What ifs

The Space Between Us

-Zack Grey

You made my

Ifs become

Whens.

Darling,

With you

I doubt nothing

What ifs

"First things first, you can't just point your wand and say the spell. That's not how magic works, efficiently anyways." Draco circled Haze at one end of the now cleared gym space. He had stored all the work out machines and cleared the length of it so they could practice a bit. Draco even went as far as to cast protective enchantments along the walls and mirrors in case anything misfired. Haze listened intently, eager to learn how to properly duel or even cast a charm correctly.

"You have to think of your wand as an extension of yourself, the way you wave it is really important, because it's how you channel your magic. Different charms have different wand movements. After some practice and using the same spell over and over you start to develop shorthand ways to cast, but you really need to get through the dramatic movements first. We'll start with easy day to day charms and then at least get through some defensive spells. Just bear in mind that even in Hogwarts, defensive spells aren't really taught until about third year. It takes years of practice to get use to using a wand to begin with. Charms and transfiguration are usually the intro of sorts. Questions?" Draco said, stopping to stand before him now.

"So, we aren't dueling?" Haze asked with a look of disappointment.

"No, what you saw at Hogwarts was years of discipline, and even then the club members consisted only of the best and practiced students in their final years of study. I had to relearn a lot of things, as an auror you don't have the luxury of a fair dueling space. Law enforcement is much more raw and dangerous. I had to learn to not just defend myself, but others as well, not to mention containing the integrity of a crime scene. Spell work is messy and chaotic most times."

"Like when we first met?" Haze grinned proudly. Draco scowled.

"The only reason you're still alive is because you're a werewolf, that had nothing to do with your wand work. Also, I clearly recall it took just one spell from Granger to stun you, and I'm pretty sure it's cause she trained with dragons for over a year. Even being the brightest witch, she still needed to practice, and so do you."

"Could you please remind her of that, because she is losing it in there." Taffy plopped onto the chaise against the wall. The potions lab was just across the hallway, so she had been in an out all morning.

"No thank you, she's thrown me out twice already and it's not even lunchtime." Draco drawled turning back toward Haze.

"Well sir, I'd get my tiny violin for your suffering, but she has requested your assistance again." Taffy said, voice laced with sarcasm. They had certainly all gotten more comfortable and familiar with each other lately.

They had worked through the weekend finishing the wolfsbane potions for the ministry werewolves, and by the end of Monday they had finished and had them delivered. Hermione said it was absolutely essential that they take her potion so that the study had more uniform results, so they had all put in the work to brew, even Haze got in to help.

Between the four of them they barely managed to get much sleep. Draco had to set up the bedrooms upstairs to properly accommodate Hermione and Taffy as they needed to take turns watching and rotating the cauldrons scattered about the lab. To add insult to injury, they still needed to finish documenting samples taken from the employees from almost two weeks ago.

With the full moon approaching at the start of next week, they would have an entire new batch of samples to go through. With the wolfsbane potions done, they managed to catch up on some sleep, but Draco had to fill out reports for Potter still, not to mention that one of the employees requested an update. Since Hermione offered full transparency, it was up to Draco to get that paperwork together and delivered.

Draco huffed and stalked out of the room and into the potions lab.

Taffy sat uncomfortably in the chair after Draco left. Haze had moved away and toward the attack dummy that was positioned on the far side of the room. They had managed to avoid direct conversation but no matter how big Grimmauld place was, they still found they couldn't avoid being in the same room. It was certainly awkward, and Taffy didn't mind making it obvious by leaving a room if he was the only one in it, just like she planned to do now.

"Why do you need a tiny violin?" Haze asked before she could walk out the door. Taffy hesitated. She reminded herself that he had indeed left her alone for over a week now, and she wasn't really alone with him since Draco and Hermione were just across the way. It didn't matter, the fear crept in, the reality was he was able to hurt her and probably didn't even have control of it.

"It's a muggle expression, meant to be condescending toward someone's feelings, particularly dramatic or insecure feelings." Providing answers were easy, stating facts were easy to her, but that was all she would relinquish as she stepped out of the room.

The full analysis of the samples involved a few things. The most work went into the tests for the blood and saliva. Hermione had settled on conducting basic blood work which included a complete blood count (CBC), a metabolic panel, and an enzyme test. These tests were conducted in a fusion of muggle and wizarding knowledge that Hermione had developed after some trial and error.

She had taken to journaling each volunteer separately and in excruciating detail. They had the 6 ministry employees, Haze, the 4 children, and Bill, who wasn't really a full werewolf but had ongoing side effects from his attack. Not to mention the testing of the saliva where she mapped each person's genetics, not only their familial genome but also a basic mapping of the lycanthrope infection.

