Disclaimer: The characters, spells and all other Harry Potter related elements do not belong to me. Thanks to J.K. Rowling for letting her fans use her beautifully created world to let their imaginations take flight.
Hermione would have liked to think she'd changed. That she wasn't the Hogwarts Princess anymore, more focused on schoolwork than anything else, but to tell the truth her school work had merely been replaced by copious amounts of paperwork. And let's face it, she was married to her job. She shifted a stack of papers with a flip of her wand and settled her boots on the free bit of space that was left. Her feet were killing her after a solid day of work. She'd kept her long hours to keep from spending even longer hours alone at her flat.
"Officer Granger," a voice rang through the doorway distracting Hermione from her thoughts. She shifted her boots back off the desk and winced as the pressure returned to her toes. She mentally reminded herself to perform a short healing spelling when she got home as her boss came into the room. A short, squat wizard in some mish-mash between robes and a muggle suit strode into the room and cleared his throat. "I thought you'd still be here. It's your lucky day, Granger."
Hermione kept herself from rolling her eyes at the Chief of Magical Law Enforcement. Lucky day my ass; A day spent pushing papers and running errands for the real officers. She stood up and swept her recently let down hair into a loose bun once again and stared at Chief Thorne whose jowls looked as if they were eating his mouth. "Yes sir?"
"Can you follow me to the conference room? I want to introduce someone to you," Chief Thorne gestured with his meaty hand and turned to exit the room. Hermione could barely contain her excitement, she was finally going to truly become a part of the squad, she had to be getting her partner. Hell, she'd only been there for 5 whole years. 5 years of doing the other "real" officers paperwork, getting them coffee and picking up crime scene evidence without a chance to look at the scene at hand. Hopefully her partner could keep up with her and wasn't a perve who would try to cop a feel in the break room.
She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice the man who was waiting for them with arms crossed and a smirk playing across his face in the conference room. As soon as she noticed who it was a loud guffaw issued forth from her mouth. This had to have been a joke. There was no way.
"Meet your new partner, Granger; this is Officer Malfoy from the London division. He recently transferred and we figured this was the time for you to stretch your legs and prove to us you have what it takes to be an officer in the field." Chief Thorne clapped Malfoy on the shoulder and made a grand wave toward the empty room as if that signified the future that was to come.
Hermione was at a disadvantage. On one hand she'd worked her ass off to finally get to this point and in her mind she could see her entire career laid out before her. Everything she wanted to achieve dangled ahead of her like a carrot, but seriously Draco Malfoy? How could the fates let this happen? Malfoy was not a good person. Not the worst person, but he had been a death eater and even if he had done his best to make amends he was still the son of Lucius Malfoy. Not to mention his years of petty bullying and his filthy usage of the term "mudblood".
"Well," the Chief suddenly looked very confused and Hermione had the grace to smile politely. "I'll leave the two of you to get acquainted. Report to the office tomorrow morning at 0800 and I'll have your first assignment then."
Malfoy gave him a little two finger wave and Hermione weakly thanked the Chief as he exited the room. She couldn't bring herself to look at the man that remained. She was afraid looking at him would bring up the past that she'd worked so hard for 5 years to push to the back of her mind. She was much better than she had been. It was rare for her to wake up in the middle of the night. Bellatrix's sneer filling up her mind as the witch raised her wand, her lips forming the words of the Unforgivable Curses. Hermione shook her head again.
"Hey Grange, long time no see," Malfoy said to her, she could practically hear the mockery oozing from his lips. Hermione sighed deeply and gave up all hope that he'd changed and grown up.
"Yeah, well it's been a long day and I'd like to pretend I'm happy to see you, but I don't have that sort of energy so I'll unfortunately see you bright and early tomorrow." Hermione still couldn't find it in her to look at him. Instead she stared at the table and tried not to cringe as she felt him come up behind her.
"I think we should go get some Firewhiskey and go catch up seeing as we are going to have to be close from here on out. Especially if it is going to take a shot for you to even look at me." Malfoy offered her the open door of the conference room. "Come on Grange, what's the worst that could happen?"
Hermione gave him a side eye, but sighed in resignation. He did have a point, they would be working together and she would be damned if Malfoy was the reason she would be sent back to paperwork. "Fine, but I swear if you call me "Grange" again I will be sure to misaim one of my stunning spells."
