Not Quite Dark Magic

Distractions

"Would you fuck Draco?"

"Ginny!"

"I've been dying to ask that question for weeks."

"For how long?"

"Since the porch incident."

Hermione set down her coffee cup and stared at her blood stained fingers. They had just returned from their last planned attack on the Death Eaters before the snow wouldn't melt. It was an overwhelming success, though even the greatest of victories didn't come without their losses. Five older aurors had died. Blaise had his debut on the battlefield, standing with Seamus and healing those he could. The diagnostic didn't lie; he was quite good. Though it seemed he put forth his best effort into saving Order members, two had died under his care. He had taken it hard, storming out of the room as soon as he was dismissed, smoke practically coming out of his ears. Seamus stood awkwardly off to the side for a moment before following him out.

The sun was rising now, but Hermione's adrenaline was still thrumming through her veins. Draco had disappeared upstairs to shower, but the shaking in Hermione's hands made it near impossible to even hold her wand, nevermind cleaning herself.

So she'd found Ginny, who always knew what she needed without speaking. She'd brewed the strongest pot of coffee imaginable and was attempting to distract her.

"What do you mean the porch incident? "

Hermione was familiar enough with tone to understand these words in this combination had become a phrase. Something the others referred to, talked about frequently enough to give it a nickname.

"You know." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. "The night of Theo's first transformation."

"I've no idea what you're referring to."

"Please, the two of you were practically pining for each other on those steps. We all saw it."

" Pining? "

"Yes," she said solemnly. "We all saw it, you can't deny it now."

"There's nothing to deny," Hermione insisted. "We had a completely normal conversation, I said something he didn't particularly enjoy and he disappeared into your circle for the rest of the night."

"If that's the case why was he blushing so fiercely?"

Hermione shrugged, standing to wash out her mug. She watched as the water mixed with the blood on her hands and excess coffee. "I'm not meant to understand the intricacies of Malfoy's mind."

"But you kind of are." Ginny pointed to her chest. "Bound partners and all."

"Do you just intrude into Theo's mind whenever?"

Ginny's brow furrowed. She shrugged after a moment. "I've never really thought about it like that. Theo and I signed a contract saying we'd root our bind. After about a week together we stopped fighting and just gave into the impulse. We haven't hid anything from each other since then."

"Oh, of course." She returned to her mug.

It was so easy for Hermione to forget. So easy for her to get wrapped up in the confines of her own mind. Draco and she didn't represent anything typical, not even when it came to their bind. With the two of them, everything was backwards. In the time of war Hermione had learned the art of nuance. As time went on it became more standard than the brash, straightforward talking style she used to embrace in without a second thought.

With Draco, things weren't that easy. He could both say what he meant and code something else, equally as important, using the same words.  It was as impressive as it was infuriating. She could spend hours replaying their conversations in her head and still find new details she hadn't originally discovered.