The Fire Within

CHAPTER TWELVE

Page count: 7

Another week had passed and they had still yet to find anything remotely useful towards the case, they'd resorted to starting at the beginning, once more going over reports for the second and third time, just to make sure they hadn't missed anything the first time. They both knew it was useless but they had no other options available to them.

Over the last week Parrish had noticed some changes in Hermione and it was her behaviour towards him that stood out the most. It was subtle, it would barely even be noticeable to someone else, but he was a very observant person and he noticed everything.

She was more attentive towards him, making sure he was never hungry or thirsty, when he was getting frustrated with the case, she made him take a break, she'd take him out of the office and they'd go for a stroll around Diagon Alley and stop at a cafe for a coffee, before returning to the office.

She'd taken to sitting next to him more often than she sat at her own desk, her excuse being that her neck and back were hurting from sitting up straight for too long, where she could lounge back on the couch if she wanted to.

She seemed to have taken an interest in his life back in America, she had done so before, but now it was more often she'd ask him questions about his life, usually to distract him from the headache he had forming from reading through the reports again.

But the most noticeable change he'd witnessed the morning after he'd learned her secret. When Camden had arrived throwing insults at her and he'd been taken away by security, Norton had flirted with her as usual and much to his surprise, rather than her flirting back as she normally would, she'd flat out denied his attempts to ask her on her date, there was no smile, twinkle in her eye or softness about it.

He just assumed she was in a bit of a mood and hadn't slept well the night before; after all, they'd both woken up on the couch slumped over with her head on his shoulder and his head tilted and resting against the top of hers, and they'd both woken with a headache from the amount of fire whiskey they'd drank. It wasn't a stretch that she'd be a bit grouchy, but then it had happened again. The next morning she hadn't flirted with Norton and she'd denied him again, and it continued day after day, and that brought them to now.

Camden arrived later than he usually did and Parrish had learned to control his dislike of the old man, no longer needing to fight off the hellhound as they'd both come to realise that the old man was harmless. He'd seen Hermione defend herself against him several times, all with a bored look on her face, a lazy flick of her wand and leaning back into her chair looking relaxed and unthreatened.

They'd just finished lunch and had barely turned their attention back to the reports in front of them, when the old man charged into the room, hurling insults that Hermione only responded to with indifference, calmness and sometimes with a witty comment that had him biting his lip to stop himself from laughing. He couldn't deny she wasn't fast on her feet. She was one of the wittiest people he'd ever met, he'd put her on par with Stiles and no one could out-wit or out-talk that boy.

Not five minutes after Camden arrived, security arrived and he'd been restrained and escorted out of Hermione's office, this time without a single spell being thrown her way which he thought was progress. As usual, Norton stayed behind, not yet having given up on his attempts to get Hermione to go on a date with him. Despite him disliking the man, and his hellhound certainly didn't like him either, he couldn't help feel a little admiration for the man's tenacity, and he couldn't help wonder what it was that gave the blonde the impression that Hermione would give in to him if he just kept asking. Sooner or later he could see the blonde being on the receiving end of Hermione's wand.