Chapter 6
Hermione stared at the cup of coffee in her hands. It had been a long 24 hours, and she hadn't slept during that time at all. Marcus Flint's death had brought in the entire team of Aurors, and even the Ministry of Magic asking questions. It didn't help that the media had somehow found out about the two murders and had drawn their own conclusions. The entire thing was a nightmare, and she was just so tired of everything, and wanted to do nothing more than sleep, or read a book, or something that meant she would be away from the circus in front of her.
But instead here she sat at this meeting with all the other important people in the Ministry Law Enforcement Department. After she had found that note, she had given it to Harry. The look on his face had been so grim, as if flashes of the war were haunting him.
She knew, because she felt it too. It was like a milder version of what the last year of the war had been like, but the idea that people were being hunted again brought it all back.
The first month after the war had been awful for her. She had nightmares of the war; from Malfoy Manor, to the hard nights in the forest. It was worse because she spent the entire month in Australia with Harry attempting to find her parents. Ron had told her flat out that he couldn't go with her because he needed to be with his family after Fred's death. She understood, of course she did. But she needed him too, and he wasn't there for her.
If it wasn't for Harry then she didn't think she would have been able to survive the entire time alone. He kept her grounded when she got lost in the pain and helped remind her that it was all over. He was the one who found her parents in the end, locating them in a small town. It had taken her everything to reverse their memories and restore them back to their old state.
Needless to say, they were furious with her. Five years later, and they were slowly getting back on track. It had taken them a lot of time to forgive her for lying and erasing their memories. Harry had been nothing but helpful, and she loved him so much for that. He had always had her back no matter what happened.
"You okay?" she heard a familiar voice ask her. She turned around to see none other than Harry standing there. "You've been staring at your cup for the last five minutes. I was beginning to worry."
She gave him a soft smile, "It's just been a really long day," she explained.
He nodded, "I know what you mean. I might need you to explain some of the things that you found. Would you be okay with that?"
"Of course," she said, as she straightened up. Despite what some people may have thought, her role in the war didn't buy her a job. It was the hard work and dedication that got here, and she would be damned if anyone said otherwise.
He gave her shoulder a squeeze before going to the front of the room to address everyone.
"Good evening," Harry opened. "As you know, within the course of the last two weeks, there have been two murders; Adrian Pucey, and Marcus Flint. Both were former Hogwarts Students in the same year. They both come from long lines of pureblood families, and were also tried and found innocent of Death Eater involvement activities. Other than that, both appear to have been rather isolated for the last several years, with limited involvement to the outside world."
"Do we have a motive?" Kingsley asked him from the chair he was sitting in.
Harry gestured to Hermione, who stood up to address the room at this point. "From what we could find, there was not a single shred of evidence in either of the houses to implicate a perpetrator. If it weren't for the bodies, one would assume that not a single thing was out of place. Other than body damage, there was nothing found on Pucey, but there was a note on Flint," Hermione said with a pause. "I disagree with the Ministry's verdict. The guilty will get what they deserve."
"So someone's targeting Death Eaters?" one of the colleagues asked her.
"Ones who were innocently convicted," she corrected.
"There are hundreds of Death Eaters who got off because they were one way or another pressured into it," another person said. "How are we supposed to figure out who could be next?"
"At this point we have nothing to go on," she said formally, hoping she didn't have to flat out say she had no idea.
"I think what we need now is to find a motive," Kingsley said.
"Is it possible that this is just someone blaming the entire war on purebloods in general?" a younger voice asked; muggleborn, or half-blood probably. A pureblood would never have suggested such a thing.
"It could be," Hermione said, desperately trying not to sound as unsure as she felt.
"At this point someone could even be targeting the old bloody Slytherin Quidditch team. We just don't know," Zachariah Smith said, snappily.
Harry stood up to regain control of the room. "As you can see, there is a serial killer on the loose. It's one thing when it's a single murder, because that way no one else is getting hurt, but now we can tell that there will be more, Merlin knows how many. And until we can catch whoever it is who is responsible, we need to take cautions. This person cannot know that we are semi aware of what they are planning, so we need to spin it to the media as if they are two separate entities. Also, we need to find out what other connections these victims may have had, other than the obvious…" Harry said, as he addressed different people with each role. He continued to read off a list, giving different people different tasks. Finally, when everyone had something, Kingsley stood up.
