Assistant: You are a summarizer for a FanFiction Reader App (AO3). Your primary task is to generate concise summaries of chapter content, highlighting important ‘characters’, ‘events’, and ‘significant terms’. Ensure the summary is clear, written in understandable language and focused on key elements.
If queried about anything unrelated to the story, or the chapter, politely inform the user that you cannot assist with that. Maintain a friendly tone throughout, don't make things up, stay factual. 
Please provide a summary that is around 3-5 sentences long, if there is something to write about, incorporating essential keywords and highlighting pivotal events.
IMPORTANT: When the USER says bye, you will respond with %CLOSE_REQUESTED%, this will trigger the app to close the chat. This is very important, so don't forget it!
Assistant: Title: The Silver Envelope
        Author: sinflower81 sinflower81 
        Chapter: 25/70 
        Summary: “Tell me again to release you, Granger.Tell me again that you just want to be friends.”It’s been five years since Draco last spoke to Granger. Things are different now, and though earning her trust will be a challenge, he can’t seem to keep himself away.Hermione has been busy advocating for elves around the world, but when her breakup with Ron turns her life upside-down, she knows there’s only one person who can help her.Alternating POVs between Hermione and Draco. Slow burn, eventual sm@t, light dom/sub. Diverges from canon after Voldemort's defeat.
        Contents: Chapter 25: Braver Behind a Telephone
    

    


      
        
          This chapter is dedicated to my beloved, with whom I would happily talk—about everything and nothing at all—until the end of time.
      
  

  
  
    
    The call Hermione was waiting for came the next evening, just as she stepped out of the shower. Quickly, she wrapped a towel around herself, padding to her bedroom to pick up the phone in there, switching on her bedside lamp as she did.“Hermione?” came Draco’s silky voice through the speaker.“Hello,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant. “Did your friend agree to fit Ginny for a dress, then?”“She did indeed, but she’s rather busy. Can you two be at my flat at four o’clock on Thursday?”“Hmm. I’d have to leave work early, but I think I can manage that. The trick will be getting Ginny to leave Quidditch practice,” she said wryly.Draco snickered.“Her work ethic is almost as punishing as yours. I wouldn’t be surprised if she leaves her own wedding early to head off to a match,” he joked.Hermione smiled.“Harry mentioned something about having to marry her in muddy Quidditch robes. Hopefully your seamstress friend can help her avoid that.”“Seems like something Potter would do,” Draco said. Hermione could practically hear him rolling his eyes.“I think it’s romantic,” Hermione said, a tad dreamily.“Still holding a candle for Potter, eh?” Draco drawled. “I knew it.”“Oh dear, do you think he knows?” Hermione said in mock horror. “I had planned on asking him to run away with me at the wedding!”“I hate to break it to you, but I think he does actually like the Weasley girl more than you, god knows why,” Draco said.Hermione’s stomach flipped at that. It was supposed to be a joke about how much he disliked Ginny, but somehow it sounded more like an admission that his personal tastes leaned toward her instead.She bit her lip, unsure if she should say what she was thinking.“I’ve decided to forgive you, I think,” she announced. “On one condition.”There was a short pause, then Draco said, “What is it?”“You read Keeper of Hearts by S.K. Scarlet, and tell me what you think of it,” she said.She could imagine his grin. It accented the longsuffering groan he let out, and she could almost see the way it would make his silver eyes glint with mirth.“I should have known becoming friends with you would result in a homework assignment at some point,” he moaned.“Ten inches of parchment on the effects of interhouse dynamics on romantic relationships. Due next week,” she demanded in her best impression of McGonagall.He nearly wheezed with laughter at that. She grinned, feeling giddy and bubbly at the sound of it.“I suppose a book report is a small price to pay,” he relented, still chuckling. She heard him sigh, then say, “I really am sorry, you know.”Hermione swallowed, leaning back on her bed, pressing her damp hair against her headboard.“I’m not sure I want to hear that, actually,” she admitted softly.There was a pause.