One Year Ago
One year ago
I never considered myself an impractical man.
Not until.
I found her leaning over the counter in the break room, hand resting on the counter, while reading the Daily Prophet. She had a cup of coffee in her other hand, and I knew. I just knew it was sweet and creamy, the complete opposite to mine.
“Granger,” I halted in the doorway, blocking her escape route.
She looked up from her paper and I watched her eyes widen in surprise. “Hello, Malfoy.” She had every right to grind her teeth around my name, to tell me how much she hated me.
But her voice was gentle, almost soothing.
“How is your first week going?”
I grimaced. Going to work for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures was a surprise to many. Including myself. But it was a job and it helped repair my family’s soiled name. The staff was so surprised, in fact, that it must have stunned them into silence, essentially ignoring me every day since I began work here.
She laughed softly, catching my grimace, and took a small sip from her cup. “They are a passionate bunch.”
Her smile brightened her face, an act that had caused my heart to flutter, forcing my lungs to contract. I coughed, a sudden expulsion of air.
“I’m sorry.” The words tumbled from my mouth, without regard. Suddenly, I was in the small break room with her, crowding her against the counter.
She stared at me with little apprehension.
“I’m sorry for everything I did. For everything my family did.” To her.
She lowered her eyes to the space left between us. “Thank you, Draco. I...I appreciate that. I’m sorry, too.” The space between my brows pulled tight. “For what you have been through.”
I felt the relaxation of my face. My features falling lax. I hadn’t thought it mattered to anyone, the blatant abuse caused by my father and my aunt. Even my mother, on occasion. Of course she would see it that way.
“I’m just glad you came out in tact.”
I laughed. It was a little unhinged and it caused her to smile again.
“As much as we can be, that is.” She added and I agreed.
I was not an impractical man. But I knew then, almost immediately, that for Granger, I would be.