It was extensive work, and the reason why each test took so long was not really the tests themselves, but the documentation of every step. In the end the spell work and testing involved took perhaps an hour for each person but documenting and the organization of all the data took almost 4 times as long. Draco was able to help with the tests themselves, but when it came to the 'blessed journals', as they had come to call them, only Hermione was allowed to touch them, pen to paper.

That's what was left now, having finally completed the tests for every sample they had so far, Hermione was left to her journaling. Draco circled the room clearing up empty vials and storing away what wasn't used. He stacked a few cauldrons and hovered them over toward the sinks for decontamination. She mumbled absentmindedly asking and answering her own questions.

Draco found himself staring at her way to often these last few days, and she never noticed, or never made it obvious that she did. Taffy noticed, but sparred Draco the embarrassment by turning away a few times. It was hard not to notice that she had been biting the same two nails for the last hour, or that one curl that kept releasing from behind her ear no matter how many times she pushed it back.

I was impossible not to notice her massage the same side of her neck, Hermione was clearly uncomfortable and overworked. He knew she didn't look for comfort nor recognition for anything, but he found that he wanted to. Draco wanted to praise her, compliment her, make her feel comfortable. He found himself searching for ways to make her laugh constantly.

Draco didn't remember opening that door again. When he had saved her from Clicker, he had resolved not to entertain those thoughts. She was far too invested and focused on her work. He understood now why Ron didn't have a chance after the war. If 29 year old Hermione Granger was this passionate about her work, he could only imagine her 19 year old self, with all of life's opportunities before her.

She took each and every one of them and more, and even when she reached the summit, she looked out into the world to identify cracks in the foundation. She sought to seal them, repair them, and nothing could stop her. Nothing probably would stop her. Draco had thought that just being part of her journey would be enough, but he found that maybe he wanted to save the world with her also.

The feeling pulled at him often, that same gravitational pull of a sun he felt before. Somehow being a planet in her universe, in her galaxy wasn't enough. Orbiting the brightest witch was slowly becoming dull.

'What ifs' began to haunt him, like what if he just placed his hand on the small of her back whenever he overlooked her shoulder when they were working. What if she just looked into his eyes a bit longer instead of just at him? What if he could twirl a lock of her hair on the tips of his fingers? What if he could caress up the sides of her arms and massage her shoulders and dispel any tension that lingered? What if he could hear her moan in relief, perhaps even whisper his name?

"Draco!" Hermione shouted; Draco blinked from across the marble table. He had been staring again. "Draco did you hear me?" she said waving her hand in the air for good measure.

"Sorry no, I was lost in thought." He amended knowing she would believe him, because how could she know that he was absolutely ready to leave orbit and collide right into the sun. "What'd you say?"

"Can you check which dragon's blood we ran out of? I can't forget to owl Charlie tomorrow."

"The vipertooth." He said from memory. She jotted it down in her planner. She returned to her journal; she wasn't fazed. Draco felt something in his gut drop, a part of him was disappointed she hadn't been bothered. He just looked at her again then thought of something.

"Let's get some food. I'm starving." He circled the table to stand beside her. She looked up at him in shock, almost as if he'd offended her.

"I have so much to do still, I can't get away." She said waving her hand at half the stack of journals still to be done.

"Hermione, I've seen you eat 3 chocolates, and one of those muggle grain bars. You need to eat."

"They are protein bars, and they are quite filling." She said lowering her head to write some more. Draco scowled; he knew this would be difficult. He'd have to trick her. He wanted to laugh then at the thought of tricking any woman to have dinner with him. He waved his wand and cast a basic diagnostic charm that hovered before them.

"Hey, no fair!" she waved at the apparition, but it remained.

"If these were exams you'd have to take a prerequisite to Hydration for beginners, not to mention your iron levels are pathetic. You'll be pleased to hear that you would likely score and 'exceeds expectations' in glucose levels." He said rather pleased with himself. She glanced back and forth between him and the apparition. She sighed in defeat.

"Fine! But it better be a by floo, I want to get right back to work." She marked her place in the journal and hopped off the stool. "Let me get my jacket. I'll meet you downstairs." She left the room, leaving the door open.

Draco walked to the doorway and watched her walk down the hallway and up the stairs. He crossed his arms leaning his head to the side and took a deep breath. He wondered, when had he mastered the skill of speaking to her in terms only she could understand?

"If these were exams?" he said to himself and chuckled. "Of course, she can't stand to fail." He pushed himself off the wall and headed downstairs.

*Love me not!*

In the next episode, did we hear that right? It feels like a certain Slytherin has managed to pull the dedicated Gryffindor from her work. When has that ever happened before!?