A/N: Things are starting to kick off! Tell me what you think!
I still don't own Harry Potter and I'm not making money off of this.
CHAPTER FOUR
Hermione prepared two cappuccinos behind the counter as she waited for Malfoy to arrive. Why the bloody hell did I owl him? Who the fuck let me near a sodding owl after a bottle of wine on a stomach full of vegan food? This is going to be a bloody waste of time. We're going to to get into a row and it's going to ruin my work day.
With that thought, Malfoy sauntered through the front door and spotted her behind the counter immediately. He pointed to a table with two chairs in front of the storefront window. She nodded and brought the coffees over.
"Hey," Hermione lamely said and she sat down across from him.
A smile-a real, genuine smile, not a smirk-inched its way up Draco Malfoy's face.
"Hey to you too. To what do I owe the pleasure of this morning rendez-vous?" Malfoy asked taking a sip of his cappuccino. "Mmm, this is good. Hats off to the barista. I have to admit Granger, I didn't have you pegged at working at a coffee shop."
Hermione shook off her shock of seeing a smile on Draco Malfoy's face. She straightened her shoulders, "I'm not a barista. I'm the owner. I work at the Ministry and bought this place and my flat above here with my savings."
"That sounds more like what I had in mind. What do you do at the Ministry?" He enquired.
"Why do you want to know?" Hermione asked, immediately suspicious.
"It's called conversation, Granger. You're the one who invited me here," Malfoy sighed, seemingly bored by her aggression.
"Yeah, I don't know why I did that. Luna got me tossed on wine and left me to my own devices," Hermione explained unabashedly.
Draco shrugged off his coat, rolled his sleeves to his elbows and crossed his arms as he leaned back in his seat cockily, "So, naturally, your first inclination was to owl me for a date."
Hermione felt a jolt of electricity shoot down her legs at the sight of his shirt straining against his biceps. She was yanked from her dangerous thoughts at his accusation, "Hold on, no. This isn't a date at all. No, I'm not - No. No."
Malfoy raised his hands in surrender, "I get it, you're with Potter. Are you the one giving him those black eyes? If so, I have to admit, I'm jealous."
"No, I'm not with Harry. I'm not dating anyone, I'm - "
Draco cut her off "- too busy at work?" he tsked, "Ah Granger, if you're not careful you'll die a virgin spinster." He cocked an eyebrow at her as a challenge to take his bait.
She gulped back her too hot cappuccino, feeling her temper rear its ugly head. "Not that it's any of your fucking business, Malfoy, but I'm certainly not a virgin. Just because I'm not dating doesn't mean I'm not getting shagged." Hoping her vulgarity would send him packing out of revulsion for her dirty blood, instead he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the small circular table.
"Now, that's interesting." His storm grey eyes trailed down her neck to the top of her white blouse that hid any hints of cleavage. "So, do you make a habit out of casual sexual partners?"
Hermione felt her cheeks and chest flush from excitement. It didn't matter this was the cowardly prick who let her get tortured, it didn't matter this was the shitty kid with a pointy face who was the first to call her "Mudblood." She couldn't deny that this man sitting in front of her, checking her out, was hot as hell. It was hard to ignore gossip and word had it, he was experienced. "Yes, I find them easier and more fun than relationships. I tried that route and it wasn't for me."
He let out a long breath through his nose as he sat back in his chair again, seemingly contemplating something. His eyes didn't leave hers. He had an unreadable expression on his face, which was infuriating Hermione. Suddenly, he stood from the table, rolled his sleeves down and donned his coat. "I have to go to work. I'll owl you. Thanks for the cappuccino."
He spun on his heel and left the shop.
Hermione sat shocked at the odd and intense interaction. She stood and checked the clock. She still had an hour before she had to be at work. She left the empty cups on the counter for Becca, the barista on shift this morning, to handle and rushed up to her flat. Still feeling flushed and now randy as hell, she all but ran to her bedroom, and locked the door to close out the reality of what she was about to do.
Hermione slid her back down her bedroom door, crawled to her bedside table and pulled out a Muggle vibrating dildo. She yanked down her knickers beneath her skirt and plunged the buzzing device into her. She cried out as she thought about Malfoy's lean, muscular arms braced around her. Moving her arm faster, she thought about Malfoy's hot mouth on her, on her neck, her nipples, her clit. She moved her other hand to start rubbing circles on the aforementioned spot. She thought about Malfoy slamming her up against her bedroom wall and biting down on her lip as he groaned at the feeling of her. Hermione threw her head back against the wall as she was nearing her release. She thought about her legs wrapped around his angular waist as he plowed into her. That sent her over the edge. Her chest heaved as she gasped for air.
Hermione just masturbated to the thought of Draco Malfoy shagging her against a wall. She groaned in confused frustration and let her head hit the wall again. At least today wouldn't be as bad as she had initially thought.
Later, in her office, while Hermione was approving petitions for better living quarters for Elves in the Jordan household, her mind drifted back to her morning with Malfoy.
She hadn't been angry he left so suddenly, if anything she felt relieved. It was an intense interaction that dripped with the possibility of… She couldn't put her finger on it but part of her hoped what she had imagined after she returned to her flat would be on the docket.
