10: Libel Lawyers and Small Victories

Dear Miss Granger,

I am writing to you as you asked to be kept abreast with our current libel case against one Miss Lavender Brown. At present we have put forth our argument about how very close to your own character in both name and mannerism her 'fictional' protagonist is, initially her lawyer was sticking with a one off payment and a gagging order, we however have pointed out that the libel has already been reported by one Miss Pansy Parkinson in witch weekly and has since been picked up by other wizarding news sources. We have since come to the agreement that given the nature of the book, and given the tarnishing quality of the material and the number of sales that you should receive a one off payment of £2,000,000 in muggle money and 15% of all sales in wizarding outlets, as this would be handled by another publisher. If this is to your satisfaction please let me know, however if your willing to hold out for a few months I'm sure I can get them up to 5 million and 30%, I await your orders.

Yours faithfully

Tobias Plumtree

Hermione grinned and folded the letter up, placing it in her private drawer she retrieved her personal letter headed paper and her favourite biro and began her response;

Dear Mr Plumtree… She was interrupted when a voice spoke from behind her "Tell him you want 3.5 million and 25% this week or you go public" Hermione leapt from her leather chair

"I knew it was a mistake letting you use my lab" she snapped as she clutched at her chest "I swear to god there's nothing worse than a Draco Malfoy sneak attack"

"I can't use my lab, there's a colony of kittens taking up residence in the cupboards, George and Sparks are sorting it… and I don't mean to be sneaky, it's just genetics and these lovely calve skin loafers" Draco drawled dramatically as he pushed her back into her office seat "now write what I said, I'm a Malfoy I'm good at these things." Draco moved round to sit on the chair at the other side of the desk and eyed his co-worker with determination. Hermione huffed, never one to enjoy being told what to do but moved the nib of the pen to the paper.

"I'll never need that much money… I mean I'd be richer than you." Hermione sighed as she nibbled the pen lid, inadvertently drawing Draco's eyes to her lips. He scoffed a little, mainly to shake himself out of the trance her nibbling had caused.

"My dear Hermione, you could ask for five times that and you still wouldn't be as rich as me." He laughed lightly.

"I thought the ministry seized all your assets?"

"The ministry seized all of the British assets, but a few months of digging through family records allowed me to retrieve our sizable overseas wealth, and so… I'm afraid my dear Hermione I will always be richer in wealth"

"If not in wisdom" Hermione added smirking and placing her pen to paper, she stopped and looked up at him again "what do you spend this money on? I mean you've got a little roster in your diary of whose turn it is to pay at lunch… now that I know you're the wizarding Donald Trump that makes you seem a little tight." She grinned as she teased him.

"I give anonymous charitable donations." He responded a little haughtily " and as much as I'd like to lavish you with gifts of sandwiches and chocolates I know that you're an independent woman, I mean when that Bouncy Knowles lady asked that all the "women who independent" throw their hands up at her did you or did you not throw your hands up?" He smirked as Hermione blushed lightly.

"Stop spying on me!" she whined, staring resolutely at her desk.

"Stop dancing about your office with your door open then, we all know that your bottyliciousness could be considered work place harassment" he grinned as he stood and made his way back to her lab. She remained silent and staring at the almost blank parchment before her, 'charitable donations' she thought and her mind swept back 2 months, to a meeting with Arthur and Harry, but not just that, the chat she'd had with Draco before…

2 months earlier

"He's going to tell us it's dead, the project is done…" Hermione sniffed holding back tears for the sake of professionalism, she wiped her nose on the sleave of her purple figure hugging dress and pulled on her small blazer.

"Surely you can drum up some funds, I mean these people throw a fundraiser for everything, can't they just do one of them for the future of the wizarding world?" Draco asked as he perched on her desk, his face wrought with concern.

"there's just not enough interest, the society people aren't openly against a primary school for young wizards, it just doesn't effect them so they don't care" she sighed and he stood and took her dejected frame in his arms, it would have been awkward had it not felt so right.

"I'm sure it'll all work out." He cooed as he rocked her gently.

"No it wont" her stern voice came, muffled by his woollen sweater, her little frame stiff with rage.

"Yes it will, you'll see, some old coot will donate a fortune and you and Harry's pet project will be a reality." He patted her head soothingly as she pushed gently away from him and straightened herself. "I admire your optimism but I think you're mad." She stated before turning and storming through the halls of the ministry of magic preparing herself for the worse.

She had returned twenty minutes later, her face flush with pride and her smile beaming, it was contagious he smiled just as wide as soon as he saw her through his window to the hall, she opened the door to his office with care, closed it gently, placed a silencing charm around the room and then let out an all mighty "Whoop!" followed by a bout of gladiatorial air punching.

"I take it, it went well then?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"Someone donated this morning; some anonymous angel gave the ministry enough money to run the school for ten years with some change to spare!" she did an odd little happy jig and walked to his cabinet to search for his celebratory cigars and scotch.

"Ah… so I was right?" he said standing and pulling the bottle and box from his desk.

"Gimme a cigar!" she demanded, her small hand waving at him.

"You don't smoke… and also I was right." He said again.

"I feel like a Boss Malfoy, I triumphed today and would like to express this by drinking scotch and smoking a cigar and pretending I'm in Mad Men… don't ask Draco, it's a muggle thing" she plonked herself on the seat opposite him and kicked off her high heels.

