That horrific smell gripped Draco's nose again as the two former Gryffindors took his arms for side-along apparition. Shit, she had to be a wreck. Well, she'd slept at the Manor the night before thanks to him. And apparently both women had talked about that. Nice smelly way to be reminded he'd been an idiot. Then, she still had asked to come back when he'd offered a way out, so there wasn't much he could have done anyway. He apparated to the corridor next to the drawing room this time. There, he'd made up for the day before. He strode without a word to the library, not really waiting for them to get on their feet properly. Wasn't about to be kind or anything, he wasn't going soft after all. They followed suit nonetheless, and the three of them quickly reached the double doors that enclosed the Malfoy library. He entered and called:

"Blaise?"

"Here mate, come around I'm in over my head with this bullshit …"

"We're here to relay you Zabini." Brown said to Draco's back as they were reaching the alley Blaise now occupied.

The dark man was sitting at a square table, surrounded by papers, apparently reading them all at once. Hermione cringed at the lack of organisation. How in hell was he supposed to find anything?

"What …" She started angrily but caught back her aggressive tone and preferred a more formal one: "have you found?" She'd been about to yell What in hell have you done to the alphabetically ordered register? But had remembered that Zabini had spent his day looking through the boring register and that she should thank him, not yell at him. He had looked lost a second before her question, now he looked back in business:

"Thirteen documents total for now. I haven't gone through them, I'm not even at a quarter of that damn register yet." No wonder with such organisation skills.

"Right. Show me where you are." And she sat impatiently next to him at the table. Lavender took the seat facing her and started:

"I'll look through what you found. Where …?" At least Lavender was on Hermione's side with this.

"Here." He showed the floor. The floor! Hermione was really close to loose her temper, and Lavender gave her a warning look. This was the world upside down.

"What can I do?" Asked Malfoy, still standing behind Hermione.

"Oh mate I have no idea …" Zabini looked at Hermione with wide eyes, which seemed to be his way to say he was completely lost. Good thing he realised it.

"I'm sure Lavender will need help looking through what Zabini found." Hermione answered as Lavender sat crossed legged on the floor, looking irritably at the pile of scrolls and books Zabini had tossed at the foot of a bookshelf. Malfoy took a few steps to her, but before he could say anything Lavender stopped him, lifting a hand in dismissal:

"I reckon Malfoy had a nasty report to finish, Irish business if I'm not mistaken." Malfoy looked positively relieved.

"I do. I'll come help you as soon as I'm finished then. If you don't mind." He said, looking at Zabini.

"No, couldn't be in better hands than with the book-w … err than with them." Zabini looked so guilty it was … funny. Hermione actually laughed. A bitter laugh, but still one. It felt good. Zabini looked at her as if she'd grown another head, Malfoy didn't hide his smirk at all and Lavender looked amused. Once she'd calmed down Hermione said:

"I think what Zabini's been trying to say is that I, as you former Slytherins call me, know-it-all book-worm Gryffindor? Or maybe bushy-haired book-worm? Whatever, what he's trying to say is that I can handle perfectly well a sodding pile of paper, thank you very much." For a second Zabini looked like she'd slapped him straight on the face, and then both former Slytherins burst out laughing. Which was positively strange, Hermione hadn't known they could. Lavender was quick to join them, giggling and covering her mouth with a hand, and Hermione just smiled at her own audacity. She completely assumed what she was and self-mockery had been a nice way to avoid awkwardness. Or maybe not.

"That is so weird." Lavender said when the moment passed. "We must really be close to a breakdown Mione, laughing with sneaky Slytherins!" She was still looking amused and her teasing tone didn't really anger any of the two present tired men. Hermione decided she'd close the subject though, they had important things to do.

"Yes, it seems we're all very tired. But we still need to get to work." That put everyone back in track. Malfoy nodded, his smirk still very much in place, before going away, and Hermione sighed, again, as Zabini gave her the piece of register he'd been holding. It was going to be a long night.

