Chapter 13
Hermione sighed deeply, the memo in front of her was nothing new to her, and yet she had an almost obsessive need to review every piece of paper placed in front of her. "He's a Werewolf!?" Harry exclaimed as he storming through her office door without warning.
Hermione nearly jumped out of her skin from surprise, she felt her skin vibrating from shock and she slapped a hand over her heart. "That's a bit dramatic, don't you think, Harry!" She flicked her wand shutting the door behind him as she gathered herself.
"Hermione, that is important information to have! You just can't neglect to tell me that," Harry stressed as he pressed his hands into her desk.
"I take it you finally got the information that you guys are on werewolf protection duty." Hermione nonchalantly shuffled her papers around avoiding eye contact with Harry. Harry was not often very mad, he was certainly the most evenly tempered of the three of them since Voldemort's fall.
"Hermione, look at me. He's a werewolf," He emphasized again.
"Yes, Harry, I'm well aware. In fact, I'm sure I knew before you did, so I'm not seeing the point in storming in to my office yet." Hermione gave Harry a sharp look.
Harry let out a slow long breath. "Hermione, you can't see hi-"
"I'm sorry, what?" She cut him off. "Why shouldn't I see him?! If I remember correctly we were very close with Lupin, who happened to be a werewolf. You had no issue with him, Harry, never batted an eye about that!" Hermione argued, standing up to be eye level with Harry.
"Lupin was different, Hermione. He had it under control, and he wasn't a Death Eater who hated muggleborns. Malfoy could hurt you!" Harry rounded the desk to stand directly in front of her.
"Really? Because Lupin seemed like he didn't care who he went after in our third year! He attacked his best friend, Harry! He was just as much a danger to me then as Malfoy will be." She placed a hand on her hip, the other still propped up on the desk.
"Hermione, think. What if he's just getting close to you to attack you?" Harry stepped closer to her, a pleading look in his eyes.
"Harry," her voice was softer now, "it's not like that." Though she had not even thought of this option, and while there was some feasibility to it, she instinctively knew that was not Malfoy's intentions, why she knew this, she had no idea. "He never took the Dark Mark."
Harry's pleading eyes shifted as he thought for a moment, Hermione could almost see the gears turning in his head. "No, you-" His voice trailed off. "In the Astronomy tower, you didn't see him Hermione. You weren't there. He-he, was going to kill him. You didn't see that hate in his eyes, Hermione."
Hermione grimaced, there was nothing that she could say to justify Malfoy's attempt at murder. "He didn't, though. You said he hesitated. That's the Malfoy I'm trying to find, the one who didn't kill Dumbledore, the one who didn't rat us out at the Manor."
Harry gave Hermione a pleading look. "Hermione, we saw him in Borgin's, threatening the shop keeper. It had to be the Dark Mark!"
Hermione shook her head. "He never took it." He laid her hand on top of his as his brain churned with the new information. "What we thought we saw that night in Burgin's was Malfoy showing the shop keeper the bite mark. That's why he threatened him with Greyback and not other Death Eaters."
"But why was he bitten?"
"Voldemort was punishing Lucius for not getting the prophecy, it was a very common thing for Voldemort to do. That's why we saw the spike in werewolf bites," she explained.
Harry leaned on to her desk, still turning the information around. "You were right."
Hermione's eyebrows knitted together. "About what?"
"That year, sixth year. I spent the entire year saying he was a Death Eater and you kept telling me to let it go because you said it wasn't true." He thought for a moment. "Wait, how did you know?"
Hermione thought back to sixth year, and sure enough she had spent the entire year fighting Harry over it until the attack on Hogwarts. "I don't honestly know, I just couldn't fathom someone as young as he was, as we were, doing such a thing."
"He was terrorizing us, you called him evil third year. What made you think that he wouldn't?" Harry's brows furled this time.
Hermione thought for a long time. She honestly had no idea why she never believed he took it. "Maybe it was just how broken he seemed that year." She breathed. "You said you found him in the bathroom terrified. If he was truly a Death Eater he wouldn't have been so scared. If he truly believed in Voldemort, he would been excited to take out Dumbledore to get in his favor, I don't think he would have hesitated." The last part seemed more like question than an actual statement.
Harry considered everything for a moment. "Hermione, that doesn't make him any less dangerous."
Hermione leaned against the desk next to Harry. "No more dangerous than Remus, and we trusted him with our lives, Harry, and I don't expect to get that close to Malfoy." She laid her head against Harry's shoulder as a contemplative silence fell between them.
A soft knock broke the air and a tentative Melody poked her head through the door. "The Aurors department has sent for you."
Harry stood up. "Thanks, Melody." He gave Hermione a quick squeeze before he moved to leave.
"Oh, I meant they want to see you both actually," Melody clarified.
"Me?" Hermione questioned. "Did they say for what?" Melody just shook her head and Hermione gave Harry a concerned look as she too stood.
