Each street got quieter and emptier as they moved further away from the centre of things. Hermione began to grow nervous. They needed isolation but they also needed an open store.
Draco nudged her. They didn't. Harry just wanted privacy. At the next cross street, Draco would get confused about the direction and lead them down the wrong one. Harry would take them there.
Hermione didn't get this in quite that level of detail but she understood the concept of getting 'lost.' To steady her mounting nerves, she focused on the cobblestones under her feet.
"I don't understand how you can wear those shoes," she giggled to Raquel. "I'd have broken my neck by now."
"Oh, no, honey," the woman brushed this off with light nonchalance. "You wouldn't. I promise. You get used to them, and with your legs…"
With the heels on, Raquel was a good bit taller than Hermione. Draco was beginning to grow very uneasy about Raquel's best-friend latch on her arm and Hermione had a flash of an idea.
"Easy for you to say when you're holding onto me!" she scoffed teasingly. "Now, I'd have needed you to completely support my weight, so I'm not criticising. But I don't believe for a minute that it's easy!"
As the women bantered back and forth, laughing and joking along, Draco called, "I think it's down this way."
Hermione turned towards him automatically and loosened her arm from Raquel's. "Show me, then, o' expert of heels." She gave a theatrical little bow and waved her hand. "Prove me wrong."
Raquel did as requested, happy to show off. She gave a little dance about halfway down the street, ending with a flourish and a twirl, her dress whirling around her shapely legs. Hermione clapped approvingly.
"Now, I can't even do that in flats. I'll show you," she insisted over Raquel's laughing protests.
Perfect stepwork aside, the woman seemed moderately tipsy and Hermione was glad. Her attention was fixated on this. How had she not noticed they were headed nowhere in particular? Hermione's own instincts would have been crawling right now, but the impression she was getting off Raquel was the same confident attention-seeking. Maybe she was more than tipsy.
Hermione got a quick series of prods from Draco. Wand. Stunning. Silencing. She chose to angle her little mock path towards him and as she spun around in a similar faux twirl, Draco reached out to steady her.
"See, a perfect man," Raquel sighed in admiration. "You weren't even close to tripping and he was right there. But I told you you could do it, didn't I?"
Just then, the street lit up with red lights. They were flanked on both sides. Raquel let out a horrified shriek and someone silenced her just as Harry stunned her. Ray was already on the ground, stunned.
Draco had Hermione pulled back against the wall, his wings wrapping around her even though the action was over.
"You got this, Potter?"
Harry nodded, tucking his wand back into his robe. "We'll obliviate the Muggle and drop him off somewhere. As for her," he nudged Raquel on the ground with the toe of his boot, "how sure are you?"
"Completely," Hermione said sadly. "Not that we've seen identification or anything, but I'm sure. You'll need to go back a few days on the man. Maybe a week to be safe. They didn't meet long ago but I think she's been… memorable for him."
She felt bad for Ray, even knowing what he'd just dodged.
"Do you need her at the Ministry before she'll be brought back to the Manor?" Draco asked.
Ron nodded, coming up behind Harry. "Kingsley will have some fun with her and so will we. But she'll be brought to you soon enough. Give us a couple of days."
Draco began to pull Hermione away but she turned back. "Ron." She waited until he walked back over. "Be careful who you send in with her. She's good."
"'Mione, we'll have it handled." He gave her a slightly patronising smile that she didn't care for. Draco's grip on her tightened. "We manage dangerous people all the time."
"She's a different sort of dangerous. You'll see."
Draco confirmed this with a quick nod before tugging her along. He didn't much care if the Aurors' Office got embarrassed by Raquel O'Leary.
"Did you feel like you were in danger from her?" Ron queried curiously. His tone wasn't disbelieving; she'd piqued his interest.
Hermione hedged her statement a little, turning back to look. "Not physically. Not by her hand. At least not in public. But it's clear she can convince anyone to do anything. It wouldn't even take that much effort."
"She likes to do it. It's entertaining for her. You'll see," Draco echoed and that was that. He was taking her home.
ooo
Back at the Manor, it was late enough Hermione just wanted to sleep. She pledged to find Padma first thing in the morning. She couldn't even recall if Parvati was around but Blaise and James ought to be.
