Author's Note:

Back from hiatus!

I'm so sorry it took me so long to get back to posting, but I completely miscalculated the effort for both the Dramione Remix ("Here's Looking At Us") and the Dramione Duet ("Cleansing"). Plus I wanted to have a couple of chapters ready before I start posting again, to have less stress writing it. FYI, I'll resume the fortnightly schedule for posting the chapters.

This chapter immediately follows the last chapter, where Nott has discovered the mole, and shows how they deal with it—however professional or emotional it is.

And last, but not least: A big thank you to luunascope for taking over as beta after my previous had sadly needed to step back because of RL. Thanks to Grace, aka optimise, for everything you did, your help was greatly appreciated!

Enjoy, and please do leave a comment if you liked it! They make my day and keep me going... =)

Chapter 14 – The Mole

Harry had never seen Draco in such a murderous state, losing his control as soon as Nott had mentioned the name. All he could do was run after the blond for damage control. "Malfoy!"

However, Draco seemed deaf in his rage, marching straight towards the cells, his fingers tightly wound around his wand. "Who would dare...!"

"Malfoy! You're only making it worse!" Harry shouted, trying to keep up with Draco and failing, cursing his exhaustion and the longer legs of the other. Seconds later, he could hear the tell-tale sound of spells being cast in the cell area, and he took up speed because he didn't need a dead prisoner before he had the chance to interrogate him. He shared Draco's desire to take out revenge on anyone, but there were other ways to do it—Cursing someone into oblivion wasn't enough. Not if they wanted Hermione back in one piece.

"RIVERSIDE! HOW COULD YOU?!" Draco was completely focused on causing Riverside as much pain as he possibly could, only shying back from using the Unforgivable Curses which were still punished with a life sentence in Azkaban. But it wasn't much that kept him back. "NOT HERMIONE! YOU PIECE OF UTTER SHIT!"

Riverside, who had already been placed in the cell by Nott earlier, had no chance of defence against the onslaught of jinxes and curses being cast in his direction. He was panting heavily, wincing in pain, but not yet begging for mercy.

"YOU DESERVE WHAT SHE IS GOING THROUGH!" Draco's voice was getting coarser, but his rage did not ease down—he was fully consumed by it. "Sectumsempra!"

Horrified, Harry saw the white light of the Curse leave Malfoy's wand, only to see it miss Riverside by an inch. This has gone too far now! "Expelliarmus!"

"Potter!"

To Harry's relief, Draco's wand flew in his direction so that he could catch it. However, disarming Draco also meant that he was now a target for his rage as well—and Draco was beyond the point of reason at the moment. "Enough! THIS is not helping her at all, Malfoy!"

"Give me back my wand, POTTER! I'm not done yet!" Draco stormed towards Harry, his hand stretched out demandingly, his eyes so dark it was scary to see. "I've seen those fights, Potter! You have no idea what she is going through! We could have found her long ago!"

Harry stayed where he was, not shrinking away from a furious Draco, but he moved the Hawthorn wand out of his reach. "I'm not going to tolerate the abuse of my prisoners, is that understood?"

"He deserves it!"

"Probably, but that's not up to you to decide!" Harry drew his own wand to point it at Draco who was threatening to attack him physically. "No! Calm the fuck down! Or our deal is over!"

That made Draco finally stop in his tracks. "You wouldn't dare–"

"Get out, Malfoy! I will deal with Riverside! Hermione is as much my responsibility as you think it's yours." When Draco didn't move, Harry lifted his wand to emphasise his words. "Leave, or I will put you in a cell as well..."

"Fine." With a last growl, Draco finally left the cell area, but not without pushing into Harry's shoulder.

Harry clenched his jaw to avoid hexing the annoying git for his petty behaviour. He did understand the rage, even sympathised with it—but they couldn't afford any mistakes right now in order to catch all involved in Hermione's kidnapping. After a deep breath and twirling Malfoy's wand in his hand, he returned his attention to Riverside, who was still recovering from the onslaught of hexes and jinxes cast at him just moments ago; at least he regained a sitting position.

"Thanks, boss."

"Just one thing, Riverside... You will wish you'd never betrayed any of us, especially not me." Harry came up to Riverside's cell. "Malfoy's rage is nothing compared to what I wish to do to you. Hermione is family, and you sold her out. You will pay for that, one way or another—and if I have to pay for a Dementor to suck out your soul..."