"Sure thing, 'Miney," Malfoy said with a chuckle following the brunette out of the room.
They'd stopped at a local bar that Hermione frequented when the loneliness just got too much to handle. It was easier to down drinks with strangers than to face home and the miserableness she felt all the time. Sure, her friends kept in touch, but Ginny was pregnant, again, and she and Harry had gone to the Burrow for the last few months so Molly could help Harry with the kids while Ginny stayed on bedrest. And Ron, well Ron was still a sore subject and they weren't on the best of terms. After graduating from Hogwarts Ron and Hermione had tried a brief foray into dating, but quickly found their personalities did not mesh well enough for them to continue a romance. He'd quickly moved on (within a bloody week!) and moved into a flat with some Londonette who Hermione couldn't bother to learn the name of. It's why she'd transferred from the Ministry of Magic to a smaller force in Liverpool. She couldn't stand bumping into Ron regularly at work. Seeing him happy made her sick. Yes, she knew she was petty for feeling these things, but who gets over a childhood love that easily?
"Ello Hermione, 'avin a bevvy?" the man behind the bar called out to her as she sat down. Malfoy came up next to her and slipped his coat off. Hermione was surprised that he took hers as well and hung it up on the rack beside the door, but she covered it up by responding to Ted the barhand that they'd have two pints.
"I thought we were having Firewhiskey?" Malfoy said accepting the beer anyway; he took a long swig and looked over his glass at Hermione truly taking in the changes in her since they'd last spoken. She'd managed to get her unruly hair in some semblance of order and instead of bushing around her head it lay wavy as it brushed the top of her breasts. He'd noticed those as well. She'd been a late bloomer until about the latter half of their 7th year at Hogwarts. That's when most of the Slytherin boys had taken a fancy to her. She wasn't too bad. Growing up had done her well.
Hermione adjusted her position on the bar stool and rolled her eyes at her new partner once again cursing the Gods or whomever it was that was the cause of Malfoy coming back into her life. "Figured we could have some chips or something first. I for one do not do well with Firewhiskey on an empty stomach."
"I didn't take you for the drinking type, Granger."
"Well you don't know me so don't pretend you know what type I am, Malfoy." Hermione felt weird sitting there having a pint in her bar with the infamous Draco Malfoy. She took an aggressive sip of her beverage and leaned over the metal bar top to get Ted's attention. She chewed her bottom lip anxiously as she watched him cleaning a series of glasses in mid-air with his wand. He looked in no hurry to come back over and save her from the ridiculous situation she'd found herself in.
"Well I'm going to have to get to know you, aren't I?" Malfoy smirked again obviously gaining some semblance of pleasure from the mood he was putting her in. Who knew he could still get such a rise out of her?
He stood up and walked over to a booth in the far corner of the dark bar surveying the clientele as he went. He couldn't help his habit of sizing up the room since his Death Eater days. He knew the main danger was behind him, but he still ran into some of Voldermort's most loyal of followers who didn't care the Dark Lord was dead. They no longer appreciated the Malfoy Family and had no issues with showing it. It was part of the reason Malfoy had transferred out of the London circuit himself. Plus he'd just needed a change.
He felt pleased as he noticed no faces he recognized and none that recognized him. Most of the men in the bar were more focused on the drinks in front of them or on the only female in the bar was leaning aggressively over the bar top trying to get the barkeep's attention. Her ass was lifted off the seat and Malfoy could see the outline of her underwear showing through the tight fabric of her pants. He surprised himself when he found that he wanted the others to fuck off and mind their own damn business.
He leaned toward the man at the oak table closest to his booth and growled out a warning, "I think you need to focus your eyes on your drink at hand, fuck face. That's my partner you're looking at."
The man focused his attention blearily at Malfoy and laughed deep a spray of beer leaving his lips, "Your partner? That little witch is in here most nights alone. She's practically asking for it wearing tight pants like that. Maybe if you cared about your bloody partner you'd keep her closer?" The man sneered exposing yellowed teeth and tossed back the rest of his beverage before clambering out of his position to join another dark-haired man at a table further from Malfoy.
