Housekeeping first as always. Thank you for continued reviews, follows and favs. As ever apologies for any errors grammatical or otherwise (I do try :-)) I cannot promise someone wont find something here because this chapter revolves a lot more around the actual HP world.

Also some other apologies. Firstly to those of you who have reviewed as guests whom I cannot thank personally for your lovely comments, believe me I would have responded if I could have, so thank you for your kind words. Secondly that this is not a "Dramione" fic, well I am not sorry but if anyone read this thinking that is what it is going to be and was not happy it wasn't ... err no it isn't...

So there was no need for any dramatic rescues from Azkaban, Hermione has duly been "released" and her ever active brain is already on to what happens next...enjoy

Hermione wasn't one to shirk off work early or run away from anything, but by the time it got to Wednesday evening, the oppressive walls of Azkaban were really beginning to close in on her, its damp darkness occluding her senses until she could no longer think with any clarity. She needed to get away from here. Thus, she cut her week at here short. 7pm on Wednesday night saw her, wrinkled like a prune after a ridiculously long and much needed cleansing, in an excruciatingly hot bath. Smelling like an apothecary after pouring far too much scented oil in the tub, curled up amongst and array of cushions, in her favourite fluffy pyjamas.

She had tried not to think about Lucius, how he was, how he was feeling. She had tried not to think about Draco, did he know she had talked to his father? And if he did, he was probably furious with her, but every moment that she wasn't working, and even some when she had been, Hermione found herself thinking about nothing else but the two Malfoy men, and how she had let them both down.

Lucius had made his feelings abundantly clear, and not wanting to cross the dark wizard or upset him any further Hermione had reluctantly complied with his request and left. But what of Draco? The younger Malfoy had asked, had pleaded for her help, it was only fair that she speak to him, tell him…tell him what exactly?

She had to face him, but Merlin alone knew what she was going to say to him, she wondered how much he already knew of what had happened, if anything at all, which would mean telling him everything herself; that was going to be a fun conversation. She might have shirked the remainder of her week at Azkaban, but Hermione was not going to shirk her responsibilities, she might not owe Draco Malfoy much, but, she certainly owed him, if not an explanation, then definitely a conversation. Overcome by fatigue, and two rather large glasses of wine and only a very small sandwich, Hermione decided it was time for bed, her own soft comfortable bed. She would sleep on her exchange with Draco and owl him tomorrow when she got to the ministry. It was about time she gave that office of hers an airing, added a few personal items to make it feel like her own.

It was oddly comforting for once to be in an office, Hermione had only been in here three times, this was her fourth, since Kingsley Shacklebolt had offered her the job, or rather created the job for her as Head of Wizard Welfare and Rehabilitation. For the amount of time she had spent here so far, it was a ridiculously large room, but the Minister had insisted, she was officially a Head of Department, that in itself called for a large, well-appointed office. She had laughed at the head of department label, she was the department, she didn't have anyone working for her and doubted that she ever would. She got invited to meetings, mainly to keep her updated on what was going on elsewhere in the Ministry or in the wizarding world itself, but she doubted that anyone was interested or even understood what was going on in her realm; even as Aurors, Harry and Ron didn't get it, or even pretended to. Thus being away from the centre of things was usually quite nice. Today however it felt entirely the reverse, it was good to be in the hub of the wizarding world, seeing familiar faces, people saying hello and how nice it was to see her. Mundane greetings and polite conversation made everything seem so simple and so normal, it was only as she sat down to write her owl to Draco that reality set in.

She was on her fifth draft, hardly getting beyond the first two lines, when there was a confident wrap on her door, calling come in, the flamboyant figure of the Minister for Magic filled the doorway.

"Hermione, I heard that you were here." He gave her a dazzling smile, entering the room proper.

"I thought I should stop by and say hello, I would say make sure you are settling in alright, but after three months I think I might be a bit too late."

She couldn't help but return his warm, infectious smile.

"Well I think it is probably, officially the first time I have actually worked here at the Ministry, usually I am just passing through or here for a meeting. So your welcome is appreciated."

"Good, good, May I?"

He gestured one of the large comfortable seats positioned in front of Hermione's desk.

"Of course please, I am not used to visitors clearly, and have forgotten my manners."

As he sat, a little frisson of disquiet crept along Hermione's spine, the minister was clearly here for more than just a belated, welcome.

"So what do we owe the pleasure of your visit, I thought you were at Azkaban this week, or am I getting old and confused?"

As if there was any such thing, Kingsley Shacklebolt might not be in the first flush of youth, but one could certainly not deem him old, in any sense of the word, and she was sure he was never confused about anything. He was clearly just humouring her, she had known him for many years, long before he was Minister and was simply a member of the order, very little escaped the wily wizard and Hermione had no doubt that was still very much the case.

