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Given the supreme lack of milestones they were afforded due to the nature of their childhood, Auror Granger and Auror Malfoy held a surprisingly soft spot for celebrating the mundane.
It had started during Auror training when Hermione received an Exemplary on one of her physical endurance tests– something she’d been striving for for the better half of three months. She invited her entire training class out to drinks that night to celebrate. Draco attended but remained rather confused about the grandness of the celebration until he overheard Harry mention the reasoning to a different trainee across the table.
With this context, he ordered two shots of firewhisky to the table and levitated one over to Hermione a few seats away. When it hovered in front of her, she took it and looked over in the direction from where it came, locking eyes with Draco.
She silently cocked her head to the side, brows knitting together in confusion at his gesture. In return, he gave a small approving nod, silently commending her achievement, and lifted his glass towards her. An amused smile crossed Hermione’s face as she mirrored his action before they both knocked back the shot and returned to the conversations around them.
A few weeks later, Hermione walked past Draco’s desk one day and noticed a date circled on his wall calendar. “Why have you got the 27th circled?”
Draco’s head popped up from the practice case file he had been assigned, surprised by both the interruption and it being Hermione at his desk. “Granger,” he greeted as he leaned back in his chair to get a better look at the calendar. For a brief moment, a hint of a smile crossed his face as he looked at the date just before he turned to face her fully. It was quelled almost instantly under Draco’s trademark stoicism. “Nothing special. Just a reminder.”
“Never took you for the fond type, Malfoy.” Hermione’s occasional teasing didn’t necessarily feel forced but was still very new. It took Draco a second to realize it and give her a small chuckle in response. They still hadn’t quite figured out a good rhythm when it came to engaging with one another, but following the war, they’d managed to develop a relationship of tolerance and cordiality. On some days, it could even pass as respect.
“It truly is nothing special. It’s–” he looked back at the calendar again. “I moved out of the Manor and into my own place one year ago on the 27th of this month, so I’ve marked it as a reminder.”
Hermione didn’t hide her surprise well at the information he had shared, but she fought to reign it in when Draco looked at her with a quirked eyebrow. “Good for you, Malfoy.”
He was slightly taken aback by the sincerity in her voice. Draco nodded and gave a small shrug. “Like I said, it’s nothing.”
She accepted the answer, choosing not to press it further, but did make note of the somewhat positive glint in his eye when he spoke about the date.
When Draco arrived to work a few days later on the 27th, he was greeted by a small bottle of champagne and an attached card that read, “Cheers to one year of being your own person.”
It wasn’t signed, but he knew Hermione was the only person who could have gifted it.
Kind as this habit may be, the act of celebration did not change the dynamics of their relationship much at all. Once they got past their initial uncertainty about how to interact with one another in a post-war world, they quickly fell back into the bickering ways of their youth. Despite that, the practice of celebrating life’s moments continued between them.
That fact was why Aurors Granger and Malfoy chose to spend their evening investigating an abandoned manor that was rumored to have a cursed vase containing a ghost from the 17th Century in honor of their fifth anniversary as Auror partners.
Rumor was the operative word because Hermione was ardently convinced of the existence of the vase while Draco could not have been more sure of the opposite.
“Granger, I swear on everything I love that if this becomes a dead end, I will demand restitution from you for time lost.” Draco had been scouring a section of an overtly cluttered library for the better part of an hour in search of the vase.
“Everything you love, hmm?” Hermione was sat waist-deep in piles of historical relics and what could only be described as plain rubbish. She didn’t bother to look his way as she replied. “Short list.”
“Har har,” he retorted, tossing a small bust of Paracelsus over his shoulder, allowing it to shatter on the floor behind him.
Hermione whipped her head around at him in shock. “Draco! Just because the manor is abandoned doesn’t mean you can destroy things!”
Draco pointed his wand over his shoulder in the general area of the shattered bust. “ Reparo .”
Within seconds, the bust was back in its original state. He glanced at it and then at her with a mildly vexed expression. “There, there, Granger. No whinging over a broken bust.”
“You’re unbelievable,” she said as she stood up from the pile and moved onto a crammed curio cabinet on the other side of the library.
“So I’ve been told.” He anticipated the glare she threw at him and met it with a wink that only irked his partner further.
As the pair of Aurors closed in on hour three of their search, Draco took note of the heavy sighs that were becoming more and more prevalent from the other side of the room. “Look, if we don’t find it, it’s fine. I promise I will only slightly shame you to the department floor for leading a fruitless mission.”