"It is clear that there is a lot for us to do. I suggest you all get on with the different tasks that Mr. Potter has assigned you. In the meanwhile, Miss. Granger, Mr. Potter, may I have a word with the two of you before you return to your jobs?"
They both nodded as the rest of the room cleared out to get on with the respective job their team had been assigned.
"I'm sure the two of you both know what something like this could do to us right now," Kingsley said in his deep voice as soon as the room was empty. "It has taken us so long to restore England to peace after the war. While there is still some prejudice, it has greatly decreased to the point where every witch and wizard is nearly equal. The old ways have basically been eradicated, and we have prospered so much without a lingering fear over us. If the truth to this gets out, it will throw away everything we have achieved. People will begin to panic, and everything will come crashing down. The world will become ripped apart with fear."
He took a brief pause, "You and I both know that there are still a few Death Eaters that have not been rounded up; Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange among them. While they may not have as big of a following, they could easily use the uproar to their advantage to start something back up again. The last thing we need is for that to happen. The different blood types will be split up again."
Hermione shook her head, "We won't let it come to that, I swear."
"We'll get this bastard," Harry promised. "We worked too hard for it all to go to waste. The last thing either of us want is for that to happen."
Kingsley nodded at the two of them, "I'm glad. I trust the two of you explicitly, and I know what you have accomplished in the past. That was half the reason I made sure both of you got your positions; your dedication and determination showed you were the perfect candidates. Keep me updated of anything and everything you might find, no matter how small."
Harry and Hermione left his office together, knowing they had been dismissed.
"I'll walk you back to your office," Harry said as he broke the silence between them.
"Why now?" she asked softly.
"Hmm?" he asked her, clearly perplexed by her question.
"The war has been over for five years. Any issues someone could have had could have been brought to light at any time. Instead, it's happening now. There hasn't been a single act of strong violence in months before this, so there was no trigger. It almost seems random."
Harry nodded, "I know. I guess we're going to have to just keep looking."
"Make sure you don't let go of my hand, no matter what, okay Scorpius?" Draco told his son as he led him through the crowded streets of Diagon Alley. It had been a long day, and Draco had just taken his son shopping for new clothes. He didn't understand how he grew up so quickly, or how enlargement charms could stop working. He could swear that clothing stores had conspiracies where after a point their clothes would be unaffected by magic, forcing them to have to buy new clothes again.
"Eye cream?" his son asked as he pointed to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Draco had promised Scorpius that if he went on this trip with him, he would be able to get any flavour of his choice; single scoop, obviously.
As his son him into the store, Draco couldn't help but give his son a smile, "Chocolate Frogs and Peanut Butter?" he asked his son, already knowing the answer.
"Yeah!" Scorpius said, with a wide grin on his face. "I get that one?" he asked the guy serving the ice cream.
"What do you say, Scorpius?" Draco asked his son gently. "Single scoop, please."
"Pwease and hank-you," Scorpius said as the man handed him his scoop of ice cream.
"Do you want to sit here, or keep walking around?" he asked, knowing Scorpius was enchanted by Diagon Alley, and loved to see the place.
"Me see Alley," the excited two year old said as he took a bit out of the ice cream.
They were barely out of the door when a lady bumped into them, and knocked Scorpius' ice cream to the ground. He saw his child's eyes begin to droop, and looked angrily up at the lady.
"Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry!" a familiar voice said softly. "I honestly didn't mean to do that." She looked up, and Draco saw that it was Granger.
"Malfoy?" she asked him confused. "Is this your son? I didn't know you and Astoria had any children." She didn't wait for him to reply, before crouching down by his son and saying, "I'm really sorry I wasn't watching where I was going. Can I buy you another one?"
Scorpius immediately looked up at Draco, who was at a loss for words. She didn't have to do that. She could have just apologised and gone on with her life. But here she was, offering to make it up to them. Draco honestly could say that he didn't understand Gryffindors.
"How bout that, Scorp? How bout Miss. Granger buys you a new one?" Draco asked. As his son's smile gave him an answer, gave Granger a nod.
She practically ushered them into the store and went up to the man. "Could I get a triple scoop of what he just ordered?" she asked, as she gestured to the boy. She paid, and handed him the cone. "I hope this can make up for the fact that I made you drop your last one."
"Hank you!" Scorpius said as his face broke into a grin at the sight of the amount ice cream he would be getting now.