"B-Boss, that's illegal!" Riverside let out in shock, but he gained his composure again a second or two later.

Harry only narrowed his eyes threateningly at Riverside. "You sold out one of us, prepare to pay for it." The longer he glared at Riverside, the more he understood Draco's rage, his desire for revenge, even felt it prickle in his fingers that were still playing with Draco's wand. No one attacked those he considered family without going unpunished, and he would make sure that Riverside paid the highest price possible for what he had done. "You'll be questioned later."

With a bitter, rather pained smirk, Riverside leaned against the wall. "You can't pressure me like Barsky..."

Harry had just turned around to walk out when he heard Riverside's words. It took him quite some effort not to respond to Riverside's taunting words; with only a short shake of his head, he made to leave the cell area.

..

Draco was waiting right at the entrance to the cell area, impatiently walking up and down in front of it. "You still have my wand, Potter."

"That was completely uncalled for, Malfoy. Utterly unprofessional!" Harry retorted, grinding his teeth at Draco's petty tone. "I feared you'd react like that–"

"How in Merlin's seven hells can you stay calm? If he hadn't sabotaged everything, we could have found Hermione weeks ago!"

"I'm not calm." Harry finally handed back the wand he had confiscated earlier, stepping up to Draco with a stern look over the rim of his glasses. "And you're banned from the cell area."

"POTTER!" With a growl, Draco snatched his wand from Harry's hand, immediately checking it for any damage. "You agreed to an all-access deal, remember?"

"It was based on the assumption that you'd behave professionally." With a sigh, Harry passed Draco to walk over to his office. He needed a moment to himself before he could deal with Riverside. In the corner of his eye, he saw Nott leaning expectantly against his desk, watching them from afar. "Nott, you're my partner in the interrogation. Bring me everything you got on him."

"Not Weasley?" Theo asked in surprise, but he immediately started collecting everything on his desk.

"He'd kill Riverside on sight for endangering Hermione."

"Let me have five minutes with Riverside, and he will tell us everything," Draco said, a low growl escaping him while he followed Harry through the rows in the open desk area.

Taking a deep breath, Harry turned around. The blond was testing his already thin nerves with his insistence. "No, Malfoy. You can watch from the observation room, but that's it. Nott and I will do the interrogation. Is that clear?"

"Why? You're just as personally affected–"

"SHUT IT, MALFOY!" Harry exploded. "YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED! AND YOU'RE COMPLETELY BLINDED BY WHATEVER YOU STILL FEEL FOR HERMIONE!"

"YOU ARE TOO! AT LEAST YOU KNEW ABOUT–"

"MALFOY, DON'T! THIS ISN'T THE TIME FOR BEING PETTY!"

"I'M NOT PETTY!"

"I WONDER HOW HERMIONE WAS ABLE TO LIVE WITH YOU!"

Draco huffed at Harry's retort, shaking visibly from the effort not to lose his control. "I wonder how Ginny can live with you, as short-tempered and short-sighted you still are. At least you let her work for the Prophet..."

"SHE–"

"Stop it, both of you!" Theo demanded, glaring at them with his wand ready to cast any spell to keep them fighting any further. "Insulting each other, however satisfying it feels, doesn't help."

"You almost killed him, Malfoy. The Sectumsempra!" Harry hissed, taking a step back.

"You're the expert on it, right?" Draco taunted. "I still have the fucking scars from your attack..."

With a desperate roll of his eyes, Theo cast the Silencio on both of them. "Enough! We don't have the time for petty games; we have an interrogation to prepare." He glared at Harry when he saw him clench his fists. "I'll revoke the spell when you both stop fighting over nothing."

To Theo's relief, the both nodded seconds later, albeit reluctantly so. "We had a deal, Potter," Draco muttered as soon as he had regained his voice.

Harry shook his head and took a deep breath. Theo was right, a shouting match with Malfoy was pointless right now—he needed his nerves and calm to deal with the mole, and he had just lost it. "Look, Riverside is my responsibility; he slipped my notice long enough. I don't want to fuck this up any further than I already have because I want Hermione back just as much as you do. So, please, let me do the job I'm trained for..."

Also taking a deep breath, Draco ran a hand through his hair and nodded to Harry's relief. "Fine..."

Harry smiled thinly. "Get yourself a drink in the cafeteria; I need to prepare myself first."