Granger making jokes at her own expense? Was the world upside down? The uptight know-it-all had to be a totally different person, Draco thought. Well he was different too, wasn't he? Blaise was for sure, Brown seemed to be as far as possible from the gossipy self-absorbed teenager she'd been, and even Potter was different. Well, no, Potter was Potter, he was just exhausted. Thinking of exhaustion, his report couldn't wait.

Draco finished it and was done looking through his company's business matters around two o'clock. One hour earlier than expected, what a sodding relief. He stood from his desk chair and stretched his arms above his head, yawning loudly. Shit, he needed to at least check on the book-worm and her blondie companion. He said he'd help but frankly sleep deprivation and walking around all day had made all his muscles hurt, and his eyes were so red and bloodshot from the intense parchment fixing that he was fairly certain he couldn't read any more.

He walked slowly to the library, wondering when this madness would finally end. His whole life had been only a huge amount of pain and sleep deprivation, and at that moment he only wanted to go to bed, and maybe die in his sleep. Of course he couldn't do that, his mother would be a wreck. A wreck in great danger. Right, he needed to enter those double doors and maybe pretend to help the aurors a bit. He took a step in the library and all he could see from the doors were the alleys of books, whose shadow moved a bit at the dim light produced by the candles. He took a few more steps and finally heard sign of a living soul, a turning page. The book-worm sat exactly where he'd left her, the others were …oddly asleep. Blaise was sleeping on a chair, his head back, open-mouthed, a book still open on his lap. Brown was asleep too, crossed-legged, leaning against a bookshelf, books and scrolls opened and scattered all around her, he was surprised Granger wasn't pissed. Brown looked strangely peaceful like that, not as mad as the rest of the time.

Granger hadn't heard him and despite his physical strain he smirked, he could startle her a bit. He took a step to the side and caught sight of her face. She was completely oblivious to his presence, deep in the register, that she'd apparently rearranged alphabetically. Her dark eyes moved like lightning bolts above the paper, and she was toying with some muggle pen with her fingers. Her wand was at the ready next to her toying hand, and the other was keeping the page neatly flat on the table. Draco took a step more but stopped when he was close enough to see her face in details at the faint light.

It was so weird, the book-worm without her typical bushy-hair. Now she was almost blonde, her hair fell on her shoulders but when he scanned her face, she was still very much herself. Or was she? Her features were no longer that of a teenager, she had such dark marks under her eyes that Draco wondered how she could still keep them open. She looked far worse than the rest of them, which explained the smell she had whenever she got out of Azkaban. She had small freckles all over her nose and upper cheeks and her eyes were a rich whiskey colour, not the plain boring brown he had thought. Her lips were stretched in a thin line of frustration and he realised he'd never really seen her before. Not as a person anyway. He'd always seen her as Potter's charity number and never thought about her feelings when he'd insulted her. Not until that day anyway.

And then despite all that, Potter had saved his life and he had forced himself to forget all about it, it would have driven him mad. Yet, she was there, in his home, and he had to work with her. He had tried to see her as a person, but every time he had, the memory of that damn day came back, and he had no wish to go through that again. If it wasn't for bloody Lestranges he wouldn't have to be so fucking tired and confused over a girl he didn't even care about anyway. They needed to find those bloody pieces of scum and be rid of them.

Well, wasn't it what she was trying to do? All goody good Gryffindor and all, trying to yet again save his arse somehow. Actually she wasn't doing it for him at all, but for the entire magical community, and he was involved, so involved he couldn't back out. He would need to really work with her. And if he wanted to remain sane he would have to try again at civility with the infuriating little bossy know-it-all. Arguing with her all day long wasn't something he thought he could handle any more.

