None of them had made much progress on anything during dinner last night, Hermione had tried to focus on her reading but the boy's constant conversation about reports had made it difficult. And to top it all off, Ron hadn't taken it well when he found out that both Harry and Hermione would be trying to help Malfoy with his case.

No that didn't seem to do it justice, he had exploded, to the point where Ginny had gotten up, grabbed her brother's arm, and dragged him from the room.

Harry and Hermione had been able to hear her shouting at him from the second floor. When they both reappeared in the dining room Ginny waltzed in like nothing had happened and slid into her seat. Ron made a sheepish apology for his outburst and sat back down in his seat and the subject of Draco Malfoy wasn't broached again until Hermione had been about to leave and Harry reminded her that Malfoy would be over the next morning around 11.

****

Dreams full of dementors and blonde-haired death eaters didn't make for a very good sleep which was why Hermione had been in her office at the ministry since 5 AM, but now as the hour hand rounded the 10 she began to feel tired. Leaning back in her chair she decided to try and get a quick nap in before heading to the auror department for what was sure to be a stressful conversation.

She wished that she had been able to find some answers to the Helerean charm issue, her fruitless search for answers on that front, combined with the prospect of seeing Malfoy again today had left her feeling even more drained than the lack of sleep.

She couldn't help but feel disheartened when her and Cassie's attempt with the Patronus charm hadn't worked, she understood that in essence the Patronus charm existed to repel dementors, not harm them while the Helerean charm almost acted to protect them. She knew that at its core the Patronus charm could cause no harm, it was simply against its nature, but still part of her had hoped.

And it didn't seem like the dark arts held an answer either, Hermione had thrown a plethora of dark spells at it and hadn't budged. Hermione's brow furrowed, her eyes still closed, perhaps if she could find something that had worked against other dark wizards or objects-- her eyes snapped open, dark objects, Horcruxes.

Luckily, she knew quite a bit about Horcruxes.

Pulling a piece of parchment towards herself she began scribbling furiously. While her other hand used her wand to summon a book out of the depths of her beaded bag, a book she hadn't touched in more than 4 years, a book she had stolen from the office of her former headmaster Albus Dumbledore, a book entitled, Secrets of the Darkest Art.

Maybe 20 minutes later she raced out of the department of mysteries, rushing towards the lift, her wand sticking out of the front pocket of her robes, her hair flying behind her and the large black tome tucked under her arm.

She came to an abrupt halt in the Auror office, out of breath (It had been a while since she had gone on a run) she had no idea whether Harry and Ron were even here, they might've had to leave for something or another.

Just as she had been about to head back to her office and send them a note instead when Kavya Parekh emerged from the maze of cubicles.

"Ms. Granger!" She said surprised, Kavya was a darker-skinned girl with hair very much like Hermione's that she almost always kept tied up in a long braid, something the two had been able to laugh about at a few Ministry-wide Christmas parties, she stood a few inches taller than Hermione, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Ye-yes and it's Hermione, please," Hermione said quickly, "Where are Harry and Ron? I need to speak with them."

"I'd try Ron's office, I know they're both here, saw them about an hour ago." The taller girl responded with a smile.

"Thanks, thank you!" Hermione said quickly, moving towards Ron's office, some her loose hair falling forward into her face. She was so excited to be able to share her theory that she hadn't even bothered to knock, instead just opening the door saying, "Harry, Ron, Horcruxes, it's-" She faltered, Malfoy was here. Of course, Harry had said 11, her cheeks went pink, she knew she looked a mess but she also hated that she cared what Malfoy thought of her appearance.

"Granger." He sneered, lip curling.

"Malfoy," she responded curtly, with a tight nod, this was more important, she would help him, yes, but later, right now she needed to speak to Harry and Ron.

Harry started speaking, his eyes on the book in her arms, "Isn't that--"

"Yes, yes," She cut him off, "I think I know how they got past the charm but I'd need to run a few things by you."

To her surprise it wasn't Harry or Ron that responded, it was Malfoy, "I know you can't see all that well Granger, with that bird's nest you call hair in your face, but the three of us were in the middle of something. And in case you hadn't realized, hair is supposed to be behind your head."

Hermione stood there, her face red, her mouth hanging open, she had been about to snap back at him but Ron had already pointed his wand at Malfoy and Harry had moved to stand in front of her, like a human shield. Shields didn't stop words she thought wryly, unsure of whether acting would make the situation worse or not.

