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Wednesday

Draco made himself scarce for the remainder of the day. He was constantly distracted whilst trying to work because of his disastrous evening and drunken revelations the night before.

Lacey had bored him quickly and by the time he had taken her back to his house he had only kissed her to stop her talking.

She had undone his trousers swiftly, and proceed to give him an amateur blow job. At first he struggled to settle into it and the only thing that kept his mind on the job was thinking about Granger bent over the table in the tent. He imagined it was her with him now on her knees in front of him. Her dark eyes looking up at him while she took him deep in her mouth. At this he grabbed the blonde substitutes hair and bucked hard into her mouth. No sooner had he spilled his cum down the her throat he quickly made excuses, feigning a headache and ushered her out before pouring and drinking a glass of Firewhiskey.

He thought at first that this might just be a phase due to their close proximity over the past few days. He jumped in the shower quickly, trying to wash himself of those brown eyes but it just made it worse. As the warm water washed over him, he closed his eyes and let his imagination take over him.

This time, he was taking off her clothes and she was kissing him, wrapping her legs around his waist pulling him closer. Then she was sitting on the table, legs spread and him in between them, his name being moaned from her lips. He stroked himself to this image until another release took over his body.

After he got out of the shower he grabbed the bottle of Firewhiskey, quickly poured and drank two more glasses in quick succession before finally admitting to himself that he was attracted to her. And not just because she was attractive but because he was attracted to her. He had been at the Ministry Christmas party last year. She had shown up with Potter, Weasley and the Weasley girl wearing a long black gown with a dangerously low back and he had watched her dancing and laughing for most of the evening. He had also spent half the time staring whenever Weasley or Potter touched her whilst drinking himself into a coma and being taken home by Zabini at 11pm.

It was embarrassing and he never admitted to Blaise who it was that was distracting him that night even though he was quite sure he had been caught looking in her direction more than once.

He could look. He could imagine. He could not pursue anything more. First of all, he was quite sure she hated him, second of all her best friends were probably the two most annoying people in the magical world; not that that problem would ever stop him pursuing anyone else. Her blood status had never really been an issue for him. He acted like it did when he was younger and maybe he believed it back then but not now. She had proven herself on many occasions to be a more than capable Witch. More capable in fact than any pure blood Witch or Wizard he had met in a long time. It did not stop him from wanting to speak to her, or be near her so there was no problem there. The only reason then stopping him was that he was sure or her indifference towards him. He had come to this conclusion after a few more Firewhiskeys and promptly passed out until he woke up in the early hours of this morning with a raging headache.

After a run and another shower he was still having an internal debate with himself about what to do. Should he even try to pursue her? It was obvious what he wanted; her. But to what extent? He was attracted to her and she made him excited... but was it more than that? He knew that Granger wasn't the type of girl you spent one night with despite how many times he imagined that last night. She was a nice girl, reserved. Anything with her would mean taking a gigantic leap into the unknown.

She wouldn't want him anyway. He was the last person on Earth she would consider anything with. She hated him, her friends hated him.

When he met her at the Floo that morning it was to see what would happen. They had been getting along alright... a few conversations. No arguments since Monday. That had to count for something. She asked him to come see the progress that morning and when he did they walked and talked for some time. He liked the way her mind worked. She was intelligent and could hold a conversation. Actually, she was unlike most women he met who were only interested in him for his name or his money.

Maybe that's why she had become so appealing so quickly to him. She didn't seem to be interested in him at all. She was a challenge.

At around 5 that afternoon he decided to take a walk around the grounds to clear his head. He had walked right to the back of the grounds without seeing anyone and assumed the team had already left for the day. He was enjoying taking in the warmth of the setting sunshine when he saw the object of his distraction emerge from the forest to his right. She spotted him and walked over. Her overalls were pulled down and wrapped by the arms around her waist and she was wearing a plain white t-shirt that hugged her in the right places. His cock twitched in his trousers as he thought of what he had imagined in the shower the night before.

"Hello." He said as she got closer, pushing any lucid thoughts to the back of his mind until later tonight.

"Hi." She replied pushing a few strands of hair behind her ears. "I was checking the preliminary patch to make sure it's clearing up alright. We will be able to start removal tomorrow I think. The water from the pond has worked really well." She moved her hands and rested them on each hip.

"That's good news." He nodded. "I think your team have left."

"I know. There isn't much else that we can do until the water does what it needs to do so I sent them home about an hour ago."

"Then why are you still here?" he questioned.

"I wanted to have a walk around to make sure I couldn't see any more patches of it that we may have missed."

"And are we in the clear?"

