CHAPTER 6

Hermione was in a foul mood, and it showed as she slammed the file she had been trying to read for the last 20 minutes down on her desk. Growling slightly, she thought back to the previous night. She'd been so eager to start helping the young Malfoy, she decided to do the one thing that never seemed to fail her: she hit the books. In a small amount of time her lounge was scattered with large piles of books as she flipped from one book to the next, jumping from one possibility to the next.

Of course Ron didn't take it to well when he found out that she had promised to help Malfoy and his son. Naturally.

Thinking back to the harsh conversation they had the previous night, Hermione knew she was doing the right thing by helping them. After all, she did take an oath on it. If only Ron could see it that way...

"Blimey 'Mione," he said as he flooed into the apartment, trying not to trip over the scattered books. "What's this all about now?"

"….uh just this case at the hospital I'm working on." She answered somewhat hesitantly. She wasn't sure Ron would be thrilled with the truth.

"Oh yeah, who's the patient?" he asked slightly interested.

"Ron, you know I can't tell you that," she sighed giving him a 'we've been through this' look.

He simply rolled his eyes and plonked himself down on the couch, picking up the closet book to inspect.

"Myrtle's guide to Dark Spells and Curses" he read aloud, "Whoa, 'Mione this is some serious stuff you don't want to go messing around with," he said giving her a rather scared look.

'Well I figured since it's Malfoy we'd start with the dark magic and work our way down," she said without thinking, only realising a second to late what she had said.

"Malfoy?!" Ron all but screamed, "That's your secret patient? Good for nothing, death eater Malfoy?"

"Ron-…"

"Hermione have you completely lost it? It's Malfoy, you can't seriously be considering helping him," he said in a disgusted tone. "After all he's put us through, don't you think this is his pay back?" Ron went on.

It was hard to even get a word in as he ranted and raved over it when he didn't even know the whole truth! She'd heard enough.

"Ronald!" she screamed over his ranting and raving, "How could you say something like that?! Nobody, not even someone like Malfoy deserves what he's going through!"

She couldn't believe Ron would be so harsh as to say something like that. She meant it though, not even someone like Malfoy, who had done terrible things previously, deserved this.

"You seem to have forgotten what he did to you Hermione!" Ron bellowed as he stood menacingly in front of her. "You can't help him anymore! He doesn't deserve it!"

"Who are you to decide what he deserves?" Hermione shot back more than just annoyed. "In case you've forgotten Ron, I took an oath. It's my job to he-"

"Well get someone else to handle this case then, you are the boss right?" he interrupted in a most patronising manner.

It was a good thing that Hermione did not have her wand on her, as she had finally reached her last nerve.

"Grow up Ronald! This is serious! Not some petty school rivalry. You have no right to judge him, you don't even know what's wrong!"

"That doesn't matter! It's Malfoy we're talking about here!" he said completely ignoring what Hermione had just said.

"I know what he's capable of, but you seem to have forgotten," Ron said in a deadly, hushed tone and grabbed Hermione's left forearm. He harshly pulled back her sleeve to show the faint scares of the horrid word that had been etched into her skin forever.

He looked at her, his eyes cold and hard as he continued trying to make his point.

"How could you forget Hermione?" he whispered, "after everything he's put you through, how could you agree to help him?"

His grip on her arm tightened and Hermione squirmed under his unwavering glare. She was taken back to that night at Malfoy Manor, when Bellatrix decided to give her a scar that would forever remind her of her 'place' in this world. But she had found, over the years, the courage to put that incident behind. To not let it define her.

Hermione felt a surge of anger rush through her as she realised Ron was using this painful event in his argument against helping Malfoy. She pulled away harshly, rubbing her left forearm as she backed away from him.

"How dare you!" she seethed, "The war is long over Ron! How dare you bring up something like that! To even think of using that to stop me from helping him…"

"You don't think it was his fault you got that scar on your arm?" he countered just as angry as she was. "He stood there and watched as his darling aunt carved you up like a Christmas turkey!"

"He had no choice Ronald! If he had tried to stop her she would have killed him! And ME!"

Hermione knew she was right. He couldn't have done anything. Bellatrix Lestrange was ruthless and would, in an instant, get rid of anybody that came in the way of her beloved Dark Lord's plans. He did the best he could at the time. And she couldn't have asked for more. By lying to his aunt that he did not know who they were, he had, saved their lives. He had stalled Bellatrix, long enough, for them to make it out alive. It was all he could do at that point, but it had been enough.

"You know that's not entirely true! He turned away like a coward, because he didn't have the guts to help you… and you still want to help him."

"Yes I do. I want to help him and not because it's my job but because he deserves it. " she said calmly, "I am going to help him Ron …you just have to find a way to deal with that. I can't give this up because you don't agree."

Ron was growing incredibly furious at Hermione's confession; she could see it as his ears were becoming alarmingly red. Always a give away of the famous Weasley temper. He simply couldn't understand it. but before he could object any longer she walked away quietly.

Of course she understood his concerns, but Ron had always been stuck in the past, never truly ready to move on.

The argument played over and over again in her mind as she shuffled around her office attempting to get work done. It angered her, that he threw the events of the war to prove his point. It was ridiculous because she knew that nobody was the same from the war. And this change was very evident in Malfoy as he stressed over the health of his son.

Why was Ron so adamant to not see the change? She was just doing her job, if only he could see that.

Her job: that's what she needed to concentrate on right now. She had continued her search that morning and found nothing, but she wasn't giving up just yet.

Sighing deeply, she collected a large and heavy pile of books from her desk, which she would have to look through later. She had been so consumed in her thoughts that she had not heard the knock on the door, or the person entering.