The men in front of her were shouting at each other, her mind went still, she couldn't hear what they were saying, all she could hear were her own shallow, quick breaths. Why was this bothering her, whenever Malfoy saw her he didn't miss a chance to throw an insult her way, why would it be any different now, when they were older? Because the small voice in her head said reasonably because now we're older, more mature, because now you're helping him.

She shook her head quickly, snapping herself back into her surroundings, Ron was shouting, she cringed, she was sure those outside in the office could hear. Harry had now moved forward, a hand stretched out facing Ron, his back to Malfoy.

Hermione sighed to herself, as thankful as she was to Harry and Ron right now, what she had to tell them was far more important than Malfoy confirming he was a cold, arrogant coward. "Harry, Ron-" She interrupted the scene in front of her, "I-I don't care, listen I need to talk to you, I think I've figured something out."

Harry shot a grateful look at her before saying quickly, "Malfoy, wait outside a moment, please,"

"No," The blonde said quickly, "I was here first the Mu- Granger can wait."

"No," Harry said through gritted teeth this time, "she can't, this is auror business, wait outside."

Malfoy huffed, skirting around Hermione as he had done yesterday and heading for the door.

"Hermione, I'm sorry, I hadn't even-"

"Nevermind that Harry," She said quickly, not trusting her feelings, "we can talk about it later, right now I need to tell you something."

...

"So, you're saying," Ron began after Hermione had explained her theory, "that we could break through the Helerean charm with the same stuff used to destroy Horcruxes?"

"Well I think so," Hermione said, chewing her lip, "I mean the magical theory all lines up, it's not some big light versus dark thing, I think it's more about the power behind what you use. A Patronus isn't capable of being as powerful as say basilisk venom or fiend fire."

"Alright," Harry began, "so what now? I mean you've got this theory, so what now?"

"Well," Hermoine started excitedly, that had been the good part, "I'd like to look at Zabini's memory, see if there's a flash or something else that would indicate fiend fire because let's be honest, not too many people know where to get their hands on basilisk venom. I would test it but it'll be incredibly difficult, we wouldn't be able to do it at the ministry, because if I'm right, it was the fallout of breaking the Helerean charm that knocked everyone out." She took a breath, "It should be pretty obvious in the memory if fiend fire was used, and if it was you could narrow your search to people who are capable of that kind of magic and who know that particular spell--"

Ron cut across her, understanding her excitement, "Otherwise it would have to be a basilisk fang or something goblin-made that had absorbed the power of something more powerful! Which means we could start tracking those objects, or illegal sales of those objects!"

"Yes!" Hermione said, face flushed, thrilled that they had understood how useful this could be.

"Hang on," Harry said, "if you look at the memory and realize it's not fiend fire you still wouldn't know whether it was basilisk venom would you?"

This had been the flaw in her logic, she had picked it out from a mile away but now it was time to confront it, "You're right, we wouldn't even know if basilisk venom would work until we tested it. And I haven't exactly worked out how to test it, and even if it did work, if there's no distinguishing feature we still wouldn't know if it is what those wizards used."

Harry frowned, "Ron," he said, "you looked at Blaise's memory, did you see anything that might've been fiend fire?"

Hermione quickly described to Ron what thought he would've seen if the curse had been used and all three were disappointed when Ron said he remembered nothing of the kind when looking at Blaise's memory, "I dunno, I don't remember anything like that but then again Blaise was fairly far away from where Kinglsey and the others were."

Hermione nodded, "I've already left a note for Cassie to look into where we might be able to safely test this."

"Speaking of which," Ron asked frowning, "would there be anyone else who would know that there's a skull full of basilisk fangs at Hogwarts? Or that the sword of Gryffindor would work."

"Just the three of us, Ginny and McGonagall I think," Harry replied before asking, "Are there any other ways to destroy Horcruxes that we should look into?"

Both of the boys looked at Hermione, she sighed, "Well, there are theories as to what else could destroy a Horcrux, but this book only lists proven methods, so yeah there's probably another way but we wouldn't have any way of knowing about it."