..

It had taken Draco a detour outside to have a proper alcoholic drink in order to calm down to a manageable level. He felt once more in control of his emotions, though his anger was still simmering just below the surface. Thank the gods there had been a Muggle place not too far from the Ministry where he had downed a double shot of their strongest whisky. With a melancholic sting to his heart, he remembered that there had only ever been two things capable of bringing him back down from a rage—Hermione, and a shot of Firewhisky or its Muggle equivalent, ever since she had introduced him to it.

Now settled in the observation room with a paper cup of the strongest coffee the cafeteria had, Draco watched how Riverside was brought in for questioning, and he could barely resist the urge to barge into the room to continue throwing hexes and jinxes at the man who had dared to sabotage Hermione's rescue mission. Oh no, he was nowhere near done with him.

Drinking a sip, Draco watched Harry sort the file in front of him, the jaw taut from restraint anger. He hadn't said anything yet, but it was clear that it took him a lot of effort to stay professional—something Draco envied Harry for right now.

"Hey, you here?"

Surprised to hear another voice in the observation room, Draco turned around to find Ron entering, brows furrowed questioningly.

"Potter wouldn't let me join the interrogation," Draco replied coolly and returned his attention back to the interrogation.

"Why are they questioning Riverside?" Ron joined him in front of the one-sided mirror to have a look into the other room.

"I take it you haven't been informed?"

Ron shook his head and stuck his hands into the pockets of his trousers. "Just got a call from Harry to come in. Something about a mole. He didn't mention you."

Draco let out a bitter chuckle, his eyes still glued to the three men in the other room. "You missed quite a show."

"The way Harry looks, I'm pretty sure. Especially if you were involved as well."

Draco finally turned his head to look at Ron, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Riverside's the mole. He's the reason why we haven't found Hermione yet," he said, curious whether Harry was right in his assumption that Ron might kill Riverside on the spot. And from the way Ron's whole posture stiffened while his jaw clenched, Harry might have been correct. Somehow, when it came to Hermione, the three of them felt similar—they all were highly protective of her, to the point of losing their cool when she was in danger.

"He's the one?" Ron finally said through gritted teeth, now crossing his arms, his fingers twitching from the restraint not to reach for the wand and just storm into the other room.

"Yes." Draco nodded. "He'd be dead now if Harry hadn't stopped me..."

In the interrogation room, the silent game was still going strong, with Riverside slowly growing more nervous the longer Harry just stared at him, disdain—if not straight hatred—turning his eyes into a dangerously dark green.

"Riverside better spill whatever he knows, or he might not make it out alive," Ron said, more to himself.

"You have nothing to pin on me, except for his word," Riverside said in the interrogation room, leaning back in defiance and nodding towards Theo sitting next to Harry. "And wasn't he responsible that she got kidnapped in the first place? Because he didn't follow protocol during a stakeout mission?"

The only reaction Draco could see from Theo was him cracking his knuckles—even through the one-sided mirror, Draco imagined he could hear the sound. "What's the protocol?"

"It just says to keep constant contact when checking out a location, sight or call," Ron replied rather absent-minded, his attention just as fixed on the interrogation as Draco. "I've read the reports of that night... No mistake made."

"Riverside, you wouldn't be sitting here based on a simple accusation," Harry meanwhile replied flatly, opening the file in front of him. "Nott has accumulated quite a few proofs of your sabotage, such as changing files so that certain information pertaining to The Organisation disappeared, or you planted wrong information that would lead us away from them. And I'm convinced you even delivered inside information about our cases and operations–"

"You're the reason why that factory hall was empty when we raided it," Theo added calmly, though there was a hint of menace in his voice.

"All I want to know is why?"

Draco almost destroyed the now empty paper cup in his hands when Riverside only shook his head in response to Harry's question. The urge to wipe off that damn smirk off that bastard's face resurged, letting him flex his fingers to avoid reaching for his wand, then he saw a similar reaction in Ron.

"He's always been a bit peculiar, that one," Ron said, clenching his jaw. "Always stayed longer than the others and stuff. Not too much into team building..."

"Power," Riverside said, his voice rather smooth; however, his fingers were drumming nervously on the table. "The Organisation holds the real power behind everything. The Ministry is just a puppet. Everyone is."

