Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters created by JK Rowling and associated with Harry Potter. All original characters created for this story are mine however. This disclaimer applies to all chapters in this fanfiction. **

Chapter One

No one bothered a stray cat on deserted roads which was why one felt safe on this final evening of May on the outskirts of the small English town of Wiltshire playing with a round pebble along the dusty lane it had wandered onto. The stray, scraggly cat was startled from its content solitude by a loud popping sound and the sudden appearance of a young man a few feet away. The cat flattened its ears and released a low whining meow, but when the young man merely looked at the animal with cold gray eyes filled with indifference, the cat went back to digging in the dirt satisfied it was still safe.

The young man for his part paid the cat no more attention either. He was too engrossed looking at the wrought iron gate in front of him. He had walked or rather flown through this gate many times in his youth. The gate still seemed imposing and somehow despite the fact he was no longer a child remarkably intimidating. He had not laid eyes on the gate nor the Yew hedges framing it for over five years. He also had not visited the very large house that lay at the end of the straight narrow lane on the other end of the gate for five years.

"Malfoy Manor," the young man breathed out loud to himself.

"Home," he added a moment later in a hushed whisper as if someone might overhear him, but no one was near except for the cat who did not even glance his way.

Draco Malfoy squared his shoulders and straightened his gray traveling robes. He had left England shortly after his eighteenth birthday after the remaining surviving members of the Wizengamot, who were not accused Voldemort supporters or locked away in Azkaban, cleared him of any charges related to his involvement with the Dark Lord.

Draco sighed and walked towards the looming gate as expected it magically creaked open.

"Still charmed to recognize all Malfoys," Draco muttered disappointed that the gate did not remained shut and save him the remaining trip to the manor.

He took a few cautious steps through the gate trying to swallow the bile he felt rising up his throat. He had run away from this place and the memories, and he was not convinced he was ready to face the manor or the memories.

Draco had let himself live a fantasy life the past five years. The majority of the time was spent on a private beach on the western coast of the United States. His skin once pale was bronzed from the California sunshine he spent hours basking in every day. His muscles once thin were toned and defined by the running and swimming he did for hours on end, not to mention the time he spent playing Quidditch. His hair once slicked back tightly against his skull was now hung loosely right below his ears. However, his eyes were still tormented skies of gray.

He managed to take one labored step after another down the lane. He could not make himself focus on the house he knew was waiting for him, so he averted his eyes to the garden surround the sides of the house. He had expected the garden to be better kept than last he saw them; after all, his mother had hardly had time to worry about botany when they were dealing with housing Death Eaters, their prisoners, fighting for their lives, or worrying about still dying after the war if they were convicted by the Wizengamot. Draco was surprised though by just how beautiful the garden appeared in the fading sun.

The garden, which once had mostly been hedges, was now filled with flowers. The light was not the best, but Draco could tell that his mother was putting a lot more time into her landscaping. There were decorative topiaries as well shaped like thestrals, unicorns, and other magical creatures. A smile twitched at the corner of the Draco's mouth when one of his mother's beloved white peacocks strutted out from behind the topiary shaped like a wizard. The majestic bird for its part looked at Draco with nothing short of disdain and continued on its way.

Draco walked a little further and sighed when the door to the house flung open. He was not certain he was ready to face his homecoming. His parents had visited him several times over the past five years, but he was not sure what it would be like seeing them in this setting again. Their visits had always been tense when they came to the States, but he had roommates who kept conversations steered away from less unpleasant subjects.

"Draco!" Narcissa Malfoy exclaimed delighted at the sight of her only child. She hurried down the steps and closed the distance between them engulfing him in a large hug.

Draco was shocked to say the least. He was not used to his mother showing such affection. He remembered his mother as being restrained in her gestures of love and adoration.

"I was not sure when you would come…or if you would come," Narcissa said as she continued to cling to her son with tears falling freely.

Draco lifted his arms and hugged his mother gently patting her back. "I'm here now, mother."

Narcissa pulled back slightly and lifted a hand to his face. "Still sporting such a dark complexion, everyone will think you're an adopted son."

"Nonsense, mother, I'm the spitting image of my father. Everyone says so at least," Draco said dryly.

Narcissa frowned and stepped back completely from her son. "Draco, please try to be happy that you are home. Your father and I have missed you. I think you will find things have changed and you can be happy back home here in England."

Draco snorted by did not argue. His attention was now pulled to the doorway once again where Lucius Malfoy stood. Draco cleared his throat and nodded to his father.

"Hello, son," Lucius said warmly. Lucius's eyes the same shade of gray as Draco's were shining at his only child and heir.

His father's tone shocked Draco more than anything possibly could. Lucius Malfoy was not a warm man.

Lucius smiled as if sensing his son's thoughts. "I know you were dreading coming home, Draco, but you will see so much has changed."

Draco nodded mutely because he found himself speechless as he realize the sparkle in his father's eyes were unshed tears.

Lucius gestured for Draco to come inside. "Come, son. Let's have dinner together. You must be tired and you'll need rest because tomorrow you're going to work."

"Work?" Draco asked appalled. "You expect me to work."

Lucius smiled widened. "Don't worry, son. I'm coming to work with you too. We'll both be working at the same company, as least for the next year. But, come now, we're not going to discuss work this evening. Tonight, we will just enjoy your homecoming."

* * *

><p>Draco unbuttoned his shirt and hung it on the back of the chair at his bedroom breakfast table. He shook his head as if the motion would cause all of his scattered thoughts to fall back into place. He was still trying to process the dinner he had just had with his parents. The meal was unlike any he had ever experienced at the antique Malfoy table.<p>

He closed his eyes for a moment and gripped the chair he had just hung his shirt over as another memory of sitting at the same table threatened to overcome him.

"_Severus! Help me!" _

Draco took a deep breath as he tried to repress the terror the memory evoked in him as he thought of the former professor of Muggle Studies, Charity Burbage, being tortured and then killed about his dining room table.

"Breathe!" Draco muttered to himself as once again he felt ill as he remembered Nagani, Lord Voldemort's pet snake devouring the former professor's body.

He failed to quell his stomach and made a mad dash into the bathroom where he lost his dinner in the loo.

Draco kneeled on the cold stone tile for a few minutes before he pulled himself up and went to the sink to rinse his mouth. He stared at the image in the mirror for a few moments to remind himself he was not the same frightened cowering boy that had been sitting at that table almost six years ago.

He splashed cold water on his face and went to draw himself a hot bath. As he watched the water pour into the large private bath, he reflected that he was not the only one that had changed. His parents both seemed to have undergone personality transplants in the past five years.

They had always seemed different on his visits, but he always made sure his Yank roommates were around to keep a buffer between him and his parents. In fact, Draco realized with no small amount of guilt he'd barely spoke to his parents of anything personal in nature for almost five years.

Draco thought about the Lucius and Narcissa he had eaten with tonight. They had been attentive and sympathetic of the trouble he had with his international portkey back to England. He had kept waiting for Lucius to criticize the way Draco had handled things, but instead, his father told him that unfortunately these things were known to happen with port keys across the pond and he should not blame himself.

Draco pulled off his trousers and climbed into the warm bath. He closed his eyes and let the water sooth his travel and stress tense muscles. He wished he could summon a house elf to bring him a stiff drink, but his mother informed him over dinner that they always gave the house elves the last night of the month off.

His mother and father had chuckled when he asked them if they had gone mental giving the house elves the night off. He had nearly choked on his bite of steak when his mother had sadly said that unfortunately the dear creatures would not take any additional time off, and she had stopped offering since it seemed to upset them so much.

Draco opened his eyes and glanced around the bathroom. It was different than when he left. From what Draco could tell, Malfoy Manor had been completely overhauled. Draco had not seen much of the manor this evening, but every room he had been in was not the same as before-somehow every room was brighter.

At dinner sensing his discomfort, his parents had assured him the table had been _Scourgified_ and even stripped of its paint muggle style and redone.

Lucius had apologized to his son for not throwing the table away, but his father confessed that despite the horrible memories they endured at the end of the war around the table it was an antique Malfoy family heirloom and Lucius was loath to part with it.

"Besides Draco, we can never appreciate how far we've come without acknowledging where we've come from," Lucius said while giving Draco a meaningful look.

The meaning of the look was lost on Draco because the entire meal Draco had been waiting for criticism from his father, but instead, Lucius had plied him with praise on how fit and healthy he looked and how proud he was of Draco's performance in his last season of Quidditch.

Draco dunked his head into the warm water and ran his hand through his wet hair. He climbed out of the bath and wrapped a towel around his waist. He glanced in the mirror one last time before heading to his bed.

His father had been elusive at dinner about where he would be working, but Draco figured he should get some sleep. He could only hope tonight he would be nightmare free; although, he doubted it.

* * *

><p>Draco yawned and straightened his black wizarding robe. He had not slept well last night having suffered dreams plagued with the late Professor Burbage's pleading voice and images of Nagini eating her after Voldemort had hit her with the killing curse.<p>

Draco scoffed as his father stopped in the hallway of the impressive office building to talk to Justin Finch-Fletchley. Draco could not believe his father the well known Lucius Malfoy was consorting so amicably with a curly-headed Mudblood. Draco sighed as he listened to his father laugh at some stupid joke the Hufflepuff made, and he realized not for the first time in the past twenty-four hours that everything had changed in the five years since he had left.

Lucius Malfoy smiled and told Justin he would see him shortly before turning around to take a look at his only child. "Draco, you could have been polite and said hello to your former classmate," Lucius scolded gently.

"Hmph. I don't really see the reason for consorting with lowly muddies, father," Draco scathed his grey eyes flickering with annoyance.

Lucius sighed and smoothed his long pale blond hair; he knew he was responsible for his son's horrible behavior. Lucius fully accepted his son's still existing prejudices were the product of years of Lucius instilling them into him when Draco was only an impressionable child.

"Draco, while you've been out earning your playboy reputation the past five years on the other side of the world, the rest of us here at home have been picking up the pieces after the war and moving forward with our lives which included leaving old prejudices in the past. I hope you can do the same now that you are home," Lucius said softly his eyes tender as he looked at his only child.

Draco opened his mouth shocked, but before he could respond, his father had turned and stalked down the hallway. Draco followed reluctantly. He already missed the sunshine and cool ocean breezes that he had spent the past four and a half years soaking up. His mind wondered as he thought back on how he had spent the past five years, and he realized his father was right. He really had been completely self-involved and built quite the reputation of being a playboy as he hid away from his past.

Draco wondered what would have happened if he had not left, after Harry Potter's testimony to the Wizengamot about Narcissa's brave act of sparing his life and without her actions the war would have ended with a completely different outcome. Draco was still disgruntled that his family owed their freedom to Potter. Once Potter's testimony had cleared the Malfoy family, Draco's first stop when he had run away from his life had been to Italy, where he had vacationed before with his parents, but even Italy was not far enough away from England to hide from his family's name and notorious reputation. He had moved to the United States about three months after the Dark Lord's downfall, finally finding a place where his name did not precede him. He put an advertisement in the local wizarding paper and been luck enough to find two half-blood roommates who were tolerable blokes.

Draco had spent the past five years, playing Quidditch for some of the California teams and modeling for some Wizard Magazines. His free time was spent partying and wooing every good looking witch he met. He had refused to return to England the entire time. He had also not bothered to read any news pertaining to the wizarding community back home. He knew he had a lot to catch up on now that he was finally home.

He entered the room where his father had disappeared and was shocked to see none other than his former school rival, Harry Potter. Harry was laughing at something his father said and shaking his head. Draco noted Potter's still messy black hair was sticking up in the same places it had during their years at Hogwarts.

"No, seriously, Lucius, you know how fussy she is about that sort of thing," Harry said as his laughter died.

Lucius chuckled at Potter. "I know, Harry. I wish she would relax. Narcissa and I really worry about her stress levels."

Harry waved his hand dismissively. "You know she thrives on pressure and stress. It makes her perform better. Anyway, I have to go pick up some memos from my office to go over before the meeting. I'll be back shortly."

Harry paused when he saw Draco standing in the doorway. "Draco nice to see you again. Your father said you would be joining us today."

Draco sneered at Potter. "Who told you, you were allowed to call me by my first name, Potty?"

Lucius scowled at his son's disrespectful behavior. "Draco," He snapped, "you will stop acting like you are still some young first year and treat Harry with respect."

Draco glared at his father and crossed his arms defiantly.

Harry shook his head and actually laughed. "It's alright, Lucius. I guess some things never change." Harry walked out still chuckling and shaking his head at how immature Malfoy still was. He could not help but wonder how the meeting would go when Draco realized who would be leading it.

Lucius took a seat at the left of one end of the table and gestured for his son to sit by him. "Draco, Harry Potter is the Executive Vice President of Magic Com Incorporated, and he is not someone to make angry."

"Oh yes, the great Harry Potter, I've heard it my entire life, father, and I have to say Boy-Who-Lived, Potty, or Vice President, no name or title he goes by are going to make me tolerate the git," Draco spat.

Lucius shook his head and asked, "Do you know anything about Magic Com?"

"Should I?" Draco retorted annoyed. He did not know anything and his father's look told him he was going to feel foolish for not knowing anything about the company.

Lucius shook his head. "Draco, I have no idea why such a bright wizard suddenly stopped paying attention to anything but himself, but I have to tell you I am thoroughly disappointed that you do not even recognize the name of the most powerful company in the wizarding world."

Draco's mouth fell open slightly. "Potty is Vice President of the most powerful company in our world?"

Lucius nodded but any response he was going to make to his son's bewildered question was cut off by Blaise Zabini entering the boardroom. Blaise had been in Draco's year at Hogwarts, and even though Blaise did not follow Draco around the way Goyle and Crabbe had, he and Draco had been mates. Draco noted that Blaise's dark skin seemed to be even darker. "Getting some sun, Zabini?" Draco drawled smiling at his old friend who he had not spoken to in five years.

Blaise looked at him for a moment before smiling. "Actually, Draco, I just returned from my month long honeymoon on a private island in the Mediterranean."

Draco laughed. "And, who pray tell is the witch that finally got you to settle down?"

"Well, if you wait a moment, she'll be here. She stopped by to say hello to our boss, who she has missed terribly." Blaise said shaking his head while Lucius chuckled. Blaise turned and smiled at the elder Malfoy. "I know you would think that days and nights of my company and mind blowing sex would distract her, but no, she insisted we call at least once a week."

Lucius nodded. "I heard all about it at lunch the other day, but I can tell that married life agrees with you, Blaise."

"It agrees with me too," a feminine voice said from behind Blaise, and Draco once again felt his mouth fall open as Pansy Parkinson stepped out from behind Blaise.

"You married Parkinson?" Draco asked dumbfound.

"Oh, close your mouth, Draco," Pansy said shaking her head in disgust at his reaction to her and Blaise's marriage. "You've been gone a long time, a lot has changed."

Draco snorted at this because obviously everyone had changed. They had grown up, and the boys and girls he had known were now men and women. He noted that Pansy was actually fairly pretty, compared to how she had looked in school with her pug-like facial features. Now, her face had softened and suited her. Her hair was now long and hung just past her shoulder blades.

"I guess so. Well, congratulations," Draco offered giving his two former classmates a smile.

They both nodded and sat down across the table from the Malfoys, and soon the door swung open and Potter entered again. Draco was surprised when Pansy jumped up and gave him a big hug.

Potter hugged her back, while shaking hands with Blaise who had stood as well. "Well, I am happy the Zabinis are finally back with us."

Pansy laughed. "How's Ginny feeling?"

Harry shook his head as he pulled off his glasses and cleaned them with a handkerchief. "Oh, don't ask. I had to run out for food three different times last night."

Blaise laughed as he took his seat again. "Only two more months mate, before the first Potter arrives."

Harry shook his head. "I know."

Draco had watched the entire exchange flabbergasted at seeing the warmth between the two Slytherins and Potter. He did not say anything though because his father had already warned him not to antagonize Scar-Head. Draco had the next shock of his life when Theodore Nott and entered with Daphne Greengrass on his arm.

Theo and Daphne both looked at him shocked.

Theo was the first one to speak. "Wow, Draco, I had no idea you were returning. Welcome back."

"So are you two an item?" Draco inquired gesturing between the two of them.

Daphne laughed. "Oh, Draco, you really have been out of it. Theo and I have been married for three years and have a son together, and in seven months we will have another little one."

"What?" Pansy shrieked jumping out of her seat and engulfing the other woman in a hug. "Why didn't you tell me, Daph?"

Daphne laughed and hugged her friend back. "Because, you were on your honeymoon, supposedly working on your own little ones but rumor has it you kept calling in, to check in on work."

Pansy sniffed. "Well, as head of public relations, I had to make sure my incompetent staff was not messing everything up."

Everyone but Draco laughed at this because he apparently was not in on the inside joke, but as Potter spoke he suddenly realized why they all laughed.

"Pans, you do realize that you hired all of the people that work for you and since you are a perfectionist, they are the very best in the world." Harry said still chuckling.

Pansy shook her head as everyone laughed again.

Draco turned as the door to the board room opened again and Justin Finch- Fletchley entered. He greeted everyone and waited until Theo and Daphne had sat down on the other side of the table by Draco before taking a seat by Pansy. Draco noticed there were just two chairs left, one beside Finch-Fletchley and the one at the head of the table opposite Potter. Draco wondered if Potter was the vice president, who ranked above him in the spot of president. The doors opened and Draco was surprised to see another wizard enter, this was the only person he had never seen before. He was tall, and Draco estimated he may even match Draco's own one hundred and eighty-three. The wizard was obviously very fit despite walking with a noticeable limp. This unknown man joining them had sandy brown hair that was cropped short and neatly combed. Draco thought he may be the president, but he took the seat next to Justin and immediately welcomed back Blaise and Pansy. Draco felt like an outsider despite the fact that he had grown up with all but one of the people at the table.

Draco waited for the door to open, but he was surprised when the wall behind the remaining open seat suddenly pulled apart to reveal a beautiful witch who was not wearing robes but instead had donned a muggle business attire of a knee length black skirt, white button down blouse, and an open black suite jacket. Draco stared at her, trying to place her familiar face, but when her brown eyes met his, he felt something spark inside him as she appraised him. "Granger?" He choked out as recognition finally sunk in.

She raised an eyebrow at him and took the seat at the head of the table. "Yes, Draco, that is my last name, but at this table, we are all very close business associates. In fact, we are all friends as well so you may call me Hermione since you will be joining us from now on."

Her business-like tone reminded him of their school days, when she had to be a know-it-all and answered every question the professors had asked. He scowled, but his father's foot kicking his shin shut up any retort he may have had to her comment. He nodded and was surprised when glasses of water and juice along with trays of fresh fruit, vegetables, and pastries appeared in the center of the table. Draco watched as everyone grabbed something except for Hermione. She was watching the group, and once she seemed satisfied that everyone had what they wanted she began to speak. "As you know, Jeremy has finally completed the latest upgrade to the central computer, so we will be able to launch the updates as soon as he and his team are finished doing the final tests."

Draco realized the wizard he did not know sitting to Hermione's right, was this Jeremy because he blushed and said thank you as everyone politely clapped for his achievement. Draco watched as the wizard Jeremy turned to him. "I'm not sure Draco, if you are familiar with what we do here at Magical Com, but one of our biggest products and services the past two years has been the development of a magical form of the Internet for use only by wizards."

"What the hell is the Internet?" Draco asked confused.

Hermione raised anther eyebrow at his question and turned to look at Draco's father. "Well, Lucius, you weren't kidding. He really is clueless."

Everyone laughed at this and Draco felt his face burning with embarrassment. How dare that filthy little Mudblood make him feel like a fool in front of everyone. "Well, excuse me, Miss Know-It-All, for not paying attention to your sodding company," Draco spat angrily.

Hermione's eyes narrowed at him and she raised her hand to stop Lucius from scolding his son. "It's fine, Lucius. Draco, I am sorry for embarrassing you," she said nothing more but turned her attention to Jeremy again. "Continue, Jeremy."

Jeremy nodded uncertain as to why Hermione was taking such an attitude from the blond prat, but he was not about to question her. He knew Hermione probably had her own reasons for excusing his poor manners.

"Anyway," he said clearing his throat. "The magical Internet is a resource for wizards and witches all over the world to communicate with one another and share information. Unlike the muggle Internet, not just anyone can post sites on it. We control it from becoming overloaded with vulgar material. This latest update will allow our magical net to be accessible from anywhere- comparable to muggle wireless but without the limitations"

Draco nodded but said nothing, and Blaise jumped in with a question for Jeremy. "So, Jer, tell me, mate, how did you finally manage to get the latest update to work?"

Jeremy laughed in response and cast an admiring glance towards Hermione which for some reason caused Draco to feel uncomfortable, especially when she smiled in response. "Well, Blaise, Hermione is actually more responsible than I am since she fine-tuned the spell we were trying to incorporate."

Blaise shook his head in wonder. "Hermione, you never cease to amaze me."

She chuckled. "Thanks Blaise. So, everyone, this is a big launch for us. Pansy, I'm glad you are back in time to work on the public relations end. You work closely with Daphne's marketing department and make sure the launch is known by everyone and is a huge success. I expect for sales of this new service to go through the roof the first week."

She turned to look at Theo. "Theo, make sure you have the budget numbers to Pansy and Daphne by the end of the day today, so they know what they have to work with over the next month."

Theo nodded. "I almost have them done, Hermione. It should probably only take me an hour after the meeting is over to complete what I need to do."

"Great. Harry, do you want to update everyone on what you've been working on?" She asked her best friend her voice and eyes both softening as she addressed him.

He nodded giving her a small smile before he started speaking. "As you know, Justin and I have been working on a project the Ministry of Magic commissioned us to do." He saw the young Malfoy's confusion, so he decided to play nice and elaborate. "The Ministry commissioned Magic Com to develop security systems for magical families that would send an alert to a central system in the Ministry and let the Aurors know when a family was in trouble, so they could immediately send a response team to assist them."

Draco's eyes widened. He was completely impressed by what he was hearing at the table. That type of service would have been invaluable during the war. He wanted to ask questions, but his father cut him off by addressing Potter first.

"Harry, have you been able to overcome the interference of muggle electric devices and radio waves?" Lucius asked as he leaned forward with interest.

Harry shook his head. "No, Lucius, Justin and I are still wrestling with that one."

Justin nodded in agreement with what Harry was saying. "But, we think we are really close, Lucius. And, Jason is coming into town next week to help us work on it."

Lucius nodded. "Good, once this project is completed, the press that will be generated from it will probably cause contracts to come pouring in from all over the globe."

"Exactly," Hermione said smiling. "Now, Blaise, since you've been off on your honeymoon we had a new request come through for your department."

Blaise raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Oh?"

"Yes, it has been suggested that your department develop a world wide interactive dueling game," Hermione said reaching for her glass of water. "And, I think it's a splendid idea."

Blaise grinned. "That sounds wonderful and should be a lot of fun in developing."

"And Blaise, I'll be assigning Draco to work with you in your department," Hermione said.

Draco threw her a glance. "Now, wait a minute, Granger. Don't I even get a say in the matter?"

Hermione frowned at his tone and the continued use of her surname. "Well, _Draco, _I suppose I can assign you to another department, but your father and I had talked and agreed you would probably most enjoy working with Blaise and in his division."

Draco looked at his father who was nodding in agreement with Hermione's words. "Fine, whatever."

Hermione bit her lower lip to keep from smiling at Draco's obvious displeasure. She knew he was going to be difficult, but she had no idea he was still this immature. "Okay, well then, everyone, that's all I have for now. We will meet again, Friday afternoon."

Everyone rose to their feet, except for Hermione and Lucius, who had laid a hand on Draco's arm to keep him in his seat. The other board members said their goodbyes and left the room, leaving the three of them.

Hermione rose to her feet slowly, and Draco was shocked when his father was out of his chair and by her side in an instant taking her by the arm.

"Hermione, when was the last time you went home and had a full night's sleep?" Lucius asked concerned.

Hermione smiled up at Lucius. "Now, now, Lucius, I am sure it was sometime this month."

Draco noticed his father was not pleased by her joke.

"Hermione Jean Granger, you will be getting a full night's sleep if I personally have to come here every evening and drag you to your flat or even to the manor to ensure you are getting your rest. Narcissa is going to have a fit when I tell her," Lucius said sternly.

Hermione shook her head. "Don't you have other things to worry about beside my slumber habits?"

Draco had watched this exchange completely alarmed. His father was acting, well, fatherly to a Mudblood, and not just any Mudblood, but Hermione Granger the witch who had been tortured in his very own home during the war by his aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange.

Draco rose to his feet, angry. "Okay, I can't take anymore. What the hell is going on around here?"

When his father's eyes had narrowed, Draco held up a hand to silence him and continued. "I leave for five years, and I come back to find my father is in business with a Mudblood, who he actually seems to care about as if she were a daughter or something. And, I see Potter and Parkinson embracing as if they were best mates. And, I strongly suspect you, Granger, were the one they mentioned she called once a week while she was away on her honeymoon. I just don't understand how everything has become so twisted."

Lucius was furious with his son referring to Hermione as a Mudblood. "Draco Abraxas Malfoy, you will not refer to Hermione in such a manner ever again."

Draco actually felt fear as he realized his father had drawn his wand. Draco fingered his own wand in his robe pocket, but he did not pull it out yet.

Hermione stepped around Lucius and placed a hand on his wand to lower it. "Lucius, it's fine. Why don't you go? I'll speak with Draco and explain things."

Lucius nodded and billowed out of the room after giving his son a warning glare.

Draco turned and crossed his arm. "Well, Granger, I'm waiting for your explanation."

Hermione sighed and wondered if perhaps she had been a little hasty in telling Lucius she would be happy to have Draco as a part of her company's team.

**A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter. Please review.  
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	2. Chapter 2

Hermione motioned for Draco to follow her as the wall behind her opened and she walked through it.

Draco scowled but decided to follow the witch who he had spent his entire childhood bullying. He noticed they were in an immense office which he had to admit was impressive in size and decor. The wall in front of her desk was covered with four large screens which turned on when Hermione entered. At first, Draco thought they were muggle televisions but was surprised when he saw the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt talking with Rita Skeeter on one of the screens and there was definitely a Quidditch match on another screen.

"Granger, bloody hell! How do you have magical stuff on the muggle television?" Draco asked alarmed his gray eyes wide with shock.

Hermione smiled and hit a button on her large ebony desk which caused all of the screens to go dark. "It isn't muggle television. Actually, it is wizarding television. Also, it's your father's division to manage."

She saw how confused he was and sighed. "Draco, please sit down. I'll answer any questions you have and tell you anything I can to help you better understand what is going on here at Magical Com."

Draco hesitated and then sat on the black leather couch she indicated and was surprised when she sat down next to him. He took in her shapely legs sticking out from under her black skirt and noticed she was wearing a sexy pair of black stiletto high heels. The thoughts her legs and shoes were giving him were disturbing so he decided to start talking to force his mind to focus on other things. "First, tell me why my father is so chummy with you?"

She frowned at this question. "He hasn't told you anything about our company, or his relationship with Harry and I now?"

"No, I wouldn't ask if he had, Granger." Draco snapped out annoyed.

She took a deep breath and rose from her seat. "I'll get us a drink, this may take a little longer than I expected."

Draco watched as she took off her black suit jacket to reveal more of her tight fitting white button-up blouse. He could see the outline of her bra underneath and almost groaned out loud when his body physically reacted to how attractive she was. He crossed his legs so she would not notice his sudden arousal.

"Would you like a glass of iced tea?" Hermione asked from behind him.

"Yes," Draco said flatly. He was angry with himself for his inability to control his physical attraction to Granger.

Hermione shook her head and brushed one of her curly brown strands that had fallen out of her loose bun away from her face. She knew Draco would be difficult. She had become incredibly close with Lucius and Narcissa in the past three and a half years, so she was aware he was still stuck in the past and still a bigot holding on to the pureblood supremacy views Lucius had once instilled in him. Hermione sighed as she remembered the conversation she had with Lucius two months ago when the normally strong and stoic head of the Malfoy family had nearly broken down when he confessed his fear that his only son would continue to hold on to his hatred and never be able to love completely because of all Draco had suffered. Hermione clenched her jaw determinedly. She would continue to tolerate Draco's snippy attitude and rude comments because she wanted more than anything for the sadness to leave Lucius and Narcissa's eyes and getting Draco to grow up would accomplish that goal.

"What's taking so long, Granger?" Draco growled turning around to see her looking at him. "What's the matter? Can't take your eyes off of me?"

Hermione laughed. "Oh, Draco, you're still way too impressed with yourself. You aren't that good looking."

