Chapter 13

Look at you. You've stitched your life so perfectly together. You've worked so damn hard to get to where you are, and now have everything you ever wanted. So why do you keep looking back at the one thing that can undo it all?

-Lang Leav

Present Time: December 2000

On a Tuesday morning in December, Draco was sitting in a Muggle coffee shop, waiting for Theo and Hermione to arrive. When he'd returned to work following his disastrous encounter with Hermione in the park, she wasn't there. Instead, she'd left a pile of laws for him to review with a note.

I'd review these with you, but am worried I'll accidentally fall in love with you and we can't have that, can we?

-Granger

He didn't know which was worse, the fact that she'd chosen to avoid him rather than showing up to tell him off, the sarcastic way with which she had written about falling in love with him, or how she'd signed the note with her surname. It was all bad.

When she resumed in-person meetings with him the following week, she brought someone else along. A young, sandy-haired wizard who looked like he was fresh out of Hogwarts. "This is Benjamin Duran. He was recently hired to backfill my old position and I thought it would be good for him to shadow me so he could learn how the legal process works."

Draco was sure this wizard wasn't shadowing her to all her appointments but didn't say so. "You can call me Ben," the young wizard said eagerly, holding his hand out for Draco to shake.

"I'll call you Duran," Draco had said automatically. Then, when he saw the scowl on Hermione's face, backtracked. "I mean - that was a joke. Hello, Ben. I'm Draco Malfoy."

"Right, I've heard of you. You're...younger than I imagined. Then again, so is Hermione, and Harry Potter, and - everyone. It's crazy how young you all were," he said with wonder. "You were my age and fighting a war! My family and I were just hiding in Germany, waiting for it all to end."

"Please shut up," Draco said, which earned him another scowl from Hermione. "What?" Draco hissed at her. "I said, 'please.'"

She rolled her eyes and turned to Duran. "You said you've heard of Malfoy but there's something about him I bet you haven't heard, something I learned just last week. Did you know he's part Veela?"

Now it was Draco's turn to scowl. He knew where she was going with this.

"He's always having people fall in love with him and is constantly fending them off. Between his charming personality, illustrious reputation, and the Veela magic in his blood, no witch is safe."

"She's joking," Draco said quickly. "I mentioned something like that when I was very, very drunk and she won't let it go."

"Oh," Duran had said, obviously confused. "You're friends?"

"Not even close," Hermione had cut in. "Let's get to work."

It was clear she wasn't planning to give him a chance to apologize to her at work. Then, Draco tried the bench. He went there at all hours of the day and night, but never found her. She was probably avoiding it now that she knew it had been compromised.

He considered having her tailed, finding out where she lived, and showing up there, but decided against it. He didn't want to scare her, just apologize to her. That's when he got this idea to crash one of her morning breakfast meetings with Theo.

They should be arriving any minute and then, all Draco had to do was convince her to stay and hear him out, deliver the sincere and hopefully charming apology he'd been working on for a solid week, then...see if she decided to forgive him.

"What is he doing here?"

Okay. Here goes nothing.

Draco turned around and smiled at Hermione. He saw Theo recoil at the sight of his uncharacteristic smile but ignored the git. "Hello, Hermione."

"Hello, Malfoy," she replied before turning to Theo. "Let's go somewhere else."

"Or," Theo said, taking a seat at the table with Draco and tearing off a piece of his muffin, "we can listen to whatever apology he's worked up, then leave and have something to laugh about at the next place."

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and fixed Theo with a glare. "Why are you working with him on this? Do you even know what he did?"

"I don't know and I don't care, but he said if I didn't help him he'd tell my mother I'm gay."

"What is wrong with you?" Hermione asked, hitting Draco with the back of her hand as she took the seat next to him.

"How does that count as helping?" Draco murmured to Theo, but took it as a good sign that Hermione was sitting and not turning around and marching away.

Before Hermione could scold Draco again, he moved two paper bags and two mugs in front of her and Theo. "I got your usual orders. Lemon Poppyseed Muffin and Chai Tea for you, Hermione and a scone and black coffee for Theo."

"Stop calling me, Hermione," she said coldly, but still picked up the mug in front of her and began sipping on her tea.

"Right," Draco said, trying to maintain his composure. He knew she was going to make this difficult. He kept trying to remind himself she would be his wife one day, but it was hard to imagine it with the look of pure hatred she was giving him.

"I want to hear what Draco did," Theo said after swallowing his first bite of scone.

"And I want you to shut up and pretend you're not here," Draco almost said, but caught himself. Being mean to Theo wasn't the way to earn Hermione's forgiveness, though it was hard since it came so naturally to Draco.

