Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters of the book. They are the property of J.K Rowling, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only
"It's quant," Hermione said when they ambled into the small London flat.
"It's a shoebox!" Draco protested, his eyes moving over the small space to finally land on the tiny stove in the kitchen. Their conversation had become routine. It seemed growing up at the manor had made him accustomed to a certain standard. A standard which this flat seriously lacked. And that went for all the twenty or so flats they'd viewed that summer.
"You always say that!" Hermione said irritably "You know, I'm starting to think that you don't want to live with me." He watched her cross her arms over her chest. The landlady who'd let them into the space cleared her throat.
"I'll let you look around shall I?" she said quietly before she turned and walked back down the stairs. Draco watched her leave before turning to Hermione.
"Don't be ridiculous, you know I want to live with you. It's just.." he started but Hermione cut him off.
"It's just what? What does it matter where we live as long as we're together?" she asked. Draco knew she was ultimately right. But that didn't stop him feeling that this place was wrong. He sighed at the thought that this wretched place was about the only thing they could afford at the moment.
"Fine, but as soon as we can afford to, we're moving", he said defeated.
"You mean it? We can live here?" she asked and he smiled at her excitement. She can be excited for the both of us, he thought and nodded to her.
"Excellent! I'll go sign the paperwork," she said rushing down the stairs. Draco slumped down on the worn leather sofa by the window, frowning at the yellowing wallpaper coming off the walls and the cracks in the ceiling. Then he cast a glance out the window and was pleased to see that the view wasn't half bad. Their building overlooked a small park and there were children playing on the swings.
"All done," Hermione announced as she returned. She sat down on the sofa next to him and rested her head against his chest.
"All it needs is some love and a lick of paint," she said and Draco chuckled. What it needed was a demolish, but he didn't tell her that.
"I'll ask the guys to help with moving this weekend, shall I?" Hermione asked and Draco knew "the guys" to mean Harry and Ron. He grunted in response. It was strange really, that his two sworn enemies had now become his, there was no other word for it, friends. He guessed they'd always been alright, it had been him, Draco who'd been awful. But not anymore. He was a changed man and it was mostly Hermione's doing. He kissed the top of her head.
"I can't wait to turn this into our place, you know?" she said and he could tell she was already sifting through fabric samples and paint swatches in her head.
"Me too," he said attempting to picture the flat in bright, fresh paint. But all he saw was peeling wallpaper, cracks and he'd just noticed a dark stain on the rough wooden floor.
"I'll pick up some paint after work tomorrow, do you have a preference?" she asked.
"No, I trust your taste," he said. He'd forgotten that Hermione was starting her internship at the Ministry that following day. He'd tried to be excited for her. But her interning at the Ministry left him feeling useless. He still had no clue what he wanted to do for a living and was starting to believe he didn't possess a scrap of ambition. Furthermore, Hermione working at the Ministry meant her seeing a lot more of Nathan Blakely. The handsome Ministry worker who'd been captured alongside Hermione by Nightshade earlier that year. Draco felt sure that they living so close together under those conditions had left a strong bond between them. And it was an understatement to say Draco didn't like the thought of Blakely being Hermione's immediate supervisor.
But at least the Ministry had sacked that lunatic Jenkins who'd leaked Hermione's personal information to Nightshade. Draco stroked Hermione's hair, thinking about how Nightshades operation had unravelled after The Orders rescue operation and how his parents had been brought in for questioning. Narcissa had gone free due to insufficient evidence against her. This had left Draco feeling relieved. Not because he believed his mother to be innocent, but because he couldn't bear the thought of her in Azkaban. His father on the other hand could rot in the Wizard prison for all he cared. And from the looks of it that would indeed be his fate. Lucius was currently being held awaiting trial and Draco was scheduled to testify against him later that summer.
"What are you thinking about?" Hermione asked, looking up at him.
"Nothing that you should worry your pretty little head about," he said before leaning into kiss her.
Hermione woke up in her parent's house the following day feeling nervous. It was her first day at the Ministry. Nathan had told her she'd nothing to worry about and that she'd be an immediate success. But that was the exact root of her anxiety. What would they expect of the girl who'd spent the previous year crushing Nightshade and still managed to get all her N.E.W.T: s? She felt burdened by her own merits. What if she couldn't live up to the Ministry's expectations? Hermione felt a pang of yearning for Harry. Her best friend knew all about what it was like to have people counting on your success.
She got dressed in front of her bedroom mirror and pinching her cheeks she brought colour to her face. Then she straightened her dress and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"You can do this," she told her reflection before heading out the door.
