Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series or any of the characters portrayed in this story.

A/N: Hello, dear Reader! This is my first Dramione story, which is pretty exciting :) It's just a one-shot, and it's not particularly imaginative, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Reviews are much appreciated!

Oh, also, the horizontal lines are used to separate different scenes of the story.

To Miss Hermione Granger,

Welcome, and congratulations on your acceptance to Beast Division of The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures! I am writing to inform you that Mr. Draco Malfoy has been assigned as your field partner for the foreseeable future. You will be going on all missions together, and are expected to complete any necessary paperwork from your assignments as a pair. I'm certain that the two of you will make an excellent partnership, and I wish you both the best of luck in your work.

Sincerely,

Kingsley Shacklebolt

Minister for Magic

The Ministry of Magic, London

I gaped at the parchment I was holding in my hands. "Bloody hell," I swore, glancing up at the smirking, blond wizard standing in front of me.

"Oh come on, Granger, I'm really not that bad. I'll have you know that no woman has ever turned down a chance to spend time with me." He accompanied this statement with a saucy wink, probably intended to make me laugh or blush or something of the sort.

Instead, I rolled my eyes. "I was more worried about your intellect," I retorted, crossing my arms defiantly.

He snorted. "I'm sure you remember that I was first in our potions class seventh year," he replied, smiling smugly.

I glared at him in a rather fierce manner. "You were only first in Potions because Slughorn was head of Slytherin. Otherwise, I would have left you in the dust." I harrumphed indignantly, then returned my attention to the missive that spelled out my probable doom. After carefully rereading the entire letter, I sighed deeply, then set the parchment on my desk.

"Kingsley can't seriously think that we'll make a good team," I muttered, rather peevishly. "I mean, I'm a Gryffindor, and you're a Slytherin. We symbolize completely polar ideals – bravery versus cowardice, chivalry versus self-interest, good versus –"

"Don't you dare say evil, Granger," he hissed. His silver-grey eyes hardened into molten steel as he glared at me. Unfortunately, he had a valid point. He really wasn't exactly evil, seeing as how he and his family had switched sides during the War to fight for the Light, although it was probably more out of self-preservation than for moral reasons. In any case, I suppose 'arrogant' or 'infuriating' or even 'ferret-like" would be a more accurate adjective.

"Fine," I muttered. "You're not evil – you're just a prat." A smarmy, annoying, and admittedly rather attractive prat.

Wait.

Since when did I think that Malfoy, the paragon of an arrogant git, was attractive?

He smirked. "Well, you don't seem to have changed one bit since Hogwarts."

I narrowed my eyes. "Neither have you, Ferret."

He raised an eyebrow at my oh-so-clever insult. "And I thought you were supposed to be the mature one."

I sighed in frustration, then flopped into a chair. "Malfoy, do you not realize that you spent the majority of our teenage years bullying me and my friends? You can't expect me to be enthusiastic about working with you."

He waved a hand dismissively. "Hogwarts was ages ago, Granger. Anyway, wasn't it you who made that grandiose speech at graduation about moving past petty squabbles towards a brighter future, and all of that optimistic shite?"

"You do know that we graduated just a few months ago, right?"

"Well, that's probably why we're partners. None of the other people here want to be dragged down by a newbie," he stated, picking up a glass paperweight shaped like a kneazle. After examining it for a few moments, he returned it to my desk.

I pursed my lips. "So, there's probably no chance that Kingsley will let me switch partners?"

He shrugged. "Not unless you have a good reason. And I'm fairly certain that 'I think Draco Malfoy is a smarmy git' won't work."

I sighed. So much for that plan.

"I suppose I'm stuck with you," I finally muttered, rather reluctantly.

At this, he grinned, his mercury eyes glinting mischievously. "Well then, I'm certainly looking forward to working with you, partner."

I, however, was not nearly as enthused.

"Malfoy!" I bellowed, storming into his office. "What in Godric's name are you doing?!"

"Uh... eating?" He pointed to his sandwich in slight confusion. "It's lunch time, if you hadn't noticed."

I huffed angrily, then slammed a pile of folders onto his desk. "Do you know what these are?"

He looked perplexed.

