Glad I could get a fun chapter out before the Jewish New Year started. Hope you all enjoy it! You certainly deserve it after all the suffering this story put you through.

So, no more pain for the remainder of this story (at least, not to the extent that these chapters have been painful, just a bit here and there). Congrats to you all on making it through the horrors of war.

It's time for the heroes to regroup and kick some ass.

Are you ready for some ass kicking?

Chapter 73

I love you.

Hermione sat on her cot and stared at the warm Galleon in her hand in relief, and closed her eyes for a moment. Draco was okay, no one knew it was him that broke her out of Azkaban.

She thumbed the Galleon in reply.

I know.

She stared at the glowing letters. For all Draco was doing for her, loving him it wasn't enough. Her nightmare was a visceral and terrifying reminder of what his role as spy was costing him. It was her turn to fight for him.

She thumbed the Galleon again and shoved it in her pocket.

I'm not letting you go.

Draco didn't understand the details of what she was facing by trying to secure a pardon for him, but he understood corruption. And so did she. Corrupt politicians all had weaknesses, by definition. Hermione just had to find Kingsley's.

Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to utilize the knowledge she gained from staking out Kingsley's home prior to the raid because of the need to make Portkeys.

But now she could.

Draco would be coming this week to lay all his cards on the table before Order leadership. But he needed ammunition, and Hermione was going to fucking get it for him.

She clenched her jaw in determination and peered at the nail she held between her thumb and index finger. Charmed to absorb liquid, it now contained a small amount of Kingsley's blood. Not a lot, but it would suffice. After much cursing at the errant nail protruding from the kitchen chair, which Hermione kindly removed for him, Kingsley returned to discussing with Minerva and Tonks how the Order would recuperate and go on the offensive. Hermione explained that the Trio's quest was nearly at an end, and Voldemort could soon be killed like any other mortal wizard.

In the meantime, they needed to devise a plan for retaking the Ministry and other wizarding institutions in the wake of the chaos Voldemort's death would cause.

Hermione was incredibly grateful for the lessons in Occlumency Kingsley had given her access to. Ironically, she was using the skill against him now. Every time he spoke, she suppressed the urge to claw his eyes out. He was prioritizing his post-war political ambitions over the future of a spy who was critical to any victory the Order could hope to achieve.

All Draco wanted in exchange was an Unbreakable Vow for a pardon, which Kingsley should have no trouble giving. Hermione would ensure he did. She smiled sweetly at the sodding bastard while he relayed the individuals that could be relied upon in the Ministry.

No, the smile was overdoing it. Instead, she schooled her expression into one of interest and nodded in agreement while he spoke.

Using lingering pain as an excuse to return to her tent to rest, Hermione left the meeting after twenty minutes. She was still in a lot of pain anyway, and didn't have to try very hard to be convincing. No one batted an eye. She didn't know exactly how long Kingsley would be held up, but had no doubt she'd have a decent amount of time to search his house while he wasn't present.

Hermione dropped the nail into a glass jar with a clink and cast a charm to extract Kingsley's blood. It wasn't much, but diluting it with water would provide enough liquid for what she needed, and she watched the liquid level rise slowly upon prodding it with a gentle Aguamenti.

After she swirled the liquid around, Ginny walked into the tent with an expression of concern on her face. "How are you feeling?"

Everything hurt. Absolutely everything. Her muscles, her bones, her joints. The pain potions helped somewhat but they made Hermione drowsy, and she needed to be aware for what she was about to do.

Previously, she assumed she'd be breaking into Kingsley's house by herself, but now she worried she was too weakened, only having just been given clearance to leave the Infirmary a few days ago. She didn't know if she could Apparate and was scared of trying.

But she had to go. She would not abandon Draco to Azkaban. Maybe Ginny could take her.

Hermione hated how helpless and useless she had been lately, not being able to function and left to her nightmares of Bellatrix and her knife. Recalling her short stay in Azkaban, her heart began to race and her breaths came in short pants. Soon she felt dizzy and squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself on the mattress.

"Hermione?" Ginny called her warily.

Mary explained that Occlumency would help until she could seek out a Mind Healer. It wasn't a long-term solution by any means, but would help her function on a day to day basis. Hermione compartmentalized her thoughts, bound the memories of Bellatrix away in a terrible blood red book and kicked it under the bookshelf of her mind.

To calm herself, she pictured snowflakes. Falling slowly on a frozen pond and melting into the ice. Gradually, her breathing steadied and her heartbeat slowed down.

She could do this.

Fucking Bellatrix wasn't going to stop her.

