Fourteen Thousand Galleons

I'm Finding Myself With Loving Feelings

"I can't stay, Draco, I'm sorry." Harry rushes around the house, pulling on various bits of Magical Law Enforcement gear. He's decked out in a jumper, a cloak, heavy trousers, gloves, a hat – he looks like he's ready to hit the ski slopes more than he's headed to work.

Malfoy is scowling from the settee where Hermione is also sitting with her feet tucked under her butt. Hermione brings a saucer of tea to her lips and watches the entire exchange with raptured attention. They're like an old, married couple and she can't stop grinning at them.

"Yeah, Potter, I know you have to run off and save the world," Draco sighs, the snark on his lips is razor sharp. "We'll miss you terribly."

Hermione's shocked to find his hand climbing the length of her leg underneath her slacks. She jumps and nearly spills her tea. But the look Harry gives them, a desperate plea and a groan, causes her face to heat up. She kicks Draco off of her.

"If you think you can keep me home by –"

"Showing you what you'll miss while you're gone?" Draco smirks.

"Using nefarious and underhanded tricks –"

"It's your night, Potter. If you're not home timely, I will keep her company."

Harry is staring at them. He's torn, quite clearly, between going to do his job and staying to be part of their day. And, their day, if Draco is giving any indication, is going to be an interesting one. Until the children wake up, that is.

"I'll be home before dinner," Harry promises. He holsters his wand and spins toward the floo with the most despairing of expressions toward them both.

"That's cruel, Draco," Hermione laughs and she watches Draco's lips lift.

"He works too much." Draco shrugs and then his hand finds her leg again and he rubs small circles on her skin between her shin and her ankle. "I have to fuck with him a little bit or else he'll think it's okay to be a workaholic. I'm making him see his priorities."

"Shouldn't you be at work today?" She peers at him over the lip of her cup as she sips the strong tea he'd made her that morning. "It's not the weekend."

"Would you rather I went to work today?" His eyebrows are high on his head as his fingers climb the angle of her leg. "I can think of a lot of other things that are much more pleasurable to participate in than one of Lucius' board meetings."

She laughs when he hits a particularly sensitive patch of skin, just behind her knee. "Come on now, Draco, surely you're important enough for it to be noticed when you're missing?"

His lips twitch and it makes his eyes light up. "You overestimate Lucius' value in me, Granger. Patil can handle my affairs today. She quite likes sitting in the board room and giving the old codgers a piece of her mind."

A laugh spills from her before she can stop it. Of course Padma is eager to challenge the ubiquitous presence of a million-galleon corporation. She probably drives Lucius Malfoy positively mad. Her respect for the former Ravenclaw continues to grow. Still, she wonders why Draco is alright with leaving such a huge chunk of his career with Padma instead of squaring off with Lucius himself. Perhaps he's afraid that his father has seen the recent headlines of the Prophet. He'd have some explaining to do; she can't blame him for wanting to avoid it. She wants to avoid it, too.

She must have been biting her lip while lost in thought, because Draco's thumb finds the edge of her mouth and plucks it from between her teeth. What Hermione's learned in the past few days is that she responds to their touches with so much sensitivity that it's very hard to hide her reactions from them. And, they seem to feed off even the slightest response she gives. It makes her blush easily and pools warmth in her belly — sometimes from only a glance in her direction.