Thank you to Rusty Weasley who makes the story better and not making it sound like a fourth grader wrote it. Haha

This chapter might seem a little out of place, but it's essential in the plot. Let's see who can guess what I'm planning after this and the next chapter. Read and review!

Chapter 11

To say Hermione was in over her head would have been an understatement. She was more terrified of doing this than she'd been helping defeat Voldemort. Hermione shook her head and splashed cold water on her face. How could she have allowed George and Adrian to convince her into this? Wiping her hands with a towel and giving her reflection a once over in the mirror, she stepped out of the office bathroom.

Waiting in the conference room were men and women of various ages. They were now her employees and awaiting the first day of their orientation. As she walked into the room, all they saw was a war heroine, the brightest witch of her generation, a confident woman ready to take on the world. Had they known she was quaking in her robes like it was her first day at Hogwarts, they would have laughed at her.

"Good morning everyone. Welcome to your first day at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in partner with Za-foy Incorporated, or for the sake of saving time, WWWZI, pronounced 'wiz-eye'. Clearly this was not my doing, you can blame George Weasley for that." she deadpanned, causing the room to politely chuckle. She'd have to thank Adrian later for the dry joke after she hexed him. Hermione continued with the intro she'd rehearsed. She got to the specifics of the job. "As you all were informed, we are going to be a distribution facility. For the next ten to twelve months we will be making a vast supply of the potion Pink Ray. In the packets in front of you," she picked up her own copy, "is the instructions on how to brew it. In a weeks time I expect you all to have it committed to memory as well as know how to fix the potion in various scenarios and miscalculations." She ingrained that there would be a quiz at the end of the week and nothing but a perfect score would be allowed in order to continue. "WWWZI is focused on safety and we would like to avoid accidents at all costs. Misters Weasley, Malfoy, and Zabini have given me authorization that anyone found not adhering to safety regulations will be reprimanded or terminated. We will not take accidents lightly. We will have a healer on call but we are counting on never having to call them." Hermione finished with her small lecture, answering any questions they might have. Once they were out of the way, she led them on a tour of the facility.

"Here is the brewing area." she raised her arms at the large room motioning to open space. "Every brewer will have their own assigned station. Organize it at your preference. After every batch is made, it will be poured into this funnel," she said, pointing at the metal object in the center of the room.

It had been George's idea to combine all the potions together for a general consistency. Mixing them all together would allow the Muggle machine, Adrian's idea, to pour the liquid into vials evenly. It was essentially a magic and Muggle combination. The witches and wizards would make the potion while the Muggle machine dispersed and sealed the vials. When they had showed the assembly line set up to Malfoy and Zabini, they had both been impressed. A Muggle machine doing the hard labor, who'd of thought it, Malfoy had mused.

"What will the shifts be like?" one of the witches asked.

"The potion takes a solid five hours to brew. We're looking at eight to ten hour shifts. Once we start working on it for real, we'll be able to pin them down closer," Hermione answered.

They finished the last of the tour, ending back in the conference room. The group appeared excited with the facility. There was much conversation on seeing the Muggle machine in action. After answering the lingering questions, Hermione let them leave, reminding them to study hard. She had stayed a few minutes after they left to lock up before Disapparating to Adrian's apartment.

Arriving at his flat, Hermione hung up the lab robe and made her way to the living room where she heard the telly blaring. Unsurprisingly she found Adrian watching the History Channel.

"Is it your personal mission to catch up on English history in the shortest possible time span?" she asked, pecking his cheek and stealing a handful of popcorn before sitting down next to him.

He shushed her, making room on the couch and handing her the bowl of popcorn. She rolled her eyes, eating another handful of kernels. It could be worse, she thought. He could be watching sports.

Together they watched the show until it ended. Adrian muted the telly, finally giving Hermione his undivided attention. "Did you know all that about evolution?" he asked after greeting her with a chaste kiss.

"I knew some from science classes in school. There's loads I don't know though," she said disappointedly. She made a mental note to read a book on evolution.

"How was orientation? How was my joke?" Adrian inquired. He'd put her feet in his lap, rubbing her arches.

With her head against the couch she muttered, "Fine. They laughed." A loud groan escaped when he rubbed her heels. "They seem like a good group."

