Chapter 8
Hermione was sick. She knew that Harry and Draco were waiting for a response but Ron was being too closely watched for her to risk that. The book hadn’t been touched by either of them since Robards came to do an ‘at home’ inspection of their flat once word got around that she was looking into something with the auror department. She’d had to stop what she was researching in order to stay low-even the bookstores were being watched now.
No, she’d just have to wait for when an opening arrived to send a message through to the boys.
The thought of waiting hurt-she missed her friend terribly and not even being able to send a hello was starting to wear on her-Ron too, if she was being honest with herself.
The only things she knew for sure was that there was something largely affecting the majority of the higher ups in the ministry and that they were keeping their lips sealed tight-likely to prevent mass panic. But what it was, she had no clue and right now she had no way of finding out other than waiting. But after the first year, waiting became almost impossible for her-she was impatient when it came to finding something out, but she’d manage. Her impatience just might cost Harry and Draco their lives.
It wasn’t until the following Yule that she was sure the ministry wasn’t watching them at home anymore. She’d been fairly sure two months ago when Ron told her that Robards was genuinely surprised to hear they went to see the opera a few nights prior and since then she’d been noticing the undercover aurors weren’t around Diagon Alley as much and soon they disappeared altogether.
She went to the coffee table, looked at the book and decided to open it.
“Harry!” Harry came darting around the hallway corner, towel forgotten in his haste, at Draco’s cry. He turned the corner with his wand in his hand, stark naked, and froze at Draco’s wide eyes. No one else was in the room, just Draco. Once he’d assured himself everything was safe, he turned to grab the towel that had flown off and wrapped it around himself.
“Well at least I know you’ll still save me if you’re starkers.” Draco sounded nervous and laughed a little while a bright red blush stained his cheeks.
“Sorry, I thought you were in trouble. I just wanted to make sure I could protect you.” He sat down on the couch and Draco sat down next to him and simply pointed to the book on the coffee table.
“That changed. She’s written to us.” Harry’s entire demeanour changed as he picked up the book and started reading.
“They put a tail on the Weasley’s, it only just ended a few months ago. That’s why she hasn’t written. Should we tell her what we know?”
“Of course we tell her what we know, she wouldn’t have written if she wasn’t sure that they didn’t stop watching them!” Without a word, Harry picked up a quil and started to write.
Hermione and Ron-
I miss you two so much. You’re still my best friends, even though we haven’t been able to talk for almost two years. And before you ask Ron, being “stuck” with Draco has been pretty nice. He helps out a lot and even Sunni has taken a liking to him. But we can talk about that more later on.
We lined up all of Draco’s cases that didn’t add up for him. Missing pieces, things not done to standards, the whole lot of them and we figured out what’s going on. A group of people who are loosely connected to Voldemort in some way got together and banded up with a few people who are in the water works and public transport-both muggle and magical-and threatened the minister. If they didn’t get off from whatever charges or get what they wanted, they’d poison the water and shut down all forms of travel. It’s pretty sick, honestly.
The key thing is, we know who’s behind it all. Draco’s working on a case as we speak so if it comes to that we’ll be prepared but I fully expect that they’d rather die than rot in Azkaban.
Maybe Hermione can look into an alternate route here, a failsafe if you will, just in case they do decide to poison society and cut off transportation. Bring it up to the minister under the guise of an old Order of the Phoenix meeting that you worry about safety after the last war and evacuation procedures and tell him you found a new way to do it that’s been overlooked or something. He’s not stupid, you’ll essentially be telling him you know what’s going on without telling him you know what’s going on so he’ll be able to lie under Veritaserum or be able to fein ignorance so one of these fucks doesn’t end up forcefully trying to boot him from office.
And Hermione, between you and me, try and get Ron more on the acceptance side of Draco. I really like him and I don’t want Ron to bullocks this up for me when I’ll likely do that myself. And yes I know I’ve had two years already but this takes time! And yes, I know I have time in spades right now, but you’ll just have to wait and be patient.
Harry closed the book and set it down. He had mixed emotions; he was worried for his friends and worried that somehow telling them what they’d figured out was going to hurt them somehow and he was worried that the ministry thought it necessary to put a watch on them for so long over something as innocuous as Hermione doing some “light reading”. But the only thing he could do now was wait.