“What do you mean?” Draco asked.Hermione chewed on her lip nervously.“What you did…it was, well, you were right when you said you’d crossed a line,” she said.Draco waited.“But that’s not really what I was angry about,” she finished.“What were you angry about?” Draco asked quietly.Hermione wet her lips, considering how to say what she was thinking without completely making a fool of herself. It was a strange predicament, trying to find a way to share her most vulnerable thoughts with someone who she’d once considered her enemy.“I don’t want to be some plaything of yours,” she said. “I felt so stupid after kissing you in the lift. And then after what happened in the library…I realized I had set myself up to be some sort of casual fling for you. I should have made myself clearer.”Hermione’s heart was beating far too quickly. She wrapped her towel tighter around herself, anxiously waiting for him to say something.“Alright then,” Draco said slowly. “Why don’t you make yourself clear now? What do you want, Hermione?”It felt like a test. Suddenly, Hermione was glad they were talking on the phone rather than in person. The barrier of distance helped her feel braver. Whenever she could see Draco, could feel his intoxicating, powerful presence, she lost a bit of her nerve. It was much easier to find the words to express herself when he wasn’t in the room.“I think you already know that I find you…attractive,” she said, gulping nervously.She could hear his arrogant smirk as he said, “Yes, but it’s nice to hear you say it.”He must have heard her disgusted huff because he laughed. She closed her eyes, secretly savoring the sound of his delight.“The problem is,” she continued, “that I’m not really in the best place to start anything new right now. I’ve only just ended things with Ron, and I’ve got a lot of work to do. On myself, I mean. There’s…” she blew out a large breath, “there’s a lot I need to think about.”Draco seemed to be taking in her words.“Alright,” he said, sounding thoughtful. “Now it’s my turn.”“Your turn?” she asked.“To lay my cards on the table,” he explained. “You’ve told me what’s going on in your head. Now I’m going to say what’s been on my mind. If you want to hear it,” he amended, seeming to realize that she might not want to hear what he was thinking. That couldn’t be further from the truth.“Please do,” she prompted, feeling a bit breathless.She heard him swallow.“I can see that you’re having a difficult time, after Weasley and all,” he said. “I’ve been trying to earn your trust, trying to support you. You said you wanted my friendship, and I want…as much as I can get.” The admission made her draw a silent breath, and she didn’t dare interrupt him. “But I’m aware that my presence in your life has made things more difficult for you. So, I decided to let you determine the…nature of our relationship. And that’s why I was sorry.”He paused again, and Hermione clutched the phone, holding her breath as she listened.“You asked for friendship, and I mucked it up. I should have given you space.“But now,” he went on, sounding surer, “now you don’t have to worry about that anymore.”“What do you mean?” Hermione asked.“I mean that…I’m handing you the reins, Hermione. Officially. You set the terms. You tell me what you want. I’ll leave you alone, or be your friend, if that’s what you want. I’ll gladly be your bodyguard—especially if it means I get to rain hellfire on Weasley. Hell, you can keep me as your plaything, if you fancy.”Hermione’s eyes went wide as she listened. She could hardly believe her ears.“The point is,” he said, “I’m whatever you want me to be. Just say the word.”Hermione nearly dropped the phone in shock. Air seemed to have permanently left her lungs.This was so much more than she’d ever expected. She was reeling.Words escaped her. How on earth did he expect her to respond to that?Seconds ticked by, or maybe minutes, and Hermione sat on her bed, clutching at her damp towel and wondering how the hell this had happened.A dizzy, lightheaded feeling overtook her. She gulped in a breath, then another, trying to tether herself to reality.Suddenly, she realized she actually had dropped the phone. She picked it up from the bedcovers with shaking fingers, holding it to her ear like a lifeline.“Hermione?” Draco said. “Are you still there?”“Yes,” she said, sounding not at all like herself. “I’m here.”He waited for her to speak, but she still didn’t know what to say.“Um.” She groped for words. “That’s…that’s a lot.”“Is it…alright with you?” he asked.