Chapter 23

"Want to hear something crazy?"

Draco fingered his pawn on the chessboard in thought. If he moved it forward, Theo would use his knight to capture it and expose his queen. Maybe. His pawn yelled at Draco to unhand him so he could attack properly. To their amusement, Theo's chess set was especially mouthy tonight.

"From you, crazy is normal," Draco replied.

"My dad is missing."

Draco looked up at him and burst out laughing, nearly knocking over the chess pieces on the board and stopped immediately at the expression on Theo's face. But the laughter was real. He was so relieved it just spilled out. Draco hadn't heard back from Granger since the night the Nott raid was supposed to happen and Theo hadn't mentioned anything. As the days wore on, he started to worry that the party at Zabini's had been for naught.

"You're serious."

Theo nodded wordlessly. Draco wondered who else he told. Maybe he hadn't told anyone.

"Did you go to the DMLE?"

"No," Theo looked ashamed. "I'm not even sure how long he was missing for."

A week and a half.

"Sometimes he's away. I avoid him if I can, you know that. He'll just make me pay for not selling my soul to Iguana Man." He studied the chessboard in front of him. "I wasn't sure until yesterday so I went into his study and rearranged his things. Nothing happened." His face broke into a wild grin. "Then I pissed on his desk."

Draco picked up his protesting pawn and pointed it at Theo to emphasize the urgency of the situation. "So go to the DMLE first thing tomorrow. You have to report it."

It would already look strange that Theo had waited so long. Draco didn't want any reasons for people to suspect he had a hand in Nott Senior's disappearance. Or Theo. Theo would inherit the wealth, so he had a reason to make Nott Senior disappear. He had to go as soon as the office opened.

And cooperate.

"I do."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "You should probably clean up the urine before then."

Theo snorted, and then sat back in his chair and furrowed his brow. His blue eyes were concerned. For a brief moment, Draco wondered if he made the correct decision. This wasn't like removing a rapist. He had removed Nott Senior. Theo's father. His flesh and blood. The man was an abusive tyrant, and drove Theo's mother to commit suicide when he was young. But he was still Theo's father and had raised him, terrible as that upbringing was.

Maybe Draco had misjudged the situation and made the wrong decision.

Theo's voice was soft when he spoke. "How bad is it that… I don't care?"

Feeling relieved that his decision was sound, Draco rested his elbows on his knees and held the gaze of his longtime friend who had suffered from such a horrific father. "Not bad at all."

Theo ran his hand through his brown hair, making it stand up. He appeared worried, disturbed with himself. "I think I'm happy he's gone. I shouldn't be happy."

Draco felt a sudden sense of warmth and gratitude towards Granger for letting him keep Theo completely clear of this whole mess. Draco fixed his stare on Theo so he would understand he meant what he said.

"You're allowed to be happy."

"But he's still my dad," Theo pressed.

"True."

Theo looked absently down at his hands and rubbed his arm. Draco noticed that he rubbed the place where the Dark Mark would have been had Theo relented to his father's abuse.

"But now I'm free." He shifted his gaze back to Draco. "Until they find him, anyway."

"Also true," Draco set his pawn down, which huffed in exasperation, and then reached for his glass of Firewhisky. "What are you going to do with your newfound freedom? Write that guide to manipulating governments?"

Theo cracked a grin, happy for the levity. "I obviously don't need the money now, although I would like a job doing something interesting." He gazed absently above Draco's head, thinking through his options. "Maybe I'll go exploring."

Draco raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Exploring?" Theo wasn't the outdoorsy type. At all.

Theo stared back at him, and scratched his jaw in thought. Draco could tell he was hiding something, wondering whether or not he should reveal what he was thinking.

"So were those books helpful?" Theo changed the topic. A typical Slytherin tactic to avoid uncomfortable questions.

Draco knew being a Death Eater made his friends apprehensive around him. He felt a sense of loss in that Theo didn't want to elaborate on what his plans would be. When they were kids, they shared all their dreams for the future. There wasn't any worry about the wrong person finding out.

Theo always wanted to be an Unspeakable. Ever since he was a kid he had a fascination with the mysterious, classified nature of their work. It was impossible for him now that all of the Unspeakables and their research had disappeared without a trace. Draco wondered if 'exploring' had to do with that. Confiding in Draco would be a risk since the Malfoys were grappling with the Ministry.

Similarly, Draco couldn't discuss with Theo his hatred of being a Death Eater, what he was learning from his interactions with Granger, or that he was fucking spying for the Order of all things.

