The next morning, Hermione was obviously avoiding him like the plague. The one time Jacob had the absolute audacity to try and talk to Hermione (Adison and Collette had untied him gladly), she had yelled at him and shot a nasty hex that he'd barely dodged. He hadn't visited since.
Hermione, however, was also avoiding Draco, however she managed that. She talked nonstop with the annoying teenagers just so she wouldn't have to relive the other night, and Draco was bored, and a bit annoyed, out of his mind.
Finally, he levitated her to their room near the afternoon and did glue the curtain to the wall, making sure no one would disturb them.
"Hermione," he said exasperatedly when she went to the window. "We've got to talk."
"I wasn't myself!" she said quickly, and he nodded.
"I know."
"I'm sorry if you got any…wrong ideas from my obviously wanton behaviour…last night," she said, blushing again. "Can we just please forget about it?"
Draco nodded, his heart plummeting a little. "Absolutely. Whatever you want."
"I'm sorry. Really, I am. I blame it on Jacob."
"He did give you the love potion. Good thing you came back here!" Draco said with a light-hearted laugh, and Hermione smiled, finally turning and meeting his grey eyes.
"I'm really glad I did come back. Merlin, can you imagine? I could've been shagging that wanker."
Draco cringed. "Merlin, Hermione, don't give me images!"
"Sorry."
They were quiet again, and Hermione slid to the floor with a large sigh. Draco sat on the floor as well on the opposite side of the room. It was quiet for a moment.
"Those two girls were really a bore," Hermione finally said, and Draco laughed.
"I could imagine. They seem quite stuck-up."
"Yeah, they're just as egotistical as you were. I suppose the war softened both of us up a bit."
"I agree, although that's not really what war usually does?"
Hermione nodded and bit her bottom lip, staring at her partner. Draco was playing with his wand, and when he looked up at her, she quickly looked down at her own borrowed wand, her face slowly warming in embarrassment.
Hermione finally looked up again when she felt her face at its normal temperature again, and she smiled at Draco.
"I'm so bored." She began swishing her wand around and decided to perform the defunct 'counter-curse' again, and she sighed. How routine their last days were becoming. Stab, swish, flick, swish, flick, stab, flick, stab, swish, stab, flick, swish…
"Patefacio Ianua," she said with a heavy sigh, and waited for the bright spark. Instead, a spinning, light purple mist shot out that got thicker as it came out longer, like a piece of ribbon. Both Draco and Hermione were gaping at the spell. The purple mist was becoming darker and larger till it finally encompassed the whole room and stuck to the floor and walls like paint, leaving Hermione and Draco the only ones unaffected by the spell. A sudden loud bang was heard, like a gunshot, and both Aurors jumped in surprise. The purple mist disappeared, leaving the room free of the spell.
Hermione's jaw dropped again, and suddenly she jumped up, laughing.
"Oh Merlin, Draco, we did it!" she exclaimed in absolute euphoria.
"God, Hermione, you're a genius!" He stood and kissed her firmly. "You're a bloody fucking genius!" He kissed her again.
Hermione just laughed. "It must've been the number thirteen! Thirteen days, twelve wand movements and the incantation, making the spell needing thirteen things to make it work—why didn't I get this sooner? It seems like the number thirteen isn't unlucky after all!" She laughed again.
"I think we have to perform the counter-curse to wherever is affected now, such as the tap, the hallway, and outside, obviously. Hopefully if we do it in the pipes, or in the hallway, it'll affect the whole hotel and take care of the curse for good!" she continued, beaming at him.
"Genius!" Draco exclaimed, and went to the pipes in the loo. Hermione went to the window and performed the counter-curse.
"Patefacio Ianua!" she yelled, and the purple stream shot out, encompassing the whole building like a blanket before sticking to it like paint. The Aurors outside were dumbfounded, and finally, when the purple subsided, they rode their brooms to the windows and found they were able to enter.
Hermione ran, happy beyond belief, to the door and performed the wand movements before smashing her wand through the glass in the tiny peephole on the door and yelling the incantation. The purple went out and encompassed the hallway, and then it was quiet outside, and Hermione recklessly opened the door. There was no death trap waiting right outside anymore.