“Y-yes?” she whispered, then cleared her throat. “Yes. That’s alright with me.”He blew out a breath.“Alright then. So. Friends?” he said.Hermione blinked.“Er. Friends,” she confirmed.“Good.”There was another long pause, then he said, “Hermione?”“Yes?”“As your friend, there’s something very important for me to know,” he said solemnly.“What’s that?”“What is your favorite food?” he asked, his voice deathly serious.A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.“Bread. All kinds,” she said. “What’s yours?”“Sushi,” he answered soberly.“Why sushi?” she said through a grin.“Why bread?” he countered.And just like that, things between them were back to normal.Hermione didn’t know how long she sat there on her bed, feet tucked under her, smiling into the phone as they talked. It might have been hours, from the range of subjects they covered. She just couldn’t seem to bring herself to hang up, and he seemed to feel the same way.He asked about her childhood, what it was like growing up as a muggle. She explained dentistry to him, laughing at his horror at the concept of someone drilling into his teeth. She listened while he talked about what he had been though since defecting from the Death Eaters, and how much better he’d gotten since starting to see his mind healer.He was stunned to hear about the way she’d altered her parents’ memories before she’d left with Harry. He asked her many questions about that; were her parents back to normal, did they remember what she had done, were they still angry with her, did they hate magic now, and so on. Hermione found herself telling him things she’d never told another living soul, like how she’d felt so guilty about altering her parents’ memories that she’d almost decided not to go after them, to leave them to their happy new lives and spare them the heartache and betrayal of finding out what she’d done.He listened with patience, asked questions, and occasionally added his own thoughts. It was amazing, the way she got lost in conversation with him, as though they had a lifetime of friendship to make up for. His perspective, the solemn honesty mixed with dark mirth that was uniquely his, felt addictive. Hermione was sure she didn’t know anyone quite like him: someone who’d been taught such awful ideas from birth, and who’d worked tirelessly to undo every piece of his learned reality since. He was shockingly frank about things she’d assumed he wouldn’t want to discuss, like how it felt to be branded with the Dark Mark and what it had been like playing host to Voldemort‘s followers, and occasionally Voldemort himself. She found herself laughing when he described the time Fenrir Greyback had complained to Draco’s mother that his steak was too well done, and had thrown a temper tantrum that had resulted in a lifetime ban from their home as Narcissa scrubbed steak juices out of her hair.He was lonely, she realized. He had been lonely nearly all his life. At Hogwarts, his only friends had been slow-witted thugs who’d only followed him around because their parents had all been Death Eaters. Now that his values had changed, the shallow relationships he’d built as a child had crumbled, revealing a wasteland of disillusionment, regret, and the ghosts of abandoned former bonds.Hermione found herself opening up about her loneliness too. It wasn’t nearly as dramatic a Draco’s, but there was a sort of kinship between them there, as two lonely people came together and decided that, with the help of one another, perhaps they didn’t need to be lonely anymore.“I always thought there was something off about it,” Draco said.Hermione, who was now curled up on her side in bed, sleepiness beginning to creep up behind her eyes, asked him, “Off about what?”“You and Weasley,” he said. “I get that you two were friends, but I always thought that was just because you both liked Potter. When you got together with him, I wasn’t completely surprised—I mean, that happens sometimes, when you spend that much time with a person. But what didn’t make sense to me was how long you stayed with him.”“Why’s that?” Hermione asked quietly.“Obviously, you’re brilliant, Granger,” he said perfunctorily. “And Weasley’s half brain-dead.”Hermione opened her mouth to say that Ron wasn’t that bad, but stopped herself. She didn’t feel much like defending him anymore.Draco went on.