Without another word, she stalked back into the cabin with Draco hot on her heels. "What are you -"
Ron was still with Raquel. Hermione banged on the glass and he jumped, looking at the mirror reflexively as if he could see the other side.
"What is it?" Harry whispered, alarmed. The others had crowded around them in front of the cell's barrier.
"Parvati might be missing. We need to know if she knows anything."
Harry nodded once, quick and alert. He met Ron at the door and explained, in a low voice. Hermione watched Raquel's face, piqued with interest. Maybe this wouldn't bore her.
The two Aurors re-entered the room as a third barred the rest of them from following. James had to be physically blocked and Draco had to intervene.
Paying this no mind, Hermione was scrutinising the room as Harry eyed Raquel. "Do you know any reason why a Parvati Patil might not have arrived back yet?"
Raquel scrunched her little nose. "Well, I don't know just now. Who is she, again?"
"The investigative journalist who's written all the press."
"Where was she?"
"Ireland."
Raquel smiled and bit her lip, eyebrows raised. "No, I don't know anything."
"It seems like you might," Harry said flatly, and brought out another vial of Veritaserum. The dose they'd given her before Hermione spoke with her must be wearing off at last.
"You can use that again, but my answer won't change. I don't know anything for certain."
"Have a guess, then," said Ron as Harry uncorked the vial.
"Well, I don't know, sugar," Raquel huffed irritably, arms crossed over her chest. "Like I said to our darling Hermione just a little bit ago, I do put my men to the test."
"Keep going."
"I never tell them how to do something. I like seeing if they have any ingenuity to them. Creativity is a virtue, don't you agree?"
"Did you tell someone to harm Parvati?" Ron snapped.
"No."
In open disbelief, Harry put two more drops on Raquel's tongue. Just like before, the woman accepted them without complaint.
Ron repeated the question. Raquel repeated the answer.
"Do you know of anyone who would harm Parvati for you?"
Clever, Hermione thought. Harry had her number quite well. This did provoke a better response as Raquel nodded.
"Who, and where?"
"Well, plenty of them would, I suppose, if they saw an opportunity present itself. An opportunity to show some initiative."
Visibly growing angry, Ron slammed his fist on the table. "And who would have an opportunity? Who in particular?"
Raquel gave a satisfied smile at this display and Hermione mentally urged Ron to reel it in. "Mark, maybe? Matt? I ran into him on holiday a couple of months ago. He's close to Parvati."
Mac, Hermione realised, chilled to the bone. Her own photographer. He'd been all over the Manor. He was certainly in Ireland with Parvati, getting background biography on Raquel and her family.
She saw Harry and Ron exchange a look and knew they'd put it together as well. They'd been the Aurors on duty for the majority of the Wizengamot meetings, most of which Parvati and Mac had gone along for.
"He's quite motivated to impress me, I have to say. It wasn't very hard; I don't think he's had much luck with women. Anyway, I almost never tell them what to do. Even with Dubh and Gareth, they could have interpreted my instructions however they liked. I like to see them problem-solve. It shows me how smart they are. How clever, how brave."
She was looking Ron up and down appraisingly as she said these last words.
"Did you give Mac instructions about Parvati?"
"Mac, was it? Mm. No."
"Did you give anyone else instructions about Parvati?"
"I've answered that, darlin.' No."
"Could he be working with someone else?" asked Ron at the same time as Harry's next question.
"Where are they?"
Raquel's eyes flicked back and forth between the two, plainly amused. She put a finger to her cut lip. "Well… usually my men don't work together. They don't play well with others, you could say." She stifled a little giggle. "After all, they are competing in a certain sense. Or at least, that's how they see it. But that's not to say it couldn't happen. Some of them are more imaginative than others, you know."
Ron pulled a disgusted face and Raquel went on. "So sometimes, people can surprise you. And isn't that just delightful? Every now and again, someone really can surprise you."