He took the glass from her and gave her a dark look. "Yes, I am, but let's not get side tracked by my god-like good looks. Why are you so cozy with my father?"

Hermione sat down next to him and took a sip of her drink. "That's a long story so for now I will give you the short version and you can speak with your parents about the full story later." When he opened his mouth to protest, Hermione quickly continued talking. "It has been over three years that your parents and I have been close. My own parents chose not to return to England after the war choosing instead to remain in Australia once I restored their memories."

"You obliviated your parents?" Draco asked surprised.

Hermione nodded. "Not exactly, after our sixth year I knew they were no longer safe so I modified their memories. I gave them a new identity that was daughter-free and sent them to Australia where I prayed they would be safe."

Draco whistled and took a moment to examine Granger again. He knew she was the cleverest witch in his year at Hogwarts but was honestly amazed she had the foresight to hide her muggle parents. "Smart thinking on your part, Mudblood."

Hermione scowled and then did her best to calmly respond to the blond prat sitting on her office couch. "Draco, if you want me to continue speaking with you, you will refrain from insulting me."

He raised an eyebrow at her. She had never used his first name in school. He smirked at her and nodded conceding her request. Draco was not an idiot and knew Granger well enough she would cut off the question and answer session, and he wanted answers more than almost anything right now. "I apologize Granger, please continue."

Hermione slowly nodded accepting her apology. "Our world was in chaos after the war, you were only here for a short while after the battle at Hogwarts, but the terror and fighting did not end immediately after Voldemort's downfall. There were still Death Eaters who wanted revenge. They hid and bided their time. They came after your parents about a year after you had left. They would have killed them if Harry and I had not been there," Hermione said quietly her voice was slightly strained as she let the memory of the terrifying night overcome her.

"Why were the two of you with my parents in the first place?" Draco asked interrupting her.

"We had arranged to meet them at the manor to question them about the remaining rebelling Death Eaters," Hermione said and then took a sip of her tea collecting her wits to continue the story. "It was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do going back to the manor for the first time after the final battle…after being tortured there by Bellatrix." Hermione shivered for a moment but then her cool collected professional composure was once again in place. "However, I'm so happy Harry and I braved our fears and haunting memories because otherwise, I think your parents surely would have died that night. They are incredible wizards but even with us there we were out matched three-to-one."

"I would have thought my parents dying would make you happy, Granger." Draco said bitterly. His parents had never told him they had been targeted after Voldemort's death and was displeased to know he was ignorant of the attack Granger was referring to.

Hermione watched his face. She knew he was unaware of the numerous attempts on his parents' lives. "Draco, I understand you are angry they did not tell you about what happened all of those years ago, but they did it to protect you to keep you from returning home to the danger

surrounding them and to respect your wish of being allowed to live a life disassociated from the Malfoy family name."

Draco nodded and said nothing choosing instead to stare at his glass of tea. He was upset by the information Granger had shared with him and further irritated by the fact that she had just read his emotions something he prided himself on being able to conceal from everyone.

Hermione sensed he was not going to respond to what she had told him so she continued. "After we saved your parents' lives that night, your parents both began to change their attitudes and opinions. The coldness that once surrounded the two of them began to chip and fade away. It did not happen all at once but over the period of a couple of years they became better people free of their old pureblood superiority beliefs. During that time period, I worked with them as Harry and I founded our company. In the absence of my own parents, Lucius and Narcissa became like a second set of parents to me and to Harry."

"So that's it? You saved their lives and you're all chummy now?" Draco scathed slamming his glass down on her coffee table.

"No, like I said, it's far more complicated and really perhaps more a question for your parents. It took time, Draco. The old wounds and hurtful memories from the war faded. From the ashes and rubble of all we had lost, we began to build a better magical community with the goal of creating a society with far less division and snobbery," Hermione said quietly.

He snorted and rose to his feet running a hand through his short cropped blond hair. "And so now everyone's just the best of mates? No more Gryffindor-Slytherin hatred and rivalry?"

Hermione chuckled and gave him a rueful smile. "Well, I am quite sure the rivalry is still alive at Hogwarts but all of the rest of us have grown up. Many like the Potters and Notts have started their own families and want to make sure their children grow up in a better world. Daphne has told me so many times she wishes to raise her children to be more accepting than her own mother and father raised her to be."

Draco nodded and turned away from the woman who was staring at him with such sympathetic brown eyes. He hated that look-the pity. He had left England because he did not want to be stared at for his family's name and history of dark magic and poor judgment, but now he found for some reason Hermione's eyes of pity were far worse to face than angry accusing faces. He waved a hand dismissively. "Well bully for them then, I guess. Tell me about this company of yours."

Hermione repressed her urge to try to get him to open up about the torrent of emotions she could see waging war in his eyes. "Well, there is a lot to tell. We specialize in integrating muggle technology and magic. I began creating some of the technology almost immediately after the war and as you can see we've grown quite a bit from a few devices designed for security purposes. Magic Com has created our television networks as you saw earlier. Your father heads that division and all of its stations, research teams, film crews, etcetera. We have also created our own magical internet as was mentioned in the meeting. The division you will work with Blaise in is our magical game division. It's one of our largest money makers. We've also created our own wizarding telephone and wireless telephone network."

Draco whistled impressed. "Granger, how in the hell did you accomplish all of this in such a short amount of time?"

Hermione shook her head amused at his response. "Well, I did not do it alone. We have the best and brightest witches and wizards in the world employed here."

"So that's why you wanted me here then?" Draco said arrogantly letting a small smirk take residence at the corner of his mouth.

Hermione laughed causing Draco to frown. "Oh, I'm sorry Draco. I didn't mean to insult you by laughing. It's just I can't believe you're really still so full of yourself."

Draco grunted and uncrossed his legs. Her ego-damaging laughter had killed any arousal he had been feeling. "Whatever, Granger! I'm full of myself with good reason."

"I'm not going to argue with you about something so ridiculous, Draco. How about I start to give you a tour of our facility here?" Hermione said exasperated by his unending supply of arrogance.

"So, you're cutting our question and answer time short?" Draco asked with a full blown smirk. He knew he was getting under her skin.

"No, but if you don't feel that you can handle walking and asking questions at the same time then by all means we can sit here and talk," Hermione said flashing him a large obviously fake smile of concern.

"No need to be such a smart ass, Granger. Let's go," he said rising to his feet and straightening his robes.

She grabbed her jacket and threw it back on buttoning it as she walked him to a door across the room. She opened the door and was surprised when she saw a little boy go running down the hallway. "Oh my gosh, Teddy, slow down! You'll hurt yourself," she cried as she took off after him.

Draco watched her in amusement impressed at how she managed to catch the little tyke even in her heels. "Your kid, Granger?" He asked coming to stand beside her and the little boy who had leapt into her arms and wrapped his arms around her neck.

"No, Teddy is the son of Remus and Tonks Lupin. He's being raised by his godfather, Harry," Hermione said quietly as she hugged the little boy back. "That makes him your cousin as well."

Draco observed the child and wrinkled his nose in disgust. The comment he was about to say about half-breeds was cut off by a very pregnant Ginny Potter rounding the corner panting. "Teddy, I swear you're going to make me go into labor early."

The little boy raised his head from Hermione's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Momma Ginny, but I was so excited to see Daddy Harry that I didn't want to wait."

Ginny scowled at him. "Thanks for snagging him, Hermione."

"No problem. Why don't Draco and I walk you over to Harry's office? It will give me a little bit more time with my favorite boy." Hermione suggested ignoring Draco's frown of displeasure.

"Oh, Malfoy, sheesh, I didn't even see you standing there sorry. Well, yes, Hermione that would be great. Harry is taking the three well four of us out to lunch," Ginny said as she patted her stomach affectionately.

Draco followed behind the two women who were chatting incessantly with one another. He was remarkably annoyed that Granger had the gall to think he would want to walk Potter's pregnant wife anywhere. He watched how confidently Granger carried herself and realized as company president she was used to making decisions and having people follow them. She was smiling at the red head and his ears perked up as he tuned back into their conversation.

"Honestly Hermione, you really need to stop working so much. You'll never settle down and get married if you stay locked up in this building all of the time. You need to get out there and meet a nice bloke, have some crazy sex and pop out a few frizzy haired miniature versions of yourself," Ginny said.

Hermione groaned and covered Teddy's ear that was not against her shoulder. "Ginny, your pregnancy is causing you to go barmy! Stop saying such things in front of Teddy."

Ginny frowned at her friend and then waved her hand dismissively. "Well if you'd take my

advice, I would not be reduced to saying such things in front of him."

Draco tunned them back out as they bickered back and forth. He was truly surprised that Granger was single. She had physically developed into a knock out and if her beauty was not enough to land her a wizard then her station as the head of the most powerful and financially successful company should have been. He looked at her back and wondered what had happened to make her stay single when all of her friends were apparently settled. He thought back to their school days. He had always thought she and that dimwit Weasel would end up married and having a kid, maybe two if the git could even get it up long enough to procreate. Draco sighed with relief when they reached Harry's office and the little boy and Potter's wife went inside.

"Well Mister Sulky, are you ready to start our tour?" She said turning to flash Draco a smile.

"What happened to Weaselbee?" Draco asked suddenly.

"What?"

"I didn't stutter, Granger. What happened to the other part of your little trio?" Draco said taking a step closer to her. He wanted her to have to tilt her head to look up at him.

Hermione frowned. "Draco Malfoy, I agreed to answer any questions you have about this company and even answered your question about my relationship with your parents but anything else relating to my personal life or that of my friends' is none of your damn business." She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a tiny black device. She opened the device and punched several buttons on the keypad.

Draco was shocked when she started speaking into the strange looking device. "Blaise, can you come collect Draco? We're in front of Harry's office."

She closed the device and before Draco could say anything, Blaise apparated beside her. "I'm here, Hermione."

She gave him a small smile. "I know, I can see that." When he chuckled, she continued. "I want you to give Draco a tour of the facility and then set him to work with you. I have other matters to attend to." She did not even glance at Draco before apparating back to her office.

Blaise whistled. "What did you do to get Hermione so steamed?"

Draco scowled. "I just asked her one stupid question and she freaked out."

Blaise gave him a suspicious look. "What question?"

"I asked her what happened to the Weasley bloke she was so chummy with in school," Draco said shrugging still not sure why she had blown a gasket.

Blaise frowned. "That was quite rude. The boss's personal life isn't any of your concern."

"Why the shit is it such a secret? Look whatever, I don't care. I was merely curious. Let's just do the damn tour and get it over with," Draco said stalking down the hall ahead of his friend.

Blaise shook his head, wondering just what in the world Lucius was thinking putting Hermione and Draco in the same company together. They were bound to butt heads no matter how much Hermione wanted to get along with Draco for Lucius and Narcissa's sake. Blaise wondered just what future fireworks were in store for his two friends because if Hermione's abrupt departure was any indication of what was to come then things at Magic Com were about to get really interesting.

**A/N:** Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review and give me your feedback.


	3. Chapter 3

Draco was amazed by everything Blaise had shown him on their tour of the incredibly impressive building housing Magical Com. What amazed Draco even more was Hermione had somehow managed to put a large magical building above ground, completely charmed and

enchanted so no muggle would realize what the building was or stumble into it by mistake. Draco followed Blaise into a large room where Wizards were standing in place wearing some strange looking glasses and waving brightly colored wands.

"Blaise, what in the bloody hell are they doing?" Draco asked.

Blaise chuckled. "They're playing our interactive video games. If I'm not mistaken, they are testing the latest game we created and will be releasing in the next week or so, Dark War Adventures."

"Dark War Adventures?" Draco questioned.

"Yes, it is a game where the wizard playing it gets to help bring the down fall of Voldemort," Blaise said sighing as several memos magically zoomed into his hands.

Draco's face turned ashen. He had instinctively reached into his robes for his wand as his eyes scanned the room for the appearance of Death Eaters, when none automatically appeared, he took a deep breath but still found himself unable to speak. He could not believe how casually Blaise had just uttered the Dark Lord's name.

Blaise turned and saw his friend's pale complexion and gave him a questioning glance.

"You just said his name, as if it was nothing," Draco choked out.

"Oh sorry," Blaise apologized, "I forgot you've been gone since the end of the war. The Ministry passed a law about a month after the end of the war declaring all witches and wizards were to refer to Voldemort by his proper name. They were hoping the casual use of the name would reduce the fear of the name. I have to say their plan has worked brilliantly," Blaise said moving over to his office door and stopped shocked at the sight of another door about six meters to the left of his. "Creevy, where the hell are you?" Blaise barked.

Dennis Creevy pulled off one of the video game headsets and quickly came to stand in front of Blaise running a hand through his mousey brown hair. "I'm here, Mr. Zabini."

"Great, now you can tell me why in the hell a door has suddenly appeared next to mine." Blaise said frowning at the younger wizard.

Dennis shrugged as he fidgeted with his game wand. "Hermione had it done late yesterday when she had confirmation that the young Mr. Malfoy had arrived in England and would be joining us."

"I get my own office?" Draco asked surprised that Granger would go through the trouble.

"Yes, sir," Dennis replied nervously. "She actually insisted we get it done. She personally oversaw the project last night," he said as he tried to keep his hands from shaking. Dennis found the blonde man in front of him slightly intimidating and was hoping Blaise would dismiss him soon.

Blaise could sense his employee's unease. "Thanks Dennis, back to work, but spread the word we will be having a staff meeting in about two hours and everyone must attend."

Dennis nodded and jetted back to his workstation. Draco glanced around and realized he did not recognize any of the other people in their department. "Blaise, what do we do now?"

"Well, I have a ton of things on my desk to sort through and knowing Hermione she arranged for you to have work waiting for you on your desk. I suggest you go to your office and get settled in. I'll fetch you before our department meeting," Blaise said before pushing open the door to his office and disappearing inside.

Draco sighed and walked down to his own office door pushing it open reluctantly. He figured Granger would have given him some tiny closet and called it an office, but he was pleasantly surprised by sight that greeted his eyes. He let out a whistle at the size of his office. He reasoned it was almost as big as Hermione's. However, he had only one TV screen and sofa, but he was

not about to complain especially since she had made sure the room was tastefully decorated to suite him. He wondered if his mother had given her advice on what he would prefer. Draco walked over to the dark ebony desk which had one of those devices he now knew were called a computer along with a phone and a strange looking device that Blaise had not shown to him. The device was round and had the words 'Press Here' etched on its crimson top. Draco figured the goody, goody Granger would not hurt him so he pushed the button and was so startled by the appearance of his former house elf that he stumbled back into the leather chair behind the desk.

"Dobby is here to assist you, Master Malfoy. What can Dobby do to help?"

"I thought you were dead," Draco said tactlessly.

"Dobby the house elf is dead. He died in the war: a hero having given his life to secure the well being of Harry Potter. I am a hologram- a program designed to help wizards and witches with their Magical Com equipment as well as being a database of knowledge for them to use when they are in search of answers to their questions," the hologram of Dobby answered his wide eyes blinking up at shocked expression of Draco Malfoy.

"Why on Earth would you be the one Magical Com used as their helpful….what did you call it again?" Draco asked perplexed.

"Hologram, Mr. Malfoy. And to answer your question, Dobby is the icon used by choice of the one who designed the program," Dobby answered his big eyes surveying the figure in front of him part of his programming was to read the users mood and adjust his voice and answers accordingly.

"And, who designed you? Potter?" Draco asked annoyed. He still remembered when Boy Wonder had released Dobby from the Malfoy family's service through trickery.

"No, Harry Potter did not design this program. I was designed by Hermione Granger. She felt using me as the Magical Com Helpful Hologram would be a way to honor the house elf who saved her and her friends' lives at the cost of his own. Mistress Granger also uses all proceeds from the sale of this product and programming to go to benefit magical creatures everywhere along with the families victimized by Voldemort and the Death Eaters during the last war," Dobby replied.

Draco snorted. "Figures, she's such a do-gooder."

Dobby the hologram frowned. "Mistress Granger is certainly a good person. She never thinks of herself first and has dedicated herself to creating products and services that improve the lives of witches and wizards all over the world."

"I'm sure she programmed you to say that." Draco sneered irritated that even this bloody hologram seemed to have been won over by Granger.

"Actually no, Magical Com Helpful Holograms are designed to form their own opinions and personalities. I have worked as the Helpful Hologram in this building for new employees for two years now and my opinions are my own."

Draco grunted but he said nothing taking a moment to try and process everything that he had observed this morning but his thoughts kept coming back to Granger. He did not understand how the bushy haired, buck-toothed girl he known in school had grown up to be such a beautiful witch not to mention the president of such a powerful and successful company. He ran a hand through his short hair and sighed. "Dobby, you said you are source of information. Can you tell me more about Granger?"

Hologram Dobby sighed. "Dobby can show Mr. Malfoy how to find the information himself. It is part of the training program I am designed to do."

"Fine if you must," Draco said watching as the Hologram nodded.

"Now Mr. Malfoy, first you must start your computer by pushing the silver button in the center of the black tower beside your right leg." Dobby watched as Mr. Malfoy complied. "Now, press the silver button on the right hand side of the monitor in front of you on your desk."

Draco pursed his lips. He was not enjoying the feeling of stupidity and knew he had to learn how to use this equipment since he was going to work here. If Draco was completely honest with himself, he did want to work here. He found everything happening in this company exciting. During his tour, Blaise and he had started brainstorming ideas for the dueling video game which he was excited to start working on. Blaise had said he would put Draco in charge of coming up with the curses, spells, charms, and hexes that a player could use or have thrown at them.

"Wonderful, now Mr. Malfoy, your computer has finished booting so to find information you must use Wizardnet. Take the oval shape object by your right hand. It is called a 'mouse' and move it." Dobby waited while Draco complied then he continued. "Excellent, you're a natural! Now see the arrow moving on the screen before you, move the arrow to the large gold 'W' on your screen and press the left button on the mouse twice once the arrow is overtop the 'W.' Very good, now you are on the standard homepage for Wizardnet. See the box in the center, type in the words that describe what you would like to search for and then use the mouse to press the search button next to the box where you will be typing," Dobby instructed.

Draco nodded and began to use the keyboard in front of him. He typed in 'Hermione Granger' and hit search. His jaw fell open when his search produced over three million records returned. He listened while Dobby told him how to click and pull up the information. Draco scanned through the results until he found one that peaked his interest. Draco's eyes scanned the wizardsite and he frowned, no wonder she had been defensive. He decided to reread the article from three years ago: Weasley-Granger Engagement Called Off.

The wizarding world was shocked today when pictures of war hero, Ronald Weasley kissing a French witch hit the media. Ronald Weasley is best known for being one of the two people who aided Harry Potter in his quest to destroy Lord Voldemort. Of late, he also has been in the media for being the fiancé of Hermione Granger who is the President of Magical Com.

Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger had begun dating shortly after the final battle at Hogwarts, and the two were engaged about a year later. During their engagement this past year, rumors had been spread that the couple was facing some troubled times, but they always seemed happy together. The couple have attended many social gatherings together, and they work together at Magical Com. Ronald Weasley was the head of Magical Com's Paris division, but he spent his free time in London with Miss Granger.

Mr. Weasley was not available for comment, and Miss Granger's public relations manager, Miss Pansy Parkinson would only say that Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley are no longer engaged. Harry Potter long time best friend of both Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger was also unavailable for comment.

Draco scanned the short article a third time frowning. He looked at the pictures accompanying the article and shook his head. The girl Weasley was snogging was a Veela. Draco was not really surprised. He remembered back in their fourth year that he had heard rumors of Weasley making a fool of himself over the Beauxbatons champion Fleur who was actually now married to Weasley's older brother Bill.

Draco's eyes settled on another picture one of Granger and Weasley together at a social event. Hermione was wearing a stunning red gown with her hair pulled up so that tendrils of her hair

fell around her face. She looked breathtaking in the picture as she laughed at something Weasley was whispering in her ear. "I always knew you were an idiot Weasel," Draco muttered.

The hologram Dobby grunted in agreement. "I must say I quite agree, Mr. Malfoy. Any man who has the opportunity to be loved by Miss Granger would be a fool to let her slip away especially for a quick fling."

"So Weasley is not with the little French chit any longer?" Draco asked turning to look at the hologram which was shaking its head no. Instead of answering Draco, the hologram merely pointed back at the computer screen. Draco followed Dobby's instructions on how to get back to his search results and opened one of the articles recommended by Dobby. His frown deepened as he read.

A source from Paris has informed us that Ronald Weasley and the young lady he was caught kissing three months ago, which lead to his engagement with Miss Hermione Granger being called off, have broken up. According to sources, Mr. Weasley ended his relationship with the young women to try and woo back Miss Granger. However, sources close to Miss Granger report that she has no interest in giving her long time friend and former fiancé another chance.

Mr. Weasley did tell members of the press that he made the biggest mistake of his life and wants nothing more than to undo the damage to his relationship with Miss Granger and win back her affection.

The young lady Mr. Weasley was involved with in Paris was unable to be located for comment.

"Bloody daft prick, did he really think Granger was the kind of girl that would take back a bloke after he got tired of shagging some slag for three months?" Draco growled. He did not know why, but the picture of Hermione crying taken shortly after her engagement to Weasley had ended made his blood boil. He knew he shouldn't care so much about a Mudblood but hell no woman deserved to be treated so callously.

He went back to reading articles on Hermione impressed by how much she had accomplished since she founded the company. He had just come to an article from just five months ago that he wanted to read because it mentioned a former American Quidditch Star joining the firm but a knock at his door interrupted him. "Come in," he growled.

"Draco, time for our meeting with our employees," Blaise said pushing open the door.

Draco nodded and closed out his search results. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to know he was interested in learning more about Hermione Granger.

* * *

><p>When Draco returned to the manor with his father that evening. He was more exhausted than he had ever expected to be from one day of office work. He felt a small smile tug at his lips when they had flooed into the manor's main living room and found his mother waiting. She kissed both him and his father on the cheek before leading them to the dining room.<p>

"So Draco, how was your first day?" Narcissa asked her son gently.

"Interesting…exhausting," Draco replied.

Lucius laughed. "Well, it is a lot to take in all at once, son. Don't worry you'll be ready to head up your own department soon enough."

Draco nodded. "Why didn't the two of you tell me in any of your correspondence that you were almost killed after the war? Or, why didn't you mention that you were now all chummy with Harry Potter and his pals?"

Narcissa wrinkled her nose at her son's agitated tone. "Well first off Draco, you wanted peace after the war, so your father and I decided to give it to you through our silence about what really happened back here after the war ended. Also, we are not chummy with all of Harry's pals."

Draco's eyes widened at the icy tone Narcissa had finished her statement in. "You're referring to that red-headed wanker, Weasley."

Narcissa nodded, but Lucius was the one who answered. "Draco, you're a smart boy, obviously by now, you must be aware of just how much Hermione means to your mother and I. We love her like she is our own daughter. Although we were not as close with her when she was going through all of this nonsense with Weasley three years ago, we have seen the long lasting effects his betrayal has had on her."

Draco nodded. "Well that explains why she was furious with me this morning."

Narcissa frowned at her son. "You didn't ask her about him did you?"

Draco nodded wishing he felt slightly guilty but he was glad he had opened the can of worms-Granger angry was almost sexy...almost. "I did. But, how in the hell was I supposed to know that Harry Potter's best friend and sidekick would grow up to be such an ass?"

Lucius shook his head. "Well the damage is done just try not to mention him to her again. She doesn't like to talk about him except when necessary for work."

"Wait, he still works for Magical Com?" Draco asked bewildered.

Narcissa sniffed and nodded. "Yes, I've tried to convince Hermione to fire him for some time but she refuses."

"What the hell for?" Draco questioned.

"Draco, Hermione is one of the kindest people I know, and even though Ron has hurt her deeply, she forgave him and will not fire him just because it pains her to see him and know of everything she lost," Lucius said moving across the room to pour himself a glass of scotch.

"I think she's a twit for letting him work for her. I'd have booted his arse right out of the company," Draco said darkly.

Lucius glanced at his wife and raised an eyebrow.

She gave him a small smile and slight shake of her head. "Well, you won't like this but you sound like Harry Potter right now. That was exactly what he said when he was standing here in our living room when all of this happened."

Draco's skin tanned by the California sun paled slightly. "I'm going to pretend mother that you did not compare me to Potter."

Lucius laughed. "Come on, I smell dinner the house elves must have it ready."

Narcissa placed a hand on Lucius's arm. "Is she coming?"

He shook his head sadly. "No darling, she isn't. I'm quite worried about her. She looks thinner and more worn out every day."

Narcissa frowned and turned to her son. "Draco, would you do your mother a favor?"

Draco nodded. He never had been able to deny his mother a request.

She smiled at him as she spoke. "Could you floo back to the office and bring Hermione here for dinner?"

"You want me to bring Granger here for dinner?" Draco asked the request was not what he had expected.

"Yes. Your father and I will charm the dishes so they keep our meals warm and fresh until the two of you return," Narcissa said still smiling brightly.

"Bloody hell, remind me to ask what your request is the next time before I agree to anything," Draco muttered as he turned back to the floo. He did not even put on his wizarding robe which

he had discarded as soon as he had entered the living room.

Narcissa smiled as her son disappeared in a puff of green powder. She turned to her husband who was surveying her with an amused expression. "What?" She asked him.

"You're trying to play matchmaker," Lucius accused.

"Not really," Narcissa denied but then laughed as Lucius merely raised his eyebrow at her. "Okay maybe a little, I mean wouldn't it be wonderful Lucius if the girl we loved as our daughter and our only son fell in love with one another."

Lucius chuckled. "Yes Narcissa love, that would be rather nice, but don't get your hopes up. Those two are like a lit match and explosives. They may kill each other before they ever realize just how well suited they would be for one another." He took a sip of his scotch. "Besides, Draco is still holding on to his old prejudices."

"Well, if any witch can change his mind about muggleborns being inferior it's our Hermione," Narcissa said wistfully as an image of her son and Hermione together played in her mind.

"Agreed," Lucius said as he s his glass down and moved to stand next to his wife. "Now, I've had a hard day of work wife. How about you give me a kiss and show me just how much you've missed me?"

Narcissa laughed and wrapped her arms around her husband's waist as he threaded his fingers through her long blonde hair. She thanked the bright stars above every night for the outcome of the war and all that had happened. Lucius and she had never been happier and now their son was home everything was almost perfect…if only Draco would find some real peace in his life along with love.

**A/N: **Thank you for reading. Please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Draco realized the entire building was deserted as he scanned the lobby. He had not paid much attention to lobby this morning but now he realized it was a shrine to the victims of the war. He sighed at the sight. Draco did not want to be reminded of the war, so he apparated to the floor where Granger's office was located. He moved down the dark hall towards the light peaking out from under her door. He knocked and entered when he heard her give permission for him to enter.

Hermione's head snapped up surprised to see Draco Malfoy standing in her office doorway. She could not help but notice how good he looked in his black trousers and button down dark green shirt. However when she thought back to how rude he had been earlier, she frowned. "What are you doing here, Draco? I thought you would have left with Lucius."

He watched her sitting behind her desk. Her hair had been pulled out of its bun and was cascading down around her shoulders. He realized she had undone the top few buttons of her blouse and he could clearly see a large amount of her cleavage. Draco felt his body flush with heat. "I did leave Granger, but my mother sent me back here to fetch you for dinner."

Hermione turned her gaze away from him and back to her desk where she was working on some security spells for Wizardnet. "Please tell your mother that I appreciate her offer, but I will be unable to join your family for dinner this evening."

Draco let out an exaggerated sighed. "Granger, if you are as close to my mother as you claim to be, you will know she never gives up on what she wants."

Hermione chuckled but did not look up from what she was working on. "Okay, I'll be along shortly."

Draco shook his head. "Nice try Granger, but I'm not going back without you and facing my mother's wrath if you decide not to show."

Hermione shot him an annoyed glance. "Fine, then take a seat. I have to finish this spell before I go anywhere. It will only take a few minutes."

Draco nodded and flopped down on the couch he had sat on earlier. He was surprised when the television in front of him turned on to a Quidditch game being played in Ireland. He glanced back at Granger and saw she was engrossed in whatever spell she was working on. He shrugged and watched the game. He was surprised when a shrill ringing sound filled Hermione's office and the television screen transformed into the face of Ronald Weasley.

"What the bloody hell?" Draco sputtered stunned as he nearly fell off the couch in shock.

"Sorry, Draco," Hermione said sighing. "He has direct access to the visual phone system I created for my office." She turned her attention to the big screen. "What do you want Ron?"

Ron, who was sitting in his own office in Paris, staring at his own screen which showed Hermione's office was surprised to see Draco Malfoy casually lying on his ex's office couch. "What in the hell is he doing in your office after hours?"

