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Say Please	By : ColdWaterFairy Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 28207 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
A/N: Thank you to my beta mamacita. I appreciate all that you do.
Hermione didn't care for Draco Malfoy's grin, not one bit. She started backpedaling quickly in hopes of downplaying her impulsive offer. "I won't do anything illegal, Malfoy. I only meant that if you ever needed a favor or help that required an Auror."

His feral grin slipped into a more seductive one. "I'm sure if we did do anything illegal you'd enjoy it."

Oh my, Hermione thought, is he flirting with me? A momentary panic hit her. What should she say? Some thing equally flirty? No, he was only trying to mess with her head. He was probably hoping she'd fall at his feet and lick his expensive shoes, grateful that he'd shown her, the most boring and sexless of all females, any attention at all. "I'm not having sex with you, Malfoy. I'm not one the many pathetic slags you screw and then kick out."

Draco frowned and then smirked. "Granger, I wasn't saying I wanted to have sex with you. Haven't you ever done something you're not supposed to do? Wait, stupid question. I forgot you and your two idiot shadows are used to breaking the rules, and I'm sure the laws as well, all the time. Yet somehow you three were never expelled. Anyway, I don't think you meet my slag standards."

Hermione tried not to flinch. It was true that Harry, Ron, and she had broken a lot of rules and probably a few laws, but it had been while saving the Wizarding world from Voldemort, for Merlin's sake. On the whole she respected and abided by the rules; she was an Auror, after all. Hermione didn't bother to take offense at his saying she didn't meet his slag standards.

"Of course I'm not up to your slag standards, Malfoy. I don't particularly enjoy being made to feel like a whore."

Draco's hand twitched with the urge to slap her. He had never felt a compulsion to inflict pain and violence on a woman like he did with Granger. He did not make woman feel like whores. He made sure they enjoyed themselves just as much as he did. He was always up front with them. He wasn't about to let the jumped-up bitch get away with that.

"Is it possible for you to stop fucking judging me for two fucking seconds? You know nothing about me or the women I sleep with. This is the first time you've seen me in years! You haven't slept with me; you have no clue how I treat women in bed. Or maybe it has nothing to do with me, hhhmmm? Maybe it has to do with jealousy." He stared at her, enjoying her discomfiture. "You're jealous that there are woman who can have sex and enjoy it. Don't you enjoy sex, or do you feel dirty every time a guy fucks you?"

Draco took great pleasure in tearing her down and making her feel small. Hermione Granger needed to be put her place. For too long no one had called her on her judgments. Being part of the Golden Trio had given her immunity, and he was sick of it.

"I'll help you find those missing witches, but be prepared to pay the price."

Draco gave her a penetrating stare before leaving the bedroom and walking out the front door. He needed to get away from her and cool down. He couldn't remember the last time he'd come so close to losing his temper. Why was it that she could push his buttons like no one else could? Why did he let her? He was pondering these questions so he didn't see the young woman come out of her apartment and when she turned around after locking her door he collided with her. He quickly put out his arm to keep her from falling, and at the same time she grabbed the front of his shirt. The momentum from him pulling on her and her pulling his shirt caused them to knock heads.

"Ow!"

"Fucking hell!"

Draco stepped back and looked at the girl. She was looking back at him with her head cocked to the side. "Oh! Oh! You must be Draco. Hi, I'm Astoria. You were in the same year at Hogwarts as my sister Daphne."

Astoria stuck out the hand that wasn't pressed to the side of her head. Draco took it, quickly shook it, and let go. He vaguely remembered Pansy mentioning visiting someone downstairs but he hadn't really been paying much attention to her. Astoria wasn't bad looking. She had chin-length blonde hair and green eyes with a hint of brown around the edges. He took in the rest of her appearance. She was wearing those black stretchy pants that women wear to work out in, and a white tank top. When his eyes traveled back up to her face it was to see that she was inspecting him as well.

"I was just about to grab something to eat before going to work out. Do you want to join me? I've been meaning to go upstairs and introduce myself." Astoria gave him a bright, open smile.

