Hermione had dinner with Harry and Ginny that night, so she was unable to visit the address Malfoy had left her with. She'd spent all the rest of the day writing owls to Zabini and Malfoy while also looking over Harry's notes. He'd made sure to take detailed notes of each response just like he knew Hermione would want and it took all her self control not to bring them with her to dinner so she could keep reading.

"Hermione, you could at least pretend you're happy to see me," Ginny teased as she helped in the kitchen.

"I am!" Hermione exclaimed. Ginny laughed and Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm just busy thinking about the case, I guess. I am happy to be here."

"Good," Ginny said. She took a plate from Hermione's hands and grabbed her arm, tugging her in the direction of the stairs. "Because you have to come see what Sirius and Remus did in James's room!"

The room was incredible, just like Hermione knew it would be when Remus offered to paint it. Sirius had added his own touch to it and had likely been the one to charm the ceiling into the night sky, but Remus had painted the walls with a beautiful replica of the Hogwarts castle. Running around the wall were the silhouettes of a dog, a steer, and a wolf and Hermione tried not to think about how hard it had probably been for them to not add a little rat trailing along as well.

After seeing James's newly painted room, Hermione managed to push aside her work thoughts and enjoy dinner. By the time she got home and climbed into bed, she had almost entirely forgotten about the strange meeting with Zabini and what he'd said about the key. When she woke up, however, it was the first thing on her mind.

Luckily, Hermione remembered her uniform cloak and didn't arrive at her office late. Harry wasn't yet in his office, but there was a hot coffee on her desk and an elegantly written note under it.

Blaise says you want information on the wards on my vault. Here's one.

Hermione glanced at the ward he'd listed and knew immediately it wasn't the only one on his vault. It may be one to keep out goblins, but that certainly wouldn't explain why it had conflicted with the Gringotts alarm system. She tucked the note in her drawer and pulled out the last card and key he'd given her.

While she didn't plan on visiting the old crime scene that morning, she still stuffed the letter and key into her robe pockets before doing anything else. Zabini had mentioned it had the habit of disappearing and while Hermione was certain it was just him being cheeky, she wanted to make sure the key didn't actually disappear before she could get around to using it.

After lunch passed and Hermione had finished her afternoon meeting with Larkin and Harry, she apparated to the address Malfoy had given her. Seeing as it was an old crime scene, she didn't expect it to be surrounded by rather strong wards that she didn't recognise. Although confused and a little concerned, she stepped through the barrier and opened the door to the small house.

Inside was just how the aurors had left it several months ago. The carpets were still charred from rogue Fiendfyre that had hardly been stopped just in time and half of a wall was missing. As she walked into the sitting room, however, she noticed one of the sofas had been torn into and the stuffing strewn about carelessly. She looked around the room carefully, looking for anything else that was out of place. If there was someone there—no matter how unlikely it was—she didn't want to be caught off guard.

The room looked well and abandoned, however, so after casting several charms, she moved further into the house.

Aside from an open cupboard and an unlocked room door, nothing else was out of place. As she stepped through the unlocked door and into a pristine office, however, she knew she'd found something. While this hadn't been her case, she'd seen the photos and heard enough from Ron about it to know the aurors had sealed the office completely. With the room now unlocked, she stepped inside and carefully surveyed the area. There were wild scratches across one of the desk drawers that didn't look fresh, but she knew they hadn't been there before.

"The desk was completely untouched. It was crazy! Even though Smith's body was on it, it was free of blood and there wasn't so much as a scratch." Ron's voice rang through her head as she looked at the scratches.

There was a small keyhole at the center of the scratches that looked new. Not even the light gold colour had been chipped despite how desperate the scratches around it looked. Hermione slipped her hand into her robe pockets and pulled out the key Malfoy had given her.

Downstairs, something creaked. Hermione froze, her fingers still on the key in her pocket. She quickly looked around the room, wondering if there was somewhere she could hide without being found. It was incredibly unlikely whoever was downstairs was with the aurors.

She could hear someone walking through the house and while she really didn't want to leave such a pristine crime scene, she knew she had to apparate. When she pulled out her wand, however, she didn't move. Above her, a ward wrinkled and she cursed. Anti-apparation wards had been placed on the house.

"—don't think?"

