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'These were my favourite shoes.'
Narcissa looked positively annoyed with her predicament as she looked at the ruined dragon leather boots she was wearing. Dealing with the smell of Hypogriff dung was one thing, but having her shoes wrecked by it was another matter. The blonde witch had been suspicious of Hermione lately but today she knew for sure. She was doing this on purpose!
She had been working for the little know-it-all for almost two weeks. Two weeks of forced and awkward interaction and lots of boring paperwork. It wasn't ideal but it worked. Until one day where Hermione had stormed into the office all riled up and found no one else to vent to but Narcissa. She had held a passionate monologue about magical creatures having rights etc. and when she was finished and looked at Narcissa for a reply, the witch had merely shrugged.
Merlin, did she regret that shrug by now. Hermione had been appalled and when Narcissa admitted to not really caring about animals, the witch had snapped. She had given Narcissa an ultimatum; or she accompanied Hermione on her field trips, leaving the paper work for the time being, or she could find another Department willing to offer her a job. Narcissa had given her one of her coldest glares before accepting the offer. How bad could those fieldtrips really be?
Horribly bad, it would seem. Especially since her boss was adamant about picking out the dirtiest, filthiest locations with the most pitiful animals the older witch had ever seen. In the beginning, Narcissa had only scrunched up her nose and watched Hermione do her work from a distance but despite pretending to be an ice queen, she had a really soft heart. She just wasn't going to show Hermione that.
But that changed when a baby Thestral nudged her during their last fieldtrip. Narcissa had looked down fully prepared to shoo whatever was disturbing her, only to feel her heart melt when she looked into two big frightened eyes. They had visited a sanctuary for orphaned, sick or old Thestrals and this baby had just been brought in after being saved from poachers who butchered her mom in front of her. She had bent down to pat the little thing on its head, earning her a warm smile from Hermione.
But instead of softening in her attempts to make Narcissa care for animals, Hermione redoubled her effort much to her employee's dismay. She patted an animal? Surely that would suffice? But no, here she was, ankle deep in shit and in an even shittier mood. The fact that Hermione had a hard time holding her laughter while stomping around in her rubber boots, did not help!
'We're nearly there Narcissa. Stop complaining.'
'If you knew how much these shoes cost me, you'd understand why I'm complaining.'
'You can probably buy a container of them without noticing it in your wallet,' Hermione retorted dryly.
Narcissa scoffed, 'That's entirely beside the point. Salazar's Snake, where are we going?'
'We're visiting Silktail. She's an abused Hypogriff but the circus that owns her, isn't willing to release her and our threats so far have been ignored.'
The moment Hermione finished explaining, they arrived at the scene. The circus tent looked small on the outside but was magically enlarged on the inside. Narcissa was convinced that this circus once had quite the reputation but they were one of the few left as the practice had gone out of fashion almost completely. The tent was worn down and filthy and the whole place smelled of sweat and piss. Narcissa quickly dabbed some perfume under her nose to block out the smell. Honestly, this was no place for a refined lady like herself!
Since there was nobody to be seen, Hermione waved Narcissa over and pointed to one of the cages nearby. What the blonde witch saw in those, made her want to hex someone. A famished horse-like creature with the claws and head of an eagle stood on three legs since the fourth was limp. She had so little room it was impossible for her to move around, let alone lie down to sleep. The once majestic beast stood in its own excrement with an empty water bowl that had fungus growing in it. But that wasn't what made Narcissa feel sick. No it was the eyes of the creature. She looked like she had received a Dementor's Kiss. A hollow and lifeless gaze that Narcissa felt piercing her heart. She swallowed, overwhelmed with pity for the beast.
'Hypogriffs are one of the most proud creatures there are. You can imagine that the humiliation of this situation will kill her before starvation does. It makes me sick to see such a beautiful and powerful animal in a cage.'