"It's paperwork!" I shouted in annoyance, picking up the top folder. "Do you see this? You haven't done any paperwork in the three months that we've been working together, and I'm getting bloody tired of forging your bloody signature on everything! Not to mention the fact that filling out these forms is part of your job, since we're partners, or have you already forgotten that?"

He opened his mouth, probably to protest, but I just ignored him and plowed ahead. "Do you know how long it takes for me to go through the paperwork for a single mission? At least an hour! That's an hour I could be using to help underrepresented magical creatures advocate for their rights!"

I flopped into a chair across from him, then resumed my tirade. "Listen carefully. You will do your share of the paperwork, or I'll tell Kingsley about all of the lunch dates that you go on. And surely you wouldn't risk a good shag by ditching those trysts, would you?" I smirked evilly at his surprised expression. "What, you thought I didn't know about those slags? Think again, Malfoy. I work across the bloody hall from you."

I got up and smoothed my skirt, pleased with the simultaneously defeated and annoyed expression on his pointy face. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some letters to write." And with that, I sauntered out the door, reveling in my victory.

"Watch out!" I shrieked, frantically shooting a Stupefy at the fluorescent green monster lunging towards Malfoy. He just managed to dodge a glob of poisonous goo that spewed from the beast's huge jaws, then attempted to swipe at the creature's head with his sword.

Earlier, we had an emergency call for an "uncontrollable, raging, neon green swamp monster". With that lack of useful information, we were essentially walking into this mission blind, as evidenced by our struggle with subduing the creature. Neither of us had ever seen the swamp monster before, and thus had no idea what its weaknesses were, although we found out that it spit poison after the goo landed on an unsuspecting bush and disintegrated the plant.

The brightly colored, giant alligator-salamander cross raised one of its legs and tried to grab Malfoy, who hurriedly ducked behind a tree, then raced back towards the large rock that I was hiding behind.

"How do we get rid of this thing?" he asked, panting heavily, his pale hair plastered to his head.

Unfortunately, for the first time in my career, I was unsure of what to do. "We could hit it with Stupefy until it faints and then use the Body Bind curse?"

"It's too big to be stopped by a few Stupefys."

I bit my lip, seriously worried about the mission. We'd been battling the monster for almost an hour, and were both quickly losing energy, me from casting dozens of spells in hopes of stopping the monster, Malfoy from running around and distracting it to buy me time to come up with a plan.

I mentally ran through a list of magical creatures, searching for one that seemed similar to this one. What could we do to stop a poisonous monster the size of a young dragon? We were forbidden from using Unforgivables, so I couldn't Crucio it. As Malfoy said, Stupefy wouldn't be strong enough with just the two of us casting it.

"Maybe we could try to burn it? Or not," I amended at his incredulous look.

"How about I just try to get close enough to chop its head off?"

"But it's pretty much always spewing poison. If that stuff touches you, you'll probably die, and then I'd be stuck with McLauran as a partner." I made a face at the thought of working with such an incompetent wizard, if he could even be considered to have magical powers.

Malfoy suddenly grinned. "Well, it's great to know that you care about me, Granger," he said teasingly.

I merely glared, then looked back at our fluorescent foe. "Just be careful, ok?"

"Of course." And with that, he raced off. I carefully followed his movements as he parried and jumped and dodged, always managing to avoid being hit by the beast's attacks. He seemed to be nearing a position where he could try to lop its head off when he suddenly tripped and dropped his sword before rolling a short ways away. My eyes widened in alarm as the monster steadily made its way towards Malfoy's prone body. I scrambled from my hiding place and sprinted towards the monster, hoping to turn its attention away from my partner.

"Hey, you stupid, foul, evil, green monster! Get away from him!" I shot a few Stupefys as I neared the creature, which had turned its beady gaze towards me. Malfoy slowly inched towards his sword and had almost reached it when the swamp menace seemed to notice that he had moved, and started pursuing Malfoy again.

The monster was just opening its mouth to spit goo all over Malfoy when I suddenly remembered a powerful, somewhat dark spell that I had once heard about.

"Sectumsempra!" I screamed in desperation, aiming my wand towards the creature which then began to convulse as large cuts were made in its body. Green slime began to leak out of the wounds as I dragged Malfoy, who had finally grabbed his sword, to his feet and pushed him away from the swamp. We both collapsed a safe distance away to catch our breaths. When the monster seemed to have finally died, we Apparated back to our office.

