Curious and Curiouser

5: Muddy Waters

Hey, so this one's a bit longer than usual but I really felt like all of it belonged in this chapter.

Please comment and tell me how you like it so far!!

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Draco sighed, nodding, it wasn't ideal, but he wasn't being thrown out yet.

"Maybe we should use my office," Ron suggested curtly, his face was still red, Draco could tell he was not at all pleased with how this was going, "It's got more room."

The three men looked around the tiny cubicle and Harry nodded. While they walked Draco asked, "How is it Weasel gets an office and the bloody savior of the wizarding world gets a cubicle?" mainly to break the silence but also since he was curious.

Harry shot him a look and said, "I thought you had something important to talk about Malfoy."

"I do!" He responded quickly, "I just thought we could talk about something."

Once again Draco felt Harry's eyes on him before the other man responded, "Ron has an office because he's a tactician, while I only worry about cases I'm assigned to Ron oversees every field excursion in every case."

There was a sort of finality to the way Potter had said that that put an end to the pseudo conversation they had been having.

"Right then," Harry said, waving Draco through the office door that Ron was holding open, he waited till Malfoy was out of earshot and said to Ron, "send a letter to 'Mione's head of department, but write her one too, it's us, she'll be down sooner that way."

Ron nodded, shot an unreadable look at Malfoy, and turned away.

The corner of the office contained a smaller wooden table surrounded by three chairs, he glanced between that and that sat in the middle of the room and picked the table. At least if the other two men sat there with him, they would be on equal footing. Draco had to hand it to Weasley, that desk was intimidating.

Harry joined him a moment later and the two sat in an uncomfortable silence as they waited for Ron. More than once Draco had been tempted to ask where the red-head had gone but had decided against it, Potter looked exhausted, worry lines crowded his forehead and his glasses were slipping down his nose, he didn't look to be in a forgiving mood and Draco wasn't about to take any chances given what was at stake.

Ron joined them a few moments later, Draco didn't miss the nod and silent communication that had passed between him and Harry but as he had said, he had important things to discuss.

"Well, Malfoy?" Harry asked Draco could hear it now, the exhaustion and strain in his voice, but he pushed the thought from his mind and began explaining the situation.

***

THE DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIES

Hermione was at her desk again, poring over her notes while that same glowing blue orb hung in front of her. Some rules, she decided were stupid, absolutely stupid, and they deserved to be broken just because of what they represented; complete idiocy and a fear of knowledge in this case.

She sighed, leaning back. As curious as Hermione was about understanding the enchantment that had protected Harry for 17 years, she had become doubly invested in it when she realized that it had the potential to help bring back her parents' memories.

After the battle of Hogwarts, Hermione had tracked them down and she had tried to restore their memories, tried to make them remember her, their own daughter. She had known when she cast the memory charm that there was a chance this would happen, but she also knew there was a chance that she didn't survive the war, that was why she had done it in the first place after all. She had been thankful to have Harry and Ron with her that day, even though they couldn't understand the pain she was in they had been there for her.