"I told you you'd be fine. George handling the store and you handling the potion makes everything easier for everyone." he wiggled her toes.

"Mmmm."

Adrian continued rubbing her feet as she relaxed. He knew she'd be perfect for managing people. Hermione was someone who was better as a boss than an employee. If she and Weasley distributed the work, their workflow would be easier. She also needed something stable like this to do long term. As much as he'd enjoyed their dating, he was getting tired of talking about his own work. He wanted to listen to her for a change.

A tapping on the window made them both sit up. An owl perched on the windowsill. Adrian flicked his wand, allowing the bird entrance.

"I thought you warded against owls?" Hermione said as he took the note from the owl. "Who is it from?"

"I did. But I set the wards to let my friend's owls find me." Adrian read the note. "Shite," he said jumping off the couch.

"What's wrong?" Hermione stood as well.

"She's going to be here any minute," he said as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "You should leave."

"What?" Hermione's anger flared at being dismissed.

The Floo activated making Adrian mutter, "too late."

Emerging from the flames was a young woman, just about their age. Her entrance was grand. She'd made quite the noise, shaking off the soot, moaning, and throwing her bag onto the table with a loud thud. Her clothes were far too tight to look comfortable, Hermione thought.

"I hate traveling by Floo," she said disgustedly wiping her shoulders. "You should've let me in through the wards, Love."

Love? Who the hell was this bint calling her boyfriend love? Hermione's fingers itched for her wand.

"Well you didn't really give me much warning," Adrian said, looking a little nervous. "What are you doing here?"

The woman finished cleaning her appearance. "Can't a girl visit her fiancé?" she smiled mischievously at him.

"Fiancé! Excuse me?" Hermione raged incredulously. She burned a hole through Adrian's head with her glare.

With both hands up in surrender, he said, "It's not what you think! Let me explain!"

"How rude of me Adrian. I didn't realize you had a guest," the woman disdainfully drawled. She checked out Hermione from head to toe, recognizing her instantly from the newspaper. She hadn't changed much since school. "How do you do Granger?" she mock curtsied.

"Daphne be nice," Adrian warned. He faced his girlfriend, "This is Daphne Greengrass."

Hermione seethed. She remembered her. Daphne was from her year at Hogwarts. She'd been one of Pansy Parkinson's lackeys. Also part of the Inquisitor Squad that got them in trouble fifth year. She knew all about Daphne Greengrass.

"We go way back, don't we Greengrass?" Hermione said, her last name through gritted teeth.

Adrian felt like he was watching a tennis match, going back and forth between both women as they had their stand off. For the love of Merlin he hoped Daphne would concede first.

Luck would have it, was not on his side. The Floo activated again as another person came through. Pansy Parkinson.

"That has got to be the smallest fireplace ever Ade," Pansy said, looking around her at the triangular formation of people. "Granger? Granger. Granger!" she turned to Adrian. "The woman you're seeing is Granger? Have the Muggles turned your brain to moosh?" Pansy asked.

Offended by her question, Hermione picked up her shoes and gathered the rest of her things to leave.

"Can you two just give us a moment?" Adrian called to the two Slytherins, as he went after Hermione.

"Oh sure. Leave us. Your guests. No worries." Pansy sat down sarcastically. "Sit Daph, you're making me anxious."

Back in the foyer, Hermione was in a hurry to leave. As she reached for her lab robe, Adrian's hand caught hers.

"Let me explain."

"I heard enough. You should go back to your fiancé," she spat, shaking his hand off.

"She's not my fiancé anymore," he almost screeched.

"Anymore?" Hermione matched his pitch.

He winced. "We were scheduled to victims of an arranged marriage when we were children, but after my parents disowned me during the war, our arrangement was nullified."

She said nothing. Jealousy was overpowering rationality. She knew purebloods had arranged marriages. She knew they married young. She knew if he were really with Daphne, they'd be married by now. That didn't stop her from not carrying over previous resentment and hating the girl.

"Why is she here?" she finally asked, trying to put on a mask of indifference.

"I don't know. But we're good friends. She and Pansy are like little sisters to me. Honest. Look at me Hermione," he tipped her chin up to look at him. "There's nothing going on with Daphne. I can guarantee it." The smirk on his face was creeping up, discrediting his affirmation.

