That whole weekend had been awkward, to say the least. Draco had stood there letting Hermione breathe into his shoulder, feeling as immobile as if he were under perificus totalus. The same thought kept running through his mind - what the bloody hell had just happened?

Hermione had yelled at him, forgiven him, and then hugged him. She was completely insane. And so Draco had been hiding from his flat mate ever since. Really he couldn't face the facts that she, muggle born Granger, had been able to get under his skin. And how she had done it had been even more surprising, she had dug in and found the exact weak spot he had hidden for so long. Draco Malfoy was no longer the angry, impulsive child he had once been. But she had yet to learn was why. And he certainly wasn't going to tell her. But she had noticed the differences, and didn't buy his act. Well, guess what Granger, I don't buy your little act either, Draco thought to himself. She was good; Draco had underestimated his flat mate. Though now, of course, when he looked at the bare facts it all made sense. She was hiding just as much as him. And anytime anyone else, including Harry fuckin' Potter, tried to break down that shell, Hermione attacked. I mean, she worked with magical creatures for god's sake, creatures who didn't even know they were being exploited until she explained it to them. She was a mastermind at making people see what she wanted.

But she too had a weakness; Draco wasn't totally sure what it was though. And as much as his pride would admit, it had been nice to be hugged by someone.

Sunday he had woken early and dared to take a walk about muggle London, then after a quick change of clothes had headed over to Diagon Alley. But that had been with a mission, he had gone to Gringotts and that back out. The Malfoy vault had suffered much from the War, and especially the Death Eater Trials. Every person, and even business, that Lucius had manipulated or eliminated as a Death Eater was compensated from the Malfoy estate. However, his father, bastard that he was, had been smart, and kept money hidden throughout other wizarding banks. So that's what he and mother had been living off of for years, but it was finally starting to run low. So it was almost perfect timing for his father to die in Azkaban, forcing Draco to return and get a real job. It was his mother who cared about his inheritance more than he did.

It was noon when he had gotten back to the flat, and Hermione, thankfully, was gone. A note on the table said she was at her mother's house for the day. Draco counted out the galleons for this month's rent and left them in a magically locked cub board. Then he wandered around the flat late into the night.

Monday morning things had seemed to go back to normal, Hermione had been eating breakfast by the time Draco stumbled into the kitchen, and she smirked at his mood. Then he realized he was going to be late and ran out the door. Hermione had been telling him something, and it wasn't until he got to the elevator that he could remember. She had asked if he had any laundry needed to be done. Hermione took off most Mondays, because she didn't need to work that often, not for the money anyway. That always made Draco's day just a tad bit worse as he arrived at his cubicle.

"Hey, Drakie."

"Hey, Drex. I'm pretty sure I said I'd hex you if you kept calling me that."

Drex just snickered from behind the cubicle wall. For the millionth time Draco considered doing a simple silencing charm. But it was against office regulations.

So he got to work, filing and checking off forms and other documents that needed higher ministry approval. Though it seemed like a very muggle technique, Wizards still had a lot of paper business. Though they were able to make it much more efficient then the tree killing muggles. Drex kept leaning over the wall to ask Draco more questions about certain documents. That was really all Draco did, was answer Drex's stupid questions about how to do their frickin job. Honestly, how hard was it to find and file paper reports on a deceased ministry official?

That was when the answer hit him, and Draco nearly laughed at his own stupidity. He had Granger's answer right in front of him. He had resigned himself to the gossip column of the Prophet to find information, when all he needed to do was to look her up in the files. He knew it was illegal, but hey, if it would help him figure out what the hell was up with her, then maybe Hermione would leave him alone.

