Summary: Working for the Ministry as Aurors, Hermione and Draco have seen a lot of shit. They've been through a lot of shit. It really shouldn't be surprising that a serial killer disrupts what is supposed to be a routine investigation, but Draco is not to blame for his angry response.
Hermione was beyond tired. It was hardly past lunch and already she felt like sleeping for the remainder of that day, which was really a shame. She knew the case she and Draco had just been handed was high-profile and rather interesting, but she didn't have the energy to care for much more than the black coffee Draco had just handed to her. Being an Auror had become incredibly tiring recently as cases seemed to increase rapidly and she'd been spending many nights at the office.
"You could take a sick day," Draco suggested, kissing her forehead as he held the hot coffee for her. "You have about three months of it piled up; might as well use it to catch up on sleep."
Hermione refused, though, and lifted the coffee to her lips. Draco stayed right beside her in case she either passed out or dropped the cup. When she handed him an entirely empty cup a minute later, he held back from telling her chugging that much coffee was probably unhealthy.
"Now, back to work," Hermione said. She dropped onto her office chair and Draco slid into his own that he'd brought across the hall from his office. "What's our next step in—" she broke off and just waved her hand over the paperwork as she yawned.
"Love, I really think you should—"
"I'm not going to leave, Draco," Hermione snapped. As soon as she'd said it, she looked away guiltily and apologised softly for snapping at him. Fortunately, Draco was plenty used to it by now after five years of marriage, so he just smiled and reached for her hand.
"We go visit the site," he reminded her. She nodded but otherwise didn't move. "I'll go find a team."
Hermione nodded again while Draco stood up to call their usual team of investigators to tag along. Once the small group was ready, they apparated to the scene where a triple homicide had occurred only four days earlier. They'd been by to visit twice already, but it was common for a criminal to return to the scene of the crime a few days later and Draco was hoping they'd find more evidence this time.
"I'll check upstairs," Hermione said, pulling away from Draco and lighting her wand. He nodded, watching her go and nodding to himself when she seemed mostly back to normal. The coffee would hopefully last until they returned to the office and he could convince her to sleep, but for now, she seemed to be doing alright.
It wasn't unusual for Hermione to explore crime scenes on her own. In fact, she rather enjoyed wandering around and being able to think in the silence. This particular building she was familiar with now, so she didn't have to catalog every little thing she saw, only the things that were out of place. Granted, nothing was out of place as she was certain the wizard they were after wouldn't have returned already, leaving her to just wander tiredly through the upstairs of the building.
She hadn't even realised she'd been staring out a window until she blinked back to reality. Frowning, she looked around the small room she was in. It was the child's room with stuffed animals on the floor and a small bed that wasn't made. The fact that someone had killed a child as well as her two parents sickened Hermione, but not as much as it would have at the beginning of her job. Some people were just deranged and clearly this wizard was no different.
With a sigh, Hermione turned to leave the room but stopped. A stuffed giraffe was sitting in the center of the doorway and it definitely hadn't been there before. Looking around quickly, Hermione extended her lit wand to see further in the room. She grumbled at the lack of sun that day, wishing that just once London weather would work in her favour.
As she picked up the stuffed giraffe, she looked up and down the hall for one of her co-workers. She hadn't heard anyone come upstairs and she knew they all knew better than to move anything at a crime scene.
"You can't scare me, Draco," she grumbled, tossing the giraffe back onto a pile of toys. When she heard it hit the ground, she turned around. The giraffe had landed where she'd tossed it, but now there was an elephant perched precariously on the window sill.
Her frown deepened as she slowly walked further into the room. She may not have been entirely focused, but the elephant had definitely not been there before. Keeping her wand up, Hermione grabbed the elephant and looked at it for any sign of an illusion. Once satisfied it was not an illusion and the stuffed animals really were being moved, she turned quickly to tell the others there was something happening.
She didn't even have time to register someone standing in front of her before her wand was flying from her hand and a spell hit her in the chest. She screamed as she fell to the ground, unable to move while the figure appeared above her. Their appearance seemed to change the longer Hermione looked at them and she had to resist the urge to ask what spell they had used to accomplish such a thing.
"Hello, Miss Granger," the figure said. Even their voice was distorted, though Hermione wondered if maybe that had to do more with the headache she had than an actual spell. "Up you go," the person said, flicking their wand and hoisting Hermione's limp body up from the ground.
Downstairs, Draco was working with their newest investigator in analysing the rooms. Most other Aurors didn't like working with the newer staff, but Draco rather enjoyed helping them figure out their own way of investigating. He'd been in the middle of explaining something to one of them when he heard Hermione scream.