"This isn't funny Adrian," Hermione said, stepping back until she hit the wall behind her.

"I know. I'm sorry," he said through a smile. He closed the space between them, trapping her between his arms, as he assaulted her neck with kisses. "You have nothing to worry about."

Internally, Hermione knew he was manipulating her. Had she not been so eager for intimacy she would have fought him off, but her body was betraying her. She mewed when he sucked on her sensitive spot by her collarbone. "Why shouldn't I worry?"

Moving to the other side of her neck, Adrian whispered, "I'm not her type." He worked his way up to her lips, kissing her softly with playfulness. Taking hold of her arms, he draped them around his neck, getting closer to her. "You're more her type."

It took a moment for his words to register as he distracted her once more. More her type? Pushing Adrian away, she looked at him puzzled. "Wait. What?"

He laughed in her face, practically seeing the puzzle pieces in her head. "Daphne prefers women, love."

"But you were engaged."

"Which I'm glad we aren't, if not we'd both have been very frustrated people," he joked.

Hermione broke from his embrace and paced along the few feet of the foyer. Adrian leaned against the wall, his amusement visible.

"I'm confused. You got an owl from her, and you wanted me to leave. You were engaged, but aren't anymore, because she's..she's.."

"A lesbian," he helped.

"Right, she's a lesbian," Hermione said and started to pace. "Pansy shows up and you find this amusing. Explain, because I'm missing something." She stopped and crossed her arms, waiting for an answer.

"Well, when Daphne shows up unexpectedly, it's usually bad news. I was worried she'd start blasting things the moment she arrived and I wanted to save you the drama," Adrian said.

"You obviously failed there," she pointed out.

Adrian frowned. "It doesn't explain why Pansy's here, because I don't know. Why were you so mad at Daphne?" he asked.

"She called you fiancé." Hermione stated firmly.

"So?" he asked with a smile.

"Oh, be quiet Adrian. Go find out why they're here," she said as she almost shoved him as they both went through the doorway into the other room.

"Bloody nosy Gryffindors," he muttered as they entered the living room.

He held back a laugh and Hermione snorted at the sight in front of them. Both Slytherin girls had their wands drawn at the telly, obviously in a defensive stance.

"Ade, this man is trying to come in through this window," Pansy said sternly.

Hermione and Adrian burst out laughing. The girls thought the newscaster was real. Adrian doubled over holding onto his stomach while Hermione leaned on his back, covering her face.

Daphne and Pansy did not look amused.

"Why are you laughing?" Pansy asked.

"Do you not want privacy?" Daphne said incredulously.

The two women looked at each other, not sure what to do next.

Hermione recovered first when she saw both girls go from embarrassed to angry. She reached for the remote, and simply turned off the telly. Adrian sat on the couch, wiping his eyes from laughing so hard. He pulled Hermione onto his lap, calming down slowly. Hermione felt uncomfortable sitting on his knees. There were plenty of other places, like the chair, or the spot next to him. She tried to move but he held her firmly.

Adrian continued to hold Hermione as he said, "Ladies, will you please lower your wands and sit?"

Pansy and Daphne exchanged cautious glances, but stowed their wands. Daphne sat in Adrian's comfy chair, and Pansy on the ottoman. They stared at the couple in front of them and an awkward silence came over the foursome.

"Not that I don't love surprises, but what brings you two by?" he asked as he played with the skin on Hermione's lower back. She pushed his hand away and pulled her shirt down, but he continued regardless.

"Will you stop manhandling Granger," Daphne scolded. "It's crude."

"Thank you," Hermione said politely. "See?" she smacked Adrian's chest and wriggled off of his lap and sat next to him instead, much to his displeasure.

Pansy made a face when he started to pout. "You're impossible Ade. Who would've thought you'd be whipped. And by Granger no less."

"When you meet someone special you'll know the feeling Pans," Adrian said, lacing his fingers with his girlfriend's. "So?" he asked when no one else spoke.

"We're here with news," Daphne said, eyeing Hermione with apprehension.

Adrian nodded that it was ok to continue in her presence.

