A/N: As you know it's become a bit of a tradition for me to post a festive story, and this year is no exception. This is my gift to you all for whichever type of celebration you may or may not involve yourselves in. I really hope you enjoy it. I also want to say thank you to my beta, Mamacita, as she is a fantastic friend and I'm lucky to have her. Happy Holidays everyone. Dx

'Hermione. I want to see you in my office, immediately.'

Hermione looked up at the tall, stern woman who had opened her door just long enough to bark out the order before disappearing back into her office. She glanced across the desk at her colleague and sighed, rolling her eyes as she did so.

'Wanna bet she's got another crap job for me to do?' she said as she put down her quill and stood up.

'You never know, after all that excellent work on the Burke case, she might give you something decent this time. Eventually, she's got to realise you're her star performer,' her colleague, Ben, told her.

Hermione gave a bitter laugh. 'She already knows that, Ben. That's why she keeps giving me the crap stuff to do. She's annoyed because she knows I've outperformed her consistently and she's worried that I might end up being promoted over her. That's why she gives me the dross to clear up. She keeps hoping I'm going to fuck up and then she'll have an excuse to get rid of me.'

'Oh, please. Don't you think you're being just a tad overdramatic?' the other occupant of their office announced with a sneer. 'Everyone knows you don't like Sylvia, including her, so no wonder she gives you all the crap cases. It serves you right.'

'Shut up, Daphne, you're not helping,' Ben pointed out.

'When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it,' Hermione snarled at the smirking witch. 'For your information, I didn't have a problem with Sylvia. She's the one who has been confrontational and critical from the moment she arrived.'

'Try not to think of it as dross work,' Ben suggested, desperately trying to calm Hermione down before she went to see her boss. 'Consider it a challenge that she wants to see if you can beat — and you always do, so feel proud about that.'

Daphne snorted and both Hermione and Ben shot her filthy looks.

'I'd better go before she starts yelling again,' Hermione said, and with another loud sigh she went to the office, knocked on the door, and disappeared inside, closing the door behind her.

'I don't know why you have to keep winding Hermione up all the time, Daphne,' Ben said with a frown once Hermione had left the office. 'She's got it tough enough with Sylvia always on her back. She doesn't need crap from you as well.'

'I bet you were a Hufflepuff, weren't you? Always trying to keep things on an even keel,' Daphne said, the sneer back on her face.

'So, what if I was?' Ben asked.

'I was at school with Hermione and she was a real bitch, even back then. Always thought she was better than everyone else, always so fucking superior. It's about time she was taken down a peg or two. Anyway, why shouldn't I put the boot in? She'd do the same to me if our roles were reversed,' Daphne said.

Ben shook his head. 'I don't think she would. I've always found Hermione to be really supportive and helpful. And she is better than everyone else — better than anyone I know, anyway. I think she puts up with a lot because she doesn't want to trumpet her superiority.'

Daphne looked and sounded disgusted. 'Well, of course, you would say that. You blokes are all the bloody same. None of you can see past the end of your dicks, and all you see with Hermione is a pretty woman. There was only ever one man who saw her as she really was, and he was never afraid to tell her what he thought of her.'

'I'm not thinking with my dick,' Ben said, throwing Daphne an appalled look. 'I can't help that you're jealous of her because she's good at her job, better at magic than you, nicer than you are and prettier, too. Perhaps you wouldn't be so ugly if you stopped being such a bitch. There's nothing that says that just because you were a Slytherin you have to be mean all the time.'

'Oh, of course you're going to stick up for her,' Daphne said sulkily. She opened a large book on her desk and began to read, completely ignoring Ben.

Ben played with his quill as he watched the door, waiting for a sign that Hermione was about to emerge. He couldn't hear any shouting, which was a good sign. Perhaps Sylvia had finally done the decent thing and given Hermione a job equal to her talents for once. Merlin only knew the woman deserved one after some of the cases she had somehow managed to successfully clear up. Then again, perhaps silence meant that Hermione had finally snapped and had done something terrible to their boss.

'Your girlfriend's very quiet,' Daphne remarked snidely. 'Do you think Sylvia's sacked her?'

Ben's head shot round to glare at Daphne. 'Sylvia has no reason to fire Hermione. She's completed every task she's had allocated to her. If anything, she should be getting a promotion. You want to look to your own success rate if we're talking about sacking. Sylvia won't keep covering for you, not if her stats start to drop. The first hint that she's not producing consistent results and she'll throw you to the wolves to make sure they don't get to her.'

