Oh Look
Disclaimer: I don't anything blah blah...you know the drill by now!
"Women's clothing is on floor three," Marie said easily, breezing past the directory as if she had no need for it. She probably doesn't, Hermione thought to herself, praying that she wouldn't run into Malfoy as Marie tugged her along.
The pair stepped into the elevator and Hermione found herself wishing that it would never open, for she had a pretty good idea what would happen if it did. Malfoy would inevitably be a fixture in their desired department and unless he had skived work (which Hermione thoroughly hoped he had) they would run into him for sure.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, Hermione groaned to herself as a shock of blonde hair came into view. Thinking swiftly, Hermione ducked behind the closest clothing rack and hoped that Marie wouldn't notice her absence as she pranced up and down the aisles, looking for things to wear.
At the sound of the elevator, Malfoy glanced up from the desk and caught sight of a slim red-head humming to herself while perusing the clothes. Unlike some of the customers, she seemed to know exactly what she wanted and was having no trouble picking and discarding items appropriately. Malfoy was just about to return to his work—since she obviously didn't need much help—when he felt someone hovering close.
"Remember rule number two," Jacques whispered icily, shoving Malfoy towards the girl. Draco stumbled slightly but continued on towards the girl, pausing only once to throw a death glare back over his shoulder at Jacques who was grinning stupidly. God he hated him already.
"Hi! I'm Marie," the redhead said loudly, catching Draco off guard. He had expected her to be so absorbed in her shopping that she wouldn't even notice him drift up. That however, was not the case. Draco regarded her cautiously, but one look back to Jacque told him that he was nowhere near satisfactory behavior.
"Welcome to Saks Fifth Avenue," Draco stated monotonously in an effort to sound French. He could have sworn he heard some type of muffled laughter but ignored it and continued, "My name is Draco and I'm here to assist you in any way possible."
"Well," the girl began in a light, courteous tone, "my friend and I—Marie paused, glancing around for Hermione—well, I don't know where she is, but we're looking for dresses for this ball we're having. It's for work though so we can't have anything too," Marie paused, trying to come up with the right word. "Flirtatious," she finally decided, smiling prettily at Draco. .
"I see," Draco said easily, wracking his brain for what outfit would be professional and pretty for the girls.
Hermione, shifted uneasily, pushing away a clothes hanger that was digging into her back. What ball? What the heck?
"Yeah, so if you can help me and my friend, um, her name is….," Marie bit her lip, and looked confused.
"Hermione!" Hermione supplied in a whisper, slightly offended.
Malfoy flicked his head around, and was now genuinely confused. Something was definitely weird about this girl and her nonexistent friend.
Hermione, deciding now would be a good time to move, made a dash for it, and headed for a slightly more secluded section of the shop. Malfoy however had no trouble spotting her movement and followed her quickly, trailed by Marie who was nodding her head, "Yeah—Hermione, that was it!"
Looking around nervously, Hermione grabbed some clothes from a nearby rack and pretended to be interested in her selection, in the hopes of Malfoy mistaking her for a customer.
Unfortunately, it didn't work.
"Little—promiscuous, don't you think? Although, with tastes like that, it's no wonder Potty and Weasel hang on to you every word," Draco grinned.
Hermione, looking down, found herself holding a black lace, lingerie set. She turned a startling shade of red and cowered slightly. Of all the things in the entire store to pick up, she chastised mentally as Marie approached, a smile still on her face.
"Oh Hermione, that's adorable! You need to go try it on!" She squeaked approvingly. Hermione's blush darkened.
"No way!" She declared hotly. Marie looked confused.
"Why not?"
"I, ah, no!" Hermione supplied, stumbling over her own words.
"Look no one cares, it's not as if you know anybody here!" She smiled, shoving Hermione into the changing rooms. Malfoy, leaned against the wall, smirking. He fumbled for something in his pocket.
Marie, who had followed Hermione in, was now forcing her to change.