Hermione was about to respond but was shocked when Draco beat her to it.

He had risen to his feet and was glaring at the screen. "Well, Weasley if you must know, I'm here to take her to dinner."

Ron swore loudly. "Bloody hell Hermione, you can't be seeing this playboy. He's been with every witch in America from what the press says."

Hermione frowned at Ron. "Ron, who I eat dinner with is none of your business, but just to save myself a headache later Draco and I are not dating. He has come to escort me to dinner with Lucius and Narcissa at the manor."

Ron nodded. "Well, I'm just buzzing you to say the deal with the Paris Ministry closed today, so I'll be owling the contracts over to you tonight."

Hermione smiled. "Wonderful, I'll read through them tomorrow." Hermione was just about to push the button to disconnect Ron but his voice stopped her.

"Hermione, I was hoping I could see you this weekend. I'm coming home to visit my parents," Ron said nervously.

Hermione sighed, and she realized Draco had turned to watch her. She shook her head. "I can't, Ron."

"Why not?" Ron demanded irritated by her refusal to spend time with him anymore.

"Because, she is attending my private birthday party," Draco said interjecting himself into the conversation, "and, you are not invited."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at the blond boy. His protective behavior was shocking, especially after he had been such a jerk earlier in the day. "Yes, Ron, I'm sorry, but I do have plans."

Ron swore again and cut off the connection.

Draco watched as the screen returned to the Quidditch match. He sunk down in the couch trying to figure out why he had come to Granger's aid. He glanced up when he realized she was standing in front of him. "What?"

"Thank you," she said quietly, "I guess by now you've heard at least part of what happened between Ron and I, and well, it still isn't easy for me to see him. I loved him so much and for such a long time," she said sitting down next to him.

Draco nodded. "Yeah, I heard. I never understood what you saw in him in the first place."

"Yes well, I guess you can't help who you love," Hermione said in response.

Draco shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I've never been in love, but I reckon if I was in love I wouldn't be running around on the woman I was in love with."

Hermione frowned. "So, you're saying I don't love him."

Draco sighed for the third time since he arrived at Magical Com. Not wanting to fight with Granger anymore because he was too damn tired, he tried to pacify her. "No, I think you thought you loved him as more than a friend but he didn't love you, not really. I've always thought for love to be true it had to be reciprocal."

Hermione pursed her lips thinking over what the man next to her had said. "Perhaps… shall we go? I don't want your parents to wait too long for our arrival."

"Are you done with what you were working on?" Draco asked throwing a glance back to her desk.

"No, but I'll come back and finish it after dinner," Hermione said rising to her feet. She missed seeing Draco scan her body from the legs up.

Draco took a deep breath hoping to Merlin that when he stood up he would not be sporting a noticeable erection. Granger was hot. He could not deny his physical attraction to her. If she had just been born to different parents, he may have considered making a move on her, but since she was a Mudblood, he had no intention of acting on his attraction. "Let's go then."

Hermione was shocked when Draco abruptly walked out of her office a head of her. She followed him shaking her head. She wasn't sure she would ever figure out what was spinning around in his head. One minute, he was helping her with her ex-boyfriend and the next minute he was dashing out of her office as if he could not stand to be around her. She followed him, looking forward to having dinner with Lucius and Narcissa.

* * *

><p>In twenty-three years, Draco Malfoy had never shared a meal with his parents like the one he was eating right now. They were laughing and sharing stories with him of events that had happened over the past five years since he had left. He watched as his mother's eyes twinkled-something they had never done before. He sipped his wine and turned his attention to his father who currently was telling Hermione a story about when Draco was a little boy and he had been convinced a vampires lived in all of the manor bathrooms and had refused to take bath or shower for fear they would come and bite him.<p>

"Oh bother father, must you tell such embarrassing stories," Draco grumbled his cheeks turning slightly red.

Hermione laughed. "I'm just grateful my own parents aren't here to return the favor."

Lucius gave her a small smile. "When will we see your parents again?"

Hermione shrugged. "I'm not sure. They mentioned something about coming to London over Christmas."

"But Hermione, that's six months away," Narcissa exclaimed. "I can't believe they can handle going so long without seeing you."

"Well, I actually promised them that I would go see them over my birthday in September," Hermione said quietly. "And, we did meet in China when I was there for that business meeting last month, so it will really only be a few months without seeing me."

Narcissa bit her lower lip restraining herself from saying anything else. She knew Hermione was still hurt that her parents had chosen to stay in Australia when their memories had been returned. "Well, I guess you'll get two birthday parties. One down under and one here at the manor."

Hermione smiled. "I suppose it would be pointless to argue."

Narcissa chuckled. "Quite. So, tell me how is Ginny feeling?"

"She's doing well. Her hormones are getting the best of her though," Hermione said a smile playing across her lips as she thought of how coarsely her friend had spoken with her adopted

son present.

"Yes well, Harry seems quite exhausted," Lucius added. "But, they seem so happy and Teddy is getting so big. He was in my office this afternoon for a little bit."

Narcissa sighed. "I envy Molly Weasley. She has all of these lovely little grandchildren and more on the way."

Draco snorted. "Well, you can keep envying her mother because I won't be giving you any grandchildren anytime soon."

Narcissa sighed and Hermione retorted. "Yes well, I suppose you should just be happy he didn't give you grandchildren with any of the number of witches he was consorting with across the globe."

The three Malfoys turned and stared at Hermione who realized she had just spoken her thoughts out loud. Lucius and Narcissa chuckled at her slip of the tongue, but Draco was livid.

"How dare you speak of my life as if you understand it? And, what's it to you Granger if I shagged every witch in the world? Jealous?" He nearly snarled at her.

"Hardly," Hermione said rolling her eyes.

"Good because I'd never touch a filthy Mudblood like you," Draco said darkly his grey eyes flashing with anger. He wasn't sure why he was so angry. She was not wrong with her observation that he had been with a lot of witches but the way she had rolled her eyes at him as if the idea of her being interested in him and jealous of the other girls he had been with was ludicrous had set off his temper.

Silence filled the dinning room, and Hermione quietly set down her fork. She turned to give Lucius and Narcissa a small smile. "Thank you for inviting me to dinner. It was delicious, but I really must be going now." She rose to her feet and walked out of the dining room with Narcissa trailing after her.

Lucius turned to his son with gray eyes filled with unbridled anger. "What the hell is wrong with you, Draco?"

Draco glared back at his father defiantly. "What? She has no business speaking of my sex life as if she knows anything about it."

"And just because she made a joke, which I would wager is not far off the mark, you felt the need to degrade her and humiliate her in front of your mother and I? I'll say this just once Draco and you'd better listen. Grow up and get over the past before you ruin your future," Lucius said tossing his napkin down on the table in frustration before exiting the dining room.

Draco slouched back in his chair and sighed. "Damn it," he muttered out loud to himself.

"Yes Draco, damn it, is spot on," Narcissa said as she returned from the living room, dabbing her eyes with her napkin. "Did you have to be so cruel? Was what Hermione said truly so awful that you felt the need to lash out vindictively? Had you given her but a moment I'm sure she would have apologized."

Draco was alarmed to see his mother crying. He had rarely seen her shed tears before and found the sight most unpleasant. He sighed-emotional parents were something else he was going to have to adjust to. "I'm sorry mother," he said quietly.

She flashed him a small smile. "Don't apologize to me. Hermione is the one you need to apologize to," she said before laying down her napkin and exiting the dining room, leaving Draco alone.

"Bloody hell." Draco said as he poured more wine into his glass. He sat at the table for another hour until he found himself rather drunk from all the wine he had consumed. He stumbled to his feet and walked into the living room expecting to find his parents. He was disappointed they

were not there and figured if he wanted to be on good terms with them he would have to go apologize to Granger. He grabbed a handful of floo powder and stumbled through the fireplace.

Hermione had cried for a good ten minutes when she had returned from dinner at Malfoy Manor. She had hoped against hope that her and Draco would be able to get along now that they were both adults. She did not want her relationship with Lucius and Narcissa to suffer because their son hated her. She was currently finishing the spell she had been working on before she had left with Draco for dinner. She sighed as the spell was finally complete and got up from her desk to go and sit on the couch. She turned on the stereo system. She closed her eyes and let the soft music wash over her calming her frazzled nerves. She knew she needed sleep, but she had so much work to do. Her eyes snapped opened her eyes surprised when the door to her office opened to reveal Draco Malfoy.

"What do you want Malfoy?" She asked.

"Oh, so it's Malfoy now? What happened to Draco?" Draco asked. His grey eyes churning as he took in the sight of her sitting on the couch. Her blouse was once again unbuttoned at the top and she had taken off her nylons. He could see her slightly tan long legs.

"Well, you're still acting like the spoiled arrogant prat Malfoy, who I went to school with so that's what I'm going to call you until deserve to be called by your first name," Hermione said glaring at the tall man towering above her as he moved closer to the couch.

"Well, you're still a know-it-all who shouldn't stick her nose into things she doesn't understand," Draco spat.

Hermione sighed. "You're right. I was out of line with my comment at dinner about your personal life. I'm really sorry."

Draco grunted and stumbled onto the couch next to her. "Whatever."

"You're drunk," she observed.

He turned towards her and the moment their eyes met. He wished he had kept his distance because he was close enough to smell the perfume she was wearing. It was sweet and aroused his senses. "So what if I am? Tell me Granger, why are you here all alone this late at night instead of off having mind blowing sex with some bloke?"

"I told you Malfoy my personal life is none of your business," Hermione retorted but a slight blush stained her delicate cheeks at his crude question.

Draco leaned in closer so his face was millimeters from hers. "I think you're just a prude."

"You don't know anything about me," Hermione said a little breathlessly. He was entirely too close for comfort and his lips tinted red from the wine were hovering too near her own.

"Prove me wrong," Draco taunted.

"How am I supposed to that?" Hermione asked but Draco did not respond.

He merely crushed his lips down upon hers.

Hermione pulled back and slapped him across the face. "What the hell do you think you're doing Malfoy?"

Draco's eyes darkened as he rubbed his now red cheek. "Bloody hell, Granger. You really are a prude and no wonder if you slap every guy who kisses you," he said rising to his feet.

Hermione rose to her feet as well. "I do not slap every guy just the ones I don't want to kiss me."

"I see. Well don't worry Granger, I won't try that ever again," Draco growled as he stormed from her office.

Hermione sighed and raised her fingers to touch her lips. She was not sure why she had slapped him. She guessed it was because she was so shocked that he had kissed her- a kiss that no matter how brief it had been left her whole body feeling as if it had just received an electrical charge. She shook her head and went back to her desk. She still had a lot of work to do before tomorrow.

* * *

><p>Draco and Hermione avoided each other like the plague over the next several days. She had not even showed up at the manor for his birthday party that Saturday, not that Draco was surprised. She had sent him a gift though which had surprised him. He examined the wizarding watch she had given him. It was silver and gold banded. The watch was enchanted to show him not only the time, but also when his favorite Quidditch teams were playing. He had been touched by her card saying she knew the one his parents had given him when he had become of age had been lost during the war. However, in front of all of his guests at the party he had acted indifferently to the card and her gift.<p>

Draco closed his eyes as he listened to Dennis Creevy update him and Blaise on the progress of several projects within their department. Draco was still feeling a little overwhelmed by how much he had to learn but even Potter had complimented him the other day on how rapidly he was picking up knowledge about the business and their products and services. Draco had merely raised an eyebrow at Potter's praise and said nothing in reply. He found the idea of thanking Scar-Head for a compliment almost as revolting as eating unicorn dung.

Draco was relieved when Creevy finished his report and left Blaise's office. Draco rose to his feet and stretched aware his old friend was watching him intently. He turned and fixed Blaise with a glare. "Well Zabini, it isn't like you not to speak your mind, so tell me, what's running through that head of yours?"

"I'm just curious as to what you did to make Hermione so bloody mad that she hasn't called us in for a meeting in almost a week," Blaise said shrugging as he failed at trying to act nonchalant in asking the question that had been weighing on his mind for days.

Draco turned away from Blaise. He was not about to tell anyone that in his drunken state he had kissed Hermione Granger and been slapped for it. "I'm not sure what stick crawled up her bum, Blaise. I'm just glad I don't have to look at the little know-it-all," Draco said acting indifferent to Blaise's question.

Blaise chuckled. "Well, you would be the only single wizard in the world that doesn't want to be in her presence. Hell, she has offers of marriage pouring in all the time."

Draco turned his head to look at his old friend with a bored look. "And you feel the need to tell me this why? Granger is still nothing more than a bushy haired, busy-body in my opinion. I could care less about the blokes who are nuts enough to want to settle down with her."

Blaise shook his head. "Draco, either you're blind or just stupid, but Hermione Granger is gorgeous." Blaise sighed and summoned a bottle of beer from his refrigerator. He popped the top off and took a long gulp before continuing. "She started dating that fuck bucket Weasley."

"Not a fan I take it," Draco said smirking.

"Hell no, and I told the fool the last time he was here. If he liked his freckle covered nose the way it was, he wouldn't stop by my office ever again," Blaise ground out, and when Draco laughed at him, he smiled at the blond. "Sorry, just the thought of him pisses me off. You'll find it a common reaction around here. Anyway, when Hermione started dating Weasley, she really started to care about her appearance. She even let Ginny take her to witch who specialized in difficult hair, and her locks were magically tamed. She began to work out with Potter all the time, keeping in shape to fight against the remaining Death Eaters not to mention the physical

exercise helped get rid of the damage the Crucio curse that your Aunt Bella..."

"What was it like right after the war, Blaise?" Draco asked suddenly interrupting Blaise because he did not want to think or talk about his Aunt Bellatrix and especially did not want to remember Granger being tortured as he was forced to watch. He had never told anyone that Granger's screams had plagued his nightmares almost every night since that dreadful day in the manor.

Blaise fixed his friend with a meaningful look understating the need for a subject changing. "You were better off not here, mate. It was terrible in a different way for each of us. My mum was arrested and in jail for several months because she refused to turn in one of her ex-husbands who was wanted by the Ministry. Pansy ended up losing several of her family members including her father. She was so wracked with grief that she almost cracked from the strain of the emotional stress."

"My parents said they almost died," Draco added quietly.

"On more than one occasion, Draco. The Death Eaters who escaped from the battle at Hogwarts made several attempts on all of our families who turned themselves in, and in Daphne's case they succeeded killing her younger sister, Astoria. She still can't talk about it," Blaise said quietly.

"Damn, I can't say I ever cared for Astoria, but no one else needed to die after Potter killed…" Draco broke off unable to say his name quite yet.

Blaise nodded. "They didn't see it that way, and since I think they were honestly afraid of Potter, they took out their revenge on the ones they deemed traitors."

Draco was about to say something else when the screen in Blaise's office suddenly turned on to reveal a good looking blonde witch. "Mr. Zabini, oh, good, Mr. Malfoy is with you as well. Ms Granger would like the two of you to report to her office to give her an update on the dueling game's development."

"Let Hermione know that Draco and I will be right up," Blaise said giving the witch on screen a big smile.

When she nodded and cut the connection, Draco turned to Blaise. "Who the hell is that?"

"Kelly, Hermione's personal assistant. She's also Jeremy's girlfriend so don't get any ideas. Hermione must be really swamped if she didn't even buzz me herself. Come on, we'd better apparate," Blaise said gathering up the files they had just been discussing with Creevy. He nodded at Draco and disappeared.

"Well, this should be fun." Draco muttered before apparating himself.

**A/N: Thank you for reading! Please review.**


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione scanned the computer screen in front of her frowning at the E-mail she had received from Minister Shacklebolt. She pressed a button on her phone and smiled when she heard a silky masculine voice say hello. "Jason? Is that you?"  
>"Yeah, I just got in this morning and dropped my stuff off at the hotel. I came to Harry's office right away so we could start running some of the spells I created to try and fix the muggle technology interference that we've been experiencing with some of our products," Jason replied.<br>"Oh, well I have a meeting with Blaise and Draco Malfoy then I have some free time so stop down so we can catch up in about fifteen minutes," Hermione said smiling.  
>"No problem. Did you want Harry?"<br>"No, just tell him I'm forwarding him an E-mail from Kingsley and he needs to read it right away," Hermione replied.  
>"Alright I'll tell him. See you soon," Jason said before ending the connection.<br>Hermione heard two pops and glanced at the door as Blaise and Draco entered. She observed that Draco's lips were drawn into a tight line. She sighed not wanting that drunken kiss to ruin their working relationship. She gave them both a warm smile and was relieved when Draco's tension visibly lessened.  
>"Have a seat you two," she said gesturing to the couches.<br>Blaise and Draco both sat down next to one another and Hermione came over to take a seat on the other couch. Blaise laid his paperwork out on the coffee table which automatically expanded to accommodate how much space he needed.  
>Hermione glanced at some of the notes and then picked up one of the pieces of parchment. "Draco, this list of spells and hexes is wonderful. I like how you've separated everything out into levels."<br>"I thought the game could actually be used to help users work their way up to Dual Masters or Dual Champions, whatever we decide to call the ultimate level," Draco replied casually but secretly he was pleased at her praise of his work.  
>She lifted her eyes and gave him another smile. "That is an excellent idea."<br>"I've been working with a few of the employees to implement a program in the game that allows the users to customize the wand they will be using as well. This attribute will make the game much more realistic and give users a better idea of how a spell, hex, charm, etcetera would work in real life," Blaise added.  
>"That's wonderful. How is the in-game character development coming?" Hermione asked setting the notes back down on the coffee table.<br>Draco reached out and picked up a sheet of parchment and handed it to Hermione when his finger tips grazed hers he felt a small tingle run down his spine. He looked at her to see if she had noticed anything but her eyes were glued to the sheet. He watched as her brown eyes darted across the page.  
>"You really are outdoing yourself, Draco." She scanned the sheet for a little bit longer before lifting her head. "These are wonderful ideas, and I'm impressed by how much you've learned and been able to apply this past week."<br>Draco nodded dumbfounded by her sincere praise of him. He glanced at Blaise who was watching him with interest and cleared his throat. "Well, Blaise and the rest of our department have been great teachers."  
>Hermione nodded. "Well the project seems to becoming together nicely. Keep up the good work."<br>Blaise rose to his feet knowing she was dismissing them. He flicked his wand and all of the papers flew back into his hands. He apparated back to his office sensing Draco wanted to speak with Hermione.  
>Hermione looked at Draco with a questioning gaze. "Was there something more you needed, Draco?"<br>"Yes, I know I was an ass the other night, but really Granger, I didn't think you were a coward," Draco said as he leaned back into the couch.  
>Hermione frowned. She was exhausted. Since the night Draco had kissed her almost a week ago, she had not left the office except for business meetings. She went on less than three hours of sleep on her office couch, and Hermione was beginning to feel exceptionally weary. "Draco, I don't have time to fight with you this morning. I have to meet with Jason about his progress with the international wireless phone network being added to India."<br>"I don't want to fight. I want to know why you're avoiding me. It isn't as if that kiss meant anything. I was obviously drunk because I certainly would never kiss you sober," Draco said with a slight smirk gracing his lips.  
>Hermione scowled. "You're such an ass."<br>"I suppose that night I was which is what I'm trying to get to here, Granger," Draco said as he shifted slightly on the couch.  
>She sighed. "Well get to where you're trying to get so I can get back to work."<br>"I'm trying to say that I apologize for my drunken behavior last week."  
>"Oh," Hermione exclaimed surprised. "Well, your apology is accepted."<br>"Alright then," Draco said rising to his feet.  
>Hermione glanced up at him. "Draco, I know you don't really care for me." When he snorted, she continued. "But, I love your parents and was hoping we could call some kind of truce and be civil with one another at least for their sakes."<br>Draco glanced down at the woman sitting on the black leather couch staring up at him. He took in her hair which was slightly frizzier than it had been last week when he saw her, but her eyes were what captured his attention. Their normal soft brown, honey hue was dull and the dark circles around her eyes indicated severe sleep depravation. "A truce it is, Granger. I'll see you at dinner tonight at the manor. Six o'clock don't be late," he ordered before apparating away.  
>Hermione shook her head to the empty room. "Git," she muttered with a small smile.<br>A knock at her door indicated Jason's arrival. With a sigh, she rose to her feet-no rest for the weary.

* * *

><p>Draco was laughing at the owl response from his mother when there was a knock on his door. He muttered for the person to enter but did not look up from the letter. He instead read it one more time.<br>Draco,  
>I have no idea what you said to get Hermione to agree to dinner, but thank you. Your father and I have been terribly worried about her well being lately. Expect a grand feast tonight. I'll even make sure your favorite cake, Black Merlin is prepared for dessert.<br>All my love  
>Your mother.<br>When someone cleared their throat, Draco glanced up to see Pansy Zabini standing in his office. "Sorry Pansy, I really wasn't paying attention."  
>Pansy chuckled and came over and took one of the plush seats in front of Draco's desk. "I noticed."<br>Draco leaned back in his chair and surveyed the woman. "Was there something you needed?" Draco asked in a friendly manner.  
>"No, I was down making lunch arrangements with my husband and thought I would pop over. The two of us really have not had a chance to talk since your return," Pansy said with a shrug.<br>Draco smiled. "You're practically glowing, Pansy. Married life suits you."  
>She smiled and nodded her head. "Love does that to you, Draco. You'll see when you find that one witch that captures you heart, mind, body and soul."<br>"So that's how it is for you and Blaise?" Draco questioned as he flicked his wand towards his refrigerator and two cold bottles of ginger ale floated over to him and Pansy.  
>She nodded as she took the bottle. "It's odd, you know. We all grew up together. The whole way through school I had this huge crush on you. I barely paid Blaise any attention."<br>Draco smiled. "I vaguely remember that crush and that obnoxious name you called me by."  
>Pansy laughed. "You're right, Drakie poo has to be one of the most annoying pet names of all time."<br>"So how did you and Blaise end up together?" Draco asked as he reached up and loosened his tie underneath his robes.  
>"Well, I did not see much of him after the war. His mother was arrested so he had a lot to deal with and my family…" She broke off.<br>"Blaise told me, Pansy. I'm so sorry about your father. I always liked him," Draco said softly.  
>She nodded. "Thank you for that, it's been tough. I still miss him. My wedding day without him was one of the hardest days I've had in a while, but I know he would be proud of me and approve of Blaise."<br>Draco was quiet knowing she was going to continue once she had collected her thoughts and feelings. "I was a wreck after my dad died and who should show up at my house one day but Hermione Granger." Pansy looked up and smiled at Draco. "She came to offer her condolences."  
>"I bet that threw you for a loop."<br>"You have no idea especially since she brought us one of her first products, a house alarm system. I was shocked as she sat there and cried about my father's death saying she wished she would have developed the device sooner." Pansy's voice was soft as she spoke.  
>Draco remained silent watching the emotions pass across his friend's face.<br>She lowered her eyes. "I was horrible to her. Screamed terrible things at her, blamed her, blamed Harry."  
>Pansy looked up at Draco with tears in her eyes. "Do you know what she did, Draco?"<br>He shook his head.  
>"She hugged me tightly. She hugged me while I swore at her and was a down right bitch to her. She let me cry and comforted me...me the girl who willingly wanted to turn in Harry, her best friend the night of the final battle. She has been there for me every day since that night," Pansy said rising to her feet and walking over to the window in Draco's office. She glanced down at the muggle world outside.<br>"Draco, I've never known another woman like her. She has such compassion, such a capacity to love. I continued to grieve and feel depressed, but she never gave up on me. She gave me a job when the company was started. That's also the time Blaise came back into my life too," she said turning to face him.  
>"So you two fell in love at work?" Draco asked.<br>Pansy laughed. "Not right away, I was an emotional wreck. I lashed out at everyone, and Blaise was still carrying a small chip on his shoulder. But, we all got through it together all of us. It's why that team that sits around the boardroom is so close knit. We all suffered. We had all lost so much, but together we found a way to move on and found a way to be happy."  
>Draco met Pansy's eyes and he felt his own throat constrict at the raw emotion she was letting him see. "Pansy, I'm sorry I wasn't here for you, for Blaise, Theo, Daphne…"<br>Pansy shook her head. "Draco no, don't be sorry. Blaise and I have talked about it so many times in the past five years, and we've always agreed that you were safer and better off away from it all. I'm just glad you are back now."  
>"Pansy, what happened to Greg?" Draco asked quietly.<br>Pansy walked back over and sat down on the chair she had vacated a few minutes ago. "He was a lost soul after the war. His father was imprisoned and his mother had taken his younger  
>siblings and fled the country."<br>Pansy paused and licked her lips before continuing. "There was an attack on his family home."  
>"Oh Merlin no," Draco said miserably.<br>"He's not dead," Pansy said quickly. "Hermione was there that night. It was shortly after my father had been killed. She had just installed an alarm system. It saved both of their lives."  
>"Granger, again. Merlin, is there anyone I know who isn't indebted to her?" Draco asked before taking another sip of his ginger ale.<br>Pansy smiled and shook her head. "No Draco, mostly likely there is not. Harry is the only person in our world who is more revered than Hermione. She doesn't expect people's gratitude. She just does what she feels is right."  
>"Great, Granger the Saint," Draco muttered.<br>"She's not a saint. You should see her when she gets mad. She can make the patrons of the Boar's Head blush with her vulgarity," Pansy said with a chuckle.  
>"So, what happened after the attack on Goyle's home?" Draco asked.<br>"Hermione convinced him to go into therapy which he did. He would only see Hermione for the longest time. It was a long hard recovery process. But after about a year and a half, she convinced him to let the rest of us back in. He's a different man now, Draco. He married a muggle girl and lives practically without magic. They have two children. He's happy," Pansy said smiling.  
>"Goyle marrying a muggle girl, eh? I never would have suspected," Draco said with a shake of his head.<br>"Laura is a lovely woman. She compliments him perfectly. Their two children are delightful."  
>"Are they squibs?" Draco inquired softly.<br>"No, not at all which for Laura makes the experience of motherhood quite interesting, but Daphne goes over and helps her and gives her sage advice," Pansy responded with an amused smile.  
>"So all of my friends have ended up with happily ever after?" Draco observed.<br>"I guess you could say that," Pansy replied. "You'll find it too, Draco. You just have to be open to how our world is now. Let go of the past. You can ask any one of us letting go was the best decision we ever made."  
>Draco nodded. "I'll try, Pansy."<br>"That's all any one can do," she said getting to her feet and grabbing her bottle of ginger ale. "I have to run. I have to meet with Hermione briefly before lunch with my husband."  
>Draco nodded and smiled at her as she apparated away. He rose to his feet and walked to the window. His thoughts were centered around the one witch who seemed to have helped everyone else find their happiness, but he could tell she was not happy herself. He sighed. Well finally, they had something else in common other than the love they both felt for his parents-they were both miserable in their personal lives.<p>

