Happy December! Just me here, arriving with an early Christmas present - a Soleada update! Hope you enjoy!

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When Harry and Ron ambled through the front door carrying mounds of packages from the Alexandrian marketplace, neither Hermione nor Draco looked up from where they lay at opposing ends of the sofa buried in their respective tomes, too caught up in the new information they'd discovered in the other wizards' absence.

"Hey, would you mind giving me a hand with this?" Ron asked, stumbling forward.

Hermione finally gave up on her blissful ignorance of their arrival and dashed across to relieve him of several bags.

She chanced a glance into one of the sacks on her way to the kitchen, finding it teeming with meat and produce of all shapes and sizes.

"Did you two bring half of Alexandria back with you?" she called out.

"Harry figured we'd need extra, what with five of us going to be here now."

She looked back, only to see Harry lumbering behind Ron, balancing several more totes on both his arms.

"You do realize you both are wizards and could very well have cast a shrinking spell to make this a whole lot easier on yourselves, right?" Draco's snarky remark drifted across the room and landed with an unwelcome grumble that matched the tumbling of contents from one of Ron's bags onto the hardwood floor.

"Shite," he muttered, as he crouched down to collect several fallen trinkets, fisting them back into the bag.

Hermione didn't miss his less-than-covert attempt to cover up the blunder. "Ronald, what were those things that fell from your bag?"

He shifted on his feet. "Oh, Harry and I picked up a couple souvenirs from the market." When Hermione shot him a dubious glare from across the kitchen, his face blanched. "What? We didn't figure we'd be back here for a while so we thought we'd bring home a few mementos from the trip."

Draco snorted in derision as he rose to stand, swiveling to face the bumbling pair. "Please tell me you two tourists did more than shop around for keepsakes all day."

Harry marched past Ron, a flustered look of impatience spreading across his face. "Of course we did. In fact, I think you and Hermione will be quite impressed by the information we've gathered."

"I can hardly wait," Draco drawled under his breath as Harry ambled past him toward the kitchen, Ron toddling clumsily at his heels.

"That's great, Harry," Hermione called out from where she had begun putting away the groceries. "Malfoy and I have some rather compelling information to share as well."

"Well, let's get this stuff put away and have a bit to eat," Harry offered up. "Then we can talk about how we should proceed." He glanced around tangentially as he set the bags down on the counter. "So, no sign of Nott yet?"

Hermione shook her head. "No. Shouldn't he be here by now?"

"Maybe he got caught up at Magical Transportation," Ron suggested, dropping onto one of the precarious kitchen chairs and swiping a bead of sweat from his brow. "That place is so crowded there's not even enough space for an apple to drop."

"Nott's nothing if not reliable," Draco clipped from the opening in the doorway. "He'll be here."

Somehow the four of them managed to work in tandem to put away the groceries and fix a palatable meal without embroiling themselves in any unnecessary arguments, which was a feat in and of itself. It was nearing nightfall when they found their hunger pangs adequately sated and the safe house passably clean. They gathered around the meager living space of the sitting room, Ron and Harry leaning back in their respective chairs and Malfoy and Hermione tucked neatly again into opposing corners of the couch.

"Are you sure Theo got your Patronus, Harry?" Hermione asked, finally toeing off her shoes for the first time that day and stretching her tired legs out in front of her.

"I'm sure. Kingsley contacted me while Ron and I were downtown and Theo had already picked up the Portkey that will bring him directly to the safe house. So, I've no idea what would be taking him so long."

"Well, we can catch him up when he arrives," she replied impatiently, noting the way Draco regarded his continued absence with indifference. "Why don't you tell us what you and Ron uncovered while in Alexandria."

"Well, let's just say, some of the more unsavory folks in town were more than willing to divulge what they knew about this alleged prophesy- and from what I can surmise- it doesn't bode well for our mission."

Hermione's brows raised in alarm. "Doesn't bode well, as in how?"

