A/N: Hey guys! Hope everyone had a good week and is staying safe :)

So turns out my email must have changed its mail filter because all of your lovely reviews, follows and favs have somehow ended up in my junk folder :( I finally found them though and reading/hearing from all of you was fantastic as ever. Thank you so much for your continued support!

Today's chapter is a little shorter unfortunately, but it didn't feel right to make it any longer than it is. Some things still need to happen so it will be a little while before our two heroes are reunited, but in case anyone is concerned there is a happy ending on the horizon for them.

Hope you enjoy, and as ever let me know what you think! - Note xxx

Severus was miserable. He hated being in his family home surrounded by dust and unpleasant memories, both from his childhood and his summers as Voldemort's servant. Unfortunately, it was the only safe place he could go to when he wasn't at Hogwarts. He had been putting off investing in a more pleasant home for himself outside of the castle and now really wasn't a good time to do so.

Instead, he sat in a worn out armchair with a ridiculous but thankfully faded floral pattern brooding about his own stupidity. He should have been more prepared. He should have been more cautious and investigated Cruz more closely sooner. He should be investigating her closer now, but he hadn't made any progress since the hearing. There just weren't any resources available to him here. Everything he needed was either at Hogwarts or at Malfoy Manor, the latter of which he could technically visit, but he was not in the mood to face the memories there - or Lucius.

On top of everything else, his suspension continued with very little updates on the progress in the investigation. They had questioned him briefly after Hermione's hearing, but it was very perfunctory, likely due to some interference from Potter.

Since then, he heard pretty much nothing else other than a weekly owl to let him know the investigation was ongoing and that he was suspended indefinitely. There had been a letter from Potter as well, with more detailed information, but all that did was confirm his suspicions that they were merely stalling to give him a hard time or to keep him away from Hogwarts. Either way, there was pretty much nothing for him to do at the moment.

Due to this sudden influx of free time, he found himself seriously considering renovating Spinner's End just to have something to distract him from his gloomy thoughts and the constant itch in his left arm. He had tried every itching relief he knew and nothing had worked, much to his frustration. Maybe he should research that instead of renovating, he had some books here that might contain some useful information.

Just as he got up to wander over to the relevant bookshelf there was a knock on the door. Frowning he headed to the front door and peaked out. Much to his surprise, the person paying him a visit was none other than Draco Malfoy. Surprised he opened the door. He had not seen his godson in a long time.

"Draco.", he drawled. "What a… lovely surprise."

The young man grinned at him. "You're a terrible liar, Uncle Severus. May I come in?"

He sighed exasperatedly and stepped back. "Why are you here?"

Draco walked inside and glanced around. "I can't believe I've never been here before. I've been trying to come visit for a couple of days now, but I couldn't find the place. Had to get directions from Father. He sends his regards, by the way."

"Why are you here? I assume it is not to admire my home.", the potions master drawled, making no move to offer his visitor a seat or a drink.

"Oh come on, can't I just visit my godfather?"

"You just said yourself that you have never come here before. What is so important that you have the sudden urge to visit me now without sending an owl first?"

Draco sighed. "Well I did want to come and find out how you were doing anyway, but then I got an owl from one Luna Lovegood. Except it turns out that the letter in the envelope wasn't from her at all. It was from Hermione."

Severus stared. "Why is she owling you?"

"Because she is being watched by Cruz at every turn and wants to be as cautious as possible, because her so-called guardian cannot know that she is still contacting you."

Severus swallowed and finally moved inside the living room offering Draco the other of the two thread bare armchairs. "Would you like a drink?"

Draco grinned. "Are you offering tea or something stronger?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "Which would you prefer?"

The blonde wizard checked the time. "Honestly, something stronger might be better for both of us."

Severus frown deepened but he summoned a bottle of Ogden's Firewhiskey and two glasses regardless before sitting down. He poured and floated a glass over to Draco, then sat back holding his own and inhaling the sharp aroma.

"I am surprised you haven't asked me twenty questions about my relationship yet.", he commented when Draco didn't say anything after a moment.

