Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.

Many thanks to Genevieve for beta-ing this chapter.

On the way to the Ministry of Magic that morning, Hermione made a quick stop by her own office at the Jennings and Hyde building.

Unlike most other Wizarding law firms, which were based in Diagon Alley, their head office was located in Hammersmith to the west. It was still well within the reaches of inner London, but further away than anyone could comprehend. Hermione personally liked it – it was a pleasant enough area and lacked the dirtiness that many of the buildings in the central business district featured. The only really strange thing about her office was that it was located in an area that hosted a number of International Muggle Corporation's offices.

The firm Hermione worked for was slowly beginning to expand their services in London to include legal advice for non-magical folk as well. Hermione had been surprised by the announcement – both Mr Jennings and Hyde were from Pure Blood families with an ancient heritage. She was amazed that they'd hired her and were intending to promote her to partner. While she could understand the Muggle services, some Wizards certainly constantly surprised her still.

She had been greeted warmly by her the witch at the reception desk who she did not recall the name of before heading straight to the offices in the back. As she walked closer to her scarcely used office, Hermione bumped into one of her bosses, Howard Jennings. It had been a few weeks since she had actually seen the man in person.

'Mr. Jennings, how wonderful to see you,' she exclaimed.

'Yes, the same to you, Miss Granger,' he said with an amiable smile. 'How is the Malfoy case going? Still running as smoothly as planned?'

'It's going very well,' Hermione answered. 'The Auror assigned to my case is an old schoolmate of mine and has been extremely helpful. He has a very good knowledge of the inner workings of the Ministry bureaucracy that has been invaluable to my research.'

'Excellent!' he exclaimed. 'That pleases me. I know Mr. Hyde and I look forward to attending the trial whenever that may be.'

'I am heading towards the end of the research portion and will soon be turning it into a well-reasoned case,' she explained. 'The last thing we need to sort through is arranging an interview with Draco and Narcissa at Malfoy Manor or at the Ministry, so we can really get the ball rolling.'

'Splendid! That's what I like to hear,' Jennings said cheerfully. 'Well, I wont keep you. You're probably heading to the Ministry now, I take it?'

'Of course, sir,' she answered with a nod.

They said their goodbyes and after entering her office, Hermione checked the paperwork in her inbox for anything that was important enough to need immediate attention. When she found nothing urgent, she left the office as quickly as she had entered making a mental note that the receptionist's name was actually Annabelle on her way out. She returned to the quiet alley between her own office building and the one beside it and Apparated to the nearest point in Diagon Alley to the Ministry.

She briskly walked towards the main entrance, her thick winter robes swirling about her legs as she hurried along. Once she reached the lift she punched the button for her floor and tapped her foot as she waiting impatiently for it to arrive at her destination. When the doors opened, she had to push through the clusters of people in order to disembark. The doors snapped shut behind her, and as she straightened herself out, she allowed herself a moment to take in her surroundings.

The first this she saw was a familiar pair of legs covered in jeans. As she allowed her eyes to travel upwards, she saw that Neville was wearing a black button-down shirt tucked into his jeans with the standard blue Auror robes covering his body. With his hair swept back from his forehead the way it usually was, Hermione thought he looked quite dashing despite his casual attire.

'Neville, hello,' she greeted politely, pleased to be able to keep most of the breathlessness out of her voice.

'Good morning,' he replied.

'Are you going somewhere?' she asked, pointing at the armful of paperwork he was carrying.

'Kingsley asked if I might step out and personally deliver these files to the Archives before you arrived this morning,' he answered. 'Obviously he didn't factor in that you might be early.'

'Indeed,' she said primly.

'You can just head on in to my office and make yourself comfortable,' he told her, just as a sharp 'ding' rang in the hall, indicating that the next lift had arrived. 'I'll be back in about fifteen minutes at the most.'

