Authors note: 28th March 2020 - These are some interesting times we are living in. With almost everyone self-isolating, this might be the most time I have had to write like… ever. I certainly hope whoever reads this (if you are out there) enjoy it. If you do I would appreciate reading about it, so if you leave a review I could see what you think! Also if you don't like it, then at least I know and I can drink to that rather than the coronavirus, in any case I will be drinking :)

Enjoy

Chapter 7

Harry leant with his back against the fireplace, arms crossed watching Hermione swap shoes for the third time. "What are you going to do?" He said, shaking his head as she took her green shoes off and put her red ones back on. "Hermione. Stop okay? Look at me."

Hermione sighed and looked up at her best friend, crossing her legs in front of her and picking at her fingernails in her lap. "What Harry?"

"You're spiraling."

"I'm not spiraling."

"Yeah you are. Don't let them get to you Hermione."

"Don't let them get to me? Harry, they are literally holding my future in their hands. Not to mention Malfoys. This is huge. This could-"

"Figuratively," Harry said.

"I- what?"

Harry smirked. "You used literally wrong."

"Oh shut up," she said and covered her face. "You know what I mean. This is disastrous."

"Maybe it won't be."

"Harry, I know you don't want me to panic and all, but we both know it will be. This was inevitable really, I guess I'm just surprised they caught on so quick." Hermione sighed and tried to push her hair away from her face. "They'll take Malfoy and assign him some biased lawyer that will surely get him killed. And my hands will be tied." She stood up and started pacing the room. "If I had just finished my thesis… I would be a certified lawyer and they wouldn't be doing this. Why am I so inadequate?"

"You're not," Harry shot in, even though he knew she wouldn't hear him.

"I'm going to let everyone down because I'm so stupid. Why did I think I could get away with this let alone get him free? It's ridiculous. In this climate, I'm crazy to do it!"

"Yeah you are."

"It was bound to fail, and now I've proved that I can't do this and I can't be a lawyer and everything is awful."

Harry looked at her as she stopped pacing. "You finished?"

Hermione pursed her lips. "Yes."

"Good, because the only thing that is stupid is your attitude right now. Since when do you give in? You know you're the best lawyer for this job, and yeah yeah I know you're not technically a lawyer yet but you are, Hermione, you just don't have the signed paper to prove it. So stop whining and worrying about failing because you aren't going to. You'll go to that meeting, charm their socks off - figuratively," he added with a grin. "And then manage to free Malfoy." He shrugged. "It will work out."

"It's just not that simple."

"Actually Hermione, it is. Your brain just overcomplicates everything. So," he said, picking up her briefcase and handing it over to her. "Take your research and go to that meeting. And you won't let anyone down Hermione, okay?"

She nodded, taking her briefcase. "You're right."

"I'm always right, I'm the chosen one."

Hermione hit his arm with her briefcase, but couldn't help smiling. "Deflate your ego Harry, that oversized head of yours isn't very attractive." She walked over to the fireplace and grabbed some floo powder, glancing down at her red Mary Jane's, thinking it was too late to change it now. She threw the powder in the fireplace and stepped through into the large lobby of the Ministry.

Hermione stepped back through the fireplace into the living room of Grimmauld Place and fell face first into the sofa, groaning out a scream. Pierce Kroms made Hermione feel sick. Turned out the meeting at the ministry was all orchestrated by Kroms. He was so full of himself, talking about all his years of experience and putting Hermione down for not having finished her degree. Basically saying she had no reason to be working Malfoy's case. At the end of his speech, even Hermione was starting to question whether it had been stupid to let her stubbornness lead her on. He had been very persuasive. So persuasive in fact that Beatrice T. Maybank agreed with him. Maybank was in charge of the committee, a hardened looking woman, probably around professor McGonagall's age. Sadly, she had a lot of pull with the other committee members and no matter how much Hermione tried to talk about her thesis or how she was just as qualified - they seemed to have made up their minds before she even walked into the meeting room.

"Meeting go badly?"

Hermione groaned as answer.

Theo chuckled, and Hermione heard him sipping something, most probably tea. "You seem very defeated, Granger. You off the case?"

