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Daylight	By : pepperdoc Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 13124 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter Universe, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 6
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- 8
The stairs were torture. Surely, she had offended some god in a previous life and she was being punished for it now. Five flights of stairs on sore legs being led by a quiet Draco Malfoy, this must be punishment. Or a nightmare. Filled with an unsatisfied need to jump on the man- who in her childhood had been the biggest bully- leading her up the narrow staircases which seemed endless.
Her attention was torn between his incredibly attractive jean-clad bottom taunting her with its squeezability and the incredible stiffness and soreness in her muscles of her thighs and calves. The soreness on one whole side of her body was nearly forgotten until this eternal trek up the stairs. The Mediwitch had healed the cuts and some of the bruises she had sustained when the building fell on her. Some of them had not yet begun to show, but the soreness across her ribcage and hip told her they were starting to form. She wanted to look, but couldn’t until she was alone.
They didn’t meet anyone on the stairs and when they reached the third floor and she glanced over to the cafeteria, she saw why not. The teachers were huddled together at a few tables all lunching together. She touched Draco’s arm and nodded over to the entryway with a sad expression. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and whispered in her ear, “Remember- no one in there knows that Rowle may be in the Mission still. Do not mention it.” As he finished he gave her a quick squeeze before releasing her to head toward the door.
He walked in with an air of confidence she wished she possessed. She followed him in nervously, half expecting to be greeted by everyone and requested to give out autographs as was common when she entered public places anywhere in the U.K. She was surprised that no one really even acknowledged her presence. What little talking there was ceased as every set of eyes turned to look at Draco.
He gave a smile to everyone and she sat down with Rose and Luis when they waved her over. She watched him walking around and greeting everyone pleasantly. The people in the room all seemed relieved at his presence and several people asked him where he had been. She couldn’t hear his responses until he was at the table next to her as he told an old woman that he had been needed in the hospital wing for most of the day. He assured the woman that he knew he was not needed, as they were all capable of rebuilding the Mission without him getting in the way. The woman had cackled at his joke- yes, cackled, like a witch from a fairy tale.
He walked to the other side of the room behind Hermione, and she finally noticed that Luis and Rose had patiently waited for her to come back to reality with identical knowing smiles on their faces. “What?” She asked with a laugh.
“Oh, nothing,” Rose said in a sing-songy voice, drawing out ‘nothing’. She leaned on the back of her hand and looked at Luis with a gooey look, “Isn’t it just so romantic, honey?”
Luis chuckled and took her other hand in his. He raised it to his lips for a little peck on the back of her knuckles. “I remember when we were at that stage, oh the old days,” He said with a feigned dramatic expression.
“What stage? What are you two talking about?” Hermione asked with a confused smile.
“Oh, you.” Rose batted her lashes at her husband and then looked at Hermione. “Don’t you realize yet your feelings for Mister Malfoy?” She asked her. “You obviously have grown closer since I last saw you.” She leaned over the table and whispered, “And Anthony asked if you two were together, romantically since he saw you two kissing in the woods. I told him I didn’t know. But I didn’t mention anything about your past.”
Hermione smiled softly to herself and looked at one of the paintings with a small blush. His plan had worked, at least, they were unconcerned with everything except the ‘half-fake’ kiss he had made sure someone would see. “A little.” She said softly, telling herself that she needed to keep up the ruse… definitely she was not… really… bookcase… She blushed harder.
Rose was watching her and said, “Oh, girl, you’ve got it bad.”
She looked at Rose sharply and saw the woman was very happy at the news. Luis was grinning with his head on Rose’s shoulder. Hermione sighed and debated telling them about the bookcase and the conversation which had happened in his room. That one though, she was certain had not been for the sake of continuing his ruse. He had obviously wanted to kiss her again. But to tell them the confusion about the half-fake kiss, as he called it, as opposed to the real ones would reveal the ruse.
Draco had told her, though, that there was someone in the Mission who was really Rowle. It could be either of them. She wondered if she should trust them. She decided suddenly that she could not. Not until Rowle was caught. Either one of them could be Polyjuiced. So she simply went along with the lie for now. Or was it a half-lie? Even though Rose had mentioned something she had told her before all this madness started it wasn’t enough to convince her that neither of them was Rowle.
