A/N As you may have noticed, I got a review from a person, apparently not affiliated with the administrators of , who placed me in a community of stories with MA content. The purpose of this community is to hold stories with MA content (deemed by this user, not by the admins). Supposedly, if I rewrite or amend my story to this unaffiliated user's satisfaction, I will be removed from this community, and will not be reported to administrators. Regardless of how I feel about this, to be safe, I will be reposting Soul of my Soul on Hawthorne and Vine under an MA rating (same user name, same story title). This is a long process due to the way H&V handles submissions, but if you should find this story removed for some reason, it can be found there. Thank you!
Chapter 34
Later that Night, At Hermione's Flat
Draco floo-ed into the apartment with a sneeze. Too much floo powder was the unfortunate consequence of flooing from Blaise's castle. The Italian had a tendency to overestimate the amount used for almost any distance.
Luckily there seemed to be no Granger in sight to witness him blowing his brain out of his nose. He stepped into the living room and dusted off his work trousers with shaking hands.
" I'm in my bedroom," Granger's voice came from the only sliver of light, coming from the back hallway.
Maybe he should have cancelled. The night with Blaise had done a lot to calm his nerves, and when he'd left he'd at least thought through enough options for what the prophecy could mean other than that his life was over. But as soon as he heard her voice alarms started to ring in his brain.
" Yeah, give me a minute to clean myself up, I'm covered," He literally had to take off his sweater and shake it out.
" I'm just finishing up with some work," She called, " It'll be a minute."
He gave his hair a final comb through and walked back to the glowing door, opening it.
Suddenly he realized where Granger had been hiding all of her personality in her apartment. In stark contrast to the bare front room and kitchen, this room was stuffed to the gills with books and beautiful objects, each meticulously in its place. The walls were an inviting pale blue, and most of the room was lined with dark bookcases. She sat on the dominant feature of the room, a large wrought iron bed covered with a lovely green patchwork quilt, bent over a long roll of parchment. Her hair was wild, she seemed to have been playing with it in her distress.
She looked up, cheeks beautifully flushed, " Sorry, just some sorting for my boss. Let me move it." She gestured to the floor, where he now realized rolls of parchment were stacked into tiny piles.
" No, it's fine, I'll just-" He jumped over the piles separating him and the left side of her bed, " go over here. What is all this?"
" Letters from the parents of Hogwarts students. I'm having a hard time determining the best sorting arrangement so that he can get through them quickly," She sighed.
" Let me see," He sat on the bed and took the parchment from her.
" Excuse you," She snatched it back with an eye roll, giving him an eyeful of her cleavage down the deep v of her pink sweater.
" Stop being so petty, Granger," He countered, taking it back slowly and kicking off his shoes.
She made a little huff and then leaned over to him and pointed at the paper, " The first column indicates the main subject of the letter, and the second is categories I'm trying to sort them into. She pointed her wand purposefully at one letter's subject and dragged the words down the paper. At the same time, the parchment rose and sorted itself into a different little pile.
" That's a sophisticated bit of spellwork. Department of Education secret?" He asked.
" No, Hermione Granger secret," She replied grumpily.
" Hmm, I'll have to get it out of you while I fuck you tonight," He half laughed, and scanned down the list, " So you have them sorted by… house, and year and type of complaint."
" I can't decide which is most efficient. Type of complaint seems most logical, but when you sort the complaints by house, you get a clearer picture of the climate at the school right now," She stuttered, her cheeks pink.
He scanned down the long list of complaints labeled 'Abolish Slytherin House' and 'Re-sort Child: Slytherin,' " I see what you mean, Granger. Well the question is are you sorting them to show him the complaints, or to show him the climate of Hogwarts right now?"
Granger bit her lip, " Well ostensibly it's to show him the complaints, but I mean it's obvious that there's a pattern here."
Draco held his tongue, just scanning the list again, " Well then I say go with your guts."
" I think I just have to sort by house," She took the parchment from him, " I'm sorry I'm overthinking it, it really is the best way."
" Well you're Granger, isn't over thinking kind of your thing?" He smirked.
She didn't even glance up from the paper, " Yeah, I'm the overthinker, Mr. Are-You-Using-Me-to-Get-Weasley."
Well, actually he was Mr Are-You-Pregnant-A-Missing-Prophecy-Made-Me-Think-So. But she didn't have to know that. He wished he didn't know that.
" Uh, are you okay?" She asked, leaning in closer.
" Oh, yeah, just spaced for a second. Work stuff," He replied, " A prophecy went missing."
" You work with the prophecies?" She asked with a strange something in her voice.
Suspicions slithered through his mind, along with the too familiar sense that she looked down on him.
He laughed, turned, and pulled her down so that she lay underneath him, " You know I'm trying to see things from your perspective, but I wonder how you thought I could work at the Department of Mysteries and not work with prophecies?"
She raised her chin, " Well how am I supposed to know what you do? Getting you to talk about yourself is like pulling teeth."
He raised an eyebrow, " Since when have you wanted to know about me?"
" Since… I don't bloody know," She pouted.
