A/N: Yay! Over 100 reviews and so many follows and favourites! That makes me sooo happy! As ever, THANK YOU to the brilliant MrBenzedrine for keeping up with my stuff and liking it! Oliver's for you in here! Thanks also to: Vanessa85 (you're welcome), Sam Wallflower (that was my favourite line in CC, too!), Dramione shipper 17 (again blushing!), Sassystarbuck09 (out together? not yet), EvenNotOdd (here's the next), echiprwth (don't we all envy Hermione?), pgoodrichboggs (thanks for complimenting me on the difference, wasn't sure if that came over), Jaqueline Noir (hope this one is humorous enough for your liking ;)), I was BOTW (Ginny... you pointed out something I have to think about!), Knowinsight (thanks!) and Slytherinvillain7 (your compliment means much to me!).
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Arrow. Sadly.
Draco woke up wonderfully rested, but, again, alone; and wishing Hermione would have stayed in bed with him, wrapped in his embrace. 'Damn, did I just wish for a cuddle session? Malfoys don't cuddle. Not even themselves. She's turning me into a Gryffindor!' Groaning, he got out of the bed and searched for his boxers. The morning was simply too cool to walk around naked, and he didn't want his most precious parts freezing. Noticing he was quite sticky in some places, he decided to have a shower, or at least a scourgify before breakfast. He stepped out of the bedroom and a divine scent flooded his nostrils. 'Oh Salazar, please, let that be pancakes!'
The blond turned around the corner to the kitchen, fully anticipating Hermione to sit there, a coffee and a newspaper in hand, her curls a bit ruffled from sleep and love-making. Perhaps she wore his shirt, unbuttoned, granting him a view on her glorious tits?
"Hermione, do you happen to know where my wand—"It was then he realised there was not one, but four female faces looking back at him. The table was set for breakfast, a big portion of pancakes in the middle, with Juliet, Anny and Eileen sitting around it. One could nearly hear their jaws dropping upon the sight of Draco Malfoy, only clad in his boxers and wearing this irresistible out-of-bed expression that made him an alluring blend of sexy and cute.
After five seconds of stunned silence, Eileen was the first of the three visitors who regained the ability of speech. "Blimey, if I were into men, I'd be the first in line helping him to look for his wand!" Hermione started to giggle from where she stood next to the sink.
"And I'd be the second. I bet something so long, thick and hard won't be so difficult to find!" Juliet added, bubbling in laughter. The four women were soon howling, and Draco didn't even try to suppress his - totally male- chuckling. Hermione closed the distance between Draco and herself and kissed him lightly on the lips, feeling his arm going around her waist.
"Sorry, I totally forgot that I invited the girls over for breakfast this morning. I silenced the bedroom and left a note you must have overlooked, reading: 'There's a bunch of under-sexed women sitting in my kitchen'," she whispered into his ear.
His answer, again underlined with a gentle nibbling on her ear, sent excited tingles through her body. "I'm very cocksure that under-sexed doesn't hold true to you. Let's make it certain that it stays that way, yes? I'd be willing to assist you."
'Gods, is this the crazy Draco-Malfoy-way to ask me for a relationship?' All warm inside, she decided to test the waters. "Absolutely. You should shower and dress, though." She ran a finger over his abs and grinned playfully. "You are too much of a temptation, even for lesbians, and this lioness doesn't like to share her prey."
With a pat on her bum and another chuckle, Draco let go of Hermione. He bowed to the three gaping woman at the table as if he wore an evening suit. "Ladies. Excuse me, please." And with that he left Hermione's kitchen for the shower, walking with a posture worthy of his pureblood pedigree and didn't even look back when the 'ladies' dissolved into giggles.
After she handed out coffee and tea, Hermione sat down at the table. She could anticipate what was to come next.
"Whoa, girl, this is the guy from the club and the hospital, isn't it?" Juliet started the interrogation, and Anny contributed, "He's absolutely yummy. But didn't you say that he is a prejudiced bastard?"
