*One week later*
A week had passed by since the new department opened. Malfoy took a good look around his new office. He had officially tied off all his lose ends at the law department and had managed to not get into any serious arguments with Granger since the shirt incident. However things were tense. The day after his comment she returned his jacket dry cleaned and hadn't said all that much since. He wanted to apologize he really did but he already knew what she thought of him... a prejudiced evil pureblood death eater. He worked hard to overcome his past and could honestly say he held nothing but contempt and disgust for the dark lord but she'd never see that and he knew it. He saw the look she gave Potty and Weasel whenever they socialized with him and Blaise. It clearly screamed surprise, curiosity and distrust. Malfoy weren't good at apologizing anyways and although Draco was a lot of things he was no exception to that rule. He let out an audible sigh which caught the attention of the witch who'd been occupying his mind for unruly amounts of time since she decided to reappear in his life.
He turned his attention to the petite brunette. She stood there in her sensible but high black satin pump, form fitting pencil skirt and dark green dress shirt. Her soft caramel, brown hair cascaded down to her lower back in large waves and her large doe eyes looked over at him concernedly as she bit on her nail. She heard his exasperated sigh and couldn't help herself, she was concerned even for the man who ridiculed her as a child and watched her mercilessly get tortured as a cowardly confused teenager. This seemed to simultaneously irritate, attract and endear him to her. He shuddered visibly. Granger was evoking too many thoughts and feelings. Things he preferred not to think of for too long.
"You don't like what I've done to the back do you?" she said in a worried tone a look of insecurity briefly flashing across her petite features.
He'd never known Granger to be insecure about anything but I guess there were many things he never allowed himself to notice. Like her beauty, his traitorous subconscious thought.
"What?" He said snapping out of his reverie. "You finished decorating I haven't even noticed." He said more sharply than intended. Draco noticed the look of dejection on her face before she tried to hide it. Instead of basking in his own superiority he quickly fumbled about for a save
"How about you show it to me? I'm sure it looks good." He said surprising even himself.
Granger's face lit up in a gorgeous genuine smile. A smile he thought he could recall glimpsing when she was in the presence of her friends or a good book but never with him. If only his mother could see him now. She constantly tried to engage him in her love for interior decorating and he'd mope about showing not interest in the matter and always managing a quick getaway. However this very morning he found himself trailing behind Granger as she showed him the finishing touches on the place.
He let his eyes roam around the cozy warm space. There was two large gorgeous dark wood desks for each of them, professional filling cabinets, kooky looking storage contraptions and supplies and of course more books. It was very Granger he thought to himself but he didn't seem to be bothered by that. He eyed the cozy plush rugs on the floor and the large leather sofas and reclining chairs in the back near the dangerous back door he had fallen down previously. There was also a now fully decked out fire place that gave the place a homely feel. It was a very different vibe from any style he'd been accustomed to in his Malfoy upbringing. It actually felt a tad Weasley-ish and he'd never admit it out loud but he discovered in recent years he quite liked that and was always a tad envious of the homely Weasley clan if he was really being honest.
He walked to the back of the room and plopped down on the leather chair giving it an appreciative nod of acceptance as he tested out its luxuriously quality.
"Fit for a Malfoy is it?" Hermione said in a teasing voice with a small smile playing at her lips as she observed him inspecting the room like a child inspecting a new playground.
"It will do," Malfoy said smirking back. His eyes travelled to the walls and he started to take in all the details. He noticed they each had a large Victorian style telephone on their desks. He walked over to his and began to inspect the interesting marble phone. It was clearly a muggle antique and it looked pretty expensive. He didn't peg Granger for that type.
"Its called a telephone. It's a muggle communication device you don't have to keep it if you don't want..." Hermione began her worried lecture.
"I know what it is," He said effectively stopping her rant. He watched her facial expression go from worried to surprised and curious.
"I like this Victorian style. It's high class muggle. More fit for a royal Malfoy like myself. What's our numbers? " Draco smirked cockily and playfully at her. He felt victorious as he watched her mouth literally drop open. "What's wrong Granger, a pureblood like me can't study muggle things?" Draco said smugly, "Or has that hideous cat of yours finally got your tongue?"
Just on queue Crookshanks swaggered his plump body into the room.
