tasha-cabin10ravenclaw: I know! haha. Draco and Hermione fit together so much better than Ron and her. That's why I love dramione stories so much :)

Chapter Three

Malfoy Manor

The door opened again and Hermione looked up, meeting the green eyes of her best friend. Harry walked over to her and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the table, smiling.

"You told me you'd come to talk to me today at eleven."

Hermione frowned and glanced at the clock on one of the walls. It was half past eleven. She had been working non-stop for over three hours, and she hadn't remembered to go up to the first floor and look for Harry in the Auror Office.

"I'm sorry, Harry. All this World Cup stuff is making me nervous, there's so much to do," she muttered, closing one of the folders and putting her quill down.

Hermione leaned her elbows on the table and sighed, closing her eyes.

"So you two are coming to Grimmauld Place on Saturday? Ginny has a break, the Holyhead Harpies don't have a match and she's spending the weekend there with me," Harry commented, biting into an apple he was holding.

"I think there's been a change of plans... Molly wants us all to go to the Burrow."

Harry twisted his lips.

"I don't like when so many of us get together there, it's like we're taking advantage of the Weasleys and their hospitality," he said, looking his friend in the eye.

Hermione shrugged. The door to the Minister's office opened wide and Arthur emerged with several parchments in his hands. He smiled at the sight of Harry and walked over to them.

"Harry! What are you doing here?"

"I've got some free time and I've come to talk to Hermione," he replied, standing up and shaking Mr. Weasley's hand.

"Has she told you that we'll all be together on Saturday? Molly's making stew and we're eating in the garden. I'm afraid there are too many of us to fit in the dining room," Arthur said, chuckling.

"I know, I think it's a lot of trouble..."

"Nonsense! You two are part of the family and always welcome. In fact, if you see Luna, tell her to come too. It's been a long time since we've seen her," Mr. Weasley proposed, tapping Harry affectionately on the shoulder.

After that, he left Hermione's office and they watched him walk towards the lifts.

Harry looked at his friend and they both laughed. Mr. Weasley had always been like a father to him, and since Hermione had lost her parents, she felt the same way.

"Looks like it's time for a family reunion," she commented, still laughing.

"Yes... I'll see you there on Saturday. It'll be fun to see Malfoy at the Burrow," Harry said, glancing at his wristwatch and rounding Hermione's desk to give her a quick hug.

He hurried out of the office and Hermione went back to concentrating on the security measures that were to be taken for the tournament, checking that everything was under control.

Not long after, she felt a strange sensation, as if someone was watching her. She looked up and the blood drained from her face when she saw Draco leaning against the door frame, staring at her with a mischievous grin.

"Not bad, it only took you a minute to notice me this time," he said in a mocking voice.

Hermione closed her eyes and exhaled slowly.

"I hate it when you do that... since you're an Unspeakable you're worse than a ninja... too stealthy to my liking," she protested quietly as she tried to organise the mess on her table.

"Ninja?" Draco repeated, frowning.

"They're Muggle warriors who move so quietly that no one sees them, and they know how to fight better than anyone. There are a lot of films about them," Hermione explained, standing up and walking towards him.

The clock on the wall said it was half past twelve, that morning had flown by. Draco wrapped his arms around her waist as soon as she was near him and kissed her forehead.

"Ninja... I like it, you can call me that."

She rolled her eyes and slapped him on the chest, hearing him laughing. They walked together to the lifts and down to the eighth floor, where the Atrium and the golden fireplaces connected to the Floo Network were. All of them were always working and the emerald green flames never went out. They entered one of the large ones together, which allowed up to three people to travel together, and Draco called out their destination.

A few seconds later, they emerged through the fireplace of the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione held his hand and, as Draco transfigured his robes into a black coat, they walked through the door into Muggle London.

They walked down a couple of streets until they came to a small Chinese restaurant, one of Hermione's favourites. A waitress greeted them and escorted them to the only free table by a window. The two sat down and she left them a menu, leaving them alone.

"We only have half an hour left for lunch, we should have gone to the Ministry cafeteria," Hermione commented as she decided what she was going to order.

"I'm sick of those crap sandwiches. If we don't eat outside two or three times every week, I'll go mad," Draco growled, leaving the letter on the table.

"Pansy's right. You're a drama queen, Draco."

"Queen? Am I a woman?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

The waitress returned and they both ordered their favourite dishes. Hermione also ordered a beer for each of them. When the girl walked away, Draco leaned his elbows on the table and lowered his upper body, bringing his face closer to hers.

