CHAPTER 10: CONFRONTATION, SORT OF.

Draco Malfoy sat in his table at the restaurant as he ate his brunch alone. He had arrived in Australia two days ago and after sleeping at his hotel the whole day yesterday, he was now accustomed to the new time. He had thought over everything he had learned since his parents sudden return two nights ago.

Thankfully the morning after his parents told him the news, he had calmed down considerably enough that his father had given him the location of Granger's restaurant. So here he is now, having brunch in one of the restaurant's least obvious table, waiting for Granger to arrive while he took in his surroundings.

As he wondered what he would do or say once he saw Hermione, he couldn't help but feel nervous and angry. He once again tried to calm his emotions so that he could continue to think rationally. It had been three years since he last saw her, before she disappeared from his life only to have heard news of her pregnancy with his child.

He was brought out of his thoughts when a waitress appeared in front of him and said "Hi can I get you any more coffee sir?" she asked.

Draco looked at the girl then her nameplate, which read Ana, and then to his coffee cup and nodded. As the waitress turned to leave to get him a new cup of coffee, he suddenly asked "Ana, excuse me but I just have to ask, is this a family establishment?"

The girl turned around and smiled at the handsome blond customer and said "yes, this used to be a family owned establishment but two years ago one of the two families that run this restaurant died and so they sold their shares to someone else." She said and smiled.

Draco nodded and said "I see, I' very interested in this restaurant do you happen to know if the owners are accepting any investors?" he asked.

"Not that I know of, I'm only new here, this is actually just my third day working here but if you want you could go ask one of the older staff here." She said.

"That would be great. Do you think you can point one of them out to me?" he asked.

"Sure, let me just get your coffee and then I'll send someone over" she said as she smiled and made her way back into the kitchen.

As Draco watched Ana leave, he smirked as he began to formulate a fool proof plan to ensure Granger talked to him. He would not let her go so easily this time.

One Week Later:

Hermione had just finished putting David to sleep when she sat down on her living room sofa and closed her eyes. A week had passed since the incident and her sudden decision to take a leave from work to take David down to the beach and just be with her little boy. Truth was, she was terrified when her father and son entered her restaurant whilst the Lord and Lady Malfoys were there, she knew it was impossible for them to not see what her son looked like and for the first time in quite a while, she let her fear overtake her and went away for a week to get her wits together.

Despite hating feeling like a coward by running off, knowing that one of the three Malfoys would probably visit her restaurant as soon as they've discussed last week's event, she was glad for the time she had spent with her son and gathering her courage.

Now she was back in her home, ready to face whatever might happen tomorrow; although she hoped she wouldn't have to encounter any more Malfoys.

Tracey Davis stepped out of the floo and walked into a living room with rich deep purple hues and black velvet furniture, seeing that no one was there to meet her, she made her way to the study where she knew the owner of the place would be.

As she entered the study, she noticed that there was no one there too. 'odd' she thought, 'Pansy is always here whenever I come, where could she be?'. Thinking nothing of it, Tracey sat down at her usual seat and thought of where to look for Pansy, she knew Pansy wouldn't be in bed this time of the day, they were supposed to have lunch out today so she'd be ready by now.

Deciding to wait for Pansy in the study, Tracey stood up and approached the bookshelf behind Pansy's desk and searched for a magazine to read (yes, Pansy uses bookshelves for magazines). As she found her favorite issue of BeWitched Magazine, her favorite magazine, she attempted to pluck it out of the shelf only to realize it was stuck between other magazines, Tracey attempts to pull it out with more force which leads her to successfully pulling out the magazine only for her to hit her lower back on Pansy's desk due to the excessive force she had used.

Rubbing her back, Tracey sat down on Pansy's chair and put the magazine on the table while she tried to ease the pain in her back. As soon as the pain subsided, Tracey made a move to pick up the magazine only to be stopped when she noticed a secret compartment come unhinged at the side of Pansy's desk.

Deciding that Pansy had most likely left her house, Tracey decided to peek into what was inside. Upon further opening the compartment, she saw several white envelopes inside 'Pansy must have an admirer!' she thought, Tracey soon realized that she had never been so wrong in her entire life when as soon as she turned over the envelope to see who its from, all of them simply wrote To Hermione Granger.