* * *

><p>Hermione was reviewing the proposal Pansy had just handed her one last time before filing it when her office door swung open. There was only one person in the whole company who walked into her office without knocking, and she would never expect him to because he was her best friend. She raised her head and smiled at him. "Hi Harry."<br>"I just came to check on you. I know you had a meeting with Jason this morning, and I know he still makes you slightly uncomfortable," Harry said meaningfully as he walked over and leaned down to kiss the top of her head.  
>She sighed. Harry was referring to the incident with Jason when she had first hired him a little over a year ago. The two of them had gone out on a date at everyone's urging, and Jason had a bit too much to drink and had gotten a little too aggressive. "Harry, he has apologized a thousand times for that night. I'm fine working with him now."<br>Harry raised his eyebrow showing he did not believe her, but he did not press the issue. "Ginny just phoned and said she is not feeling well. Would you do a bloke a favor and have lunch with him so he isn't forced to eat alone?"  
>Hermione laughed. "Harry Potter, every witch and wizard in the wizarding world would give their right hand to eat with you."<br>Harry chuckled. "Perhaps, but none of them are as charming as my best friend."  
>"Alright. Let me just file Pansy's proposal," Hermione said getting up from her desk.<br>"Lucius told me you're coming over for dinner tonight. I'm glad," Harry said sincerely as he watched his best friend with concerned eyes.  
>"Well, I didn't have a chance to object when that foul son of his said he would see me at dinner and then apparated away," Hermione said ruefully.<br>Harry laughed. "This was Draco's doing?"  
>"Yes, I see Narcissa has taught him all of her clever little tricks of manipulation," Hermione retorted with a smile.<br>"Why didn't you come to his birthday party this weekend?" Harry asked as he played with the enchanted paperweight on her desk.  
>Hermione blushed as she closed her filing cabinet. She turned to face Harry and met his eye and sighed. "Because he kissed me."<br>Harry dropped the paperweight which thankfully did not break. He leaned over and picked it up. "I'm sorry Hermione, could you say that again? I'm fairly certain you told me that Draco Malfoy kissed you."  
>"I believe I did say that because he did. He was drunk, and it just kind of happened."<br>Silence fell on the two friends for a few moments.  
>"I slapped him," Hermione finally added.<br>"And I missed it this time," Harry said with a shake of his head.  
>Hermione laughed. "Well, I probably overreacted but I was shocked."<br>Harry watched as a small blush appeared on her cheeks. "Perhaps. But, I would slap him if he tried to kiss me too," Harry joked.  
>Hermione let out a loud clear laugh-a real laugh.<br>Harry smile at the sound because for the past few years those laughs from her were few and far between. He knew his best friend was not completely unhappy nor was she completely happy. She loved her job and as with everything in her life was very good at running Magical Com, but she was lacking that glow that came with being happy in her personal life. Harry watched as she wiped a tear away from her eye as her laughter died out. He reached over and grabbed one of her hands.  
>"So, does Draco Malfoy's kisses live up to his reputation as the ultimate ladies man?"<br>"Why do you ask, Mr. Potter? If I say yes do you want me to have him lay one on you?" Hermione teased. When Harry coughed and mocked gagging, she laughed again. "Actually, it was so brief and he was drunk you could barely call it a real kiss."  
>"You should have them more often you know," Harry said softly squeezing the hand he was holding.<br>"Drunk, brief kisses from Malfoy," Hermione teased smiling.  
>"No, real kisses preferably not from Malfoy," Harry returned as he let go of her hand and removed his robe.<br>"I don't want to talk about my personal life, Harry," she said sternly her cheerful demeanor from a moment ago slipping away.  
>"Fine we won't then," he said quickly not wanting to upset her and have her beg off going to lunch with him. He was already worried about her because she was so thin. He knew she skipped meals frequently.<br>"Thanks Harry," Hermione said gratefully as she reached up and unclipped her hair and let it tumble around her shoulders. "I guess since you've taken your robe off it means you want muggle cuisine today."  
>He nodded. "Yes actually, I was out the other night hunting for a certain brand of muggle frozen tacos for my wife, and I saw this new restaurant not that far from Diagon Alley. I thought we'd apparate over there and walk."<br>Hermione nodded. "I'll meet you in just a moment."  
>Harry smiled and headed out of her office.<br>Hermione grabbed her purse and walked down to the lobby to apparate as well. She shielded her eyes to the sun streaming down warming Diagon Alley. She turned behind her and saw that Harry was talking to George outside of his shop. She felt a sad smile tug at her lips. George had never truly recovered from losing Fred in the final battle at Hogwarts. He still joked around but the glint of mischief that once shone so brightly in his eyes had dimmed.  
>Hermione walked over and gave George a hug. "Join us for lunch today, George?"<br>"I can't. Percy has arranged for a meeting between me and a traveling group of mystics who are interested in contracting with me for product," George said giving Hermione an apologetic smile.  
>"Next time then," she said firmly.<br>"Of course," he said, "well, I had better get back inside and get all of my samples together for the meeting."  
>Harry watched as the door closed behind George. He turned to Hermione. "I miss him."<br>Hermione nodded knowing Harry was referring to the old George. She took him by the arm and steered him away. "So, what does this new restaurant that you are taking me to specialize in, French, Italian, or perhaps Chinese?"  
>"No. None of the above," Harry said chuckling, "just let yourself be surprised."<br>"You know I'm about as big of fan of surprises as I am of Rita Skeeter," Hermione said dryly.  
>Harry chuckled. "And, yet you let Lucius hire her to be the lead anchor woman for the six o'clock Wizarding News."<br>She groaned. "I know. But, Lucius does keep her in line."  
>"That and she is afraid making him mad will cut off her access to Narcissa," Harry added.<br>"That is certainly an accurate observation. Narcissa somehow knows everything about everyone of importance in our world," Hermione said grinning.  
>"She's a class act though. You never have to worry about her passing along any information that would be false," Harry said as he steered Hermione through the London streets.<br>"Not only that but Narcissa would never give Rita or any other reporter gossipy information that really is not news worthy."  
>"Very true. And now here we are my lady," he said gesturing to the building in front of them.<br>"Oh my gosh, Harry! A hibachi grill! I'm so excited," Hermione said before quickly jaunting up the steps into the restaurant. Harry laughed and followed her.  
>He walked through the door and saw Hermione frozen in shock. He glanced over her head and<br>saw what had stopped her. Ron was sitting at one of the grills with a young, blonde woman.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I owe everyone a series of apologies -so let's start with first, sorry about last night's upload, not sure why it came out like that. Second, I apologize for the long delay in updating any of my work. I took a new promotion at work and now travel all week long, the new promotion also means I have to move, so most of my non-working and traveling time is spent packing. I am very excited and happy with all that is happening in my life, but I do not have as much time to write. I will no longer make promises of when updates will happen only that when I can update I will. I beg your patience between updates. Thirdly, I apologize for those who were following this story on textnovel. I have no idea why the story is no longer visible. I have become very frustrated with that site and once this story is caught up to where it was on textnovel I will be deleting my account there. I will keep everyone posted when I decide on a new site to post original works and I welcome any suggestions on good sites to post original stories.

I truly hope, my dear readers, that all of you are well. Hugs!


	6. Chapter 6

Draco's stomach let out a low rumbled, and he glanced down at his birthday present from Hermione and saw that the noon hour had indeed arrived. He heard a knock on his office door and told the person to enter. He raised an eyebrow at his father standing before him out of his wizarding robes.

"I thought our lady president was the only one who walked around in muggle attire during the workday?" Draco questioned.

"Well, I merely removed mine just as you are going to remove yours and accompany me to lunch," Lucius returned giving his son a smirk.

"Why do I have to take off my robes?" Draco asked wary of his father's expression.

"Because muggle restaurant attire does not typically include them," Lucius replied his smirk widening into a smile.

"Bloody hell, Father. I do not want to eat with a bunch of dirty muggles," Draco said giving his father a dark look.

"Good thing that most muggles are clean when they go out to nice restaurants for lunch," Lucius teased. "Come on, I'm serious. Harry told me about the place," Lucius said his tone still light but his eyes were now serious.

Draco muttered under his breath and rose to his feet while still glaring at his father. He pulled off his robe and straightened the short-sleeved white cotton polo he was wearing. The unusually high June humidity had made long sleeves an impossibility. "I'm just thrilled at the idea of eating somewhere that Potter recommended," Draco grumbled.

Lucius resisted the urge to roll his eye at his son's continued immaturity. "Let's go. I'm famished. These three new magical television stations we are getting ready to launch in August are causing me to work up quite the appetite."

"I know what you mean, Father. This job requires so much energy and careful planning," Draco said as he followed his father to the apparition spot in the building's atrium.

"Apparate to Diagon Alley in front of Weasley's joke shop," Lucius said as he stepped into the secure apparition circle.

Draco stared at the golden circle on the floor and smile once again at Granger's genius. She had created a secure apparition circle. No one could apparate in or out of the building without standing in that circle. Anyone who was not an employee could not step out of the circle until cleared by Louise, the elderly squib who worked the reception desk. Louise was only there during normal business hours, so if an unexpected guest came in after hours, they had to stay in the circle because a visitor could not apparate out until they had received clearance.

Lucius had informed Draco that Hermione had managed to bust several would-be thieves this way. Draco shook his head and moved into the circle. The next instant he was in Diagon Alley and facing his father. He nodded and the two of them began to walk towards the Leaky Cauldron.

"You said before we apparated that the job required a lot of energy and planning. Do you not like what you're doing, son?" Lucius asked concerned. He wanted Draco to work hard, but he did not want his son to be unhappy with his career path.

"Actually surprisingly, I do like it a lot. It's a completely different change of pace but I've enjoyed all the things I've learned the past week," Draco said with a shrug.

"Hermione was very impressed with your progress on the new dueling game," Lucius offered.

Draco glanced at his father out of the corner of his eye. "When did you talk to her?"

"I stopped by to ask her to dinner but she informed me that you had already told her she had no

choice but to attend," Lucius said with a slight hint of mirth in his words.

"I'm doing this for you and mother. I still can't tolerate her," Draco retorted now deliberately focusing his eyes straight ahead so he did not have to meet his father's inquisitive stare.

The two stepped out the door and into muggle London. The people were bustling around on their lunch hour causing the sidewalks to be packed with harried business men and women. Draco could not help but frown and reach up to brush his shoulder off as a muggle man bumped into him. Draco sighed as two more people bumped into him deciding he would just take a scalding hot bath to cleanse himself when he arrived home tonight. He glanced at his father and saw a relaxed smile on his face. Draco shook his head still coming to terms with his father's one-eighty since the war. The man beside him was not the man who had raised him. Some internal voice whispered to Draco that if he was honest he preferred the man walking beside him.

"You seem to be lost in thought, son," Lucius observed as they turned down the street to the restaurant.

"Hmm…" Draco murmured in response.

"Draco, I know you've only been home a little over a week and are still trying to wrap your mind around all the changes, but I hope you know you can confide in me," Lucius said sincerely.

Draco nodded but did not reply. He was not silent to be rude but he did not want to speak when he was not sure what to say to his father. He had too many things he was still confused about, and his conversation with Pansy was still running through his mind. More to the point, Pansy's words about letting go were filtering through his thoughts.

His father nudged him, and he glanced up at the restaurant not understanding what the strange muggle word was on the sign. He followed Lucius through the door and ran right into his father's back. Draco let out a low growl and took a step back. He opened his mouth to ask his father what the problem was but his father's angry voice cut him off.

"By all that is magical, why can't that boy stop hurting her?" Lucius ground out before storming across the restaurant.

With his father removed from his line of sight, Draco was able to see the scene that had caused Lucius to stop cold in his tracks. Ron Weasley was standing in the middle of the restaurant arguing with Harry, whose face was bright red with anger while Hermione stood between the two of them trying to keep them from coming to blows. Her face was pale and her brown eyes seemed to on the verge of turning into water fountains.

Draco sighed and followed his father. As he neared the group, he felt his own temper rising at Weasley's words.

"Oh bloody hell, Saint Lucius is here," Ron growled as Lucius came to stand behind Hermione and supportively put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her back against his chest and out from between the two men.

"Ron, please stop this," Hermione begged her brown eyes sad as she pleaded with her former fiancé.

"Stop what? Every time I try to talk to you Hermione, either Harry, Lucius, or Narcissa butt their noses into our business," Ron spat his blue eyes furious as he glared at Harry who was still nose-to-nose with him.

"You have no business with her in that manner anymore, Ron," Harry hissed, "and, I can't believe you're giving her a hard time since you're here on a date."

"What?" Lucius growled as he let go of Hermione's shoulders and whipped his head around in the direction of Harry's gaze to see a young blonde woman staring at them with confused eyes

and red cheeks, clearly embarrassed by the attention.

"Still going after blondes I see, Weasel," Draco said finally joining the conversation.

"Shut up Ferret, you know nothing about our lives," Ron snarled as he finally turned from Harry to face the boy he still resented from the years of tormenting he had suffered at Draco and his friends' hands when they were at Hogwarts.

Draco chuckled and stroked his chin. "Maybe, but I know right now not only are you embarrassing yourself, your date, but you are also embarrassing my boss, and I won't tolerate that."

"Well I don't care what you will tolerate, Malfoy," Ron snapped as he stepped away from Harry and over to stand toe-to-toe with Malfoy who was about an inch taller than he.

Hermione watched the exchange horrified. She knew Ron and Harry could get in one another's faces, but their bond of friendship kept them from ever coming to blows. Hermione knew Ron still hated Draco and would not hesitate to physically unleash on Draco if provoked which she could tell was exactly what Draco planned on doing to the red-headed boy.

Hermione stepped away from Lucius and put a hand on Draco's chest. She looked up at him and felt her breath hitch when his grey eyes connected with hers. "Draco please, can we just go somewhere else for lunch?"

Draco was about to tell her no, but when he saw how tired she was, his resolve to continue to fight with Weasley melted away. Draco nodded and reached his hand up to enclose it over the one Hermione had on his chest. Without another word, he pulled her out of the restaurant behind him. Harry and Lucius both stood there dumbfound at Draco's actions. Ron however, was seething and followed Draco and Hermione out of the restaurant.

Draco and Hermione were about half a block away with Draco still holding on to her hand, when Ron finally caught up to them. He grabbed Draco by the shoulder and wheeled him around.

"Who the hell do you think you are, Malfoy?" Ron demanded, "You have no business grabbing Hermione and yanking her off like that."

Draco, who was still holding Hermione's hand, growled as he turned to face Weasley. "Listen here, Weasleebee. Everyone else here seems to put up with you, but I am not one of them. If you touch me again, you had better be prepared to duel me to the death you worthless little shit. And, if you come near Hermione in any manner that is not professional, I'll pretend I'm a muggle for a few minutes while I use my fists to beat the living snot out of you."

Hermione's mouth opened and closed without words coming out. She could not believe how protective Draco was being of her. She looked down at their joined hands and squeezed his.

Draco, whose temper was about to start causing his magic to begin sparking, felt the pressure on his hand and glanced down at the witch staring up at him with wide brown eyes. He felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. "Come on Granger, if I let you miss lunch, my mum will have my head."

Hermione nodded and turned towards Ron. "Ron, leave us alone. If you want to have a job, I recommend you go back to the restaurant and your date," she said not hiding her bitterness as she spat the word 'date' to her ex.

Hermione turned and tugged on Draco's hand when he continued to smirk at Ron.

Draco gave Ron one last sneer before turning and letting Hermione be the one to pull him away this time.

Draco was sitting at his desk, several hours later, trying to process what in Merlin's beard had possessed him to kick into over-protective mode with Granger. No one had mentioned it when the four of them had gone to lunch at another muggle restaurant near Diagon Alley. Harry and Lucius had kept giving each other looks and staring at Draco as though he had grown another head. Draco would have said something to his father and Potter, but Granger seemed so dismayed after the encounter with Weasley she barely ate anything as it was at lunch so the last thing Draco wanted to do was upset her further.

* * *

><p>"Why does it matter if she is upset?" Draco murmured out loud.<p>

"Talking to yourself, son?" Lucius asked from Draco's office doorway.

"I didn't hear you knock or come in, Father," Draco said wrinkling his nose at his father overhearing his personal thoughts.

"I actually did both, Draco. You were fairly lost in thought," Lucius observed.

"I was thinking about my actions earlier today," Draco replied honestly.

"I would be lying son, if I said that your actions were not weighing on my mind as well," Lucius said coming to take one of the empty seats across from Draco's desk.

"She just looked so tired. I just wanted to get her out of there and away from him," Draco said with a shrug.

Lucius appraised his son and decided that perhaps it would be best not to say too much more on the subject. He did not want his son feeling self-conscious when he was around Hermione. "Well regardless of what sparked your actions, son, I was very proud of you."

Draco's eyes met his father's and he nodded. "Right, I guess it is about time to go."

"Yes, will you just go fetch Hermione while I hurry up and get home to warn your mother of today's events, so she has time to vent and swear about Ron Weasley before Hermione arrives," Lucius requested as he rose and shook the wrinkles out of his robes.

Draco raised one of his thin blond eyebrows at his father. "You didn't owl her already?"

Lucius tapped his cane on the desk. "Not the details son, and you know how your mother is with her details."

Draco snorted as his father quickly turned and exited his office. Draco rose to his feet and stretched his arms. He picked up a couple of the memos Creevy had sent him and frowned. There were some issues with certain spells not casting in a timely manner when the players were interfacing with other players and not the game itself. He dropped the memos back onto his desk and shook his head. He would just come into work early in the morning and continue to try and fix the problem.

Draco apparated upstairs in front of Hermione's office. He nodded to Kelly who was shutting off her lights.

"You might want to wait a minute, Mr. Malfoy," Kelly advised seeing his intention to go into Hermione's office.

"Why is that?" Draco asked.

"Because Hermione is having a meeting with Jeremy and Jason," Kelly replied giving Draco a stern look warning him not to barge in.

Draco rolled his eyes thinking the young woman somehow reminded him of Professor McGonagall with her chilling stare. After a few minutes of standing in front of Granger's office, Draco tapped his foot irritated with having to wait. Draco was not accustomed to waiting for anything.

"Bugger this," Draco muttered and started for the door.

"Mr. Malfoy!" Kelly exclaimed alarmed when she realized he meant to barge in on Hermione's

meeting.

"Kelly!" Draco sarcastically called over his shoulder as he put his hand on the door.

"You can't go in there," Hermione's assistant said almost desperately. She had never been put in a position where someone one ignored her authority as Hermione's right hand.

"Oh but I can," Draco retorted as he pushed open Granger's office door. He controlled his desire to smile as Hermione glared at him.

Hermione was standing behind her desk looking down at the schematics Jeremy and Jason were showing her. When her office door had opened without a knock, she assumed it was Harry but frowned when she saw it was Draco.

"Who the bloody hell do you think you are charging in here without knocking?" A tall wizard with long sandy brown hair that was pulled back at the base of his neck into a ponytail asked Draco.

"Jason meet Draco Malfoy," Hermione said dryly still giving Draco a dirty look.

Draco's eyes had narrowed when Jason addressed him with such disdain. Draco resented the other man's condescending tone.

"Draco, meet Jason..."

"Oh, I know who he is Granger," Draco said coolly cutting of Hermione mid-introduction.

Draco moved into the office and shut the door behind him. He saw Hermione's surprise at his declaration.

"You do?" Hermione asked not concealing her shock.

"Jason Muller, former seeker for New York's professional Quidditch team," Draco said his gaze watching the other wizard.

"Oh right," Hermione said as she put the pieces together. "You played Quidditch over there."

"Hm, took you a bit, Granger. You're intellectual faculties are slowing down as you age," Draco said turning to give her a devilish smile.

Hermione rolled her eyes at his juvenile teasing.

"Look Malfoy, just because your father is high ranking in this company does not give his prodigal son the right to barge into Hermione's office and be disrespectful," Jason said in the same condescending tone he had used a few moments ago.

Draco laughed at the other wizard which made Jason blush with embarrassment.

"Draco," Hermione said warningly as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Draco ignored Hermione and looked at Jeremy. "I thought you looked vaguely familiar the first day I was here, Jeremy. I should have realized you were the younger brother of New York's notorious former seeker."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jason asked as his neck flushed to match his face.

Draco also ignored Jason and continued to address Jeremy. "So I'm curious Jeremy, are the rumors true about why you limp?"

Draco expect the hex and easily dodged the orange stream of magic as it flew from Jason's wand. He rose to his feet with his wand raised in defense.

Hermione gasped outraged. "Jason, what the hell are you thinking attempting to hex a coworker?"

"What Granger, didn't you do a background check on your employee before hiring him?" Draco drawled as he walked closer to Hermione's desk.

Jason was shaking with anger. "One more word, Malfoy," he threatened.

Hermione sighed. "Jason, go cool off."

Jason turned to Hermione shocked at her order. "But..."

"No buts, I know Malfoy can be irritating but attempting to hex a fellow coworker is unacceptable," Hermione said fixing Jason with a stern glare.

Jason nodded and stormed out of the office giving Draco a scathing look.

Draco gave him a lazy smirk in reply.

Hermione was physically and emotionally exhausted. She turned to Jeremy and gave him an apologetic smile. "Jer, we will continue this tomorrow."

Jeremy shrugged and limped out of the office not even looking in Draco's direction.

Hermione waited until the door clicked shut behind Jeremy before she said anything to Draco. "Malfoy, what in the bloody seven seas was that about?"

Draco gave her his most charming smile as he tucked his wand back into his robe and ignored her question. "I'm hungry, let's go to the Manor and eat."

"We're not going anywhere until you answer my question," Hermione snapped as she crossed her arms and fixed him with an icy look.

Draco appraised Hermione's current tense posture and her angry brown eyes.

"Fine, a compromise. We go eat and after dinner over dessert, Black Merlin Cake to be specific, I will answer any questions you want to ask me," Draco said in a bored tone.

"Any question?" Hermione asked with a sly smile.

"Yes, yes, Granger, any question. Now, can we please go eat? I'm bloody starving," Draco said oblivious to the meaning behind the sudden glint in Hermione's eyes.

"Absolutely," Hermione agreed as she quickly placed the notes from her meeting with Jeremy and Jason into a file and stuck it in her desk. Hermione fully planned to use the promised question session with Draco to get him to reflect on just how immature he was at times.

* * *

><p>Narcissa slammed her wine glass down as Lucius finished the blow-by-blow account of what happened at lunch today.<p>

"I have half a mind to take a Portkey to Paris and hex his freckle covered face into a thousand freckly pieces," Narcissa seethed.

Lucius said nothing knowing Narcissa needed to vent everything out of her system before Hermione arrived for dinner.

"I mean who does that bloody wanker think he's messing with?" scathed Narcissa as she tapped her wand roughly against the table to clean up the drops that had spilled out when she had slammed her glass down.

Lucius continued to sit in silence as one of the house elves handed him a fresh glass of brandy. He nodded in thanks as the house elf winked in response well aware that Master Malfoy was afraid to speak because Mistress Narcissa was in the middle of a rage.

Narcissa picked up the knife at her place setting and looked at it as if she was contemplating running Ron Weasley through with the silver utensil. "He can't be so daft as to think he's untouchable."

Lucius sighed and finally broke his silence. "Actually Cissy, I think that is precisely what he thinks."

Narcissa's eyes narrowed as she slammed the knife down onto the table causing all of the dishes to rattle. "He's causing trouble for Harry and Ginny too."

Lucius let out another sigh. "I know. Harry was in my office this afternoon right before I went to see Draco at the end of the day."

"Poor Harry. The lad is torn between sticking up for Hermione who is like his sister and his best mate who happens to be his brother-in-law to boot," Narcissa said as the anger faded from her

voice and her tone became more sad than irate.

"Well the Weasleys are trying to stay neutral for the most part," Lucius offered.

"You mean all of them but that woman," Narcissa said her eyes narrowing.

Lucius choked down the chuckle rising in his throat. He knew how much his wife tried to get along with Molly Weasley, but he also knew that since Molly had taken up Ron's cause of trying to reunite him with Hermione a year ago that Molly and Narcissa's tentative friendship had become incredibly strained. A few times when Hermione was not present the two of them had gotten into shouting matches over the subject of Ron and Hermione. Lucius was drawn from his reflection of his wife's strained relationship with Harry's mother-in-law by the sounds of Draco and Hermione coming through the floo. He smiled as Narcissa quickly rose from her seat and scurried to the living room.

"Mother," Draco said in greeting as Narcissa gave him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you," she whispered for only him to hear.

Draco grunted in response not one-hundred percent sure he wanted to be thanked for bringing Granger to dinner.

"Where's a house elf with my bloody cordial?" Draco yelled as he moved towards the dining room.

Narcissa and Hermione looked at each other and rolled their eyes at Draco and then both laughed.

"Hermione dear, come here and give me a hug," Narcissa said opening her arms.

Hermione smiled for the first time since leaving for lunch and moved to embrace the older witch.

Narcissa patted her back gently as she hugged her. "Are you alright?"

Hermione pulled back her smile dropping. "I see that I've been ratted out."

Narcissa tucked her arm through Hermione's and steered her towards the dining room. "Actually, you were ratted out twice."

Hermione shook her head. "Who needs bodyguards when I have Harry and Lucius."

Narcissa let out a small laugh and released Hermione's arm because her husband had risen to his feet to hug the young woman.

"Tattle tale," Hermione teased as she released him from the hug.

Lucius laughed as he pulled out her chair and then moved to do the same for his wife.

Draco watched his father over the rim of the glass of scotch that one of the house elves had brought him. He resisted the urge to gag at his father acting like such a gentleman with Granger.

"Hermione, Lucius tells me that next week as part of the preparations for the new Quidditch network that you're going to be having a full house at the office," Narcissa said starting the conversation.

Hermione nodded and took a sip her wine. "Yes, first thing Monday morning. Pansy is driving her staff batty making sure every detail is perfect."

"Perfect for what?" Draco interjected.

The Magical Com executive team's round table meeting had been yesterday when Draco was out of the office consulting with the new wand maker who had replaced Ollivander, after the wizard's retirement post-war. Draco had felt remarkably guilty when he learned that Ollivander had never returned to his craft of wand making due to the torturing he had suffered in Malfoy Manor at Voldemort's orders. Even though, Blaise had offered to go meet with the new wand maker Draco decided to still go since Hermione had sent the orders requesting him to do so since the glitch with the game player versus real player casting was still not fixed.

Hermione frowned. "Draco, didn't Blaise update you?"

"I've been busy boss," Draco retorted dryly.

Hermione shook her head him. "Fair enough, you have been putting in long hours."

"Son, not sure if you'll like this but all of the most popular Quidditch players from all over the globe will be coming in to do interviews and press shots to promote the new International Quidditch network," Lucius said setting his glass down.

"Great, I can stumble over thick headed wankers that have taken too many bludgers to the head," Draco grumbled sourly.

"So that's what you think of all professional Quidditch players?" Hermione asked innocently.

Draco caught her eye and rolled his in response as the mischievous twinkle he saw lurking. "I obviously was not including myself in that statement Granger."

The other three people at the table burst out into laughter.

Draco took a long drink of his scotch-the burn of it in his throat off setting the sting of their laughter to his ego.

"Seriously they shouldn't be in your way, Draco," Hermione said trying to smooth things over with him. She did not want him going back on his promise for a question and answer session later.

Draco shrugged. He was not really concerned about the Quidditch players bothering him because he was not afraid to hex them, curse them, or stuff them in a broom closet if necessary.

"So Hermione, Pansy mentioned the other day at Draco's party that Viktor was going to be one of the players being interviewed," Narcissa said with a sly smile.

Draco, who was still brooding over their laughter, raised his eyes from his glass to look at Granger's face. He did not know why he was curious about her reaction to his mother's words but he was.

Hermione blushed and nodded.

"Didn't you and Krum used to have a thing, Granger?" Draco asked with feigned disinterest.

"You know from our fourth year that Viktor and I are friends," Hermione said giving Draco a searching look. She was uncertain as to why he was asking a question he already knew the answer to.

"Just friends?"

"Ugh Draco, be reasonable, we were fourth years," Hermione said wrinkling her nose at his insinuation.

"Well, when I was a fourth year…" Draco began.

"Lalala," Narcissa said covering her ears.

Draco looked at his mother's horrified expression and laughed. "I was kidding, Mother. I was still a perfect angel then."

Hermione snorted.

"Why are you doubting me, Granger?" Draco questioned his gray eyes amused.

"No, you were only the perfect little git that cast a spell on me that caused my teeth to enlarge," Hermione returned glaring at the blond man sitting across from her.

Draco shrugged innocently. "All worked out for the best, now you have a dazzling smile instead of those horrid buckteeth you used to sport."

"Draco!" Narcissa admonished.

Hermione let out a loud clear laugh which caused her dinner companions to turn and stare at her. She stopped laughing and wiped out her eyes. "Stop the presses, Draco Malfoy just said my smile was dazzling."

**A/N: **Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! To anyone who reviewed last chapter that I did not get a chance to respond to, my sincere apologies, with my new job and preparing to move things have just been a little crazy. I appreciate every review! Hugs.


	7. Chapter 7

An hour after Draco accidentally complimented Hermione, the four of them had moved to sit in the living room around the fire. Draco kept his face impassive while he watched Hermione flash her dazzling smile numerous times as Lucius regaled the three of them with stories of his boyhood. Draco had never heard most of the stories and was surprised to hear his father had been so rebellious.

"And, just because he refused to buy me the broomstick I wanted, I owled him and told the old coot I had been sorted into Hufflepuff," Lucius said laughing.

Draco shook his head. "Grandfather Abraxas must have blown a wand."

Lucius nodded and burst out laughing again.

"Honestly Lucius, if you keep telling these tales it will be Draco's next birthday till you're done," Narcissa chided with a tired smile.

Lucius winked at her. "Alright love, I can take a hint," he said rising to his feet and holding out a hand to his wife.

Narcissa took his hand and let him pull her to her feet. She smiled at her son who was lounging in a recliner next to the love seat where Hermione was sitting. "Sleep well, Draco," Narcissa said blowing him a kiss.

Draco playfully caught the phantom kiss and winked at his mother.

Narcissa chuckled and turned to Hermione. "You're spending the night."

Hermione sighed. "Useless to argue?"

Narcissa nodded. "The enchantments were in place the moment you walked through the fire. They will lift at first light."

Hermione shook her head. "I have to go back to work."

"No, you have to rest and as you said it's useless to argue," Narcissa said before blowing her a kiss as well.

"Good night you two, don't stay up too late," Lucius said smiling at both of them before putting an arm around his wife and guiding her from the room.

