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Hermione smirked to herself as she sat down at the dining table in Grimmauld Place. She had certainly gotten off easier in this research deal, since she was searching through Muggle court cases she had been able to filter her initial searches through a computer, meaning she was already pulling from a much smaller pool than Malfoy would've been. While she understood the gravity of the situation it was just in her nature to be competitive about with nearly anything she could be, and while there could be no clear winner in this case, she still wanted to show Malfoy up. It would serve him right.

They would need more space than Ron's office could provide for this, since they would need all of the case filings that both she had Draco had deemed necessary. Harry had initially suggested that they used a ministry conference room but Draco had shot that down, he didn't want anyone to know what was happening with his family and he most certainly didn't want people to know that he was working with the three of them.

He had then suggested his manor, quoting the size and privacy but Hermione had shot that down just as fast, she was sure there was nothing on earth that could make her willingly walk into Malfoy manor again.

After Hermione had explained their predicament to Ginny over lunch one day the red-headed witch had suggested they use Grimmauld Place, offering to lend her ear as well.

Harry had hesitated at the prospect of inviting Malfoy into his home but finally acquiesced when Ron had pointed out that it didn't seem like anything else was going to work and that they were on a deadline.

Ron and Ginny were also seated by her, the two of them talking idly about Ginny's recent promotion to captain and what that meant for her chances to try out for the world cup team.

Hermione remained wrapped up in her own thoughts until the door to the dining room had opened and Harry and Malfoy appeared. Hermoine had half expected Malfoy to wrinkle his nose at the interior of Grimmauld Place but when he didn't she reminded herself that this house had belonged to Sirius' parents, to the Blacks'. Hermione realized again with a small start that while Draco and Sirius were related, the thought disturbed her since she knew that she, Harry, and Ron had always considered Sirius to be family and that he had held them in the same regard. It was certainly an uncomfortable notion.

He made a face as though he wanted to say something about Ginny being there but thought better of it, instead, he slid down into a chair opposite Ron, leaving Harry to sit opposite Hermione.

Fine she thought to herself, fine.

Ginny sat next to Hermione and in an attempt to break the awkward silence said, "Kreacher's made lemon tarts, I think they'll be ready soon."

Harry smiled at her and said, "that sounds great, Gin."

Malfoy spoke next, "I didn't come here to discuss dessert options, Potter," he said, his voice curt, his eyes focused on the wall over Ron's right ear. "And so that everyone is aware, the date for the kiss to be administered is set for three weeks from today."

Hermione's heartbeat picked up, three weeks wasn't going to be nearly enough time, especially if Draco could no longer afford a lawyer to make their case in court.

"Right," Harry started, "so do y- should we- err, Hermione how should we do this?"

Hermione smiled quickly at her friend and explained that she thought she and Draco should read each other's search parameters first just so they had a better view of the big picture before roping everyone else in.

Draco merely nodded in response to her suggestion, pulling a sheaf of parchment out of an old school bag and shoving it down the table in her direction. She separated her summary and parameters from the rest of her notes and passed them back up the table, she barely managed to repress a smile as she did so, she dared him to make a comment about her work, it was well thought out and thorough.

The table fell into silence again as the two of them reviewed each other's findings, Hermione began skimming the stack of papers he passed down. It struck her then as odd that the two of them had organized their findings in a similar way, she pushed the thought away, reminding herself this was simply the most logical way to do it.

She frowned at the neat letters in front of her, he had included cases from the equivalent of wizarding housing court, for land disputes. That wouldn't help at all, Criminal Law wouldn't accept an overturn precedent from housing court. Unfortunately that eliminated nearly an eighth of the cases Malfoy had listed for them to review. Her frown deepened when she realized he had included cases where prisoners had been given reduced sentences due to extenuating circumstances whether it be family or something else.

That confused her, was there an extenuating circumstance that she had missed? Leave it to Malfoy to leave out important information and expect her to still produce competent results. She stopped her self from seething at him, reminding herself that the quicker this went, the quicker he would leave.

She flipped through his list of cases noting begrudgingly that it was very well researched, his summaries answered most of the important questions which would mean there would mean less shuffling through papers to find answers and more actually productive conversation.

She glanced up at him quickly but his brow was furrowed as his eyes darted back and forth over something she had written. So instead she made eye contact with Harry, indicating that she was ready to start.

Despite both parties being able to effectively and efficiently present their material there was still a lot of frustration from both Hermione and Draco as they both found holes in either their own work. Draco unlike Hermione had included any Wizards arrested for any group or gang-related offense while Hermione had focused more on homicides. The fact that she had missed an easy correlation had irked her, she could feel his smirk when she admitted that she hadn't thought to search for that.

But Hermione hadn't had to sulk for long as she vindictively pointed out that nearly half of Draco's suggested cases wouldn't work for one reason or another, quoting various amendments and addendums that she had had the foresight to read up on.

And then a little while later when Ron was questioning Malfoy about some of the specifics of his father's case Hermione felt disgusted with herself, ashamed that she had tried to one-up Malfoy when he was trying to help his father. That she had turned his cause into an opportunity to mock him.

She slumped down in her chair causing Ron to shoot her a worried look. This time, this time she was in the wrong. For all that she held herself over him, claiming the higher moral ground, she had wronged him. And unlike everything he had done to her over the years, she hadn't even had the decency to do it to his face.

****

Ron frowned, reviewing both stacks of neatly lettered parchment in front of him. He vaguely heard Ginny direct a question towards Malfoy, and he heard Malfoy launch into an explanation. His frown deepened, he glanced quickly at Hermione, who for some reason had slumped down low in her chair with her arms crossed and looked as though she was about to be sick.