Malfoy couldn't explain the anger bubbling up in himself, but he strode across the room and grabbed Hermione by the arm. She had just ordered another round of beers and a basket of chips and seemed quite pleased with herself for finally getting the bartender's attention. She let out a loud chirp of displeasure as Malfoy's fingers snaked around her upper arm. "Hey! Get off me!"
"I'm not the one showing my assets to the rest of the bar now am I? I'm trying to protect some semblance of your dignity since you seem to want to give the room a show!" He hissed pulling her along back to the booth. She was spilling the second round of pints onto her maroon sweater and loud protests issued from her mouth.
"I was doing no such thing and you're spilling all this good beer!" She cried as he finally released her into the safety of the back booth. She sat down with a huff and set about wiping the foam that had accumulated on her shirt.
Malfoy stuck his middle finger up at the gentleman he'd previously chatted with and took a swill of his beer. "Didn't take you for an exhibitionist either, Granger! Look at me learning so many new things about you."
"I am NOT an exhibitionist. I'm sorry that the men in here can't keep it in their sodded pants and keep their eyes where they belong!" She kept aggressively wiping at her chest with the napkin as if it were the cause of all her problems and not the man across from her.
"You know you can clean that up with a quick spell and save the napkins, right?" Malfoy said with a smirk. He didn't wait for Hermione's reaction and instead flagged Ted down to bring the abandoned chips to the table as well as a round of Firewhiskey. When he'd turned back the sweater was clear, but her face was red and her chest was heaving with her anger. He couldn't quite tell if she was more embarrassed for having molested her chest with napkins for the past 5 minutes when she was clearly a witch or more angry for having to be dragged across the bar by her childhood nemesis.
He slid the shot glass of Firewhiskey over to her and took the other in his hand. She took it with shaky fingers, but allowed him to tap his glass against hers. "To being partners and to our reunion! Drink up, babes, it'll make you feel better!"
He was enjoying the rise he was getting out of her. This evening's antics was enough to make him happy about his transfer. He couldn't remember a time he had been more amused. It'd been a long time since he'd smiled. Ever since his mother's death at the hands of one of the Death Eaters he'd had a hard time seeing the brighter side of life. He felt his smile waning at the thought and threw back the shot relishing the feel of the whiskey as it burned down his esophagus. It was one of the few times he felt alive again.
Hermione let out a girlish cough as she tossed back her shot, but in her defense she didn't make a face. Instead she slammed the glass down on the table and looked Malfoy straight in his eyes. She didn't think she'd ever been this close to him for long enough to realize what eye color he had. Or the fact that his white-blond hair cascaded onto his forehead giving him a boyish look, a sexy look. Whoa, whoa, whoa Hermione… get ahold of yourself. What was in that shot? She violently shook her head to erase the thoughts then realized she looked like a loon shaking her head like that. She blushed again.
Malfoy had already signaled Ted for another round and as he went behind the bar to oblige the two of them Malfoy took the time to help himself to a chip. The tang of the vinegared fry combated the shot and he found himself tossing the snack back in the basket. "Terrible choice of bar foods."
She was having a hard time finding her voice as she argued with her inner dialogue. She could have sworn he purposefully had just collided his knee with hers. Maybe she was relishing the feel of another human's contact or it was the Firewhiskey talking, but she found herself brushing her knee back against his ever so slightly so that it could have been deemed an accident. She saw Malfoy smirk knowingly and he moved to rest his knee against hers, but he blessedly didn't say anything about it.
Hermione cleared her throat and moved her knee back away still attempting to clear out her thoughts. "Ahem, so Malfoy-"
"-call me Draco."
"-D-Draco, what brings you out here rather than staying in London?" She took another sip of the beer and tried to look as nonchalant as she could muster. She could feel the effects of the alcohol already taken hold. Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth and the temperature in the bar was steadily rising.
His grey eyes looked deep into hers conveying more than he would ever say, but as quickly as the moment had come it was gone. He looked away and the smirk came back to his lips. Hermione found herself staring at them wondering if they felt as soft as they looked. His eyes came back to rest on hers and she blushed as she noticed his smirk get deeper. He had noticed her looking at his mouth!
