Hey Everyone! I know it's been a long time but school was busy. Moreover people, this is going to be my last update before 18th. I have a killer exam that day. Physics, Chemistry and Math. Two sets! So, the next update will be around 21st or 22nd. I wrote it very fast so please excuse any grammatical error or a spelling mistake. I know it is short but the next chappy would surely be long enough…
Thank you Veronica for your reviews! Thanx Shriya, as always! Thank you wait.siriusly., xxxxcrazychickxxxx and all the other who added me to their alert list!
Now, on with the story!
Chapter 3: The Two Teams
Granger, Raoul, Matthews and Boot were sitting at the table in the centre of the file room, an intense look of concentration on each ones' face, either their hands at their forehead, or massaging their temples to avoid a huge bout of migraine which was threatening to engulf them…
Potter was standing near the shelf containing innumerous records of past crimes, similar to the ones at their hands and which had occurred during Voldemort's time, discussing in a low voice, something serious with Blaise.
Longbottom was writing something and then observing his untidy scrawl and whatever he had written to look for possible patterns among them and then scratching it out when he found it non sense…
Draco himself was looking over the details of the attacks and the possible list of attackers came up in his mind. The ones who were acquaintances of his father at that time had such a style of killing and attacking and it confirmed his suspicions that they were behind these attacks. Surely the ex-death eaters (those who had been able to stay out of jail at least) were behind it all. Were they looking for some sort of reunion party?
Whatever Draco thought, one thing was clear in his mind… The ex-death eaters would most probably not risk their lives to Azkaban prison again willingly. Someone else must've organized everything and set those people on the dirty work. Was that guy fancying himself as the new dark lord or what?! Whatever, Draco pitied the poor guy. They would catch him soon and he would probably be given a little kissy by the lovely dementors, considering how fierce the magical community was towards anyone who now showed even the slightest aptitude to the evil dark magic.
But the problem lied in finding the person who was responsible for the new attacks. This brought not only Draco, but all of them back to square one. There was only one way to arrest such criminals and that was to catch them in their act. In other words, they had to be caught red handed.
This had been already discussed by all of them and even Arun, who had not been in England during Voldemort's time had to accept that the crimes were similar and not non serious. It all boiled down to the fact that they had to catch the miscreants at any cost to avoid the further killings. It had been very difficult for the aurors to keep the attacks low but if somehow, the media got a whiff as to what was happening, it would not take much time for the people to get back to the panicked state that they had just got used to not being in…
And yeah, they'd be screwed…
"I just can't work out anything in all this trash!" Finally Sara cried out, frustrated at the sheer lack of a pattern in the attacks.
"Relax Sara, take a break, there has to be something here…" Came the muffled yet a bit soothing voice of Terry Boot from behind the cushion he had been earlier using to support his aching neck and now was using for suffocating himself, which, thought Draco, was the stupidest way of committing suicide. Won't you yourself faint before you die due to lack of air and then breathe again while you are unconscious…
"I agree with you sweetheart!" Blurted Blaise from his position beside the shelf leaning with one foot flat against the wall, on the wall itself…
"C'mon Blaise, not you as well!" Arun said as he looked up from the parchment on which he had been scribbling. "You all know how important it is for us to work it out!"
"He's right!" Harry added, joining the conversation with the intention of making them all go back to their work.
"Oh please Potter! We all know that we are getting nowhere! Might as well give it up!" Draco drawled, utterly bored with the proceedings…
"We are certainly not giving up this mission!"
"I know that Potter! What I mean to say is that we will not get any lead in this stupid room among all these foul records."
"Do you think I am a tad bit less frustrated than you?"
"Why don't you accept it Potter?! Let's get out of here, call Smith and do some real work instead of this research non sense!"
"And how do you expect to get on to real work when you've got nothing to lead you…"
"Why can't we just—"
"The attacks are totally random! I don't understand whether it's unintentional or premeditated but there is no link between the fifteen attacks except perhaps the identity of the attackers and the kind of people attacked, all of them being old order of the phoenix members…" Hermione Granger let everybody know her thoughts, effortlessly ceasing all traces of the argument which was ensuing in the file room.
Draco was forcefully reminded of the similar power of his own mother…
"Hermione, are you sure!"
"Believe me Harry, if there was anything for us to find, we would've done so a long time back…"
"But it doesn't seem likely!"
"No it doesn't Arun."
"What are we going to tell Smith?!"
"Sara, there is no choice for us to tell him anything but the truth!"
"But! Where does this take us?"
"Neville, I do not know…"
"Oh please!" Draco bit out,"this is utter non sense! Chain attacks are never random."
"Oh yeah?" Hermione stood up from her seat, her hands at her slim waist and glared at Draco. "What are you trying to say?"