'I still reckon she'd get rid of Hermione first,' Daphne retorted, not sounding all that bothered.

'She probably would if she thought she could get away with it. But Hermione's work record speaks for itself, and she's got friends in high places at the Ministry. She might not involve them on a day-to-day basis but you can bet that if she suddenly found herself without a job Sylvia would get a visit from one of the other Heads of Department, or maybe even the Minister for Magic himself.'

Daphne snorted. 'The Minister for Magic. Don't be ridiculous. He's got slightly more important things to deal with than Hermione Granger.'

'Don't you believe it, Daphne. Kingsley thinks very highly of Hermione and her skills. I think Sylvia's only still here because Hermione hasn't told him how Sylvia treats her,' Ben informed her.

After another couple of minutes the door opened and both Ben and Daphne went silent as they watched Hermione walk, straight-backed, out of the office and close the door quietly but firmly. Her face was expressionless and inscrutable, giving no sign of what she was thinking. She returned to her desk, picked up her handbag and, without saying anything to her colleagues, headed for the door, collecting her cloak from the coat rack on the way.

Ben stared after her, wondering whether he should say something or if it would be more prudent to remain silent. Once she reached the door, Hermione looked back.

'I'm going to lunch now. I'll see you both later. Do you want anything while I'm out?'

Her voice was as neutral as her stance, leaving both her colleagues in absolutely no doubt that she was furious. Hurriedly, both Daphne and Ben answered in the negative and Hermione left, still counting silently in her mind, trying her hardest to remain calm. Once she was along the corridor, well away from her office, she let the tranquil façade drop; the fury that was racing through her made her stride angrily down corridors and stairs until she arrived at another office. She threw open the door and stepped inside.

Harry took one look at Hermione's expression and stood up, moving across the room to join her.

'I'll see you later, Dean,' he told his colleague, who was also staring at Hermione.

'She's not happy,' Dean warned in a low voice.

Harry sighed. 'No, I can see that for myself, thanks. I think we'd best leave the building as soon as possible.'

Taking hold of Hermione's arm, Harry led her towards the lift, not saying anything as he knew this was by far the safest option. Once Hermione spoke she was going to blow her top and he really didn't want that happening inside the Ministry of Magic — the fallout would be far too great.

Inside the lift, Hermione stood there with pursed lips looking for all the world as if she was getting ready to let rip. Harry stared at her across the crowded box, silently begging her to remain silent for just a little longer. With so many people in the lift, it was going too slowly for his liking, but there was nothing he could do about it. Walking wasn't going to be any quicker. When they finally reached the ground floor Harry took Hermione's arm again and rushed her across the Atrium and out through security.

As they descended the stairs onto the small road he asked, 'Where do you want to go?'

'Embankment Gardens,' Hermione said tersely.

They crossed the road and began to walk towards the gate that led to the park Hermione had mentioned. Once they were inside, Harry led her to a bench about halfway down on the left-hand side. The park was almost empty because of the frigid winter weather, but the location of the bench gave Hermione enough space to let rip without the sound travelling too far — particularly back to the Ministry.

'Do you want to sit down while I get us something to eat and drink?' Harry asked, hoping that Hermione wasn't going to refuse. He had missed breakfast that morning and had been looking forward to something substantial for lunch, but now it looked like he might not get anything at all.

Hermione scowled for a moment but then gave a brief nod.

'I won't be long,' Harry promised, and he raced for the other gate to the park before Hermione had a chance to change her mind.

Hermione sat on the bench, her hands still clenched into tight fists. She was trying hard to calm herself down so she could talk to Harry sensibly and without ranting, but it was so hard. How she had managed to contain herself for so long she had no idea, and the fact that she had managed to listen to what Sylvia had to say and get out of her office without saying a word in response was nothing short of a miracle.

As she waited, a stiff breeze wrapped itself around her, making her shiver. If she was honest, she wasn't sure what she wanted to do more — rage angrily or cry. Both were definitely valid reactions right now. Sylvia was just lucky that Hermione had managed to rein in her temper during their discussion and had left her wand in her handbag, otherwise the other woman would probably be being transported to St Mungo's to join Gilderoy Lockhart by now.