After filing a request for a clean-up and removal crew, we ended up back in my office with steaming mugs of tea. I leaned back in my chair as I sipped my drink, then glanced across my desk at Malfoy, who was unusually quiet.

"Hey, are you ok?" I asked. "I mean, I know you were almost killed by a neon goo monster, but still. You're being quiet, which is rather odd."

After some more strange silence, he finally cleared his throat, and lifted his eyes from the floor to my face.

"Granger..." he started, looking at me in an unusually serious manner. "Thanks for... well, you know, for saving me."

Merlin's beard, did he just thank me? I never thought I'd hear that from him.

I blushed, then smiled slightly. "You're my partner; of course I'd try to save you from premature death by evil goo. You'd do the same for me, I'm sure," I replied, somewhat embarrassed.

"Still, though. I owe you," he added grudgingly.

I smirked. "I'll definitely hold you to that, Malfoy."

When I woke up, it was midday and my eyelids felt like they were attached to lead weights. As my mind finally began to clear, snippets of last night's argument entered my mind, unbidden and unwelcome.

"Come on, Hermione, it's just dinner with a potential client. It'll be all business, I swear."

"You know what Oliver, I don't even care anymore. You don't have to tell me a bloody thing about your 'business dinners' and whichever skanky trollop you're going to spend the night with. And yes, I know about Marie and Samantha and all of those other girls," I added, incensed by his shocked expression. I grabbed my wand from my nightstand, then advanced towards the tawny-haired philanderer I had mistakenly fallen for. "We. Are. Done. Don't you dare show your goddamned face around here anymore, do you hear me?"

I groaned as my eyes were exposed to the harsh sunlight seeping through my windows, then decided to burrow back under the covers and think about the spectacular failure of a relationship I'd been in.

I met Oliver Wood, well, I suppose 'became reacquainted with' is a more accurate term, at a Ministry function several months ago. We talked for most of the night, and before we left, he asked me out for lunch the following Monday. That led to dinner and other nighttime activities, and we "officially" became a couple two months later. And then, a week ago, I found out that he was cheating on me with a bevy of gorgeous, brainless women, which in turn led to last night's debacle.

Honestly, though, I was glad that I'd broken things off with him. It was humiliating, really, to be in a relationship with him when I knew that he was not faithful. However, it still hurt that he had the gall to do that, and I couldn't help but wonder if I had done something to cause him to stray. In any case, there was no way in hell that I'd be able to go to work today, or even tomorrow, so I decided to go back to sleep in hopes that the heartache would quickly fade away.

Tap, tap, tap.

I frowned as a noise pulled me away from a lovely dream involving crashing one of Oliver's dates and dumping a fish fillet on a nameless blonde head.

Tap, tap, tap.

I blearily squinted at my window, which was now dark with the silhouette of a bird, then stumbled out of bed to open the latch. An elegant, snowy white owl fluttered in, hooting indignantly.

"Sorry," I muttered, rummaging around my drawer for an owl treat. After feeding the bird, I pulled the piece of rolled parchment from its leg, then sat back down on my bed to read it. The owl, whom I now recognized as Malfoy's, remained perched on the window's ledge, seemingly waiting for a reply.

Hey Granger,

You weren't at work today, which was weird, so I wanted to make sure you hadn't died or something. We still have that meeting Thursday morning, so you'd better be there because I don't want to talk to Scamander without backup. You know how he is when he hasn't had enough caffeine.

Malfoy

P.S. Hestia will wait for a reply, so just let me know if you're alive, ok?

I laughed a bit at Malfoy's expression of concern, then jotted down a quick reply.

Malfoy,

Don't worry, I'm still breathing. I had a fight with Oliver last night, and we broke up, so I didn't feel up to going to work today. I'll be back by Thursday, though.

Granger

After tying the paper to Hestia's leg, I slowly got up and made my way to the kitchen to make some tea. While the water was boiling, I looked around the living room for Notting Hill, then grabbed a large spoon, a pint of ice cream, and a box of tissues, and set up my heartbreak-be-gone station on the couch. Being Muggle-born had its perks - after all, there was nothing better for curing a broken heart than watching rom-coms and eating a delicious frozen dessert.

