Title: Under the Dragons Protection

Author: Ms. Dependent

Rating: PG-13 - R

Disclaimer: It's not mine. JKR rox me sox

AN- I have completely ignored HBP in this, though I do love the book. This is post Hogwarts about 4-5 years later.

YAY! New chapter. Took me long enough.

Chapter 3

In the morning, Hermione dressed for work and got downstairs only to discover Draco was already in the kitchen, dressed in last night's form-fitting black jeans and white T-shirt.—which, to her chagrin, outlined the lean but hard muscles of his chest.

He looked up from tossing a pancake and nodded toward the coffee maker. "Help yourself."

She guessed she wasn't getting rid of him just yet. She didn't have it in he, however, to be irritated about it. "Thanks for making breakfast." The aroma of the coffee and the smell of pancakes was already seducing her taste buds.

His lips quirked up, as if in acknowledgment that her statement was dictated only by good manners. "Your welcome." He slide a pancake onto a waiting plate. "I never leave the house in the morning without a shot of carbs," he added, as if by way of explanation for his presence in her kitchen.

When they'd almost finished breakfast, She decided to tackle the hippogrif in the room that they were both ignoring. "The threats are ridiculous. I mean, whoever is making them has to know that the Ministry will just get another prosecutor to handle them."

Draco took his time answering, wolfing down the last of his pancakes. "That's true. But no one knows your cases as well as you do. Whoever is threatening you is probably betting the Ministry's case will be a lot weaker with a officer who has been substituted midstream."

"But that's crazy!"

"Yup." Draco nodded. "Crazy and desperate."

Was he purposely trying to scare her?

As if reading the skepticism on her face, he continued, "There've been plot in the past to knock off wizignots. A defendant may figure he can get someone more sympathetic." He shrugged. "It isn't a big lead to think someone's guessed a similar strategy could work with an overzealous officer."

She felt a prick of annoyance. "I'm not overzealous."

Draco leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, but you're doing your job too well and its scaring this guy. When I call you overzealous, I was conjecturing about what our Mr. Nice on the phone could be thinking—and what might be motivating him. Maybe the next officer won't care as much about your cases or won't have your determination and brains."

She couldn't help the frisson of happiness that went through her at his off hand compliment.

Draco leaned forward and shoved his empty plate aside. "Is there one case you've been working on a lot?"

She gave him a sardonic look. "I only wish there was just one." She knew she should be standing up right now, thanking him for his concern and showing him the door, just as she promised last night. Yet, she supposed, she owed him some satisfaction in return for his concern, however misplaced, not to mention for cooking breakfast.

"All right, what's a major case you're working on?"

She considered a moment, then said, "One of them is the Higgs burglary case."

"That one hasn't made the papers."

She nodded. "It wouldn't, but Terence Higgs has a rap sheet that's a lone and interesting, including dealing illegal potions and use of dark magic. This time he's charged with robbing Flourish and Blotts."

"Is he out on bail?"

"No, he is behind bars awaiting trial." Then she added, by way of explanation, "He's only in his early twenties, so there's still time for him to move on to more serious crimes if he gets off for this one—or even if he doesn't but gets out of prison in a few years."

Draco nodded curtly. "Potion dealing. Was he a neighborhood pusher?"

"Basically."

Draco drained his coffee cup, taking his time asking his next question. "Has anyone linked him with a gang? He's the right age."

His perceptiveness surprised her. "Some of his neighbors have more or less said so. Off he record."

His face gave nothing away. :So some gang members might be harassing the Ministry Officer who's trying to put their old bud Higgs in the slammer for a long while."

A chill went through her a he gave voice to the fear that she refused to acknowledge, but she forced herself to nod in agreement. "All right, I'll buy that logic."

"Any other prosecutions you're handling?"

"There's the Bradley case."

"Okay, what's the Bradley case?"

She shrugged. "Business executive accused of embezzlement. Part of it is what accountants know as a lapping scheme. Basically, stealing revenue to cove the missing money in the company's accounts receivable." She paused. "At least that's what we're trying to prove."

"Bradley. Name sounds familiar."

She nodded. "He's high profile. Sits on a bunch of charitable boards. A born rich type."

His lips twisted. "Great, my favorite type."

She pasted a look of mock surprise on her face. "What? You dislike the born-rich types as well as social climbers? Are there any types you do like?"

He gave her an inscrutable look before mentally seeming to shift gears back to the issue at hand. "Those white-collar crimes often settle. Just the thought of landing in a cell next to your run-of-the-mill burglar or dealer is usually enough to get these guy's defense attorneys to talk settlement."

"True, but, in this case, Bradley doesn't want to admit any wrongdoing." She was surprised by Draco's knowledge of law enforcement. She supposed she shouldn't be though. His father was a criminal and Draco had tried to distance himself from any alliance with criminals.

She added, "As I said, Bradley is a social climber. Right now his public relations firm is spinning this as the Ministry's misguided attempt to bring down on of the wizarding world big philanthropist."

"Is Bradley out on bail?"

"Yes."

"Okay, so Bradley is free to come and go. Unlike Higgs, who could have some buddies on the outside helping him out. On the other hand, Bradley appears to be just a white-collar criminal. We don't know whether he has it in him to get his hands dirty with death threats."

She gave him a look of studied patience. "In other words, I'm working on two major cases, so I have two defendants with motives to do me wrong? Is that what your saying?"

He quirked a brow. "What I am saying is put a lid on it. Someone's after you and we haven't identified the who, what and why questions yet. Until we do, it's best if I stay here."

Stay here? Hadn't they settled that last night? He was going, going, gone. In fact, he should have been gone already. If she wasn't such a sucker for coffee—not to mention the pancakes for breakfast—she'd have seen him out the door an hour ago. In any case, there were so many things wrong with his suggestion she couldn't begin to count them.