She saw Harry hurrying back across the park, his hands full of brown paper bags and large cardboard cups. Good, now she wasn't alone she could let out the pain she was feeling without being seen by any passers-by as a complete raving lunatic. She let out a loud scream, a mixture of rage, frustration and pain, just as Harry reached the bench, studying her carefully.

Hermione finally unclenched her fists, opening her hands to reveal eight small crescent wounds in the palms from where her nails had dug in as she clenched them so tightly. Some of them had even broken the skin and blood was welling up, small pinpricks of ruby red against the pale skin.

'Are you all right, Hermione?' Harry finally asked as he put the food and drink in the middle of the bench.

Hermione shook her head, lachrymose now.

Harry sighed and knelt in front of her. He took her hands gently and stared at her injured palms. He looked around to check they were alone, then pulled his wand from his pocket and used it to heal the cuts on her hands.

'What did she say this time?' he asked quietly, already knowing what the problem was going to be. It was always the same problem.

Hermione wiped away the tears that had started falling as she debated what to say.

'She's sending me to Malfoy Manor.'

Harry looked surprised at the revelation.

'She can't. Doesn't she know? Surely there must be someone else—'

'She knows and she doesn't care, does she? For her it's perfect. This is a major assignment, and if I fail with it — which, let's face it, I'm going to — then it'll give her the ammunition she needs to get rid of me finally. I'm just so bloody annoyed because there's nothing I can do.'

'You could have a word with Kingsley,' Harry said.

Hermione snorted. 'I can't do that. You know I can't.'

'I've never understood your attitude on this. If I was in your position I would do something about her,' Harry admitted.

Hermione shrugged and sighed loudly. Harry thought she looked defeated. It wasn't a good look on her. He moved to sit next to her on the bench and picked up one of the paper bags and cups, holding them out for her.

'I got you a tuna salad sandwich and a cup of tea from the cabman's shelter.'

Hermione gave him a small grin through her tears as she took the proffered food from him. He picked up his own bag and unwrapped a sandwich that steamed gently in the chilly air. Hermione stared at it interestedly.

Harry shrugged, looking faintly embarrassed. 'It's egg, bacon and sausage. I didn't think you'd want one.'

'You're right. The tuna is perfect. Thank you, Harry.'

'So why have you got to go to Malfoy Manor?' Harry asked once they were well into their sandwiches and Hermione had finally calmed down a little.

'The Ministry wants to recover the money Lucius owes them for the fines they imposed on the Death Eaters. Obviously, he has nothing left since his incarceration; he cleverly transferred his entire wealth, including Malfoy Manor, to Draco just before he was arrested and sent to prison. But you know the Ministry was never going to let him get away with that, so they lodged an appeal. After several years and a lot of consideration the Wizengamot finally upheld the appeal, so Draco must pay his father's fines.

'The problem is that no one's seen him since the end of the war, and every communication they've sent him over the last couple of years has been ignored. Somehow, the Ministry got permission to access the records to his account at Gringotts and they discovered that he's pretty well broke, so there's nothing to be recovered from there. That being the case, they'll need to take it from the estate instead, and it's up to me to go down there and inventory everything to see what's worth selling.'

'Urgh, not the best task in the world even under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have thought,' Harry said sympathetically. 'But to have to go there and deal with . . . him . . . .'

Hermione sighed. 'Exactly. I'm sure you can imagine just as well as me what sort of reception I'm likely to get.'

'But Sylvia's patently harassing you with her behaviour, Hermione. If she really does know about what happened to you in that house, then making you go there is not only cruel but it's downright dangerous to your mental welfare. What if it triggers PTSD or something?' Harry was beginning to get annoyed himself now.

'That would probably help her to get rid of me,' Hermione pointed out bitterly.

'Well, I still think you need to tell someone. If you don't want to involve Kingsley, why don't you talk to Arthur about it — or Percy? You get on with him well enough. They're both at the same level as Sylvia and they might be able to talk some sense into her or at least warn her of the trouble she could be stirring up by giving you that assignment.'

Hermione shook her head. 'But that's the point, Harry, she wants to stir up trouble. She wants me to fail and I can't let her get away with it. Of course I don't want to go to Malfoy Manor and I certainly have no desire to set eyes on Draco Malfoy ever again either, but I won't let her beat me, which is what I would be doing if I got someone to talk to her or got myself taken off the case. I know I would still have my job but my pride would take a major bashing, and that's the last thing I need at the moment.