She looked absolutely chuffed at the possibility of this happening, right now, with a spectator seat in the front row. Hermione realised she wished Ron would hit her. They needed the answers, but she wished Raquel wasn't so openly pleased by the whole scenario. If only they could have kept her in the dark about it.
She turned to Harry, next. "As for where… well, I really couldn't say. I don't even know 'who' or 'what', sugar, not really. Your guess would be as good as mine."
She giggled again, her eyes wide. She gave her head a little shake, as if she couldn't believe her luck. What fun!
James was shaking beside Hermione and Draco very deliberately moved between them. "Rosier," she heard him say under his breath, "I'm sure she's fine. She could walk through the door any second. This bitch doesn't even know for sure something happened."
"She may not know for sure, but she's certain. Look at her, Malfoy. Fucking look at her! She fucking loves it!" He hit the glass with the flat of his palm, and all three people in the interrogation room looked up in unison, Raquel's eyes bright and inquisitive.
"And she got to Mac. That says enough. That piece of shit, that worthless fucking -" James turned on his heel and strode out.
Blaise followed him, Padma in tow.
Hermione saw Raquel still shaking her head in a grudging sort of respect. Her smile was almost disbelieving as she muttered, "Mac…" under her breath. She laughed again to herself, and Hermione turned away.
ooo
"Rosier, wait," Blaise called. "Let's think it through."
"Would you wait, Zabini?" James growled, his nose practically a snout. Hermione watched his body phase, shivering into and out of wolf features as he struggled to control it.
"Okay, Ireland," Blaise said calmly. "How could Mac impress Raquel using Parvati?"
"I don't fucking know, Zabini, but I'm still feeling nothing at all from Parvati. Nothing."
He'd said that wasn't unusual, Hermione knew, but the circumstantial evidence was beginning to mount. She couldn't deny it and neither could Draco. Padma wasn't even trying.
"Blaise, something's happened. We have to go find her."
"'We'?" Blaise practically yelped. "No. James and I will go."
Hermione looked up at Draco. "You should go, too."
He gave her a puzzled look. Not that he didn't want to help, but he wasn't about to volunteer to leave her behind. Blaise and James could manage this perfectly well.
"No, you should go. If Parvati does get here I can let you know. We're the only two that can communicate to that detail at that distance."
He still didn't like this. Not at all. She could feel it. "We'll be fine here, Padma and me. It's the same as when you went to the Wizengamot for the settlement."
Draco glanced back over his shoulder at the cabin malevolently. "Don't -"
"I won't go back in there," Hermione promised. "I don't want to, anyway. Let the rest of them have their fun."
James was about to leave with or without help.
"You should side-along Apparition," said Padma suddenly. "It's too far for one Apparition and you won't get separated between leaps."
That was clever and Hermione was glad someone was thinking clearly. Draco could fly, but the others couldn't. Blaise's speed was incredible but how did it compare to Draco? And how fast was James? Padma was right - better to stick together.
"Go. Now." Padma practically shoved Blaise. "Go get my sister."
James was growling now, low in his throat, as Blaise turned to Padma. "I won't come back without her."
Hermione knew she'd feel Draco the entire time. He gave her a long look as he gripped James's right arm, Blaise on his left. The three of them turned on the spot and vanished.
ooo
Hermione's job, as she now saw it, was to keep Padma's mind busy. Her friend was trying her best to stay calm and not panic. But it was her twin, after all.
"Can you -" Hermione began hesitantly. "Can you feel anything? Anything from her?"
Padma shook her head miserably. "It's not like that, though. We finish sentences and pick out the same outfits sometimes, but it's just that our minds are so similar. But I think I'd feel if she -"
She broke off and her lip trembled slightly. Hermione knew how to finish that sentence.
Trevor had reemerged from the outbuilding at last. "What a piece of work, you should have seen -"
"Did they get anything else out of O'Leary or not?" Padma interrupted.
"No. Did Prince Charming run off to save Vati?" Trevor's mouth twisted a little and Hermione knew he was jealous. He flinched at the look Padma shot him.