“It must have been lonely, loving someone who can’t understand you. Having so many complex thoughts and ideas, but being unable to express them to him—or worse, having to dumb them down, until the very essence of what you’re trying to say is lost in idiot translation.”Hermione’s mouth gaped open. Draco had just perfectly (albeit bluntly) described a problem that had been grating at Hermione for years now, so succinctly that she felt rather like an idiot herself for not seeing it sooner.“I wouldn’t have put it like that but, yes. That’s exactly what it’s like.”“I felt that way about Crabbe and Goyle a lot,” Draco said. “It was so frustrating, being surrounded by friends all the time and still having no one to talk to. Once or twice, I came up with something rude to say to you, just to have a conversation with someone competent.”Hermione chuckled. At the time, she’d hated him. Now, those memories seemed funny, especially since she had always ignored him, and encouraged Harry and Ron to do the same. She had known, even then, that it was the best way to annoy him back.“I wish you had talked to me like this, back then,” Hermione said, her voice thick with impending sleep.“I do too,” he murmured.They lapsed into silence once more. Hermione cradled the phone against her ear, feeling the physical lack of him in her room. She knew, somehow, that if he were here at the moment, he would have his arms wrapped around her. Perhaps his fingers would be absently playing with her hair.“Where are you, right now?” he asked. He must have been thinking the same thing as she was.“In my bed,” Hermione said with a small sigh.“What do you look like?” Draco murmured.Hermione paused, looking down at the towel she still had wrapped around herself. Answering his question honestly might take them back into that dangerous territory, the one that made her heart race and her muscles tense.“Never mind,” he said quickly. “Don’t answer that. Stupid question.”Hermione licked her lips, considering her options.“What do you look like right now?” she countered.If she was going to play his game, it would be on her terms.“I’m in my sitting room. Wearing what I always wear.”Black, then. Maybe he’d unbuttoned his shirt at the neck.“Sitting up or lying down?” she asked.“Lying down,” he said, sounding a bit shy. The thought of Draco, lying back on his sofa and feeling shy as he spoke into the phone, made her smile.“I’m lying down as well,” she said, pausing before saying the next bit, her heart picking up speed. “And…I’m wearing a towel.”The silence between them now felt deliciously heated. Hermione smirked, imagining the effect she’d just had on him. No wonder he enjoyed teasing her this way. The power was intoxicating.“You’re wearing a towel?” he said, his voice a low rumble.“I’d just got out of the shower when you called,” she said, unable to keep the smile from her voice. “I’ve been wearing it this whole time.”Hours, they had talked. She imagined his expression as he realized what she’d looked like this whole time: curled up on her bed, damp curls drying in wild patterns around her face, and nothing more than a rumpled towel around her body.Despite the late hour, she no longer felt the least bit tired.“Hermione,” Draco growled, his tone at once admonishing and predatory.“Well, to be fair,” Hermione continued in a casual tone, “The towel’s not really covering much of me anymore. It’s been a while since I put it on.”A pause, in which Hermione savored the languid warmth suffusing her body. She could guess what her words were doing to Draco.“Well,” Draco said in a low, silky voice, “you might as well take it off then.”Her toes curled, and she bit her lip while she smiled.Something about talking on the phone with him made her feel braver—impertinent, even.“You’re right,” she said, and adjusted herself on her bed, removing the towel completely. “It’s off now.”In the lamplight, she appreciated the smooth curves of her hips and legs, splayed out on her bed, an offering for an invisible lover.“Good,” Draco said.“Should I sleep like this?” Hermione murmured. “Completely naked?”“I think you should,” Draco said, his feigned casual tone darkened by l@st.“I’m not sure very I’m tired anymore,” she said.“Well, if you’re not going to sleep,” Draco asked in a suggestive tone, “what do you want to do?”Hermione smiled, feeling electrified by the deep rasp of his voice.“I don’t know. Any suggestions?” she said.“I have one,” Draco said. “But it’s not very…friendly.”It was an out. He was giving her a chance to step back, to resume their careful distance. Hermione felt strangely emotional at the idea. He truly wanted her to have a choice. Perhaps it was because of his cautious sensitivity for her that she felt even more compelled to cross the line he had so neatly drawn.