"I think so. I haven't checked over there yet." She pointed to his left.

"I'll lend you my eyes if you like. I'm done with paperwork for the day." And he wanted to talk to her more.

"Sure." She nodded and smiled.

"So what exactly are we looking for?" They set off walking together over the grass.

"It will look like a very small mushroom, brown in colour rather than the pink of the full sized Horklump."

They walked in silence for some time occasionally stopping to check a patch and have a short discussion about whether it's what they were looking for. They had been repeating the process for around 20 minutes with no signs so decided to head back towards to Manor when he finally decided to broach the subject he had been wanting to since he first saw her walk out of the forest.

"I'm not keeping you from an exciting evening with some burly wizard who will turn up at my Floo demanding you go home because you missed your dinner date am I?" She laughed at him then and he looked over at her.

"Oh… Well no, not unless you call my Cat a man and the dinner date me feeding him his biscuits." She chuckled to herself. So he wouldn't be stepping on anyone toes. She wouldn't be interested anyway so what was the point. "Anyway, Harry And Ginny are checking on the cat for the week so it doesn't matter if I am late."

"Those two come as a pair?" he enquired.

"Harry and Ginny? Yes, very much a pair."

"What about Weasley?"

"What about him?"

"What's he doing now?" He wasn't really interested in what he was doing. He just wanted to see if Granger was interested.

"He's on loan to the Auror Department in America at the moment, has been for six months or so."

"I thought I hadn't seen him for a while."

"Yes. Looks to be a permanent move." She gave a small smile.

"Oh?"

"He's met someone over there. Seems to really like her." She looked sad for a moment.

"You miss him?"

"Of course. He's one of my best friends but he's got to do what's right for him."

"Hmmmm." Wesley was definitely not on the scene then. Not romantically anyway. And he hasn't heard of any rumours at the Ministry of her seeing anyone. She was the Golden Girl after all. Everyone talked about her. That was a tick in the box. They walked a few more paces before she spoke again.

"I can imagine how beautiful this all used to look before. It must be hard to see it like this now." She was sympathetic. Another tick.

He nodded. "More for my Mother. She doesn't get out much and this place is all she has. She's the one that looks after it all."

"If she does all that, then what's your purpose here?"

"I don't have one. I'm working from my office here this week just to oversee things but I haven't lived here for some years."

"Oh I didn't realise..."

"Why would you." He asked rhetorically.

"What made you leave?" She wasn't averted to asking him questions, another good sign. His feet crunched beneath the stones and he looked up towards the Manor looming so large in front of them.

"Memories." He took a few moments before he continued. "It's hard to be around somewhere when all it does is make you remember things. Especially when the majority of them are not good memories."

"I understand that." They walked in silence a little longer.

"Is it hard for you to be here?" he asked her as they reached the steps leading up to the Manor and came to a stop. He didn't know if he wanted to hear her honesty. This could be it. If this ended badly then he couldn't pursue this. She looked up at the doors and answered plainly.

"Yes." And gave him a wry smile. "I mean out here, no. Inside, yes, sometimes. When I have to go in on my own. It's ridiculous really." She rubbed her arm subconsciously.

"No it isn't. Don't think that it is. What happened that day… well it's not something one easily forgets." That memory was one of the main reasons he hated spending too long here. Every time he walked past that door he could hear her screams. He didn't know what else to say and it seems neither did she, but she didn't walk away. They just stood next to one another in comfortable silence enjoying the last of the sun until she decided to speak once more.

"I think I best be going home. There isn't much for me to do. I can do the paperwork at home - saves you having to wait around for me."

He looked at her and nodded. "I'll wait for you and walk you back to the Floo."

"No it's okay… honestly I'll be fine." She moved away from him then and started walking backwards towards the tent. "Goodbye." She smiled, turned round and continued her walk away.

"Goodbye Granger." He watched her walk over the grass and into the large white tent before he went inside the Manor, across the large entrance hall until he reached the stairs. He was halfway up the grand staircase before something slowed him. He continued to the top of the stairs and waited out of sight leaning his large frame against the cold stone wall.

It was there he made the decision to pursue whatever these feelings he was having for her. He couldn't not. It was more than just a sexual attraction he had to her. He was starting to care about her.

There against the wall he waited until he heard the sound of her shoes on the floor, the quickness of her steps until they slowed to reach the Fireplace. A deep exhale, a rustling then the familiar WHUSH of flames as it carried her away. His Mother turned the corner at that moment and he told her that he was making sure she left so he could close the wards for the evening. He knew it was really because he didn't want her to be alone. Even though she didn't know he was there he felt better about it. Just in case.