She pushed herself up, throwing her hair out of her face. "No, I have to share the case with Kroms, the crummy lawyer I took the case off of in the first place."

"Theo?" Harry called from the stairs, "You coming up?"

"Keep your pants on Potter," Theo called back up at him, smirking at Hermione and sipping his tea. "Or don't," he said with a shrug to Hermione, and she made a face.

"Gross," she said, easing her shoes off. "I'd rather not be privy to your flirtatious conversations."

"You gonna keep trying?"

"To not hear you through the walls?"

"Draco's case, Granger." Theo's tone had gotten serious, but he continued sipping his tea, as if the conversation were still casual.

"I'll keep trying," she said sincerely. She'd be damned if she let a blithering fool like Kroms beat her now after everything she had done to get to this point. Seemingly satisfied, Theo finished his tea and went back up the stairs. Hermione opened up her suitcase and settled down on the sofa, tucking her toes under her to keep warm. Hours later Kreacher brought her hot chocolate and crumpets, having gotten used to her habits of not eating while engrossed in her work. She flipped through pages of her thesis, her research, even the many piles of books she had gotten from the library (that admittedly she needed to extend soon) - but still found nothing that could let her keep Malfoy's case alone.

Her difficult job just got near impossible.

Hermione was waiting by the entry desk to sign in for an interrogation room when Kroms stepped in through a fireplace, as well put together as ever and looking as smarmy as Hermione remembered.

"Ms Granger, you're early I see. Trying to get some time with our client without me?" Kroms said, fixing his irritably ugly, already straight tie.

"Of course not, Mr Kroms," she said with false cheer. "I'm looking forward to working with you and having someone as experienced as you help with Malfoys' case."

"You mean Prisoner 8-4-7," Kroms corrected her. "And I'm glad you can acknowledge my superior intellect and experience. And here I thought you were just an eager law-student trying to get through on her fame. Make no mistake miss Granger, this case is not yours to win, at best, it's yours to settle."

Hermione grit her teeth while Kroms walked past her, flicking his wand to sign the sheet and heading to interrogation room 9. She counted to ten, breathing deeply and trying not to think of the six different ways she could get away with locking Kroms in a jar for a good three months as a dung beetle.

She followed after him into the room and sat down in the chair next to his, placing her briefcase on the floor up against the table leg, then removed a cat hair from her tights, crossing her ankle over the other, then uncrossing them. Then crossing them again. Clasping her hands on the table, only to flatten them and then clasp them again.

Malfoy was escorted in, again with an unnecessary amount of shackles, handcuffs and guards. He was pushed down into his seat, and his chains magically connected to the table and the ground. Hermione thought he looked about the same from when she visited him in Azkaban. He didn't seem surprised to see Kroms, but then again did he ever show emotion to anything? Hermione knew Malfoy wasn't exactly an open book, but she had wanted to tell him gently about Kroms inclusion in the case.

"Prisoner 8-4-7," Kroms started. "By decree of B. T. Maybank I have been reassigned to your case, whose initial trial is twenty days from now - let the record show that Ms. H. Granger is present as well as a guard with one on standby outside the door to interrogation room 9. Now," he cleared his throat and looked up at Malfoy for the first time since he had been escorted into the room. "I have cancelled the meeting that was booked in three days time as it is unnecessary and a waste of the Ministry's time and money."

"What?" Hermione said loudly, Kroms ignored her and continued.

"Instead, the next session will be as originally scheduled, seven days from now. Please state that you understand this change has taken place and you are aware of those present in the room at this time."

"Yes," Malfoy said in a gravelly, low voice.

"Let the record show, prisoner 8-4-7 has stated his understanding and awareness."

Hermione's fingers tightened their hold on each other, her knuckles turning white. Not only had he taken over her meeting, her whole case, but he had cancelled one of her meetings? The most crucial one. How on earth was she supposed to find a way to get Malfoy out of this mess with three meetings before the trial wherein she would be censored at every turn, maybe not even allowed to speak.

