A Tale of Two Dragons: A Dramione Story

Chapter 5

The next morning Hermione was sitting at her desk, going through house elf registration forms. She couldn't seem to remain focused on her task. Creativity had never been her strong suit, and she guessed that Draco had known this. Books and teachers were reliable. You could get the right answer every time if only you worked hard enough. She was convinced he was wrong, there was a specific spell for everything. She had been in search for learning a specific spell for everything for a very long time. Who did he think he was, telling her that wasn't necessary, that you just had to learn how to bend what you already knew? It was an outrageous idea. But then again, he was a Slytherin, and they were known for using their cunning and all their means for accomplishment. After all, he did come up plan the downfall of Hogwarts using only the Hand of Glory, Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, and a Vanishing cabinet. She never thought he was capable of such deep musings, though she was learning that there was much more to him than the schoolyard bully that everyone had labeled him as. Perhaps she had been wrong about him for a very long time.

Hermione did not like admitting that she was wrong. She was never wrong, and the knowledge irked. She glanced down at her papers. Pokey. 3 feet, 6 inches. Raised by Claudius Denworthy for outdoor manual labor. Slavery period: lifetime. Mastery linked to Denworthy and family. All lineage linked to Pokey through Denworthy. Died 1995, natural causes, possible exposure. Registration: 36091. Owner 35760.

This is not how Hermione had imagined her future would have gone. She had pictured herself as someone going to houses, liberating elves, helping them be free. Not going through dead house elf files to see if any elves died by abuse, which of course none of them were registered as abused. The owner of a house elf wouldn't report an elf as abused, and the owner wouldn't want to kill his own slave because then he would be without a servant. Quite frankly, she didn't enjoy her job and was wondering if she could transfer elsewhere in the ministry. But ultimately she doubted she would be happier in any other office. She didn't want to work at a desk, she wanted to do something meaningful. But this horcrux, destroying it was something that would mean a lot to the world. She wanted to rid the world of the knowledge of horcruxes. No horcrux could ever bring the world any good. She sighed and set her paperwork aside.

She walked outside her office and talked to her secretary. "Miss Pemsley, who's the head of Management of International Magical Animal Welfare and Trading?"

Miss Pemsley briefly shuffled through her papers until she found her directory. "I believe it's Miss Glory Steinhorn? She may be out, I know she was on a trip to Romania some time ago, but she could be back. Her office is on the fifth floor I believe."

Hermione wandered over to the fifth floor, finding the dark polished door with its gleaming name plate. She knocked, and the door opened to reveal a young girl, tanned from her trip, her hair cut short. "Miss Steinhorn? I was wondering if you could look at this sketch and identify a dragon for me."

Miss Steinhorn stepped out of her office and took the sketch that Hermione had drawn of the dragon earlier. Her brow furrowed in concentration. "No, I've never seen or read about anything like this. That hair and mane is highly unusual. The only thing that I can imagine is that it's a muggle rendering that misinterpreted its image. Muggles, often out of fear, sometimes exaggerate or invent features. And we do know that many ancient muggles have had relationships with dragons. I wish I could help you more, but that's all I know. I don't have an emphasis in dragons, and nobody specializes in them here. You might be able to find a dragon dealer if you know the right people, but I'm afraid you'll have to get into a world of trouble to find a trafficker," Steinhorn suggested.