Summary: Three years after the battle at Hogwarts and the War is still going on. Voldemort is rising in power and the Order is struggling to stay afloat. Despite some members' insistence on not using dark magic and fighting fair, Kingsley Shacklebot employs one Death Eater spy and an exceptional witch to act as the Order's secret weapon.
It was dead silent. There wasn't even a clock on the wall to interrupt the silence with its ticking as Hermione glared across the room at Malfoy. When Kingsley had told her that Snape had recruited another Death Eater spy months ago, she never would have thought it would be Draco Malfoy. She definitely hadn't expected it to be him who Kingsley anticipated her working with to win the War.
"I see you both agree," Kingsley said calmly, clasping his hands in front of him.
Around them, the safe house was ruined. The walls were crumbling and some of the furniture was still on fire from the close range spell Hermione had shot at Malfoy's head. To say the first meeting had gone poorly would be an understatement. Even Kingsley's robes had been singed and torn.
"We'll take out each other before we take out the Dark Lord," Malfoy said coldly, glaring at Hermione just as fiercely. His arms were crossed in front of him, but his wand was still pointed in her direction.
"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Kingsley replied. He gave Hermione a pointed look and she forced herself to uncross her arms. She did not stop glaring. "Perfect. I expect Hermione can inform you of your first mission as I have a meeting to attend. Try not to destroy the safe house even further."
With a loud crack, Kingsley apparated away and Hermione and Malfoy were left to scowl at each other.
"I agreed to kill for the Order, not work with you," Malfoy sneered, stuffing his wand in a holster on his arm. Hermione kept hers out.
"You should have asked more questions then," Hermione snapped in reply. Malfoy glared at her but Hermione was undeterred. The room was silent for several tense minutes before Hermione remembered Kingsley had already given them their first mission. Malfoy had been the one to report it, but Kingsley had assigned it to them after hearing just how badly injured most of the Order was after their last skirmish. "Edinburgh, you said?"
"Yeah," Malfoy said with a nod. "He's really just leaving us to do this on our own?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. Kingsley didn't have much left to hope for and after the brutal fight they'd had in the safe house, Hermione wasn't all that worried about the odds.
"As long as you can manage to not have a predictable attack pattern, we should be fine," Hermione taunted. Malfoy flicked his wrist at her but she brushed aside the small knives before they were even within reach.
"At least I can fight with both hands," Malfoy bit back.
Hermione's face was starting to hurt from glaring so much, but before she could snap back, Malfoy had grabbed her arm and they were apparating to Edinburgh.
* * * * *
Kingsley seemed to think that by forcing Hermione to meet up with Malfoy almost every day, that maybe they would start to get along better. Unfortunately for him, most of their meetings consisted of dueling each other and critiquing the other's movement or lack thereof. There was never any small talk and usually the last to arrive was the first to throw a spell, but Kingsley always asked how the meeting went. Even though Hermione's answer never changed, he seemed pleased.
"I suspect you've both made great progress in dueling," Kingsley said.
Hermione was quickly growing more and more irritated with Kingsley.
"Now, Severus informed me there's an informal Death Eater meeting tonight. Only three, but hitting them unexpectedly can throw off an entire attack. I suspect you and Draco can handle it."
"I can handle it without him," Hermione argued. Why Kingsley thought she needed Malfoy around to to take of three Death Eaters was beyond her.
"Nevertheless, he's been summoned and should be at the safe house to meet you in five minutes," he answered, slipping her a piece of paper with a location written on it.
Hermione frowned but didn't say anything else before apparating away. The sooner she got to the safe house to meet Malfoy, the sooner she could take out her frustrations on some Death Eaters.
Unfortunately, Malfoy wasn't already at the safe house when she arrived. Rather than wait idly, she kept an eye out for him so she wouldn't be surprised by an attack. The last thing she expected was for Malfoy to appear across the room in front of her with a large gash across his face that was clearly fresh.
"What the hell happened to you?" she snapped, her fingers twitching around her wand. Despite having no obligation to, she was already thinking of multiple spells to keep his forehead and cheek from scarring and speed up the healing process.
"Fuck off," Malfoy snapped back. Hermione glared at him and took two steps forward. Malfoy didn't move, but he did eye her warily. "You can't heal it if that's what you're thinking."