"Fuck," he hissed, turning on his heel and racing through the building to the stairs. The others hurried after him as he looked in each room before finding her in the kid's bedroom.
He stopped short in the doorway and several of the others ran into his back. He hardly budged, staring at the distorted person in front of him who held his wand to Hermione's chin. It was strange staring at the person in front of him as they seemed to have no permanent shape, something Draco knew Hermione would find too intriguing for her own good.
"Draco Malfoy?" the person said, sounding surprised he'd appeared. "My, my, I didn't expect you to come running at Miss Granger's cry. Harry Potter or Ron Weasley, of course, was who I—"
"Drop your wand," Draco ordered, raising his own at the person. The person chuckled and instead of dropping their wand like Draco had ordered, they pressed it harder into Hermione's chin until she gasped quietly.
"Unless you want Miss Granger to be dead in a few seconds," they threatened, "I suggest you drop yours."
Draco didn't want to. He really didn't want to, but the person had Hermione at wand point and Draco knew nothing he did would stop them before they could kill Hermione. As upset as he was, Draco put his wand down and scowled at the figure in front of him.
"On the ground, Mr. Malfoy," the person taunted. Draco's free hand clenched on his side and he forced himself to let his wand fall to the floor. "Very good," the person cooed. They didn't release Hermione, though, and Draco was almost too tense to breathe. "If only you'd been as obedient to the Dark Lord."
Before Draco could react, the figure disapparated with Hermione. Draco lunged forward too late and they disappeared right in front of him. When the room fell silent, Draco couldn't keep himself from sending a wave of angry magic at the nearest wall and damaging it severely. Behind him, one of the other Aurors tried to say something, but Draco didn't need to speak a word to make him quiet.
"Get Potter," Draco demanded without turning around. "But do not let the Weasel come."
He heard the sounds of disapparation as the group hurried to leave and after several seconds of silence, he knew they had all left. Of course, it wouldn't be long before they returned with Potter and his own team of Aurors, but the few minutes alone would hopefully be long enough for Draco to get his frustration out. If he saw Harry's worried face right now or if the Weasel had tagged along despite his order, the wall would not be the only thing struggling to remain put together.
"Fuck!" Draco screamed, pulling at his hair and sinking to the floor.
The image of Hermione being held back by the shapeless figure flashed through his mind and the stuffed animals behind him exploded as a pang of guilt shot through him. He cursed again as a recent nightmare of Hermione being taken by Death Eaters played out in his mind and the small bed splintered into wood chips. This was supposed to be a safe visit, that's why he'd taken the aurors in training. The killer wasn't supposed to return while they were there and he was supposed to be convincing Hermione to take a nap, not worrying about her being in the hands of a murderer who had most likely been apart of the Death Eaters.
As the sounds of apparation occurred downstairs, Draco got to his feet and quickly wiped his hand over his face. His eyes stung and his nose tingled, but he didn't have time to cry right now. The others had returned and even if Hermione was his wife, he was not going to cry in front of his coworkers. He'd wait until he was alone again.
"Malfoy."
Draco turned around to see Potter standing in the doorway entirely alone. The Weasel wasn't with him and even though he and Harry weren't exactly best friends, Draco was relieved to see him. However, as he looked at Harry who was clearly worried, he couldn't find the words he wanted to stay and stood there opening and closing his mouth hopelessly.
"He just—She—"
His vision became watery and Draco wiped under his eyes furiously. Harry walked forward and put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. As if the action had flipped a switch inside, Draco felt a tear make its way down his cheek and he had to bite his lip to keep it from trembling.
Without saying a word, Harry forced Draco into a hug. Draco very stubbornly kept his arms at his side despite the tears that started to race down his cheeks. It took several minutes before Draco was able to blink without sending more tears down his face and as soon as he felt like he could stand looking at Potter again, he pulled out of the prison he'd been forced into.
"We'll get her back, mate," Potter said kindly, patting Draco's back as he wiped his face and schooled it into a blank expression.
"She's with a Death Eater, Harry," Draco snapped when Potter tried to convince him she'd be okay. Potter blinked at the information before it dawned on Draco that was the biggest lead they'd come across yet. "Harry, she's with a Death Eater," he said again, "We can track her."
* * * * *
It took a week before they had any substantial leads about where Hermione and her captor could be located. Due to how well-known Hermione was and the lack of a physical description of her captor, the auror office couldn't release a missing person report to the public without a scandal. Draco spent the entire week at the office, refusing to go home and instead choosing to sleep on the small sofa in Hermione's office.
