Chapter I
It was a rare thing for Hermione to get a lunch break. The Goblins at Gringotts did not believe in eating apparently. She would nibble on a sandwich as she worked and arrive home when Ron was already asleep. She missed spending the evenings with him. It had been a long time since she had any energy left at the end of the day for anything other than a dinner and the commute from the kitchen to the bedroom.
She missed him. Missed talking with him hours after hours about absolutely everything, and nothing at all. She missed her time with him. She loved her job, she just wished it wasn't as time consuming as it was.
But today she did get a lunch break, or better, she took it. Even if for an hour it would be worth it.
She gathered her things almost ran to the Floo and had to stop a minute to catch her breath, before risking saying her address.
"Paddington Drive, 14"
She stepped into their hallway, and cast a Muffliato on herself. She walked to the kitchen, but he wasn't there. There were the remains of a pizza takeaway on the kitchen table.
Ron never had any muggle money. She was the one who had change from time to time. Maybe he had found some that she had forgotten lying about somewhere in the house.
She placed her bag on the chair still eying the empty pizza box.
A thud disturbed the quiet. She looked down, her bag had fallen on the floor and another stood in its place. It was a pink back-pack with the face of an owl on it. Its zip stood open with its contents in plain sight.
Her heart-beat was deafening every other sound. She reached inside the stranger's bag and fished a walled out of it. It was lime green and lacquered. She knew it was wrong, but in that moment she did not care about wrong or right.
She opened it. A muggle driving license was the first thing she saw. On it was the picture of a pretty platinum blonde with full lips, and feline eyes.
Perry Watson.
Hermione was now shaking.
She place the wallet back, retrieved her bag from the floor and went to the floo. There she paused, with ash in her hand. She stood listening for any sound, any sound at all.
The ringing of a female laugh, clear as bells even through the walls, set her going.
Hermione woke up on the couch, her back aching a bit. She got dressed, made herself breakfast and sat down to wait for Ron to wake up.
He emerged from the bedroom few minutes after she had finished eating and sat down in front of her, mumbling 'good morning' and yawning every two seconds. She got up, placed her cup and her plate into the sink, carefully washing them. She dried her hands and turned towards him. He was watching her through heavy eyes, but his expression told her he had no idea.
No remorse, no sense of guilt, no intention of saying anything out of the ordinary.
"What's for breakfast?"
She wanted to scream. How is he the same man she fell in love with?
She took her bag, her coat, with calm and deliberation and pocketing her wand she turned towards the floo, not once glancing at him.
"Hermione? Where are you going?"
"I know about Perry Watson, Ron."
She did not turn to see his expression, nor did she let him see hers, and as she flew away, he said nothing.
She had not told Harry, or Ginny, or anyone.
Ron had sent her letters, had come to look for her at Gringotts but she had refused to see him. She had to figure out where to stay the night and when to go and get her things. But before that, she had to figure out how to get her heart to stop from hurting without having to cut her chest open and take it out.
She wanted to know nothing of him, nor see him, nor hear of him. So she had every plan to keep avoiding him, as long as she could.
She kept ignoring the growing pile of letters that Piggy kept dropping on her desk, avoiding even the contact with them. And as the day ended and everyone left she kept working.
At ten o'clock, when the owls stopped coming she left the office. She thought that she might as well get used to feeling betrayed and lonely independently from how hard it was to accept it.
She made her way to a small hotel in East London and as soon as she closed the room's door she started crying.
Harry came to her office the next day. She saw the relief in his eyes when she saw her.
"Let's go for lunch, Mione."
She thought about refusing, but something in his eyes told her it was pointless. She had to speak to Harry.
He bought them two cups of coffee and sandwiches from a near coffee shop and they sat down on a bench in a muggle park. Hermione waited for the questions to start but they never came. Instead he told her to eat. Once they had finished he enclosed her in a tight hug.
"I'm sorry, Mione, I wish I could do something. Just know that I'm here if you need anything."
She held her tears for as long as she could but before she knew it, she was sobbing.
Hermione stayed a week in that hotel as Harry helped her find an apartment and connect her to the floo network. Ginny had gathered all her things from the apartment she had shared with Ron and had brought them in neatly piled and categorized boxes to her new one bedroom apartment.
The walls had been painted light gray and the fireplace had a marble mantel she couldn't bring herself to appreciate. The apartment came with a bed, a sofa and a kitchen and she thought how utterly unnecessary would be to buy anything else.
Hermione hated herself for noticing when the letters stopped. She hated that he gave up. It hurt, and she hated that it did.
She had been in love with him most of her life. She had grown up with him, every new experience she had had, had been shared with him.
But he had chosen otherwise. She was not enough anymore. And she didn't know whether it was because she was always absent or because someone else gave him something she couldn't. What she knew, was that betrayal hurt.
Harry came to her office one morning, two cups of hot chocolate in hand and sat down with an easy smile in the chair in front of her desk.
She did not realise it, but ten minutes into the conversation Harry had spoken most of the time, she had listened not interrupted and had nodded from time to time. She found that she no reply to wherever he had said. Somehow, he had even managed to get a smile out of her, and she felt the weight on her chest lift up a little. Air filled her lungs a little more fully now. She had forgotten what breathing easily felt like.
"I need your help," Harry said after a pause.
"Help with what?"
"It might take away from your time here at work but if you're up to it I'd like to ask you to do some extra."
Hermione waited for him to continue, but he just looked at her.
"And…? What do you want me to help you with?"
