After finally finishing this chapter, I have come to realize that it has been almost six months since I last updated this story. And no amount of apologies is going to change the fact that I practically neglected fan fiction for a long time. But don't think that I haven't thought about working on this. Because I've wanted nothing more than to work out the kinks in my stories and get the ball rolling.
The chapters are going to be a little shorter from now on, but I promise to finish this story soon. No more long awaited updates.
Oh, and more stories will be posted soon. But I just need a beta, can someone help me out?
Chapter
Seven
A New Project
For some strange reason, Hermione just could not get those damned butterflies out of her stomach. She tried drowning them with glasses upon glasses of water and that never seemed to work except for the constant trips to the bathroom. Even though she wanted to rid her belly of them, she couldn't help but liking the sudden feeling after thinking about a certain someone.
But of course Hermione wouldn't dare keep it to herself. There was so much she wanted to let out, and naturally she would have to tell her best friend.
That last kiss was just half a day in the past, and yet Hermione couldn't get the image of Ian out of her head as she tried making herself a cup of coffee that morning, getting ready for work. She constantly found herself doing strange things that morning and thinking things she hadn't in a while. Humming songs wasn't something that naturally came from her lips, but she was doing it anyway.
Losing interest in her bagel after two bites, Hermione started to write a quick note to Ginny.
Ginny, I know you said you would stop by later tonight, but this cannot wait. Please say you'll come to the hospital for lunch. Ana will be there, too. Hermione.
She had her work clothes on and her bag in hand when an owl came to the window. 'That was fast', she thought.
Can't wait!
Ginny was never the type to write long answers back. She had always said that it was better to share details face to face other than writing it all down and end up with arm cramps.
After pushing the note aside and finally wanting to get to work early enough Hermione apparated herself quickly into St. Mungo's. Using an unlocking charm on her office door she hurried in to set everything down and get her arms clear. Without having five minutes go by while doing some paperwork, a short man appeared in her open doorway.
"Hi Daniel, long time no see," Hermione said once she registered who it was.
"Hello Hermione," Daniel replied stepping farther into her new office. "I see you've settled nicely into your new office."
"Yes, well, I have plenty of space. It's different not seeing all of Head Healer Adam's old stuff in here. He was a pack rat."
"I think it suits you well," he said with one of the brightest smiles Hermione ever saw. "I just came to let you know that Madame Derwent wants to speak with you. She knows you're here early."
"Does she need me know?" she asked, not wanting to leave unfinished paperwork behind.
"Just sometime before your shift starts would be fine," he replied.
"Alright. Thank you Daniel, I'll be there in a moment." She flashed him a genuine smile, the same one she had a hard time keeping off her face, and tried to finish the report she had been working on.
She knocked on the closed door when she had appeared at Madame Derwent's office. The door seemed to have opened on its own and the sweat smile on her boss' face welcomed her to take a seat. And for the first time she noticed how terribly uncomfortable those chairs actually were.
"You wanted to see me ma'am?" Hermione said after attempting to get comfortable.
"Hermione dear, you never will learn will you? It's Kim, please," the older lady said, refusing to show any annoyance upon her features. She tended to do that a lot, her reasoning being that emotions age the face faster.
"Sorry, Kim. You needed to see me?" she asked again the right way.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I need your assistance with something new." A smile, actually it was more of a smirk mixed with a sly grin, appeared on her features. "There's something that I wasn't to try with some of the sectors on your floor. After getting to know you all these years and observing your impeccable leading skills, you'll be perfect to take this on."
"Should I be scared at this point?" Hermione asked afraid to know what this would project would be and if it would have to take her out of the country again. And that was something she could not have at that moment.
"No, dear, it will be fine. No leaving the country, I promise," the woman replied noticing the look of panic on her best worker's face. "This will require more teamwork from everybody, but you will be in charge of making sure everything goes smoothly. Think of it as being a supervisor, even to all the other sector leaders."
"Another promotion? Already?"
"Not exactly. Let's call this a trial run? Yes that's it. We're just testing some new procedures in the work area. I will be going along with Daniel and a few other office employees to open up the doors between a few of the sectors. After careful thinking, I have decided to start off with just Sectors Five, Six, Seven, and Eight. We're going to take the middle smaller sectors on the floor and more or less knock down the walls.
"Now this cannot be confused as boundaries go, because each sector will still have its own Head Healer. After some observations I have come to notice that some sectors seem to get overloaded with work while others are slower than the Chudley Cannons on a good game day."
Hermione chuckled lightly at the mention of an insult to Ron's favorite team.
"Yes, therefore I figure if walls were open and the Head Healers of these sections would have open communication with each other, all Healers within grouped sectors would be able to help each other. And in order to make sure that everything stays on track and goes smoothly, I need someone who actually works in that area to be in charge and write reports every so often.
