A/N: I still don't own Harry Potter or any related characters.
Dear Father,
I hope this note finds you, Mother and our current visitor well. There has been an incident at school. A witch was grievously assaulted by a member of my own house I am ashamed to say. I was not involved, but heard of the incident after the fact. The young woman in question is quite traumatized. She spoke out to our headmaster. He said it was her word against her assaulter's. However, I do not believe he is truly doing anything to protect the witch. She is afraid of her attacker, he has made threats against her, serious threats. Headmaster Dumbledore will not promise her any sort of safety. I believe this to be a crime, Father. If she does not feel safe at our school, because of another student, it goes to show that Dumbledore must not care about our safety at all. I beg you to go to the governors and tell them about this incident. I believe Uncle Severus knows more. Please, contact him and help sort this out. I do not feel as though I am safe either, Father, with a criminal walking our school. Please help.
Your son,
Draco.
Draco studied the letter, hoping it said the right things. He hoped his father would be outraged enough to do something. A large part of their plan hinged on him moving against Dumbledore. He slipped from the classroom and headed down to the owlery. The sooner he sent this, the sooner maybe Hermione could finally feel safe again.
He'd reached the door when he heard voices. Professor Umbridge was talking to someone, Filtch probably. Draco slid the letter into his pocket and sneaked back into the building. He passed Hermione in the hallway, scrunched his face up to match that of a toad's and slid the letter into her pocket. Hermione nodded and continued on her way to class.
Hermione watched as Harry and Ron laughed about something. She wondered if it was her. They weren't speaking to her, she wasn't surprised. She didn't care if they ever spoke to her again. Neither of them really seemed to care about her. Obviously neither of them had realized she hadn't returned to the dorm last night, that she'd missed breakfast.
No, they didn't notice her unless they wanted something from her. She went through her second class, having missed her first one, in a daze. At the clock chime, she grabbed her books and shoved them into her bag. Transfiguration was next. That brought a half smile to her face. She knew Professor Snape had talked to Professor McGonagall. She knew she would be on her side. Hermione arrived before anyone else, walking over to Professor McGonagall's desk.
"Good morning, Miss Granger. Professor Snape spoke to me about your extra curricular project. I'd like to say I'm here to offer anything you might need."
"Thank you, Professor. Right now, I really want to focus on my studies. There's only so many hours in a day though, and the library is closed most of them."
"I can write you a pass, Miss Granger."
"Thank you. Also, my partner on my assignment ran into trouble mailing out a letter. There seemed to be a pink toad in the way," Hermione said, sliding the letter from her pocket and onto Professor McGonagall's desk.
"You do know I have no idea to what exactly you're referring," Professor McGonagall stated, sliding the letter into her own pocket and giving Hermione a slight nod.
"So, I had a question about our homework?" Hermione asked, quickly changing the subject as the other students started to trickle into the classroom.
"No, you may not write five pages of parchment, I asked for two," Professor McGonagall stated, watching the other students take their seats.