"Need something Malfoy?" She quietly inquired. The smirk she was sporting was at an unprecedented level of awkwardness to Draco. Wasn't she a Gryffindor? Well, she'd seen him staring. He guessed they were even now. "You should go to bed, it's too late to help now, you've got work to do in the mor … er in a few hours." She said looking at the stoned clock above the shelves. She was almost right but her slightly commanding tone wasn't appreciated so he decided to at least keep on track.

"Well I don't, it's Sunday already. Did you find anything?"

"Oh Sunday." She looked both surprised and sad, and then all business again: "Well I did, a few of these scrolls are more recent than the ones you landed us. I'll have to retrieve them for Kingsley, they might need to check on a few places we didn't know about. And well, if you don't mind I'd like to stay until I'm done, this might take a day more if we work quickly."

"Right. Aren't you supposed to go back to Azkaban?"

"As long as there's no other incidents they'll manage. Besides this is the most urgent matter, and our only resource to be honest."

"Oh, show me those then, and I'll send them to Potter with the first missive tomorrow, I'll drop by at the office anyway."

"I thought it was Sunday?" She said, lifting an eyebrow.

"Yes well, I don't have to work, I never said I wouldn't." She smiled faintly at that, though not exactly at him. This day was becoming weirder and weirder. She yawned loudly before adding:

"Thank you Malfoy." Weirder and weirder. Brown was right, they must be close to mental breakdown. He nodded in response, still in shock at the civility that was occurring. She shoved two scrolls on the closest side of the table to him and Draco sat to look at them. Indeed they were more recent. He tried to remember which places still existed, outing the ones the ministry had secured already. It was a tremendous effort, he had to remember death eater meetings, and locations mentioned during the dark lord's err, rein. Plus, he didn't know all the places the ministry had taken and his precedent thoughts came back to him. He was going to have to work with her. He still scanned the most he could alone, and when he finally had only a few places he didn't know about he asked:

"I eliminated places that no longer exist, to my knowing, or are not warded enough for err death eater activity, but those I don't know about." He shoved the scroll back to her, indicating the top of it.

"Which ones exactly?"

"The old manor in London, I suspect it stayed undetected, the holiday Nott house, near Wales border, and the Yaxley cottage south west England."

"Nott's secured. Yaxley's too. The old manor you said? Oh, is it this old stoned building down knockturn alley?"

"It might yes."

"Err, It must be. That house had such horrific wards! I was shoved right out of it by anti-muggle-borns curses! It blew me out of there the second I set foot on the threshold!" She looked emptily in front of her, the memory apparently quite strong.

"Anti-muggle-borns? Does that even exist?" Draco had no knowledge of such magic, would have been horrific in the wrong hands.

"Well it seems it did. We didn't know, all wards had been taken down with Minerva's help, it took nearly two weeks!

"McGonagall?"

"Yes, she helps us from time to time."

"Oh. But did you just enter like that without checking first?"

"Of course not Malfoy I'm not stupid. Almost everyone was inside already I was just following and got blasted out in the street, knocking my head against the stoned wall on the other side of the street. And it had nasty side effects." She winced. He couldn't help but find it a bit funny.

"Nasty side effects?" He inquired and she winced again.

"You don't want to know." He gave her a condescending and sceptical look that said otherwise.

"All right, you do want to know, and that's why I'm not saying." She granted.

"She got boils all over for almost a week." Lavender stretched as she simply stated facts, that traitorous bitch!

"Lavender!" Malfoy laughed so hard he had to hug his ribs.

"You! The boils giver! Got boils all over?!"

"Boils giver? Oh fifth year …"

"Yeah! Seems like fate caught up with you." He mocked which made her curse angrily.

"Fuck you Malfoy. Thank you very much Lavender."

Lavender stood yawning and stretched before joining them at the table. She sat to Malfoy's left, almost face to face with Hermione, speaking nonsense:

"But you're welcome dear. You might really thank me though."

"Why would I ? He won't stop now."