"I want that someday," Hermione said quietly.

Draco appraised her in the fire and dim lamp light. He could see the wistfulness in the depths of her brown eyes. "So, why don't you have it?"

"Huh?" Hermione asked her eyes leaving the doorway to turn to Draco.

"You want a husband who loves you yet you do not have it, my question was why." Draco said as he leaned forward towards her not bothering with a mask of indifference as he let her see his genuine curiosity.

Hermione felt her skin tingle as Draco stared at her with his intense grey eyes. She opened her mouth and closed it, then sighed.

"Granger, you're usually more articulate," Draco said raising one of his blonde eyebrows at her.

Hermione leaned further back into the loveseat, finding Draco's proximity to her slightly unnerving. She pursed her lips for a moment-once her disorganized thoughts were sorted and filed neatly she spoke. "Because, I want something better than average."

Draco narrowed his eyes as he mentally analyzed Hermione's statement. "And what relationships would you consider average?"

"What happened to you being the one answering questions?" Hermione asked giving him a sour look.

"We're taking turns," Draco said smoothly, "I ask a question then you ask one."

"But, you asked two in a row," Hermione pointed out.

"True, but you didn't answer so now, answer my question," Draco said matter-of-factly.

"But, I didn't ask you a question yet so it's my turn to ask," Hermione protested.

"Yes, you did," Draco returned.

"Stop being impossible, I did no such thing," Hermione snapped irritated with the cocky mirth in his eyes and voice.

"What happened to you being the one answering questions?" Draco parroted back mimicking Hermione.

Hermione crossed her arms and scowled. "Fine."

Draco laughed. "Aww, Granger, don't be a sore sport just because you were wrong."

"I'll only continue this under two conditions," Hermione said still scowling.

"Granger, terms are boring," Draco said in a uninterested tone.

"You cannot ever tell anyone what I say without my permission and you must be completely honest in your answers," Hermione stated in her most businesslike tone.

Draco was quiet for a minute watching the glow from the small fire his mother had insisted on building even though it was June and the manor was fair temperature without it. He turned his eyes from the flames of the fire to see their light dancing in Hermione's eyes. He felt something stir in him as he held her gaze. "Agreed Granger, as long as you afford me the same in return."

Hermione nodded. "Of course."

"Then, I'm waiting for your answer," Draco said with a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.

Hermione snorted and rose to her feet.

"Giving up already, Granger?" Draco asked mildly surprised.

Hermione gave him a playful smile. "Never, but if I'm going to play twenty questions with you, I'm getting more wine."

Draco shook his head amused and got up to follow her after a few moments. He was surprised when he heard her laughing. He entered the kitchen and saw Hermione kneeled down accepting a bottle of wine and two glasses from the house elves who had all gathered around her. Draco swallowed the lump he had in his throat and rubbed his hand across his chest unsure of why he had felt a sudden pang.

"Draco, are you alright?" Hermione asked concerned as she saw the expression on his face and saw his hand go over his heart.

"Not your turn to ask questions, Granger," Draco retorted deflecting her curiosity.

Hermione rolled her eyes and rose to her feet. "I hope you like red," she said holding up the bottle the elves had given her.

"I do," Draco said warily watching her move towards him smiling. He reached out and took the bottle from her hands and took out his wand, muttering a quick spell to uncork the wine.

"Quit stalling, Granger," Draco chided as he filled the two glasses she held.

"Fine," Hermione said as she handed him his glass after he set the bottle on the counter behind him, "my parents for one."

Draco took a sip from his goblet and appraised her expression as he swallowed the slightly sweet smooth liquid.

After a moment of shifting uncomfortably under his intense gaze, Hermione said, "I believe it's my turn to ask you a question."

"Not so fast," Draco drawled.

"I answered your question, now it's my turn."

"No, my question was what relationships would you consider average and you only gave one relationship and I asked for more than one," Draco rebutted.

Hermione let out a sigh and wrinkled her nose at him over her glass. "I should have known you'd make this difficult."

Draco laughed at her frustration. "Yes Granger, you should have known. You are after all allegedly the brightest witch our age."

Hermione could not suppress a smile at the sound of Draco's laughter –it was such a rare sound. She took in his handsome face in the dimly lit kitchen as he smiled at her. She liked this version of him -this man in front of her could truly become her friend. "Fine, I'll tell you more but not till we're back by the fire," she conceded, "I'm freezing."

Draco grabbed the bottle and followed her, enjoying watching her hips swing as she gracefully navigated the now nearly dark manor. "Only you could be cold in June, Granger," he called after her.

Hermione sat down on the rug in front of the fireplace and curled her legs underneath herself and faced Draco, who had sprawled out on the loveseat after setting the bottle of wine on the floor within her reach. "Arthur and Molly Weasley," she said after a long sip of her wine.

Draco nodded, "and?"

Hermione frowned as she retorted, "that's more than one."

"Tut-tut Granger, you're holding back," Draco accused his gray eyes seemed to glow in the flame light as he looked down at her.

Hermione scowled at him.

Draco let out a throaty chuckle. "Okay boss, I'll let it slide for now, your turn."

Hermione's mind churned over the many things she wanted to ask him and she decided to settle on a topic he was expecting. "What did you mean earlier about how Jeremy got his limp?"

"Jason is rumored to have given Jeremy his injury to keep his brother from taking his spot as primary seeker for New York."

Hermione's lips drew into a tight frown as she watched Draco answer her with no sign of emotion. "And, you think this rumor is true?"

"Tsk tsk Granger, my turn," Draco admonished playfully.

Hermione sighed and nodded for him to ask his question.

"Why do you keep Weasley employed at your company?"

Hermione sucked in a breath. She had anticipated Draco would ask this question but she thought she would have more time and much more wine before he broached the subject. She was going to have to remember for future reference that Draco was not one to beat around the proverbial bush. She took a long sip of her wine and then another. She reached for the wine bottle to replenish her now empty glass and the only sound in the room other than the wine being poured was the crackling of the fire.

"You're stalling," Draco stated his eyes narrowing as he surveyed the emotions playing out on her face while she delayed answering his question.

"Yes, but I'm also hoping if I drink enough wine before I answer it will dull the pain by the time I'm through with my answer," Hermione replied fixing him with sad brown eyes.

"Don't try to get sympathy from me, Granger. You knew who you were playing this game with," Draco retorted.

Hermione nodded and licked her wine stained lips. "Well, there are a lot of reasons. First, he is one of my oldest friends. Then, there's the tension firing him would cause in my friendship with Harry and Ginny. Also, he's very good at his job," Hermione said slowly as she fiddled with the stem of her wineglass and avoided direct eye contact with Draco.

Draco let out a snort, "So much for being honest."

Hermione's gaze darted to meet his, flashing with anger at his accusation. "What do you mean? I was honest."

"Unicorn dung," Draco shot back.

"I beg your pardon," Hermione snapped becoming even more indignant.

"You should beg my pardon," Draco retorted, "if you wanted to play question-and-answer and set the terms with honesty being a requirement then you should follow your own rules."

Hermione and Draco both rose to their feet at the same time neither wanting to be sitting down for the argument that was brewing. Hermione moved in front of him to block his way out of the living room because she was not about to let him call her a liar and walk away. She placed her hands firmly on her hips as she demanded, "explain how to me I lied, Malfoy because I assure you I didn't."

"Fine, you want to hear this than you're not allowed to have your panties in a wad when I tell you," Draco spat taking a step closer to her his voice had a challenged laced through it.

Hermione bristled at Draco's choice of expressions, but she squared her shoulders and nodded at him. "I can handle whatever you have to say, Draco."

He took another step closer to her a dangerous glint in his grey eyes and a smile on his face reminiscent of a hunter whose prey had fallen into a carefully laid trap. "Your first reason is a lie because Weasley was never your friend, Granger."

Hermione's eyes widened at his words. She opened her mouth once and then quickly shut it, but finally her temper won out and she spat, "Rubbish! Ron and I have been friends since our first year at Hogwarts."

"Don't be a fool, Granger. It doesn't suite you." Draco quickly interjected, "Our first year Weasley made you so upset you spent the Halloween feast in the loo where you would have been killed by a troll if Potter wasn't so bloody noble."

"Perhaps, but we were first years and we all did things we regret when we're that young," Hermione said as she clenched her fist at his words.

Draco let out a mirthless laugh. "So his age excuses him for the way he hurt you and insulted you in our fourth year when the Yule Ball came round?"

"You made my teeth grow!" Hermione exclaimed.

"We're not talking about me, Granger. I never claimed to be your friend in school," Draco retorted, "Or perhaps we should skip ahead to our sixth year when he snogged that horrible Lavender girl till their faces nearly fell off. How good of a friend was he leaving you and Potter during your hunt to…"

Hermione was so angry with Draco she did not notice the way his face contorted as he broke off his statement. She took advantage of the gap in his speech to try to refute his words that were causing an unpleasant feeling of realization to creep into her head and heart. "What do you know about friendship? You only ever had followers."

Draco frowned and crossed his arms. He found this tiny witch to be completely infuriating. "You have no idea what you're talking about. Until after the war you only had one real friend, so don't try to climb on your pedestal and give a definition of friendship because I had friends, not followers as you put it."

"Oh no? Well let's ask Crabbe, oh wait, we can't because he followed his friend Draco right to his death," Hermione scathed in hurt and anger.

Silence fell in the room. Draco look at Hermione with contempt and disgust but also with eyes haunted with tremendous guilt.

Hermione shook her head, tears welled up in her eyes. "Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry, Draco. That

was completely uncalled for," she said as she reached a hand towards him.

Draco jerked back from her touch. "You and I have nothing more to talk about," Draco said before storming from the room, leaving a guilt stricken Hermione crying in front of the fire.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter. Please review!


	8. Chapter 8

Draco washed the sleep from his eyes or rather washed the lack of sleep from his eyes. He had been livid with Granger last night. He had spent the first ten minutes after he had stormed out of the living room pacing back and forth in his bedroom grumbling about Granger. Then, he had spent an hour lying in bed reflecting on her words. When he finally did drift off to sleep, his nightmares were of a massive wave of fire and hearing Crabbe's voice screaming, begging Draco to save him. Draco had tried desperately to reach his friend in his dream, but he failed just as he had failed Crabbe that day in the Room of Requirement. He had awoken to a dark room, shivering despite the warmth of the fire from the fireplace in his bedroom and the thick blankets across his large, antique bed. Fear of another vision of Crabbe's death kept him from going back to sleep, so he laid on his back staring at his ceiling. When the first rays of light slipped in through his window drapes, he had pushed his blankets back and rose to his feet.

Now, he stood in front of the mirror mentally cursing Granger for the dark circles under his eyes. He grabbed a towel and dabbed his face dry. As he set the towel down, he heard a faint knock on his door and walked out of his bathroom to glare at the oak door, knowing there was only one person who would be so daintily knocking on his bedroom door at this ungodly hour.

"Draco," Hermione called softly. When he did respond, she added in the same timid tone, "I am sorry, more sorry than you could ever know."

Draco clenched his hands into fists in order to restrain himself from going to the door, throwing it open and strangling the witch on the other side. He knew he had provoked her last night during their question and answer session, but he still felt raw at her words. He also knew that a part of him hated her incredibly low opinion of him. He heard a small choked sob come through the door. The next sound he heard was her footsteps as she walked away. He continued to look at the door, wary she might return. After several moments of quiet, he went to the dresser and pulled out his clothes for work. He was startled when he opened his bedroom door and an owl swooped in and dropped a letter on his dresser before helping itself to a couple of knuts on the dresser.

"Bloody bird," he raged as he shooed the thing away before it helped itself to anything else. He walked over to his dresser and picked up the letter. After a brief scan of the letter's contents, he sighed -Potter wanted to see him this morning first thing.

"A morning meeting with Potter to start my day," Draco grumbled, "today is going to be just damn bloody brilliant."

* * *

><p>Harry Potter ran a hand through his tousled hair, making it more of a mess. He turned his eyes from the paperwork on his desk to the picture of him with Hermione and Ron taken right after the war. Sighing, he returned his attention to his work. He picked up his quill and signed a few more forms authorizing testing of some of their new security systems in select magical homes. Once the forms were signed, his attention was drawn again to the image of him standing between Ron and Hermione.<p>

"How did things get so twisted from what we dreamed back then?" Harry mumbled out loud.

His thoughts circled around Ron, who had been his first real friend. He never thought after they had overcome so much together and defeated Voldemort that their trio would be ripped apart the way it had three years ago by Ron's infidelity. He knew they all still worked together and spent time over the holidays together, and even though he spent a lot of time with his friend and brother-in-law, their friendship had been tainted and was not the same. His love for his wife was often the reason he did not punch Ron in the jaw for his stupid antics, like the other day at the restaurant. Secretly, he had kind of hoped Draco would punch Ron because his best friend was being a royal arse bringing another woman on a date in London. Even if he hadn't known they would come there for lunch, Harry still could not condone Ron's action of telling Hermione he wanted her back but taking out different girls every other week.

Harry's thoughts were becoming rather dark regarding Ron, so he knew he had to shift his thinking elsewhere otherwise the next time he saw his brother-in-law things might take an ugly turn in their relationship. Harry looked down at his notes for his morning meeting with Malfoy and shook his head. His other best friend had left his office about ten minutes ago with red puffy eyes, and he knew Draco was to blame. She would not tell him what had transpired between her and Malfoy at the manor. She just merely said she had done something horrible and Draco would never be able to forgive her. She had cried as she exclaimed over how Malfoy always drew such un-Hermione reactions from her. Harry had resisted the urge to be childish and say whatever she had said or done to his old rival was well deserved because he could tell Hermione was quite distraught by whatever had happened. Harry had hugged her and calmed her down then convinced her to go into the private bath behind her office to shower and freshen up. He had assured her that after his meeting (which he had left out was with Malfoy) he would come to her office and talk more. He was not sure what insight she was looking for as to why the normally calm, collected Hermione always lost her temper when Malfoy pushed her buttons.

Harry could not resist a small smile as he remembered Hermione smacking Draco in their third year. He still wished he could have seen her slap him after Malfoy had kissed her. Harry's eyes suddenly flew wide open and darted to the image of Hermione in his picture frame as she laughed and her then wild hair blew in the breeze.

"It couldn't be," Harry muttered, but as he analyzed things the more he thought it could be possible that reason Hermione was overly agitated by Draco could be some kind of underlying sexual tension.

He groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

"That's exactly how I feel about this morning meeting too, Potter," said the very man Harry had been thinking about.

Harry frowned as Draco sauntered into his office. "Didn't hear you knock, Draco."

"I didn't," Draco said with a slightly challenging look.

Harry sighed because he was in no mood for Draco's immature antics this morning. He gestured to the chair in front of his desk. "I suppose it really doesn't matter, Malfoy, but I warn you, one time you walk into my office you might find my wife and I in an intimate position, she does have a hard time keeping her hands off me."

Draco's already fading California tan turned slightly green, and Harry resisted the urge to smirk since shock value was what he was going for with the candid statement. He felt rather confident Malfoy would not burst into his office unannounced again.

"Potter, I didn't eat much for breakfast but what I did eat, I'd rather not lose to the loo, so please refrain from such horrifying statements," Draco said taking the chair Harry had indicated.

Harry chuckled, "Fair enough."

"So what is it that you want to talk about, Potter?" Draco asked glaring at Harry to let him know his displeasure at having him be the first person he had to see at work this morning.

"I hear that even after your interview with the new chap running Olivander's that you and Blaise

are still having issues getting the game wands to respond properly to commands," Harry said more than asked.

Draco's surprise flickered in his eyes for only a moment. He had been expecting a lecture from Potter on upsetting Granger. "Yes," Draco said nodding, "I tried working his suggestions into the game wands and tweaking the game as well, but no success we're still having delay issues or wands completely ignoring players' commands."

Harry's brow furrowed and he and Draco spent the next twenty-minutes discussing everything they had tried. Although Draco was not aware, Harry was assessing the other man in a different manner than he ever had in their tension-filled history together. Today, he was as looking at him as a man who could be a suitor for his dearest friend. Harry realized as he honestly analyzed Draco against Hermione that if Draco could lose the immaturity, and the chip on his shoulder that still haunted him, Malfoy would be exactly the kind of man who could make Hermione happy. He thought of how protective Draco had been of Hermione yesterday when they had run into Ron at the muggle restaurant and began to wonder if Draco had feelings for Hermione that he was not aware of either.

Draco was mulling over what Harry had just said and was completely unaware of what the other was thinking as he finally spoke, "I see what you're saying Potter, but we're going to have a heck of a time working wand selection not only into the game but into the stores where the wizards and witches would go to purchase the game. Mail orders would not be possible for the game wand sticks because you'd never know if the wand would pick you and if we agreed to take returns and keep sending, we'd end up with a fleet of owls in the sky running back and forth."

Harry raised an eyebrow, pleased with Draco's business foresight. He resisted the urge to smile knowing this was just another characteristic that made Draco a good match for Hermione. He sighed instead of smiling, "I agree, Draco. I'm afraid you're going to have to talk all of this over with Hermione and see how she wants to proceed."

"Why can't you talk it over with her?" Draco asked his eyes narrowing at Hermione's name.

Harry sighed perhaps his mental pairing was way off base, too much negative history between the two of them for a happy future. "Because, you're the one who is overseeing the project."

"Well then Blaise can tell her. I'll just update him," Draco grumbled.

Harry shook his head. "Actually since you've done such a good job the past couple of weeks, Hermione decided this morning to let you take solo lead on this project and reassign Blaise to another game that is a going to be an educational tutorial for students to use during summer months to keep their magical knowledge fresh in their minds."

"Well isn't that just bloody great," Draco spat.

Harry raised an eyebrow, "Draco, promotions normally are considered to be a good thing."

Draco shot Potter a dirty look. "It would be if it didn't mean I'm going to have to interact more with Granger one-on-one."

"What happened last night, Draco? Hermione came in here sobbing her regrets for whatever she did to you and was nearly inconsolable. I haven't seen her that upset since Ron cheated on her three years ago."

Draco did not hide his surprise this time that Granger had not told Potter about their entire conversation last night. She had kept her word that whatever they had said was between them, and Potter's announcement about the degree of her regret slightly tempered the irritation he felt with the witch. "It's between us, Potter."

Harry rose to his feet, knowing Draco would give him no more information. "Very well, I suggest you pop over and see Kelly to find a time when Hermione has an opening today."

"Fine," Draco scowled and rose to his feet and started for the door, but stopped before leaving. "Thanks Potter."

Harry nodded and watched the door close behind the other man and thought it may still be possible for Draco to become the kind of man Hermione could love. Perhaps later this week when he had his weekly visit to the Headmaster's office in Hogwarts he would ask the portraits of Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape what they thought about such a pairing.

* * *

><p>Hermione pulled the charmed comb through her long brown hair as she stood before the mirror in her office after her shower. She had taken longer than she had planned in her private bath, but Harry had been right in his suggestion that she would feel better afterwards. She smiled as the comb dried her hair and styled it all at once. "I should consider manufacturing these," she mused to herself. She slipped off her long dark scarlet robe that Ginny had bought her for a spontaneous present two years ago. She was still amazed how close she and Ginny were and the fact they had become even closer since her and Ron had broken up.<p>

She hung the robe in the closet of the built in wardrobe in the far corner of her office. She pulled out a clean set of undergarments and slipped them on, next she pulled on a pair of long dark tights. She had just pulled on her black slip when she heard Kelly arguing with someone outside her office. She wondered if another early morning solicitor was calling. She knew they usually got Kelly riled up when they tried to bully an appointment with Hermione out of her. Hermione reached for her blue blouse and had just pulled it on, but before she could button the first button her office door flung open and Draco Malfoy stood there his grey eyes taking in the sight of her scantily clad body.

Kelly apologized and tried to physically grab Draco and pull him out of the office, but Draco merely turned around, pushed the petite secretary out of the office, and slammed the door in her face.

Hermione sighed and proceeded to finish buttoning her blouse. "I guess I can give up on any hope that you'll ever knock on my door."

Draco snorted but said nothing, watching her as she finished with her blouse and then pulled a skirt out of the closet and slipped it on.

"You could at least turn around," Hermione said giving him an annoyed look.

"You don't have anything I haven't seen before, Granger," Draco retorted.

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned her back to him as she reached into her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of knee-high black boots. She walked over to one of the couches and sat down to put them on. "Are you here to talk or just to watch me dress?"

Draco despite the anger he still felt at her for her comment last night, he felt a smile twitch at the corner of his mouth at her question. "Perhaps both," he said as he moved away from the door he had remained in front of in case that annoying Kelly tried to return.

Hermione let out a tiny chuckle. "I know better, Draco. You're completely turned off by my muggle heritage so I know seeing me nearly naked isn't on your list of favorite morning activities."

Draco did not correct her wrong assumption that he was not attracted to her. He moved to sit on the couch across from her, grateful he was still mad enough at her to not be turned on by the sight of her tiny fingers pulling up the zipper to the very sexy black boots she was planning on wearing. "Potter wanted me to come and talk with you."

"About?" Hermione asked as she finished with the second boot and raised her eyes to meet his.

She noticed they were tired and figured he had not slept well last night, something she blamed on herself. She had heard him screaming from her room at the manor next to his. She had lain in bed, crying at his pain and berating herself for her temper that she always seemed to lose with him.

"What do you think I'm here about, Granger? It certainly isn't to continue our conversation from last night," he spat.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, of course, but I would like to apologize again in the light of day. I am sorry, Draco," she said softly and forced her gaze to meet his.

"Do you think an apology really makes up for what you said?" Draco asked coolly.

Hermione shook her head. "No, but it is a start to mend the rift I caused," she replied sincerely.

Draco studied the witch sitting across from him. He saw that despite the shower she had obviously had shortly before he walked in that her eyes were still tired, and he knew from what Potter had told him that Granger was truly upset by what she had said. He thought about how nice the dinner and evening had been until he had provoked her. He knew she meant a great deal to his parents and she was his boss; finally, he sighed and waved his hand dismissively in her direction. "Yeah well, I've done my fair share of deplorable things to you in the past. I suppose I had that one last night coming."

Hermione quickly rose to her feet and moved over to the couch to sit next to Draco, surprising him when she laid a hand on his arm. "No Draco, you did not deserve what I said last night. No one deserves such cruel words, and you certainly do not. I've come to have a great deal of respect for the sides of you that I've seen the past few weeks."

Draco looked down at her hand on his arm and felt something stirring in him again and raised his eyes to meet her wide ones. He saw something in them he had never expected to see when Hermione Granger looked at him -genuine admiration. "Don't go all soft on me, Granger. Tears before lunch are a little unbearable."

Hermione smiled but did not remove her hand from his arm. "Alright, I'll call you up here after lunch if I need to have a good cry," Hermione teased.

"I'd better get a hell of a bonus for that service," Draco retorted watching how her eyes lit up as she smiled.

Hermione let out a laugh and nodded, "I'll even throw in my tickets for this week's Quidditch match."

"You have tickets to the match this weekend?" Draco asked.

"Yes, would you be interested in coming with me?"

Draco narrowed his eyes at her, not sure at first if she was teasing about wanting him to come with her. He saw how hopefully her eyes were and realized she really did want him to say yes. "Alright boss, it isn't as if I can say no to you when you're so desperate for me to forgive you."

Hermione snorted and moved her hand away from his arm finally. "Great, I'll floo over Saturday morning and we can grab brunch before we go."

"So now that you have your clothes on and I no longer have the overwhelming desire to choke you, can we talk business?" Draco asked.

Hermione nodded a small smile hovering over her lips at his choice of expressions.

"We have a logistics nightmare with the new dueling game," Draco bluntly informed her.

"Okay, explain it all to me," Hermione requested as she straightened her posture.

Draco almost laughed out loud at how quickly the softer side of her disappeared and she turned into Hermione Granger, President of Magical Com and the greatest business woman in the magical world and most likely the muggle world as well. He nodded and leaned back into the leather couch and told her all the details from his various meetings about the gaming wand and finally told her about his conversation with Potter this morning.

When he finished, Hermione merely nodded and said, "What do you think we should do?"

"I think we should table the project for now until we can iron out this wand issue," Draco replied.

"Okay."

"Okay?" Draco asked skeptically, surely Granger wasn't giving him permission to cancel work on the game.

"Yes. You're the project manager as of this morning, if you think that this wand issue is not going anywhere quickly, we do need to table it, but you're in charge of fixing the wand issue and bringing the project back to development as quickly as possible," Hermione said rising to her feet and walking over to her desk. She turned on her computer which she had not yet had a chance to turn on this morning.

"Granger, did you hit your head flooing over here this morning?" Draco asked as he rose to his feet and looked at her sitting at her desk staring at her computer monitor.

"No, I did not," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes.

"Why would you let me make such a big decision? You know I've been with this company oh I don't know less than five bloody minutes!" Draco exclaimed.

Hermione merely nodded ignoring his outburst as she hit a couple keys on the keyboard and the printer behind her stirred to life.

"Granger, if there is anything I hate more than your voice, it's when you ignore me," Draco grated out.

Hermione laughed at his childishness and rose to her feet to get the paper from the printer. She walked around the desk with the paper and came to stand next to him. She smiled up at him. "Stop being a prat, you love the sound of my voice and my dazzling smile, remember?"

"I never said anything about loving your voice," Draco huffed irritated about her reminding him of his slip of the tongue in complimenting her last night at dinner.

Hermione chuckled. "Here is your team's new assignment," she said handing him the paper she had printed off.

Draco glanced down at the description of the game she wanted him to create and a smile appeared on his lips and grew larger as he read more. He lifted his eyes from the paper and looked down at the witch standing in front of him and realized how pretty she looked wearing blue -of course he thought she had looked quite better without the blouse and only her cream bra on earlier. Once again he felt the stirring in his body, almost like a hum in his blood as he held her gaze. "Granger," he said a little more huskily than he intended. He coughed and then continued in his normal tone of voice. "How do you expect the limited game staff to work on the huge project you gave to Blaise, figure out the dueling game issue, and work on this new project?"

"I don't. The gaming team that is currently in their offices is Blaise's team," Hermione said with a shrug.

"You can't possibly expect me to do this alone, Granger," Draco retorted his eyes widening at the fact that if she did expect a solo effort he wouldn't have a life until he was forty to get it all accomplished.

Hermione laughed. "Draco your face is priceless, and no, I do not. I said your team, so you'd better get down to Human Resources and make arrangements with Dwain the head of Human Resources to start hiring your own team," Hermione replied then laughed again at his mouth that had fallen open. "Now, get out, I have another meeting with Jason in a few moments to finish what we were working on last night before you interrupted," Hermione ordered as she moved back to her desk.

At the mention of Jason, Draco's temporary shock at his promotion was forgotten. "Granger, I don't like him and I certainly don't think you should trust him," Draco said walking over to her desk.

Hermione looked up from her computer and gave him an irritated look. "Draco, I respect your opinion, but Jason is an important team member. You two need to get along."

"I will do no such thing," Draco shot back.

"Well Malfoy, that's no skin off my nose," Jason said from Hermione's office doorway.

"Don't even start you two," Hermione warned rising to her feet. She walked around the desk to grab Draco by the elbow and shoo him out of her office.

Draco glanced down at her and shook his head irritated that she wouldn't listen to him about Jason. His irritation elevated when Jason walked over and greeted Hermione by placing a kiss on her cheek.

"I'll be back to fetch you for dinner this evening, Granger," Draco said giving Jason a scathing look before storming out of the office.

"You have a date with Malfoy?" Jason asked turning to fix Hermione with a wounded look.

"No, he means dinner with the whole Malfoy family," Hermione corrected and then gestured to her desk. She was certainly not going to discuss Draco Malfoy's strange behavior with Jason. She was not even going to think about his strange behavior or how the room had suddenly seemed smaller when Draco was in there with her and how her body felt almost feverish when he had stared at her nearly naked, and she certainly was not going to think about how her hand tingled when she touched his arm and how she could not help but want to look into his grey eyes. No, all of those thoughts were strictly forbidden.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Thank you for reading! Please review! A huge hug and thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, added it to their alerts, and/or favorited this story. I'm so honored and humbled by all the support I've received for this fic.

Until next time, be well, my dearest readers!


	9. Chapter 9

Draco was relieved when Friday rolled around because he knew it was the last day that wanker Jason was scheduled to be in town. Draco had heard from Blaise last night when they were leaving late together that Jason and Potter had resolved some of the issues Jason was consulting on and was returning to India to finish the preparation for the wireless rollout. Draco was tired of having to bite his tongue and play nice with him the past couple of days.

