They asked around for recommendations to local restaurants, spinning a tale about wanting to enjoy some sights in between research. They were directed to the centre of Brussels to the shopping district which held small family restaurants and chains alike. Hermione suggested one of the local cuisine restaurants, wanting to try some Stoverij, a rich beef stew made with beer that was a national dish in Belgium. Bill was happy to go along with it and they settled into a corner booth in the restaurant, a pint of local beer in front of them each.
To everyone they appeared like colleagues out for a leisurely lunch, trying out the local delicacies. In reality, Bill used a trick they learnt during the war to indicate the position of the two wizards that were following them. He seemed to be subconsciously tapping his finger on the table but in reality he tapped it three times at first to indicate third row away from them, and sixth table from the left by switching hands before tapping his forefinger six times. Hermione pointed out some of the features of the restaurant like a true tourist, catching their position from the corner of her eye.
She turned towards her handbag but really reached for her wand and cast a complex glamour and a silencing charm. It would appear to the outside world like they were just sitting there and having food without much conversation, and no one could hear what they were actually discussing.
"This is not my department," Hermione said straight away, uncomfortable with what was turning from a research trip to international espionage.
"I hardly think it's not your department," Bill pointed out, both of them aware of the other's history with undercover work from the war. That didn't mean he wasn't disconcerted. "This makes no sense. We came here announced, and Belgium is supposed to be one of our partner nations. We've never had any issues with them, not even in Gringotts," he frowned.
Hermione nodded in agreement. "Belgium has been one of the strongest allies the British Ministry has. And I'm unaware of any tension between Belgium and Romania that could influence the outcome of our investigation. Something isn't right here, they're listening to us in that research room, if not observing us as well, and now we're being followed? We need to act as soon as possible," she said and pulled out the scroll.
"I saw you hide that, did you find the answer?" he asked, hoping against all odds that it was what they needed.
To his great surprise and relief she nodded. "We know what it is. It's a man-made disease. We have the history of how it appeared, and what they used to treat it and the recipe for the cure. We have it all on this one scroll," she said and cast a duplication spell on the parchment. "Here, I want us to each have a copy, just in case we get separated," she handed it over and watched as Bill put it into a charmed inside pocket of his coat. "We also still have a few missing pieces. How did the outbreak start? How did it transfer from each dragon to the other, and why is another government interfering with our investigation?" she pointed out.
"We need to ideally leave now but most of our notes are still back at the Belgian Ministry," Bill argued.
"We don't need them though," Hermione pointed out. "We have what we need right here, and the rest of our notes are so broad in spectrum they won't know what we focused on and what we found. I have everything that is personal in my handbag, do you have everything you need?" she asked.
Bill nodded. "Everything is in my coat, I left nothing personal behind. Do you think we can leave unnoticed?" he wondered.
Hermione shook her head. "No, but we can slow them down. If we can get them distracted for a while so they don't notice our absence for a few hours, it would give us some time to get this to Charlie and get ahead in the investigation," she said as she wrecked her brain for a solution.
Bill seemed to be on it though. "Do you know how to cast a golem spell on yourself?" he asked.
Hermione's eyes brightened. "Why of course, that's brilliant!" She whipped out her wand and practiced the particular hand movement from memory before casting the charm over herself. A golem Hermione appeared beside her, looking just like herself. She reached for her utensils and began eating as if nothing was happening.
Bill nodded and cast his own spell, a golem Bill appearing beside him and grabbing his beer for a gulp. "Shame about the beer, it was nice," he commented and cast a well-aimed confundus on their two guards. In a matter of seconds they took down the glamour and silencing charms and walked calmly to the bathroom to not draw attention to themselves. They hid around the corner and looked back to their previous table, their golems doing a good job of looking like them and the guards back to being vigilant and observing them, none-the-wiser of the deceit.