"Now that that is out of the way," she said, trying to keep her voice even and professional. "Maybe we can talk about how we will approach some of the questions the warlocks will address in the trial. If I may," she reached down towards her briefcase.

"Right, here are some," Kroms said, moving his arm and blatantly summoning a piece of paper out of his briefcase with a non-verbal spell. Hermione stilled with her hand above her briefcase, glancing at Malfoy who had flit his eyes to the paper. "Do you feel responsible for the dozens of murders, tortures and kidnappings that occurred in your place of residence from 1996 to 1998?"

Hermione swallowed, straightening in her chair, and smoothed out her skirt, about to attempt to speak but only managed to open her mouth before Kroms spoke again.

"The crimes committed by your family members in your presence, were yours too. By letting them continue you were taking part in the evil acts yourself, wouldn't you say so, prisoner 8-4-7?"

"Objection, that is leading the witness," Hermione interjected. But Kroms only raised his voice to drown her out.

"Do you think your entitlement from your family name and fortune should excuse you from facing the consequences of your actions? That your tainted galleons now rotting away in an ancient vault in the ground guarded by dragons and dark magic could possibly save you from what will most certainly be a deserving kiss of death?"

"Mr Kroms!" Hermione yelled, standing up in such a huff her chair clanged loudly as it fell to the floor. "Enough."

"This meeting is over," Kroms said, and the paper in his hand flew back into his briefcase. He stood calmly and exited the room, nodding to the guard outside the door who came in to remove Malfoy from his chair.

The guard grabbed his arm and pulled him up as the chains unstuck themselves from the table. Hermione stood and watched in panic until they took a step, then her feet ran away from her and suddenly she was in front of them, barring their exit.

"No, you can't go. This can't happen like this."

"Miss, step out of the way."

"I told you," Malfoy said to her, and she looked into his grey eyes, so defeated, so without hope that they bored into her soul. "There's no point fighting. It's over."

"No," Hermione said, adamantly shaking her head. "It's not over, I won't let it."

"You don't have a say, Granger."

"Step away, miss." The guard pushed past her, pulling Malfoy along by one arm, the second guard following with a grip on the other.

Hermione felt dazed, then hurried after them, catching up just as they called the elevator that would send them back to Azkaban. "No, wait. You're wrong. I will prove you wrong, and everyone else. I will." Even she could hear the desperation in her tone.

"Granger," Malfoy spat, suddenly his tone was no longer that of a tired and defeated man, but one of utter frustration. "I am not a fucking house elf that you need to save and set free. I am not your get-out-of-guilt free card, don't you get that? I am the bad guy. I am the villain in your story and I will always be that. They all know it, so why don't you? Step away from this case, let it only destroy one life." Suddenly his expression softened. "Please."

The elevator doors dinged and she was again pushed aside as the three men stepped in. She watched helplessly, knowing she could in no way stop them from taking Malfoy to Azkaban and that she was utterly useless to get him out of the prison. She held Malfoys' gaze as the doors closed and she knew - she knew she couldn't step away from this case. Perhaps his eyes had been imploring with her to stop, to let it go and let him die. But to her it was his biggest cry for help. He had begged her, pleaded with her, to step away. She would never forget that look, would never allow herself to forget. That was the face of a man that needed her help and damn it all to hell if she wasn't going to do everything in her power to help him. Kroms could go fuck himself. Trist could shove his opinions where the sun didn't shine.

Hermione fucking Granger was on the case and she was going to win.

"Hermione?"

"Ron," she said, looking up at him as she tried to move another piece of paper on the floor. She had every single piece of paper she had on law, from her years in school and her research the past year for her thesis and Malfoys' case scattered about the floor in the living room of Grimmauld Place. "This actually couldn't be a worse time, can we do this later? I don't really have time for… well anything." She hadn't slept more than six hours in three days, throwing her hair on top of her head in a bun as it got heavier the longer she put off washing it. Her favourite knitted jumper had ink stains on the sleeves, and her jeans were stained with ink all over, her knees practically black at this point.

"Actually, Harry told me whose case you're working on, and I want to help."