I had just gotten to the part where Will crashes into Anna and spills his drink on her when I heard a knock on my door. After pausing the movie, I got up and padded towards the door, wondering who on earth would be here to see me at such a late time, and on a week night, no less. Fervently hoping that it wasn't Oliver, because letting him see me in old pajamas and bed hair would be mortifying, I cracked the door open a fraction.

"Malfoy?" I asked in disbelief, staring at the unexpected sight of the fair-haired wizard. My eyes widened even further when I noticed what he was holding. "You brought me ice cream and flowers?!" By now my door was wide open and I was gaping at the strange display before me. He was, indeed, carrying a translucent grocery bag with two pints of ice cream as well as a bouquet of brilliant, bold red tulips.

"May I come in?"

I nodded wordlessly, stepped back to let him into my flat, then shut and bolted the door.

"So, what are you doing here?" I asked, puzzled by his presence. "Did you get my message?"

"Erm, yeah, I did, and I figured that if I brought you ice cream, you'd feel better soon," he said, setting the bag on my coffee table. "I did the paperwork from our last job, too. Also, I knew you liked tulips, and girls like flowers, so, uh, I picked up a bouquet." He held them out to me, somewhat awkwardly, then proceeded to take out one of the containers of ice cream. "I'll go get a spoon," he mumbled, then sped towards the kitchen, avoiding my eyes.

I sniffled a bit, my eyes watering at the kindness of his gesture, and buried my nose in the fragrant flowers. When he returned, I beamed at him, then enveloped him in a hug. He stiffened, seemingly unsure of what to do, which, for some reason, made me giggle in an uncharacteristic fashion.

"Thank you, Draco," I murmured, suddenly much, much happier than I had been just five minutes ago. Happy enough that his given name slipped from my tongue without so much as a hesitation.

He slowly relaxed under my embrace and we stood there for a bit, taking comfort in each other's warmth. Finally, I pulled away, then flopped on the couch, patting the spot next to me.

"Have you ever seen a television?" I asked once we were situated. He shook his head.

My face lit up in excitement. "Well, there's a first for everything, isn't there?"

Suffice to say, with Malfoy's company, I was well enough on Thursday to attend the meeting and give Scamander a piece of my mind when he attempted to make an argument to cut funding for the department.

That night also marked the end of calling each other by our last names. Something about me crying over an ex while watching a chick flick and devouring ice cream with Draco had brought us closer, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that he really wasn't as big of a git as I thought he was. We became friends, sort of, rather than mere partners at work, and there were times afterwards when I noticed him surreptitiously staring at me from across the hall, as well as times when I was attempting to sneakily watch him watch me.

Long, wavy chestnut hair cascaded well past her shoulders, partially pinned back by a sparkly gold clip shaped like a flower. A strapless, rich crimson satin gown adorned her body, complementing her dark brown eyes. She was, simply put, stunning.

And I couldn't believe that this beautiful she was me.

I was staring – no, gaping – at my reflection in the mirror while Ginny grinned gleefully beside me.

"You are absolutely gorgeous!" she exclaimed giddily, beaming at my stunned expression.

"This is so... surreal," I muttered, still amazed by my mirror image. Who knew that a dress and makeup could make that much of a difference in a person's appearance?

The cause for this dramatic transformation was the annual Ministry charity ball that every employee was forced to go to. I'd managed to claim to be sick last year and the year before last, but the event had completely slipped my mind this year, and I hadn't had the time to think up another exotic disease to catch. And thus, a scant hour later I was uncomfortably hobnobbing with various wealthy witches and wizards in a grand ballroom resplendent with intricate chandeliers, aromatic food, and exquisitely dressed people.

"Granger?"

I spun around at the sound of a familiar voice, then smiled. "Hey, Draco."

He silently gawked at me for several seconds, then finally choked out, "Bloody hell, you look... and that dress... why don't you wear things like that more often?"

I rolled my eyes at his attempt at a compliment. "Because my job consists of battling dangerous magical creatures. Wearing a ball gown on a mission would be just a tad bit impractical, don't you think?"

Instead of answering, he hurriedly grabbed a glass of champagne off of a nearby floating tray, gulped down the drink, then turned back to me. I was amused, though slightly baffled, by his behavior, but decided to attribute it to the strangeness of seeing me in something other than office or field attire.