"If you need me to remind you what a man I am, I can do it anytime," he whispered, arching his eyebrows and looking at her with dangerous eyes.

Hermione smiled, feeling her cheeks flare.

"Let me change what I said... you're a drama king, Draco."

"Much better," he said, interlocking his fingers on the table.

Hermione looked at the ring on his left hand, the symbol of the Malfoy family.

"When did your father give you that ring? I remember seeing you wearing it in third year, but I'm not sure if you had it before," she muttered, glancing up at Draco.

He gave her a crooked smile.

"When you were thirteen, you were already checking me out, weren't you? That was the year he gave it to me."

"I didn't notice you, you were just an idiot who called me awful names and I liked to keep an eye on you," Hermione replied, clicking her tongue.

"If you want to lie to yourself, fine... but I'm sure that's not the only reason you were looking at me," Draco said quietly, raising his eyebrows three times.

She snorted, folding her arms.

"Don't start with your smug nonsense, Malfoy. Besides, I remember catching you staring at me a lot," she muttered, cocking her head to one side and looking at Draco's eyes.

She saw a spark in them that gave her a shiver.

"You were pretty enough, but I had to hate you. That's why I insulted you every time you were around... I had to do something to stop thinking of you that way."

Hermione gasped.

"Are you serious? You liked me?"

"You started catching my eye in third year, though I never admitted it to myself. And you know when I really noticed you," Draco confessed, playing with his fork between his fingers.

Yes, Hermione knew. She remembered perfectly when she walked into the compartment where he was, on the first day of their eighth year at Hogwarts, his grey eyes running over her body.

The waitress appeared with their food and, after setting the plates down, walked away again. Hermione began to eat, still looking at Draco, who kept moving his fork and staring at her.

"Is that true?"

"I don't lie, not to you."

Hermione nodded and looked down at her plate, blushing again. She and Draco had exchanged glances hundreds of times when they were students, but she always thought he was glaring at her because he hated her... knowing that he was actually trying to find more reasons to hate her and not like her changed everything.

She'd always thought Draco was one of the most handsome boys her age, but because of his horrible personality she'd never looked at him twice.

"Why aren't you wearing it in your right hand?"

He stared at her with a furrowed brow.

"I know you're left-handed, but I suppose tradition says to wear it on the right."

"You should know how little I care about tradition," Draco replied.

They ate quickly as they talked about their years at school, and after paying the bill, they headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. They took turns going through the fireplace and, when Hermione appeared in the Atrium, Draco was waiting for her by one of the lifts, holding the golden grilles.

She ran towards him and the two of them entered the lift, which closed and began to go up instantly. Draco grabbed one of the ropes and Hermione held onto his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. They were alone, so they could be as affectionate as they wanted to be.

As if Draco had read her mind, he lifted her chin with one hand and kissed her slowly, deepening the kiss little by little as they continued their way up. Hermione sighed as she felt his hand caressing her cheek and tangling in her curls, his teeth nibbling gently at her lower lip.

They broke apart when the metallic voice announced that they were on the first floor.

"See you at home," Draco said as she stepped out of the lift.

Hermione turned around and gave him a smile. The golden grilles closed and the lift went back down.

She walked to the door of her office, touching her lips. Draco's kisses still made her a little groggy and she had to concentrate for the rest of the afternoon.

It still seemed incredible to her that, before they started being together, he had never wanted to kiss girls... but he always wanted to kiss her, all the time.

Few things made her feel as special as that.

Draco emerged into the green flames of the Granger's fireplace, finding Hermione sitting in her favourite armchair.

Her head was resting on one arm, her feet dangling from the other. Crookshanks was sitting on her belly and she had her wand in one hand. A book was levitating above her head, Hermione waved her wand at the sight of Draco and the book slammed shut, flying to land on the dining room table.

"Have you been waiting long?" Draco asked, approaching her.

Crookshanks jumped down to the floor and Hermione stood up, glancing sideways at the clock on the wall. Half past six.

"No, only half an hour. You're back early today."

"Because my mother gets angry if we keep her waiting, she likes to eat dinner at this time."

"I think I should change my clothes," Hermione commented, starting to walk towards the stairs.

Draco stopped her by grabbing one of her arms, shaking his head.

"Don't. I like this dress," he whispered, running his hands around her waist.

"It's Muggle... I'm sure they'd rather see me in a robe."

"If they don't like it... fuck them."

"Draco! I don't like you saying those things, they're your parents," Hermione protested quietly, looking him in the eye.

