Title: Manipulation in The Workplace
Author: scarletladyy
Pairing: Draco/Rose
Word Count: 5938
Rating: R
Warnings: Mentions of being drugged by a potion.
Summary: Straight out of school, Rose gets a job working for Draco Malfoy, but things aren't exactly as they seem.
A/N: I know why I've so many forgotten fics! The reveals happened while we were in the USA xD Anyway! This was written for gelsey for hp_nextgen_fest. Thank you to my beta seatbeltdrivein.

Rose Weasley was a woman with many standards, which she mostly got from her mother. There was no doubt she'd picked up her cleverness from her, but she did have a cheeky side, which Hermione swore was all Ron's doing. She'd heard her parents have many arguments about that, but usually her father just shrugged, which made her mother even more irritated.

It was absolutely no surprise to anyone she knew, then, when she managed to get a job at the Ministry - straight out of school. She'd done fantastic in all her exams and had beaten her rival Scorpius Malfoy, which she had taken great Weasley pleasure in taunting him about. However, the one thing she hadn't counted on was that she would be working for his father... the infamous Draco Malfoy. She knew her opinion of him would be somewhat biased, because her father had gone on and on about 'what a git' he was when they were at school, but she'd done her history and read books from the war. She knew what he'd done and she found it infuriating that her mother seemed to be able to forgive him for his crimes.

"He was pushed into a corner, Rosie." Her mother always said to her, but her father's stubbornness won through in the end. So, on her first day of work, she decided she'd have no other contact with him besides that, and only then what was necessary. If there were anyone else she could go to, she'd make full use of them.

"Ahh." Malfoy grunted as she walked into their shared office. "You must be——"

Rose clicked her heels on the floor in irritation. "Rose Weasley."

Malfoy almost choked on his own spit. "Weasley? They sent me a Weasley?" He sat down in his chair, hands on his head. "This has to be a joke."

"No joke." Rose made herself at home, placing her briefcase on the empty desk she assumed would be hers. "Don't you read files on your employees?"

"There's usually no point." Malfoy glared up at her, seemingly taking in every little detail. "Weasley and Granger married, then."

Rose pursed her lips. She didn't like his tone already, and they'd only been conversing for a few minutes. "My mother, Hermione, and my father, Ron, did marry, yes."

He dismissed her sentence with a wave. "You better know what you're doing. I'm not spending my time trying to get a Weasley to understand anything."

"I can probably do your job better than you can," she snapped back, and he laughed as though he didn't believe her. It was a bold move, she knew, but the fact of the matter was that it was most likely true.

"Didn't get all your mother’s intelligence, then, did you?"

Rose rolled her eyes and started unpacking her things, ignoring the rest of his taunts. It wasn't long until he stopped, getting back to writing a paper on something. Their department was international relations in the Wizarding community, and she thought it was quite ironic that he was the head of it considering his crimes in the past.

It was about an hour into their stony silence when he finally spoke, barking for her to get him a cup of tea.

"I am not your servant," she said, shocked that he had even asked.

"No," he looked her straight in the eye. "But you are my assistant. Get to it."

Rose really had no idea why she did it. It wasn't as though she needed this job; she could get any she wanted. It was her ideal career, though, and she wasn't about to let an arrogant git like Draco Malfoy spoil it for her. Making a show of her annoyance, she dumped the tea on his desk, sending spots of it flying over his papers. She let out a little laugh as he banged his fist on the table, which did absolutely nothing but make the problem worse.

"Thank Merlin for magic," she heard him mutter as she walked back to her desk. "Let's get one thing straight," he started to say once he'd finished. "You're here to do your job. I don't like being in the same room as you any more than you do me, but that doesn't give you an excuse to go around behaving like a spoiled little brat."

"Brat?" Rose shouted at him. "You're the one who’s still as immature and childish as you were twenty years ago!"

Malfoy scoffed. "And you would know that, how?"

"My father can talk, you know."

"Oh good." He seemed pleased. "Has he learnt to read yet?"

