In These Silent Days

Chapter 12

"I think it went better today, don't you?"

"Well, I wasn't poisoned this time."

Hermione clucks her tongue. "Ron only joked about poisoning you that very first time, relax. Didn't stop you from having seconds today, did it?"

Draco grumbles something incoherent that includes the words "bastard's a damned fine baker" and "still a ginger knob."

She pretends not to hear the childish remarks as they return from their latest get-together with Hermione's friends.

It's gone...tolerably. There's certainly room for improvement as far as peaceful relations between Draco and her friends go. Ginny excels at toeing the line between playful banter and outright insults, but the same cannot be said for Ron or Harry. At least with Harry it appears accidental, as if his brain hasn't quite yet caught on to the fact he's meant to be civil and still operates under a "must irritate Malfoy" function. The stilted quidditch discussions seem to bridge the awkwardness, even if Ron is determined to take offense at literally every word out of Draco's mouth.

Luna, per usual, exists at the opposite end of the spectrum from her husband. Her overly familiar warmth ("Granger, she hugged me. For three straight minutes, I counted.") lends a balance to Ron's surliness.

But no one has thrown hexes yet and so Hermione is going to call it a success.

"Come to my study for a moment?"

Hermione follows and watches as Draco shuffles parchment on his desk before looking up at her. She already knows what he's going to say next and bites back a smile. Draco might have thought he was nonchalant enough to carry it off, but she's seen through him.

"Would you want to come with me?"

It's the first time he's asked outright. She'd picked up enough hints over the past few weeks and normally would have followed up, but knowing she has to decline tamped down the inclination.

Draco received a request to accompany a wealthy Dutch couple on a week-long auction circuit through a few cities in Belgium and then to Monaco. The Van Buytens, he's told her, were one of the first private antiquities sellers to give him a chance and, since those early days of his career, have been reliable and enthusiastic patrons of his services. This annual trip is an opportunity he can't decline, both from a reputation and gold-earning perspective.

And oh how Hermione wishes she could go. She could while away the hours he has to work by exploring new cities, joining him and the older couple for lavish dinners that would run late into the evening. She'd fill her days with museums, art galleries, and local markets, and her nights with Draco at what sounded like lively bidding spectacles complete with music, dancing, and champagne.

But she has a final draft of her Wolfsbane measure at the ready. All she needs now is confirmation of a docket opening for a Wizengamot legislative session and she can marshal her planned testimonials, craft her speech. This close to her goal, she cannot afford complacency. Especially in the form of a European holiday with a troublingly attractive man.

Hermione smiles sadly. "I wish I could, but these next few weeks are critical. I fear traveling would be too distracting."

She rakes her eyes up and down his body and he leers.

"The traveling would be distracting?"

"Quite," she says as her face heats.

"Next time, then. I think you'd get on well with them. They are rather fond of me, or perhaps they are rather fond of all the gold I earn for them at auctions."