The night had been exhausting in a different sense, too. The level of energy and engagement it had taken to keep up with Raquel - Hermione wasn't used to it. The falsity of it all, the act.
Her mind was spinning over the last forty-eight hours.
Draco laid her directly on his chest in bed, his hands on her back. She'd grown to love this, to adore feeling him breathe in and out, moving her whole body with it. He was so steady and secure. He stroked slowly up and down her back, under her hair. One hand slowly tangled in it to feel her curls.
On reflection of the night, Hermione no longer felt ashamed or embarrassed to have believed 'Katy' in Ireland. Raquel was enthralling. Even knowing what she was and how she worked, it was amazing to see in action. Hermione was glad Ray had been there after all. His presence seemed like it would be a hindrance at first, but it had given them a whole new angle to watch. He was completely enamoured with her.
Draco felt similarly. Hermione thought, and Draco tentatively agreed, that the woman probably preferred to keep her hands clean at this point in her life. She derived more satisfaction from having other people do things for her. Not to say that she couldn't be dangerous in her own right, but she'd taken great pains to be viewed as a perfect lady. If she could avoid sullying that image by convincing other people to do her dirty work instead, she'd prefer it.
Hermione had decided to share the memory of the dinner. She wanted to show their little group - at a minimum - exactly what the woman was like. She'd defer to James and Blaise as to whether to show who was left of the wider resident population, but she really wanted the opinions of the others.
She probably should have thought about offering to share it with Harry and Ron, too, but it hadn't occurred to her until now. She'd make the offer the next time she saw them, but they'd have interrogated her themselves by then.
When she finally thought about him instead, Draco was trying to parse through a complicated mix of things. His excitement when he'd become sure it was Raquel, the possibility of having all this done at last. His anticipation. His anxiety to find a wizarding Floo in an unknown locale as fast as he could. His fear when he realised she was sitting at the table with Raquel and he was nowhere near. A curiosity of how things would go next was trailing behind far in the distance.
Hermione lifted her head and rested her chin on his chest. "I loved the place in Italy."
He smiled down at her, his hair in his eyes. "I know you did."
"Where will you take me next?"
He thought about it, his hand returning to trace up and down her bare back. "You pick. France or Hong Kong?"
"Hong Kong?"
"We have a penthouse there. Real estate is limited." He gave her a smirk.
"I'd love to see it," she admitted honestly, "but I don't think I'd want to live in the city. I liked the views in Italy."
"Oh, there are views from the penthouse. Trust me. But I know what you're trying to say. You like the open space, don't you? The landscape."
She nodded without lifting her chin off of him. He brought his hand up to trace along her jaw and she felt the sadness he'd been trying to shove to the side.
The place in Italy had been dusty and empty. He'd held a tiny slim hope that maybe his mother had been there, or in one of their various overseas properties. Maybe she'd just wanted the escape.
"She's dead, Granger," he said softly. "I know she is. She'd have written."
Hermione knew he was probably right. She hadn't known a whole lot about Narcissa Malfoy but she knew she'd have never abandoned her son.
She wasn't sure how to make Draco feel better about this. Probably there wasn't a way. But she could make him forget for a little while - maybe.
ooo
The whole conference room was silent after Hermione's memory finished.
"Fucking hell," said James at last. Blaise and Padma were looking at each other. Rose was staring at the wall the memory had just finished playing on, silent and contemplative. Ronan stood behind her, watching nothing but Rose.
Padma spoke first. "We need to call Parvati back. Where is she, James?"
"Ireland. She was going to talk to Aidan's family about the O'Learys for background in her book. She's supposed to be there through tomorrow night. We'll have to owl her."
Hermione was amused that James had better tabs on Parvati than Padma did.
Rose murmured quietly, almost as if to herself, "She had to have known who you were in Ireland. If we think she's been trying to keep tabs on the investigation, there's no way she hasn't been reading every bit of print that Parvati has published. She couldn't have passed up the opportunity to meet you in person."
"It's still a big coincidence she saw us at all," Hermione insisted.
"Maybe, maybe not. In that pub, on that day? Probably. But I bet she was keeping tabs on that little town, knowing someone would come looking eventually. She'd probably been expecting Aurors but she recognised you instead. Or more specifically, she recognised Draco."