Get ahold of yourself, this is Malfoy you're talking to. Draco Malfoy. He is NOT a good person. Just because you haven't gotten any male attention in years does not mean you need to resort to lowering your standards to a former Death Eater. Hermione found herself welcoming Ted's presence and the shots he'd placed on the table as a welcome distraction. She tipped hers back without waiting for some sort of recognition from Malfoy and smiled pleasantly as she realized number 2 went down a hell of a lot easier.
He followed her actions and replied to her question, "I was just looking for a change of scenery mostly and when the opening came up out here for a new agent I took it. Was tired of seeing the same old people at the ministry day-in-day-out with their judging eyes, you know?" His fingers swept away the condensation from his half-empty beer glass, but his eyes rested attentively on Hermione. He shook his head and adjusted his position so that his back rested against the wall and his long legs stretched out across the bench. "Dunno why I just admitted that."
"I know what you mean about seeing the same person, I mean, people day-in-day-out," she admitted tearing at the paper coaster that had rested beneath her finished beer. Her eyes looked sad and Draco couldn't help but pick up on her change of tone. He temporarily thought about asking her what was wrong, but figured they weren't at that place. Besides, he wasn't sure he wanted to be the one Hermione confessed her feelings to. They were just supposed to be partners. He'd look out for her on the streets and she him. That was it.
Instead he gestured to the torn up coaster with a low laugh. "I think that means you're sexually frustrated."
Her eyes grew wide with shock and her mouth formed in a perfect little "O", "Wha-what? I have no idea what you're talking about! I'm not sexually frustrated. I get plenty of sex whenever I need it. I mean just last week I got it."
Malfoy barked out a laugh and leaned forward until their faces were mere inches apart across the tabletop. He could smell the wafts of the last shot coming from between her lips. She stopped herself mid-sentence and looked at his lips again almost hungrily. "Pretty positive someone who is getting "plenty of sex" doesn't need to announce that they do to the entire bar. Wow Granger, you're going to have the entire bar thinking you're the village slut!"
"Fuck off, Malfoy!" She cried, pushing him back into his seat and striding away from the booth. He could tell she was really angry about this one and was probably interested in ending the night but he wasn't ready to get rid of his plaything just yet. Not when things were just getting warmed up….
He finished the last swig of his beer and followed her across the sticky bar floor to the bartop once more. She was attempting to close out her tab and was doing her best to ignore the blonde who arrived at her side. "Awe Granger, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I was just having a go at you. You make it so easy!" He waved Ted away with a flash of galleons and leaned over the bar to grab the bottle of Firewhiskey that was nestled there. "We can't be partners if we can't mess with each other!" He poured her another glass of the potent booze and two for himself.
He could see the anger ebbing away as she conceded to the next shot. He knew that he had her hooked. He always had girls like her hooked. They secretly loved being made fun of so they could pretend to be upset and have you come after them pretending to be concerned. It was a back and forth game and the little witch seemed like she was primed to play.
"For your information," Hermione began, a look in her eyes that Malfoy had never seen before forming, "I can get any sex I want. Go ahead, pick a man here and I'll seduce him." Her hand made a wide arch across the bar that was filling up quite nicely for a Thursday night before resting at the bottom of her sweater. She continued her movements by slipping her maroon sweater off and setting it on the bar next to her.
Malfoy couldn't help himself, he was a man after all, and he noticed how the black tanktop she wore underneath the sweater helped emphasize her chest. She was skinnier than he'd originally thought as the tank clung nicely to her form. He licked his lips and took the second shot of Firewhiskey he'd laid out for himself. Yes he thought we are going to have a lot more fun this evening.
Before replying he undid the top button of his midnight blue dress shirt and rolled up his sleeves. "Alright, Granger, you're on. You have to seduce the man I choose and if you win I'll put in a transfer to another city. But if you can't get him to try to take you home then I win."
She eyed him warily over another beer she'd magically gotten, her brown eyes staring daggers into his face. "That seems too easy to get you to transfer. What do you win if I can't get him to want me?"
He smiled and leaned forward again, his lips brushing the edge of her cheek as he whispered in her ear. She felt her stomach drop and her heart flutter as his breath tickled her ear and she inadvertently slid forward toward him off her stool. She was definitely tipsy now and becoming more of a creature of feel than thought. "Why little witch, I'll show you what I'll win later."
