And we have a smidge of Drarry...


Hermione rubbed her gloved hands together and stamped her feet as she waited in the arched doorway of the Hall. Her breath steamed around her, thickening as she huffed out her annoyance.

Where was Harry? She'd sent Tomes off a full hour ago with the message that Draco had dropped in unexpectedly. If he wasn't quick, he'd miss his obsession completely. And there was no telling when they could convince Draco to return. Though Severus was with her in their match-making efforts.

Anything to focus their surges of uncontrolled testosterone.

Severus' words. A smile tugged at her mouth. She did so like the acid edge that her wizard simply couldn't suppress.

And somehow her mother had launched herself into the mix. It was scary how Gwendolyn Granger could scent out a match-making scheme.

The sharp snap of apparition had Hermione's booted feet striding across the frost-free flags of the courtyard. Harry stood there, his face pinked, his hair wild and he gave her a cautious smile. He had on a new overcoat, neatly pressed trousers and his boots were clean.

Bless, he was trying to make an effort.

Hermione stretched out a hand to him, thankful for her concealing gloves. She didn't want him distracted by the bright ring on her left hand. Though this was Harry. There was a good chance he wouldn't notice…

She began to tug him towards the Hall. "Draco and Severus are taking in the mews cottages. Our half-way place for adult wizard-born."

"Hermione…" Harry's Adam's apple bobbed. He'd faced down Voldemort when he was barely a man, but the thought of approaching Draco had him running scared.

"Severus and I will leave you alone—"

"Snape knows?"

Hermione frowned and his already pink cheeks flushed a deeper red. "Professor Snape was charged with keeping a weary eye on both of you. He's always known."

Harry groaned and caught his fingers in his hair. "Do you have to sound so much like him, Hermione? It's too weird."

She snorted and tugged on his hand again. "Come on, Boy Wonder."

He slid her a dark look, but gave in to her pull. He frowned up at the front of the Hall, as if seeing it for the first time since he arrived. Which was probably true. "Wow, this place is…"

"Beautiful?" Hermione grinned at him. "It is. We have a subsidy from the Ministry, and eventually the wizard-born housed and working here will garnish their pay…but we still need funds to run it." Her eyes narrowed on him. "I expect a generous donation from you, Harry Potter."

"I'd stump up the money even if you weren't…" He waved his free hand.

"I know."

She linked her arm through his and wove her way through the manor house and out into the gardens that sat before the mews houses. The paths were clean and frost free —courtesy of the elves— though the air was a little too bracing to enjoy the walk.

Hermione almost huffed a laugh. Kent was making her soft. The chill at Hogwarts when they returned would now strip the heat from her bones.

"How was Christmas at the Burrow?"

Harry shrugged, though a smile lifted his lips. "Jumpers galore. Ginny invited Luna and her dad. Mrs Weasley knitted Luna a jumper in the exact pinkish-purple of a crumple horned snorkack… She was ecstatic."

Hermione broke out into laughter. "I can imagine."

"Ron was saying…"

A line had formed on Harry's brow and she could just imagine what Ron had been saying. What had she ever seen in Ronald Bilius Weasley? He took churlishness to a new level.

She let out a long breath. Getting into this now simply wasn't the right time. "Harry…"

"He said that you fancy Snape." The words came out on a rush and his face was once again a brighter red. "That you had all these plans for a quidditch team of babies, but had thrown that over for—"

"Harry." She squeezed his arm. "Now is not the moment to get into Ron's ravings. You have a slytherin to run down." She lifted her eyebrows. "That is more important. Isn't it?"

He scrubbed a hand over his face. "I'm trying to think of anything but that. Am I going to make a complete fool of myself? What if he isn't interested? What if—"

"He is interested. He is."

She stopped at the wide archway that led into the courtyard of the first set of eight cottages. Severus had said he would drag Draco into the large cottage that straddled the archway. But Harry had taken his time…so whether both wizards still lingered there, she wasn't certain.

She stopped with the pretence of taking in the long stretch of the courtyard with its messy arrangement of evergreen shrubs and a lone, silver-barked beech. "There are twenty cottages altogether. So far. We'll see if we need to add more. The people who Severus brought in live up at the manor—"

"He's interested?"

Hermione bit back a smile. Had that single thought been churning and tumbling around in Harry's brain for the past five minutes? "Of course he is. Probably from the very beginning."

Harry stared at her. "From the…"

"Yes, Severus, this is all very interesting, but—" Draco had followed Severus out of a cottage with a bright green door and stopped. And was staring.

"Is my mother in there?" Hermione jabbed a thumb to the cottage behind her, the place of their original rendezvous. "I promised Harry some of Pil's flaming strawberry cupcakes."

"Yes." Severus strode towards her and she had to resist the urge to meet him halfway with a kiss. Because kissing him was simply lovely. Every single time. "Hermione, would you escort Draco? I have an appointment at Hogwarts."

She grinned. Severus didn't want to witness hormonal soup, another one of his sharp phrases. She put out her arm for Draco. "Come on, Pil's cakes are not to be missed."

Draco's gaze slid to Harry. Something shifted there, too quick to catch before his eyes became a pale grey wall. "I can do without cake."

Harry stiffened beside her and she could almost feel his heart contract. It would be easier to simply portkey the pair of them into a locked room and let them fight it out until they saw sense.

"No one can do without cake, Draco." She stretched out her arm. "You can have the one with extra buttercream."

He blinked, his pale cheeks suddenly glowing.