It was in the middle of the night when their most recent lead pecked on the office window to deliver Draco a letter that was immediately incinerated. He'd had the common sense to cage the owl in the Minister's owlry and call Harry, but it wasn't until morning that they did anything. Draco refused to tell anyone what the letter had said, telling them instead that it had just been mocking and had no trace of where they could be hidden. No one had bothered pointing out more than once that he still should have let someone else read it just to be sure.
She screams like you wouldn't believe, Draco. I think I might hit her more often.
He shook the thought from his head and told them to create a spell they could use on the owl to lead them to where Hermione was. As soon as the workers were on it, Draco disappeared to trash his own office as the words from the letter echoed through his head.
There are more scars on her skin now than you could ever count.
He'd given up controlling his magic. He'd already destroyed two bedrooms in the manor and had his mother hire a team to fix them while he stayed away. The room he'd ruined at the crime scene remained a disaster. Even Harry no longer cared what he ruined as long as he fixed it before he left.
I didn't believe it when I heard she was your wife now, but that just makes this so much better.
Draco's desk burst into flames but he quickly put the fire out as a knock came to his door. Paperwork covered the floor and the window was cracked, but he was able to fix it all with a wave of his wand and a deep breath.
"Malfoy, open the door," Potter demanded. Draco flicked his wand and the door opened for Potter to walk in. "What was in that letter?"
"You don't want to know, Potter," Draco warned. Harry insisted he did, but Draco refused to tell him anyway. He'd had his turn worrying about Hermione being injured by maniacs, it was Draco's turn now.
"There had to have been a way to track the person down," Harry snapped. Draco glared at him and Harry backed off. "You didn't need to burn it."
"I didn't do it on purpose," Draco reminded him. In all honesty, it had happened so fast he wasn't entirely sure he'd been the one to burn it. It was possible the letter had been spelled to burn itself once he'd read it, but he doubted many would believe him if he said so.
"Fine, so now we just wait for the spell workers to figure something out?" Harry asked. Draco groaned and glanced over the papers that were now neatly arranged on his desk.
"Do we have a way to compare handwriting?" Draco asked. Harry was clearly thrown off for a minute, but eventually he nodded. "Bring me samples of every Death Eater and affiliate and I'll compare it to what I remember."
"Maybe try not to burn it while you work, yeah?" Harry bit back. Draco sneered at him, but Harry had already turned to leave and by the time he returned with the handwritten pages, Draco had let the sneer fall from his face. "Sorry," Harry grumbled, dropping the stack on his desk.
"Me too," Draco muttered back. His office door slammed shut and he was left alone to work. Unfortunately, the silence brought the letter back to the forefront of his mind and after hardly a minute, Draco was on his way to the Leaky Cauldron for the seventh time that week.
* * * * *
Draco was on his fourth cup of coffee when Harry burst into his office to announce the spell techs had figured out a way to locate Hermione. It had been four days since the letter had arrived and Draco had gotten even less sleep than before, but he had enough energy to sprint to the owlry and grab the owl that had delivered the letter. When he arrived in the spell lab, he was panting but not tired.
"It should project a visible path the owl took to deliver any recent letters," the tech told them. Draco wasn't that interested in hearing about the origins of the spell, but the tech didn't act too offended when Draco told him to just perform it.
He watched impatiently as a light blue path appeared on the map a nearby spell tech was holding. The owl shook out its feathers, but the path continued to draw on the map until it reached the origin point. Before the path could fade away, the woman holding the paper took out a quill and circled the spot where the pathway had ended. She had hardly moved the quill off the map when Draco was thanking them both and taking the map from her.
He rushed to put a team together, surprised when Harry had already assembled and briefed one for him. Draco told them all where the owl had come from, showing them on the map, before informing them they wouldn't be apparating there.
"It's too risky someone will be splinched," he said. They'd be taking broomsticks no matter how badly Draco wanted to hurry there.
As they all gathered their own broomsticks, Harry pulled Draco aside to tell him they'd already come up with a plan for attacking. Draco would have to wait until they'd all entered the building before he could enter.
"You're unstable and the last thing we need is for you to kill him before we can take him for questioning," Potter said. As much as Draco wanted to argue, he knew Potter was right. Even now, he longed to kill the Death Eater that had hurt Hermione and he wasn't even nearby.
"I'm the first one to see her," Draco told him. Potter conceded and they both followed after the others to grab their brooms.
Draco and Harry led the way on the map which left the others to trust they were going the right way. Luckily for them, Harry had thought enough to allow the map to trace their movements as well so their location would appear on the map. When they finally appeared at the location the spell tech had circled, the group dropped to the ground and hovered just outside of the building that sat in front of them.
