"I want to see Granger in there," Kingsley said flatly.
Hermione beat Draco to it for a change. "No."
"Why not? You've spoken with her twice. She knows you."
"Why do it? I have spoken with her twice. I'm not doing it again. We wouldn't get anything out of it."
"We'd be giving her a plaything," Draco added. "It would make her happy to see us. We're not doing it."
"Can we go now?" said Padma irritably, looking at Blaise. "None of this is getting us anywhere."
Kingsley glanced around the room at the rest of them. "Anyone else want to question her?"
No one did. They'd have plenty of time at the Manor, if they wanted to. Finally, Kingsley acquiesced. "We'll have her another day or so before we try Veritaserum. Thank you for your help tonight."
"What did we do, exactly?" Hermione snapped.
"You helped give us several examples that we can show our Aurors and our Mind Healers. She's clever and quick on her feet. Knowing her tactics helps," he emphasised. "It does help."
"Help with what?" James shouted, pressed beyond his temper. "Whatever comes out of her mouth, we know she did it. We don't need anything else. Give her to us and we'll take it from here."
Hermione could see that most of them agreed and she was having a hard time arguing the point. They'd had Raquel for less than twenty-four hours, but just let the rest of the tenebris seminio take out their rage and move on. There was nothing else left.
ooo
Draco took her to bed, determined to keep her mind off things. It felt like their roles had quite reversed from the previous night and Hermione had to smile.
He'd wanted to fly home from the Ministry, a short flight - especially compared to the Italy/Greece trip they'd just undertaken. But he enjoyed the crisp night air and he'd been right that she'd be too focussed on the flight to think about Raquel.
"I want to talk to Rose tomorrow," she'd said after they arrived back at the Manor and he'd nodded easily.
"You will. But tomorrow. Not tonight. Enough for tonight."
She could tell what he was trying to shove down. As much as he hated what had been done to everyone, the horror of it all, the torture and abominable conditions, he couldn't muster up enough animosity. All of those various stepping stones had led him to Hermione.
His anger at Raquel was primarily entangled with her deception, with Hermione's frustration and residual embarrassment at having fallen for the act. He hated that this person had made Hermione feel this way. But he couldn't fully regret the path he'd been forced to walk.
Draco was ashamed of this, to a degree. He knew that most of the others hated the whole situation, top to bottom. But especially because he couldn't clearly remember the labs, he didn't. He was grateful for any scenario that had put him and Hermione together. He felt they'd have never ended up here otherwise.
Hermione couldn't argue it well. With or without the labs, she thought the probability of them ending up together had been minimal. It was the mate declaration from Veela that had sealed it.
She hated what had happened to Draco but she couldn't deny he seemed less impacted than most of the others. And she couldn't deny that most of what was keeping him in the middle of things was her. It was her desire for answers and nothing else. Draco would have abandoned this months ago.
She decided, all of a sudden. She was done with it, too. The tenebris ones who needed retribution could dole it out. She'd never hear true explanations from Raquel and neither would anyone else.
What was the point in continuing to pursue it? She was ready to move on.
Pick a country and home to reside in. Get married. Make a new life, together, and maybe just… make a new life.
She felt Draco's attempt to suppress his excitement at this. Finally, he stopped trying. Why bother? "You'd really want to?"
Hermione smiled. "Of course I want to. Veela and I had talked about it, very early on. At the time, I was more feeling out what we did or didn't have in common, but yes. I've always wanted to have children."
The rush of love that came flooding towards her was almost overwhelming. He couldn't speak for a minute.
She gave a small laugh. "Veela said something about loving to see me 'swell' with his child, or something like that, which was maybe a bit of an odd way to put it -"
"No… it wasn't," Draco said quietly, his grey eyes locked on hers. Heat bloomed in her cheeks from his intensity. "I know that us catching her means we'll probably be here for at least a couple more weeks, instead of looking at other places to live. But then -"
"I can't wait to leave," she said honestly. "I want it over. It's done. It feels done. They can do whatever they want with her and the other two. I think I'd rather not even know."
Draco wrapped both hands into her hair and she felt the claws gently scratching her scalp. "Can we start now?"
"No," she scoffed lightly. "But we can practise."
ooo
Of course Raquel's inevitable presence at the Manor caused a huge stir when she arrived two days later. Everyone was fascinated. Everyone wanted a chance to confront her. It was an extremely busy morning.
