Chapter Text
Their fingers accidentally brushed as they both reached for the sugar sachets on the condiment table in Bean Me Up that morning.
Hermione felt as if she’d touched a live wire, sending a jolt down her spine and straight into her knickers. He didn’t pull his fingers away as she’d expected, instead, he lightly ran his fingertips up her hand and tightly wrapped them around her wrist.
“I recall hearing a muggle song about pouring sugar on someone,” he whispered, turning her towards him “Is that a thing muggles actually do?”
She wanted to roll her eyes at him, but they widened as she watched him reach for a sachet with his other hand and bring it to his mouth. He bit into it and tore the packet open, accidentally spilling a few granules on his shirt and hand.
Hermione leaned in and licked the sweetness from his finger, enjoying the sharp breath she heard him pull into his lungs.
“Come on Malfoy,” she teased. “Pour some sugar on me.”
With a slight tremor in his hand, he pulled her shirt open and sprinkled the sugar along her collar bone. Dropping the sachet onto the floor, his hand buried itself in her hair and drew her forward so he could suck the granules up as he worked his way across, towards her neck, licking until the sweetness faded away.
Her hands went straight for his belt, unbuckling it to give her access to his button and fly, which she made quick work of. She traced the bulge of his cock through his silk boxer briefs. Her exploration was cut short as he reached around to the back of her thighs and picked her up to rest her arse on the nearest table, pushing her skirt up to bunch at her waist.
Starting at her knees, he ran his long fingers down the inside of her thighs until he reached her knickers. He lifted the elastic edges, peeling the cotton from her wet folds before releasing the elastic with a snap. The sting made her moan and shift her hips closer to him, scrambling her fingers at his underwear, pulling it down to free his erect cock.
He pushed the cotton knickers to the side and let her guide him towards her core. She could feel his cock vibrating in her hand.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Hermione sat up with a jolt, the constant vibrating buzz from her wand, clenched in her fist under the pillow.
That could only mean one thing in her life these days...someone found human remains.
The crime scene was in an alley just off the main thoroughfare of Diagon Alley.
Aurors had blocked off the entrance whilst a few Auror Inspectors spoke to the poor wizard who had found the body.
Auror Caxton, a young, newly graduated addition to the force, met Hermione at the entrance to the alley.
“Miss Granger-” she started.
“Doctor,” Hermione interrupted.
“Right. Yes. Doctor Granger.” Auror Caxton paused for a moment, caught off guard by the correction. Hermione walked further down the alley, taking in the crime scene. “As you can see,” Auror Caxton caught up with her. “We haven’t touched anything to preserve the scene as you wrote in your book, which may I say, is absolutely revolutionary in solving crimes and, would it be impertinent to ask you to sign my copy?”
Her request was met with a blank look from Hermione before she purposely turned her attention to the remains.
“The remains, of course, sorry,” Auror Caxton stuttered out.
“Auror Caxton, what have you found so far?” A deep voice cut in from the entrance of the alley.
Draco Malfoy walked down the alley towards them, carrying two steaming cups in his hands. He went to stand next to where Hermione was crouching, examining the remains.
“I haven’t given my assessment yet,” Hermione said. She spotted the cup Malfoy held out to her.
“What’s that?”
“The elixir of life, Granger.”
“That’s not a real thing.” She took the cup from him and the whiff of strong coffee sent a montage of flashbacks to flicker through her mind. Hermione felt the heat rise in her cheeks and found herself unable to look Malfoy in the eye. The remains were safer to examine than the smirk on his face.
“Very little flesh left, possibly removed by scavengers based on bite marks on the bones. Pelvic bones suggest the victim is female. Note the skull has circular orbits and a ‘heart shaped’ nasal aperture. This suggests Asian descent."
Auror Caxton took frantic notes as Hermione spoke and opened her mouth to ask a question but was cut off by Malfoy.
“Body dump?”
“You haven’t asked for the cause of death yet,” Hermione pointed out, digging a gloved finger into the mouth of the victim and running it along the teeth.
“If you knew that, you would have told us already. Drink your coffee, Granger. I don’t like it when you’re not fully awake. Now, confirm it’s a body dump, please.”
Hermione gave him a hard look. Well, it was aimed at a spot over his shoulder so she was sure she wouldn’t blush again, and took a big gulp of her coffee. Malfoy pulled a sugar sachet out of his pocket, bit one end and tore it open before dumping the sugar into his cup.
“Give...give...um”
He licked the granules from his lip and Hermione almost choked on her tongue.
“Given the lack of wildlife in the surrounding area,” she forced out, turning away from him to look at the remains. “As well as the absence of blood splatter, I am one-hundred per cent confident that this is not the murder scene.”
She turned to Caxton. “Cast the appropriate protection charms and have the remains transported to the lab.”
Keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the ground, Hermione removed her gloves and began to walk out of the alley, Malfoy dogging her steps.
“Isn’t it nice to be working together again?” His smile was sincere, making her instantly stop just outside the alley.
“If I didn’t know better, you committed a non-magical murder just to take me away from my research, which is annoying.”
“Oh come on Granger. I’m sure your paper on the native tribes of New Guinea and their penchant for eating their dead relatives is a real page-turner, but this? This is solving crimes. It’s noble and you are nothing if not noble.”
She pushed past him in a huff. “I’ll have you know, my research on the origins of the magic genome is very important.”
“But solving murders is much more fun,” he said, following her.
“Don’t you have Auror duties to perform?”
“Thanks to our last case, I got a promotion. Supervising Auror Inspector now, which means Caxton does all the work and I just make sure she arrests the right suspect.”
“Then why are you still following me?”
“I want to be near the action when you find the cause of death.”
Hermione gave him a sidelong look. “Fine, just don’t distract the team from their tasks.”
“It’s not my fault your intern finds me distracting,” he said as she Disapparated after throwing her coffee cup in a nearby bin.
“Um, Auror Inspector Malfoy?”
“Yes, Caxton?”
“Why does she use the title of Doctor? Shouldn’t it be Healer?”
“Caxton, Granger is more of a scientific doctor. I think the full title is Forensic Anthropologist, which I think is just a fancy muggle term to say she prefers working with dead bodies to living people.”
“No matter what you call her, I think she’s a genius. Her methodologies are groundbreaking and to apply them to our work has made our casework that much better.”
“She’s not around to hear you kiss her arse, Caxton.”
“I know. Sorry, sir. No arse kissing intended sir. But sir? Could you ask Doctor Granger to sign my copy of her book?”
“Caxton, solve this case and I’ll guarantee it,” he replied before Disapparating to the lab.