Draco hesitated. He didn't want to inflict his bad mood on her. Then again, maybe she could help him get over it. He must have hesitated too long because she said, "It's okay—maybe another time." She flushed a little and turned to go.

"No, I'd like to join you." Draco reminded himself that he could use another friend. Astoria gave him the same bright smile as before and he held the door open for her. When she brushed past him he couldn't help but look at her bum. A sudden thought occurred to him then and he smiled. Had Hermione been there to see that smile she would have known she was in trouble.
Harry and Ron sat in Harry's office going over their case notes. It was getting late but neither of them wanted to go home and pretend to sleep. Upon arriving back at the Ministry they had gone in separate directions to regroup. Harry had splashed water on his face and stared really hard into the mirror. He had a renewed sense of hope. There was a real possibility that Hermione was alive and well and waiting to be rescued. Once they had reconvened in his office they began the task of going for the hundredth time over what they knew and trying to find a fresh angle.

"Did the girl from that shop ever stop by or owl?" Ron asked.

Harry shuffled papers on his desk before shaking his head. "No, that's something we can check on tomorrow. We should also check again to see if we can get in contact with the gallery's previous manager."

Ron made a sound of agreement and yawned. "Go home mate, get some rest," Harry urged.

Before Ron could reply Padma appeared in the doorway. She smiled shyly at Harry and turned to Ron. "I was wondering if you've eaten yet. We could go grab something."

Before Ron could turn her down Harry spoke up. "Go, Ron. I'm about to call it a night." Ron gave Harry a look he couldn't decipher, but he got up and followed Padma out.

Harry sat in his office for several more minutes. He had no intention of going home for a few hours yet. He was missing something, some little piece to make everything come to together. He could almost smile at the fact that Hermione had said the same words herself before she disappeared. He grabbed the Snitch Dumbledore had given him and tossed it back and forth in his hands as he walked out of his own office and headed to Hermione's.

He turned on the light and walked over to the desk and sat down in her chair. He put his feet up on the desk and surveyed the office from Hermione's point of view. She had the missing witches' faces situated so no matter where you looked, your eyes were always brought back to them. Why do you push yourself so hard, Hermione? What are you trying to prove?

Rebecca, who had taken over the Willow Suntree case from Harry and Ron after Hermione's disappearance, walked past the office, and when she noticed Harry sitting at the desk she stopped. "Hey, I heard you're trying to find the former manager of the Diagon Alley gallery too."

Harry looked up. "Yeah, we just want to know if she went into the gallery when she was in Diagon Alley."

Rebecca nodded. "We're still trying to track the manager down. We aren't having much luck finding the family he's supposed to be visiting."

"Let me know when you do find him."

Rebecca gave him a half-smile and said, "You look awful. Go home." Harry nodded in acknowledgment but made to no move to call it quits. He was starting to feel his exhaustion, no matter how hard he tried to keep it at bay; the insidious thoughts seeped into his consciousness. What if we never find Hermione?It was enough to overwhelm him. His brain was now willing to entertain the possibility and it was scary.

He was supposed to have dinner at the Burrow tomorrow, and he didn't know how he was going to put Molly off. Not to mention that Hermione checked in with her parents every week and they were bound to worry when she didn't. Harry had to face the uncomfortable truth that Hermione might not be found in the next couple of days like he'd hoped, and he couldn't continue to keep her parents in the dark over her disappearance. Then it hit him: he'd let Ron tell Molly. Yes, Harry could be a coward sometimes.

He sat in quiet contemplation for several minutes, allowing his feeling of being overwhelmed to abate. He needed to go back to basics. He found a roll of parchment and searched Hermione's desk for a pot of ink. He would take a page from her book and make a list. He wrote down all the facts he knew about Hermione's case in one column, and in the next he put what he knew about the missing witches. He hesitated and then he made a third column and wrote what he knew about the Willow Suntree case. He didn't think they were related, but nonetheless. He stared at the parchment until his vision started to swim. Harry groaned in frustration and decided to call it a night. He pocketed the parchment and put everything back where he'd found it. He knew Hermione hated it when anyone moved her things. He headed to the Floo network downstairs, saying goodnight to the Auror on duty as he headed home.
Draco sat across from Astoria at a low-key diner a couple of blocks from their building. He watched as she sectioned off her food and ate it counterclockwise. He couldn't help but be fascinated by her. She was like no other woman he'd ever met, short of Granger—but he didn't consider Granger a normal female. Astoria didn't seem to mind his silence and filled it with chatter about a movie she'd gone to see with friends. Her words finally permeated his mental fog and he jerked his eyes up to her face.

