Small note: Sorry I wasn't able to update recently, I'm in the middle of exams and I've had to travel home because of a family issue. I promise to try and have the next chapter up within a week or two
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Later than night, Hermione joined her friend Taura for a drink.
A lovely new bar they found when they began working together, called the Whizzing Wand. They meet here every so often, gossiping and sharing stories through their drunken joys and laughter. Hermione valued their friendship and was able to confide in Taura with anything. Well, almost anything.
The War made her weary as to who she could trust with her secrets. Of course she trusted Ron and Ginny and Harry. They'd been through the War with her. She didn't know why she was like this with Taura, despite Taura showing her loyalty.
Hermione did consider Taura her closest friend, it just had more to do so with the trauma she endured, she supposed. It's hard to talk about one's own trauma. She barely told anything to Taura about her time in the War, she also thought Taura would hold some guilt for escaping to Canada instead of fighting if she did. So, Hermione never brought up the War, or her experiences during it much. And Taura never asked.
They sat at the bar on swivelling chairs, Hermione with nothing other than a firewhisky in her hand and Taura with her usual Elderflower wine.
They chatted of their weeks since the addition of former Death Eaters to the sectors and departments.
"Mr. Malfoy seems to be getting on quite well. I thought he'd be harder to work with, but he's a very good communicator and he keeps up with the work you assign, and does even more work on top of that." Taura said while on the topic.
Hermione nodded in agreement, thinking of how their meeting went earlier today and their horrendous encounter before. "Malfoy's always been well-read. And a great student. He was almost never late with assignments, and was always in the library when I was. I imagine he took as many breaks as I did."
Hermione only remembered this as he was second-to-best in every class, after her, of course. And his chattering with his gormless bodyguards often interrupted her studies within the library, it was hard to miss the sound of his annoying voice.
She went into a daze as she began talking of Malfoy, she assumed it was because of her 5th or 6th glass of firewhisky, which she was almost finished consuming. "He was a vile git who's made some awful decisions, but there's no doubt in my mind that he'll be a great and productive addition to the S.P.E.W. He'd always been so smart." She smiled at her glass.
"Don't tell me you're smitten, Hermione." Taura smirked as she sipped her wine.
Hermione jerked her stare up to Taura, speechless once again for the countless time today.
"I-I don't know, I mean no, for Merlin's sake. I haven't even though about it until today, I mean, before I didn't ever give it a second thought b-before, nor a first thought actually, and I don't now either." She stumbled quite incredibly, "No, definitely no. I have Ron, and I'm happy." She wrapped up her incoherent ramble.
She blushed more than ever before. She hadn't talked about her love life with Taura much, as it never changed. She was with Ron, and no major events ever occurred. The most she'd ever told Taura about Ron was that he was her longterm boyfriend, and they'd been best friends since their first year. Sometimes she'd update Taura that he'll be coming back for the weekend and then the following Monday she would tell her that they had a great weekend together.
But this was new to Hermione and surprising for Taura.
"Are you sure?" Taura questioned her friend, knowing there was something different in the way Hermione acts while on the subject of Draco Malfoy.
Hermione panicked. Malfoy and she had only been working together for what a week? Two? She couldn't remember at the moment. Godric, has it only been a week?
She sighed, "I'm not sure right now, God, I'm not in love with the tosser, I just..." confessing to Taura. Surely she would never admit to these feelings if she hadn't ordered her, what, 6th glass? "In our younger years, I'd never actually thought of him as anything other than Draco Malfoy, the git who bullies me and my friends. Working together now, I've come to notice details regarding his hair, his face, his build," she paused for moment reminiscing on all those recent times she'd stare into his icy irises, "his chilling, silver eyes."
Taura nodded and smiled, "I don't mean to be so forward, but I never would've imagined someone like you and someone like Ron together. But I just suppose you've grown with each other, are both comfortable and not wanting anymore changes in your lives."
Hermione intently listened to her friend's words, or tried to. She was comfortable with Ron. Maybe the reason why she couldn't see herself ending up with anyone but was because she never tried to.
"I guess I had always been scared of change since... since the War. He's always been there, through everything we had experienced, he was there." Hermione nodded. "But it's impossible for me to be with Malfoy, even if I hypothetically wanted to. Purebloods and all." She attempted to laugh, trying convincing herself it was an absurd idea.
Taura giggled, "Oh, Hermione. For a genius you are so dense sometimes. It's okay to find someone else attractive, it's not a crime. I understand your relationship with Ron, it's a very intense friends-to-lovers story." Taura took Hermione's hand, "I didn't mean anything by my previous comment, I just think you are both comfortable, and comfortable can be okay. Especially considering what you both have been through together. There's a sort of understanding of each other's mannerisms that no one else will be able to comprehend."