"No! Get … off…me!" Hermione squirmed.
"Stop making such a fuss!" Marie smiled, "you'll look great!"
"I don't want to wear it! Please," she begged. Marie put her hands on her hips defiantly.
"If you don't, then I'll fire you!"
Hermione froze. Marie had been so sweet throughout the day, but she seemed like the kind of girl who always got her way—or else—and Hermione, not sure if she was joking, decided not to risk it.
"See! You look fine, now go take a look!" Marie said, shoving Hermione again, out of the room. Hermione felt her cheeks burn red and she wondered vaguely if she would ever get the blush to go away. Just when she thought that she had suffered enough she heard it.
Snap.
"Its one-one Granger," Malfoy laughed, as Hermione groaned into her hands.
Malfoy, leaning on his elbows on the check out, looked up to see a very disgruntled Hermione shove him the set, while Marie shoved a whole selection of clothes onto the counter. She had dragged Hermione round the whole store before Hermione had convinced her she had enough.
Flustered, Marie handed one of her several credit cards to Malfoy who held it in his hands. He stared at it for a second, and then flicked it. He looked slightly confused and stared at Hermione, who raised her eyebrow mockingly.
"Er," Marie said, staring at Malfoy, "is there a problem?"
"Um," Malfoy replied uncomfortably. Jacques had told him just about everything to do except for how to actually work the cash register—and why would he, Malfoy though to himself, he probably assumed all Muggles knew how to do this sort of bloody useless thing. Malfoy glanced up to Hermione, who stood smirking at him. She seemed fully prepared to let him suffer as long as possible. Then, just as Draco had given up and was about to call Jacques over, she grabbed his wrist, taking the card.
"Here," Hermione said, swiping the card while never breaking eye contact with Draco.
Her face plainly read:
You owe me. Big time.
"Right, of course," Malfoy said, arrogantly.
Handing the card back to a very confused Marie, he just handed her the clothes.
Hermione however, wanted payback.
"Can you put them in bags please?" she said, grinning with pleasure. She could now see why McGonagall gave him this job. It meant he would finallydo something for other people.
"Of course," he said, through gritted teeth.
Marie, who was looking at the two of them, frowned and asked.
"Do you guys, like—know each other?"
"Yes."
"No." They said simultaneously. Marie smiled.
"Oh, I get it! You guys are together! Duh," she said, slapping her forehead.
"What?!" They both exclaimed, equally horrified.
"Silly me, ok well ciao!" Marie said, grabbing the bags, and running out of the store, with an exhausted Hermione, and a thoroughly annoyed Malfoy.
And this was only day one.
"Mmmm," Marie sighed, breathing in the air of her warm coffee, "that guy is so hot!"
"What?" Hermione spluttered, hot water splashing into her face at her shock.
"You guys are ah-dorable!"
"Look—we're not going out ok, so you can have him. I don't care!" Hermione defended vehemently. Marie smiled.
"Sweet! Seriously, he's so cute," she crowed excitedly.
"Yeah, no problem," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
"I forgot to tell you, we have this like—ball thing, you know for—,"
"Work?" Hermione supplied when Marie looked lost.
"Yeah, I forgot for a sec," Marie giggled.
Snorting into her cup, Hermione closed her eyes, and drank the relaxing tea. She needed a break. And she hadn't even worked that much!
"So what should I expect to happen?" Hermione asked, wondering if Marie would even be the right person to ask for anything except wardrobe.
"Well, you go with a partner, if you want—but obviously me and Draco would go to together—and I could totally hook you up with some hot French guy so don't worry," she trailed, talking more to herself than Hermione. It was only when Hermione coughed that she even seemed to remember that Hermione was there.
"Well yeah, you just go, and that's it!"
"When is it?"
"Oh, it's in here," Marie said, pulling out an expensive agenda from her even more expensive bag, "um, it's on the first of November!" Hermione thought for a second.
"That's a little under three weeks then," she said, sounding thoroughly disappointed.