Was she attempting to divert his attention, or did she genuinely want to know about what he did?
" Well what do you want to know?" He leaned on his elbow so that he no longer loomed over her, and she turned to face him, gathering her hair into a bushy twist that she put over her shoulder.
She giggled a little, " Well… what you do at your job."
" Sorting the prophecies, labelling them," He brushed it off, " Nothing too important."
" You know," She giggled, "Maybe if you thought it was more important, it would seem important, and I wouldn't insult you so much. If you behaved yourself, that is."
" Ah, it seems a lot of our arrangement is based on me behaving myself," The corners of his mouth twitched.
" Which I can tell by your expression you're not going to do," She eyed him warily.
Just for the look on her face, he ran a hand through his hair, " Not tonight."
She smirked, " Promise?"
" Oh no!" He threw his body onto his back with an exaggerated sigh, covering his face with his hands dramatically, " I break all my promises, remember? Now to break the promise we'll have to have absolutely boring missionary sex and then read in bed!"
" Oh no!" She cried, " I guess that means no orgasm for me?"
" No orgasm at all," He exclaimed in horror, " And it's too bad, because all I wanted was to eat you out tonight."
" But at least I'll get to read," She sighed in mock ecstasy.
He grinned, turning back to her, " Oh, Granger, did I finally discover how to talk dirty to you?"
She laughed, a low purr in her throat, " I think we both know I like talking dirty."
He leaned up over her on his elbow again, " Look at you, flirting with me. You know, if you're not careful Granger I might think you had a crush on me."
She looked stricken for half a second, and then quickly replaced the expression with a placid superiority, " Not if your life depended on it. We may have slept together, but you're still Draco Malfoy. Besides, you're the one that flirted first, joking about my pants in the line at Marriage and Family."
Somehow that half second of shock quieted a few of the alarm bells in Draco's head. At least enough for him to hear the pounding sound in his ears as all of the blood in his body rushed to his cock.
" In my defense, I think your arse was flirting with me, actually," He corrected her.
She raised an eyebrow imperiously, " Oh, come on."
" That's right, Granger, it was a come on," He reached around her and slid a hand along the beautiful curve of her ass. She tried to squirm away but the only place she could squirm was closer to him. She looked up at him with laughing brown eyes.
" And how, pray tell, did it do that?"
He led her by the waist so she was on her side, facing him, " You may not know it since it's behind you, but your arse is quite flirty. Coquettish, even."
She shook her head, marvelling, " And all this time I thought my behind was rather serious."
He gasped, " Serious? Well, maybe sometimes. At business events. But no, it's my belief that your arse always had a secret desire for me, just like you."
She scoffed, " I did not always have a secret desire for you. It snuck up on me. Like an illness. Maybe like the chicken pox."
" Ah, get it once, bad, and then never again? I like how you think," He leaned down and kissed her, lips just barely dragging themselves against hers. A stiffness he hadn't realized she was holding relaxed, and she brought a hand up to rest on the side of his face, fingers trailing along his jaw. A shiver ran along his spine and he almost had to turn away. But he settled for pulling back and looking at her.
Her eyes were still closed, and the lipstick he hadn't realized she was wearing had worn off, revealing a deeper, more inviting color underneath the bloodless nude. He kissed her again, coaxing her lips to part so that their tongues could meet. She was more adaptive, more in tune with him than he could have imagined, and he couldn't tell if it was lust or magic coursing through him when they kissed. He had to get his head on straight, remind himself who he was kissing.
He pulled back, " So what do you do at work?"
She made a little half groan, " What?"
" I'll tell you what I do if you tell me," He said calmly.
" Uh, well, I'm the assistant to the Head of Magical Education," She explained.
" And what does that entail?" He ran his hand up her back and down again.
" I schedule the Head's days, sort his mail, and just generally assist in overseeing the department," She began.
" So that job easily allows you to take off days for the protest?"
She stiffened slightly, " I'm able to perform most of my duties while attending the protest for most of the day."
" I didn't mean it to be an insult, Granger," He soothed, " It just seems like you have a lot of things on your plate."
Her mouth pursed into a smaller line, " Of course I do, I have an extremely demanding job, but I love it."
" Alright, Granger, if you're begging me, I'll kiss you," He did, pulling her stunned form closer as he did.
She pulled back with a gasp, " Excuse me? How dare you!"
" Every time you act like I'm insulting you when I'm not, it's an obvious ploy to get me to kiss you," He grinned smugly, " Plain as the freckles on your face."
" You arrogant-" The next word was muffled when he pressed her into the bed, teasing her until her lips opened for him. Her legs came around him to rest on either side of his thighs and she fought back, nipping and then biting his lip. He moaned, and broke the kiss.
" I'm not trying to insult you or rile you up. I'm just talking, Granger," He explained between kisses.
" Why? Trying to butter me up?" She pulled back with a sigh.
" Is that why you asked about my job?" His heart pounded in his chest as he looked down at her.
" I'm…" She flushed, " I'm trying to find out why the Marriage Law was proposed from the Department of Mysteries."
He sat back between her legs, " On assignment from Potter?"
