Hermione made sure Apollo was comfortable in her large tote bag and that she had everything packed in her magically expanded duffel bag before plaiting her hair out of the way. The kitten curled up contentedly and purred softly surrounded by the warm scarf she kept in her bag if she needed additional warmth. She sat down to zip up her knee-high boots and checked her figure in the simple navy dress that was comfortable despite hugging her curves well.

Apollo poked his head out and meowed impatiently, ready to leave. "I know, I know, coming," she strapped the muggle watch she got from her parents on her 16th birthday to her wrist and wrapped up warm in a muggle coat.

Apollo purred when she picked up the bag and she smiled, happy to have the company. "You'll have to hold on tight as we spin through the floo," she reminded as the flames turned emerald green and she stepped in. "Princess Alley!" she enunciated clearly and off they were.

She landed in one of the small local pubs in the prominent magical alley but within moments slipped out to its muggle counterpart, Princess Street. From there it was a short apparition to the National Library of Scotland, where she near immediately spotted Bill whose coppery locks caught the first morning rays of sun. He clearly did his research and wore a muggle coat over his waistcoat and shirt, his dragon hide boots appearing nearly to be made out of regular leather to the untrained eye.

"Morning," she smiled as she approached.

Bill turned around and offered her one of the take away coffee cups he was holding. "Morning. I got a couple of flat whites, I saw you like frothy coffee. Would you like one?" he asked, noticing how lovely she looked in the muggle world as well as the magical one.

"Thank you, very kind of you," she accepted it and motioned for them to head up the stairs towards the side entrance for wizarding folk.

"It was no problem. Where's your familiar?" he asked, wondering whether she decided to leave him at home just in case. A soft snore from her handbag was however answer enough and he chuckled. "He finds our visit to the library riveting then," he teased.

"Better sleepy than cranky," Hermione rolled her eyes and took a sip from the delicious coffee. She pulled out a plastic security pass with her photo from the pocket of her coat and slid it through the scanner before it unlocked with a buzz, smiling when Bill held the door open for her and followed her in. "Welcome to the National Library of Scotland," she offered.

"Hey, that's my line," came from the stacks ahead before they were approached by a buxom blond with large vintage horn-rimmed glasses and delightful dimples.

"Sorry, Moira, didn't mean to do your job," Hermione smiled and they hugged in a familiar way, clearly good friends. "Moira, may I introduce my friend and colleague Bill Weasley. Bill, this is the best librarian in Scotland and my dear friend, Moira MacFarlaine," she introduced them and watched as they shook hands.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, I admit my excursions to Scotland have been brief in the past," Bill admitted conversationally.

Moira chuckled, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "You should ask Minnie to give you a tour. The last time she brought a gentleman with her to Scotland, she-"

"Uhm-uhm," Hermione cleared her throat, interrupting her with a look. "Sorry to rush you, but we're in a hurry to find as much as we can, magical creatures are in danger," she said, focusing the lovely bubbly witch.

Moira tittered. "Right, the dragon section, follow me," she turned around and led them through the stacks.

"Minnie, is it?" Bill asked her curiously, though with a grin.

Hermione shrugged. "We all have nicknames, Will," she teased.

"Nice try," he tutted, rarely going by anything else other than Bill or William.

"What section of the dragon stacks do you need?" Moira asked.

Hermione took out a folder from her bag and leafed through, handing over a sheet. "I visited Lyall at the Welsh archives last night and he indicated that these might be useful in addition to what he gave me," she explained.

Moira seemed to brighten up a bit. "You saw Lyall? How is he?" she asked as she motioned them to a large table and began searching the reference cards.

"He is well, still handsome and still asking about you," Hermione smiled at her fondly, seeing the blush that rose to her cheeks.

"Well, I must write to him some time," Moira said as she jotted down the references for each book. "I'll be with you as soon as I get all these," she promised and disappeared back into the stacks.

Hermione set down her things and nodded her thanks to Bill who took her coat and hung it up with his over a spare chair at a large table. "I visited the Glamorgan archives last night and found some materials that could be useful in our search," she explained and opened her folder.

Inside were two stacks of photocopied articles and parchments, neatly organised and colour-coded. "So in order to broaden our search and not miss anything, I thought of the main characteristics that dragons posses," she began.

Bill thought about it for a moment as he looked at the photos again. "They are large in size with large magical cores similar to wizards…they have scales…..they have wings…." he named a few of the obvious ones.

Hermione nodded. "Precisely. From these photos, the disease is definitely topical but appears to be under the scales as well, so it might actually affect the soft tissue and muscle. And they are definitely on the wings, so this disease could technically affect other magical creatures with these attributes. Better to rule them out than miss them," she reasoned.

"That is impressive," Bill said honestly, not having thought of that himself. "Let me guess, you colour-coded by type?" he asked.

Hermione nodded. "Red is for viral, green is for known bacterial diseased. And whatever we find here in Scotland we can add and compare. I haven't had a chance to go through any of these properly, and of course, we best travel further to see the more aged tomes that may be dragon-specific," she admitted.

