Chapter One: Congratulations Granger

The year had passed quickly. After a hellish first few months of kicking himself for even thinking about getting involved with Hermione Granger, Draco had settled back into his old practice of rebelling against the English Ministry's red tape and generally just being a smart ass. Of course Draco's boss Neil wasn't so worried, his one condolence being that Draco had atleast improved by being able to keep a partner for longer than six months now… true Draco's new partner hardly said a word and seemed even more grumpy than Draco was, but that was probably why they got on so well.

In fact Neil thought Draco and Jasper would make it. They both seemed to have been brought together with their mutual hate of people and happy things. Now if only they weren't so intimidating…Neil was having enough trouble running the department of Special Forces without having to tell them off for unsettling ministry officials.

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Draco respected his partner Jasper. Jasper was everything his best friend Thad wasn't. Thad was the minister for the department of the Misuse of Magic and that automatically made him part of the problem in Draco's opinion. Thad's influence over many a case Draco worked on, could have easily allowed Draco to expose the faults in the Ministry. But instead Thad followed the rules and let the Ministry cover up their mistakes like all the other minsters and in doing so allowed them to tighten its hold on the magical community.

"It's like the world is being run by death eaters again," Draco had once said in an argument early on in Thad's career. Draco had loathed the powers of manipulation the death eaters had in the war which was one of the reason he had turned spy.

In any case Thad wasn't too happy with Draco by the end of that argument but he did reluctantly agree to start documenting all the cover-ups just in case. It was for his diplomacy and good nature therefore that made him the exception and for many of years now he was Draco's closest friend and confidante.

Thad alone new how much Draco was angry when Hermione had left like she did. But Thad was married now and happily so Draco didn't like to talk about it, he couldn't handle the comparisons between Thad's happy love life and his own miserable one, it just infuriated him and that had consequently caused a wedge between Thad and himself. Draco was currently not speaking to him.

Which is why Jasper was good for Draco; he never talked about home life and agreed with all that Draco stood for. That being said Jasper refused to bend the law and had made it clear that he wasn't afraid to hex him if he got any ideas. Jasper was a stocky Welshman and although quite a bit shorter than Draco, was more than capable of following through with his threat. Jasper kept him in line, which was what he needed. What prompted Draco to spill his guts one day to his almost indifferent partner was anyone's guess…But it probably had something to do with Ron Weasley's upcoming wedding.

"In a few days I go to my doom," Draco said early Monday morning as they were walking into his favourite muggle café.

"Oh?" Jasper said his dark features twisted in amusement. He thought he might be referring to a certain review board.

"The Vice Minister for Magic's wedding."

Draco sighed as Jasper just looked confused. Sometimes he wished he hadn't stopped speaking to Thad, if only so he didn't have to go through the trouble of explaining himself.

"If I wasn't so bloody desperate for advice I wouldn't insult you with having to listen to my personal issues," Draco began uncertain if Jasper wouldn't just tell him to keep it to himself. But thankfully he looked interested so he went on and explained the whole Hermione situation to him.

Two cups of coffee later each, Draco finally stopped talking. Jasper hadn't said a word yet and already Draco felt better.

"-so yeah, she just left like I didn't deserve an explanation or anything." Draco knew he had made the story sound like he was the victim, but she had left and that's how he felt.

"And are you worried about seeing her at the wedding?" Jasper asked in his quiet way.

"Well uh yeah," Draco agreed and then they were both silent for a while. For anyone that didn't know Jasper they would've probably thought he hadn't been listening, but Draco knew his friend was just thinking carefully over his situation and that made him feel even better. For Jasper was very observant and although he was a man of few words usually, whenever he spoke it was always profound and helpful.

"Somebody else with guts has probably taken her." Jasper finally spoke.

Draco's mouth dropped. He wasn't expecting that after the long silence.

"Excuse me?"

"Is it so unbelievable that she might've moved on? Drake you alone could be the only one that still feels like it all happened yesterday," Jasper shook his head in disbelief, "It's been a year and you still feel like you deserve and explanation, you presume too much if you think that she also might be concerned about seeing you."

"Well maybe I'm not really that worried about seeing her, it's not like I've mulled over every single detail of the weeks we spent together," Draco protested even though that was a blatant lie, "I've never really cared about her anyway, because I was just at the beginning stages of caring about her when she left."

"So if she moved on with another man what would you say to her?" Jasper asked amused with how red Draco was going.

"I'd say Congratulations Granger and then I'd laugh at the poor fellow who has to deal with her," Draco said feeling angry just at the thought, "Well that's enough of that, let's get back to work."

Jasper had to stop himself from laughing as Draco fumbled with his wallet to pay for the coffee and almost stumbled over a chair in his haste to get out. He had a feeling his partner wouldn't be talking to him for awhile but that thought just amused him, because Draco had it bad.

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Draco did not sleep well that night. Every time he closed he's eyes he remembered how she had felt under he's hands. Every time he so much as drifted off he would suddenly remember how she had kissed him for the first time. It nearly undid him, so desperate and wanting was the kiss, he believed she really had lost control of herself. And a kiss like that from someone as uptight as Granger was beyond sexy. Not to mention hard to forget.

Groaning he remembered how he had had thought himself noble by refusing to go up to her room when they got back from Scotland. How could he be so stupid? He had planned, of course to ask her out on a date of sorts to get to know her, and believed that if he did it after sex it would misconstrued as after sex babble.

"Fucking Granger!" he swore getting up and heading to the bathroom. He hadn't even seen her in a year and she was still arousing him. Pulling off his clothes in frustration he treated himself to a cold shower.

In three days he would see Hermione Granger again, and for Merlin's sake he hoped he could stay in control of himself, it certainly would not look good on his part if he had to run off mid ceremony for a cold shower.

He wondered if she still wore those tight leather pants…

Damn it.