Hermione,

Please come to dinner tomorrow night, Harry is out of town for a case and I could use a distraction, the hormones are driving me crazy. I promise to make something good, although I can also tell you that my cravings have been strange. So definitely something spicy. Or sweet. I'll have to see. Let me know.

Love, Ginny

'I hope you don't have any weekend plans' – Ruth, her supervisor, entered the room – 'this just came back' – she threw a pile of folders on top of Ginny's letter – 'that bloody intern filed everything incorrectly, and the boss is furious. This needs to be perfect Monday morning so I can prepare for the meeting. And I need your most recent report by Tuesday.

Hermione sighed. She was always on top of her work, but hiring a Hogwarts student to work as an intern proved that this wasn't enough – she also had to be on top of others' work. Her department was too busy for the number of staff, and she made it clear that she didn't want any special treatment. Which meant that she wasn't going to sleep that night.

She managed to see Ginny on Saturday and reassure her about Harry's safety. After a particularly difficult encounter with former death eaters, a few years after the war, Harry was badly injured. He recovered almost fully, but for a while the healers were not sure that he would regain use of his right arm. He had no issues in everyday life, but his reflexes were not the same, and he became the head of the auror department particularly young, which meant that he rarely travelled on missions. The flashbacks from the war, as well as from his time in the hospital, left Ginny anxious every time they were apart. Pregnancy hormones, and the fact that she couldn't practice quidditch and had nothing to do, did not help.

On Tuesday morning Hermione left her finished report on Ruth's desk and attended the department meeting. After lunch she informed Ruth that she was taking the next two days off, since she worked the whole weekend. Ruth did not object, and Hermione headed for the elevator.

'Miss Granger, we have the illegal substance trafficking suspect!' – she heard as soon as the elevator door opened in front of her. One of the clerks from the criminal law department was clearly coming to get her.

'That's not my department' – she said, stepping inside it – 'besides, I'm on leave now'

'I know, but Mr Potter thought you may be interested. He asked me to let you know'

Hermione sighed and followed the clerk to the 5th floor. She always listened to Harry's stories about work, as he listened to hers, but that did not mean she actually wanted to be involved. She was exhausted. She tried to think of an excuse to leave quickly, but when she entered the interrogation room, she abandoned her plans.

'Five years in Azkaban wasn't enough? You want to go back where you belong, you filthy bastard' – one of Harry's top aurors spit on the floor, to emphasise his sentiments. Instead of a muggle one-way mirror, the rooms in the ministry simply revealed what was on the other side of the wall when the right spell was cast. The image was a bit blurry, no doubt the spell was cast by a novice, but the sound was good enough.

'Harry? What is going on?'

He turned to look at her with a concerned expression. Then he sent all the clerks out of the room.

'I thought you'd want to know… I mean, maybe you know something about his kid, we don't know where to find him… They just brought him in, he was buying unlicensed potion ingredients. We are trying to establish if he was going to sell them on, there must be someone abroad that he collaborates with, we want to find that out…'

Hermione jumped and turned to the blurry image on the wall when the auror smashed his fist on the table.

'Stop lying!' – he yelled – 'I know you have contacts in Spain, and you were going to smuggle it. You are going to regret this either way, but you will regret it more if you don't start talking!'

Malfoy's face remained unreadable. He sat behind the table, with his hands handcuffed in front of him. Hermione didn't see his cane anywhere. She hoped it was stored safely, together with his wand. There was some blood on his face, presumably from a fight with whoever arrested him.

'Let me talk to him' – she demanded

'Hermione…'

'This guy is clearly not getting anything out of him. I want to know what happened. You can listen, but I don't want anyone else in the room.' – she insisted

Harry reluctantly called the auror to step out, then gestured for Hermione to enter the room. Malfoy started laughing as soon as he saw her.

'Look at that, the golden duo is back together, never miss an opportunity to get me! Potter couldn't do it alone so he sent for his sidekick? What about Weasley, Granger? Don't you need him to save you from me?'

'Uncuff him' – Hermione directed Harry

'Hermione…'

'What? It's not like he can escape. Why is this necessary, is he dangerous?'

'Hermione…'

'Stop "Hermione" me and just do it. You can have your bodyguards waiting outside if you are worried. I just want to talk to him.'

Harry complied in silence and left the room, although Hermione could feel his presence on the other side of the magical wall.

'What the hell Malfoy, what did you get yourself into?' – she sat opposite him and saw him wince in pain as he rubbed his newly freed wrists.

'I don't think that's any of your business. Again.' – he hissed

'Listen, I just want to help you. They can keep you here all night, what about Scorpius? Someone needs to take care of him, right? Just tell me what happened.'

He didn't respond immediately. His face was unreadable once again. She finally had more time to look at him closely. Apart from the blood running from his nose and onto his white shirt, he was as immaculate as always. She noticed a scar running from under his hair, on the side of his forehead, almost cutting into his pale eyebrows, and ending abruptly on his right cheek. Was that also a souvenir from the battle? She offered him a tissue, which he did not take.

She looked into his green eyes, trying to understand what was going on inside. She could swear that behind his anger and contempt, there was also fear and resignation. The room was so quiet, she almost jumped when he spoke again, but this time his voice was soft, almost breaking.

'He is at school… there is no one else… he would have to go to my aunt's house… but he won't know…'

Hermione waited for more, but nothing else came

'I'm not an auror, you know' – he lifted his eyebrows in surprise, not knowing where she was going with it – 'I deal with civil cases, I'm not here to throw you in jail. I just want to know what happened. And I will make sure Scorpius is looked after if you can't get to him on time.'

'I'm not telling you anything, Granger. And you will not use my son to blackmail me' – he snapped

Hermione shook her head and stood up – 'Suit yourself, Malfoy. You're not getting out of here tonight. If you tell me where Scorpius goes to school, I will make sure he's safe. I'll spare him the details of where you are spending the night, or maybe the next few months.'

She produced a piece of paper and a quill from her bag. Malfoy gave her a murderous look, but picked up the quill and scribbled a few words. Hermione picked it up. She didn't know the address, but it seemed legitimate.

'I'll come back tomorrow, see if you change your mind' – she said, leaving him alone in the room

Harry gave her a questioning look

'I don't know, Harry, he has all this muggle life, he's not really welcome in our world, why would he want to get into some petty crime…'

'This is not petty crime, Hermione, I've been trying to solve this for months!' – Harry protested – 'since when do you trust Malfoy, maybe that's exactly what he wanted, to get back into the shady groups and then regain his power? How well do you know him?'

'Maybe you're right…' – Hermione felt a new wave of exhaustion – 'in any case, his kid needs to be taken care of, so I'm going to sort that out, and then I'm going home. You should really include it in your procedures, criminals have children too, you know.'