Hermione thought hard about her current relationship. She loves Ron more than anything. She was sure he'd looked at many other women and found them attractive, but to him it was always Hermione. And to her, it was always Ron.
"I just never saw Malfoy as anything other than a Death Eater and a bully, I suppose. It's surprising to interact with him in a different setting while having a new sort of acquaintance with him." She rationalized with herself. Surely it was just a new found, school girl sort of crush that meant nothing. Even if he did look like death. Figure that, she had a liking for skeletons.
"Everyone has their crushes, but everyone always has that one person that they end up with who was there all the while." Taura smiled. She was so nonjudgmental and accepting, and Hermione was so thankful.
Hermione switched to wine and Taura switched to cocktails and they got right drunk, even taking on the karaoke that the bar had every Monday night. Strange to have karaoke on a Monday night, but it was a bloody good time nonetheless.
•••
Hermione woke with a God-awful headache on her Tuesday morning. Just bloody fucking wonderful. She'd run out of hangover potions two weeks ago and meant to get more, and at the moment she couldn't for the life of her remember the hangover spell.
She didn't even know if her outfit matched when she arrived to the Ministry. Taura looked as miserable as she did, wearing sunglasses at her desk. Hermione couldn't help but laugh, but quickly stopped as it made her head pound. She wishes she had a pair of sunglasses.
"Morning, starshine. The Earth says hello." Hermione said as she approached the obviously sleeping witch. Taura gasped as she quickly sat up and grabbed her wand to her ear, "Sorry, Miss, you'll have to wait to see if I can fit you into Ms. Granger's schedule." Hermione watched her incredibly hungover friend attempt to make a phone call from her wand.
"Taura, you twit, it's me." Hermione laughed more. The pain of her god forsaken alcohol-induced headache searing through her skull.
Taura looked up through her sunglasses and covered her mouth as she began to laugh as well. "I'm more hungover than a fucking jumper on a line during the summer." Taura slumped back in her seat.
"As am I. Keep my meetings to a minimal today, I beg of you. Try your best to look alive, although I wouldn't blame you if you couldn't." Hermione made her way to her office, not drunkenly but post-drunkenly. Trying her best to walk in heels, keeping her eyes wide and awake, and holding her breath to not smell the breakfasts of anyone as it would probably make her puke.
She fell back into her office chair, wanting to slide right out of it and lay on the floor. The floor would be much colder...
Malfoy suddenly burst through the door with a pile of research against his chest. Hermione only managed her get her head up to look at him through one eye, still slumping in her chair. "What?" Hermione croaked. Her throat ruined from the karaoke she took part in the night before.
Malfoy stopped in his tracks and took her in. A witch slumped and sprawled in her chair, looking at him with only one eye, "What in the bloody hell happened to you?" He quietly said with disgust.
Hermione took a few seconds to process what he said to her, then quite literally almost threw up while thinking back on it. "I had a few drinks with Taura, why do you ask?" She said calmly. The alcohol still unfortunately coursed through her veins, and granted her with enough confidence to have a normal conversation with him.
"Because you look like you drank your body weight in alcohol and shrivelled up from dehydration." He almost laughed, and she almost saw him smile with teeth. He sat down, seemingly enjoying her suffering. That toothless smile revealing his wrinkles. She still looked at him through one eye, it was too fucking bright in this room.
"I never knew you to drink or even over-indulge in the likings of alcohol." She smirked at her.
Merlin, his presence and her lingering drunkenness was a bad mix. "A lot can change in two years, Malfoy. I now suffer from the traumas I've endured and alcohol seems to allow it to dissipate for a mere moment." She smirked, closing her eyes, "Plus, it makes me a bloody good karaoke singer."
He went quiet. She opened her one eye again and looked at him. He was looking down, his smile nowhere to be seen. He looked broken once again.
Here goes her bloody stupid mouth once again. "Merlin, I didn't know you had so much sympathy for my alcohol-induced suffering." She still smirked.
He shut his eyes tight. She's never seen him like this. A sadness rushed over his face. She slowly sat up and opened her other eye, it worried her quite a bit to see him like this if she must admit. "Malfoy, I was only joking. I just had too good of a time last night." He still looked the same.
"Um," he huffed out a fake laugh, "I apologize. I came to tell you I believe I made a breakthrough, with the research." He opened his eyes and stood, placing the pile on her desk, "I'd found it late last night but I wasn't sure how to contact you."
She took the pile in and looked up at him with wide eyes, which sort of hurt and didn't help her headache. "My floo's always open if there's ever a breakthrough." Why did she say that? She knew he couldn't use the floo to anywhere but the Ministry for work. She was just so overly excited to have some sort of new passage to more information for the Law, she'd completely forgotten. She felt almost guilty for suggesting it.
