Chimera

Chapter 7

On Monday morning, Draco didn't show up.

"Bloody typical," Hermione grumbled. She picked up his stack of files and tried to balance both their caseloads.

*****

On Tuesday, Hermione had already been working for an hour when he slunk into the office.

She raised an eyebrow as Draco ignored her and hung up his coat. He dropped into his chair and picked up the report on his desk. Without a word, he grabbed his quill and started working.

"Really?" Hermione said. "Nothing? Not a 'hello', or a 'sorry I'm late'?"

Draco didn't reply.

"Wow. Ok. Good talk."

"What would you like me to say, Granger?" He snapped. "I owe you no explanation, and I certainly owe you no apology. You're my peer, not my supervisor."

Hermione rolled her eyes and continued working. She heard him let out a frustrated breath. His quill clattered onto the table.

"Tsk, what's wrong, Granger? You've got no quick retort? No scathing insights? You wanted my attention and now that you have it you're going to act like a petulant child?"

Hermione looked back at him. He sat with his arms folded, and had dark shadows under bloodshot eyes.

"Bad weekend?" She asked. "Or, rather, was it too much of a good weekend?"

"You think I'm hungover?" Draco snorted. "Or perhaps you're getting off on imagining me bringing home all kinds of girls from the club? Didn't know you were into that kind of thing."

"Whatever," Hermione said, rolling her eyes again. "What you do in your free time is none of my business-"

"Damn right it's not."

"...But when it means you're rolling into the office late and looking like hell, well that kind of does become my business."

"Why, you going to snitch on me?"

Hermione raised a single eyebrow and slowly looked him up and down. His face flushed slightly as she took in his rumpled appearance. His blonde hair was matted and unwashed, and his normally pristine suit was wrinkled. The silver cuff-links hung undone at his wrists, and the buttons of his shirt were misaligned.

"No. Not this time," Hermione said at last.

"But you will if I make a habit of it," Draco sneered. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Whatever."

He grabbed the quill and started writing furiously. Hermione could hear the sound of the parchment ripping as he dug the nib in too hard. After a moment, he threw the now-broken quill across the room, quickly followed by a ball of paper. Without a word, he stormed out.

"What was that about?"

Harry leaned against the door-frame, thumbs tucked into the pocket of his jeans. His messy, black hair flopped over his forehead. The famous lightning-scar peek through the strands, a stark red mark on his pale skin. His brown robes hung open, the auror symbol lost among the folds of fabric.

"Genuinely no idea!"

"Weird. If he gives you any trouble, you'll let me know, right?"

"Yeah, of course, sure," Hermione said, shrugging. She would do no such thing.

"Good. Me, Ginny and Ron are going to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch later." Harry's green eyes lit up at Ginny's name. "I popped by to see if you wanted to come along?"

"Are you sure that'd be ok? I mean...it wouldn't be weird or anything?"

"Nah, it'll be fine. I thought you two were being amicable about this whole thing? Hasn't it been like...six months?"

Had it? Hermione wondered. It was hard to keep track.

"It'd be more weird if Ron was a third wheel, you know?" Harry grinned at her with an impish smile.  The war had changed him, it had sombered them all, but slowly he was becoming the boy he hadn't had chance to be.

"I guess," Hermione laughed. "Ok, what time you heading out?"

"We're meeting Ginny there at one. See you in the entrance hall?"

Hermione pulled out her diary and flicked through it. She smiled warmly when she saw nothing scheduled.

"Yeah, sounds good!"

Harry grinned in reply and strolled away. Hermione heard him talking to Ellie, and rolled her eyes at the wonder in the young witch's voice.

Draco reappeared shortly after Harry left.

"Ugh, Potter went and stank this place up with his sweaty auror robes," Draco complained. He made a show of whipping out his pocket-square and covering his nose.

"I can't smell anything."

"You're clearly immune to his stench after all these years," Draco said. His voice was slightly muffled through the silver silk.

"Harry's only been an full-time auror for six months. He's barely out of training!"

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Well aren't you just a delight this morning?" Hermione huffed, folding her arms.

"I didn't sleep well," he muttered.

"Oh, well...I'm sorry to hear that."

Draco shrugged and pulled out a fresh piece of parchment.

"We've a department meeting in an hour, by the way," Hermione told him. "Might want to make yourself presentable before then."

"Duly noted."

Draco stomped back out of the office. She heard the bathroom door slam down the hall. Hermione rubbed her temples and tried to focus on her work. It was going to be a long day.