"Just because you got fooled into shagging the pretty princess in there doesn't mean you get to be a dick about my sister."
Hermione's jaw dropped and Trevor backed up a step, raising his hands. "Whoa, I didn't mean anything against Parvati. I'm glad they've gone after her. I just don't know for sure it's needed, but I understand why they went."
Hermione couldn't help notice Trevor hadn't exactly come running out in concern, eager to help. That fact clearly hadn't got past Padma, either.
"You haven't spent enough time around Raquel," Hermione said quietly. "Shagging 'Bridget' doesn't count. She's got people all over the place willing to do anything for her - whether she asks or not. One breakout attempt already at the Ministry two days ago by a junior guard she'd just met, two assassinations, people inside the Aurors' Office, the breaching of the wards -"
"You should know better than anyone, you idiot!" Padma shrieked suddenly. "You're the one interviewing all her bloody husbands in America, chasing her around. You should know-"
Trevor looked abashed as Hermione interrupted her. "The wards. How Dubh got in with the gun. Did they ever pin that down?"
Padma thought back, rolling her jaw. "I… don't know. Could have been Whitlock, for all we know. Could have been whoever got Dubh the pills. Could have been someone else entirely."
They hadn't caught anyone but Whitlock. Well, and the junior guard, Mateo, but he hadn't even known what had hit him. Hermione almost felt sorry for the kid.
All those other people, still out there… still trying to be useful. Important. Special.
Ronan and Rose were wandering up but her mind was racing. She heard Padma filling them in. Blaise had asked how attacking Parvati would impress Raquel. What good could it do her? What was the - the usefulness?
There wasn't any. Not really. Raquel didn't care about the press. Jim Lovelook's hate group were more likely to strike out against Parvati than Raquel was. So why Parvati? What did Mac hope to gain?
They'd been in Ireland with the O'Leary family, at least part of the time. Now, attacking Raquel's family… that could impress her. Get rid of people she hated, people who had shunned her, cast her out. That could do it, especially if she'd described the situation to Mac like she had to Ezekiel Jackson - she'd been devastated, crushed, her family disowning her over something so small as being non-magical…
Hermione reached out to Draco, who was immediately alarmed. They'd completed two jumps and were gearing up for the third. They were taking the Apparition in turns, so they wouldn't tire out. Hermione thought that was smart.
She sent her rough sketch of logic to him. Check Oranmore, the O'Leary residence itself.
He felt the rationale and agreed. They'd do that first.
Next, she raised this to Padma. She could see on her friend's face that she thought Hermione was right. Rose was watching, concerned. She was nibbling a fingernail, something Hermione had never seen her do.
"They were there already, she and Mac," Padma said slowly. "He saw an opportunity. An opportunity to show some initiative."
Her face twisted bitterly at Raquel's words.
"Parvati might have just seen something she shouldn't, after the fact. Or maybe -" Hermione cut this off. Parvati might have tried to intervene in the moment, and that might have gone badly.
One glance at Padma's expression told Hermione she knew this fact just as well. "Come on, let's go back to the Manor. Let's - I don't know, get some dinner and some wine, and play some Snap. Come on, Padma."
Hermione got to her feet and extended a hand to Padma. "Rose, do you want to come play?"
Rose looked up at Ronan hopefully, who nodded. Leaving Trevor in the dust, the four of them began to walk. They weren't far from the Manor, but it felt far to Hermione that afternoon.
ooo
Parvati slowly became aware that she had a screaming headache. Merlin, that hurt. What the hell had happened? Blinking several times to clear her vision, she tried to look around.
"Finally awake?"
The voice she knew well made it all rush back at once, making her head pound harder. Mac. Mac… and the O'Learys.
"Mac, what the fuck?" Parvati croaked. She tried to figure out where the hell she was. All she saw were generic walls, the inside of a flat. Chairs. A small loveseat. A picture on a side table of two people, but it was too far away for her to make out details.