Hermione lay flat on the floor from where she had been kneeling in front of a fireplace with several removable bricks and let out another begrudging sigh. “I was positive it would be here.”
“Wallowing is not a good look for you,” Draco stated as he crossed the room to her. He reached out a hand and she took it, allowing him to pull her to her feet.
She shrugged and raised an eyebrow playfully. “Are you implying that I have looks that are good?”
Draco laughed and let go of her hand. “Hardly. I should push you back down onto the floor and make you get back up yourself for that.”
“I’d report you for Auror Partner Misconduct, but you’re not worth the paperwork I’d have to file.” She bumped his shoulder as she strode past him, enjoying the line of bickering and banter they’d been straddling all evening.
He made a big show of rolling his eyes, letting his head lull backward with the action. As he did, Draco’s eyes happened to catch sight of a small, crystal vase precariously perched on the top shelf of a bookcase. “What are we looking for again? Crystal vase was it?”
“Yes. Crystal vase with gold adornment around the lid.” Hermione turned around to see him looking up at the top shelf. She followed his line of sight and gasped when she saw the vase. “That’s it!”
Draco pulled out his wand again and pointed it toward the vase, wordlessly summoning it down from the shelf. After a second, he frowned at the way the object seemed to resist his magic.
“Have you suddenly forgotten how to perform a levitation spell?” Her tone was incredulous as she pulled out her wand. Much like Draco’s attempt, Hermione couldn’t get the vase to move.
“‘Have I suddenly forgotten’–” he mocked as he moved to get a better look at where the vase sat. “Let’s have some decorum and respect here, Granger. Honestly .”
Hermione scanned the room, trying to piece together a plan. “As much as I hate to suggest it, we’d open the vase anyways once it comes down, so…”
“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Draco happily took a few steps back from the bookshelf to assess the structure of it. He pushed up the sleeves of his white Oxford button-down and gave the shelf a sharp kick.
The quickness and force of the action sent books careening off the shelf. Draco and Hermione stepped to the side as they watched the vase rock on the top shelf. It failed to stabilize from the momentum of Draco’s kick and fell from the top shelf, erupting into shards of crystal on the floor between them.
Clouds of bluish-green fog rose from the shards on the ground, becoming thicker and more enveloping in seconds.
Draco inhaled and let out a rough cough as the fog abrased his throat.“This doesn’t seem like a trapped spirit.”
Hermione reached blindly through the shroud of mist, feeling for Draco and grasping firmly onto his shoulder. “It’s possible–” she choked on her inhale as the fog made its way into her airways. “It’s possible it may have solely been a cursed vase.”
“Call it in.”
“Already on it.”
She sent a Patronus to St. Mungo’s, alerting them of their contamination and need for immediate attention upon arrival.
Draco doubled over with a coughing fit and Hermione did her best to fan away some of the toxic gas surrounding them. “Are you okay? I need you well enough to apparate. I refuse to show up poisoned and splinched.”
He groaned at her complaint. “Glad your priorities are in order. I’m fine. Just do it.” Draco reached for her hand and squeezed it to let her know he was ready.
The familiar tugging of apparition pulled them backward until they landed in the Receiving Ward at St. Mungo’s. Upon arrival, they were immediately crowded by several mediwizards trying to assess the severity of their poisoning.
Padma Patil approached Draco with a bubble-head charm encasing her head as she triaged him. “A bubble-head charm? Is that really necessary, Patil?”
She ignored him and dictated her observations to an aide with a waiting quill. “No signs of physical symptoms. Exposure seems to be limited solely to the respiratory system.” She conjured up a diagnostics chart on Draco’s chest and murmured findings under her breath to her aide. Padma looked over to the mediwizard performing the same diagnostic on Hermione. “I’m seeing herbological spores and bacterial cultures within the lungs. Same for you?”
“Correct. Also some minor inflammation along the inside walls of the throat.” The second mediwizard zoomed in on the chart over Hermione’s throat and nodded. “All damage is reversible, but we need to administer treatment immediately.”
Padma nodded and passed along her chart to her aide. With that, she ushered Draco and Hermione into a waiting hospital room.
The room itself was on the smaller side. Likely meant for one occupant, not two. Two beds were placed against opposite walls, with the foot of each bed facing the other at the center of the room.