She opened her eyes and looked up at Ginny, hopeful at her presence. Ginny needed a distraction from Fred and Charlie's unknown fate. The youngest of seven siblings put on a brave face when around other people, but just as Ginny heard Hermione scream during her nightmares, Hermione could hear Ginny crying at night when she thought no one was listening.

"How about another girls' night out?"

Ginny furrowed her brows in worry but Hermione didn't miss the twitch of a smile. "You can't be serious, Hermione. Look what just happened now. You're still recovering. Mentally and physically."

"I can handle it." With a groan, she pushed herself up from her bed. "And there isn't time. I hate being useless. Can you Apparate me?"

Ginny eyed her up and down and Hermione grimaced. "Whatever 'this' is, it's not a good idea. You're not in any condition to go anywhere."

Hermione limped towards the tent flap, knowing Ginny wouldn't let her leave alone. "Then I guess I'll have to go myself."

"Are you serious?"

"I always take girls' night outs seriously."

Ginny sighed in resignation. "Can you at least tell me what we're doing? Please tell me it's not dangerous. You're in no shape to fight."

"It's not," Hermione replied with a wince as she hobbled out of the tent, Ginny at her heels. "The only thing we'll face if we get caught is Kingsley's wrath."

"Shacklebolt?" Ginny gazed down at her warily. "Isn't he on their side now?"

"We're going to break into his house," she replied, summoning her beaded bag from under her cot.

"He'll have us arrested if we're caught!" Ginny protested, eyes wide. "I told you, this isn't a good idea if you're injured. You can't fight."

"No," Hermione replied curtly. "He won't. And don't ask why."

Ginny stared at her for a moment in shock, and then her lips formed a small smile. "I'll figure it out eventually." She glanced down at her jar. "Is that his blood? How'd you get it?"

"Yep," Hermione replied without answering her second question. "Pure-bloods are so predictable sometimes."

"Hey!"

"Sorry." Hermione gave her an apologetic half-smile and took Ginny's arm. "His house is Twenty-eight Brownstone Lane, Woking. We've got at least another hour."

"Harry and Ron will kill me for this."

Hermione's lips quirked. "Since when do you worry about that?"

"For the record, I don't approve." Ginny glared down at her. "I'm only doing this because you threatened to go by yourself."

"Oh is that all?" She couldn't suppress her grin and Ginny narrowed her eyes.

"I might have an interest in seeing what other illegal activities you're up to."

Hermione scoffed, offended. "They're not illegal."

"Breaking and entering," Ginny retorted.

"I'm not breaking anything. We'll leave everything exactly as it was."

Ginny snorted. "Why do I get the feeling that huge things will happen because of these little excursions of yours?"

Hermione smiled wider and then cried out as Ginny Apparated them. She staggered forward, nearly falling on the sidewalk, but Ginny pulled her upright. Her whole body hurt, and she couldn't move well.

"Are you okay?" Ginny held her arm while Hermione clutched her side.

"Eh," she said with a grimace. "I'll live. Hold out your arm."

Ginny extended her arm and Hermione drew the rune for 'Home and Hearth' on Ginny's skin with Kingsley's blood. She muttered an incantation with her wand and the blood solidified. She repeated the action on herself and then unlocked Kingsley's front door.

"What are we doing here exactly?" Ginny asked as they crossed the threshold in trepidation.

Hermione exhaled in relief when nothing happened upon their entry into his house, and she shut the door behind her, glancing around.

"Getting information. Kingsley's hiding something. Probably several somethings."

Ginny turned to face her, wide-eyed. "I'm sorry. For a minute there, it sounded like we were going to blackmail Kingsley fucking Shacklebolt. Who for some reason won't arrest us and will only get a bit mad if we're caught. Is he secretly working for the Order?"

Hermione blinked at Ginny. It didn't take her long to catch on at all. "I'm going to blackmail him. You're just making sure I don't hurt myself Apparating. You have no idea why we're here. You don't even know whose house this is." She put her hand on her hip and tilted her chin up. "In fact, you didn't even come here of our own free will. I kidnapped you. Stop asking questions."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "In for a Knut, in for a Galleon," she muttered with irritation. "Let me guess. Shacklebolt won't give your criminal the pardon. You're going to force his hand, Order leader or not."

Hermione turned slowly towards her friend and blinked. Ginny's mouth spread into a shit-eating grin.

Un-fucking-believable.

They were so close to the end, she supposed it didn't matter anymore and didn't bother denying anything.

"Let's search his house together," Hermione said, scanning her surroundings. "If he comes home, we'll be able to get under the invisibility cloak and leave undetected through the front door while he's in another room. Hopefully we'll find what we need before then."

"I changed my mind," Ginny replied, rubbing her hands together with glee. "I'm glad I came. I can't wait to see what kind of dirt you're getting on Shacklebolt."