"So, are you having fun?" I finally asked, gesturing to the throngs of people milling about.

He shrugged, seemingly back to normal. "I've been to lots of parties like this. They lose their charm after a while."

We idly chatted until Shacklebolt appeared onstage to make the requisite speech about the various organizations that the Ministry supported. He concluded his talk with an enthusiastic "Now it's time to dance!" and waved towards the orchestra, which started up with a flourish.

"Shall we?" I glanced up at Malfoy, just a smidge surprised by his offer, then took his proffered hand and walked towards the space that was being rapidly filled up with dancing couples. After twirling through several waltzes, and learning that he was a surprisingly adept dancer, I decided that I needed a rest, and we made our way out of the ballroom, down a hallway, and through an ornate door that led us to a garden filled with fragrant blooms. We settled onto one of the stone benches lining the walkways, and I sighed happily at the sight of the beautiful flowers framed by an inky black sky dotted with tiny pinpricks of starlight.

"This place is quite lovely, isn't it?" His voice broke the quiet silence of the night, and I jumped a little, then turned to face him fully.

"It is," I agreed, smiling.

He grinned, and I suddenly noticed just how close we were, so close that I could clearly see the long, pale eyelashes framing his captivating silver eyes. So close that I could feel the warmth radiating from him. So close that I could hear the exhale of his breath and feel the subtle vibrations of his chest when he murmured, "And you, Hermione, are absolutely breathtaking."

I opened my mouth to say something – what, exactly, I'll never be sure of – but nothing came out, and any coherent thoughts seemed to have disappeared from my mind. Instead, I blushed profusely and stared down at my hands, suddenly feeling shy and fluttery and slightly startled by the manner in which he had uttered my name.

"Thank you," I finally managed to say. I smiled, then added, "You're rather dashing, yourself."

He remained silent, so I mustered up some good old Gryffindor courage and looked up and into his eyes and then, before I had time to react, I felt his lips on mine and then any semblance of lucidity vanished from my brain as I began to reciprocate. And then I realized what I was doing, and who I was doing it with, and started panicking about our partnership and aren't workplace relationships frowned upon? And Merlin's beard, this feels absolutely amazing but I can't do this, can I, no, I have to go, now, or this'll ruin our newfound friendship and that won't do, because what will happen to our partnership if we become involved and then break things off?

And so I abruptly pushed him away, my heart sinking at his bewildered expression, then sprinted off as fast as my heels could take me with a regretful, oh so remorseful, "I'm sorry."

"Draco Lucius Malfoy, if you so much as sneeze again, I swear on my grandmother's entire antique vase collection that I will hurt you." I glared at the smirking wizard standing next to me and brandished my 10 ¾ vine wood wand at him. "Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am," was his cheeky response. I glowered, then turned my attention back to the task at hand. We were hiding behind a low stone wall surrounding a dilapidated old cottage near the edge of the woods, watching for any signs of the monster that we were ordered to capture. The call had come in roughly two hours ago with the report of a manticore sighting in Cheshire, and Draco and I had immediately apparated to the site. Then, we hunkered down to wait for the beast. Of course, Draco had almost immediately broken the first, and really the only, rule of hiding – he started talking. Not even about interesting topics, such as how the toxins present in manticore blood make them extremely deadly, but about some girl who had just moved into the flat next to him.

I wasn't jealous, though. I was merely annoyed that he wasn't focused on the task at hand.

Obviously.

After another hour of squatting next to a bunch of suspicious-looking plants, I was ready to call it quits and return to the office.

"Come on Draco, it most likely wandered off somewhere, and I really need to finish some paperwork from our last case."

He gasped in mock surprise. "Merlin's beard, did the great Hermione Granger just decide to quit? Damn, I wish I'd brought one of those camera things to record this moment," he said, grinning.

"Oh for the love of Godric, Malfoy, just shut up, will you?" I seethed, abruptly standing up. "We're leaving. Now."

"Ouch, back to last names, are we?" He pouted in feigned sadness.

I rolled my eyes. "The manticore obviously isn't here, and I'm tired of waiting around. Let's go."

