this is easy as lovers go

draco/hermione

Disclaimer: Characters belong to a certain J.K Rowling.
A/N: Written for dmhgficexhange.livejournal a while back.

You leap from rooftop to rooftop, smooth and slick under the guardian of the moon and the stars. It isn't difficult to figure out the address or how to reach there. That is the easy part. The rest will come later. Even you have little control over future events.

The house comes into his line of vision and with a final leap, you go through the open window, landing deftly onto the cold linen. Darkness envelopes you, but your night vision works perfectly. Your target is not around.

You proceed to make yourself comfortable and wait patiently.

You do not have to do so for long. Mere minutes later, activity can be heard on the other side of the door. You pride yourself in having calculated and planned the time rather accurately.

Draco Malfoy trudges through the door, muttering random thoughts and spells under his breath. The room lights up as Malfoy waves his wand. You wait for Malfoy to notice you, but he head for the kitchen instead. You hear another hassle of activity, bowls and pots knocked together, incantations spoken.

You find it ridiculously appalling that Malfoy is dense enough to not notice an intruder in his house. He is a wizard after all, one of the best in his days in Hogwarts. Then again, his idiocy is one of the reasons you must break in here. However, you can't help feeling you have gravely overestimated his level of intelligence. Perhaps this isn't such a good idea.

Malfoy walks back into the room, and finally notices you. His eyes widened when he saw you, and he opens his mouth as if to speak, but closes it firmly again. Instead he grabs a parchment and scribbles a single line on it. He attaches it to his owl and sends it flying. So far, everything is going exactly as you have planned.

He turns back to look at you, a tight frown on his face.

You smile, watching as he fidgets uncomfortably, probably wondering what he should do in the meantime. You wondered if he is afraid of cats. That will be rather inconvenient, but dreadfully amusing. You deliberately raise your paw to lick it and as expected, Malfoy stepped back instinctively, a funny sound escaping from his mouth.

There is a sudden loud crack right outside the door and Malfoy races to open it even before there is a knock on the door.

"You! Your cat! It's in my house! My house!"

Your owner pushes past him impatiently as words continues to sputter out of his mouth. You are right, Malfoy's temper is fraying.

Hermione reaches you easily and soothes back the fur on your head, "What are you doing here?" She picks you up, "let's go home."

You slip easily out of her grasp; at the same time, loud protests ring out as Malfoy's monologue swells in volume. "You can't just leave, Granger! Your cat sneaked into my house! It broke into my house! It's a crime!"

"It's just a cat, Malfoy," Hermione reaches down for you, but you pull away effortlessly again, "and besides, it doesn't look like he has done any damage to this place."

"It's not just a cat. It's a… very ugly cat." Malfoy finishes, waving his hands in your direction as if to emphasize his point. You resist the urge to claw his face off.

You start to tune out as the bickering commences all over again. You have witnessed this countless times, and truth to told, it is starting to get old.

It started way back when they were both in Hogwarts; the taunting, bullying, competing, and arguing were a constant element in their relationship. Initially, you assumed what everyone assumed. Those two were natural enemies; an elitist pureblood versus an average Muggle-born, both uncommonly intelligent and capable.

You thought that Hermione ceaseless ranting about Draco Malfoy was a clear indication of the animosity, and you soon came to detest this Draco Malfoy character.

That was, until you chanced upon him in the halls one day. It was not too difficult to recognize him as who he was; delicate sharp features, expensive Slytherin robes, silver hair wore loose, and most of all, that air of forlorn elegance.

Hermione was with you that very day, and you had the chance to glimpse what an exchange between such enemies was like. It was nothing like you had expected, mainly because, these two weren't quite enemies. Which pair of enemies could possibly engage in a fierce conversation and still look like they were going to kiss each other at any moment?

All those long conversations Hermione had with Harry and Ron, and even with the girls of Gryffindor, took on a completely new perspective.

Then the world exploded as Voldemort returned to the wizarding world dramatically. Hermione left you with her parents, who took wonderful care of you, but you frequently worried for the fate of your owner and her friends. You hated to admit it, but you had grown very attached to this young girl and her many close friends.

The day the air crackled with malevolence all over London, you found a wizard and followed him back to Hogwarts where all hell had broke loose. You slipped easily past the feet of both friends and foes, seeking out your owner. You found her desperately fighting a couple of Deatheaters and screeched out as she carelessly left an opening for one of them. A spell shot out as a person rushed in between her and her attacker. Draco Malfoy then performed another powerful spell which knocked out the remaining Deatheater.

Their eyes met, and you held your breath. In that single moment, there seemed to be a million words exchanged between them. Malfoy's eyes inspected Hermione carefully, and seemingly satisfied that she was relatively unharmed, he nodded once and rushed back to where the activities were. Hermione went after him.

Perhaps it was that time that you finally realized the magnitude of this situation. It wasn't some playful, childish feelings stemming from clashes and competitions. No, their relationship was rooted in dependence and rapport, and genuine concern and worry for each other. They weren't natural enemies, they were natural complements.

