Life after Hogwarts - A Hermione & Draco x Dramione Story

Chapter Five

Concentrating at work was hardly an option for Draco. He sat in his meetings in a slight daze, his mind continuously flickering back to the scent of Hermione's skin, the sound of her moan as he crushed her mouth with his. They'd spent the rest of the weekend as if they were in their own little world. Hands were held as they walked down the street for a jaunt at the ice cream parlor. Whispers were snuck into each other's ears as they sat curled up on the couch together, watching old black and white muggle movies. Draco knew that eventually, the two of them would have to open up to each other, but Hermione pressed a delicate finger to his lips every time he tried.

"Don't ruin it," she would say, her eyes pleading. "Not yet."

He didn't think talking about the many elephants in the room would ruin anything. Draco knew, however, that not talking would take them nowhere. He had a sneaking suspicion that Hermione wasn't ready to talk about anything because talking meant confronting feelings she'd been consistently ignoring these past few years. There wasn't anything she could say to him that would make him think less of her. Draco's scars were just as deep.

Draco walked down the halls of the Ministry with his colleague, Kirk Attum. Kirk was a Hogwarts graduate in Ravenclaw, a few years younger than Draco. He was an all right guy, though Draco did find him a bit too chatty for his liking most days. He missed the weeks when they started their internship together, and Kirk was too afraid to speak in front of him. Clearly, Draco's old reputation was one that would never diminish through the halls of Hogwarts.

"I heard a rumor about you the other day," Kirk said as the two shuffled into the Ministry Law Office. Kirk snagged a lollypop off LuAnne's desk as he followed Draco down to the smaller office they shared.

"I can only imagine what you heard," Draco said, a bit more sarcastic than he meant to. Sitting down, he lifted his chin to straighten the knot in his tie.

"I heard you're shacking up with the Hermione Granger."

Draco's brows furrowed in Kirk's direction. "She is staying with me until she finds a place." He left out the part where he hoped she never found a job, because if she never found a job she wouldn't begin to look for an apartment. It was too soon for admissions of the sort – not that he would ever confide in Kirk. Harry maybe, but never Kirk.

Kirk's eyes grew. "I thought you two...you know..."

"You thought we what?"

"I thought she had pure, unadulterated loathing for you," Kirk stated. "Plus she's like, a third of the Golden Trio – and everyone knows she had a thing for the other one – you know, not Harry, but the Weasley one."

"I don't know where you get your information from," Draco said with a snarl. "But your informant is severely outdated. I also don't wish to converse about my personal life at work."

Kirk took note of his tone. "Well...I'm going to go to lunch, and then I'm in the chamber the afternoon. I guess I'll, see you around."

Draco acknowledged his goodbye with a flippant hand wave, and focused his eyes on the files for his case tomorrow. He dug his index fingers into his temples and sighed. This was the part of his personality he was convinced would never change – the inability not to bark people's heads off when they inquired about anything he did outside the hours of eight in the morning through five in the afternoon. The office was a friendly enough environment – people talked all the time about their wives and husbands, or who had the best "guess what my kid broke this weekend." Draco would sit and listen politely, even chuckling at a few, but never did he chime in with the rest of them. He didn't see his life as anyone else's business. That's how the Dark Lord liked his followers – keeping to themselves, speaking to no one unless they shared the mark. Draco knew his life was very different from what it used to be, but there were some old habits that he feared would never die.