They walked in relative silence, Hermione's head was pounding. Why would the Aurors want to see her? As the lift opened up to the second floor Harry led Hermione to his department and held the door open to the conference room where it seemed almost all the Aurors and their support staff were present. Kingsley was standing at head of the table and looked up at them when they had entered the the room. "Excellent, now let us begin." Kingsley had taken over the head of the Aurors department since the end of the war, though from what Hermione understood he was that only in name. It had been a long understanding that Kingsley was only holding the title while he was Minster to give Harry a few years experience until he would take over. On a day to day, basis Harry was the one who ran the department, which made the fact that he had come to dictate the meeting even more worrisome.
"A report has just come in that there has been more werewolf attacks. We still have information coming in from St. Mungo's, but these ones seem to have the same signs as the attacks that we have seen in the past few months." Kingsley displayed the crimes scene photos on the wall behind him.
Hermione cringed at the state of the victims in the photos. While she had dealt with wounds and injuries before, it never made it easy to seem people hurt and in pain. Her heart always wrenched when she saw the victims in the state of terror.
"However, this time it seemed the assailant was out to make point. He now, officially, has a death toll. In his spree last night he attacked a family." The look on Kingsley's face became very grim. "The victim was Ernie McMillian."
Hermione gasped. "Harry, he was in Hufflepuff!" her whisper harsh.
"I know." Harry grasped her hand to squeeze it.
"McMillian was bitten at the battle of Hogwarts but was managing his infliction well. He eventually married a woman by the name of Jessica." Kingsley motioned to one the pictures on the wall, a simple looking woman with long dirty blonde hair gazed back at the room. "She was allowed to live, the attacker telling her that she needed to be punished for marrying such scum, but he was giving her a second chance to marry better." Kingsley clenched fists and his jaw locked. "He murdered the two children. Maxine and Mathew, telling their mother that their blood was tainted by their father."
A rogue tear rolled down Hermione's cheek. She had no idea that Ernie was even bitten. She honestly had not even thought of him since Hogwarts, and now she was learning that he had made a happy life for himself after the war and then had it ripped away.
"So as you can see these once simple attacks have escalated, so we need to step up our game. Miss Granger, would you please."
Hermione's eyes shot open, but she slowly stood up. "Uh, thank you Minister. At my Department, we have accumulated a list of known werewolves." She looked at Kingsley, what the hell was she suppose to say?! Wasn't this a job for her boss?! "I have reached out to some of our more high profile werewolves and been working on their security measures, and we will be coordinating with you about safety and protection details." She looked at Harry, who nodded back at her, then stood up.
"The way we're going to split this is we will have an investigative team, and then everyone will be assigned to work specifically with a Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures officer who has been appointed liaisons with the werewolves themselves."
Hermione chimed in. "We will be giving out fake galleons to each of the werewolves and each of you as well. They will act as an alert system to you if they feel if they are in danger. Your galleons will be charmed to get hot and whistle when the other is activated, they will also have a locating spell placed on it that way you need only to use it as a port key to get to the werewolf in question."
Harry leaned over to Hermione. "Great idea," he mumbled into her shoulder.
She smiled. "You will get further instructions once you've been assigned. Now there are roughly 200-250 listed and registered Werewolves in the UK itself, which, keep in mind, is about thirty percent more than before Voldemort's return. So we have a lot of people to watch and protect and not a lot of people to do it. So please, be patient and vigilant. We don't more tragedies like the McMillians." Her voice was softer as she finished.
"Thank you, Miss Granger." Kingsley nodded at her. "I have more bad news to share. According to the guards at Azkaban, there was break out last night. Three Death Eaters are missing, Rookwood, Dolohov, and Nott. Some of the guards said that the Carrow twins were the ones to infiltrate Azkaban, and if this is true, then we now know of five active Death Eaters on the loose, not to mention the ones that disappeared during the war. It's very possible that they are aligning again, so I have sent memos to the prophet and other papers warning of the escape and the danger of those who have escaped." The room was silent as a thick feeling of tension fell over them. "So, on top of protecting werewolves, it is important that we capture these escapees and whomever they may be working with and be sure to quash any chance at a rebellion." Kingsley looked over the room. "Okay, get to it." The room erupted and people started leaving the office.
No one wanted to see a third war, no one wanted to live on the edge of their seats wondering if they were going to be next. This new world they were building post-Voldemort was far from perfect, but it was far better than the one they had been living in. "Granger, Potter." Kingsley caught them just at they were about to leave the office. "I hope I don't have to tell you how much danger you two and the Weasley's are in?"
Hermione's shook her head. Of course the three of them would be on the top of the hit list, they were the ones who had brought down Voldemort. Kingsley eyed Hermione. "And I think it may be prudent to be extra diligent with Draco Malfoy."
Hermione looked surprised by this. "I'm sorry?"
"Mr. Malfoy divulged a lot of information on former Death Eaters and was instrumental in putting Nott away. It would not surprise me if they wanted revenge."
Hermione wished more then ever she had the full dictations form Malfoy's trial, she had only received that small excerpt about why and how he was bitten. What did Malfoy have to say that put him at such a risk? Hermione nodded. "Yes, sir. I will inform him personally."