“I think I do,” She said softly, putting on a totally and completely fake daydreamy expression. Maybe she was thinking about how nice he was being, and how he had all but asked her to be in a relationship with him, but the expression was totally fake. Right. Totally fake. She cleared her throat and looked at them in a more serious manner, “What have you two been up to since I last saw you?” She asked.
“Talking about how cute of a couple the two of you make,” Luis said quietly.
Rose laughed, “Hey, that’s supposed to be between us.” Luis laughed with her and Hermione joined in at their antics.
“You two teasing Hermione?” Draco asked from behind Hermione.
Rose quirked an eyebrow at her temporary boss and answered, “I’m pretty sure that is exactly what we are doing,” With a grin.
The talking in the room was a bit louder since they had entered, Hermione noticed. He seemed to have reassured and reenergized the staff of the school in the short time they had been in there. She remembered the leadership qualities Slytherins were said to possess. Apparently, Draco had that particular quality in abundance as she could see from the difference he had made in a few moments with his temporary employees.
“Well, then. I suppose I should take her away from this potentially uncomfortable situation as soon as possible.” He placed a large and warm hand on her shoulder. She felt her face turning red again at the memory of how that callused hand had felt on the sensitive skin of her belly.
“Too late,” Primrose said with a wink at Hermione. “Already made her blush through half of the conversation.”
Hermione looked at Rose, aghast, willing her to shut up before she told him what they had been talking about.
“Oh?” Draco said, sitting on the bench next to Hermione. His thigh was just touching hers. “You’ve got to tell me how to do that. I’ve yet to get under her skin.”
Luis chuckled, “Oh, I don’t know about that.”
Hermione cleared her throat uncomfortably and said, “Well, I think I’ll go find a hole to die in.”
They started laughing. Draco took her hand over the table and kissed the back of it.
Another table erupted in laughter behind them and Draco relaxed his shoulders slightly, Hermione noticed. It was then that she realized the many ways he could be using this conversation. She marveled at his brilliance for a second as she thought it. It was to relax people, give him an excuse to make someone laugh, though she doubted he had expected to… no, even the conversation with Rose and Luis could have been expected. The pair of them were his friends, Rose had told her.
Rose was asking Draco about the state of the Mission and what else needed to be done, Hermione tuned them out for a moment, and directed her attention to her thoughts.
She remembered a psychology paper she had read years before. It had analyzed the effects of laughter in high stress situations. By making one group laugh, the paper had concluded, it would make people more likely to begin laughing themselves and that- of course- could make the tenseness of some situations easier to deal with. If Malfoy had any idea of the findings of this paper, it was a marvelous way for him to get the staff back to a semblance of normalcy. She wondered about his manipulation of the group, could she just be imagining it?
Another table laughed together to her right and she glanced around quickly. Much of the sadness was gone- even from the faces of the groups which had not yet had a good laugh. She peeked over at Draco quickly and saw he looked even more relaxed than he had even a few seconds before.
Could she be going nuts? He had an expression on his face which made her believe he had a plan which was working out the way he wanted it to as he listened to Luis speaking about the kitchens. He was talking about the smoker needing repairs which would have to be done by hand to not add the flavor of magic to the meats. Maybe the situation was just relaxing him because his presence alone made people less upset. His natural arrogance seemed to make this a probable option also. It would definitely feed into his ego.
She looked at the table beyond him and saw Anthony looking around sulkily, but his was the only one which did not have a relaxed expression on it. Anthony glanced up and met her eyes. He gave her a strange grin and she gave him a little wave which he returned.
Draco looked down at her and she smiled up at him briefly, a little perturbed at Anthony’s expression. Draco frowned so briefly that she almost missed it. She would make sure to mention Anthony to him. Anthony had appeared to have a great sense of humor during the brief time she had spoken to him, and she didn’t really know how his relationship was with the Headmaster.
Maybe she was overanalyzing. She shook her head at herself, realizing she probably was. There was no need to mention Anthony to Draco, he could just be upset. The image of his smile resurfaced in her mind’s eye briefly and she shoved it back. It was a fake smile. But if he was upset, then it would be perfectly normal for him to be faking a grin.
She was probably overanalyzing about thinking that Draco was manipulating the group, also. It was probably a coincidence, and because she was starting to think of him… differently. She was looking for all parts of his personality to be ideal. She mentally slapped herself. She was acting like a schoolgirl with a crush. He was not a saint, just gorgeous, sexy, kind, intelligent… She could feel herself getting a dreamy expression as she thought about him and made herself stop.
