Astoria,

Seeing as your beloved husband is away on business yet again, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to take another weekend in Paris. I recall you commenting that you would love to come back, and I can't help but agree; it is rather romantic.

With all my love,

Red

When I returned back to my flat, I received a note through owl from Gringotts Bank. It simply stated that a deposit of 70,000 galleons has been placed into your Gringotts vault.

It shocked me that it had been a week and a day; it felt like a much shorter amount of time. I wondered if this was supposed to be his severance money. I hoped he'd listen to reason, because I certainly wasn't going to stop working to save Narcissa's life, especially considering the fact that Lucius' killer and Alex's attempted murderer was one and the same.

Harry and I were in front of the gate to the Manor bright and early the next morning. We were about to go in before Pansy apparated in front of us, folding her arms in front of her chest.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she advised.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. I tried to get around her to go through the gate, but she blocked my entrance lazily.

"Draco has arranged it so that the wards will keep you out of the manor using very unpleasant methods. I don't think you want to discover any of them."

"You're saying he blocked me from the house?" I clarified, flabbergasted. I'd never imagined Draco would be this angry.

"Yes, actually. I believe that is exactly what I said." Her face held none of the warmth I'd seen the night we'd gotten drunk in my flat.

"You can't be serious."

"Oh?" she asked, fury finally leaking into her voice. "I can't be? Draco is out there exhausting his resources trying to find someone to save his mother because someone he trusted abandoned him and his family. Meanwhile, Narcissa is here and I am on constant watch to make sure she doesn't impale herself with one of Draco's kitchen knives or throw herself down the stairs. Does that sound like a joke to you, Granger?"

"Just let me go in, Hermione," Harry said, a yawn almost making his words incomprehensible. "I'll just go to check on Narcissa."

"Did you think he'd forgotten what you said?" Pansy asked, turning to him. "The wards will keep you out too, Potter."

"But…" I said helplessly.

"You know, you two should have been Slytherins," she commented, unlocking the gate for herself and closing it behind her, turning around. "My mother always said that a Slytherin doesn't just kill the man that wrongs him; he tortures him first."

"Pansy…" I tried again, hoping that if maybe I could just talk some sense into her-

"Draco doesn't want you contacting him or his mother again. And I have to agree with him," she said over her shoulder. "So turn around and get the fuck out."

I managed to find Draco at Hanover, speaking closely Isabella. They were conversing in hushed voices, Draco gesturing wildly with his hands. I considered neglecting to go after him; after all, he looked like he was having plenty of success with the blonde-haired witch.

But I couldn't just let this go. Despite my best intentions, I had started to care what Draco thought of me. I didn't want him to think I'd given up on his mother; I hadn't. And I wanted him to know that I was still trying, paid or not.

I walked up to him, hoping he understood that I meant business. He was obviously intent on ignoring me, because it was Isabella who first acknowledged my presence. "And after I asked you ever so nicely to never come back," she sighed. "Some people just don't listen."

"Draco," I said deliberately. "I am sorry for neglecting to stand behind you in the hospital last night."

He turned around, looking at me blankly. "Haven't I already paid you your fee?"

I promptly ignored him. "You know I have done everything I could for your mother. And I am going to cure her, just like I'm going to cure Alex."

He exhaled. "Granger…"

"Shut it," I said, pointing my finger at his chest. "You," I poked him sharply, making him stumble back a little, "are going to listen to me. I am going to help your mother whether you like it or not. It is not optional. You do not get to sack me and expect me to go away like one of your employees."

"Granger…"

"I don't care about the money. I never cared about the money. I'm going to find the cure, whether you pay me or it's behind your back. I'm insulted that you think you can just ban me from the Manor, put up wards to keep me out, and tell Pansy to shout at me from behind your pretentious front gate."

He looked at Isabella helplessly. "Granger…"

"And stop calling me by my last name, you twat! Do I call you 'Malfoy' anymore? No, I don't, because we're not bloody children!"

"Alright!" he said loudly, drawing some more spectators in to view our ridiculous fight. "I'm sorry that I behaved like a child."

I took a deep breath and smiled. "That is all I ask."

Isabella burst into laughter beside him. We both looked at her strangely as she straightened up, wiping tears from your eyes. "What?" she asked. "It just became so obvious who wears the trousers in your relationship, that's all."

Without bothering to ponder what that meant, I told him I had some information regarding the case. Once Isabella had left, I filled him in on what I had discovered in the hospital. He was outraged to hear that someone had poisoned Alex, but was encouraged to find that if we found one killer, we found the other. He told me that he'd been asking Isabella if she knew anything, if at all, about Lucius' private life. Unfortunately, she had little useful information.

"It simply doesn't make sense," he said. "Who would have motive to poison Alex and kill my father?"

"Alex is your good friend, Lucius raised you. It seems like whomever it was wanted you to suffer," I told him. "Now we know that it isn't an enemy of Lucius…"

"It must be one of mine," he realized.

And that was when our search started again.

I ended up going to Briggs again, intent on speaking to Paige Vallis. She'd worked with Astoria, and I couldn't help but count her a suspect. Draco had ended the marriage suddenly, and she must have had some ill will towards him. Based on the reports, it looked as if their divorce was far from amicable.

