Quiet Living

Hermione forgoed sleeping to scour , she was on a mission now and determined to find anyone who met her criteria, but it only took 3 calls to realize her original logic was flawed, the biggest wizarding healing centers who she started with had the most funding and variety but turned out to also be the places that wanted the publicity that came with Harry Potter. With his privacy in the whole situation being non-negotiable, and the healing centers not listening to what she was actually asking for, she burned those bridges and was back where she started with essentially no leads. Any smaller places she called afterwards didn't answer because of the time, but she still wasn't sure about how well any of them would turn out as actual solutions. Frustrated and far too tired for the bs she was sure she would have to deal with at work, she headed to Harry's suffocatingly quiet room, shaking Ron to convince him to head to their actual bed before he had to actually get up for the day. She hoped If she was able to help harry just a little this morning and get some food in him, it would ease her anxiety just a little.

Her socked feet padded quietly against the hardwood under her following the heavy thumps of Ron's, when she was alone she was always found herself being quiet even though she wouldn't be disturbing anyone. Sometimes she would mumble or sing to herself but the calm quiet could be nice on long busy days. Regardless of how needed the silence was there was always a part of her mind that was unnerved, knowing Harry was in the house dormant. Harry was the skeleton in her closet, and she did her best to gently coax him out, to be grounded and breathing in their small apartment instead of wherever he usually floated through, but she wasn't as good at it as she felt she should be for life-long best friends. Back before Harry had completely isolated and he still saw all their other friends she would sometimes get jealous of Luna for being able to still get through to that locked up part of him. She had a weird way of knowing what to say to him, but his isolation had included all his friends but Hermione and Ron, undoing any solace Luna had given him in their brief visits. She thought it was odd how, during those times, Hermione had tried in the beginning to get harry to still visit with luna, but she was gone often and unable to visit him at Hermione's whims.

She peaked in to see him awake, his glasses still forgotten on the table. He acknowledged her existence in the doorway, not intruding but clearly wanting to, and he slowly followed when she softly asked him to. She decided he could be both a ghost and a skeleton. When he existed in the bed he lay eternally and she just managed to coax a shadow of him out, but if he was a ghost he was much more like a muggle idea of a one that she had grown up with than any of the blabbermouth ones she’d met at Hogwarts.

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Hermione stepped in the floo, getting one last look at a Harry smaller frame curled up on the couch with half a piece of toast on the plate he politely held but wouldn't take from. Every time she saw him she remembered who he used to be, and the juxtaposition made her determined to get as much of that back as she could. She loved him no matter how he changed, but she also wanted what was best for him, and his current state wasn't sustainable.

Much like the rest of her graduating class, she had gone back after the war to make up for missed classes and prepare to take the OWL’s, and she spent most of that time bent over her textbooks dead set on succeeding and setting herself up to make the change she had always wanted to see. Almost everyone besides those who had secured a job right after the war seemed to very begrudgingly come back, knowing it was important and the opportunity was too good to pass up, but no one seemed very invested. She thought it came down to the fact that most of them had no clue where they were going from there and no career developments didn't mix well with incomplete schooling. She loved all her friends dearly but somehow Hermione had felt more alone than ever. Then a certain confident and sharp-tongued slytherin shoved into her life.

As Hermione started towards her cold, faded office, Pansy fell into the quick pace of Hermione's strides. Growing up at Hogwarts, pansy had always felt like just another faceless slytherin bully, but she was one of the first to ‘defect’ out of the house and she unashamedly shoved her way into Hermione's life as soon as all the commotion was over. Back when she was fighting her case she had given Hermione a short nonsensical speech about ‘similar values’ and all that rubbish, it wasn't even close to true at that point but the girls were more alike in character than either had ever cared to admit, and in a time of such complex loneliness, they were fast at forging a friendship that would follow them into the professional world. It turns out they grew to have similar values in the end, compromising on both ends and finding a lovely middle ground that both of them were passionate about and willing to fight for. Hermione and Pansy had both vaguely planned on making big changes to their government while in school but by the time they were applying to jobs there weren't exactly any openings for government renovator, so they both had to settle with their assigned political roles and obsessively plan for the day they starting plucking the toxic weeds and fixing the biggest flaws before someone could notice and undermine them. Hermione was considered a war hero, being so close to Harry, and so she was able to get a nice job representing magical minorities in a team re-evaluating policies, and somehow between their efforts they managed to secure pansy on the team too, despite her unsavory history. It irked her how slytherins had to tuck their tails in the face of the public despite just being kids who were doing as their families said. Countless backboneless political figures let the war happen without any resistance and yet it was the children they scorned for morals.

Hermione zoned in and got hit with the most scrutinizing, pansy patented stare.

“Did you hear a word i said” pansy sneered, and Hermione couldn’t keep herself from rolling her eyes at the theatrics.

She knew there was no point in responding to Pansy’s rhetorical question, and expecting an interrogation she chose her words carefully. Talking about Harry was a tricky situation no matter the person, usually just leaving her feeling exposed, guilty, and slightly nauseous.