"You cant stay here." She added a note of finality in her tone.

"Can't"

"It's not necessary." She added repressively. "I thought we settled that last night."

He glanced around in disgust. "Wake up, Granger, you don't even have any wards set up."

"I'll have one set up."

He said dryly, "That's exactly why I was hired." Then added, "But putting up wards takes time. Even a company link Malfoy Security needs a few days to do a job like this."

She should have seen this coming the minute she got downstairs to find him flipping pancakes. The sneak. "So, I'll stay with. . . ." Who? She searched her brain in a hurry. Her parents? Harry and Ginny? Ron? The options weren't enticing. "My parents."

"Your parents are muggles." He folded his arms over his chest and sat back, apparently digging in for battle. "And lets see. . ." He snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah, if I were a wizard trying to kidnap you, a couple of muggles couldn't stop me."

"One of my friends then. Harry and Ron both have apartments in London."

"There often not in London. Ever since he got married, Harry has settled down to domestic bliss with Ginny and the baby. And Ron is often on the road for his Auror duties. If you disappeared from his apartment , no one would discover it for hours, even a day or two."

She knew he was right, but she rebelled at the thought. No one, least of all her friends, seemed to understand that a bodyguard would raise eyebrows at the Ministry. She'd worked too hard at her career to have her credibility undermined by the poor-weak-rich-girl image that had stalked her for the past four years.

Draco unfolded his arms. "what you need is a bodyguard," he stated matter-of-factly. "But I understand why that might be a problem for someone in your position."

"Thanks," she said wryly, his perceptiveness taking her by surprise. "At least you're more reasonable then Harry and the Weasleys."

"So," he went on, "that's why I'm suggesting another option. Namely, me. All anybody needs to know is that I am an old friend who moved in with you, maybe until renovations on my own place are done."

The man had a stubborn streak a mile wide. Even if he did manage to keep a lower profile than a typical bodyguard, his offer was unwise. Very unwise if last night's kiss was anything to judge by. "I thought we'd been over this. No."

"I'll apparate with you to and from work," he continued unperturbed, "and, as an added bonus—" he gestured to their surroundings "—I'll stay here with you."

How magnanimous of you."

He gave her a humorless smile. "Don't worry. I'm house-trained and basically pick up after myself."

She rolled her eyes.

He leaned in suddenly serious, his silver gaze capturing and holding hers. "This isn't a game Hermione. Someone has already sent you death threats. You don't know what he'll do next."

"I know." She tried to focus on the danger but, instead, on finding the perpetrator. She refused to live her life in fear—although, truth be told hadn't that been part of her motivation last night for being at the window, peering at the dark street.

She'd always known Draco Malfoy was a man who didn't take no for an answer. He was after all, the guy who changed the name Malfoy to a name everyone knew and feared to a name everyone knows and trusts.

But, she reminded herself, he was also the guy who ruined her plan all those years ago. The guy who still acted at times as if she were an inexperienced know-it-all, regardless of last night's inexplicable kiss.

Fortified by that thought, she tried again for a polite brush off. "Look, Draco, I appreciate the offer, but I can handle this on my own."

His eyes narrowed. "And what if I said you really don't have a choice in the matter?"

She scoffed, then stopped abruptly as he reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a set of house keys—both muggle and magical. Alarm bells went in her head. "where did you get those?"

"When I'm hired for a job, I usually get access to the premises," he said coolly

She pursed her lips. She knew exactly who to thank for giving him access. When she was though with Harry, his ears would be ringing for days. In the meantime, she had one cagey security expert to deal with.

Quite clearly she wasn't simply going to be able to banish Draco as she'd like. Experience had taught her, however, that it was better to graciously call a temporary truce rather than admit defeat. She needed time to figure out how to get him out of her house. In the meantime, she'd play along with his game.

"I see." She said, keeping her voice a few degrees cooler then his. "Well, if you are going to be my temporary roommate, then we should set some house rules."

"Such as?" His tone was suspicious, wary.

"Last night was a mistake that will not happen again, got it? Unfortunately, you caught me at a weak moment when my defenses were down."

"That's the idea."

She narrowed her eyes. "As I said, It will not happen again."

"Are we, by any chance, talking about the kiss we shared?"

Of course I'm talking about the kiss." Somewhere in the last few hours, the kiss—really two kisses that had seemed to flow almost seamlessly together—had assumed a singular identity all its own so that she now referred to it as "the kiss".

"Just checking," he said in a voice that was so amiable it set her teeth in edge.

"And let me correct you, it's not 'the kiss we shared', it's the kiss that you planted on me when I was distracted and vulnerable."

His lips teased upward on one side. "Funny, you seemed to enjoy it."

"No kissing. That's part of the ground rules, Malfoy."

He had the temerity to look openly amused. "I'll agree not to kiss you. Whether you kiss me, however, is another matter."

She gave him a frosty stare. "I'll do my best to resist."

"So are we shaking up together?" He asked.

"With an offer like that how can I refuse?"

He broke into a grin. "Modesty prevents me from saying what else."

"I've always said it's your strong suit."

"Is that sarcasm I detect?"

"That and good manners prevent me from saying what else."
He laughed outright then, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Her stomach somersaulted and she resisted the sudden strange urge to quell his hilarity with a sultry kiss on laughing mouth.

Oh boy, was she in trouble. Until last night, She'd have said only way she'd have thought of silencing Draco was with a spell she'd learned from Ginny.

At least until she could figure out how to get rid of him, Draco was going to be her protector from an unknown threat, but who was going to protect her from the very real threat that he represented?

AN- Questions? Comments? Please review.