By a lucky turn of events, Hermione and Anselma found a lovely five room flat in the city centre within the first week looking. It was not cheap, but it was everything they were looking for. It was located right in the city centre, on the last floor of a tall building that was facing the Thames, and most of its rooms had large windows that flooded them with daylight. Considering that it used to be some wizarding business' office, they did not even have to move a lot of furniture around or add many protective charms.

Therefore, by the end of the month, their clinic was ready for its first patients. They had decided to take two days off from the Ministry every week and dedicate them to their new project; they believed that their work and their research would feed each other. But, as they soon came to realize, not many witches or wizards seemed to believe in their project as much as they did. And Kingsley, as nice as he was, did tell them that they would need to show results over the next six months if they wanted to keep the galleons coming.

Their first office day was nearing to its end already when, finally, an owl knocked on the breakroom's window. Anselma, who had tried to sound confident all day, left all false pretence aside and jumped up from her armchair to greet the bird. She gave it one of the treats that Hermione had neatly disposed on the window seat for such an occasion, and she detached the parchment from the owl's foot. Seeing Hermione's own eagerness, she read the parchment out loud.

Dear Dc. Bones & Granger,

I read your advert in the prophet yesterday, and I can't stop thinking about it.

I'm a six-teen year old and, as far as I can remember, I have never felt at home in my own body. Recently, I tried some transfiguration on myself and, were it not for the healers, it could have ended very badly. But even after that, my parents don't want to talk about it. They say that I am deranged. Do you think that you could help me?

J.

PS: Do you make a student's discount?

Both Anselma and Hermione were torn between laughter and honest concern. Joy took over though because they had just found their first patient. They did not even need to discuss the matter for it to be clear that they would not charge that young witch or wizard.

"I think that you should be the one to take this case" Anselma said after a moment.

"Why me?"

"You are good with kids, and you have a younger mind. I might say something that could upset our patient." Anselma argued.

Hermione could not really deny it. She had seen her tutor around children only a couple of times, at family events at the Ministry, but none of them had ended well. Her favourite anecdote was the time where Anselma met the young Teddy, who had come to the Christmas Gala with Harry and Ginny, who were still together at the time. She had tried to compliment the young boy on his hair by comparing it to the shade of Augurey feathers. To which Teddy has responded by suddenly morphing his head into a bird's beak. Anselma had been so surprised that she had splashed her drink at the kid and cried out loud enough to get everyone's attention. Which really wasn't in her character at all.

"That might be a good idea, indeed. Plus, if we get older patients ...

"... when we get older patients" Anselma cut in.

"When we get older patients, they will take you more seriously than me. Plus, some of them might know me already, and it could make them uncomfortable. Not, of course, that you are not well known. I mean, whenever a teacher speaks of the mind at Hogwarts, you're the first one they quote. Well, not Snape of course, because he was quite the ..."

"Thank you, Hermione, you do not need to go into details; I understood what you meant very well. I will go out for a nightcap and see you tomorrow morning. If you can, please answer the kid right away. It is august already; if you want to see them a couple of times before the school year starts, you should get started as soon as possible." Anselma stated, and Hermione could only smile at her tutor's natural use of pronouns.

"Will do! But if I may say ..."

"You may" Anselma answered, while already collecting her belongings.

"You are probably better with kids than you think. Teddy often asks how you're doing and if you're not still mad at him. I really think that he likes you."

Anselma only smiled at her protegee and waved her goodbye. It was her way of taking a compliment.

The very next day, Hermione met her first patient, the young Joy. Before they spoke, Hermione had been fairly convinced that she was facing a young man. The very short haircut, the men's Hogwarts uniform, the broad shoulders and angular jaw. But then Joy spoke, and she nearly fell out of her seat at the very high-pitched voice.

"Thank you for having me, Dc. Granger. Yeah, I know, my voice ..."

"No, Joy, I am sorry, I was just surprised ..."

"Everybody always is."

An awkward silence followed, but Hermione did not let that minor setback get in the way of her determination. She started with a softer topic, asking Joy about their summer, their Hogwarts house, their favourite subjects. When they seemed comfortable enough, she guided their discussion towards Joy's letter and encouraged them to describe their feelings further. At the end of their session, Joy was beaming and asking when they would meet again.

Joy had only just left, that Hermione was about to spill it all. But Anselma stopped her.

"I think that we should do it like the Muggles and not speak about our patients to one another. We might be influenced" she argued.

"You are probably right. Joy is a terrific kid though; you probably would have liked chatting with him."

"I highly doubt that"

Hermione rolled her eyes at her tutor and poured some water into the kettle to prepare. It was only as she set the table for tea that she realized that what Anselma had been reading for the past couple minutes was not one of her own articles, but a hand-written letter.

"Do we have a new patient" the young witch asked.

"I have a new patient"

"I thought that we were to discuss each patient before choosing who they would work with"

"Well, this one wrote to me specifically" Anselma reasoned without looking up from her parchment.

Hermione frowned a little. Why would someone write to Anselma specifically if all their adverts were titled with both their names? That person obviously did not want Hermione to be aware of their issues. Which meant that Hermione probably knew them personally. Which also meant that she needed to know who it was.

"I know what you are thinking" Anselma suddenly said, though still without lifting her eyes from the parchment "but the answer is no."

"But ..."

"I said no" her tutor settled, while finally rolling up the parchment.

"That must have been quite the long letter. Many things to say, that mystery person ..."

"Could you pass me some milk?"

"Really, you won't even talk about it? You could at least tell me who it is! I'll find out sooner or later anyway."

Anselma sighed deeply as she cast her glasses aside and poured some milk into her tea.

"What did I tell you about my patience when we first met?"

"That it was very limited, I know. But we would have been off the topic much sooner if you had told me right away."

"You really won't drop it, will you?"

"Do I ever drop anything?"

Anselma took a long pause, and Hermione knew that she was thinking about the many times where Hermione had let various valuable objects slip out of her hands. Luckily, her tutor was wise and gentle enough not to bring it up. She probably would have found it even funnier if she had known the reason why Hermione sometimes lost complete track of what she was doing. But that was not the type of confession one would do to heir boss; especially if one was Hermione Granger.

"Alright, alright. You will see her Friday morning anyways. But don't tell anyone; she insisted on having as much privacy as possible ..."

"Oh, please, who would I tell?"

"Mister Potter? Miss Weasley? Miss Lovegood? Mister ..."

"Alright, not even them ... Noted."

"I can trust you?"

"Witch's honour!"

"Good. It is Narcissa Black."

So, next chapter followed quickly. Is anyone surprised by this last line? Not me. Probably not you either.

Next chapter won't be there as fast, but it's in the making.

Can't wait to hear from you guys!