Hermione blushed. "Well, he was the last time we met. He's changed a lot since then, though he still has arrogant and cunning streaks, but I guess that comes with his heritage. Draco tries hard to make people forget his past. You see, there was a lot of darkness in him and around him."
"I saw the tattoo, this snake and skull thing on his left forearm. Was he involved in a gang or something? Though that doesn't add up to his articulated phrasing and this elite boarding school you visited." Anny expressed.
Hermione nodded to her friend's observation. "You're right, I guess one could say he was raised in a certain circle that held onto some twisted values, and there was a time where he was an active member of it. But he redeemed himself and his family name. He is working as a kind of special agent at the ministry now." She gave them the 'muggled' version of the story and was surprised how easy it was to adapt.
Juliet started giggling again. "Put it down to binge-watching TV-shows when I'm on night-shift, but he reminds me of Oliver Queen: Handsome, dubious past and catching the bad guys."
Freshly dressed and showered, Draco entered the kitchen at the precise moment, and his scent made Hermione wish they were alone, because she wanted to lick and taste him. "Who is Oliver Queen?" the wizard asked, of course not familiar with television.
"The main character of a TV-show, essentially a man who hunts down bad people with the help of his friends and many, many arrows," Eileen explained. Did this man work so much that he didn't even know 'Arrow'?
"Does it take place in the medieval times? Because of the arrows, I mean," Draco wanted to know, intrigued by the thought of television-stories.
"Nah, it takes place in the 21st century. Arrows are much more elegant than bullets, I suppose. You can make them explode, they are suitable for many distances, you can poison them..." the woman continued, but Draco didn't listen anymore. He dropped the pancake he wanted to help himself to, when something connected in his brain and he locked eyes with Hermione. Not wanting to voice his thought aloud, he grabbed the paper and pen that lay on her counter.
'Potter-attack: Arrow used? Disillusioned?' he wrote down hastily. He showed the paper to Hermione, whose eyes widened. She nodded, afluttered.
"I'm going to investigate on the game field a bit. Perhaps I can find something." Draco wanted to pay the Chudley Cannon's field a visit.
"Have you got everything you need?" Hermione threw an inconspicuous glance at his arm, where his wand-holster lay hidden. He nodded and gave her a short, but strong kiss, flicking his tongue against hers once, causing her friends to wolf-whistle. "I'll owl you," he said and left through the door, reminding himself not to step into the fireplace. But he heard Anny asking Hermione in the kitchen "Did he say 'I owe you'? You naughty girl, what have you done to the poor man?"
-DHDHDHDHDHDH-
The Cannon's locker room was empty, as all the players were practising on the field. There was a time in his childhood when Draco wanted nothing more than to become a professional Quidditch Player. Although he probably possessed the necessary talent for it, his dream was shadowed by the sinister happenings around him. He still played, but simply for fun with his friends- even Potter and his gang of brother-in-laws.
Concentrating on the task at hand, Draco examined the locker room for any evidences that Harry's attack happened in this very place. He had complained about a stiffness in his neck, and an arrow would be an effective device to apply the drug in a victim. Combined with a disillusionment-charm, it would be the perfect crime. Draco raised his wand at the room and ended all eventual charms and spells, casting "Finite Incatatum!" Focusing, the wizard searched the room from top to bottom, his hands gloved, turning every bench, opening every drawer, even removing the shower heads. When he was tempted to accio the evidence, his fingertips touched something pointy in the drain. He carefully removed the grating and unearthed a petite arrow, small as his pinkie and very slim. It was hollow, and a small part of the tip was missing. He pocketed it in a plastic bag, wrote a short description on it, and stored it away in his Auror robes. At the sound of footsteps, he turned around.
The practice session was finished, and the male players filed into the locker room to shower and change. Viktor Krum, still in his full gear, spotted Draco first, and the Bulgarian's face fell into a grimace immediately.