“Tell me,” Hermione insisted, breathless.Draco swallowed, hard enough that she heard it through the phone.“Touch yourself,” he commanded in a whisper.“Where?” Hermione taunted.“Wherever you most want to be touched,” he said.“Mmm,” Hermione murmured, bringing her hand up to her br@@sts. “Perhaps my nipples?”“Do you like soft squeezes or hard pinches?” Draco asked.“I like both,” she admitted. “But right now, soft touches are perfect.”She heard him groan slightly. Her breaths felt ragged, the contact of her own fingers deliciously sensitive on her skin.“What about sucking? Do you think you’d like to feel someone’s mouth on you there?” he asked.Hermione fluttered her lashes in ecstasy at the thought.  “Whose mouth?” she provoked.Draco paused before admitting in a rough whisper, “Mine.”Her breath hitched as she imagined what his lips would feel like on her br@@sts, sucking and teasing her slowly. A whimper escaped her, answer enough for him.“I’d lick my way down your ribs, along your belly,” Draco said slowly, allowing Hermione to mimic his words with her free hand, imagining what it would feel like to have his tongue on her instead.“Where would your hands be?” she asked.“Grasped tight around your hips,” he answered, making her tremble at the thought. She wished he was with her, holding her down while she writhed and begged for his mouth.“What would you do next?” she asked, desperate for him to keep talking, to direct her hands where she wanted them the most.“I’d push your legs apart, open them wide so that I could see every inch of you.”Without thinking, Hermione followed his instructions, her legs trembling with need as they opened for him.“Then I’d take one finger…and stroke my way down the center of you.”Hermione gasped with pleasure as she mimicked the motion, drawing her finger through her aching, slick p@ssy.“Are you wet for me?” he asked. His voice scraped at some frantic piece of her core.“Yes,” she panted.“Excellent,” he purred. “Then I’d push a finger inside you, stretching deep inside.”Hermione moaned as her finger did just that, driving deeply into her wetness. She panted into the phone, shaking and frenetic.“Then I’d lean down,” Draco rumbled, “And circle my tongue around your cl@t.”Hermione’s thumb stretched to follow his directions, driving herself to near insanity. His voice made her entire body feel explosively sensitive, like a single touch would cause her to detonate like a firework.“Add another finger, Granger,” he commanded, suddenly dropping all pretenses. “F@ck your wet p@ssy for me. Drive in as deep as you can.”Hermione did as she was told, gasping and crying out at the intense feeling of it. She heard him groan through the phone, and was certain that he was touching himself as well. The mere thought of him, pumping his long c@ck in his hand while ordering her to f@ck herself, made her pant with desire. She closed her eyes, imagining her fingers were his. He would be slow, and just rough enough to keep her completely under his control.“Draco…” she moaned.“Imagine my mouth on you, darling. Imagine I’m sucking you while I stretch that wet c@nt with my fingers.”She cried out, moving her hips faster, losing track of everything but the way his voice ricocheted across every nerve ending in her body.“Come for me, Hermione,” Draco ordered harshly. “Make yourself come hard for me.”A scream escaped her as she shattered, bucking and writhing as powerful waves of electric bliss crashed over her. She heard Draco come apart as well, a ragged groan meeting her ear just as her pleasure began to ebb. She was breathing hard, every part of her trembling with sensation. Sparkling jitters of feeling pulsed through her, the aftermath of desire fulfilled.They were silent for a long while, breathing deeply together. Finally, once her breathing had eased and her body was still, Hermione felt sleep haze the edges of her vision. She wasn’t going to last much longer.“I’m falling asleep,” she mumbled to him.“Then sleep well, darling,” he crooned.The endearment caught at a ragged edge of her heart. But before she could think too much about it, foggy sleep washed over her.'
User: Summarize the chapter based on the content provided, ensuring to follow the set format and emphasize key aspects within the specified length.
User: Summarize the chapter based on the content provided, ensuring to follow the set format and emphasize key aspects within the specified length.
Assistant: