Hermione arrived back at her flat with high hopes of a long, hot bath.
The fates had conspired that it not be so.
"Ron." She stopped halfway through shrugging off her cloak, seeing her fiance sitting in her living room.
He was reading the Daily Prophet, one leg crossed over one knee casually. "Morning, Hermione." He greeted without looking up. "Did you know I missed another Cannons game? I swear Harry does it on purpose."
She rolled her eyes, pulling her cloak off the rest of the way and hanging it up next to the door. "Harry can't control how long your cases are."
This time Ron looked at her, brow lowering in befuddlement. "I was just kidding. I know he can't. Bad morning?"
"No, I just wish you cared about missing our date last night as much as a Quidditch game." She couldn't seem to stop the flow of words coming out her mouth. She wanted to greet him properly after not seeing him for a while.
"It wasn't really a date, was it? I'm sure you handled that charity mogul wonderfully though, you always do."
Even though he sounded genuinely complimentary, it bothered her. She tried another tactic, so this wouldn't turn into an argument. "How did it go, the case?"
"Boring, really. It took some legwork to find out who was behind the smuggling, but everything else went smoothly. Turns out she was just trying to take Chimaera eggs to Berlin."
Hermione disagreed with the 'just', but she was glad they solved the issue. "How's that new Auror working out? Southey?"
"She's fine. Pretty average." He looked back at his paper, twitching it a little.
Hermione stopped, looking harder at him. The tops of his ears were red, but he didn't look angry. Embarrassed then. She sighed. "Posing as a couple?"
The upside of having mixed gender Aurors work together is the very simple and nearly foolproof cover of being a married couple. They could be newly married, photo-taking tourists, bickering diversions, nearly anything and fit right into the background.
Hermione knew that and it didn't bother her; she had spoken with Ginny about it at great length when the redhead was struggling.
Ron, however, became so easily embarrassed and guilty about it. She supposed it was a good thing he had such a keen conscience, but it also meant the guilt had to be eliminated lest it become a wedge between them.
"It's just the easiest choice." He mumbled while staring at his paper.
"I know that. I was best friends with an Auror before you ever became one. And I'm Deputy Head, remember? I was just seeing how she was working out."
Not to mention the witch was hardly Ron's type; plain, frumpy, too busy with her head in the air to keep her outdated wardrobe pressed.
A bit like Hermione herself, she supposed.
"She's fine."
She took a seat next to him, trying to look understanding and not vexed. "Did you have to snog her to blend in?"
The red on his ears grew as he gripped the paper a bit tighter. "For just a moment."
"Well was it good then?"
"No!" He looked at her, aghast.
"Pity, that's always the worst." Now that he got it off his chest, she stood up and walked to the bathroom to wash up, since a bath would have to be delayed.
She could hear him toss down the paper and his footsteps as he followed her. "It was awful, I swear. Her lips were dry and I think she bit me on purpose."
Hermione only smiled as she searched through her drawers for a small blue-corked bottle. "I believe you, I do. Stop stressing."
He sighed. "Aren't you a bit jealous?"
"I certainly don't want to snog her, she sounds awful." She caught a glimpse of his face in the mirror, and relented. "Ron, I've known you for nine years. Here, we'll pretend you were forthcoming, I was unreasonably jealous, and then we made up." She finally found what she was looking for, and turned around to give him a real snog.
Before she could get close, he took a step back, looking at the bottle in her hand. "Is that my Hangover potion?"
Hermione stopped and held it up, puzzled. "Technically I bought it, but yes. Why?"
"You never drink when we're out."
"I usually have a drink or two."
"Not enough to need one of those."
A bit stung he ignored her advance, she uncorked the bottle and turned back around. "I was very anxious last night. Contrary to popular belief, I don't handle everything with perfect aplomb. I need to expand the organization if it's going to make a difference."
"You came home in good spirits though, everything must have worked out."
Though she certainly did not come home in good spirits, she supposed arguing with Malfoy wasn't nearly as bad as losing this opportunity. The former was just par for the course, really.
"It worked out well enough, I'll have the next meeting with them at the Ministry though."
"No more getting knackered and spending the night elsewhere then? What a shame." Though his tone was teasing, she could read his eyes even in the mirror. He was feeling insecure.
"I couldn't Apparate. I was being safe, and I mostly certainly did not and would not cheat on you." Saying it in explicit terms was the best way to defuse this type of situation as well.
She had learned what she should have all those years ago in school that there was no being subtle with Ron, not if she wanted any discernible results.
"I didn't think that," he protested.
She downed an extra swig, just in case, and felt the immediate lessening of the lingering ache in her head. "Good. Ron, look, as diverting as this is, I just want to relax in a nice hot bath."
He smiled then, looking her over with interest. "Sounds fun. Have any of those other potions handy?"
Despite their time together being sporadic, she was somewhat relieved to shake her head. "I forgot to get a refill on the Contraceptive potions."
He groaned, wrapping both arms around her shoulders from behind. "How could you forget?"
She resisted the urge to shrug him off. "You know, they sell them to wizards as well as witches."
His smothering hug loosened as he straightened. "It's embarrassing going in there."