"What?" Hermione was so surprised she knocked over the pot of ink. "Oh merlin's balls," she muttered to herself, vanishing the mess. She stood and tried to wipe some loose hair from her forehead, creating a new streak of ink across her skin.

"Look, I might loathe the tosser, but he doesn't deserve to have his soul sucked out of his body. No one does. If there's anything I can do to help, I'm here and offering." He shrugged in a way that was so quintessentially Ron she wanted to cry from the wave of comfort that washed through her.

"Ron…"

"Hey, no need, that's what friends are for, right?" He gave a lopsided smile and Hermione tentatively smiled back.

"Friends?" She inquired carefully.

Ron nodded. "Friends."

She rushed to hug him, and he held her tightly. Maybe the hug was selfish on her part, but she really needed it with how shit she felt at the moment. She knew Ron still had feelings for her, but the fact that he had decided to settle for being friends meant so much to her. She no longer felt as alone as she had before, and she hadn't even realised she felt that way. A small weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She was still trying to carry the whole sky, a proverbial self-made Atlas, but now she wasn't doing it all by herself.

"Thank you Ron."

"You're welcome," he said, letting out a sigh and go of her. "So, what can I do?"

"I honestly don't know where to go right now. I'm running in endless circles, hence this absolute chaos." She gestured to the mess of paper covering the entire floor. "I feel like I've approached every angle but I'm stuck."

"This is connected to your thesis isn't it? So if we look into the old cases we could go from there."

"I've already gone through them multiple times."

"Have you looked into the lawyers that were assigned to the cases?"

"Of course I- wait…" Hermione flipped through multiple papers on the floor and sat down in a slump. "No, I haven't."

"I'll go do that then. I do have some special access being an Auror and all," Ron said, and smiled. "I can get info on the lawyers and who in the higher ups assigned them." He picked up a paper from the floor, reading some of the text. "Hey uhm, Harry's an Auror too, why haven't you asked for his help?"

Hermione shook her head. "He's been so stressed out lately and busy with all the paperwork his boss is piling on him, I didn't want to add to it. Plus, trying to get any work done around Theo is impossible." She laughed, flipping through more pages.

"Who's Theo?"

"What?" Hermione looked up.

"You said Theo, is that Theo Nott, the quiet lanky kid from Slytherin? Why would Theo be around while you work?"

"Uhm…"

Ron was scrutinizing her face. "Why are you trying to think up a lie?" Ron shook his head. "Harry's keeping something from me that has something to do with Theo Nott."

Hermione sighed in defeat. "Since when did you get so good at detection?"

"Since I finished Auror training, which basically makes me a detective," he said with a smile, and a small bump of their shoulders. "I guess I should talk to Harry then."

"You're taking this… calmly." Hermione noted with careful surprise.

Ron shrugged. "I've been making an effort not to be as hot headed like I used to be. Maybe I'm not super happy that Harry is apparently spending time with a Slytherin, and especially one like Theo Nott… but I'm also not happy about this," he said, waving about a piece of paper from the floor. "But you're my friend, and this matters to you. I should support you in what you do." He chuckled and rubbed over his face. "I guess therapy really helped me."

Hermione nodded. "Does seem that way." She smiled. "I'm glad it could help you."

"And I'm sorry it didn't help you," he said. "But I'm making an effort. You can see that, can't you?"

She nodded again. "Yeah, I'm proud of you Ron." She tore her eyes from his and focused back on her work. "Right, let's get started."

They spent the next couple of hours on the floor, rifling through papers together and seeing if Hermione had gathered any info that might be helpful for Ron's investigation. Then he left and Hermione, brain completely fried, decided she wouldn't do anyone any good sleep deprived and short circuited got up to have a cup of tea before she would eventually slump down in her bed from exhaustion.

"Granger?" Someone was shaking her awake. "Granger."

"Eh?" Hermione blinked her eyes open. She was lying face down on her bed, the room was dark. She had obviously fallen asleep, but who was waking her up and why? "What's going on?"

"Get up we need to go."

