Author's note: It's Drarry. I ship multiple pairings okay? This is also Drarry with a fem Draco. There's your warning, if you continue to read knowing it's not what you like...then that's an issue of your own making. Ao3 is a fun, creative space so let's all act respectfully. Cheers, and enjoy!

Xoxo

Catstclaire

Chapter 1

"Neville if she breaks through this one, i'll water all the plants down in the atrium for a month." Ron Weasley's voice was loud, and boisterous from across the room in the crowd.

Draco was standing in the very middle of the training room the Junior Aurors used. She was face to face with a magical shield. It hovered in the air, with a red light pulsing all around it. Draco considered it a brief moment, and she felt the wards around it, with her own magic. They were strong. The strongest that had been placed on one of these shields thus far in her training. This shield had been painstakingly crafted by an extremely powerful wizard, that should make Draco recoil, but oddly enough though there was something almost inviting about the shield...

"Not going to stick it to a wall this time?" Draco drawled lazily.

It's wards were strong but she still had no doubt she'd be able to get through it just fine.

Longbottom stood up from his seat in the crowd. "Let's not risk another wall, unnecessarily." He said. "-and i'll take that bet Ron."

Weasley rolled his eyes. "She's not getting passed this one." He seemed entirely certain. Draco wondered why he was so certain this time.

Since she'd been in Junior Auror training, and her trainers had discovered her new found magical prowess these shield breaking demonstrations had become common place.

At first it was only a slight interest Longbottom took when she sliced cleanly through a shield of his while they dueled- then when she did the same with Weasley the next day- people began to talk in earnest.

The rumor mill at the ministry flew wild. Everyone had questions.

'Where did this power come from?'

'Had she always had this kind of power- even before the war?'

Of course Draco never answered any of them. She knew- or at least highly suspected where her abilities had come from and why, but she felt she didn't owe anyone an explanation. She also didn't answer these questions out of self preservation. If people knew... merlin that would be bad.

Ron Weasley, and Neville Longbottom ran the training for the Aurors, and Draco knew it was with great dislike that she had become their standout for this years class.

Draco was years older than the other trainees. She hadn't joined right up after the war, she had tried but ultimately been denied. She didn't mind being older than the others she was just glad they mostly left her alone.

Most times in the beginning it had just been Weasley or Longbottom who watched her break through these shields, but as more people heard about Draco Malfoy and her surprising new gift they to wanted to see it for themselves. People from all departments would come to watch these days. Some of them only came hoping to watch her fail of course, but she never did, and she expected she never would.

Once even the minister of magic came to see the spectacle- which Draco probably would have found just as exciting as anyone else if it wasn't for the fact that Hermione Granger was the current minister for magic. Draco was glad Granger hadn't stayed more than a few minutes.

There was something dreadfully humbling about growing up to have a boss that you once sought to torment daily as a child. Granger was Draco's superior now, and Draco did well to stay out of her way when she could.

The shields had been made in all manners before. With steel, iron, and even once there was one encrusted in diamonds. Then they tried sticking the shields onto reinforced walls, that never helped much either but Draco felt much more satisfaction when she watched an entire wall crumble at her fingertips rather than just the shield.

Longbottom and Weasley had transfigured a large set of benches for today's trial to be viewed. There were at least 50 people sitting together across the room. Some Draco easily recognized from school. Angelina Johnson. Hannah Abbott. Some she recognized because her magic broke through their carefully crafted disguises. The unspeakables she was not supposed to know the identities of but she did anyways. There was the Older Weasley brother, Bill in the crowd. His hood drawn, and to everyone else he was unrecognizable.

Some of the waiting crowd called out.

"She'll bungle it this time! No doubt!"

"No way Malfoy will break this one!"

Jeers, and cheers alike came from the crowd.

Longbottom whistled, and the crowd and it's noise puttered out.

"When you're ready, Malfoy." Weasley said flatly, "Give it your very best try." He said the last with condescension, which Draco did not appreciate.

Draco only grinned to herself before turning back to the shield again. The shield was ridiculously large this time around. It could nearly be considered a wall all on it's own.

Draco rose her wand arm, and watched as some of the crowd seemed to cringe backwards in their seats. Often times when Draco broke these shields remnants of it went flying around the room, and sometimes they even hit people watching.

Draco let some of her magic slip forward preemptively. To surround the shield. She felt the magic humming in her veins, and it made her blood sing.

She flourished about in the air although Draco didn't even need her wand anymore. She just liked the dramatic effect it had when she did it. Not that anyone in the room was aware of that fact. Draco only knew of one other person in the world who was able to cast without the use of a wand, and she was just perfectly happy to go on without being compared to him anytime soon.

Draco held herself steady for a beat, and watched her magic surge forward all at once. A dazzling green light sliced through the air so awesomely people in the crowd shielded their eyes.

It landed exactly where Draco wanted it to. For a few moments nothing seemed to have happened. Draco pocketed her wand. Weasley got a smug look on his face for a second then suddenly it fell away as the shields wards began to ripple, and disintegrate.