"The books on Unforgiveable Curses?" Draco asked. "Yeah, they were helpful. Apparently the curses are addictive. Using the Imperius for an extended period of time like I am makes you want to control and manipulate others. Helpful for all the Ministry shite since that's what we're doing anyway."

Theo leaned back skeptically. "Are you going to start ordering me around?"

"Right," Draco snorted. "You'd just come up with more creative ways to tell me to fuck off."

"My father has heard most of them already. Although I'm sure I could invent a few more phrases. Just for you."

"I'm honored," he retorted dryly.

Draco wondered if extensive Unforgivable use was the reason Nott Senior was so abusive. Theo had been actively defying him all his life. In any case, Draco was only holding a few Ministry officials under the Imperius Curse now. Nott Senior had been using all three during the First Wizarding War, which had lasted eleven years. There probably wasn't any danger to Draco at this point.

He wondered about his own mother and father. His father used the Imperius Curse during the First Wizarding War, and the other two Unforgivable Curses, but he wasn't even remotely abusive of his mother. Quite the opposite. And he wasn't abusive of Draco either, despite the fact that he manipulated him on occasion.

The effect of performing the Imperius Curse wasn't clear, perhaps he was comparing two extremes. It likely depended on the personality of the caster as well as frequency and length of usage. It seemed Draco had little to worry about at this point. He hoped he didn't have anything to worry about.

He wished he had someone to talk to, but realized that would be impossible. Even with his mother and father. Draco's failures with the other Unforgivable Curses were known. He couldn't torture and he couldn't kill. Failing at the third or even having doubts about it would render him completely useless to the Dark Lord, putting himself in danger, and perhaps his parents.

His father knew that.

Keeping Draco in the dark must have been his way of ensuring Draco would comply with performing the Imperius Curse, and to do so successfully. His family was boxed in; there was little room to maneuver and his father was protecting him as best he knew how.

Theo was luckier than he realized.

"So now that you're a free man, what are you going to do tomorrow after the DMLE?"

A wide grin spread on his friend's face. "Pansy." He choked when he realized what he just said. "I mean, Owl Pansy. Not do Pansy."

Draco's lips lifted, studying the chessboard. "Maybe both?"

Theo suddenly looked terrified. "Wouldn't that be too fast?"

He peered up at Theo through his fringe. "Pansy knows what she likes and she's not shy about getting it."

Draco took a sip and then set his glass down on the table to watch his friend ponder capturing his pawn with the knight. Theo's leg started jiggling nervously but there was a small smile on his face.

Theo was free.

Free until the Dark Lord decided to recruit him directly.

ooooooooooooooooooo

Hermione sat on the sofa in her living room. She was at one end, and Malfoy sat with his legs sprawled at the other. Thankfully, she didn't have to worry about the proximity of the movie theater here, but there was still a feeling of intimacy. It was just them. There wasn't a crowd of movie goers.

It was dark, and she watched the light projected from her parents' telly play across his features. He was transfixed, and hadn't noticed her studying him. The digitally remastered versions of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi wouldn't come to the theater for another few months so she rented the DVDs from her local library.

Malfoy fascinated her.

Hermione was still blown away from their conversation about Muggle-borns and his willingness to question everything. By himself. It all came from him. And she couldn't get the image of him playing with his Patronus out of her head. Or how close he had been to her in the hallway before they Apparated to see Star Wars.

She turned back to the movie, feeling guilty. The more she thought about Malfoy, the more it seemed like she was betraying Ron.

James Earl Jones' deep baritone voice resonated throughout her living room. "I am your father!"

"What!" Came the aghast yell from the other side of the couch.

She swiveled to face Malfoy again. He sat with his back now ramrod straight, clutching the arm rest and she laughed out loud at his surprise. Luke Skywalker gave an agonized denial of his familial connection to Darth Vader while she gasped, holding her stomach, unable to stop the big belly laughs caused by Malfoy's shock. She hadn't even considered how he would take the big reveal of the trilogy. The story was so well known in the Muggle world that it wasn't a surprise anymore. She doubted anyone had actually watched the second Star Wars movie for the first time, not already knowing they were father and son.

"Granger! Shut up, I can't hear!"

Still sniggering at his reaction, she stood up to see what was left over in her parents' kitchen. If anything was edible.

"You're blocking the screen!" he barked at her.

This was too good. Smiling, she stood in front of the telly and turned to him with her hands on her hips but he threw a pillow at her.