He hadn't answered the last question so she tried a different one. "Where are we?"
Her photographer shrugged, twirling his wand. "Random house. Had to pick one at random, make us harder to find, you know. They'll come for you."
"He'll tear you limb from limb," she wheezed. "You know that. And you know he'll find me."
"It's a race to the clock, now. He might get… distracted." Mac's smile was malicious.
"By the O'Learys? Maybe so, but not for long. Why did you do that, Mac?"
Things in the immediate past were still somewhat hazy but she had the jist of it.
He'd killed them all. All four of them. She was supposed to be outside, organising her notes and waiting to depart. He'd had to use the loo, and - and he'd taken too long. She'd been impatient to get home. They'd caught Raquel and Parvati wanted to be there. She went back inside to hurry him along and saw… everything she wasn't supposed to see.
She hadn't seen Mac, though, and he must have hit her over the head with something. Gods, her head hurt. "Why didn't you just stun me?"
"Oh, don't whinge," he scolded her. "You're tougher than this. You've been in worse situations."
That was true, but she suspected this one was more complex. "Why keep me alive?"
Probably she shouldn't ask this. Probably she should let sleeping dogs lie on this count. But Parvati's curiosity was insatiable. It always had been.
"Because I need them to come for you," Mac breathed, peering out the window from behind a thin lace drape. "I just didn't need them coming too soon."
"...he'll kill you. He'll do worse than that."
"Oh, I won't still be here."
Parvati didn't know why or how this mattered yet, but it made one thing clear - she needed him to be. He needed to be here when James arrived. She had to stall him.
Part of Parvati's job was convincing reluctant people to talk. It required an ability to read the individual person closely, to convince them to share more details than they even realised they had done. To make the interaction pleasant - ridiculous in her current circumstances - and extended. Keep them engaged.
So what did she know about Mac?
She made a show of testing the incarcerous hex that held her and looking around for her wand. He scoffed at her in derision.
She knew he was self-conscious and tried to hide it. She knew him as an excellent photographer but she could see a decent chance he'd been bullied growing up. Picked on. He was insecure. Raquel had played on that, certainly. Parvati hadn't seen any of the official interviews of the woman, but she could make some educated guesses based on what her various husbands had told Trevor.
"Mac, you know she doesn't love you. She doesn't even want you. You're doing this for nothing. And to me. How long have we worked together now? Eight years?"
"Please," he scoffed. "As if you'd know. You've never given me a second look."
No, she hadn't. And in Parvati's defence, she reflected, this spoke to his insecurity and Raquel's ease in manipulating him. But she could work with it.
"Mac, I don't date people I work with. You know that."
"That's not why." He said it confidently enough, but Parvati could see the hurt look in his eyes.
"Mac, you've never even tried. Now Trevor tried. You know he did, but I even told him no. You know I did."
His brow furrowed in frustration, but he still couldn't quite believe her. "You're saying if I had tried, you'd have said yes to me? Please. You don't even know my full name."
Ah, this she could do. "I know it's Malcolm Whittlesy. Of course, I know you, Mac. We've worked side by side through a hundred cases, together. You and me."
Confusion darted across his face before he hid it from her, turning away again. Was he keeping her alive because he did fancy her? She tried to puzzle it out through her blinding headache. She couldn't even tell how well this was really working - but it was drawing things out.
"So if we didn't work together, you'd have gone out with me? No. I don't believe that. Look at you, and look at me."
He could no longer mask the hurt in his voice and Parvati knew just how easy this had been for Raquel. Merlin, she was screwed. James had to get here fast. Did they even know she was missing yet?
Their mate bond wasn't like the others', as far as Parvati could tell. Werewolves found their mates through a sexual link. Well, that was undeniable. It had created a heavily tactile foundation for everything else. It was physical, a hands-on connection between the two of them, touch and feel.
And they were so similar in most other ways, too. Anger flared up easily and often. Impatience. Rabid curiosity. Their feelings were so similar it was hard to tell what was hers and what could be James's.