The second I walked into Paige's office, she rolled her eyes and grabbed the files off of her desk, frankly informing me that she had a meeting to go to.

"You worked with Astoria," I blurted out.

"Listen, Granger, if you're going to waste my time…"

"Before she left the company, did she seem…" I paused, trying to think of the appropriate choice of words. "Angry at Draco for divorcing her?"

"I can't exactly speculate about Astoria's reasons for being angry at some unspecified point in time," she said, walking towards the door. "Now excuse me."

I had to jog after her as she started walking quickly down the stairs. "Fine. Did she seem especially angry around the period of the divorce proceedings?"

"At first, she was just acting incredibly listless and depressed when he handed her the divorce papers." She shook her head. "Her husband gave her the papers in the middle of a workday in front of her assistant; that kind of gossip spread like wildfire."

I almost snorted; that sounded exactly like something Draco would do.

"And then she came into work one day acting like she'd been asleep for the past six months," Paige continued. "She couldn't remember the name of a client she'd been nursing into a deal for three weeks. When her husband came back to schedule a meeting with the lawyers, she starting shouting and generally making a scene, demanding how he dare divorce her when she'd done nothing but love him. I almost fired her right then and there."

Strange; that sounded like a victim of obliviation. But why would anyone obliviate her? "Did she receive any strange fire calls or visitors?"

"Yes. She'd receive phone calls and insist on taking them. She'd lock herself in her office; sometimes I'd walk by and see her giggling and laughing and twirling her hair."

"Do you think those were with her husband?"

"Her husband never fire called her. Not while she was working at this company."

It had to be someone else. "Did she ever leave work early and make a strange excuse?"

"Yes, actually. She requested a weekend off. Her assistant complained that she had asked her to take all calls from her husband and tell him that she was going on a business trip."

She was having an affair. The obliviation would explain why she'd reacted so angrily towards Draco's request for a meeting with divorce attorneys even after she'd been served the papers. She'd been obliviated before she could reveal to Draco, or the courts, whom she was having an affair with; the obliviator was the man she'd been sneaking out to see that weekend and lied about time and time again.

And then I remembered something: something I'd heard behind the haze of wine and laughter. "And where, exactly, was Pansy in all of this?"

She stopped in her tracks.

"Ms. Vallis," I said, slowly and deliberately, "did Pansy and Astoria ever speak to each other? Get off of work and leave together?"

She didn't answer, refusing to look in my direction.

"Was she working the weekend that Astoria requested off?"

There was a moment of silence before she walked away quickly, the files held tightly in her arms. I didn't bother to chase after her.

Pansy's manor was as large as Draco's, yet not nearly as foreboding. A simple garden spread behind the gate, a beautiful fountain planted next to the entryway. The gate opened easily, and I assumed there were no wards keeping me out, considering I didn't immediately burst into flames. Katie opened the door quickly after I knocked, smiling warmly and commenting, "Hermione! It's amazing to see you again, darling."

I hugged her and smiled in return. "It's so nice to see you, Katie. I thought maybe we could have a cup of tea?" It sounded like a plausible request, and it wasn't as if she knew I despised tea.

"Of course, I'd love to! I wanted to catch up, but I feel like I never have the time. I'll go brew a pot."

"Do you mind if I use the loo?" I called out as she rushed to the kitchen, and she shouted that it was the third door on the right of the hallway.

I had to search through four rooms in order to find Pansy's master bedroom, but I was finally successful. I hadn't heard the whistle of the kettle blow, so I assumed I had a small window of time.

I went through her drawers first, rifling through various files and personal papers. When I couldn't find anything, I decided to go through her closet and wardrobe. My head snapped up as I heard Katie call my name, asking if everything was alright. And I was about to give up.

But then I decided to check one more place: under the giant, four-poster bed that Pansy and Katie obviously shared.

And there, I found a small box pushed into the corner, where none of light from the candles could reach it. In it was a stack of little notes, all addressed to Pansy.

Pansy,

I look forward to another day in bed with you.

A.M

Pansy,

I missed you last night. I feel like you haven't owled me in ages.

A.M

Pansy,

Thank you so much for the weekend in Paris, love. I'm sorry I haven't owled in a while, but Draco is in London for the week, and we were supposed to be catching up. He'll be gone by the next weekend, and we can meet again in our special place by the tree.

A.M

They went on and on, all exactly the same, expressing sentiments of love but saying almost nothing at all. I couldn't help but cringe at some of the things she'd written about Draco; clearly she'd had no love, or respect, for him. And Pansy obviously had no respect for her either; she'd had an affair with her and then obliviated her, keeping only these notes as a memory of their meaningless tryst.

And then I noticed something glinting in the box. I cast a lumos to brighten it up, wondering if she'd just left a few sickles behind. But it wasn't a few sickles.

It was a pendant I'd seen before, only it had been embedded deep in Narcissa's memory. A dark red locket on a silver chain in the shape of a rose.

A Slytherin doesn't just kill the man that wrongs him; he tortures him first, she'd told me earlier that morning.

And it became crystal clear exactly whom she was speaking of.