Matched

Big Dragon Arse

As Hermione walked slowly down to Harry's flat, she tried really hard to convince herself that there was no reason to have butterflies in her stomach. Maybe it wasn't even butterflies after all, perhaps the takeaway she picked up after work wasn't settling right.

It had nothing to do with how attractive one green-eyed Auror looked. Or the way his five o'clock shadow highlighted his cheekbones. Nothing at all.

She stopped a few doors away from him and closed her eyes with a silent groan. She remembered her mother's advice of not hiding away from the truth of things. And the truth of the thing was—

The truth was—-

A tingle rushed through her, and Hermione opened her eyes and looked down the corridor just as Harry stepped out of his flat. The touch of his gaze felt physical, like a warm wind over her body.

The truth was everything about him felt like everything she had been looking for. The way he paid attention to her when she knew she was rambling about esoteric knowledge and actually absorbed it. The way he seemed interested in her. His dedication to his job and his family. It made a little part of her worried that he was too good to be true.

Harry held out his hand to her, "I've been waiting for you."

"Sorry." Hermione didn't even try to stop the smile that spread out across her face as she approached him and slid her hand into his waiting one. "I wanted to get the research I've been working on and maybe talk to you about Mrs. Greengrass."

Harry walked with her into his flat, and couldn't deny the pleasure. This time there weren't any secrets or pictures he had to hide. Hermione looked around inquisitively, paying particular attention to the pictures on the walls.

Hermione stopped in front of one of the pictures from his years in Hogwarts. The picture had been taken right after a quidditch game that Gryffindor had won and everyone in the picture was laughing except Draco. He had been a bit angry at that moment because he both lost the game and because Harry had him in a headlock and was giving him a nougy. Pansy was pulling at Harry's arm trying to free her best friend, while Neville looked at her from the back. Nott, Zinnia, and Ron stood off the side laughing while Daphne was further away rolling her eyes.

"You guys really have known each other forever," Hermione said a bit wistfully. Her school years had been lonely, although she admitted a lot of that had been her fault. She hadn't been invited out often but she was just as likely to turn down those friendly overtures in lieu of more study time. There had always seemed to be something more important to do than waste time chatting.

Harry nodded. "Yeah. It's one of the problems here actually."

"What do you mean?"

Harry shrugged. "Too much history and too many secrets. Advancement is difficult for those outside of the usual circles, and that hinders progress."

"Is that why you didn't support the Malfoys for the Minister?"

"Not exactly." Harry gestured her to the couch and changed the subject. "What questions did have about the Greengrasses?"

Hermione settled on the couch leaning forward to place her paperwork on the coffee table before turning to face Harry as he sat near her. "How much trouble realistically would they be in if they were using unicorn blood to experiment with?"

"Not much. Basically, the bare minimum in order to satisfy the Internation Confederation of Wizards. A large fine, seizure of all materials, and the offender would be assigned a monitor for five years."