"Why don't you tell him, Malfoy?" Hermione said wickedly. "I'd like to hear your version of what happened that night."

"It happened at night?" Theo asked. "Intriguing."

Draco rolled his eyes. He'd known he wasn't going to get away from this meeting without Theo learning about what had happened, but he hadn't counted on him being an active part of the conversation like this. He'd hoped Theo would just sulk on the side and let Hermione and him talk. But with Hermione insisting on bringing that idiotic new employee around to all their meetings, Draco's options were doing this in front of him, or Theo, and Theo was certainly the better option, since he already knew how fucked up Draco was.

"I was very drunk last week and after dropping Daphne by her house I went to this bench in a Muggle park Hermi - uh, Granger showed me a few months ago. When she showed up, unexpectedly, I was - very rude. Because I was drunk and stupid and I'm a very, very foolish drunk. Theo can attest to that."

"I can," Theo chimed in. Okay, that was helpful. Point for Theo.

"Tell him what you said," Hermione pressed.

Yeah, he hadn't expected to get off that easily, but it was worth a try. "I told her we couldn't be together, then insisted she liked me (even though she's given no indication of this), and I also insisted she'd fall in love with me one day, then I very rudely pointed out all the reasons she was wrong for me."

"Wait," Hermione cut in. "I think you should tell him exactly what you said."

"I don't remember," Draco grumbled. "It's all a blur."

"Allow me then," she said, leaning across the table toward Theo. "I won't bore you with all of it, but here were some of my favorite lines: 'You could never be Lady of an estate like mine. You don't wear the right things or pick the right colors.'"

Theo snorted. "You said that?"

Draco was trying hard to keep his face blank. "I already said I don't remember the details," he replied through gritted teeth.

"When I told him he was obnoxious," she continued, smiling now, "he said, 'Keep in mind how much you hate me now, when you fall in love with me. It'll help you move on.'"

Theo laughed heartily at that one and Draco mentally took away the point he'd awarded Theo earlier. "Fuck, Draco. You're a prat. What the fuck made you say all that?"

Hermione turned to him. "Yes, Malfoy. I've been curious about this too."

I like you and instead of properly dealing with my emotions like an adult, I turned it around on you because I'm a stupid coward. I know you don't return the feelings and am ready to bury them and forget about all of this. Please, forgive me and join me in pretending this never happened.

This was what he'd been planning to say. He and Daphne had worked it out and thought it would be best. It was honest - at least as honest as he was willing to get, for now - and it would plant the seed in her mind of the possibility of them being together.

Then, when she broke up with Weasley (hopefully sooner rather than later), perhaps she'd think of Draco and... they'd get married. Yeah, he still had no idea how that would come about but thought this admission of his feelings was a good place to start.

There was just one problem. Draco couldn't say the words. He kept opening his mouth, saying nothing, then closing it again. He probably looked like a fish but luckily, neither of them said anything about it. He gave Theo his point back for keeping his mouth shut, for once.

It seemed that Draco's inability to hide his true thoughts and feelings from Hermione had a limit, with the line being drawn at the spot where the thoughts and feelings in question were directly related to her. Interesting. Also, potentially problematic, but he could think about that more later. For now, he needed to answer her question before she walked out on him.

"It was something Daphne said," he began, his brain working quickly to come up with some other excuse for his behavior. Luckily, he'd taken Brain Elixir before this meeting, a potion he was now able to brew himself, thanks to Hermione.

"Daphne?"

"I was at the pub with her that night and at the end she said something about you and I making a cute couple and - I guess I panicked. Because that would be a disaster, you know that, I know that, and that's what was on my mind when you sat on that bench."

"Really?"

Draco nodded as he made a mental note to visit Daphne about this and tell her the revised story in case Hermione quizzed her about it later. "I've talked to Daphne since and she said she was kidding but - uh - my brain wasn't working properly that night."

"What was in the letter?" Hermione asked quickly.

Damn. She was too clever. Draco was careful to avoid his instinct to employ Occlumency, since that would just tip her off. Instead, he met her defiant gaze with a calm one of his own. "What letter?"

"The one from your future self. I found you drunk on a bench at 3:00am, talking nonsense, the night after you were supposed to read it. I assume it's related."

"Oh, yeah. It was just a plea from my future self to keep this timeline intact." That wasn't a lie. "And I was upset about it, which is why I was drinking." Also, not a lie.

"You were considering breaking the timeline?" Theo asked. Draco glared at him. "Right," he mumbled, "I guess you'll tell me later."

