"How could I have not known this?" she whispered softly as she headed into the living room of Malfoy Manor. Behind her, Draco didn't respond. He knew she was not only talking to herself but she didn't actually want an answer.

"Do you have any books on wizarding laws?" She interrupted his thinking. He nodded and summoned a couple in from his office, unsure as to why she wanted them and what she was looking for. He knew she wouldn't find anything more than what he had told her.

Leaving her to the books, he went and made her some tea. At the rate she could read it wouldn't take very long for her to finish the bits regarding marriage laws.

"This is ridiculous." She muttered as he walked back into the room.

"How so?" He was glad she was talking and taking action about this. For a brief moment he thought she had given up. But then, he should have realised the Gryffindor Princess never gives up. Well, hardly ever.

"Ridiculous. The Muggle rules regarding marriages and break-ups are a lot less strict."

"Well, this isn't the Muggle world."

"Obviously. In the Muggle world he could be taken to court for this. Could have ended up behind bars."

"Why?" Draco was confused. Would Weasley be put in jail for not divorcing his wife? Or for abusing her?

"Domestic Violence is a serious offense. Why is it so down played here?"

Draco shrugged. "That's just the way it's always been."

"Stupid pureblood bastards abusing their wives all the time, making sure the women knew this society is heavily male orientated."

Draco looked at her questionably but she didn't look up. At first he disagreed with her. But then thinking back at how his father treated his mother, he knew Hermione was right. As usual.

"I'm going to guess it was all males who made the majority of the laws we live by?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"You're going to change it?" He teased, knowing she already knew the answer to her own question.

"Mm-hm." She mumbled, turning the page in the book. He leaned back, not surprised. He had no doubt that if someone were to change things that had been around for hundreds or years, it would be Hermione.

The slamming of the book startled him from his thoughts. He had been thinking over various plans but wouldn't tell her until he had thoroughly thought through every possible outcome.

"Do you have more books?" She stood up with the two books he had gotten for her in her arms.

"In my office."

As soon as the word were out of his mouth she was heading off, somehow knowing where to go automatically.

They aren't going to tell you something you don't already know.

He blindly followed her as she walked straight into his home office, barely pausing to unlock the door. As she headed directly for the big oak bookcase that entirely covered the wall he headed for his desk, looking over the paperwork spread over it.

Pulling out parchment, he wrote a quick note and folded it. Hermione didn't even notice what he was doing until he whistled softly and an elegant eagle-owl fluttered from its perch in the corner over to Draco. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the owl allowed a letter to be tied to it before being carried to the window. A cool breeze danced through the room as the bird spread its speckled wings and took flight.

Draco watched his owl until it became a speck in the distance. Hopefully his contact would reply to him soon. He left the window open and headed back to his chair, intending on looking over some of his own work whilst Hermione entertained herself with his books.

"Draco...what exactly do you do?"

He jumped, not having heard her approach. He turned to find his face nearly buried in her curls. She had been leaning over his shoulder, reading the papers as quickly as he was.

"I work with...for children."

That explained his office being on the fourth floor. Working with children though, not something I would have seen Draco Malfoy wanting to do.

"That's a report..."

"On a muggle-born child, yeah I know."

"Oh..." She had realised the report was about a child. One, that by the sound of things was a muggle-born who had recently been orphaned. And upon reading further, Hermione discovered Draco and another person, his partner she supposed, were working on getting the young girl adopted into a magical family.

"What?" He asked, not having missed the weird look she sent him.

"I just...it's not exactly..."

"Not something you would have thought I would do?" She nodded in agreement. He sighed, turning to face her as she sat on the edge of his desk. As she made herself comfortable he continued. "It's not exactly something I saw myself getting into either. After the war...Hell, I was really little the first time I said I wanted to be a healer. My father made sure to rid that idea from my mind. It wasn't until the war began when I knew I wanted to be a healer once more, to help people instead of being just some death-eater. My father, well he dragged me in. After the war was over I had no idea what to do with myself. I began the studies for the healing courses but my father found out. They told me they denied my application because I used to be a death-eater."

He sighed, thoughts racing though his mind at light-speed. Hermione's hand gently held his and he continued. "I know my father put an end to the healing career. He wanted me to take after him and work in the ministry. I had no interest in it but after his pressuring me and Astoria's nagging...I was going to give in but then Scorpius was born I did a lot of thinking. After Father passed away and Astoria had left all I had was Scor, and my mother of course. Scor was three when Astoria left, and he was my whole world. Mother encouraged me to find a job that interested me. I was good with children, both Scorpius and Daphne's girls. Kids are great, not so judgemental as adults."

"What prompted you to work in children's services?"

"Pansy did." Hermione grimaced as he mentioned Pansy Parkinson, but he didn't notice it. "Her eldest child, a boy a bit older than ours, was a complicated birth. And you know how magic makes childbirth so easy." She nodded, remembering having her children painlessly and within a few hours. "Well, her son...something went wrong and as the doctors removed him he was trying to stay with his mother via that magic bond that forms between mother and child."