"Fucking move, Granger!"

Hermione caught the pillow, laughed, lobbed it back at him and continued on into the kitchen. While listening to Luke call Leia to save him, she opened and closed a few cabinets and found a box of biscuits that hadn't yet gone stale. She put some water in the kettle to boil and wondered if Malfoy would also want something to drink, and set a tray out for the two of them with cups and sugar. There wasn't any milk or cream to add, having spoiled long ago.

"The fuck?!" His outraged shout could be heard throughout their whole house. "That's the end?"

She cackled evilly, thoroughly enjoying his displeasure at being denied a conclusion to the story, and brought the tea tray back to the living room. She completely forgot that The Empire Strikes Back ended on a cliffhanger. Malfoy must really be taken in.

"I'm assuming you want to see the next movie?" she asked innocently.

"How many of these movies do I have to watch to see the whole thing?" His question came out more like an accusation.

"Three," she replied. "The next is the last one, I promise. Do you want to watch it now or–"

"Now." He cut her off in irritation and she giggled again. Hermione was tired but there weren't any pressing tasks tomorrow morning.

"You're an extremely cruel woman," he remarked.

"Tea?" she smiled sweetly at him, setting the tray down on the coffee table in front of him. "Biscuits?"

Hermione noticed him looking down her jumper and stood up abruptly, walking over to the DVD player so she wouldn't meet his eyes. She crouched down to change out the movie and a pillow suddenly hit the back of her head.

She turned around and to see a wicked grin on his face.

Malfoy was flirting with her. She couldn't believe it. Draco Malfoy was flirting with her. He had been flirting with her at the Cineplex too, and the attention wasn't just to make her uncomfortable.

Hermione wasn't sure how to process the shift in his regard for her.

"Watch it Malfoy or I won't play the final movie for you."

"Do your friends know what a heartless bitch you are?"

She smirked back at him. "They are well aware."

Everything about this meeting of theirs was so odd. No information had even been exchanged. She didn't bother asking, she just knew he wanted to see the movies. They could pretend for a while that there was no war. That she wasn't a Muggle-born witch, fighting for survival and pumping him for information, and he wasn't a Death Eater, betraying one of the deadliest wizards in history and trying to stay alive while doing it.

For all intents and purposes, they could be two Muggles on a date. Watching a movie before… She swallowed and glanced surreptitiously over her shoulder at him while he prepared his tea.

Before snogging.

Would he try and snog her during the movie?

No, he was too invested in the story.

Even so…

Nervously, she pressed play after setting up the DVD and walked back to sit in the armchair. Separate from the sofa. If he was flirting with her he might get closer to her on the couch. And then he might wrap an arm around her. And then lean into her. And press his lips to her ear, to the side of her face. Thread his fingers through her hair. Turn her face towards his. She squirmed in the chair. Now all she could think about was Malfoy snogging her. How his lips would feel on hers, how his tongue would slide in her mouth, how his hands would touch her body…

Stop. Stop. Stop!

Hermione squeezed her eyes shut. This was wrong.

Even if nothing was going on between her and Ron, and she was fairly certain their occasional awkward kissing indicated that there was something, snogging Malfoy was a bad idea. He was a spy; she was his handler. He may be helping the Order, but he had his own motivations and she didn't know when they aligned with hers, and when they didn't.

Although a significant barrier had been broken down between them, she couldn't forget that his life was on the line, as were his parents'. That was his primary concern, and where his true loyalty lay. When it came down to it, the trust still wasn't there. Getting involved with him like that would ruin the objectivity she needed to be a competent handler.

Tonks would yell at her like she did everyone else at the party if anything happened between them.

Ron was the one for her. Malfoy was merely an attractive man and a spy. Being a spy from the enemy was part of his allure. The war would end and she would still be with Ron. Hopefully. Malfoy was an attraction of circumstance.

A passing fancy. Yes. That's all it was.

She pulled her knees up as the familiar title sequence appeared, leaned into the pillow and grabbed a blanket to wrap around herself. She wondered what Malfoy thought of all these aliens and the space travel between different planets and galaxies. Maybe she'd ask him another time.

Hermione yawned and watched Princess Leia threaten to blow up Jabba the Hut with a thermal detonator. She was so bad ass.

ooooooooooooooo

Draco glanced over at Granger after the movie ended. She'd been asleep for at least half of it. He wasn't sure if he should wake her or not, but he really needed to check on how her Occlumency was progressing.