Bill guided her towards the loo and they unobtrusively slipped into the Gentlemen and into a stall in the corner. "Here, I carry this in case of emergencies," He pulled out a folded napkin and waved his wand over it in a circular motion while he muttered an address.
"A spare portkey, I should start carrying one of those," Hermione said more to herself than her companion.
"It's a bit of a way to Romania, I'm transporting us straight into Char's cottage. You might want to tuck in and put Apollo between us," Bill suggested, not wanting her to lose the kitten in the transport.
Hermione cast a sealing charm over the top of her bag, hearing Apollo meow grumpily. "I know sweetheart, only for a moment, I promise," she soothed and hung the straps of the tote bag over her neck so the bag would be protected between their bodies.
She looked up at Bill and he opened his arms almost as if they were about to waltz. So Hermione stepped into them and held onto his shoulder while he wrapped an arm around her waist securely. They clasped the portkey between their outstretched hands and they disappeared with a soft crack.
Hermione closed her eyes as they spun through space and time before they suddenly landed on a hard wooden floor. She stumbled a little in her heels but Bill's arm around her waist kept her safe. "Thank you," she looked up into those lovely green eyes, a moment of stillness passing between as they held onto each other.
"You're welcome," Bill almost whispered, the closeness between them allowing his senses to take her delightful scent in.
"Praawr!" came form the handbag between them and they practically jumped apart, Hermione hurrying to the nearby sofa to open it up and let Apollo out to check out their surroundings. He prowled around curiously, sniffing this and that, and finally curled up in front of the fire, watching the humans curiously.
Bill cast his patronus, a majestic eagle with wingspan nearly as wide as the room itself. All he said was 'cottage' and sent it off to find Charlie, knowing he would get the message without giving away too much to the rest of the reserve just yet. And within moments Charlie was unlocking the front door and coming in, casting privacy charms all around the cottage the moment he spotted them.
"Hey! Did you get it? Why the secrecy?" he asked, sensing that something was not right by their grim expressions. He led them to the small kitchen and motioned for them to grab a seat at the corner table while he made some tea and heated up some pie for himself. Merlin knew he was bloody starving.
Hermione motioned for Bill to go ahead and explain while she took out the parchment and began translating the content now that she had the time to do so.
"Basically, we know what it is. We discovered a mention of this disease in one of the books that were stored at the Belgian Ministry of Magic," Bill began explaining.
"Hold on, Belgian? You got this information in Belgium?" Charlie asked, pointing at whatever Hermione was writing.
"Yes, at their national archives connected to the Ministry," the elder Weasley son added while accepting a nice steaming cup of tea from his brother. "We were welcomed very warmly at first, however they were listening in on our activities in the research room provided, possibly observed our actions as well, and then when we headed out for lunch, we were followed by two members of their undercover Aurors."
Charlie joined them at the table with the rest of the drinks and food, making Hermione smile when he made hers just as she used to like it during the war. "That would be because the Belgians are attempting to get a large contract from the United Wizarding Nations to rebuild their dilapidated dragon reserve in the Eifel National Park. There's only three reserves that applied. Us, them, and the Welsh dragon reserve. But Wales only has three different dragon breeds and without investment won't expand, and the Belgian management of that reserve was so corrupt they had to scale down. We are by far the best contender with the size of our reserve and the fact that we have over fourteen different breeds of dragons, and we breed them successfully. We also suggested in our proposal that we will work with the Welsh reserve to help them breed dragons more effectively, meaning they will be expanded. But because of the corruption, we refuse to work with the Belgians, which they took very personally," he explained, providing the missing piece of information as to why they were treated like spies on Belgian soil.
"This disease has already killed two of our dragons and we're struggling to keep the other six infected alive. If we lose them, we are losing dragons that are part of a breeding pair, and one ancient breed that is nearly extinct. Not only would we lose important lives, but we could lose the contract and miss out on funds to expand and provide more for the remaining dragons in our care," he rubbed his face tiredly, clearly at the end of his tether.