He shrugged.

"I don't care what they think, I just want you to be yourself. If they like it, fine... and if they don't, then it's fine too."

Hermione rolled her eyes but couldn't contain a smile. She stood on her tiptoes and planted a quick kiss on his lips, after which she waved her wand. Her coat levitated to her and she put it on, holding onto Draco's arm.

He gave her a sidelong glance, raising an eyebrow, and just then the two of them disappeared with a small crack.

They apparated just outside the boundaries of Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire. Draco grabbed one of her hands and walked to the iron gate, stepping through it as if it were made of smoke. The two of them followed the stone path that led up to the gigantic house.

"It bothers me that you can't just apparate or floo to the manor. It's stupid that only a Malfoy can do it," Draco growled under his breath.

Hermione squeezed his hand.

"This magic is very old. Voldemort could change it, but with his death everything went back to normal and I don't mind having to hold your hand to get through," she said, leaning over his shoulder as they walked.

Draco gritted his teeth but didn't answer, resting his cheek on her forehead. As expected, she was too understanding and didn't make a big deal about such things, but it annoyed him that he couldn't use the fireplaces in the manor with her, and that he couldn't apparate directly in the garden or in his room if Hermione was with him.

The huge doors of the manor opened as they approached and a small elf greeted them.

"Master Malfoy!" she cried excitedly as she saw them.

"I've told you a hundred times to call me Draco, Minsy. You've been free for years and we are no longer your masters," Draco replied, rolling his eyes.

She tugged at her ears nervously.

"Don't do that! Relax, Minsy," Hermione whispered, reaching down and grabbing the elf's hands to pull them away from her ears.

"Miss Granger, Minsy has prepared your favourite dish today."

"Thank you very much. You don't need to do that for me," Hermione replied, getting back to her feet.

"Of course! Miss Granger doesn't come often, and Minsy wants her to make herself at home. The masters are waiting for you in the main dining room," the elf added, disappearing with a pop.

Draco took Hermione's right hand again and together they walked through the east wing of the manor, arriving at the dining room where she had first eaten with the Malfoy family more than fifteen months ago.

He opened one of the doors and Hermione stepped through. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were sitting on one of the sofas in the corner of the room and rose at the sight of them.

"Hermione, my dear," Narcissa greeted, coming up to kiss her on the cheek.

"Hello, Mrs. Mal... I mean, Narcissa."

Narcissa gave her a small smile and Lucius bowed his head slightly.

"Welcome, Miss Granger."

Hermione felt uncomfortable, as she did every time she was around Lucius. She felt a squeeze on her hand, Draco was still holding it.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. It's always a pleasure to come and visit you."

Lucius arched his eyebrows and Hermione looked away. They both knew that was a big lie, and that she would rather be anywhere else.

"Well, let's go to the table. Food is ready," Narcissa urged them.

Draco pushed a chair away and, once Hermione was seated, he sat down opposite her. Narcissa always wanted Hermione to sit next to her so that they could talk, and Lucius took the main chair, with his son on one side and his wife on the other.

Hermione picked up the napkin and put it in her lap. She saw that there were two different forks next to her plate and frowned, still not quite understanding what each was for. She only saw things like that at Malfoy Manor. When she looked up, she realised that Draco was watching her as he tried not to laugh.

"Tell us, Hermione, how's it going at the Ministry? I can't ask Draco, he never wants to say anything about his work," Narcissa commented quietly, glancing at her son.

The first course appeared in front of them, a cucumber cream with cheese and chunks of ham.

"It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I can't say anything," Draco protested, taking the spoon.

Hermione smiled and began to eat as well. Minsy appeared and filled all their glasses with red wine, disappearing again without a word.

"Everything is going well, we are now getting ready to meet with the Muggle Prime Minister and talk about the measures we are going to take for the Quidditch World Cup. We don't want Muggles noticing anything, and when wizards come from all over the world it's quite complicated," Hermione explained, taking a sip of wine.

"Is there a date yet?" Draco asked curiously.

"Yes. The matches will start in April, and the final will be on the second of May."

Draco frowned, clenching his jaw.

"I know, the final will be the day of the Battle of Hogwarts... but it can't be any other time, it has to be before summer," Hermione added, sighing.

"What matches are being held in England?" asked Lucius.

"Two of the quarter finals, and the final. They're going to use the same stadium they built for the final between Ireland and Bulgaria... Do you remember, Draco?" Hermione replied, meeting her boyfriend's grey gaze.

He had a dark face.