Harry, overseeing primary Auror guard duty in the outbuilding once more, came loaded with several vials of Veritaserum. They hadn't bothered with this for Jackson and Duncan; the Ministry had, of course, but at the Manor, the tenebris seminio were interested far more in physical retribution.
Raquel O'Leary was different. There was a mix of motivations afoot. Before allowing anyone else in with her, the tenebris seminio watched memories of the various Ministry questioning. They had to see what she'd try to do to be remotely prepared for it.
Some of the tenebris ones wanted the Veritaserum for her. Some didn't, more interested in how she'd approach them specifically. The game was afoot, and even though Raquel was incarcerated, she never stopped playing it.
Some would go right for physical revenge, of course, and no one was going to stop them. The same rules applied to Raquel as Jackson and Duncan. Can't kill her before everyone else has a chance to have their fun.
Hermione had no interest in watching any of it, no different than before. She was just pleased that the Aurors were competent in basic Healing. Interest in Jackson and Duncan had waned, at last, but things had roared back to life with O'Leary.
She and Padma had been busier than usual that morning preparing for a temporary influx of tenebris ones who had moved out. Everybody wanted to see the final perpetrator themselves. This kept Hermione away from the outbuilding, which suited her fine.
Ron poked his head into the hospital ward, which they were now using almost exclusively as an oversized blood bank storage area. She and Padma had been sorting out the latest shipment, knowing it would be significantly short with all the returning vampires present.
"'Mione, she's asking for you. Do you have any interest in talking with her again?"
Too taken aback to respond, Draco took over for her. "She's asking for Hermione? And since when do we give her what she wants? Does she get anything else she asks for?"
Similarly thrown by Draco's rare use of her first name - and how much she liked how it sounded coming from his mouth - it took Hermione another minute. "I don't, really."
Draco felt something different and gave her a prod. "Well, if she was under Veritaserum, maybe. I'd like to know a few things about Ireland, when we thought she was Katy Haymitch. But I don't need to know, and I don't want to give her something she wants. I'm not that curious."
"Oh, she won't want the Veritaserum. I promise."
"How are you giving it to her for some interrogations and not others?" Draco asked, curious. "It's not even lunchtime."
Ron shrugged. "Not everyone wants her under it, so we only do a drop or two. It lasts thirty minutes or so and wears off."
Hermione and Padma already knew this was true. Hermione sighed. "And why are you delivering messages for her, exactly?"
Affronted, Ron snapped, "I'm not. But you're the only ones who'd met her under her assumed identity. She did ask, but I'm also curious and I wanted to see if you had any desire to sort things out. That's all. She is different under the Veritaserum. I thought you might find it interesting. I know you, 'Mione."
Draco found this both annoying and presumptuous, and Hermione stifled a grin.
ooo
Exiting the Manor, they ran into Trevor. It took Hermione a minute to recognise him out of context; they'd had so many people returning to the Manor today.
At her quizzical look, he said, "Can't wait to see this. I've been chasing this bitch all over the world. Now, don't get me wrong," he clarified with a roguish smirk, "I've had a fine time. Seen some lovely places."
And some lovely girls, Hermione's mind filled in the rest. Draco concurred with a mental eye roll.
"But after talking to her husbands…" Trevor shook his head as they walked, falling into step with them. "I can't wait to see her in action."
"Well, you won't," Hermione said. "Not straight away. She wants to talk to me and I want her under Veritaserum."
"Oh, I can wait," Trevor replied, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "I'm a patient bloke. Parvati down there already?"
Hermione glanced at him from the corner of her eye. She figured the journalist was; she thought James probably was, anyway. But the man's innocent tone didn't fool her. She and Padma exchanged a wry look.
Ron nodded to the two guards by the cabin's door and they parted to let their group in. "Full house in there," one commented.
Hermione had expected nothing less. She fell in behind Ron as he shouldered his way through, using his wake. Finally they reached the one-way glass. They'd mimicked the other cabin holding Jackson and Duncan. There had been no way to fit a third cell in that outbuilding - especially not with the number of people who wanted to participate. Raquel had this one all to herself, even though she didn't know it.
Raquel was bruised and slightly bloodied, her lip cut. Overall, the Healers hadn't had too much to do so far, it seemed. Most people had probably been content to talk with her, to play her stupid games for as long as they could stand. Hermione rolled her eyes.
She heard Trevor's sharp intake of breath to her right and immediately knew, even as his mouth began to say, "Br -"
Bridget. She smiled, impressed despite herself. Of course Raquel was who he'd really met. He'd never met the youngest O'Leary at all. Well; it had been Big Willy who'd first 'met' her, but Hermione doubted that had been Bridget either.