"Someone should have recognised her," said Padma.
Rose repeated, "Maybe, maybe not. It's been twenty years. And she might have done something to her appearance. She may look just different enough. She's already going by another name."
"Any other immediate impressions?" Blaise asked, looking around the table. Everybody fell silent.
"It's just hard to square that woman," James pointed at the blank wall, "with the labs."
"Should we show everyone else?" Hermione asked. "Or just wait until the Aurors' Office moves her here?"
Blaise and James conferred. Finally Blaise said, "We'll announce that she's been caught now. But I don't think there's any need to share this much detail. We didn't learn anything except how persuasive she is."
That seemed logical enough. Something was nagging at Hermione, though. A moment ago, someone… Rose had said Raquel was probably looking out for Aurors in Ireland.
"Who were the original Aurors sent to look into the O'Leary family months ago? Does anyone know?"
Everyone shook their heads. Hermione made a mental note to ask Harry or Ron. "I wonder if that's how she was getting to them. Some of them, anyway. Maybe Josiah Whitlock, for instance."
Whitlock had eventually been let go once they'd determined he wouldn't be leading them to Raquel. They'd let Harry handle Whitlock, hauling him off to the Ministry. He hadn't known anyone else who was working against the investigation, but that seemed to be a theme. They all thought they were the only one, Raquel's special confidant, her only hope.
"Rose, does any of this change your assessment of her?" Hermione couldn't help asking and was glad to see the Veela didn't look nearly as uncomfortable with being put on the spot as she would have even a month or two ago.
Rose considered it for a moment longer. She kept staring at the wall as if she could still see Raquel sitting at the little cafe table with a champagne flute in her hand, laughing.
"No," she said finally. "I think everything boils down to her desire for entertainment. As much as she seemed to want it last night, she doesn't care about having friends. Or about having a husband. She wants the interaction. The eyes on her. It could be from anyone, though. I wouldn't have been surprised to see some impulsivity or… or impatience. Maybe even a sort of thrill-seeking, but I think she's getting it this way instead."
"What do you mean?" asked Padma curiously.
"I think the manipulation is thrill-seeking for her. I think it's a challenge she looks for. A game of games, maybe the hardest game. She just wants to know she can do it."
"And the labs?" James was openly baffled.
"Oh, I think she wanted the gene splicing badly. More than anything else, she wants to be a witch. But she still got every person involved in this exact same way." Rose pointed at the wall.
They all fell silent again. Hermione was remembering how insistent Jamie Duncan had been, every time. How dedicated she was to Raquel and her cause. Dr Duncan and her 'best friend' Raquel. And Ezekiel Jackson, so determined to keep Raquel out of it altogether even though he had nothing else to gain from the lie.
And the horrifying thing was, Hermione bought it. She'd seen it first hand. Felt the draw, the charm. The desire to be like her, the unconscious coveting of certain traits that seemed to come so easily to her. The false sincerity, the various emotions she'd shown, all absolutely believable. Real. It felt real.
If she hadn't known what she did about Raquel and the experimentation, could she have been convinced they had the wrong woman? With enough time and opportunity, could Raquel have made Hermione doubt herself that completely?
Maybe.
ooo
Morale at the Manor was skyhigh that afternoon after their announcement. Finally, the last piece of the puzzle. She'd be interrogated and turned over to them for their own justice, and they could all be done with it.
Ron stopped in unannounced and threw off their plans for an evening party. "Kingsley wants you to come watch our next interrogation of her."
"Why?" said James suspiciously.
Ron shook his head, bemused. "She's just - different. Kingsley wants to be able to ask 'Mione some questions and we figured the rest of you might as well come along, too. You've seen these before."
Well, if not in person, they'd all seen the previous memories Blaise had shown after each one. Hermione looked inward and Draco didn't mind. She shrugged. "Alright. Is there anything else?"
She narrowed her eyes when Ron hesitated. "There is, isn't there?"
He gave a rueful laugh. "It's a little embarrassing, but you'll hear soon enough. We've already had to fire another guard. She had him trying to break her out within the first twelve hours."
That sounded about right. "I told you to be careful with her."
"That won't be the only one," said Draco. "I hope you learned something."