"Vat do you vant here, Malfoy?" the Captain snarled, clearly displeased at the sight of the blond.
"As you very well know, my family's company owns this team. If I want to be here, I can bloody well do as I wish." Draco decided to play the heir-card rather than to tell the truth, as not to rouse any suspicions.
"Vhy don't you move off as vast as you did de last time? Vhen you took my girl vith you. Ve had plans dat evening." Krum stepped closer to Draco, the attention of the other players focused on the two of them now. Draco didn't budge an inch. He had faced many wizards and witches that tried to intimidate him.
"I have no doubt that you had plans with her. Didn't you realise that she was as high as a kite?" Draco fought hard not to point his wand at the other wizard's throat.
Viktor shrugged his shoulders. "Dis Vodka can do crazy dhings to dat woman. I vould have taken care of her, and she vould have enjoyed vhat I had in mind either vays."
Draco knew it was the jealousy pouring out of him when he set his lips into the trademark Malfoy smirk, his eyes cold, and drawled, "Keep your broom in your pants, Krum. I, myself, ensured that Hermione came to rest safe and satisfied." Turning on his heel, he apparated away. The last thing he saw from the Chudley Cannon's stadium was Viktor Krum slamming his expensive broomstick into the wall.
Rematerializing at the Ministry, Draco took deep breaths to control the ire in him. He knew he was pathetic and possessive, but he wanted Krum to know that he had bedded Hermione Friday night and that he'd better stay away from his witch. The Malfoy heir shared just as little as the lioness.
DHDHDHDHDH
Hermione and Draco agreed to meet at her lab an hour later. Because it was Sunday, the department was void of workers, except for those unlucky ones who needed to catch up with paperwork or were assigned a regular weekend shift.
"I already checked it for fingerprints and magical signature,s and it came out negative, so I thought you could help me." He handed her the plastic bag. She put on gloves and took the arrow out of it to examine it under a bright lamp.
"I think there was a small injection needle in the shaft that applied the drug into Harry's circulatory system when it came in contact with his skin. Let's see if there's anything helpful left on the tip." She swiped a q-tip over the arrow, put it into a container, and placed it into the terahertz spectroscope. Draco used the opportunity of her working to stand behind her and curled one of her strands around his finger, fascinated when it bounced back again.
Hermione interrupted his doings, and her voice was tinted with reluctance as she spoke. "Draco, what is this thing that developed between us? Are we in a relationship now? Are we a couple? Or more fuck-buddies? Because I'm not Jackie. You can't order me to the Manor for a shag. What are you laughing at, ferret?"
The wizard gave her an amused smile. "I might be a spoiled heir and a successful Auror, but not even I am arrogant enough to assume I can order Hermione Granger to do anything!" He turned serious. "I honestly don't know what we have. But I know that the sex we had last night was epic, and I want more of that. Much more. And that I don't want to wake up alone again after falling asleep next to you. I want to take you into public and show you off like diamond cufflinks." In his mind he added, 'And rub it into Krum's face!' -"What concerns me most, at the moment, is that you could fade into the muggle world again when this case is closed. Because you belong here, and there you have to pretend to be someone you are not, my little witch."
As he talked, he placed a finger under her jaw and tilted it up to him, their gaze locked. Hermione smiled, happy and a bit proud that she was the one the former Slytherin directed these words at.
"Well, I guess it is okay that I introduce you as my boyfriend now? And you are going to tell Ginny I'm your personal and exclusive wand-polisher?"
A searing kiss was the answer at her cheeky remark, until a beep from the device told them the analysis was finished. Pulling away reluctantly from Draco and looking at the screen, Hermione inhaled sharply.
"Holy cow! Speaking of pretending to be someone: along with cocaine, traces of Lacewing flies, fluxweed, knotgrass, leeches, horn of Bicorn and Boomslang-skin could be identified on the tip of the arrow."
Hermione and Draco concluded the ingredients at the same time: "Polyjuice Potion!"