She tuned back into the conversation while Draco was saying, “…Get back to the surface soon. The sun will get too hot before too much longer, so I guess we should get going.”
Hermione was glad she had tuned back in at the right time. He was standing next to her and she slid off the bench. They said their good-byes and Draco stopped before exiting the room and turned around. In a raised voice, he said, “The rest of this week is paid vacation, as long as you stay in the Mission. For the rest of today, we are still under lockdown. Tomorrow, please see me if you would rather not stay.”
There was an excited buzz as people began talking about his announcement. Hermione waited until they were out of sight of the doorway and took his elbow with a smile. He bent his arm automatically and smiled back down at her. “We can’t do the stairs like this,” He said softly.
She squeezed his bicep and slid her hand out from the crook of his elbow. He led her up the last two flights of stairs without saying anything. They reached the surface which had a hot breeze running through the half-repaired mission walls. She looked back to the stairs, thinking she had heard footsteps briefly behind them. There was no one there.
There were Aurors in the courtyard, patrolling the perimeter. The one just outside of the Mission’s entryway asked Draco for a password. “Lottery,” He answered. Hermione was disgusted by the man immediately. He smelled terrible and had yellow teeth. His cheeks were unshaven and stubbly. He was fat and had waxy skin from not bathing enough.
The Auror nodded and looked at Hermione. “Who is this, Mr. Malfoy?” He unabashedly looked her up and down as though checking her out.
“Hermione Granger,” Draco answered stiffly.
The Auror pulled out a rolled parchment from his robes. After a moment, he asked her, “Can you please verify your status in the Mission?”
“Ward of the Headmaster?” She said confusedly. She could see Draco becoming rigid next to her.
“And can you confirm your marriage status?” The Auror asked.
She glanced at Draco, thinking the question inappropriate. He was frowning as she said, “Single?”
The Auror looked at her sharply, “Is that a question or a statement?”
Draco tensed and said angrily, “You do not have to know that, let us pass.”
The Auror looked at Draco severely. Draco met his gaze with fire in his eyes and Hermione was nearly frightened herself. “I can ask whatever I like.” The man growled.
Draco grinned, and it was not a nice grin. “Really? And how exactly does her marriage status help you to identify her?”
The man’s face turned red, “How dare you question me?”
“How dare you ask my ward for her marriage status? You only need one confirmation as you well know. You are going beyond your duty, and-”
The man interrupted, “You know nothing of my duty. You’re nothing but a bureaucrat!”
Draco raised his wand to the sky, with an angry grin on his face and spoke a single word. Head Auror Avery Apparated nearby and came over. “What is it?”
“This man needs to be removed from the Mission immediately.”
“Why?”
“He has been nothing but insulting since he arrived, as usual, and I do not want him making this situation any more difficult for anyone.”
The fat Auror tried to speak, Avery silenced him with his wand before he got out a full word. “How has he been insulting this time, Mr. Malfoy?”
“By asking for Miss Granger’s marriage status unnecessarily and telling me I was no more than a bureaucrat.”
Avery smirked and looked at the now red-faced Auror next to him. “A bureaucrat? Do you have any idea what this man has done in his time here?” The Auror shook his head. “Let’s leave it at he’s no bureaucrat, Knob.”
Draco looked at him with his eyebrows raised. Avery continued, “Oh, you thought we wouldn’t open your file? I didn’t know half of the things you’ve done.” He offered his hand to Draco and Draco took it and shook it, severely.
Hermione looked up at the blonde’s face, surprised. She was incredibly curious at what the man was alluding to. “Come on Knob,” Avery said, “Let’s get you into your new assignment. At a desk. You pig.”
“Oh, Avery,” Draco said. Avery turned and looked at him with eyebrows raised. “Any news on the potions?”
Avery looked at Hermione and then at Knob. He shook his head once and walked away.
“So… what did we come up here for?” Hermione said uncomfortably.
“I’m sorry. That man has been giving me trouble for a long time.” He cleared his throat. “We are up here to check the security measures the Aurors have set up.”
“And why are you more than a bureaucrat?”
He smirked and waved to one of the Aurors. He was a tall black man with an angular face. He had his hair neatly trimmed and a short goatee which was carefully maintained to have straight lines. “Hey Benny, good to see someone with some brains in his head.”
The Auror walked over with an answering grin and shook Draco’s hand. “I’m sure. Knob giving you trouble?” He gestured that they should walk in the courtyard.