"You watch Muggle movies?" he asked, dumbfounded. She was a pureblood Slytherin—a Greengrass, for goodness' sake. Slytherins sneered at anything muggle and spoke of such things with derision.

Astoria smiled at his look. "Yes, I have a Muggle friend who introduced me to them. I also own a television. When Pansy came to visit me the night she had dinner at your flat she was ranting about you owning Muggle devices, but she shut up when she saw I had one too." She looked at him earnestly. "After the war my family was devastated. My older brother, who had stupidly run off to become a Death Eater, was killed that night at Hogwarts. Daphne had left the castle with the other students but went back when she couldn't find me. She saw the Death Eaters killing children."

She took a deep breath and rushed on. "Part of her shut down that night. She couldn't comprehend the carnage. Seeing her schoolmates and fellow Slytherins being slaughtered and slaughtering in turn—it broke her. My parents chose to ignore Daphne's mental breakdown and mourned my brother with an intensity that was unhealthy. I made myself a promise: I would not let their unhappiness and bitterness suck the life out of me. I left and took Daphne with me.

"It was hard at first, really hard. I had money but no practical skills. I was so used to house-elves doing everything for me that I could barely feed myself! What good was knowing how to read tea leaves when I had no clue how to help my sister? I wondered if that was how Muggles felt without magic—helpless. I went to London and I sat at a café and watched people. They didn't seem to be helpless; they were quite happy. Happy without magic: the idea seemed preposterous.

"It was while I was sitting at that café that I met Anne, my Muggle friend. Long story short, she helped me find a Muggle Healer to treat Daphne. My parents refused get her help because they were afraid of people knowing their daughter wasn't perfect." She sighed and looked at him. "What I'm trying to say, Draco, is that I get it. There's an innocence to be had in immersing oneself in Muggle culture. We lost it at too young an age for us not to miss it."

Draco didn't say anything so Astoria picked up her knife and fork and continued eating. Draco didn't know what to say or feel. He had been planning to use her to get back at Granger, but after listening to her he felt disgusted with himself. Was Granger right? Do I really treat women like whores? He was touched by her story. He couldn't imagine what it must have felt like trying to take care of a sick sibling. He'd been afraid of coming back and facing ridicule over having let Death Eaters into Hogwarts, scared of the reaction he would get from fellow pure-bloods for disappearing in the aftermath. And here one was, telling him she got it, understood his need to lose himself in Muggle television. He started when he heard a beeping noise. He watched as Astoria pulled a cell phone out and texted a message.

"I have to go meet Anne for yoga, but I'm glad we had a chance to talk." She stood up and got out her wallet. Draco shook his head.

"I've got it. Don't worry about it," he told her.

"Thanks." She turned to go, then stopped and leaned down. "You're going to be all right, Draco Malfoy. You just need to make the decision to be and let it all the rest of it go." She kissed his cheek and left. Draco wanted to believe it was that easy, but he wasn't sure. He wondered if Granger had "let it all go". He didn't think so; there was something haunted about her. Thinking of Granger, he got up. He needed to acquaint himself with the details of the missing witches' case, and in order to do that he needed to do some reading.
A/N: I know it's been a month since I've updated and I do apologize. I have no excuse except to say that when it rains it pours.

This is the first time I haven't left off with a cliff hanger and I'm hoping that you'll still leave me a nice review. Next chapter will set things in motion to reveal the bad person(s) and then the story will switch from mystery driven to romance. Thank you to Cardamom for you sweet review. It drove me finish chapter eight that much faster.
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