Hermione slipped into her flat that night feeling as though she had been trampled by a herd of hippogriffs.

Her day at the Ministry had been more wearing than she'd expected. Probably due to how nervous she felt reaching the final stretch of passing the WRA.

This was it. The culmination of all her efforts.

It would pass. They had an excess of votes. After three years of work, it was practically a certainty.

The WRA was like a child to her. She had joined the Ministry specifically to pass this legislation. There had been a tempting research position, but she couldn't look the werewolf orphans in the face without grieving over the kind of future they would find upon reaching adulthood with werewolf rights unaddressed. So she'd turned down the offer of her own lab, put her other projects on a back burner, and joined the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

It had been hard.

Contrary to the beliefs of many of her friends, Hermione hated being what could only be described most days as a glorified paper pusher. The tediousness of red tape and precedent were bad enough, but the politics were what ate at her most. She knew the Ministry was full of corruption and backroom deals but had hoped that it would have improved following all the postwar reform efforts. It had not. She was not a naturally compromising person, she hadn't come to the Ministry to for a werewolf rights compromise.

And the pettiness had been almost more than she could bear. Politicians were obsessively tit for tat. Even when they were being asked to do something at no cost to themselves, they always wanted to know what she would do for them. Doing what was right was never a good enough reason to do anything.

She had floundered.

She wasn't stupid. She knew she needed to play politics to get what she wanted, but actually doing so was like trying brew a potion with her feet; possible, but always worse than everyone else.

Her goals were inconvenient, so they drowned her in so much red tape and appeals that it would have taken seven years of court dates just to try to raise the motion to draft a Werewolf Rights Act.

After a year, sitting in her office, up to her ears in piles of paperwork that never seemed to get any smaller, she was ready to give up. She wasn't naive enough to pretend what she was doing was meaningful. She would slave away for seven years submitting the proper forms and gaining the appropriate clearance to raise the motion just so they could overrule it and start her back at the beginning. At least if she'd gone into research she's contributing something real, maybe it wouldn't be as meaningful as werewolf rights, but it would be something.

But slowly the tide began to turn. One day while taking the lift she found herself alone with Blaise Zabini, who after after spending several moments looking terribly constipated turned and said, "You know. Hester Tutley has been trying for years to get the centaur tax credit on his family's ancestral home in Scotland."

Then, without another word he stepped off the lift and disappeared, leaving the wheels in Hermione's head turning.

There were many Wizarding families who had been trying to get the Centaur Land Treaty renegotiated. The original treaty had overlooked some aspects of centaur migration habits which allowed centaurs to sometimes avoid formalizing their land claims. Without the formality the wizards whose properties were claimed were ineligible to have their property taxes written off or receive the additional tax credit. But the centaurs had no inclination to renegotiate the standing treaty and so the motions and attempts to carry it forward were constantly stalled.

As it happened, Hermione was owed what might be described as a favour by the centaurs after she had volunteered to liaise with them as the Wizarding representative in a serial kidnapping case of centaur foals in Scotland. In particular, she had gotten Harry named head auror on the case, rather than allowing it to be handed off to some local investigative team who didn't want to come within thirty meters of an angry centaur herd.

And Hester Tutley was one of the biggest political donors to some of the very Wizengamot members who had been most assiduously strangling Hermione's WRA attempts with red tape.

Once Hermione offered the possibility of starting the Centaur Land Treaty renegotiations the appeals against her WRA motion began getting dismissed at a rapid rate. Within three months she was able to get it raised and approved, and at long last she began drafting and people started taking her agenda seriously.

And suddenly Draco Malfoy began appearing in her life with great interest regarding her progress. Initially she had suspected he was there to meddle and retard her efforts but to her surprise Malfoy was highly invested in getting the WRA passed.

In fact, his ambition for it went beyond her own hopes for what could be possible. Beyond non-discrimination and equal opportunities for work and housing, he wanted wolfsbane potion to be reclassified as medically necessary and vital to the interests of the Wizarding world, making it eligible to be subsidized by the Ministry to ensure affordability. He recommended grants be put aside by the Ministry for companies pursuing innovative ways to employ werewolves. That the Ministry provide paid leave for employed werewolves the day after the full moon. He wanted to Ministry to create Werewolf transformation zones; land for werewolves to inhabit and roam through during transformations that would be warded and private for the protection of both wizards and werewolves.