Turning around with the heavy books in hand, she walked into a very hard chest, causing the books to fall at her feet with a loud thud, which in turn caused her to loose her balance. She waited for the painful fall to come, but instead strong arms grabbed her by the waist and held her tightly.

"Still graceful as ever," the voice mocked lightly.

"I didn't hear you come in, Malfoy." Hermione said as she took notice of Malfoy's arms around her.

"Yes, well I did knock." He said smiling ever so slightly, "but you seem… preoccupied so I'll come back later then…" and as he said this his arms around Hermione began to loosen, exceptionally slowly.

The idea of him leaving so quickly upset her, for reasons she could not fathom. She realised that her hands were flat on his chest and she could feel his firmly chiselled underneath his slightly creased shirt. His blonde was unusually untidy as it fell over his eyes. She noticed he wore the same robes as yesterdays which lead her to believe that he had stayed the night at the hospital with Scorpius.

"No...Uh I mean there's no need to come back later." She said as a blush grew quickly on her cheeks. Noticing that his arms had stopped moving, she smiled and looked up into his silver orbs. He looked back at her and she was shocked to see that it was without malice or hatred. He was looking at her with something else in his eyes, and when he spoke again she realised what it was. Hope.

"Right…well I was told that I had to sign something before I could take Scorp home."

"Oh right!" she said and tried to move from his grasp to get to her desk, however he still had his arms around her firmly. She looked down at where his arms were wrapped around her waist, before looking back at him. He seemed to understand what she was getting at but instead of loosening his grip so she could move out, his arms fastened their grip on her. She looked at him with a very puzzled look and saw a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"You know the sooner you let me go, the sooner you get to go home." She said as she tried to push away from him.

"But I quiet like this place…especially your office." He said with a smirk.

Oh Merlin…

It then hit Hermione that Draco Malfoy was flirting with her.

"He can't be…why would he…no …" she thought as she looked at him realising he was waiting for a response. To confirm her preposterous thoughts he leaned closer to her, so close she was forced to look into his silver orbs once more. He pulled her closer, tucking a stray curl behind her ear, before placing a lingering kiss on her cheek. Hermione's slight blush grew more profound and she heard Malfoy chuckle as she finally managed to pull away from his alluring hold.

There was something positively strange about the way she felt as she pulled away from him. The feeling she got, while in his embrace, was not one she had felt before. However different this was, she managed to get her thoughts more or less together and proceeded with the task at hand.

She walked over to her desk, pulled out a small stack of papers and handed them over to him, ready for his signature. She pushed it towards him as he reached over the desk grabbing the quill ready to sign.

"Wait," Hermione said stopping him as he was aristocratically signing his name, "Aren't you going to read it first?"

He smiled and slipped the papers towards her, "That's okay Granger, I trust you."

And then he turned and walked out of her office, leaving Hermione terribly confused.

She however did not have much time to gather her thoughts as moments later another very familiar form walked into her office.

"Hey Mione," Harry greeted as he glanced around, "What happened here?"

Hermione looked around her office and noticed that the books she had in her hand earlier were still scattered on the floor.

"Oh…I was getting to those." She said as she quickly helped Harry pick them up.

"You okay Mione?" he asked very concerned. He placed the book he had in his hand on her pile and looked at his friend, who wore a deeply frazzled expression.

"Hmm …yeah I am, it's just been a busy day you know." she answered evasively. "What brings you here?"

"Oh well, I hadn't seen you in a while and thought I'd just pop in to see if you were okay."

Hermione chuckled to herself, Harry was never a brilliant liar. This had Ginny Potter written all over it.

"Ginny sent you?" she asked not wanting to beat around the bush.

"Yes," he sighed, "but I am very worried Mione. Ron told us about the big fight you guys had."

Hermione stayed quiet. She was not surprised that Harry and Ginny knew. After their fight the previous night, Ron had left and Hermione assumed he was either at the Burrow or with Harry and Ginny.

"Have you spoken to him yet?"

"No, I've been busy. Besides what do I tell him? ….hmm well I've thought about it Ronald and as ridiculous as it sounds, sure I stop helping the Malfoy's and we'll let an innocent child die because of some stupid school rivalry…does that sound about right to you Harry?" she commanded.

She was growing very tired of having to explain why she was doing this. Harry was left speechless as the facts of the case surfaced.

"Wait, what innocent child?" he questioned, "Ron said you were helping Malfoy.

"Yes well Ron didn't get all the facts, and he just assumed the worst, didn't he?"

Harry looked at her, begging her to go on, but he knew that she couldn't say anymore. She had already said too much in any case.

"Harry…" she began, "you know I can't tell you anymore, but you know that if I wasn't sure about this I wouldn't be helping him…right?"

He sighed in defeat, "Yeah I know..."

"I'm sorry that I can't tell you more Harry, I really am. Ron will just have to accept this unfortunately."

"Yes, but you know how he hates secrets and about Malfoy no less! We both know Ron is not of the understanding kind."

"It's my job, Harry! I can't go against it!"

"I know …I know" he whispered dejectedly. A stony silence fell upon them, and then Harry spoke again.

"You think that you two will move past this?"

"I … I don't know." she answered truthfully.

He said nothing more as he got up, gave her a small, warm smile and walked out, leaving Hermione to her worrying thoughts.

hey guys! hope you enjoyed this chapter ! I hope to have the next one up pretty soon , as I am on holiday at the moment ..but no promises ! thankx to everyone who's added this story to their favourites , to those following it and especially those that have reviewed this ! please don't be shy , leave me your thoughts I would love to hear what you think ...good or bad.

to my darling friend who's helped with the editing of this chapter, what would I do without you katy?

xoxo