"Good morning, Miss Granger," April chips as I step out of the elevator. "Here are your messages and I would like to remind you that you have a meeting with the Junior Secretary at noon and another one with the Chief Warlock at one."

"Great, thank you," I say as I peruse the slips of paper she hands me. "Tell me, has my fiancé owled at all?"

April shakes her head after double checking her clipboard. "Nope, no owls from Ronald Weasley."

"Huh… well if he does, please let me know immediately, okay?"

"Will do, Miss Granger."

I smile kindly at her before stepping into my office and shutting the door behind me. A flick of my wand has the fireplace lit and roaring should anyone need to Floo in and speak with me. I place my messages on my desk with a mental note to respond to them before lunch, before turning to the case files I left stacked neatly from the following night. I flip through the top one, my eyes scanning the testimony and frowning at the depositions. The prosecutor didn't rehearse with our witnesses enough and the defense attorney certainly ripped a huge hole in our case because of it.

"April," I call into the intercom. "Who's the main prosecutor on the Anderson case?"

I hear shuffling of paper on April's end as she riffles through the case notes. "Uh, that would be Mr. Gregory Reed."

I groan internally. Anyone but Reed; I do not have the energy for him right now. "I'm going to need to speak with him about prepping witnesses for the stand when they are cross-examined by the defense attorneys; when is his next available?"

"It looks like he is available now."

I sigh. "Could you be a dear and get him over here, please?"

"Of course, Miss Granger."

I switch of the intercom and pinch the bridge of my nose. It is going to be a long day.

I shuffle through the case files on my desk as I gulp down a cup of coffee. I think it is my third, but it could be my fourth. My meeting with the Chief Warlock did not go as hoped; we lost a big case which caused huge blow to the Minster's popularity amongst the public and I spent about an hour being chewed out for it. If we didn't pull through on the Anderson case… well failure was simply not an option.

"Miss Granger, your four o'clock is here."

"Excuse me?" I ask into the intercom after hearing April's cool voice. "I thought I didn't have any more meetings after the Chief Warlock."

I barely get the full sentence out before the door to my office swings open and Draco Malfoy struts inside.

"Never mind, April," I say tightly upon meeting Malfoy's eyes. "Do me a favor and get the latest reports for the Davis's case please. I'd like them on my desk before five."

"Sure thing, Miss Granger."

"Wow, look at you," Malfoy says as I turn off the intercom. "Senior Secretary to the Chief Warlock. Even got your own PA and everything. It's all so official."

"What do you want, Malfoy?" I ask as I open my own files and tuck them away out of his sight. "I am rather busy at the moment."

He arches a blond eyebrow at me and smirks. "Tsk, tsk Granger; that is no way to talk to the Head of the Investigation Department."

"Congratulations on your promotion, Malfoy," I reply drily. "But honestly, what do you need? I've got a lot on my plate at the moment."

"I need your Anderson file."

My fingers tighten around the folder unconsciously. "Why?"

Malfoy gives me an exasperated look. "Come on, Granger, you can't honestly be that daft. Reed fucked us on our last testimony and my department now needs to find more evidence to cover for his mistake. I've already got a couple Aurors out in the field, but I'd like to give them something else to go on."

"I really don't know how my file is going to help you; we have the same information."

"Yes, but we organize it differently. I'm hoping if I look at the case in a new way I'll see something I didn't notice before. Here," he reaches into his robes and pulls out a thick file resembling the one I have refused to hand over. "You can have my file. Maybe my notes will help you come up with something."

I arch an eyebrow but begrudgingly accept his file in exchange for my own.

"Don't look so distraught, Granger; my arse is on the line too if we lose this case."

"I honestly doubt that, Malfoy."

He narrows his silver eyes and crosses his arms. "Granger, this is the first case I've been given as Department Head. My past and my age didn't exactly help me get the bloody job so certain higher-ups are looking for reasons to fire my arse. If I- we- lose this case, we are both fucked. Got that?"

"Well if I had more information to go off of, we wouldn't be in this mess right now."

Malfoy's lips pull back in a growl. "No, if your prosecutor would have done his job and prepped the witnesses, we wouldn't have had our arses handed to us by the god damn defense attorney! Now I have send men out to find something to fix your fucking mess!"

"Don't you dare raise your voice to me in my own office, Malfoy!" I hiss, moving around my desk so I can glare at him better. "Your department should have gathered ample evidence before we put this bastard on trial! If we had had all of the information, we wouldn't have needed to call for a bloody weekend recess!"

Malfoy glowers down at me, his expression and eyes hard.

"Miss Granger?"

"What?" I snap, looking at April when she pokes her head into my office.

"Your fiancé is here to see you."

"Give me a moment, please." I turn back to Malfoy to continue glaring at him. "I want whatever information you find in my hands before Monday," I hiss.

"The same goes for you."

We glare at each other in silence for a moment, letting the tension build. Thankfully, Ron steps into my office and distracts me.

"Hermione, look I-" he stops upon seeing Malfoy and I in a heated glaring contest.

"I trust you know the way out," I growl.