“I really don’t think we need a whole room, Padma. I’m sure a potion is more than enough for treatment. Then you can send us on our way.” Hermione tried to dissuade her former classmate, but Padma resisted as she coaxed her and then Draco into their respective beds.
The second mediwizard entered the room with a small pushcart in front of him. On it sat two faintly blue potion vials. Padma brought one to each of them and urged them to drink. Both stifled a gag in disgust as they swallowed the shimmering liquid.
“Perfect. Now that you’ve both started the Toxicity Reversal process, I can walk you through some of the key things to note. For starters, it tastes awful, so I do apologize for that.” Her voice was sincere, but Padma was slightly amused at the reaction the taste had garnered from her patients. “Second, the potion itself should start to take effect rather quickly. Given the duration of your exposure and the severity of the colony of toxic spores that have already taken root within your lungs, we’ll have to keep you both here for at least the next six hours under quarantine to ensure that you’re responding well to the treatment and are no longer contagious.”
Neither could hide the shock at what the rest of their night had in store for them and piped up in unison, “Six hours?!”
She nodded and slowly started heading toward the door. “Again, I do apologize, but I’m sure it’ll be over before you know it. There are a few minor symptoms that we’ve noted from the Toxicity Reversal Potion such as nausea and fatigue, but in the spirit of honesty, I do want you to be aware that two of the main ingredients in this potion are Powdered Moonstone and Ptolemy which–”
Draco’s hands dragged down his face in deep annoyance. “You must be joking. You’ve managed to dose us with a majority of the ingredients used in Veritiserum?”
Padma had reached the door. She put her hands up apologetically. “As I said, very minor symptoms. It should be completely fine. I’ll be back in six hours to check on you.”
She quickly slipped out, leaving the two quarantined wizards to settle into the fate that awaited them for the next six hours.
Hermione sat with her arms crossed in her bed, leveling Draco with an unforgiving glare. Draco confronted her with just as much irritation and blame. They both erupted with accusations.
“Don’t even try to blame this on me!”
“This is one hundred percent your fault!”
“It was your idea to knock it over!”
“You’re the one who kicked the bookcase!”
Draco barked out a laugh at her reasoning. “I kicked the bookcase because you had no plan on how to bring it down and made it sound like it was our only option. It was either that or we resorted to throwing books at it until it fell.”
Hermione turned her attention to the comforter folded across her lap and straightened it with a deep furrow in her brows. “It’s my fault. We could have done countless other things to go up and retrieve it, but having you knock it down was the easiest option. I just don’t want to admit that because that would mean you’re right.”
Draco, surprised by her answer, looked around the room and then back at her. “I’m sorry. Did you just say that I was right?”
Her eyes grew wide and she clamped a hand down over her mouth, realizing exactly what had been admitted. “This has to be the potion. I’d never willingly say that.”
“But you thought it.” Draco’s grin grew wide and teasing. “How many times have you acknowledged that you were wrong on something, but that Gryffindor pride of yours kept you from actually saying it out loud?”
“At least twice a week. Maybe more.” The answer flowed easily out of her mouth. “Stop that!”
Draco leaned back against the pillows on his hospital bed and made himself comfortable, more than enjoying this moment. “I’m not doing anything. We’re just talking. It’s not my fault you’ve sequestered all of these secrets.”
“You know what? Fine. Two can play at this game, Malfoy. Let’s have a little fun.” Hermione sat up in her bed and sorted through questions to ask him for a few moments before landing on one. “Did you ever hook up with Mandy Brocklehurst during Auror training?”
Draco couldn’t stop the answer as it came forth on his tongue. “I tried to twice, but she stood me up on our second date and never spoke to me again.”
Hermione’s laughter over the situation was only furthered by the surprise on Draco’s face over the honesty of his answer. “Brilliant. I knew there was a reason she stopped coming to drinks, but I never would have guessed that.” She shook her head and made herself comfortable, enjoying the role reversal. “Okay, when I asked you to cover the stakeout for me in Kent, did you?”
Draco smirked and shook his head. “Absolutely not. I cast a Be My Eyes charm and a boundary ward to alert me if anything happened.”
“I knew it!”
“I would have told you that one for free had you asked,” he said with a shrug.
Hermione scoffed at his answer. “Forgive me for assuming my partner would do his job.”
“You asked me on short notice to work a double shift. I don’t know what you were expecting, Granger.”