"Ugh!" Rose stomped her foot and traipsed out of the room, not caring what anyone thought of her. The weird looks from Ministry employees were far better than spending another minute alone with her arrogant boss. She decided she needed a drink herself, though she drank it in the staff room so she could be away from him for longer. It was still only morning, and she had no clue how she'd manage her career with him.

"I haven't seen you here before." A tall, longhaired brunette walked into the room, clad in a black business suit and holding a cup of coffee.

Rose smiled up at the woman, hoping to make at least one friend whilst she was working there. "Rose Weasley, I'm the new assistant to the head of the department of international——"

"——relations in the Wizarding community. Yes, I know." The woman sat down next to her, seemingly annoyed and tired. "How is it working for Draco, then?"

"You have no idea," was all Rose managed to say, dreading carrying on with work in a bit.

She held out her hand. "Pansy Parkinson."

Rose vaguely remembered this name from rants her father had been on, and she'd gathered Malfoy and Pansy were a couple, at least at school, anyway. "I thought you two were close -"

"We were, and we are. Good friends, that's all."

"You seem irritated by that, though with Malfoy's attitude, I can see why."

Pansy shook her head. "No, it's nothing like that. It's personal."

"Sorry," Rose muttered, worrying she'd brought up bad memories.

"Just be careful." Pansy's tone was one of warning, and it made Rose feel quite on edge. She didn't trust him as it was, and now a good friend of his was telling her to be careful. There was definitely something up with Malfoy, and she was determined to find out what it was. Perhaps then she'd be able to work in peace without constant arguing, but that seemed so far away it was almost not worth thinking about.

Malfoy coughed as she walked in the room; he didn't look happy. "Where did you go?"

"None of your business." Rose wasn't really in the mood to listen to what he had to say, she just wanted to get on with their work. It'd be so much easier if there was a separate office for one of them, but she could hardly ask for one of those on her first day.

"I am your boss." He stood up and made his way over to her desk, placing his hands on it and looming over her. "I am in charge of you, and you'd do well to remember that."

Rose glared at him, making sure not to break eye contact. "Is that a threat?"

Malfoy shook his head. "Of course not, Miss Weasley."

"Good." Deep down she knew what that really meant, or at least she thought she did - he could have her fired in an instant. Unfortunately, he was well respected, due to his money, power, and charisma. While she had intelligence, that didn't count for much if you didn't have money to go along with it.

*

"Again?" Pansy asked Rose as she sat down next to her in a huff, a week after she had first started.

"He never quits, does he? Constant taunts and insults. Ugh!" Rose stamped her foot on the ground in annoyance. "I hate him."

"You're so young, Rose. You have to go through life with these people." Upon seeing Rose's raised eyebrows, she continued. "Even if it isn't Malfoy."

"Honestly," Rose sighed. "We are always arguing. I'm sick of it, and he's so stressed it's obvious he's at the end of his tether. I swear I'm going to get fired any day now."

Pansy smirked. "No. Draco wouldn't do that. If you're irritating him, he'll think of a far more creative punishment for you, trust me." Pansy took something out of her handbag and handed it to Rose. "Here, have a mint."

"Thanks. Punishment? He doesn't have a right to punish me."

The only response Rose got to that was Pansy raising her eyebrows and leaving the room, a little giggle between her lips. The two of them certainly weren't friends, but Rose had taken her anger about Malfoy out on her for the past week, though it would be obvious she'd go straight to him and tell him. Rose was just thinking about what Pansy had said when she walked into her office and noticed a fresh cup of tea on the table.

"Truce." Malfoy said simply, avoiding looking at her. "No arguments anymore, understand?"

"Hmm." Rose muttered, taking a sip of the tea before relaxing in her chair. "I suppose. Once you get your head out of your arse, anyway."

Malfoy smirked. "Now, now. Just drink your tea. It's a gesture of... friendliness."