“I was just up a little late reaching out to no-good healing centers, but the caffeine will kick in soon.” She had hoped her words would feign indifference to avoid being dissected first thing in her already frustrating morning, but Pansy was too socially adjusted for her own good. Pansy’s gaze softened and drifted forward again, the only give that she was trying to treat the conversation with more grace than usual.

“Most healing centers are full of insolent witches and wizards. I don't know a witch worth a knut that will entertain the thought of going for any career path that’s not life-threatening anymore. Although- did I ever mention Draco’s study’s? I am most proud of his unique pathway and growth in the field, none could compare before and I fear he’s just widened the gap.” her calm gossipy tone was followed by a quick sniff, a nervous habit.

Hermione felt herself tense at the mention of the younger Malfoy. Typically they avoided talking about their respective best friends, it was unnecessary to their jobs and unrelated to their shared passion, and was such a mess given all their shared history. Pansy and Hermione may have been able to reconcile and move forward, but they both had their loyalties to people who were less likely to compromise and make amends. And while Hermione was able to forgive on pansies part, her quick witted partner’s rocky past behavior towards her never compared to the cruelty Hermione faced at the hands of Draco. She was sure he was keeping to himself and at least somewhat matured now, but some things aren't as easily forgotten.

The silence was tense, but without Hermione making a move to end the discussion, pansy continued, speaking slightly too fast obviously also feeling the strain of the conversation's direction.
“He didn’t feel the need to return the final year like the rest of us because he was able to work under Etienne Augustin, the lucky prick,” her remark was chastising in a soft adoring way and it just served to remind her again how similar her and pansy were. “, I’m sure you're familiar with his work, a well-renowned mind healer. It was thanks to him that Draco's studies have led to where they are now-” pansy pursed her lips, cutting off the thought, but chose to continue once again.

“ He’s been able to link wizarding mind-healing techniques with the muggle equivalent. He thinks that they can improve current practices by incorporating this sort of theoretical work, psychiatric care, or whatever he calls it.” She ended the thought like a story that wasn't worth fully telling, but for as unsure as Hermione felt about the man, she was equally impressed by his chosen line of study as she was surprised that no one had thought to link the two before in medical practice.

Hermione blinked with surprise just as pansy glanced back at her. Nearing their office Hermione stopped walking altogether, forcing pansy to make a brisk stop too.

“That's- well it's completely incredible,” Hermione softly started, “has he been able to find development with the relations between these practices then?” Hermione had a lot of sudden hope for the rocky start of a morning.

“You’d have to ask him yourself, the second he starts explaining it all to me I lose my comprehension skills. I can never follow his ramblings.” Hermione knew an olive branch when she saw one.
“Where would i reach him if i were to inquire further on his unique studies” Hermione couldn't be seriously considering it but in a road of dead ends she needed at least the comfort of feeling she has an option if things get absolutely desperate.

“Oh, he has one of those odd muggle contact points, an online mail thing, I could find it for you quickly, I'm sure. I’ll bring it to you if you decide we can actually proceed into our office.” Pansy was snippy but it couldn't cover the inherent kindness in her actions.

They resumed their walk and prepared for the work day, but Hermione felt distracted with half-formed plans and considerations that left her grasping for where her opinions stood, especially once she had a scrap of paper scratched over with ink in the careful resemblance of an email practically burning in her pocket.

Their shared history with Draco wasn't to be taken lightly, years of mistreatment with possible explanations, but never any solid excuse. She understood that many Slytherins had their values beat into them by their inbred parents, but no matter how she put it, there were still many opportunities for redemption that were neglected by the young Malfoy, and he had hurt not just her, but her best friend, so as rash as her opinion was formed about him now the distrust still ran deep.

The second she was home she got out her laptop to start looking Draco up, wanting to see if he had any online trail she could follow before even considering emailing him. Ron wouldn't be back till later, and it wasn't guaranteed to work out so she didn't want to get Ron all worked up about Malfoy before she knew if she would even actually consider it as a viable option. But despite having done countless deep dives in her time at the Ministry she wasn't actually quite sure where to look. Typing in his name only brought up a student photo at a French university, and while that felt like a possible lead it had nothing linked to it and she was back at square one. It proved he did actually learn in France, likely under both a wizard teacher and the school she had found, and she was surprised to see that he had gone to a muggle school, that he had not only managed to exist near muggles without offending each and every one but to also learn from them, but ultimately that was the only piece of information she could find out about him online.

Her head shot up when she heard the front door open, and seeing Ron she realized just how long she had spent grasping for strings. She closed out of the tab and let out a deep and possibly aggravated sigh while moving the laptop to its resting place on the counter. Ron haphazardly knocked his shoes off and practically flew to slump on the couch. She side-eyed him for knocking into her in the process but her pursed lips and judgmental glances didn't hold the same weight they used to. He dragged his hands down his face as melodramatically as possible and she couldn't help but snort at his exasperated expression.

