What Do A Lion And A Wolf Share?

In The Library With A Quill

Draco spent most of the next week mentally repeating " of course ." Of course Mother invited Granger over without waiting like she promised. Of course she lured him to the room without warning him Granger would be there. Of course he was voluntold to assist with a charity he had no interest in under the leadership of Britain's most annoying witch. Of course Granger was immediately reminded of that time his family tortured her. And of course he had to be rude to her when she thanked him for basic decency.

He hadn't meant to be such a prat when he found he frizzy-haired witch crumpled on the ground, sobbing in front of that horrid set of dark doors. But Granger had no idea how many people he watched tortured and killed in that room. Merlin, the lunatic had put him under an Unforgivable in there to punish Lucius. Not that he wanted to share that tidbit with Saint Potter's self-centered, self-important brainiac. He'd never told anyone what had happened to him there, except for his mother and Tippy. That room would be unplottable regardless of her involvement, and it was so like the girl he remembered from Hogwarts to think of herself as the catalyst for the change. So he'd acted accordingly, slipping back to the harsh little boy he was when they met.

He'd tried to warn Theo about that girl the moment Granger left the room on Saturday afternoon, reminding him of her insults, her need to win, her ignorance of wizarding culture, and her skewed sense of justice. Theo demanded Draco put his suspicion that Granger had cooked up a scheme to infiltrate the elite and bring them down from the inside, and because Theo was Draco's brother, he had put that to bed. It was looking more and more like that fear was wrong anyway. What Draco didn't voice to Theo was his concern that the Gryffindor Princess would poison Theo against him out of spite for all the stupid things he did as a boy. If the verbal beatdown Theo gave him for insulting his sister was any indication, that bond was already solidified. Draco was sure he'd lost his oldest friend the moment Granger told Theo about his comments walking towards the floo. It's not as though Draco had friends to spare.

As soon as he saw Granger step through the floo on Sunday afternoon, Draco threw himself into his potion experimentation to distract himself. While his father had primed him to go down the same political path he had carved for himself, Draco had built up a small potions company to sell his healing-focused inventions instead. When he wasn't with Blaise and Theo, or attending some charity event with Mother, or flying in his backyard, he was tinkering with potions. For most of the next week, Draco could be found in the potions lab he built in the Acton-Malfoy Cottage, working well into the night. Crouching over the cauldron was the only respite from him replaying Hermione Granger's big brown eyes switching from previously unseen gratitude to familiar disgust. When he wasn't chopping and measuring and stirring, he was reading old potions books to avoid being alone with his own mind.

"Draco, my love," his mother's voice, sweeter than he'd heard in years, interrupted him one day at lunch. Immediately suspicious, he dropped his book on the table and eyed her. "Could you please stop by Theo's today and drop something off for me?"

"Do I look like an owl, Mother?" Draco drawled, making a show of rolling his eyes. They both knew he'd humor whatever request she'd make of him.

"Oh stop that, it's Thursday. Don't you usually go to Theo's for your card game? I just thought you could give these papers to Lady Nott-Granger while you were there."

"Yes, Mother," he said with a sigh. "But I'm going there for my friends. I'm not going to get roped into whatever shenanigans you're working on with that insufferable swot." He ignored his mother's chiding and returned to his book. She still hadn't clued him into whatever she wanted from the young witch, and Draco knew better than to ask questions now.

Draco arrived at Theo's a bit earlier than their normal meeting time, eager to avoid a run-in with the know-it-all. If he timed it right, she'd still be at the Ministry, neck deep in some pathetic creature work. When he didn't find Theo in the sitting room, dining room, or kitchen, he decided to check the library. Unfortunately for him, the moment he opened the door, that pair of big brown eyes that had been haunting him all week stared back at him, this time wide with surprise. Granger was curled into the window seat of the library, the bird's nest she called hair taking up practically as much space as her body. Neither of them spoke for a moment.