Harry sat up in his chair and leaned forward, Hermione suddenly feeling uneasy with the wary way his eyes traveled to Ron's before meeting her own. "At this point, I think MacNair is the least of our concern. From what I can gather, it seems like whoever he's working with is who we're really after. They made it sound like whoever's behind all this is descended from Mar-"

"Mark Antony and Cleopatra," Hermione finished for him, eyes snapping over to where Malfoy sat surveying the exchange.

"Wait, you know about this?" Harry asked.

"Well, Malfoy and I only recently made that connection- after we realized what MacNair may be after at the morgue. We think the brooch at the Ministry might be imbued with Antony's blood, making its absence a critical obstacle to the completion of their potion. It makes sense that somehow the maidservant's body contained the blood fragments they needed, likely from some sort of ancient blood magic ritual performed before Cleopatra's death. It certainly fits. But we can't be sure they even encountered her body at the Alexandrian morgue. I mean, it's only a theory at this point."

"It's hardly a theory if it can be proven," Ron piped in, extracting a crumpled piece of parchment from the pocket of his wrinkled trousers and tossing it in Hermione's direction.

Catching it in her outstretched hand, she leaned over to share its contents with Malfoy. Both stared down, absorbing every word with bated breath- a public notice to the wizarding community of Alexandria asking for help in identifying a recently deceased female of unknown age or origin, body currently being held at the Alexandrian morgue.

"Where did you find this?" she asked as her eyes darted between Ron and Harry. "This is precisely the information we needed to confirm our suspicions."

"Yeah, well, the news didn't exactly seem to have made much of a splash here in Egypt considering we found this scrap of newspaper in the marketplace being used by a store clerk to wrap our purchases. If it weren't for Harry here, we may never have even noticed it."

"Yeah," Harry began, "I bought this cute little porcelain bell for Ginny- one with a hand-painted lotus flower on it- I think she's going to love it- and while they were wrapping it, I noticed-"

"You have got to be kidding me," Draco cut in with a mirthless laugh, glaring over at Harry. "So your expert reconnaissance amounted to nothing more than a stroke of dumb luck while you two were out souvenir shopping for your girlfriend?"

Harry shrugged. "I mean-"

"No need to answer," he interrupted again as Hermione, sensing his rising irritation, inched over to place a hand on his arm that was now tensing under her grasp. "While I'm sure it's quite a touching story- you, Weasley, and this delicate Egyptian bell from the marketplace- just please tell me you ladies have done more than cavort around town waiting for relevant leads to fall into your pretty little shopping bags."

The blush on Harry's face flamed crimson, whether with embarrassment or anger Hermione wasn't quite sure. "Of course we did more than that."

"Yeah," Ron piped in defensively.

"I already told you, Ron and I talked to loads of different people. And many of them had lots to say about this prophesy that's been whispered about for ages. Had you let me finish, you'd know that we're on the right track- you know, as it pertains to this heir to the Ptolemaic Dynasty or whatever."

"What are you saying, Harry? Did someone tell you that there's an heir to the throne of Egypt?"

Harry's hand twisted around to knead the back of his neck. "You know how these things go, 'Mione. There's a lot of interpretation and reading between the lines involved with prophesies."

"So what did these people tell you? Is it anything useful that will aid us in capturing MacNair?"

"Well, maybe not entirely, but we do at least know where they're currently residing."

"What?" Hermione croaked, flying upright in her seat. "Why did you wait so long to tell us? Where are they, Harry? Let's go!"

"It's not as easy as just darting over there and nabbing them," Harry said in a strained voice. "I mean, there are wards and barriers that we'd need to get past and that will take some time to sort through."

Realization suddenly dawning on her, she sunk back into the cushions, surprised to feel Malfoy had moved close enough to be nearly pressed to her side. "So, where are they then? Is it at least somewhere where we may be able to gain entry by Apparition?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm afraid not. They've overtaken Minister Hegazy's residence on the outskirts of Alexandria and trust me, it's like a fortress. Ron and I already staked it out and let's just say getting inside will be anything but easy."