In the aftermath of the war, accusations and denials ran rampant across the Ministry. Hermione was extremely concerned about the trials of the Deatheaters and their families, and you were well-aware which of the one family, or rather, person, she was most worried about. She even expressed to Harry her intention to vouch for Draco Malfoy. Harry was surprised, but he revealed that he, too, was going to help the Malfoys. These statements from two of the major players in the war exonerated the Malfoys from all charges.

The next time the two met, you were with Hermione and two of her cousins that she hardly kept in contact with, especially in her later years in Hogwarts. Her parents insisted that she maintained her association with people outside of the wizarding world, and instructed her to tour London with her cousins.

Relieved to find an excuse to leave her shopaholic cousins behind, she told them she needed to catch up with an old friend and requested to catch up later. You followed Hermione.

Somehow, the pair ended up an alley next to a small, snug coffee place. Initially, there were signs of unspoken gratitude in their awkward words and gestures. Then their old days in Hogwarts caught with them and each were vehemently denying they ever needed any help. However, you could sense that something was different. The emotions scorched the air and burnt up the oxygen. Hermione seemed to be close to tears, yelling as Malfoy matched hers volume to volume.

They both stopped in unison.

"Why?" Hermione whispered, barely audible even to your sensitive ears.

"What?"

"Why did you help me?"

"Why did you?" Malfoy countered, leaning in close to Hermione.

Even before waiting for an answer, he sealed his lips on hers. You stood at the opening of the alley and watch the scene unfold, a smile tugging at your whiskers. Hermione was slowly responding, a hand gently clutching his arm, the other sliding up his chest. You felt almost wrong to be watching them.

They eventually broke apart, faces flushed with lust.

Hermione swallowed nervously, not looking Malfoy in the eye. "That didn't happen," she muttered to the ground and hurried out into the streets.

You watched Malfoy's faint resigned smile as he swept his hair back from his face. He caught sight of you and waved you off to follow your owner, "didn't happen. Of course it didn't. What was I thinking?"

You inclined your head in acknowledgement and leapt out into the sun.

Hermione was on edge for the next few hours, but she recovered soon after that, almost as if the few minutes on that fateful day were erased completely.

A month later, Hermione started working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures in the Ministry and her life went as normal, or as normal as it could be.

Except, every Tuesday, she would come home slightly depressed and lethargic. She would pour herself a glass of wine and sink down in the couch for the rest of the night. You later found out that the inter-department meetings were held every Tuesday, meaning that Hermione would see Malfoy, who was working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

This went out for several months before you decided you needed to do something. You just weren't quite sure what to do until that day when you overheard the conversation between George and Harry at the Weasleys'.

"A Love Potion? George, are you out of your bloody mind?"

"Oh calm down, Harry, it's harmless. I concocted it myself out of Abyssinian Shrivelfigs and Fairy Wings. It's really quite harmless, the most out of all love potions. Actually I won't quite call it a Love Potion. It doesn't make people fall in love. It's more of a Love Uncovering Potion. It forces people to act on their buried feelings for another. You just have to inhale a little bit of it. Those people won't even know what hit them!"

"And you're going to use it on Ron?"

"Of course! That bloody coward has been dancing around that Lorianne Milton for weeks! Denial is powerful, but this potion is better!"

A week later, you are in Draco Malfoy's house, carrying a stolen bottle of the Love Uncovering Potion in your mouth, watching the pair's verbal spar.

"Fine, Malfoy. What do you want? Compensation? Money?"

"I…I…" Malfoy falters, and you take that moment to spit out the bottle from the height of the drawers you stand on. The glass tinkles as it smashes into a hundred pieces and the liquid potion evaporates rapidly, filling the air with a sweet scent that remains you of bluebells.

"Crookshanks? What do you just do?" Hermione asks, coming over to pick you up.

"It broke my things!" Malfoy complains loudly, following closely behind her.

"It's not yours," Hermione replies as she stoops down to inspect the broken bottle. Malfoy did the same. Both of them hover over the vaporizing sweetness, taking it in. Their eyes met.

And they jump apart almost immediately.

"Um, I think I – "

"It doesn't matter – "

You slip out of Hermione's grasp once again as the two of them fidget uncomfortably, doing their best not to look at each other.

Then quietly, slowly, Malfoy moves towards Hermione. She steps back a fraction, but holds on. He stops before her, gazing deep into her, almost daring her to step away from him.

You watch, holding your breath. You have always known that Hermione was the one in fathomless denial. She will always be the one to pull away. Both times, Malfoy has been the one who faces his feelings as honestly as he can, even as he struggles with it, but your owner, your dear owner is the problem.

As Malfoy tilts his head towards her, she suddenly speaks, "I think I..."

Now, you resist the urge to claw her face off, that bloody idiot.

"...I think I might love you."

Oh.

That was easy.