Later that night, instead of stressing over her new work assignment, Hermione explored countless websites looking for the same green as that of Mr. Malfoy's eyes. She looked at nature blogs, websites for fashion magazines, even the Crayola site, but found nothing. Not one single search result for 'brilliant emerald', 'emerald', or any variation of the phrase yielded positive results. They were either to dull or too bright, a shade to dark and lacking a degree of mystery. It was fairly depressing and mindboggling, so much so that after several hours Hermione simply abandoned the task and opted instead to retreat to her bed, Crookshanks dutifully following after her.
And again, instead of sleeping she laid awake thinking of the mysterious Draco Malfoy, son of the deceased great Lucius Malfoy (aside from color research, Hermione had done a bit of research on the actual person also). Draco was 25, the single inheritor of his father's multi million estate(s), and was devastatingly handsome. The last bit she had deduced for herself, none of the websites had directly come out using those words.
But other than the hard facts Hermione could find no information public ventures of any kind. Draco Malfoy had seemingly remained under the radar of the public, coming out only after the death of his father, and even then he seemed wary of attention. Even in the meeting earlier that day he had seemed oddly quiet and subdued, as if he was only partially in the room, and wherever the other half of him was he'd rather be.
From the moment he had walked in the room with Mr. Mayerly, his eyes had coolly followed her around the room, making the most minute facial changes in response to certain things she would say. He was the embodiment of grace and that had been his intention of the meeting, Hermione had gone on to find out.
For the project she had just finished and presented to the two men had apparently been somewhat similar to what Mr. Malfoy was looking for in the new job he was commissioning the company to take on for him. When she had finished presenting Hermione had somewhat awkwardly stood at the front of the room whilst Draco's cold eyes scanned her and Mayerly thought things over in his head. After several minutes Mayerly abruptly leaned forward in his chair, gestured to Hermione and said,
"Is this what you're looking for?" To which he replied,
"This is exactly what I'm looking for."
Within the timeframe of several seconds Hermione's heart both raced and plummeted. Because in that statement she was granted the success she so greatly coveted but also pulled into something unknown.
"May I ask what you gentlemen are talking about?" She asked, unable to help the words from bubbling forth. Mayerly simply let out a hearty laugh and stood up before striding over to Hermione and taking her hand with one of his.
"Congratulations Ms. Granger, you have a new job. You've passed the test, and for the next several months you will be working with Mr. Malfoy on his latest remodeling project. This just might be your big break Granger."
The excitement was so great that she barely picked up on the electricity that traveled through her spine when Draco's soft hand grasped hers, earnestly offering his congratulations and excitement to work with her in the future.
After that the minutes blurred. She was whisked into Mayerly's office before Draco offered his apologies on having to leave so soon. Inside Mayerly's office she was given the inside scoop on the 'contest' they had arranged, and all of the corresponding dates and meetings (which Hermione had to quickly scribble down in her date planner. He wasn't leaving much time to even breathe).
It turned out that the project she had been working on the night before had not been for any client at all, but for a contest of sorts Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Mayerly had set up. Draco only wanted the best to work on his project and in order to find the best he gave everyone the same job: Design this project.
The project had called for a soft yet edgy design for a townhouse up at the north end of the city. The only stipulations were for it to be top of the line lavish, therefore no expenses were to be spared.
Once they were all finished Draco was supposed to come and judge all of the designers, choose the person who best embodied what he was looking for, and sign them onto the job. That person just happened to be Hermione, and she couldn't have been more excited.
All she had to do was work especially hard on this project and perhaps, as Mayerly had eluded to earlier, rise up a notch in the company. It would be hard but definitely worth it if it worked out in her favor.
And as Hermione snuggled deeper and deeper into her bed, she was, for the first time in a long time, happy and intrigued. Everyone she had called today had wished her nothing but congratulations, even Ron had offered kind sappy words of encouragement. It had been a long time since Hermione had truly felt excited for her work, and she missed that feeling in the pit of her stomach.
But after several seconds of thought Hermione realized that just maybe that feeling in the pit of her stomach was directed at something, or someone else. Someone who colored her dreams later that night.