Narcissa nodded at Hermione's words. And she felt the feeling of pity being replaced by a blazing anger. She was furious with the people responsible for this! She remembered being angry when one of these beasts attacked her Draco but her anger was never towards the animal itself but towards the school who should prevent accidents like that. Not impressed with Draco's dramatics, she ignored his plea to punish the beast. Unfortunately her ex-husband grasped every opportunity to be an utter ass and tried to have the Hypogriff killed.
'What will you do?'
'I've tried reasoning with these people but they refuse to listen. Since I haven't had time to modernize our procedures for cases like this, the old ones are still in place. But those take months.'
'She'll be dead by then.'
'Exactly. That's why she's going to escape.'
Narcissa raised one of her perfect eyebrows at this statement but smiled nevertheless. So Hermione wasn't such a saint as she let out to be...
'You're going to cheat.'
'Yes. I think in this case the cause justifies the means. But what I'm going to do is very illegal so I'd appreciate your silence regarding my part in Silktail's sudden escape.'
When Narcissa gestured that her lips were sealed, Hermione turned to the cage and whispered a quick relashio making the chain on the Hypogriff's neck clatter to the floor and the lock of the cage open. And then, trouble found them.
'What the hell do you think you're doing?'
The circus director was an old and ugly man who had some resemblances to a troll. His uniform was filthy and his breath smelled like the alcohol that got him absolutely shitfaced. The wizard needed a solid ten seconds to remember who Hermione was and what she was doing before cursing and dropping his bottle of Firewhiskey. When he finally managed to grab his wand, Hermione had pushed Narcissa aside and faced the man ready to duel.
The drunk idiot wasn’t a match for Hermione of course and he was quickly disarmed. As soon as Hermione put a body bind on him to prevent him from fleeing, she turned around only to curse under her breath. Narcissa gave her an incredulous look and wanted to turn around to find out what Hermione was staring at but the witch stopped her with a shouted NO!
‘Narcissa. I need you to turn around really slowly with your eyes on the ground. Don’t make any sudden moves or sounds, do you hear me?’
‘What the fuck Hermione. What’s going on?’
Hermione knew that the other witch realized how dire the situation was otherwise she would never resort to such language. She turned rigid when she heard the ruffling of feathers behind her and saw a shadow at her feet, indicating that something was standing right behind her. Apparently Silktail had noticed that her cage was open and decided to take her only chance at freedom.
The animal looked a bit confused as she stretched her stiff limbs and blinked her eyes a few times but by the time Narcissa had managed to turn around slowly, she had his eagle gaze firmly fixed onto the blonde witch in front of her. She snapped her beak dangerously at Narcissa who wanted to step backwards.
‘No, Narcissa! You have to keep absolutely still. Keep your gaze to the ground and bow.’
‘Bow?’
‘Yes. Like I said, Hypogriffs are incredibly proud animals. By showing her your neck, you are being respectful and submissive. If she bows back, she accepts your company. If not… well, I’ll get to that later.’
Narcissa didn’t seem very reassured by Hermione’s words but Silktail's patience was wearing thin. She didn’t seem to know what to make of Narcissa yet but her refusal in showing respect made her anxious and therefore more dangerous.
‘Narcissa! Please. Trust me.’
And despite Narcissa not having any reason to actually trust Hermione seeing as they didn’t really get along that well, she listened. Slowly but elegantly, she bowed for the furious Hypogriff in front of her. And then something happened Hermione had never expected to happen. Silktail immediately accepted the blonde witch and curtsied in return. A baffled Narcissa could only laugh as the Hypogriff gratefully nudged her hand, indicating that she could pet her.
‘Merlin’s Beard… I have never seen anything like this. She likes you.’
‘Why do you sound so surprised Miss Granger? I am actually very likeable.’
Hermione snorted and summoned a Patronus to send a message to the Ministry. Now that the owner of the Hypogriff had openly attacked her, she could arrest him without getting into trouble for releasing the magical creature. The young witch already had a solution for Silktail. She was convinced a certain groundkeeper at Hogwarts would be delighted to care for her as he already had another Hypogriff living with him in the Forbidden Forest. They'd make a cute couple.