"I know ways to get around those spells," Hermione replied. She pointed her wand at his face but Malfoy didn't flinch. Wordlessly, she cast a charm to speed up whatever healing process he was going through. Malfoy grimaced but said nothing. She grunted out another spell to prevent it from scarring then stepped back. "Now that you're not bleeding all over, Kingsley called because he got word there's a small meeting we're supposed to disrupt."
Malfoy frowned.
"Where?" he asked. Hermione pulled on the paper and handed it to him. As soon as he read it, the paper lit up in flames and disappeared. "Fine. Let's go."
Together, they apparated to a couple of kilometers south of where the meeting actually was and began the long walk through the forest. As they neared a clearing, they found not three, but a dozen Death Eaters standing in a group around a fire. Before they were noticed, Malfoy grabbed Hermione and shoved her further back, stepping back silently so they were not spotted.
"When has a dozen ever been small?" he breathed, glaring at her from under his hood.
"Kingsley said three!" she hissed back. They dropped soundlessly as a loud laugh came from the clearing. Now hidden by the short bushes, Hermione looked up at Malfoy. "Can you identify them?"
Malfoy poked his head above the bushes and looked at the group for several minutes. When he dropped back down, he shook his head.
"I can't hear them from here and they're not moving," he told her quietly. Hermione frowned. It was unlikely they were all high ranking, but even Death Eaters that were only recently recruited were still skilled duelists.
"First one to seven kills wins," Hermione whispered. She sat up just enough to see over the bushes and shot two killing curses before the first surprised shout came from the clearing.
Malfoy threw up a shield just in time for a series of killing curses and crucios to come flying at them, quietly cursing Hermione for taking the first shot. She just grinned and leaned around the shield to shoot another curse at the group. The shield faltered and with a nod, both Hermione and Malfoy dove to opposite sides and took cover in the bushes.
While the Death Eaters continued to fire curses at where they'd previously been, Hermione silently apparated to the other side of the clearing. Even before being given stealth missions by Kingsley, Hermione had always been proud to have discovered a way to apparate silently. She'd shown Harry and a few other Order members, but clearly she still needed to show Malfoy if the loud crack she'd heard when they first arrived was anything to go by.
As the Death Eaters' attack on their now-empty hiding spot slowed down, Hermione raised her wand and leveled it to rest perfectly on the centermost Death Eater. Before they could disperse to look for their bodies, Hermione shot her curse the same time Malfoy sent a volley of killing curses.
Hermione dropped to the ground to avoid a rouge killing curse and peered over the grass to see what her spell had done to the group. She'd never tried it outside of her lab so there was a chance it wouldn't actually work, but as three more Death Eaters fell dead and two screamed in pain, she grinned.
As the last Death Eater fell by Malfoy's wand, Hermione stepped out of the shadows and walked into the clearing to make sure all the Death Eaters were dead. She peered over their bodies, kicking them with her steel toed boot just to be certain. She looked down at one of the Death Eaters, staring at the hole in his chest her curse had created and kicked off his mask. An unfamiliar face stared back up at her and she moved on, kicking off the rest of the masks.
"What was that spell you just used?" Malfoy asked, sliding out of the bushes and staring out across the bodies. His face was still covered by his hood, but Hermione pulled hers off and smoothed her hair.
"You'd have never come across it," she replied, kicking another mask off. "I created it. It targets those within two meters of where it hits and tears through muscle until they die. The Order found it too vicious." Hermione glanced up at him to see a small smirk spread across his lips. Her foot hovered near the last masked Death Eater as she looked at Malfoy and said, "I have a whole arsenal of spells worse than—"
"Crucio!"
Blinding pain hit her chin from below as the Death Eater she'd thought was dead raised his wand at her. She didn't cry out as the pain washed over her in waves, biting her cheek to keep from screaming and giving away their location. The pain didn't last long as the man who had cast it was weak, but it was enough to have Hermione panting when it finally disappeared. When she could see straight again, Malfoy was standing over the Death Eater with his wand pointed at him.
She brushed her hair from her face, grimacing at the sweat that had formed on her forehead from the pain, then twisted around to make sure none of the other Death Eaters were faking their death. Unfortunately for them, there seemed to be new holes in their chests that hadn't been there before she'd been attacked.
"They're all dead now," Malfoy muttered, stepping away from the last Death Eater. He reached down and pulled her to her feet. Her body ached and she swayed, but Malfoy kept his arm under her shoulders to keep her upright. "Can you apparate?"
"Of course," Hermione scoffed.
Malfoy released her and she swayed. She scowled when he smirked and kept his hold on her.
