Hello Love

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟔 - 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

Draco was angry.

He didn't want to be here with Blaise in the office. He had been working through piles of documentation for far too long now, and Blaise was arranging meetings with St Mungo's at the same time. Bloody hell, he wanted to be with Granger, he couldn't deny it any longer. He felt things had changed between them. She had accepted him. He didn't want to name it, but it was incredibly addictive.

He wondered when exactly they had crossed the line between tomfoolery and something else, something deeper and confounding that he had never felt before. Was it when he saved her from her apartment with her orange half-kneazle Shooks Crank? When she woke up in his arms the next morning with her warm cheek pressed against his chest again? Or when he zipped up her dress?

No. On second thought, he knew it wasn't either of those moments.

It was the bloody moment she had grabbed his hair in her fist and yanked on it.

He bit his lip. Merlin, just the thought of it, rushed his blood elsewhere.

'Drake!' yelled Blaise suddenly, waving his hand in front of his face. He raised his eyebrows in question. 'Salazar's bollocks, stop daydreaming about Granger.' he said annoyed. 'We've got other things to do!'

Draco made an indifferent gesture with his hand, seated behind his desk. 'I was not.'

Blaise raised his eyebrows. 'Of course not.' he scoffed, slamming a pile of papers on his desk. 'That's why you're blushing.'

Draco's blood immediately drained from his face. 'Fuck you, I'm not blushing!'

'Are you ill then?' asked Blaise, but Draco just glared at him. 'Blushing it is,' he said, giving him a pointed look. Draco was about to hex him when his corded phone rang.

He was going to incinerate that bloody thing one day.

'Yes!' he barked into the phone, most unfriendly.

'Mr M?' sounded the quivering voice of Florence on the other end. 'I-Is everything alright?'

'Sorry darling,' he sighed. 'What is it?'

'Mr Finchworth is here from St Mungo's,' she said stiffly. 'I also wanted to remind you there's an AP in your planner for today at eleven.'

'Thank you darling, send him up.' answered Draco quickly. When he clicked the horn on the muggle machine he noticed Blaise's incredulous look on his face.

'What?' he asked with a frown.

'You're unbelievable.' he smirked. 'You're so whipped by Granger you can't even convince Florence anymore.'

'Oh sod off Blaise.'

He almost forgot about the latter, the AP in his planner. Florence didn't know that AP wasn't an abbreviation for 'appointment', it stood for Azkaban Prison. He had to visit his father today. He pinched the bridge of his nose. He almost forgot it was that time of the month again. Blaise was looking curiously at him when he zeroed his eyes back to his friend.

'I've got AP today.' he said and Blaise's expression darkened.

'I see.' he said with a nod. 'Well, I'm sure we can quickly work out something with Mr Finchworth. He's a representative, we need to kiss up until we can meet the big man, Agnew. The children's hospital was all your own idea in the end, if we can team up with St Mungo's, help restore it and add a ward there, it'll be beneficial for both parties.'

Draco nodded. He had to admit that Blaise's idea was pretty grounded, the only problem now was his reputation. Would they be able to convince Mr Finchworth? Would he be able to convince the man that he wanted to help rebuild the same hospital he had single-handedly destroyed three years ago?