The Sleeping Beauty Curse

Chapter 17

Harry could well understand that. The Ministry as a whole, even under Kingsley's leadership, was a slow-moving and old-fashioned beast, still caught up in old pure-blood ideologies and old ways of working. He thought that a lot of the employees would have been very happy if they were able to pick the whole building up and transport it back several hundred years, when 'things were better' and 'children respected their parents' and 'magic was done properly'. It drove him mad that things were so slow to change. He said some of this out loud as he unpacked the food he'd brought with him from the staff canteen, and when he looked up, Hermione was raising her eyebrows at him.

"What Draco said a few weeks back was true, you know," she said. "Oh! Watch that book!" she complained as Harry set a box on a very dusty tome on her desk, for lack of space.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, handing Hermione a plate and then dishing out the food.

"About you being Head Auror," Hermione said, and shoved a forkful into her mouth. "Sorry," she said through the stir-fry, putting her hand in front of her mouth. "I can't have a long lunch today." She swallowed. "You should be. I don't know why you don't talk to Kingsley. Get something in place for when your current . . . situation is over. And if Ron doesn't resign soon, I'm going to resign for him," she said, stabbing her fork into a piece of prawn that didn't deserve such unkind treatment.

Harry shifted uncomfortably on his chair and took a mouthful of food. "Hmm," he said non-committally. Would his current 'situation' ever be over? He was growing ever more pessimistic.

"I don't want to argue," Hermione said, and grinned at him. "Did you see the pictures of your lunch with Draco and his awful parents in the papers?"

Harry hadn't. He'd had to dodge a lot of people, waving newspapers at him, to ensure this. He prepared to dodge now. "No!" he said, and then pleaded: "Don't make me."

Hermione laughed, taking a drink of juice. "But they're so lovely," she said. "I like the one of Narcissa scowling at you most, as Draco opens up a really horrible gold necklace and tries to look thankful." She took another mouthful of food. "Or maybe the one where Lucius is glowering at you like he wants to kill you as you steal food off Draco's plate." She grinned. "I'm not sure they quite showed the happy family at rest that Lucius intended. I presume it was his idea?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

Harry wrinkled his nose. "Yes, but Draco agreed with it. Without telling me. And then he agreed, too, to us doing an interview with the Prophet." He took a mouthful of food. It was stodge, but tasty enough. "The pics should be in the weekend edition, I think. Look forward to it."

Hermione smiled at him in sympathy. "I will. Shall I ask why a terrible lunch led to Draco's hair looking like . . . that?" she asked delicately. Harry's mouthful of food went the wrong way, and Hermione leaned over her desk to reach round and bang him on the back. "I'll take that as a no," she said drily. "Please promise to never, ever tell me."

When Harry had finished choking, Hermione said, raising another forkful to her mouth, "So, are you and Draco actually going out, now?"

Harry dropped his forkful of food, halfway to his mouth, into his lap. "Um, no," he said, because he didn't think they were. Well. Maybe they were. He didn't fucking know!

Hermione shot him an unamused look as he brushed stir-fry off his lap. "Thanks," she said. "I love having food all over the floor."

Harry rolled his eyes and Vanished it instead.

"Do you like Draco?" Hermione, who was unstoppable, asked.

It seemed pointless to lie. "Yes," Harry said.