Malfoy glanced at his clipboard and said, “We’re going to have to go to a different room for this. I can’t stand being around…people.”
“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.” Hermione stated rudely.
Malfoy cursed under his breath.
“Granger, if you’re not going to cooperate, you might as well just quit now. I can’t have you holding me back.” He glared at her.
“I’ll cooperate if you stop acting like I’m not even human. I want respect, Malfoy.”
“You aren’t going to get any.” He said plainly.
“Can’t even believe I’m associating with…a mudblood.” He shook his head and scoffed as if she were the most vile, repulsive thing that walked the face of the Earth.
Hermione turned red. She wasn’t sure if it was from being angry or being sad, but Malfoy just irked her.
“Well, get a move on then. We don’t have all day.” He spat.
Hermione walked with her head held high out of the door and turned right.
“Granger.” She heard him call.
She ignored him and continued on.
“Granger, where the *** are you going?”
She spun around.
“I thought it was YOU who wanted us to get a move on! Why aren’t you coming?”
Malfoy looked at her like she was an idiot.
“Granger…it’s the OTHER way.”
“Oh.” She managed with an embarrassed tone.
He turned around and walked the other direction with a fast pace, not allowing Hermione enough time to catch up with him. She nearly lost her way when he’d turned a corner too quickly for her to see where he was going. When she reached him, he shook his head in disbelief.
“Honestly Granger, how long have you worked here? You should know this place by now.”
“Not ALL of us had wizard daddies to bring us to the Ministry, Malfoy. I’m sorry that my father wasn’t my only friend.”
Malfoy looked taken aback, not expecting her words to be so biting.
“Temper, temper, Granger...” he said much like a parent would scorn their child.
Malfoy would have been impressed had it not been a filthy mudblood he was conversing with. It was impressive for Granger, to say the least. He was surprised when he looked up to see
Granger’s hand extended towards his.
“I’m not saying we have to get along, Malfoy,” Hermione began as she drew in a breath. “but we need to stop bickering or it’s only going to make the situation a lot more painful than it has to be. I don’t like you, you don’t like me. I get it. We need to put that aside, or one of us is going to end up getting kicked off the case, and I swear to Merlin that it’s NOT going to be me.”
Malfoy looked at her for a second. She had a point. He hesitantly brought his hand towards hers, then grasped and shook it. He was surprised at how soft her skin was, like rose petals. He then scorned himself for even entertaining the thought. Granger was…well, Granger.
Nothing about her could be appealing to him.
“Fine. But don’t expect me to be any nicer. I’m just not going to make any remarks.” He said.
“Good. We have a lot of papers to go through, so let’s get started or we’ll be here all night.”
Hermione sat down at a desk and began filling out the sheets. Malfoy simply looked at his, dreading the thought of how his hand would feel after.
“I swear… this is the most mundane thing ever.” He muttered, picking up a quill after a few moments.
“The sooner you start, the sooner you get it over with.”
“Funny, I don’t think I said anything to you, Granger.”
“Oh, talking to yourself I see. Don’t let me interrupt what I am sure was a nice chat.” She rolled her eyes and continued to work.
The only sound that filled the room was the quills scratching quietly on the parchment. After an hour, Draco’s ink bottle was empty. He still had a dozen or so papers to finish, but Hermione was just sitting quietly at her desk, all of her papers neatly filled out and clipped to the clipboard. He sighed and flexed his hand muscles.
“I could help you finish, if you want.” Hermione offered, her tone hesitant.
“I don’t’ need your kind of help, Granger.” He said sourly.
There was no way he was going to let Granger upstage him.
“Come on, Malfoy. I want to get out of here, you want to get out of here, just let me help.
We’ll get it done faster and I won’t have to put up with you anymore.”
Draco scowled, but shoved half of his papers at Hermione. Anything to get away from her.
“Listen, I want to apologize for anything I said to you today that offended you. I was just being… stubborn, I guess.” Hermione said to break the silence.
Malfoy remained silent, twirling his quill in his fingers. Why was Granger apologizing to HIM?
He admitted that he’d said more horrible things to her than he could count. Besides a few weak, ableit affective come-backs, she hadn’t hurt his feelings one bit. Then again, that was nearly impossible.
“I just want this to go smoothly. This is the first opportunity I’ve gotten, and I don’t want to mess it up. So will you forgive me?” She seemed to be begging, almost. This must have been pretty important to her.
“Whatever.” He said nonchalantly.
They remained silent until the last paper was finished. Hermione handed him his stack and picked up her own.
“Er – Granger, you didn’t have to - ”
“You’re welcome. I just didn’t want to have to put up with you for more time than necessary.”
She cut him off. She walked out of the room, leaving Malfoy looking after her.
“Such a pain in the arse. ” He said when she was out of ear shot. It was going to be a long month.