Hermione sent her a conspiratorial smile back. It was good to see Ginny happy. She hadn't been since her brothers went missing.

Kingsley's house was clean and sparse, but with modern furniture. It was apparent that he led a Bachelor's lifestyle. Hermione scanned the books on his coffee table in the living room and surveyed for concealment charms but there was nothing. Some pictures on walls showed happy family members. Siblings, nephews and nieces perhaps.

Hermione peered more closely at one of them and then winced as she strained something in her back. A small boy holding the hand of a young woman. Kingsley as a child maybe? With his mother?

Nothing unusual. She had no idea what she was looking for.

"Bedroom?" Ginny offered.

Hermione nodded and the two wandered down a hallway, peeking through until they found the room he slept in. Ginny pointed at the nightstand.

"Kingsley doesn't seem the type to wear necklaces."

Hermione hobbled over to the nightstand and bent over to get a better look. The gold necklace with a ruby pendant was familiar. Hermione tried to remember where she had seen it but came up short.

She stood up and glanced at Ginny.

"So, he has a lady friend."

"A rich lady friend," Ginny clarified, motioning her chin to the necklace. "She's more loaded than he is."

"Good for her."

"Did you know he was seeing someone?" Ginny asked. "He may have mentioned someone at your super-secret Order meetings."

Hermione glared at her but then shook her head. "No, he never talks about himself. Minerva could have some hot, young thing stashed away somewhere, what do I know?"

Ginny shrugged. "Go Minerva."

Remus and Tonks had always been open with her. Hermione bit back a sob at the thought of how their young family was recently torn apart. Teddy would grow up fatherless. She wiped an errant tear and Occluded so she could focus on the task at hand.

That necklace… Hermione knew she had seen it somewhere. She began rummaging absently through the dresser drawers while Ginny went through his closet. Nothing interesting, but there was plenty of female clothing. Dresses, blouses, skirts, lingerie… Whoever his lady friend was, it appeared to be a serious relationship. She dressed well, too.

No concealed drawers, cabinets, or cubbyholes that Hermione could detect. She glanced back to Ginny as she paged through a notepad on his nightstand. "Did you see a study? That would probably give us something better to work with."

Ginny turned around, red braid whipping back behind her. "Yeah, we passed one on the left."

They exited Kingsley's bedroom and entered his study. Hermione grimaced as she walked.

Lots of books, a desk with a quill and some parchments but otherwise bare, minimalist, boring. Like the rest of his house. They rifled through his parchments but found nothing of interest, some bank account information which Hermione was positive was on the up and up.

She exhaled in frustration. She couldn't even find evidence that he was leading the Order here.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Maybe there were some magically concealed drawers in the desk, or cubby holes in the wall. But not likely. Hermione performed a cursory scan which revealed nothing. She should have known better. If Kingsley was up to something, he wouldn't keep proof of it in his own house. He was too devious.

She sighed again. She wished she knew what she was looking for.

Ginny continued rifling through his papers while she pulled a photo album down from a shelf. Paging through, she saw the first few photos appeared to be from the Middle East. Squinting at his scrawl, she read the label.

'Beirut, 1982.'

Hermione would have been three years old back then. She saw Kingsley waving at the camera with a few other people she didn't recognize. The rubble of what appeared to be a mosque lay behind him. This would have been during the Lebanese Civil War, during the rise of Hezbollah and the Israeli invasion. No wonder he was so familiar with Muggle terrorism.

But why go to Beirut during a war? This didn't look like vacation travel.

Curious now, she flipped through the album, revealing more exotic locations. Greece, China, the United States, Russia, Japan, Italy. Kingsley travelled all over the world. But it was clear that every single site was Muggle. Although the pictures moved, she wondered if she was seeing wizards and Muggles together. Hermione remembered that he built his career as an Auror working internationally. The pictures showed a mixture of tourist attractions, war torn sites, areas targeted by terrorism.

Perhaps she was seeing Kingsley pictured with those he worked with while on assignment.

"Ginny?"

Ginny finished casting a few detection spells and glared at the blank wall in frustration. "There's nothing suspicious here, Hermione. Which means that he's definitely up to something. No one is this clean. Or this boring."

Hermione agreed. "Are wizards involved in Muggle crime?"

The ginger witch turned to face her. "Of course. That's why we have the Obliviation Department at the Ministry."

"No," Hermione shook her head. "Not crimes against Muggles, crimes with Muggles. Working with Muggle terrorist groups, Muggle mafias, arms dealers… that sort of thing."

Ginny chewed on her tongue in thought. "Not that I know of… but maybe we're not supposed to. What did you find?"