Just then, out of my peripheral vision, I spotted movement near the closest line of trees. My eyes widened, and I quickly dropped back down behind the wall.

"I thought we were leaving?"

"Change of plans. Manticore sighting, 2 o'clock." His confused expression changed to one of alertness as he glanced across the small expanse of lank grasses and honed in on the monster.

"All right, this is a retrieval mission, ok? Don't fly in there waving your bloody sword at the beast and cause it to freak out and run away. The last thing I want to do today is chase after it."

He scoffed. "My 'bloody' sword is quite useful, thank you very much. Do you recall that incident with the –"

I closed my eyes, wishing for the umpteenth time that Kingsley had assigned me a partner who wasn't quite so infuriating. But no matter. We had a monster to take care of; I could deal with him later.

"Let's just Stupefy it, all right?" I said, cutting off his long-winded anecdote. "If we advance carefully enough, we can probably catch it unawares and I can get a clear shot at it."

Without checking to see if he agreed with my plan, I quietly made my way around the wall and started walking towards the manticore that was standing completely still, staring back into the forest. 100 meters, then 60, then a mere 20, and then just a few more steps and I could probably hit it squarely with the spell and then we could call in a retrieval team to pick it up for examination and then –

It turned around and fixed its hungry gaze on the two of us. Cursing my bad luck, I prepared to just cast a Stupefy and hope that my aim was good enough when Draco leaped forwards, right as the manticore ran towards us, and slashed his sword at the beast's neck.

I groaned. This day was not starting off well.

The next day...

So. Much. Paperwork.

There were piles upon piles of forms, letters, and so on, all related to yesterday's incident, sitting ominously on my desk, and it was far too early in the morning for me to deal with this mess. I hadn't even had coffee yet.

That bastard. He hadn't even bothered to offer to fill out his portion of the paperwork, despite the fact that the only reason we had so many bloody forms to fill out this time was because he, the buggering ferret that he is, decided to throw all rules and regulations clear out the metaphorical window and run at the blasted manticore with a sword. And then he killed it, which was not good, since we were supposed to just subdue it and bring it back for investigation, not slice its head clean off.

I shook my head in annoyance. A sword. I have no idea why he insists on using such a primitive weapon on the job when he's a wizard and is perfectly capable of performing spells. More than capable, in fact, although I would never admit that to his face, the pompous git. I sighed heavily, dumped my black leather bag on the one clear space on my desk, and stalked out of the room in search of some much-needed caffeine.

An hour later...

"Well, hello there! I must say, it is such a pleasure to see you, my beloved partner."

At the sound of his voice, because of course it was him, probably here to mock me and my only slightly diminished stacks of paperwork, I glared daggers at the poor inkwell that happened to be in my line of vision. Gritting my teeth, I muttered, "The sentiment is not returned, Malfoy."

He let out a light chuckle, then stepped through the doorway and into my office.

"So, what are you doing today?" he asked, leaning casually against the wall.

"Paperwork," I answered, flatly.

"That doesn't sound like fun."

And the award for the most astute observation of the day goes to the illustrious Draco Malfoy, I thought, my eyelid twitching ever so slightly.

"You know what, Draco, if you had just stuck to the plan that we agreed on, I wouldn't be literally buried in all of these bloody forms!"

He raised a pale eyebrow at my indignant tone, then coolly replied, "The manticore started running at us. Unless you wanted to get gored into little bits, you should be glad that I killed it."

I blinked in amazement. Was he being serious?!

After one look at his ridiculously earnest expression, I exploded, jumping out of my seat and marching towards him.

"You. Are. An. Idiot." I accentuated each word with an emphatic jab to his chest, then continued with my tirade.

"First of all, my plan would have worked, since I have spectacular aim and most likely would have been able to hit that manticore with a Stupefy."

I crossed my arms, ignoring the slight exaggeration of my prowess with spells, and fixed him with my most venomous glare.

"Secondly, you weren't supposed to kill the bloody beast! Our job was to retrieve it, not decapitate it. Hence why I am currently sporting several ink stains from filling out stupid paperwork that you didn't even offer to help with, even though your idiocy is the reason there are this many forms! Why can't you just listen to me for once, you buggering ferret from hell?" I gnashed my teeth in frustration as he opened his mouth, then closed it, then looked thoughtfully at some spot just over my shoulder.

