Legilimens [Dramione]

Cheers

Hermione waited by Draco's side while the aurors did their job. Draco had told her over and over again that she shouldn't have to do anything, that it was okay to let others take care of it. And, above all, that she was not alone, and she was grateful for that. Because now, finally, she was beginning to understand it. 

It had been like resurfacing after being underwater for too long, or seeing the sun again after days in the dark. It had taken her a while to adjust to the light, to the air that filled her lungs. But she had finally succeeded. 

She was not alone. And she had to accept that she could never make it alone, but only allowing herself to be helped. 

And so she squeezed Draco's hand, focusing on the feel of his soft skin and long fingers as she watched from afar, one by one, the aurors leave the hospital.

She recognised a few faces: young healers or nurses who had stood by as she was ordered to send charms on her parents' brains. The aurors dragged them outside and then apparated. Harry had asked her if she would like to attend the interrogations, and she had been surprised by herself when she had said no. That answer had emerged naturally from something deep inside her. There were some battles she didn't have to fight. 

She watched, holding her breath, until finally the last auror left the building, followed by a handcuffed doctor. Pritchett. Even from a distance, Hermione had no problem recognising him. David was walking just behind them, and Hermione noticed that he was explaining something to a group of Aurors carrying white envelopes, probably containing the evidence they had collected. 

She continued to hold her breath, well aware that someone was missing from the roll call. She had not seen any of the aurors come out escorting the nurse who had been closest to her, the one who had studied her every single movement, who had held her hair when she vomited and adjusted the pillow in her bed every night. 

Hermione did not fail to notice, to her regret, that there was also another person missing from the roll call. Or perhaps the same one as before. 

Cameron. 

***

A little later, Hermione, Draco, Theo and even Ginny, were waiting at Nott Manor for Harry and David to return.

"Six people," sighed Potter, not even giving the fireplace flames time to die down. "Six people have been arrested." 

David slumped into the vacant armchair nearest to the fireplace, loosening the knot in his tie. "That woman was not among them," he sighed, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "But she's still on the list of suspected accomplices."

"We will investigate and she will be questioned," Potter continued. "Until hard evidence or something emerges against her." 

Hermione nodded. It was a good thing, she kept telling herself, that they had caught at least one of the Pritchett. Yet she felt that Cameron, once again, had found a way to fool her, and would come after her with even more anger after this.

If she really was collaborating with Dolores Umbridge... The very thought made her shudder. Draco at her side noticed, for he wrapped an arm around her, drawing her closer to the warmth of his body. 

'We'll find them, Granger. Both of them. 

She wanted to believe it, she really, really wanted to. 

The days following that arrest were a constant up and down between her flat and Theodore Nott's house. She had been interviewed more than once, not only by Luna Lovegood but also by other small local newspapers, many of them famous outside London. Theo had assured her that he had researched each of them and that they could be trusted. So she did, letting go of her anxiety to be perpetually in control of everything.