Hermione's magic gravitated towards fire. Looking back on their adolescence, Draco could admit that he really should have noticed, but back then she'd chosen to come at him with her fists and her words, rather than her wand and he'd tried to pretend it was because she was inferior.

However, he'd always known, deep down, that she was brilliant. So many people thought she should have been a Ravenclaw, but he had ample proof that she was a quintessential Gryffindor. She was the most courageous person he'd ever met, but she was also vicious and fierce, even if it meant risking her own safety.

Being assigned with her as a partner in hitwizard training had been maddening. Draco was told that their skills were "complementary." He took that to mean that he was expendable, because his partner didn't seem to value her own life, much less his. And after the war Draco wasn't under any delusions that anybody else valued his life either.

He had first hand knowledge of the foolish and reckless things she was willing to try in order to accomplish whatever impossible task she'd been assigned. He was (begrudgingly) grateful for what she'd done during the war. But that didn't mean he wanted to follow in her footsteps. Because those were footsteps which would likely lead to self-annihilation.

He had joined Magical Interpol in an attempt to do something worthwhile. He wasn't suicidal. In fact, he'd spent far too long avoiding death to just give into it when he finally felt like he had freedom of choice again. He didn't didn't think he'd ever feel clean again, but he was seeking some form of redemption.

But then he and Granger fell into some kind of symbiosis. Draco didn't know how else to describe it- and Granger had spent many hours over the course of their three year partnership drilling muggle science into his head. Her strengths were his weaknesses, and vice versa. And neither would ever sell the other out; they were a team.

And then he'd gone and done the most dangerous thing possible: he'd fallen stupidly in love with her. He could never tell her, but he could also never leave her side because he couldn't trust anybody else with her. Especially because she always seemed willing to take the worst assignments.

But this mission, in the Forest of Dean on Christmas Eve, neither of them had volunteered for it and it felt like a punishment. A punishment she was being given because she was his partner. Or perhaps because they were on separate ends of a horrible spectrum- Death Eater and muggleborn- they were both expendable.

Draco's thoughts were interrupted when he spotted the curse whizzing towards his partner. He threw himself in front of it, tackling her to the ground in the process. He rolled and quickly disabled and disarmed their assailant.

Hermione stood up, incensed, and swiftly threw an 'incendio' at him before stalking off.

Draco sighed, he was used to this behavior. She had been trying to set him on fire since they had been training together. Though he thought they were past it, because it had been years since she'd done it with the intent to injure him.

Years since she'd done it at all, actually.

She came marching through the snow back towards him. She didn't give the incapacitated suspect a second look.

"Fuck you, Malfoy!"

He felt his mouth fall open at her outrageous comment and equally outraged demeanor. "You tried to set me on fire!"

"You'd be a terrible agent if you couldn't deflect a simple 'incendio' and you're obviously fine," she retorted.

"That's not the point!"

"What's the point?!"

"Why have you started trying to kill me again, Granger?!"

"I did no such thing!"

"May I remind you of the part where you set me on fire, you infuriating witch!"

Her eyes narrowed and her lip curled. "May I remind you of the part where you threw yourself in front of a curse?"

"To protect you!"

"That's my job!"

"Stop it!"

"What?"

"Just keep yourself safe! Granger, you're my partner. Your life means as much to me as my own."

She let out a long breath and then shoved a portkey onto their suspect- they would have a few minutes before they were expected at the Ministry.

"You're a wonderful partner. But you shouldn't sacrifice yourself for me," she sighed once the suspect was gone, not looking at Draco.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means that I know you have a professional obligation to me and that you take it seriously. I respect that."

Draco's head spun. Was she being willfully ignorant?

"Is that professional obligation the thing that keeps you setting me on fire," he snapped.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, clearly trying to gather herself. But it didn't seem to work because then she hung her head and shook it slowly, so dejected, and for a moment he was confused- perhaps he'd misunderstood her entirely.

Then she spoke: "If I'd really wanted to set you on fire, you'd have been ash years ago."

He watched her storm off again and his heart stuttered as he processed her meaning. Was it possible that this wasn't one-sided? Could she have stuck with him all these years not because she had to but because she wanted to?

The absolute desperation on her face answered his question, and he wondered at his own efficacy as an investigator, that he hadn't noticed it sooner. He would have to get better, because he obviously wasn't going to trust anybody else with her. But that was a problem to deal with later.

He ran after her, his heart beating wildly and reached out a hand. She clearly heard him coming but didn't stop moving. "May I propose we go and do our debrief, and we then start a more metaphorical kind of fire?"

She stopped in her tracks, and he didn't dare continue to approach her. Finally she reached back for his hand, once he took it she leaned into him. "That was a terrible line, but I'll allow it."

He wrapped his arms around her, setting his stance so that she knew he was about to apparate them, but right before he moved he smirked against her temple: "You don't have any room to talk, you've been literally setting me on fire for years."

A/N: It's my birthday so nobody gets to be upset that I've written this and not updated AUM, or Calla, or… I'm gonna stop listing my horrific number of WIPs. None of which are abandoned, by the way, but this came to me, I was in a good mood and wrote it. Thanks for being amazing, y'all!