Title: 500 Hours

Author: pantheradraconis

Rating: T

Pairing: Hermione/Narcissa

Summary: Hermione, unexpectedly crashing and burning after the war, finds herself in community service with nonother than Narcissa Black. Through the course of their mandatory 500 hours, the two slowly find a mutual understanding which eventually blossoms into a relationship.

As if it was carried by a wind of serendipity, an owl appeared. It was an Eagle Owl, Draco's owl. It held a note. Narcissa wiped her eyes and read it several times. It was nothing but a report on his day and a mention of meeting for coffee in a few days. So simple, so mundane.

Narcissa held the note to her chest and looked up at the moon. She had those that loved her and those she loved. She would be alright.

"What is wrong with you today?" Narcissa asked, stopping Hermione from walking any further.

"Hmm?" Hermione asked, her mind barely catching on to the fact Narcissa was physically holding her arm back.

Narcissa looked around and saw a bench in the park they were passing on their way to the Knights Templar Pub on Carey St. She more or less dragged Hermione over and took a seat. The brunette joined her slowly and looked up to see a few people playing tennis in a court across the way.

Narcissa asked her question again but found Hermione quite unresponsive. She waved her hand in front of the witch's face. The confused look actually made Narcissa smile slightly.

"Where is your head today?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I've just a lot on my mind. Please ignore me."

"I'd rather simply know what was on your mind."

Hermione looked up at the blonde, her eyes focusing for the first time that day. Earlier on, Narcissa had wondered if Hermione was hungover again, she had even handed Hermione another bottle of hangover potion. However, the brunette seemed to simply be lost in thought.

Just as Hermione was about to speak, a man walked up to the bench and said, "You're pretty and I'm cute. Together we would be pretty cute."

Narcissa actually missed the statement, she didn't even realize the man was speaking to her. Hermione started to giggle slightly and the blonde turned to see a man standing awfully close to her.

"Do you need something?"

"I, uh, well, no?"

"Very well then," She said and shooed him away before turning back to Hermione. "You were about to speak?"

Hermione shook her head a few times, grinning quite largely. "How do you do that?"

Narcissa looked back at the receding man and quirked an eyebrow. "Do what?"

"Never mind," The younger witch waved her hand. "I'm sorry, my mind is on a blind date I have tonight."

Surprised, Narcissa turned back to Hermione and said, "A date? Are you sure?"

"Am I sure?" The brunette laughed again, "Yes, I am quite sure."

"That's not what I meant; I meant are you ready?"

Looking down at her hands, which were now wringing themselves, Hermione shook her head, "I have no idea."

"Well, we must do something."

"Like what?"

Narcissa's head swam with ideas but most of them involved knowing who your opponent was. A part of her wondered why she was so invested in helping someone she'd actually known barely 31 days, but she wanted to help all the same.

"You said this was a blind date?" The blonde asked.

"Yes."

"So you have no idea who it is?"

Hermione shrugged, "Only that Ginny knows him and I'm supposed to meet him tonight at Kiln in Soho."

Narcissa watched the tennis players for a few minutes before admitting she didn't know what to do. One of the players jumped for the ball but missed and fell. Jokingly Narcissa commented she could always crash the date.

"That's a brilliant idea!" Hermione said and jumped up from her seat. "It's at 7 PM, Kiln in Soho. You have no idea how much this means to me. I'll see you then."

Without another word, the young witch took off like she was on a mission. She had the last basket they were delivering and Narcissa wondered briefly if she would remember to drop it off or not. When Hermione disappeared around the corner Narcissa shrugged, sat back on the bench, and watched the rest of the tennis match. She was only bothered by two more unlucky muggles.

"And then she took her mask off and I saw a dragon underneath. She was still very polite despite the fact that she now had a Welsh accent. We decided we will be having half-dragon babies and raising them to watch over our vaults at Gringotts." Draco said the last words while smiling at a small child two tables over. The child laughed and covered his mouth.

Draco turned back to his mother to see her staring at her watch again before looking out the window. She finally noticed the silence and said, "That's nice dear."

"I thought so, too, but please, tell me, what on earth has your attention tonight?"

"What?" Narcissa finally turned to her son and saw the look of exasperation he wore. "I'm sorry, dear. I just…" She looked down at her watch again, it was already 7:30, she should really be on her way. "I have another engagement that I really must be getting to."

"Oh?" Draco was genuinely interested. His mother hadn't been out with anyone for any reason since her trial. He was more worried than ever about her and what she was spending her time doing.

"Yes," The older blonde responded frankly, not bothering to divulge in any more information.

