Legilimens [Dramione]

Silence

As the fireplace flame suddenly flared, Draco mentally thanked all the gods in the sky, the four founders of Hogwarts and even the inventor of Quidditch for his deft seeker reflexes, which allowed him to set aside the letters he was poking around on and assume a bored, absorbed pose, reminiscent of his mother's at the World Cup.

His mental barriers were up again, instantly calming the accelerated beats of his heart and preventing his mind from rambling about the possible and various meanings that strange letter from St. Mungo's might have, though with the knowledge that he would mull it over as soon as his feet landed on the ashes of the Manor fireplace.

"M-malfoy," stammered Hermione, looking at him in amazement and turning on the lights with a wave of her wand. "Have you been here long? I-I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was so late."

Draco squared her from head to toe, noticing that there was something different about her. It wasn't just the fact that Hermione Granger, goddess of precision and punctuality, had shown up late for a secret appointment inside her own home. It was her appearance that was - slightly - different.

Anyone else would have missed the small detail of her blouse being open just a button lower, as well as the fact that she had mysteriously decided not to wear one of her usual long, ugly cardigans today, but instead paired her knee-length skirt with an elegant jacket, all topped off with an extra splash of perfume that had sent that intoxicating smell into his nostrils from the moment the flames of the fireplace had ignited.

Anyone else would have missed these details, but not him, not Draco Malfoy. He, after all, had always been a very detail-oriented person. Always noticing the little things, like the sly Slytherin he was.

Her cheeks were unusually tinged with a light shade of pink, and for a second he thought it was makeup, before, however, meeting her brown eyes and catching a small sparkle behind her unusually dilated pupils.

He wouldn't have admitted it to a soul even with a wand pointed at his temple, but this look definitely suited her better than the sad expression and half-lidded eyes he'd been seeing her with lately. He wondered, however, what had suddenly happened to make her so happy. Weasley, perhaps?

Surely she couldn't have known about his relationship with Astoria, assuming they were still together (or had ever been).

Well, now wasn't the time to think about that, he reminded himself, inhaling deeply and redirecting his thoughts to the air rushing in and out of his nostrils.

"It's been over ten minutes," he answered her, noticing that the clock read nine ten and deciding to omit his five minutes early.

"Oh" Hermione walked around the couch, sitting down in her usual spot and inviting Draco to do the same. "Well, thank you for-" she exhaled "for waiting."

Draco raised his eyebrows. Why the hell did she seem to be out of breath? She had arrived here by floo, not riding a Theestral.

He scrutinized her for a few moments, "I hope this doesn't become a habit, keep me waiting."

Hermione opened her mouth wide, but before she could say anything, he continued.

"I mean, if you have something else to do just let me know" he said, looking at his nails with an indifferent air.

He could feel Hermione's indignation grow like a fire, increasing the temperature of the room. "It only happened once, Malfoy. I can assure you it won't happen again. And I'd like to remind you that it was only ten measly minutes."

She stared at him with a murderous look until his eyes lifted from his nails and planted themselves on her face.

"I hope those were productive minutes for at least one of us, Granger".