When the witches had taken care of everything, they prepared to leave but Silktail had other intentions. She enthusiastically approached Narcissa and gave her a gentle push making the witch stumble. The surprised shriek the blonde outed swiftly turned into a whine when she heard the heel of her expensive dragon leather shoes snap off.
‘I suggest you wear other shoes on our next field trip,’ Hermione said with a fake innocent expression.
***
And so she did. It was already the next day that Hermione dragged her to another location but this time she wore combat boots. Okay, they were green and had glitter on them but still… they would not fail her on rough terrain. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t dress elegantly so she decided to wear a darkgreen dress with a low cut neckline and black feathers on the sleeves. She loved the dress and judging by Hermione’s expression when Narcissa Apparated at the meeting point, she thought so too.
‘So. What’s for today?’
‘The Department of Law Enforcement rolled up this network of thieves. They found a bunch of mistreated Nifflers so they called us in.’
‘What’s a Niffler?’
‘Oh, they’re very cute creatures that love everything that shines. These Nifflers have been forced to steal jewellery but they’ve been kept in very small filthy boxes and are severely malnourished.’
Narcissa’s awwwww when she laid eyes on the Nifflers made Hermione chuckle. They really were cute little things. The magical creatures were usually very active but the lack of proper nutrition had made them exhausted. With a frown, Hermione dug up a book in her pocket and enlarged it with a flick of her wand.
She skimmed through the pages of Newt Scamander’s Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them to find out what they could do to help these Nifflers.
‘It says here that Nifflers are rodent-like creatures and most rodents tend to prefer eating plant foods like seeds, grains, and small fruit.’
Without saying a word, Narcissa pulled out a salad from her purse and put it down on the table on which all five Nifflers had been placed. The starved animals greedily attacked the fresh vegetables and Hermione could only gawk at Narcissa who failed at hiding her smug smile.
‘Where did you get that from?’
‘It was my lunch, Miss Granger. Or do you think I magic myself in shape? Salazar’s Snake, I work hard for it!’
Narcissa ignored Hermione’s muttered apologies as she bent down to look at the creatures a little bit better. Unfortunately for her, the food had made them a little bit stronger already and all five Nifflers noticed Narcissa’s expensive jewellery at once. The blonde witch had just about enough time to shriek before the little gold diggers jumped on her body and grabbed whatever shiny object they could get their paws on.
The entire attack lasted about five seconds so by the time Hermione had drawn her wand, four of the Nifflers had vanished, leaving Narcissa sprawled out on the floor. The last Niffler crawled its way out of Narcissa’s bosom tucking the little diamond that decorated her bra triumphantly in its pouch before disappearing from sight. An awkward silence fell between the two witches as Narcissa accepted Hermione’s outstretched hand, flushed with embarrassment.
‘I suggest you change your wardrobe as well for our next missions.’
***
For their next outing, Narcissa was relieved that she wore her combat boots and trousers with a very warm furry vest. Hermione had taken her all up to the mountains and she was shivering from the moment they Apparated. The mountain peaks were covered in snow and there was a beautiful lake that was the same icy blue as Narcissa’s eyes.
They had a meeting with Charlie Weasley who had recently returned from Romania to work with dragons at the border of Scotland and England. He missed his family and after the war, he could no longer ignore the need to be closer to them. He probably regretted that decision sooner than later as his mother kept asking him when he would finally find himself a wife and settle down.
Hermione handed Narcissa some gloves the witch gladly accepted, not even complaining about the fact that they were Gryffindor red instead of green. She inhaled the fresh air, enjoying how much the cold stung her lungs. Hermione always loved nature. Before she got the chance to ask Narcissa if she liked the view, they were greeted by a tall and muscular redhead.
‘Hello Hermione. Long time no see,’ Charlie grinned.
‘Must have been from the time we smuggled a baby dragon out of Hogwarts.’
Narcissa’s eyes widened in disbelief when she heard the conversation between the two. Charlie Weasley definitely was one of the better looking children Molly and Arthur had produced, she thought to herself. His arms and hands were covered in little scars of what she assumed were burns he got from working with dragons but his face seemed to have been spared from the flames.
