Hermione was slightly terrified at how easy it was to confound the teacher into believing that she was Scorpius's aunt. Scorpius was thrilled to see her but lost the enthusiasm when he found out he was going to stay with his aunt and cousin. He had keys to the house, so they stopped on their way to pick up his extra clothes. Hermione was surprised to find Malfoy's apartment was not any different than hers – in a muggle neighbourhood, with barely any magic used inside.

Andromeda shook her head disapprovingly when Hermione explained the situation in hushed tones, but agreed to take care of the boy.

'Narcissa is in France, she's finally getting some peace… I don't want to disturb her you know… please tell me if it gets serious, I will summon her then.'

'Don't worry' – Hermione reassured her – 'it may be a misunderstanding. I will send Harry to update you as soon as we know more'

She did not sleep well, so in the morning she grabbed a coffee and muffins outside her house, before going back and flooing to the ministry. She made a mental note to ask Harry to give her an extra day off.

Malfoy was kept in a small room in the basement, where suspects were kept if they were not deemed dangerous enough to send them straight into Azkaban to await trial. He was sitting on a narrow cot which must have served as a bed, and he looked like he did not sleep at all. His white shirt was still immaculate, and she caught herself wondering if he had kept it on at night. His head jerked up when the guard opened the door for Hermione and let her enter.

'Is he ok?' – he asked hoarsely

Hermione confirmed, and conjured a chair, which she sank into.

'Breakfast?' – she offered him the bag with muffins. He took it hesitantly, and looked inside. She sat back and sipped her coffee – 'relax, I'm not trying to poison you' – she laughed.

'Why are you here?' – he asked, before taking a bite of the muffin – 'I thought you said you didn't work on these cases'

'I don't. I'm here as a friend' – Malfoy almost choked on the muffin, and she was ready to use a first aid spell on him. She waited for him to finish chewing.

'Think of me as a concerned friend, who is worried that you are using your child to commit crimes. Is that why you sent him to the apothecary? So that you could sell the stuff on the black market? What is it that you are involved in, Draco?'

He started at her use of his name, but quickly reverted to anger – 'You sound an awful lot like someone who *does* work on the case. And I already told you not to use my son to blackmail me' – Malfoy said wincing, as he started rubbing his right leg.

'The only difference is' – Hermione said calmly – 'that I don't believe it'

'What?'

'I don't believe you did anything wrong. You wouldn't let me buy the ingredients for you if they were going to be illegally traded, you know I could easily tell Harry about it and he would figure it out. So either you are being framed, or this is a big misunderstanding. Now will you tell me your side of the story?'

She expected him to be relieved and to start cooperating, but he was not paying attention. He kept pressing his hands into his leg, and she spotted beads of sweat on his forehead.

'Are you ok?' – she wasn't sure what was wrong with him, he seemed fine just a minute earlier. He looked up at her and spoke with some effort

'Look at you, the smartest witch of her time, or whatever it is. Yes, I needed them, for my pain potion, which I haven't had in 24 hours… but how do you know I wasn't still trying to get into the shady groups and regain my status?'

Hermione laughed at Harry's prediction – 'I don't actually, I just was hoping you would not be so stupid to risk your child losing his only parent… – Malfoy's look made her regret the harsh tone – 'Was I wrong about that?'

'No'

'How did you get the ingredients before? Clearly that was not the first time you were refused service? Did you get your friends to buy it for you?' – she was hoping that he would give her proof of his innocence, or at least trust her enough to confess, so that his case could move on. He seemed to be in so much pain that he didn't care to put on a façade or play games with her.

'I had a healer bring them in Azkaban, and for a year after I got out. Then they stop caring about you… I had some friends send me some from abroad. I don't have anyone around here. Theo in on the black list too, everyone else either left or turned their back… I used a disguise a few times, but I couldn't hide everything…' – he motioned to his leg, and then hissed with pain and pressed his hand to his thigh again

'I didn't want to risk my mother being turned away and humiliated, so when my friends went silent – probably because of your friend's little investigation' – he smirked – 'I had to seek out my own supplier. I was running low, that's why I sent Scorpius in… but when I finally met with the supplier… well, he turned out to be a bloody undercover auror…'

He jumped when Hermione burst out laughing. He looked at her for a moment.

'Care to explain the joke, Granger?'

'You just got so unlucky' – Hermione snorted – 'you didn't mean to commit a crime but you did it by accident, just because you are too proud to ask for help… you should've asked' – she scolded him, turning serious. – 'I helped you just because I saw you with a crying child on the street, you should've reached out to someone, convince your healer to help you, write a letter to the ministry… you should've asked!'

'It's not that easy' – he snapped – 'you think because you are Potter's princess, that everyone's life is so easy! It doesn't work like that for me!'

He stopped when she stood up to leave

'I'll get them to let you out today. Can you get home on your own?'

He nodded, so she opened the door and motioned for the guard to lock it again

'He's not your guy, Harry' – she said to her friend, who was waiting at the end of the corridor – 'he knows nothing about the trade, he was trying to get something for his personal use, which he is refused in legitimate shops because everyone hates him. Got unlucky, that's it. I told him to not try it again, and that you'd release him.'

'Hermione! Are you sure that you are being objective here? What if he wasn't telling the truth and he's really involved in some shady business?'

'What if I gave him a veritaserum?' – she bluffed

'You know I can't accept that as evidence, it's not regulated, and I didn't even hear it, I mean no offence but you are not even officially an investigator…'

'That's why I'm telling you this as a friend, let him go and focus on whatever real evidence you have. And reconsider who is on your team. For all you know, your auror may have wanted to frame him and get easy accolades… Just trust me on this, Harry. You don't want the real bad guy to walk, do you?' she threw her coffee cup in the bin and started walking towards the exit

'Wait' – Harry stopped her – 'I also wanted to ask you to come to dinner on Saturday. Ginny is bored without her practice, we could use some company. Maybe Ron will come…' – Harry desperately tried to get the two to start dating

'Can I bring a plus one?' – she asked, wanting to put a stop to his attempts before he went too far

'Oh… uhm, yeah, sure, of course' – Harry replied, taken aback

'Great, I'll be there' – Hermione continued walking down the corridor

'I hope he'll thank you' – she heard Harry calling behind her

'I hope so too, Harry…'