"Harry, I am so tired. Last week when I went to cast a Patronus my happiest memory was the last time I got a full night of sleep." Hermione flopped her head down on her hands, her hair cascading in a fluffy mess all over the old, oak desk. Hermione didn't brush her hair, that would make the frizz take on a mind of its own, but she did usually have time to throw a few taming spells at her mane. Today was a different matter. In fact, the past month had been an entire mess of loud-mouth ministry officials, snotty highbrows, and endless forms to fill. Establishing the wizarding world's first public library was not the easy task that she had imagined it to be.
She was excited to start an adventure filled with beautiful, mahogany bookshelves, and quests around the world to find the best books to fill them with. Instead, she ended up with multitudes of people who had all decided to share their opinions at the loudest possible volume. The wizarding world was set on keeping everything the same. For a society that had an entire section of magic called Transfiguration that was the ability to change one thing into another, its opinion on change was quite philistine.
"You know you could hire someone to help out," Harry quipped as he took a large bite of a Cauldron Cake. "We all know you're amazing!" he mumbled through a mouthful, "You don't have to prove that to anyone anymore."
Hermione sighed, and then thought about all of the protests that came flooding in when she announced her idea and sighed again. Harry was such a positive person. He seemed to think that Hermione had hung the moon, but it turns out getting perfect NEWT scores and helping to save the entire wizarding population was not good enough to earn the support of a government that everyday seemed to materialize new bylaws that she would have to work around. There was a particular secretary that worked on the fifth floor who always smirked nastily when he handed her yet another 500-page form to fill out. Why, sometimes she just wanted to banish his bushy, red, judgmental eyebrows right off his gigantic face. She should really show him what true contributing members of society look like, perhaps McGonagall would allow her to dump in the Hogwarts kitchen to work with the house elves for a couple months. That would certainly get his attention. Or perhaps—
"Hermione!" Harry poked her viciously on the head. "You had your evil plotting face on again. I know it is tempting, but no one is getting cursed today."
Hermione sighed yet again. Why did she insist on hanging out with do-gooder, suck-up Harry Potter, who was naïve and so optimistic that it was positively sickening? Why, she should—
"Hermione!" Another poke landed, this time on her nose. "Have a sweet and go take a nap."
Oh, that was the reason. Hermione snatched the cake from her best friend's hand and shook her head. "Harry! I can't sleep now! I have a meeting with the solicitor in the morning to discuss the finances and I must prepare my notes! Not to mention registry forms that must be filled out as soon as possible, and the books from Cairo that I ordered should be coming in any day now and I must be prepared with storage and labeling and warding and…" Hermione took a deep breath.
"Did you know that you tend to ramble when you've had less than three hours of sleep?" Harry was still munching on yet another sweet, sprawled out on a soft, forest green, velvet chair that stood in the corner. "This last month, during your slow, spiraling descent into lunacy, Ron and I have been keeping track of the correlation between the amount your sleep and how long of a tangent you can go on. Last week you managed to natter on for a good 45 minutes about the unfortunate plight of those in the world who have not partaken in the scrumptious deliciousness that is a Jamie dodger. By the end of it I think you might have teared up!" At this point Harry started snickering without remorse and Hermione started throwing wrappers at him.
Hermione knew that sleep was necessary. She had read a scientific article just the other day about it. But there was so much to do! Harry and Ron had pleaded with her to hire on some help, but the library wasn't officially open yet, and wasn't bringing any funds. Of course, there wouldn't be much money to be made, even if all went well. The library would rely mostly on kind donations, late fees, and hopefully a stipend from the ministry if she can get it through their fat heads that it would be a benefit to society.
Hermione glowered and snapped up her favorite quill, donned with a soft jewel green feather that whipped back and forth satisfyingly as she furiously scribed. She wrote several sentences until her attention was diverted yet again by Harry quietly gasping in the corner he had claimed.
"I've got it, Hermione!"
She placed her quill down. When Harry got ideas, it was best to listen closely otherwise he would go off and get himself in trouble by himself.
"It's brilliant! I don't know why I never thought of it before!"
Oh no, Harry had gotten himself into a tizzy again. Hermione nervously twirled a strand of hair that hung over her face. The last time he used this tone of voice he had convinced her to travel to one of the shadiest markets Dubai had to offer. She would never be able to shake the image of that three-headed snake that had seared into her mind.
"Draco!" Harry exclaimed, leaping to his feet and doing a merry jig around her desk.
There was a lengthy pause as Harry peered down at Hermione's bewildered expression.
"Harry…? Why on earth are you shouting about Malfoy of all people?" Hermione picked up her quill again. "Last I heard Malfoy's off and about traveling the world. I don't think he has been in London for years. Are you okay? Would you like another Cauldron Cake?"
"No! Hermione! He's back in town! And with a lot of junk he's collected from all over too, which includes some super neat, old books. But that is not the point!" Harry flopped into Hermione's lap and tugged on her hair. "I ran into him the other day and we got to talking. You know how we have been pretty good mates after that whole incident at the annual ministry ball with the boa constrictor and sparking fairy lights?"
Hermione shuddered. That event was not the best part the government had thrown. But surprisingly it hadn't been the worst either.
"We stopped for a cup of tea. From that one place with the weird cat poster, you know the one. Anyway, we got to talking and Draco is absolutely bored out of his mind. He came back and settled down for young Scorpius' sake of course, but while Scorp is at his school Draco resorts to pacing and reorganizing the cupboards. I offered him a position in my Department of course, but he refused, waxing on about inflexible schedules and stupid politicians." Harry continued, seemingly all in one breath. "This would be perfect for him! And you for that matter! He could put in a few hours everyday working around Scorp's schedule and he knows a lot about how to invest in new businesses and taming the bigwigs. Not only that, he isn't interested in money, just something fascinating with which to spend his time."
Hermione stared awhile longer. Perhaps the sleep deprivation was causing hallucinations now.
Without waiting for confirmation Harry skipped over to the fireplace, flicked in some floo powder, called out for Malfoy's flat, and promptly stuck his head into the now emerald green flames. Hermione could only hear bits and pieces of the conversation but knowing Harry and his schemes she highly suspected Harry was talking the ear off of poor Malfoy and strong-arming him into his barmy plan.
It seemed that she now had her first employee. She hoped her dear library wouldn't suffer any negative repercussions.