‘Mrs. Malfoy.’
A bit shocked that the Weasley boy offered her a hand without any poison in his voice, Narcissa could only stammer when she shook the outstretched hand. There was no doubt Charlie didn’t know of her poor relationship with his parents or the fact that she fought alongside the dark side during the war for far too long. Still he offered her a warm smile.
‘It’s Mrs. Black now, Charlie. Shall we move along?’ Hermione kindly nudged him.
‘I apologize. Follow me.’
Despite not being a fan of hiking, Narcissa was grateful that the physical exercise made her feel a bit warmer. Nevertheless, it was far too long before they approached the camp where Charlie resided. It existed out of a bunch of tents that surrounded a large wooden cabin Charlie proudly called the office. Hermione smirked at Narcissa’s muttered complaints about it still being better than the office they resided in back at the Ministry.
‘Could you not have us Apparate right here?’
‘Sorry Hermione. I know that was quite the hike but we have a perimeter in which witches or wizards cannot Apparate or Disapparate. There’s too many poachers lurking about, wanting to kill a dragon for its heart.’
‘Do you keep the dragons locked up here?’ Narcissa asked with a frown but Charlie shook his head immediately.
‘No, but this is where they are taken care of when they’re wounded. We often need to sedate them and that makes them vulnerable. Some dragons even trust us so much, they come here to sleep.’
A loud roar made both witches startle and look up into the sky to see a giant grey dragon circle above them looking for a place to land. When he finally hit the earth with a loud thump, his eyes immediately locked onto the strange witches.
‘Let’s give him some space, shall we?’ Charlie explained. ‘He’s been abused terribly and he’s very wary towards strange people. Despite not having any serious injuries anymore, he still comes here every day. It’s almost as if he’s afraid to be free.’
Recovered from her initial surprise, Narcissa gave the dragon a closer look dragging her eyes over the many scars that marred his body. Suddenly a witch carrying pots and pans stumbled, making quite a racket and the gigantic animal flinched. It was then that Narcissa recognized it with a sharp intake of breath.
‘Do you recognize him Narcissa? This is the dragon that was used to secure your and Bellatrix’s volts at Gringotts. It’s the same dragon Harry, Ron and I escaped on.’
‘It looks scared.’
‘Not really scared,’ Charlie interrupted, ‘but he lacks confidence. I’m sure we’ll get him there.’
‘It’s male?’
‘Yes. He’s a Ukrainian Ironbelly and rather old. Being in the darkness for the largest part of his life made him half-blind as well. Poor thing.’
‘I never thought such a fierce beast could look so utterly defeated,’ Narcissa sighed while trying to fight back her tears.
‘Cruelty can break anyone or anything, I suppose.’ Charlie said with a shrug.
‘Are you alright, Narcissa?’
Hermione softly touched Narcissa’s arm but remained hesitant as she knew the pureblood witch didn’t care for displaying emotions. But she saw the stoic expression falter and she knew the blonde was struggling with what she saw. Before being able to stop her, Narcissa walked towards the dragon who raised his head in alarm when he saw her approach.
‘Mrs. Black! Please come back at once.’
Not heading Charlie’s warnings, Narcissa kept walking until she was so close to the animal, he could roast her with a single breathe of fire. Everybody around the camp froze in their tracks as they didn’t want to alarm the animal who appeared to be extremely alert now. But what none of them realized, was that Narcissa was one of the best Legilimens the Wizarding World of Great Britain had ever seen and she had reached out towards the intelligent creature before her.
It wasn’t as if she could actually talk to the dragon but she felt a connection. An understanding. And when pale eyes locked onto blue ones, they seemed to understand what Narcissa wanted to convey. I am sorry. You deserved so much better than this. The dragon let out a small whine as he lowered his head to be at the same level as Narcissa. He looked into her eyes and after a few seconds he stretched his wings, pushed off and flew away never to be seen again. Freedom at last.