The previous evening, he and Jason has almost ended up dueling when Draco had stopped by Hermione's office to take her to the manor for dinner and Jason had been there pestering her to come to dinner with him. Draco had not been able to resist a snarky comment when Hermione had turned Jason down and the other boy had responded in return. Draco shook his head clearing his thoughts. He had interviews all day today with potential team members. Hermione had given him permission to hire up to six new people for his team.

He heard a knock on his door and muttered for the person to enter.

"Hey do you have a minute?" Blaise asked from the doorway.

"Yeah, come on in," Draco offered gesturing to the chairs in front of his desk.

"How'd the two interviews go you had yesterday?" Blaise asked as he took a seat.

Draco shrugged. "One of them is on the maybe list, the other is in the no way pile. I have eight interviews scheduled today. I'm probably not even going to have time for lunch today."

"Oh so you're not going to participate in the good-bye luncheon for Jason?" Blaise asked with a smirk.

"Yeah, that would be a negative," Draco said dryly.

Blaise laughed.

"So other than to give me grief, why are you here?" Draco asked as he reviewed the emails that had come in overnight.

"I was hoping you'd come out for dinner with Pansy and I this evening," Blaise said.

"Spending Friday night with two of my oldest mates, sounds like a good time," Draco said with a smile.

"Great, I'll call you on the manor house phone after work to let you know where to meet at since your new cell phone hasn't arrived yet," Blaise said before getting up and leaving.

Draco nodded and went back to work. He was now looking forward to the weekend. He had dinner with his friends tonight and tomorrow he and Granger were going to the Quidditch game.

* * *

><p>Draco thanked his final interview for coming and let the witch know someone would be in contact with her the beginning of next week to let her know if she had made it the second round of interviewing. Draco moved behind his desk and swore at the large amount of emails he had accumulated today.<p>

"Everything okay?" Hermione asked from the doorway.

"Granger," Draco said rising to his feet, "I didn't realize you were there."

"Sorry the door was still open," Hermione apologized as she walked into the office.

"It's okay," Draco said as he slid back into his seat, "I'm just trying to figure out if I'll get a weekend with all of these emails that have piled up."

"Well that's why I'm here," she said with a smile.

Draco realized she was holding her hands behind her back and narrowed his eyes. "Do you have a present for me?"

Hermione laughed, "Well if you consider being able to work at home a gift then perhaps yes."

"Come on," Draco said holding out his hand, "give me the laptop I know you have for me."

Hermione laughed and handed him over the sleek silver laptop.

Draco whistled, "This is one of the new ones the development team just created, isn't it?"

"Boot it up, I had them install a couple new features I'm hoping you'll trial and give me feedback on," Hermione said walking around his desk to lean over his shoulder.

Draco nodded and hit the power button. He was really excited to have the new Phoenix XZ model. He knew only a couple beta models had been released for consumer trials. He grinned at the wallpaper of the desktop. "Really Granger, you put the Gryffindor Lion and colors on my desktop?"

"A girl has to have fun where she can," Hermione said with a laugh.

"That will be changed shortly," Draco said with a shake of his head, "maybe I'll have graphics design me the Slytherin Snake eating the lion."

"Good luck with that since the head of graphics is a Gryffindor," Hermione teased.

"Yes but she's a witch and no witch can resist my charm," Draco returned with mock seriousness.

"I am looking forward to my dinner this evening, please don't make me ill," Hermione said dryly.

Draco turned to give her a smart remark but found his voice had stopped working when he realized her face was closer than he realized and had he moved a few millimeters further he would be kissing her again. He also realized he wanted to kiss her again. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat.

"What?" Hermione asked pulling back slightly to fix him with a concerned look.

"Nothing," Draco said with a shake of his head to clear the urge to kiss her. "Um so you said you're looking forward to dinner? Are you going to my parents?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes as he turned back to his computer. She was trying to decipher the look Draco had just given her. "No, I am meeting a friend this evening. Click that silver shield please."

"Granger, do you have a date?" Draco asked as he double clicked on the icon Hermione had indicated and was surprised when his screen filled with four mini-screens they were projecting images of Malfoy Manor. "Granger, what is this?"

"I'm not sure if it's a date and this is the new Home Shield program I'm designing so witches and wizards can monitor their homes while they travel," Hermione said nodding with approval at the screen.

"How can you not know if it's a date?" Draco asked perplexed.

"Because we've known each other for a long time and I'm not certain that's what he meant when he said we should grab dinner while he was in town," Hermione answered.

Draco was about to ask something else about her maybe-date but Hermione told him to shush and went about showing him how all the manor's security cameras could now be viewed anywhere with Home Shield and how the manor's alarm system would send him an alert on his computer as well. She then proceeded to give him a new cell phone as well where he would be alerted if anything was wrong with the manor by a standardized call.

"How did you design all of this Granger?" Draco asked amazed.

Hermione blushed. "Well I won't lie, I pay close attention to the latest technology in the muggle world and actually speak frequently with executives and engineers from muggle companies and attend seminars with them as well to keep abreast of how they're improving the world with science and technology and then when I take that knowledge and incorporate our magic with it, we're far more advanced than they are at this point in history."

"Do you reverse share?" Draco asked out of curiosity.

"Only suggestions which would actually be beneficial to them, but I'm afraid those suggestions are few and far between since most of our advancement at Magical Com truly is due to magic and would be no help to muggles," Hermione said her brow furrowing.

"Why the glum look, Granger?"

"I really do wish I was able to offer the same level of technology to muggles, but I believe even though their progress is slower they will one day find a way to match where we're at now," she replied.

She glanced at his watch, "Crap, I have to get going, Draco. Do you mind if after the Quidditch match tomorrow if we go over the other programs? I'll pay you overtime."

"Don't be daft, Granger," Draco grumbled, "I'm loathing to admit how much this fascinates me but it does. Buy me some good wine and we'll call it even."

Hermione chuckled as she stood up straight and straightened her jacket. "I'll be over tomorrow morning around ten, if that's alright?"

"That'll be fine," Draco assured as he watched her make her way to the door.

"Have a good night," Hermione said with a wave as she exited his office.

Draco watched the empty doorway for a moment and then smiled at his laptop and resisted the urge to play with the other new software programs. He turned the laptop off and slid it into the satchel his mother had given him for his birthday to carry his papers for work. He slung the bag over his shoulder and turned off the light to his office. He tapped his wand against the lock on the door ensuring it was firm latched. He made his way through the hallways which were primarily dark because most of the employees had already left to start their weekend. When he arrived at the lobby, Louise bid him a good weekend before he took the floo home.

He was surprised when he arrived at Malfoy Manor and found the foyer filled with racks of muggle clothing. "Mother," he bellowed, "what on Earth is going on around here?"

His mother came hurrying in and laughed at his expression. "Draco, I'm having some of the ladies over for a party."

"With muggle clothes?" he asked perplexed.

"It's the latest ladies party craze," Narcissa explained, "it's shopping mixed with education, teaches magical raised women how to dress properly in muggle clothing. This way we can explore the muggle world without drawing attention to ourselves."

Draco rolled his eyes, "Whatever Mother. I'm going to change I'm having dinner with Blaise and Pansy this evening. If the manor phone rings, I'll get it."

"Very well," Narcissa said with a small smile as she watched her son head for the staircase.

Lucius walked out of the dining room cigar in hand. "These are one of my favorite muggle inventions," he professed to his wife.

Narcissa raised a finger at her husband. "Outside."

"A man thrown from his own castle," Lucius whined.

Narcissa chuckled and walked over and kissed her husband on the cheek. "Do you really want to see Lady Killigan in a pair of muggle jeans?"

"Good heavens, I'd rather poke myself in the eye with my wand," Lucius muttered.

"Then shoo away with you, I told you the downstairs was all mine tonight," Narcissa said with a laugh.

"Fine, when all of you ladies are done dressing as muggle models, come find me in the garden. I'll be smoking with the peacocks," he said giving her a wink.

The phone rang and Lucius went to get it but Narcissa shook her head. "It's for Draco. He's having dinner with the Zabinis tonight."

"Really?" Lucius asked. "That's wonderful. I do not want him moping around on weekends. I want him out reconnecting with his friends. I think seeing how much they've all grown up and changed will do him wonders."

"Agreed, now shoo," Narcissa said pushing him towards the doors leading to the garden.

Lucius chuckled swatted at her backside before he made for the garden. He had high hopes his son was finally starting to come around.

* * *

><p>Draco entered the restaurant and whistled. Diagon Alley had expanded since he had been gone and now there was a new section of restaurants, taverns, and even clubs. The restaurant Blaise had said to meet them at was clearly a classy establishment with no expense spared in its décor. He smiled at the pretty witch who was clearly the hostess and told her he was meeting the Zabinis. She asked him to follow her and led him to a table in the back that had a nice view over the rest of the tables.<p>

Draco thanked the hostess and turned to give Pansy, who had risen to her feet, a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. He shook Blaise's hand before taking his own seat. "Thanks for inviting me out."

"Of course," Pansy said dismissively, "we would have invited you out last Friday evening but your mother insisted she wanted you to herself the whole first weekend."

Blaise and Draco both chuckled at this and further conversation was delayed by the arrival of the waiter to take their drink orders.

"So Draco," Pansy said once the waiter had gone, "how are you liking being back in England?"

"Honestly," Draco said after a small pause, "I'm surprisingly enjoying it."

"Good," Blaise said with a nod, "I know it has to be quite the adjustment from warm California sun and Quidditch to English weather and office work."

"Well if I have to work in an office, I'm glad it's with the two of you," Draco said sincerely.

Pansy smiled at her friend and felt her husband reach under the table to give her knee a squeeze. They had both been hopeful Draco would be happy working at Magical Com. "It's an amazing company," Pansy said smiling, "it's never dull because you never know what the next day will bring."

"Very true," Draco agreed. "I've been meaning to ask you two. How did Jeremy and Jason end up at Magical Com?"

"Well Jeremy has been there the longest, so he's the reason Jason was hired. Jeremy himself applied for the position of technical engineer three years ago and worked his way up to be Senior Technical Engineer," Blaise said. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Draco murmured evasively.

"Don't lie," Pansy said wagging her finger at Draco, "I know all about you and Jason's confrontation in Hermione's office the other day."

"You mean when Jason threw a hex at me?" Draco asked innocently.

Blaise chortled but withheld comment until the waiter set down their drinks. They apologized and asked for a few more minutes to browse their menus.

"What do you recommend?" Draco asked as he browsed the menu.

"Hermione," Pansy said.

"Granger's a menu option," Draco asked raising his head.

"No," Pansy said with a laugh, "she's here."

Draco followed where Pansy was nodding with her head and saw Hermione enter wearing a stunning dark blue, strapless dress. Her hair was pulled up in a loose bun exposing her slender neck which was adorned with a startling sapphire necklace. Draco felt his body stir at the sight of her, a reaction he realized he was having more and more these days.

"Who is that bloke she's with, honey?" Blaise asked his wife as he too looked towards where Hermione was being helped into her seat by a handsome wizard with blond hair.

Pansy narrowed her eyes for a moment and then smiled. "Don't you recognize him? That's Cormac Mclaggen."

"McLaggen? I thought Hermione couldn't stand him," Draco said as he sipped at the ale he had ordered.

"They didn't care much for one another back in school," Blaise said, "but Cormac changed a lot after the war. He stopped being such an arrogant wanker and that's despite being voted the best beater in the Eastern European Quidditch the past two years."

"Yeah, I always thought he'd make a much better beater with his more muscular build when we were in school," Pansy added.

"Pansy, my dear wife, are you admitting to having been checking out a Gryffindor while we are school," Blaise teased.

Pansy laughed at her husband and gave him a sly wink.

"Minx," Blaise said with a chuckle.

"They look to be having a good time," Pansy said happily before sipping her wine.

"Good," Blaise said as he followed his wife's gaze to Hermione, "she needs some good times."

"Yes quite true," Pansy agreed, "Draco, I've been so happy you've able to get her out of the

office and to dinner every evening this week."

Draco did not reply. Instead, he directed his attention to his menu. "The quail with the spinach and garlic potatoes sounds rather good."

Pansy gave her husband a pointed look and he slightly shook his head to deter her from her thoughts. She frowned but nodded slightly to let him know she would not pursue Draco's blatant change of topic from Hermione to dinner entrees.

"The quail is fabulous, I recommend it," Blaise said, "I'm going to have the Bangers and Mash."

"Oh Blaise," Pansy said rolling her eyes, "you need to branch out a tad more."

"Blaise just likes sausage," Draco said with a small smile.

Pansy burst out laughing and almost spit out the wine she just took a sip of.

Blaise chuckled and shook his head at his friend. "Nice to see the Yanks didn't rob you of your sense of humor."

Draco winked at Pansy and turned his head to glance at Granger and was surprised to see her making her way to their table. He returned her smile when their eyes met.

"Hi guys," she said coming to stand behind the empty chair.

"Granger," Draco said cordially.

"Would you and Cormac like to join us?" Blaise asked.

"No, but thank you," Hermione said giving her friend a smile.

"I swear Cormac looks better and better every time I see him," Pansy observed waving at Cormac who was looking up at them.

"Wife, I'm right here," Blaise muttered.

Hermione and Pansy both laughed knowing full well Blaise was joking. "Well I'll get back to our table," Hermione said after she was done laughing, "I just wanted to say hello."

"Enjoy your dinner, Granger," Draco said as she turned to leave.

"See you in the morning?" she asked Draco.

"Of course," Draco said giving her a small smile.

She returned the smile and returned to her table.

Draco did not miss the look exchanged between his two friends. "I know what you're both thinking and just stop. Granger and I are just friends. Our work relationship requires us to get along and outside of work, our friendship makes my parents happy something that actually matters to both of us."

"Right mate," Blaise said with a shrug, "and the fact that you can barely keep your eyes off her has nothing to do with anything."

Draco glared at his friend and was about to retort but the waiter's return for their order saved Blaise his scathing words. Pansy seeing the look in Draco's eyes at her husband's comments maneuvered the conversation in another direction. Throughout her conversation directing, she realized her husband was right –Draco really couldn't keep himself from glancing at Hermione. She strongly suspected her friend was attracted to their boss, but she was not about to call him out on it. However on Monday, she fully planned to investigate how Hermione felt about Draco.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: August 3rd 2014-** Thank you for reading. Please review. I appreciate of the reviews, alerts, and favorites this story has received.

Until next time-be well! Hugs!


	10. Chapter 10

Draco was sitting at the breakfast table glaring at his mother who had been grilling him for the past thirty minutes about Hermione's date with McLaggen.

"So they left together?"

"For the third time, Mother," Draco growled, "yes they did."

"Oh Narcissa, leave our poor son alone. It isn't as if he can give you any more details than he already has," Lucius said setting his tea cup back onto its saucer.

"Well I'm just happy she went on a date," Narcissa replied, "I worry so for her."

Draco frowned at his orange juice. He had enjoyed dinner last night, but somehow when he saw McLaggen lead Hermione out of the restaurant he had felt something unexpected, jealousy. He had returned home to the manor after a few more rounds of drinks with his friends and felt disappointment that Granger was not curled up on the loveseat like she had been every night this week after work in the evening. He knew it was silly the disappointment he had felt yet the feeling had been there.

"Son, are you alright?" Lucius asked as he saw his son was staring intently at his glass.

Draco nodded and excused himself. He knew Granger would be here shortly and he still needed to get dressed. He doubted his boss would appreciate him going to the Quidditch Match with her in only his black silk sleep pants. He was just to the stairs when he heard the floo pop behind him and turned around to see Hermione emerge. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a loose fitting red button down, short sleeve blouse. He thought she looked lovely with her hair pulled back at the base of her neck.

"Good Morning, Draco," she said brightly.

"Granger, you're early," he replied.

"Yes well, I need to speak with your parents," Hermione said with a shrug. Her eyes lingered on his chest which was completely uncovered due to his lack of shirt.

"Enjoying the view, boss?" Draco teased.

"Not too bad actually, Malfoy," Hermione returned raising her eyes to meet his.

He chuckled and turned to go up the stairs. "Bet it was better than McLaggen's."

"I wouldn't know since I have never seen Cormac shirtless," she said dryly, "and have no intention of it either. We're just friends."

"We're just friends too, Granger," Draco replied as he walked up the stairs, "and you just saw me shirtless."

She laughed. "Go get ready, I'll be in the dining room with your parents."

Draco turned and gave her a wink then turned and jogged the rest of the way up the stairs. Hermione chuckled and walked into the dining room. She gave Lucius and Narcissa a hug and sat down. Narcissa did not make her wait long before giving her the interrogation on her date with Cormac.

"So really, you're not going to see him again?" Narcissa was asking as Draco reentered the room about ten minutes later.

Hermione shook her head. "Not romantically, at least."

"Why not, Granger?" Draco asked as he adjusted the collar of his designer polo t-shirt.

"It's never been there between us, romantically. That hasn't changed even though Cormac is much nicer than when we were kids," Hermione replied with a shrug.

"Shame," Narcissa said with a shake of her head, "I guess I'll just have to keep looking to find you a nice bloke."

"Wait you set them up?" Draco asked incredulously.

"Something like that," Narcissa said with a laugh.

Hermione rolled her eyes and rose to her feet. She leaned over and kissed Narcissa on the cheek. "He was better than the last two."

"Maybe the next time I'll hit the mark," Narcissa said hopefully.

"Well Granger, as long as she's obsessed with your love life she might leave mine alone," Draco said as he kissed his mother on her other cheek.

"Hardly," Narcissa said with a smile, "I'm just giving you a slight reprieve since you've only been home a little over a week."

Lucius rose to his feet laughing at the pained expression his son had. "Cissa, leave them alone. Shoo you two, go have a great day."

Hermione hugged Lucius and headed to the foyer. Draco bid his father goodbye and followed her. He listened she called out the name of the Quidditch field they were headed to and then once she was through the floo repeated the name and stepped through. He saw her standing a short ways away from the floo entrance to the stadium. She was talking with one of the stadium staff. He walked over and saw the young employee's mouth fall open.

"You're Draco Malfoy," the young boy exclaimed.

"Last I checked," Draco said dryly.

"You're an amazing seeker," the lad continued, "I read all about that amazing Snitch catch you had against the American's Texas team."

Hermione laughed at Draco's shocked expression.

"Can I have your autograph?" the boy asked excitedly presenting Draco the book Hermione had just handed back to the boy.

Draco nodded, "Sure kid, no problem."

Hermione watched amused as Draco took the quill the boy handed him and scrawled his signature in the book. The boy thanked them both and hurried off to show his friends. Hermione linked her arm through his causing him to glance down at her and shake his head.

"What's got that silly grin on your face, Granger?" he asked as he steered them through the gathering crowd and out to the stadium seating.

"Nothing, just never thought I'd see the day when Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy would be signing the same autograph book," she said smiling up at him.

Draco gazed down at her and chuckled. He waited until she was seated before taking the seat next to her.

"Did you enjoy dinner with Blaise and Pansy last evening?" Hermione asked as her eyes scanned the stadium which was starting to fill up with spectators.

"I did," Draco replied, "it was nice catching up with them."

"All of your friends are happy you're back," Hermione said quietly.

"Maybe all of mine, but not all of yours," Draco observed his own eyes scanning the crowd looking for familiar faces.

"And which friends of mine are you referring to?"

Draco's response was cut off by the appearance of the waitress who would be serving their private box. They both declined anything for the moment and requested she returned later. When they were alone again, Draco turned in his seat to be able to better see Hermione. "Well, I am not certain your good buddies Jason and Jeremy are thrilled by my return."

"Well you really have been rather a prat to them," Hermione said turning her head to meet his gaze.

"I'm always a prat, Granger."

Hermione let out a laugh and rolled her eyes. "Not always."

"My goodness did you just compliment me," Draco teased.

"Hardly," Hermione returned smiling.

"Nope, that was definitely a compliment," Draco continued, "I do think you're warming to me, Granger."

Hermione laughed and pushed at his arm playfully.

"Okay perhaps warming is too strong of a word, perhaps thaw is more accurate," Draco said with a chuckle.

"Perhaps," Hermione mused, "and I think once you cut Jason and Jeremy some slack that the three of you will get along just fine."

"Doubtful," Draco returned, "I don't think you should place money on that particular bet. And before you start a lecture, Granger, I know we have to work together but that doesn't mean I need to be mates with everyone at Magical Com."

"No," Hermione conceded, "I suppose not. I would like it though if you were. I want you to be happy working at Magical Com."

"I am," Draco said seriously, "and not being on the best terms with those two isn't going to change that."

"I hope not," Hermione murmured.

"Don't be so serious, Granger," Draco said turning his attention back to the stadium, "we're supposed to be having fun."

Hermione gave him a small smile and nodded. Their waitress returned and this time the two of them both ordered lemonade and Hermione requested ice cream. They greeted the six other wizards and witches sharing their box. Hermione explained to Draco it was Magical Com's private box and these were some different commercial clients she had invited for the afternoon.

Draco realized as Hermione introduced him to the last wizard who had entered the box that Hermione had deliberately invited these clients to help him establish professional connections. He was not going to let the chance she had presented him go to waste as he took every chance he could to get to know and converse with the other witches and wizards while they enjoyed the match. The time flew by quickly and only four hours into the match the visiting team's Seeker caught the Snitch. Draco laughed as he accepted payment from one of the wizards he had bet on the outcome of the game with and promised to have drinks with him after work the upcoming week. He and Hermione bid the last of their clients goodbye and found themselves alone in the box. He grinned at her when she turned to face him.

"Happy?" Hermione asked as she started to walk out of the box after a quick glance that everything was in place.

"Very," Draco replied following her, "that was a nice little bet I just won."

"Well Dan should have known better than to bet the famous American Quidditch player on his game of choice," Hermione said with a chuckle as Draco drew even with her.

"You're making fun of me, Granger," Draco accused with a smile.

"Just a little," Hermione confessed a tiny smile gracing her lips.

"What's the plan now?" Draco asked.

"I thought if you were up for it we could go back to my place and have dinner and work on the programs on your laptop," Hermione said tentatively as they came to a stop in front of the outbound floo network.

"Crap," Draco exclaimed, "I forgot my laptop at the manor."

"Oh," Hermione said disappointed, "well no worries then. I will just show you on Monday."

"Don't be daft, Granger," Draco said dryly, "tell me your address and I'll meet you over there in a few minutes."

Hermione gave him her address and made him repeat it back to her before she stepped through the floo to her flat. She glanced around her apartment which she had cleaned thoroughly last night after Cormac had dropped her off and early this morning. She drew a deep breath and enjoyed the aroma of the food she had left cooking all day. She made her way to the kitchen and shrugged her apron over her head and tied it at the waist. She picked up a remote control and turned on some music. She hummed to herself as one of the latest songs from a popular warlock boy band came through the speakers. She pulled out two of her favorite red plates and set them on the table. She was dancing around as she folded her white and red napkins when Draco entered the dining room.

"I didn't hear you," Hermione said blushing at having been caught dancing around her dining room with a napkin.

"Obviously," Draco said chuckling his grey eyes were twinkling in the late afternoon sun, "but please do not stop the show on my account."

Hermione laughed. "Dinner will be ready in just a few minutes."

"Good because it smells mouth watering," Draco said rubbing a hand over his stomach.

"Have a seat," Hermione said gesturing to the table. She watched as Draco set his laptop satchel in front of one of the empty place settings.

"I can help," Draco offered.

Hermione's eyes met his and she felt her stomach flutter and she nodded afraid to speak as she tried to rationalize why Draco was causing this reaction.

"Granger?"

"Oh sorry, yes," she mumbled, "if you want to grab some wine glasses and pick your choice of red or white out of the wine refrigerator in the kitchen, I'll finish setting the table."

Draco moved past her into the kitchen and shook his head at how neat and organized everything was. "Granger, you're insane."

"How's that?" She called from the other room.

"Because you're the only witch I know who would insist on a pristine house without house elves," Draco returned as he pulled the bottle of red wine out. "Which cabinet has the wine goblets?"

"Second from the left of the sink," Hermione replied.

Draco had just closed the cupboard door when he heard the sound of someone flooing in over the music. He took the glasses and wine and walked back into the dining room to hear Hermione arguing with someone in her living room. He set everything on the table and waited only a minute before deciding he was going to go be nosey. He felt his lips drawl into a frown as he saw Ron Weasley arguing with Hermione.

"Oh hell," Ron spat when he saw Draco, "what the hell is he doing here?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Draco returned coolly.

"None of your damn business, Malfoy," Ron said stiffly.

"Ron, please just leave," Hermione said tiredly.

"Yes Weasley," Draco said coming to sit on the sofa, "in case you can't tell, Granger and I have a dinner date."

Hermione fixed Draco with an irritated look and rolled her eyes when he merely gave her an innocent smile. "Draco," she started but the rest of what she was going to say was cut off when Ron hexed Draco squarely in the chest.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: October 12th 2014:** Thank you for reading. I truly appreciate all the support this story has drawn since I started publishing it. I am sorry to any of you who reviewed in the past 8 weeks, I most likely did not get a chance to respond. My new job has been incredibly demanding and I've been home very little, which is why the long delays in updates and the lack of response. I fear this current workload is not going to abate any time soon, so please be patient with me. Hang in there -updates will come! I will also try to be better at responding to your reviews because I love them and they deserve my attention!

Until next time, my dearest readers, be well! Be Happy! Love More!

Jessi


	11. Chapter 11

Draco's eyes slowly opened only to squint in protest at the bright light invading the haze of darkness he was coming out of. "What happened?" he tried to mutter but his mouth felt like it was filled with sand and the words came out garbled.

"Draco," his mother's concerned voice said gently, "you're in Saint Mungo's. You were hit with a very awful hex straight on with no form of magical protection."

Draco tried to talk but his mother told him to stay quiet until she could get a healer. He blinkedhis eyes trying to clear his foggy vision and thoughts. His whole body ached. He tried to remember what had happened. "Weasel," he groaned as he closed his eyes the light was too much.

"Draco," a timid voice said from nearby.

"Granger," Draco mumbled.

Hermione moved to the side of his bed Narcissa had just vacated to find a healer. Hermione nervously played with the sheet of the bed near where his hand was, not sure whether she should take his hand or not. She decided now was not the time to see if her touch still repulsed him. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Freckle git hit me with some curse or hex," Draco managed.

"Yes," Hermione said. "I'm so sorry, Draco."

"Not your fault," he murmured before passing out again.

Narcissa returned with the healer and sighed. "I'm sorry Healer Evans, he seems to have lost consciousness again."

"No problem, Narcissa. It's just a good sign he did wake up." Healer Evans said as he pushed his thin wire rimmed glasses up his narrow nose. He smiled at Hermione as she stepped away from the bed to let him next to Draco. He held his wand over Draco and murmured some words as he moved it up and down the length of the young man's body. He then pressed the back of his hand to Draco's forehead and nodded. "His fever is gone which is good." The healer then gently pulled down the sheet covering Draco's body and examined the magic burn left from the hex.

"Will that scar?" Narcissa asked her eyes grim as they stared at the horrible black and red mark on her son's body.

"No," Healer Evans replied, "although, it will look ugly for quiet some time. I believe since he regained consciousness even though it was briefly that we are through the worst of it."

"Well, my son is just a little vain so no scarring is a good thing," Narcissa said giving Evans a small smile.

"He has his mother's incredible good looks so he has every right to be vain about them," Lucius said entering the room looking more haggard than normal. He nodded at the healer who excused himself to go check on other patients.

Narcissa moved to her husband's side and let him put an arm around her and draw her close. "What did the Aurors say?"

"They are waiting till Draco wakes to determine whether they'll press formal charges but until he wakes Weasley is in custody," Lucius said his eyes moving from his son to Hermione.

Hermione's lips were drawn tightly together. She could not bring herself to meet Lucius or Narcissa's gaze. She felt too guilty. Ron had floo'd over to her apartment after seeing a story run on one of the gossip news stations that her and Draco were dating. Ron had been on a drinking bender the night before after Ginny had told him she was on a date with Cormac McLaggen who he had resented when they were in school as well. In his still slightly inebriated state when he had woken up late in the day and saw the news showing Draco and Hermione at the Quidditch match arm and arm, he had decided to confront Hermione. Draco being in her apartment was the proverbial straw that broke the back of Ron's temper and he unleashed his anger by hexing Draco.

The hex alone would have been painful but when combined with Ron's overwhelming emotional state of anger had amplified the effect of the hex. Hermione shuddered as she remembered thinking Draco was dead for a few moments when he crumbled to the ground. She had immediately ordered Ron to leave at once. She had used one of the emergency devices they had designed to call for assistance with transporting patients to Saint Mungo's. Even though the field healers had arrived within a couple minutes, the time she spent cradling Draco's head in her lap and begging him to be alright had felt like a lifetime. She had called Lucius and Narcissa as soon as the healers had taken Draco from her arms. They had met her at the hospital.