"Do you accept?"
"You won't tell me before I do?"
He shook his head.
"You should know better than that, Harry. Of course I'll help you."
He smiled and threw his empty cup into her bin. "What time to you finish work?"
"Six."
"Ok, see you then," he said standing up and starting for the door.
"Really? This all you're going to tell me?"
He shrugged as he went and turned to give her one last smirk before disappearing at the door. Hermione shook her head and smiled a little.
Harry was waiting for her outside her office at six o'clock sharp.
"Fancy a trip down memory lane?"
"What do you mean?"
Harry led her out of the Ministry not saying a word. She hated secrets.
Harry walked to an alley near the entrance of the Ministry and said, "Apparate to the Three Broomsticks."
His crack was quickly followed by hers and in a matter of moments she landed in front of the pub's front door. It was ajar and Harry was already making his way inside, his black cloak disappearing into the dim light. She followed suit, spotting his hair going up the stairs.
She caught a glance of the room, and as brief as the glimpse she saw was so was the feeling of nostalgia she felt.
She missed Hogwarts, but Hogwarts meant Ron, and that was the last place she wanted her thoughts to go.
Harry was waiting for her at the top of the steep stair, his face was grave now.
"Before we enter, know that you can still refuse."
Taken aback, she looked confused at him. "I'll help you Harry."
He hesitated before nodding and opened the door to one of the rooms, and inviting her inside. Harry closed the door as soon as she crossed the threshold and cast a Muffliato as he did.
"So what's this about?"
"Sit down, Mione, it's a long talk."
She sat on the sofa and waited.
He took a deep breath, before talking.
"A month ago there has been an attack on a muggle family. More specifically, a muggle family that had wizards as children. Thankfully the kids were at Hogwarts, so none had been affected. We haven't told them what happened yet. We hope we can cure them before Christmas but we don't know what has been done to them. Someone used a curse so powerful and unknown, no one seems to know what it came from if there is a cure or if they're hopeless and will stay the way they are forever."
Hermione let herself fall against the soft cushions not feeling any comfort at all.
"We don't know if it's an isolated incident and muggle families are not targeted at all, but it's possible that there will be more."
"What do you need me to do?"
"What you're really good at—research." Harry sat down beside her and spoke softly. "I and very few others know about this, we're trying to keep it a secret before panic spreads again or, even worse, those who feel the same way will feel like they can do the same.
"They're now on the Fifth Floor at Hogwarts, Madame Pompfrey, McGonagall, Neville and Malfoy are taking care of them now until they can find a counter-curse."
Hermione nodded before stopping. "Malfoy?"
He smiled guiltily and looked away. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you."
"Tell me what?"
"He's the new potion teacher."
"What?"
"And he's also a warewolf."
"What?"
"And he's kind of cool now."
"What?"
In that moment there was a knock on the door.
"And you'll be working with him and Neville." Harry stood up to open the door. "Trust me on this, Mione."
She bit her tongue and waited.
When Harry opened the door, Hermione saw the top of a blonde head and took a deep breath.
"Potter," said Malfoy as Harry stepped aside to let him enter.
His gray eyes settled on her and she felt a feeling of unease overcome her. This was not the Draco Malfoy she knew. His eyes, cold and alert were watching her, and she knew he was studying every detail he could lay eyes on. He had a scar running down his cheek from his lower eyelid to the collar of his robe. He offered her his hand and she shook it, giving him a curt nod, remaining seated.
"Granger," he nodded and remained standing by the hearth.
Harry left no room for awkward silences. "I already told her the generalities."
"Does she know she'll have to work with me?"
"Yes, she does."
Malfoy nodded and kept on studying her. She had never found it difficult to maintain eye contact. But now, she felt unable to.
"Did you bring the material I asked you to?"
Malfoy nodded and reached inside his cloak for a scroll. "These are the symptoms, the observations we have made so far and all the cures we have tried and what results we have gotten. Tomorrow you'll see them and come to your own conclusions."
Hermione nodded and placed the scroll in her lap, intending to give it her whole attention once she got home.
Malfoy moved his eyes away from her and focused it on the window and she couldn't help but feel relieved.
"You will be able to access the Hogwarts library, but only after curfew. You'll enter and exit the castle through McGonagall's floo. Never come here directly from Hogwarts."
"I understand."
"If necessary, you'll also have to prepare the potions they need, to stop the curse's effect and relieve their pain."
"I have questions," said Hermione.
"Of course you do," Malfoy muttered, a little amused. She shot him a look and returned to looking at Harry, who was still at the door, his arms crossed on his chest.
"How many are there?"
"Two," answered Harry. "The mother and the father."
"Are they conscious?"
"Yes, they can speak, and move," said Malfoy, now moving to the window. "The problem is that if they do, they're in unimaginable pain."
Hermione nodded, and started thinking.
"We'll meet tomorrow too, you need to see them and start whatever research you'll be doing." He quickly move to the door and stopped with his hand on the knob. "Until tomorrow."
He waited for no reply as Harry nodded his way and Hermione was staring daggers at his back.
"Why didn't Neville come?"
Harry laughed. "He has classes, McGonagall too."
"You can stay here, 'Mione, but I have to go. When you leave, be sure to touch the knob on both sides of the door."
"Good night, Harry."
"Good night, 'Mione."
She saw him hesitate; open his mouth to ask something, but changed his mind at the last minute and left.
Hermione stayed until ten, making her way through the information Malfoy had provided her.
That night, she did not cry.