Ron's excitement from earlier seemed to vanish, they had chipped away at something only to realize it held more questions than answers, and these were not going to be easy answers to get. "I'll start talking to our informants, look for trade legal or otherwise, involving basilisk venom or other class A dangerous substances."

Harry nodded as Ron left the room.

"Hermione," Harry started, "I hadn't spoken to Malfoy about you helping, and given what just happened, I understand if you don't want to help him anymore."

Hermione squared her shoulders, she had been too wrapped up in her own thoughts and hadn't expected the change in conversation. "I-I-no Harry, it's fine," she said, "you were right, what you said last night, I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I didn't try and it didn't work out. I meant to say 'thank you' for that." she said.

Harry grimaced slightly, "Right then, time to let Malfoy back in."

Harry opened the door and Malfoy strolled into the room, looking down at her. (Quite literally because she was still seated in the chair.)

Malfoy sneered and opened his mouth to speak but Harry cut him off sternly, "Malfoy, sit down and listen," Harry said, his voice was tired but firm, "as I had said before, you need to find a precedent to overturn this, and Hermione has offered to help you research."

Malfoy froze for a moment, his mouth hung slightly open on his pointed face, and then said, "I don't need help, and I most certainly don't need her help." He said, not even bothering to conceal the contempt in his voice.

Hermione opened her mouth to retort but Harry got there first, "Honestly Malfoy," he said, exasperation lacing his words, "you're here because wizarding lawyers in Britain won't represent your father, the American lawyers aren't familiar with our law, and as you said yourself, you can't exactly keep a team of lawyers employed much longer."

Malfoy's mouth opened and closed twice before he spoke again, his voice low, "I don't need a mudblood's help." he said.

Hermione beat Harry to the retort this time saying quickly, "Well you're going to need this mudblood's help now Malfoy." Hermoine said, the contempt in her voice rising, "As I'm sure you didn't know Wizard Court will accept precedence from a Muggle court so long as a judge agrees that it is relevant." Hermione snapped.

"How do you know that?" Malfoy asked quickly, not quite believing what she had said.

"Third year," Hermione said matter of factly, "when you and your father tried to murder Buckbeak, I was looking for precedent to get the execution order thrown out."

Hermione took a moment to appreciate how uncomfortable her last sentence had made Draco, he shifted awkwardly for a moment, his eyes focused at a point on the wall above her head.

Harry cleared his throat, interrupting the pointed silence between them.

"Malfoy, it is completely within your right not to accept our help, and when I say our help, but if you do choose to accept it then I insist that you treat Hermione with respect, if you hurt her in any way, if you call her that-that word, if you say anything derogatory to her then that's it Malfoy," Harry said.

Hermione felt a rush of affection for her best friend, she knew the real dorky Harry, but she also knew that he struck an intimidating figure to those who didn't know him. His height and dark hair combined with his bright green eyes could be unnerving and chilling at times. Maybe she had just imagined it but she could've sworn Draco Malfoy shuddered at Harry's tone.

Malfoy hissed something monosyllabic at them.

"Didn't quite catch that Malfoy," Hermione said coldly.

Malfoy exhaled, closing his eyes and scrunching up his normally carefree face, as though her was steeling himself to do something.

He looked back down at her, his face unreadable, sucked in a breath and said "Fine." Rather quickly in a tone that made it sound as though that was not fine.

"Right then," Hermione said, in a voice that didn't sound anything like her own, it was far too cold, far too detached, "I'll begin looking through Muggle cases and compiling a list of them that might hold relevance, you ought to do the same for Wizarding cases. We should try to go over them together in case one of us misses something."

"Fine," Malfoy said again, in that same voice, his fists clenched at his sides.

Hermione took that as the end of the conversation and stood up to leave, but was stopped when Harry said, "Hang on," both Malfoy and Hermione looked at him, "I-I don't feel- The more of us there when you go over the cases the less likely we are to miss something helpful right?" Hermione nodded at him.

"Right then," Harry continued, "you two compile your lists and then the four of us could meet up to go over them."

"Four of us?" Malfoy asked in that same strained voice.

"The three of us and Ron," Harry answered simply.

Draco gave Harry a tight nod, ignored Hermione, and swept out of the office.

Hermione gave Harry a quick hug, told him she'd look into safely testing her theory, and headed back to her office, she and Cassie had work to do.

                              ****

Thanks so much for reading! Please let me know what you think of the story so far!