'France is planning to integrate Beauxbatons and...' Rose was reading the latest paper sent to her concerning the Wizarding schools, but found she couldn't really concentrate anymore, she felt completely different. She was starting to feel something other than hate for Malfoy, and he seemed so surprised when she smiled at him that he spat out his biscuit.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." She bit her lip, feeling embarrassed and ashamed about her new feelings. It was probably just stress and tiredness; a good nights sleep should set her straight again, she thought.

"You smiled at me."

"I didn't," Rose faltered in her words, and it didn't help that her arms were all over the place too. "I had something in my mouth."

Malfoy laughed. "Sure."

Even though he was right, it really irked her that he didn't believe her, and there was nothing she wanted more right now than to throw her vase at his head.

*

Rose needed help, she was certain of that. Ever since she'd first felt something different for Malfoy those few days ago, they just seemed to be getting stronger and stronger. She wanted to be nice to him, to do things for him and please him. It made her smile inside when he smiled and she felt angry when he did, but there was no way she could tell him that. There was absolutely no way she could tell anyone that - they'd cart her off to the crazy house. Not only had her thoughts changed, but her behaviour had too, and she found that work was a much more pleasant place when they weren't taunting each other. In fact, she didn't even want to taunt him anymore, and he never seemed to bother her either, enjoying the peace, probably.

"I really admire you, Weasley." Malfoy said that afternoon.

"Miss Weasley," she corrected him, though smiled as she did so.

"You've really come along from when you first came here. You don't argue anymore, you're not insolent..." He put his hands to his mouth in thought. "Yes, you've done well."

Now, Rose knew that last week that sentence would have annoyed the hell out her, but now, she was just glad he'd praised her. Inside her head, she was battling with knowing she should hate him, and the fact that her heart was telling her she didn't.

"I have even decided to invite you to dinner tonight, if you would care to accompany me?" Malfoy held out his hand in a mocking gesture, and she only just managed to control the giggles that just wanted to spill out of her.

"I suppose I can do that."

"Good." Malfoy clapped his hands. "But don't you tell anyone, mind."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "And why not?"

"Your name is still Weasley." With that, he turned and walked off before she had a chance to retort, not that one really came to her. Despite her growing feelings for him, insulting her name and family was still a touchy subject for her.

Rose surprised herself with the amount of time it took her to get ready for their evening out. Usually she just threw anything on, but because she was seeing Malfoy, she just knew she wanted to look good for him, even if she didn't know why all of a sudden. The problem was, she was still living at home, so her mother and father were very inquisitive about what she was getting up to. Of course, she was old enough now that she didn't have to tell them, but she did like keeping them in the know. In the end she decided to tell them everything except his name, because they'd both freak out, and to be honest, she could completely understand why.

It still didn't stop her wearing her best jewellery and putting on her best red dress, though. For the first time in her life, she even magically applied a little bit of make up, purely natural. It took her two hours to get ready and she was almost late, but Apparated in front of the agreed restaurant twenty seconds early. As she hoped, he was inside at the bar, but he was flirting with another woman. Rose watched from a distance as he laughed with her, stroked her hair, lightly touched her cheek and winked at her. She'd have never believed it last week, but she felt sick to her stomach seeing this, and the green eyed monster was certainly making an appearance - she had a good mind to go over there and hex that witch right off her bar stool.

She didn't. Instead, Rose walked boldly up to Malfoy and the woman, cutting in between them and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Pleasure," she said as she held out her hand to the woman, who promptly took off.

"Do you mind? I was having fun there." Malfoy said, taking a sip of his whiskey.

"Do you mind? You asked me out to dinner."

"This isn't a date."

Rose's heart sank, it wasn't? She really thought it was. Why else was she here if he didn't want to spend time with her?

Seeing her bewildered face, Malfoy continued. "It's just a reward for you learning to behave properly in my company."