Theo reached for a piece of Draco's muffin, but Draco slapped his hand away. Then, Hermione reached for Draco's muffin, took a gigantic piece off the top (the best part) and handed it to Theo. "What do you think, Theo? Should I forgive him?"

"I think you should make him work for it more," he said automatically, then, upon catching sight of Draco's glower added, "Just kidding. You should definitely forgive him."

Hermione scoffed. "He's not going to tell your mother you're gay. If he did that, I'd never speak to him again and for some unknown reason, that seems to matter to him."

"I am sorry," Draco chimed in, eager to move on to this next part of the conversation, which he'd been preparing for all week. "You said I was like a drunk Mr. Darcy and you were right, minus the marriage proposal, of course."

"You know about Mr. Darcy?" she asked, clearly impressed.

Draco sat up straighter in his chair, then Theo said, "Don't give him too much credit, I told him who Mr. Darcy is."

"Oh." The admiration was gone from her face. Another point gone for Theo. Draco was pretty sure that brought him back down to zero.

"He was asking everyone who Mr. Darcy was, thinking it was some wizard," Theo continued, "but I told him it was a character. I also told him which book it was from, then went to buy the book for him, since he's useless in the Muggle world."

"You were useless in the Muggle world a few months ago too," Draco snapped back. "You only know things about it now because of Hermione." Draco stopped to give Hermione a sidelong glance, waiting for her to scold him for using her given name, but she didn't say anything. Good, Hermione it was.

Theo just ignored him. "I told him how books like that cost a hundred pounds, then took a little extra for the effort."

Hermione snorted into her mug.

"Whatever," Draco said, ready to change the subject. He knew Theo had overcharged him, but not by how much and didn't want to reveal how dense he was about the cost of things in the Muggle world. The fact was, he would have paid a hundred times more than what Theo had charged for a chance to sit next to Hermione and watch her laugh again. Even though she was laughing at him, not with him. He needed to change that.

"The point is, I read the book."

"And... what? You think that should earn you my forgiveness?"

"Don't pretend like you don't want to talk about it."

She rolled her eyes, but still asked, "Okay. What did you think?"

"It was interesting. I didn't expect it to be so similar to Pureblood society, with strict gender roles, such a strong emphasis on which family you marry into, and how critical it is to maintain a pristine reputation. But Theo explained that this is how Muggles used to be, back when this book was written, and that they're not like that now."

"Correct. They're not like that now. What else did you think?"

Hermione had a small amount of foam on the top of her lip and Draco wanted to reach out and wipe it away. Actually, he wanted to lean forward and lick it away, then press his tongue into her mouth and see if he could taste the Chai seasoning from her tea - Focus, Draco!

"What?" he asked.

"She's wondering if you got anything else out of the book besides how it relates to your own life," Theo said in his usual bored tone. He reached forward to take another piece off Draco's muffin and this time, Draco let him.

"Right," Draco said, turning in his chair to face Hermione. "I wondered who was meant to be proud and who was meant to be prejudiced, then figured out both characters embodied both traits at different times in the story. But what really got me was how unbelievable the love was."

"What? Whose love? Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth?"

"Yeah."

"This is one of the greatest love stories of all time and you find it unbelievable?"

"I do."

"Why?" she pressed, then shifted her chair so she was facing him, just like he was facing her. He leaned his knees against hers and celebrated inwardly when she didn't pull away. Progress.

"I think Darcy's love was real," Draco continued. "There were hints of his attraction the whole time, even though she wasn't seeing them. But Elizabeth, well, she fell in love with him for his money."

"She did not."

"She did so. One moment she hates him and rejects his proposal, then, all of a sudden, she gets a glimpse of Pemberley and is smitten."

Hermione swatted his leg. "That's not how it happened."

"I think the timing was awfully convenient. There was no indication before Pemberley that she was attracted to him. Then she saw through that Mr. Collins fiasco how bad it could get and Jane struck out with Bingsley, so she thought, maybe this Darcy bloke isn't such a bad idea after all."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You would see it like that."

"I know. I'm like Mr. Darcy, having to look out for money-hungry admirers like Elizabeth."

Hermione turned to Theo. "Why are rich people so obnoxious?"

Theo shrugged. "I'm rich and also obnoxious, but I have no idea why." Draco laughed and gave Theo another point.

"She loved him before Pemberley," Hermione said insistently, ignoring Theo. "She just didn't see it. There was clearly passion between them but she had those mental blocks against him. Once he cleared them with his letter, all the pieces began to fall into place."

Draco shrugged. "I still think it was too convenient, but that's just me. I'm no expert, I've never been in love." Yet, he added in his head.