"You are one of my best workers, Hermione." The brunette blushed at receiving a compliment. "I know that there have been a few issues lately regarding you and Mr. Malfoy, but I trust you will both work professionally?"
"Yes, Kim. I will take this job to heart. No worries."
"Perfect. Now all I need is for you to let the other Head Healers know that I will be conducting a short meeting about this later this afternoon. I hope you will relay the message for everyone to be here promptly at 4:30."
"Of course," Hermione replied with an uncontrollable smile. She nodded her head to her boss and headed for the door. "See you later, Ma'am."
"It's Kim!" she heard her say after closing the door.
XXX
The day seemed to go by excruciatingly slow for Hermione. All she wanted to do was tell her girlfriends about everything that went on the night before; it was something she just could not get off of her mind. She wanted to hand them proof that she could do it, even if it had been on her own.
The past three hours into the shift had seemed like six. It was a slow day in Sector Seven. The merge of sectors hadn't happened yet, so she was still only in charge of her own spot.
She had already given the message about the meeting to Head Healers Mark and Isaac of Sectors Five and Six. It wasn't as if she didn't want to give Draco the message, it was just that every time she would get within a close enough distance to him, he would walk away. He was the one being childish and choosing to completely ignore her.
But Hermione would not take it anymore. It was almost lunch and Ginny would soon arrive. There was no way in hell she would let that rude-ass of a man turn a good day into a ranting one.
Dropping off some papers into her office and giving a quick word to Ana about meeting her soon, she set off toward the double doors that would no doubt lead into hell. No sooner had she passed in front of a nurse's station, had one of the plump ladies asked for her to 'hold on a second, dear' with a sweet voice.
"Can you just please sign off on this form? It's just an insurance policy gone wrong that needs to be sent to Madame Derwent."
As soon as the witch finished her sentence, she saw the man she needed to go look for, coming through the doors that she had been headed towards. Wanting to play it off as if she hadn't seen Draco, Hermione didn't dare turn her head and sweetly took the clipboard from the nurse behind the desk.
"Sure thing, Susan," Hermione replied as the blonde-haired devil walked up to stand behind her.
Hermione handed the forms back, and turned around, pretending to be surprised at bumping into Draco.
"Oh!" she squealed.
"I heard you had been looking for me," he said with drawl sounding uninterested.
"Um… Yeah. There's this meeting later on at 4:30 that you, Mark, Isaac and I have to attend in Madame Derwent's office." It felt so weird to talk to him face to face after so long. Hermione just wanted to curl into a ball and roll away.
"Don't you mean Kim?"
His cocky ass could go to hell for all she cared, but she wanted him to go away.
"Yes, Kim," she replied back with a snippy attitude.
After a few seconds of silence he turned to walk off. But not without noticing a woman from the front desk on the bottom level walking in with a bouquet of white roses so huge everyone probably wondered how the woman managed to walk straight.
"Miss Hermione, these are for you," the woman said with a curt tone to her voice, setting them on the counter besides where Hermione had been standing.
The smart witch was so shocked and in awe, she barely forgot to say thanks to the woman. She stupidly wondered who they could have been from, but smiled deeply when she saw Ian's name on the card tied to the vase.
"Another fuck buddy situation gone wrong, has it, Granger?"
"Why? Jealous are you, Malfoy?" Even though she was ecstatic at the situation, she could barely hold back the smirk that appeared on her face when he scowled and walked away.
XXX
According to Hermione, her day could not get any better.
Eating her lunch was the farthest thing from her mind, so her salad was left alone to the side. Ana and Ginny were listening intently and clung to every word she told them about her surprise Valentine's night. Ginny of course, being the pregnant woman that she was, stuffed her face with salad marinated in dressing, and proceeded to eat her best friend's plate as well.
After telling them about the kiss, the brunette had a dreamy look on her and she looked lost.
"What about those roses?" Ana asked eager to know.
"Roses, what roses?" Ginny asked, looking surprised with her mouth still full of lettuce pieces, reminding Hermione more than ever that the redhead really was related to Ron.
"Ian had sent me a huge bouquet of roses right before lunch. White roses, Ginny! Can you believe it? I just met him yesterday." She was suddenly overcome with shock. "Do you think I'm in over myself here?"
Ana replied instantly, "No way Hermione. Plus, if it doesn't work out, he'll just be another guy you have sex with."
"But we haven't gotten that far yet. I'm not that much of a slut."
"Trust me, Hermione," Ginny said after clearing her plate, "you will soon. This guy must be a hunk. When are you seeing him next?"
"Well in the note he left with the roses, he mentioned wanting to go out on Friday night. He's meeting me at my house at eight."
"I'm happy for you, Hermione. Take advantage of this opportunity."
But what the girls had no idea of, was that a certain jealous blonde man was standing outside the door. And he was not happy.
