Hello there! I can't believe how long it's been, sorry...

Super short chapter, but I have been overthinking this story too much, so I just figured I would update and see if that gets me back into writting

...

Antonin woke up feeling the weight of the entire wizarding world on his shoulders, after careful consideration he realized that being in the news was one thing, being in the news in relation to Miss Granger was another beast altogether. She was loved, no, scratch that, she was worshipped by an entire society and that meant that a single display of discomfort on her side would be his death warrant, also if she was deemed too close to him it would be a death warrant on both of them, so time to be smart.

His original plan was to take advantage of her position, she had been the one to create this program and that meant she would be pushed into accepting his application and would feel bound to follow through with it, at the moment it was working, but maybe it was time to move to step two, sadly he had no idea what that was, so it was time to plan, she would come to visit in a couple hours and he had to get his shit together before that.

First things first, allowing the Wizarding World to believe that they were involved was a bad idea, she would lose all the support she had and he would get back to prison, so the only way to make this work was to let everybody know he was still the big bad Death Eater and she was following through with the parole program, and let's face it, that wasn't far from reality. He was no bleeding heart and he couldn't care less about her, she had been nice at the hearing, and yesterday, she had certainly been nice yesterday, after an awful beginning he had realised she was just lost as him, and that was something to take comfort from, if she was really interested in helping him, his plans were going to work a lot better, on the other hand, if she thought he was a real candidate for redemption their future was looking grim.

She would be there in an hour. Fuck.

Fuck fucketing fuck.

What would come as real concern? Was it time to up the game?

If necessary he had more than enough tricks up his sleeve, such as flattery and playing nice, but in the end it all depended on how she would explain to the wizarding world their involvement. Would she understand how important this was?

Not a chance probably, she would be thinking about herself, and that's something she couldn't be blamed for.

Meanwhile, Hermione was obviously thinking about herself, but Dolohov was never far away from her mind, she was the one to be pitied in a situation like this,that much was clear, but at the same time, it wasn't completely fair, he had done nothing for once, and it would be cruel to blame him for something Skeeter made up. And anyway, it was time to face him.

So she rang the door.

And waited, even though she felt like running.

As soon as he answered the door she runned out of words, there were no apologies to be issued, but at the same time she had no idea what to say, so she was relieved when he broke the very uncomfy silence.

"I'm very sorry this has come to that."

"So am I…"

"Tea?"

"Please"

"I don't really know what to say. Who is that woman anyway?"

It didn't take long for Hermione to answer, and by the time she was done Antonin was truthfully impressed, he guessed she wasn't one to take lightly, but that story made him realize just how heavy a grudge she could hold, and that threw him off.

"How is it that you can hate someone for so long after a single article yet you forgave me, and understood what happened in the mysteries department?"

"Well, it is different, isn't it?"

"How so?"

"It was different, wasn't it? You were fighting for something you believed in, something you thought was right, Rita was writing that to become famous. She did go against Harry, and I don't really think she believed in it, she was just writing what people wanted to read, and that to me makes everything worse."

"So the fact that I believed in what I did excuses my actions, in your view?"

"Yes, I guess it does."

"That is a complicated road to travel, don't you think?"

"Yes, it is."

That was it, that was the moment that made Antonin change his plans, just the voice she used, the way she looked at him, it made him shiver. She was excusing him, and that only meant one thing, whether she knew it or not, she was lonely, he was attractive, and taking their "relationship" one step further was not such a bad idea.

Also, she was quite good looking.

And so he went right for it, he sat down next to her in the coach.

"She has no right to go against you, you've proven yourself once and over again, she has no right to be playing with you, you are way too good for that." And her smile betrayed that yes, this was the right course of action, given enough time she would be his biggest advocate, and let's see how the wizarding world copes with it.