He also, as Hermione learned to her disgust, wanted Malfoy Holdings' apothecary to corner the market on Wolfsbane Potion. The population was sizable enough to promise a high and reliable source of revenue, especially with the Ministry's coffers assured.

But despite her reservations she had no choice but to accept his help. He could drum up support anywhere. He brought around business owners by dangling potential research grants. He sketched dire futures for the Wizarding population if werewolf contagion rate remained steady. And The Daily Prophet, whose society pages had seemed to have become his personal house organ in recent years suddenly started featuring a whole series on the need for werewolf reform. Hermione would have been impressed if she hadn't felt annoyed with him for doing it all just to make more money.

The tiny spark of progress Hermione had managed to coax to life turned into an inferno in Malfoy's hands and suddenly the Ministry found itself with Healer unions and businesses and demographic specialists and the generally indignant public all clamoring for WRA to be a full fledged reform across the fabric of Wizarding society. A dramatic evolution from the simple non-discrimination act Hermione had set out as her initial goal.

It stunned her, and also earned Malfoy her admiration. He had taken her own dreams for werewolves and shifted the narrative into something that was compelling for the Wizarding world. While it was disheartening to see how clearly self-interest won over anything else, she couldn't deny the respect she had for his ability to look at the same problem and come up with a more effective solution. At the end of the day, the world would become a better one for werewolves, and that was what mattered most to her.

Standing in front of her fireplace she absent mindedly massaged her temples. Turning toward her kitchen she saw half of the WRA lying on her desk next to a stack of books. She furrowed her brow, trying to remember when she had put them there.

She shook her head. She'd been so absent-minded lately.

Picking up the WRA she carried it into her bedroom with her. She'd told Malfoy she'd send him a copy with the final revisions tomorrow morning before it was sent off for printing.

The next morning she hurried to the Ministry. It had taken hours for her to fall asleep after finishing the WRA and then somehow she overslept and stumbled from bed groggy and in a foul mood.

Riding down the lift to her department she huddled into a corner and tried to conceal her continuous yawning. Rubbing blurry eyes as she stepped off she nearly ran into someone.

Shaking her head slightly she looked up and found Malfoy staring down at her. As she looked up at him a warm goldeny feeling of affection suddenly exploded over her. She wasn't sure where it came from. Dazedly she smiled at him and it made her feel even more goldeny, as though she were turning into honey on the inside.

"Are you alright, Granger? You look addled," he inquired, raising a single eyebrow.

That wiped the smile of her face. She straightened and shook her head.

"Just a bit tired," she said dismissively, walking quickly in the direction of her office to avoid letting him see her blush. Where on earth had to all that come from? "What are you doing at the Ministry so early? I thought it was some sort of rule that you never set foot here before noon?"

Malfoy had forced her to reschedule several meetings around his whims, which mostly involved refusing to come to the Ministry early.

"I was expecting to receive the final draft of the WRA this morning. When I didn't get it I was worried something had come up. You can imagine my surprise that I arrived here before you."

Hermione blushed again.

"Yes, well, I overslept. And left half of the WRA here for some reason, so I had to come in before I sent it over."

As they walked down the halls they passed the short hallway that lead to the Magical Bonding offices. There was a caution sign and several wards floating in front of it. A small plaque explained that the offices had been closed due to spell damage and redirected visitors to a conference room.

Hermione paused and stared.

"When did this happen?"

"No idea." Malfoy said blandly. "It was that way when I got here."

"I suppose somebody wasn't interested in being magically bonded." Hermione surmised. "It seems a bit selfish though, don't you think? It's not like magical beings can help it."

"I don't know. I think it's up to the magical being not to try bonding with someone who isn't interested." Malfoy said callously. "If they don't have the sense to do that it's pretty unfair for them to expect the other person to make all the sacrifices necessary to fix it."

