Disclaimer, in my first post I forgot to add it, so just in case, I don't own anything, not even in my wildest dreams, these are just characters I'm borrowing from someone with true talent, my only goal is to have some fun.

Kind of fair.

After six years fighting to achieve justice, it seemed ridiculous to plead out, she wasn't happy, damn, she wasn't even sure that was justice at all, but it seemed wrong not to go on with it.

It had been 10 years since the department of mysteries, 8 since the final battle, and by all means she knew she owned him at least the chance to apologise, but it felt fucking hard, the stuff of nightmares really, only the fact that she was who she was forced her to accept what she had to do, because if after 6 years of pushing bill after bill, now that it was her turn she ignored it, everything she had achieved would be for naught.

So, it felt like hell but she knew she had to go through with it. If Dolohov wanted to apologise she would have to play nice and hear him out.

In the aftermath of the battle it had been easy enough to round all the Death Eaters, the fall of their master rendering them unable to escape, funnily enough, one could say that was intended for all of them, the blinding pain that left them almost unconscious, and therefore unable to apparate away, was probably an idea of their former master, a "if I fall you fall with me" kind of thing.

It would take years of therapy for Hermione to make heads or tails of that night, the only things clear on her memory the apparent death and rebirth of the boy-who-pushed-through-everything and a certain ginger torn between the worst loss of his life and the most expected kiss.

Even though after the battle it seemed no one would ever be able to keep on with their lives, one year later everything had taken its own course, Harry was blissfully living his best, training to become an Auror and planning his soon coming wedding, Ginny was made of something else, after being left out during the whole "let's go camping" year, it had taken her hours to understand that whatever happened it was bigger than all of them and Harry deserved forgiving. And Ron, well, Ron was Ron, as soon as they kissed he assumed that was it, probably he had it mapped, wedding, children and a life together. Hermione herself believed that it felt right, at least for the first couple months, but after a short time filled with wonderful snogging and promises of everlasting love they both realised that even though they loved each other they were not in love, so without any drama they decided to call it quits and continue as friends.

Hermione, the brightest witch of her age, as much as she publicly despised that moniker (and secretly loved it) went on to finish her N.E.W.T and get a job in the ministry, Creature Relationships, loved it, but it lasted 6 months, that was all it took for her to realise that that office was a dead end, werewolves distrusted anything official, centaurs refused to be seen as creatures and denied all advances from the ministry, goblins were goblin about it and house elves, after fighting the final battle amongst wizards decided they could take care of their own business, Kreacher leading them all. So seeing that she was going to achieve nothing, she decided to take a chance on magical law, and as soon as she got there she decided Azkaban's current inmates where the most in need of a helping hand, if only to prevent others from suffering the same fate as Sirius.

It was easy at the beginning, none of the cases she advocated for had anything to do with her, and unsurprisingly Pureblood society was keen enough on giving a second chance to all those aristocrats rotting in cells. But she liked things well done, so she came up with a program where convicts could see their sentences shortened, or even achieve things like parole after completing a program designed for them to acknowledge the new world they would have to leave in, and take the first steps to make amends for what they had done.

It wasn't a bad idea, it had worked wonders with the Malfoys, nowadays she was even friendly with Draco, in a very formal way, but friendly nonetheless. It just never occurred to her that there was someone in azkaban she didn't want to see, ever again.

The day she received the first notification she was confused, someone had included her in the "interview and apologise" part of the parole application and she couldn't really guess who, the crazy bitch (sorry, witch) was dead and the Malfoy's where already free, who else owned her a direct apology? When it downed on her she almost had a full panic attack, for some reason she had successfully pushed that particular psycho out of her mind, ten years later she wasn't really expecting to have to face him, it had been a recurring nightmare at the very beginning of the program but soon after it just faded and she convinced herself that he was to unhinged to even try to apply for it seemed she was wrong, hence her current predicament.

….

Meanwhile, in a prison far far away, a man was getting ready to swallow his pride and try to make the fakest apology of his life feel heartfelt. He didn't want to apologise, hell, he didn't even believe he had anything to apologise for, at least not as a free of jail ticket, but after more than twenty years trapped in a cell he would sell his mum for a chance at freedom, therefore he was trying to put together the most believable excuse he could.

He never signed up to kill children, that much was true, he didn't support the monster he found after his first prison break, that was also true and he was kind of relieved that they hadn't won, even if that last bit was just because the newest version of Voldemort had been utterly terrifying. He could work with that.

As for the rest, well, no one would ever convince him that muggles were as worthy as wizards, that was absurd, really really absurd, and war was war, people died in battle and it made no sense to go judging them all as murderers, but well, given who won the war that was to be expected. He could have chosen to apologise to a lot of people, but he had a plan.

Hermione Granger, she had been the one to create the parole program, he knew his pleas with any other of his victims would be met with a negative, but she had to set an example, she couldn't deny him a chance when she was responsible for so many others achieving freedom. It had to work.