Hermione reached out for his hand and squeezed it encouragingly. "Hey, we have the cure. It will take a full day to brew but you will be able to save some of those infected," she promised. "We do need to know how the disease has spread though so we can prevent further cases," she tried to get his mind to focus.
"We have no idea," he said honestly. "We've checked equipment, all protocols, all personnel…we don't know where else to look," he admitted.
Bill and Hermione shared a look, clearly thinking the same way. "Are you sure you've checked all possible angles of the personnel files? Anyone new or recently joined? Anyone who could be easily swayed with money, or in threat of being blackmailed?" she asked.
Charlie shook his head. "Honestly, I don't know. Andrei, another manager is supposed to be checking that but he said there was nothing suspicious."
"And has someone checked on Andrei?" Bill asked, seeing Charlie realised where he was going with this. "Let us help, investigation is what I do well. Get me a list of those who had contact with all the infected dragons before and after the quarantine and I'll see if anything was missed," he suggested. "No one should be beyond suspicion, not even your director," he reminded.
"If there's anyone who would most definitely not be swayed by politics or money, it's Radovan," Charlie warned but in principle agreed. "I'll try to have that list ready by end of today and make sure you have access to everyone's files and any other information we have."
Hermione sipped her steaming cuppa. "I can help as well, I'm sure you could use another pair of hands. If you don't have a potion master available, I can brew the cure. Or it may be worth you showing me around so I can try to help figure out where the disease came from and how it's spreading?" she suggested.
"Can you do both at the same time?" he asked with a smile though it wasn't humorous.
Apparently they were more short-staffed than Hermione originally thought. She took his question seriously though and looked at the brewing process. "Actually, yes I can. I need a safe lab that only I will have access to, so no one tampers with the potion. But after the initial three hours of brewing, it's just simmering in between periodical additions of ingredients every four hours. I could investigate in between?" she suggested.
Charlie was surprised but nodded with a relieved smile. "Thank you, both. For everything," he said gratefully.
"Hey, anytime, anything," Bill reminded him.
Hermione nodded in agreement and showed him the recipe for the potion. "I need to know if you have all of these ingredients. Do you mind checking while I change? This is my favourite blouse and I would rather not have dragon on it," she chuckled.
"Sure, I can do that. Here, let me show you to the bathroom," he got up and after she grabbed her bag led her through the hallway to the correct door.
While she was changing, Charlie returned to the kitchen and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they had all of the ingredients listed on her recipe. "I don't know what we would have done without you two, brother," he admitted.
"Honestly, it was mostly Hermione. She's unlike any other woman I've ever known," Bill admitted, unafraid to say such a thing to Charlie whom he trusted with his life.
"I can see the way you look at her," Charlie offered, glad to see his brother interested again. Things with Fleur didn't end on a happy note due to their significant differences and he knew Bill liked to bury himself in work. This way he was doing what he loved, with a woman he was clearly smitten with.
"And what a sight she is," Bill said fondly. It was true, Hermione's most beautiful characteristic was that incredible intelligence, determination and kindness, but he loved those wild, bouncy curls, those small freckles peppering her nose that mirrored his own flesh, and the gorgeous curvy hips and luscious bum. His ex-wife was a beautiful woman in an almost etherial way. Hermione was a different kind of beauty, a natural, down-to-earth one, and his nose sought her scent when she was nearby on instinct, enjoying her with all his senses.
Charlie shook his head, an approving smile on his lips. Hopefully these two will be smart enough to realise their attraction to each other and get on with courting. Speaking of the devil, Hermione joined them once again, this time in a pair of worn, snug jeans and a black turtleneck jumper that would keep her warm. Her heels were gone as well, replaced by practical ankle boots, and her wand was once again keeping her messy bun in place. She picked up her mug and finished her cup of tea before addressing them. "Ready?" she asked. The men nodded and they headed out of the cottage, leaving Apollo to snooze by the fire.