"Well one shameful secret for another. Hear me Malfoy?" Malfoy actually stopped laughing. Lavender looked quite proud of herself. How stupid Hermione thought. Like the idiot would actually give her anything compromising. She looked sceptically at her, and then at the ferret.

"No way in hell am I saying anything Brown." Here, just as she'd predicted.

"Oh you sure will." Lavender growled, looking quite intimidating. Her eyes were wild in what Hermione knew was a pretend menacing glare. To her utter surprise Malfoy seemed a bit uncomfortable.

"In your dreams Brown." He still answered, his iron mask of superiority back on his face.

"Well you broke my dream mate so remember the time you fell in the lake and got swung by the Giant squid's disgusting tentacles for nearly fifteen minutes?" Hysterical laughing took both Hermione and Lavender. Malfoy, the pretentious and mocking kid he'd once been, had been swung by the giant squid? Picturing the plastered haired nasty git swinging in the air, yelling his lungs out, was immensely funny at this very late hour.

"Fuck Blaise!" Malfoy looked so pissed it actually stopped Hermione's laughing. She winced but couldn't help but chuckle at his next stumbling words.

"You nasty piece of … traitor! Bloody fucking traitor!" He then threw a pile of pages from the register to Zabini's face. Lavender and him were still laughing so hard they didn't see Hermione's face. He'd just thrown the register she spent an hour organizing in the air. Threw it just like that. In the bloody fucking air.

"What the hell Malfoy? Was that fucking necessary?" She yelled. Hermione was seeing red. He couldn't have just thrown away her work like that! Over some stupid memory! "I just spent a sodding hour rearranging that pile of fucking paper!" She banged the table with her fist. So much for civility and his reaction was quick to confirm that.

"You quit yelling at me you bloody bint!" Insults, getting worse.

"What did you just call me? You can't just throw away my fucking work! So much for the bloody grown-up Malfoy! Still the same kid throwing temper tantrums!"

"Fuck you Granger! I'm not and it's not because you're so uptight that everyone else has to be!"

"Uptight? I'm not uptight for Godric's sake! I've only been doing my fucking job if you haven't noticed!" They'd both stood up in their quarrel and were now yelling at each other's face.

"It's just a sodding pile of paper Granger you got a wand remember? Or aren't you a bloody witch?"

"And what is that supposed to mean? Your bloody papers are charmed if you don't remember! I had to do it myself!"

"ENOUGH!" Lavender's scream startled both the yelling arguers and she continued more quietly, anger fuming from her nostrils like a bull. "In case you haven't noticed we're all exhausted and it's nearly four in the morning! We needed the bloody laugh! If you two can't get over a simple joke then it's your problem but quit yelling already!" Lavender looked about to loose it. But Hermione didn't care any more, she just wanted to kill the git, strangle him. Yes, with her bare hands.

"HE JUST FUCKING THREW AWAY …"

"I SAID ENOUGH HERMIONE!" Wow, she would snap. Her upper cheeks were red and her eyes veiled. Hermione realised she'd made Lavender loose it. Shit. Shit. Triple shit.

"All right Lavender it's over." She said with an anger trembling voice that she tried to smooth, breathing deeply, and looking at Lavender right in the eyes. "Calm down please, it's over, I won't yell again." Lavender was panting, both Slytherins looked so bewildered they weren't of any help. Hermione didn't dare retrieve her wand for Lavender could see it as a threat. She eventually deflated, it had taken years but Lavender knew how to control her temper now. Hermione had forgotten than, she'd just been so scared. This should never happen again.

"You two are going to forget your old grudges Hermione. We need to work together. We need them." Lavender had never looked so tired. Hermione winced, she'd acted like a child, but then so did he! What an adult thought that was. She'd been willing to kill him with her bare hands. When had she become this angry? She didn't remember. She'd changed. Maybe not for the better. This couldn't be, she had to contain her anger. She had to make things work.

