Once Hermione was safely back in her office with the door shut, she sat down in her chair, and laid her head on her desk. She breathed a sigh of relief. It had gone much better than she expected, she thought to herself. She was itching for Malfoy to make a mistake, she realized, to give her a reason to send him packing back to Azkaban, but he'd been civil the entire time, even when it looked like it was physically paining him to do so at some points.
"Maybe this will work," Hermione said to herself out loud, allowing her thoughts to drift. She suddenly felt a tremor that began in her left hand, then moved up through her arm. Hermione ripped open the top right drawer of her desk and pulled out a blue potion. She drank it quickly and waited a few minutes for it to work, sitting in her chair as the tremors washed over her but soon thereafter, went away. She opened the top right drawer again and pulled out a journal. She scribbled in it quickly, noting that the episodes were down to once a day, and more controlled with the potion. She shut the journal and tucked it back in the drawer. She then looked at her watch and, noting it was half past one, walked to her fireplace and placed a quick floo call. Not two minutes later there was a knock at her door. She walked to the door and opened it to find her three best friends on the other side.
"How did it go?" Harry asked.
"What did ferret boy do?" was Ron's question.
"How are you?" Ginny wanted to know.
Hermione laughed and ushered her friends in to her office and shut the door behind them. She conjured a third chair and they all sat down.
"One question at a time," she said, smiling at her friends. "Harry, it went fine. Ron, he didn't do anything. Gin, I'm perfectly fine."
They all started to answer her at once, then all stopped at the same time with a laugh.
"I'll go first," Harry said, still laughing. "You lot can wait your turn. It went fine? Are you sure?"
"Yes," Hermione replied. "He only called me Mudblood once. After that, I laid down the rules and other than a few snide comments here and there, he didn't say much. It wasn't anything I couldn't handle."
"That's great to hear, Hermione," Ginny said.
"I hope he screws up," Ron announced. "Then Hermione can send him back to Azkaban where he belongs."
"Luna seems to think he's changed," Hermione pointed out. "And I've never known Luna to be wrong. She was right about your girlfriend after all."
"Pansy was never a Death Eater," Ron argued. "She was just associated with all of them because of her parents. She never had a real choice until they died."
"Maybe Malfoy didn't either," Hermione replied.
"You aren't actually sticking up for him, are you?" Harry asked, perplexed.
"Of course not," Hermione said. "He was a Death Eater, we heard what he did during the war at his trial. I'm just saying Luna saw something in him and, even though I can't figure out what it is, given his behavior today he's at least capable of being civil. That's all I wanted."
"Where is ferret face, anyway?" Ginny questioned.
"Oh I left him with ten stacks of my research," Hermione told them. "He needed to catch up on what I've been doing so he can see what I've done and what I plan to do next."
"Brilliant," Ron replied. "That's a great way to get rid of him for at least a week."
Hermione gave him a look. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Only that you're, uh, very thorough," Ron stammered. "Very thorough researcher. Lots of research you do. All of the reading of it. Yeah."
"How did Malfoy get here today anyway?" Ginny asked, saving Ron from stammering out more nonsense. "It's not like he knew where to go."
"Oh, Blaise brought him down," Hermione answered.
"Does Malfoy know about Blaise?" Ginny questioned.
"No," Hermione said, a huge grin spreading across her face. "He said he'd tell him later today after he picked him up from here.
"Wait, so Malfoy has no idea?" Ron asked, now grinning as well.
"None," Hermione confirmed. "No clue at all."
"Wow," Ginny replied. "I wish I could be there for that conversation."
"So would I," Harry said with a laugh. "I can't believe Malfoy doesn't know."
"Well, he'll find out soon enough," Hermione answered.
Just then, Hermione's floo crackled and Molly Weasley's face came through.
"Hello dear!" she said cheerfully.
"Hello Mum! Hello Mrs. Weasley" They all chimed in response.
"Oh I'm so glad I caught you all!" She exclaimed. "Hermione dear you really must find a way to get owls down in that pit you work in."
"I work in a hospital lab, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione replied. "For security reasons, no owls can be here."
"Pish," was Mrs. Weasley's response. "But anyway, I just wanted to be sure all of you would be coming over for dinner on Sunday. Andromeda is bringing Teddy and she's been dying to see James."
Ginny and Harry both smiled at the mention of their 2 year old son. "We'll bring him Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied. "And we'll all be there."
Hermione and Ron nodded in affirmation.
"Ronald dear, will your...friend be attending?" Mrs. Weasley asked apprehensively.
"Yes, mum," Ron replied annoyed. "I will be bringing my girlfriend to dinner. Honestly mum you've got to give her a chance!"
"Now is not the time for this," Mrs. Weasley admonished. "Very well, I will see you all on Sunday!"
With a pop, her head disappeared from the fireplace.
As soon as she was gone, Ron spoke. "I've been with Pansy for a year now," he said exasperated. "She still refuses to call her my girlfriend. When will she just accept that she's changed and that I love her?"
"She'll get there," Ginny said. "You just have to give her a little more time."
The friends lapsed into silence but Harry spoke only a moment later. "Well, I've got to get back to the Auror's office," he said. "I'm sure I've been gone long enough that I'm missed and I left Seamus with all of the paperwork from our last mission."
"I should go as well," Ginny said. "I want to go pick up James from Hannah and Dean's daycare. I love when Quidditch practice is cancelled."
"This coming from the captain of the team," Ron said laughing. "I'll go as well, I'm sure Kingsley probably needs me for something."
They each took a turn hugging Hermione before leaving her office. Once she was alone, Hermione pulled out the folder she'd left on her desk the previous day and began to go over her notes from the books she'd been reading in the Archives. She stayed there, adding notes to her notes, until 4:45pm. She debated working another 10 minutes but she'd never been late to her rounds and she didn't want to be now simply because she wanted to avoid Malfoy. She made sure her wand was tucked safely up her sleeve and closed the folder. She walked out of her office and two minutes later she was in front of the door to the room where she'd left Malfoy working. She took a breath and pushed open the door.
A/N: I've gotten some really wonderful reviews from people and I just wanted to say thank you! Thank you for taking the time to read my story, to write me what you think, and to give great suggestions. It means a lot that everyone seems to be loving the story!