"Theo will know what to do," Draco offered up. "He's a tactical expert the likes of which I've never seen. Once we obtain the floor plans, he'll be able to-"

"The floor plans are the least of our concern," Harry interjected, eyes again traveling warily over to Ron's with a seriousness reserved for only the most hopeless revelations. When he looked back to see Hermoine and Malfoy's probing glare, he added, "The exterior is heavily fortified. Like I'm talking impenetrable. There's this- this mote- an enchanted mote of sorts- that surrounds the place. And from what we could tell, nothing apart from a few scant deliveries made its way past the barrier. I'm telling you, it'll take a fair bit more than just Apparating over and breaking down a couple of wards-"

"Harry," Hermione began, her voice benign under the exceedingly bleak circumstances. "Exactly what sort of deliveries did you see?"

"I mean, I don't know. Ron and I were mainly focused on not being seen. We didn't exactly catch what was being delivered."

"Did you happen to note how they reached the residence?"

"Well, yeah- they were loaded onto a boat and then-"

"Then the boat drifted across the water and docked just beyond an archway," Ron finished. "But what does that have to do with arresting MacNair? I mean, who cares at this point what the miserable sods have ordered from the local apothecary?"

Just then a subtle quiver rippled through the sitting room, a telltale sign that the cottage's wards were breached by Portkey. Harry shot out of his seat and rushed over to the entryway. "That must be Nott," he said, prying open the front door and peering out into the gravelly yard, which was now aglow with deep reds and oranges bleeding across the lawn from the setting sun. He heard Theo before he saw him, the crunching of dried sandstone beneath his oxford shoes a harbinger of his overdue arrival. "Where have you been?" he asked as Theo came into view, the orange hues rebounding off his face to reveal a hint of irritation on his otherwise flawless facade.

"Don't even start with me, Potter," Theo bit out, knocking him askance as he crossed through the doorway and into the sitting room. Harry turned and followed him over to where he paused, sourly gaping around at the meager quarters his fellow inhabitants were all but squeezed into.

"Please tell me this is the guesthouse on the outskirts of the much larger estate containing the headquarters where we'll all be staying." The affronted look on his face as his eyes met Draco's were imploring him to at least lie to him on the matter.

Draco's mouth couldn't help but twist into a shit-eating grin as he patted his hand down on the couch cushion next to him, releasing a cloud of errant dust. "You've arrived just in time to hear how it's going to be weeks before we nab MacNair. Why don't you have a seat and I'll catch you up on the tragedy that has become this case-"

"Hey," Ron cut in. "We will not be here for weeks. I already told you Lav will have my arse if I'm not back in time for our anniversary."

Draco's eyes locked with Theo's as he dropped onto the couch. "See what I mean? Weasley's more worried about getting home in time for his little dinner party- and Potter here just got back from a whirlwind souvenir expedition. So, as you can see, we're no closer to an arrest than we were-"

"We may not know exactly what our next move is," Hermione interrupted coolly, daring to repudiate Malfoy's claim, "but I do have an idea for how we can infiltrate the residence."

Malfoy's expression lodged somewhere between irritation for being interrupted and intrigue regarding her assertion. "Let me guess, you've brought one of your little Weasley super-spy gadgets to get us past the impenetrable wards?" His voice dripped with sarcasm but a hint of playful amusement flickered behind his eyes.

Harry made quick work of rounding the corner and dropping into his seat before continuing his observation of the rather curious exchange.

"No, I've not brought a surveillance device from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.," she corrected, angling her chin toward Malfoy. "My plan won't need it, seeing as I myself will be the surveillance device."

Draco snorted inelegantly, leaning back and crossing one leg over the other. "You're the surveillance device?" he asked, trying and failing to mask his laughter. "Pray tell, Granger- how on Earth do you plan on managing that feat?"