"It's a great start though," he smiled, feeling more hopeful about finding the cure than he was 24 hours ago.

He rolled up his sleeves, picked up the red pile and a pen, and began sorting through them. Hermione picked up the other pile, opened her research journal and began taking notes. Moira saw they were completely engrossed in their reading so she just set the books they requested on the table and included a couple of extras that may be helpful before heading back to potter about and shelve some of the returned items. Apollo poked his head out of her bag and shuffled to curl up in her lap, enjoying the warmth of his human and keeping his fire-breathing muzzle away from her research like the good boy he was.

They barely took a break for quick sandwiches and some coffee, trying to get through everything as fast as they could. The sun was just about setting when Hermione closed the last book in her pile and rolled her shoulders, hearing her joints pop satisfyingly. Bill closed the book he was reading as well and rubbed his eye tiredly, ready to stop reading for the day.

"Anything?" he asked.

Hermione checked her notes and nodded. "Just one case of something similar caused by a potion accident developing on a pet iguana but nothing really. There's rotting potions, charms, it could be a multitude of things but without knowing how they affect scales and dragon magic, I cannot narrow it. Anything in the viral section?" she asked.

Bill shook his head. "Nothing whatsoever. I did however learn that there are viruses that cause dragons to sneeze fire continuously, hick-up their stomach acid, or make them change the colour of their scales," he sighed, a headache starting to settle in.

"We really need to determine at least what we are dealing with," Hermione stressed. "Is there any way we can talk to Charlie?" she asked.

Bill nodded. "We can fire-call him. If we're done here, we should travel to our next stop, get a hotel, some food, and speak to him before we rest and get any further," he suggested.

Hermione was ready to agree, honestly looking forward to taking off her bra and putting up her feet after the long day. "Let's do that. The next stop is Archives Nationales in Paris," she pulled out the small map of Europe she prepared to mark their destinations and crossed off Scotland.

"Good. I know a few wizarding hotels in Paris, and I think a couple of them are friendly to familiars so they won't give Apollo any trouble," he promised.

"Thank you," Hermione smiled and they packed up their new copies to the correct piles, the thick folder filling up nicely with their newly acquired research.

Moira appeared from the stacks and helped them clear up the table. "Are you sure you have everything you need?" she asked.

"We do, thank you Moira. You're a star as ever," Hermione thanked her and they hugged before saying goodbye and heading out into the fresh air, the international apparition spot just down the street.

Apollo jumped down and headed around the building to do his business, returning a few moments later, ready to get to another warm place. Hermione placed him into her bag and looked at Bill. "Do you want to grab food here or there?" she asked.

Bill offered her his elbow. "Travel first, food after," he suggested. Hermione held onto him tightly and made sure Apollo was tucked into the bag as well before they popped out of the British Isles and landed near silently in a dark alley outside what looked like a hotel and restaurant alley.

Hermione breathed in the evening city smell and smiled. "Falafel?" she asked, wondering whether she smelled correctly.

Bill smiled and nodded. "Welcome to Rue des Rosiers, or the Street of the Rose Bushes. This is the Jewish part of Paris, called the Marais. If you like, we can get breakfast at Sacha Finkelsztajn, one of the best sweet bakeries and patisseries around here," he suggested.

"Deal," Hermione smiled and let herself be led through the throngs of people towards a lovely historic building with a white-painted facade and a large sign that read Studios Marais. She was still holding onto his elbow so they wouldn't lose each other in the busy street, glad to be shown new parts of one of her favourite cities in the world. "Thank you," she said suddenly. "For showing me a part of this city I've never been to before," she offered.

"Well, it is my favourite part so I thought I would share," he offered with that quirky handsome half-smile of his, and opened the door for her.

The receptionist stood up when he saw Bill and they shook hands while greeting each other like old friends in fluent French. They immediately began to look for what was currently vacant at such short notice.

"Une chambre, ou deux?" the young man asked, looking from Bill to Hermione and trying to figure out whether they were going to be sleeping together.

"Avez-vous une suite avec deux chambres?" Hermione asked, wondering whether that may be enough privacy for them while they could still share a fireplace and spread out their research. She looked at Bill whether that was okay and he nodded in agreement. It was a good idea.

"Oui, mademoiselle, un moment s'il vous plaît," he smiled and checked the register and made a few notes before finding them a free suite.

Within moments they were in a fairly spacious suite with a common room and two double bedrooms. The bathroom joined the two rooms and the common room had a lovely roaring fire already lit, a dining table they could spread their notes on, and a beautiful balcony with a couple of chairs for them to use.

"Merci, Jean-Baptiste," Bill thanked him and discretely handed over a five euro note before they closed the door to get some privacy.

Hermione stretched after chucking her coat over one of the chairs. "Okay, shower and food first," she suggested, enlarging her luggage and picking the left room at random.

"How about you shower and I get you a taste of the local delicacies?" he offered, having a couple of places in mind.

"Sounds good. Firecall to Charlie once we eat?" she asked.

"Deal," Bill agreed and took one of the room keys before heading out.