"I'm leaving England," she announced.

"What? Why?" Adrian said, sitting up straighter. "Is everything alright?"

"I met someone," she said softly.

"And?" he asked, getting annoyed with the pauses.

"We're going to Peru."

Hermione made note at the lack of pronouns.

"Peru? Where the hell is that?" he huffed.

"South America," Hermione answered. Adrian shot her a glare saying he knew that. "Well then don't ask stupid questions," she said.

"I take it back, you're growing on me, Granger," Pansy said looking amused.

"I leave in a week," Daphne continued. "We'll be gone for a few months...or years."

"Years!" Adrian shot up from his seat. "Years? Daphne are you mad? Who is she?"

Both girls looked at Hermione at his admission of it being a woman. Not seeing a reaction, they focused on the angry man in front of them.

"She's a curse breaker from Gringotts. She's been called away to Machu Picchu. Archaeologists found a hidden community under the civilization that is believed to have magic but they need some of the best curse breakers in the world," Daphne proclaimed.

"Oh my God. You're dating Phyllis Houren!" Hermione squealed excitedly. "She's a legend! I read she single handedly restored the caves of Antarctica!"

Pansy rolled her eyes but Daphne beamed at the Gryffindor. "Yes her. She's brilliant." she looked at Adrian. "I'm going with her."

"Absolutely not," he all but stomped. "How long have you been dating? You didn't mention her in your last letters."

"A few weeks. I didn't want people to know. Neither one of us is out and I didn't want to jeopardize her career."

Adrian looked hurt. "Since when am I considered people, Daph?" He moved to sit on the coffee table and took her hands in his. "You hardly know her. You can't just pick up and move halfway around the world for someone. Hermione and I have been dating for a few months and I wouldn't do that."

"Geez, Thanks a lot," Hermione scoffed, crossing her arms.

"Brilliant!" Pansy smirked.

"Sorry love," he said to Hermione. Back to Daphne he pleaded, "Come on, it's quite sudden, don't you think?"

"That's what I told her. But she wouldn't listen. That's why I told her to come see you. Maybe you can talk some sense into her," Pansy said with a look meaning that he better not fail.

Daphne calmly addressed both of her friends, "I understand your concerns. I really do. But I want to do this. I need to do this. I need to figure out my future. I can't be myself here in England with my parents disapproving of my lifestyle, and always looking for a pureblood husband who will overlook my 'quirk'. I didn't come to seek your permission. I came to tell you I'm leaving," she said definitely.

Hermione looked at the distraught girl. She obviously liked Phyllis, and the rampant wizarding homophobia wasn't helping her quality of life in England. "I think you should go," she said.

Two out of the three Slytherins in the room glared at her.

"If you don't go, you'll always wonder what if. At least if you do, and it doesn't work out, you can come back. You don't need to stay the entire duration of the mission," Hermione smiled kindly at Daphne. "You should go."

"Thank you," Daphne said, returning the smile.

Adrian sighed, "I can't change your mind?"

"No, but I appreciate your concern." She patted his cheek affectionately. "Keep her. I like her," she said, motioning to his girlfriend.

Adrian smiled. "I'll think about it," he said, winking at Hermione who did not look amused.

Daphne stood and hugged Adrian. "I'm leaving Thursday at noon. Stop by to say goodbye, okay?"

Adrian said he would, walking her to the fireplace where she left. He turned to Pansy who remained sitting with a grouchy look on her face.

With a sigh she stood and looked at the other woman on the couch. "You're on my shit list again," Pansy said.

"I'm sure I'll live," Hermione replied casually.

Pansy said goodbye to Adrian, and disappeared through the green flames of the Floo.

Alone once more, they sat on the couch and turned on the telly, watching a program about surviving in the wild. Hermione was cuddled into Adrian's side, her arm around his midsection. His arm wound around her shoulder. Occasionally, he'd place a kiss on her head or she'd look up and kiss his jaw.

Halfway through the program, without looking at him, Hermione said, "Pansy's in love with Daphne."

She felt Adrian move as he tipped her head up and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "I know," he said. "Always has been."

Without another word, they continued watching the man on the telly instruct them on how to look for shelter. Each was lost in their own thoughts.

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