Hermione flipped back to the beginning to show Ginny the pictures of Beirut.

"Have you heard of Hezbollah?" she asked as Ginny leaned over her shoulder.

"No," she pointed at the photo of Kingsley standing with some other official looking people. "Oh look, he's a cutie."

Hermione squinted her eyes at a little boy tugging his mother's hand off to the side of the picture. The woman turned around and for a fraction of a second her face was in view of the camera.

Hermione gasped.

"Oh my god," she whispered softly.

It was Yasmine Zabini. A teenage Yasmine Zabini.

That little boy must have been Blaise.

"What? What'd you figure out?" Ginny asked, not even trying to contain the excitement in her voice.

Hermione paged through all the locations again. Greece, China, the United States, Russia, Japan, Italy.

Six locations. Yasmine Zabini had seven husbands. She had no doubt that her previous married names aligned with the places Kingsley had been stationed. Her first husband must have been Lebanese. The seventh, given her current name, was Italian.

And she had killed him. She had killed them all.

With… Kingsley?

But wouldn't Kingsley have arrested Yasmine for murdering her husbands? Hermione's mind raced for an explanation. That didn't make any sense. Unless… she was working for him? Given Yasmine's singular talent, she must have helped him bring in criminals, unbeknownst to the Auror office. That would certainly explain why he trusted someone who murdered for financial gain so implicitly. If Beirut was when they first met, that meant they had been working together abroad for over a decade.

Maybe Yasmine decided Auror pay was too meager for her, and decided to amass her own wealth by becoming a black widow. Or maybe she was marrying criminals in whatever network Kingsley was investigating.

Either way, Rita Skeeter would have a field day with this. Hermione wouldn't have to blackmail her into publishing this time. A scandal around election season would be devastating for Kingsley's career.

That bastard was going down.

"Hermione!" Ginny elbowed her in the ribs.

"Ow!" she grimaced. "I'm recovering from torture here!"

"Stop holding out on me! What did you find?"

But Yasmine wasn't married now, was she? She and Blaise still carried the name of the previous husband she had murdered. And Kingsley had recently returned from his international assignments since the return of Voldemort. Which meant…

Suddenly, they heard the whoosh of the Floo.

Alarmed, Ginny turned to her wide-eyed and Hermione quickly cast a Silencing Charm on each of them. Hearts racing, they covered themselves with Harry's invisibility cloak, and scurried into the corner where they wouldn't accidentally bump into anyone should they enter the study. Heels clacked through the living room into the kitchen.

"Sounds like his lady friend," Ginny whispered.

Hermione snapped the photo album closed and hugged the evidence to her body.

Please don't let it be her.

They heard her rummaging about in the kitchen and the clinking of glasses on the counter.

"Let's go see who it is!" Ginny whispered, despite the silencing charm. She stepped forward but Hermione grabbed her hand.

"Wait," Hermione said with a shake of her head. Assuming she was right, they'd be lucky to get out of here in one piece.

"But don't you think–"

A crack of Apparition cut Ginny off and both witches froze in their tracks.

"Kingsley, ya habibi! You finished early, how was the meeting?"

Fuck. It was her.

Hermione would recognize that velvety, sultry voice anywhere.

If Hermione and Ginny were caught now, Yasmine would know exactly what they were up to with one glance into Ginny's eyes. And then what would she do? Blaise's mother didn't want Voldemort to win but she wasn't beyond murder. How far would she go to protect Kingsley? Hermione had never been on the end of the other woman's wrath and had no desire to start now.

Hermione motioned to Ginny that they should back up to the corner of the study again. Slowly, the two witches grasped hands and cautiously walked backwards while Kingsley and Yasmine exchanged pleasantries and an affectionate kiss.

Their backs hit the wall.

"Ginny," Hermione whispered, even though they were silenced. "If that woman catches us, she'll know exactly what we're up to. I have what I came for. We need to wait until we can leave without being noticed."

They listened as someone poured the wine and the two clinked glasses.

"Who is it?" Ginny asked, even more intrigued.

"Not yet, Ginny. But I will tell you everything. Okay?"

"You owe me for life if I have to listen to Shacklebolt doing the nasty."

"Let's hope we can leave before that happens."

"I hope your criminal appreciates you."

Hermione swallowed and she felt a pull on her heart. She thought of Draco's panicked grey eyes while he tried to heal her, and then his impassive, sinister expression from her nightmare.

"He does."

They heard soft murmuring and Yasmine's throaty laugh.

"Penis," Ginny whispered.

"Don't you dare."

Next chapter: Draco and Hermione face the Order leadership. They have a few questions for Kingsley.