Chapter Three
London
Hermione felt like she was going insane.
Every time she felt like she was getting close to an answer it ended in a dead end.
She was a couple strands of red string away from a muggle conspiracy theorist at this point.
Other than that one signature with Theodore Nott there was nothing. Not a scrap of real information, just constant circular holdings, aliases and mysteries.
It was Friday night and she lay face down on her couch, Crookshanks curled on the small of her back purring noisily. The half drunk bottle of wine she held didn't seem to have any more answers than she did but she would empty it, just to be thorough.
It had been a bad day. And Hermione, on principle, simply did not have bad days.
Ms. Worthington had come, unannounced, to check in on her progress today. It was like one of those nightmares she had at school when she had forgotten there was an exam or the test was written in elvish and she couldn't read it. She had felt a part of her die when Ms. Worthington pursed her lips and frowned as Hermione fumbled to explain that there was nothing to report, that everything she had tried failed and they were no closer to knowing what was going on behind the proposed 'Zosimos Emporium'.
All of her contacts in other departments knew nothing. And outside of Nott, who had artfully dodged every attempt she had made to contact him, there was no real flesh and blood person to speak to, follow, pester or entreat. It was like she was hunting a ghost. Except Hermione had experience hunting ghosts on several occasions and none of them had ever been this bloody difficult.
She sighed and sat up making Crookshanks yowl his displeasure at the disturbance.
She had declined the invitation from Nico and June for a drink at the Leaky Cauldron and instead she had dragged herself home in a cloud of self loathing long after everyone else had left the office.
Kicking off her shoes she had grabbed a bottle of wine, loosened the top button of her dress shirt and thrown herself dejectedly onto the couch, not bothering to change or wash off her makeup. Crookshanks had naturally seen the opportunity to cover her black business suit in as much long ginger cat hair as physically possible and had kept her company.
When she tried to stand up the room tilted and she sat back down. That's what she got for drinking on an empty stomach she supposed, realising she hadn't eaten since breakfast. Crookshanks took this as an invitation to get as much hair on the front of her clothing as he had to he back and rubbed himself across her lap.
"The tiresome twosome or whatever they are called now are on a stake out so who's ready for an impromptu girls night?" Ginny sang as she stepped out of the fireplace, her arms laden with wine and snacks, and into Hermione's flat.
"Whoa! Someone was pregaming without me." she said with a raised eyebrow surveying Hermione on the couch.
"Bad day at work Gin." Hermione groaned. "I'm really not in the mood to- Are those snacks?" her fuzzy brain caught up with her eyes as she reached for a packet of crisps in Ginny's arms.
"Oh now now, if you want to drink alone and be all miserable and sad I wouldn't want to intrude." Ginny teased turning back to the fireplace.
"I'm going to be terrible company Gin but you're always welcome to stay." Hermione said, trying to remove Crookshanks from her lap without his claws shredding her pants.
"Oh good! I don't want to spend my one night off training alone in our flat, so why don't you go get changed into something a little less formal" she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively while Hermione rolled her eyes "I'll get some snacks set out so you don't need to eat them from the packages like a barbarian and then you can tell me all about your bad day."
Five minutes later they sat on the couch, glasses of wine in hand with a charcuterie board and bowls of chips while Hermione told Ginny about the mystery business at work that was currently the bane of her existence. Both of them were pleasantly drunk before she reached the end of her woes.
"So you're doing all this work, running yourself ragged, all because Nott signed a piece of paper?" She asked frowning as she grabbed some cheese and a cluster of grapes. "It sounds like you should just ask Nott directly if it's that big of a deal but honestly he's probably not the brains of this little enterprise. If I'm remembering him correctly from school, Nott was a bit of a…" she searched for the right words. "Well there's no polite way of saying dunce is there? He might have been easy on the eyes but there wasn't much going on behind his."
Hermione snorted her wine and choked. "You thought Nott was attractive?" She sputtered indignantly.
Ginny shrugged "He wasn't so bad to look at when the other option was Filch when we were in detention together. He didn't hold a candle to Malfoy or Zabini but he was cute."
She leaned over and checked Ginny's forehead with her free hand, then sniffed her wine glass cautiously.
"Hermione, what are you doing?" Ginny giggled, batting her away.
"I'm trying to find out if you were poisoned or are ill. Or imperioed, I suppose that's an option, should I get my medical kit? I have a common range of antidotes but they might work."
Ginny rolled her eyes "Oh come on Mione, they were in your grade. Malfoy and Harry had that whole teenage rivals sexual tension thing between them all through school. And Zabini, well he was objectively downright gorgeous. They were in most of your classes and you never once noticed them?"
"In case you forgot they were literally the worst. I shrank my teeth because of their bullying." Hermione said indignantly.