"Fine. Just take me to the safe house and I can manage from there."
Malfoy nodded and they both apparated away with a loud crack.
* * * * *
Hermione was getting frustrated. Every week, Kingsley would call meetings for the core Order members to discuss new attack methods and every week, the Order would refuse to start casting more fatal spells. Some of them did when necessary, but overall, Harry discouraged the use of dark magic. Despite how often Hermione told him she could craft fatal spells that weren't connected to the dark arts, Harry refused to even hear her ideas. Today was no different even though Ginny was in the hospital ward and Harry was badly wounded.
"The Death Eaters aren't as popular anymore," Harry insisted, making Hermione scowl at the table. "Their numbers are dropping and they aren't attacking as often anymore. What we're doing is working."
"But if we used other spells, the War could be over quicker," Hermione argued. Kingsley gave her a look and she fumed as he agreed with Harry.
For the remainder of the meeting, Hermione tuned out everyone who spoke and tried not to be too upset with the way the Order was treating the War. As soon as they were all dismissed, she hurried down to the hospital ward to help Madam Pomfrey with anything she could just to distract herself. She was in the middle of treating a minor burn on George's arm when Kingsley's patronus summoned her to his office. She finished George's burn, sent him on his way, then slipped away to Kingsley's office.
"There's word the Death Eaters are going south to set up anti-apparation lines," Kingsley said. He handed her a sealed envelope and she stuffed it in her pocket. "Draco will arrive at the safe house as soon as he can, but I want you to wait there so you can leave at the earliest moment."
"Calling him away so often is getting suspicious," Hermione said with a frown. Kingsley had been sending them out at least once a week and Malfoy had mentioned last week his father had said something about his regular disappearances. "He can't always come with me if he's expected to keep his cover in tact."
"Tell him if he wants to continue his alliance with the Order, he'll figure out a way to maintain cover and come when needed," Kingsley said. He nodded at her then turned around and returned to his desk. With a frown, Hermione apparated out of his office and to the safe house to await Malfoy.
They'd already had several missions together and most of them hadn't needed the both of them. After their last mission that could have easily been completed by Hermione alone, Malfoy had voiced his concern about his cover amongst the Death Eaters. She'd hoped Kingsley would care more for Malfoy's wellbeing seeing as he was an important contact in Voldemort's ranks, but since he hadn't, she would now have to figure out a way to do so herself.
Just as she'd figured out a way to protect Malfoy's cover and still contact him for important meetings, Malfoy apparated right in front of her. She jumped in surprise before glaring at him. Clearly teaching him how to apparate silently hadn't been well thought out.
"What's that?" he asked, pulling one of her transfigured charms out of her hands. She let him look it over before taking it back and stringing it through an unbreakable chain.
"That is for you," she answered, handing him the necklace that now had the skull charm attached. Malfoy frowned at it but slipped it over his head while she clasped the other one around her neck. "Kingsley doesn't care about your cover," she said bluntly. He blinked in surprise, but she continued, "I charmed this to alert you to any missions that actually need the two of us. If the necklace doesn't heat up, you aren't necessary for the mission, so don't come. Kingsley will never know."
"What happens if you overestimate?" Malfoy asked, snatching the torn envelope from the counter top near her. He skimmed over the mission while Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I'll activate the charm twice if that happens," she answered. He nodded and tossed the mission envelope aside.
"One alert means come," he repeated, holding out his arm for her to grab onto. "Two alerts means you're dying and I should come immediately to witness the spectacle."
"Yes," Hermione drawled sarcastically, taking hold of his arm tightly. "Precisely that," she said, before the feeling of apparation drowned out her words and they were disappearing.
* * * * *
"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck."
He'd arrived at the safe house after Hermione had activated the charm multiple times in a row. He hadn't known where she was headed, a flaw he hadn't realised until just now, but he knew the mission envelope was likely at the safe house. Hermione wasn't stupid and at the very least, she would have left her location available to him.
After finding the envelope and skimming for the location, he cursed again and apparated away. He didn't bother distancing himself from the building as he knew he didn't have time to walk, so with his hood pulled over his face and an illusion charm only Hermione would see through, he stormed into the building and fired curses at anything that moved. When he came across a very injured werewolf, Draco smiled. He'd seen how powerful Hermione was before, but this only further proved it.
"Where the fuck is she?" he sneered, leveling his wand at the wolf. The werewolf just growled and sneered back, so Draco hit him with a crucio curse that had him writhing for several seconds. As impatient as he was, however, he released the werewolf and demanded, "Tell me where she went."
