Hermione walked in to find Draco sitting on the other side of the desk. He looked up at her and smiled.
"You're early," she said to him.
"I was sitting around the Manor with nothing to do," he replied. "So I figured I'd come here, see what we could do."
She sat across from him and explained to him her theory and what the interns were doing to research it.
"That's brilliant," Draco told her. "But I could have told you that. Voldemort always bragged about how he'd invented the spells himself, created specially for use against those who disobeyed him."
"That's horrible," Hermione said with a shudder.
"So what should we do?" Draco asked.
"Well, I promised Harry I'd stay here until he came by," Hermione told him. "So we have to stay here in the lab, why don't we play around with potions? I'm always looking for ways to make them stronger or last longer, maybe you could help?"
"I actually have a few ideas," Draco told her, pulling out the pieces of parchment from the first day. "This is what you saw me writing."
He handed her the pieces of parchment. Hermione scanned over the first few pages quickly and said excitedly, "you have several things here that I'd never thought of. These potion combinations just much work!"
Draco smiled at her, a real genuine smile, and Hermione felt her heart nearly stop.
"They're just ideas," he said. "I don't even know if they'll work."
"That's why we have a lab," she replied. "To try."
She jumped out of the chair so quickly she dropped the papers. Draco bent down next to her and as they were picking them up, two pages caught her eye at the same time they caught Draco's. He reached over her arm and snatched them, balling them into his hand.
"What do they say?" she asked, looking him in the eye.
"Nothing," Draco said, tightening his fist. "I wrote this the first day. It's not important now."
"Let me see," Hermione requested. "Let me see them Malfoy."
"No," he said, standing quickly. "You don't need to."
Hermione rose as well and stood, facing him. "I saw what it said," she told him. "You don't feel that way anymore."
"No," he replied. "I don't feel that way anymore. It's changed."
Hermione blushed at his response and he moved closer to her until she was an inch away. "It's changed?" she asked, looking up at him.
Draco stared down at her, a number of things were on the tip of his tongue. "Yes," he said finally. "It's definitely changed."
He placed his hands on either side of her face and kissed her softly. Hermione moved into him, sliding her hands up his chest, then down. Draco slid one hand into her hair and slid the other around her back to hold her against him. Their tongues tangled as the kiss quickly went from calm to heated. Draco moved toward Hermione and the back of her legs bumped the desk. He lifted her on to it, scattering papers, everywhere.
"Draco!" Hermione exclaimed, breaking the kiss. Unphased, Draco moved to her neck, kissing his way down then back up to her waiting mouth. Hermione decided they could worry about the papers later and slid her hands up his back.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. The sound caused Hermione to jump, knocking Draco's nose.
"Oh no!" Hermione exclaimed as blood began to run from Draco's nose. She grabbed for her wand as the door opened and Harry walked in.
"What's going on?" Harry demanded, looking at Malfoy.
"I hit him in the nose!" Hermione told him. "Malfoy, let me help."
Draco moved his hand from his nose and with a quick spell, the bleeding stopped.
"Why did you hit him in the nose?" Harry wanted to know, looking more entertained than worried.
"We were...uh...talking, and the knock at the door scared me," Hermione said. "When I jumped I accidentally hit him."
"You know Granger," Draco chimed in. "That's the second time you've punched me in the face."
"You deserved it the first time,"Hermione reminded him. "I am sorry though about this time. Does it feel alright?"
"It's fine," Draco said, swatting her hand away when she reached toward him to prod his nose. "You fixed it, bugger off."
Harry watched their exchange with fascination. It was almost as if they were...friends? Harry thought, as Draco swatted at Hermione's outreached hand again and she laughed.
"So anyway," Harry said, interrupting. "Rabastan won't tell us anything, but from what we can tell he Imperioed a muggle to follow you and get your address, then used the same muggle for his polyjuice potion. We can't figure though where he got the ingredients for it or how he brewed it, but he could have easily broken in somewhere and done it there."
"Hold on," Draco said, speaking directly to Harry. "Rabastan Lestrange is alive?"
"Yes," Harry replied. "Though I'm not sure you're supposed to know that."
"He won't tell, Harry," Hermione said quickly. "Am I alright to go home?"
"I'd rather you come and stay with Ginny and I," Harry told her. "You'd be safer there."
"Safer?" Draco said. "Why wouldn't you be safe at your flat?"
"I would be," Hermione said. "I did the wards at Grimmauld Place, Harry, you know my wards are just as strong as yours. I'll be fine."
