The green fire of the floo roared to life and out stepped Hermione, slightly more disheveled than she typically would be from a session with a client, but she couldn't deny her connection with Pansy and that, in and of itself, made her put more of herself into their scene than she normally would. She was right when she told Harry and Theo she would get her heart broken, seeing Pansy break down at the end, though Hermione only suspected it was due to the adrenaline wearing off, made her want to wrap the witch in fluffy clouds and keep her safe until the world ended.
She knew it was probably a mistake when she'd agreed to dominate the witch, but when life presents you with your favorite dessert on a platter with a sign that says "eat me" - you don't hesitate.
She siphoned the soot from her clothing and abandoned her briefcase and jacket on the wingback next to the hearth, when the sound of music coming from the kitchen caught her attention. She sat down to remove her strappy heels, discarding them haphazardly on the floor, seemingly unconcerned by the lyrical notes of soft jazz wafting through the air. When she paused in the doorway, a smile played on her lips as she watched the tall, blond man swaying to the music, a spatula in his hand and the smell of cheese toasties wafting through the air.
"I hope you're making one for me too."
Draco turned at the sound of her voice wearing a broad smile, his perfect white teeth on display. He wasn't usually at her flat when she arrived home from either of her jobs, but it wasn't an unwelcome sight.
"I wasn't sure when you'd be home and I got hungry. You can have this one and I'll make another."
Hermione waved her hand dismissively and padded into the kitchen to slip her arms around his waist, letting the scent of his cologne fill her senses as he pulled her against his chest and dropped a kiss to the top of her curls, spatula held carefully away in his other hand.
Draco wrinkled his nose, "You smell like sex," he paused and buried his nose further into the tight spirals at her crown, "and expensive perfume."
Hermione snorted into his chest, the little sound escaping her nose before she could even think twice. "Well, I wasn't in the courtrooms today, I'll tell you that much."
Pulling back, Draco turned back to the stove and flipped the cheese toastie to the other side, a proud smirk on his lips for the simple fact that the bread bore a golden brown colour. He was still rather new to cooking and burned more than he cooked properly. "I'll wager that it was a woman today - a loaded one judging by the smell of that perfume. Reminds me of my mother."
Hermione dug through a drawer in the kitchen, rifling through papers, thumbtacks, rolls of tape, and pens until she found a hair tie to twist her curls into a loose bun at the crown of her head, securing them up and away from her face with the tie. "You know I can't disclose anything."
The cheese toastie landed on a colorful plate with another flip of the spatula and the blond began assembling a second, the first clearly meant for Hermione. "I'm not entirely sure I would want the details, anyway," he shrugged, passing her the plate, steam rising from the savory treat.
"Thank you," she said, accepting the plate and inhaling the comforting aroma, memories of her childhood briefly flickering behind her eyelids. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but why are you at my flat? I thought we weren't meeting until Thursday?" She blew a current of air across the toastie, willing it to cool. Truth be told, she was starved. She'd been too distracted by the look of Pansy's lips as they curved around each piece of fruit she hand fed her to even consider eating earlier.
Draco dipped his knife in the butter and spread it across the bread, "I may or may not have run out of cheese at my place."
"You live within walking distance of a Tesco."
Two slices of cheese were placed between the buttered pieces of bread before the entire sandwich was dropped into the pan, sizzling as the butter began to melt and toast the bread. "I may have also been out of bread… and butter."
"And you knew I would have them?"
Draco crossed the short space and rested his palms against the counter, trapping Hermione between his arms with a smirk. "You always have them."
"What would you have done if I'd been out?" Hermione's eyes drifted from her own, cooling toastie to Draco's eyes, the tiny ring of silver surrounding the black pupil giving way to his true intentions.
His eyes bore into hers as he leaned forward, his lips brushing the corner of her mouth. "There's some perfectly acceptable left-over pizza in your fridge."
"I was going to have that for dinner." Her nose brushed against his as she turned towards him, feeling the soft puffs of his breath as he drew her even closer.
"I have a better plan," he said, lifting one hand to thread into her curls, loosening them from the tie so they tumbled back down over her shoulders, and pulled her face a fraction of an inch closer until their lips met, pillowing against each other, in a soft, sweet kiss.