Ron looked annoyed but Hermione cut in before things could escalate, conjuring a flask and putting the memory of last night's dinner in it. "When does Kingsley want us?"
ooo
No deep secret detention centre for Raquel, Hermione was amused to note. Although it probably had more to do with the fact that the Ministry didn't have to keep the prisoners hidden any longer; the tenebris seminio would get their hands on O'Leary soon enough. No need to go to extra efforts to hide her.
Even so, the room she was in was clean and tidy, well-lit. Kingsley had copied the one-way glass idea the same way they had at the Manor for Jackson and Duncan.
The woman herself was in simple black wizarding robes cinched attractively at her slim waist. Her hair still looked quite orderly, curling slightly at the ends and Hermione could still see echoes of her smokey-eye makeup from the previous evening. It wasn't smudged.
"Witch robes? Really?" Padma scoffed.
Kingsley shrugged, slightly miffed. "She was in a cocktail dress and high heels. We don't keep a stock of Azkaban robes here. You can hardly say that's glamorous."
"No," Hermione said at the look of consternation on Rose's face, "but it's probably the thing she's most wanted to wear, ever in her whole life."
This had plainly not occurred to Kingsley, who seemed vexed at the realisation.
Moving on, he cleared his throat. "We haven't used Veritaserum yet. We haven't even threatened it as a possibility. We've wanted to get her side of things - yes, we know they'll all be lies," he clarified before the inevitable protests began, "but on the other hand, she knows she's caught. And she knows we'll check things. We want to compare what she tells us now to a separate interview with Veritaserum. We want to see if she still thinks she has the upper hand."
This was considerably more shrewd than the decision to let the woman wear witch's robes, and Hermione saw Rose perk up. She smiled to herself.
James had significantly less patience for it. "Who cares? We know we have all the labs. We have all the perpetrators. It's over. Who needs her testimony at all?"
In fact, all of the wizards were nodding. Hermione felt frustrated. Did none of them share the curiosity she and Rose did? That Padma did, their resident Ravenclaw? Didn't they have the burning desire to know?
No, not really. They all wanted to move on. Hermione sighed internally. She did, too, but… she couldn't deny she was fascinated by Raquel. She wanted to watch this interview and every one that came after it.
"Who tried to break her out?" Padma asked.
Kingsley gave Ron a black look. "New junior guard. Young. Impressionable."
"Former junior guard," James muttered.
"Well, quite," Kingsley shifted. "Just for that, Weasley, you go in first. Get in there."
Ron pulled a face.
ooo
"Hi, sugar," came an extended hello, Raquel's lips smiling around them. She beamed up at Ron. "You're new."
"Not as new as Mateo. He's been let go, I'm afraid."
"Oh, no." A pout and a furrowed brow. "Why?"
"He was growing rather fond of you," Ron smirked.
Raquel looked astonished. "Well, I can't see how, but he was a sweet boy. I only asked him to bring me my lipstick. That isn't why you fired him, is it?"
Her tone was slightly scolding and Hermione was amused to see that Ron looked a little awkward. "No, we didn't fire him for trying to bring you lipstick."
"Did you bring it?" She abandoned the line of inquiry over Mateo and gave him a secretive look from under her eyelashes, almost whispering the words.
Her accent was deep, slow, curling. She caressed the words, each syllable deliberate. It was much more drastic than Hermione had heard the previous night, even after all the champagne. She wondered if the woman was leaning into it for effect, knowing full well how exotic it sounded here. Hermione thought that was probably the case.
Ron cleared his throat and shook his head.
Raquel bit her lip for a fraction of a second and met Ron's eyes. "Too bad. That's alright, though. I'm sure you can find it."
To Hermione's left, James snorted audibly.
Ron tried to get things back on track. "I want to ask you a few questions."
Raquel's whole demeanour perked. She sat up straighter at the edge of her chair. Her hands were in her lap and her eyes sparkled. "Oh? Well, have a seat. Oh -" she looked around in obvious dismay. "There isn't one for you. You need one so we can have a nice little talk."
As if they were getting tea together. From the corner of her eye, she saw Padma shake her head in bewilderment.
Ron solved this at once by conjuring one with his wand. Raquel's eyes widened, bright and blue. Hermione thought she might have tried to smother her clear fascination with magic but the woman went the other way.