"Perish both of those thoughts Kingsley, those are most certainly two words I would never associate with you."

Whilst he didn't exactly flush at her words, Hermione could tell he was suitably flattered by them, if he had heard about her little exploit at Azkaban, it paid to keep him on side, she decided that if not telling him outright, she would at least be a liberal with the truth.

"You are quite right I was at Azkaban, I was doing some fact finding this time, rather than visiting too many inmates. I returned home yesterday evening. I had some things I needed to deal with, and it was easy to do that from here."

"AAAHHH, fact finding, yes I spoke with Wilhemina Harris, she mentioned your interesting request. I assured her that there would be a perfectly logical explanation for it."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, glad she had chosen to be reasonably honest with the Minister. Since the banishment of the Dementors from Azkaban, Kingsley Shacklebolt had kept a very close eye on the goings on there, something had told Hermione that everything that happened there now, found its way back to the Minister for Magic. She didn't want him to know the real reason why she had spent a day locked up in the notorious prison, or how it had affected her; so was a little naughty and played to his ignorance and to his sympathy.

"Yes not an experience I would like to repeat." She kept up with the honesty, within reason. "But I felt to understand things, people better, it was something I needed to do."

The Minster brushed his chin thoughtfully and nodded his head. Kingsley Shacklebolt was a man of great learning, and also of vast experiences, Hermione knew he would appreciate that sentiment.

"Yes I see that Hermione, it is not always possible to understand what others have been through, unless you have walked in their shoes. Admirable."

"That was exactly my feeling, it is so very insincere saying to someone, I know how you feel, or I understand completely, when really you have no clue. Of course I know my one day, is nothing like some have endured, but it gave me, well it gave me a small insight."

Hermione could see Kingsley Shacklebolt was quite intrigued with her little experiment.

"I have to say Hermione, I find your dedication to your job and your patients as you call them, quite commendable. Even after such a short stay, I hope that you suffered no ill effects?"

Hermione didn't tell the Minister that she cried herself to sleep for the first two nights and then last night had woken up screaming. She wasn't entirely sure whether that was to do with the prison itself, or the prisoner whom she had been thinking about. Perhaps it was a little of both.

"Well as I said Kingsley it is not an experience I would like to repeat for real or that I will look back on with any fondness, but I do feel it was a ….. valuable experience, and will be of use in the future."

The Minister smiled a little indulgently. "I am sure that is something you will never have to worry about Hermione. I am however glad, if perhaps glad is the right word, that you got some hands on experience. No substitute for it really."

He rose from the chair, his large colourful frame filling the room. "Oh I almost forgot, you see, as I said I am getting old."

Hermione once again gave him an amused, disbelieving look.

"Two things, firstly, do you need any help. I know what you do is very specialised but I was wondering if you perhaps needed someone to help you with anything, reports, notes, perhaps attending any meetings you cannot make, just to keep you up to speed. I wouldn't want to think I was working you to a frazzle."

Hermione was busy, but she hardly felt overworked or frazzled in any way and certainly not enough to justify having any staff, although it might be nice to have someone in London she could occasionally talk to. She told Kingsley as much, but he insisted she think about, just in case. His second thing was a bit more of a thunderbolt, although quite unintentionally so.

"The second is more social really, well at least I think it is. I had lunch with young Malfoy on Monday, his father is trying to find him something to do here at the Ministry, that's totally unrelated to my first point by the way." He waved a large hand around absently.

Hermione's mouth had gone dry and the use of the words social and Malfoy, she hardly heard the last part. But her ears pricked up again when the Minister mentioned the Daily Prophet.

"Didn't think I'd ever find myself saying it but Draco has turned into quite a nice young man, put the past behind him. Seems to be trying to move on with his life, shame about that awful stuff in the Prophet at the weekend. Anyway I digress, he was asking after you, if you were in London, said something about you were going to catch up."

Hermione looked at Kingsley Shacklebolt in surprise, not entirely sure where this conversation was going.

"I just thought I would mention it because, well I told him you were out of town and he seemed a little disappointed, thought you might want to rectify my faux pas." He grinned more than a little conspiratorially.

If Hermione didn't know better she would swear the Minister for Magic was trying to fix her up, little did he know. Little did anyone know, least of all Draco. Hermione regained her thoughts and her composure quickly, not wanting the Minister to think anything was amiss.

"How odd Kingsley, I bumped into Draco last week, and we were going to catch up soon, I was just going to owl him, when you popped in."

Her all be it half-hearted smile, and reassurances clearly worked, as the Minister rose from his seat.

"Excellent, excellent, I shall leave you to it. And it really is nice to see you here, all be it fleetingly I am sure. If you need anything at all Hermione, my door is always open, especially to you."