"Whoa, you look great!" Draco said when he saw her. He stood leaned against the doorway to the bathroom with a toothbrush dangling from his mouth. It hadn't been easy convincing her parents to let Draco stay at their house until he and Hermione found a place of their own. And the only one who seemed unperturbed about the arrangement was Draco. Something that had surprised Hermione. She crinkled her nose at him.
"Really? It doesn't look like I'm trying too hard?" she asked reaching over to wipe toothpaste from his chin.
"Yes. No, wait - Is that a trick question?" Draco asked watching Hermione biting her lip anxiously.
"Would you please stop doing that," Draco said, his eyes fixed on Hermione's bottom lip. They hadn't slept together in weeks and he was beginning to lose his mind. He struggled to fall asleep at night, knowing she was on the other side of the wall.
"Sorry," Hermione mumbled, ceasing biting her lip at once. But the damage was already done, he couldn't help himself but stepped towards her. In an instant his hands were in her hair and he was kissing her forcefully. She moaned quietly and Draco felt adrenalin pump through his veins. There was only one thought in his head now and his hands ran eagerly over her curves when...
"Draco, we can't," Hermione said when she pulled away from him.
"But you want to," Draco challenged.
"Of course I want to," she said looking annoyed "you think this is easy for me?"
"Sorry. I'm just.." he started, but she cut him off.
"I know. Me too," Hermione said in a weak smile.
"Anyway, good luck today," he said giving her a kiss on the cheek and he felt hollow watching her scurry down the stairs.
Hermione took a deep breath as she reached the phone booth. This is it, she thought when she pushed the door opened and got inside. She dialled the magical number and felt herself being transported down into the ground. Everything went pitch dark before she was greeted by the sight of the great entrance hall. It was bustling with Ministry witches and wizards on their way to work. Several of them glanced at their clocks and most carried briefcases. Hermione hesitated. They all looked so grown up. And there she was – feeling like a child dressed in her mother's clothing.
"Hermione," she heard a voice call out to her right and was relieved to see it was Nathan, or Mr Blakely as she had to call him now that he was her boss.
"Mr Blakely," she said with a weak smile and reached out her hand in greeting.
"Mr Blakely," Nathan said raising an eyebrow, "and a handshake?" he continued when he noticed Hermione's outstretched hand. He shook his head and pulled her into a hug. Feeling slightly taken a back at this, Hermione stumbled into him.
"Nathan, you're my boss," she spoke into his shoulder in a muffled voice. Nathan released her and took a step back.
"Right, but do we seriously need all these platitudes? We're friends Hermione," he said smiling.
"I know that, I just think it'd be better if we stayed professional in the office," she said straightening her dress.
"Alright then, Miss Granger, let me show you to your office," Nathan said gesturing towards the lifts.
"My office? But I'm only an intern," she asked perplexed.
"Yes, however you're in luck. The department of Magical Creatures has been one person short since Jenkins left so you'll be getting my old office. It's about the size of a broom closet but I think it will suffice," he said leading her to the lifts.
They stepped inside and Hermione felt a jolt in her stomach as the lift swished upward.
"You'll find that our department is quite overworked at the moment. Mostly due to the head of our department being locked up in Azkaban. But also because we just got word of a ring of illegal dragon dealers operating in Britain," Nathan went on.
"Dragon dealers?" Hermione asked, "But there hasn't been anything about that in the Prophet".
"That's because its top secret. Frankly we have no idea how to find out who these idiots are or their location," he sighed.
"But then how do you know," Hermione started but Nathan answered her before she'd finished.
"That they exist? Well, we got a tip from an anonymous source. Our guess is that it came from a dissatisfied customer. Anyway, we checked his information and it seems legit," he said and then "Pity he didn't give us any names though."
Hermione clung to Nathans every word as the lift pulled them left and right through the crevices of the Ministry.
"This is us," Nathan said once they'd stopped and lead her from the lift and into a dimly lit office floor. There were papers zooming through the air and Hermione heard people talking agitatedly from inside its offices.
They walked to the far end of the corridor and stopped outside a gleaming black door. Nathan pulled out his wand and muttered something. Hermione heard the door click open.
Her eyes widened as they walked inside. The room was deep purple and there were velvet curtains hanging from the tall windows.
"So this is my office," Nathan said gesturing towards a mahogany desk and green studded chair.
"Your office is right through here which means you have to walk through my office to get to it. An inconvenience, but you'll get used to it. I did," he continued and showed her through a door to their left. Her office was significantly smaller than his. It had the same purple walls but her desk chair was a dusky grey. Hermione frowned at the heaping piles of papers stacked on top of her desk.
"Yeah, sorry about all that," Nathan said apologetically, "It's just I'm really behind on paperwork and I was hoping you could help me catch up."