The werewolf just snickered and as he raised his head to howl, Draco cut his head from his shoulders and continued through the building.
He very quickly realised he was never going to find Hermione if he kept going like this and as the charm against his chest heated up two more times, he became increasingly worried. Just as he was beginning to wonder how he'd be able to find her, he remembered a spell she'd crafted and showed him a week ago. It was fairly complicated, but Draco had used it a few times and felt confident enough he could figure it out. He took several long seconds to focus his thoughts on Hermione before casting the tracking charm.
As he opened his eyes, he could see a faint trail taking him down the hall. He sprinted after it, casting curses at anyone he came across and hardly stumbling over a pile of bodies. When the trail stopped on the other side of the door, Draco threw up a shield before shouldering through the door and into the room.
At the center of of the room, Hermione was getting swallowed by Death Eaters and numerous dark creatures. Many of them were injured, but that wasn't stopping them from continuing their attack on Hermione. Draco arrived just in time to hear one of them yell crucio at the same time someone else used sectumsempra. Hermione screamed.
Draco didn't think as he cut off the heads of the creatures closest to him. He cut down the next row of Death Eaters as Hermione continued to scream louder than he could have ever imagined. By the time those farthest from him turned to attack him, he was firing fatal curses faster than they could blink. He crucio'd the wizard who still had the crucio curse trained on Hermione and he passed out. The Death Eater that had used sectumsempra found himself speared to the wall with several small knives and in one motion, he sent blades through the hearts of every Death Eater and werewolf that was still standing.
Breathing heavily, he looked around the room to ensure they were all dead. Just to be sure, he sent bullets through every body he saw before dropping down beside Hermione. There was a long, jagged cut from her shoulder blade that wrapped around her back and almost to her belly button. Draco murmured a sealing charm that would stop her bleeding and carefully gathered her in his arms. Before anyone else could come, he apparated them back to the safe house and put up several new wards for safe keeping.
"Took you long enough," Hermione groaned, inhaling sharply as he set her on the sofa.
Draco rolled his eyes and vanished her robes so he could see the cut better. It was hard to look at and Draco had to glance away for a moment.
"What? Never seen a mostly naked girl before?" Hermione teased. Her voice was breathier than Draco cared to admit, but he still shook his head with a small smile.
"This is going to leave a nasty scar," Draco said, grabbing a tighter hold of his wand.
"It better considering how painful it is," Hermione replied. Draco rolled his eyes and shifted so he could easily reach Hermione's back.
"Well, it's about to hurt worse," Draco muttered before slowly starting down the cut with a mending spell.
Hermione gasped at the sharp pain and her hand landed on Draco's knee. He kept his wand steady despite Hermione's heavy breathing and the tight grip she had on his knee. When he was finally finished stitching up the large wound, she let go of his knee and reached around to run her fingers over the scar.
"Thanks," she said. She summoned her robes then cleaned and mended them. Once they were back to normal, she slipped them on so she was wearing more than just her bra and panties then looked at Draco. "I was told there'd only be a dozen or so Death Eaters meeting with a pair of werewolves, nothing big. It was supposed to be easy to infiltrate and bomb, but I got caught."
"We need a better system," Draco told her. He told her how he'd had to come to the safe house to find out where she was and that there had to be a some other way for him to know. "Could you put a tracker on the charms?"
Hermione scowled.
"So you can find me anytime of day and bug me?" she asked. Draco rolled his eyes, but she was already unclasping her necklace and reaching for his.
He waited patiently as she muttered a series of spells then handed his necklace back to him. As soon as the charm touched his skin, it heated up, glowing faintly, then faded back to normal. Draco looked up just in time to see Hermione's charm fade back as well. Catching his eye, she smirked.
"It's attuned to your magic now," she explained. Even if the charm wasn't on him, she could still trace him via his magic and vice versa.
"Sounds like a tracker," he teased.
Hermione snorted and stood up from the couch. Draco ignored the way her hands shook slightly as an after effect from the cruciatus curse.
"Try not to die next time, eh, Granger?" he said, catching her attention before she could apparate away. "We're supposed to be partners and I'd hate for someone like Weasel to be my new contact."
Hermione snorted again, covering her mouth a second too late. Draco caught just a glimpse of a smile before she was rolling her eyes at him and promising to try her best. With a wink, she disappeared right in front of him and Draco was left alone in the safe house.
To be continued...