Chapter 18: A Poster of Imelda Grain Chapter Text

Draco Malfoy paced in Hermione's bedroom. He'd managed to extricate himself from the lion's den almost unseen as they tended to the boy who lived. He eyed himself in the mirror. He had two options: to flee. "nobody would blame you." He told himself. "Not even Granger." he could slip away, leaving a note assuring her of his fondness but also embarrassment. The second option took gumption and nerves of steel. "This could be an opportunity," he told his reflection. His father had not imparted much sound wisdom to him, but there had been transferable nuggets : If telling ceases to work, show. Now, when old Lucky had said that, he was referring to the upgrade from threats to actual bodily harm to prisoners. Not how to woo Hermione Granger.

The second option was to Show the woman he wanted to eventually be entombed beside that, he wasn't just someone she secretly fucked. He could be her partner and play nice with the Weaslette and Potter, that He, Draco, Fucking, Malfoy could be what she needed. His mind was already made up as he rummaged through her drawers, a Slytherin smirk tugging at his lips. "Dress for the job you want, my lad." he quoted his mother this time as he pulled one of Hermione's ratty Weird Sisters t-shirts on.

"you banged your head on the table when you fainted," Ginny told her husband as he perched on one of the dining chairs. Refusing to sit on the couch.

"I tripped. I didn't faint!" Harry barked back at Ginny, who had opted for the couch. Though on a spot, far from where Hermione and Draco had just been… doing stuff.

"Hello, all." Draco Malfoy steeled himself as he pushed open the living room door with a determined grin. "I had to borrow something to wear, Darling. I wasn't sure where my clothes had gone." he brushed away his ridiculous appearance with a smooth line and slipped onto the sofa beside an agape Hermione. He'd matched the T-shirt that was too tight for him with a pair of her jogging pants, which were far too short and ended at his calves.

"Sorry about before." he cleared his throat and looked at Potter apologetically. "I forgot to seal the Floo back up when we got food delivered."

"You can get food through the floo?" Harry asked, eyes widening, thoughts of his best friend naked and writhing on top of Malfoy, banished from his mind for only a moment at the idea of such incredible convenience.

"The elves are working on meals at home type thing," Draco explained, his arm winding around Hermione as he ignored her unwavering shock.

"We need that." Ginny nodded. "Especially with me going back to work."

"Oh, you're going back to work!" Hermione managed to break free of her Malfoy shock long enough to celebrate her friend.

"We actually came here for a reason," Harry shouted, his hand still clutched to his throbbing head. His words broke through the moment of congeniality like a hippogriff in… any shop. They don't like enclosed spaces. "Other than seeing you and Malfoy…." Harry gagged. "Doing it."

"My husband, ladies and gentlemen." Ginny shook her head as she waved at the grown man before her. "They let him solve crimes, you know?" she turned to look at Hermione and Draco, who looked more like a couple than Hermione had with anyone.

"Are you okay?" Ginny remembered the purpose of their late-night visit. Hermione hadn't replied to any of their texts or owls, and they'd been worried.

"Yeah." Hermione nodded, Draco while an excellent distraction, hadn't fully managed to push memories of the day from her mind. "I'm fine." She felt his fingers rub a soothing circle on her waist and wanted to sink into him.

"Marcus has been released, he's been suspended, and there's to be an inquiry." Harry sighed.

"He's attacked two members of his own department in the past month, Potter. How on earth is he not being sacked and charged?" Draco spoke before Hermione could. She felt his body tensing beside her.

"He went to Barlow in transport, said that Hermione's been trying to interfere with his personal life. All it takes is one head of department to instigate a tribunal." Harry sighed as he glanced at the bloodied towel he dabbed his head with "and as for criminal charges, using that word isn't illegal and having an unruly bird isn't either." Harry shook his head, and Draco nodded and took a calming breath.

He knew the ministry and its insidious ineffectuality better than most. It wasn't Potters fault that the bastards weren't taking it more seriously.

"How are your knuckles?" The blonde asked the boy who lived. The pair finally had a common enemy.

"They feel great." Harry Potter tapped the bruising "yours?"

"Same."

"Whatever you said to Marcus scared the shit out of him because he repeatedly swears he has no bone to pick with you, Malfoy." Harry looked almost impressed. "Says he swung first," Harry informed Malfoy with a quirked brow.

"It's fun to live up to one's reputation every so often," Malfoy smirked, then turned to Hermione. "If you'd like to go stick some clothes on Darling, I can keep your guests' company." he smiled and pressed a kiss against her cheek.

"Oh my." Ginny gasped, harry giggled frantically.

"Thanks." Hermione rolled her eyes at him and shook her head. "This is cute, Malfoy, real cute," she smirked as she pulled her robe tightly around her and felt his hand on her lower back, aiding her to stand.

"I'm glad you noticed, Granger." He called after her as she scurried from them. He turned to Potter and a Weasley. Nerves of steel, that's what this plan called for.

"so…" he offered them both a plaintive smile.

"You going to treat her nice?" Harry asked, brow furrowed. Desperate for all of this to be over.

"Yes."

"I don't need to know any more." Harry had powerful 'dad' energy.

"Fuck that, I do…." Ginny leaned forward to catch Malfoy's eye "since when?" she narrowed her gaze.

