Vexed- A Dramione Fanfic

2. The Drill

(A/N)

Hello, so here is the second chapter. Two in less than 24 hours and I have almost written 2500 words for the 10,000 words challenge! So it's a great start. And comments will surely help! Also picture of Butterbeer!

Hope you all like it.

Mili

__________________________________________________

As her wand started buzzing a few odd hours later, Hermione woke up grumbling about another day to be out of bed. She could not wait for the weekends where she could hide in her house and read all day to her heart's content except for the occasional meals that she shared with her friends.

She got out of her bed and petted Butterbeer who was showing discontent at the loss of her pillow. Hermione missed Crookshanks at times. That old cat knew when to not be a needy greed feline. Butterbeer on the other end wanted attention all around the clock.

She dragged herself to the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea while she mulled over what to wear for work that day. She had a meeting with the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and even though he was an old friend, she knew the importance of putting up appearances to keep others out of her hair.

She gulped down the Earl Grey in a very unlady like manner and made a dash for the shower.

Dressed in a pale pink silk blouse and a sensible grey pencil skirt that reached her knees, she gave a last satisfactory glance at her hair, which she had learnt to tame over the years. In another ten minutes, she was off to the Ministry via the Floo.

No matter how troubled he was, a Malfoy could never look anything less than perfect. This had been drilled into him ever since he could remember having thoughts. Also, he did know the effect he had on women and it did not hurt to have distractions every now and then. He wasn't into the casual sex scene as shamelessly as his best mate Blaise was, but he did enjoy an occasional interlude between the sheets.

Draco decided to go for a white shirt, beige pants and a green silk tie, which reminded him of his Slytherin days. Fond memories flooded him at the thought, but almost immediately he cringed as he was reminded of the summer before his sixth year. He had done a lot of things that plagued him day and night. He had forgiven a lot of people, but he was yet to forgive himself.

He quickly cast a slight glamour charm to hide the purple bags under his eyes as he left for the day.

He had inherited not only the Malfoy fortune after his father's death in Azkaban two years back; he had also inherited vast industries and properties. None of which held any charm for him.

Malfoy manor was home for Narcissa, so he stripped the floors and walls bare and redid the entire Manor. It burnt a hole right through his inheritance, but he could not imagine anyone living in that palace of nightmares, least of all his mother. His mother was forgiven after the war for helping the Chosen One. Potter had spoken in Malfoy's favour at his trial, even went on to explain what had happened in the Astronomy Tower in their sixth year. Draco had half expected for Potter and his friends to mock him and expect gratitude from him for the rest of his life. However, no such thing happened. Harry and Ron joined the Aurors after the war and quickly rose up in ranks. Earlier Draco would have said that Potty and Weaselbee were just pulling in favours, but he knew better now. He knew it was more skill than favour.

Hermione was the only one from the Golden Trio to have gone back to finish her seventh year at Hogwarts. Draco had also gone back, more to hide from the public eye than anything else. Living with a senile mother in a house full of terrors wasn't exactly his ideal way of life. Plus, Hogwarts was always his home.

He was often ridiculed and looked down upon during his last year and quite rightfully so. However, Head Girl Hermione Granger had stood up for him strangely.

"We can't have people thinking so lowly of the Head Boy, can we?" She had often said with a reassuring smile. He had often wondered back then that how would it feel to be one of her boys, to be so fiercely protected, loved and even corrected so often. He had almost chuckled at that thought.

He did realise something about the Brightest Witch of our Age though, she was compassionate to a fault and believed that we all had a good side inherently. She would have probably thought there was a way to 'fix' the Dark Lord had it not been for the Horcruxes and him being born of the effects of Amortentia. And he knew deep down, that she would have made it possible.

He had deep respect for her, but he had never really voiced it. He occasionally went back to being annoyed towards her, but now it was more of a playful banter than scornful bullying.

The fact that she had grown into a beautiful and brilliant woman only added to her charm. And of course, no matter the experience the Slytherin Prince had in the sack, the one experience he thrived on secretly was a stolen kiss they had shared at the Yule Ball that was held to mark new beginnings and complete restoration of Hogwarts during their seventh year. They were both drunk on butterbeer and firewhiskey, but the memory was vivid and etched onto his mind forever. It was one of those treasures he savoured and if possible would have put in a crystal ball as a keepsake for that one moment in his life, where he felt like a new person.

He didn't know if Hermione remembered kissing him and he dare not bring it up and destroy whatever progress the two had made over the years. Kissing Hermione Granger was something he had never thought himself capable of doing, not because of her bloodline, but because she was the prized War Heroine and was one of the most hated Ex-Death Eater. Kissing her had given him a glimpse into a life, a happier and much simpler life, he could have had, had he not been born into a pureblood line full of prejudice based on nothing but fragile pride.

He was now trying to build that simpler life for himself. He was content living in his own apartment near Diagon Alley and he even though he still overlooked most of his inherited companies, he let the board of governors make most of the decisions. He had opened the companies for public funding. The war-hit nation could do with some good investments. It was his way of paying back.

He had opened his own company that dealt in potions of all kinds. He himself headed the research team. His marks in Potions were not entirely based on favouritism by his Godfather. He actually like the subject with a passion. Post-war, he had immersed himself in trying to figure out better healing potions for the victims. He even decided to learn and use muggle therapy techniques and created mind healing potions that used lucid dreaming to help those whose minds were scarred.

Harry had been a great support and so had Hermione. Ron was still wary of him and still threw the occasional death eater jab at him. Hermione had often mentioned of the Longbottoms and of Neville's suffering. So now he was working on a potion to help them.