Trevor had stopped himself saying the whole name out loud, but she knew. His hand covered his mouth, his eyes wide and shocked.
"You shagged her, didn't you?" Draco said with derision.
Trevor's head bobbed up and down mutely. Hermione wondered if Big Willy had also shagged her and snorted in amusement. Ah, it was vindicating, to not have been the only ones Raquel had fooled.
At least she and Draco hadn't shagged the woman. She felt Draco's pique of interest in this fleeting thought. Would she have been -
She scoffed at him lightly. No. No ménage à trois, even without Raquel O'Leary driving things. She glared up at him, trying to look stern, but the corners of his mouth were curling up. He put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed into her neck.
"Alright, then," Ron declared. "'Mione, are you ready?"
She sighed, supposing she was. She and Draco moved behind Ron to the door of the cell. Ron readied the vial in his hand.
Raquel's light blue eyes brightened as soon as they walked through the door, even though the bruising was beginning to show around her left one. "Hermione!"
Suddenly, she was pushed to the side and Draco caught her by the arm. Trevor stood there, breathing heavily. Ron grabbed him by the neck of his shirt but before he could haul him out, Raquel spoke.
"Hey, baby. I can't believe you came to see me."
Her accent was less southern than Hermione had heard it at the Ministry. It was closer to what she'd heard from 'Katy' but now that she knew to listen for it, she could hear the slinkiness of the words. How Raquel's tongue moved over them. 'Hay.' 'Bay-bee.' Raquel was smiling up at him as if he were the only one in the room, Hermione forgotten entirely.
Trevor had stopped dead in his tracks, not fighting Ron.
"I don't think they'll let you stay," Raquel wet her lips quickly, furtively. Her tongue darted to the cut. "But will you come see me again later?"
All Trevor could do was goggle at her with his mouth agape as Ron flung him back out of the cell by his shirt, slamming the door.
Raquel turned her attention to Ron, next. "That was… impressive," she breathed, eyes running up and down Ron appreciatively. "You're a strong man. Tall, too. I like them tall."
She winked at Draco.
Hermione felt a wave of revulsion mirrored from Draco's end. She decided to cut this off at the knees. "I've spoken with 'Katy' twice. I'll only speak with Raquel this time."
The woman looked simply delighted. "Well, please! Let's! Have a seat." She gestured to the chair again.
Ron moved forward with the Veritaserum and Raquel met him with wide, pleading eyes. "No, please don't," she whispered intently. "I'll tell the truth, I promise."
"Maybe next time," Ron smirked. Hermione didn't know how Raquel would manage this part - Duncan and Jackson had both had to be stunned. Whether that was true every time it had been used, she didn't know.
Raquel simply sighed in resignation and looked down at her lap for a quick beat. She looked back up and opened her mouth, sticking her tongue slightly out.
Draco was immediately suspicious. Hermione figured Raquel cared more about appearances than dying on the hill. She knew they'd force her; it was undignified and put her in an unattractive position. She thought Raquel was trying to save face.
"Why do you hate the serum, Raquel?" Ron asked, teasing.
The woman's whole demeanour had changed. It had been slow, almost like melting. Her shoulders relaxed from their proper, held-back position. Her face grew neutral and she stared at the wall blankly. She blinked several times and exhaled.
"It's just so… boring."
Hermione thought she understood. They'd taken away her entertainment. "Aren't you often bored?"
Another sigh. "You have no idea. Life is so boring. The world is boring."
"Were you waiting for us in Ireland?"
"You? No. Anyone. I was there because I knew sooner or later, people would come looking. I'd seen several people before I saw you. When I saw someone, I'd approach them on purpose, to see what they knew. Then lying about what I knew was fun."
This was far more detail than requested, but Hermione had a feeling this was the only way Raquel could continue to entertain herself; she had to engage. She couldn't help it.
"And Greece?"
"Greece was a coincidence. You saw me, remember?" her tone was slightly admonishing, as if she'd expected better from Hermione. "It was a challenge to keep up the ruse as Katy. It was fun to dig in deeper. And didn't we have a good time? Every time you have champagne, you'll think of me."
Hermione refused to engage in that. "Why did you hate your little sister? Because she was magical and you weren't?"
"Not at first." Through all this back and forth, Raquel's eyes still hadn't left the wall. "She took all their attention. Declan, too."