"Hermione," Lucius said gently interrupting her thoughts.

She finally raised her eyes to look at his and felt tears prick her eyes. "I'm so sorry. If I had listened to you two and put up a spell that banned Ron from entering my apartment none of this would have happened."

"Rubbish," Narcissa said leaving her husband's side to fold Hermione into a hug. "This is not your fault, dear. If he had not confronted Draco at your flat about the images on the news than he would have another time and perhaps you would not have been there to react so quickly."

"I'll have a conversation with that reporter," Lucius said darkly.

Narcissa shook her head as she turned to face her husband, keeping one arm firmly around Hermione's waist and holding her close. "That reporter works for a gossip show and let's face it our son and Hermione walking arm and arm around a Quidditch match really is juicy gossip."

"The images really were convincing," Hermione whispered, "I can see why Ron thought there was more to our relationship."

Narcissa gave her husband a stern look when he opened his mouth to say something and he immediately shut it. A knock on the door interrupted the conversation and the three turned to see Harry standing in the doorway.

"How is he?" Harry asked walking into the room.

"He passed out again," Lucius said before moving to sit in one of the chairs in the corner of the room.

"How are the three of you?" Harry asked.

"Honestly Harry, really pissed off," Narcissa said bluntly. "My only child could have been killed by that bloody shit you call a friend."

Harry met Narcissa's gaze squarely. "I know. I'm pissed off too, Narcissa. I came here to see how Draco was and to tell you and Lucius I will support you and Draco whatever course of action you decide to take against Ron."

Hermione gasped in surprise but Lucius was the one to respond. "Thank you, Harry. We appreciate that."

Harry told them he'd be back tomorrow to check on Draco and asked Hermione to walk him out. He waited till they were a good way down the hall from Draco's room before he pulled her onto an empty bench in the hallway. He took her hands in his and gave her a sad smile before he said what was on his mind. "Molly plans on coming to seek you out to appeal to you on Ron's behalf."

Hermione's shoulders sagged at the thought of dealing with Molly Weasley about Ron hexing Draco. "When?"

"Ginny convinced her now was not the best time and that Ron at least deserved one night in the clink for what he did, so you're safe until tomorrow," Harry returned giving her hands a squeeze.

"I can't believe he went this mental," Hermione muttered pulling her hands away and leaning back against the bench until her head rested against the wall. "I am just so shaken up over seeing Draco in that condition I can't even think how I want to deal with this right now."

"I know," Harry said quietly.

Hermione turned her head to give her best friend an inquisitive look. "What's on your mind, Harry?"

"Ron is my best mate has been since we both sat down in the same car on the Hogwarts Express. You have been my friend almost as long. I was there when you two first kissed at the battle of Hogwarts and through your relationship right to its conclusion," Harry replied. "I have been disappointed in Ron for how your relationship ended, not to mention his awful behavior in attempting to rewin your affection and until today I still had hope we could all still work together and eventually be the friends we all once were."

"I did too," Hermione croaked out.

"But I am not sure that's possible," Harry added sadly after a moment.

"So what do I do?" Hermione asked giving Harry a tortured look.

"That's up to you, Hermione." Harry said releasing her hands and rising to his feet.

Hermione nodded and rose to her feet to give her a friend a hug. She watched him until he turned a corner and disappeared from her line of sight. She reached in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone and dialed her second fast dial contact. "Pansy, I need you to meet me at Magical Com in an hour. I'm going to need your assistance with a statement to the media I'll be making later on today," Hermione said when her friend answered.

"Of course," Pansy agreed immediately. "Hermione, are you ok?"

"I'm not sure but right now I have to go to the holding cell where Ron is and address a few things with him." Hermione rubbed her temple at the thought of just how unpleasant that conversation was going to be.

Hermione rebuffed Pansy's offer to accompany her and then ended the call after asking Pansy to make sure one of her best navy blue robes was pressed for her to wear for the news conference. Hermione walked back to Draco's room and saw he was still not awake. She explained to Lucius and Narcissa her decisions and that she would return when everything was handled. Lucius offered to accompany her, but she told him his place was here with Narcissa and Draco. She hugged them both and gave Draco one last look before leaving.

* * *

><p>Ron was sitting on the metal cot's thin mattress with his head in his hands when he heard Hermione quietly say his name. He raised his head and met her gaze before averting his eyes. "I'm surprised you're here," he said as he stared at the concrete floor.<p>

Hermione eyes analyzed Ron for a few moments not responding to his comment. She knew Ron, knew every freckle on his face and what the different curvatures of his mouth and brow meant. With this knowledge, she knew he felt remorse for his actions which only made what she was about to say and do so much harder for her. "I'm here because there are things which must be said."

Ron nodded and rose slowly to his feet walking over to stand in front of her. "I figured."

"Ron, your actions today have left me with no choice. I'm sorry, but you're fired," Hermione said forcing her gaze and voice to stay steady. She mentally kept reminding herself that at this moment she was not Hermione Ron's former fiancé but his boss and had the responsibility to do what was in the best interest of her company for the sake of her employees and customers.

"Fired?" Ron asked surprised.

"You assaulted one of our board members who is the son of another board member, who also is one of Magical Com's Vice Presidents. You also have repeatedly ignored my warnings to maintain a personal distance so we could have a professional relationship. Today clearly demonstrates that you cannot work professionally with me so I am terminating your employment with Magical Com," Hermione continued her voice not wavering once.

"Hermione," Ron said pleadingly, "this job is something I'm good at. I enjoy the work I'm doing in France. I like working with you and Harry. There has to be another solution."

"You are right that you've done exemplary work in France. Magical Com's Human Resource Department will be directed to give you an excellent reference."

"This is bullshit," Ron spat.

"This is your fault," Hermione said harshly her emotions finally breaking through.

"Is this because of him?"

"Who? Draco?" Hermione asked bewildered.

"Yes, because I attacked your new boyfriend," Ron replied his face flushing red as his temper got the best of him.

"Of for the love," Hermione said scathingly, "I am not dating Draco. If we were though, it isn't any of your bloody business. You are not really a part of my life anymore Ron Weasley."

Hermione felt her chest tighten as the last words left her mouth and the tears began to prick her vision. She turned quickly on her heel and strode down the corridor ignoring Ron pleading with her to come back and talk with him. She nodded at the wizard who was guarding the cellblock. She assured him she was fine as he let her through the sealed door. She bid her goodbyes to the warden who was waiting on the other side and then took the floo to Magical Com. The building was empty since it was Saturday and the meeting with Ron had not been as long as she thought it would be so she knew Pansy was not here yet. She made her way up to her office and sunk into her desk chair weary from the events of the day. She grabbed her favorite quill and a piece of parchment. She jotted down a few points she wanted Pansy to incorporate into the speech she planned on giving later in the day. When she had finished, she pushed the parchment aside and then grabbed a stack of files requiring her review and signature.

Twenty minutes later when Pansy strolled into her office with her navy robe slung over her shoulder, Hermione had nearly finished the stack of folders. She rose to her feet to take the robe from Pansy.

"I jotted down some points I'd like you to weave into my speech," Hermione said gesturing to her desk.

Pansy nodded and moved to review the parchment. She read the list twice and raised her eyes to look at her boss and friend. "Are you sure about this?"

Hermione nodded. "You and I both know firing Ron was long overdue."

Pansy pursed her lips a hundred retorts on the tip of her tongue but she kept her mouth shut. Her friend was trying to hide her distress but Pansy knew her remarkably well and could tell Hermione was shaken. She had spoken with Lucius a couple of hours ago when the Healers had finished their initial assessment of Draco and knew he had been severely injured by Weasley's hex. She had released the initial statement to the press that Draco Malfoy had in fact been admitted to St. Mungo's and was recovering. She had declined comment on the rumors that Ron Weasley was involved at Lucius's request. She knew full well Lucius had no problem throwing Ron to the media wolves but his hesitation was Hermione. Pansy not for the first time in the last five years found herself reflecting on how different their lives were than she had expected when she was a teenager at Hogwarts.

"Pansy, did you hear me?" Hermione asked breaking into Pansy's thoughts.

"No sorry," Pansy apologized, "I was lost in thought."

"Clearly," Hermione said with a small smile. "I'm going to freshen up and change. Do you think you can have the speech ready in fifteen minutes?"

"Yes, I think so." Pansy watched Hermione exit to her private bath and then took the parchment and apparated to her own office. She quickly turned on her computer and began typing up the speech. Her cell phone rang and a glance at the Caller ID told her it was Daphne, but she ignored it. She would speak with her friend in a few minutes after she had completed the speech. She silenced her phone and redirected her attention to the speech. Her fingers flying furiously over the keyboard as she typed, deleted, and retyped the words she felt would best convey Hermione's points. As she came to the last point that Hermione wanted made, she frowned. "I am not involved romantically with Draco Malfoy," Pansy murmured out loud.

"I'm sure Blaise will be relieved to know," Hermione teased from the office doorway.

Pansy looked up startled. "I didn't even hear you open the door.

"I know. You're a mad woman when you're in speech writing mode," Hermione replied as she came into the office now wearing the blue robes with her hair pulled back up into a perfect bun.

"A sock bun?" Pansy asked her eyes gesturing to Hermione's hair.

"Yes, such a great technique that you showed me your first year here," Hermione said with a laugh as she sat down on one of the chairs across from Pansy.

Pansy smiled and finished the last sentence of the speech and printed it off. "It wouldn't be such a bad thing, you know," Pansy said as she walked over to her printer to grab the copy of the speech she had written and handed it to Hermione.

Hermione's eyes quickly scanned the speech and she nodded with approval. "What wouldn't be such a bad thing?"

"You and Draco."

"Pansy, please not today," Hermione requested her voice weary.

"Fine, not today," Pansy agreed. "I have to go down to the press room and alter the magical protection spells to allow them to apparate in."

"Thank you," Hermione said gratefully.

"They should be arriving in about fifteen minutes with the conference set to air live about ten minutes after that," Pansy informed her before leaving to ensure everything was in place.

Hermione got up and apparated back to her office. She walked over to the mirror and began the task of practicing her speech. She knew this was one speech she wanted to ensure she maintained her professionalism through despite how difficult the subject matter was going to be for her to discuss with the media.

* * *

><p>Draco once again found his head pounding as he awoke. His eyes fluttered open to see the worried expression of his parents. "Did I pass out again?" he croaked.<p>

"Yes son," Lucius replied as he gently lifted his son up so Draco could take a sip from the cup Narcissa was offering him.

"How do you feel?" Narcissa asked once he had swallowed the water.

"Like shit," he responded bluntly.

"Well the healers said you'll have to stay the night and we can take you home tomorrow, but they expect you'll be sore for a few days," Narcissa explained sadly as her eyes watched the tightness around her son's eyes and mouth. She knew he was trying to hide just how much he was hurting, a habit he had learned during the war when Voldemort had taken residence in their home.

Lucius's cell phone rang and he quickly answered it. "Yes Pansy," he said into the device. "Great we'll turn it on. Thank you for letting us know," Lucius said before bidding his coworker goodbye and hanging up the phone. He turned to his wife and son and explained Hermione's press conference was about to start.

"Press conference?" Draco asked confused.

"Yes son, just watch." Lucius said as he walked over to turn the TV on in the room.

They saw Rita Skeeter on the camera letting them know they were coming to the audience live from the press room at Magical Com where Hermione Granger was expected to give a statement shortly. Rita took her seat as Hermione entered the room and the buzz of conversations that had been happening died down. Pansy could be seen off to the side, her eyes fixed on her boss.

"Good Evening Everyone," Hermione began, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience of requesting all of you come out here on a weekend but I did not want to wait until Monday before setting the record straight. Earlier today as most of you are aware, Draco Malfoy an employee and board member of Magical Com was indeed attacked and admitted to Saint Mungo's. I'm happy to report he is expected to make a full recovery."

Draco watched as Granger took a deep breath. He realized she was steadying herself for what she had to say next.

"There has been a lot of speculation as to what happened to Mister Malfoy and I'm here to clear up that speculation. I have received clearance from the Ministry of Magic to make this statement. Earlier this afternoon at my personal residence, Ronald Weasley arrived via floo uninvited and hexed Mister Malfoy. The hex was unprovoked and unexpected so Mister Malfoy was not prepared to defend himself. The hex hit him squarely in the chest. There was extensive injury caused by the hex, but thankfully, the amazing Healers at Saint Mungo's were able to stabilize Mister Malfoy. He is currently recovering in Saint Mungo's."

"Mister Weasley was apprehended at his parents' home just outside of the Village of Ottery Saint Catchpole. He currently remains in the Ministry's custody. The Ministry will be releasing a statement later regarding Mister Weasley."

Draco groaned as he shifted in his hospital bed. "What does she mean a statement later?"

"Ron Weasley is famous in our world, son," Lucius replied. "And they haven't pressed formal charges yet because they're waiting to see if you wish to press them."

"Quiet you two," Narcissa admonished nodding to the television. "We can talk after Hermione's press conference is over."

On the screen Hermione was still talking. "I've called you all here not only to give you an accurate report on what happened today at my apartment but also to make a formal statement that Mister Ronald Weasley is no longer employed by Magical Com. After today's events, I also wanted to clarify the gossip circulating about Mister Malfoy and myself. For the record Mister Malfoy and I are just friends and are not seeing one another romantically. I'll take your questions now."

Draco frowned as Hermione finished her statement. He didn't understand why she had to make an announcement that they weren't dating. His attention was drawn back to the press conference as one of the reporters asked her a question.

"Miss Granger, you claim you and Draco Malfoy are not romantically involved but the images from the Quidditch Match earlier today as well as your own admission he was at your house on a weekend afternoon do make it seem your relationship is more than a professional one."

"That is not a question, Mister Brighton," Hermione admonished the young reporter. "I will add Draco and I are friends."

"I thought you hated one another back during your school years?" another reporter called.

"Surely Peter, you realize everyone has grown up and matured since the time we spent in Hogwarts," Hermione said her gaze turning from the reporters to look at her friend Pansy. "I've

found many true friends who were once rivals in school."

"Speaking of friends, what is Harry Potter's standpoint on your sacking of his best mate?" Rita Skeeter asked from the front row.

"Damn that woman," Lucius growled at the television screen.

"She's good at her job, dear. That's the one question everyone is dying for the answer to know that Hermione and Draco's lack of relationship has been determined," Narcissa supplied gently.

"I cannot speak for Harry," Hermione said after a moment.

Draco noticed for the first time she truly seemed uncertain. He realized she had not discussed Weasley's firing with Scar Head before she had sacked him. "Bully for you Hermione," he mumbled to himself.

"She doesn't need to speak for me," Harry Potter said from the television as he stepped through the doorway behind Pansy and joined Hermione on stage. He raised his hands in the air gesturing for everyone to calm down as a flurry of questions had been thrown at him the second his presence had been made.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm going to turn the microphone over to Harry Potter, my Executive Vice President," Hermione said before stepping back away from the podium.

"As you all know, Ron Weasley is not only my oldest friend and best mate, but he is also my brother-in-law. My wife and I are both devastated by the turn of events today and we both extend well wishes to Draco for a full and speedy recovery."

Harry paused and turned to look at Hermione giving her a small smile reassuring smile before turning to face the cameras again. "That being said, Hermione Granger is also one of my oldest friends and a dear friend to both my wife and myself. I came to this press conference today, Rita, to answer the very question you asked. I want it on public record that I fully support Hermione in any decision she has made with regards to Ron. I also am going on record to say I will understand and support whatever decision Draco Malfoy may make regarding the events that occurred today."

"Oh hell," Draco groaned.

"What's wrong son?" Narcissa asked concerned turning from the television to look at her son.

"Oh nothing except with this magnanimous gesture by Potter, I might actually have to start being nicer to him," Draco returned dryly. He was not amused when his parents burst into laughter.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: December 7th 2014 -** Thank you everyone for reading! Thank you for your patience between updates! Work and life continue to be crazy, so your continued understanding is appreciated. Thank you everyone who took the time after reading the last chapter to review. I apologize if I missed replying to a review- please know if I did not respond that I cherish each and every review. Thank you for all of the favorites and follows -it's always humbling to see those in my Inbox notification.

Until next time, my dearest readers, be well, be happy! Love More!

Hugs!

Jessi


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Hermione frowned as her computer chirped at her indicating another email had arrived. She set aside the alarm device she was examining. She was highly annoyed at this point by the sixth email in less than two minutes she had received from her very bored employee, Draco Malfoy. She made the mistake of letting him keep his laptop while he recuperated at home. The healers had made Draco stay in the hospital for three days after he had become conscious. They had ordered him on two weeks of bed rest at home after his release.

Draco had been delighted to learn he would be paid the same salary for getting to sit at home and rest. His enthusiasm had died shortly after lunch on the first day, and he had sent Hermione four owls. He had sent them one immediately after another begging for his laptop and work because he was going mad from boredom. When she refused, stating she would not go against the healer's instructions, Draco had sent her ten more owls in succession and five Howlers. She had floo'd immediately over to the manor and shoved his laptop at him. She also had threatened to curse him if he did not stop bothering her while she was working.

Draco apparently decided to call her out on her empty threat since he had proceeded to email her all day, every day since. If she was not at the manor for dinner on time, he then would spam email her until she arrived. Needless to say after the past three and a half days, Hermione was considering uttering an unforgivable curse.

She rubbed her temple as she pulled up his latest email.

_Granger,_

_You're the boss, surely that means you can take an afternoon off._

_Draco_

Hermione scowled and hit reply.

_Draco,_

_Stop being a prat, I told you I'm working on a very important security device that I've been trying to perfect the design on for almost a year, so please leave me to it._

_Hermione_

She hit send and went back to the device. She turned it over in her hands. The device was a small, silver cube that was not much bigger than one of her favorite muggle brain teasers, the Rubik's cube. Much like the 3-D combination puzzle, the device was able to be twisted and turned about. The entire device was silver until spells and instructions were entered into the device. The device was of Hermione's creation. It had the ability to hold spells, charms, hexes, runes, and even curses inside the little compartments of the cube and with instruction have them interact with one another. Her plan for the device was to use it as a way to securely monitor international magical travel. She so far had not been successful in making it cable of catching all travelers in and out of the country, and she was not able to properly apply the detaining spells.

She had decided after the fiasco with Ron last week to revisit the project. This was of course after she had upped her own home security to only allow a very controlled list of people to floo directly into her home, and she felt very deeply that every nation should have the right to know who was magically accessing their borders and possibly endangering the citizens.

Her computer chirped again and she ignored it. She continued to twist the device in her hands as she mulled over how the last set of charms and spells she had used had failed to detect the employee she had port key into the country last evening as a test. A couple of minutes passed and her computer chirped again. She set the device down and glanced at her computer. She swore, both messages were from Draco.

She opened the first one.

_Granger,_

_You're apparently slacking if it's taking you a year to finish a project. Perhaps you should bring the project over here and I can show you up by figuring out what you're doing wrong in a matter of minutes, since I'm clearly the superior one when it comes to_

_completing ones workload –after all, I've finished all of my work. After I clear up the debacle you've made of your project, we could then do something fun because Mother and Father have been quite dull all week._

_Draco_

She muttered a string of insults about insufferable Slytherin prats as she opened the next email.

_Granger,_

_Really ignoring me? I know you are because you've responded to all my other emails in less than a minute. Seriously, if the project is mobile, bring it over. I have done everything I possibly can for my department from here, including having interviews over the phone. Mother has forbidden me to have candidates come to the manor for face-to-face interviews, which is quite disappointing since Mary Snelynn sounds very hot. Anyway, off point, I'm bored come bring me something to occupy my mind –please._

_Draco_

_PS: I said please, you have it in writing, now that means you have to comply with my request._

Hermione snorted as she finished his email and then after a moment sighed. She was not any closer to solving the issues she was having with the cube, and it was mobile. She had actually developed it in her office in her apartment. It was her personal project and not one she had shared with the team at Magical Com. She could use the assistance, but due to the long term ramifications of what the device she created could be used, she had not told anyone about it. She hit reply.

_Draco,_

_I'm seriously debating firing you. However, I've decided instead to take you up on your offer. I'll be over once I finish up signing some documents. Do not email me again._

_Hermione_

_PS: I know Mary Snelynn. She is a very sweet woman, about our age. She does however look remarkably like a younger Professor Sprout. I think she'd make a lovely match for you._

Hermione was smiling as she hit send. She quickly released her InBox so all her emails that had been filtered out all morning would be let through. She had only let emails come through from members of her board. She sighed when she saw she had over one-hundred emails to sort through. She printed off the documents she needed to sign. She grabbed them from the printer, used her favorite quill to scrawl her signature and then walked them out to Kelly.

"Kelly, I will be working at a remote location for the rest of the day. I will have my laptop

and mobile phone. Screen all calls, please. I only want interrupted it if it cannot wait until tomorrow, you can inform everyone I will be checking emails however," Hermione said smiling down at Kelly as she handed her the documents. "These need Harry's signature as well, and then they need to be copied, the copies filed and the originals sent to the appropriate recipients."

"I will take care of it right away, Hermione," Kelly promised.

Trusting her assistant's competence, Hermione quickly returned back to her office. She shut down her laptop, slipped on her jacket and tucked her wand in its inside pocket. She placed the cube and her laptop in her satchel and then apparated down to the lobby. She paused for a moment as she always did to wish Louise a good day and to bow her head respectfully to the shrine. She walked through the floo, calling out her home address. She did not know why she had not floo'd directly to Malfoy Manor. She had no reason to be ashamed of associated with Draco yet she could still hear Molly Weasley's voice in her head from the horrible argument that had ensued the other week.

"_You know Ron loves you, Hermione. You know he hates Draco Malfoy, so of course he overreacted. He's Ron! He always over reacts," Molly argued, her rounded face was flushed with anger._

_Hermione was sitting on her living room couch, warily watching the angry woman following the press conference announcing Ron's termination of employment._

"_Molly, please understand," Hermione patiently began. "This is truly for the best."_

"_Firing Ron is for the best?" Molly had snorted. "I fail to see how losing his job when he's in crisis is for the best."_

_Hermione had been mentally counting the entire time to keep her composure calm. "You're failing to see it, Molly, because you're too upset by the current circumstances. Ron and I should never have continued to work together after our breakup. I am trying now to rectify that mistake and hopefully pave the road for a better less drama-filled future for all of us."_

_Molly opened her mouth, her face flushed an even darker shade of red but then she shut it, thinking better of whatever words she had been about to spew forth. "You could fix all of this, you know."_

_Hermione had given her a confused looked._

"_You could take him back. I know you still have feelings for him. Just take him back and everything will be as it should be, as it was meant to be," Molly pleaded._

_Hermione sighed. This was a tired conversation, one she had more times than she cared to recall. "Molly, my answer to that question is still and will always be no. Ron has devastated my trust in him, and honestly, not for the first time in our lives."_

"_Hermione, he made a mistake, but he wants you back. His heart has come back to you," Molly replied._

"_Come back," Hermione said the words bitterly. "I used the coming back argument once before to convince myself to forgive Ron and to let him into my heart. Only he hadn't cheated on me then, no he had just abandoned Harry and I while we were hunting Horcruxes."_

"_Hermione, that was a long time ago. Ron is a different man now," Molly retorted. "You can't really compare the two."_

"_Actually, I think I can," Hermione returned, her voice hard. "Everyone says it's okay that Ron left because he returned, but the truth of the matter Molly, it wasn't ok. Yes it all worked out in the end, but when it mattered most, Ron got angry and left. I will always care for him. He's the first boy I ever loved, and I loved him for a really long time, but I cannot and will not ever consider letting him have any piece of my heart ever again. I hope one day, perhaps years from now, we'll be friends, but for now, I don't want him in my life at all."_

Molly had huffed and puffed some rather nasty comments back at Hermione that were all slightly blurred together. Hermione just remembered their sting. Perhaps, she was being too paranoid about Molly's judgmental comments on her character during the rest of her rant, but Hermione knew deep down she did not want anyone knowing she had opted to work home office out of Malfoy Manor with Draco because of what Molly had said to her. She shook her head at her own foolishness and stepped back through the floo.

* * *

><p>Draco was pacing in the study his parents had put together for him after he moved home the end of May. He was resisting the urge to email Granger again and demand she stop dawdling and get her bum over to the manor. He snapped when one of the house elves appeared and asked if he wanted lunch and tea and then apologized to the elf for his temper.<p>

"What the bloody hell is happening to me?" he wondered out loud. "I'm apologizing to a sodding house elf."

He turned around when he heard someone clear their throat and saw Hermione smiling at him from the study entrance way. He felt a smile try to tug at the corner of his lips, but he repressed it –no need for Granger to know how happy he was to see her. "About time you got here," he grumbled, "you're slower than a lame turtle."

"Pish posh," she said laughingly, "you're happy to see me even if you're trying desperately to suppress smiling at the sight of me."

Draco raised one of his pale blonde eyebrows at her statement. "Don't flatter yourself, Granger. I'm merely driven to desperate measures to escape the painful death of boredom."

He was relieved when Granger just chuckled and walked to the couch. He did not want her pressing the matter because she might discover she had just unsettled him quite a bit by her keen observation of his inner thoughts. "So tell me about this project," he said as he walked over to join her.

"In a moment," she said as she slipped off her suit jacket and hung it over the back of the couch. "First, I want to know how you're feeling?"

"Fine," Draco said dismissively, "just like I was fine this morning at breakfast when you inquired about my health."

"Let me see, since you wouldn't this morning," Hermione said sternly.

Draco glowered at her for a moment. He had come to think of that stern voice as her president voice, she used it at work a lot. The voice combined with the way her soft brown eyes suddenly turned hard left no wiggle room for argument.

"Oh bleeding hell," he muttered and began to unbutton his shirt. "If I didn't know better Granger, I would say all this concern is guise for you to get me to show you my impressive looking torso on a daily basis," he teased as he finished unbuttoning the shirt.

Hermione snorted and walked over to him and pulled the shirt back. The hex had caused severe bruising to his chest. The bruise had faded from purple to an ugly shade of green. "It looks a lot better today," she said raising her eyes from examining the bruise. She felt her breath catch in her throat as Draco looked down at her. She always felt so self-conscious when they were in close proximity to one another.

"It looks no different than it did yesterday when you checked it after work," he muttered. "You just keep telling me it looks better, and since you're a terrible liar, you really should try a new method of lifting my spirits. Like giving me a crack at this secret project."

Hermione smiled and turned around to where her bag was on the couch. She sat down and rooted in her bag for the cube. She pulled it out and set it on the table.

"You brought me a silver square?" Draco said clearly disappointed as he picked up the cube and turned it over in his hands. "Is this your new project? All hail the mighty paperweight that probably can tell you the weather in Paris and the Quidditch scores in China."

"No, I don't have a name for it yet but it can hold an unlimited amount of spells, curses, hexes, and charms. I'm trying to use it to design a monitoring and detainment system for international magical travel," Hermione said dryly.

"Why would you ever create something like that?" he asked clearly horrified as he set the cube on the table to fix her with an icy look.

Hermione was not sure what she expected Draco's reaction to be, but his still tan skin turned pale and his grey eyes were clearly furious with her. "Draco, what's the problem?" Hermione asked.

"It isn't anyone's business where a wizard or witch travels," Draco spat.

"How can you say that? You of all people." Hermione asked bewildered.

"What is that supposed to mean? Me of all people?" Draco spat. "What are you trying to say Granger?"

"Draco," Hermione sputtered taken aback by the venom in his voice. She had not heard that tone from him in weeks, since they had essentially called a truce. "I didn't mean anything by it except that after everything you and your family, your friends suffered during the war that if we had a system like this in place then we would have known years before the war that Lord Voldemort was still alive."

Draco shakily drew in a deep breath. He still was not used to people using the Dark Lord's name so casually. He wondered if he would ever get used to hearing it. "That's only a half-truth you're using to justify your project," Draco finally said as he rose to his feet and stalked out of the room.

Hermione sat there completely dumbfounded for several minutes. "You called me over you, git, you don't get to walk out on me," she finally muttered, rising to her feet and walking out to see where he went to brood.

He was not in the dining room, so she went up the stairs to his bedroom. The door was open but he was not inside. "Bitsy!" Hermione called.

A house elf popped up in front of Hermione. "Bitsy is here Mistress Granger, what can I help you with?"

"Do you know where Master Draco is?" Hermione asked the tiny creature.

"He is in the gardens," Bitsy replied giving Hermione a big nervous smile.

"Thanks Bitsy," Hermione said gratefully.