He had never been fully on board with this plan, he still wasn't but if it was something that both Harry and Hermione were ready to commit to then he certainly wasn't going to let them do it alone. So he had resolved to not fight them every step of the way, to be as rude to Malfoy as he could be without incurring the wrath of either Harry, Hermione or his sister, and to help make this go as fast as possible so that Malfoy would be back out his life, where he belonged.

His eyes drifted back to the notes, he could still hear Malfoy speaking, but he wasn't really paying attention. And then Ron suddenly stood up, startling Malfoy into stopping. He knew he was being rude and well had it been anyone else he probably would have apologized, but it was Malfoy.

Everyone's eyes were on him, he took a moment appreciating the fact that such a small movement had commanded this much attention and said, "Harry, Hermione, a quick word in the kitchen?"

Both Harry and Hermione stood up almost immediately, Ginny looked slightly affronted but not entirely bothered about not being included but Malfoy shot up out of his seat, an expression of outrage on his face.

"If you've got more important things to be doing Weasley-" Malfoy started obnoxiously.

Ron turned to him, "Oh shut up Ferret," he said quickly.

Malfoy's eyes darkened, "Don't you dar-" but this time it was Harry that cut him off, "It'll just be a few minutes Malfoy," Harry said, shooting an apologetic look at Ginny before stepping towards the kitchen door.

"What's up?" Harry asked him a moment later when the three of them had crowded into the kitchen, "and er- Hermione, are you alright?"

Hermione still looked a little queasy and looked up at Harry's question, "Fine," she answered a little too quickly, her voice higher than usual, "fine, just want to get this over with."

Harry nodded and both he and Hermione looked at Ron expectantly, "Right," Ron started, "well, listen, I know what I'm about to say sounds absolutely mad but, well I said I'd help, so I'm trying. Malfoy research it shows a lack of understanding for how the court system works, half of it doesn't even pertain- and well Hermione's, well all of Hermione's stuff is relevant," he continued, flashing a smile in her direction, "but every time she says something Malfoy seems to have some reason or another for why that argument wouldn't work." He took another breath, glancing between his two friends again, "So, what I'm saying is that maybe if you two worked together before we all heard all of the cases, more of them might be helpful." He said this last part very quickly, as though that would make it more bearable.

Hermione, whose queasiness had gone away slightly now returned and she opened her mouth, "You-you want me to work with him? You want me to spend more time with him? Alone?" Her voice was rising now, Ron could see her face starting to turn red.

"No," His voice cracked, "no I don't, obviously I don't want that, Hermione- I'm just trying to help, and I'm just telling you what I see," Ron said, looking to Harry for help. Hermione was reaching a dangerous level of anger, the likes of which had been directed at him twice before and he was hoping this wouldn't make a third time.

"Hermione," Harry interrupted calmly, "do you think that would help? At all?" He was also hesitating, he remembered a particular incident involving birds and was trying to be as cautious as possible.

Hermione's head swung between Ron and Harry twice before she let out in a low angry voice, "Are you actually on board with this too?! Honestly, Ron, I can't believe that you- You didn't even want to help him in the first place!"

"Hermione," Harry cut her rant off, "He's just trying to help, and if you can't do it that's fine, we'll keep doing it this way, but if it'll help, Hermione, it's his dad," Harry said, his voice pleading.

"His dad who-" Hermione started, her blood boiling again.

"Doesn't that not matter now?" Ron interrupted her, "We all know what he did, and we're all here right now Hermione. And the only reason I didn't suggest it out there was so that you could say no. And you can say no Hermione, we won't judge."

Harry quickly nodded in agreement, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

Hermione looked between Harry and Ron, thinking back to how poorly she had judged Malfoy just a few moments earlier and gave in, "I-I would prefer not to be alone with him," She started somewhat weakly, "and I want it made clear that I will not be going anywhere near his house." She added, her voice more firm.

"Ok that's-ok," Harry said, "we can, we can come with you, when you need to work with him, that way..." Harry let his sentence hang not finishing it.

But the unsaid sentiment still hung in the air, and oddly enough her best friend's reassurance only made her feel more sick. She frowned, shouldn't that have made her feel better? The fact that either Harry or Ron would be there every time she had to see Malfoy? Her uneasiness gave her pause and the look on her face must've conveyed that because Ron started saying something about how it had all been his stupid idea, to begin with, and that they should just drop it.

Hermione let his voice wash over her ears as she closed her eyes, thinking. First she hadn't even wanted to help Malfoy and now she was going to be working side by side with him? The thought made her shudder.

She tilted her head back, eyes still screwed shut, Ron still rambling on about the stupidity of his suggestion, she didn't need her friends to protect her. She was an incredibly capable witch, who was she kidding, she could take care of herself. After all Malfoy was trying to bring his family back together, that was a desire she understood, that was a desire she could reconcile with. With a deep breath Hermione summoned her Gryffindor courage and looked back to Harry and Ron.

Malfoy hadn't taken the news much better than she had, a part of her reveled in the fact that she could incite this much anger from him (the feeling was certainly mutual) even after Ron pointed out how much time it would save them he still seemed hesitant. It was only when she said that it would save time that Malfoy finally stopped arguing.

He had said the date was set for three weeks, he didn't have time to be arguing with her, with any of them, Ginny chose that moment to tell him that they were all on his side through this. Hermione scoffed to herself at the thought of ever being on the same side as Malfoy but chose not to say anything.

Hermione laid out her one rule of not being anywhere near the Manor and Malfoy nodded as though he had been expecting it. Then Hermione excused herself from the room, she didn't need to hear Harry and Ron threatening Malfoy within an inch of his life if he said or did anything hurtful to her.