"That's not true, Malfoy. You haven't done anything because you wanted to. You did it because that's what you have to do, as an informant. It's not your fault. You're not to blame for what you've had to do." Hermione wants – needs – him to believe that, but she can see in the way he looks away from her, eyes dropping to the snow quilted ground, that he doesn't. He thinks himself a monster and he will not be persuaded otherwise, not by reason or logic, because he feels it. She can understand that. What he's had to do...it must feel like a taint on his soul. But it's not his fault. It's not. Malfoy smiles, very faintly, and it's so sad she can't stand the sight of it.