"Yeah! On a Friday night—be there or be square," Marie grinned, making a square with her fingers.
Hermione smiled, felt as if she was talking to a two year old. Hopefully she wouldn't rub off on her.
"Well done Mr. Malfoy!" Jacque said approvingly, "Marie can be a bit, demanding, but she's a regular customer and you managed to get her to buy a little more than the usual so congratulations!"
"She's like Pansy," Draco speculated to himself.
"Who?"
"Never mind." Jacques rolled his eyes.
"You have a five minute break in twenty minutes and then you'll be here for another two hours."
"Yeah, great." He said, trying to get him to leave.
It worked.
Malfoy sat down on a stool, and thought about what had just happened.
Granger had just been here, with this Marie person, who was talking about some kind of ball thing—and he had seen Hermione in her underwear! Hah! He smiled to himself.
Maybe this whole work thing wouldn't be so terrible.
"So, did you manage to find a dress?" Hermione asked.
"I think so," Marie said, fiddling around in the bags. "Damn—I forgot!"
She had bought almost one of everything in the store, and yet, she had forgotten to buy the only article of clothing she really needed. Hermione couldn't believe that this person was supposed to be her superior, although she would choose her, over someone like Snape any day.
"So, we need to find one for you, don't we?" Marie said.
"I don't think I can really afford—," Hermione was burning to say 'your taste', but didn't want to sound mean. She had in fact paid for her, so she was slightly indebted to her.
"That's fine just put it on the bank!"
"What?" Hermione asked, horrified.
"Well, you could! No-one would notice."
"Yeah, but," Hermione was at a loss for words.
"Well, you could always charge it to me," she said, shrugging her shoulders, "I'm sure my dad wouldn't mind!"
Rolling her eyes, Hermione let it go; there was no point in trying to argue with her. Besides, it could be fun.
"So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" Hermione asked.
"Do what you want! Go home, write a letter, go shopping, I don't mind!" Marie said dismissively.
"What, so I can just go?" Hermione wondered dubiously.
"Yeah sure!"
Nervously, she stood up too leave, not sure if it was the politest thing to do.
"Oh my god, I forgot! Silly me!" Marie said, shaking her head at herself. Searching in her bag again, she drew out a package. Opening it, a small, organizer thing dropped out on to Hermione's palm.
"It's a phone agenda!" Marie said enthusiastically "I would use one but I have no idea how they work! And you look all clever and stuff, so spend the rest of you day figuring how it works!" she said innocently. Hermione smiled. She was just too nice to get frustrated at.
"Are you sure you want me to go?"
"No it's fine; I'm meeting one of my old high-school friends! She's really stressed out, because she had kids like, when she was still at school, so she needs some time to talk and chill out, you know? If that happened to me my dad would totally kill me!" she winked at Hermione, who grinned.
"Ok, well sounds like fun!"
"Oh, I'll call you so you can get my number programmed into that!"
"Sure thing."
"Oh, and if you get messages from work and stuff, just delete them—that's what I do!"
Trying to stop herself laughing, she hugged Marie, and waved goodbye.
Not one step out of the store, a loud Hermione was attacked by a disturbing beeping started. People all around looked at Hermione, who was frantically trying to find the small phone, which had hid itself in her pocket. The beep kept getting louder, and was making Hermione panicky. Grasping it, she held it tight, and clicked the small ok, button, which linked open to a message.
From: Marie!
To: H
Subject: Wait!
Hermione, you left something!!! J
Turning back into the shop, Hermione walked saw Marie waving eccentrically at her. Walking quickly over to her, she asked what she had forgotten.
"This!"
And with that, she shoved the tiny bag of clothes Hermione had bought. She had hoped she had would have gotten away with it, by just leaving it. Obviously not.
Damn.
Taking the keys out of her pocket, Hermione walked into the apartment.
Dropping the bags, and the food she had bought for dinner tonight, she collapsed onto the couch. It had been a tiring day, and she hadn't even done any proper work.