Hermione nodded and watched him leave before turning on her heel and making her way to his office. She walked through the department saying politely nodding to everyone she passed as usual before finally reaching Neville's office at the back. She could see Ron on the other side of the room with his back to her and was relieved. Ducking quickly into the private office, she hoped he hadn't seen her. She tried to avoid talking to him as often as she could – he had the tendency to drone on about Quidditch even though he knew she wasn't interested.

Once she was settled comfortable in what had become 'her' chair, she opened her briefcase and pulled out her ink, quill and blank parchment along with her seal and some deep purple wax.

Dipping her quill into the ink, she poised over the parchment to write, but came to a halt when she realised she had no idea what to say. What did one say to the people whose family member was a murdering bigot? She hated Lucius Malfoy. Frowning, she touched the quill to the paper, beginning her letter by heralding Draco Malfoy and his mother. She looked at the neat, looped handwriting but was unsatisfied with the way she had started her letter. Grumbling to herself she crumpled the parchment and tossed it into the wastepaper basket near the desk.

A little while later the door opened and Neville walked in. He stopped behind her and she could feel him looking over her shoulder.

'What are you working on?' he asked.

'I'm trying to draft a letter to Draco and Narcissa Malfoy,' she explained. 'I'm having a hard time trying to get the words to read the way I mean them.'

'Let me,' Neville said, plucking the quill from her hand.

Still leaning over her shoulder he quickly started scribbling away on the fresh parchment in front of her. She frowned in concentration as she watched him write the letter for her. When he was finished he placed the quill back on the desk and sauntered around it, dropping into his chair with that small, self-satisfied smile that he had taken to throwing at her recently. She returned her focus back to the letter and picked up the quill.

Dear Draco and Mrs. Malfoy,

I am writing to you in order to procure a meeting between the two of you, Neville Longbottom, and myself from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. We would like to talk to you about the upcoming trial of Lucius Malfoy and we would like to receive some information that we feel only you would be able to provide.

Please let me know when you will be available so that we might arrange a meeting either at the Ministry or at your residence, Malfoy Manor. I look forward to your response and beg haste in this matter.

Kind Regards,

Hermione Granger

LL B. JD

She sat back and looked up at Neville with a smile. 'It's perfect actually,' she said softly. 'Write a lot of letters, do you?'

'I used to answer a lot of Kingsley's mail as part of my training,' he replied with a chuckle. 'It is a very comprehensive instruction.'

'I can tell,' she replied. 'So, I suppose I'll head out to the Owlery in Diagon Alley in a little while. I'll post this to the Malfoys and hopefully we'll hear back from them today so that we'll be able to meet with them in a couple of days time.'

'Is there anything we can do in the meantime?' he asked.

Hermione smiled, opening her briefcase to drop the condensed notes that she had compiled over the weekend onto the desk. 'I condensed and rewrote all of the notes so that we wouldn't have to go through the whole lot all over again while we try to build a case.'

'So, what do we need to do to build the case? And how do you expect to be able to use the information that we do have to get Lucius Malfoy, of all people, out of jail?' he asked.

'Well, this is where being a ruthless lawyer comes in handy,' she said with a sly grin. 'It's my job to be able to twist all of that bad and make it seem as though they were minor misdemeanours rather than full-blown crimes.'

'Do you really think you're going to be able to do that in this case?' Neville asked, raising an eyebrow at her. 'Malfoy is high profile evil.'

'And my boss would not have asked me to take on this case if he did not feel I had the capability to win it,' she said bluntly. 'I'm good at my job, Neville. Very good.'

He smirked at that. 'You've always been exceptional at everything,' he commented.

'Not everything,' she muttered under her breath, pulling a pile of notes towards her and beginning to scan them.

After she explained to him what kind of information she would be able to put a spin on, Hermione left his office with the letter for the Malfoys. As she walked down Diagon Alley, her robes pulled around her tightly to fight off the chill that was in the air, she pondered her morning so far. She had been glad to run into her boss at work – it gave her a chance to speak to him and reassure him that the work was actually getting done.