Completely humiliated and now with her temper rising, Rose had had enough. No matter how she felt about him, she wasn't going to let him speak to her like that. "Screw you." She snapped, turning on her heels and leaving the restaurant. His arrogance was unbelievable and she'd never wanted to punch him in the face more than just now. Upon returning home, her parents tried to quiz her about her earliness, but she wasn't having any of it. She just wanted to lie down and forget all about Malfoy until she had work tomorrow. It was a short break, but the point was that it was a break.

*

Early morning the next day, she still felt angry with Malfoy, but by lunchtime, her feelings for him were growing stronger. They were growing so strong, in fact, that she'd started to have sexual desires for him, and she wasn't sure how she hadn't fainted in horror yet. Her heart told her this was all natural, but her head thought she was going completely insane. She couldn't even concentrate on her work properly. She just kept stealing glances at him whenever she didn't think he was looking, and it was only after he embarrassingly pointed it out that she noticed she'd doodled his name all over her pad.

"Am I right in thinking you have a crush on me, Weasley?"

" Of course not," Rose shook her head, avoiding his gaze. "I'm just not feeling great."

"It wouldn't surprise me. I am handsome after all."

Rose giggled and then put her hand to her mouth in humiliation. "You're alright looking," she said, trying to make a comeback.

"That's not what your jotter says."

Rose didn't even have time to respond before he'd walked off, smirking and breathing arrogance. This time however, she didn't feel annoyance; she found it one of his best qualities. She followed him to the staff room, feeling the sudden urge to chase after him, though she had no idea why. To her luck, he was the only one in there, and he didn't seem surprised to see her.

"Just can't keep away from me, can you?" Malfoy even had a drink ready for her, which she quickly took and downed as she was very dehydrated. She'd been like that a lot lately but never really thought much of it. "Good?"

Rose nodded, and seconds later, she surprised them both when she planted a very passionate kiss on his lips, not even stopping when she felt his hands start to roam her body. She explored his mouth with her tongue, savouring his taste before he broke the kiss.

"What are you doing?" He asked, a look of shock on his face.

Rose shrugged. "I have no idea, but I know I want to." She paused for a moment to consider his feelings. "Do you?"

Malfoy didn't speak; he just pushed her down onto her knees and unzipped his trousers. It was clear what he wanted, and Rose wanted it too, especially when she saw how long and thick his dick was. She'd never done this before, but she opened her mouth and pressed her lips tightly around his shaft. Slowly she worked her tongue up and down his length, stopping to focus on his head. Faster and faster, she sucked, his breathing increasing rapidly, and, just as she could feel his balls tighten, she took his whole cock in her mouth, letting him explode down her throat as he fucked her face roughly.

The experience gave her pleasures too, sensations in areas she'd only explored privately herself. She didn't think she'd be able to get Malfoy to please her as she had just done him, so she planned to go to the bathroom and release herself straight after.

"That was good,” he said as he zipped up his pants.”For a Weasley."

This time annoyance didn't strike her at all, she just felt wetness grow inside her knickers. As soon as he made his way out, she hurried to the bathroom to relieve herself, feeling better than she had done in a while.

*

Ever since Rose and Malfoy had, well, done what they did, it had happened another five times. Four times were oral and once she gave him a handjob - none of the sexual pleasure was focused on her, but she didn't mind too much as he really seemed to get off on her touch. She'd imagined relations between the two of them would be awkward after that moment, but it wasn't - her feelings and sexual desires for him grew and grew, getting stronger every day. It was so strong now that she wanted to blurt out that she loved him, but she was worried about scaring him away so she only just managed to control the urge.

There was nobody she had told, or even anyone she could tell. She usually just sat with Pansy in the staff room, savouring her delicious mints. If she were going to tell anyone, she'd probably go for Pansy because she knew Malfoy so well, and she supposed he wouldn't mind her knowing. Alas, this didn't seem to be an option, but she did want to get it out to somebody because the conflicting feelings were driving her crazy.

Rose had just left the office, after servicing Malfoy and pleasuring herself, and sat herself down, exhausted. Pansy was there and handed her another mint, which she gladly took.

"What have you been up to?" Pansy asked, lighting a cigarette.