For his part, the young man was not about to give up so easily. "And what does this other engagement involve?"

"I need to go to Kiln, the Thai restaurant across the block."

"Are you meeting with someone?"

Narcissa looked down at her tea, she had barely touched it. "Technically."

Draco collected their cups and brought them over to the bus table before walking out the door and making his way to Kiln. He knew he wasn't going to get any more information from his mother, so he might as well go straight to the horse's mouth. His mother barely reached him as he made his way into the restaurant and saw Hermione Granger. He tilted his head and gave his mother a quizzical look but the witch flashed by him and took up a seat next to Granger.

"Hermione," Narcissa called out before leaning in and kissing the young witch on the cheeks. "How funny to run into you here."

The brunette replaced her look of surprise with a genuinely happy smile before she turned to see Draco taking a seat next to his mother.

"Draco?"

"Granger." He leaned forward on the bar and ordered a whiskey and soda. It was placed quickly in front of him and he took a large gulp before shaking his head and looking back with an incredibly handsome smile. "So lovely to run into you. Mother and I were just about to grab a bite. We're not interrupting, are we?"

Hermione squeaked and realized she had been blatantly ignoring her date. She swiveled back in her seat and once again took in the fifty-something-year-old man with a mostly balding head who was sweating. He was wearing a sweater vest over a long-sleeved button-up shirt, both green. The vest had the Holyhead Harpies icon in gold.

"Narcissa, Draco, this is Tommy Maher," Hermione explained. "He is the accountant for the Holyhead Harpies."

"Nice to meet you," He said in a low, gruff voice. "I was just explaining to Hermione about the different types of accounts a Quidditch team has to have. We cover the payments of each player as well as all other members of the team but we also keep accounts for their travel expenses and any unforeseen possibilities due to injuries, disappearances, drunken disorderly."

Draco laughed into his glass but kept it from spilling. Hermione huffed in his direction but noticed Narcissa was smirking as well. The younger witch sighed and all three realized Tommy was still talking.

"I had to mix the two accounts together for travel because they married but I had to keep their pay separate. You never know when a marriage may go wrong but it was easier for the travel due to the shared rooms."

Attempting to change the subject, Draco asked what about accounting interested Tommy. The man stuttered before beginning to explain his family's history in accounting. He sounded like he was reading a speech he had memorized in the bathroom before dinner. Hermione dropped her head into her hands and let her vision blur out.

"That is very interesting, Tommy," Narcissa said smoothly. "I must say I have always had a particular interest in money. The way it moves through the world often without people realizing it's journey. You must take the time to explain it in detail, perhaps in a book. Have you ever thought of writing your thoughts down?"

"I, well, I haven't really had any interesting…"

"Oh but you must, it's a fascinating practice. I do have a friend that you must get in contact with. He will listen to everything you have to say and write it out for us non-accountants in layman's terms. I have no doubt you have the best ideas."

"Well, of course, I mean, maybe, but…"

"Oh but dear me," Narcissa continued on while going through a datebook she seemed to pull from nowhere. "It looks like he'll be leaving tomorrow morning to study in the states. You must reach out to him tonight. Come with me and I'll provide the address."

Tommy stood up uncertainly, looking down at Hermione with a confused shrug but feeling compelled to follow the beautiful blonde woman.

"It's quite alright, Tommy. I, thank you for this evening." Hermione said. She was about to add something more but Draco cut her off.

"You will find that mother's friends are far more interesting dinner companions. This one here chews with her mouth open."

Tommy followed Narcissa out the door and continued down the street in the direction the blonde pointed while Hermione hit Draco with her purse. He laughed it off and watched his mother outside as she continued to usher the man away.

"You know, it's been a long time since I've seen Mother use her persuasion like that."

Hermione turned to watch the blonde, who was making her way back inside, a smile of satisfaction covering her face. The brunette realized she was blushing and turned back to the counter.

"She was pretty amazing."

A/N: A little humor for you guys plus a Hermione that may be noticing her own reactions to Narcissa, or maybe not quite yet.

[JenDamn] I debated having Hermione call Neville but came up with another idea, an idea to explain why she was reaching for that bottle. More to be explained at a later date. And yes, don't you remember Narcissa saying it was something in the night? Hehe.

[nanonano] Is that a Mork & Mindy reference?! I hope you enjoyed not having to wait too long for this chapter.

[Yanana] Did you cackle? I hope there was cackling but let me know if I missed the mark.

[Parseltongues] Haha, I don't mind greedy and you're not the only one. For this story, the chapters will remain short but this one was a bit longer, right?