This chapter is dedicated to my friend who tragically passed away this Sunday in an accident… I will miss you…
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Chapter Eight
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One week later found Hermione back in her hotel room. Hermione's parents had been sent away, they had returned to Australia where she had sent them during the war. Naturally, Connor knew all about Hermione's parents' house being torched. Everyone in the wizarding world knew about it. He had sent flowers to her room, regretting that he couldn't be there for her - but he was away in Rome on business.
They had a date scheduled exactly one week after the attempted arson on her parent's house.
"Are you sure about this?" Harry asked her while she stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom, getting ready. He or Draco (sometimes both) were always with Hermione after the fire. Harry believed someone had tried to kill her parents, but Draco knew that someone had set the house on fire believing Hermione was in it; however, this was something he could never bring himself to tell. Draco was sure that Harry was suspicious as to Draco pulling Hermione out of her room, but he decided that saving Hermione's life was a good enough reason to not jump down Draco's throat about it. He had saved her and Harry was thankful.
"I really need to go on this date," Hermione said as she was putting on mascara in front of the mirror. Her eyes darted between Harry and Draco, one on the bed, one on the sofa. "I have a strong feeling that Cowell is getting bored with me. I need to remind him that I'm one to keep."
"How?" Draco and Harry had spoken at once and they glared at each other.
"In whatever way I can," Hermione answered. She got up and looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a bright blue, strapless dress, a dress she would never wear usually. She had straightened her hair and it was hanging down her back.
She started painting her nails.
Harry looked at her, he hated this. He wished he could be the one sent on this mission. The only problem was seducing Cowell - Harry had to admit that he wasn't nearly as pretty as Hermione, so he didn't think that Cowell would react to him the same way he reacted to her.
"I will be watching all night," Harry assured her and she smiled at him. She started painting her left hand.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, Potter, but it's all over the Daily Prophet," Draco sneered.
"What is?" Harry snarled back.
"You and your fiancé have a charity dinner tonight," Draco continued. Hermione stopped painting her nails for just a second before she continued.
"Fuck!" Harry swore.
"Don't worry Potter; I'll be there to watch over Granger's back - as I was last time," Draco taunted Harry.
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Hermione was soon sitting next to Connor at a formal dinner. How could this man be a Casanova? He was so exceptionally dull. Connor turned to her at that moment and smiled at her. She smiled back.
"I can see by your face that you're bored," he whispered in her ear.
"No, I'm okay," she answered and sipped some champagne. She had seen on the menu that the drink cost a fortune, but she was still to understand why. He smiled enchantingly at her.
"You are so extraordinary, Hermione Granger," his mouth was very close to her ear. She turned to him, while at the same time putting her hand on his arm.
"And why do you say that?" she whispered back.
"I know all about your history, your adventures. You are best friends with Harry Potter, old girlfriend of Quiddtich star Ron Weasley. I can see that these kinds of dinners bore you, yet here you are. Why is that?" An associate of Connor's tried to catch his attention, but he ignored him.
"Honestly?" Hermione asked.
"Always," he answered.
"I'm bored," she answered. She knew Draco was listening through the bug she was wearing and that every word she said was being recorded. "My life has been the same, staked out for me. I met you and found someone fun, exciting. Yes, I admit it. Dinners like these - I find them rather dull. But I enjoy your company, Connor," she squeezed where her hand was on his arm, "this is a world of which I have never been a part."
He nodded contently, and Hermione could see the desire in his eyes. Hermione grabbed her champagne, excused herself, and walked towards the ladies room. She felt empty; she needed things to move with Connor. She needed to find out something, and she wanted more than anything to find out who had tried to kill her parents.
As she exited someone grabbed her arm and she knew immediately that it was Draco. He pulled her into a broom closet. "Déjà vu!" she said and rolled her eyes.
"You are very blasé tonight, Granger," he said and smiled. Hermione looked at his hand, still having a tight grasp on her arm. He let go. "I need to know your plans. The plan was for you to return after dinner, but I get the feeling that you're not going back to the hotel…. At least not to your room."
Hermione eyed him carefully. "That's right; I am going to go wherever he takes me."
"Dirty!" Draco mocked.
"Whatever!" Hermione said and started to exit the closet. Draco reached for her again and yanked her back inside. He threw her against the wall. Hermione hated herself, she was a traitor, she was a fool - but there it was. Her blood was slightly warmer, and her cheeks flushed a bit. Draco was so close to her, and he was so beautiful, and strong, and determined.
"You'll do well in remembering that he is dangerous and…" Draco went quiet; he noticed Hermione's eyes on his bottom lip. "Oh, remembering that incident in my office are you. Do you want me to continue here? I don't think you could handle it, being the old girlfriend of Weasley, but if you weren't I could fuck your brains out right now," Draco sneered. Hermione chortled and started to leave when Draco pulled her even closer against the wall. He thrust instinctively against her. "Granger," he drawled into her ear. She turned her face and looked him in the eye. He hesitated for a moment and then lowered his lips close to hers. She breathed a bit faster. Draco gently licked her bottom lip and he heard her breathing hitch vaguely.
"Yeah, thought so," he said and pushed her out the door. Only, when she left, he had to lean against the wall for a moment. He had some trouble getting his heart to slow down.
The dinner was ending and Hermione knew what was coming. She and Connor were dancing as he whispered in her ear: "So, should I walk you to your room?"
