Ever since receiving the letter Albert had sent her, Hermione had been a complete mess. Even though she had decided to send her family out of England as soon as possible, learning that they might be in trouble still left her unable to calm down completely.
There was no need to take that kind of risk.
As for her plan to spend the Christmas holiday with her family, Hermione had scrapped it outright. If Albert had been able to send her a letter, then there really was trouble.
She was still completely confused about the implication mentioned in the letter, but Hermione believed Albert would not—and had no reason to—joke about something like this.
So, after receiving the letter, she made her decision without much hesitation and sent Albert a reply.
When Hermione met Albert in Professor McGonagall's office, she found that he had already arranged everything for her. Her leave request had gone through smoothly; Professor McGonagall had approved it without asking why.
"I thought you'd need a little more time to think it over."
Albert was pleased that Hermione had made her decision so quickly. Though he had expected it, he still wanted to resolve the matter as soon as possible. Hermione's family had, after all, been implicated because of him. If something happened to them, not only would the quest reward be ruined, but his relationship with Hermione would probably suffer as well. Maintaining a good relationship certainly couldn't hurt.
"What exactly is going on?" Hermione finally could not help voicing the question that had been troubling her.
"You know that The Dark Lord captured Cassandra and made her perform Divination on me. The contents of that Divination may very well involve you and your family." Albert looked at the somewhat nervous Hermione and spoke calmly.
"Cassandra?"