“Okay, one more out of sole curiosity: what do you regret doing to me at school?”
It was certainly an out-of-left-field question to ask. Draco and Hermione hardly ever spoke of their school days. They had both received mandated sessions with mindhealers as part of their Auror training and had done a great deal of processing there, so broaching those topics and old wounds never came up. However, they’d been partners for five years and had known each other for longer, so Hermione felt compelled to take the opportunity. “Was it the teeth? I’d like to believe you felt a little bit of remorse for that one.”
Draco’s lips were tight as he made a conscious effort to alter the words that were on the tip of his tongue. Sure, the potion had most of the ingredients of Veritiserum, but not all of them. It couldn’t be that hard to overpower and provide a different answer, and yet he felt his resistance slipping. “I didn’t understand the gravity of the slur I’d call you growing up until I saw how it made you cry that first time I said it.”
Despite the already limited volume in her lungs, she felt her chest get tight from his answer. Her demeanor changed immediately from mischievous to apologetic. “Draco, I didn’t realize it would be a serious answer. I apologize.”
He rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t apologize. I should be the one apologizing. It was a shitty thing to do over the years, and it’s awful to me that I ever did that back then. I’m sorry for that and for only just now apologizing for it.”
Hermione chewed on her bottom lip and gave him an appreciative nod. “Consider it forgiven.” After a moment, the appreciation on her face morphed into annoyance as a realization took hold. “Wait a minute. You knew how severe the word was and how it made me react, but you still kept saying it?”
Draco let out an exasperated sigh. “Correct. But I learned eventually and stopped. That counts for something.”
“You called me that until I left school after Sixth Year!”
“Hermione,” Draco groaned, dropping his head back against the headrest of his bed, “You can’t get mad at me for something I did years ago that I’ve quite literally just apologized for in the most honest way possible.”
She huffed but acknowledged the truth in his statement. “I certainly can. Little Hermione deserves her vindication, but I suppose that’s an argument for a different day.”
Draco chuckled and shook his head. “Add it to our growing list of hills to die on, Granger.”
They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, all too aware of how they lost their free will once they started talking.
“In the interest of us not dying of boredom while we quarantine for the next several hours, I propose we take a more diplomatic approach to our secrets. Thoughts?” Draco raised an eyebrow at her with his offer.
Hermione stewed on it briefly. She didn’t think she had any secrets to share other than a select few and she was almost certain that the conversation wouldn’t come close to providing those answers, so she agreed with a nod.
“Wonderful. I’ll go first as a gesture of goodwill.” Draco thought for a few moments, wanting to select a truth that held some value but didn’t leave him feeling more vulnerable than necessary. “When we received our Auror partner assignments, I specifically requested to be paired with you because, despite our differences, I knew that our skillsets would put us above everyone else.”
A range of emotions passed over Hermione’s face as she listened to his confession. She landed on a grimace and covered her face in her hands, sinking lower onto the mattress. “Please don’t tell me that’s the truth.”
“I’m fairly certain saying anything aside from the truth is impossible at the moment,” he replied flatly. “And besides, that was a relatively positive truth to share. I can’t imagine why you’re having such a negative reaction to it.”
She adjusted her positioning and sat up again to look at him. “The fact that it’s positive is exactly why I’m reacting this way because my answer makes me look like a terrible person.”
This caught Draco’s interest. His eyebrows rose with intrigue. “Go on and share with the class. You know I’m always in favor of something that knocks you down a few pegs, Granger.”
Hermione looked away, trying to will the anticipatory flush rising in her cheeks to subside. “I specifically requested to not be paired with you.”
Draco gasped and clutched at his chest. “Wow. That’s… I cannot believe you’d ask for such a thing. I was nothing but cordial to you during training and that’s what it amounted to? Frankly, I’m hurt.”
Hermione rolled her eyes at him, feeling the embarrassment recede. “You knew.”
He laughed quietly and nodded. “Of course, I knew. When I put my request in, they informed me that you had already asked to be paired otherwise.” Draco shrugged and crossed his arms as he locked eyes with her. “I wanted you and I wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of that, so I intervened.”
A different kind of flush flooded Hermione’s cheeks at his word choice and the hint of authority in his voice. “Well, that is—” she took a deep breath and cleared her throat, “that is news to me.”