"Still…" Hermione said quietly, staring down the hall. She wondered who they were; magical bonding was kept highly confidential. "I hope they'll change their mind."

"I'm sure everything will resolve itself," was all Malfoy said as he continued towards her office.

"Parvati," Hermione greeted her assistant. "Did I leave the first half of the WRA with you yesterday?"

"Yes." Parvati pulled it out of her desk. "I took it down to printing like you asked , but they were renewing the printer spells and said they wouldn't be done until noon today. So it's still here."

Hermione gnawed her lip trying to remember giving it to Parvati. The memory seemed to be dancing just out of reach.

"Miss Granger?"

Hermione turned around and found Emeliory Bogfeld smiling at her.

"Hello?" she greeted. "Are you alright? I saw the caution wards around your office when I came in. What happened?"

Emeliory's eyes widened slightly.

"The door was blown up with a fireball," she said significantly, she paused for a moment but when Hermione said nothing she continued. "But other than the door and some fire damage to the walls everything is fine. Things like that happen occasionally in magical bonding."

Malfoy popped out of Hermione's office. Emeliory's face seemed to tighten slightly at the sight of him.

"Mr. Malfoy, I didn't realize you'd be here."

Malfoy smiled beatifically at her.

"Malfoy Holdings has a vested interest in passing the WRA. So I'm here to make sure nothing gets Granger off track."

Hermione shot him an irritated look but he continued, blithely,

"We have loads of revisions to review so we really can't chat. Granger!"

He held open the door, inviting her into her own office. Hermione ignored him and turned back to Emeliory.

"Well, I hope everything gets resolved well."

"Me too," Emeliory said sincerely. "Well, I'll let you go. Let me know if you happen to need me for anything," she seemed to change her tone slightly so her voice would carry more, "I'll be in the conference room next to your office for the next week."

Then she turned and walked away. Hermione watched her in confusion. There seemed to be some unspoken antagonism between Malfoy and Emeliory and she felt as if she were inadvertently stuck in the middle of it.

"What on earth is going on with you and Emeliory?" she asked as she walked into the office.

Malfoy scrunched his nose in distaste.

"The woman is nosy and meddlesome. She's an old friend of my mother, and we have some irreconcilable differences in opinion."

Hermione studied him remembering his comments as they had stood outside the Magical Bonding offices.

"Because she's in magical bonding?" she inquired. He looked at her sharply.

"No," he said, shrugging. "It's more general than that."

Hermione stared at him skeptically before moving on to business.

"I didn't make many changes this last time through the WRA. Mostly a few tweaks in wording and then I rearranged some of the subsections regarding the reclassification of Wolfsbane Potion at the recommendation of Healer Abasi..."

Malfoy was haunting her. Hermione was convinced of it. The man wouldn't leave. Every time she felt sure they were done, he'd suddenly come up with something else for them to discuss. And when she finally managed to get him out of her office, he managed to rematerialized in the cafeteria before she could even speak two words to anyone else and insisted on joining her for lunch.

She stared at him as he poked suspiciously at what they had been told was game pie, but did not contain any varieties of meat Hermione had encountered before. After prodding it inquisitively on all sides and he pushed it away with a sigh.

"Malfoy, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked. He looked up at her and she felt that gooey affectionate wave come all over her as their eyes met. She looked away.

"What do you mean?" he quirked an eyebrow at her.

She gestured toward him.

"What are you doing here, in the cafeteria, with me?" she repeated.

Malfoy widened his eyes innocently.

"We're eating lunch," he said sweetly.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You have never eaten lunch in this cafeteria before. What is it that you want?"

Malfoy lay his hands over his heart. He had long slender fingers that stood out starkly against his black robes.

"Maybe I simply find myself unable to stay away from your delightful company," he cooed.

Hermione glared at him.

"Come now, Granger. How can you doubt my sincerity? Have you seen yourself. You're a delight. Under that frightful bird's nest you call hair and the dark circles from the thousand sleepless nights you've spent saving the world, a man would have to be blind to resist your charms." He gestured toward her lazily with his fork.

Hermione gritted her teeth. Whenever they shifted even slightly from being focused on work he became compulsively sarcastic.

