An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 4/?
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger & Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger/Original Male Character(s), Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s)
Characters: Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Padma Patil, Penelope Padgett Fawley, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Original Muggle Character(s), Original House-Elf Character(s), Original Characters, Luna Lovegood, Theodore Nott, Ginny Weasley
Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Found Family, Auror Draco Malfoy, Auror Partners, Auror Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy Needs a Hug, Draco Malfoy is Bad at Feelings, Luna Lovegood & Draco Malfoy Friendship, Alcohol, Bisexual Theodore Nott, Denial of Feelings, Detective Noir
Summary:
Auror Draco Malfoy has learned to survive as a traitor in a post-war world by becoming immovable. Still. Careful. Useful.
Routine keeps the dark at bay. Long nights at the Ministry, quiet meals in an empty Manor, the cold comfort of predictability. He isn't happy, but he's functional.
It's enough. Or, it was.
Until Hermione Granger comes home.
After nearly a decade abroad - travelling, working for MACUSA, and avoiding the parts of herself she'd rather not examine - she returns to London for one year. A favour to Harry, she insists. Temporary. Contained.
Neither of them expects to be partnered together.
Harry, unfortunately, has other plans.
Thrown into long nights, dangerous cases, and a slow, reluctant closeness, Draco and Hermione find themselves breaking down the walls they'd spent so long rebuilding.
They're older now. Lonelier. Haunted by grief and regret; softer in places they swore were stone, sharper where life cut them thin.
Falling in love was never part of the assignment. But it's happening anyway.