Hermione grinned at him. "As if I haven't seen you at every feast for seven years. I know you snaffle all the buttercream you can get your hands on."

Draco's gaze moved to the silent Harry again. Severus put a hand to his spine and shoved him forward. "Eat, Draco." His dark eyes narrowed for a moment. Had Severus finally let his godson know of Harry's interest? Merlin, what more did they have to do to get these two together?

She unlinked her arm from Harry's and pushed him towards the yellow door of the cottage. In three long strides, she had Draco in hand and was pulling him after her. She caught Severus' sly smirk and rolled her eyes. No doubt he would call her a crude Gryffindor…though his shove had hardly been subtle.

"There you are!"

Now her mother was involved neither wizard had any chance to escape.

"Harry? My, don't you look the smart young wizard today." And Gwendolyn half-hauled him into the lobby. Yes, Hermione was certain she got every ounce of subtlety from her mother.

"Draco, Hermione." Severus' lips twitched —evil wizard— and then he strode out of the courtyard without a backwards glance.

Draco pulled her up short. "You set this up between you, didn't you?" His words was little more than a fierce hiss. "Setting me up to be humiliated—"

"Go in there and kiss him. And see how humiliated you find yourself." Hermione pursed her lips and gave him her best McGonagall stare, watching him gulp.

"He really…?"

Draco suddenly looked as unsure, nervous, vulnerable as Harry had and Hermione took pity on him. "Yes, he really." She pulled him towards the still open cottage door. "Harry is just as terrified as you. And if you feel yourself about to say something cutting —and before I hex you into a stain on the floor for hurting my friend— kiss him instead."

"I can't simply—"

"Yes, you can."

And then they were through the door into the long lobby. Her mother was already scuttling about the living room, pulling off Harry's overcoat and revealing a quite smart suit. Hermione thanked Merlin he'd made an effort. A Weasley Christmas jumper would've had the skittish Draco out of the front door again.

"Hermione help me with the cakes."

She found herself yanked away from Draco, into the little kitchen and the door shut behind them. Gwendolyn put her finger to her lips and pressed a knob on the low oven. Hermione blinked as the tiled wall above it cleared and became transparent. The warmth of elf-magic skittered across her skin. It seemed even Pil was in on this too.

Hermione dropped her cloak over a breakfast chair and pulled off her gloves as the warm room attacked her with its heat. How long would this take? And would there be anything left of the cottage at the end of Harry and Draco's first date?

Draco shrugged off his cloak with a smooth elegance and laid it over a nearby chair. He stood at the French windows that looked back to the Manor, his hands loosely locked behind his back. A slim, elegant silhouette in a soft grey designer suit. He really was quite pretty, though Hermione much preferred Severus' dark power…

"It's a worthy scheme." Draco's hands flexed. "Not that a Malfoy would ever need a place like this."

Harry huffed a breath, a red line topping his cheeks. He stood, his shoulders hard and straight. Hermione's belly tightened. It was going to be wands drawn, or Draco would take her advice and kiss Harry senseless. Still…her wand slipped into her palm.

"How can you say it's worthy, then deride it?"

Draco shook his head. "Are your ears clogged with –what are the insane creatures Lovegood bangs on about?— nargles?" He lifted a pale, aristocratic eyebrow. "I said there are no squibs in my family tree, Potter."

"Wizard-born."

"What?"

"Hermione uses the term 'wizard-born'. It comes from the house-elves."

"Of course it does." A sneer pulled at his lip. "Granger and her elves."

Harry's mouth had thinned and the red was now mottled across his cheeks. It matched Hermione's own heated face. Her mother laid a calming hand on her wand arm. Malfoy truly couldn't help himself. Goading Harry was just too entrenched in their relationship.

"Take that back, Malfoy." It was a low growl. Tight and fierce.

Draco's smile was sly. "Where was the insult?" He gave a loose shrug. "It was simply an…observation."

In a move too quick for the eye, Harry shoved the taller wizard up against the window frame, his wand at his throat. "I said—"

Draco kissed him. Hard. Deep. His fingers in Harry's wild hair. Harry's wand clattered to the wooden floor and his own fingers were busy, in Draco's pale hair and a proprietary hand on Draco's rather tight arse.

Hermione's breath caught, her hand pressing to her chest. Her heart thudded. Her friend kissing his life long enemy shouldn't be hot. It wasn't hot. It wasn't—

Harry grunted as Draco slammed him into the nearest bare stretch of wall —and continued to attack Harry's mouth. Nipping. Biting. The hissing and soft moans…

No, most definitely not hot.

Harry shoved Draco back, the slytherin frowning in confusion. "We should…stop." Harry ran shaking fingers through his mussed hair and looked to the kitchen. "Don't you think?"

"She knows."

"You know she knows?"

Draco laughed, something bright and free and Harry was staring at him as if it were Christmas all over again. Hermione bit her lip and her eyes blurred with tears. He looked so incredibly happy it was a joy to witness.

Harry accio'd his wand and stared at Draco. There was a burn to his green eyes. A need. A want. "So…my place?"

Draco's grin was wicked. Merlin, they'd be lucky if either wizard surfaced for the start of term. A moment later, the crack of disapparation snapped through the cottage and both wizards vanished.

Gwendolyn laughed and clapped her hands. "Right then, do you have anymore friends to tie together?" She grabbed Hermione's hand, pressing her betrothal ring against her palm. Gwendolyn smirked. "I think, my lovely girl, that we are on a roll!"


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