"Your parents' attention?"
"Of course." The word was almost an exhale. Her accent was still distinctly southern American, a balance between what Hermione had heard at the end of the night in Greece and what she'd heard at the Ministry two days ago. This was the woman speaking, just speaking. No manipulating her words for effect.
"Had you hurt them before?"
"Some. A little. But then they'd scream and cry, and get more attention from Mother and Daddy."
Ah. So she had, but it had turned counterproductive. "Why hurt Bridget at the end, then?"
"By then I knew she had what I wanted. I did hate her."
For all Hermione knew, these questions had already been asked by someone. But her curiosity had begun to burn again.
"What would killing her have accomplished?"
"I don't know. It didn't matter. I was a child, I can't say I thought it through. I wanted to do it. I hated her, hated her magic, and I wanted to be the only daughter again."
"That wouldn't have fixed things with Declan. You'd have still had a sibling."
"Maybe, maybe not." This was the first time any kind of light teasing had come into Raquel's voice and Hermione had brief shivers from it.
"Why so formal with your mother? 'Mother and Daddy'?"
"I wasn't always. But my mother kept me at arm's length. She pushed me back. She knew what I was. My daddy didn't want to see it. I was a daddy's girl." A clear point of pride, even now. Hermione marvelled.
"What did she know? That you were a squib?"
"No," Raquel exhaled again, as if it was a nuisance to have to explain it. Didn't she understand? "They didn't care about that. She saw what I am."
"What are you?"
"Indifferent. Unfeeling. Mean." She dragged out the single syllable.
"Was she afraid of you?"
"Yes." The woman's lips curled up at the edges slightly. This pleased her. But her eyes were still on the wall and it was getting under Hermione's skin. "My daddy wasn't, though. He didn't believe her. I'd say I didn't do it and he believed me."
"When did that change?"
"After Bridget." Her mouth twisted. She'd lost her daddy's favour for good with her final lashing out.
"What did you do to Bridget?"
"I put her favourite toy high on a shelf and told her if she wanted it back, she'd have to get it herself. When she got high enough, I pushed it over. I made it look like an accident, climbing it like the stupid little baby she was, but they didn't believe me. I wish it had killed her."
"Why kill Tom Dubh?"
"Oh, please," Raquel scoffed with an eye roll Hermione could even see from the side. "That was a mercy. He knew there was nothing left for him."
Under the Veritaserum, she couldn't have denied it, but Hermione was still taken aback by her nonchalance. It took her a moment to recover.
"You didn't care about doing something kind for him, though. So why do it? Why bother at all?"
"Stephen - or maybe he goes by Steve - said he'd do anything for me. Well, if he can't follow through on a statement like that, what good is he? I gave him a little test. And all he had to do was get the pills inside. No one made Dubh take them."
"And Gareth? Was he given a similar 'choice?'"
"Oh, I don't even remember his name. Luke? He got it done in the end. Take my advice, Hermione, always put your men to the test. Wouldn't Draco kill for you?"
She shifted her weight and re-crossed her legs. Hermione watched her for a moment, waiting her out. Curious to know if enough silence for long enough would pique the woman's interest in the conversation.
It did not. Even after directly addressing Hermione with her last sentence, Raquel still leaned her weight onto an elbow on the table, looking straight ahead with a scowl.
"What do you really think of Jamie Duncan?"
Raquel snorted an indelicate laugh, then covered her mouth. "A genius. But needy, clingy. Desperate. Pathetic."
"And Jackson?"
"Now, he was more fun. Big, strong soldier man, big saviour complex. So easy. Predictable."
"Why did you do it at all?" Hermione probably should have started with this, but oh well. She'd finally gotten around to it.
"Y'all already know."
"Tell me anyway. Give me the long answer."
Raquel sighed heavily. "I wanted magic. I'd seen what life should be like. I should have had it. Nothing else could ever compare. This world is so… dull. Unimaginative. I should have had so much more."
Raquel was now staring at her manicure as if disappointed in it. Hermione's patience had come to an end. She'd had it with the impression that she had to earn the woman's attention. "Look at me."
"...Why?"
"Because I deserve it."
"Do you?" Raquel was amused - and still refusing to look at her. "Do you feel… victimised by me, Hermione? Do I owe this to you?"
The malice in her tone was chilling.
"How about me, then?" Draco spoke for the first time, his anger hot and sharp. "Don't I deserve it from you? You victimised me."