Hermione quickly found her long sleeve red plaid pyjamas and toiletry bag and headed for the bathroom. There was no need for any pretences, they have all seen each other in pyjamas plenty of times at the Burrow and during the war at Shell Cottage, so they could get comfortable. She groaned happily as she took of the blasted bra and climbed into the hot shower, careful to keep her curls away from the hot stream. Apollo was sitting on the closed toilet lid for a moment before jumping into the shower with her, meowing until she bent down and shampooed him gently. His maine coon genes meant he loved the water and liked his baths and shower as well.

She dried off quickly before wrapping the soaked kitten in a towel straight off the radiator to keep him warm while she dressed. Her pyjamas were soft and warm, and she usually packed them if she traveled in winter. Sleeves rolled up and lotion applied, she ventured back into the common room to see if Bill was back. The table held a deliciously smelling spread of roasted lamb meat, fresh falafel, three different flavours of hummus, flatbread and salad. And in a small bowl on the side some scraps of roasted meat.

"This smells delicious," Hermione breathed it all in and stole a juicy dark olive from one of the bowls. "Hmmm, thank you, this is a treat."

Bill shuffled the last of the paperwork away and headed for his room. "It's all being kept warm but if you want to start without me, please go ahead," he encouraged before closing the door to shower as well.

Hermione found the idea rude and rather summoned her pouch with floo powder and threw it in, calling out Ginny's address. The flat was dark and silent from what she could see so she instead summoned her muggle mobile phone and sent her friend a text message just to let her know she was out of the country and working with her brothers. Ginny always messaged when she had time and felt like it, and not a moment sooner.

Bill came out of his bedroom in a pair of black joggers and t-shirt, rubbing his wet shoulder-length copper locks dry. "You really didn't have to wait," he said but she could see he was glad to have dinner company.

"Of course. Apollo was not so polite though, sorry," she grinned and motioned at the empty bowl of scraps that the kitten practically inhaled.

Bill pulled out a chair for her before taking his own seat, transfiguring a couple of plates from blank sheets of paper before they picked at bits and pieces, sharing the delicious local food. They talked about some of their hypotheses they had while they ate, trying to catch a few relaxing moments before they had to do more work. Bill even managed to get them some elderflower wine and after clearing the table of the dishes, they nursed a glass each as they made the fire-call to Charlie.

"Hermione, you have no idea how good it is to see you," Charlie smiled tiredly, his head floating in the fire.

"It's been too long, Charlie," she replied kindly. He looked utterly exhausted and she could see the strain this crisis was causing him. "How are you holding up?" she asked gently.

The head bobbed a bit, as if he shrugged a shoulder out of their view. "Doing the best I can so they don't feel too much pain," he admitted, closing his eyes briefly.

Hermione's heart clenched at the sight of his pain, knowing those dragons meant the world to him. "We're trying really hard to find any information that could be useful," she promised. "What did the tests you conduct say? Was it cause by potion? Is it bacterial or viral?" she asked, hoping they could establish some basics.

Charlie shook his head. "Honestly, we don't know. It's not behaving like anything we've ever seen before and our tests can't really determine the origins," he explained.

Hermione thought for a moment before realising what she has been overlooking. "What about muggle tests?" she asked suddenly.

Both of the Weasley men looked very surprised. "Muggle tests? On magical creatures? Is that even possible?" he asked.

"Not without too many questions. The DNA would be foreign to the systems and a regular muggle would not know what to do with it. The researcher would have to be a squib, with the training and access to a muggle laboratory," she spoke through her thoughts before looking at Charlie again. "If it's bacterial, we will be able to develop a culture whether the sample is known to us or not. That will at least help us narrow it down!" she said excitedly, getting off the sofa fast as she paced. "I will need a live sample of the tissue, the puss and some of the blood from a dragon. Preferably early stages and later stages to have comparable sets. We'll also need a control sample from a healthy dragon and one from a dead dragon to observe the effects post-mortem," she listed out. "Could you get these?" she asked.

Charlie nodded but hesitated. "I know we are talking about compromised tissue but dragon parts and samples are still a highly regulated commodity. It's not that I don't trust you but I will need chain of evidence documentation."

"Of course, that's perfectly fine. I have a contact, a squib contact in a muggle lab who could do some analysis for us to narrow our search. How quickly can you get all the samples and documents?" she asked, looking at the clock. Half past eight, she would have to call in a favour she was saving up, but it will be worth it.

"I'll need to check in with my director and collect everything. An hour?" he guesstimated.

Hermione nodded. "That's good, gives me enough time to set everything up," she promised. "Tell your director to look up my credentials and the credentials of the École Polytechnique where we'll be conducting the tests, that should persuade him," she added.

"Thanks, I'll come through once I have everything," Charlie promised and disappeared.

Hermione picked up her muggle Motorola and diary and began making phone calls in both English and French. Bill took this as his cue and spread out their research again and added information to his investigations log to monitor their progress. It appeared it will be a long night and their rest will be short, but seeing his brother in such a pained state was more than enough motivation to keep going.