"Keep close and watch each other's backs," Harry instructed, sliding off his broom and leaning it against the tree. "Remember, we want this person alive."
The aurors nodded and broke off into their teams. Draco watched as they circled the building before entering in through all the various exits. He waited until he couldn't see them anymore before starting towards the building himself. As soon as he started moving, he couldn't stop himself. He picked up his pace until he was running through the front door and frantically looking around. In the hallway, he ran into two other aurors who reported there was nothing further down the hall. Draco still checked just to make sure there was no secret door that could be hiding Hermione and her captor.
Down the hall, shouting caught Draco's attention. He hurried out of the small room he was in and pushed his way forward to where he could understand the shouting.
"—found them!" the man was yelling.
Draco didn't need any more information before he was shoving past the man in the direction he'd pointed. He nearly tripped down the stairs, but as soon as he shouldered his way into the room below, he found Harry standing over a familiar man and four other aurors pointing their wands at him.
"Hermione?" Draco asked. Potter looked up from where he was securely entrapping the man and shook his head.
"We haven't looked around yet," he answered. Draco nodded once and spotted a door nearby.
Despite Harry telling him to wait, Draco pushed through the door and looked around. It was another hallway just like upstairs but with only two doors.
When Draco rammed his shoulder into the first door, he didn't expect for it to stay in place. With a frown, he blew the door of its hinges and cleared the smoke with a wave of his wand. At the sound of a cough, however, he knew he'd found the correct room.
"Hermione," he breathed, quickly taking in the sight of her and feeling tears form in his eyes once more.
In front of him, Hermione was covered in bruises and her auror uniform was torn. She had a cut on her forehead and a black eye to rival the one he'd given Weasley two weeks earlier. When she looked up at him and smiled, however, he rushed to her side and dropped to his knees.
"I'm sorry," he cried, pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly. "I'm so, so sorry." He destroyed the chain around her wrists and carefully pulled her entire body into his arms as he whispered apologies and promises into her ear.
"Draco," she groaned, weakly pushing away from him. He tried to keep ahold of her, but she gasped in pain. Immediately, he released her and apologised again. "I—" her voice cracked and her hand shook slightly as she reached up to take hold of his.
"I'm sorry," Draco said again, bringing her hand to his lips and kissing it several times. "I love you so much and I'm so sorry I didn't find you sooner."
"I love you too," Hermione whispered. She gently squeezed his hand and closed her eyes, tipping forward as she did so. Draco wrapped his arms around her again and slowly stood up. He kept her in his arms even when she moaned in pain and quickly went to find Harry.
"Hermione!" Potter exclaimed, leaving the man in the hands of another auror as he moved to check on his friend.
"Harry," she smiled.
"I'm taking her to St. Mungo's," Draco told Potter. He nodded at the man on the ground. "Who is it? I swear if it's—"
"Teddy Nott," Potter answered. Draco blinked and accidentally let go of Hermione's legs. She hissed in pain at the sudden jarring but refused to let him pick her back up. "We're taking him to the Ministry for questioning," Potter explained, watching Draco adjust his hold on Hermione so he was holding her upright. "Take Hermione to St. Mungo's and I'll send for you later."
"I need—"
"You need to be with Hermione," Potter insisted. Draco pursed his lips, staring down at the man on the ground. Beside him, Hermione stifled a groan as she tried to take a step forward and Draco turned to her worriedly. "Go," Potter ordered.
Draco helped Hermione walk out of the building, waiting until they were away from the last auror before lifting her up again. She hardly fought him before accepting her fate and relaxing as best she could.
"I missed you," she murmured, reaching up to cup his face softly. Draco looked down at her, turning his head to softly kiss her palm.
"I missed you more," he replied. She smiled softly and moved her hand from his cheek to around his neck.
"You know what I missed most while I was there?" she asked. Draco could think of a hundred things off the top of his head, but none of them were good. With the way she was bruised and battered, he was worried she might say something along the lines of not being abused which was really a low bar. Instead, she smiled and said, "Being called Mrs. Malfoy."
Draco couldn't fight the smile that spread across his face at that because it was his favourite part about being married to her. Even before they'd gotten married, Hermione had insisted on being called Mrs. Malfoy when they were alone and because it often led to inappropriate things, Draco had happily obliged.
"I'm sure I can make up for lost time," he promised, carefully sliding onto his broom. With a smirk, he added, "Mrs. Malfoy," before racing off towards St. Mungo's.