"For Merlin's sake, Malfoy." She rolled her eyes at him. "If you don't tell me what you want I'm going to invite Luna to join us."

Malfoy stiffened as Hermione gestured toward the woman who had entered the cafeteria. For reasons that Hermione couldn't fully comprehend, Malfoy found Luna's cryptical nonsense entirely unnerving. Becoming an Unspeakable had made Luna only more mysterious and Hermione had noticed his tendency to edge out of the room whenever she got anywhere near him.

"Fine." He conceded, "delightful as I find your company, I'll admit, I'm actually here to make sure nothing happens at the eleventh hour to derail the WRA. As you're the crucial piece in this whole affair that means you're stuck with me for the next several days." He shot her a tight lipped smile.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"For Merlin's sake," she huffed. "First of all, that's entirely ridiculous. Secondly, even if you are concerned that something will happen, that doesn't mean you have to lurk about as though someone is going to hex me in the cafeteria. People are staring. I can only imagine the gossip that's going to go around after this."

"What can I say." Malfoy said dismissively. "Malfoy Holdings has invested a great deal into passing the WRA, for that reason I can handle a slight bruising to my reputation. I'm taking Astoria Greengrass to a ball next weekend and I'm sure it will make everyone forget I was ever seen lunching with you."

Hermione looked away and Malfoy continued.

"Besides, it's father's orders, so." He shrugged as if there was nothing else to be said and there wasn't. Lucius Malfoy had handed the lobbying of the Ministry over to Draco but still ruled with a tight rein. Malfoy had made it quite clear to Hermione early on that he was only working with her because he had to.

"Father's orders," meant that there was no point in arguing unless she was willing to go confront Lucius himself.

Hermione stabbed her salad viciously.

"Fine," she agreed and then devoted herself to ignoring him.

He followed her around the Ministry and lounged in her office perusing her books as she worked. Sometime she thought she felt his eyes on her; whenever it happened she felt those odd waves of emotion that felt as though they belonged to someone else, sometimes they were affectionate and other times very sad. Startled, she'd look up. But whenever she did he was busy reading or conjuring up flocks of hummingbirds or transfiguring her cushions into voluptuous women who shimmied about suggestively on her armchairs.

Rolling her eyes, she tried to focus, but Malfoy was almost impossible to ignore. She would be composing a memo and then find herself staring at him. Whenever he noticed her looking he'd mock her with his trademark smirk until she blushed and looked away.

At the end of the day she found herself less than half as productive as she normally was. She gritted her teeth and stood to pack up.

"At last," Malfoy said with a sigh, springing up from his seat.

Hermione slipped all her unfinished memos into her briefcase and slung it onto her shoulder.

Malfoy followed her all the way up to the floo network.

"See you tomorrow, Granger," he called with a smirk.

Hermione was still rolling her eyes as the fireplace spat her out into her living room.

The next morning Malfoy was waiting for her when she stepped back out of the floo into the Ministry.

"For heaven's sake, Malfoy," she hissed. "Could you possibly be less subtle? At the rate you're going Harry and Ron are going to hear about this in America. I already got a concerned owl from Ginny because of lunch yesterday!"

She held up the note.

"Less subtle." He pondered for a moment and then with a flick of his wand conjured a massive bouquet of flowers which he dropped into her arms.

Cheeks aflame she shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled out her own wand.

" Incendio ," she hissed and watched as the flowers burst into flames. Dropping them into the floor as the fire merrily burned away she stormed over and stabbed the button for the lift.

Malfoy was right behind her.

"Come now, Granger. Can't a lobbyist give his favorite Ministry worker an occasional token of his appreciation?" he cajoled as he slipped into the packed lift beside her.

"No!" she hissed. Pushing the button for the fourth floor repeatedly in the hopes it might somehow make the lift go faster. "Because that's called bribery!"

"Only if the gift exceeds three galleons," retorted Malfoy. He would know. "Besides, those came from my mother's garden. So technically they were free."

Hermione wanted to scream. The moment the doors opened she flew out and beelined for her office. To her satisfaction Malfoy was forced to jog slightly to keep up.

