These characters were created by J.K. Rowling.

Drake was afraid that something like this would happen. It was obvious that Hermione was desperate for male attention. He had wanted to tell her about himself all weekend, but hadn't been able to find the right moment. He knew when he saw that expectant look in her eyes, that there was no better time than then.

"Look, Granger, I like you and all, and I'm sure you'd be a great person to be with but, I just don't like you in that way."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I think you're beautiful and everything but--"

"Wait a minute." Hermione interrupted. "I think you've gotten the wrong idea. I don't fancy you either."

"But you were just--"

"Honestly, I'm not blind you know. You're quite handsome and all that, but if I pursued you I'm sure I'd be, as they say, 'barking up the wrong tree.'

"You know I'm--?" Hermione nodded "But how?"

"Just little things really. Like last night when we were out for drinks, you kept getting cosmopolitans. Or the fact that your dress sense is impeccable. And you complimented a girl on her shoes a few moments ago."

"That doesn't prove anything. Cranberries are my favorite fruit. Just because I'm a bloke doesn't mean I shouldn't dress nice, and that girl's shoes were Prada. Lots of men know that."

"Okay. But how do you explain the fact that I saw you staring at a man's arse last night?"

Draco was dumbfounded "You really are clever aren't you?" Hermione simply smiled.

"Well now that that's been cleared up, what were you going to ask me?"

"Umm, well, I hope you don't take this the wrong way."

"Go on."

"As you know, I should be going back home by the end of the week." Hermione began.

"And?"

"I was thinking that since you didn't have a job or anything keeping you here, that you could…"

"I could what?"

"Come back to England with me"

"But where would I work? I never finished my education and I haven't performed magic in years."

"Well, I was thinking about hiring an assistant. And as for living arrangements, you could just live with me."

"You mean work for you and be your bloody charity case?"

"No, I didn't mean that."

"I don't need your pity. I'd rather be on the bloody dole!"

"If you don't want to don't want to do it, you could have just said no!" She began to pull money out of her purse. "I was trying to be a friend, but since you're going to let your pride get in the way I'm not going to bother." She shoved money into his hand and rose from the table.

"That should cover everything." She turned to walk toward the door. Drake had gotten pretty angry at her suggestion, but when he saw how upset she had gotten by his reaction, his anger subsided. He had to admit that it was a pretty decent offer.

"Granger, wait!" he said. She stopped before she reached the door. Everyone in the restaurant was staring at them. She walked back to the table and sat down.

"I'm sorry. You were right, I was letting my pride get in the way. It's just that I've been taking care of myself these past few years. I quite enjoy that. I'd never been alone before I moved here."

Hermione looked at him seriously. "I wasn't offering to take care of you. I'm not your mother, and most certainly not your wife. I just wanted to give you a chance to start over in our world. Where it really matters."

"I understand."

"But if you want to stay here, I'd be perfectly okay with it." Hermione said sadly. Drake thought for a moment.

"It was a nice offer. I mean, there really isn't anything keeping me here. I suppose I could give it a shot, if the offer's still open."

Hermione smiled at him. "Of course it is." She put her hands over his. "But first things first. You are going to start going by your proper name. None of this Drake nonsense."

"Good enough." Draco said. Then an idea popped into his mind. "Under one condition." He paused, but her look told him to continue. "When we get back, you and Weasley need to get it together."

"But Draco, I've told you, I don't feel that way about him anymore."

Draco shook his head. "Shame on you Granger. So early on in the relationship and you're already lying to me. You're still in love with him. Tell the truth."

Hermione blushed. "I don't understand why, but I am. It's been almost eight years and I still love him." She thought for a moment. "But it's been ages. He might not feel that way about me. I don't know if that's going to happen."

"You're a clever girl. Make it happen."

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"Ron! Ron!" Harry yelled, waking him.

"What?" Ron mumbled from underneath his sheets.

"Get up you miserable lump. You've been late to work everyday for almost two weeks."

"If you'd broken a poor girl's heart into a million pieces, you'd be late for work too."

"Get up and get dressed." Harry shouted.

"Alright, alright. Merlin, I hate Mondays." Since Ron's break-up with Eloise, he'd spent the time that he wasn't at work, moping about the house or sleeping. He knew that Harry was getting fed up with his lousy mood, but couldn't be bothered to come out of it. To make things worse, he hadn't yet heard back from Hermione.

Grudgingly, he got dressed and apparated to the front of the Ministry of Magic building. He walked over to the lifts and got inside one that was already crowded. Before the doors closed, he got a small glimpse of the people outside and his heart stopped.