"Yes, yes." Ginny waved dismissively. "Harry used to complain about Malfoy so much I was almost jealous of how obsessed he was with him. And I'm not discounting their bullying. They were shit people. Probably still are. But you never looked? You never, for a nonspecific example, tried to sneak into their quidditch locker room after a game?"
"Ginny." Hermione said flatly, "That was you."
"Oh right. Still can't believe I got detention and didn't even get a proper look." Ginny said mournfully.
"What was wrong with you?" Hermione laughed.
"Hormones. And alcohol probably." Ginny shrugged, pouring them both more wine. "Harry was being a tosser with his whole "I'm the chosen one" and "I can't date my best friend's sister" bit."
"I suppose Zabini wasn't the worst looking person at school." Hermione mused thoughtfully, thinking back to double potions with the Slytherins. She might have glanced his way once or twice and might have noticed when he pushed up his sleeves to crush beetle eyes that he had particularly nice forearms.
"I knew it!" Ginny fisted the air, almost upsetting the cheese tray in the process. "Lavender and Pavarte owe me ten gallons! Ohhh they are going to be so pissed!"
At Hermione's shocked expression she explained "We've had a bet for the last ten years on who out of the Slytherins you'd be attracted to. Lavender said Malfoy for sure, you know, because of the way he looked at you, but I said you wouldn't be into him since he was too flashy and mean. And Pavarte always said Parkensin because she thought you were a lesbian. But I said Zabini since he was so quiet and kind of reminded me of a cat and we all know how you are about cats!" She cheered.
"What? What do you mean Pavarte thought I was a lesbian?!" Hermione asked indignantly.
"Don't mind her, she couldn't comprehend that you had Victor Krum chasing after you like a lost puppy and you kicked him to the curb. The only reasonable explanation to her teenage mind was that you were a closetted lesbian" Ginny said breezily.
"I didn't kick him to the curb!" Hermione was flabbergasted. "After I visited him that summer we just fizzled out, long distance relationships are hard and we were kids for goodness sake! How many people thought I was a lesbian when we were at school?!"
Ginny grinned. "Just a few people. Maybe half of my year." Hermione buried her face on a pillow. She regretted this immediately since it was completely covered in ginger cat hair.
Hermione did not date much in school, or after the war for that matter. She had been holding a flame for Ron since their second year and holding out hope he would be able to see her as more than just a ticket to passing grades. By the time he had noticed her it had been too late, Hermione saw him as she saw Harry, as a brother.
They had still tried to make a go of it after the war and had spent almost a year awkwardly being more like roommates than lovers. It had been stressful, made worse by the expectations of the media. Eventually it was too much, they had a quiet conversation, arms wrapped around each other under the quilt in the quiet dark of their flat and moved on.
Harry had been disappointed but not surprised. The Weasley family was supportive and Hermione thought Molly was secretly quite relieved. The media had laid siege almost at once but after they realised that Ron and Hermione had no juicy drama, no salacious headlines or sordid details to sell papers with, they had lost interest.
"Don't worry about it Mione. If it makes you feel better, the rest of my year thought you were a sex symbol. You know, with the whole untouchable bossy librarian thing you had going for you." Ginny said, patting her hand.
"How is That any better?" Hermione groaned.
"It's not! But it is way more entertaining." Ginny grinned. "You know Jeremy whatshisface was in my year I think he works with Nott…or with someone who works with Nott…" she turned as thoughtful as someone who has drunk a bottle of wine could. "You could ask him for Nott's schedule. I bet he'd give it to you if you asked nicely and wore that shirt I got you last christmas"
"Gin, I'm not that desperate. I've still got other options to look into. I'm sure I'll get it figured out." Hermione said but noticing Ginny's face she added "I'll think about it."
Hermione yawned. "I'm exhausted so I'm going to turn in Gin, want to crash on the couch?"
"Naw, Harry should be home soon. Are you coming to mum's for dinner on Sunday?" Ginny asked, stretching and making her way clumsily to the fireplace. The Weasley's had a standing family dinner every Sunday that was an open invitation to anyone who was available.
"We'll see, I may need to work through the weekend. Give my love to Harry and Ron!" The Weasley family dinners never quite felt the same after her and Ron split. She made the effort when Bill or Charlie was in town and on the holidays but she wasn't like Harry, who the Weasleys had all but adopted from the moment they saw him, she always felt like an outsider.
Besides she was planning on working through the weekend, Ginny has given her an idea. Not about Jeremy but if she couldn't get to Nott directly maybe she could get to him through the people around him.
A/N: I have been so productive this weekend it's not even funny, I might even get another chapter or two edited/ uploaded. Side note: whoever invented the trick for peeling mango's with a cup is a genius and I bless their name. Also I love Ginny. While there will probably be some Ron bashing in future chapters, Ginny has always been and will always be a girls girl.