Draco could only shake his head at the discrepancy between Barsky who had broken down from the pressure, and Riverside's cocky behaviour. Of course, the latter knew the procedures of an interrogation all too well as an Auror. Barsky had understood his role as a small cog in the wheel, a mistake that had trapped him for the rest of his life. Riverside's cocky answer about power, however, reminded him eerily of his days amongst the Death Eaters, or rather what his father had told him about their glory days to seduce him to join—it was the same cocky false feeling of importance because they had belonged to what they thought was an elite group that controlled everything. In the end, it had all come crumbling down.

"Reminds me of some people," Ron commented with a slightly abrasive tone to his voice before he turned his head. "Looks like it's the same for you."

Draco nodded, his gaze still fixed on the scene in the interrogation room. "He sounds like my father when I was younger. The same delusion."

It seemed Harry had the same impression, as his eyebrow rose sceptically. "I've heard similar talks about power before," he said, his voice dripping with cynicism. "All dead now."

"Potter, the saviour of the world," Riverside remarked, clicking his tongue before he leaned back with crossed arms. "You did us a favour actually. Voldemort left a vacuum behind at the Ministry–"

"–so that people like you could step in," Harry finished the sentence, a slight crack audible at the end. "Cocky little shits with absolute no regard for others." He shared a brief look with Theo, who only nodded and then pulled out a vial with a clear liquid on the table.

Riverside's eyes were fixed on the vial, his lips twitching, but he said nothing. Only his body stiffening revealed to Draco that he knew what the vial meant.

"This time it's no bluff," Ron remarked. "Betraying one of our own is the line Harry draws. And Riverside knows that."

"I told him to give me five minutes with that arse to get what he wants," Draco replied, a low growl emphasising his words.

Ron turned his head to look at him, his eyebrow raised. "For once, I agree with you."

In the interrogation room, Theo had placed himself behind Riverside, similar to what Ron had done with Barsky—but with less restraint, as he was already pulling Riverside's arm back to fix him in place. "You're worse than the lowest Death Eater scum," Theo said with a growl, "and I've met a few. But you know what they were especially good at?" He pulled Riverside's arm further up to emphasise his words, only satisfied when the suspect let out a pained whimper.

Draco could see a satisfaction flicker over Harry's face in response to the whimper, though his eyes were still glinting dangerously. A shiver ran down his spine, knowing he was about to witness a side of the Head Auror he had barely ever witnessed before; a quick glance to Ron showed that he had seen it before, as his lips had disappeared into a thin line and he had taken an anticipating position as if he was waiting for an explosion of sorts.

"You know what my father taught me before he died fighting for his beliefs, as wrong as they were?" Theo continued, his voice full of deeply buried menace allowed to run free.

"You can kill... you can kill me," Riverside said, adding a bitter laugh, "but you won't ever stop them."

"Oh, we're not going to kill you," Harry replied dangerously calmly, swaying the vial with the Veritaserum between his fingers. It looked like he was considering the options he had—the use of the Truth Potion or Nott's threat. A simple nod towards his interrogation partner decided it.

Theo pulled Riverside up as roughly as he could, only to push him into the next wall from where moments later pained screams were heard.

"What's he doing?" Draco asked, surprised at the developments in the interrogation room. "Is that a Crucio?"

Ron shook his head adamantly. "Even we aren't allowed to use it, even though Riverside would deserve it–"

"Oh, yes, he does."

"Yeah, Nott uses an old curse that causes pain but without the lasting effects of the Crucio. And yes, we had the background checked thoroughly."

As Riverside only laughed when he stopped the first wave of the curse, Theo repeated it after a brief nod from Harry, who had a scarily bloodthirsty look.

"No one ever attacks my family, and no one ever betrays me."

"You're using torture to get a confession," Riverside said between screams. "If the Minister hears about this–"

Harry joined them at the wall, pulling his glasses off for a quick cleaning swipe. "You don't get it. I have free reign to do what needs to be done to find Hermione. So what do you know about her whereabouts?"

"You won't find her. Whatever The Organisation has claimed is theirs."

"Where is she?" Harry repeated, nodding to Theo to repeat the curse.

Riverside's screams started to get coarser, yet his defiant smirk remained. "I don't know. It's not my job to know those details... If she's lucky, she's already dead. She's just collateral damage–"

That was when Harry snapped. He pulled Theo back and sent his former Auror flying through the interrogation room with a wandlessly cast Levitation Spell, letting him crash into wall after wall, even hitting the one-sided mirror once. "A DEMENTOR'S KISS IS TOO NICE FOR YOU!"