"That was incredible," she breathed in awe. "Do it again. Show me more. Please? Would you?"
"Maybe later," Ron said with another smirk, but his cheeks were a little pink. Hermione felt Draco's clear amusement.
ooo
Harry went next and clearly he'd been in there before. Raquel gave him a bashful smile and lit up when Harry handed her the tube of lipstick.
"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! I was lost without it. I know it sounds silly," she blushed and looked down, "but I do like to look my best."
"Of course," Harry said smoothly. "You don't need it, though."
Raquel looked shy but pleased, like a nervous girl on a first date. "You're too sweet," she murmured, still pink. She unscrewed the lipstick and applied it quickly, slipping the tube into her pocket.
"Do you mind if we talk for a while?"
She beamed up at him, lips newly reddened. "I'd love to! What would you like to talk about, darlin'?"
Harry sat in the chair Ron had conjured and crossed his legs casually. "I was wondering where you grew up. Your accent is beautiful."
"Thank you," she simpered with a demure smile. "I grew up near Charleston."
Confused glances all around.
"Where is that? Sorry, I don't know America very well. I've never been."
"Oh, sugar, you have to go! You just have to see it. It's on the coast in the south and it's just beautiful."
"Did you go to school there?"
"I went to a boarding school for girls. They taught cotillion -"
More general confusion from most of their group and Rose whispered, "It's French. It's an extended series of etiquette classes, appropriate behaviour and dress, how to entertain. It's not uncommon."
"Where I grew up, young ladies become debutantes and enter into society formally. It's important to many families for their daughters to present themselves for a suitable marriage."
Raquel waved a hand with a small roll of her eyes, as if she found this overbearing - maybe even a little ridiculous - but who was she to argue? It was the culture she'd been raised in.
"Was it important to yours?" Harry leaned forward, his elbows on his knees.
She nodded seriously. "Oh, yes."
"And did you manage to find one, the kind that made your parents happy?" His eyes twinkled a little, as if they shared a joke that the whole thing was silly.
Her face fell, her eyes downcast. "My parents passed away just before I graduated."
That was probably true. Hermione wondered what happened to them but Harry decided to abandon the act of friendly curiosity.
"And before Charleston? Weren't those your adoptive parents?"
Raquel hesitated for only a moment. "Yes, they were. But they loved me like their own. I always considered them my parents."
"Where were you born?"
"Ireland," she gave him a mischievous wink that Hermione recognised quite well, "but you already know that, don't you, honey? I'm sure you do from my name alone."
"What brought you to the States?"
"My birth family was ashamed of me. They sent me away. My adoptive parents always treated me as their own. To me, they're the only family I ever needed."
"Why were they ashamed?"
"Oh, come now, sugar." Raquel gave him a patronising look, her red lips pursed. "Don't play dumb. You're magical and I'm not. You already know. They were magical and I'm not. They were embarrassed of me and didn't want me around anymore."
Harry considered this for a moment, turning his wand over in his hands. Raquel followed it with her eyes surreptitiously.
"They had two other magical children to be proud of, didn't they?"
A glint appeared in Raquel's eye, quick and steely, before it disappeared. She bit her lip and looked at her hands. "Do you… know how it feels to know your parents don't love you?"
Harry shook his head silently.
"It's the worst feeling in the world. Knowing you disappointed them with something you couldn't even help, knowing they didn't want to introduce you to people, would rather you weren't seen by anyone. Would rather you never existed."
Another moment passed. "If you'd been their only child, would they have felt differently?"
Hermione knew he was trying to angle towards her motivation to harm Bridget, maybe both of her younger siblings. But she didn't take the bait.
"You'd have to ask them, honey." Raquel gave a sad smile, glistening with tears. She swallowed hard and looked back down into her lap.
ooo
James entered next. Hermione had been caught off-guard by his request, but his impatience at the meandering questions had taken precedence. He wanted to get down to things and Kingsley had agreed that his distinctly wolfish appearance could be helpful.
"Such fucking bullshit," she heard him grumble as he approached the door.
Raquel looked at him with open interest and no fear. She stood from her chair and extended a demure hand, palm down. It wasn't a true handshake. It was as if she wanted him to clasp it, maybe kiss the top. Perhaps it was what she was used to. James was caught off guard at the offer and didn't take it, but she barely blinked.