Furrowing her brow, she pushed away the papers and stopped pretending to read them. This wasn't some nameless man from Greece, this was Draco Malfoy. The tosser who made her life so much more difficult in school. He may not have told Bellatrix who Harry was in Malfoy Manor all those years ago but she suspected that was out of cowardice. He had been the first to call her "Mudblood". There was no doubting he was extremely sexy as a grown man, but he was literally repulsed by her in school, which meant he was probably scheming something. Using his obvious sex appeal to continue to torture her.
The thought filled her with fury at him and at herself for entertaining the idea of shagging that prat. She couldn't take anything he did or said at face value. So if his promised owl did show up, she would tell him to bugger off and hopefully she would stop wondering what he looked like under his thin Oxford.
"Oh for goodness sakes!" Hermione scolded herself out loud. She stood to do rounds and check on her officers, hoping that would occupy her mind for the rest of the day.
Draco locked himself away in his office to solely focus on work. Not Granger. He felt the glamour charm leave his face and rubbed his sore eyes while he tried to focus on the words in front of him. Merlin, she looked good. He remembered the hollow of her collarbone, the flush of her chest as he stared at her… Draco felt his trousers start to tighten at the thought.
He loudly huffed out a sigh and threw the papers down. I'll owl you, he bitterly mocked himself. As if she'd want to slag around with me. Even if she did, that certainly wouldn't make the nightmares go away. Draco winced as he remembered her blood curdling screams. It won't erase what you let happen to her. Nothing will undo what happened because you were too much of a self preserving coward.
Draco slammed his fist down onto his desk and grabbed the volume that he had taken from Neville's house. He cast another glamour charm on his face and headed down to the Herbology unit.
"Hey Draco," Neville's smile faltered as he recognized the glower on his boss' face. "Are you alright?"
"Fine." Draco muttered as he brushed past Neville and entered one of the greenhouses. He breathed in the heat and extreme humidity and shrugged off his coat before sitting on a metal folding chair.
Neville hesitantly entered the greenhouse, "They're back again, aren't they?"
Draco raised his eyes from the volume slowly and glared at Neville dangerously, "Pardon me?"
Neville gestured at two employees working at the far end of the greenhouse to leave. Once they did, Neville pressed on, "Whatever it is that makes you come down into this unbearably hot and humid room. I assume it's the dreams. Luna gets them. Some nights I have to hold her down because she thrashes around so much."
Draco resumed staring a the book with an impassive face, "Kinky, Longbottom. Thanks for sharing."
Neville quietly sighed at his friend, "All I'm saying is, if you need anything, just let me know."
"What like a run?" Draco snapped back and looked pointedly at the cane.
Neville only shrugged, "If it helps," he turned to leave, "I'll close down this house for the day so you can brood in peace. Cast a cushioning charm on that chair though, or you'll be walking like me tonight."
Draco felt guilty for brushing off his friend's help, but that sort of shite made him feel uncomfortable. Just let me wallow alone without questioning. Sometimes he wished Neville could be more like Theo instead of the goddamn Gryffindor he grew up as.
Having finished the volume at three in the afternoon with no luck of finding complimentary ingredients to Ayahuasca, Draco decided to go home early to clean up the mess he made in his kitchen.
It didn't feel right having a House Elf after the War. Something about having another hierarchy in his home made him squirm uncomfortably. He learned to cook and clean on his own after he bought this flat. On the rare occasion he was hosting guests (other than the bints he brought over to shag), he would hire a freelance Elf to tidy and pay them fairly. The last thing he wanted was a scandal because the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures was banging on his flat door. Now that was a job he saw Granger doing, charging into homes to defend the poor Elves.
He internally chuckled as he walked into his dark, sleek kitchen, imagining the Granger from Hogwarts. Bushy haired, knickers in a knot wanting to save those who didn't want to be saved. With a quick Reparo and Scourgify the tiles looked good as new.
Deftly making himself an early dinner, he continued to wage war with himself on whether or not to owl Granger. Thank Merlin he had Quidditch practice tonight, that would hopefully keep him from driving himself mad.
He ate in arrant silence except for the ticking of the grandfather clock in his living room. The familiar blindness came over his seeing eyes as he was brought back to his parent's grand dining room.
.
.
.
"For those of you who do not know, we are joined tonight by Miss Charity Burbage who until recently taught at Hogwarts. Her speciality was Muggle Studies. It is Miss Burbage's belief that Muggles aren't so different from us. She would, given her way, have us mate with them. To her, the mixture of Magical and Muggle blood is not an abomination. But, something to be encouraged."
"S-S-Severus. Severus, please. We're friends."
"Avada Kedavra!"
.
.
.
"Nagini… Dinner."
Draco pulled out of the memory with a start. His chest was heaving and he squeezed his eyes shut trying to not remember how his Professor's bones sounded as they crunched in that fucking snake's jaws. Or the deafening thump of her lifeless body hitting his family dining table.
He slammed his fist down onto the table with a shout and shot his chair out from underneath him. Draco ran upstairs to down a Draught of Peace, Accio'd his Quidditch gear and Apparated to the pitch.
At nine o'clock, Draco Apparated into his foyer where he dropped his gear and headed for the bathroom once again. He drank a potion for Dreamless Sleep before peeling off his sweaty uniform and stepping into the shower. Scrubbing his skin until it turned pink from the heat and friction, he rinsed off and barely made it to his bed before collapsing.