A/N: If you wanted to read some more of my writing, check out A Thrill of Fear, which has already been completed, and will be published a chapter a day. This is still being written, although I'm already starting on Chapter 5 as we speak! Please read and leave a review to tell me what you think so far lovelies!


Draco Malfoy released the scroll of parchment, letting it ping back into its natural shape. Why hadn't she told him sooner? Why hadn't his mother told him last week? Why hadn't he said anything?

He rammed the parchment into his pocket and exited the bathroom stall. He glared back at the older wizard using the urinal, a one-time acquaintance of his father's. He washed his hands quickly and left the bathroom.

The plush purple carpet silenced his footsteps; he hurried towards the office he was sentenced to work in with Granger. He grimaced at the thought of another day with her.

He pushed the office door open and ignored Granger's glare.

"Morning, sunshine"

"Don't start with me-"

"Easy, Granger, just saying good morning to my boss"

"-And I don't like your tone, Malfoy"

Draco laughed, "I take it Weasley isn't coming tonight?"

Granger glared at him. It was Halloween today, and their second NEWTs session at Hogwarts; they had been invited to a Feast. The Weasle had been invited apparently, and turned it down. Draco wasn't exactly looking for a catch up, but it did confuse him: he'd seemed pretty besotted with Granger before Voldemort had died, and here he was ignoring the insufferable bookworm.

"I trust you can help with this file, Malfoy" Granger shoved a file across the desk at him. How many more files was he going to have to look at for the Ministry?

He opened the mauve file (why did the Ministry choose this damned colour?) and stared down at the name.

"What are you playing at, Granger?" he snapped.

"You must have known this was coming, Malfoy"

"Is this about Weasle?"

"No- your interest in my love life is not my concern, Malfoy, my job, however, is" she crossed her arms, and Draco slammed the folder shut.

"You can't enter Malfoy Manor"

"We did before…" Granger stated, her pale face silencing his bitter retort.

"Granger," he breathed in uncomfortably, "you can't enter the Manor… after you… after your visit, well, he changed the charms on the house so only Purebloods could enter-"

"Voldemort?" she asked, and he couldn't help the wince.

"Yes"

"The charms should have dissolved with his death-"

"Granger, he didn't do it himself, only a Malfoy can change the charms, he had my father do it, and change it so only he could change the charms- he didn't exactly trust me" he hated the look of interest on Granger's face. It was the look of research. It was the look of work.

"How-"

"I don't know, Granger- I wasn't included in that meeting, for obvious reasons" he snapped.

Granger was silent for a moment, her brown eyes boring into his. He felt uncomfortable under her inspection.

"Malfoy… I don't mean to put too fine a point on this, but we are running out of Death Eaters to visit that you weren't friends with, and I can't just keep putting them to the bottom of the pile…"

Draco bristled, "I don't need your pity, Granger"

"You don't have it, Malfoy, but you have my compassion. I know you hate me and all of my kind, but I still know that this must be difficult, wherever your loyalties lie" she shifted in her chair, straightening her clothes.

"Fine… lets start with Goyle's"


Granger winced out of the Goyle's country house, stepping aside for an Auror. Draco felt glares following him as he walked beside her.

"What happened?" Potter stormed up the front drive, having appearing a second earlier at the apparition point. Draco groaned inwardly. He didn't want to have to see him again, not so soon after the trial. He would have to be nice, or at least civil.

"Mrs Goyle wasn't keen on having company today" Granger breathed a laugh, glancing at Draco as Potter did too.

"Kingsley said you'd been attacked-"

"It was just a hex, Harry, just some kind of stinging one, it's just not wearing off, and then I fell over Malfoy…" She laughed gingerly, and Draco said nothing. He hadn't wanted her to say anything.

He felt uncomfortable having stepped in when Charlie Weasley had been fighting Goyle. It seemed he'd owed her, and owed Weasley, as he'd been unwilling to fight with Gregory Goyle himself.

"Look, I've got to get inside, I'm observing-"

"No, no that's fine, I'll see you tonight, Harry" she shooed him away and Draco watched her wince again.

"You've broken something Granger-"

"I'll break something in a minute, if you say anything! I told you… I'm fine" she huffed, leading the way gingerly to the apparition point.

"Are you heading straight to The Hog?"

"No-"

"She's broken something" He said to the wizard walking up the drive, wearing a St Mungo's robe. He grimaced at the intensity of the glare Granger levelled him. But he wasn't about to be blamed for any harm befalling her, and if she was hurt around him, it was only a matter of time before someone pointed the finger at him. That would be just his luck.

Granger scowled at him and he smirked back at her. He headed for the apparition point unscathed.


"Party at mine tonight" Blaise murmured as he stirred his cauldron absentmindedly.