"Hi. I'm Raquel." She held eye contact with solemn respect. She even dipped her head a touch.
He didn't take her hand. "I'm - James."
"Please sit," she gestured to the chair as if they were in her parlour in her lovely Charleston home.
James did, eyeing her warily.
"Kingsley," Hermione whispered, "he's not an Auror. I know he's watched a dozen interrogations and he's seen how she works. But he's not really trained for this."
Padma was nodding in concern as Kingsley responded.
"He wanted a chance. Should I tell him he can't have it? He'd have it at the Manor within another day or two anyway."
All of this was true. Hermione tried to push away her discomfort with the whole thing.
Raquel was leaning forward into the table, her ankles crossed by one of the chairlegs. Her attention was fixed on James. "You were in one of the labs."
It wasn't a question, which would have been disingenuous with James's appearance. It was a statement she delivered with great sympathy.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered intently. She reached out a hand, then pulled it back into her lap. "I never wanted this."
"Didn't you?" James said in a gruff voice.
"No," Raquel breathed, her eyes never leaving his face. "No. Never. All I wanted was - was to be a witch. Jamie could do it. But we couldn't afford it all, everything she'd need."
She'd begun to cry. James watched her, unmoving, eyes narrowed.
"I married three times. I guess they know that, don't they? I kept - kept trying to get enough money to -"
Raquel let out a small hiccup and put her face in her hands, but not before Hermione could see tears on her cheeks.
"Jamie said - we didn't have another choice. We had to find someone else to help fund it all. She said - the military would want -" she met James's gaze miserably. "She said she could make something the military would want. Something they'd pay for. She promised me there was no other way."
Oddly, that might have worked. Hermione tried to think back. Duncan had said the idea for the gene splicing was Raquel's, but never specifically who had the idea for the magical creature genes themselves. Even so, she couldn't bring herself to believe it.
James hadn't said a word. She could see his jaw tightening and loosening from where they stood. Draco's uneasiness was palpable through the golden thread.
"Kingsley, get him out," Padma said quietly.
Kingsley didn't move, riveted to the scene.
Raquel's hand reached out again and touched James's cheek, feather light. "I'm so, so sorry."
James's eyes flickered shut at the contact for a split second before he leaned abruptly back in the chair. Raquel's hand retreated at once, tucked back into her lap. She let him be for a moment before she spoke again.
"Your eyes are… striking," she said quietly, looking at him from beneath her lashes. James looked up furtively, questioning. Doubting.
"It's… rugged, in a way. Your face… the hair. It's rough and tumble, looks tough. I know that probably sounds silly, but it -"
"Kingsley."
James had it handled, though. He rocked backwards and strode angrily from the room, thoroughly unsettled.
"What the fuck?" he spat, breathing hard. Hermione saw his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed. He went and stood against the wall for a moment, forehead against the cool concrete. After a moment alone, he rejoined the group, his eyes still darting around. "Who's next?"
ooo
Blaise volunteered next out of curiosity, and Padma was not pleased. Hermione squeezed her hand. "You know none of them are actually tempted by her. Everyone here knows what she is."
"She's a psychopath," said Rose in a low voice, eyeing them from the corner of her eye. It was the first time Hermione had heard her use the term in months. "She's played each one differently."
Padma shot a dubious look at James and Hermione squeezed her hand again. She couldn't say it without being overheard by James, but she was confident the werewolf hadn't actually been swayed. He was completely unmoored by Raquel's tactics, that was all. Hermione knew James was self-conscious about his appearance. It was easy to understand why and Raquel had quickly picked up on it. She'd hammered on his insecurities to test the strength of his allegiance.
What Hermione also couldn't voice aloud was whether Blaise had any such insecurities.
Draco didn't think so. So what tactic would Raquel take?
Blaise, perhaps wondering the same thing, didn't give her a chance to start things her own way.
"Why did you hurt your sister?"
Raquel took a moment before answering. She reapplied her lipstick slowly and watched her new companion with a vulnerable look in her eyes.
"I didn't. I think you know I didn't. But you want me to have done it."
"Why would I want that?"
"Because it would all of this make more sense."
