Hermione still felt a bit ill at ease when they walked into the dark, gloomy house. Her stomach was in knots, and she couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching them. She shook it off and tried her best to remain calm. It still surprised her how nice Malfoy was being that day. He wasn’t going out of his way to hurt her feelings. She smiled to herself.
“What’s that look for?” Malfoy said, looking at her like she was mad.
She blushed.
“Nothing.”
Malfoy shook his head and walked ahead of her a few steps.
“I’ll check the upstairs part, you check the downstairs. Do NOT put your wand away. It’ll be the last thing you’ll ever do.” Malfoy warned her.
She nodded, deciding it wasn’t worth the argument in telling him she already knew that. He trotted up the stairs and disappeared behind a wall. Hermione gripped her wand tightly and slowly walked through the house, keeping her eye out for something. She entered a room that was dimly lit, and she couldn’t see.
“Lumos” she muttered.
Her wand tip glowed with a luminescent light and revealed the room. It was filled with chairs, all neatly arranged in three rows. There was a table on the other side of the room holding a book. Hermione pointed her wand in its direction and strode towards it. She picked it up and opened it gingerly. She used the tips of her fingers to leaf through the pages. The only words that splattered the pages were first and last names. A puzzled look danced across her face, and her head began to swim with questions.
“No one’s here. There’s nothing worth reporting from upstairs.” Malfoy’s voice echoed from outside of the room Hermione stood in.
Hermione snapped the book shut at the sound of his voice, not expecting it.
“Did you see anything, Granger?”
He walked into the room, his skin glowing from the light. His hair seemed to be even more blonde, if it was possible. His grey eyes fixed on hers, waiting on her answer.
“Oh, erm- Well, I found this.” She held out the book for him to see.
He flipped through the pages, and his face bore the same confused expression that
Hermione’s did when she saw what was in it.
“D’you think that this has anything to do with the investigation?” He asked, a hint of arrogance in his voice.
“Well, It looks completely useless, but I thought that maybe those names belong to the death eaters behind this all.” She said logically.
Realization dawned on Malfoy’s features, and he nodded, speechless.
“We should take this back to the Min-”
“We can’t, remember? We have duty here for the rest of the day. Granger, you’re not telling me you can’t remember a simple order, are you?” He cut her off.
She glowered at him.
He smirked.
“Granger, take a joke, for once. You don’t have to be so serious all the time.”
“Whatever. So what are we supposed to do while we wait for something to happen?”
“Honestly, I don’t think anything is GOING to happen, but we’ll sit here and keep watch for another few hours.”
“Oh…” Hermione smiled. She was elated that there might not be any danger.
“I’m not looking forward to it, either.” He sulked, mistaking her reply for boredom instead of relief.