Parvati tried to reach out, tried to send her mind outwards. She'd never done this; never had cause to. She never worried about James and she valued her own independence enough that she didn't miss him when they were apart for regular spans of time. Personal space was healthy in a relationship.
They'd never been truly separated.
She thought James sometimes got flashes of her. Sometimes he'd look over at her quizzically if she had a strong emotion. She was almost positive he felt her, unique against the feelings of his pack. But he was the wolf. Of the two of them, the 'mate' connection only existed because of him.
Padma's was different with Blaise, Parvati knew. And the Veela thing was a whole different beast, altogether. But they'd all exchanged blood. If she got out of this, she thought, she'd pose that very thing to James. Blood exchange, up next. On the docket. Now her curiosity would insist upon it.
She flexed against the binding hex again and Mac smirked at her. She wanted to wipe it off his stupid face.
ooo
Mostly what James felt was a flash of pain. Ow. Bloody hell, that was a stab across his temple, even with his increased pain tolerance.
They were finally in Oranmore, a stupid little town that might have had some merits if James hadn't been so panicked. It was late enough now that the shops were closed. Zabini had the forethought to skip into a pub and ask around where the O'Leary family lived. Malfoy knew a general direction but asking could save some time.
His hand flew to his head and Malfoy looked at him. "What is it?"
And in a flash, James knew. It had never manifested this way; how could it have done? Parvati hadn't been in pain, ever. He'd never have allowed a situation to hurt her like this. But she was in pain now, and he felt his skin ripple.
"Easy, Rosier," Malfoy cautioned. "Try to read it."
James did this, knowing it was sound advice and shoving down the latent urge to transform immediately. He had to defend her, had to - no, he had to figure out what it meant. Where she was.
The more he focussed, he could tell it was a continued sort of pain. Ongoing. But it meant she was alive and conscious. And it was lessening, a bit, slowly.
James breathed in deeply, forcing himself to wait for Zabini. It probably meant she'd been hit, captured somehow. His mate. The sudden appearance of it probably meant she'd been unconscious for a while. This alone made his bones begin to shift, his form start to phase, and Malfoy put a hand on his shoulder.
"Easy, Rosier," he repeated calmly. "We'll get to her."
James couldn't wait any longer. Brushing off Malfoy's hand, he flung open the door to the pub and ran smack into Zabini.
"Up that way," Zabini pointed, then noticed James's face. "What's happened?"
"She's somewhere," Malfoy confirmed, watching James closely. "He has her. Lead the way, Zabini."
Zabini did this at once, leveraging his superhuman speed. James did transform for this, enjoying the feeling of letting the wolf run at full pelt. Malfoy flew alongside with no trouble at all, and they all followed Zabini to a little cottage on the far outskirts of Oranmore.
It was eerily silent. All three of them had perfect hearing and exchanged uneasy glances. Well, Zabini and Malfoy did. James had the door half off by the time they'd registered the situation.
He could smell Parvati everywhere. She'd spent significant time here.
He could also smell death and he padded through the house on all fours, sniffing the air intently. It didn't take long. The smell led directly to the small sitting room, where four bodies lay, three slumped over various furniture. One was on the floor.
Four bodies, not five. James had to calm his breathing.
Yes, he knew feeling the pain meant his mate was alive, but he'd still been petrified to find her here, among this smell of death. It had been overwhelming. He reached out again, scrabbling desperately for his mate. He wanted the pain in his temple, streaking across him like a curse. Where was it?
Yes… she was there. Somewhere. But not here.
Her scent here was old. The death smell would have overridden it anyway. James didn't know if that would always be the case, but four dead here was stronger than one mate previously here. He huffed at the others.
Zabini and Malfoy were talking. Four O'Learys dead - two elderly, two younger. Two witches, two wizards. Granger's guess had been spot-on. The O'Learys were the valuable target, so how did Parvati come into this? Had she simply been a witness?