Draco poured the diced valerian root into his cauldron, stirring counter clockwise.

"I cant, I… I have to meet my mother"

"Is that what you're calling banging Granger-"

"I've not touched her!"

"You seemed pretty friendly earlier" Blaise raised an eyebrow. Draco ignored his reference to Granger calling him a wanker when he'd asked how her leg was. That was the last time he'd bother to be civil.

"Feisty, that one" Blaise remarked, nodding in the direction of Granger, who was feverishly stirring her own cauldron and carrying on a whispered conversation with Potter. Draco glanced at Blaise, seeing the infamous glint in his eye.

"She wont sleep with you- she'd sooner sleep with me and she hates me" Draco frowned at Blaise.

"Sounds like you've already been rejected-"

"Hardly"

"Perhaps if you satisfied your women-"

"After what Daphne Greengrass said about your performance-"

"Please! She's just bitter-"

"Either way, it won't happen." Draco snapped. This was exactly why he didn't live with Blaise anymore- he was constantly on the prowl. He watched as his potion finally turned a very pale blue. He glanced over at Granger's potion, noticing hers was paler. He looked down at the textbook again, changing his stirring motion to a figure of eight.

He looked over at Blaise's, smirking at the navy shade of his potion; that was what happened when you chased skirt.

"That's it for this evening, we shall leave these overnight to brew- enjoy your feast!" Professor Slughorn called jovially, flicking his wand and sweeping the bubbling cauldrons to the shelves all around the room.

Draco grimaced; his face ached with all the grimacing he'd done today. All he wanted to do was go back to The Hog and make his way through a bottle of Firewhisky without anyone trying to talk to him. Instead he had to attend a feast with Granger and a load of other people that detested his very existence, let alone presence. And on top of all that he now had to prevent Blaise from attempting to sleep with Granger.

Draco and Blaise followed the rest of the class to a disused classroom on the ground floor. He ignored the murmurs and exclamations of the portraits as their party descended the stairs. As they entered the makeshift hall for the evening, Draco spotted Weasley. He looked quickly at Granger, who was slightly flushed as Weasley looked away from her, greeting Thomas and Finnigan instead.

"So its going to be one of those evenings then" Blaise's eyes sparkled with glee, in a way that reminded him very much of Pansy.

With much manoeuvring between Weasley's avoidance of Granger, and Blaise's desire to see a fight, Granger took a seat next to Draco, at the head of the table. Weasley glared contemptuously at them both from the other end of the small table.

The feast appeared on the golden platters before them all, and Draco remembered how he'd felt as a boy, lunging at sweets and treats, now he piled up roast potatoes and roast pork onto his plate without much enthusiasm.

Gradually people began talking amongst themselves, and Draco listened with little interest.

"Where's Ginny tonight?" Granger asked Potter, who sat opposite Draco.

"She's probably in Gryffindor tower by now… but I will see her tomorrow in Hogsmeade, for the trip" Potter answered, shovelling mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"Have you forgotten the way to the mighty Gryffindor tower then?" Blaise asked, smirking at Potter from beside Draco.

"Some of us follow the rules, Zabini" Granger answered tartly, spooning peas into her mouth.

"Do you always follow the rules, Granger?" Blaise asked while pushing roast beef into his mouth in what he clearly thought was an erotic manner. Draco sighed. Draco chanced a glance at the Weasle, who was focusing on his food with such concentration that Draco felt slightly put off his own roast potatoes.

"I follow the castles rules" Granger clarified stiffly.

"But do you obey the rules?" Blaise turned in his seat to stare at Granger more intently.

"Zabini" Draco warned at the same time as Potter, and they glanced at one another.

"What? I just want to know if Granger here likes to follow rules" Blaise plastered an innocent expression on his handsome face.

"Shove off, Zabini" Granger looked away, the flush of her cheeks surprising Draco.

"I-"

"One more perverted word out of your mouth, Zabini, and I'll report you to McGonagall" Granger snapped at Blaise, who leaned back in his chair, laughing.

Professor McGonagall appeared then, moving past the others towards their reluctant quartet.

"How did you do that?" Blaise asked Granger, staring in amazement.

"I didn't do anything"

"Mister Malfoy, I must speak to you- it's a matter of urgency" she beckoned him to stand but he remained seated.

"It's happened hasn't it?"

"Mister Malfoy-"

"Just tell me," Draco said quietly, ignoring the look Granger shot at him.

"I'm afraid… I'm afraid your father has passed away… your mother requested you join her at St Mungo's immediately" she beckoned again, and this time his legs moved for him.


A/N: Yes! Things are only just starting to heat up, but the ground work has to be done to create a beautiful floor! Please read and review :)