Hermione had finally gone back to work, back to her routine and her worries about the Malfoys were finally ebbing away.

Hermione was making her way to the kitchen from her office when Elsa came rushing to her side.

"Oh Hermione! There you are! I have some news for you!" Elsa said, ushering Hermione back to her office.

"So, what is it?" Hermione asked. Wondering what got Elsa so excited.

"I finally found someone I think we can partner with in expanding the restaurant!" she said.

"Really? who is it?" Hermione asked as she began to take out some of the ingredients she needed to use to marinate a few of the steaks they'll probably be cooking within the day come lunch and dinner. The last time they spoke of investors, Elsa had decided she didn't really want to work with the british investors so she had not heard anything from Elsa since. She must have found one she liked as Elsa was ecstatic and beaming!

"Oh its Stars & Dragons Incorporated!" Elsa announced, excitement beaming from her features.

Hermione stopped moving, ignoring the fact that her hands were covered with the marinade she was making, she looked at Elsa with wide eyes,"Are you serious?! How did they find out about us? This is huge!" Hermione said, everyone knew that Stars & Dragons Inc. is one of the biggest investment and partner firms in Europe, recently they had begun setting up their business and market in Australia and so far they were very selective of the businesses they want to partner or invest in. One thing was for certain though, no matter what type of business you have, if S&D is interested and partners with you, your company will become a household name in no time.

"Well, it turns out that one of the owner of the firm had visited Australia and had found his way here in our restaurant. He loved the service and our food so much that he inquired more about the business and soon our manager was calling me telling me that there was someone who wanted to talk to the owners, as I was the only one available at that moment, we had the meeting then and there! We're set to meet them sometime next week, Monday, I think." Elsa explained.

"This is amazing! I'll be there, I promise!" Hermione said as she hugged Elsa. This was huge for the both of them, Hermione knew how much Elsa loved the restaurant as she built it with her best friend when they were young. The restaurant was special to Hermione too because it was where she found a renewed purpose to be better both for her and for her son, this restaurant was a testament to how she was able to move on without the love of her life as it gave her the distraction she needed to keep him out of her mind, soon she poured her love and heart to the restaurant too.

Draco was beaming. He had finally found a way for Hermione to face him. It had been two weeks since he went and landed himself with an impromptu meeting with a lovely lady named Elsa.

It turns out, Elsa had owned the restaurant with her best friend, Oona and when Oona died, the family had no interest in keeping her share so they sold it back to Elsa but she instead sold it to their Sous Chef at the time- who happened to be Hermione- now they run the business as partners while Hermione still occasionally runs the kitchen, Elsa was the one who handled most of the business transactions which is why she was always out of the restaurant as she always had meetings with people who either wanted to franchise, invest or partner with them.

At the end of it, Draco had managed to get Elsa to agree to meet with him in his office to formally negotiate on their terms for a future business relationship. Of course, he had insisted that both owners meet with him so that they had a clear understanding of the what the nature of their relationship would be.

Draco knew his plan could back fire, what with Hermione's temper and all, but right now, all he cared about was getting the witch to talk to him, without getting his bollocks hexed, and he found their common ground: Business.

As Draco adjusted his tie one last time by looking at his reflection in the closed elevator that led to his penthouse office, he thought to himself 'It's now or never, Draco. Merlin help me get Hermione to cooperate' smirking as he stepped out of the elevator and made his way to his office where Elsa and a certain brunette witch had just sat down and were sipping the complimentary tea his assistant had just served them.

A/N: Hi! I'm still alive! I'm so sorry for not updating much of my harry potter stories! I just really fell off the inspiration wagon and didn't know where to take them so I just stopped for a bit there! I'll try to get back to updating them soon, I promise but right now I find myself obsessed (again) with The Tudors fan fiction and TV series that I've written a short multi chapter called "Choice" and am now currently writing a longer The Tudors multi-chap that I've yet to disclose to anyone!

Hope you guys like this chapter, it just suddenly came to me and I haven't really edited this so please, please be nice :)

xx

unamedhpauthor