It couldn't have been her. He thought to himself. She's on assignment in the states. But he was almost sure that he'd seen Hermione.

Luckily, his department was the first stop, so he was able to escape the crowded lift quickly.

He walked over to his cubicle and saw a large stack of papers in his in-tray.

"Bloody Quidditch World Cup." If he hadn't been having such a horrible existence those past few weeks, he'd have been ecstatic about the British National Quidditch team making it to the world cup. Even if it meant him having to write up long reports and have long boring meetings with people from other departments.

He'd barely lifted a finger when a purple paper airplane came zooming toward him from the lift. He grabbed it and opened it.

Mr. Weasley,

Your presence has been requested. Please report to the office of Mr. P. Weasley on level five immediately.

"What the bloody hell does he want?" Ron said to no one. After the war, Percy stopped working for the minister and returned to the Department of International Magical Cooperation. He quickly moved up in the ranks and became the youngest head of department ever. Ron had never quite forgiven him for his past behavior.

Once downstairs, he knocked on Percy's office door.

"You may enter." The sound of his brother's voice made him cringe. He opened the door. "Ah Weasley. I was expecting you sooner."

"I just got the memo two minutes ago." Percy waved off his comment. "That's unimportant. I believe you're helping plan the Quidditch World Cup."

"Yes Percy. You know this."

"I would appreciate it if you'd refer to me, your superior, as Mr. Weasley."

Ron rolled his eyes and sighed. "I'm not calling my own brother 'Mr. Weasley.'"

Apparently, Percy chose to ignore this comment, because he continued. "Since the world cup is in a matter of weeks, I spoke to your head of department. Wizards are going to be pouring in from all over the world, so our departments are going to be working side by side."

"So am I going to be working with you for now?" Ron pleaded in his head that this wasn't the case."

"No. Most of my department is busy with other assignments, but we've made this a priority. I've pulled my brightest associate from a very important cause to work on this with you."

At that, there was a knock on the door.

"You may enter." said Percy in the same haughty tone. Ron eyes widened in shock as he saw who entered the room. "I believe you're familiar with Ms. Granger." They both stood frozen for a moment, staring at one another. Then Ron approached her and enveloped her in a tight hug.

He didn't want to let go, but Percy's presence ruined the moment.

"Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger, I am aware of your history, but I would appreciate it if you two remained professional."

"Could you stuff it with the formalities Percy? We haven't seen each other since Hogwarts." Ron looked at his old friend and saw that the years had been very good to her. He couldn't get a good visual because of her robes, but she'd felt nice when they hugged. And her hair was no longer bushy. Long, silky waves flowed from her head. "You look…nice." Said Ron, blushing. Hermione smiled at him.

"Thanks. So do you." She turned her attention to Percy. "You wanted to see me Mr. Weasley?"

"Yes Ms. Granger. As I was saying to Mr. Weasley, I'm pulling you from the new schools project so that you can work with him on the Quidditch World Cup. Do you object to that?

"No sir." she said rather quickly.

"Good. I'm counting on you two to not allow your past to interfere with your efficiency."

"I understand Mr. Weasley. You won't be disappointed."

"Good." He said again. "That will be all." They exited the office quietly. He followed her back to her office.

"Umm, how long have you been back?"

"Since yesterday actually."

"So… we're going to be working together. How about that?"

"Yes. So, how have you been?"

"Miserable to be honest."

"Really? From that letter, it sounded as though things were going great."

"Well, I guess I should have been more specific. How have you been?"

"Great actually. Glad to be back home."

"Good." He said looking around the room. "You must be pretty important to have your own office. Hermione blushed.

"I've got my own assistant too." She replied

"Well done. Now you don't have to do any work. You're probably going to do it anyway."

"You know me. I'm a perfectionist."

"Ah, so you're finally admitting it I see." He stuffed his hands in his pockets. They stood in silence for a minute. Hermione spoke finally.

"Oh, you're not going to believe who my assistant is."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I ran into him while I was in America."

"Him? Is it someone I know?"

"Yes." Then Ron noticed her eyes widen as though she'd just realized something and she quickly added, "But I don't think we should talk about that right now."

"Why Hermione? Is there a problem?" Ron asked, concerned.

Knock Knock!

He spun around and saw Draco Malfoy of all people standing in the door.

"Weasley! How's it going?" He said to Ron. Then he turned to Hermione. "I've got those papers you requested ma'am."

No bloody way! Ron thought to himself.