Draco Malfoy Gets a Life Coach

Memories

I was surely in for the most uncomfortable hour of my life, and that was saying something given what had just transpired in my coaching session.

I met Granger outside the lifts and shared a supremely awkward greeting. I'd never gone anywhere with her by invitation before, only by summons, and while this meeting was partially mandatory, something about it felt oddly... optional. I suppose I could have declined to leave the Ministry with her, but to be honest the thought had not even occurred to me.

I told myself it was because I hadn't been out in Wizarding London in many months, and put the train of thought to rest.

We said nothing as we waited for the lift. I wasn't going to be the first to speak.

We said nothing as the lift ascended. She was the one who wanted to do this.

We said nothing as we moved toward the Floos. Shouldn't she be filling in these silences?

Finally, as we stepped into the street, my own senses betrayed me as I gasped at the feeling of being out in London. I closed my eyes and breathed in the smell of it, the atmosphere of the bustling city, the sense of freedom floating around people who unknowingly took it for granted.

When I opened my eyes, she was regarding me with something like contentment on her face.

"It's been a while, hmm?" she said softly, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Seeing that threat of a smile jolted me out of my reverie and I scowled, looking away and shoving my hands in my pockets.

"Where are we going, then?" I asked, keen to distract her from whatever that was.

"Oh! Er- um," she said, glancing around stupidly. Well, this was a new way to throw her off her game, if nothing else. Perhaps the hour wouldn't be complete torture. For me, anyway.

She shook herself as if snapping back to reality and said, "This way."

I followed in her wake. She moved very quickly for someone whose legs were so much shorter than my own. I sped to keep up before calling out to her.

"Granger, if you maintain this pace and force me to follow at speed, people are bound to assume you're being chased by the big bad Death Eater."

She stopped walking and turned around slowly with a grimace on her face.

"That's- you're not—" she broke off, looking around and noticing that people were indeed staring over at her in concern. She scoffed and shook her head muttering "imbeciles" under her breath. Then, without warning she took my hand in hers and continued her march through the streets like we were some bizarre political protest.

It took me a moment to even register the contact, and a buzz of energy ran up my arm and reached my chest before it hit me that she and I were holding hands. Why were we holding hands? When had this happened? I had watched it occur, yet it was as though my mind couldn't hold on to the information.

I wasn't pulling away.

I was allowing her to lead me through the streets, fully on display.

With every moment that passed, all I could keep thinking was the phrase, "I'm not pulling away." It was, again, as if my mind couldn't hold the data and I needed to keep reviewing it.

Numbly, I registered a sense of warmth now crawling up my arm. It crept up over my chest and sent a swirl of euphoria down to my stomach. I gasped and released my hand, unable to maintain the contact for another moment and completely confused as to what the fuck had just happened to me.

It was lucky that we had apparently arrived at our destination in that same moment, and I'd been able to pull away without having to explain myself or submit to awkward questions about why I had desperately needed her to stop touching me. I looked up at the sign above the front windows of the pub.