"I figured you'd say that," Harry replied, holding out a key on a thin gold chain. "Take this, it's an emergency portkey. If something happens, activate it, and it'll bring you straight to the Auror's office."
Hermione took the key from Harry and slid it around her neck. "I won't need it," she told him.
"I'll feel better if you have it," Harry said.
"If you're done," Draco interrupted. "Will one of you please tell me what's going on?"
"It's none of your business," Harry told him.
Draco was about to say something but thought better of it when Hermione gave him a look that said shut up.
"Thank you," Hermione said, steering Harry toward the door. "I think I'll get Malfoy back then head home now."
"Use the portkey," Harry told her, then gave her a quick hug.
"Bye Harry," she replied and watched him walk down the hall. She shut the door behind her and turned to face Draco, bracing herself for whatever came next.
"Care to fill me in?" Draco said through his teeth. Hermione could see that his anger was barely contained.
"Malfoy, calm down," Hermione replied, walking toward him.
"Tell me what happened," Draco said in the same tone as before.
Hermione kept walking until she was standing right in front of him. She touched the left side of his face with her right hand, trying to soothe. "Everything is okay."
"No it's fucking not," Draco shouted, grabbing her hand but leaving it on his face. "Rabastan Lestrange is after you? Are you serious?"
"He tried to attack me in an alley," Hermione told him calmly, putting her head against his chest. "I stunned him, took him into the Leaky Cauldron, called Harry, and now he's in Azkaban."
"He didn't hurt you?" he asked, still holding her hand.
"No," Hermione replied. "Only scared me a little."
Then, to her surprise, Draco let go of her hand and hugged her tightly. Hermione ran her hands along his back, rubbing away the tension in his body.
"I knew he wasn't dead," Draco told her, pulling back to look at her face. "At least, I was pretty sure he wasn't."
"How did you know?" Hermione asked, concerned.
"Just a gut feeling, I swear," Draco replied. "Nothing more. I just…I knew if he wasn't in Azkaban and his body wasn't found, he was probably alive. He was always slippery. It's why Voldemort liked him."
At the mention of Voldemort's name, Hermione's eyes grew wide. "Oh my, Draco, would he have had access to the Manor?"
"Yes," Draco said grimly. "He's family and he was a Death Eater, he could have easily gotten in to the Manor, gotten to my mother."
"We need to check on her!" Hermione exclaimed, pulling out of his arms.
"I changed the blood wards this morning," Draco told her, catching her wrist and pulling her back to him. "My mother is fine."
"We should tell Harry about what happened to your mother," Hermione said. "And that he had access to the Manor up until this morning."
"Tomorrow," Draco answered. "Can I ask a favor?"
"Sure," Hermione replied.
"Will you come to dinner at Pansy's with me?" he asked hesitantly, releasing her so he could see her face. "I know it's short notice, but Pansy wants Blaise and I to spend some time with Weaselbee and Blaise is bringing Gina and if you come then there will be at least one person I can stand…"
"Yes," Hermione said with a smile. "But you're going to have to call him Ronald, or Ron, or even Weasley. No mean nicknames."
"I'll be nice if he's nice," Draco told her. "You can't expect more than that."
"Okay," Hermione answered. "What time is dinner?"
"7:00pm," he told her. "At Pansy's house, I hope that's alright."
"She's been dating my best friend for over a year, Malfoy," Hermione replied with a laugh. "I've been to her house, several times actually."
"Oh, okay," Draco said, feeling better about dragging Hermione to dinner. "Let's go, I think we've gotten enough accomplished today."
"We've barely done anything other than argue and snog!" Hermione exclaimed. "We have several hours of research we should get done, then I have rounds, then there's probably a bit of time for more research, and…"
Hermione's list was cut short by Draco's mouth covering hers. "Granger?" he said when he released her lips.
"Yeah?" she replied, staring into his eyes.
"Time to leave," he told her. "Let's go do your rounds and then we'll go to your flat and relax because that's what normal people do after work."
"You can hardly call us normal," Hermione pointed out but Draco shushed her with another kiss.
"Rounds, then we're leaving," he said, taking her hand in his and he pulled her out of the office.
A/N: Okay, don't get excited but I have started writing a new Dramione. I had absolutely no plan to write another right now but the story came to me and just wouldn't let me go. I have no idea when it'll get finished and I refuse to publish a story that isn't already finished but this was just a heads up that this won't be the last that you hear from me!