"Real mature." She turned around and pushed him lightly out the door.
He pouted a bit. "Maybe we could just-"
"I'm taking a bath now. Alone." She shut the door in his face firmly.
"I can't set the house elves free. My parents will starve, wasting away in filthy clothes while the peacocks also starve."
"Then do more than sullenly support her. I, for one, can't believe you were going to depend on a ring. Are you a Malfoy or not?"
That was the last time he spoke to Blaise, two days ago. They were exhanging letters though, and since Blaise charmed the witch that Hermione had given the task of community building, he had all the information handy Draco needed.
Since then he girded his loins, nose to the grindstone, all that. First he sent out notes again by owl, but this time he was even more polite.
Pansy,
Speaking of next-to-impossible positions, I had a visit with Marcus Flint the other day. It was enlightening, reminiscing with him about school days past. I was hoping we could do the same soon.
Draco
Marcus,
I must have failed to mention that you were my favorite Quidditch Captain. What other captain trained so often with his Beaters from shower until curfew? Congratulations on the recent wedding, I must visit you both soon to express my felicitations.
Draco
Lucian,
I didn't get a response to my last owl. I hope all is well. My week has taken an upturn, I happened to strike up a lovely acquaintance with your sister, Flint's blushing bride. It's fascinating you and Flint are both still best mates after school ended.
Draco
Lucina,
I hear congratulations are in order regarding your wedding. I hear it was a small affair, otherwise I would have certainly attended the wedding of my oldest and best mate, who was my Captain for many years in school. I do know Millicent attended, and she had so many details to share I feel like I was there as well.
Draco
Needless to say, the attempted repeal of the werewolf legislation was featured in Witch Weekly, where Lucina was a part-time consultant.
He had three owners of Quidditch teams contact him for more information, courtesy of the referral of internationally famous - and controversial - Lucian Bole.
The Flint's and Parkinson's sent donations to W.A.G., which is all Draco expected and all they were good for.
Draco had high hopes that their next meeting would go much better than last time. In fact, he was taking every precaution to ensure that it did.
Taking great pains to instruct his house elf to prepare his favorite set of robes and cloak, he checked himself in the mirror again.
He was a good-looking bloke, anyone could see that.
An hour before the next meeting, he head up to her office with ring securely tucked in his pocket. It wasn't for her, of course, but that flinty-eyed desk girl who liked making him wait.
As predicted, she simpered and let him right through.
He was a Malfoy, a very good one at that, but his father had always taught him to use what he could do his advantage. He felt no guilt over leaving that silly receptionist in giggles behind him as he strolled to her office.
Knock knock.
"Come in!" she called.
He had to duck after he opened the door as a dozen memos went flying out. Her office was a madhouse, papers flying around to land in - organized? - piles, portraits rotating mid-air, at least three alarms going off. He could make out one chirping 'Prepare for the meeting, No time for eating!'.
"That's a bit horrid, isn't it?"
Hermione looked up in surprise, pausing in the middle of writing on another colored memo. "Malfoy. You're a bit early for the meeting. And in the wrong place."
"I wanted to see if your updates were the same as mine."
Hermione raised her eyebrow andand looked back down at her memo, though she didn't continue to write. "Yes, I received notifications concerning our new sponsors. Thank you. The Auror overseeing your parent's case, as well as the Healer overseeing your mother, have written letters of recommendation that the house arrest be lifted."
Her tone was so efficient and cool that he nearly faltered in his momentum. Luckily he had a wealth of self-confidence to call on. "You're brilliant. I can't tell you how grateful I am."
She looked startled again, as if he broke out into song and the Wizard Wriggle dance right in front of her.
"Just holding up my end. Have you come to tender your resignation to the board?"
"I can't, really." He hedged. She had never given him this much of a cold shoulder, even when he twitted her about her goals in life, hair, friend choices, etc.
"Your probation is over, Malfoy. The two years was up this week, your probation Auror sent over a note."
How had he forgotten that? He blinked twice, looking at the door. He could go. He no longer had to attend any boring meetingsfighting for changes that were bound to fail anyway. That should fail, in all reality.
Except Blaise was his friend, and he probably lived in fear of the news getting out.
Hermione really cared about the downtrodden and the less fortunate, all that.
"You can't get rid of your most productive board member," he drawled.
Hermione looked up from her paperwork, lips parting in surprise.
Draco smiled as he stepped close to her, leaning over her desk until her brown eyes filled his vision.
"You would miss me," he dropped his voice low.
Her pupils were dilated as their eyes locked, close enough to feel the warmth of her skin and feel her breath across his skin.
His gaze dropped to her lips, full and begging to be claimed. All he had to do was lean in.
Aaaand we're all out of time, join us for next week's episode!
XD I'll update soon, I won't leave you hanging! Thank you again for all your nice words and awesome reviews!
To those of you disappointed that Blaise is out of the running (I'm sorry, I adore him too!) a future fic, Her Hunger, will most definitely feature another love interest. Any thoughts on who you'd like to see? Blaise, Theo, Harry, insert suggestion here!
If there's any mistakes, please let me know; my keyboard has been acting naughty lately and I just know I missed things. :(
