"Draco where are you going?" Narcissa asked in a pleading voice.
Draco stilled with his hand in the floo powder vase. Draco had hoped to escape the manor without running into his mother. Draco sighed and released his handful of floo powder.
Draco placed his hands on the decorative mantel above the fireplace, "Mother."
"Draco, prejudices as deeply ingrained as your fathers are hard to dispel." Narcissa walked up to Draco and put her hand on his shoulder.
Draco tensed at the contact "and your prejudices mother?"
Narcissa sighed, "Draco sit with me please." Narcissa walked over to her large black chaise recliner. The receiving room which housed their main fireplace that connected to the floo network was decked out in subdued colors. The room wasn't gloomy, but the room wasn't welcoming either. Draco poured himself a drink before seating himself in front of his mother on a charcoal loveseat.
"I love you, and I want you to be happy," Narcissa began, "and I know I have not been the best mother or made things easy for you. I understand that you are your own man now but please do not shut me out."
"I am not trying to shut you out mother." Draco scrubbed his hands down his face.
Narcissa nodded, "but your father."
"Father," Draco mused, "is father. I cannot understand how you can defend him still."
"I know it is hard to understand, but your father was a good man once. A man that I fell in love with and devoted my life to. Give him a chance to change. People will act the way you treat them, and your father is no different."
Draco snorted, "Sure. I am sure you would love to have tea and biscuits with a mudblood." Narcissa flinched and furrowed her eyebrows.
"I am better than that Draco," Narcissa stated emphatically. "I would never disrespect anyone no matter their heritage. I may have done that in the past, but the war did not change only you!"
Narcissa stood and began to pace. "I watched people die needlessly too! I am sorry I love your father, but will you always punish me for it?
"I do not know." Draco stood and walked to the fireplace. As the green flames licked his trousers, he shouted his destination.
Draco emerged from the fireplace and transfigured his black robes into muggle blue jeans and a white t-shirt. The living room he entered was the opposite of the room he had just left. The room was light and welcoming. Photographs, both wizard, and muggle lined the walls and furniture were stylish yet comfortable. Draco could see the streetlights through the curtains, and a car pulls into the driveway across the street.
Draco walked to the kitchen and stood in the doorway observing the woman sitting at the dining table. She sat at a small rounded table with a floral tablecloth and beige accents. His witch almost looked out of place in the distinctly muggle environment. Draco furrowed his brow at the bruise paste slathered on the right side of her face. Still, she looked delectable with her rancorous curls piled on her head, haphazardly secured by a quill. She was sucking on the end of a sugar quill deep in thought and had yet to notice him watching her from the doorway. She was clearly agitated as she poured over the paperwork in front of her. Her vine wood wand sat next to her within arms reach. Draco leaned a shoulder against the door frame and cleared his throat. She jumped and grabbed her wand pointing at his face.
"Merlin Draco! You scared me! I could have cursed you" Hermione scolded.
"Well, I've only been standing here for five minutes. Some Auror you make" Draco snickered. Hermione made a rude hand gesture and went back to looking at what appeared to be a raid report.
Draco pulled out the chair across from her and snagged her cup of tea to take a big gulp. The tea was cold. Hermione laughed at his expression.
"Serves you right. The pot is on the stove, get your own."
"Do I even want to know what the hell happened to your face?" Draco inquired.
Hermione made a noncommittal noise.
"That good huh?"
Hermione sighed, "there was a raid on Avery senior's house and while I was escorting his mother off the premise when she got rowdy."
"Rowdy?"
"She punched me in the face."
Draco choked on Hermione's tea, "isn't Constance Avery like 102 years old?"
Hermione scowled, "shut it."
"Well I'm sure she is a very sturdy 102" Draco could barely contain his laughter.
"Did you come over just to give me the Mickey?" Hermione harrumphed.
Draco laughed again and then cleared his throat.
"No."
The serious tone made Hermione look up from her work.
"I got into it with my father again."
Hermione stood up and walked around the table. She squatted in front of Draco and placed her hands on his knees. Her honeyed eyes gazed at him in apathy.
"Draco don't let him get to you. He is a bitter man holding onto grudges from generations past."
"I know that, but he treats me as if I am a child. As if he can scare me into submission and it grates on my nerves" Draco groused.
"Well you could always tell him to piss off."
Draco barked out a laugh. She had that effect on him. He had come itching to have a fight with her over their relationship status and here she was making him laugh.