Rose shrugged. "Nothing." She knew she wasn't supposed to tell, but if Pansy pushed her for an answer, she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep it in.

"You seem out of breath."

"I am."

"Any reason?"

"Alright, alright!" Rose cracked, knowing she just had to tell someone, anyone, and though Pansy didn't really push her, she tried to convince herself that's what happened so as not to feel too guilty. "Malfoy and I are... doing stuff together."

Pansy choked on the smoke coming out of her cigarette. "You have to be joking. You hate him, all you've ever done is complain about him."

"Well, I know. But a while ago, these feelings for him just started to grow. They were gentle at first, but now they're making me want to rip Malfoy's clothes off whenever I see him. I even think I might love him."

"Does he know?"

"Not the last part," Rose murmured. "I didn't want to scare him off."

"Oh, I don't think he will be." Pansy said, as though she knew exactly what was going on. Rose had to badger her on this point, because if she knew what was going on maybe she'd be able to sort it out. Rose didn't want to like Malfoy. She expected to hate him – rightfully, she should hate him, not feel raw sexual magnetism every time she came within a foot of him.

"Do you know something?"

Pansy eyed Rose carefully. "If I did, I couldn't tell you anyway."

Rose took Pansy by the shoulders and shook her roughly. "Tell me."

"Well," Pansy took a deep breath, seemingly still thinking about whether she wanted to say what she was about to. "I think he's... Look, are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes!" Rose stamped her foot. "He has to have done something to me, right? None of this makes any sense and you're starting to put it together - you have to tell me."

"Remember I told you Malfoy wouldn't fire you, that he'd give you a more creative punishment if you irritated him?" Rose nodded. "I'm pretty sure he's been feeding you a love potion and making it stronger every day."

Rose gasped and held her hand to her mouth; she wanted to be sick, to get the potion out of her. "Is that why he's been making me tea every day?"

Pansy nodded.

"No wonder I crave it. And he was just going to keep going until when...?"

"Whenever he got bored with toying with you. That's what he did with all the others."

There were more? How many people could seriously irritate him that he felt obligated to do this to them? "Well I'm not drinking anything else of his, and you can bet your ass I'm going to get him fired for it."

Pansy coughed loudly. "Bad idea. Really bad idea."

"Why?"

"Draco's been unhinged since our childhood—well, since the war. Any simple thing can push him off the edge, and, if you get him fired for this, it wouldn't surprise me if he put you in danger. Serious danger." Rose started to feel her insides turn black; she'd been working for a monster. She knew he was an arrogant arsehole, but she never thought he'd be unhinged! He seemed so normal.

"If people know this, why is he still walking around?"

Pansy laughed. "Money, power, charisma. Only a select few know about him, anyway. The rest can guess."

"You can't expect me to just let him off easy with this!"

"I expect you to leave your job." Rose's eyes grew wide; this was her ideal career. "It's the only safe option left, unless of course you fancy spending the rest of your working career being drugged by him."

"Not a chance," Rose snorted. She didn't have a clue what to do. There was no way she could let Malfoy keep drugging her, but at the same time, if he found out the consequences could be dire. Unless, she thought, she got everything in motion before she told him she knew about the love potion. Perhaps if she went to the Minister for Magic and explained the situation he'd be able to help her so Malfoy wouldn't be able to get to her afterwards. "I'm off," Rose said calmly, leaving a stunned Pansy behind. She knew exactly where she was going - she was finally going to get the wheels in motion for something, anything, to be done about Malfoy.

Standing in front of the large, oak door, Rose caught her breath. She'd never done anything so brave in her life and just before she knocked, she nearly bottled it. She knew there was no going back when she was called to Enter, so she took a minute to clear her head before doing so.

"Minister, Sir. My name is Rose Weasley of the International Relations in the Wizarding Community department, assistant to Mr Malfoy."

The Minister didn't look up from his book. "What can I do you for?"

"It's about Mr Malfoy."

Now The Minister moved, looking at her squarely. "What about him?"