She slowly glanced around the room only to find four pairs of disbelieving eyes staring back at her. Throwing her shoulders back a fraction of an inch, she replied in a tone one might consider academic in nature, but after further examination also precariously daring. "Our current circumstances reminded me of a passage in a book I read about Ancient Egypt and how Cleop-"

Ron leaned his head back and groaned. "Merlin, here we go with the scholarly lecture on how some guy from thousands of years ago managed to break into a pyramid or some tripe like that."

Hermione's face flushed with irritation, her jaw tightening as she continued, "No, Ronald- not some guy. Cleopatra."

Eyebrows rose with intrigue prompting her to resume her explanation.

"Prior to becoming Queen, Cleopatra was embroiled in a feud for the throne with her brother, Pharoah Ptolemy the XIII. At one point, he had driven her from the palace at Alexandria and forbid her return. That's when somehow Julius Caesar of Rome found himself drawn into the family dispute after having taken up residence at Alexandria's royal palace. He summoned the warring siblings there for a peace conference, but Ptolemy the XIII's forces barred Cleopatra from returning. According to legend, Cleopatra hatched a scheme to sneak herself into the palace by persuading her servant to wrap her in a carpet- although some historians say it was a sack of sorts- but regardless, she was able to stealthily wend past the guards and make her way inside." Hermione was oblivious to the dubious looks she was receiving as she delved deeper into her obscure explanation. "So, when I heard Harry mention that they are allowing various shipments to arrive unhindered, I figured I could-"

"What?" Malfoy chided. "You could wrap yourself up in this flimsy area rug and waltz into the heavily-guarded acropolis undetected?" He kicked the carpet beneath the coffee table for effect as he choked out a mirthless laugh.

Hermione made a face. "No, not exactly, but something along those lines. I could sneak on board one of the boats Ron spoke about, and-"

Without preamble, Draco grabbed Hermione by the arm and hoisted her up with him. "If you'll excuse us for a moment," he said to the others, his voice strained by a forced calmness while he dragged her by the hand from the room amid her feeble protestations. "We shouldn't be long. Just need to confer about what we'll be having for dinner this evening is all." He donned a polite smile that didn't quite reach his eyes as he led her flailing figure out of sight.

They managed to stumble their way down the hallway to the first place Draco could think of that would afford them some privacy. Once inside the lone guest bedroom, he unceremoniously closed and locked the door, muttering a silencing spell for good measure. By the time he'd finished, Hermione had already yanked her hand from his grasp, her eyes wide with indignation.

"What in the hell was the meaning of that, Malfoy?" she managed, arms flying out to meet her hips.

He glared down at her with a displeasure to match her own. "If you think I'm going to allow you to follow through on your idiotic little Ancient Egyptian suicide mission, you are sorely mistaken."

"Allow me?" she squawked. "Since when do I need you to allow me to do anything?"

Her combative reply caused frustration to bubble under his skin, sparking something even more feral within him. He took a step forward, grasping her shoulders, prompting her to step back, her thighs colliding with the edge of the bed. "If something were to happen to you-" He trailed off. Visions of her at Miriam's cottage being struck by the errant curse and collapsing into his arms, unconscious and bloodied, sliced through his mind as he fought to regain his sanity. He gulped down the lump that scorched his throat at the mere thought of something worse happening to her. But instead of admitting his crippling weakness for her safety, he grit out, "Who do you think they would blame? The two lauded war heroes, Potter and Weasley? Or the well-respected Hit Wizard, Theo? No. I will tell you who would take the fall- the ex-Death Eater, that's who! And I refuse to be responsible for your naïve foolishness."

His pulse faltered as he observed her enraged expression immediately sober.

"You don't know what you're talking about," she finally managed after several strained breaths.

