Their plush Brandenburg Gate Suites overlooked the famous landmark itself and Hermione marvelled at the view their adjoining suites provided her. Sipping her kaffee inhaling the strong aroma of the Vienna roast, she sighed and wondered if they would actually get a break in the case any time soon or if it they were destined to track this killer all over Europe without actually getting any closer to catching them.
What she couldn't understand, she thought as she walked over to the desk and pulled out the two Black Notices, trying to work out what they were overlooking, was why none of the witches were known. Black Notices were issued for unidentified bodies. How could someone be locating muggle-born witches that no one else knew? How was it that no one was reporting these women missing?
Placing the paperwork back on the desk, a gentle knock came at the door.
Malfoy let himself in before she could respond, his files tucked under his arm, toast between his teeth, a coffee in his hand.
"Morning, Granger" he finally greeted her, having put the files and coffee on the little table next to the chair he had claimed as "his seat" when they arrived a week ago, removing the toast from his mouth.
"Plan on getting dressed any time soon?" he asked, trying to avoid looking at her in the fluffy complimentary dressing gown she was currently wearing.
"Yea, I was just about to" she sighed. She was feeling increasingly depressed about the lack of progress.
He made a show of sorting his paperwork, glancing occasionally at her as she moved about the room grabbing clothes before heading back into her bathroom.
He groaned.
They had been working on this case nearly two months and he was growing increasingly frustrated. No progress had been made and although the arguments had lessened-although she still swore at him in a multitude of languages- he was still frustrated in part because of her. The two kisses they had shared haunted him and the only relief he had came in the form of the frigid showers he took each morning.
His reverie was broken by tapping at the window and he opened it to take the parchment from the familiar owl as Hermione clicked the bathroom door shut.
Women are only good for one thing as I keep telling you!
I'm in Milan with a figa pazzescaa by the name of Bianca. Heading to Venice in two weeks.
Giudecca, 30100 Venice
Come find me!
BZ
With Granger in tow? Not bloody likely, he thought snorting to himself.
A few moments later Hermione padded out of the little ensuite room and settled herself on the couch, the coffee table in front of her cluttered with notes and books. She had spent the last two days at the German Ministry getting information from their aurors.
When she returned yesterday afternoon he had been surprised to see her remove a stack of files from her brief case.
It seemed that several threatening letters had been sent to the witch before she was killed.
This was certainly an interesting development.
Hermione couldn't help feeling a sense of familiarity about the case but she couldn't put her finger on what is was. The frustration was etched on her face as she perused the files with meticulous precision.
Draco glanced over at her and was relieved to find she had forgone the usual attire of flimsy cream silk blouses and 'respectable-length' (so Granger he thought amusedly) pencil skirts and those little kitten heels that he thought made her ankles positively delectable. Today she had gone for the more casual look of black yoga pants and a ratty oversized Gryffindor quidditch top that she had clearly had since 7th year and he secretly hoped hadn't previously been owned by a certain Weasley.
Funny, he thought, how some rivalries, like house allegiances, were destined to remain forever engrained on the psyche.
Hermione glanced over at Malfoy, sensing his staring, her quill paused mid flow.
"What?" she asked, frowning at his scowl, confused.
He softened his features and went back to his own stack of paperwork.
"Aren't you a little old to be wearing a Gryffindor shirt, Granger?" he drawled, his eyes fixed on the report he was reading.
Hermione snorted.
"I am sure you would think very differently if I was wearing a Slytherin shirt, Malfoy!" her tone pithy as she turned her attention back to her notes.
Great, he inwardly groaned.
Now he had the image of an otherwise naked Granger in a Slytherin shirt in his head to contend with.
A/N: Originally my plan had been to gradually weave in the blackstory towards the end with her revealing through conversations with Ginny (my favourite way to tie the threads) and Draco but last night I had an inspiring thought. I got out my laptop and started jotting down a few pieces of what was floating around in my head to see if it would work...and the end result was something I thought worked best if split down into 3 parts. Most of the crumbs from this have been picked up and scattered into what is now R for Ronald as a sort of prequel. The style is similar to Set the Fire to the Third Bar, but where that was memories, this is snippets over conversations that take you from just after the 2nd Wizarding War, right up to the start of M for Murder, charting the course of her relationship with Ron and an explanation for the time gap between their break up and Harry assigning her to work with Draco. There is one thing you will notice has been left out and you will just have to try and work that out for yourselves, or wait for a bit longer to satisfy your curiosity ;) I hope you enjoy it - its a sort of experiment with style for me so I am really eager to hear the readers thoughts about whether it works or not. Like with Set the Fire, its supposed to be a little vague in who is speaking and for native speakers of the languages I have used, please be aware any translation errors are entirely accidental as I am not Hermione, and I am not fluent in several European languages and one Persian one ;) Blame google for any errors!
A/N: figa pazzesca is Italian for "very beautiful woman" when spoken between two very close male friends. Thanks to Torigingerfox for another superb Italian Lesson! ;)