The statement caught Hermione off guard for some reason. "Oh, well, yes. Then you don't know."

"You - however - know all about this sort of thing?" he asked quickly, without thinking.

"You're on thin ice, Malfoy. Do you want to try that again?"

Draco heard Theo chortle from his side of the table but ignored him and maintained Hermione's challenging gaze. "You're with Weasley, the love of your life, so clearly you know more about love than I do."

"Better," she said as she continued to hold his gaze. The stare lasted for longer than was comfortable but Draco was waiting for her to look away first.

"What did I miss?" Theo asked.

Hermione looked down at the mug in her hands while Draco rolled his eyes. "Nothing," he sighed.

"Do you two want me to go and leave you alone?" Theo asked.

"Yes," Draco said while Hermione said, "No."

Hermione set her mug on the table and looked back at Draco. "I'll forgive you if you agree to read one book a month, until the end of my rotation. Like Theo said, I want to make you work for it."

"Deal."

"It's going to be a Muggle book."

"I assumed."

"And Theo can pick them up for you. 100 pounds each." She gave Theo a sly smile.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Fine."

"The one for December will be 'In Search of Lost Time' by Marcel Proust. Just the first volume, 'Swann's Way.'

"Consider it read," Draco replied.

"We'll see," she said, laughing under her breath. She gave Theo another knowing look. There was some joke here but Draco didn't care. He was reading the damn book, no matter what.

"I've intruded on your breakfast for long enough," Draco said, rising to his feet. He'd received a pardon, albeit a conditional one, but he thought he should quit while he was ahead. "I'll leave you two alone. Have a nice day at work."

The last comment was directed at Hermione but Theo replied with, "Thanks, mate. I think I will."

Before Draco could retort with something rude, Hermione said, "Or, you could stay and tell me what you thought of the ending. For most of the book, Austen was poking fun at everyone's obsession with 'advantageous marriages,' then ended up giving her two main characters just that. Do you think it was meant to be ironic?"

Draco froze in place. He was trying to leave but she was asking him to stay. Had she missed him? No, she just couldn't resist a good book discussion. It wasn't about him. But Draco could do this. Unlike her current boyfriend, he could read and discuss the hell out of books, all day long, if she wanted.

Just then, he had a vision of lying with her in bed, reading together and stopping occasionally to talk about the story. He would bury his head in her neck and inhale her scent as she spoke, feeling the vibration of her voice on his lips as he peppered soft kisses on her throat. The scene was achingly sweet but he still wanted it.

Damn, his feelings for her had progressed quickly since she'd started freezing him out. Just a few weeks ago he'd still been trying to deny them. He was over that now. He wanted a life with her. He wanted to see if it would be as good as the other Draco said. But, fuck, they were a long way away from there, weren't they?

They spent the rest of the hour discussing 'Pride and Prejudice.' Theo joined in and he and Draco tried to convince Hermione that the book was meant to be a darkly ironic commentary on loveless marriages and that the happy endings given to Jane and Elizabeth would last no longer than a year.

During their impassioned debate, Hermione laughed eleven times. Yes, Draco counted. He also shifted his chair closer to her anytime she was distracted so that by the end of breakfast, he was nearly on top of her. But just like when he'd leaned his legs against hers earlier, she didn't seem to notice or care. Was it because she felt comfortable with him? Was he just reading too much into it? Probably the latter.

After Hermione ran off, swearing under her breath about being late for her morning appointment, Theo leaned forward and said to Draco without a hint of sarcasm, "You should marry her."

"What?"

"She puts you in your place. You need a witch like that. And you challenge her back, which is also good."

"Are you-?" Draco couldn't tell if he was being serious or if this was just a strange joke of his. "She hates me and has a boyfriend."

Theo just shrugged. "She hated me a year ago too. Things change."

"Right," Draco said, wondering if Theo had guessed at the truth about Lady Malfoy just as Daphne had. But Theo didn't know about Lady Malfoy. Draco had mentioned briefly he had a wife in the future but hadn't told Theo all the details he'd told Daphne. "Anyway, how bad is this book she's making me read?"

Theo snorted. "Really bad. I barely got through it. She hates it too. She's just testing you. As long as you prove you read it, you'll be good. She won't want to discuss it much."

"Oh. Thanks." Draco was caught off guard by Theo being helpful for once.

"Also, you should read it in French. It's slightly better that way."

"O-kay. Uh - thanks for today. And for the book. You were right, it worked."

Theo nodded as he gave Draco a searching gaze. After a few moments he asked, "Why did you really go off on her in the park? Did you realize you liked her, then felt the need to push her away?"