"You're welcome Mistress," Bitsy said before disappearing. She knew better than to ask Mistress Granger if she wanted anything because Mistress Granger always insisted on taking care of everything herself.

Hermione made her way back down the stairs and out into the gardens. The summer sun was shining today and it was very warm but a gentle breeze helped to keep the heat from being unbearable. She saw Draco standing in one of the pavilions, the breeze was blowing his blonde locks across his face. She thought he was one of the most strikingly handsome men she had ever seen. When he turned and looked at her, she felt her cheeks blush afraid somehow he might guess her thoughts. She saw him sigh and turn to walk towards her.

"Draco," she started.

"Shut it, Granger," he interrupted, "I don't want to fight. I was out of line but not wrong."

Now Hermione sighed as he stopped walking right in front of her, forcing her to tilt her head backwards to have to see his face. The sun was behind him and his face was shadowy and his features hard to discern, but his grey eyes shone brightly at her and Hermione was afraid she might lose herself in them if she didn't do something to distract herself from them. "Draco, please explain to me why you're so upset about this project. If you give me a good reason, I'll stop it right now."

Draco's searched her face and realized she really would abandon a project she had put a years worth of effort into if he gave her a reason to. "Why would you do that?"

"Because we're friends," she said uncertainly, "I mean at least I thought that's what we were now."

Draco turned away from her and those big brown eyes which were sucking him into their vortex of innocent vulnerability. He felt as if his blood was vibrating in his veins. This was the last thing he expected to feel when he was around Hermione Granger. "Yeah we are, I guess."

She placed a hand on his arm. "So tell me why this project has you so upset?"

He sighed and turned back around to face her. "Because Granger, just because you're all bloody noble doesn't mean the people you'd give that technology to would be."

"Meaning?"

"Didn't Potter just say in that email he sent out that we were hiring detectives to research why some of our technology has shown up in south west Asia and being used to rob muggles?" Draco asked her as he slid onto one of the benches near them.

Hermione sat down next to him. "Yes, but that's the first time our technology has ever been misused."

"Yes but it might not be the last and something like that cube in there could be grotesquely misused," he murmured. "What if some rich power hungry wizard was an abusive husband and father, so his wife takes the kids and run. Now let's say he's wealthy enough to steal or buy a cube from someone in one of the magical ministries you've given them too and instead of hunting dark wizards he hunts down his wife?"

Hermione opened her mouth and closed it again. "Then I make it so that they can only be programmed from our headquarters and only approved targets can be loaded into their searching database."

"Okay well what if they trump up charges on a wizard or witch to make you add them to the list," Draco countered.

Hermione frowned and thought over what he was saying. "Okay you have some valid points. I'm not going to completely abandon the project, but I will agree to give the issues you raise more thought before proceeding."

She rose to her feet. "Now if you're done trying to keep that dark tan, can we please go back inside? I have over a hundred emails to work on."

Draco stood up and nodded. "If you're not going to release the cube publicly without consulting me, I will help you work on the glitches you're having with it."

Hermione smiled up at him. "Deal." She turned and walked back into the manor and missed the conflicted look in Draco's eyes as he hesitated before following her.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: January 1st 2015-** Happy New Year's my dear readers. I hope this message finds each of you well. Thank you for reading. I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I appreciate all of the support this story has received and I hope you enjoy this latest installment. I wish all of you and your loved ones happiness and health in the New Year!

Until next time be well, be happy! Love More!

Hugs!

Jessi


	13. Chapter 13

Several weeks had passed since Draco had agreed to help Hermione with the cube, Draco had rather come to enjoy the pattern his life had fallen into since his return to the office. He worked all day at Magical Com and then spent his evening either having dinner with his family or friends. Tonight, he was excited because Blaise and Potter had invited him to join their intramural Quidditch team. He was just finishing up signing off on some requisition requests from his new team members when there was a knock on his door. "Come in," he called.

"Draco," Pansy said as way of greeting as she came in. "You haven't returned my emails on when my team can announce a release date for the dueling game."

"I know," Draco returned dryly. "I'm not certain I'm satisfied with the wand issue."

Pansy sighed exasperated. "Hermione signed off on it two days ago."

"That doesn't mean I'm signing off on it," Draco replied. He was irritated by Pansy's tenacity. Ever since the board meeting two days ago, she had been hounding him to set a release date and work with her department and Daphne's on getting the game's launch finalized. He was still not convinced he had ironed out the bugs.

Pansy growled something very unladylike and rose to her feet. "We need this release, Draco."

"Why are you being so damn persistent?" Draco asked as he finished signing the last request.

"Because we need the positive press," Pansy threw back at him. "This issue in Asia is growing and the bad press we're getting from it is causing our boss to be even more stressed than usual."

"Wait, what?" Draco asked. They had discussed the Asia security break the past couple of weeks but Draco thought it was handled. They had caught the thieves of the technology and the muggles' money and possessions had been restored thanks to the West Asia Ministry of Magic. When Pansy looked guilty, he knew the table discussion had not been the whole story. "What are Granger and Potter keeping from us?"

"Nothing, really," Pansy lied.

"Don't try to lie Pansy, you're terrible at it these days," Draco growled. "Has there been another breach?"

"Yes, shortly after our board meeting we had word another breach happened. This time it's in Iran," she said quietly.

"Shit," Draco muttered. He knew that tense diplomatic relationships with the Iranian Ministry Ambassador meant they wouldn't be allowed to send in an investigative team. "What is the plan?"

Pansy shook her head. "The two of them aren't telling me."

"Fine," Draco said wearily, "Announce the launch for the beginning of next month, make it whatever the first Friday of the month is."

"Thank you, Draco," Pansy said gratefully. "Where are you going?" she asked as he stood up and donned his robe.

"I'm going to confront my boss and find out why this hasn't made its way into our after dinner conversations," he replied darkly.

He apparated outside of Hermione's office and was surprised to see Kelly standing next to Hermione's door. "Kelly, is everything alright?"

Kelly wrung her hands nervously. "No Draco, I need to get Hermione but she was very firm that under no circumstances should she be disturbed."

Draco laughed. "Allow me," he said as he brushed by her and pushed open the door. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of Potter and Hermione heads close together whispering to one another over what looked like a map.

"Draco," Hermione said motioning for him to come in.

"Your assistant needs you but is apparently frightened of your president's voice," Draco said nodding towards the anxious looking Kelly who was standing behind him. "I'm not afraid of your scary voice though so I decided to just come in."

"Don't you always," Hermione said dryly. "Stay here you two, I'll be right back."

When the door closed behind Hermione, Draco fixed Potter with an icy stare. "What are you two planning?"

Harry sighed. "Draco, don't be mad which clearly you are. We haven't read anyone in, not even your father who we both trust with our lives. We're trying to minimize knowledge of what we're going to do."

Draco walked over to the desk and saw that Harry was staring at a map of Iran. Realization hit him like a ton of bricks. "You're going to illegally cross the border to retrieve the stolen tech."

"Technically crossing the border is not going to be illegal. We're going in for a meeting with one of the sheiks who is also a wizard. He has been requesting a meeting with us for months, so Hermione and I are going to take the meeting. At night, we plan to sneak out of our hotel and do the retrieval."

"Great, when do we leave?" Draco asked Harry.

"You're not going," Harry returned slowly.

Hermione slipped back in the room just in time to hear what Harry had said. "He's not going where?"

"He's not going with us to Iran," Harry supplied.

"No absolutely not," Hermione agreed.

Draco glared at them both. "I'm coming so you can either add me to the plan or I'll show up anyway."

Harry began to argue with Draco all the reasons why that was a horrible idea, while Draco let out dramatic yawns after each reason was given. Hermione watched Draco and knew that arguing with him was futile.

"Fine, you can come, but you do exactly as I say and no going off plan," Hermione interjected before Draco could make Harry any more irritated.

"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed shocked at her conceding so quickly.

"Harry, a third person will be helpful and it needs to be someone we trust. Right now, I'm not sure what to think and who to trust, but I trust the two of you," Hermione said quietly.

Draco was not completely surprised by her words but he was touched by her defending him to Potter. "Great, we all can count on each other now what's the plan."

"Let's continue this elsewhere," Hermione said suddenly.

"I already know the plan," Harry said tiredly. "We have Quidditch tonight. Draco are you still coming?"

Draco looked at Hermione who nodded her head smiling.

"Yes go, the plan will keep till after Quidditch," Hermione said with a chuckle.

Draco gave her a big smile. "Thanks boss, I'll floo over to your place after Quidditch. I want that meal you started making me the other week before we were interrupted by the Weasel," Draco said with a wink before following Harry out of the office.

"Demanding prat," Hermione said with a shake of her head.

* * *

><p>Hermione was stirring the sauce she had mixed up for the roast she had made when she heard the floo pop. She glanced at the clock on the wall and realized it couldn't be Draco, they weren't scheduled to be done with Quidditch for another twenty minutes. Hermione set the wooden spoon down next to the stove top and walked over to glance in the living room. She was surprised to see Ginny Potter waddling towards her.<p>

"Ginny?" Hermione asked concerned why her very pregnant friend was at her place without owling ahead of time. "Is everything alright?"

Ginny nodded and motioned Hermione back into the kitchen. Hermione turned and let her friend follow her. Ginny sat at the table and let out a big sigh.

"I swear if this child doesn't soon come I'm going to reach up there and pull it out myself," Ginny grumbled. "The blighter is now officially late and the stupid healer is like 'Oh Missus Potter that's perfectly normal' yeah if normal is being swollen to the size of the whale and feeling as if you could go on a homicidal murdering spree at anytime. Can I have a glass of water?"

"Of course," Hermione said hurrying to get the water for her friend. "Ginny," she said quietly as she set the glass down in front of her, "you know I love visiting with you but you're not the surprise visit kind of woman. What's going on?"

"I'm not sure I want to tell you this," Ginny said as she took the glass in her hands and looked at it intently.

"Tell me what?" Hermione asked worriedly. Hermione was very worried about her friend since Baby Potter was now a whole week past his due date.

"That Draco dropped all charges against Ron today," Ginny said quietly.

"What?" Hermione exclaimed shocked, not expecting that news.

"You didn't know," Ginny said slowly. "I thought as much otherwise you would have told Harry and I."

Hermione shook her head and met her friend's eye. "Not one word, Ginny. Why didn't you want to tell me?"

"Because the last thing I'd want to have to admit is that Draco Malfoy may not be the world's biggest bleeder."

Hermione chuckled. "I already knew he wasn't the world's biggest bleeder."

"He did this for you, ya know," Ginny told her softly.

Hermione laughed and shook her head. "I'm sure he just didn't want to deal with the public trial and attention."

"Draco Malfoy turn down attention, please." Ginny said with a snort. "He knew it's been hell on you with my mother harping on you and even some of my siblings sending you owls begging you to intervene to keep Ron out of Azkaban. He did this because then they'd all leave you alone and you wouldn't have to feel guilty if Ron did end up in Azkaban, even though you shouldn't feel a smidge guilty."

Hermione didn't say anything to Ginny's words. She just mulled over them, turning over the different meanings that could be behind Draco's actions and finally came to the same conclusion Ginny had-Draco had done this for her. "I guess I am lucky to have such a good friend," Hermione finally murmured.

"I have to ask Hermione," Ginny tentatively began, "is he more than a friend to you?"

"No, he isn't," Hermione replied, "but Ginny I can't lie there are times I wonder what it would be like if we were more than friends."

Ginny raised one of her red eyebrows at her friend. "Really?"

Hermione blushed and nodded. "Ginny, there are nights when it's him and I and we're brainstorming over this project we've been working on together and I happen to look up and catch his eye and I feel something that I can't even find words for."

"So why haven't you made a move to make it a more than friends arrangement?" Ginny asked gently.

"Because, we're just finally friends after years of animosity. I mean for goodness sake it's only been two and a half months that he's been home. When he first came back to England, he still referred to me as a Mudblood," Hermione returned. "I don't want to do anything to ruin this friendship. I have a lot of friends since the war ended, something I really never had before, but my friendship with Draco is different than the rest."

"Different how?" Ginny questioned as she sipped at her water.

"I don't know," Hermione confessed, "but it is."

Ginny resisted the urge to smile. She knew the look in Hermione's eye and knew her friend had feelings for Draco that went beyond friendship which was why his friendship was different.

"Well be his friend, but should the git kiss you again, try not to slap him this time," Ginny advised as she rose to her feet. "Well I have to go pick up Teddy from my brother's house. He's over at Bill's playing with little Victorie though what the two of them do other than droll over themselves is beyond me but Fleur is all about play dates."

Hermione chuckled and walked her friend to the floo.

At the floo, Ginny turned to Hermione. "They're going to induce me in two days if this little one hasn't popped out on his own. You'll be there won't you?"

Hermione could hear the uncertainty in her friend's voice. "Yes, I'll be there."

"You know my whole family will probably be there?" Ginny added giving Hermione a meaningful look. Hermione sighed and nodded, finally realizing what Ginny was driving at, now that Draco had dropped charges against Ron before things proceeded to trial. Ron would be at the hospital. "I understand, Gin," she said quietly. "I can handle it. I promise, no drama for when my little goddaughter or godson day of birth."

Ginny's worry turned into a big smile and she hugged Hermione before stepping through the floo to Shell Cottage.

Hermione let out a breath, flushing away the thought of spending hours at St. Mungos with the entire Weasley clan. She wouldn't even have Harry there for support since he'd be in the birthing room with Ginny. "Well shit," she muttered before she went back to the kitchen and grabbed Ginny's water glass. She gave the sauce a stir and then stuck her two casseroles into the oven next to the roast to cook. She had just finished slicing up some cheese and fresh fruit when she heard the floo again about twenty minutes later.

"Draco?" she called.

"Are you expecting anyone else?" he returned from the living room before sauntering into the kitchen.

Hermione drank in the sight of him as he leaned against the doorframe to her kitchen. He had clearly gone back to the manor first to shower. His blonde hair was damp still from the shower and falling across his face. He was wearing muggle jeans and loose fitting black button down shirt which he had only buttoned a few of the buttons in the middle so a large amount of his torso was visible.

"Granger, by how you're devouring me with your eyes, I'm starting to wonder if I'm the main course for dinner," Draco teased.

Hermione blushed furiously and turned away. "Sorry," she mumbled, "just not used to seeing you dressed like that."

"Don't apologize," Draco said gently feeling bad for embarrassing her. "It's not every bloke that can say Hermione Granger was checking him out."

Hermione laughed and the tension was broken. "I just set a bottle of wine on the table. Would you open it please?"

Draco nodded and grabbed the bottle of wine and the corkscrew. "Dinner smells incredible."

"Yes, well I didn't have the ingredients for the dish you requested and I haven't cooked this particular dish for a while so hopefully the taste matches the smell," Hermione said giving him a smile. "How was Quidditch?"

"It was great," Draco said enthusiastically. "I missed playing and am really grateful that Harry invited me."

"So who caught the snitch?" Hermione asked as she watched Draco pour wine into the two goblets she had set out.

Draco grinned. "I did actually. Potter's domestic life has made him something of a slacker these past five years."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well keep the rivalry on the pitch."

"Of course, boss." Draco agreed a smirk playing across his handsome face as he walked around to the stove where she was standing to hand her a goblet of wine. "So what's for dinner?"

"A roast with a cherry rum sauce, and a few vegetable casserole dishes I found online at one of the Muggle recipe sites," she said taking the glass from him.

"Feeding me Muggle recipes, still working to soften me up I see," Draco mused.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "I don't need to soften you up, prat. You're plenty soft enough as it is when you're not deliberately trying to look like a tough guy."

Draco chuckled and sipped at his wine. "So dinner first and then down to business?"

Hermione nodded. "I think that's best."

"Very well, I will regale you with tales of my Quidditch brilliance until after dinner," Draco agreed giving her a wink before walking back around the counter to sit at the table.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked him in her president's voice.

"Sitting down for dinner," Draco replied uncertainly, not used to her using that voice on him outside of the office any more.

"I am not your house elf, get over here and help me put this food on the table for dinner," Hermione gently scolded.

Draco laughed and set his glass down and came around to help her get dinner on the table. He felt that warm feeling and tightening his chest he sometimes had when he was around her like this, and he knew he was lying to himself if he continued to believe the feeling meant nothing. She looked up and smiled as he took the roast from her to carry to the table, and he knew he was in trouble. He had been attracted to her since he had come back but this was different. The past few weeks since that idiot Weasley had hexed him, their truce had truly turned to a close friendship, and Draco had a respect for Hermione he had never held for any other woman. She challenged him, encouraged him, and believed in him.

"Draco, are you alright?" Hermione asked breaking his train of thought.

Draco realized he had been staring at her with the roast still in hand. "Sorry Granger, lost in thought," he murmured in apology.

"Clearly," she said dryly. "Just what had you so lost that you forgot your hunger."

"Actually you," Draco admitted. "I was thinking about how close we've come the past few weeks and who would ever have thought it possible."

Hermione set hot plates on the table for Draco to put the roast and then went to grab the side dishes. "Yes well, I'm happy the impossible has become possible."

"Me too Granger," Draco agreed. "So can I sit down now or do I have to continue to be slave labor?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and motioned for him to sit down. She finished putting the dinner on the table and then took the seat across the table from him. "So tell me, after today, do you regret giving up the life of a Quidditch star?"

Draco shook his head. "Not at all, actually."

"Really?" Hermione said surprised. "You don't miss all the fame and attention, especially from the Quidditch groupies."

"I don't need Quidditch to have groupies, Granger. I am Draco Malfoy after all," he said pointedly.

"Oh how could I ever forget," Hermione returned dryly. "How was your date with that witch your mother set you up with the other night?"

"Awful," Draco said as he took a bite of the roast. "Damn Granger, this is amazing."

"Thank you," Hermione said pleased he liked her cooking and also secretly pleased his date had gone terrible. "So why was it awful?"

"I swear my mother has no idea what kind of woman would interest me," Draco replied. "The girl didn't have two brain cells to rub together. She only wanted to talk about Rita Skeeter's latest celebrity gossip. As if I want to talk about Potter or Weasley when I'm eating."

"Speaking of," Hermione began.

"Oh come on, Granger, you surely aren't going to make me talk about Potter. I thought we agreed no work talk until after dinner," Draco said cutting her off.

"I just wanted to say that Ginny was here shortly before you floo'd over and she told me what you did earlier this morning," Hermione said quietly watching his face.

Draco who had been looking at his plate as he cut another piece of roast, lowered his knife and fork to look at her. "Ah so Red ratted me out."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Hermione asked quietly.

"You have enough to worry about. It wasn't a big deal," Draco muttered with a shrug.

"It is a big deal. Ron could have killed you. You have every right to want to see him punished," Hermione said in the same quiet tone.

Their eyes were locked together -brown to grey both filled with a swirling storm of emotions. Draco finally cleared his throat and turned his eyes back to his dinner.

"No Granger, it was a simple choice. He's a wanker and you're right he deserves to be punished but you were the one who was suffering so like I said, simple choice." Draco stuck a big bite of roast in his mouth and gave her a pointed look that he didn't want to continue the conversation.

"Fine, we won't talk about it any more for now. But Draco, thank you," she said sincerely.

Draco nodded and the two continued to eat their dinner, a content silence falling between Draco's praise of Hermione's cooking. Hermione was surprised when they had finished dinner that Draco actually got up and offered to help her do the dishes.

"Do you know how to do dishes by hand?" she asked him.

He gave her a sheepish grin and shrugged. "No."

Hermione laughed causing Draco's grin to widen.

"So does that mean you're going to teach me, boss?" he asked as he picked up his plate and followed her into the kitchen.

"I supposed so," Hermione mused, "Draco Malfoy getting his hands in the dishwater like a Muggle. Who would have thought it possible?"

Draco chuckled and listened as she instructed him on how to use the sink and how to wash dishes. Draco asked her why they couldn't use magic to clean the dishes after he had finished with their plates and silverware. He was not surprised to hear that Hermione sometimes liked to do things the Muggle way to remind herself how fortunate she is to be a witch. "Gods Granger, you're a damn saint," he teasingly grumbled.

Hermione playfully pinched his arm to which he immediately pretended to be indignant and complained he would have to go to Human Resources tomorrow to file a complaint of being abused by his boss. "You're a big brat," Hermione said laughingly as she handed him one of the casserole dishes she had already removed the leftovers from.

Draco wrinkled his nose at the bigger dish but continued with washing it. "Please, you've rather come to adore me, Granger. Just admit it."

Hermione surprised him by getting quiet. Draco turned from the sink to see her staring at the roast which was she was in the process of cutting up and putting into a smaller container. "Hermione?" Draco asked softly when a few moments passed and she had not spoken.

She turned to face him with shining, soft brown eyes, and Draco felt that tightness in his chest flame at how beautiful she looked in this moment. "Hermione," he said gently again. "What's wrong?"

She blushed making her look even more beautiful to Draco. He pulled his hands out of the sink and wiped them on a towel. He turned to her and took the knife from her hands and set it aside. "There, now tell me what's wrong without any sharp objects in your hands."

He realized she was trembling as his hands came to rest on her shoulders. When she lowered her eyes from his, he took her chin gently in his right hand and lifted it so she was looking at him again. "Granger, what on Earth is wrong?"

"I do," she said shakily.

"Do what?" Draco asked confused by how tormented and fragile the strong woman he knew suddenly seemed.

"I do rather adore you," she confessed softly, lifting her eyes to meet his.

Draco felt the breath leave his body at the look in her eyes. He had never thought to see Hermione Granger look at him tenderly. Draco wanted desperately to kiss her, but he was terrified to do so -what if she slapped him again.

When he said nothing, Hermione felt even more embarrassed and went to pull away, but Draco's hands on her shoulder gently tightened its grip so that she could not move. "Draco, this is the part where you make fun of me."

"No Granger," he said huskily after a moment and then leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. "This is the part where I say I've come to adore you as my friend too."

Hermione gave him a small smile despite the rejection she felt. She had been trying to tell him she was developing feelings beyond friendship but he clearly did not feel the same and was gently trying to let her down. She appreciated his attempt to lessen the sting of rejection. "Great we both adore each other as friends. We've sorted that bit out, now stop trying to get out of doing the dishes and get back to work," she teased.

Draco let his hands fall away and gave her a mock salute as she turned back to the roast. They quickly finished cleaning up after dinner, and Draco carried the wine bottle and goblets into the living room while Hermione followed with the fruit and cheese platter. He cleaned off her coffee table of all the books she had scattered on it. He sat down on the couch and grinned when Crookshanks, Hermione's pet cat jumped up on the arm rest next to him. He reached over and petted the intelligent cat's head affectionately.

"Hermione," he said as she sank down next to him on the couch. "It's time to talk business."

Hermione sighed as Crookshanks seemed to meow in agreement with Draco. "There's no way to talk you out of coming to Iran?"

"None," Draco said firmly, "even less than none, Granger. There's no way I wouldn't ensure I get that amazing mind of yours back safely to this cozy flat of yours. After all, who else is going to keep me entertained with mind boggling projects on the off hours?"

Hermione chuckled. "Very well, let me get the map."

Draco nodded and watched her get up and go to her work satchel which was leaning against the door to her home office. She pulled out a long white cylinder out and opened the cylinder to reveal a large shimmering white, rolled document. She motioned for him to make room on the coffee table, and Draco immediately moved their glasses and the tray off the table. She spread the map out and Draco watched in amazement as she unrolled the map. It was a world map and the continents and oceans almost seemed alive on the paper.

"Granger, what the hell is this?" Draco asked as he reached to touch it and she stopped his hand.

"It's something I created to use for global market penetration," she said with a shrug.

"Why does it look like the map is alive," Draco asked gesturing to the table.

"It's designed to be an interactive 3-D map," she explained, "here watch. Map, show me Iran."

Draco felt his mouth fall open in awe as the image on the map changed to only show Iran. "Very nice, Granger."

"Yes, for smaller more targeted areas it becomes even more concentrated and can show you who is in proximity," Hermione explained. "I'm working on making it an application for our laptops now but it's very time consuming."

"Please tell me this can be another project we work on on at night," Draco begged giving her big puppy dog eyes.

Hermione laughed. "Yes, if you want I'll assign it to you and your new team."

"Nope," Draco declined, "I want to work on this with you and have you cook for me."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Spoiled brat."

He grinned. "So where is this shiek at who you're going to meet with and when are you going to meet with him?"

"Unfortunately, I think with Ginny about to be induced that we will have to wait at least two weeks before Harry would even consider going," Hermione said quietly.

"We could go without him," Draco offered when he could tell by Hermione's tone of voice that she didn't like leaving the technology in Iran that long.

Hermione shook her head. "Sheik Samir Amirmoez is adamant that I both Harry and I come meet with him. I think he is something of a Harry fan."

"Bah," Draco grumbled and then smiled when Hermione laughed. "Okay, we wait for Potter to become a dad. Do you think he'll even want to come once the baby comes?"

"Yes," Hermione said, "because I already tried to give him that as an out, but he refused."

"Noble Potter," Draco muttered, "figures. Not that he would let you go alone or even trust anyone else to protect you."

Hermione shrugged. "I wouldn't let him go alone either even if I was in Ginny's position and popping out a kid a few days before a mission."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "So you do want kids?"

Hermione ignored his question and had the map zoom in more on Tehran. She pointed to a blinking red light in one part of the city. "This is where we've traced the stolen tech."

"Where is this Persian royal's home?" Draco asked after he looked where she had gestured.

Hermione pointed to a few blocks away from where the blinking red light on the map was. "So you see getting into the other building where our tech is shouldn't be hard."

Draco tentatively reached out to zoom the map in the way he had watched Hermione use her hands to move it before. He grinned when it zoomed right down to the street level. "Bloody fantastic!"

Hermione laughed.

Draco zoomed back out and carefully analyzed the area again. He took several minutes to move the map around, exploring the area. He was just about to ask Hermione a question when a very frazzled Harry Potter burst through the floo, frightening Crookshanks into bolting from the room.

"Mione'," he yelled frantically but then realized she was front in front of him sitting on the living room floor. "Gin has gone into labor!"

Hermione squealed and leapt to her feet. "Go, I'll swing by your place and grab the bags and meet you at the maternity ward of Saint Mungos."

Harry nodded and practically leapt back through the floor.

Draco sighed and looked up at Hermione. "I guess this means you're going to go."

Hermione smiled down at the petulant man staring up at her. "Yes, it does, so unless you're going to come to the hospital with me, I will see you tomorrow."

Draco nodded and rose reluctantly to his feet. "Night Granger," he said over his shoulder before flooing to the manor.

When he walked into the dining room where he could hear his parents voices, his mother gave him a questioning look. "Potter's wife is popping out their kid."

"Really?" Narcissa exclaimed clearly delighted.

"Yeah, Potter interrupted Granger and I to tell her and she apparently was going to fetch some bags for him and then meet him at Saint Mungos," Draco said with a shrug. "Granger said unless I was coming with her that she would see me tomorrow so I'm home early."

"You should have gone with her," Narcissa replied.

"Why on Earth would I ever want to be at the hospital to welcome what could be my least favorite person reborn," Draco asked dryly.

"Oh shush, I know you're coming to respect and like Harry, but really Draco, use your head," Narcissa prodded. When her son continued to give her a blank look, she sighed. "Because Draco, Hermione could use the moral support."

"Mother, what are you babbling about? Why would Granger need my support for Potter's wife having a baby?" Draco asked completely perplexed.

Narcissa rolled her eyes before elaborating for her son. "Because, Potter's wife as you put it is a Weasley so guess who else is going to be at the hospital."

Draco's eyes widened in understanding. "Shit, I didn't think about that."

"Clearly," Narcissa returned.

"Cissa, perhaps you could go sit with her," Lucius said finally joining the conversation. "I honestly think that Draco's presence would make it worse, but I think you being there will cause the least amount of tension."

Narcissa nodded. "Yes, let me just go grab a quick shower and change. It could be a long night."

Draco and Lucius watched as Narcissa hurried from the room and up the stairs. When she was gone, Lucius turned to his son and gave him an inquisitive look. "Alright Draco, it's just us. Something else was going on in that head of yours that you didn't put two and two together about Hermione and that army of redheads."

Draco nodded and thanked the house elf that had appeared with a drink for him. He took a sip of the bourbon and then met his father's intense gaze. "Dad, I think I have feelings for Hermione. Real feelings."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: March 12th 2015- **Thank you everyone for reading my fic. Thank you everyone who reviewed, followed, or favorited this story after the last chapter posted. I truly appreciate all of your support. I have been extremely busy with work since the beginning of the year and for the next few months the long hours are going to be continuing, so I am going to beg for continued understanding and patience if updates take a long time to come through.

Until next time, be well, be happy. Love More!  
>Hugs!<br>Jessi


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