"initial attraction was fourth year," Draco answered coolly and quickly.

"Yule ball." Ginny nodded sagely. "Who didn't pop a boner for her in the fourth year?" she chuckled, and Harry gagged again, "excluding Harry, obviously."

"Obviously." Draco nodded along.

"Is this a courtship?" Ginny questioned shrewdly. As much as her life was full of muggle activity, she was still a pureblood.

"not in the traditional sense, but I'd like it to be," he answered, his Adam's apple bobbed. Nerves crept in.

"Does Narcissa know you're pursuing her?" Ginny heard her husband gasp and quirked a smile. She should be the detective.

"yes." Draco didn't hesitate.

"good." Ginny smiled.

"I'm glad you're going back to work." he nodded with a smile. "We could use a win."

"You're a Harpies man?" Ginny had never remembered him showing any affiliation for any team.

"Tornados are my first, but I've had a poster of Imelda Grain on my wall since I was six." Draco gave a bashful shrug.

"Greatest Harpies seeker ever." Ginny nodded at the mention of the now-retired legend.

"Greatest England seeker," Draco corrected. "And I didn't mean the Harpies anyway, surely you're trying for the nationals?"

"Everything alright in here?" Hermione had returned with a clean sweater and her jogging bottoms retrieved from the laundry basket. She sat close to Draco on the sofa and blushed when he found her waist again and dragged her close to him.

"Can we keep him?" Ginny nodded toward the blonde who had once been their nemesis.

Draco Malfoy had made a vow to always be honest with himself some time ago. If nobody else, he would never lie to himself again. He'd done it for years when he'd pretended that he believed his father's rhetoric even to his own person. He'd done it when he'd convinced himself that his pull to Granger was some hate-fueled need to dominate her, and not what it actually was, pure attraction, chemistry and a little bit of magic. So he would not do himself the disservice of another lie. The honest truth was, he liked the Weaslette and even found the Boy Who Lived to be tolerable. He could live a life that featured more of them for her.

"only if he's good." Hermione chuckled and, to his great surprise, turned and placed a sweet kiss on his lips in front of her friends. His heart stuttered. Hermione had just claimed and accepted him to her kin. If this were a pureblood courtship, he'd be expected to propose to her that night. This kind of thing meant something to a boy like him, and judging by his new best friend Ginny's expression, she understood.

"We should go." Ginny pushed herself up with a strange little smile tugging her lips.

"Yeah, em, Hermione. Work, Monday? Will you be in?" Harry opted to take the bloodied towel with him.

"yes, I'll go straight to Kingsley." She said with a glum nod, not entirely keen on heading back to her department. Hermione didn't oft take a weekend off, but she'd not really had any other pursuits.

"Have a good weekend Malfoy." Ginny shot him a devious smirk.

"Same to you, Potters." He called as they stepped into the green flames. There was a moment of silence, then she turned to him.

"Stay tonight?" She asked quietly.

"of course." but there was a question in his brown, mainly 'what brought this on?'.

"You stayed" She smiled, pressing her hand against his chest, answering his unspoken question. "If it was me? I might have run." she looked guiltily up at him, eyelashes batting, "that was the single most awkward thing that's ever happened, and you stayed." Charlie had once walked in on her and Ron having a bit of a snog on his mattress. Ron had pushed her off the bed so hard she'd chipped her elbow bone. Ginny had been right; her bar was exceptionally low.

"well, we have unfinished business, Granger." He dragged her into his arms and pushed himself back to his feet with a bit of effort.

"I'm pretty sure you finished that business." She snorted as he hauled her through her large apartment to her bedroom.

"I don't make many promises, Granger. I don't like to be made a liar, but I promise you this, as long as you're with me. There'll never be another night where you go to bed unsatisfied." His voice was low, like stone grinding on stone. She felt a jolt of pleasure spring through her as he flung her on the bed.

He yanked her jogging pants halfway down her knees with a devilish smile, lifting her legs and slotting his head between her thighs. There was something so illicit about how the elastic waistband of the grey 'eating pants' caught on the back of his neck, trapping him in the triangle of legs and cotton-poly blend. The first trail of his tongue had her arching off the mattress, a low groan emanating from a place deeper than her gut.

It was quick and intense. Hermione couldn't even find it in herself to be horrified at her leg, which shook like a dog's when its belly is scratched. He muttered filthy words into her core as she came again, seconds after the first. Other than those few utterances from his lips, he didn't speak. She didn't notice.

Ginny Weasley stared at the ceiling in her dark bedroom. Harry wasn't snoring; therefore, Harry was also awake.

"You know that's not just sex, right?" she asked as she tried for the seventh time to place her iceblock feet on his calves for warmth.

"STOP IT!" He jackknifed at the touch of her frozen toes, curling his knees into his chest. "You think he actually likes her?"

"Ha!" Ginny patted her belly as she laughed. "I think he's got a ring sitting in his pocket right now."

"What are we going to do about Ron?" Harry relaxed his legs and rolled over to look at his wife.

"We could…"

"If you say 'murder him' again, I'm going to start to worry about you."

"I was going to say we could set him up with someone, so he's loved up and cares less!" Ginny thought on her feet. She was going to suggest Murder.