"Right, and we need the annoying aurors mate. Won't arrest those bloody killers by ourselves now will we?" Added Zabini. Malfoy looked at his friend, sighing. Lavender's snap had apparently calmed him down.

"Right." He said.

"Hermione?"

"If he promises to take his nerves on something else than my work." Hermione answered reluctantly.

"She's got a point you know Malfoy, this took time." Lavender looked at the papers on the floor for good measure.

"I'll rearrange them now. There's only a few." Blaise said, bending to the floor and grabbing the pages.

"Yes, I'll help and we should all go get some sleep." Lavender said. "If you don't mind Malfoy."

"Same room." The ferret simply stated.

"I'll come by when we're done Hermione you've done enough for today." Lavender gave her a faint smile. Hermione let go of the matter. After all she just realised she was standing and every muscle and nerve of her body were protesting furiously. The constant sitting and the too long day felt heavy on her. Plus she'd just been screaming her lungs out and she felt empty now. She didn't even had the strength to answer and just nodded. She walked to the door and once in the corridor, well, she didn't remember where to go.

Draco looked at Brown curiously, bending over to take a few pages from Blaise's hand. He felt like a third wheel. Blaise had been clearly amazed by the werewolf crazy bout and he now disturbingly looked fascinated. This was … unsettling. Odd. But at least they were civil to each other, and they seemed to work well together. Draco had to try harder with Granger. To her defence he'd been an idiot again. He just hadn't thought when he'd thrown the papers at Blaise. It had been stupid. And instead of apologizing as he should have done, he'd just yelled right back at her, releasing his frustration on her. What was it with her anyway? That? Fuck he didn't want to think about that. She hadn't done anything. He'd just been a stupid prat. Fuck. Work, urgency, exhaustion, had made him an angry ball of nerves and Granger had been in the way.

Draco got out of the library deep in his self-depreciating thoughts. She'd called him a wanker. Maybe she'd been right.

"Oh!" He'd just run into her. What on earth had he done to deserve that? She winced and rubbed her shoulder, looking right in his eyes. Shit she looked so … worn. He held her gaze a moment. He had something to do, that he'd already done, only to break his word a few tiring hours later. He owed her an apology and as hurting as the words would be, he felt like he needed to do it. Like he ought to. Like she deserved it. Shit she was a person for Salazar's sake. A sodding infuriating … wrong train of thoughts. That. Fuck he didn't have the strength to fight this any more. She looked so terribly on edge he just spoke.

"I'm sorry Granger. I … I won't take my anger out on you again." She didn't say anything and just kept looking at him, her whiskey eyes devoid of emotions, like she'd just given up. On everything. It was so unsettling that he kept talking, her empty eyes making his stomach lurch. "I didn't think when I threw the papers. I … Fuck stop looking at me like that!" She looked surprised.

"Like what?"

"Like … like you're … I don't know …" He didn't know what to say. He couldn't possibly tell her she looked, and sometimes smelled, so desperate, it went right through him.

"I'm sorry Malfoy, I won't take my anger out on you again either. It was just a few papers." Did she just apologize too? When she'd done nothing wrong, yet again?

"No I've been a prat to you since … well, ever, and you shouldn't apologize. I've changed Granger, even if I don't show it that much. I will be civil from now on and this time you have my word." She looked at him a moment longer, squinted her eyes a second and offered him her hand.

"I will be civil too. We can't afford old rivalries to fuck this up. You have my word." She said and finally her eyes took back that determined look she'd worn since he knew her. He took her very small hand and shook it briefly. She gave him a faint smile, that he wasn't able to give back. So he teased.

"Plus your wolf might just eat us if we yell at each other again." She chuckled briefly.

"Sure, that would definitely fuck things up." Draco smiled as faintly as she'd just done too and with a "Here." he led her back to the guest room she would share again with Brown. They walked in an heavy silence, only broken by their footsteps on the marble floor. She took the doorknob and had just opened her mouth, presumably to awkwardly greet him good night or something similar, when the words just escaped his mouth, his too tired brain unable to shove aside the memories any more.