"Yes, I believe I can find it," Malfoy snaps back.

He turns on his heel and slams his shoulder in Ron as he passes, making the redhead stumble back a few feet. With a flourish of his black cloak, he's gone.

"What the bloody hell did the ferret want?" Ron asks as he glares at the door Malfoy just exited.

I sigh and sink into one of the chairs in front of my desk. "He needed my file for a case we're working on. He's hoping he can get something new out of it if he looks at the way I've organized the case and my notes on it, as opposed to his own… I really didn't have the patience to deal with him today." I glance up at Ron who is still standing in the doorway. "Well come in, then."

He does as I say and shuts the door behind him before moving to the chair beside mine.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for storming out on you last night, and for not coming home. Ginny about near killed me when I showed up at hers and Harry's place and admitted I hadn't talked to you yet."

I chuckle. "I think that had more to do with the fact that this was Harry's first full day off in probably two weeks. I'm so glad you aren't an Auror; they work those poor blokes right into the ground sometimes."

"Yeah, but Harry's tough, he'll make it." Ron pauses before looking at me expectedly. "So? Do you accept my apology?"

"Of course, I do. I'm sorry if I haven't been around as much lately; I just really want to do a good job with this. Especially since I'm so young; a lot of the senior staff are pissed I got this position over them. I mean, a twenty-four year old Senior Secretary to the Chief Warlock? That's practically unheard of."

"It's quite impressive, babe. And I'm sorry for snapping. I've just been down lately because of us failing that last match. But I'm gonna start training that new girl Sarah. We have another tournament coming up in a month or so and I want her to be ready, you know? It's not the World Cup, but it's something at least."

I smile. "Good, I'm glad you can help her. You'll make a great trainer."

Ron smiles sheepishly at me before glancing at my clock. "So, any chance you could sneak away early tonight? We could go out, get something to eat; make a night of it, you know?"

I glance at the pile of work on my desk and sigh. "I'm sorry, Ron, but I don't think I can. I've got to look over these two cases and Malfoy's notes on the Anderson case-"

"Whatever, it's fine," he says sharply. "Some other time then."

"Ron, you know I want to-"

"It's fine, Hermione. Really. I'll see you later."

I watch Ron leave my office and wait until the door shuts behind him before letting out a low groan. I rub my temples before standing and moving to the other side of desk so I can get some work done.

"Granger? Granger!"

I jerk awake at the sound of my name, my eyes focusing on the figure leaning over my desk. I blink and the shapeless being turns into Malfoy. I glare at him.

"What could you possibly want at," I turn to glance at the clock, "one in the bloody morning?"

"I came to drop this off and to ask for mine back," he says, dropping my thick file onto the desk. "I got all I need from it."

I arch an eyebrow as I gather the contents of his own file and hand it back to him. "Were you able to get anything out of my notes then?"

Malfoy shakes his head. "I didn't need to. The bastard was released for the weekend recess."

My eyes go wide. "Oh no. Merlin, no."

"The Aurors didn't make it in time."

"I'm going to be sick," I say, running from my desk to the bathroom attached to my office.

I just make it to the loo before retching up my dinner. I hear Malfoy's sounds of disgust from the doorway, but don't turn to look at him as another way of nausea hits me and I lurch again toward the bowl.

"How many?" I cough after a few dry heaves. "How many did he kill?"

"Three."

I reach up and flush the toilet before hauling myself and gripping the sink for balance. "How old?" I ask as I rinse out my mouth, hoping to get the taste of vomit off my tongue.

"All under ten. He treated them the same as the others."

I look up and meet Malfoy's eyes in the mirror.

"I wanted to win the case, but not like this," he says softly.

"Me either."

He nods and looks down at the casefile in his hands. "I'll help Reed prep the witnesses and experts on Monday and go over the new evidence with you two after. This sick son of a bitch who won't be free any time soon."

I nod grimly and turn to look at him. "I'm sorry, by the way. For earlier. I'm under similar stress because of my age and position as well."

"At least you don't have a past or family to be ashamed of," Malfoy snaps, unconsciously rubbing his left forearm. "One fuckup and my arse is going to be kicked to the curb. Face it, Granger; you've got a much better shot in this career field than I do."

"I never said I didn't."

Malfoy shakes his head and dismisses me. "When is your first available on Monday?"

I glide past him to my desk and push my files around until I find my day planner. "It looks like April has given me an opening from eleven to noon. Does that work?"

"Only if I skip lunch," he says bitterly.

I sigh and roll my eyes. "We can discuss the case over lunch then if you're so worried about eating. That is, if you're all right with being seen in public with a Mudblood and all." I note with probably too much satisfaction that his eyes narrow at the word.

"I haven't called you that in years, Granger. I've matured since our school days; I wouldn't have this job if I didn't."

"Good to know, Malfoy. Now, lunch on Monday- does that work for you or not?"

He glares at me and nods curtly. "Come by my office at 11:15. Make sure you bring Reed with you. I don't want him getting flustered when he sees the evidence for the first time. This bastard's going away for good."

"I couldn't agree more."