As the door slammed shut, Malfoy brusquely tore his robes from Granger's clutches and in one fell swoop brandished his wand to lock and ward the exit. If Granger thought she was going to hold him against his will, he sure as hell would ensure she felt the same unnerving sense of captivity.

When he swiveled to face her, Granger's wand was fixated directly between his eyes, in such an effortless manner that he wondered if it had simply become second nature while she and her two idiotic sidekicks had been on the lam.

Only, the look in her eyes painted something akin to panic, which for some unknown reason, was deeply unsettling. He bristled when realization dawned on him that she must fear him.

"Did you learn how to manhandle your colleagues from the Ministry's Employee Code of Conduct Manual or was that violent adaptation your own doing?"

He eyed her cautiously, much like he would any untamed beast, only this one was mere moments from hexing his bollocks off.

Without taking her eyes off his, she panted heavily, sucking air through her teeth.

"You wished to see me in our office!" she shouted with marked exasperation, looking around and gesturing wildly with her hand but never once allowing her wand arm to waver from his face. "This is OUR office!" Her voice increased an octave or three when for the first time her eyes landed on a perfectly hewn workspace in the front corner of the suite that had not been there previously.

It wasn't anything fancy, but it was just enough to cement the notion that Malfoy would be a permanent fixture in this otherwise peaceful backdrop. And that knowledge was just enough to once again find her plunging over the edge of the cliff of her already thinly-worn patience.

She looked back at him, eyes locking in a dangerous battle.

"I suppose my office was on your lengthy list of requests for the Minister, right alongside the utterly childish demand that you be made my partner."

His face ignited with undisguised outrage.

"Is it so hard for you to believe that it was Kingsley who ordered me to perform my duties here?" He pointed with revulsion to the pathetic accoutrements carelessly wedged into the corner. "Surely a Death Eater can only be trusted under someone's watchful eye," he added bitterly, his words laced with venom. "I'll have you know, this is the very last place on Earth I would willingly choose to spend my time. Even a fucking broom closet would be better than this bloody place."

His fiery eyes mercilessly maintained their assault as an oppressive stillness filled the room in the wake of his words.

Granger visibly recoiled from her combative stance, slowly lowering her wand and moving with marked difficulty over to her desk.

After taking a moment to compose herself, she shuffled stiffly in her chair, mindlessly organizing parchments and rearranging quills. When the strained silence stretched into its second minute, she looked up, surprised to see the disagreeable wizard still standing there.

She quietly cleared her throat. "Well," she began, "you wanted to meet, so out with it. What was so pressing about the case that you called me here on a Saturday?"

He looked up from the floor with an expression she couldn't define, but something about it softened her posture.

"For the record, I wouldn't have hurt you," he exhaled gruffly as if the profession had cost him something he was scarcely willing to give. Looking anywhere but at her, he made his way over to his new workspace with an air of purpose, his dragonhide oxfords reverberating through the office as she grappled to process his unexpected admission.

"Your abhorrence of me is rather obvious, Granger," he said evenly with his back still turned, pausing to pull out the shabby wooden armchair from his cramped office alcove. "I would have thought you too noble to submit yourself to such a disreputable flaw."

His words stung more than she cared to admit.

His lithe figure descended into his seat, vacant eyes shifting to meet hers. "Perhaps you'd like to begin our meeting by agreeing to not make erroneous assumptions about me moving forward."

Guilt marred her otherwise self-assured face with the realization that he was right. She had made a myriad of erroneous assumptions already that day, thinking the worst of him at every turn.

She had without hesitation assumed he demanded that Kingsley grant him unfettered use of her office.

Her principal instinct told her he meant to do her harm the moment he locked and warded the office door.

And not to mention, her explosive tirade outside the lifts had been unbefitting of a DMLE Head, to say the very least.

How had she let Malfoy get in her head and cause her to lose all self-control like she had?

She suddenly recalled the ashes strewn within the Floo of her sitting room that morning and thought to herself that perhaps the time had come to salvage and rebuild the charred remains that smoldered between them.

She looked across to where Malfoy sat motionless, almost forlorn, and felt like she was seeing him again for the first time.

"I think that would be an altogether agreeable way to begin our meeting," she finally answered in an unwavering tone.

She thought she saw the dawning of an almost smile form on his face at her offering but in a flash it was gone, leaving her to wonder if she had somehow imagined it.

"Before we find ourselves behaving like a couple of Hufflepuffs, let's get on with it," he declared while fidgeting with the cuff of his dress robes.

"Well, before we get on with it, perhaps we should unlock the door and let Harry in," she added with a muffled chuckle. "I think if we wait much longer, he'll assume we've Avada'd each other and send in the full force of the Auror department to sift through the wreckage."

She looked over to find Malfoy struggling to conceal his amusement.

Well, that's a first, she thought to herself. Hermione Granger made Draco Malfoy laugh. She made a mental note of this unlikely accomplishment and carried on, motioning toward the doorway. "Would you mind lifting the wards?"

With a wave of his wand, he unlocked and unwarded the office door while Hermione shuffled over to allow Harry entrance.

"Is it safe to come in?" he inquired with marked trepidation, cautiously peering his head around the corner to assess the situation.

Seeing no dead bodies, he readily crossed the threshold into the dubious domain. He could feel a palpable shift in the silence between Malfoy and his friend which allowed him to breathe more freely.

"So...," he began, awkwardly rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. His eyes traveled hesitantly from Draco to Hermione, entreating one of them to speak.

If there was one thing Draco Malfoy didn't like, it was pointless drivel.

In an effort to save Harry from this pitiful display of diplomacy, he rose from his chair and swiftly advanced toward the open doorway, only glancing back briefly to add a clipped, "Well, are you coming?"

In unspoken agreement, Harry and Hermione ambled forward to follow Malfoy through the doorway, but mid-stride Draco stopped abruptly, nearly causing the pair to crash into his backside.

Condescending eyes traveled the length of Hermione's form before Malfoy finally spoke.

"Can you please do something about your appearance, Granger? If I'm to be seen accompanying you around the Ministry, the least you could do is not look as though you've just crawled out of bed."

"Don't be difficult, Malfoy," she snapped, wildly waving her wand to transfigure her feline flannel bottoms into something more suitable. "There, are you happy now?"

Malfoy shrugged disdainfully. "It's a start," he said as he sauntered off in the direction of the lifts.

Hermione opened her mouth in defensive opposition but faltered, instead pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing, "Merlin, help me," as they fought to catch up with the incorrigible prat.