Draco blinked at her. He'd forgotten how observant she could be. How easily she could tease out his secrets while he thought that he was closing in on hers. It was worse now, when she had no trust in him and was so much more callous about it. She didn't have boundaries now, when previously she'd always made sure she didn't go too far.
Her eyes were almost always cold, but there was an expression in them that made Draco think that she was assessing how much of a risk he was to her. Assessing whether she should kill him while she had the chance or keep him for questioning.
"Alright," he said, careful to keep his hands where she could see them and well away from his wand. "I know more about you than I should."
"No kidding."
"I'm not going to tell you why," said Draco. "You can kill me if you want…"
"I'm not about to kill you, dumbass." Bones scowled at him. "You didn't turn me in to You-Know-Who when you could have. Whatever else you might be, you're no danger to me."
"No," Draco agreed.
Bones didn't take her gaze off him; eyes still hard.
"I'm still not telling you anything," said Draco.
Her brows rose in disbelief. "Are you kidding? Seriously. What, are you stalking me?"
Draco smiled. "You're the covert investigator. Figure it out."
Bones scowled again. "For you to guess that I splinched myself to keep You-Know-Who off my back you had to know that I was planning for this war while I was still in Hogwarts." She lifted her chin, watching him closely. If she was hoping that he'd give anything away, she was out of luck. She might be better than ninety-nine percent of the Aurors out there, but Draco had been a spy for years. If he wanted to keep something from her, she had no chance of getting it from him. Bones gave up on trying to intimidate the information out of him, throwing her hands up in frustration. "No one knew that I was planning for this back in Hogwarts."
Draco kept a straight face. "Quite the conundrum," he said.
"I will figure this out," said Bones.
Draco smirked at her. "You do that."
"I will."
That made him laugh. "Okay. In the meantime can I get you a drink?"
Bones held out for maybe ten seconds before she threw one of Draco's cushions at his head. "It's not okay!" she wailed. "I mean, I will figure out what you're up to, but that might take days and I want to know now!"
"It might take weeks," Draco corrected her, stung that she thought she could unravel his secrets so easily. "It might take months."
Bones snorted. "Days," she said. "You may as well tell me. Whatever it is, I'll know by the end of the week."
Draco shrugged. "Surely you can wait that long?"
"I can't!" Bones wailed. "I really, really want to know. And I'm meant to be investigating who attacked the Burrow. So if you just tell me, I can put all of my resources into saving the Wizarding world and not spend them on trying to figure out what you're up to."
Draco folded his arms and leant back against the mantelpiece, trying with limited success to hide a smile. "As brilliant as your argument is, I'm unmoved," he said. "Make a decision. Wizarding world or my secret. You're not going to have both in a week."
Bones arched her eyebrows at him. "We'll see."
She was looking peaky so Draco did go to get her a drink. When he got back to the lounge she was sitting on the floor by the door, breaking Draco's apartment's wards down.
"We need those to keep us alive," he told her, leaning against the foyer wall and holding a mug of hot chocolate out to her. She had taken her cloak off and was wearing the thin hospital gown that barely reached her knees.
"I can make them better." There was no superiority in Bones' voice. She was stating a fact and not particularly proud of her abilities.
When she didn't take the mug, Draco sat in the other side of the doorway and sipped it himself. Her head was bent, undoing the knots of spell-work at the corner of the door frame, dark lashes shuttering off her eyes. There was just enough room in the narrow entrance for Draco to stretch his legs out and, when he did, they brushed hers. Her skin was ashen, as though the after-effects of the Dementor attack hadn't worn off. Even so, having Bones there reworking his wards like the place was hers made Draco's stomach twist in a strange sort of happiness.
He'd thought about this stuff too many times. What it would be like to move in somewhere with her. Not the Manor. Never the Manor. He wouldn't have asked her but, even if he had, she'd never have agreed to it.
Somewhere else – something that maybe they'd chosen together after the war wound up and it was safe to do so.
It would have been like this. Draco would have tried to insist on getting people in to fix everything; Bones would have laughed him off and done it all herself. She might have used magic, but on the whole Draco thought not.
He watched her thread wards into the timber of the doorframe, netting it so that if one strand broke it would not take the rest of the protection spells out. The magic was finer and more complex than Draco had seen before in this kind of work. He prodded at it, expecting the defences to sizzle against his fingers in protest. Instead the lace-like web of spell-work cushioned his hand; cool and pliant, like he'd submerged it in water.
Bones was concentrating on tying the ward off, double sealing it in place. "My defences aren't going to hurt you." She looked up at him then. "I meant it. I don't consider you a threat. The wards won't keep you in or out."
Draco hadn't disbelieved her the first time. He smiled. "You generally tell the truth."
Her eyes narrowed, teeth biting lightly into her lower lip as she studied Draco. "Did you question my friends before you decided to act for Hottie?" she asked. "Is that where your information's coming from?"
"No." Draco took another sip of hot chocolate, watching her over the rim of the cup. She hadn't taken her eyes off him when he lowered it. "Of course," he said. "I do lie, so you might want to treat my answers with a touch of suspicion."
Her eyes darkened, sparkling with curiosity.
"Would you like me to pick some clothes up for you?" Draco asked.
She raised her eyebrows, slightly mocking. "Changing the subject does not work on me. I question criminals for a living."
He put the mug down and leaned forward to kiss her. It was stupid – reckless. Enough to break everything that he was trying to mend.
She didn't move into the kiss, nor did she pull away. When Draco withdrew, she picked up the mug of hot chocolate and took a sip, prodding at the newly woven wards with her wand.
She put the mug down finally. "I've never had a criminal kiss me to throw me off-track," she said, tone casual. "I won't lie; it's more effective than changing the subject – but not enough to work. I will have your secrets, Malfoy."
He smiled. She was as stubborn as she had ever been; though back in Hogwarts it had been him trying to pry her secrets loose, while she fought to keep them.