It was reminiscent of what a husband might give a wife when they were reunited at the end of the day, filled with love and a soft, careful sensuality that threatened to break her in two if she thought on it too much.
Rationally, Hermone knew that Draco was nothing more than a good friend and a casual fuck. Sure, there were feelings there that she'd never allowed herself to explore, and she suspected the same on his end, but knowing that he was due to be married in a few months firmly stopped them from ever exploring more than playful flirting and some pretty wonderful tumbles in her bed.
She wasn't normally one to take up with someone she knew was unavailable, unless it was due to her second job, but they'd fallen into bed after a drunken night celebrating a legal victory for him. To be fair, he did tell her about his marriage contract the next morning over pancakes.
Even if it wasn't for the binding confidentiality spell that forbade him to speak his betrothed's name until the formal announcements were made (something about ancient pureblood protections and rituals), she wouldn't have wanted to know the name of the witch she was slighting, anyway.
There was no way he could get out of it - she'd reviewed the contract - with names and all identifying information redacted - and it was airtight. Drafted when he and his intended were children, Draco had known about it the majority of his life and while he enjoyed her company now, and had done so for many months, he intended to be a faithful husband once the knot was tied, so to speak.
Their time together was short - another heartbreak on the horizon, if she thought about it too hard. So she didn't.
One of Hermione's hands snaked around Draco's waist and pressed against his lower back, drawing his hips to rest against her stomach, the hardness contained in his trousers evident as he parted her lips with his tongue. She allowed him take the lead, something she almost never let anyone do, and he lifted her up onto the counter as he kissed her breathless.
When she pulled back, her nose wrinkling and brow furrowing, his lips pressed a trail across her jaw and down her neck.
"Draco…" she called quietly, holding her plate off to the side as she attempted to gently nudge him back with her other hand.
"Mmm?" he mumbled, lips caressing her pulse point.
"Your toastie is burning."
He didn't move and instead, he pulled her closer, ignoring her nudges, and nipped at the juncture of her shoulder and neck, pushing the white fabric of her shirt aside with his nose.
"I'd really rather we didn't catch my flat on fire."
"Shhh…" he mumbled against her shoulder. "You're a witch, you can conjure water from your wand."
Hermione frowned and nudged him harder once more, finally putting a few centimeters between them. While he was an affectionate person, always touching her or kissing her when he was over - even if they were fully clothed, he usually respected her requests to slow down and back off.
"My wand is in the other room."
She didn't miss the disappointment in his eyes as he pulled back and turned around, flicking the stove off and discarding the burned toastie to the trash with a quick levitation spell. Hermione set her plate down on the counter as she carefully watched the man perform the seemingly simple action noting how his shoulders were slightly hunched and his eyes were downcast.
Something was wrong.
Taking a few steps forward, Hermione pressed her palm along the curve of his spine before molding her body against his back as it slid upwards to rest against his shoulder. "We have all the time in the world for that, Draco." Her fingertips slipped around his waist and over the expensive fabric of his shirt until she was hugging him from behind.
She breathed in the scent of him as his body heaved with a sigh. He leaned against the counter in front of him, palms pressed into the edges of the granite, his gray eyes trained on the floor. "But we don't, do we?"
"What happened?" she whispered.
Hermione felt his weight shift, her arms staying put at his waist and shoulder as he turned to pull her against his chest. He buried his nose in the thick, dark curls at the crown of her head and released a long exhale, fingers playing along her spine with a tenderness that her heart ached for but one she so rarely received. Their couplings were usually fast and furious, between the end of her day in the courtrooms and the start of his at the hospital - there simply wasn't time for lovemaking.
"We're announcing within the month."
The constriction in her chest was painful as she fought against her long-buried feelings. "So soon?"
He nodded and his arms tightened around her. "Yeah." Any other words he might have said turned to ashes upon his tongue.
"At least then I guess I'll know her name," she teased, forcing a smile to her lips.
Draco's chest heaved with laughter, "You're shite at silver linings."
"At least I can stop calling her your mystery heiress."