"That you are wrong! Granger this is not an arithmancy problem. This is serious."
"Thank you very much for enlightening me" she replied coldly. "Fine, I am new here, that's why I am, according to you, unaware of the importance of the situation, right?"
"Absolutely!" Draco replied, a little unsure of where she was going…
"Then Malfoy, I don't see you, who has been working in this branch for more than three years now ready with a solution to our problem! Why is that?" She asked, her cold demeanor giving away to an extremely innocent look, but her eyes glinted on even more dangerously than before.
Draco opened his mouth a second too late to realize that he did not have any answer for her. He closed his mouth with a sour look on his face and the slight sound of sniggering from the direction of his best friend made him turn his neck towards him so fast that he got a crick in it.
Blaise had an amused, correction, extremely amused look on his face and his slight snigger gave way to a chuckle and in no time, everyone in the room was laughing! Now this was humiliating. Granger would pay for that, surely…
Yeah, and Blaise was supposed to be his best friend…
He walked out of the file room with the intention of calling their boss, with his head held high. As he exited, he glared once more at Hermione Granger, who had a smug look on her face, promising her without words that this was not over…
"You mean to say that you lot have been sitting on your butts for nearly four hours and still haven't found anything?!" William Smith thundered at the young aurors, disappointment evident on his lined face…
When Draco had gone to fetch him, he had been talking with Agatha Kendal, an old witch from the accidental magic department, with a cup of steaming black coffee in his hand. Draco was sure that the way he cut off mid rant with Agatha that Smith expected that they had had some success with the details that had him baffled. Poor man!
He was not in a good mood as he led Draco back to the file room to talk to the rest of the aurors and a sight of the amused workers made him even more irritated.
"Sir, Malfoy is right. We couldn't find anything. There wasn't anything to find in all this. But sir, Hermione thought that…"
"Yes Granger. Please tell me. I'm dying to hear anything regarding this. What is Potter here trying to say?"
"Umm, actually sir—"
"Speak up girl!"
Draco could see that now that she had to present her preposterous theory to the head of the auror department that she was pretty nervous, as she stumbled a bit. Then, gathering her wits, she raised her head dignifiedly and spoke…
"Sir, I believe that the attacks are totally random. It maybe to throw us off their scent or perhaps the attackers are totally stupid."
Smith stared at her.
"I am sure Miss Granger that you have read and been taught that chain attacks are never random."
"But sir there is no other option!"
"I find it real hard to believe Miss Granger."
"But sir, Potter cut in to defend his best friend; we have no other option but to accept this theory!"
"Potter, might I remind you that we are not playing here. Lives are at stake!"
"Sir, we tried our best but really, there was nothing else we could work out in all this!"
"Ms. Matthews, control your frustration!"
"But she is right!" Terry Boot finally stood up and addressed the head as bravely as he could. "Sir, we have been stuck in this room since morning and—"
"Silence all of you! I do not want any justification of your laziness! I want work done in front of my eyes and this morning, my best aurors have disappointed me."
Blaise, who had been watching the drama in the file room, now raised himself from his indifferent hunched position to his full height of 6'4".
"Sir if I may. We all have certainly done our best and perhaps what Ms. Granger is saying is all that we had to find. Why not take a chance and plan a strategy for some action. I think this is what we should work on now."
Blaise just had to soothe down their boss when Draco was starting to have fun, seeing the people who had laughed at him, snubbed by their superior. Oh well, at least he was talking sense.
Smith, who was mulling over Blaise's words, looked at his watch. It showed 2:30 in the noon.
"Now listen to me all of you!" He said with a forced calm in his voice. "Its lunch time and you all better go and eat something. I do not want any of you, girls especially fainting on my hands. I have worked out a plan which I'll discuss with you as soon as you're back. Now, off with all of you and the one who does not return by 3:15 will be fired!"
Draco always found it odd how William Smith paid attention to the eating habits of his aurors. He never let them miss their meals, even if they were in the middle of a very important meeting, probably deciding the fate of the wizarding world (and it had really happened once!)
Looking at Granger and Longbottom, he could see that they were a bit surprised by the command of their boss but had complied without any opposition.
All of them filed out of the huge file room and moved towards the canteen.
Once there, Draco and Blaise occupied their favorite table, the one which was nearest to the canteen counter. When all of them had taken their trays, they came and sat around them owing to the scarcity of space as the number of people in the canteen was increasing…
"So Hermione, Neville, how did you find our auror department?" Asked the ever enthusiastic Harry Potter…
"Well, I dunno Harry. Till now, it's been a little dull and annoying!" She replied and said the last word throwing a dirty glance towards Draco. This was not missed by Blaise. They grinned at each other!