So far, meeting at night had been easy, even with the Dark Lord present. His parents were usually asleep before he left. According to the detection charms he religiously set every night, no one entered his room. Granger never complained about the late time either.

He walked over to the armchair she was sleeping in and crouched down in front of her. It was rare that they were ever this close to each other. She was curled up in a ball, covered in a blanket. Granger seemed so small and almost child-like. Innocent. But Draco knew better. Her exterior appearance was deceiving and he learned quickly not to underestimate her. She may have been a swotty, brown-nosing bitch in school, but that was only the side he saw then. Now he knew she was also sexy and bold, conniving and intelligent, brave and loyal and…

Fascinating.

Draco frequently wondered what she was thinking and what she thought about him. He sometimes sat up at night, playing their conversation about Mudbloods through his head and rethinking the points she had made. Sometimes, he got the sense that she understood him so much better than he understood her.

Granger's steady breathing blew a lock of hair across her mouth up and down. Her curls were everywhere, and he fought an urge to brush the lock off her face. He knew she was attracted to him and the sexual tension between them intensified at every meeting. She was struggling with it as much as he was. Being who they were, Death Eater and Potter's side-kick Order member, the attraction was new and unexpected.

But… It was more than just attraction. Theo was right. He was really starting to fancy her.

Draco rubbed her arm over the blanket and called her name softly to wake her up. She furrowed her brows, mumbling something unintelligible. He watched as her hazel eyes, dark with only the light from the telly in the room, fluttered open to look directly into his. A flicker of surprise, confusion and then anxiety flashed across her face. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and her eyes lowered to his mouth.

Granger was thinking about kissing him, and she licked her lips. It was a bad idea but so was everything else he was doing. Did one more bad idea even matter? Draco's heart thudded in his chest and he gazed down at her mouth. It would be soft, and warm. He wanted to kiss her since they first saw Star Wars. He lowered his face towards hers and she abruptly pushed herself up, almost knocking into his head.

"I have to go," she said, breathless.

Granger leaned as far back into the arm chair as she could. Clearly putting as much physical distance between them as possible. Nothing was happening tonight. He was disappointed and wondered what her reason was for keeping her distance. Either she thought kissing him was a bad idea as well, or she was with Pothead. Or the Weasel.

Regardless, he didn't move an inch, and stared into her anxious eyes. Time to see how her lessons in Occlumency were progressing.

"Thanks for the movies, Granger."

She nodded, her gaze again dropped to his mouth. If she was trying to hide her attraction to him, she was doing a lousy job of it. Draco gave her a sultry smile, put a hand on each of the arm rests and leaned in closer, boxing her in. She sucked in a breath and he inhaled; she smelled inviting and feminine.

Lowering his voice menacingly, he asked, "How's the Occlumency?"

Granger stilled and glanced at her wand on the coffee table. If she felt threatened by him now, then she must know he wouldn't like her answer. That was worrying. He leaned in a bit more and she clutched the blanket to her chest, eyes widening, breath coming out in short pants. Her heart was thudding so loudly he could hear it.

Being intimidating wasn't hard. She couldn't reach her wand and he was larger than her.

"The truth," he growled.

Draco didn't want the playfulness of their time spent watching Star Wars to lull her into forgetting that he would die if she couldn't master shielding her thoughts and emotions.

She licked her lips and his eyes dropped to her mouth again. He wanted to kiss her right now, more than anything. Centimeters away.

Having been taken completely off guard by his threatening behavior, her voice held a slight rasp. "I'm fairly good at keeping the memories locked away. I'm improving all the time and began to selectively reveal."

Draco nodded. That was good, but she had been apprehensive when he asked. Not confident.

"But...?" His voice lilted higher.

Granger sucked in a breath and cleared her throat, trying and failing to keep the trembling out of her voice. "But I'm having trouble clearing thoughts from my mind. I'm told my emotions are easy to read, even when I'm lying."

He flashed a predatory grin at her. "They are."

She flushed at his comment, knowing she hadn't been able to hide her attraction to him. He pushed himself up and away from her, and she exhaled in relief as he backed away.

"Keep working on it, Granger. I don't want to die."

He Disapparated with a crack.

Chapter end notes:

I got the idea of a back-talking Wizard chess set from Chosen by 5moreminutes. HiLARious. Theo's fascination with the weird and mysterious was taken from Wait and Hope by mightbewriting. I think it fits with olivieblake's snarky and slightly unhinged interpretation of his character.

Coming up: more Draco/Hermione and… Mary?