At exactly ten, he'd walked back into her office.
"Right, give me a rundown", she says - wandlessly making her hair pile up on the top of her head in a loose knot while reaching for her bottle of firewhiskey.
"You have a meeting with Neville Longbottom and Hannah Abott in an hour. After that, there's a meeting with all the department heads and after that, a visit to the site"
She's gulping down the firewhiskey like a bedouin drinks water after wandering for days. She quirks her lips when she catches him staring. "Do you want some?" she asks.
It's the voice that gets to him. That drawling, husky voice - warm, yet cold; which screams of rich pureblood girls looking for ways to spend daddy's money, drugs, firewhiskey, crackling fires, velvet & silk. The voice of a queen not impressed with the acts being presented in her honour.
He knows its an act. He's seen it before. Ron Weasley drinking away and talking about how scars take time to heal. Harry Potter leaving his wife at the altar, saying how they war cracked him and the little Weasley deserved something "more". George Weasley drinking when he's not in the shop. Parvati Patil caught on the streets, injecting muggle drugs.
"Tell me, Granger, why do you drink so much?" he asks, sardonically.
She looks up at him then. The lighting glints in her eyes, making the chocolate seem hazel. They're frank and open, those eyes. Warm. Her lips curve up into an ironic smile.
"Malfoy" she says slowly, "I drink because I want to. I fuck around because I want to. I know it's a really hard concept for some people to understand. Doing stuff not because of some tragic story, but because I actually wanted to. So many people are so fucking used to stereotypes, you know? To reduce human behaviour down to small, digestible pieces. She's fucking around. Obviously it's because of the war. Boil me down and cut me up into the perfect anti-hero. The little rough around edges with stiletto's that legally classify as weapons but with a "good" heart." She still has that ironic smile on her lips, her eyes are still warm.
She wasn't mocking him, he realizes. She was educating him.
He suddenly feels very small.