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“Granger, I know your personal life revolves around books, but doesn’t reading on the job constitute your equivalent of a mortal sin?”
She dismissed him with a wave of her hand, eyes continuing to scan ravenously down the page as if his taunt was nothing more than a pesky fly buzzing around her ear.
That, of course, didn’t sit well with Draco, though his bitterness most definitely had nothing to do with his budding crush on his coworker, of course. Absolutely nothing at all.
“What is that book even about, anyway? Is it Muggle?”
Draco had just begun branching into Muggle literature, at Granger’s behest, as well as with her assistance. He hadn’t yet gotten the hang of Muggle money, and he’d had even less of an idea where to start in one of their bookshops.
Granger sighed, flipping her book over to place it face-down on her desk, split open to hold her page. Finally. “It’s about a girl who falls in love with a vampire.”
Draco wrinkled his nose. “How is that even remotely believable? Vampires are terrifying!”
“Not all of them!” she protested—indicating that he’d activated swot mode. “In fact, more and more of them are moving away from human blood, or at least sourcing it ethically. And that’s not to mention half-vampires, either!”
She continued prattling on about the systemic oppression within vampire legislation, and how exactly she would change it if she could, which of course left Draco simultaneously tuning her out while staring at her all the same, completely enraptured by her passion. Were vampires what she was into? Draco certainly didn’t want to become one—he’d seen enough of them during the war, thank you very much—but he thought he already met several of the criteria in his current state (alive). Pale, rich, jealous, extremely attractive—what could this vampire from her book have that he didn’t?
***
“Granger, this book is objectively bad.” He glanced up at her from where his copy was propped on his desk before him; it was the first time she hadn’t scolded him for being off-task at work.
“I know! That’s what makes it so good!”
“Bella’s sartorial sense alone is enough to have her Avada’d. Seriously, what’s with all the beige?”
“She’s not like other girls, obviously,” Granger insisted, though her satirical tone indicated he was missing some subtext.
“And that’s why Edward is essentially stalking her? Do you get off to the idea of a man sneaking in through your bedroom window to watch you sleep, Granger?”
Granger’s face flamed. Draco relished the colour.
***
“James tricked her! He doesn’t even have her mother!” Draco exclaimed, only barely peering up at Granger before diving back in to find out how this was going to play out. Alice and Jasper must have been mad to leave Bella alone, but Bella was even worse, going to that ballet studio by herself without so much as phoning her mother first.
He read on, ignoring Granger’s giggles as he gasped.
"Merlin’s tits! Is Bella going to become a vampire now?”
Her smirk was barely noticeable over his hyperfixation. “You’ll just have to keep reading to find out.”
Draco huffed. “I bloody well hope not. Who would want to be seventeen for the rest of their life?”
Both of them shuddered, reminded of what their lives had been at seventeen. Perhaps that was why she now found comfort in this nonsense.
***
“Edward left? What kind of man—vampire—abandons the only girl he’s loved in a century?”
“He left to protect her!”
“But he’s leaving her vulnerable! Victoria is still out there!”
For once in her life, Granger stayed quiet.
***
“See, now Jacob is a much healthier choice already. He’s her own age, for a start. And their interactions are, Salazar forbid, normal.”
***
“What the fuck, Jacob? I trusted you!”
***
“Does Stephenie know nothing about werewolves? These are just Animagi! There’s no lunar cycle or any loss of control! She’s completely bollocksed this entire reveal.”
***
“Marry him? He leaves for 6 months, nearly gets both of them killed, and expects her to marry him? Granger, don’t tell me this is what women want.”
She shrugged. “There’s something about the passion, her being the only thing he wants in his life, so much that he can’t live without her.”
Well, how was he supposed to tell her that if that’s what she wanted, she already had it? He wouldn’t have read this wretched series for just anyone—though, perhaps he could admit, in secret, that he was starting to see the appeal.
“I’m still team Jacob.”
***
“Granger, what’s the Confederate Army?”
***
“Jacob’s being a wanker,” Draco announced.
“Is that different from usual?” Granger teased, well aware that indulging in their Edward-versus-Jacob debate would rile him up. However, Draco was too stressed about the upcoming battle to have time for that just now.
“He’s going to get himself killed because Bella is marrying somebody else! Can you imagine if I—” he cut himself off with a choking sound, immediately attempting to mask it with a cough. “I mean, it was quite cruel of him to manipulate her into kissing him.”
He focused on the light streaming in through the magical windows, streaking across Granger’s face, and suddenly he felt a bit guilty just with the knowledge that a few years ago, he might’ve done the same sort of thing to her, if given the chance.
He’d never do anything like that now, but it was a difficult realisation to shake.
***
“Pregnant? You’re telling me she got married at eighteen to a vampire she’s known less than two years—on the condition that this hundred-year-old virgin would have sex with her while she was human, don’t forget—and apparently his spunk is so virile that she’s pregnant with his demon baby after only a couple times? Vampires don’t even have blood! How does this work?!”
It was a measure of his indignation that he couldn’t even muster a(nother) tangent about the inaccuracies in Stephenie’s vampire lore.
***
“Renesmee? There’s no way you’re making fun of my name and then reading books with names like that!”
Granger shrugged. “I think it’s kind of sweet. She named her baby after the two women that matter most to them.”
From the upturn at the corner of her mouth, he knew she was just playing devil’s advocate, but he still needed to say his piece. “Aside from the fact that Renee is a deadbeat, the name itself just proves that Bella shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions. And yet, somehow she’s already married with a child and chose to become a vampire, all at eighteen.” Draco scoffed. “And somehow, I still hate it less than Edward Jacob. I mean really, who names their baby after the boy they friend-zoned?”
***
“I take it all back. Jacob deserves death for imprinting on a newborn. Has he just been infatuated with one of Bella’s eggs this whole time?”
“Ew, Draco!”
***
Draco tried to wait until Granger’s back was too him before raising a knuckle to the corner of his eye to wipe away the tear welling up there.
He was unsuccessful, and though she smirked, she knew what was good for her and kept her mouth shut.
“It’s over,” he lamented, letting the finale thud hard against his desk.
Apparently she was in the mood to completely disregard his emotions, as she changed the topic entirely. “Have you ever been to a Muggle cinema?”
He shook his head. Of course he hadn’t—she’d seen for herself how he’d barely survived the bookshop!
“Well, the reason I started the series in the first place was because they’ve made a film of it. It came to the cinema the weekend before last.”
Draco furrowed his brow. “And you’ve waited this long to go see it?” His interest had been so quickly piqued that he couldn’t even imagine not going to see the film at the earliest opportunity—if one was capable of navigating the Muggle cinema, that was.
Granger shrugged, but Draco watched her avert her gaze, noticing immediately the beautiful blush blooming across her cheeks. “I was going to, but then you started reading the books, so I thought . . . .”
He gaped at her. “You want to go together?”
She stood abruptly, brushing her hands on her trousers and pivoting toward the door. “It was ridiculous, you’re right. I don’t know what I was—”
After a momentary delay, Draco managed to jump to his feet and stride across the room to hinder her escape. He hesitantly placed his hand on her upper arm. “You’re serious? You’d take me, even though I might embarrass you?”
“I’d love to take you to your first film, Draco Malfoy.”
His reaction was gradual, so clouded by disbelief that it took a minute for him to even accept that this moment was reality. As his lips slowly stretched into a grin, Granger finally peeked over at him, and then she was smiling as well, albeit shyly.
“It’s a date, Hermione Granger.”