"Can you go back to being aloof and disinterested?"

Theo shrugged, then snapped out of his serious mood as quickly as he'd fallen into it. "Sure thing. Are you going to finish that muffin?"

After Hermione tentatively accepted Draco's apology that morning at the coffee shop, she stopped bringing Duran around to their meetings. The next Wednesday, which was the first time Draco had been alone with Hermione since that disastrous night on the park bench, she'd arrived a few minutes early, wearing a new blouse (red with small gold dots - very Gryffindor - how cute was she? - stop being such a sap, Draco) and black trousers.

As soon as she sat down, she launched right into an explanation of the piece of legislation they were working on that day, then a new (and very clever - damn, she was so clever - seriously, stop) process for getting it approved that she was planning to try.

"You just said something smart and no one in the room said, 'wooow,'" Draco quipped when she was finished talking. "Did you want me to fill that role or…"

She kicked him under the table and muttered, "Shut up," but there was no heat behind the words and Draco could see an unmistakable smirk on her lips. He resisted the urge to twist his ankle around hers and run his foot up her leg.

"She's not yours!" he had to keep shouting in his head.

"Thank you for not bringing him today," Draco said earnestly. "I hope this means his shadowing is over."

"Yes, he won't be shadowing me anymore. He has a pile of drafts to work on and won't have time."

"Good. Now I can finally get all my jokes about him off my chest. The first one is about how ridiculously young is. Is he old enough to Apparate to work, or do his parents have to Side-Along him to the lobby each morning?"

"There was a time when we were that young," she countered.

"You know, I don't think there was," he replied seriously. "I don't think we were allowed to be."

"Huh. Deep, Malfoy. But enough heavy talk. We have way too much to get done today."

"What about jokes about Duran? Can we fit those in?"

She smiled. "You can pepper them in as we work."

After that, they went back to normal, with one notable exception: Draco was on his absolute best behavior. He read all the material ahead of time, arrived at least five minutes early each day, always had a notebook out so he could jot down each one of Hermione's off-handed comments and suggestions, and - as much as he could manage to without compromising his obligation to represent the interest the Sacred Twenty-Eight - he avoided arguing with her.

A week later, Hermione was explaining a new law she was planning to propose at the start of the year which was being sponsored by the Creature Rights and International representatives. Draco had to try very hard not to cringe as she revealed each new detail of a plan to throw an insane amount of government funds at an international research project that was attempting to find a cure to lycanthropy without any indication that a cure was possible.

"What do you think?" Hermione asked at the end.

"It's not my favorite," Draco replied diplomatically.

"Will you approve it?" she pressed.

"I'll have to confer with more people."

"Ugh! Just tell me what you're actually thinking!" she exclaimed, hitting her hands on the table. "Stop smiling and give me a smirk or two. Challenge me, point holes in my arguments, please! If I wanted someone to simply agree with me and nod along, I'd get Ben back in here."

"Wooow," Draco replied, imitating Duran. "Nice monologue."

Hermione laughed. "I know you're trying to be nice but seriously, I miss the old Draco. So, can you stop this creepy, kind guy act and go back to normal?"

Draco sat up straighter in his chair as a delicious warmth spread through him. She'd missed him. And she'd called him Draco. Even though he exclusively called her "Hermione" these days, she continued to refer to him by his surname but every so often, like now, a "Draco" would slip out. His theory was that she called him "Draco" in her head and sometimes, when she wasn't thinking, forgot to use his surname when addressing him out loud.

Draco leaned forward and shot her his best smirk.

"Much better," she said appraisingly.

"You missed me?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"I did not say that."

"You did. You said, 'I miss the old Draco.'"

"That's not what I meant."

"Sure…" She was blushing now and Draco wanted to keep pushing. He hadn't tried flirting with her since the park bench fiasco and hadn't realized how much he'd been missing it.

I've missed you too, Hermione. How about we lock the door, get you out of the blouse and skirt, and then I'll show you just how much?

That's a little more than flirting.

"Can you shut up and tell me what you really feel about this law?" she asked, cutting into his thoughts.

It took Draco a second to push his naked Hermione thoughts to the back of his head and recall what they'd been talking about before. Oh, right, the ridiculous werewolf law that he was convinced she'd come up with for the sole purpose of annoying him.

"You really want to know what I think?" he asked.

She settled back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. The action made her breasts push up, enlarging the cleavage at the top of her blouse, which was causing a certain part of Draco's body to enlarge too - You need to focus! She's not yours, yet.

"Yes," she said in response to his question, which he'd almost forgotten having asked.