“I don’t believe that counts as your turn.” Draco flagged with an expectant look. “But since we’re on the subject, I have wondered something. You say you didn’t want to be paired with me, but you’ve been my partner for years. You could have easily requested a change at any point, but you haven’t. Why?”
Now it was Hermione’s turn to test the limitations of her own free will against the potion’s ingredients. The answer was teeming, ready to break free, but she resisted the best she could, keeping her mouth firmly shut.
“You’ll have to speak eventually. I’m perfectly fine to wait here until you do.” Draco idly adjusted the cuffs of his sleeves that he’d pushed up earlier in the evening during their investigation.
She may not be able to fully overpower the compulsion to tell the truth, but perhaps she could be selective with her words instead. “We… work together.” Hermione, satisfied with the answer, continued speaking carefully. “You’re a strong Auror and have made me sharper over the years. You push me to look at things from a new perspective and give me an edge that I didn’t have before.” The control was slipping the longer she spoke. “Being your partner keeps us around one another and I enjoy spending time with you so I’ve never wanted to change that.”
Hermione forced her mouth shut, not wanting to be further betrayed by her thoughts.
Draco’s smile grew exponentially at her confession. “I’d like to immortalize that one. Hermione Granger actually enjoys my presence.”
“It’s purely from a professional standpoint,” she quickly said, trying her best to damage control the imbalance of vulnerability between them. “I’d be perfectly fine without a partner. It’s just that I’ve come to rely on you and having to relearn patrolling as an independent Auror would be far too much work.”
Draco sighed and dismissed her ramblings. “Of course, of course. Hermione Granger doesn’t need anyone at the end of the day. She’s fully self-sustaining and autonomous. We’re all quite aware.” He looked at her with a grimace of annoyance, only partially disguising the sting from her words. “You could have just left it at that, you know. I appreciate your company as well. It’s not some great sign of weakness for you to enjoy spending time with me.”
Hermione’s shoulders fell at his response. “Draco, that’s not what I mean.”
“No, it is. You enjoy working with me and have said as much, but won’t let yourself accept that fact because it diminishes your abilities in some way. People are allowed to look out for you and get close to you, Granger.” He groaned and raked a hand through his hair in frustration. “Why must you always be so… you.”
She scoffed at him. “What do you mean by that?” she spat out, matching his tone.
“Aggressively independent for one,” he said, listing it out on his fingers. He held up a second one. “And loud. Your opinions. Your voice. Everything you do is so damn loud.”
Hermione let out a sardonic laugh. “You’re upset because I’m independent and loud? Absolutely rich, Malfoy. How would you prefer me to be? Hmm? Married and silent?”
Draco shrugged in response. “If you were married to me, I’d never want you to be silent. That much I’m sure of.”
The words fell out of his mouth before he could even register them. Once he did, the color drained from his face.
Hermione’s jaw all but dropped at his words. “What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing,” he managed to say through gritted teeth as he did his best to resist the urge to answer.
“Draco, tell me.”
His clenched jaw roiled as he came to terms with the unavoidable direction of this conversation. He sighed and straightened his posture, doing his best to maintain control of the situation. “Being your partner has allowed me to be close to you over the last five years in a way that I hadn’t previously realized would be possible for us. That fact may have influenced some latent feelings towards you that I may or may not have been holding onto for the better part of the last decade.”
“Oh wow,” was all Hermione managed to say.
“I realize that I struggled significantly with articulating emotions growing up.” Draco caught her eye for a long moment before continuing. Words were crowding in his mouth, eagerly ready to come out under the effects of the healing potion. “As I mentioned earlier, I never truly apologized for acting the way I did, but I’ve tried my best to make amends in the ways that I could. In doing so, I realized that a lot of the grievances I brought against you growing up were actually failed attempts at getting closer to you to appease my… growing infatuation for you.”
He watched as Hermione’s eyes grew wide while she processed his words. Draco looked up at the ceiling of their St. Mungo’s room and let out a heavy exhale. He’d given up on resisting the words that were spilling out of his mouth of their own volition.
“Being your partner has allowed me to be the one to help you when you need it. Oddly, it makes me feel important. To know that, in those rare times when you need someone, I can be that person for you.”
Draco shrugged and allowed himself to slump back against the headboard of his hospital bed.
He met her eyes to deliver what he deemed to be the final nail in his coffin of vulnerability. “I decided awhile ago that being with you would be on whatever terms you allow it to be given that my preference was likely off the table. So if working alongside you to process paperwork together into the early hours of the morning, infiltrate dark magic crime rings, and celebrate random life milestones together is what that looks like, then so be it.”
