph in the preliminary report your teams wrote until Professor Delacour was brought in four days ago. We may have external pressures on us to solve this as quickly as possible, but as your complete lack of results have indicated, that is a pipe dream that we cannot afford to entertain any longer. We will not be able to stumble through the dark and find our answers. We'll have to be deliberate and exact. Having proper documentation allows us to do just that without having to run around in circles. I trust you're well enough acquainted with my credentials to understand that nothing I do in this case will be without reason. Now, who on this team wants to write my report for today?"

Ernie covered a snort with a cough.

"I can."

"Great, I trust one of you will relay the information to the other teams?"

At the groups nod, Hermione turned her attention to Fleur, who was staring at her with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Fleur, could you help me set up a work station?"

Fleur blinked. "Oui, I'll show you to mine."

Hermione looked at the team with a raised eyebrow. "You may work now."

She felt a sense of satisfaction as they scampered back to their work.

Fleur touched Hermione's left arm lightly to direct her towards a large desk facing one of the cave walls. There were several desks scattered about the middle of the cave, most were adorned with books, scrolls, and excavating equipment. Most of the workers did not return to them, instead dispersing in pairs to various pillars around the front and middle of the cave. It was clear the desks were occupied only to fill out reports or elaborate on hastily made notes.

Hermione could feel Fleur's gaze on her.

"Do I have something on my face?"

"What? No."

"Is there another reason you're looking at me like that?"

"I've only been working with the teams for a few days, and already I 'ad the sense Unspeakable Bulstrode 'as never once been talked to like that."

"Well, perhaps she should think before she speaks next time."

"That might be asking too much of 'er."

As they approached the desk, this one much more organized than the others, Fleur nodded to the space to the left.

"You can set up here if you like."

"Wanting me nearby Fleur?"

"All the better to keep an eye on you."

"Oh? Do I require supervision?"

Hermione had never been particularly confident at school when it came to flirting. It was like flying; something that could not be learnt from books but from experience alone. Somehow she never had the time to flex those muscles between saving the wizarding world. It wasn't until much later when she looked back on some of her conversations with her classmates that she realized they weren't just being nice- they were attempting, and failing, to flirt with her. Perhaps it shouldn't have been as satisfactory as it was to come to the conclusion that Demelza Robins had not actually been concerned with her Transfiguration grade (Hermione had learned she was quite adept at the subject when an issue of Transfiguartion Today featured a full page spread of Demelza's newest research), but instead was hoping to woo the older girl over late night library study sessions. Hermione had found that she rather liked flirting. It was a wit of sorts, and she considered wit to be akin to intellect. And Hermione Granger was nothing if not intelligent. She thought of it as a way to sharpen her mind. Plus, it was particularly entertaining to try and render her opponent silent.

Fleur had put her on her back-foot, a product of her thrall, Hermione had no doubt, but she was determined to not allow Fleur to have the upper-hand any longer.

"I find it best to err on the side of caution, no?"

"Seems convient."

"Are you suggesting I have ulterior motives?"

"I'm merely making observations." She broke her eye contact with Fleur to quickly transfigure a small boulder into a suitable desk that was much larger than Fleur's.

"Compensating for something?" Fleur, who up until this point had managed to keep a straight face, even if her eyes had betrayed her amusement, now broke into smirk.

Hermione snorted. "You caught me."

Another rock was transformed into a comfortable looking chair that Hermione collapsed into. She reached into her back to pull out the report from her bag. While the previous days had been spent reading through it, she now sought to separate the relevant information from the superfluous into a more streamlined and organized version.

"You mentioned similarities to Native American warding?"

"Similarities, yes. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence of technique or a direct application."

"What part of the site are these present?"

Fleur thought for a moment before responding. "Most of it, I suspect. But it's mostly concentrated to the center."

She pointed to the immediate right of the chalkboard where a pair of witches on the Delta team were surrounding a small mound of rock. Hermione couldn't make out the individual runes from this distance, but could see faint outlines.

"I'll start there then. At least until the teams give me their daily report. What do you want to work on?"

"I've been focused on the categorization of each pillar. Hopefully setting up a map of sorts of the classifications will prove useful."

Hermione nodded. Often with complex warding systems such as this the creator had several distinct sections of warding that focused on an individual task. For example, one cluster of pillars was designated to expel those with ill intent, while another was focused on disillusioning the warded area. Hogwarts had many clusters of pillars that surrounded the campus.

"Keep me updated on the progress, will you? I think you're on the right track."

Fleur smiled. "Of course."

Hermione pulled the report together and started to work.

/

As often happened when she was engrossed in her work, Hermione was completely unaware of the passage of time. She had been working nearly without break, the exception being a short 5 minute lunch where she scarfed down a pre-packed sandwich. Her concentration was broken by a hand placed softly on her shoulder and a quiet "It's time to go."

"You go ahead I'm in the middle of something." She spoke automatically.

"It's nearly 8, and the work will still be here tomorrow."

Hermione reluctantly tore her gaze from the report.

"I suppose you're right. I'm just going to write down my thoughts." She paused, drawing on her Gryffindor bravery before adding, "If you want to walk back together?"

The moment of apprehension was well worth it when Hermione was rewarded with a wide smile.

"I'd love to. I'll wait by the chalkboard." She jerked her head in its direction.

Hermione followed Fleur's indication only to be shocked by the lack of people.

"Where is everyone?"

"Did I not say it was nearly 8?"

"When did they leave?"

"About two hours ago."

"Why didn't you go with them?"

"If I said it was to continue work would you believe me?"

"Yes?"

Hermione was confused when Fleur looked amused at her response.

"Well, then I was still working."

Hermione nodded seriously.

"There's so much to do here. I can't believe how intricate the rune system is. This will take months."

"In that case leaving now really won't make much of a difference in the long run will it?"

"No, I suppose you're right."

"Finish up Hermione, you have five minutes before I drag you out myself."

"Oh? You think you could take me all by yourself?"

Fleur hummed. "If properly motivated. I've been known to 'take people.'"

"I think you'll find I'm not most people."

"No, I suspect you'd require a bit more handling than others."

Hermione, who up until this point had been doing an admirable job of holding her own, if she did say so herself, was left speechless. Her eyesight dropped quickly to Fleur's lips before snapping her gaze back to the report.

"5 minutes."

"Pas une minute de plus."

/

Four minutes later they were walking back towards the center of the city. They passed the time discussing anything but the case, at Fleur's insistence, and quickly found themselves standing outside of Hermione's building.

"You're not far are you?" Hermione had a sudden fear of Fleur walking alone in the dark despite the rational part of herself knowing that she was more than capable of protecting herself.

"You could say I live close by." Fleur said with a smirk.

Hermione narrowed her eyes but refused to comment. Instead, she unlocked the door and stepped inside. She turned back towards the entrance when she didn't hear the front door close. Fleur was only a step behind her.

"I live in this building too 'ermione. The ministry owns the entire building- everyone on the case is assigned an apartment."

"And you couldn't tell me that earlier?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

A/N

I just realized I messed up with the formatting for french sentences, I was copy and pasting and didn't even think about it. So moving forward, italicized is French and regular is English. Sorry about that! I'm still very new to so apologizes with any formatting issues that may arise. Slightly miffed about the lack of an author notes section, but it is a struggle I will aim to overcome. I do read reviews! Just not 100% sure how to respond to them on here.. heh. Rest assured, I 3 them.