Creator's Notes: Here is the latest, lovely cats and kittens. Hope you enjoy!

A pair of sensible brown shoes was hurrying along the cobblestoned streets of Diagon Alley, London. Attached to those sensible shoes was a pair of slender legs that were hidden at the knee by a pair of long shorts that cinched tightly on the thin waist of a clever young witch. Anyone watching would've known that she was running late, something that didn't suit the smart young woman. She looked rather frazzled as she picked up her pace when the storefront that she was seeking came into view. The large animatronic Weasley smiled down at her as she rushed past the front door and the school children loitering there, showing off their purchases. Usually this would've made Hermione Granger smile but she was running late and hardly noticed them.

She climbed the staircases towards a small office hidden off the left that usually went unnoticed by patrons. The door had a doorknob that stuck its tongue out whenever you tried to grab it but today Hermione hardly noticed that either, she hated to be late. She pushed the door open with her shoulder and squeezed into the cluttered office. George Weasley was sitting at his desk, his sleeves rolled up and his hair looking rather unruly. Hermione set her packages down on the desk and he hardly seemed to notice.

"Hello George." He made some sort of grunting noise and she placed both hands on his shoulders and loudly kissed the back of his head. George finally seemed to notice her and gave her a small smile.

Hermione had started working in the shop with George Weasley when his assistant Verity left. After the death of his twin brother Fred, George was hard to manage. He often left himself in an extreme state of disorganization and was now known to have wild mood swings with anyone that he didn't consider family. There were late nights that Hermione would be leaving, hanging her magenta uniform robe on the back hook when she could hear George chatting away endlessly with Fred, who had never left his side.

George was sketching away at a new product design for a modified love potion for wizards, guaranteed to make any witch immediately have an infatuation with the first wizard she had a conversation with. Hermione smirked to herself as she thought of the trouble that would've caused when she was in school with the men she knew. How many females would they have used that potion on? She absentmindedly ran an affectionate hand through his shaggy hair as she peeked over his shoulder. Since Fred's death George had trouble coming up with any new products, so whenever a new one was in the works Hermione encouraged it fully.

George did not mention that she was late, probably because he hadn't noticed. Hermione knew that he would never recover from Fred's death, none of them ever would. She had nearly fainted when a hologram of Fred was walking around the store one morning before they opened. George kept one running overnight when he stayed there stocking the shelves. It was his greatest secret and Hermione was the only one to know. She had shut off the hologram to find George asleep in one of the aisles, gripping a box of Peace Disturbers.

They had a good routine going. Hermione would appear every morning, George would look as though he had never left and they would spend the day selling and laughing together. Hermione would drag George back to the Burrow on the weekends to visit his family only to return to the shop on Mondays. Which is where our story takes place.

George had snuck off that Sunday night to return to work bright and early while Hermione slept in for the first time in her life. The hybrid Weasley-Granger-Potter family had celebrated a promotion Mr. Weasley received with a lot of drinking and Hermione fell asleep in the clothes she had worn yesterday. Now here she was, a tad hung over and late for a Monday morning at the Wizarding Shop.

The day commenced at it normally would, Hermione running around laughing with Hogwarts students and putting on her best smile to any adult that wandered in. George made an appearance to shout the deals of the days – all of the WonderWitch products were going to be on sale till the close off the day - before retreating away again into his office. The day was commencing when over an animated loudspeaker came the familiar call of 'Mione?

Her magenta robes billowed around her as she rushed up the stairs, and used her sleeve to grasp the door knob. George was shouting into a phone when she entered, and Hermione was glad to see him looking rather energetic.

" 'Mione, I need you to run to Gringotts." Hermione looked briefly at the clock hanging from the wall in the shape of a giant ear. She had two minutes to make it before the bank closed for the night. "George!" He pushed a briefcase into her hands and rushed her out the door, apologizing profusely before giving her an endearing kiss on the cheek while calling her a brilliant witch for doing this. In a huff and still in her uniformed robes she rushed out the door of the shop and without breaking stride apparated to the entrance of Gringotts bank.

A dark shadow had been lurked inside of the joke shop, watching as the shoppers and two employees ran around like children. As Miss Granger was pushed from the shop the figure followed, hearing the word Gringotts was all he needed as he saw the bushy-haired woman apparate. With a confident stride the unrecognizable figure followed suit.

The Bank

A goblin stared irritably at Hermione. She was not exactly welcome at the Bank since her exploits as a teenager with her two best friends, when they released the dragon that had taken residence in the bank and destroyed nearly half of the structure. Of course, formally the incident was forgiven but some of the goblins still glared at Miss Granger whenever she arrived. As they were still open another minute they were required to attend to her needs so with a scowl the goblin gathered his things and prepared to take her to the Weasley's vault. After a rather nauseating ride through the bank's bowels the goblin let her off at number 401. He waddled to the door of the vault and with a magical touch Hermione was being let into the brightest vault that Gringotts probably had.

The goblin waited on the lift as she took care of her business. The door was left open for her as she sorted her way through the jars of U-No-Poo and the prototypes for new inventions that Fred had been working on before the last Wizarding War. George couldn't ever bring himself to visit the vault; Fred's personal belongings such as his wand had been stored in the vault by the Weasley family after his death. Hermione, feeling herself getting a tad emotional quickly deposited the money that George had given her and was reading the note that he had scrawled out of what she needed to grab for him.

The Vault

In her rush Hermione did not notice that the irritated looking goblin was suddenly overcome with a sprinkling of light dust that caused him to smile, which turned the corners of his ears. With a pull of a lever the goblin was on his way, heading back to the surface of the bank to close up for the day and return home to his family. Hermione also did not notice that a dark figure slipped past the door to the Weasley's vault and raised his wand to her back.

Without warning the bank vault door shut and Hermione gasped. Her arms were full but she managed to pull her wand out of its hiding place and laughed to herself, clearly the door had shut on accident and the goblin would open it soon.

Lumos!

Hermione Granger turned around to face the door, her wand lighting the area around her so she could see. When she turned, she found herself at the end of a defensively raised wand.

"Hello Miss Granger." His voice resounded around her and she couldn't have been more surprised.

"Hello Draco."

Creator's Notes: Cliff hanger! Oh my goodness! Let me know what you think as always kittens. More to come soon!