"What? Is it Harry, is he okay? Shit." She jumped up and grabbed the beaded bag she kept under her bed for emergencies. "Okay, I have everything we might need, if we have to stay away long then I can-"

"Granger," someone said, grabbing a hold of her and shaking her a bit. "Wake up and look at me."

Hermione blinked the blurriness out of her eyes and focused on the sharp features of Theodore Nott. She furrowed her brows. "What's going on? Why are you in my room?" She was kind of glad she fell asleep while fully clothed now, even if she had been wearing those same clothes for days.

"We don't have a lot of time," he said. "Is your wand in there?" Theo gestured to the bag she was clutching tightly to her chest.

"No," she said quickly.

"Get your wand and maybe your shoes. We have a portkey to catch."

Hermione reached over to her pillow, grabbing her wand that was stowed under it. "Portkey to where?"

Theo waited until she had accio-d her shoes to her. Then grabbed her hand and wrapped it around an ornate letter opener. "To Azkaban."

Hermione only had time to widen her eyes and open her mouth to protest before she felt the portkey activate and the air around them sucked in and with a plop her bedroom was empty.

They landed somewhere Hermione definitely recognised from her previous visit to Azkaban. However, it wasn't the visitors entrance, or the gate outside - they had appeared inside the high-profile prison and were in one of the many hallways with cells all around against the walls.

"Stay quiet," Theo whispered to her and she wanted to scream that OF COURSE SHE WOULD STAY QUIET because she wasn't a complete fool. But what she really wanted to point out is how incredibly illegal and dangerous this was to break INTO Azkaban. Not to mention absolutely stupid.

Theo seemed to be completely calm and collected though, taking one look around and taking deliberate steps down the hall like he knew exactly where he was going. He pocketed the letter opener and Hermione guessed that would be their way out as well. Her ears were filled with her own heartbeat as her stress level spiked and adrenaline filled her body. She walked behind Theo, careful to conceal her footsteps with a non-verbal spell. She wondered why they weren't disguising themselves or even disillusioning themselves to not be spotted. The wonders of the magical world still hadn't figured out to use security cameras in their establishments - "a worthless muggle device" - as the warlock had said to Hermione when she had pitched it for added security. That would definitely come in handy, but wouldn't the prisoners see them? Or even the night guards?

"Theo," she whispered as they walked, and either Theo was ignoring her or she had been too quiet. "Theo," she hissed a little louder that time. He turned round with a finger to his lips and a look like she was acting stupid. She pursed her lips. There were a couple of adventure related things Hermione had learned she did not like, having spent a long while running a couple of years back, one of those was not having a plan. Another was being thrown into something without knowing what it was. What was Theo thinking? Why hadn't he talked to her first about whether or not breaking into Azkaban prison was a good idea or not, you know, weigh the pros and cons first before making them break at least five laws she could list off the top of her head.

They took a turn down another hallway and through a double set of doors which were suspiciously already open.

What could Theo possibly be planning to do? People usually didn't break into prisons except to break someone else out. Oh no. They couldn't break Malfoy out! Hermione walked faster to catch up to him, she grabbed his arm and tried to stop him.

"Theo, you can't do this. We have to go back now before we're caught."

"We won't be caught. Now shush."

"We can't break him out!" She whispered passionately, definitely not loudly.

"Can you lower your fucking volume Granger?" He hissed at her. "We're not going to break him out, but can you hold your trap shut for five minutes?"

"Then tell me why you pulled me out of bed in the middle of the night to break into a prison."

Theo rolled his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "You said Kroms had taken your meetings away from you. Potter said you were keeping a log of incidents for your thesis. Correct so far?"

Hermione nodded, furrowing her brows, not sure where this was going.

"Wrack your exceptionally sized brain Granger, you can figure this out."

Hermione, feeling so drained from the past few days looked at him with desperation. A couple of things went through her head: Theo was planning to polyjuice himself and take Malfoy's place. Theo was planning to interrogate the other prisoners to get information for her thesis against the guards? That one was a stretch. She thought back to where they had been walking so far - away from the prisoners, closer to the entrance, to the guard stations. Suddenly she had a revelation.

"You want the guards' logs, their information on the prisoners and proof that they're being prejudiced."

