"You won't believe who I ran into at the ER last week," Hermione started conversationally over dinner, looking up at her husband, who hummed curiously, prompting her to continue. "Draco Malfoy."

Whatever food was in his mouth promptly plopped back onto his plate as he hacked and coughed, trying to maintain his breathing. She sighed, waving her wand with a simple 'Anapneo', getting a mumbled thanks from Ron. "So, what was he in for? Gang fight?"

"Ronald!" Hermione shook her head, sighing. "No, he's a police officer now. Got tangled in a job just before he was heading home, ended up taking a shotgun spray to the back. Man was that a nuisance to clear."

"Well I take it he's alright?" Ron grinned, nudging Hermione's socked feet under the table with his own. "He did have the best surgeon in all of London, Paris and France put together taking care of him after all."

Hermione rolled her eyes, although she couldn't help but grin just the tiniest bit. "Yes, he's going to be fine. He's a tough man- Went to four combat zones. One of them was Desert Storm. He's grown up quite a bit since we last saw him."

"Desert Storm?" Ron gaped, shaking his head. "Malfoy? Going off to fight-? Can't believe it."

"Well, he certainly has the scars to prove it."

"Christ. So he works in the area, then?"

"We could probably tune in on the local television and find out what he's doing right now, if we wanted to. Rose and Vivian are at my parents."

Ron thought for a bit, then shrugged with a lopsided grin. "Why not spy, for old times sake eh?"

-

"Isn't this the fuckin fire department's job!?" Reynolds yelled, shouldering the door, desperately trying to get it down, but it wasn't budging.

"Get out of my way!" Draco shouted, placing a well-aimed kick right next to the lock, watching as the door slammed open and the officers flooded in, helping people down the stairs and out of the building. "This is not a drill! We need everyone out of this building in six minutes flat!" 

An echoed series of '10-4!' was shouted back at him, each person carrying and assisting multiple people down the flight of stairs at a time. 

"As for your question, Reynolds, this is the fucking fire departments job, but they're too busy twiddling their thumbs to stop playing with their fucking hoses to actually help!"

Draco took the last leave- scouring the place for anybody that could possibly be left. After searching everywhere, he got a radio in. "Malfoy! We're missing a kid! A black female, seven years old! Her name is Julia; bedroom is 207! Get her and get out before the building collapses! You got four minutes!"

"10-4!"

Draco booked it as fast as he could up the stairs, finally finding 207 and pushing it open. "Julia! Julia sweetheart, are you in here? I'm Draco, I'm a police officer, I'm here to help! Please, I know this is scary, but I need you to come out, alright?" Draco coughed, pulling his shirt up over his nose. The smoke was getting more and more toxic, making his eyes water and vision blur. "Julia, please!"

He tore open the closet, sifting through the clothes. Panic flooded him. 

"Malfoy! Two minutes before this fire hits the boiler!"

Draco worked on ignoring his nagging boss and ducked down, finding two wide, glossy hazel eyes staring back at him from under the bed. "Oh thank goodness- Okay, Julia honey, I need you to come with me, okay?"

"Subject found, appears unharmed- Are you hurt, sweetheart? C'mon, come here please- That's it, attah girl- So brave, aren't you?"

As soon as she was towards the edge of the bed, Draco picked her up and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, pushing it over her nose. "Breathe through that- It'll get less smoke in your lungs, okay?"

He basically jumped down the flight of stairs in two large leaps, booking it out the front door and away from the building to where the rest of the crew and survivors were waiting. Ambulances were loading up with the elderly and children who were struggling to breath while the firemen got to work on the fire itself, thousands of gallons of water drenching the half-destroyed building. 

Not forty seconds after he made it out, there was a muffled explosion, the shockwave making all of them stumble as many of the survivors scream and cry. He blinked away flashbacks and instead pushed forward, moving towards the ambulances with the girl in his arms. He didn't realize he had been shushing her through the entire situation, but he was glad he had been. 

"Okay Julia, can you tell me-" he turned away to cough, squeezing his eyes shut and blinking to get the residue of the smoke out of his eyes, "can you tell me where your family is?"

The girl raised a shaking hand, pointing over towards a small group of people that were frantically searching the crowds, asking if any of them had seen their daughter, seemingly growing more and more frantic. 

"Excuse me!" Draco called, started to jog towards them, despite the aches in his body. "Excuse me, ma'am, sir, I believe this is the person you're looking for," he carefully lowered her to the ground, to which she immediately ran towards what Draco assumed to be her parents, hugging them close. "Mama! Papa!"

"Obi m!" The both wrapped up their child in their arms, but Draco didn't have time to rejoice. Not yet.

The creaking meant that the building was going to collapse- and it was going to collapse outwards. 

"Everyone needs to move! Across the street, now!"

"I thought we were all-?"

"Valros, move move move!" Draco snapped, not leaving time for questions. 

Again moving to usher the injured or elderly, this time across the road, everyone started panicking, but Draco didn't let it grow- He worked his way between the groups, promising everything was going to be okay and directing them to the safest areas behind cars and other objects before he could hear it. The middle floor, where the fire had started, was too weak. Firefighters took shelter behind their trucks, leaving their hoses to fend for themselves as a eerie silence fell over the crowd, save for the sirens and loud creaks and cracks. The sound of splintering wood.

It was over before Draco could even properly account for what had happened- The top half of the building collapsed onto the lower half, and from there it was like there was a bomb. A dozen car alarms went off at once while bricks, wood, shingles, nails- Everything that made up the house blew in a 100 foot radius around the entire building, smoke billowing from the smoldering remains. 

"I dunno how you knew that was gonna happen," Valros panted from Draco's side, "but props."

"You learn shit when you've been through hell," Draco replied flatly, turning away from the oafish police officer and towards the crowds. "Everyone, please find your way to the nearest family, friends or relatives you may have! If you need an escort, go see Reynolds or Wethers-" He pointed towards the two police officers at the 11 o'clock exit. "They'll get you home safely. Any other questions you can ask me or other officers. We know this was hard, and very easily stressful for you, but please, try to remain calm. Order will allow us to get everyone home safely today, alright?"

-

"Holy shit."

Hermione and Ron stared at the hotel television in shock. There was drone and radio footage playing to give the people an insight into what was happening in real time.

"Thank goodness he was there, Merlin knows what would have happened," Hermione muttered, shaking her head, clicking off the TV.