"Okay, here's what I think. That law is ridiculous and there is no way it'll pass. Why do you always bring up these pieces of legislation that propose pouring millions of galleons into efforts that will benefit tiny subsets of the population? If you're going to spend millions of galleons to cure something, pick a disease that impacts a good amount of people - Spattergroit, Scrofungulus, or Dragon Pox. Not lycanthropy which affects, what, less than 1% of the wizarding population?"

"It affects just under 1% of the worldwide population, but 3% of the population of Britain, thanks in large part to Greyback and the other werewolves who served Voldemort," she replied.

Draco's stomach turned and he nearly dropped the argument altogether, but could tell by the look in her eye she wasn't accusing him of anything, just stating a fact. "Fair point," he said once he'd recovered. "So, you're planning to pay for this out of the War Relief Fund?"

"No. This will be a new fund."

"From where?"

"Why is it always about money for you?"

"Because money matters. That's how things get done. All that good stuff you want - better orphanages, increased pay for professors, a new facility for the Animal Shelter, research projects like this – they require money, Hermione. And you can't just increase taxes forever. If you want to fund something new, you need to remove funding from something else."

"I know that."

"Do you? Because you never include financial breakdowns with your proposals. If you want me to sign them - and the Elders, for that matter - you need to show you've thought through the logistics. Also, if you and the Ministry could prove to private investors that you know how to manage money effectively, you may be surprised to find more people giving you donations willingly."

"People like you?"

"Yes," he said with a shrug.

"So you're saying you have more to give but you're not," she challenged, leaning over the table.

"I give my money to charities that have their shit together," he replied, leaning forward so he was only about a foot away from her. "The Ministry is not on that list."

They stared at each other for several moments while Draco fought the urge to close the distance between them and kiss her.

"Fine," she said, leaning back into her seat. "I'll look over the plan to fund it and add a page or two to the proposal. Besides that, do you have any other problems with the law?"

"Since this is going to be run by an international committee, we need to ensure there's good oversight. Add something about there being a British member on the committee at all times. Also, make sure the program lead is elected by the committee and try to get them to rotate the position every year."

"Good suggestions. I'll look into adding those."

She picked up her quill and started scratching notes in the margins of the draft. Draco let out a sigh of relief as he watched her. That wasn't so bad. They'd argued but she didn't seem upset. This was good, since acting nice was becoming exhausting. He could relax and be himself and she even seemed to prefer that. The thought made him smile.

Draco looked over the table to find Hermione had tucked her papers away, signaling the end of work for the day. They had about ten minutes to simply talk to each other before the end of the meeting. Draco spent his entire week anticipating these little blocks of time and now that she'd given him permission to be himself again, he could enjoy the time even more than he usually did.

"How's the book?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, lovely," Draco lied. "Who wouldn't want to read about overly descriptive memories from a mundane childhood? Or overly descriptive boring summers in Chambray? Or overly descriptive visits to a nightly salon…?"

"You got that far?" she asked, barely suppressing a smirk. "The prose is beautiful, isn't it?"

"It's fucking terrible and you know it."

She stared him down for a few seconds, then burst into laughter. "So, you hate it?"

"Of course I hate it. I'm human. But I'm almost done, then I'm going to have a delightful time burning the damn book. Actually, no. I'm going to Transfigure it into a madeleine, dip it into an Enlarged mug of tea until it dissolves, take that mixture and throw it into a cauldron, then pour a few vials of poison over it before Vanishing it for good."

"Dramatic," she said through her laughter.

"The man was in agony for years because his mother didn't go up and give him a good night kiss one day. I think this overblown method of destruction is in keeping with the story."

"That might be true," she said, smiling widely now. "I promise the next book will be better."

"You set the bar incredibly low, so that won't be hard to achieve."

She shook her head, then asked in a more serious tone, "Why are you working so hard, Malfoy? Just - tell me the truth."

Draco was pretty sure she wasn't ready for the truth so said instead, "You're my friend."

Her eyes widened slightly and before she could counter, deny it, or say something else that would break his heart, he continued with, "And I know I'm not yours. I know you have hundreds of friends already so your criteria for adding a new one is very high but I don't have that problem."

He began counting on his fingers as he continued. "I see you often, I tell you personal things about my life, and talking to you doesn't make me want to cast a silent Disillusionment Charm on myself and sneak away. That makes you a friend. And as I only have three others, I didn't want to let you go."

"Oh," she said thoughtfully. Draco wanted to know what was going on in that giant brain of hers, then, she decided to tell him. "Daphne said you were incredibly loyal to the few people you could stand. Are you saying I'm on that list?"