"I tell him to piss off regularly. I'm starting to think he is growing immune" Draco joked.
Hermione stood and snuggled up on Draco's lap. His arms wrapped around her on their own accord. Draco leaned in for a kiss, and the pulled back wrinkling his nose.
"What?"
"You smell like doxy droppings."
Hermione walked out of the shower and paused to observe Draco sleeping. The covers of her down comforter were draped low on his hips, and his chest was bare. Draco had filled out nicely over the years. He was no longer lanky with feature too sharp to be considered handsome. In fact, Hermione mused, she should probably magically extend her bed to accommodate his frame. Draco stirred as if aware of Hermione's penetrating gaze.
"Granger, come back to bed" Draco rolled over and pulled her pillow over his head.
Hermione walked over and sat down on his side of the bed and pulled the pillow off Draco's head to plant a kiss on his lips.
"Can't, I've already overslept and I've got to brief my department head on yesterday's raid."
Draco groaned, "what's the point of being best friends with your department head if you can't be late every once in a while?"
Hermione walked over to the closet and began riffling through for work robes. She was meticulously organized in every aspect of her life but her clothes.
"Yes well some of us can't stroll into work at half last nine every day" Hermione stated holding up a pair of navy robes to herself in the mirror. Hermione scraped the navy robes and went with black as usual. Hermione waved her wand, and her hair resumed its normal curly mess. She paused by Draco's side to drop him another kiss.
"I'll leave breakfast on the stove. Don't oversleep." Hermione walked out of the bedroom.
Draco showered at Hermione's and ate the full English she left out for him. He made it at exactly nine o'clock to the apparition point for the Ministry. He never used the floo from Hermione's house.
As the lunch hour dawned, Draco made his way to Hermione's office. When he arrived the door was ajar, and Ginny Potter was chatting animatedly to Hermione. Hermione sat at her desk bouncing a dark haired baby on her lap. Draco felt his chest tighten watching her delight in playing with Potter's baby.
Draco knocked once and stepped in. Ginny turned around to look at him with a skeptical expression.
"I was wondering if you wanted to get lunch?" Draco asked even though the presence of the female Potter meant she probably already had plans.
"Absolutely, Ginny and I are meeting Harry and Ron for lunch. We can all go eat together." Hermione smiled, and Ginny looked like she was sucking on a lemon.
"Perfect" Draco gritted his teeth.
Potter and Weasley were already seated in a booth at the back of the Leaky Cauldron. Potter stood up when he caught sight of his wife and pecked her cheek. She handed the baby to Harry and scooted in beside her brother. Hermione slid into the booth beside Weasley and Draco gritted his teeth. Everyone in the wizarding world was waiting with baited breath for them to announce their engagement and Hermione still sat next to the git. Draco slid in beside Hermione and draped his arm on the back of the booth behind her. Directly access from him Potter raised his eyebrows which Draco ignored while looking at the menu in front of him.
Hermione and Ginny talked the entire lunch hour while Harry and Ron supplied comments in between shoveling food into their mouths. Draco sat next to Hermione scowling. Weasley would continuously touch Hermione in small ways or talk about plans outside of work like he was throwing it in Draco's face that Hermione had a separate life that didn't include him.
When lunch was over Draco paid for his and Hermione's tab even though she argued that she could pay her own way. Draco walked away as the friends began saying goodbye. Hermione caught up to Draco a couple of meters outside the Leaky Cauldron.
"Why didn't you wait for me?" Hermione was out of breath after running to catch up with him.
"Sorry I didn't feel like witnessing your and Weasley's love sesh. I'm sure the daily profit will love the cameo." Draco spat.
"Oh come off of it! You of all people know there is not a damn thing going on between Ron and me." Hermione huffed.
"Yeah well, maybe you should tell Weasley that."
Hermione snorted, "Ronald is well aware we are not romantically involved."
"That's right, he did dump you" Draco snapped.
Draco and Hermione had arrived back to the Ministry and were unaware of the stares they were receiving as their conversation become more heated.
"What is your problem!"
"My problem! Nothing is my problem!"
"Right, well when you are in a better mood you can come find me." Hermione stomped off toward her department.
Draco was fuming. She never took his concerns over Weasley seriously and always brushed them off as if he was silly. Draco's problem was that Hermione Granger was not his problem. To everyone else, he had no reason to be concerned about Hermione Granger, and that was exactly what kept him up at night. She would always be Hermione Granger, and he would always be Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger just didn't go together.