"Are you …" He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Are you all right with staying here?" Shit he'd asked it! He couldn't look at her. Shit. Like they both needed the fucking reminder! What a bloody stupid idiot he was! What was wrong with him? What was wrong with him when it came to her?

"Sharing makes things easier." She finally answered. He shot his head back up but she wasn't looking at him, she was looking at her hand, still gripping tightly the doorknob. He was so uncomfortable that he could have just melted into a pile of crap. He cleared his throat again and answered quietly:

"Right. Good night Granger." He needed to escape the conversation, quickly. He was being soft with Hermione fucking Granger. Who was he? He was already going away but her faint whisper still made its way to his ears.

"Good night Malfoy." He walked as fast as he could without making too much noise.

"Malfoy?" Shit. He didn't want to have this conversation. He couldn't take it. He couldn't remember. Not now. Not now that he was so exhausted. He turned around but said nothing.

"Thank you." What? What for? He'd lost his voice. She added: "For apologizing. And offering we shared."

"Oh. Right." He nodded, she almost smiled. And he couldn't take it any more and pretty much ran away.

Hermione looked at his retrieving back until he turned a corner. He had apologized to her, and for real this time. It hadn't been the reluctant acceptance she'd seen the last time. He'd meant it. Or maybe she was going nuts, because she thought she'd seen pain in his eyes. It had looked painful for him to say those words, to her. But she could feel he'd meant them and this was the most disturbing thing out of everything that had been said that night. They'd been civil, for a moment, they'd laughed at the other's expense, but it had lacked the nasty and mean mockery that had always been there between them. It had almost felt friendly. And then they'd snapped. She'd lost it over something he hadn't done on purpose, and he'd lashed out at her in response. They'd almost made Lavender snap too.

Hermione realised the only one who'd stayed put together had been Zabini. The man had just lost his grand-mother and spent his whole day trying to find something useful in that damn register and yet he'd remained calm. How was it that she just couldn't control her temper any more? She'd been through things too, a lot actually, but those things were of the past, not from the day before. Malfoy had an excuse too, he was under threat as much as Zabini, he was considered a blood traitor now. But her? Was it staying at the Manor? No, except for the room, she'd never been anywhere else here, and even if she didn't feel quite at ease, it wasn't much of a bother. Well, only because she got to spend the night with the comforting company of a friend, maybe alone it wouldn't feel the same. What was it then? Was it him? No he'd just apologized, sincerely apologized. Maybe he had changed. Maybe Harry was right about him, maybe for once she'd been right not to take Ron's side. She should give him a chance, after all he'd made the first step. Well, he'd started the incivility in the first place, but still. He'd probably been through a lot too, part of it she knew, the rest she didn't, but suspected. He deserved a chance, Malfoy sodding ferret or not. She had to contain her anger, or she'd end up doing or saying things she'd bitterly regret later. Like strangling him to death with her bare hands. What had that been about? Fuck she was so tired. She hadn't even realised she'd settled in bed already. Shutting her unclear thoughts up she drifted to sleep, not waiting for Lavender.

Blaise Zabini had spent a strange day. He had determinedly concentrated all his grief and anger into the search of documents that could help the aurors find those bastards. It had worked, it had kept his profound sadness and boiling anger at bay. They'd even laughed at both his and Brown's traitorous reminders, and he'd been superficially fine. Until Granger had broke. Until Draco had yelled back at her. Until Brown had snapped and said they had needed the laugh.

Laughing shouldn't be a need. It just shouldn't! Life shouldn't be this fucking hard! What did he have left now? No more family. An useless pile of gold? Those bastards had taken everything from him. From the start of this bloody war, where he'd had to leave everything behind, his home, his education, his friends, and now his only family was dead. It was all death and despair. He had only one friend left and he couldn't even support him for he was as broken as he. Draco was so terribly on edge that he verged on cruel to cope, and the threat upon their heads since the end of fourth year had made him bitter and angry. Blaise had been able to cope with that until … until he'd seen her, broken, opened-chest with that horrific and covered in blood expression forever plastered on her face. Her severe and soft features marred by hatred and monstrosity.

