"Did you write to her?" He tried again. She just needed to speak and her emotions would be released. As long as she kept quiet, they would be left bottled up. But all he got was another nod.


"Did she reply?"


Another one.


"What did she say?"


A shrug. She passed him a piece of parchment. It was the reply. Of course she'd find an alternative to speaking... She always did.

"I let go", She choked out, for the first time speaking before being asked to.

- - -

And then he spoke. "I realized that you can never be alone. That there's always someone who will take care of you and love you. Someone to always give you hope. Because even if you think so, your life isn't over."

"How dare you!" She screamed, glad that they were on a floor that only consisted of his office and her own and needed permission to enter even the corridor of.


Harry hung his head, knowing how much he had hurt her and knowing he needed to face the consequences.


"How dare you think you could do that to me! Do you know what you've done?!"

Hermione closed her eyes and took another deep breath. It would not help to hex this lady. Before she could say anything, a throat was cleared behind her and a very familiar voice spoke up.


"What if Im under her in her department and I have my identity card? It has her specified as my head as well." Hermione spun around to see Draco Malfoy standing there, his white shirt untucked and sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his hands buried in the pockets of his black slacks, his Ministry robes slung through the gap under his right arm.

"Something wrong?" Her throat suddenly felt dry. 

"N-no." She heard her own voice emerging hoarse and cleared it. "No," She repeated. He half-smiled at her and returned to his essay and she felt herself release a ragged breath. 

"If you drop everything and come, people will ask questions. We need to do this very silently, Harry. P-please trust me."

A pause and then- "Fine. I'm sending Blaise over right now." She changed her wards to allow Blaise and Harry through and in a few seconds that seemed to her like hours, she heard the pop or apparation.

"Hermione?" His voice boomed through the house.

"Over here." She choked out.

Just like the other two in the room, Draco couldn't take his eyes of Hermione as she spoke. One word in particular rang through his skull louder than the others-

Family...

"I don't see why this is your business." She said, looking down at her desk and moving around some papers.

"You- you don't see why this is my business?" He spluttered and when she looked up, she saw a humourless smile on his face. "You know why this is my business."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Malfoy." Hermione said, wishing that the envelope had not landed up in his hands to deliver to her.