Harry was reading the newspaper as she reached the table and he glanced up at her. She smoothed a hand over her hair as she sat down, trying not to meet his gaze. There was no way he knew she had just been pinned up against a wall by Draco. Just yards away, no less. She felt her cheeks grow hot as she thought about the fact that anyone could have just walked in on them. How Draco had covered her mouth to stifle her moans. Her whole body trembled at the memory. She could still feel his heated touch burning into her skin.
"Alright there, Hermione?" Harry asked as he shook out the paper a little.
"What? I'm fine," she waved a hand at him as she opened her book again, trying to hide her face.
He lifted a shoulder in a shrug as he scanned a page of the paper, "you were gone for a bit."
Hermione pressed a hand to her burning hot cheek, "I had to use the loo."
"Did the lights go out in the bathroom?" Harry asked her as he flipped the page.
Her eyebrows rose slightly as she looked at her friend, "I don't think so? I wasn't paying attention. Why?"
Green eyes studied her, narrowing slightly, "There was an odd power surge while you were gone. Thought maybe you would have noticed it."
Oh, god.
They had been so lost in the heat of the moment that she bloody forgot about their magic reacting to each other.
"Hm, that is odd," she replied in a quiet voice, lifting her book a little higher.
His green eyes continued to stare at her from over the newspaper before shifting to look past her shoulder. She felt the air shift around them as she felt his presence before Harry even said anything; "Afternoon, Draco."
She felt him step closer, just behind her chair and to the side slightly.
"Potter."
Draco's hand came to rest on the back of her chair as he leaned down slightly, looking over her shoulder, "Hermione," his heat engulfed her, "you find anything useful yet?"
His fingers brushed along the back of her neck, sending a delightful shiver along her spine. Aware that Harry was watching them with a guarded expression, she cleared her throat and dared a glance up to Draco. Oh god, he was so close to her. His silver eyes glinted deviously at her as he let them travel along her lips before looking at the open pages of her book.
"I did, actually," Hermione responded in a quiet voice. She cleared her throat and closed the book, setting it onto the table.
Draco's lips tilted in a smirk, "of course you did."
She felt one of his fingers capture a lose curl at the nape of her neck and give it a slight tug.
"You didn't say anything to me," Harry interjected as he set his newspaper down.
Hermione cleared throat again as Draco straightened, putting space between them again. His damn fingers were still touching the back of her neck and driving her to distraction.
"Well, I wanted to read a little more about it before putting it on the table. Just in case I'm wrong."
Harry rolled his eyes, "Hermione, have you ever been wrong?"
"Yes, there was that one ti—"
"That was a rhetorical question," Harry said over her, scoffing slightly as he said under his breath, "brightest witch of her age."
"I can hear you, Harry." Hermione grabbed his paper and swatted at his arm with it.
"Maybe we can talk about what you found?" Draco interjected as he shifted next to her.
Hermione finally looked up at Draco towering over her, wrapped in his black suit. Taking note that while he had fixed the wrinkles she couldn't help but smirk as she noted his hair remained delightfully unkempt, the fringe falling forward to brush his eyebrows.
"Yes, that's fine. We have a lot to talk about, don't we?" She asked him, lifting an eyebrow towards him. She didn't forget he had said he would tell her about his scars.
His eyes flashed briefly at her; obviously he had not forgotten that either.
Harry watched their exchange, entirely too observant.
He chair scraped across the floor as he pushed it back and stood up, "welllll, this is entirely too awkward for me. I'm out."
"Bye, Harry," Hermione said as she gave him a slight wave, Draco's eyes still trained on her face. He didn't acknowledge the other leaving the table. He took Harry's seat across from her, his long legs stretched out in front him and crossed at the ankle.
"So what did you figure out?" He asked her.
"First, you need to tell me about your scars."
He didn't moved save for folding his hands carefully in front of him. There was a tense moment, but his eyes were fully occluded when he finally met her gaze again.
"I don't think this is the place for that," Draco said quietly, but Hermione simply pulled her chair closer to him, "Fine." His jaw tensed slightly, "Bellatrix really enjoyed... torture. Her preferred method besides the crucio was her blade."
Silence fell between them. Hermione waited for him to elaborate, but a part of her knew he wouldn't. Not now. He was looking down at his hands with expressionless eyes, as if lost in the memories. She recognized that look because she had seen it on her own face when she looked in the mirror when she had the nightmares.
"Theo told me he thought she was going to kill you," Hermione finally said in a quiet voice.
His eyes finally lifted to meet hers and for just a split second she caught a glimpse of pain in his eyes before he masked it.
"I probably should have," he responded with a tone of regret.
Hermione felt a slight hesitation before reaching out to take his hand in hers, squeezing his fingers. She didn't want for him to close off to her again.
"For what it's worth, Draco," she rose to her feet and closed the distance between them, his fingers gripping hers, "I'm glad you didn't."
At her words, his carefully erected shields seemed to crack, his grey eyes boring into hers. She gently reached a hand down to cradle his cheek. The suffering, pain, damage he had been feeling was just beneath the surface, his eyes flashing with disbelief as she leaned down to press a kiss to his lips.
Because in that moment she had eyes only for him and the rest of the world fell away.
Draco never wanted to be vulnerable; he had spent his entire life living behind the walls in his mind. But for just a brief moment, he had let her in, let her see.
Hermione didn't care that she was kissing him- Draco Malfoy, ex-Death Eater- in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic on a busy afternoon. She didn't care who would see them.
She only cared about him.
That she wanted to be with him.
She felt his fingers squeeze hers as his other hand came up to her cheek, the tips of his fingers just stroking along her skin in a gentle caress.
"Hermione..." Draco said in a broken voice.
She pulled back slightly to look down at him, his fingers seeming to cling to hers like a lifeline, "It's ok, Draco." She wouldn't push him with more questions, not today. Once more she leaned down to give him a kiss, sighing against his lips. "Let's go talk about what I've found so far, okay?"
Draco nodded his head and she moved back from him as he rose to his feet. Hermione turned to the table and gathered her things in one arm, turning back to him as he pushed their chairs in.
"You think Harry will want to hear about it?" Hermione asked as she reached for Draco's hand. A thrill of delight went through her as he accepted it, their fingers lacing together. She could feel the cool metal of his rings pressing into her skin.
"I'm not sure, is he over being traumatized?" Draco responded wryly as he glanced at her.
Hermione smiled up at him, "Well let's go ask him, shall we?" They started towards the lifts together, oblivious to the stares around them.
The Golden Girl and Ex-Death Eater, holding hands.
There was no way that Rita Skeeter wouldn't be leaping to gossip about that in the next paper.
As the grilles slid shut, Hermione was grateful no one else had boarded the lift with them as Draco pulled her to his chest and bent his head, kissing her senseless until they reached the second level.