"Yes, I do," he argued. "Your plan will never work. And even if it does, it puts your life in unnecessary danger! And I refuse to stand by and watch you play the martyr for the sake of some idiotic heroine complex you can't seem to shake! Let someone else put their feet to the flames for once! Let Potter or Weasley traipse in there and apprehend the criminals! Why does it always have to be you saving the day?" He suddenly realized he was out of breath from shouting, his chest heaving with the force of it. He knew he sounded pathetic but he couldn't muster the strength to care, not when the witch standing in front of him was about to embark on another one of her self-destructing missions.

She took a long minute to gather her composure before crossing her arms in front of her chest. "So, which is it- you don't want to be blamed if something were to go wrong or you don't want anything to happen to me? Because as I see it, right now smuggling myself in through the delivery entrance is our best option- unless you have some better, more practical plan you'd like to share."

"You know why I can't let you do that," he snapped, averting his gaze and biting the inside of his mouth. "So don't make me ask you again."

"Oh, so now you're asking me?" she pressed, eyebrows high on her forehead. She'd had quite enough of his ambiguity and felt up to the ardent task of challenging him. "Because only moments ago it sounded like you were telling me you wouldn't allow me to go-"

The hands clutching her shoulders balled into fists before they dropped to his side. He stepped back and regarded her with conflicting eyes. "You know what, Granger- do what you want. It's what you're going to do anyway, regardless of what I have to say on the matter." He watched her expectantly waiting for her to say something, anything, but when the room continued to be draped in silence, he leaned away and headed straight for the door.

"Don't walk away from me," she rushed out, forcing herself to be patient but also beginning to feel physically ill at the prospect of leaving the conversation unfinished. Maybe she'd pushed him too far.

He paused his hand on the doorknob and without turning around muttered what was long brewing in his gut, "I refuse to point out what should be glaringly obvious to you."

And with a shrill slam of the door, he was gone.

She didn't have time to scrutinize his words before Theo pushed through the door wearing an uneasy expression of his own. "Got room for some company?" he asked, not waiting for an answer as he padded over to the edge of the bed and sat down.

Leaving her no choice, she blew away a strand of hair that had fallen into her face with the force of Draco's departure before slowly making her way over to the other side of the bed and joining him.

"Surely you remember me warning you how broody he is."

Theo's attempt at humor did nothing to lighten the tense mood as Hermione remained trapped in a rather bewildering trance that found her teetering between utterly confused and blatantly outraged.

"So what was it this time- he wanted chicken piccata instead of lasagna Bolognese?"

Hermione finally broke down and cracked a smile. "I think you and I both know that little display had nothing to do with dinner."

"Well, for the record, chicken piccata is always the better choice."

Her wry smile grew into a grin. "Duly noted."

Theo inched back to stretch out his legs, leaning against her pillows and silently looking around the room. "So are you going to tell me why he stormed out of here or do I have to make an educated guess based on my highly skilled observations?"

Her shoulders tensed as she tried to avoid the prying eyes that were boring into the side of her head.

"That's fine," he said, plucking at his shirt sleeve. "It's not like I don't already know that he dragged you in here to tell you not to go through with your foolhardy plan- and when you didn't surrender to his unreasonable demands, he made a dramatic escape." The air grew thick as the events played out again in her mind. "What I'm most curious to know is if he told you why he was so bent out of shape about it."

Hermione felt Theo's trap slowly closing in on her as she swallowed back her nerves and rose to her feet. "He said a lot of things- and besides, I'm hardly qualified to opine about what makes Malfoy do what he does. If you're wanting to know why he was so bent out of shape, you'd be far better off asking him."

"Oh, I already know," he sniffed, brushing his hands down the side of his pants. "I just wanted to see what degree of denial you were currently clinging to."

When she tensed her lips to formulate a reply, he cut in, "I'm pretty sure anyone this side of the Nile can feel the sexual tension radiating between you two. In fact, I don't know why you don't just lock yourselves in here and bang it out for a couple of hours- get it out of your system so the rest of us can go about our lives without fear of being caught in your covetous crosshairs."

