To a Better End

Chapter 34

September 19th 1976

After a few more small servings of vodka, Antonin convinced Hermione that she should take the next day off. No one was going to write her up. The shop was essentially hers. He tried to offer to apparate her home, but Hermione merely shook her head and pulled out a sobering potion.

It was dark by the time she got back, and Malfoy wasn't home yet. She had considered sending him a patronus to check in but figured it might be too risky. Instead, she grabbed her book and sat on the couch, waiting for him to return home.

While the sobering potion helped, it didn't rid her of the drowsiness that spread through her body. She fell asleep on the couch only to be woken by the shower running. She was so startled that she grabbed her wand and walked into the bathroom that Alphie seemed to have spruced up in his time living in the cottage.

Instead of an intruder, as her groggy mind had thought, it was Malfoy rinsing off the dirt that seemed to cover most of his body. She tried to set her wand on the counter, but it rolled off and clinked on the floor, startling the wizard.

"Bloody hell, Granger! What are you doing sneaking up on me?" His hands immediately went to cover his groin.

"You're the one coming in quiet as a mouse to rinse off dirt that seems to literally be all over your body."

"Must you stare?" For the first time in a while, he sneered at her. It was oddly comforting.

"Nothing I haven't seen." She shrugged.

He seemed uneasy. "Yes, well, that was before."

"Before what?"

Draco sighed, obviously annoyed. "Please, Hermione. I don't have the energy for this right now."

"Fine." She threw up her hands, turning to exit. "I'll be in the living room."

Hermione left, nearly slamming the door. She sat on the couch and stared at her book, not even processing the words on the pages. After a few more minutes, she closed it and set it down. She huffed loudly and walked over to the kitchen, pulling down a bottle of pinot grigio.

It was the early hours of the morning, the moon was still shining in through their window. Hermione poured two glasses of wine while she stood in the kitchen, waiting for Malfoy. He had been friendly with her, but he had also been secretive. He would joke with her, but he also seemed distant. He would be hot and then cold, but mostly he stayed lukewarm.

Her glass was half empty when Malfoy walked in, wrapped in a towel. He took a glance at her wine glass and travelled his eyes to the full one waiting for him. He turned around, went to the bedroom and rustled about for a minute until he came out dressed in a pair of dark grey joggers holding two Pepper Up potions.

Once he downed his potion, he grabbed the glass of wine and leaned against the counter eyeing Hermione. While silence was usually comfortable between them, this time it was loud and full of tension.

Malfoy ran a hand through his damp hair. It was so much longer and seemed slightly wavy.

"Your hair is longer," she murmured into her glass.

He swirled the wine in his glass, "You told me you liked longer hair on me."

Hermione nodded, remembering that she told him that when they first travelled back together. "It's wavy."

"The Malfoys might have hair as straight as a wall, but the Blacks... Well, you've seen them."

"Right," she laughed lightly but the humour was absent from her eyes. "So what were you doing at this ridiculous hour, covered in dirt."