Her breath caught in her lungs at the voice just at the bottom of the stairs. She dropped down behind the desk, hoping it would hide her well enough that no one came into the room. She wobbled slightly and her free hand darted up to grab hold of the desk while the other held tightly to the key in her pocket. As her fingers brushed the keyhole, she felt something hook behind her bellybutton and the sensation of portkey travel scooped her up from the room.

A second later, she was dropped in an unrecognisable room. The room had no windows and there was only one door that led out of the room. Around her, tall mahogany walls stretched up to a pale ceiling. As she craned her neck to look above her, though, she gasped and stumbled backwards into one of the walls.

The familiar interlocked chain links with a long dagger stabbed through them stared down at her. The paint seemed to ooze and shift as if it was alive itself and every case that had ever reported the familiar symbol flashed through her mind.

Syndicate, she thought to herself. She'd stumbled upon the Syndicate and she had no idea if she could get out. Before she could even try, the door was being pulled open.

"—fucking told you before, you can't keep—" Draco Malfoy stopped in his tracks as his eyes locked on Hermione's very wide ones.

"You better talk real fast right now, Malfoy," Hermione said breathlessly. She refrained from looking back above her, hoping it had been her imagination.

"How did you get in here?" Malfoy asked. Hermione's eyes widened even further if that was possible and she looked at him incredulously.

"How did I—You gave me a portkey!" she exclaimed, pulling the key from her pocket to show him. "You gave me an address and a portkey, and you have the guts to ask how I got here?"

"The key isn't a portkey," Malfoy said, frowning. He took the key from her and slipped it into his pocket nonetheless. "It's the key to a portkey. How'd you do it?"

"I don't know!" Hermione said, growing increasingly panicked. "I went to your address—which is an old crime scene, by the way. We'll talk about that later though—And while I was in the office, someone else decided to drop by. I hid behind the desk and while I was holding your precious key, it sent me here."

"Again, not a portkey, Granger," Malfoy said. Hermione scowled fiercely at him. "Alright, okay. Did you touch the desk while you were holding the key?"

"Did I touch the desk?" she repeated mockingly. Throwing her hands up, she yelled, "Of course I touched the fucking desk! How do you unlock something without touching it?"

"Merlin, Granger," Malfoy said, grimacing slightly as she yelled. "The keyhole on the desk is a portkey. Did you touch that?"

"Obviously," Hermione snapped, gesturing to the room around her. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Merlin's fucking balls," Malfoy grumbled. He rubbed his temples then crossed his arms. "You can't know about this. Of all people, you can't know about this."

"Well I do because you gave me a portkey," Hermione accused. Malfoy glared at her and she scowled back. "Do you know how long the Ministry has been chasing you down? Trying to figure out who runs the Syndicate?"

"Yes, Granger," Malfoy said drily. "I have been directly involved."

"Then you'll know I can't just let this slide," Hermione said. She could already imagine the paperwork it would require, though, and she found herself wishing she hadn't accidentally stumbled upon his secret little fortress.

"What if I tell you just what it is I do?" Malfoy offered. Hermione rolled her eyes, uninterested in hearing about everyone that had been killed on his command.

"Sure, humour me," she agreed, waving him along to continue. "Clearly I'm at your mercy for the moment."

"Wonderful," Malfoy said cheekily. He opened the door he'd come through and just like Zabini had at Gringotts, Malfoy offered her his arm. Hermione ignored it entirely. "Alright," Malfoy said. He stepped aside and she walked through the door into a long, narrow hallway. "I'm sure you'd much prefer facts over my voice—"

"Always," Hermione grumbled, getting a dirty look from Malfoy in return.

"—so I'll take you to the records room to see everything for yourself."

They walked down the hallway for several minutes before Malfoy opened a tall door and led Hermione inside. Tall bookcases lined the walls and while Hermione stared at them with barely concealed awe, Malfoy went over to the directory and called down four books.

"Here," he said, turning and dropping them into her arms. "This is from the first month the Syndicate was founded and this is from last month. You'll obviously have to stay here while you read them, but I imagine your findings will overrule any ill feelings you have about the situation."

With a huff, Hermione took a seat and opened the first book while Malfoy settled into a chair across from her. When it became evident he would not be leaving, she tuned him out and began reading through the carefully kept records books.