***
It had taken Hermione a few days to recover from what happened at the mountains. They had both received a reprimand from Charlie but he hadn’t sounded very convincing as he was in disbelief himself about the recent events. Narcissa had barely spoken a word for the remainder of the day, obviously struggling with her own thoughts. When a week had passed and Hermione went on her own a few times, the witch addressed her about this.
‘You want to join me?’ Hermione didn’t even try to hide her surprise at the blonde’s request.
‘Yes. I know it is your mission to convince me that animals deserve rights and so far you have not succeeded.’
Narcissa hoped that antagonizing Hermione might help persuade her to take her on more outings. She was still torn between what she had learned as a child and what Hermione was trying to show her. She needed to be pushed more and she felt like Hermione was the only one who could do it. The only one who could break through her cold demeanour.
And she had been successful because they now stood in an abandoned subway station underground, trying not to vomit from the foul smell that penetrated the air. In front of them were tens of House-Elves looking miserable and severely malnourished. One was banging his head against the wall repeatedly, covering the dried blood with fresh stains.
‘What the hell Hermione?’
‘This is what happens when House-Elves are given their freedom without guidance. They’ve been brainwashed from birth that they only exist to serve. When that purpose is taken away from them, they often get depressed or crazy. Dumbledore used to take in a lot of stray elves but the kitchens of Hogwarts can only take so many…’
‘Why did they get released?’
‘Owners who die and have no next of kin. Being mistreated so badly, that it’s easier to toss them onto the streets rather than heal them. You name it.’
‘What are they doing here? They are magical creatures? Can’t they provide for themselves?’
‘They don’t know how. They never learned to live without someone telling them what to do. As far as I know, there was one exception…’
Narcissa’s eyes grew wide at Hermione’s words. She knew who she was talking about. She knew the brave little elf that got punished so often but still stood up against his owners because he didn’t agree with their beliefs. She knew the cheerful creature that thrived in his freedom and paid for his bravery with his life. Narcissa huffed when she felt tears blinking in her eyes.
‘Hermione?’
‘Yes?’ Hermione said hesitantly as Narcissa usually addressed her with her last name.
‘Can you please take me to visit Dobby’s grave?’
***
Hermione gratefully accepted the cup of tea from Fleur who joined her and Bill at the kitchen table. It had taken her quite some convincing to let them accept the former Malfoy Matriarch into their house. Bill wasn’t as forgiving as his brother Charlie as he’d been far more involved in the war than him. But luckily for Hermione, Fleur understood her intentions better and she managed to persuade her husband.
‘She’s been up there for quite some time,’ Fleur said with a hint of a French accent.
‘I know. But I think she needs this more than she realized.’
Hermione looked outside the window once more to the blonde witch who stood at the free elves’ grave, shoulders shaking with grief. She had seen Narcissa take of her socks to place them on the grave and Hermione’s heart had warmed by the sight of Narcissa’s tribute to Dobby. Who knew, she thought. Narcissa Malfoy had a heart after all?
***
‘Alright, Mrs. Granger. Let’s get started shall we?’
Hermione startled when Narcissa dropped a bunch of binders on her desk merely seconds after she sat herself down. The younger witch didn’t realize it yet but the day Narcissa acknowledged her part in animal abuse and felt guilty for it, marked the day that the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures began to thrive.
It marked the day where two witches decided to burry their differences and gather their strengths for a common cause. They wouldn’t call each other friends just yet. But they were colleagues from that day on.
‘Where do you want to start?’
‘I suggest we tackle the terribly inefficient procedures first since I find it very inappropriate that we have to fake an attack or an escape each time we want to save an animal.’
‘Good idea. But that means we’ll have to dig up the procedures that are in place now and I think that’s going to take us days to read through. So I’ll probably be taking some work at home so I can read it in the evening.’
Narcissa scoffed, ‘Don’t push your luck Mrs. Granger. I might be a reformed animal rights activist, but I won’t be sacrificing my beauty sleep for it.’