Hermione was walking back from her interview with Mrs Crawford, who ran a sweet shop in the Diagon Alley. The interview was part of her new report on non-magical marriages of wizards, which she would use to draft a legislation, regulating when wizards could disclose their magic, and allowing them to include family members of their loved ones – something that no one was sure was legal, and there had been cases of trials for breaking the Statue of Secrecy when too many muggles were involved. She stuffed all the candy that she was given by the shop owners into her pocket and decided to withdraw some money and buy an apology necklace for Leah, so she turned towards Gringott's.

She saw him sitting on the bench, outside the apothecary. This was the first time she saw Malfoy in the magical world in 8 years, and the second time she saw him that week. This time, he was wearing wizarding clothes. He seemed nervous, and kept looking around, and then back towards the shop window, but didn't see her. She considered turning back, when the apothecary door opened, and she saw a little boy running towards the bench, while someone yelled 'Get lost!' behind him. The boy was crying and explaining something to Malfoy, who nodded, and gave the boy a quick hug. He stood up with difficulty, leaning on his cane, and started walking, the boy holding his free hand. Hermione realised she had been frozen in her spot, and it was too late for her to move, because at that moment Malfoy spotted her and also stopped.

They stared at each other for a moment, while the boy kept pulling on the sleeve of Malfoy's robe. Hermione decided to make the first move and explain the situation. She cleared the distance between them.

'Malfoy' – she greeted him

'Granger' – she could sense the hesitation in his voice, as if he wasn't sure what her intentions were

'I…' – she didn't know what to say, and wished that she was never there in the first place – 'I just wanted to tell you, that I didn't know… in the bookshop… my cousin dragged me… I didn't mean to get in your way. And now, I was just…'

'It's not like I thought you were stalking me, Granger' – she heard the familiar snort. She was almost surprised at his reaction, and embarrassed that she didn't predict him laughing at her. The boy stopped crying at was looking at her with a lot of curiosity. She decided to continue.

'Is everything ok?' – she motioned toward the apothecary

'Fine, Granger' – Malfoy responded curtly, and this would have made her leave, but the boy started talking

'They wouldn't give me daddy's potion ingredients' – he said – 'they said it wasn't for children, and then said they don't serve criminals. I tried to tell them that daddy needs it, but they wouldn't listen…' – the boy was crying again, and Hermione felt bad for the child who had to suffer for his father's past. Clearly, Malfoy was not welcome on Diagon Alley, which explained his muggle business.

'Listen…' – she started again – 'if you need any potion ingredients, why don't I get them for you'

Malfoy opened his mouth to protest, but must have realised how happy his son became at the prospect of their potion supplies getting rescued and stopped himself.

'What do you need?' – Hermione asked, trying to sound as practical as she possibly could. Malfoy reached for the piece of paper in the boy's hand, now slightly crumpled and wet from his tears.

Hermione took it without looking at it and went into the shop where she handed the note to the shopkeeper. She could tell that the woman was sceptical, but she was Hermione Granger, and she was not going to be refused any service. She was not sure what the ingredients were for, hoping that they would not be used for any evil purpose. She scolded herself for thinking like that. Malfoy would not risk sending his child for anything related to dark magic. On the other hand, how much did she really know about his life?

Outside, she handed the bag to Malfoy, then reached into her pocket and retrieved the sweets she was given. She gave them to Scorpius with a smile.

'Are you Hermione Granger?' – he asked curiously, accepting the gift. She nodded with surprise – 'I read all about you in the paper, how you saved the world from bad things, with other wizards!' – so it seemed that Malfoy wasn't doing any dark magic, or he wouldn't have let his son think that she was a war hero.

'He only has sweets on Sunday' – Malfoy's abrupt voice brought her back to reality. It was not Sunday.

'Ehm, I guess he can… keep it until Sunday then?' – she regretted not asking for permission first, this was after all a common rule among strict parents

'Say thank you, Scorpius' – Malfoy scolded his son, who complied immediately – 'What do I owe you, Granger?'

Hermione had enough time to judge that Malfoy did not have his old fortune, or at least wasn't showing it. Scorpius's clothes seemed like they were bought or received second hand, and Malfoy's robes had definitely seen better days.

'Uhm, how about I get to pick another book at your shop? Last time I didn't have a chance to look around' – she joked

Malfoy's eyebrows rose in surprise, but he shrugged – 'fine'

'All right. Goodbye Scorpius, it was nice to meet you' – she bent down to shake his hand and smiled again. Then she nodded at Malfoy, and turned back to walk around the corner, where she apparated home, forgetting all about the necklace.