Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments): Transfiguration (Assignment 4)
Prompt: Write about someone working around/under limitations set for them. 'The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has limits'
"Rule number one. You keep your stuff to this side of the table. If I see a single quill on my desk I'm banashing you next door."
She emphatically drew an imaginary line across the desk, frowning as she did so. He almost laughed but sensed that she might actually send him back to his old, cramped office.
"Honestly Granger, I don't want any of my stuff on your side of the desk."
"Shut up Malfoy. And get back to work."
They sat side by side, working quietly. Every so often he 'accidentally' slipped a piece of parchment ir a quill across to her side of the desk, smirking at the indignant twitch that his actions provoked. She couldn't really do anything- Kingsley had forced them to work together and had made it perfectly clear that he didn't have time for childish animosity.
Eventually she turned to him.
"Will you just leave me alone? I didn't ask to work with you and I'm sure there are places you'd rather be so please just get on with it."
He smirked again as she finished talking.
"And by the way, rule number two is no smirking Malfoy."
He smirked even more, enjoying how flustered she looked as he blatantly disobeyed her.
"Are you always this bossy Granger?"
"No smart arse comments. That's rule number three."
"How come you get to make up all the rules?"
"Because I, unlike you, am intelligent."
He fell back in his chair in mock hurt and indignation.
" You see Malfoy, a wise man once told me that the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has limits. There is no limit to your childish idiocy."
"Ha! Granger did you just admit that your intelligence is limited?"
She huffed in frustration and turned back to her notes while Draco continued to act like an idiot.
Draco watched the hands of the clock move by ever so slowly. By lunchtime he was convinced that she had charmed them to move extra slowly. When he put down his notes and sat back in his chair, calculating where the nearest café was she stared at him in disbelief.
"What are you doing? You can't have finished the goblin case already"
Grinning smugly he handed her his completed notes.
"Well- what about the unicorn blood trial?"
"Hermione. I have done everything that you could reasonably expect from someone and now it is time to eat." He picked up his cloak and stood up.
"Draco Malfoy we are not stopping until we finish! If you walk through that door I will tell Kingsley that I cannot possibly work with you!"
"Do you want cheese or ham?" He winked at her before walking away. Hermione slammed the door behind him and stormed back to her desk, collapsing into her seat in a state of disarray.
The minister of magic refused to take her complaints seriously and so Draco remained a permanent fixture in her office.
He continued to break every single rule that Hermione attempted to impose on him.
Rule number 5. No coffee breaks.
Rule number 8. Only black ink for official purposes.
Rule number 13. The ministry paper airplanes are not for personal use.
Rule number 22. No doodles on ministry documents.
The list had reached thirty one rules when Hermione entered the office early one morning to find Draco eagerly showing some tall blonde girl around the office. The girl was clearly paying far too much attention to Draco's (admittedly rather nice) ass.
"Malfoy! No cohorts with women in my office before breakfast!"
The girl hurried out, clearly afraid of Hermione's legendary temper but Draco simply raised an eyebrow.
"'Cohorts' Granger? Do people even use that word anymore?"
"Shut up. That's rule number thirty two by the way."
"You're not jealous, are you Granger?"
He walked forward, leaning towards her and the resulting butterflies that tumbled through her stomach made her distinctly uncomfortable.
"Of course not. Don't be ridiculous. You're welcome to- do whatever you want with whoever you want. I don't care. Why would I?"
"Methinks the lady doth protest too much"
He took advantage of her surprise at his muggle reference to advance further. Now she was almost pinned to the wall and she could feel the heat radiating from his body. Hermione wasn't quite sure how she felt about this. On the one hand he was Draco Malfoy, but on the other, he had grown up a lot, in more ways than one.
He leant forward, brushing her hair away from her ear and whispered.
"You know, I've already had breakfast