Chapter 3:

Hermione had to jog slightly to keep up with Harry as he marched through St. Mungo's. "Do we have any sort of tactic at all?" She asked.

"I'll ask him questions about the evidence we found and you watch him. See if you notice anything strange. Also try and find some parallels between his features now and his features in the picture to help us determine if the picture is a fake or not," Harry said.

Hermione nodded. She could do that. She was one of the best investigators in the ministry, simply because she noticed details.

They stopped in front of a white door with the number 1230 on it it in gold lettering. Harry reached out on knocked three times on the door.

"Come in," a gruff voice called from inside. Harry pushed the door open and stepped inside. Hermione followed him.

"Sorry to bother you again Malfoy," Harry said closing the door behind Hermione. She looked over at the man in the bed. He looked quite terrible. He had bruises under his eyes that were beginning to yellow on the edges and his nose seemed bruised and swollen as well. He was shirtless. The only reason Hermione noticed this was because his left shoulder was bare. The rest of his torso and his right shoulder were wrapped in white bandages mimicking a shirt. Also, as Harry had said, his left forearm was wrapped in bandages.

"Is this about my case?" Malfoy asked. His question was directed at Harry but he was watching Hermione as she walked towards the bed.

"Not quite," Harry said sitting down in the chair next to Malfoy's bed. "I have some questions for you though."

"What is she doing here?" Malfoy asked nodding towards Hermione. Hermione felt the urge to angrily retort on instinct due to the years of hatred he had for her at Hogwarts. However his voice was not malicious as she had expected it to be, it was simply curiosity. The Draco Malfoy in the picture from the future flashed through her head.

"She's helping me with this case," Harry said answering Malfoy's question. "Now, do you know anything about time turners?"

"I don't know much about the mechanics of them, but I know they allow you to travel through time," Malfoy answered.

"Do you posses a time turner?"

Malfoy seemed a little surprised by the question but answered. "No I don't." Hermione could see he was telling the truth. "What is this all about?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you," Harry said.

Hermione stepped up to Malfoy's bed. "May I?" she asked gesturing to the bandage on his left arm.

He seemed incredibly reluctant to let her touch him, a fact that angered her as she assumed it had to do with her blood status, but he nodded. She began to unwrap the bandage causing him to wince quietly. When she finished unwrapping the bandage, two giant gashes appeared. They were deep and jagged. Even with magic there would be scars. Scars that would look exactly like the ones in the picture. Hermione noticed something that she had not seen in the picture. Beneath the gashes was Malfoy's Dark Mark, though it was barely recognizable now, but that was probably the intention. The gashes formed and X over the Dark Mark as if an attempt to remove it.

"Harry come look at this," Hermione said. Harry stood up and walked around the bed to stand next to Hermione.

Harry looked at Malfoy's arm then looked at Hermione. "I think that's all we need Malfoy," Harry said. Hermione started to rewrap Malfoy's arm as Harry prepared to leave. When she finished she looked Malfoy directly in the eyes for the first time since they had been there.

His silver eyes were piercing, but tired. Hermione felt bad for him. No matter how much of a git he was during school, he didn't deserve this. Without thinking she said, "I'm sorry."

He seemed surprised by this but responded with an equally surprising answer. "Me too."

Hermione wasn't sure what he was sorry about. She did not respond, she just turned and followed Harry out the door and down the hall. "Now what?" she asked him as they made their way to the apparition point in the hospital.

"Now we have to watch the memories," Harry said.

Hermione had no idea what they were going to see in those memories, but she had a feeling it wouldn't be good. They reached the apparition point in silence. Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and turned in place apparating back to the ministry.

Hermione hated apparating. No matter how many times she did it she always felt dizzy and nauseous after. When they landed in the Auror department Harry was already marching off towards the interrogation room they had last been in. Hermione took a moment to gain her bearings and then chased after him.

Ron was already waiting in the interrogation room for them. "Harry, the man's name is Theodore Jameson. He's currently living in London with his wife and three kids," Ron said.

Harry groaned and sat down at the table. "So we have the dead body of a living man?"

Ron nodded taking the seat opposite of Harry. Hermione leaned back against the edge of the table and closed her eyes. She had a headache. All she wanted to do was go home and take a bath.

"I think Malfoy was attacked by Death Eaters," Hermione said. She heard both boys groan. This case was getting very complicated.

"Why would his own people attack him?" Ron grumbled. After the war Harry and Hermione had both testified for Draco and Narcissa, forgiving them for what they'd done, however Ron still held great disdain for the Malfoy family.

"Because Ron, Malfoy is not a Death Eater anymore," Hermione said. She had said this dozens of times before but Ron still chose to believe that Draco was an evil bastard. "As a matter of fact I think that's why he was attacked. Someone took a knife to his Dark Mark as if to remove him from the Death Eaters."

"I still think they should have locked him up with his father," Ron muttered slouching back in his chair. Although Harry and Hermione testified for his wife and son, no one stood up for the head of the Malfoy household.

"This isn't important right now," Harry said. "We have to figure out what to do next?"

"We need to watch those memories Harry," Hermione said stepping away from the table. She looked at both of the boys. They both looked utterly exhausted, and she imagined she looked quite terrible herself. "But I think we also need to sleep."

"So we'll watch the memories first thing tomorrow morning," Harry said standing from his seat and stretching. Hermione and Ron didn't protest they both were about to pass out.

They headed out the door and agreed to meet back there the next morning at 9am.

Hermione opened the door to her small flat in muggle London. With her reward money from after the war and her regular income she could afford a much larger place if she wanted, but she liked her small flat.

She threw her keys into the dish near her door and kicked off her shoes. Hermione wasn't typically a messy person but she was too tired to care where she left her things at that moment.

She went into her room and flopped onto her bed intending to get up a few minutes later to undress, however she passed out seconds later still in her clothes from that day.