He stood hesitantly and looked at her. "Do you have a telephone line?" He asked after a few seconds of silence.
She looked at him utterly surprised and stalled for a moment. "Do you have a telephone line?"
He nodded, avoiding her eyes once again. "If you could leave your telephone number with Taura I can get it through her later." He walked towards the exit.
Taura should have her telephone number. But then Hermione remembered that Taura was just as hungover as she was, "Taura is sleeping, presumably throughout the day." She tore a piece of paper and wrote her home number on it, handing it out to him, "Here, you can ring if you ever find something after work."
He loosened up as he walked back and slowly took the note. "I'll see you after lunch then to tell you what I think I found? Unless you fancy a day-long nap yourself?" He said sarcastically, with no smile.
Their interaction almost sobered her entirely, but she still had some recklessness left in her. "Wake me up when you come in and maybe I'll talk with sense." She smiled at her hands on her desk.
He nodded, she saw at the corner of her eye, before he left. Was that considered flirting? She wouldn't know. But she felt a giddiness in her stomach. He was being nicer than he usually was today. Maybe he just felt sorry for her, given her current state.
She started on Malfoy's notes from the previous Friday. God, his penmanship, she swore on her life she'd read it before. Maybe it was during a peer review session in Hogwarts.
•••
"Granger. Seriously, I think you overestimate how much you can drink." She felt someone rocking her.
"If you continue that, my bile will be all over your shoes and the floor." She replied hastily. She wished someone would remind her to not drink on a weekday ever again.
She sat up from her crossed arms on her desk, blinking her eyes several times before regaining focus on the one and only Malfoy. "It's after lunch, Granger." He seemed almost annoyed as he backed off from her side and onto the seats in front of her.
Hermione felt better, just nauseous at sudden movements. She made another mental note to never drink on a week day if she wanted to avoid feeling like this for the rest of the day.
"Oh for Merlin's sake." She heard Malfoy mutter under his breath. With a flick of his wand Hermione suddenly felt better. Hangover spell.
Hermione collected herself. "Right." She sat up and continued to go through Malfoy's notes that she had been going through earlier. "My apologies, I've quite literally never been that hungover before."
Her mind's fog cleared and she was able to think clearly again. She thought about her morning encounter with Malfoy and felt sick when she thought of the way she acted. Flirting with him, or at least she considered that flirting. She didn't know. She hadn't flirted with anyone since Ron. Teasing Malfoy to wake her if she nodded off, that was considered flirting, was it not? No, maybe it wasn't. Her mind was playing tricks on her.
"You don't have to act so Ministry-employee-like around me." Malfoy said quietly, "I've felt as hungover as you do. Back in the Hogwarts days."
She looked at him, he was smiling; half showing his teeth. Still enjoying watching her suffer. But showing half his teeth this time.
She felt courageous after watching him expose half his teeth. "So you've been right hung in Potions class then?" She said smiling back at him, trying to get back to his notes.
He laughed through his nose. "Are you kidding, the Dragonfly Thorax and Bundimen Secretion made me gag all the Monday mornings we had to deal with them."
She laughed. "Even a sober person would gag over those horrid smells, I can't imagine having to face it while being hungover."
"You never drank at Hogwarts, have you?" He inquired curiously.
She thought on it. "I've had a couple butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks, but never had enough to get drunk." She looked at her hands almost embarrassingly, "I imagine the Slytherins had a much better time on Friday nights than the Gryffindors did."
She looked up at him through her eyelashes and saw him smirk at the cover of the book he held and his notes. "If you're not immune to hangovers by now, I would assume that we did."
She laughed and remembered that he had made a breakthrough. "So, what did you find?"
He looked up at here for a split second before returning his ocean eyes back to the book he held. "The house I'm in, it has decently-sized library. I looked through it to see if there were any elf-related texts. And I found this one." He handed the medium sized book to her which read The Enslavement and Mistreatment of the House-Elves.
Hermione sat shocked. She doesn't believe she's ever seen this text before. With all the resources the Ministry has to offer.
"It was published under the name D. O. Elwor, I'm not sure when it was published though. I've never heard of such a name either. Anyway, they speak of the untold histories of how elves became house-elves and how they are being mistreated today. It seems the author actually had an house-elf, or at least acquired one, and asked the elf questions about his personal experiences and the family history." He explained almost excitedly and Hermione must admit she was over the moon ecstatic. She shot up out of her seat and laughed in disbelief as she looked at the book and then at Malfoy, and he looked at her with a full smile, all teeth.
"Malfoy, I c-can't believe this," she was speechless, breathless, thoughtless. Suddenly her feet were walking around her desk towards him and her arms snaked around his waist, her head burying into his chest, "You have no idea what this means to the case."
