A Kingdom Beside the Sea (Dramione)

Chapter 6

 A.

Draco jolts to his feet from the tree stump, feeling the paperweight buzz against his thigh. He yanks the Portkey and his wand from the other pocket, but pauses, waiting for--

"Malfoy? It's me. Hermione." Her voice travels around his house, echoing into his eardrums, and he remembers to breathe. "Can you unlock the door?"

He looks down at the box with his Portkey, rolling it in his palm before sliding it back into his pocket. He crosses to the back door, walking through the kitchen, hallway, living room. He had been hesitant to believe she would return, had told himself she wouldn't, and now nine days and she is back. He hadn't realized how much room she took up until she was no longer filling all the empty spaces.

He doesn't look out the window but he keeps his wand in his hand, turning the locks open as he stares at the spot her face will be. "There's no one--" He pulls open the door, and it feels like months since he saw her face. "...With...me."

Her eyes flicker across his face and he forces himself not to reach up and scratch at the couple days of growth in awareness. Her hair looks shorter but it might just be from different products, her clothes aren't anything he can remember seeing, and there is a slow smile bunching pink cheeks.

"I brought lunch! It's the same you got sometimes at the Ministry, at that little shop across the street? I figured you might want it." He takes a step back when she starts forward, and he closes the door behind her, turning to watch her journey to the table. "You put up shelves! The corner table, the rug. Oh, Malfoy, it looks great in here. Did you injure yourself again on those shelves? I know you think hammers are plotting against you."

"I said they were cursed. You assumed I thought they had motives." She smiles down at the food containers, and he wonders if she did that on purpose. Testing him to see how much he might have forgotten since she left.

"How have you been? Are you all right? Been eating?"

He scowls at her. "I'm not a child, Granger, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"Yes, you're well, I see," she mutters, setting her bag down on the couch. "No one else is coming, you know. You can move away from the door."

He had been too busy watching her take up the room again to notice he is still standing there like a dolt. He shoots her a look and clicks the locks back in place, following her to the kitchen. She sets the containers down on the table and he grabs the silverware, constantly aware of where she is behind him.

"I'll tell you about everything after we eat. Did you--"

"Tell me now." He wants to know why she has been gone for nine days. It only would have taken her perhaps two to collect books. Things had either happened or she had been indecisive about returning, and he is sick of wondering. If things had happened related to him, he wants to know now.

"Okay, well... Do you remember Mark?" He stares at her and her expression falters, eyes dropping to the table as she sits down. "He worked with us--"

"I know." He can remember perhaps a handful of moments with his face.

"Good. Good, okay. Well, he went missing." Draco's eyebrows furrow as he takes the seat across from her, watching the brightness of her eyes and the uncertainty on her face. "They came to talk to them, of course--"

"Who came to talk to who, Granger?"
"The Aurors, to our co-workers., after we went missing. You should have heard some of the rumors." She rolls her eyes up to the ceiling and shakes her head.

"Gunns?" he asks, needing the point, his mind already swirling with a dozen situations.

"Yes. He was there after they first questioned people in the department, but two days later, he was gone. Janet went to the Aurors as soon as he didn't show up for work the next day, swearing that she would be next. They started investigating his disappearance as well, but they haven't found any trace of him. Har--"