Hermione hadn’t stopped looking at him the entire time he spoke. Her mind was reeling from the new context she had been given to their entire relationship.
Draco’s chest felt raw and he knew it wasn’t from the poison. He swallowed thickly and neutralized his face as he maintained eye contact with Hermione from where she sat in her hospital bed, hyper-aware of the palpable tension in the room. “I’ve given you my heart on a platter here, Hermione. The least you could do is say something.”
Despite his plea, she sat in silence, simply staring at him for a full minute before finally relenting with a confession of her own. “If I changed partners and something ever happened to you, I’d never forgive myself for having the opportunity to be there and choosing not to be.”
The smallest twitch of Draco’s eyebrow revealed his spike in interest.
“If we’re together, I know you’re safe and that’s what I care about most.” Hermione’s voice was quiet but held unwavering confidence. Her head dropped back against the headboard as she let out a lamenting groan. “You should know that I felt the potion wear off just as I started speaking, so that was, unfortunately, completely of my own will to admit all of that.”
Draco let out a diffusing laugh and allowed himself to relax slightly at her tone. “If it’s any consolation, I could feel mine wearing off halfway through speaking, so consider it a shared burden.”
Hermione felt the relief wash over her. By some crazy twist of fate, the world hadn’t ended when she told Draco her closest secret.
Draco climbed out of his bed and walked the short distance to Hermione’s, sitting down on the side of her bed. He held out a hand towards her. “Give me your hand.”
Her brows furrowed with suspicion and instead pulled her hand close to her chest. “What are you going to do to it?”
His exasperation returned at her distrust. “I’m going to hold it, Granger. Now give it here.”
Hermione flushed and offered her hand to him.
Draco took it and threaded their fingers together. He looked at their joint hands, flipping it over and marveling at how they seamlessly slotted together.
His thumb rubbed the back of her hand with a tentative fondness that left Hermione surprised. “Did you mean what you said earlier?”
Draco looked up at her with raised brows. “About never wanting you silent if we were together? Yes.”
“Draco!” Hermione tugged her hand away, but he held onto it and pulled her closer with a laugh.
“What part?”
“About you feeling like your preference for us was off the table. Do you feel like that’s the case?” She let her free hand trace over his knuckles while she spoke.
“Well,” Draco cleared his throat and slid himself a little closer to her on the bed. “I did think it was off the table, however, it seems like recent developments may have opened that door.”
Hermione moved her free hand to Draco’s thigh and nodded slightly. “It does seem like it’s opened a bit.”
“Just a bit?” Draco teased as he placed a hand on her cheek.
She smirked and shrugged in response. “The jury is still out on if it should be opened or closed.”
“Ah, well in that case...” Draco leaned forward and ghosted his lips just slightly against hers, giving Hermione ample time to pull away or change her mind should she want to.
She responded by closing the gap between them, letting her lips fall naturally into place against his. Draco used his placement on her cheek to guide them closer together until his turned figure had crowded into all of her available space.
The floodgates of years of seemingly unrequited feelings had opened and manifested itself as hungry kisses and roaming hands. Draco leaned forward, ushering Hermione to lay back against the pillows as he hovered slightly over her from his seated position on the edge of the bed.
They stayed like that, mildly horizontal and fully exploratory until Draco finally pulled away by a fraction for air. Hermione reached up and combed her fingers through the pieces of his hair that had fallen into his face so she could see him more clearly.
Draco shook his head in disbelief and stole a quick kiss from her. “I’ve been wanting to do that since Fifth Year.”
“Still got some of that potion left in you I see,” she mused.
Draco leaned down and pressed a few kisses to her cheek and jaw before shaking his head. “That’s long gone. Anything now is just you and me.”
A mischievous smirk spread across Hermione’s face. “How much longer do you think until Padma comes in to check on us?”
Draco looked over at the clock in their room and shrugged. “I’d guess another three hours or so. Why?”
Hermione shuffled to the side of her bed, making room for Draco beside her. “That feels like plenty of time to see if that door is open for us, don’t you think?”
There was a clear spark of intrigue in Draco’s eyes at her words.
Hermione saw Draco’s grin flash across his face only briefly before his lips were back on hers as he eagerly settled into the spot beside her.