"It's done! The curse is off!" Hermione yelled in the middle of the hallway, enchanting her voice to make it louder. Draco had finished the pipes and had alerted the others of the now curse-free hotel, and the two Aurors met in the hallway where others were slowly gathering.
"Yes!" she said with a laugh, and Draco chuckled and picked her up and twirled her around.
"You're an absolute genius, Hermione Granger!" he exclaimed, and she laughed again.
"I couldn't have done it without you!" she said, looking down at him shyly, and he chuckled, putting her back on her feet.
"Well, seems like we can't do without each other," he said with a grin, brushing a brown curl away from her face. Hermione smiled brightly.
"It's a damn good thing we're partners, then!" she said happily, and ran off to lead the others down. Draco chuckled as he watched her gambol down the hall, talking happily to everyone she bumped into. He followed after her.
"I am so impressed."
Draco and Hermione looked at each other with a grin. They were in the Head Auror's office, the morning after finally leaving the hotel, both of them clean and smelling nice. There were Aurors now tracing the curse back to the Death eaters that had set it up. Draco and Hermione were going to join them, but, at the moment, both Aurors were soaking up their long overdue praise.
"I mean, during your holiday, you were able to think up a counter-curse, and it actually worked!"
"It wasn't just on chance, Harry," Hermione beamed, and Harry Potter grinned, his green eyes sparkling.
"I know! Which is even more amazing! You two swotty Aurors remembered everything you ever learnt!"
"Got that right," Draco said with a smirk.
"I ought to give you medals for your work! Bloody hell! I've never been so impressed in my entire life."
"Well if you're done, Hermione and I've got work to do."
"You know, I was actually thinking of splitting you two before you left," Harry continued, ignoring Malfoy.
"What?" Hermione exclaimed. "Why would you think of such a thing?"
"Well, I mean, you weren't really bonding and since you two were so skilled on your own, you might've brought success to another Auror who wasn't as good. But bloody hell, this blows my theories out of the water! I'm never going to separate you two! Your brains, Hermione, and your past experiences, Malfoy, both bounce off each other so much, you really don't need anyone else. If someone told you to create people, I'm sure you could do the whole bloody thing!"
Hermione laughed. "I don't think so."
"We probably could," Draco said with a smirk, and Hermione rolled her eyes good-naturedly at him.
"Well, Merlin. I'm blown out of my mind. You two can go now."
Hermione laughed and kissed her best mate on the cheek before walking out the door Draco opened for her. Once they shut the door on the flabbergasted Harry Potter, they burst out laughing.
"Gods, he's so funny! It's like he didn't know we could do something like that!"
Draco nodded, chuckling. "We totally exceeded his expectations."
"Oh yes! No surprise there, though."
They grinned at each other for a moment, and he put his hands in his pockets and looked down at her again, wanting to kiss her. The whole kissing and lovey-dovey conversations ordeal had disappeared since the hotel. It was as if in that hotel, they had been in another world, in another time where they could do things like that with no consequences. Hermione still claimed to be unattracted to him in that way, while Draco continued to be attracted to her, but from a distance, like old times.
Only once had they had such a conversation concerning the romantic events that had happened in the hotel, the same evening they had been freed. He had flooed to her flat, and Hermione had told him profusely (but in a kind way) that she was unattracted to him. They were better off like this, Hermione had thought, and Draco had been silent. Now, however, they were both friendly towards each other, the conversation along with the events in the hotel seemingly gone from their thoughts. Only seemingly.
Hermione finally looked down at her feet and back up at him. "Well, better get to work, eh?"
"Right you are, as usual."
Hermione grinned and took his offered arm.
Together, they went back to their double-roomed office, one conflict still unsolved; the one concerning unrequited love.
A/N: And every conflict must be resolved! At least in my stories. Thank you so much for reading! Please review and tell me how you think it's going to end! Without stating the obvious, of course. Haha! Thank you for reading, and, once again, please review! -LoVeDoNtHaTe
