The Silver Envelope

A Trip to the Healer's Office

They split up again, each taking one side of the laboratory. By the time they met in the middle again, no blood had been found.
"Maybe he took it with him when he left for the weekend," Hermione said, sounding dejected.
"Whoever's doing the Master's Bonds can't be completing them here.
"You might be right," Draco said.
But he was dissatisfied. There was something they were missing.
"Wait! Didn't you say that the blood should be refrigerated?" she asked.
"Yes. But there's no fridge here," Draco said.
"But there is!" Hermione said.
She took his hand, picking up the invisibility cloak as she led him out of the room. Behind her, she made sure to redo the locking charms on the laboratory door. Quickly, she led him into the tiny break room across the hall from the laboratory. It was clearly meant for only two or three people.
There was a small table, a loo, and a kitchenette with a....
"A fridge!" Hermione whispered triumphantly.
She opened it and peered inside.
Immediately, Draco saw an odd canvas bag that looked out of place among the old takeaway containers and crusty bottles of condiments. He used his wand to unzip it. Inside was a pile of glass vials full of dark liquid, labeled only with numbers.
"We found it!" she hissed. "Oh my god...oh my god."
Draco knew what she was thinking. There were at least two dozen vials of blood there. That meant
that as many as two dozen different elves would soon be enslaved.
Draco pointed his wand at the bag, muttering a curse. A sizzling sound came from the vials of blood as they cooked and curdled beyond usefulness. The DNA, the magical signatures it would all be destroyed by the time they went to use it.
Hermione looked at him, her face awash with tender surprise.
It was no monumental thing to Draco. It had only made sense, to destroy the blood reserves they had been collecting. To him, it was a matter of course. But he supposed that, to Hermione, Draco had just single-handedly changed the fates of two dozen innocent lives.
A lightning bolt of fear shot through him as the lift bell dinged, announcing the arrival of someone else.
Hermione leapt into action. She shut the fridge door and threw the invisibility cloak over Draco, tucking herself tightly against him
Just as they disappeared from sight, someone walked out of the lift.
The man was wearing shabby muggle clothes, the kind one put on when leaving in a rush in the middle of the night. His pudgy face was suspicious as he looked around, scanning the office.
Selwyn, no doubt, here to look for intruders.
They had been caught. At some point, they had set off some type of silent tripwire.
Draco's arms came around Hermione, pulling her body tightly against his. Carefully, soundlessly, he shuffled her away from the fridge and into the corner of the break room behind the table.
Selwyn slowly talked around the office, his wand raised high. He checked the break room first, his narrowed eyes passing right through them before he looked into the loo.
He checked the fridge as well, briefly peeking inside his bag to make sure his samples were still there. Draco felt a wave of relief when Selwyn neglected to look closer and check the viability of the blood samples.
When he left to check the laboratory, he shut the break room door.
Between the closed door and the loud bell of the lift, they would have to wait for Selwyn to leave before they attempted to escape. Unless they were to give themselves away and try to stun him.
Ideally, however, they would leave in a way that would avoid further suspicion. Draco held onto Hermione tightly. They could wait for as long as was necessary.
Through the window in the door to the break room, Draco saw Selwyn had gone looking around the laboratory. That area had many more hiding places. It would likely take him a while.
Hermione's head was pressed against his chest, her hair flattened against his jumper. The floral scent of her made him want to close his eyes and inhale deeply.
His arms were crossing her stomach and her shoulders. He felt the shaky rise and fall of her chest as she breathed as quietly as possible.
They could no longer see Selwyn himself, only the light coming from the open door of his laboratory. From the noises he was making, Selwyn seemed to be shifting boxes around in there.
They stayed still and silent in the corner for a long time, waiting for Selwyn to leave. After a while, he noticed Hermione starting to tremble a bit.
He leaned down, pressing his lips to the top of her head, his thumb brushing soothing circles on her arm. Draco felt Hermione shift slightly, leaning closer into him, resting her head back on his chest.
Her breathing became a bit easier as the seconds ticked by.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Selwyn ambled back out of his laboratory and peered around once more. Through the glass of the closed break room door, Draco saw him slowly turn around. His heart began to beat hard as Selwyn again entered the break room, holding his lit wand aloft, the shadows on his wrinkled face giving him a monstrous appearance.
"Homenum revelio."
Hermione gasped with horror as Selwyn's spell gave them away. Pale, ghostly impressions whooshed out of each of them, rushing up to Selwyn.
Selwyn sent a spell blasting into the corner where they had been hiding, just missing them. In synchronization, Draco and Hermione threw off the cloak and pointed their wands at Selwyn. The healer blocked Draco's whip-quick stunning spell, but he was not fast enough for the second one Hermione sent straight at his chest. He went down, his head cracking hard against the linoleum floor.
"Oh, god," Hermione gasped. "He saw us. He's going to tell whoever he's working with that we're onto him."
Draco examined the figure lying on the floor. Hermione's spell had knocked him out hard his glasses had been thrown from his face. Draco walked easily to the corner and picked them up, placing them back on Selwyn's slack face.
Hermione was still panicking. She was so good under pressure, but the minute it let up, she became a mess. He looked at her, bringing a finger to his lips to remind her to hush for a moment.
If Selwyn had known they were there, there was a chance he had called for reinforcements. If that was the case, they didn't have much time.
"Hermione, grab the cloak," he instructed.
She did as he asked. He pulled it over the both of them, then pointed his wand at the little sink next to the fridge. A pipe burst, splashing water onto the floor and soaking into Selwyn's clothes. Next, he pointed his wand at the fridge, muttering a spell to bugger up the electric wires on it. Draco didn't know much about electricity, but he knew that the wires were important. When Selwyn woke and saw that the blood samples were ruined, he would have to blame the faulty wires of the fridge.
"Alright. Here's the plan," Draco said, wrapping his arm around Hermione to keep her close under the cloak. "You're going to Obliviate him. Make him think that his alarm was tripped due to a burst pipe, and he accidentally slipped on the water and knocked himself out. Then I'm going to wake him and we'll leave."
Hermione nodded shakily, raising her wand.
Draco had never altered anyone's memory before, though he had seen it done plenty of times. It always took a toll, sometimes more taxing on the caster than the one whose memory was affected.
As he understood, it was similar to using the Legilimens spell, only instead of looking through a
person's memories, you changed them.
"Obliviate."
Hermione's face went strangely blank as she took a trip into Selwyn's mind. He wondered how much she would be able to see. It would depend on the power of her cast, as well as Selwyn's proficiency as an Occlumens. He waited for a moment, watching as she blinked and returned to her own body.
"It's done," she said in an odd, monotone voice.
All trace of her panic had gone. Draco felt unnerved seeing her like this. She looked...empty, somehow. As if she hadn't fully returned to her own emotions and existence yet. He held her tightly, moving them both to the lift.
Just as the doors of the lift began to close, Draco sent a spell through the doors to wake Selwyn up.
He would be groggy, and have a hell of a headache, but he would not remember what happened.
"Are you alright?" Draco whispered to her as they descended.
It was a moment before Hermione answered.
"That spell...it always makes me feel.
She trailed off, seemingly unable to verbalize her thoughts.
Draco swallowed hard. He wouldn't have asked her to do it if it hadn't been absolutely necessary.
He knew what she had gone through with her parents. He imagined using Obliviate would dredge up some unpleasant memories.
He took her hand in his as the doors of the lift open, leading her back into the calm, chilly silence of the night.