She bit her lip and sat up on her elbows, " No. It just… You have to admit there's something suspicious about it."
Instantly Draco recalled his boss's reaction when he told her there was a missing prophecy. At first, she was at the ready to investigate, but as soon as she saw the number, she told him that it'd broken in the records room. But something about her second reaction was… off.
" There is," He agreed.
" So… I was just wondering if you were in a position to learn anything about it," She cringed, " I'm sorry I wasn't up front about it."
" No, that's exactly what I would have done," He furrowed his brow, " Like, exactly."
" I don't trust the Department of Mysteries, " Her eyes narrowed into little slits, but she seemed to be talking more to herself, " I mean, no one knows how it all works."
" Prophecies can represent some of the most important information in the ministry today," He corrected, " If you're thinking that the marriage law is some way of influencing whether a prophecy comes true or not, than it wasn't from the Department of Mysteries. Someone who the prophecy concerned would have to take matters into their own hands."
She bit her lip, and fell silent, " But why?"
" I don't know. Many things could compel the creation of the law, and many more would compel the wizengamot to pass it," He shrugged, " But there's no way of knowing."
" What do you mean?"
" The records are some of the most closely guarded in the ministry. Anyone can come in and retrieve their information, but there's a lot of red tape to get through," He explained, " Unless the prophecy concerns you specifically… there's really not much you can do."
He watched her reaction carefully, but she didn't flinch. Her face was screwed into a frustrated pout.
Draco wasn't sure what he was suspicious of. Or even if he was suspicious. But Granger seemed to be a part of something that involved him, and friend or enemy, he had to keep her close.
" Can't stand not to know when something's afoot? You haven't changed at all," He commented in relief.
" If it concerns the marriage law, it affects all of us," She muttered.
" I'll tell you what I can," He offered, " But really all I do is copy names onto little labels and put things on shelves. And unfortunately there's not much of a chance to advance." He added the last bit carelessly, if bitterly, but she looked up at him.
" Why not?" She still had an edge of frustration to her voice.
" Why not what?"
" Why don't you have a chance to advance? You don't seriously mean you'd be a junior clerk forever," She pouted.
" Just forget I said that," He waved her off.
" No, what did you mean?"
" Just had a bad day at work, and I don't want to talk about it," He said with finality.
She looked up at him with curious wide doe eyes, and he could just hear the gears in her brain turning, " Alright. We don't have to talk about it." She sat up further, until she was on his level, tossing her hair back casually over her shoulder.
" Okay, don't look at me that way," He tried to laugh.
She rubbed those tempting lips together, " What way?"
" Like I'm some tragic tosser who needs your pity," He answered succinctly.
" I'm not," She protested, " I'm just thinking of something Greengrass said today."
" About me?" The question fell out of his mouth without warning. What was Granger doing talking about him?
" Just an offhand comment. She said… a few things, but something about your house being horrible," Granger's voice was soft and low, like they might be overheard.
He tried to keep his tone light and airy, " We've been renovating some rooms that were… conscripted, during the war."
" Conscripted for what?"
" You were in the house at that time," He answered, struggling to sound as offhand as possible, " Most rooms were used in the same fashion as the ballroom."
Her gaze dropped to the bedspread, " So it used to be-"
He nodded, " Daphne was right, it was quite horrible. But we've made progress, as you saw."
" What… what went on during the war?" Her voice was very small, " For you."
He struggled to even put into words the images she was recalling, so he held his tongue.
" Nevermind, that was… a stupid question," She corrected herself, looking up at him, " I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from. Forgive me?"
" Of course," He replied, still stunned. The moment that passed after was charged with something… different than he was used to. Not just with Granger, but with anyone, and therefore he had trouble identifying it as it passed.
" So… chatting about me around the office, eh? That's more public than I believe we agreed on," He lightened the mood by mocking chastisement.
" Actually, she overheard me, and I could have gotten out of it," She smirked, " But Zabini let it slip.
" Bloody… I just saw him and he didn't say a thing," He gaped.
She giggled, " Maybe he was ashamed."
" He should be, Greengrass is a terrible gossip," Draco pulled her giggling form closer, wrapping his arms around her slim waist. She yelped, quietly.
" You think I should tell her to keep it quiet?" Granger put her arms on his shoulders, " And excuse me, we're talking!"
He shook his head, " No, that will just make it all the harder for her to keep. And I'm just going to take off your clothes, lay you down on your bed and fuck you senseless. You can keep talking if you want"
" So what should I do?" She trailed her fingers through his hair gently.
" If you want to keep it quiet?" He grinned, " Greengrass has two weaknesses: gossip, and sweets. Used to be three, when she dated Nott, but now it's just two."
" So… bribe her with chocolate frogs?" She quirked an eyebrow at him.
" No, offer her better gossip to drop it," He proposed, sliding her closer until he rested between her thighs again.
She leaned in until they were almost kissing, " So where do we get better gossip?"
" I'm sure…" He kissed her, sliding his tongue along the seam of her lips, " If we put our heads together, we'll figure something out. Now, help me take off your pants."