A/N: A small way of saying 'thank you' to grace_lou_freebush. Infinite gratitude to you, lovely lady :) Hope you enjoy!

Alpha love and thanks to the marvelous LadyKenz347. She's incredible and her WIP is down to the epilogue-if you're not reading it, I highly recommend it! Beta love, as always, to my dear dear friend CourtingInsanity. I wouldn't be here without my friends. All remaining errors are my own.

I own no part of the Harry Potter franchise.

Draco was being followed.

He felt it in his bones; felt the tingle rush down his spine not even half a minute after leaving his office in the Auror department.

He'd just decided it was time to do something about this invisible stalker when the first ally came into view…

And something that felt like the tip of a wand dug into his neck…

And a shoulder pressed into his back, shoving him into the direction of the dark alley... The figure was smaller than him, shorter…

His mind raced and pinged with plans of defence and escape as the mysterious figure pushed him into a strip of light, keeping to the shadows, muttering.

His fingers had just closed around his wand when the cloaked figure moved forward from the shadows, throwing back its hood—

But he already knew from delicate hand who his (possible) kidnapper or assailant was… Already knew before riotous curls spilled and tumbled around slight shoulders.

His grip loosened and he slid his hands into his pockets instead. "Is this really necessary?"

Why not make an honest attempt for casual indifference? Perhaps she would believe the lie and let him go about his evening. She'd be back to haunt his dreams in a few hours…

The witch snorted, stepping far too close for comfort, lifting her face to his; the urge to drop his nose into her curls was overwhelming. Salazar, he missed holding her close and breathing her in…

"As if that was going to happen!" Her sharp tone yanked him from his thoughts, bringing him back to a very present, very real, and very angry Hermione Granger. "You've taken to eating at your desk or working through lunch to avoid me in the cafeteria. You've stopped coming to the pub on Friday nights. And now you've taken to requesting only Theo or Sanders handle any investigative analysis of your cases…" Her arms waved about her in a useless gesture, hurt that shattered every fibre of his being flashing in her eyes. "Tell me, Draco: how in the name of Merlin was I supposed to be able to talk to you?"

"I didn't think that—"

"No!" She threw a hand out, pressing a finger to his lips in a gesture that months before would have been in fondness and jest, but now was clearly only meant to silence him. "You don't get to talk yet. Because you're going to hear about how very hurt I am over this. We said we were still going to be friends, Draco, but that's not happened."

He attempted to mumble her name against her finger, but she only pressed harder, stepping close enough for him to wrap his arms around her perfect waist, rest his hands at that luscious spot on her lower back…

"And now…" she said, voice cracking, "you're leaving…"

Everything stopped.

His eyes narrowed, because throwing that in his face wasn't fair. Now she'd gone too far.

"Funny you should care about that now, Granger," he drawled, brushing her hand away. "As I recall, you're the one who'd always been so encouraging of my career and cases I received, and it's ironic that six months after you broke up with me, you suddenly decide to get selfish about what cases I accept and their proximity to you."

"Draco, it's not—" She stepped towards him, but he only backed up, keenly aware that he'd step into a wall at some point in time, but he'd take that chance "—it's not that you're taking a case in France. I can imagine it'll be wonderful for you."

Her posture drooped now, and she scuffed the toe of a shoe against the ground. He recognised that stance, too… Hopeless. Broken-hearted.

"I'm afraid you have me too confused to know what to say, Hermione." He didn't move to her, didn't reach out to her, but some simple honesty could only help.

"You're leaving tomorrow," she began, lifting her eyes, so round, so full, so sad, to his, "and you weren't even going to say goodbye to me."

Something like a sad sniffle filled the ally as Hermione swiped at her nose, and Draco was undone. He was before her, cuddling her to his chest, and holding on as if they hadn't been apart a day in all these months.

It was like coming home.

Hot tears stung the corner of his eyes and he gulped before answering. "I didn't think you'd want me to. You ended things and… I just didn't think you'd care for me to say anything."