Rose paused and she felt her cheeks going red. She was worried he'd think she was making it up, or that she was insane. It did sound insane. "He's been drugging me with a love potion."

The Minister leant back in his chair and laughed for a moment, catching himself and then staring deeply into her eyes. "This is no time for jokes, Miss Weasley."

"I am not joking, Sir." She fiddled with her fingers anxiously. "I used to hate him, really hate him, but he's been giving me little doses every day to make me fall in love with him, so our work atmosphere isn't unpleasant. And, well, I suspect he likes being fawned over."

"You've been fawning over him?" The Minister raised his eyebrows.

"Well, no -"

"Relations between workmates are not allowed here, Miss Weasley."

"Please!" Rose was starting to panic now, losing her concentration and what she wanted to say. It was all coming out so wrong. "It's this potion, trust me! You can ask Miss Parkinson, and I'll bring you my tea tomorrow for a sample..."

"Fine." The Minister dismissed her away with his hands, clearly waiting for some actual proof. It made sense to Rose, but he didn't seem to believe her in the slightest, and she really hated it when that happened.

*

The test results of the tea came back two days later; there was no love potion in it. None of any kind. The Minister had also spoken to Pansy, who had denied the claims Rose had made, branding them 'ludicrous'.

"You lied!" Rose screamed at Pansy the next time she saw her. "Why did you lie?"

Pansy didn't even look at her, continuing to read Witch Weekly. "I told you what I expected of you."

"Don't you care what he's doing to people? To me?"

Pansy shook her head. "No, I don't."

Rose drew a blank here; she didn't understand why Pansy wouldn't care. Sure, she was a Slytherin, but that didn't excuse her from having emotions and feelings, surely. "Why?"

"I gave up caring what Draco did a long time ago, Rose." There were tears in Pansy's eyes as she left the staff room, and Rose felt badly about shouting at her. Still, the problem of the potion and Malfoy walking free were there, and she really had no clue what to do anymore. It seemed the only option left was to find another job, another career, where she'd be safe and finally able to get on with her work in peace. It was then that Rose came up with a fantastic idea: she was going to ask for a transfer. They might have a place available for her in the French Ministry, or the Spanish one - if she could even keep the same job that would be much better.

Without wasting another second, Rose flew down the halls to speak to the man she knew handled transfers. She didn't know him very well, apart from saying 'hello' to him every now and again, but she knew her parents were good friends with him. Knocking on the door with a gold plate saying Mr. S. Finnigan on it, Rose had never felt more hopeful in all her life.

As soon as Rose was allowed to enter, she made her way swiftly to the chair in front of him and blurted out the whole story. She had to get it out, and the quicker she did, the quicker she'd be away from Malfoy. By the time she'd finished, the look on Mr Finnigan's face was one of pure anger - he was bright red.

"Not again!" He banged his fists down on the table.

"What do you mean, Mr. Finnigan?"

"Call me Seamus." He smiled politely at her, a change from his behaviour only seconds ago. "Malfoy doesn't get on with anyone - he goes through new assistants constantly. You're the third one to complain of something funny happening, though I haven't specifically heard of it being a love potion, before." Seamus poured himself a glass of whiskey from a bottle hiding behind his desk. "I suppose you're here to go to another company? Abroad?"

Rose nodded. "I have to get away from him - if he finds out I went to the Minister about it, I'm not sure what he would do."

"I understand your concern."

"My feelings towards him have subsided, though. I haven't felt anything like that in a few days. Perhaps he stopped?"

"Then this is a dangerous time, Rose. If he stopped supplying you, he obviously knows that you know." Seamus grabbed a file of papers and started rummaging through them quickly. "We have to get you out of here, and fast."

Rose started to panic; Seamus seemed to know what Malfoy could be capable of, and that scared her no end. She supposed life in another country wouldn't be so bad; in fact, she could really quite like it. She'd be able to get to know another culture, learn another language and explore the foreign Wizarding World. Then, of course, there were always the beaches and the hot weather...