I decided that I needed a break to cool off before returning to writing about exactly what happened and why we failed to bring back the monster as requested, so I quickly stepped around him and stomped out of my office and down the hallway, heading for the solace of the balcony that I'd discovered during my first week at this office. As far as I knew, no one else had ever been to the secluded area, and, quite frankly, I was glad for that. While I generally got along well with people, Draco had a habit of infuriating me until I was sputtering with anger and screaming incoherent insults at his amused grey eyes. Thus, having a place to hide was a necessity with him as my partner.

Hurrying up a flight of stairs, I attempted to do some of those deep breathing exercises that Ginny, who apparently was a yoga enthusiast, had taught me.

Inhale, one, two, three, exhale. Inhale, one, two, three, exhale.

When I reached to top of the staircase, I made a left, a quick right, ducked under a potted plant when I heard someone's footsteps nearby, then continued down the drab hallway when the sounds receded. Finally, I made it through the nondescript glass door concealing my little piece of paradise, and collapsed on the ground, panting slightly. After I felt a bit more relaxed, I stood up, dusted off my sensible black pencil skirt, and leaned against the railing, marveling at the beauty of the wizarding part of London. Imposing, old stone buildings stood regally as pedestrians walked along the sidewalks and a few owls zoomed through the air, clutching parcels and letters. The sky was a rich shade of blue, and wispy cotton clouds floated along the wind currents, changing shape to look like a tree, then like the front half of a dragon, then a bunch of blobs that vaguely resembled a –

"There you are."

Him.

In my formerly safe haven.

Bloody hell, was it impossible to get away from him?

Taking a deep, stabilizing breath, I answered in a surprisingly calm voice, "How did you find me?"

Instead of answering, he moved to stand next to me and leaned his arms against the railing, looking up at the sky.

"Hey, that one looks a bit like one of those nargles that Lovegood is always going on about."

I frowned. "Nargles don't exist."

He merely shrugged, and I returned my gaze to the skies, attempting to ignore him.

Draco was... interesting, to put it in mild terms. He was intelligent, yes, and an accomplished wizard to boot. He was very nearly on par with me at transfiguration and charms while we were at Hogwarts, and managed to slightly surpass me at potions. He was also one of the few people that I could trust, although he usually didn't follow my instructions for assignments and instead found stupid, but somehow generally successful, methods of accomplishing tasks. We were friends, though, sort of. There was definitely some sort of bond between us, initiated by the movie/ice cream fest, and, when he was not being annoying, I actually enjoyed his company and his witty banter. We worked surprisingly well together in spite of our arguments, and rarely failed to carry out our missions. In fact, the debacle yesterday was the first mishap we'd had in over a year.

And then, of course, there was that incident at the Ministry sponsored charity ball two years ago, with the kiss that left me flustered and rather perplexed over the state of my feelings towards him. But Draco was first and foremost my work partner, and I couldn't let some arbitrary event change that, so I vowed to ignore it and continued on with life as usual. I was a bit annoyed, and dare I say, hurt, by the fact that he seemed just as unaffected by the event as I pretended to be, but I got over it quickly and we returned to our routine of fighting monsters and each other.

Life was fine. Fine, that is, until pesky memories of his warm silver eyes, so close to my own, his soft murmurs, his warmth that fended off the chill of the winter night in the gardens, and a myriad other traitorous images and feelings, emerged from the depths of my mind.

I wouldn't admit it at the time, but I had somehow, through some strange twist of fate, inadvertently fallen for Draco.

"Hermione?" His voice pulled me out of my reverie, and I looked at him quizzically.

"Yes?"

He bit his lip, glancing over to his right, then returned his gaze to mine. "Do you still remember that party that the Ministry made us go to? The time you wore that red dress?"

"Um... yeah?" Oh dear. This conversation did not look like it was going to go well, and for some reason, butterflies had suddenly started to flutter around inside my stomach, much to my annoyance.

"Do you ever think about... well, you know."

"What?" I was fairly certain of what he was referring to, but in the off chance that I was wrong...

A silence stretched between us, thin, delicate lines of tension extending through the air. And then –

"The kiss." He said it in a whisper, so softly that I could barely hear him even though he was less than a foot away.