And he was also nervous as to how she’d take his implications. He’d all but declared his love for Draco to her and started to future-proof his relationship status with Draco for when they came back. Ron couldn’t possibly be mad about their relationship if Hermione started to plant seeds, but she’d have to start doing that soon. The awful gut feeling he used to have before facing off with Voldemort or when a huge break in a case was coming on was back and he was sure that soon they’d be heading back into magical London.
He and Draco chatted about what Harry had sent Hermione and talked about plans for next year’s crops even though both of them were pretty sure they might not be living here when the time came. Harry did his best not to notice the dark indigo dress Draco was wearing, but was finding it impossible not to. It was cotton, like most of their clothes, but the way this was cut was impeccable. It showed just enough of Draco’s chest to be enticing without being improper, and the sleeves were the over the shoulder kind that made Harry want to do unimaginable things to those shoulders. And some of the fabric wrapped around his front to connect at his other side making his waist seem smaller and his hips seem larger-a wonderful visual indeed. It only came halfway down his thighs too, so whenever Harry was brave enough he got to sneek a peek at gorgeously toned, creamy thighs.
“I’ve found some potions books downstairs in the cellar this morning when I went to get some potatoes, do you think I could brew some things?”
“Of course,” Harry said. “I’ve no problem with it. The issue is stasis charms, we can’t do those but if you can brew it from start to finish without needing those then yes. Brew anything you like.” Draco blushed then, but thanked him nonetheless. “Was there something specific you wanted to brew?”
“Well, it’s a book about…like, fertility and there’s some cosmetic potions as well to-”
“Wait, that’s a thing? Really? What can they do?” Harry was genuinely curious, something that threw Draco off a bit, but he continued with a bit more confidence than before.
“Well there’s some to change your hair colour or texture, those are topical. And there’s others like fertility potions that make it easier for women to bear children and some that allow people without a womb to create one inside themselves and others to change your height-”
“Well that’s brilliant! Why aren’t things like that taught in school?”
“It’s considered taboo to want to change yourself permanently so books like that one are mostly only in family libraries or under lock and key. To buy them you need special approval and it’s all very difficult to get a hold of.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it when we get back into society.” Harry was angry that people would try to control the way others look. He’d had a sore spot for letting people be who they wanted to be, especially after his aunt had tried to cut off all his hair when he was little.
Draco blushed and thanked him before running downstairs into the cellar, presumably to get the book in question. While he was gone, Hermione had responded. It wasn’t very long, but it was enough.
Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye out for the people you listed and I’ll make a point to start doing some research into public safety. I’ve been putting forth matters of safety (like werewolves having free access to wolfsbane every month for public safety and all wardmakers having to do built in wards for things like fiendfyre now) so it shouldn’t raise concern. That’s just what I’ve been doing since school let out so it’s pretty in character for me.
Don’t worry about Ron, I’ll work on him for you. And just be yourself, you’re the most likeable when you don’t try at it.
Harry scribbled out a quick response before Draco got back and sat back in the couch cushions to ponder what he wanted his next move to be.
Also, Draco’s been a bit…feminine since we’ve started living here. That might continue when we get back but we haven’t discussed that yet. You know, since you’ll be mentally preparing Ron and all. You’re the best Hermione. I miss you. I miss you both. Keep us updated when you can as long as it’s safe.
Draco came back up from the cellar and settled down to read with his feet in Harry’s lap. Harry simply let his hand rest on Draco’s ankle, put his footrest up and leaned back to let his mind wander.
He was so into his own little fantasy of getting to slide his hand further up Draco’s leg and even getting up to toy with the bottom of the dress he was wearing when he realised two things. One, he had fallen asleep-likely for not that long-two, he was hard, and three Draco was rubbing his foot against Harry’s dick. It wasn’t firm pressure or anything, more curious movements than confident. If Harry had to guess, Draco was taking advantage of him being asleep just to see if he actually was curious or if he wasn’t really all that interested in reality. He decided to not move and just let Draco explore since he was comfortable enough to do so. Not too long after making that decision, the pressure increased and Draco must’ve been satisfied with how his dick gave a rather strong twitch because then the pressure stopped. Draco hadn’t taken his feet away from Harry’s lap and Harry’s hand still rested on his ankle. He wasn’t sure how long he laid there, pretending to still be asleep, but eventually he did doze back off.