"It was only the wards she took out!" Someone cried out joyously.

Before anyone else could say more a crack appeared on the shield in the middle, small, tiny, and unassuming. Draco sought out Weasley in the crowd and smirked at him right as the shield cracked in half, and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. The pieces of it's destruction glittered in a neat little pile.

The room broke out into a chorus of complaints, and debate.

Draco simply stood, and watched. She crossed one high heeled boot over the other, and leaned up against the nearest wall. She was the sort of girl who liked to look good at all times, with her icy curled ponytail, gray blue eyes, flawless porcelain skin, and pleasant curves. Even the scars on her face, and the tattoos on both her arms seemed to help her in this endeavor. They elevated her look, and she thought it made her even a bit more mysterious then she already was. Most people though probably still only saw her as vapid, and pretentious- she was always wearing the latest robes, and matching skirts after-all. She was fine with any description of her character though so long as it was hers people were describing, and not that of her family as a whole.

Draco Malfoy had spent years after the war curtailing, and working away at the negative public opinion where the Malfoy name was concerned. She did fund raisers, hosted galas, donated money to St. Mungo's. Whatever she thought might right some of the wrongs of her family.

At the end of it all Draco just wanted people to see her, and not the Malfoy heir when they looked in her direction.

Draco smiled when Longbottom slapped Weasley on the back a clear indication that Longbottom would be holding Weasley to his word.

The chorus of complaints grew. People jumped from one to the next topic. What kind of wards and shield might be able to withstand the might of Draco's casting. How it was that she managed to do it again. Had she meant to dissolve the wards around the shield instead of shattering them? It was all delightfully amusing for Draco to hear.

Though she had spent time remedying her family's name, there was only so much that could be done for it. She would be lying if she said there weren't people who were uneasy with Draco becoming so powerful. Some people would never come to trust her- and that was just fine with Draco where most people were concerned. There were very few whose opinions she did care about when it came to her reputation.

As the crowd continued it's onslaught Draco's attention was drawn elsewhere in the room. Towards the exit where a tall cloaked figure with red trimmings in his robe had just entered. His arms folded, and his posture went rigid when he spotted the destroyed makings of the shield on the floor.

Draco would know perfectly who that figure was even if she were deaf, dumb, blind, and mute. She could see right through his enchantments though they were excellent ones. Better than anyone else's.

It was simply that her magic would know him anywhere, even before the war when Harry Potter was around Draco's magic always seemed to draw her closer to him.

Maybe Draco should just ignore him like she did the other unspeakables who she also wasn't supposed to know the identity of. It wasn't like Potter had ever given her the slightest bit of attention before, not when they were growing up and especially not since the war. She had sent him invites. To the galas, and any other event she had a hand in years passed, but he never answered them and never attended.

She wondered briefly what it was he thought of her. Draco Malfoy: heir to a family with dung smeared all over it post war- turned charity philanthropist- turned Junior Auror trainee. He was probably shocked she surmised. Most people were. How could they not be when she went from esteemed socialite to Auror hopeful overnight? It was a drastic career change to be sure.

Though in the past Harry Potter might never have given her much of a thought, she could see he certainly was now.

He regarded her suspiciously, and she had to readjust her boots as he continued to rove over her with a fine toothed comb across the room.

The exit door flew open again, and Hermione Granger blazed through hand raised. Draco stood up straight, and watched as the room went deftly quiet under respect for the Minister for magic.

Her hair wasn't nearly as bushy as when they'd been kids, and she finally grew into her rabbit teeth at some point. Even still it was only begrudgingly that Draco admitted Hermione Granger was beautiful. As she made her way across the room Harry Potter followed in her wake quite giving Draco deja vu from all those times at school she watched them together in between classes.

"Leave us." Granger commanded and the people gathered round jumped up eagerly from their seats to obey her.

As they all filed out, Potter and Granger had gone over to inspect the shield closer. Weasley was by the door herding people out, and Draco slunk her way into the crowd hoping to avoid whatever the Minister for magic might have to say to her.

Weasley who still looked gutted from having lost his bet, grabbed her by her cloak hood before she could make it out the door. "Not you. Malfoy."

Then Weasley was casting a locking charm at the door when everyone else was gone. He dragged her by the hood back to where the other part of his trio was.

Granger had her head ducked low and was whispering with Potter over the pile of rubble, and when they saw Draco there they stopped.

Potter let his glamour fall away, and if Weasley was surprised to see it was him he was an excellent actor. If there were any people Harry Potter trusted to let see around his enchantments it was his best friends. Draco expected he'd be pissed to know she could see through them without his allowing it.

Weasley let go of her hood, and she shook her cloak out.

Granger scooped a handful of the bits off the ground, and held them out in her palm so Draco could see them.

"What's this?" Granger crumbled the bits further in her palm and let them fall away back to the ground.

Draco couldn't help herself. "Dirt."

Granger sighed. "Do you see the glitter here?" She stoped closer to Draco and held her hand right up to her nose.

"Very pretty dirt." Draco amended balefully.