'It's not going to be easy, though. Assuming I can even get Draco to talk to me I don't think he'll be very happy about me going through all his possessions to see what I can sell, and I have no idea what I can say to him to make him understand that he has no choice but to do it. I can't imagine him wanting to take advice from me — that's if he'll even let me in the house in the first place.'

'So, what's the timescale on this?' Harry asked.

'Immediate. I have to go down there tomorrow and see if I can get access to the house. Then, somehow, I have to get Draco to accept the Wizengamot's ruling and agree to sell his possessions. Merlin only knows how long the cataloguing will take — you know how big Malfoy Manor is — and I don't even know what he's like now. He's been a total recluse since the war. I have no idea whether he's even healthy or sane.

'Sylvia made it crystal clear that she expects me to get the whole project wrapped up and filed before Christmas so that's the deadline I have to work with, even if it is completely bloody unrealistic. It would be a major stretch even if Draco was complicit and willing to help me out, but I'm expecting him to be his usual belligerent and uncooperative self so I have no idea how I'm going to meet that target,' Hermione answered tersely.

Harry frowned. 'I have to admit I don't much like the idea of you going down there on your own when Malfoy is such an unknown quantity, Hermione. Can't someone else go with you? What about Ben? I'm sure he would go if you asked him to, wouldn't he?'

'He probably would, but Sylvia says she can't spare him because we've got Jeremy out on holiday for a couple of weeks. Apparently, I'm the only one who can be allowed out of the office at the moment.'

Hermione looked at Harry's tense expression and patted his hand soothingly.

'I'm sure it will be fine, Harry. Either Draco will be perfectly equitable and I'll have been worrying for nothing or he won't let me in at all, in which case there's nothing I can do about that and Sylvia can crow as much as she likes about me failing. But then she'll have to find someone else to do it and that'll mean asking for help outside the department, and she really hates doing that.'

'At least you've calmed down now,' Harry said. He took the lid off his tea and blew on it before taking a sip.

'It was lucky I didn't have my wand when I went into see her or I'd have hexed the old cow,' Hermione admitted.

'Probably for the best that you didn't do that,' Harry said, but he flashed her a wicked grin and Hermione knew he was imagining it.

Once Hermione had finished her tea she said, 'I suppose I should get back and work out some sort of strategy for approaching Draco. I don't think there's any point in sending him an owl. The Ministry has sent several already and he's never replied or even acknowledged receipt of any of the letters. I suppose I shall just have to turn up on his doorstep and hope he lets me in. I've no idea what I'm going to do if he doesn't, though. Maybe I need to see if I can find a hotel in the area, just in case. It would be easier to stay down there than have to keep travelling backwards and forwards.'

'Do you want to see if Ron can go with you?' Harry asked.

Hermione grimaced. 'I don't think that's a very good idea. If anyone's going to get upset about being at Malfoy Manor, it's Ron. Knowing him, he'll feel compelled to avenge what was done to me or something stupid like that, and you know how much he dislikes Draco. No, I'm pretty certain that all he'd do is make things that much worse. Anyway, it's their busiest time of the year so I don't think George can really afford to lose him and to be honest, I don't even want to ask.'

'I wish I could go with you,' Harry said, 'but unfortunately we're really busy at the moment and there's no one spare in our office either.'

Hermione wrapped her arms around herself, now beginning to feel the cold.

'Don't worry about it, Harry. I'm sure it will be fine, honestly.'

Relieved when he seemed to take her at her word, Hermione stood up and threw the now empty cup and bag into the rubbish bin to the left of the bench. Harry followed suit, and as the two of them wandered arm-in-arm slowly back to the Ministry of Magic he told Hermione about Ginny's most recent training sessions with the Holyhead Harpies, for whom she had just started playing again after a break to have children.

Once they were back at the lift, Hermione hugged Harry.

'Thank you again, Harry.'

He grinned. 'Anytime, you know that, Hermione. Don't let the old cow get you down.'

'Don't worry, I won't,' Hermione promised as they stepped into the lift.

'Good luck with Malfoy,' Harry said when they reached his floor and he was about to depart.

Hermione waved at him as the door closed and she leant back against the wall of the lift. She had absolutely no idea what she was going to do to convince Draco to let her into Malfoy Manor but she was determined that she wasn't going to fail with this assignment. She would not give Sylvia that satisfaction.