She pressed close to his cheek and whispered, "How about I walk you to yours?"
He pulled back and smiled contently at her. "I'd like that."
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Soon they were fumbling in the corridor towards his room. A lot of people had joined them, much to Hermione's relief. It seemed that Connor hardly ever went somewhere alone. Everyone spread out in Connor's living room and Hermione sat down on the floor. She started looking at who was in the room, making mental notes on who to report. Two girls started kissing on the sofa and some of the men started whistling. She looked over at Connor and he winked at her. Panic was starting to come over her. Two girls kissing was fine, but doing it in front of seven guys and three other women felt worse.
A waitress walked over and handed her a drink, she hesitated to take it but felt Connor watching her. He raised his glass and downed his drink. She had no choice but follow him.
Time was passing quickly and Hermione was getting drunk. So far she had had no chance at snooping around the suite. Connor kept his eye on her all the time, and once in a while he would walk over and kiss her. The duo making out on the sofa had now turned into two women and two men having sex on the sofa. Hermione looked over at the room she knew was Connor's office. It would take just a few seconds for her to sneak in there. She turned to Connor and saw him watching the show on the sofa. She turned and looked at the window, Draco was watching her. If anything happened he would help her, right? Their "moment" came back to her, but she let it go. She felt way too drunk.
She got up and hurried into Connor's office. She grabbed her hairpin: a bumblebee. It was one of the many fascinating gadgets to which the Aurors had access. This particular device was a camera. It started taking pictures of everything in the office. She had no idea what she was looking at, she just snapped everything insight. She looked down at the documents in front of her, but she couldn't focus on what she was seeing. She felt a twinge on the broach she was wearing and she knew Draco was warning her. She quickly grabbed Connor's bin and shoved her fingers down her throat.
"Gorgeous? Hermione, are you here?" he asked and peeked inside. Hermione was lying on his sofa, grasping his bin.
"I'm so sorry. Please…" she moaned.
"What - what are you doing?" he asked, but the look on his face said he knew exactly what she was doing.
"I - I had too much champagne." He wrinkled his nose; obviously the smell was getting to him.
"Will you help me?" she asked and turned her face up, she had vomit all over her cheek.
"Of course I'll help you, I'll just send a maid in to get you cleaned up and feeling better," he said and quickly disappeared.
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Hermione closed the door behind her as she had returned back to her hotel room. "Did you find anything?" Draco asked her and looked at the bumblebee camera.
"I don't know," she answered truthfully. Draco sneered at her.
"You've got some vomit on your cheek," he said and tossed her a towel.
"Oh, shut up. I didn't have much of a choice now, did I? Finally we might have something on him. I really wanted that," she mumbled as she lay down on the bed.
Draco waited for Hermione to fall asleep, which didn't take long. Then he pulled the leg of the bumblebee and it started spitting out rolled up photos. He looked through each and everyone. Two of the photos showed a document that caught his interest. He looked closer and saw the words: "Grave 57 and 58."
He knew those graves, they were where Lupin and Tonks were buried, and those were the graves that had been opened. He walked over to the fireplace and threw them in the fire. He glanced over at Hermione again, she was still sleeping. He walked over to her side and looked down at her. He felt that she was in more danger than she knew, and he was not helping the situation. She was close to finding out too much about Cowell, she was getting far too eager in her search. He thought about other ways of stopping her. Playing both sides wasn't easy. He knew that his actions would most likely get someone hurt, but he had no choice.
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The next morning Harry arrived at the hotel while Hermione and Draco were both still asleep. He walked over to the coffee table next to Draco on the sofa and started looking though the photographs. To his horror he realized that Hermione had gone with Connor to his room. He wasn't surprised; he knew she would do it eventually. And one couldn't really blame her; someone had tried to kill her parents. He started flipping through the pages as Hermione's voice startled him.
"Good morning, Harry. When did you get here?" He looked down at Draco who was now staring at him.
"Just arrived, here's your breakfast," he said and walked over and handed Hermione her sandwich, he turned to Draco and tossed the sandwich hard at his chest.
"Thanks, Potter," he snarled at him. Hermione sat up and started hungrily eating her sandwich.
"So tell me about your night," Harry said and sat down on a chair he had turned backwards.
"Well, I got back to his room. Don't really know what I found, I haven't had a chance to look at the photographs yet. I wish I would have had more time in the office, but I guess it's better than nothing, right?" she asked and smiled at Harry. He had to smile at her, her hair was so bushy in the morning and it was standing out more on one side than the other.
"Yeah what an accomplishment, Granger. Going into a room just to puke in it!"
"Puke in it?" Harry looked back and forth at them.
"Oh, never mind, Harry, Draco is just frustrated because he is locked up in this room - not doing anything useful," she answered.
"Shut up and eat your sandwich!" Draco snarled.
"Eat your own sandwich!" she glared at him. Harry looked at them again.
"Yeah, well…we have all day to go through what you found Hermione," Harry said. She smiled at him and Harry's insides jumped a bit. Draco sneered at Harry.
"Potter, how was the dinner-thing with your fiancé?" he asked and Hermione looked away from Harry again.
"Fine, Malfoy. It was fine. Why do you care?" he bit back.
"I honestly don't," Draco said and got up from the sofa. "Well, my shift is over. See you losers later." He jumped into the fire and was gone.
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