It took her months to realize the change that her Patronus had taken on. The beast had become useful in the recents months, given her new job. Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her age, failed to notice that her patronus had shifted from an otter to a ferret. Most days at her job, she allowed it to simply float about her head or sit near her, her attention focused on the people she was judging. As head of the Wizengamot, she was in charge of sentencing other wizards for their crimes. Lately, it seemed, the amount of wizards and witches that needed Dementors in the room for their hearings had increased.
It was at the end of a peculiar hearing that she noticed her patronus had changed. The friendly otter was gone, replaced by a ferret that stared at her as if something was her fault. She froze, looking around the emptying courtroom to see if it was someone elses. When no one called it over or waved a wand to make it disappear, she turned her brown eyes back to it. It almost seemed to smirk at her and she blushed lightly before making it vanish. It was too similar to someone else.
The next time she noticed the patronus she was in the middle of questioning the youngest of the Heathen clan, aptly named. It had wandered over towards an empty seat, someone who had yet to be replaced. She fumbled over her words and stared at it for a moment. A portion of the Wizengamot followed her gaze before looking at her in pity. They too had noticed the change in the corporal form long before she had. They had also come to the realization that she had not come to terms with her feelings.
Weeks later Hermione followed her patronus through the maze of stones, the critter the only light in the cold plot of land. She stopped in front of one of the stones, sitting down on a bench as the ferret settled itself on top of the stone. She stared at the black piece of stone, polished to perfection and charmed to never show wear and tear. She forced a smile. He always was a perfectionist. Except he never seemed to care what she had done. To him, she had always been perfect. She laid the bundle of white roses in front of the headstone, coming to sit before it on the cold ground as she stared at the looping handwriting.
Draco Malfoy
1980-2000
Beloved Husband and Father