Weasley crossed his arms, and Granger threw the rest of her handful down with more force than necessary.

"I created the shield you just destroyed. Plus the wards around it." Potter spoke up from the middle of his trio.

"You don't say?" No wonder Weasley had been convinced she wasn't going to break it.

"How did you do it, Malfoy?"

"I pointed my wand at it." She shrugged her shoulders in a devil may care sort of way.

There was a rather long pause as the four of them looked from one person to the next. Then Potter pointed his long, tan finger right in her face.

"You know that isn't what i mean."

The air in between them both crackled with energy briefly.

"I want to know what you did to shatter that shield." Potter said furiously.

Draco simmered on the looks of the Gryffindors: which ranged from mild curiosity to outright anger. She wondered just how much she should say to them.

"I told the wards they had to break, and the shield ended up collateral damage and collapsed on it's own." Draco explained. "You did very well. Better than any others so far." Potter didn't respond to her compliment so she also added. "Don't take it to hard."

"Hermione and i were watching you. Through the 2 way witches glass outside in the hall."

Draco pulled the collar of her cloak a little looser. "-and?"

"You moved your body-" Had Potter's voice lingered on the word body? "moved your wand, but you didn't need the wand did you?"

Granger shifted her weight behind Potter, as they all waited for Draco to speak.

Draco looked at Weasley. "I'm here to be an Auror, not to be interrogated by your friends."

Weasley jutted his lip out, and as always deferred to Granger and Potter to take lead.

"I can assure you, Malfoy, Harry and i are not here as Ron's friends. Rather we are here as the Minister for magic and the head of the unspeakable department." Granger slid her hands into her pockets, and smiled in a fake polite manner. "Can you see perhaps, how this sudden spurt of power you've displayed as a Junior trainee might be-" Granger paused to search for a word. "seen as a curiosity?"

"Of course. Minister." Draco blathered without feeling.

Draco was sort of trapped. She couldn't outright lie to Granger, but she also didn't want to tell her a damn thing.

"Tell me then. How long have you had this sort of power? I think it's safe to say none of any of us who went to school with you can recall this sort of strength while at Hogwarts, and believe me i've asked around- so i must conclude either you were very good at hiding it while at Hogwarts- or more likely it was after Hogwarts that you refined your skills."

Draco countered with her own question. "Do you know why i wanted to become an Auror?"

Only Potter answered. "I can imagine."

A truer statement had never been said. If there was one person on the planet who could truly understand Draco and her motivations, her life- if there was one person who could understand Draco as well as she understood herself it would be Harry Potter.

"I just wanted to leave the world with at least a few good things done by someone in the Malfoy family." Potter nodded in understanding.

"It's a noble goal. There's something you aren't telling us though." Potter's voice was deep and rough with conviction.

Granger looked between Draco and Potter and it seemed something occurred to her then.

"To be honest with you Draco, it really doesn't matter how you're doing it. It just matters that you are. -and at this point you are far outside the level of a normal Junior Auror, it would be a mockery of us to keep setting these shields up in front of you."

Then it sort of fell into place, the golden trio ambush and what not.

Draco frowned. "So you're what kicking me out, because i'm to bloody good?" She was outraged.

After all the shit she had done for the Ministry, all the asses she had kissed. It was unfair.

"No. No." Granger waved about in the air with her fingers. "You misunderstood, i'm not kicking you out, i'm promoting you."

Oh.

"That's awfully nice of you."

Granger began to circle where the shield had been. "Keep your secrets Malfoy. I really don't care where it came from- all this power." She kicked the pile of ash. "As long as you're for the ministry, mum can be the word."

Potter scoffed, and looked quite like he disagreed. In fact he looked like he'd like nothing more than to get to the bottom of Draco Malfoy. She knew, he thought she was up to something, after all old habits die hard. Draco had yet to forget the year she spent at school with Harry Potter practically breathing down her neck at every turn. She wondered if this time around it might be possible to keep him from the truth.

She at least could hope.

"You are for the ministry aren't you?" Weasley barked at her.

"Yes." Draco sneered.

It all felt like she was moving through a script, like some of what they'd said had already been decided before they were here. Perhaps though it was just because it felt so familiar.

Though 10 years had passed since they had graduated Hogwarts and the war ended somehow the 4 of them were able to jump right back into their old roles with one another. Malfoy with her antagonism, and the 3 musketeers as eager as ever to uphold the status quo.

"So what exactly is my promotion then?"

"Follow me to my office." Potter said and he marched off without looking back leaving Draco to jog to catch up to him.

She looked back at Granger for confirmation, and Granger waved a hand at her to dismiss.

Draco heard Granger cackling as she left the room.

Draco wondered on the injustice of Granger being in a direct position of power of her own husband. Surely there were ministry rules against husband and wife working together? But also surely if anyone got away with bending the rules it was the Golden trio. That was a lesson Draco learned well, at Hogwarts.

Draco swallowed thickly. She couldn't possibly explain why her mouth was suddenly flooded with saliva right then as she followed Potter down the corridors to his office.