He stood there awkwardly with his hands hovering her shoulders, almost debating on whether or not he could hug her back. She pulled away and looked up at him. A shiver climbed up her spine and she stared into his eyes. A swirling ice storm. "Thank you."
He looked back down at her and there was a long silence between them. Not the awkward kind that they'd had many times before. The kind of silence where the rest of the world fades away and you're already dreading when the moment ends. The kind of silence that makes you not want to fade back into reality ever again because being in this moment gives you sliver of what complete serene and contentment feel like. The kind of silence that envelops you and them and you're both only aware of each other.
Malfoy placed his hands on Hermione's cheeks, gentle enough that his touch feels like a feather on her cheekbones. He looked at her like he was hesitant. He caresses her cheeks with his thumbs as he slowly leaned closer. Hermione's mind was blank, and all she could focus on was how amazing he smelt and how soft his touch was. How he almost looked more tired, but a little healthier at the same time. How his lower lip was no longer dry, but plump and almost a normal shade of pink, and how it hung a little lower and slightly showed his bottom teeth. How he was moving in closer and she didn't plan on stopping him.
She slowly moved her arms from around his waist to place her hands on his forearms, feeling his surprisingly warm skin. He was an inch away from her face and as she closed her eyes she was mesmerized by his minty breath.
She wanted to lean her head up slightly to meet his lips so bad. To taste his minty breath on her tongue and inhale his expensive vanilla apple scent. She wanted to wrap her arms around his neck and she never wanted this moment to end. But of course it does.
Errol appeared with a crash into her closed window with a letter in his beak.
His whole body flinched as he opened eyes, taking his hands off of Hermione's cheeks and stepping back. He looked at her mortified and his face turned a bright red while he tucked his lips between his teeth into a thin line. He looked at the door and quickly at her once again before he darted for it
"No!—" Hermione said as she reached out to grab him but he was already gone.
She thought about what just happened. She wasn't even going to stop him. She was just going to let him kiss her. And not just let him, she actually wanted him to and she wanted to kiss him back.
No, she couldn't. She has Ron. She's happy. So happy in fact— She remembered Errol was waiting on her.
She hurried to the window and snatched the letter from Errol before returning to her seat quickly.
'Mione,
I've decided to quit dragon-training and come home. Even though I thought it was interesting, this just isn't for me.
I'll be home by Friday, can't wait to see you and spend much more time together than we have in the last 2 years. I'll make it up to you.
Love,
Ron
What was she going to do now?
•••
She got home later than usual to avoid seeing Malfoy. The last thing she needed was to get stuck on a lift with him.
Crookshanks meowed at her arrival and she fed him as usual.
She ordered herself take out and tried to distract herself from the incident. Some muggle television programs should help, she thought.
His lips looked so soft. The way he held her cheeks made her stomach flip every which way. He looked into her eyes like never before and she felt seen by him for once.
Stop. What usually helps distract her? Reading. She could read the text Malfoy—... Malfoy. No. She could try cooking something. Rushing over to the fridge and opening it, she looked for anything to make or bake or mix together. Nothing. She hadn't gone grocery shopping.
She turned back to her living room and a certain box caught her eye. Yes! Of course! The letters always seemed to distract her.
She rushed back into the living room and grabbed the box of letters. Which one was the last she'd read again? Oh right, March, 1997. She searched for the next one. A second one from March.
March, 1997
To Her,
I think I would have enjoyed having a cat as well. Even a job, what do muggles call it, a 5-9 job? I'm not sure, but I would've enjoyed that as well. A house on a quiet street, with a car and maybe one or two kids. I would choose being a muggle over doing what I've been ordered to do. I've wished every single day now for the several months that I was born into a different life.
It keeps getting darker. It's in my bloodstream now and soon it will reach my major organs, then my bones, then my muscles, then my skin, and soon enough my entire being will be nothing but fucking darkness and I couldn't stop it if I tried.
Sometimes I go up to the astronomy tower and stare. Debating whether or not I should pitch myself off or not. Everything would be easier if I did.
But then I think of mum. No one would protect her. There's nothing left of my father.
I also think of you. And how much I look forward to seeing you next. It's the only thing I look forward to now. Your smile is so beautiful. The way your mouth gapes, eyes squint, and head rolls back as you laugh stops me in my tracks every single time. I get butterflies when I hear your voice in the classes I attend.
Maybe I won't visit the astronomy tower anymore. The thought of seeing you makes everything worth it. I guess that's extremely selfish on my part, considering what I have to do.
Sincerely,
This made Hermione's stomach drop. She saved him, and she didn't even know who he was. Or did she?
He does have a father, unless he'd died. That sentence was confusing.
Her brain was too cluttered to try and figure this out right now. She decided to call it a night and hope tomorrow wasn't even more awkward between her and Malfoy.
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End note: I'm sorry if it was shorter than the previous ones!