His hand slid across her left shoulder toward the bartop and he moved his hips forward toward her approaching body. He loved the affect he had on her. Just as their bodies were going to meet he thanked the bartender for the beer and slid back sipping on his Smithwicks. Her mouth quickly formed a pout then melted into a scowl as she realized he'd just played her.
Get your shit together! She chastised herself angrily. She'd fought the Dark Lord, took on all sorts of magical creatures, and destroyed horcruxes, but she was going to let herself be undone by one cheeky bastard? No, no she wasn't. She squared her shoulders and stuck her finger back into Malfoy's chest. Don't think about how he would look shirtless, Hermione! "Pick out a guy!"
Her loud exasperation had gained the attention of a few of the closer tables. A couple of the men were now leering at Hermione's half-exposed breasts. Malfoy was uncomfortable with the extra attention in their direction. He'd gotten out of London for a reason, it wouldn't do to blow his low profile in one evening.
"Oh but Granger, we're having so much fun. Do you really want to go hit on another man when you have me right here?" He brought his hand up to stroke the five o'clock shadow that rested there and looked at her earnestly with his grey eyes. "Come on, Partner, you're just going to leave me hanging on our first night together as a team?"
Hermione was finding herself having a problem with finding the point of the whole exchange and instead just glared back at the blonde. "We will never be partners, Malfoy, coworkers, but not partners."
"I'm highly doubtful you could do any better than me," he retorted tossing the rest of the bill payment on the counter and scooped his arm under hers. He was pushing her along toward the door pausing only to grab their jackets he had deposited earlier on the rack. The stares were making him antsy and he figured more Firewhiskey was only going to make her cause more of a scene.
"What the fu-Malfoy, what are you doing?" Was the limit of Hermione's snap at being suddenly absconded from the bar. Her head was swimming and the unexpected cold of the night air did little to ease her drunkenness. Malfoy had at least thrown her coat haphazardly over her shoulders so she wasn't shivering.
"Getting you out of there before you wound up in some bastard's lap. Didn't know you'd drink that much, Granger. You're going to get yourself into trouble." Malfoy's smirk had returned now that they were alone in the alleyway beside the bar. He was waiting to make sure they could apparate without noisy muggles catching a glimpse or hearing the "Crack!" as they left the local area. His arm was still holding the other witch in place as she swayed awkwardly with the force of several alcoholic beverages.
He saw her eyes light up in anger at his comment and he suddenly found her wand at his throat pushing into the soft skin there with an insistence that he found impressive. "You have been insulting me all night, Malfoy, and I'll have you know-" She began, but whatever words were going to follow were quickly cut off by torrent of vomit that spewed from her lips. Luckily most of it hit the ground not Malfoy and he was able to jump out of the way to avoid the majority.
This was really not Hermione's night, but before she could muse on much more than the liquids that were coming out of her mouth a white light filled up the alleyway effectively blinding the pair temporarily. Malfoy had his wand out before he realized the shimmery light was in fact a willowy Patronus of an English Bulldog.
Hermione wiped her mouth with her wand-free hand and pushed Malfoy's wand down with a gentle motion. "Relax," she paused, swallowed deeply with a cringe and, to her credit, continued, "It's the Chief's Patronus, something must have happened."
The bulldog stopped directly in front of them and the Chief's booming voice reverberated from it, "Indeed, Granger, Malfoy, I'm quite glad you are together. We have a problem. It looks as if Artemis Billington has killed his entire family."
Hermione gasped, Officer Billington had been with their office for over 25 years and was a prominent member of the Magical Society of Northern England. The probability of him killing his family was akin to Voldermort coming back. He was the only senior officer who didn't dumb all of his busy work onto her desk.
"As you can imagine there has to be more at work here. I'm doing damage control to ensure this doesn't get out. I'm counting on the two of you to go to his residence and collect as much information as possible."
Malfoy looked at Hermione expecting to see some semblance of drunkenness still etched on her features, but instead he found her standing steadfast and in rapt attention. Maybe she did have guts after all. "Thanks Chief, we'll go there immediately."
Little did either of them know, but what they would find at that residence was going to change their lives forever and bring the two of them together in ways that they could have never imagine.