Hermione nodded. Being that she was very efficient and eager to get to work she didn't mind it much.
"I would introduce you to the others, it's just that they're all very busy at the moment," he said.
"I understand," she answered, making her way to her desk.
"Well then, I'll let you get to it. Call me if you need me," Nathan said before leaving her alone.
Hermione felt giddy. She could hardly believe where she was – working for the Ministry of Magic from her very own office. Anxious to prove herself, Hermione sat down behind the desk and sifted through the papers, categorizing them into neat piles. There were reports on accidental killings of unicorns, illegal breeding of thestrals, confiscation of dragon eggs and an angry letter from a woman whose neighbour had let his niffler run amok in her back garden. Then there were a bunch of documents concerning magical creatures Hermione had never even heard of.
She was grateful that she'd carefully read the material sent to her from the Ministry in the weeks leading up to her internship. She knew all the abbreviations by heart which made it easy for her to type out the reports and approving them was easy since she was familiar with all the relevant laws. By the end of the day all the paperwork had been filed and she could tell Nathan was impressed when he came into her office.
"I had expected it to take you at least a week to get through all that," he said sounding astonished.
"It's not that difficult once you have a system," Hermione said snapping her copy of "Magical creatures – laws and legislation" shut.
"You know I'd like to celebrate your successful first day at the Ministry," Nathan said and then, "Do you think that boyfriend of yours would mind if I took you to dinner?"
"Oh, he would," Hermione answered frowning, "but luckily he doesn't have a say in who I choose to have dinner with."
"Does that mean you will have dinner with me then?" Nathan asked her and she nodded.
"Excellent, I thought we could go to that new Italian place on Brewer street," he suggested.
"But that's a muggle place," Hermione said.
"Yes and I would think you'd be familiar with them considering that you are muggleborn," he said raising an eyebrow. Hermione laughed.
"Of course. I just sometimes forget that you are too," she said.
Draco was pacing the floor of his bedroom feeling agitated. It had been hours since he'd received the owl from Hermione with a note telling him she'd be late. Draco was convinced that wherever she was and whatever she was doing Blakely was with her. And he fucking hated that guy, even more now that he was Hermione's boss. Jealousy roared in his chest and he craved to hunt them down, knowing full well he couldn't. Instead he went to his dresser and pulled a bottle of Ogden's from its top drawer. He took a swig straight from the bottle and felt a warm sensation in his throat as he recalled the image of Hermione from that morning. She'd been wearing a black dress that stretched over her curves and Draco hadn't been able to keep his hands off her. No doubt that slimeball Blakely wanted to touch her too. Perhaps he already had, Draco thought groaning.
His heart raced and he slumped down on the bed feeling dizzy, the bottle of whisky still clutched in his hand. He mustn't think like that, Hermione was the most trustworthy person he knew and she wouldn't do anything so reckless as to have an affair. Draco panted waiting for his last thought to sink in, when he heard the sound of the door downstairs. He could tell it was Hermione coming up the stairs and in one swift move he'd put down the bottle and charged from the bedroom. He stopped when he saw her. She looked flushed and her hair which had been so neatly pinned up that morning was untamed.
"Granger, where the hell have you been?" Draco hissed at her.
"I sent you an owl," Hermione started.
"Oh, so that's all it takes now is it? An owl? No explanation, no regard for any plans I had for us. Just an owl telling me you'll be late," he asked angrily, not bothering to keep his voice down.
"Draco, it was my first day and Nathan wanted to take me to dinner to celebrate," Hermione said exasperated.
"You went on a date with him?" Draco asked heatedly. He could feel his blood cooking now and his hands closed into fists.
"Don't be ridiculous! And keep your voice down," she whispered looking thoroughly peeved.
"He's your boss! What the fuck are you doing having dinner with him?" Draco asked.
"He's my friend," Hermione corrected him.
"Are you honestly that naïve? Do you honestly think that after all those nights you spent together on that island - he wants to be your friend?" Draco said in a statement rather than question. He knew it wasn't fair of him to bring up the time she'd spent on the Island. She hadn't exactly been there by choice and if Draco had done a better job looking after her she wouldn't have been captured in the first place.
"Don't you come dragging with that rubbish," she said threating "you know nothing even remotely romantic happened between us on that island".
"Do I?" Draco challenged. His behaviour was inexcusable but he didn't care. He wanted Blakely out of Hermione's life and felt he would go through any lengths to ensure that. Even at the cost of losing her? Asked a voice in his head. He ignored it and continued to glare at Hermione.
"I'm not having this discussion with you when you are like this. I'm going to bed," Hermione declared and she went to her bedroom, closing the door hard behind her. Draco stared after her.