She could have thanked him, Hermione supposed, but somehow she found herself rather disinclined to. It was, in fact, a bit of a struggle not to let her grin stretch too far, instead maintaining the civility that the two of them shared as of late on the island. (Which was, she reminded herself, still some distance away from trust. To believe someone capable, and to then be able to offer them respect in turn, it was a far cry from actually trusting them with decisions when the pressure grew to be great.)

"I was operating under that assumption," she said instead, playing on his field. Using his tone— or perhaps it was her own after all, the confidence that she'd had in herself since the very first day.