1. Just Friends
Draco had earned his respect back. He had endured a year in Askaban and another four climbing his way out of the hole he put himself in. He even got a job at the Ministry. He was set.
He had this grand plan, and so far he had performed it well. He spent time learning to talk without…negative infliction in his voice. He donated money to charities that he had hand picked and even cared about. He figured out what muggle coffee machines were. He found a way to stop depending on his fathers approval. He found a therapist. He apologized to quite a few people. He made friends. He certainly lived up to his name as head of the Dragon Research an Restraints Bureau at the ministry. All he had to do was work his way up the department ladder. All he had to do was find someone willing to marry him so that his mother would get off his ass. And then he was set.
Except for the atrocious, nagging, infuriating disturbance that was Hermione Granger.
He couldn’t escape her. She was everywhere all the time. She was always around Draco’s friends, but he couldn’t complain about that because they were hers first. She was always sitting next to him when they went out for drinks after work. She was always in his office asking questions for work. He supposed he couldn’t blame her for any of these things much. But he could blame her for being beautiful and distracting and making him laugh and believe that maybe he has some redeeming qualities left. She was holding him back from finding any woman that could live up to her and if he was honest, she was keeping him from climbing the corporate ladder. If he changed offices, would she visit him still? Would she stop by to clarify the wording in his letter if she had to walk all the way to the department offices? Would she still ask him for coffee breaks? He didn’t want to take the chance of losing what he already had and Draco wanted to entertain the hope of more for as long as possible.
She was ruining his plan.
-/-
“I just don’t understand why goblins running the bank is a fine idea but Merlin forbid any other creature decides to be a productive member of society,” Hermione stabbed a peice of her salad, “They say I’m too radical every time I bring up expanding voting rights.”
“Well, it is,” Hermione shot him a glare, “Let me finish, Granger. It is radical to them, it’s the only way things have been done for the past few centuries. It’s going to be a slow process of overturning opinions.”
“I know, I just…” She didn’t finish her sentence, shoving salad into her mouth.
Draco glanced up to the clock near the door, deflating when he realized it’s been half an hour. Hermione followed his gaze and he cursed at himself for drawing her attention.
His eyes flickered to her as she ate one last tomato and then covered the to-go bowl with a plastic cover.
“Well,” She gave a small smile as she stood, “Time for work.”
“So it is, Granger.”
-/-
Draco’s days went by excruciatingly slow. It seemed like a single day lasted 70 hours. He used to be very energetic as a child. He had loved climbing the trees surrounding the manor and would put his energy into reading and studying during hogwarts. He felt like there was never enough time to learn and write essays and make potions. In his 6th year, he was so very parched for time. He was running from it constantly trying to fix that cabinet in time for…
Needless to say, he had time now. He had so much of it to do whatever he wanted. He took up most of it with work, and the rest he wished he could spend with her.
But when she leaves after lunch every day, he is left in the silence of his office. He is alone, doing paperwork and debating if he should invite her out for drinks again. They went last week. Is it too much to go two weeks in a row? Or does it make it a thing and will they continue to go out every week? Should he ask for coffee tomorrow? Brunch on Sunday? What qualifies as a date? He shook his head, she was taking over his thoughts. She wouldn’t go on a date with him. He knew that. He repeated that inside of his mind, enforcing it again. Maybe he’d stop longing for her if he could force it into his brain that he would never get her.
Draco didn’t end up inviting Hermione to anything. No drinks, no brunch, no coffee. The next day she returned for lunch. She enthusiastically informed him on how to use a muggle coffee machine through bites of a club sandwich. He was happy with this. He could live with this. He was okay being friends. Just friends.