"Aha!" Seamus clicked his fingers. "There's an opening for your exact same job over in Poland."

Or not so much the beaches, Rose thought to herself. She sighed inwardly, but it was better than nothing, and it was her ideal job. "Thank you. When can I start?"

"They're looking for someone now, so anytime. I'll send them a letter to let them know the job has been filled."

Rose held out her hand once he'd finished writing. "Thanks for this, Seamus. You'll let my parents know, won't you? I'll write to them in a few days, I'm sure."

Leaving the office, Rose kept looking over her shoulder for any signs of Malfoy, she felt as though she was being stalked, as though someone was watching her. She decided to rule that out, not wanting to scare herself anymore than she already was. Once out of the building, she found a secluded spot to Apparate from, but she was pushed into a wall by someone taller and stronger than she was.

"Are you alright?" Rose looked up to see a man staring at her. Not just any man: Malfoy.

"Malfoy? What are you doing? Leave me alone!" She pounded against his chest until he moved backwards, but he looked dazed and confused at her response. "Don't play the innocent, I know what you did!"

Malfoy looked around suspiciously. "What I did? What are you talking about?"

"I know about the love potion."

One of the loudest laughs Rose had ever heard escaped from Malfoy's lips, and he seemed to find the whole idea so hilarious he was holding onto his stomach. "Love potion? Are you kidding me?"

"Well what are you doing here?" She asked defiantly.

"You looked nervous, so I followed you to see if you were okay." He was leaning against the wall now, still laughing from her earlier remark. "I haven't given you a love potion, Weasley."

"Then why have I been feeling so differently about you?"

"Differently?" Malfoy looked confused. "Your behaviour has been odd recently. I thought you liked me, that's why we... you know."

"Because of the potion!" She shouted at him, getting frustrated that he didn't seem to have a clue what she was wittering on about.

"I haven't given you a potion. I don't even like you - you're just there when I need a bit of a pick me up." As Malfoy said this, Rose's face went bright red with embarrassment and anger. Whether Malfoy had given her a potion or not now seemed irrelevant, since he'd been using her.

"Then who was it?" Rose swiftly ignored his last sentence, hoping to edge around that issue without too much fuss.

Malfoy shrugged, and then his face screwed into a ball. "Have you been talking to anyone about me?"

"No," Rose shook her head, then realised that wasn't exactly true. "Well, Pansy... but she's your mate so I didn't think it'd matter."

He sighed heavily and brought his hands to his face in annoyance. "Parkinson is not my friend, Weasley. She hasn't been for years." Rose must have had a very confused look on her face because he continued to explain the situation. "She wanted me, but I didn't want her. All these years she's been after me, seriously after me, that I'm pretty sure it's turned her crazy."

"Oh." Rose felt really stupid now. "That must be why you've been through so many assistants, because she's been drugging them and blaming it on you."

"I did wonder."

"You know,” Rose laughed at the situation. "She told me you were the one who was unhinged."

"Me? No. A Malfoy would never allow themselves to be unhinged."

Rose didn't say anything, but she secretly thought that to be on the Dark side during the war you had to be at least a little bit crazy, and she'd certainly heard about his Aunt from her mother.

"Bella isn't a Malfoy," he chimed in, obviously being able to tell what she was thinking. "And you don't have to leave your job, I'll sort Parkinson out."

Rose nodded in appreciation. "Thanks. I guess I'd better go tell Seamus then," she said, awkwardly walking away from him. To leave him so suddenly felt uncomfortable, but she didn't know what else to do other than stand around like a muppet. She'd just gotten to the door when she heard Malfoy ask her to wait, and by the time she'd turned around, he was passionately kissing her. Really kissing her, as though he really liked her. Rose moaned when the kiss ended, wanting it to last longer, forgetting that she wasn't under the influence of a potion anymore.

"That potion worked for one thing," Malfoy said. "It showed me Weasleys aren't all bad."

Well! Rose thought. She couldn't have expected his arrogance to disappear altogether, now could she?