“As always. This is Hermione Granger by the way. Granger, this is Lieutenant Benjamin Ptyalin.” She looked at him briefly while Draco was speaking. He was taller than Draco. His eyes were very serious, but he had an easy smile which crinkled his eyes in a way which made him seem much younger. He had a large scar running across his face from one eye all the way to the opposite side of his jaw.
He shook her hand and told her, “Good afternoon, Ms. Granger, it’s nice to meet you.” He turned back to Draco after she responded in kind. They started walking away from the building as Benjamin began to speak, “Coming to check the security, I’d wager. Your friend never believes in the abilities of Aurors, Ms. Granger.” He rolled his eyes. Hermione tried to figure out where his accent was from. She only knew it sounded sort of like the ones from Texas she had heard in movies. He said some words differently.
“Not while there are people like Knob on the force anyway,” Draco said with a laugh.
His face sobered and he responded to Draco’s unasked question, “Well, we’ve set up a perimeter as you can see. Hourly checks of the interior entryways and the Floo access points are shut down inside the Mission. The children have all been escorted, as per your orders, as you well know. We are set up for tomorrow if any staff members wish to leave and all owls are stopped for now.” They had reached a large twisted tree which was growing at the corner of the courtyard and walked around its knobby roots sticking out of the ground. They followed the wall of the courtyard which towered even over the Lieutenant’s head.
Draco nodded, satisfied. “Good. Any unusual activity?”
The lieutenant thought for a moment. He glanced down at Hermione who was walking next to Draco. “Good to speak?”
“She’s read in, as you would say,” Draco answered with a quick glance and a smile to Hermione.
The Lieutenant nodded and answered, “No, nothing unusual. Of course we don’t know your staff, but the only people who have come up have been Drilb, the Hernandez’s and what’s that boy’s name from the kitchen’s? Garcia, I think.”
Draco frowned, “What was Garcia doing up here?”
“Delivering lunch, he had a letter from the kitchen manager, Hernandez.”
“Did he say anything while he was up here?”
“Garcia?”
“No, Hernandez.”
“Oh, he told us what Garcia would be delivering and when. He and his wife were coming to harvest some plants in the greenhouses.”
Draco nodded. “Good. Just checking. Are you forwarding your reports to my office?”
“Yes, Hourly reports which should be there currently.”
“Who’s been taking them down?”
“Anthony Drilb. That’s why he came up, to get them and deliver them.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re up here, Benny.” Draco said as he clapped the taller man on the shoulder.
“Sure wish it was a cooler time of the year, I’m not ashamed to say.”
“Well, can’t do anything about it. Gotta protect the lady,” Draco said impersonating Benjamin’s accent.
“Oh?” Benjamin asked looking at her again. “And why is that? Not just ‘cause she’s pretty, I take it.”
Hermione felt herself blush and looked down. Draco answered, “No, although she is that.” Hermione’s blush got worse. “She’s the object of the madman’s attention. Though it apparently is not because of her good looks.” He chuckled.
There was a pause in the conversation, and Hermione started to look up. Slightly annoyed that they had been talking about her as though she was not there, she asked, “Lieutenant, what are your people doing to find Rowle?”
He looked at her intensely for a moment. With a nod from Draco he answered, “We are running identification potions on all of the staff from our end. None of the staff knows the reason why they were asked to give a drop of blood as a sample, we told them we were double checking for potential biological influences. The potions take 4-6 hours to identify. Then with our technicians we check them against staff records which are given at the beginning of their employment processes. Getting those released took most of the morning. We have started the potions as of ten-hundred hours.”
“And what if Rowle changes faces in the meantime?” She asked.
“Well, that’s why no one knows we even suspect he may be within the Mission.”
“You’re assuming he doesn’t already know we suspect him in the Mission. What if he’s… highly placed?”
The Lieutenant eyed her for a moment. “That’s a good point. Who knows exactly, Draco?”
Draco was looking at her with his mouth open. She had no idea what to make of his expression. After a second, he snapped his jaws shut and his expression changed to determined. He answered, “The two of us and you, Avery and his aide,” He paused for an instant as though thinking. “Anthony was there for the whole questioning process, so he would know. And that should be it.”
She remembered Anthony’s grin and how strange it had seemed at the time. She opened her mouth to say something, but Benjamin beat her to speaking, “We need to run tests on Avery and his aide immediately and I’ll put my blood into the testing pile, too.” He grabbed her shoulders and said, “Ms. Granger, you’re a peach.” He kissed her cheek and then Apparated away.
