A knock sounded at the door of her flat and Hermione jumped from her seat on the couch discarding the book she hadn't touched up to answer the door. She'd been cleaning and recleaning her already spotless cottage all day, then pacing, then pretending to read, then pacing some more before she'd retreated back to her couch and attempted once again to read. She tried to walk calmly to the door, but found her hands shaking and rubbed them against her pant legs. She needed to be cool and collected when she answered the door, she couldn't seem completely out of sorts otherwise the Aurors might consider her unfit to take custody. She took a deep breath, the litany in her mind, saying this is just a job, none of this impacts me emotionally, I am not invested in what is about to occur.

She opened the door to Harry standing on her porch in the driving rain. He evidently hadn't bothered with a water deflection spell, so his hair was plastered to his forehead and his auror uniform was soaked through and sticking to his frame. Sometimes she wondered if he forgot that he was a wizard.

"Hello Harry." Hermione smiled warmly at him, many years of practice hiding her contempt for her "best friend" - the so-called Chosen One standing in front of her.

Behind him, two men in threadbare Azkaban prisoner uniforms stood shivering and looking gaunt; they reminded her of how Sirius had looked in their third year. Two additional Aurors flanked the rear with their wands raised as if the prisoners were a threat in the conditions they were in..

"'Mione, are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to be their parole supervisor, you know, we could assign them to someone else."

"Harry, of course I am sure. We have already been through this. I didn't take a sabbatical from the DMLE and accept the parolee supervision position for the two of them if I didn't think I could handle Malfoy and Nott." Saying their names like this made her body shiver, it felt wrong on her tongue. "If I could deal with them at fourteen, I can handle them now. Have some faith in me, please," Hermione bit her lip to keep from saying more. "Now for Godric's sake, hand them over to me and go get out of the rain. I am sure Ginny is waiting for you at home." Hermione tapped the clipboard he had handed her with her wand, confirming the receipt of the prisoners:

Draco Lucius Malfoy ᚠᚱ416

Theodore Tiberius Nott ᛯᛟ571

Hermione looked up at them and saw that the numbers next to their name matched the crudely done tattoos on the sides of their necks.

"Fine, but I don't have to like it." Harry growled at the prisoners, who flinched away from his voice. " One toe out of line and they go straight back to Azkaban. Seriously, Mione, if they do anything that makes you nervous, let me know straight away."

"Harry, I certainly will have these two under control. Honestly, have you ever seen me not be able to handle something?" Hermione said, starting to get irritated at how long this was taking. Merlin, if she didn't get them out of the rain soon, she'd have to deal with them being sick on top of all the other health issues they were certainly suffering from.

Harry sighed and ran his hand through his already messy hair, "I just worry about leaving you with two men, Mione."

"Harry, their magic is blocked, I am a witch and they look like a strong wind would knock them over. I've got this. Go home. Don't you have a wedding to plan?" Hermione smiled and forced as much affection into her voice as she could.

The Aurors behind Harry shoved the two wet shivering men in their filthy Azkaban uniforms inside her front door and Hermione kept her face a study in a neutrality with a calm that did not match the fury that was brewing inside of her.

Harry scowled at the two men dripping in Hermione's foyer one last time and then followed his Aurors out past Hermione's apparition ward boundary. The three of them disappeared with a crack. Hermione waited in the doorway until she was assured that the Aurors were really gone, and then she turned back to her new wards.

Draco and Theo were both almost catatonic. They were staring at her with empty eyes, as if they didn't recognize her.

She would not cry. It would serve no purpose.

She cast a drying charm over both of them and a warming charm trying to get rid of the blue tint to Theo's lips. She was mostly successful and had to be happy with that. She took each of them by a hand and spoke softly to them.

"Hello boys, it's Hermione, this is my house that you're in." Tears threatened to fill her eyes as no recognition filled their faces at her words. They were both just there, empty shells. "You both are going to be staying with me now, okay." She spoke, keeping her voice even, as if she were talking to a scared animal or a young child. "I am your parole supervisor. First, I made you some cream of potato soup and then I am going to give you both a bath. After you're fed and cleaned up, I'll take you to a nice big warm clean bed for some sleep." She could feel their eyes on her, but neither spoke.

Had three years in Azkaban broken their minds? No, no that wasn't helpful. She needed to think positively. She could do this, she could bring them back. She was Hermione Freaking Granger, and Theodore Nott and Draco Malfoy would never be beyond her reach.

"Draco, I even ordered some of those silk sheets you were always on about in school, in green. I thought something familiar might be nice." She spoke directly to the blonde, but still there was no flicker of understanding in his grey eyes. Hermione choked back a sob as she took a chilled hand in both of hers and led them into her kitchen.

Gently, she sat each of them down at her little kitchen table, the shabby chic chipped white paint appearing more shabby and less chic the longer she looked at it. She sighed as she set a bowl of soup in front of each of them and watched as they both ate them soundlessly without responding or even looking up at her. When they finished, she refilled their bowls and set a cup of tea in front of each of them. She spooned honey into Draco's and saw him watch her hands as she fixed his tea exactly right.

"One, two, three spoonfuls of honey for Draco and a dash of milk." She said, in a soft melodic voice like she was telling a story to a frightened child.

"Two sugar cubes for Theo and some milk. See? I remember how you take your tea. I hope you still like it that way, let me know if it's too sweet and I can get you a new cup." Hermione looked back and forth at the two of them and neither responded to her words with anything other than picking up their tea and draining their cups immediately. When they had finished their second bowls of soup, she gave them each napkins to wipe their faces, but when the napkins sat in front of them and they did not respond or react, she took one and wiped first Draco's mouth, then Theo's. Draco sat unmoving as though he was carved of polished marble. His hollow eyes and gaunt cheeks haunted her. When she went to wipe Theo's mouth he flinched as though she was about to strike him. She clenched her jaw and felt her teeth grind in a way that would make her parents have a heart attack. She would not cry in front of them.

"Shhh," she whispered soothingly, "Theo, I am only going to wipe your face. It's okay. I promise I won't hurt you." On the second attempt Theo sat unmoving, but his eyes flickered to her petite hands as though he didn't quite trust that she was being truthful. Both men held themselves as if they were anticipating imminent pain and that made Hermione feel like her heart would crack open like an egg.