Hermione sat behind the desk of the library at Grimmauld Place. She was surrounded by texts and parchment, scrolls and books of every size. While she lacked the distressed look she would carry during school exams, her focus and temperament was still the same. Whenever Ron or Harry ventured into the room to check on her general well-being or progress on her task, they entered slowly lest they be on the receiving end of a leveled glare or short worded response. Harry usually had more luck at coaxing her away from the room to take breaks and converse; Ron pretended not to be bothered this, and Hermione leaned into Harry's reassuring presence. She tried to listen when Harry reminded her that in a short time, he and Ron would be leaving for Auror training, and she would be on her own to take care of herself. Their impending absence only served to fortify her efforts to combat the slow melancholy it brought, throwing herself further into her work.

In the short time since she had made the decision to forgo the promised future of Auror glory, Hermione had contacted Professor McGonagall to make arrangements to sit her NEWTS. Even if Hermione didn't know what future career she wanted to pursue, she still valued her education above most else in her life, and the formal completion of it was tantamount. McGonagall agreed that Hermione need not return to the school to take the exams, she knew her former student would be competent to sit the challenging 7th year exams without having completed her time at Hogwarts officially. Hermione was due to sit them in 2 days, but that was not the task that kept her in the library of Grimmauld. Hermione was immersed in the beginning of her quest to identify what had happened to Professor Snape after their final encounter. As she opened another large text, she had little knowledge that Professor Snape's fate would prove to be the one task she set herself to that she would not be able to solve.

Two Years Later (Same as the Prologue)

Hermione reshuffled the stack of parchment in her arms and followed the crowd from the conference room. "Alright there, Granger?"

She turned to the familiar voice. It lacked all of the venom of their childhood, but it's drawl still elicited a slight chilling of her spine. Old habits, she internally mused, and lifted her face to meet the owner of the voice.

"Alright, Malfoy," was her response, a slight quirk in her smile. She never quite mastered his ability to smirk, despite having spent the last year and a half in his presence. Hermione knew he enjoyed seeing her attempts; and her current one drew a genuine half smile from the blonde man as he drew level with her while they walked. The sound of their feet and the swishing of their lime green robes echoed down the corridor they walked in.

"That was all rather dull, wasn't it?" Draco Malfoy asked her. "I don't see how a review of our current financial state is helpful to my performance with patients. If I wanted to spend hours drowning in meeting about figures, I would have taken the mantle in my family business. NOT having to hear all of that dribble was one of the draws of Healing."

Hermione nodded along with him. It still marveled her that they had found such an ease with each other given their distinct history. But Hermione counted Draco as a friend and trusted his skills as a Healer. He was skilled, gentle, and efficient. When she began her training at St. Mungo's she was surprised to see him the orientation but knew he would excel. It was more shocking when he approached her following the presentation to request an armistice in their childhood feuding. She swiftly agreed, determined to leave the past where it was; a lesson she had spent the better part of six months grappling with before joining the Healer Program. From that day forward, Hermione found she quite enjoyed Malfoy's company, and now, their use of surnames was more of an in-joke between them than the showing of disrespect it had been in their youth.

"It was all a little…boring." She responded to him.

Malfoy stopped walking. Hermione pulled up short to see what caused his behavior. "Granger, I think my heart literally skipped a beat. Did we just find a topic that doesn't interest you?"

She huffed at him and fixed him with her most overly dramatic eye roll. "I think you know full well that I don't like quidditch either."

His short, joyful laughter brought a bright smile to her face. Hermione liked it when she could make him laugh, he became a new person in her presence when it happened. Malfoy then reached for the stack of memos and papers in her hand, they had been distributed during the meeting. She released them to him and watched as he checked the corridor before taking his wand and burning them out of existence. "Let's go get some lunch and forget that meeting sucked two hours of our life."

They started down the hall again but stopped as a black-haired figure in distinguished Auror robes approached. Harry. Hermione felt Malfoy briefly bristled when he caught sight of the Auror walking toward them but settled with a brief touch of Hermione's hand on his arm. "It's just Harry, Draco. You're alright."

Hermione knew that, despite the tremendous amount of work Malfoy had put into his career, public life, and private healing, the sight of Aurors caused a small panic within him. Following the Battle of Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy had been exonerated from his wartime activities and Death Eater status, but he had been forced to serve a year's house detention. Having endured an Auror presence every day for a year, the uniform still caused Malfoy discomfort. Hermione felt his hand touch hers that covered his arm. She knew then she could remove her hand and address Harry.

"Hi Harry," she greeted with a smile.

"Hi Hermione," he said, directing his face to Malfoy. "Malfoy."

"Potter." Malfoy nodded. Then all three of them stood in agonizing silence. It was tense, but not angry. Both men silently judging each other, their school time prejudices and atrocities toward each other not so easily excused and forgotten. This standoff was not unusual when they found themselves in each other's presence.

Hermione let out an exasperated sound. It drew both of their attention to her. "For Merlin's sake. You've acknowledged each other, so who wants to leave first this time?"

Malfoy had the decency to cast her a small blush, as he knew his behavior was juvenile, but offered her a thin smile before nodding and moving away. "Lunch tomorrow, perhaps."

"Yes, Draco, that would be nice." Hermione offered as a farewell. She watched Malfoy stride purposefully down the rest of the hall. She returned her attention to Harry who tried, unsuccessfully, to hide his confused face. "We work together, Harry. It's okay if we spend lunch together too."

"Right," Harry said, wiping his face clear. He offered her a smile instead, opening his mouth to start the conversation anew. "Hi, 'Mi."

She hugged him at this, his nickname for her. Hermione only allowed this to Harry. No one else called her anything but her name. When Ron would slip and intone "'Mione", she would glare at him until he apologized and corrected himself. "What brings you, Haz?"

She pulled back and examined his face again. It was rare for him to visit her at work. That, and his use of her nickname, automatically had her concerned. He reached a hand behind his neck, slightly rubbing, and Hermione knew this tell to mean he was unsure of what he was about to tell her. She reached for his arm, a fortifying and comforting motion, an encouragement to deliver his missive. "I think I've found something."

Hermione blinked at him. "Found something? What do you mean?"

She still held his arm and tensed her hand as she asked her questions. Harry drew in a breath, his green eyes burning into her brown ones. "I was at Andromeda's to visit Teddy this morning, and I found…a note. I know I wasn't meant to see it, that Andromeda must have left it out by accident, or Teddy got into the stack of papers…."

As he trailed off, Hermione led him into a small, empty patient room off the hallway. "Okay, Harry. What did the note say? Why are you telling me this?"

"It wasn't what the note said. It was more just a list of items…ingredients, maybe. It also said a brief thanks. But it was the writing, Hermione." His eyes intense. His face clouded, waring with himself to finish giving her the information. Hermione waited. He didn't speak.

"Harry, what about the writing?"

"It was Snape's writing. I'm sure of it." Harry said. Hermione felt her world tilt, but Harry gripped her tightly, held her to him. She inhaled against his chest.