Draco led them to a table, deciding it was best to sit this round through. "Thank you for buying him one, Granger. Not many people would have done so, especially all things considered."
She shook her head, "I'm so sorry about it. I haven't gotten a lot of sleep lately, and I've just been so out of everything. I should have been watching where I was going, so it seems like the least I could do is buy him another one."
Draco smiled, "I think you're his new favourite person, Granger. I doubt he'll get any sleep tonight."
"Hermione," she said. He looked at her in confusion, so she elaborated, "We're not exactly in Hogwarts anymore. I think that we should at least call each other by our given names, seeing that we keep running into each other." She paused, "Of course we don't have to…never mind, it was stupid anyways-"
"Hermione Granger saying something stupid?" he asked her, to stop her rambling. "I have yet to see the day."
She took a moment to realise what he said and meant, before shooting him a grateful smile.
"What's got you so frazzled anyways? I don't recall ever seeing you as such since the NEWTs, and everyone knew you were going to get Os on all of them."
She sighed, "It's this awful case. I'm sure you read the papers and found out about Flint."
Draco nodded. He had been stunned to find out that another former acquaintance of his had been killed. It was a startling revelation, and he began to worry, so had added several more protection charms to his house.
"I just am at such a loss. I don't know how to figure it out. There's nothing, absolutely nothing. I don't even know why I'm telling you this. I probably will get into trouble if anyone found out," she said, looking guilty when she realised what she had just told him.
"Probably because you need a friend. You don't have to worry though. I promise you whatever you say will not leave this table, Hermione," he said, as he tried out her name for the first time.
Her eyes softened, "Thank you, Draco. I know how hard this probably is 'on you. They were your friends, or at least acquaintances, and now they're gone from your life. I know how hard that can be, and I want you to know that if you ever need to talk about it to anyone, I'm here for you. I know we aren't exactly friends, or anything of the sort, but if you need me, then you can come by my office any time you want," she said, rambling again. Somehow, Draco found that he didn't mind, regardless of the fact that it was something he generally hated when other people did it.
"Well isn't this comfy," a voice sneered. "Nice to know that you're creating a new family already, Draco; even if your divorce hasn't even been finalized yet."
"Daphne," Draco addressed her cordially. He didn't want to start a fight with her here in public, or with his son around as witness.
"I see you're making interesting choices on who to carry forward with. I know Astoria will want to know who you are replacing her with as the mother of her child. Who knows, maybe this will even get her full custody of her son," Daphne said with distain.
He got up and in a low voice said, "You and I both know this divorce was Astoria's idea. She decided she didn't want anything to do with me, or anything to do with her son in terms of being a full time mother. If it's visitation rights you want, you'll have to speak to your sister about that, but otherwise, it's none of your bloody business, so I suggest that you leave here quietly, seeing that you've already made such a ruckus. Now, please," Draco said, as he gestured to the door.
Daphne narrowed her eyes at him, but realised that she had lost this round. She harrumphed, but stalked out the door with her head held high, to show that his words had very little effect on her, and that it was nowhere near over.
Draco sighed as he sat back down in his seat. Scorpius seemed unaware of the entire situation, however Hermione had not.
She didn't say anything, as if she was unsure of what to say in response to the situation, or that she was afraid of overstepping.
"Are you okay?" she asked, after a moment, watching his face for any reaction. It was like she was analysing him like he was one of her cases. Somewhere before responding, he felt a surge of anger flow through him.
"I'm fine," he snapped. "Just drop it okay?"
She looked a bit startled, but didn't respond. Instead, she simply stood up and grabbed her bag. "Of course. I should get going anyways, it's getting late, and I still have a lot of work I have to do before tomorrow. I'll see you around, Draco."
He sighed. He knew full well he was in the wrong. He was angry at Astoria for wanting to leave Scorpius, and he was angry at Daphne for the scene she had just caused. But Granger, Hermione, had done nothing to deserve that anger. He knew he would have to apologise to her, but at the minute he found himself unable to move, weighed down by his guilt and a bit of stubbornness.
"Daddy, I like the nice lady," Scorpius said suddenly, as he looked up from his ice cream cone, half of which was smeared on his face. Draco conjured up a napkin and began to wipe his face gently. "Can she come play with me some time? I want to see her again."
Draco looked at his son, "I hope so, Scorp. I like her too."