Her Lucky Break

An Empty Box

Her Lucky Break

An Empty Box

It had been two weeks since Hermione and Draco had been to the 'party' and returned only to fight with each other. Blaise had comforted Hermione and eventually Draco must have told him what happened as he stopped asking her. They hadn't worked together since that night or even talked. Instead Hermione found other ways to keep herself busy. She marked some tests and some projects and found herself once again reading fiction.

It almost felt odd. Ever since she came to Hogwarts she had always picked up a non-fiction book, working towards learning everything possible regarding the wizarding world. After the war though, she decided that she didn't need to know everything. She was fine with looking up new information only as she needed it. It was easy to just sit back and relax without worrying about what was going to happen next. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to think like that in a while. Instead she could only watch as the world was still recovering from the prejudices.

Lucius destroying lives for no reason other than it upsetting what he believed to be the 'normal' when really people should be allowed to be with whoever they want. Blood should not have a say. Muggleborns are not different than Purebloods as far as their right to be a wizard.

Instead of relaxing with a book she'd been racing around trying to stop him from committing the horrendous acts. All she got from it was an emotional roller coaster known as Draco Malfoy, the need to vomit whenever a new murder was made public, and a whole lot of stress. Even now, when they were inadvertently taking a break from hunting down the criminal, whose name had been spread across the country in under forty eight hours after his unmasking, she still couldn't take a break and relax. Sure she could read but it wasn't unsettling her nerves. Instead she sat here impatient. Lucius was so close to being caught but they just couldn't find him. There was nothing to do but wait for word of his whereabouts but by that point he could kill countless of innocent people.

None of it was fair at all.

It didn't help that Draco wanted nothing to do with her or the case and instead kept himself locked away in his rooms. He'd been acting as a coward about his father and his own morals. He wouldn't talk about his problems with anyone. Hermione just couldn't take the silence from him. Even in her mind he refused to leave and just sat there moping.

Hermione sighed as she put the book back down. She couldn't focus on it to save her life so there was no point in reading it. She'd already reread the same paragraph five times and still hadn't the slightest clue of what it said. She felt a chill settle in the room as she stretched, suddenly realizing just how warm her curled up position had kept her. It may of provided warmth but her muscles were all cramped now. She cast a quick spell to light the fire place and just sat there, watching the flames flicker.

She was startled by the knock on the door.

"Hello?" Blaise's voice called through the portrait. She had grown familiar with the man.

She shot up, tripping over her two front feet as she raced to open the door. She caught herself just as she reached it.

"Come in." she said waving her hand as an invitation. Only then did she look in and notice that even though it was midday her rooms were dark besides a small lamp and the now burning fire. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Just water would be nice."

She did just that, opening curtains that hid enchanted windows to let in some more light as she went. When she placed the water in front of Blaise she sat down, her eyes dropping to her hands.

"Was there something you wanted?" she asked in a quiet voice, not even sure if he had heard her.

Blaise took a sip of water. "I was just wondering if you were okay. You seem almost as out of it as he does."