Hermione could imagine what happened; the bond, a powerful thing, was created so the mother would know exactly what was going on whilst she carried her child. At birth, the bond was generally dissolved, forming magic in the child. If the bond was forcefully broken...

"He was born with some magic but within hours it had depleted. He probably won't go to Hogwarts like his younger sibling. Pansy's husband, he didn't take it well. He wanted to dispose of the boy, but Pansy struggled with him. Now there are laws in place to try to prevent the harming of any child – magical or not."

"And this?" She indicated the report.

"We are working on getting muggle-born children introduced to our communities if something happens to their parents. Some muggles actually dump their kid when their magic does something that should be impossible. We have lists of all children born in wizarding communities in Britain as well as magical children born to muggles. This way, if something happens we can get the child to safety and have them bought to a home where they can live happily. I'm also working on a program to get muggle-borns and other wizards who grew up in the muggle world to attend some classes or something to help them get integrated into our society."

"You're a great person, Draco Malfoy." She said, throwing her arms around him. "You have no idea how much that would have meant to me if I could have attended something before Hogwarts to help adjust."

"Yeah...well..."

She pulled back, momentarily forgetting why they had been in the office in the first place.

"Are you blushing?" She laughed, completely and utterly surprised at this other side of Draco that she was seeing.

He looked at her in horror. "Malfoy's do not blush." She just continued to laugh.

"Draco?" A voice called. Hermione jumped off the desk as the door opened.

Narcissa Malfoy gracefully walked in, a serene smile on her face as she looked at the two behind the desk, blushing furiously.

"Yes, Mother?"

"You had a call from the Carlyle's. They will be here for dinner. Apparently you have something you want to discuss with them?"

"Yeah, that's great. I'll invite the Potter's later when I pick up the kids." He said idly.

Narcissa nodded, then turned to Hermione. "I thought we might go out for a few hours. I know this great cafe..."

"Uh, that's great, Cissa. But I had planned on staying here, researching." Hermione mumbled as she headed over to the bookcases once more.

She felt a hand on her arm. "No, we are going out for a few hours. It will give Draco some time to catch up with his work and us some time to talk." She didn't need to elaborate as to what they would talk about. Narcissa had already worked it out from answering the call meant for her son. The woman who had called told her all about the note they had received and Narcissa had promptly invited her to bring her husband and two children to join them for dinner.

Hermione had no choice but to follow the elegant blond with only a fleeting smile from Draco. She didn't really mind going out for the afternoon with Narcissa, but she couldn't help the feeling of uselessness that followed her around.

Draco smiled as his mother led Hermione away, giving them a smile as they left. He was grateful his mother had shown up; he hadn't been expecting it, but obviously it was exactly what Hermione needed. He worked in silence, the only interruptions being Trip forcing him to eat something and his owl returning.

The clock neared four as he picked up one of the first files he had read, a particularly hard one to judge. He consulted various other files and pictures as he decided where to place the young muggle-born girl. A soft *pop* instantly told him he wasn't alone any longer. He looked up from the files to stare into the bright eager eyes of his elf.

"Mr. Malfoy, sir..." The tiny elf began, her hands nervously brushing her neat dress.

"Yes, Dizzy?" He sighed. He knew the elves were under strict orders not to interrupt his work unless it was for the children, not that he often worked during the day.

"It's four in the afternoon sir." She began, watching Draco as he glanced up at the clock. "You are supposed to pick the children up."

He nodded, putting the file in a drawer in his desk. Wordlessly he watched his elf take the larger stack of papers, ones he had dealt with, and disappear. He knew she was taking the papers to his partner, saving his owl a long journey.

*pop*

"Mr. Malfoy..."

"I'm going." He gave the elf a smile as he followed her out of the room, locking the door as he went. It wasn't locked to keep people from accessing files; it was locked to keep small children with sticky fingers away. After Scorpius had gotten in the first time Draco decided it was best the door remained locked.

"Have a nice trip, sir. We will have dinner ready in a few hours." The small elf smiled, gave a small curtsey and then disappeared.

As Draco headed to the floo he found himself once again glad the elves his mother had gotten him had both been trained to speak proper English. It was easier to understand and meant his son wouldn't pick up the elfish way of speaking.

"Draco? What are you doing here?"

"Hermione went to the Ministry today. For a divorce." He began, wondering if they knew of the laws.

"Oh, that's great!" Ginny smiled at him, a real smile. Instantly Draco knew she didn't know.

"No, it's not. She can't divorce him."

Draco braced as the fiery red-head began shouting out and arguing with anyone who spoke. In the end, Harry had to drag her out of the room.

"I assume you have no idea how to break their marriage?" Harry asked once he was back in the room.

"Correct. I have a friend coming over for dinner, a lawyer. He studied both Muggle and Wizarding laws. I figure if anyone knows how to get around the laws it will be him."

"And you want us to join you?" Harry fully intended on being there anyway, but figured it would be better to actually be invited.

Draco nodded. "We will probably need all the help we can get to work this out."

Harry nodded in agreement, watching as the children headed back into the house.

"What if we can't?" Harry couldn't help but be surprised at the sheer determination on Draco's face.

"We will have to." Draco said. "We have no choice, do we?"