Taking out some paper, and a pen, she began to write.
Dear Harry and Ginny,
I'm here, in le Paris! It's awesome, but I'm exhausted! Malfoy is surprisingly…ok, but I still can't say I'm happy to be with him! He can be so annoying sometimes…but anyway!
Work is…weird. I work with another girl, called Marie. She is…fun? I suppose, in your opinion, she will help me loosen up. She seems to only live to shop! But that's ok I suppose…she's still nice, and she doesn't mean it. She just needs a little reality check!
And how are you guys? Ron been bugging you two about being together! Really happy for you guys! How's you apartment like? Mine's awesome! And work?
Ack! Have to go; stupid mobile thing is beeping…
Help!
Hermione
From: Mr. Riley
To: H
Subject: Hello
I take it Marie has given you your mobile. Crafty little thing, wouldn't you say? How are you doing? I know Marie can be a little—amusing at times! If you do ever feel like you need to actually do something, I have a pile of things you could help me out with! You're a smart girl, and it's a shame you had to be stuck with something like this…we could use someone with your potential.
Good luck!
Mr. Riley
Hermione reread the message, feeling better about the whole experience. She was glad to know that Mr. Riley understood her predicament and decided that she would help him with his work the following day—regardless of how much Marie thought they needed to go shopping.
Hermione smiled to herself.
Maybe the whole experience wouldn't be as bad as she thought.
Malfoy walked in later that night, his feet dragging in exhaustion. Not only had Jacques kept him over his scheduled hours, he had also refused to pay for overtime, stating that Draco had "wanted" to stay and help. As if, Draco moaned to himself. Fire breathing dragons couldn't make him want to stay a second longer than necessary with that blasted man. Still, Draco thought it best not to argue and instead had worked diligently alongside him in the hopes of returning home in time for dinner.
"Granger!" Malfoy bellowed, closing the door behind him. "Are you here?"
"Yes I'm here," Hermione snapped, walking out from the kitchen. She handed Draco a plate of food and took a seat at the table. Surprised—Draco had been anticipating a more hostile greeting—Draco followed suit and sat down in the chair across from Hermione. She didn't seem inclined to speak of their meeting earlier but Draco had a feeling that wouldn't last—as soon as she wanted something she would surely bring up the whole credit-card-fiasco.
Well, I can always bring up the whole lingerie thing too, Draco reminded himself, digging into his food with a renewed appetite. Speaking of which, Draco found himself smiling at the renewed image of Hermione in the little black number. To his surprise, Hermione had actually looked pretty good in it—pretty damn good in fact. Who knew the little Mudblood had it in her under all those bookish ways?
"What are you smiling about?" Hermione demanded upon seeing the wolfish gleam in Draco's eyes. She had a good guess as to what he was remembering and hoped direct confrontation would erase it from his memory.
If only she were that lucky.
"I was just thinking about how nice it will be to go to bed." Hermione paused, eyeing him skeptically. If she was guessing right, that wasn't the only thing he had been thinking about.
"Yeah, I'm sure the couch will welcome me with open arms," Hermione noted bitterly, figuring that if Draco had been successful at keeping her out of the bedroom and on the couch thus far, he wouldn't change his actions for the night. To her surprise though, Draco smiled, shaking his head.
"After seeing the kind of thing you go to bed in Granger, I have a feeling we should seriously rethink the sleeping arrangements tonight."
Hermione blanched.
A/N: Hey, so here's the next chapter me (and my beta...pink-levicorpus!) worked hard to get this one done, and I personally, really like it! I hope you did too...and it would mean SO much if you guys could all review! Makes me smile (and for all you fellow authors out there, you know exactly what I mean!) So if you could do me a small favour, please review...even if it's one word (haha...preferably not though:P) it would totally make my day!!!
Oh, and if you have any suggestions, ideas, tips etc...leave me a message, and I'll try and use it!
Thanks so much for all the support :-)
cioa! x
