At Teddy's suggestion, they found their way into Muggle London. As they walked, Hasan got Hermione talking about her ideas for adapting the internet to existing Wizarding systems. She seemed to brighten at the distraction, still talking about it in a vague way even as they entered the Muggle area. There they grabbed some fish and chips to eat at a park near by. The park was unsurprisingly busy, full of tourists or children out for the summer hols. Eventually the trio found a place to sit and eat. Then they were mostly silent as they set to work on their lunch and enjoying the vestiges of the summer before the season turned.

Teddy finished his meal before the other two, which wasn't uncommon for him. He started folding his napkin to keep his hands occupied but his mind wandered until he was going through a rapid-fire examination of the things he had learned. Nothing Hermione had spoken about seemed to connect back with Lilith's case, at least not directly. Was this new killer a copy-cat? Even if they were, there was still the connection of the same potion being used in at least two of the attacks. Given that not even the hospital had identified it correctly, it seemed unlikely someone would have been able to reproduce it without being connected with the first spree of murders.

Hermione had been exploring if the victims had used similar hygiene potions before she was attacked. Had she been closer than she realized? Had she spoken to the potioner behind it and spooked them into attacking her? If so, it begged the question of what connection Lilith had had with that potioner. But the only potion maker Lilith had known had been Kamya. Teddy balked at the thought of Kamya murdering Lilith, especially in that systematically cruel way that he had seen in the kitchen. Kamya wasn't a soft person in general, but she was like warm taffy in the hands of her god-daughter, Lilith. If the murder had been fast and painless, Teddy might have had some doubts about Kamya. That Kamya had somehow seen it as necessary for something: the smuggling operation she was part of, the protection of the pack, or something else mostly practical. However, with how the murder had actually happened? He couldn't believe it.

Soft murmuring brought him out of the circles his brain had been running. As they were finishing up their food, Hermione and Hasan had apparently picked up their conversation again. Hasan had somehow coaxed Hermione into talking about the work she had been doing in the Ministry before all of this. She seemed upset as she recounted a bill that she had been pushing that everyone had ignored once she was gone.

Hasan pressed a comforting hand gently over the top of hers. Hermione flipped her hand to squeeze his back, giving him another of her interested smiles. He returned it, something like interest sparking in his eyes as he traced over her face.

Teddy could almost hear his brain's record-scratch. Hasan never showed interest in girls. Sure, Hasan said he was bisexual, but how he had described it sounded too similar to how Teddy experienced his own heterosexuality. Mostly attraction to one gender, men in Hasan's case and women in Teddy's case, with an occasional appreciation of the other gender. Teddy internally thought that calling himself bisexual might have been Hasan's way of trying to hold onto heterosexuality for his parents or something.

However, Teddy's assumptions were now tripping over themselves as he watched Hasan possibly flirting with Hermione. Hasan brushed his hand alongside Hermione's, whispered in a deep rumble into her ear, and then watched with a smirk as Hermione tucked her head and smiled.

What the fuck. Teddy swallowed dryly. He wanted to scream 'bro code' but Teddy had never made his interest in Hermione clear. He hadn't thought he had needed to around Hasan. And it wasn't like Hermione had ever shown any interest in Teddy up to this point. He was being stupid. Again.

Teddy felt himself heat as Hermione whispered something back and he had to quickly glance away. What the fuck? He wasn't sure how to articulate why he felt betrayed by both Hermione and Hasan. There was this sense that they were both taking an important person away from him. He shifted his legs restlessly, thinking he needed to go on another walk before he would be ready to go back to the office.

"What do you think, Teddy?" Hermione asked, cutting through his preoccupation.

"Huh?"

"Hasan suggested I go through the case files and see if it brings anything up. I could be brought on as a consultant given my experience investigating the Moonlight Killer."

