(a/n): Hello again, and thank you for continuing to read my little brain child. Still looking for an alpha/beta team if any of you are interested. I hope you like it - please review if you're comfortable doing so! :)

Era: Post-War, EWE

Pairing: Draco x Hermione

"It reminded me of you."

Draco hated that sofa. Why in the world his partner thought that their cramped, paperwork ridden, mess of an office needed a horrible, moth eaten, deep green, crushed velvet sofa was totally beyond him. Worse still, she loved that thrice damned sofa, and could often be found curled up on it, file folders spread around her with her wand stuck up in her hair, no longer a riotous mess of curls but rather sleek and inviting, even as she twisted it every which way and jabbed her the vinewood up into it to hold it's place.

Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger had been partners with the Magical Law Enforcement division of the Auror department for almost five years and enjoyed the kind of peaceful partnership that was earned over vicious arguments, long nights, and the intimate knowledge of how the other takes their tea. Draco would be lying to himself, something he did incredibly often regarding the Gryffindor, if he said that their partnership had ever been easy. Even now, in their peaceful and comfortable partnership, she continued to drive him absolutely batty - with things like the sofa.

He wasn't able to pinpoint exactly when she'd gotten the Velvet Monstrosity, as he referred to it when she wasn't within earshot, just that it had shown up one day, a seemingly permanent fixture in his life - just like she had. She'd wormed her way first into his professional life as his partner and someone he was forced to trust with his life on a daily basis, and then into his personal life by having the audacity to come to his mother's funeral and silently hold his hand while he lost the small grip of control on the Malfoy grace he possessed as they lowered his mother into the ground. She'd even managed to permeate his subconscious in the most inconvenient manner, and Draco on rare occasion found himself with the impulse to be nice.

Growling in frustration, Draco crumpled the paperwork on his desk slightly as he threw himself to his feet. "Granger," he barked "I can't do it anymore - that thing has got to go."

"That...what?" she blinked at him owlishly, perched on the sofa she had purchased for their third year partner-versary. To her knowledge, he'd never once sat on it, but she figured he appreciated the aesthetic of the dark wood and green, an homage to his school house and an olive branch of sorts on her part.

"That fucking sofa, Granger. It's awful, and I can't for the life of me understand why you'd ever purchased such a thing and that's taking your awful taste in home decor into account. Was this a gift from Weasley's crusty aunt - what is her name, Madrigal? - from when you were planning that would-be disaster of a wedding?"

Already endlessly frustrated, Draco's ire only grew as her eyes grew impossibly rounder, and tinkling laughter began to come from her small, shaking form.

"I bought this sofa on the third anniversary of us being partners, Malfoy. If you hated it so much why didn't you say anything? I only bought it because it reminded me of you." she said, wiping her eyes.

Scrunching his face in disgust and entirely ignoring her comment about their partner anniversary - a date which he didn't even know - and said, "You think that I'm moth bitten and tacky?" He'd meant to sound authoritative and angry, but ended up sounding a little crazed which only served to further her amusement with him.

"Malfoy, Draco, no. It's green."

"It's gr- are you kidding me Granger if every green thing in the world reminded you of me that would mean you think that I am including but not limited to, a bogie, pea soup, grass stains, and vomit. Had I known your opinion of me was so low, I would have put you out of your misery eons ago."

"Merlin you are so dramatic." she rolled her eyes at him while he, hands on hips, jerkily gestured for her to clarify. Sighing heavily, she rose from her perch on that thing and made her way to stand directly in front of where he was leaning on his desk, pouting. "I bought that sofa because it is a little rough around the edges, almost repugnant to look at at times, but when you clear away the grime and let yourself get a little closer, it's warm, and inviting, and it feels a little bit like home." she said, now standing only a hair's breadth away from him.

He sighed, looking down at her through hair that had flopped into his eyes as she said, "Besides, I thought it would finally inspire you a little and we could shag like rabbits on it since it wasn't expensive."

Laughing as his eyes nearly bugged out of his skull, Hermione leaned up on her toes and sealed her mouth over his. Feeling him relax, she backed away and sighed, "Merlin Malfoy I've been waiting for you to do that for two years."

Growling again for an altogether different reason, Draco grabbed her around the waist and said, "Granger if you wanted to defoul that awful thing all you had to do was ask." as he swooped down to her lips for a second time, feeling almost giddy.

Who knew that all of this could come from that mouldy sofa?