With another beaming smile and amid a rustle of bright blue and gold robes, the Minister was gone. Leaving Hermione once more to Draco and the elusive owl.

"Dear Draco"

It was all she had written when there was another, slightly less authoritative knock on her door, this time she didn't have a chance to call out come in, as Harry's head appeared.

"Harry!" She all but squealed, jumping up from behind her desk and rushing across the room to hug her old friend.

"Hey you, little bird told me you were here."

"More like huge and very brightly coloured one." She beamed at Harry, hugging him once more. She wondered how long it would take Kingsley to tell him, she was here, about 10 minutes it would appear.

"Haven't seen you about the place for a while. Azkaban lost its appeal?"

He teased her playfully, extricating himself from her warm embrace and flopping down in the same chair Kingsley Shacklebolt had occupied minutes before.

"Cold dingy prison in the North Sea, shiny plush office in central wizard London, you know, tough call. Thought you might have dragged Ronald along with you, or is he off skiving somewhere?"

Harry shifted in his seat, his discomfort didn't go unnoticed by the ever observant young witch and she was quick to question him.

"Harry, what's going on. Where is Ronald?"

Harry never could hide anything from Hermione, ever since they were 11 years old she had seen right through him.

"Well I would imagine, either being waited on hand and foot by Molly or being driven totally crazy by her, not sure which after a day or so at home."

Harry smiled sheepishly at Hermione, still being more than a little evasive with any actual information.

"And WHY, precisely is Ronald Weasley at home on a Thursday being looked after by his mother?"

He shifted his position in the chair once more, glancing around Hermione's rather nice office, which was actually bigger than his. Pushing his glasses up his nose he avoided eye contact with his oldest friend, one way or another she was not going to be happy, somehow looking into those big brown eyes, just made it worse.

"He had a bit of a run in with Malfoy on Tuesday afternoon."

"Draco?" Asked Hermione, somewhat intrigued as she perched on the front of her desk, immediately in front of Harry, who shook his head.

"No Lucius Malfoy, he had a meeting here."

Merlin's beard it was like pulling bloody teeth.

"For Salazar's sake Harry spit it out, what the hell happened?"

"Well actually, it was Ron's fault and to be honest, if it had been me he was talking about, I think I might have been inclined to hex him to, but you know what Ron's like, he engages his mouth before his brain."

Hermione was only too well aware of Ronald Weasley, penchant for putting his foot, well and truly in it and for not thinking before he spoke. Last time he tried to hex a Malfoy, all be it in her defence, the repercussions had been far from pleasant, but at least then he had the excuse of only being 12.

"Is Ronald alright, what did he say about Lucius….Malfoy." Even after only the briefest of time together it was difficult to think of Malfoy senior as anything but Lucius.

"Yeah Ron's fine, milking it for everything it's worth, Molly is of course furious, won't hear a word sad against Ron. I think Mister Weasley is a bit on the fence but he isn't saying that. Ron's just a bit battered and bruised, he landed awkwardly from Malfoy's hex, and Kingsley insisted that he take a couple of days off."

"The Minister was there?"

Hermione was incredulous, that Kingsley had not said anything to her earlier about the incident.

"Yeah Kingsley was there, he was who Malfoy had the meeting with, he was seeing him out. Ron and I had just come back from lunch, he was mouthing off to a couple of witches from Muggle Relations, about Rita Skeeter's article in Sunday's Prophet. Malfoy heard him, and well if it was true or not Ron was out of order, Mister Malfoy clearly thought so, he asked Ron to apologise for his remarks at the unfounded allegations." Harry did his best Lucius Malfoy impersonation, which was frighteningly accurate and despite the severity of the situation Hermione had to laugh.

"And well you know Ron, he wouldn't, he got really arsey with Lucius Malfoy and the next thing bang. Kingsley and I both stepped in, he escorted Lucius Malfoy from the building, he even apologised to him and I sorted Ron out."

The blood in Hermione's veins ran cold, she did not blame Lucius for his anger or his actions against Ronald, knowing just how belligerent and annoying Ronald Weasley could be, she felt sure they were justifiable, that Kingsley Shacklebolt had apologised to him, seemed only to back up that fact. What frightened Hermione the most was that Lucius had chosen to retaliate against the younger wizard and in such a public place.

Harry glanced at the clock on Hermione's wall.

"Sorry Hermione I have to dash, I am meeting Ginny for lunch." His face flushed a little bit. As he added as an afterthought. "Do you want to join us; I am sure Ginny…."

"No, no, honestly, you go have a nice lunch. I really have some stuff I need to do. Say Hi to Ginny for me, I will see her soon."

She hugged Harry warmly before he left and returned to her owl to Draco. She had toyed with flowery words, and niceties but in the end the message was short and to the point.

Draco

Can we meet?

Hermione