Blaise had nonetheless kept his nerves steady, and tried to help the others. Granger looked dead. She was far too pale compared to what he remembered of her, and her eyes were so stained and marked that he wondered how many years it'd been since she'd had a full night of sleep. Brown looked less worn, but her scars might hide the exhaustion. She was fascinating. She'd gone from madly murderous to friendly and fair in an instant and now was taking the pages he'd gathered from him. Her wild and curly golden hair fell in disarray around her scarred face. Draco had left them to take care of the register he'd thrown at him and they took a moment to put the pile back together. As fascinating as the sight of Brown frowning and thinking was, Blaise only wanted to let go now. He wanted her gone so he could drink himself to oblivion, or at least numbness, and try to forget.

"Go to bed Blaise I'll finish this." Brown was looking at him with a look that said she knew he was upset. Wait she'd called him Blaise? Pity. She felt pity.

"I'm perfectly fine I'll stay." He spat. She cocked her strangely not unpleasant face to the side, to look at him a little better.

"No you're not. We're all on edge but you just suffered more than any of us and you should get some rest now. Or … do whatever you want to do but take your nose out of these boring papers." It wasn't pity, it was compassion. Shit. She was just being friendly. But he was so angry!

"I don't need you telling me …" She cut him.

"Shut it Zabini! I can see you need a bloody drink or sleep or both or whatever. Go!" Well, it was clearer and less irritating said bluntly. He nodded and stood to go.

"Right."

"You mean I'm right don't you?"

"Don't push it Brown." She smiled, her scars wrinkled on her cheeks at the dim light of the candles. It was … like fresh air. Such a disturbingly soothing sight that he felt himself smile too.

"Good night Zabini."

"Good night blondie." He said mockingly and she chuckled a bit at his back.

Lavender put a book on top of the newly ordered pile of paper. Everyone was loosing their shit, herself included. They'd find something the next day. They'd go over that damn register and bring everything back to Azkaban, and they'd work their ass off with the boys to find those bloody murderous hating pieces of scum. They'd catch them. Just like she'd caught Greyback. They'd retrieve the stone and destroy it. For everyone's sake.

Selfishly, she wanted this to be over for her friends' sake. For Ron who was constantly on missions, for Dean who never saw his family, for Neville who kept reassuring her when he didn't really believe in it any more, and mostly for Harry and Hermione. Their lives was even worse than hers. Poor Harry, having only them around and the Weasleys and never actually seeing them, especially Ginny, and Hermione … she was broken.

Lavender stood, stretched and went to find the guest room. It was five in the morning. She retrieved her coin and tapped it with her wand, sending the others a "everything's okay." She was pretty sure Hermione would have forgotten. She'd looked so upset. Malfoy had been no better. And she actually felt her heart constrict for Zabini. She saw light under his door when she finally reached the corridor to the guests rooms. She frowned but went to her shared room without a stop. Hermione was curled up in a ball on the left side of the bed, shifting slightly, moaning a little. She'd had nightmares the night before, but she didn't seem to remember them, for she hadn't woken up during their short night and said nothing about it once up. Lavender settled next to her under the covers, and looked at her face. She didn't look peaceful. She looked in pain. Lavender felt tears bubble up under her eyes and she closed her lids tightly a minute not to shed them. She'd realised Hermione had taken the place of a sister in her life since that stone issue. She'd told herself so the precedent night, just before confiding in her for the first time. Hermione was like her family. As were the boys. And she would take care of her. Of them. She brushed a lock of hair from her friend's face and sighed. She needed to sleep, she was thinking like a wolf again.