Both Ron and Draco immediately joined them in the interrogation room for damage control. Ron handled Harry, which took him some effort, while Draco teamed up with Theo to secure Riverside.

"Where is she?" Draco demanded, pulling Riverside up. "Tell us or you wish you'd be dead."

Riverside laughed cockily, though he winced slightly from the pain at the hands of the others in the room. "I really don't know, Malfoy. And if I knew, I wouldn't tell you. How's Maude?"

"You think a dead owl scares me?" Draco replied, adding a threatening chuckle before he shared a look with Theo. "Death Eaters at least had style, you're just scum. I promise you, if we find her alive, I will let her have a go at you. And Potter will turn a blind eye, I'm sure."

"I just might," Harry said in the back. "Let me go, Ron. I'm fine."

Draco turned his head around, only to see that Ron still had Harry in a grip that kept him under control. He nodded in response to Ron's questioningly raised eyebrow, then he turned back to Riverside. "See the four of us in this room? We will make sure that no stone is left unturned to find Hermione, and we will take down everyone and everything in our way. Understood?"

Riverside wanted to laugh once more, but the smile died, and he only nodded.

"Good." Draco let him down, albeit rather roughly. "Theo, take him back to his cell, make sure he has no contact with other prisoners."

"We need to discuss everything," Harry said, having regained his usual calm, controlled disposition. He smiled grimly when the others all nodded. "But first, a drink."

..

It was late at night when the day finally came to an end for Draco, as the discussion with the other three about the somewhat botched interrogation didn't want to end, going through the same points over and over again until they were all exhausted.

He had reached his limit, exhausted beyond belief after everything he had been through during the weekend. Yet he couldn't leave the Auror Department without another visit to Hermione's office. Harry had warded it so that only the two of them could enter it to avoid further tampering with anything inside it, and Draco was silently glad for it.

It had been eight years ever since he had last spoken to her, had last felt the comfort of her presence, but nothing had changed in all those years—as soon as he entered her office, he felt oddly calmer, probably his magic responding to her still lingering magical residue.

He took the picture he had seen the last time off the shelf to have another good look at it, smiling faintly at the captured kiss on his cheek. Today, for a moment, it had felt like she was slipping through his fingers, that they wouldn't be able to find her in time, and it had scared him profoundly. So, holding the picture was like bringing back the faint hope they all clung to. No, deep inside him, he knew she was still alive, in whatever hell she was. He wanted her to give him another of those kisses on his cheek that might turn into something more—even if might take a long while to get back there, if at all.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you about her."

Draco quickly turned towards the door, only to see Harry leaning against the frame. He nodded and returned his gaze to the picture in his hand. "It's not your fault, I think."

"I did beg her to just tell you, to talk to you, that you would be able to find a way to live with it. She was scared, you know?"

"Scared?" Surprised to hear that, Draco looked up again, gently twirling the picture in his hands. "Scared I'd leave her?"

His lips pressed into a thin line, Harry nodded.

Draco sighed. "I guess you remember the months after she disappeared?"

"Vividly. It was hell for all of us."

"Yes, hell is the perfect word for it."

Harry suppressed a yawn, then pushed his glasses back up. "Promise me one thing, Malfoy. If we get her back alive, let me have a talk with her first before you bring her to your safe house."

Narrowing his eyes slightly at Harry, Draco let the words run through his mind for a second. "Might be a good idea... The house is basically ready for her. It's heavily warded, better than your safe houses ever will be."

"Good to know." With a tired smile, Harry nodded towards the hallway. "Now, let's go home. It's late enough."

It was indeed late, and Draco started to feel the toll of his angry outburst, as the exhaustion had started taking over. With a sigh, he placed the picture back on the shelf. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier. Ginny's still pretty bad-ass."

Harry showed a short, proud grin while Draco joined him at the door. "She is. And she is going to kill me for getting home even later than usual these days."

"Tell her I held you up... It's not entirely untrue."

"Yeah, I might let you deal with her for once... Sorry about baiting you with Hermione, by the way. I know she could deal with you better than anyone else in the group."

Draco nodded in acknowledgement and passed through to the hallway. "Now, home."