Neville had been a surprise to her that morning as well. He was exceedingly helpful and competent at a whole manner of tasks. She supposed that all of these skills that he slowly displayed to her were just little insights into him as a person. Hermione was coming to understand exactly why it was that he had been chosen to succeed Kingsley as Head of the Department. While she hadn't seen him in the field, Hermione was more than certain he was able to hold his own from what Harry had told her.

Hermione's arrival at the Owlery a moment later put a stop to her wayward thoughts, and she reeled her mind back in from the clouds. She paid a sickle to rent one of the owls and attached the letter to its foot sending it off to Malfoy Manor. She took a slight detour on her way back to the Ministry, stopping to get some coffee. She hadn't realised it until then just how tired she actually was. She ordered a second coffee for Neville, grabbing some sugars to take with her in case he actually wanted some.

She caught the next lift to her level and stepped out of the lift only to bump into Ron who appeared to be on his way out.

'Oh hi, Hermione,' he said, moving in for a hug.

Hermione instinctively stiffened, but relaxed just enough to pat him on the back as she returned the awkward embrace. 'Hello, Ronald,' she said, straightening out once her released her.

'I'm on my way to lunch,' he said, gesturing at the lift. 'Care to join me?'

Hermione shook her head in a manner that she hoped was apologetic. 'I'm afraid I can't today, I'm sorry,' she answered. 'I've just come back from taking a break actually, and Neville and I have a lot to do before we actually can take a lunch break I'm afraid.'

'Oh, right yeah,' Ron said, rubbing the back of his head as he grinned at her sheepishly. 'How is that all going?'

'Brilliant,' she said with a nod. 'Neville is actually amazing to work with.'

'Yeah, he changed a fair bit after Hogwarts,' Ron murmured, a little jealousy creeping into his tone. 'Well, I don't want to keep you from your work...'

Hermione nodded. 'Another time,' she said, not sure that she meant it.

With a wave, she continued on her way, not looking back. She could feel Ron's eyes on her back the entire way until she was finally out of his line of sight. Making her way briskly to Neville's office, she closed the door behind her, leaning against it for a moment to catch her breath from her speed walk. She looked up to see a look of amusement on her colleague's face, mixed with a little curiosity.

'Is that for me?' he asked, gesturing to one of the coffee cups.

'I needed caffeine. I thought you might like some too,' she replied, placing the second cup and sugar in front of him.

'Why were you in such a hurry to get back inside?' he asked casually, taking the lid off his cup and pouring the sugar she had brought into it.

'I'm trying to avoid Ron,' she replied, sitting down across from him. 'He invited me to join him for lunch again.'

'Don't fancy spending time with Ron? I thought you were on the mend, since you came back that is,' Neville said as he cast a stirring charm on the coffee.

'What gave you that impression?'

'I think Ron has been circulating something around the office,' he replied. 'I'm not sure if it's true though. But if it is, he is under the impression that if he were to break things off with Lavender, the two of you might make "another go of it," or so I've heard.'

Hermione felt her blood boil in her veins. She couldn't believe Ron's nerve, telling people that he was going to break up with his girlfriend so that they could date. She barely even spoke to him. She hadn't given him a single moment of encouragement, and she constantly turned down his offers to join him for lunch. What was he thinking, spreading that kind of rumour around the office?

'I take it from your expression that you are not planning to enter into a relationship with Ron?' Neville said, drawing her focus back to the present.

'Not even if he were the last man on earth,' Hermione replied through gritted teeth. 'I most certainly am not available for a relationship with that freckled git.'

'So, you're not single?'

'I am… I just, don't normally date – anyone actually,' she said, looking at her hands that were clasped together in her lap. 'Ron betrayed my trust and was extremely deceptive.'

'Not all men are like that, you know,' Neville said softly.

Hermione looked up at him, surprised by his words. She saw warmth in his eyes that she had a feeling was reflected in her own. And for that brief moment, she didn't care, until she finally came to her senses and averted her eyes once more. Angry with herself for revealing more than she wanted, she pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment and picked up her quill.

'Let's get back to work.'

To be continued.