A/N Sorry for the delay, I've been sick. Woe is me. Finally on the mend and obviously hope to have this finished over the Christmas period. Thank you for the lovely reviews.

Two Turtle Doves

That was not to be the last of it.

As soon as Hermione flooed into the Ministry the next day, a dove landed on her shoulder with a soft "Coo."

"Aren't you a pretty little thing," said Hermione, her insides going slightly mushy at the sight of the cute dove.

Just as she reached up a finger to stroke it, another dove landed on her other shoulder. "Is this your friend?" she asked the first dove.

"Talking to yourself Granger? They say that's the first sign of madness but in your case, everyone already knew you were rather deranged." This was said by Draco in a rather sarcastic drawl that lacked any real bite or malice.

"Good morning to you too, Malfoy," Hermione replied, "I see you got out of the wrong side of bed today as per usual."

"Who says I went to bed?" he said, with a mischievous glint in his eye.

To her slight horror, Hermione felt her cheeks begin to blush, but recovered quickly as she scornfully replied, "Please Malfoy we all know how much you value your beauty sleep."

"Are you calling me attractive?" he asked amusedly.

Hermione made a scoffing sound in reply.

Looking curiously at the doves, who appeared to be napping on her shoulders, Draco asked, "Is it bring your pet to work day? I didn't get the memo."

"As if you read half the memos that come across your desk. But no, they were already here when I arrived."

Speaking to the doves now in a soothing tone she said, "Go back to your owners now little doves, shoo, shoo."

Draco let out a hearty laugh as the doves refused to move. One opened its eyes, looked at her and then went straight back to sleep.

Hermione was caught off guard by this rare laugh from Draco. He was always so contained and controlled. It always fascinated her to hear a belly laugh coming from this poised man and she was mesmerised by the way his whole face would light up.

She remembered the first time she'd heard him properly laugh, a few months after their post- Christmas truce.

He had come to her office to get her signature on something and she had asked if he had a quill on him that she could use.

At his disbelieving expression she'd said impatiently, "It's just a quill Malfoy, I seem to have misplaced mine." She couldn't understand why he was being so difficult about it.

He had burst out laughing, that full hearty laugh she had just heard now. As annoyed as she was that he was laughing at her, she couldn't help but notice how attractive he looked when he laughed.

"Merlin, where did that thought come from?" she had asked herself at the time.

When he had finally finished laughing he had walked over to her chair, much to her discomposure. He reached down to her hair, while she mutely watched, mouth suddenly dry.

"Here's a quill Granger," he said, smiling down at her and giving her the forgotten quill she had stuck in her hair earlier.

She had slightly shakily signed the proposal while he looked at her curiously. Later that night she had confessed to Ginny how the incident had thoroughly discombobulated her.

"You had a moment with Malfoy!" Ginny had said with glee. "So do you like him? As in like him like him?"

"It's Malfoy," Hermione had wrinkled up her nose. "It's just been a while since I've had any male attention, that's all. Maybe it's just a sign that I finally need to give in and let you set me up with someone."

Ginny had squealed excitedly at this point. "You won't regret it," she had rashly promised.

Back in the present day she shook herself out of the memory and tried to get rid of the doves again. "Shoo, shoo," she said in a much firmer tone.

"I can see you have your hands full or should I say shoulders," Draco smirked at her. "See you at the staff meeting later," and he sauntered off towards the lift.

Hours later Hermione was in her office, feeling rather frazzled, quickly gathering up her notes for the staff meeting for which she was now very late for.

She had had a rather trying morning in her attempt to discover who owned the two doves. The Ministry receptionist had been no help at all. No one had reported any doves missing and she refused to look after them until someone claimed them.

"Not my department," she had said flatly.

"Well whose department is it?" asked Hermione biting back her frustration.

"That would be yours miss," the receptionist had smiled gleefully up at Hermione.

For some reason the receptionist had taken a dislike to Hermione over the past year. When she had brought it up with Harry, he'd cluelessly said, "She's always nice to me."

Hermione had just rolled her eyes at him. The receptionist was one of those girls who liked to giggle incessantly at any young male that came across her path. She seemed particularly struck with Malfoy, for whom nothing was every too much trouble.

"Thank-you for your time," said Hermione sweetly and gave her a simpering smile.

At her office her face had lit up when she had discovered the doves had a tracer on them. "Now we'll find out who you belong to," she had said to the birds.

However when she matched their tracer with the data base, the name that came back was her own- Hermione Granger.

She had checked and rechecked but it seemed like she was apparently the owner of two doves. Two turtle doves to be precise.

She looked at them suspiciously and then at the partridge in the pear tree that was still in the corner of her office. She hadn't been able to remove either the partridge or the pear tree.

Sighing to herself she sent a memo to Harry detailing the latest turn of events. Perhaps she would need his Auror skills after all to get to the bottom of whoever was sending her these 'gifts.' Merlin knew she had no time to spend on the matter herself.

She hadn't managed to get anything done off her To Do List and was now running late for the staff meeting. The doves didn't seem to want to be separated from her so she had put them in a cage and resigned herself to having to bring them with her to the meeting.

"Hopefully they would be quiet!" she thought herself as she hurried out the door.