Stopping at her office door she paused and turned to smile sweetly at Malfoy.

"Why don't you stay out here with Parvati today? You'll stay apprised of any WRA developments and it will spare my cushions your lechery."

Malfoy looked ready to argue but then paused.

"Fine," he said shortly and conjured a large armchair in front of Parvati's desk and settled himself into it resignedly.

Hermione smiled apologetically at her assistant who was glaring daggers at her. Then she scurried into her office and closed the door firmly.

She was making good time on her to-do list she heard Parvati call through the receptionist bauble in a harried voice, "Theodore Nott to see you."

"Send him in," Hermione called, tucking her hair behind her ears and straightening her robes.

A moment later Theo slipped through the door. As it opened she could hear Malfoy and Parvati shouting at each other.

"Theo." Hermione greeted him, extending her hand. He was the chief staffer for the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister and after the public sentiment grew loudly in favour of the WRA they had found themselves working together regularly. Unlike Malfoy, Theo Nott had always approached their working relationship cordially, rather than holding her forever at an antagonistic arms length. Hermione would even go so far as to call them friends rather than simply coworkers.

"Hermione," he said warmly.

"Did you receive the final version of the WRA?" she inquired.

"Yes. Looked over it and forwarded my notes to the Undersecretary and the Minister's office. Everything seems perfectly lined up. You've done excellent work."

Hermione blushed faintly. Theo was very handsome and she had wondered if eventually they might…

She dismissed the thought.

"What brings you down to my office today?" she asked.

Theo suddenly looked uncomfortable. Hermione furrowed her brow and hesitantly placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Is something wrong?" she asked worriedly. "What is it?"

Taking a deep breathe he seemed to resolve himself.

"Hermione," he started, "please don't kill me for this."

Before Hermione could say anything he slipped his hand around her waist, pulled her firmly against his body and kissed her deeply.

Hermione was frozen against his mouth, her eyes wide in shock. Apparently undeterred Theo proceeded to deepen the kiss and wrapped his arms around her in an embrace until…

Suddenly it felt like the room throbbed and shifted like the ripple of an earthquake, and Theo was very suddenly not kissing her.

In fact he wasn't so much as touching her. He was instead hanging in midair, held by the collar of his robes by Malfoy, who looked furious enough to murder someone.

Hermione stared bewildered.

"What the fuck are you doing, Theo?" Malfoy asked, his voice was vibrating with so much rage it came out sounding like a snarl.

Theo seemed less surprised by Malfoy's sudden appearance than Hermione would have expected.

"Hermione is single and very attractive," he replied, his breathing seemed rather labored. "As we've worked together we've become friends and I have reason to believe we could be more..."

Before Theo could finished speaking Malfoy turned on his heel, still holding Theo aloft, he stormed over and flung him headlong out of Hermione's office and then slammed the door.

Still facing the door he stood rigidly for several minutes as though he were composing himself, then turned to face Hermione's bewilderment. He leaned against the door, and his eyes still looked black with rage.

"Sorry about that, Granger," he said evenly.

"About what?" Hermione demanded, her voice coming out as a squeak as she tried to process what had just unfolded before her eyes. "Theo kissing me? Or you interrupting it?"

Malfoy paled and seemed speechless.

"Sorry. Did I misunderstand? I assumed it was unwanted, but maybe I was wrong. I didn't realize—you and Theo." He choked slightly at the last words.

Hermione sank into her chair, her cheeks aflame. Her brain was awhirl and once again she found herself trying to sort through a flurry of emotions that didn't entirely seem to belong to her.

"Granger-" Malfoy pressed, "do you like Theo? Did you want him to kiss you?"

He sounded horrified.

Hermione felt sudden anger in the midst of her embarrassment and confusion. Just because Malfoy saw her as nothing more than an unattractive political tool didn't give him the right to sabotage her chances with anyone else.

"For Merlin's sake," she practically screamed feeling too hurt and angry to even look at him, "Malfoy get out of my office!"

He stood there and then took a quick step toward her before freezing and after a moment he turned and left.

Hermione dropped her head down onto her desk.

What was going on?