Teddy glanced sharply over at Hasan. Was that what he had been angling for when he suggested leaving the Ministry? Hasan raised his eyebrows in expectation for Teddy's answer. It was a smart move. Harry was too busy to really be much use and having Hermione's fresh perspective from the past could be extremely helpful in noticing patterns or connections.

"I think it would be great, we really need your perspective on this," Teddy told Hermione, who brightened. Then he asked Hasan, "You think we can get Harry on board?"

"Mate," Hasan said dryly, "that's my question for you."

"Oh," Teddy said, drumming his hands against his thighs. "Er, yeah? Maybe? It seems smart but you know how he can be sometimes."

"Don't worry about Harry," Hermione said. Both Teddy and Hasan glanced over at her. "I'll talk to him," she said darkly. "He'll say yes."

"Ah, er, well, I guess we might as well start filling out the paperwork, then?" Teddy said awkwardly, noting that he did not want to get on Hermione's bad side.

"You mean, you will be filling out the paperwork while I talk with Hermione about the case that isn't yours anymore?" Hasan asked with a smirk.

Teddy felt a twinge of annoyance but just rolled his eyes. "Me? Paperwork? Won't Harry do that?"

Hermione, who had been gathering up her trash, asked in an amused tone, "Why would Harry do it?"

Hasan chuckled a little and then said, "Everyone is convinced that Auror Potter is doing all of Teddy's work for him."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Including the paperwork?"

Teddy grinned. "Only in my dreams."

Hasan took Hermione's trash and then gestured for Teddy's. "You've got some weird dreams, mate."

Hermione laughed and Teddy felt better, on the inside of their group again. Teddy smiled at both Hermione and Hasan before offering Hermione a hand up. She took it easily, gracing both Hasan and Teddy the same easy smile. Teddy pushed down all the confusing sparks of contentment and jealously that wouldn't do him any good.

"Off to mind-numbing paperwork!" Teddy said cheerfully.

As they walked back, Teddy filled them in on his theories about Hermione tipping off a potion-maker. He skirted around his knowledge of Kamya, but finished with his opinions on the unlikelihood of the potion connection being random.

Hermione nodded slowly. "So we need to figure out who knew our victim and also has connections with potion-makers."

Teddy again thought of Kamya and uneasily agreed.

Hasan snorted. "None of the werewolves are going to let us close enough to figure something like that out."

Hermione hummed noncommittally. "Maybe not to an outsider."

Teddy looked over at her, alarmed that she might be outing him, but she continued.

"I think I should go undercover," she said.

Teddy was torn between relief that he wasn't being outed and stress over thinking about her going into that viper pit as intentional bait. There was a killer who had already taken out Lilith in that forest and might have already tried to off Hermione. It was one thing to go there to try to get an understanding of what it meant to be a werewolf. It was another to go in and make herself vulnerable enough that the killer would be willing to take another chance.

Teddy's throat was too tight to say anything so he was grateful when Hasan said, "But that is going to be incredibly dangerous!"

Hermione gave Teddy a cryptic glance before telling Hasan, "We need someone on the inside. This is the only way we are going to understand what is actually going on inside the pack and get leads to figure out who my attacker is."

"I don't think Harry is going to let you join a group which probably includes the person who wants to kill you," Teddy pointed out.

"Let me?" Hermione repeated dangerously. "I'll handle Harry. I don't need him to let me do anything."

Teddy once again shared an intimated look with Hasan. Teddy did not envy Harry one bit.

They entered the Ministry via one of the less busy routes, none of them interested in a repeat of the show from that morning. True to his word, Teddy started on his paperwork, while Hasan and Hermione started to review the case, including the recent report on the correctly isolated potion.

Hasan wanted to keep up the appearance of Teddy being off the case, even if Hasan felt no strong urge to truly box him out. So Teddy was often secluded from some of their whispers over the parchments. However, whenever there was something really important to discuss, Teddy was still pulled in. So his afternoon passed in warring senses of loneliness and comradery. By the end of the day he was exhausted from the vacillations inside his own head.