"I didn't think you would answer them, but if you're offering…", he trailed off as his godfather fixed him with a patented Snape-glare. "Just kidding. It's none of my business what the two of you get up to. Plus, from what I can tell it made both of you pretty happy before that whole hearing business. But that's not why I'm here. It seems Granger is worried about you and so she asked me to come see you and sort of act as a middle-man to set up communication between the two of you. Help figure out how to get both of you out of this massive mess you're in."

Severus swallowed feeling an unexpected rush of relief. He wouldn't have admitted it, but with how long it had been since he had been suspended he had started to wonder if she couldn't contact him or if she blamed him for how badly the hearing went and thus wouldn't want to speak to him.

"Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done about my situation so long as my case is still being investigated at the Ministry. We did nothing wrong.", he added reading the question on Draco's face before he could pose it. "There is nothing in the Hogwarts Code of Conduct that forbids a student teacher relationship so long as the student in question is of age. And we were working on something to change the student teacher dynamic as well."

Draco nodded. "I know, Hermione told me she was going to take her NEWT's early and take the Mastery exam to become the new Defence teacher."

"Yes." He wondered for a moment if Cruz had tried to put her back into the actual DADA class.

"Do you miss her?"

Severus sneered at his godson. "Need I remind you that we just established that I will not answer your questions about my relationship?"

Draco raised his hands in exasperation. "I'm sorry, never mind. But you know, you really don't need to keep me at arm's length. I thought maybe now that we don't have the whole being the Dark Lord's servants thing hanging over us anymore we might be able to have some form of relationship. You are still my godfather."

Severus looked at him in surprise. "Well you spent plenty of time telling me to back off, so I assumed that you did not want to have anything much to do with me outside of family obligations."

"And I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for a lot of things, Uncle, and I'm trying to make up for them. I want to help you with this as much as I can. And Hermione. Whatever is going on here, it seems odd and as far as I can tell the more people who have your back the better."

He snorted. "You got that right. But I do not think there is anything much that can be done at this point. Whatever Cruz has planned we have missed our window to stop her."

"Bullshit.", Draco called, knocking back the last of his whiskey. "I can only assume that Hermione is absolutely miserable given the situation she is in. And I get it, you're not in a great place either, but sitting here brooding isn't going to fix it. Don't you want to fight for her?"

Severus ground his teeth, his godson's words hitting harder than expected.

"How about you give me Hermione's message and then we can figure it out from there.", he said after a moment, his fists clenched in anger. Draco knew his former head of house well enough to know that he had hit a sore point and that it was better to leave him be and figure things out on his own. He had said what he needed to. Instead he pulled out a folded piece of parchment. Severus took it from him but made no move to read it.

"If you want to respond to her I need to wait for you to write said response.", he said after a moment of sitting in silence.

Severus sighed. "Come back tomorrow. I need to think and I can't expect you to play owl constantly."

Suppressing a frustrated sigh, Draco got out of his chair and moved towards the door. "You're lucky I care about you, Uncle Severus. And that I'm between jobs."

Severus stared after him, Hermione's letter still clutched in his hand. "Draco.", he called and the younger wizard turned around frowning a little. "Thank you." Draco nodded and left without another word.

Severus had to force himself to open the letter once Draco was gone, unsure what to expect. Considering it came from Hermione, it was a rather short missive.

"Dear Severus,

I wasn't sure if I should contact you at all, as it seems like a great risk, but I needed you to know that the only person to blame for what happened is Itana Cruz. I know it took me long enough, but I need to fight this, her, whatever it is that is actually happening and I can't do it without you. Our relationship is precious to me and whatever else happens, I care about you. I care about us. If I have anything to say about it, we will still be going to the Ministry Ball together.

Missing you,

Hermione

PS: Has your scar been incredibly itchy recently?

PPS: Do you know of a less traceable way to communicate?"

He stared out of the window for a long moment, wishing he could simply apparate to Hogwarts and hold his witch in his arms. His scar was twinging and he scratched it again. Making a decision, he got up and began pulling books from various shelves. Even if he couldn't do anything else right now, he could try to find out what was going on with their scars. He really hoped it was nothing sinister.