Watching Hermione rush forward to hug him tightly the moment she entered the office, Albert looked down at the girl in his arms. After stroking her head, he lightly flicked his hand toward the office door. The click of the door shutting automatically echoed through the room, startling Hermione. She instinctively tried to push away the lover before her, only to find herself still firmly held in his embrace.
"What's wrong?"
Albert's gentle voice completely calmed Hermione down.
"Nothing." Hermione let out a sigh of relief. "I thought..."
"Someone else might see us?" Albert asked with a smile.
"You're awful."
Hermione buried her head in Albert's chest. Only after a long while did she raise it again and slowly say, "I just feel like Hogwarts has become very unfamiliar."
"Don't you have any other friends?"
The moment Albert said that, his mouth was sealed. Hermione had very few friends at school. After the students of her year graduated from Hogwarts, she had chosen to return and continue her studies, and on her very first day back, she had felt lonely.
That was why Hermione had come looking for him after the banquet, seeking comfort from one of the few familiar people left at the school.
Humans were social creatures, after all.
"Have you considered making some new friends?"
After they separated again, Albert pulled Hermione over to sit in the chair behind the desk.
"I'll try, but I don't think the chances of making new friends are very high." Hermione sat on Albert's lap, letting him hold her as she looked over the Defence Against the Dark Arts office again.
"Your office looks awful."
"It was what everyone else left behind, and I won't be staying at the school full-time anyway, so it doesn't really matter." Albert chatted privately with