She stood there, panting, staring at the emerald eye. Reaching her arm out, she imitated the Alohomora wand movements and whispered the spell. Nothing.

The clicking of footsteps on marble, and she turned to see a harried Narcissa rushing towards her.

"Hello, dear," she clipped. "We'll have tea later, yes?" And then Narcissa was opening the door and slipping inside with a hissed, "I told you it was too soon, Draco," before Hermione could blink.

The door shut, and Hermione startled. She tried the handle again. Locked. Of course they wouldn't want her inside. She was dangerous. Unstable.

She blinked, vision blurring, pressing her ear against the door and waiting for some kind of sound, an indication of what was going on inside. Some kind of reassurance.

The door opened, and she almost fell into the chest of Lucius Malfoy. She scrambled back, looking up into the face of the man that had killed Charlie Weasley and countless others, feeling like a guilty child. "You stupid girl," he snarled at her.

His anger froze her, and she breathed, "It was an accident. I—"

Draco screamed beyond the cracked door, and she shuddered, craning her neck to see into the room. Lucius slid in front of her and shoved his finger in her face.

"You hurt my son again, and I'll drag you to the dungeons myself." He drew himself up, towering over her. "Control your magic," he hissed. "Or I'll take it from you."

He spun on his heel and disappeared into Draco's bedroom. The door slammed, and she listened to the echo of it bounce amongst the portraits, their whispers and sobs slithering through her mind.

She walked back to her room, closed the door, and slid down to the floor. Deep breaths, one after another, until her shoulders stopped shaking and the image of Draco behind her eyelids vanished. She uncurled her fingers, the nails digging into her palms. There was a new puzzle to solve.

She had magic.

And the Malfoys knew she did. And they didn't care.

How did that factor into her latest theories?

She stared blankly at the wall that connected her room to Draco's, the fireplace burning merrily, and wondered if her circumstances were better or worse with the Malfoys' return.

Chapter End Notes

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Chapter 12

Chapter Notes

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have TRIGGERS, please see the end notes for specific chapter 12 trigger warnings.

Due to some real life writing projects, I need to take the end of September off unfortunately. Chapter 13 will post next Sunday, but Chapter 14 won't post until Oct 6.

Thanks to SaintDionysus and raven_maiden .

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Waiting for Draco to recover from his injuries was somehow even more agonizing when they were only separated by a wall. She suspected his condition was serious, but not critical. Narcissa and Mippy kept a near-constant vigil in his room, but Lucius was nowhere to be found, apparently traveling again. Hermione left the door to her suite cracked so she could hear the comings and goings in their shared hallways. Whenever Narcissa's delicate footsteps clicked toward his room, she'd place her ear to her door and hope to hear some muttered conversation as she entered. Once the footsteps trailed away from Draco's room and down the stairs, she'd creep to his door and stand there until the dragon's mocking green eye forced her hand.