The Wedding Rings

Chapter 3: The Look

"—not to mention how it's completely ridiculous of you to do that—"

"—do you always have to nag is beyond me—"

"—as if you just go around giving people mone- I do NOT nag, Malfoy!"

"—I'm always doing something wrong, you are not an easy person to please—"

"I do not nag!"

"Of course you don't."

"I just think you shouldn't have done it like that, someone might get suspicious!"

"I don't bloody care."

"Don't act like a petulant child, I'd just like to keep my reputation intact and—"

"By fucking me while being married to Weasley? Nice move, Granger."

"Do you have to be so... so blunt about it?"

He cocked his head to the side, gray eyes narrowed. It seemed as if he was scanning her, thinking the situation through in his head. It bugged her to no end. He seemed so calm all of a sudden, as if he suddenly got bored with her.

"You bore me sometimes."

She blinked.

"Granger. Accept it."

"No."

Alright, so maybe she was being stubborn. And maybe she was overreacting. But his behavior made her feel uneasy and when she felt uneasy, she had to question every single thing. Very loudly. It was just very difficult to deal with Malfoy sometimes, and Hermione Granger was never the one to leave the impossible tasks alone.

He showed up in her office at the Ministry informing her very briefly that he'd made a very generous donation to her S.P.E.W. movement. And then he had the nerve to just turn his back to her and walk away! She, of course, had to react very strongly to his little announcement.

In her mind, and that little bugger was quite a complicated thing, she could see people giving her strange looks, wonder about why Draco Malfoy would suddenly just do her a favor worth quite a few galleons. And then she lost it.

All she could think about was Ron's broken expression and his questions. Why did you do that to me? Why? Why?

Naturally, she started hyperventilating and Draco was the closest breathing thing to her. So, she had to take her frustration out on him.

"Granger-"

"Malfoy, look-"

"No. You look. I did not come here to give you a choice. I came here to inform you about a transaction that is about to happen from my Gringotts account to your SPER one-"

"It's S.P.E.W."

"That's nice."

"You can't transfer your money without my signature."

"Which is why you'll sign it. The paper is on your desk."

She sighed in annoyance and threw an impatient look towards the desk, glaring at the document with a styled 'M' at the top of the page. Her foot was tapping against the floor as she contemplated what to do, nails dug in her palms so deep she thought they might start bleeding.

Her situation with Ron was getting worse. They fought all the time and she found herself getting sick and tired of it. During their old fights, there was some sort of passion there, something that tied her to him by an invisible rope and now she felt as if the rope had been cut off. By Draco Malfoy himself.

Why did he just feel the need to donate money to her? Maybe she had been complaining about the lack of donors to him from time to time, but she didn't think he was listening. He always seemed bored and uninterested. She didn't care much about it, it wasn't as if their relationship held any meaning other than good sex, but the fact that he cared even a little to come all the way to the Ministry and personally tell her made her nervous.