"Of course I care, you idiot." Her voice was watery and she tore herself from his arms with such a force he was thrown off kilter, again. "I didn't break up with you because I stopped caring, because I'm not the type who can just stop loving someone instantly, for as much as I wish I could be—" Love? Had she ever told him that she loved him before? "But people were talking around the department." She sniffed and swiped again, furrowing her brow at him. "They were saying you were only getting the best of cases because we were together, and that—"

"What?!"

Hermione nodded before continuing. "And that you were… that it was only because we were…" She sighed, dragging a hand through her curls. "You really never heard anything, Draco?"

"I mean…" He shrugged, trying to appear calmer than he felt. If they just wasted the past six months apart because of office gossip… "I don't listen to any of it, Hermione. I learned to keep my head down and just do what needed to be done during sixth year. But any who dared to imply that I was sleeping my way to department head—"

"All but," she interjected.

He shook his head, stepping to her again. "I know better than that, Hermione Jean Granger. And you knew that wasn't' happening either. We'd been together for nearly a year by then, love." The familiar term of endearment rolled easily off his tongue, as if he'd never stopped calling her that.

Her chocolate brown eyes swirled back at him with brimming tears and he decided to risk cupping her cheek with a hand. Wonder, bravery, and joy unconfined flooded his veins as she nuzzled her face against his palm, and he answered her unspoken request by sinking his other hand into her end-of-the-day mess of curls.

Something between a sob and a whimper escaped her lips and her eyes fluttered shut as he cradled her face and pressed his lips to her forehead. This had always been a favourite hold for her; it had always resulted in the sweetest nights of making love and waking to a tangle of sheets, and sighs, and limbs.

"Do you love me?"

He expected her to freeze and pull away, but she surprised him, shocked him, and challenged everything he knew about her when she lifted her lips to his, twining her arms around his neck, and pressed deep.

Her lips pressed, pleaded, and sang as he opened his mouth and answered. She walked them backwards until his back met the wall and she was arching into his hold, and his mind was protesting as she stopped suddenly, pulling her lips away.

"I love you more than life itself, Draco Malfoy." She panted, dotting his chin and cheek and lips again with kisses. "I only broke us up because I thought your career would suffer if we stayed together—"

"Wouldn't have mattered," he growled, capturing her lips again, kissing her with a fierce abandon now. All that wasted time… He moved and spun, trapping her against the wall, forcing her to meet his longing gaze. "I love you. I'm going to Paris for a week because I'm apparently the only Auror in the bloody department who can speak French worth shite, but I will be owl'ing you multiple times a day—" nip to her lower lip "—and I expect you to answer me, Hermione Granger."

She nodded and sighed one of those perfect, satisfied sighs when he shifted his focus to that delicious spot on her neck he'd been missing. "As often as you write, Draco." Her voice was breathy and perfect, and it was getting hard to focus…

But still…

"We'll be talking more about this when I get home, love."

She hummed, carding her fingers through his hair…

"I mean it." He kissed her jaw, then hovering over her face until her eyes opened to his waiting stare. "You can't break us up without telling me why again. You can't make decisions for the two of us; that's not how relationships work. We were a damn good team and you should have told me the real reason; not give me some shite nonsense about timing."

"All right." She made an 'X' motion over her heart, cupping his cheek with her palm. "We'll talk and I'll spend as much of that time telling you how sorry I am, but for now, I'm truly sorry for not telling you the real reason before, but I loved you then, and I love you still. I only wanted everyone to see how brilliant you are, that you've earned every praise and accolade received."

She tilted and leaned, connecting her lips to his neck, and he could melt into her here and now… There was nothing in the world but this moment and Hermione nipping and sucking… Marking him as hers...

The sky rumbled in the background, which served as their only warning before rain fell in sheets from hovering clouds. They looked up and back to each other, laughing and laughing.

Draco slung an arm around his witch, kissing her curls before pulling the hood back over her head. "Come on, then. You can help me pack and we'll get a head start on all this talking we're supposed to be doing."

She nestled under his arm, kissing his cheek once more and waving her wand to drop whatever wards she'd thrown up before cornering him in the ally. They walked to the Apparition point at an unhurried, lover's pace as the rain continued to fall.

And Draco had never been so happy to be right about being followed.