"ok… and again have you noticed how I was right?" he smirked as he handed her the glass of fine aged scotch and the cigar, she puffed lightly then coughed and stuck out her tongue like a child who's just tasted sprouts for the first time "yuck" she said as she scrunched up her nose "and you were right" she added hastily. Draco imitated her celebratory "Whoop" and fist pump and added "small victories!" they had both laughed and celebrated the anonymous donor…

Present day:

Hermione's eyes shot up from her parchment, she swivelled in her chair and marched through the back door in her office to her private lab where Draco was currently working on a new spell to banish boggarts, as she entered the lab she thought she saw herself stepping out of the claw foot wardrobe situated in the centre of the room, but the image was gone so quickly she thought it must have been a reflection… she shook her head and quickly turned to Draco who looked pale and nervous.

"It was you wasn't it?" she said, her tone more questioning than accusatory.

"What was?" he asked, really not knowing what she was talking about.

"The donation, the donation for the school Draco… you were the Donor." She said as her brow quirked.

"It's anonymous" he responded turning away from her to sort files and hide his tell tell smirk.

"Why?" was all she could muster.

"For you, that's what best friends are for right?" he turned and gave her a sheepish grin. She was dumb founded, she did the only thing she could think of and marched towards him, threw her arms around him and squeezed him in the tightest embrace she could muster.

"you… I mean if it wasn't for the school I'd be like whoa Malfoy too much… but the school, you've essentially funded a school for Muggle born wizards, I mean why wouldn't you want credit for it Draco it would do wonders for your profile?" she asked still holding him.

"Because…" he stopped, the truth was he was scared that if she found out she'd read too much into it and by read too much into it he meant know the truth "I don't want to completely wipe my bad boy image, that's what wins me the most eligible bachelor award every year" he smirked and she let go of him and gave him a curious look

"You're a bloody enigma Malfoy." She called back as she left the lab and entered her office where a nervous looking George and Sparks stood side by side.

"Yes?" she asked warily.

"We've got a new project we'd like to work on." Sparks said quietly.

"Oh yes?" Hermione sat down at her desk.

"We've been toying with the idea of using extracts of Pensieve liquid in potions as a new super charged memory restorer." Sparks continued, as George stood looking annoyed.

"have you got some preparatory work?" Hermione outstretched her hand knowing fine well that Sparks would, George was a scatty genius but Sparks was a rather clever but very thorough girl… a perfect pair.

"We've actually got all the prep work done, in fact we're pretty much ready to move on the practical application" Sparks smiled slightly

"Look can we do it or can't we?" George groaned already bored with the formalities.

"Go for it, this all looks non explosive… keep me updated" Hermione smiled glancing over the formula before handing the file back to Sparks who hurried out after George.

She looked down at her blank parchment and picked up her blue biro to start writing again

Dear Mr Plumtree,

Inform Miss Brown's Lawyer that I'd like £3,500,000 and 30% of all wizarding sales of her poorly written book to be donated to the Albus Dumbledore Primary School in Diagon Alley, tell them If they don't agree within a week I'm going to both muggle courts and the Wizengamot and I will win.

Many thanks

Hermione Jean Granger

Draco stood alone in Hermione's lab, he thought he'd locked the door before and she'd walked in so now he propped a chair under the handle, locking the door the good old muggle way. He headed over to his desk and checked his notes, he was working on a spell which was a variation on a cheering charm, it essentially fired raw magical laughter at the Boggart therefore immobilising it without the hassel of transforming it, the spell just needed a few tweaks. He opened the door on the large closset in the centre of the room with a flick of his wand, Hermione stepped out wearing a white shirt and grey skirt her legs and feet bare, she sneered at him with disdain "I hate you." She spat as she walked towards him "you're scum, you're disgusting, you should be dead…" there was a rattle of a door knob and the real Hermione's voice from behind the locked door

"Oi Malfoy, come on, let's go get lunch, my treat" she shouted.

"You think I could love you? I barely even tolerate you…" Boggart Hermione spat as she stepped even closer to the pale and desperate looking Malfoy, he flicked his wand and banished her with his new spell easily.

"Malfoy! Come on, I'll buy you a girly cocktail and pretend it's for me so the bar staff don't laugh at you." The door knob rattled a little harder, with a flick of his wand the chair blocking the door slid across the room and Hermione stumbled through the now unblocked doorframe.

"Jesus Malfoy, you look like you've seen a ghost! Spending too long with Boggarts me thinks." She looked at his pale and clammy face with concern, her head tilted slightly.

"you're probably right." He said quietly as he pulled his lab robe off revealing his grey slacks and white shirt and tie.

"Let's just cut off for the rest of the day eh? I'm feeling like a Boss Malfoy… let's eat steak and smoke cigars!" she clapped her hands happily.

"you hate cigars." He said as he led her out of the lab and through her office.

"I'll eat steaks and you can smoke cigars!" she said happily as she picked up her letter to Mr Plumtree and placed it in her out tray where it vanished almost immediately.

"What was that?" Draco asked.

"letter to my lawyer, I took your advice… well kind of." She grinned, as she felt him do a little dance behind her.

"Small victory?" she asked nonchalantly

"yup"