"All of what?" Blaise queried, arms crossed over his chest.
"Me being here. Me needing to be here. You have something awful and you need someone to have been in charge. Someone to be responsible for it. But it wasn't me."
Blaise cocked an eyebrow, leaning against the table. He'd refused to take the chair. "Who was?"
"Jamie. I already said. I did ask Jamie to help me at the start. I admit it. But Jamie took it so much further. She was doing things I could never understand. But if I was an evil person all along, it could have been my fault."
She delivered this quietly, gaze on her lap again.
"Isn't the outcome evidence enough? Jamie's experiments on magical creatures were the top priority. Where are the experiments for magical genes? Nowhere. Jamie pushed them to the side long ago."
Blaise considered this in his even, serious way. "Did they go anywhere before Jamie focussed on the magical creatures?"
Raquel shook her head sadly. "No. It hadn't worked and we were out of money. Jamie said we had to involve the military. And then all they wanted were the creatures. They wouldn't fund anything else."
This also could have been true. Hermione wondered if they'd ever know. Suddenly, she was so tired of all of it. She'd never satisfy her fascination. Not really. Raquel could and would play these games with every person they sent in. Forever.
"This is a waste of time," she declared irritably. "Just use the Veritaserum."
"In a minute," murmured Kingsley and she exhaled in frustration.
Raquel was subtly trying to turn on the charm with Blaise, less than with James, but still apparent if you knew to look for it. She was building steadily on the damsel-in-distress angle, the one taking the blame unfairly. The one who needed a champion in her corner, the kind of champion Blaise could be.
Blaise had been expecting this, though, or something like it.
"You haven't been counting on the mate bond we share when we find someone we love," Blaise said, showing his pointed teeth. "It's a unique facet of the creature relationships. Nothing you can do will make us sexually attracted to you."
Raquel lifted an eyebrow over a curious eye. A challenge, at last? Hermione tried to read it.
"So you have a mate, then?" she queried, innocently moving closer to Blaise.
"I do."
"Lucky girl," she breathed, openly looking him up and down, now. "I must say, you don't seem much worse for wear."
"Aside from the teeth." Blaise smiled, flashing them again.
Raquel tilted her head, considering. Her reddish-brown hair, still curled at the ends, tipped over her shoulders. "Do you hear many objections to the teeth? I think they're… kind of sexy."
Blaise's eyes narrowed at her blatant disregard to his 'mate' warning. After a long bit of silence, he extended his hand. Next to Hermione, Padma tensed.
Raquel gave him a flirtatious smile and took it, her own palm down as if Blaise might kiss the top of it - just like she'd done with James. Hermione figured it was how she always introduced herself.
Blaise wasted no time in yanking her wrist to his mouth and biting. Raquel shrieked in pain and tried to yank her arm free, with no luck. Blaise's grip was absolute.
Padma pounded on the glass, but if Blaise heard, he didn't react. Hermione had to figure he felt her through their own mate connection, but he didn't stop. Raquel continued to scream, agonising and sharp.
Kingsley didn't flinch.
Raquel was struggling physically now, beating against Blaise's chest with her free hand, trying to kick him with her bare feet. Nothing made any difference. James snorted in delight.
"It fucking hurts, doesn't it?" he asked, glancing sideways at Padma.
"So much," the nurse whispered fervently, eyes wide.
"And he's done this to the others, hasn't he?" James prompted, watching her expression. Padma nodded.
"Then stop worrying. The basic act of biting isn't a sexual thing. It was special with you because you're his mate. It's torture for her. So stop. He wouldn't want you to bruise your hand."
Undoubtedly knowing this was true, Padma did stop. Her mouth was still twisted as she tried to listen to her future brother-in-law and Hermione took her hand in her own to soothe her.
Raquel seemed to have intuited something similar. The pain screams weren't working and she was nothing if not agile. She inhaled and let out a sound that was more of a groaning cry. The next sound out of her mouth was a softer moan. Her intent to turn it into something that sounded like desire made Blaise stop.
He surely knew it was still excruciating. Maybe he just couldn't stand the thought of giving her something she might want, even if it was a slim chance. Maybe he was just done with it. Either way, he dropped her arm and left the room, leaving her in tears on the floor, cradling her wrist.