"Don't be crass," she belted out in a notably overemphatic tone as a fierce blush painted her cheeks. "The tension you are sensing is a result of work stress-"

"Because you are nothing more than co-workers," he chided, flapping his hands with indifference and rising to stand. "Yeah, that's the same rubbish I hear from him, but unlucky for you, I'm proficient in translating the often under-appreciated language of bullshite- and right now your rejection of the truth is astounding!"

She shook her head, not even trying to invent an excuse for sidestepping him to make her way to the door. "I've heard enough." But before she had made it even two steps, he had lurched forward to block her way.

"You can't be this blind, Granger. The bloke cares about you like nothing I've ever seen. So much so that I think it's actually driving him mad. That's why he doesn't want you to put yourself out there- he's just too cowardly to admit it. But you, you've got all that virtuous Gryffindor courage and other equally overrated shite that we Slytherins lack. You can tell him once and for all that you feel the same way and we can put all this other delusory nonsense behind us."

She stilled her breath as she looked up at him, breaking out in a falsely self-assured voice. "First of all, Harry and Ron care very much about me and they've never once voiced their concern about me heading up a mission- so the very theory you base your argument on lacks total legitimacy. And secondly, even if I were to feel that way, Malfoy is practically betrothed to someone else, so I hardly think my feelings regarding him matter."

Theo's voice dipped. "He felt like he had no other choice."

"I offered him plenty of other choices."

"You mean the choice of being in a fake relationship with you? Because that's hardly a viable lifeline. He needed something real, not some fictitious scenario that does nothing more than buy him some time."

"Believe me, he's made it perfectly clear on more than one occasion that what's occurred between us is anything but real."

Unnerved by her stoic tone, he scoffed. "You want me to prove it to you? Because I'm not above using underhanded tactics to make a point."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You're being ridiculous, Nott. What is there to prove?"

"Here." He placed his hands on her shoulders and maneuvered her over toward the bed, pressing her down to recline where he had lain just moments prior. "Stay here and watch this."

He marched over to the door and peered his head out into the hallway. "Hey, Draco! Mate! Come here for a sec!"

"What? No!" Hermione sat up in protestation but Theo urged her with a wave of his arm to lay back and wait for his unscrupulous plan to unfold.

"Just watch."

Moments later, a clearly agitated Malfoy dipped through the doorway, but stopped just shy of the threshold. "What is it, Nott? I'm in the middle of something."

Theo shifted on his feet and made a noncommittal gesture over to Granger. "Yeah, uh- I just wanted to see if you mind if Hermione and I share the guest room. Thought maybe with the tight quarters and all, you might appreciate the extra space in the sitting room."

Draco's jaw clenched as he glanced between Hermione and Theo, his teeth grinding hollows down to the roots as a violent sense of rage seized his chest. He fired his friend a vicious look of warning. "Go fuck yourself, Nott," he growled, reaching over to snatch his travel bag from the foot of the bed and storming from the room.

Hermione's wide eyes met Theo's as he turned around with satisfaction, waiting until Malfoy was out of earshot. "Does that flagrant display of jealousy look real to you?" he asked, a devious smirk spreading across his face.

Hermione bolted upright, her mouth opening and closing with invisible force before finally managing a harsh, admonishing, "Theo!"

Theo strolled over to the bed so nonchalantly no one would have believed he was capable of the startling level of fuckery he'd just exacted. "I know what you're thinking. But don't worry about me. I've been told to do much worse than fornicate with myself." He brushed a couple errant wrinkles from his button-down. "You should be more concerned about what you're going to do with this newfound information."

Hermione frowned, taking several long moments to compose herself before pushing to stand. "I hardly think that was necessary. Nor do I think it proves anything more than what an incorrigible prat you are."

Theo shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, don't fault the messenger."

Hermione exhaled wearily and swiveled to face him. "C'mon- let's go join the others before people start to talk."

With a final glance back as she rounded the corner into the hallway, her frazzled state of mental exhaustion was met with his crooked grin.