Title: Under the Dragons Protection
Author: Ms. Dependent
Rating: PG-13 - R
Disclaimer: It's not mine. JKR rox me sox
AN- I have completely ignored HBP in this, though I do love the book. This is post Hogwarts about 4-5 years later.
Chapter 12
Tap, tap, tap. Realizing she'd again been lost in thought, Hermione put down the quill she'd been tapping against the desk that she sometimes called hers in the Magical Law Enforcement Office.
The events of Saturday night replayed themselves in her mind.
What had he called he? A rash, know-it-all, griffindor.
How dare he! He'd spoken and acted as if he thought she hadn't changed much, as if she were still a teenager. Even now, having a deeper appreciation for how his protective instincts had developed, she couldn't excuse how he'd dismissively labeled her.
His words and actions ranked all the more because this time, instead of having a tiny secret crush on him, she'd slept with him. She'd let him strip her bare both physically and emotionally. The betrayal this time was oh so much worse.
She'd begun to think they had a new understanding, one based on mutual respect. Instead, he'd apparently been thinking of her as nothing more than a headstrong griffindor, albeit one with whom he enjoyed amazing chemistry.
In fact, after the attack, he'd acted just like her other friends with his overprotectiveness. He'd lit into her as if she was a teenager lacking judgment.
Her lips tightened reflexively.
Their relationship—however short lived—had been a mistake. Of that, she was now certain. There was no way they could have a real relationship—one based on mutual trust and respect—when he'd made it clear he saw her as nothing more than a sheltered princess.
She'd been insane to have been planning to welcome him home with a romantic dinner. Ironically, thanks to their argument, she now agreed with him about going out without ingredients for dessert.
She should have nuked some macaroni and cheese, slid a bowl at him, and told him that he was sinning in style. Or, better yet, handed him a spoon and invited him to enjoy the stuff directly from a can.
Men were such animals.
Speaking of which. . . .her face burned as she remembered the frenzied interlude on the kitchen counter that had followed their argument.
She should have kneed him and walked away. Instead, a combustible combination of relief at having escaped unharmed and anger at him had led her to sizzling sex—as if Draco needed any further evidence that, if nothing else, they were great lovers.
She wondered at the reference he'd made o the attraction that had always been between them. Could he have known about her teenage infatuation with him?
At least she hadn't admitted her teenage in infatuation to him. That would have made her humiliation complete.
Her phone rang, startling her out of her thoughts. (A/n- yeah I gave her a phone, so sue me.) Picking up the receiver, she said, "Hello?"
"Hermione!"
"Hello, Harry." She made her voice sound cool. Her friend was still on her less-than-wonderful persons list.
"Thank god you're okay!"
Someone had obviously spilled the beans to Harry about Saturday's incident—the details of which had miraculously stayed out of the newspaper—and she had a goo idea who that someone was. She sighed. "Yes, I'm fine. No need to worry."
"No need to worry?" Harry said, sounding uncharacteristically agitated. "Are you crazy? You could have been killed and that's all you have to say?"
"Well, as you can tell, I wasn't. So, sorry to say, you still have me to torment you."
"Quit it with the glibness, Mione," Harry said impatiently. "You're just lucky the Weasleys are on vacation in America at the moment and Ron is on a business trip. Otherwise, they'd all be descending on you."
"Don't I know it," she muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Heck, I would be there myself if I didn't have some VIPs coming into the office this morning," Harry said. "Anyway, Draco assured me that he has everything under control."
Her hand tightened on the receiver. "Oh, he did, did he?"
she heard Harry sigh. "Hermione, for the love of god, would you just try listening to Draco for a change? I know you two can barely stand each other—"
She wondered what Harry's reaction would have been if he'd known she and Draco had recently found one area where they could deal with each other.
"—but he's there to protect you," Harry continued, "and he's one of the best in the business. So would you quit trying to make the guy's job harder then it has to be?"
"And I still have a job to do, Harry," she said, her tone clipped, "and that's putting the baddies behind bars. Unfortunately, that may involve some risk."
"Right and that's the other thing." Harry paused and cleared his thought, seeming to choose his words carefully. "Have you thought about what you're going to do after the Ministry? You've been there, what? Four or five years?"
"Close to five. But whose counting when you're having fun?"
"I don't think we can take much more of this, Hermione. This last episode with you getting attacked may be the nail in the coffin for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley."
She closed her eyes. "You've told them?"
"Not yet, but someone has to because the papers may link your name to the attack sooner or later," he said significantly.
She opened her eyes again. "Fine, I know."
"All I'm saying is you may want to start thinking about when this stint at that Ministry is going to end. It's to dangerous. Draco says the usual stint is three years or so."
Draco said that, had he? She'd be interested in knowing what else Draco had said. "Maybe it isn't just a stint. Have you ever thought about that? Maybe I want to be the head of Magical Law Enforcement someday."
Harry didn't say anything but a distinct sigh came over the line.
"Besides," she persisted, "I'm not the only one taking risks, Harry. You are the last person who can say I have a tough job."
"All right, but the fact of the matter is it is you," Harry argued. "You've been the one getting threats. You've been the one getting attacked. And, you can't tell me that your name and wealth and high profile don't put you at special risk."
She thought about the phone threat she'd gotten. Harry had inadvertently hit the mark. Aloud, she said, "I'm not going to be boxed in by a whole set of rules just because of my name."
Harry started to interrupted, but she went on, "And you can tell your friend Draco not to worry. I wont be trying to cook dinner for him again anytime soon."
If it were possible, she was even more annoyed with Draco by the time she got off the phone.
Ratted her out to her friends again, had he? HE hadn't even waited for her to tell them in her own way. Instead, he'd lost no time in spilling the entire story to Harry as if she were then newest piece of gossip.
Had he also had the gall to suggest to Harry that she should be looking to move on from the Magical Law Enforcement office because the job had become to dangerous for her? Is that how the thought had occurred to Harry?
She wouldn't put it past Draco.
She narrowed her eyes. If Draco thought things were icy between them now, she fumed, he'd better get ready for the deep freeze.
End of Chapter 12
A/n- Its late, I know, get over it. College Applications, Report Cards, and SATs have been ruining my Month so I don't want to hear any one say this chapter is to short. If no one mentions the length of the chapter when they review I will update by Monday. Please, have mercy and ignore my semi-grumpy mood.