Theo shrugged. "Something like that. As well as rotas and which guards escort prisoners to be executed - just in case." He then walked on with Hermione following at his heels. They finally got to the guard station, which was - again- suspiciously not locked or guarded. Theo went in first, using his wand to open cabinets silently and duplicating almost everything, trying to be efficient while still trying not to miss anything.

"Is there an extension charm on that bag of yours?" He asked.

"Yes," she said and opened it up and Theo started guiding the duplicated documents into her bag. Hermione set it open on the floor so the papers could drop in freely and started looking around the office. She looked at the list of the many prisoners currently occupying the cells of Azkaban prison, each one allocated a cell number. She ran her finger across the name Malfoy, Draco. Him and Theo must be very close friends if Theo was willing to risk so much to help with his case. Next to the list of names was a list of activity rota. She decided to copy that as well and sent it flying into her bag. She was rummaging through some drawers when Theo tapped her on the shoulder.

"We have to go," he said, holding up the ornate letter opener for her to see, it was vibrating in his hand. Hermione quickly scooped up her beaded bag and grabbed onto the portkey.

Where they landed, Hermione didn't recognise. The room was lit only by the dim light shining in through the curtains from a streetlamp outside. There were armchairs strewn about the room, and the walls were covered in bookshelves. To Hermione, it smelled a little like her nan's place up in Suffolk, where the carpets were never cleaned and the stench of cigars couldn't be shaken out of the drapes.

"You think you got enough stuff to help you Granger?" Theo shook her out of her reverie. She nodded absentmindedly, eyeing the many books against the wall. "As much as I'd love to watch you drool over my family's book collection, I think it would be best for you to head back as soon as possible."

"We're in your family library?"

"Study, actually, the library is downstairs. Focus Granger. I didn't pull you out of bed, break into a high profile prison, just for you to look at my books."

"Why did you pull me out of bed? Seemed like you could have gone there by yourself. Or even with Harry, why take me?"

"I have my reasons," Theo said with a shrug. "And I have some connections in places and I received the portkey without much time to dawdle about it, so time constraints - for one thing. Harry is useless in quiet shenanigans, hadn't you noticed during every single duel club he would yell the spell as loud as his vocal cords would allow?" He waved a hand. "Not very important, but proves my point."

Hermione nodded. "He was never very good at the non-verbal part of spell casting. But why not go alone?"

Theo sighed in exasperation. "You really have to know everything don't you? Well Granger, it's like this; if someone had come along and caught us, it is usually better to have two people where one can be a distraction while the other does the extraction."

"You wanted me to be bait?" Hermione asked, not amused.

"No Granger, I'm the distraction. Don't overinflate your ego, I'm definitely the sexier out of the two of us, and I would get more attention for shaking my tail feathers than you would. And maybe seeing a law student breaking into a prison would be significantly worse than a bored, rich kid who wanted to spend some time vandalising a guards' station in Azkaban."

Hermione nibbled her lip. "You're pretty smart Nott, worth a lot more than just… tail feather shaking."

"Thank you, although I don't exactly need reminding, because I know I'm the best."

Hermione laughed, with a shake of her head. She hesitated. "So, you and Malfoy…"

Theo raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Well, you must have a very special friendship if you're breaking and entering for him."

"Draco is my best friend. He would do the same for me, and more, and worse. And we have for each other. I owe him more than my life. So yes, that can be classified as a special friendship. But if that was a strange roundabout way of asking me if Draco and I were gay lovers - the answer is no. I'm way out of his league."

Hermione blushed. "Uhm, that wasn't exactly… what I meant… but okay." She covered her face, feeling so embarrassed.

"Relax Granger," He picked some lint off his suit, flicking it to the ground. "I'm only pulling your leg. But please use that to win your case. Bury Kroms. He deserves worse."

She nodded. "Thank you for getting me for this, and for helping. I know it's because you're on Malfoys' side and it's not exactly for me. But still, thanks." She smiled at him. Then, not knowing what else to do with her awkward nervous energy, she waved at him before apparating back to Grimmauld Place.

-Four weeks to the trial-