That title had come on pretty early on in their definitely-not-a-relationship. She had her clients and he had his mystery heiress which was likely someone she knew from school. That was the kicker - she'd become friends with several of the Slytherins in their year, especially after Harry and Theodore were caught by Astoria and Ginny hooking up in a coat closet, and it was very likely she considered his fiancee a friend, or at the very least, an acquaintance.
Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to puzzle it out.
She knew he cared for the witch and sometimes it was a wonder he sought comfort in her bed at all - but he did, at least two nights a week. Other nights, he just came over for food and so he didn't have to be alone in his flat. Living on his own, even after several years of having his own flat without house-elves, was still difficult for the blond wizard and to be honest, Hermione enjoyed his company.
It was so easy with him. She didn't have to worry about being anyone other than herself because they shared no secrets between them - other than the names of her clients and his heiress.
He still needed to be taken care of a bit and taking care of people's needs was something Hermione excelled at. Between the end of the war, when she'd been away from Harry and Ron and off at muggle college, and before she began actively working as a dominatrix, she'd felt so lost.
"She'll likely be pleased once we're no longer bound by the confidentiality spell. I wager it is difficult to plan a wedding when you're not allowed to discuss your future spouse."
Hermione nuzzled her cheek against his chest, "I wouldn't know."
Draco shook his head, clearing his mind. "That's enough of that. You owe me a toastie."
"Excuse me?" Eyebrow raised, she popped her head up from his chest. "You're the one who burned it."
He shrugged his shoulders and reached behind her, snatching her sandwich from the plate and taking a bit. "I"ll just eat this one, shall I?"
It was a paltry attempt, but she tried to grab it and he just held it high over her head. Stupid, tall blonds and their ridiculously long arms. "You can't just go back on your toastie-giving, Draco."
Their playful banter was interrupted by a punctuated rap on the window to Hermione's flat. She untangled herself from Draco's arms, doing her best not to smile when she caught sight of the grin on his face and the crumbs of the buttery toast around his lips. The owl flew in when she opened the window and landed on a perch. She quickly untied the missive from the creature's leg, and fed it a few owl treats before it was on its way.
Hermione unrolled the scroll, biting her bottom lip as she read through each carefully penned word.
"What's that?" Draco asked, wandering towards her, half-eaten toastie in hand.
"It's from a client," she said, waving her hand dismissively, though her eyes were a bit glazed and her chest was rising and falling a bit faster with each quick breath.
When he tried to peer over her shoulder, the parchment appeared blank. "I hate your confidentiality spells," he muttered, brushing her loose curls back from her shoulder and planting his lips against her neck.
"They're necessary."
"Is it from the one who smells like my mother?"
Hermione nodded, carefully rolling the scroll, her posture rigid.
"Did they say something that upset you?" he asked as he rested his chin in the dip of her shoulder, holding the half-eaten toastie close to her mouth.
"The client wants to schedule another session," she said, taking a bite of the sandwich and chewing thoughtfully.
"And that's a problem because…?" Draco asked, his words trailing off.
Hermione drew in a breath and released it on a slow exhale. She leaned back into Draco, dropping her head against his chest. "I'm not entirely sure I should accept."
His head turned, "Did she hurt you?" he asked, tone laced with concern.
"No, of course not. Nothing like that. I just…" she struggled to find the words. All of her feelings for Pansy swirled around her head, mixing and mingling with those she felt for Draco. Two impossible situations. Two people she absolutely, could not, allow herself to become attached to - and yet, she already had.
Draco didn't let her remain in her own head for too long. "You like this one," he said, simply.
Good heavens if her cheeks didn't flush at someone actually saying it outloud. "A bit, yeah," she admitted. "It was perfect, Draco. I couldn't have asked for a better session," she said, the words tumbling from her lips in a rush of sound.
She could feel the smirk on his lips as the hand not holding the mostly eaten sandwhich snaked down from her waist to cup her sex through her trousers. "You didn't get off, did you?"
"I never do, you know that."
He stuffed the rest of the toastie in his mouth and brushed the crumbs from his hand off on his trousers, chewing and swallowing quickly. "Then let me take care of you, little witch."
His fingers rubbed soft circles through her trousers and she couldn't do anything but push her hips back against them. "Draco…"
"Nope. I want the sound of you screaming my name ringing in my ears when I floo into work."