She smiled brightly as she entered the office, pleased to see that her unexpectedly sunny mood made Daphne scowl unpleasantly. She dropped her bag onto the desk and sat down as she continued to ponder how best to initiate contact with Draco. Perhaps she should send an owl, just to warn him she was coming. But if she did that it would give him time to prepare against her, or to hide his valuables so she would find nothing but a few worm-ridden bits of old furniture and, no doubt, an extensive collection of paintings of the Malfoy family.

'So are you ready to share what your next assignment is, now that you've calmed down a bit?' Ben asked.

He was staring at her avidly. Even Daphne, who was pretending to work, kept looking in her direction as if waiting to hear the details.

'Make me a cup of tea and I'll tell you,' Hermione bargained.

Ben rolled his eyes but then stood up and grabbed his and Hermione's mugs. He looked at Daphne. 'Do you want a tea?'

'Go on then.' Daphne held out her mug for him.

A few minutes later he was back.

'I assume you've got something awful again,' Ben suggested once he was settled back behind his desk. 'I don't think I've ever seen you look so angry.'

'I was pretty peeved,' Hermione admitted. 'And yes, it's a really shitty job with an extremely challenging timescale to match.'

'So what is it?' Ben asked.

Hermione told him, watching his face drop as he realised what Sylvia had inflicted upon her.

Daphne laughed nastily. 'Sylvia's finally managed to stitch you up, Hermione. You've got no chance of succeeding because Draco won't even let you into the house. No one's been in or out of there for almost a decade. And you know how much he hates you.'

'There was some animosity between us in the past, but I'm sure he's a reasonable man so hopefully, we'll be able to have a sensible and constructive discussion and come to some sort of arrangement.' As she said this, Hermione thought about the Draco she remembered from school. Reasonable was definitely not a word she would have associated with him then.

'More like he's gone completely doolally,' Daphne opined. 'The war turned him funny, not helped by his father being sent to Azkaban. Then his mother died, and that was it. None of us ever saw or heard from him again and the gates of Malfoy Manor were closed forever.'

Hermione shrugged, seemingly uncaring. 'Well, there's only one way I'm going to find out. If I can't get him to see reason then Sylvia will have to talk to the Magical Law Enforcement bods to see if someone from one of their teams can talk some sense into him.'

'Are you going to be okay to go to Malfoy Manor?' Ben asked anxiously. 'You had a bit of a problem the last time you were there, didn't you?'

'I have to admit it doesn't hold the happiest memories ever,' Hermione conceded quietly. 'But I really don't have any choice but to go. Draco hasn't responded to any of the owls the Ministry has sent him so far, so face-to-face confrontation is the only sensible option, unfortunately. Plus, I'll need to inventory the estate and I can't do that from behind this desk, can I?'

'You've been to Malfoy Manor before?' Daphne asked, sounding surprised. 'When did you go there?'

'We ended up there during the war after we were captured by a snatcher gang,' Hermione said, her voice bland and emotionless. 'They took us there because they knew it was the place Voldemort was using as his base and they were hoping to get a big reward for capturing Harry Potter and his friends.

'While we there, Draco's mad aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange, decided to torture me for information. It was extremely painful and the most terrifying experience I've ever had in my life. I honestly thought I was going to die, but fortunately, Harry and Ron managed to save me just before she succeeded in killing me and we escaped.'

Daphne looked stunned at Hermione's words.

'You were tortured and almost killed?' she said quietly, a frown crossing her face. 'Does Sylvia know about that?'

'Of course she does,' Hermione said coldly. 'She'll have seen my records. Let's put it this way: it's definitely no coincidence that she's sending me to the one place I have no desire to ever visit again.'

'You should refuse to go,' Daphne told her, all animosity between them set aside for a few seconds. 'It's not fair of her to send you there, Hermione. She can't do that — not after what happened to you there.'

'Unfortunately, she can and she has and there's nothing I can do about it, Daphne. It's been assigned to me now. But I'm sure it will be fine.'

Hermione had no idea what the look was that Daphne gave her then but she could see the sympathy in Ben's eyes and it made her stomach curl uncomfortably.

'And now it's time for me to start planning how to tackle this almost impossible task,' she said to no one in particular, as she put down her now empty mug.