Draco looked excited and worried at the same time, “Come on, we need to get back to my quarters as a precaution.” He grabbed her hand and gave it a tug before he started taking long strides back into the Mission.
“Malfoy,” She said. He either didn’t hear her or ignored her. “Malfoy!” She all but shouted and pulled back against his hand.
He turned and looked at her. His face looked terrified before he slipped on his mask and stopped walking. “What?” He answered in an irritated tone.
She looked around and realized they were right next to a window to the interior of the Mission. She gestured at the opening and waved him to come away from it. He followed her to the middle of the courtyard and sat on a bench out of earshot of the Aurors patrolling around them and the window.
“That was good thinking, Granger, I had not even realized that we missed something so obvious,” He said quietly.
She smiled thinly and asked him, “Has Anthony seemed a little off to you?”
His face went through several emotions very quickly, surprise, thinking, frowning, anger, rage. “You think it’s Anthony? I need you to tell me right now why you think that.”
She was a little afraid of him for a second and then she told him about seeing him in the cafeteria and how strange his grin had seemed. “I thought he just looked upset, but I was scared as soon as I made eye contact with him.”
“That’s it?”
She looked down at her dress, shyly. “Yes,” She whispered.
He sat back and leaned his weight on his arms. “He has seemed strange. I’m not angry at you. I was hoping it was something more concrete than the same feeling of unease around him that I have.” She peeked up at him under her brows. He was examining the sky. Nearby, the Auror who had taken Knob’s place was asking someone for their password. Draco looked up sharply when he heard the answer to the challenge. “It’s Anthony,” He whispered. “Kiss or discussion?”
“Discussion.” She whispered without listening. He took one of her hands in both of his and began trailing his fingertips along her forearm. She looked at him, startled and saw he was looking up at her as though hanging on every word she said.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw a plaid shirt turning the corner. She looked at Draco and constructed her face into her lecturing face and started saying the first thing she could think of, “So the paper concluded that general laughter in large groups releases certain enzymes and hormones in people who felt part of the group, regardless of if they were laughing or not.”
“That paper was really interesting, I’m sorry I just didn’t recognize the title,” He answered, resting his hand on her thigh and making circles with his thumb. She saw Anthony glance at them curiously but continue walking out of her line of sight and into Draco’s. “I’ve been able to utilize some of its’ theories in large scale settings and they have proven to be effective. Why even today, in the cafeteria. It worked splendidly, I think.” She saw him watching Anthony as he walked into his line of sight. He suddenly looked into her face again. “I’ve always wondered why laughter is contagious to some people. I suppose this paper answered the question.”
She laughed, it sounded fake to her own ears. “Can we go back inside? It’s hot out here.” She said with a meaningful look at Draco and a tilt of her head toward where Anthony had gone.
He smiled, “Of course. You’ve no idea how I’ve missed you all this time we’ve been apart.” He glanced to the back of the Mission as he spoke and waved. “Hey, Anthony!” He called as though just noticing the man was there. Hermione turned and gave him another smile and a wave. Anthony had been leaning against the wall of the Mission, maybe watching them, maybe doing something else, Hermione couldn’t tell. Anthony waved back at them. Draco called out, “Those reports are in my office?” Anthony nodded and gave him a thumbs-up. Then he stood and walked toward the stables.
Draco’s face became strangely pinched as he watched his friend walk around the corner. Draco led her back into the Mission at a stroll. “I’m very worried it may be Anthony,” He whispered as they walked. “He’s never been so serious. Let’s hurry.” He kept his expression very like one would expect to see when a young man was in love. She held his elbow and tried not to look behind them at every step. He nodded to the Auror at the door and led her toward the stairs.
Her heart started beating harder when she heard boot steps walking past one of the Mission’s windows, headed toward the entrance. She could tell Draco not only heard them, but was trying not to break into a run. He was very tense and she could feel his muscles shaking slightly under her fingertips. He pushed her in front of him and whispered, “Hurry.”
A/N: Ok, sorry about the delay!! I’ve had no internet for ten whole days! Moving and general stupidity got in the way of my story. Hopefully these two chapters make up for it a bit! Leave me a review! Maybe a rating too!
P.S. I have responded to every review from 7-15 onwards at http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/51078-daylight-review-replies-n-discussion-thread/
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