I looked down at the ground directly below the balcony, and felt a blush spread across my face.

Finally, I answered him. "Yes," I said, my voice quiet and slightly scratchy from nervousness and anxiety and a general panic. Then, in an even smaller voice, I added, "All the time."

For several long seconds I determinedly stared at the pedestrians on the sidewalk, refusing to look at him. I could feel my face flaming up in embarrassment over my quiet confession, and I dreaded what I might see if I turned my head to the right. Oh, the horror – he would have so much more fodder to tease me with, not to mention the abject humiliation I would face once people found out that I, the practical, level-headed member of our duo, fancied him.

"Hermione." There was a slight hitch in his voice that caused my heart to thump in a frenzied manner, and I slowly turned towards him.

"Yes?" I asked, prepared for the worst possible outcome. Honestly, I was fine with being rejected as long as this topic was never brought up again and I could rush home immediately afterwards to a nice, warm cup of tea... and perhaps a tub of ice cream and a Hugh Grant movie.

By then, it had been almost a minute since he had said my name, and I was really getting quite nervous. The rapid thump-thump of my heart had accelerated to a ridiculous tempo, and he was still standing there, peering earnestly at me with an unfathomable expression on his perfectly sculpted face.

"Draco?" I queried, breaking the now-uncomfortable silence. "Hello?" I waved my hand at him, hoping to get a reaction. Less than a second later, I felt myself being pulled towards him by a pair of hands around my waist, and, suddenly, his lips were on mine and I forgot about thinking, and forgot that we were in plain sight of any people nearby, and forgot about everything besides how to breathe and how soft his hair was and Merlin, he was quite good at this...

A short while later, we pulled apart, breathing heavily. I looked at him curiously, watching him, waiting for some sort of explanation for what had just transpired.

"Hermione, I have to tell you something." I raised an eyebrow at his serious tone.

"Ok."

He looked at me intently for a few seconds, and I was about to start yelling at him for not saying anything when –

"I'm in love with you."

I imagine that my eyes opened comically wide at his proclamation, and I heard myself sputter, "Wha-, um, wait, did you just say- ? Bloody hell! You-! For the love of... you're not joking, are you? Because if you are, so help me, Draco Malfoy, I will beat you to a bloody pulp, Ministry regulations be damned."

At this, he smiled a beatific smile, his brilliant, captivating eyes looking so much like molten silver.

"No, you beautiful, stubborn witch, I am being quite earnest."

I stared at him in shock. "But what about all those other girls? Mary from the pub? Eleanor the new neighbor? The obviously not-naturally blonde chit that hounded you until you pretended to have a fiancée?"

He chuckled and rested his forehead on mine. "I was never actually interested in anyone but you, not since you saved me from the swamp monster. That night at the ball only reaffirmed my convictions."

I smiled a little at this, then sobered. Does he really love me? I wondered. This truly was an unexpected development, and I couldn't help but still be a bit disbelieving about his feelings. I'd witnessed, first-hand, how callous he could be with women he wasn't interested in and I had no intention of being used again by anyone, no matter how charming and attractive he might be.

But at the same time, I recalled all of the times he'd saved me from dangerous magical creatures, the time he did all of my paperwork the day after I broke up with Oliver, how he bought two entire pints of ice cream and brought them to my flat with a fresh bouquet of my favorite flowers later that evening. I remembered every subtle compliment, how he glanced at me when he thought I wasn't looking, how I glanced at him when I hoped he wasn't looking, and, of course, that night in the garden.

"Then why did you not say anything to me after the ball?"

His smile faded a bit at this question. "You ran away after I kissed you – it seemed that my advances were unwelcome, so I thought it'd be easier to just pretend it didn't happen. I didn't want to make our partnership awkward."

Oh, dear. I probably should've said something about my running away, but wait, did he just say that the reason he didn't do anything about this relationship was because he thought that I didn't want him, not because he didn't want me?

"Bloody hell," I breathed, my eyes again widening in amazement.

"Did I miss something?" He asked, slightly befuddled by my outburst.

I grinned, just a tad bit crazily, and wasted no time in pulling his lips down to mine. That went on for a while, and once we again pulled apart, I returned his earlier declaration with one of my own.

"I love you, too, my dear partner."