"Well Granger, it is the part and parcel. If you want to be something, there are always hurdles. But the one who crosses them is the winner! The achiever! The—"
"No one asked for your bloody preaching Malfoy!"
"Whoa there! Are you two always like that?!"
"This is nothing Arun, you should've seen them going at each other during our order of the phoenix training!"
"Hark whose speaking Neville! If I remember correctly, weren't you the one who kept all the—"
"OK Hermione, I get it!" Longbottom replied, his ears turning light pink! Draco wondered if he had anything to do with the… Alright! He was the one! Longbottom was so gonna get it now…
"So, Neville, what did you do before coming here?" Terry continued in order to keep a conversation going…
"Well, I was at Hogwarts, Helping Professor Sprout with her greenhouses! I even taught a bit but the kids kinda didn't pay attention..."
Draco wondered why the kids wouldn't pay attention! It was not as if their teacher was stupid or a bumbling fool. But wait, yes he was!
"Must've surely been fun right?! Herbology was my favorite after defence at Hogwarts!" Sara Matthews contributed as enthusiastic as Potter. Draco couldn't help but comment…
"Sara, Herbology is a subject for losers…"
"Just because you were not good at it Malfoy, does not mean that it is not important." Granger snapped at Draco. Well, lunch was becoming more and more fun.
Ignoring Blaise who was motioning for him to keep quiet, Draco went on…
"Granger, considering I am here, I must've surely passed the subject with flying colors, contrary to your proposition…"
"Yeah, it is soooo hard to get an A in it…"
Longbottom turned towards Granger…
"Hermione, what do you mean? You think I am a loser too?"
Nothing to think about buddy, thought Draco.
"N-no, Neville, you know I did not mean to say anything like that!"
"But you did!"
"Neville, Hermione would never hurt you intentionally, you know that!" Potter, the self proclaimed mediator butt in, and just when Draco was about to have fun!
"I thought she wouldn't Harry!"
"Oh my God! Neville, I am sorry! Malfoy, you are a shithead, this is all because of you!" She said the last part of the sentence, glaring at Draco and then, stood up huffily, taking her tray along with her and sat at another table.
We're even Granger, thought Draco…
"Malfoy! What is your problem?! Would it kill you to be civil to each other?"
"Yeah, it would Potter!"
"Never mind. I'll go after her…" And he walked away from the table too…
As he turned back to all the people sitting around him, he replied, stretching out on the uncomfortable metal chair and smirking at them all…
"What! I was just trying to have some fun!"
At 3 p.m. all of them filed outside their boss's office. Potter, who was standing at the front beside Granger, who, to Draco's disappointment, was looking considerably more pleased, knocked.
"Enter!"
All of them entered Smith's office. It was a big room. Not big enough to look useless, but big enough to hold the infinite number of files, records, paper works, stationary and a lot of detection instruments, which always fascinated Draco. But, everything was kept neatly in shelves. Cleanliness was Smith's weakness. He couldn't work in a dirty place. Everything had to be spic and spanky! He always said that clutter entrapped his thoughts and ideas and he wouldn't be able to perform any normal job, let alone his auror stuff…
Whatever!
Anyways, as they walked in, Smith, who was writing something on an official looking parchment, did not look up but motioned them to seat themselves in front of his desk.
When they all were seated, he looked, set his quill back on its rhinestone stand and looked at all of them carefully…
"OK people. I had to take some time to cool off and now, I as well as you all, I am sure, are ready to work. First of all, Ms. Granger, I apologize. You had been right! The attacks were random and I have a hunch as to what is going to happen next. You see, when all of you were stuffing your faces, I got an anonymous tip off, which is reliable. So, our plan of action has to be decided…"
"We will have two teams among you all. It'll make your work more efficient and faster, I am sure of that. Moreover, our new members will have a chance to learn individually from your group heads."
"Potter, Malfoy! Boys, you will be the group heads. Now, four people in each group."
"I'll divide you all."
"Raoul, with Malfoy."
"Zabini, with Potter."
Both of them dutifully stood up and sat beside the one they were assigned to.
"Boot, you go with Malfoy."
"Matthews, you're with Potter."
Malfoy was worried by now. He wanted anything but any of those two left in his team. Who did he not want more? Longbottom the idiot or too smart Granger…
Well, the girl did have some vengeance towards him, judging by the way she had been steadfastly ignoring him and glaring daggers when she thought that he wasn't looking, and hers was more dangerous than Longbottom's.
Draco prayed to God, not her, not her, not her…
"Longbottom, with Potter."
"Granger you're with Malfoy!"
Oh shit!
OK guys, please review and let me know how you found this chapter. I know the story is moving a bit slow but it is gonna pace up from the next chapter when all of them will go on their first mission.