Quarrels & Loves

Assassins Bleed: Part I

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.