Draco had an urge to brush it off, but no, he wanted her to know how important she was to him. "You are," he replied, eyeing her intently. "But, as you know, loyalty and courtesy are two different things."

She laughed. Damn, he loved making her laugh. She leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table, and asked her next question in that way she did that made him want to pour his soul to her. "What's the real reason you went to that bench, of all places?"

Tell her. Tell her you like her. She hasn't broken up with Weasley yet and this might be the push she needs. She's insecure and if she does like you, she's probably looking for reassurance that you like her back. Theo isn't here, like before. You're alone. You do it.

"I wanted to be in the Muggle world and that was the only place I knew to go."

Or you could lie. Also an option. A fucking shitty one, but an option nonetheless. Fucking coward.

Shut up!

If you expect a fearless witch like this to fall for you one day, you're going to have to step it up.

I said, shut up! I'm in the middle of a conversation here.

"What?" Hermione asked, looking understandably confused.

Draco searched for a good lie. "I was feeling down and after a night of people glaring at me from across the room and whispering as I walked by, I wanted to be anonymous and the Muggle world was the only place I could think of right then. Like I said, I wasn't thinking clearly."

"Oh." Was she disappointed or was Draco just seeing what he wanted to?

"I am sorry. What I said was really, really stupid."

"Yeah," she sighed.

"Did your nightmare - um - I know it was weeks ago but, did that turn out okay?"

She moved her gaze down to the table and said with a shrug, "I still have them."

"Me too," he admitted. "But, uh, you can go back to the bench if you need to. You don't have to worry about running into me."

"Really?" she asked, looking up at him again, "because you went there thirty-seven times, just this month."

Draco scowled, which was his typical reaction when he was embarrassed, but then he tried to smooth his features. He wanted her to know she was important to him, didn't he? "How do you know that?" he asked calmly.

"I put a trace on the bench," she said, like it was nothing.

"How?"

"I pulled your magical signature off a letter you'd sealed with magic a few months ago, altered a Tracking Charm to focus solely on that signature, then applied it to the bench at night, when it was empty and there were no Muggles around. I needed to know if it was safe to return there and…" She let her voice trail off.

"It wasn't," he finished for her.

She just shrugged.

"I'm sorry, I was just trying to get you alone so I could apologize. But I really won't go back. I promise."

"Okay. Good to know."

Draco shook his head as he leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out in front of him. "You modified a Tracking Charm all on your own? Wooow," he said dramatically, imitating Duran again.

She kicked him under the table.

"Seriously, though, you're brilliant. Actually, you know what? I think you might be the brightest witch of the age."

"Oh, I know. It's on my Chocolate Frog Card."

"Modest, as well," he said with a smirk. He'd been trying to smirk as much as possible ever since she'd admitted that she'd missed his smirking.

"You'd know, as you're the picture of modesty," she replied sardonically.

"I get that a lot. It's going to be written on my statue."

"You have a statue?"

"Of course, right at the front of the house, in the middle of the courtyard. I had to do something with all the extra money I'm saving myself (and all rich people, for that matter) by sneaking loopholes into the tax laws we've been working on."

That earned him a large eye roll, but he could see her lips turning up. "There's an inscription, too," he continued.

"Well, of course. What does it say?"

"Draco Malfoy - modest, humble, philanthropic and, as you can see from the statue, devastatingly handsome."

Hermione snorted. "Your arrogance truly has no bounds."

Draco just shrugged. She was giving him that look that said, "You are impossible and I have no idea how I ended up stuck in this room with you." But there was a little more to it today. There was a glint in her eyes that made him think the follow-on sentence was, "I like you in spite of it all, though I have no clue why."

And he couldn't ignore the fact that she was more relaxed now than she'd been at the beginning of the meeting, the tension in her posture almost completely gone. Draco had done that. And even though he didn't see her outside this room, and therefore had no idea if this were true, he liked to think she was more alive - more herself - when she was with him. There was a definite spark here but Draco had no idea how to ignite it into something more. Should he do something or wait for her to figure it out on her own?

Do something!

Yeah, I know your opinion, but I could lose her and I just got her back. Let's just wait for a little longer and see what happens.

Coward.

I know.

After his meeting with Hermione, Draco went to the seventh floor to meet Theo for lunch. While he waited for Theo to finish up the letter he was working on, Draco leaned against the wall and thought about Hermione. He'd made progress today. They were finally back to that comfortable spot they'd been in, just before Draco had discovered Hermione was Lady Malfoy and had gone temporarily insane.

