Pairing: Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger

Word count: 612

Tag: Auror!Draco, Law Enforcement!Hermione


The bed dipped as he turned another page. The cool autumn air hit his lower abdomen as she slid in the warm sheets, and he merely flinched when she layered her icy feet between his calves. He could hear the static bristling through her hair as she tied it into a braid but he just grunted, thumbing the rest of the pages to tell her it would take another while.

He lifted up his arm as he continued to ponder the line: '…invisibility cloaks are preferred but are hard to come by…' and let Hermione press a kiss into his neck and nestle on his chest. "Did you know there are only ten ways to Track in training?"

"Twelve. I know a few more but it's Muggle methods so I don't know if that would count as cheating."

Hermione could practically tell where his eyes were burning holes in: "He would sneak it in, but I don't think he would be allowed to bring his Cloak to training."

"To gloat, most likely." He scoffed, and moved forward, still a hint disgruntled.

"Win some, lose some," Hermione rolled her eyes as she anticipated her best friend's whine of betrayal, "He was complaining he was going to fail his stealth class during dinner tonight."

Draco gave a short laugh. "One down, fourteen more to go."

"Don't you get cocky."

"It's reassurance. I am too nervous to get cocky." He sobered up as he reached the Concealment and Disguise chapter.

Hermione put a finger on the end of the spine. "Don't bent the corners."

Exasperated and looking for a distraction, Draco picked her fingers up and nuzzled her vanilla-moisturized wrist, "It's just the training manual, not your nine-hundred Galleon Elf Rights manuscript."

She pinched his angled chin. "Oh, give it a rest. It is worth more than three-hundred Galleons and you know it."

Draco took her chin and gave a chiseled kiss on her mouth. "I know it." Hermione used the leverage to close the dog-eared book, but he pulled back with a sigh.

"Draco, it's three in the morning. Time for bed."

He started cracking the knuckles of his free hand. "Five minutes."

"It was five minutes five hours ago."

He glanced up and caught the time, and then the bruises under her eyes. "Shit. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. But you need the rest; get up earlier tomorrow to read over that during breakfast. I will quiz you if you want."

He narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he let Hermione take the book from his hand and put it on the bed table at her side. "Have you read through this whole manual before?"

"Of course. I would like to know just what my boyfriend and my best friends are getting themselves into for the next three years."

"Extra reading materials." Draco muttered under his breath but Hermione ignored him.

"You'll be fine. The worst is over." He didn't mind that she was being blunt because in theory, it was: no wizard with a criminal record had ever been even considered to join the program, let alone a former Death Eater; he scooped her back into his arms to soften the guilt in her eyes, and flickered the lights dim.

He slowed his twitching leg down. "It's my nerves. I will work hard to prove to them-"

Hermione shut him up with her lips. "I have faith in you."

"That's all it matters." He agreed, and ducked down lower to reach her neck.

"Draco, bed." She protested, but her hands in his hair taunted him on.

His razor-sharp smile glinted off the dimming light. "Five more minutes."