She wanted to give the Order the benefit of the doubt and assume they didn’t know about the effects of solitary and weren’t being purposely cruel. Maybe they just took it for granted, what with Azkaban being the only magical prison in Britain – that was far worse than a cellar. But Hermione wasn’t really surprised Malfoy wanted her company as another human presence, even though they had only exchanged a few words. What would they talk about anyway? The only shared experiences they had were negative, and although she was more comfortable being around Malfoy in regards to her flashbacks, his presence still made her feel a little shaky. Off-kilter. But she knew that wasn’t really his fault, telling herself over and over in the back of her mind, he let me go. He didn’t have to but he let me go.