That had only taken a few weeks. And now...how much longer until she was his? That's all he wanted and things were moving so slowly, which he knew was mostly his fault, but any time he thought of pushing things along, he wanted to vomit. Bloody hell.

"Ready?" Theo asked, startling Draco out of his thoughts.

"Oh, right."

They walked across the floor in silence and waited a few moments for the next lift. The doors to the lift opened to reveal none other than Hermione and Weasley. For a brief second, before the couple looked up and spotted Draco and Theo, Draco got a glimpse into their relationship. Hermione was talking animatedly, probably about work, while Weasley stared blankly at the opposite wall, nodding absently.

"Are you serious, Hermione?!" Draco wanted to shout. "This bloke?! He doesn't even listen to you! You are so much better than this!" Instead, he stayed quiet and stepped onto the lift.

Hermione jumped when she saw them and said nervously, "Hi, Theo, and, uh, Malfoy."

Draco would have given half of one of his vaults for her to have said "Draco" right then. Oh, well. Weasley wrapped an arm around Hermione possessively and Draco caught Hermione rolling her eyes slightly. Good, she knew how immature her boyfriend was.

Though, in all honesty, if it were Draco, he wouldn't just be wrapping an arm around Hermione, but probably trying to slip a hand in her blouse too, just to make perfectly clear to any bloke watching that she was undeniably his, and no one else's.

"Are you, um, going for lunch?" Hermione asked.

Draco couldn't help but smile. You don't have to fill every silence, Hermione.

"Yeah," Theo replied, looking bored and completely oblivious to the tension in the lift.

"Right, us too."

"Level 8 - Atrium," the voice in the lift said. They all stepped off the lift and, unfortunately, were stuck walking to the exit together. Weasley still had his arm around Hermione and anytime he caught Draco's eye, shot him a smug look. Fucking wanker. Draco was seething and was sure if he had a hand on his wand right now, it would be emitting sparks.

"Where are you going for lunch?" Hermione asked Theo. "Anywhere good?"

"Yeah, The Cottage. You've been there, right?"

Hermione's eyes flashed to Draco's. The expression there was panicked. "Um, no," she replied, moving her gaze to their feet. "I don't think I have."

Theo was about to open his mouth to say something when Draco cut in. "You should try it, Granger. The food is good and it has a nice atmosphere."

She shot him a small smile. "Yeah, I will."

They'd reached the exit and Weasley pulled her toward the fireplaces. He spared Draco a final, hateful glare before turning away, guiding Hermione with a hand on her lower back.

Draco wanted so badly to run after him, grab the collar of his robes, and throw him to the ground while yelling, "Take your hands off my future wife, you fucking wanker!" But Draco's sense of self-preservation was too strong for that. Weasley was an Auror and could probably defeat him in five seconds.

"What was that about?" Theo asked when Hermione and Weasley had disappeared through the Floo.

"What?"

"Isn't The Cottage where you went with Hermione and Daphne?"

Draco just shrugged as he made his way to the door. "It was clear she hadn't told Weasley about it."

"So?" Theo replied, following Draco outside. "He would have been fucking pissed if he'd found out about it. I was sort of setting you up for it."

Draco shrugged again. "He would have taken it out on Hermione, ruining the rest of her day."

"Wait." Theo grabbed Draco's arm so he couldn't Disapparate.

"What?" Draco was getting annoyed.

"You gave up a chance at antagonizing Weasley, one of your favorite things to do in the world, to keep Hermione from having a bad day?"

There was a knowing look in his eyes and Draco wondered if he'd already figured it all out. Draco shook Theo's arm away and Disapparated to the path outside The Cottage. Theo appeared behind him a few seconds later. "You have it bad, don't you?" he asked as he walked up the path behind Draco.

"Aloof and disinterested, Theo," Draco grumbled. "These are your best qualities and if you abandon them now, I'm not sure there are any other reasons to keep you around."

"I'm a nice reminder that no matter how bad you think things are, they could be much worse," Theo pointed out. "You could be living alone with nothing but house elves for company, too afraid to tell your mother you're gay, holding down a stupid job in one of the Ministry's stupidest departments while a team of people you don't even know run your estate, and be stuck with idiotic friends like you and Blaise."

Draco couldn't help but laugh. "Solid point. Seriously, though, I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine," he said, then added darkly, "Believe me, I understand that better than anyone."

A/N: These Draco/Hermione conversations always end up so much longer written out than when I first imagined them in my head. Then, 8000 words later, I've reached the end of another chapter and nothing has really happened. Oh well, hopefully you're still finding it fun to see them interact. More plot development is coming, I promise!