"Did I?" Raquel finally turned her head, slow and purposeful. She looked straight at him. Her blue eyes were bright and dancing, a wide smile spreading across her face. Her dimple emerged. "Did I really? You tell me, Draco. Did I?"
ooo
That had been the end of that.
Draco had practically dragged her out, furiously indignant. He'd never admit to anyone else how close to the mark that had been, how he really didn't feel like a victim - not the way the others did. How, in a very specific way, he was almost grateful. He didn't think he'd have ever ended up with Hermione otherwise.
Her ability to pinpoint exact vulnerabilities was incredible.
Ron had gone back in, wanting to use the rest of the Veritaserum dose to their advantage. Hermione gathered that she'd posed a few questions he still wanted more detail on, but she didn't care about the answers.
"She was so different," Padma said in disbelief.
Hermione didn't have anything else to add. They'd all been in there. Personally, she thought Raquel had been both different and completely the same, in a strange way. They'd just stripped away the energy. The enthusiasm.
Raquel would have made every statement in there on her own, honestly, if the situation suited her. If she could work that specific truth to her advantage, right then, to the right person.
And therein was the crux, Hermione thought coldly. In Raquel's world, there was no truth or lie. There was only usefulness.
ooo
Blaise had eventually gone back in, leaving Padma with Hermione and Draco in the grass between the two cabins they were using for prisoners. Trevor had never left. A few people did leave. A few more arrived. The rotation never seemed to slow.
After a while longer, Draco went to get the witches something to eat, returning quickly with enough to make a little picnic dinner of things.
James wandered up from the direction of his and Parvati's cottage, biting into an apple. "Loads of excitement today."
Hermione was only half surprised that he hadn't been inside Raquel's outbuilding. He'd been at the Ministry, after all, and didn't seem particularly inclined to deal with her again - not verbally, anyway.
Padma looked up, squinting into the setting sun. "Where's Vati? I'm surprised she's not glued to the glass in there."
James stopped mid-bite. "I don't know. She should be back sometime today. She was really excited."
"Trevor is here, already," Hermione commended idly.
James froze, his red eyes fixed on her. "What?"
She felt awkward at once, wishing she hadn't mentioned it. But he'd find out soon enough. "He's in there." She gestured behind her at the cabin.
"What is it, James?" Padma asked curiously. "They weren't together, were they?"
Hermione cringed at the phrasing but James didn't seem to notice. His eyes were now locked on the cabin behind them. "No…" he said slowly, "but she said she was going to notify Trevor. By all rights, she should have beaten him here."
Tossing the apple into the woods, he strode into the cabin. Hermione and Padma exchanged an uneasy look. "How does their bond work, again?" she whispered.
Padma hadn't gotten a word out before James and Trevor burst back out, yelling over each other.
"I don't know anything, Rosier! I got her owl and headed this way. I don't know when she's going to get here. I can't keep track of her. If you can't -"
Draco darted between the two wizards with his hands outstretched. Blaise followed them out into the daylight, squinting against the remaining sun and looking concerned.
Padma moved into the shade with him, Blaise moving subtly in front of her. Draco was still the sole barricade between James and Trevor, and Hermione proactively went to stand near Padma. She felt Draco's palpable relief.
Padma shouted out, "James, what can you feel?"
James, nowhere near ready to think Trevor had nothing to do with this, took a moment before responding. "It's not like yours. Like either of yours. We don't have a blood exchange. It's not the same!" He kicked out in frustration.
"Okay," Padma tried to soothe. "But what do you feel?"
James stopped still, breathing hard. One hand made a fist in his hair. "Nothing. Ours is more tactile, more - more physical. Sometimes I get flashes of things, but feeling nothing in particular isn't uncommon."
"Does anything about it right now feel… unusual?" Hermione ventured tentatively.
"I don't know," he snapped and Blaise stepped in.
"Parvati is probably fine. She'll be on her way here. We don't know that anything has happened. All we know is that she's coming sometime today. She could arrive anytime."
But Padma was clearly unsettled, too. One look at her face and Blaise stepped back to put an arm around her shoulders.
"Where was she, again?" Draco asked, returning to Hermione now that it seemed the two men no longer needed to be physically separated.
"Ireland," Padma said uneasily. "Doing background research. She was there to talk to Aidan's family and she'd been trying to interview the O'Learys."
Hemione didn't like that one bit, either, and she could see the feeling mirrored on everyone else's faces. Yes, Raquel had been in Greece, but she'd spent a lot of time in Ireland recently. Who knew who she had in place there?