Standing up, he took some finished files and headed casually back to the back room. Stuffing them in the "filed" folder, he shut the door behind him. With a quick locating spell Draco knew he was the only one in here. Glancing up at the many racks of files, he searched for Granger. She was easy to find. She had a file all to herself, being one of the wizarding world's heroes. And it glowed red with a top security spell. Draco grinned; he had access because he worked in the department. Sliding his hand over the file, it slid open without a problem. Blank pages appeared and Draco merely glanced at the titles - AWARDS, EXAMS, MEDICAL, MARRIAGE, LEGISLATURE, RESUME... the pages went on and on. Carefully Draco pulled out the most obvious, MARRIAGE. Pulling out the page, it transformed into a thin packet of information. He read it over -

MARRIAGE to Ronald B. Weasley, on January 1st, 2000. Presided by Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts...

Request for DIVORCE filed on 4th of September, 2000. By Hermione G. Weasley...

DIVORCE granted on October 13th of 2000. Officiated By Dean Thomas, Minister of Magic.

-Also granted Mrs. Weasley's request to change name to "Granger".

The file didn't say much more, just clippings from the Prophet and notes taken by some secretary during the Divorce. Draco sighed, and put the file back. They hadn't even made it a year. What had happened?

After a moment Draco reached in and pulled out the MEDICAL file, it was much thicker.

It had heavy unnatural paper, records from childhood from a muggle office. Draco studied them incredulously, before realizing they were not his goal. Flipping further in, he paused at a record shortly after the final Battle.

Hermione had been hit with a couple dark spells, suffered from exhaustion, over-exertion, malnutrition, and PTSD. Scrawled beneath the list was a note, from a Healer

"Patient admits to having sustained an attack from an Unforgivable -and only after much persuasion was she willing to discuss it. She verified it as being the cruciatus curse, preformed months before by the deceased Death Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange. The Patient cannot recall how many times the curse was used upon herself. As of now we are unable to know what effects she will have from it."

Slowly he closed the file, and set it back in the case, shutting the file to resume its glowing red lock. He had been there, that day. When his Aunt had done that to her, and she had almost suffered worse. The werewolf, Draco shuddered, had nearly gotten her too. He had been unable to watch that, and had quivered in the corner until Harry and Ron had suddenly burst out of nowhere. Draco felt sick; she had mentioned that very scene to him on Saturday. Her nightmare...

"Drakie?" Drex's voice startled Draco so much; he had his wand out in self defense. He managed to cover his surprise, by smirking at Drex's nervous glance at Draco's raised wand. Drex hesitantly came forward and Draco lowered his wand.

"I told you not to call me that."

"Here...You just got an owl. What were you doing back here anyway?"

Draco took a casual step away from the glowing file, "Just filing things myself. I'm tired of being blamed when my paperwork doesn't get filed by that stupid Temp."

"Well this is pretty important, I think...from "up there'" Drex grinned foolishly. He loved to constantly point out that all the important Ministry departments were above them. Literally.

"Well, hand it over."

Drex shook his head, "Like I said, it's important. The owl nearly took my hand off when I went to get it. Its waiting on your desk. Hope you have some owl treats." Drex grinned and turned down the aisle. Draco rolled his eyes, and followed him out. He was sure her answer would have been in that file somewhere. He would just have to look again.

Turning down to his cubicle, he saw Drex was correct. A huge owl was waiting for him. Upon seeing him, however, the owl stuck out his leg. Draco had to duck when the bird took flight, and he heard furious giggling from Drex.

Drex leaned over the wall, grinning, "What's it say?"

Draco glared at him, and sat back at his desk. The outside read "From the Desk of Hermione Granger, Director of Magical Creature Cooperation and Protection". Draco swallowed, it was from Granger.

Ignoring Drex he opened the official looking letter.

DRACO,

COME HOME NOW.

- Sorry about the owl. Thought it was safer to make it sound official.

-H
Draco quickly closed the letter, despite Drex's wining.

"It's nothing. The Department just needs some files on a wizard they suspect of...running a goblin casino...uh, better take care of it."

Grabbing his cloak, he ignored Drex and walked quickly out of the office. What the hell was Hermione doing, sending him stuff at work? And what was with the message? He ran out into the main Ministry floor and went to the apparation site. Turning quickly his last thought was the reporters might have figured out their situation. He hoped not.