Ron started rambling with his hands still dragging over his mouth, muffling the sound, “Listen, you cant blame me for what i did, ginny bullied me into it-”, Hermione’s sharp side-eye came back quickly with more power than before. “I told her that it probably wasn't a good idea but she’s forced her way, in the bloody git. talking about family and quality time and”
“That what wasn't a good idea Ron” Hermione interrupted impatiently, ready for the damage control that was probably to come.

Ron groaned and shook his head “Her and Luna are in town and coming over tonight for dinner. I tried to convince her that the pub with the 4 of us would be just as nice but she was dead set on coming here. I think she's trying to force her way into seeing Harry like the snoop she is.” Ron's exasperated mumblings about his sister were to be expected, but ginny had respected Harry’s choice to not come to events up till now, she wondered if Mrs. Weasley had put her up to it or if she had just had enough of everyone accepting that Harry wasn't a centerpiece to friend hangouts anymore.
To be fair to Ginny, both her and Luna weren’t often home, Ginny was a quidditch professional and Luna seemed to float around with her and explore the flora and fauna of new places to talk about in her inherited magazine. It made sense that when they could come back that they get together with the gang, but usually that entailed a dinner out or night at the pub with everyone who could make it, minus harry, it was rare for small gatherings and usually Ron and Hermione opted out of hosting for obvious reasons. Regardless, Ginny was determined and Luna was probably excited with the idea too, and they would need a game plan so they didn't freak out harry.

Hermione threw her head up and sighed again, smacking her hand down to cover Ron’s face as he kept mumbling to himself about his nosey sister.

“So are we going to hide him or is he going to become an exhibit for them” she tried to joke but it came out a bit darker then she meant it to. Ron gawking at her said he thought about the same, and he didn't even dignify it with a response.

“Yeah okay, but seriously, how are we going to get through tonight without someone crying or harry flipping out- and when are they arriving?” The cogs were already turning in her mind and she really wished she had actually gotten good sleep the night before.

“They are gonna show up in an hour” Ron practically whispered, clearly regretting whatever made him think that he could give her that little time to prepare. As soon as the words were out of his mouth she had stood up and his head was unceremoniously dropped to the couch.

“AN HOUR, ONE?!” she yelled the words while already running to grab her wand, preparing all the scrubbing and cleaning spells she could think of, for both the house and Ron.

“Yeah, but they are bringing food so we only have to worry about,” Ron dropped off his defending statement where the name of their best friend hung. Harry was a lot to figure out in two years, much less an hour.

Hermione successfully grabbed not only her wand, but Ron's which was left by the door. “For god's sake Ron, you daft idiot, I need to go try to figure out harry so you need to clean this place and yourself before i come back out.” Her tone was non-negotiable and accompanied by his wand being thrown straight at his face before she disappeared down the hall.

Hermione had to stop herself from slamming Harry's door in sheer panic, but she didn't think setting him off would help her any, and while the boy could sleep through pretty much anything, she didn't feel like testing it at a time like this. She slowly closed the door instead, making sure it wasn't fully closed so harry didn't feel completely trapped with the unfortunate news she had.

Upon approaching his bed she realized that he was fast asleep, but with no time to wait she softly put her hand on his shoulder and quietly called to him. She could tell he was awake when she felt him go completely stiff despite him still being frozen, and pushing her feelings about waking him aside she tried to articulate the situation with care, hoping he was actually listening.

“Listen, this wasn't my choice, but Luna and Ginny will be here in an hour for dinner and that means you will need to make a decision.” She paused to see if he was listening, and his wide eyes was que for her to continue, “If you really don't think you can visit i can tell them your resting or not feeling like visiting, although its likely they will still try to see you, or you can come out and participate however much you can, no shame in what that means for you. Ron and I can shut them down if they get too invasive, but regardless it will be a more active night than usual.” She felt she had explained it pretty well on the spot but Harry’s had yet to stop making a pained face.

She sighed sitting on the edge of his bed and detangling the ends of her hair with her fingers. There was absolutely no easy way to go about whatever was going to happen but Harry might as well get the choice in how he tries to minimize it.

“I know its a lot but i’ll need some sort of answer soon because we don't have very long till they come.” She was more straightforward than she usually was with him, out of desperation mostly, but it got her an answer she could work with.

“I’m sorry” he whispered towards her, no longer making eye contact and eyes misting up just barely, “I don’t know if I can”. Hermione couldn't say she was surprised, but it still served to remind her that an intervention needed to happen soon, and she would need to find someone capable enough.

“I know, it's okay” she cooed at him like a scared child, but she did understand that he was trying and needed to know she saw that. “Don't even worry about it, me and Ron will manage, just know if you change your mind at any point your more than welcome, okay. We all love you so much.” She cringed realizing she was bordering on guilting, but she meant the words as genuinely as they could be said. She would have a long night ahead of her still but she would try to make it as easy for him as she could. Luna and Ginny would just have to go without seeing him again.