Chapter 2

Drawing a Line

After her visit to the studio, Hermione had a few very hectic days. She had to finish and deliver her two current commissions and make sure that everything else was prepared for any work that was ongoing while she was away.

She was terrified and excited in equal measure about the whole thing. Apart from the glaringly obvious problem in the shape of her former school nemesis (which she was trying her best to put to the back of her mind), the commission was completely out of her comfort zone, both in scale and talent required. She felt intense pressure to do a perfect job both for her own pride and the studios reputation.

She hadn't had to travel and stay away for a commission for a long time but Jamie was absolutely right when he said the subject matter was right up her street. She knew her strength lay in dark, moody and dramatic pieces which was slightly ironic given her very humdrum, boring life.

She had to deal with the Malfoy problem as she couldn't and wouldn't let him ruin it for her. She tried to tell herself that as much as she would like to blame him for her fiancée's betrayal and departure, he was, as Jamie had said, actually a completely innocent party in the whole debacle. He was in the same position as she was – betrayed, lied to and hurt by the person most important to him. He was a victim of the situation in exactly the same way as she was. She tried hard to remind herself of this but struggled with actually believing it. In her mind, he was part of everything bad that had happened to her. The name Malfoy and misery went hand in hand and she couldn't separate them.

She glanced at the time, not wanting to be late to the Portkey. It was time to face her fears.

Serpent's Conservation Reserve was even more dramatic than Hermione had imagined. The Portkey had taken her to the entrance of the reserve and she was then picked up by an ornate carriage, pulled by two black horses. It all reminded Hermione of a very corny, muggle horror movie and she would have found it amusing had she not been so nervous.

The road to the reserve was long and twisty and the weather had turned, the sky dark, rain beginning to lash down, continuing the horror movie feel. Eventually they rounded a corner and large building came into sight, which thankfully didn't resemble any Hermione had ever seen in any horror movie. It was modern, with lights at almost every one of its multiple windows.

Hermione was helped out of the carriage by the driver and a figure with an large umbrella came out of the front door rushing over to the her.

"Miss Granger? I'm Toby," The young man who was greeting her smiled warmly and shook her hand. He was one of those men that made you smile just by looking at them. His face was perfectly in proportion, his hair flopping into his bright blue eyes. "Let me take your bag…. let's get inside quickly, try to stay under the umbrella."

The hallway was brightly lit, very modern, with lots of chrome, a twisting staircase and several doors off.

"This is the main hall – where visitors are bought – the guest rooms are at the back." Toby was waving his arm towards the various doors. "The family live in the annex," Toby's voice trailed off and he coughed a little nervously. "Sorry, I'm bombarding you with information."

Hermione smiled. "It's fine – although I may need a recap tomorrow as I'm not sure if I'm going to remember!"

Toby smiled and Hermione found it impossible to not smile back. "I can't believe I'm meeting Hermione Granger - it's like meeting a celebrity" he said with a sheepish grin.

Hermione laughed. "Let's hope you're not disappointed!"

"So far, so good," Theo joked and they both laughed.

Hermione had been shown to her room and a young girl had bought her a plated lunch which Hermione had ate hungrily despite her continuing nerves. Her room was luxurious with a stunning view over the forest and lake.

There was a knock at her door and she jumped to open it – thinking it might be him. She opened it to find another man, slightly older than Toby, standing in the hallway.

"Miss Granger?"

"Hermione, please."

"I'm Clement Ashley – Clem," he shook Hermione's hand. "Mr Malfoy is waiting for you in the annex."

Hermione felt a flutter in her stomach and was immediately annoyed at herself. She grabbed her room key and followed Clem, who was walking briskly along the corridor. They crossed a large hall and then went down another corridor into a smaller hall. Clem didn't engage her in conversation and Hermione was too nervous to try and start one. He stopped abruptly.

"I'll just go and check that Mr Malfoy is ready."

Hermione was left standing alone in the small hall and she tried to decide if she felt welcome or not. Everyone was being perfectly polite, helpful…. but not particularly friendly. And it hadn't escaped her notice that all his staff called Draco, Mr Malfoy. Maybe this was for her benefit…maybe not….

A door opened and Clem was back. "Mr Malfoy will see you now," he said, again rather formally. Hermione followed him into the adjoining room and through to the next one where he indicated a chair and nodded before leaving.

The room she was now in had dark walls and drapery and the very large table she was sat at was ornate. None of this was to Hermione's taste at all, but it screamed money. Typical Malfoy!

She noticed that parchment and a quill had been placed directly in front of her and cursed herself for not thinking to bring these items herself. She needed to up her game, she was acting like she'd never done a commission before.

The door at the far end opened and in he walked. Hermione had the urge to stand up but stopped herself – she wasn't at school! He walked directly to her but until he was almost right next to her, he didn't meet her eyes. For one horrific moment it occurred to Hermione that he may not be aware who the visiting artist was, but then she remembered that all artists details are passed on and discussed before they were given the commission.

"Miss Granger," Draco shook her hand before she even realised, she had offered it to him. "Thank you for accepting the commission." He showed no sign of recognition, no hint that they already knew each other really well. It was as if they'd never met before. He lowered himself into the seat facing Hermione's and she tried not to stare at him. Before she could respond, Draco had continued talking. "The commission was requested by W.N.R.O., I presume you are familiar with them?"

Hermione nodded and opened her mouth but he was speaking again…

"They wanted an artwork portfolio to record and celebrate organizations that are excelling in conservation. These will be displayed at various locations before being auctioned and the proceeds given to the organizations featured. We are allowed to keep one of the paintings for display here." Draco hadn't paused during this speech and although he was looking directly at her, Hermione had the distinct impression that if she'd apparated on the spot, he would have finished his sentence before he noticed as he was looking almost straight through her.

He did pause now, obviously expecting a response. His brusque demeanour and overly formal way he had greeted her, was irritating and she was sorely tempted to not answer him but as she was representing the studio, she knew she couldn't do that.

"I believe you want five portraits? Five different subjects? Is that right?" Hermione decided to keep it formal too as this was likely the only way she would retain her sanity.

Draco narrowed his eyes. "As I said, the commission is from the W.N.R.O. so it isn't what I want that matters," he corrected her rather pompously and she had the urge to slap his pretty face. It was still pretty, she noticed. With high cheekbones, perfect skin, startling grey eyes.

"Yes, of course," she said and then repeated her sentence. "So, I believe the W.N.R.O. would like five portraits, five subjects?" She was being overly polite, overly formal but it was the only way she felt she could deal with Draco's frosty reception.

She saw his eyebrows raise slightly and she knew he hadn't missed the underlying disrespect in her reply.

"Yes, five portraits. A Lion…" Draco paused, "that's a Fireball…" he explained and Hermione nodded and made notes on the parchment, as if she had any clue at all what he was talking about. Draco continued. "A Welsh Green, a Swedish Short Snout, a Horntail and an Opaleye. The Opaleye should be the feature portrait."

Hermione wanted to ask why but didn't dare. She realised that she should have done some swotting up on dragons before coming and decided if she had time tonight she would do some research.

"Do you have locations in mind?"

Again, Draco narrowed his eyes. "Yes of course I do."

Hermione nodded. "Well, when you have time, I'd like to see the locations."

"Why?"

"I'll need to see if they are suitable."

"Why wouldn't they be suitable? It's as close as it can be to the creature's natural habitat."

Hermione took a small breath to disguise her annoyance. She shouldn't be surprised but she'd forgotten just how irritating he was. "I'll need to assess the light and how the subject will look against the background. I don't expect there to be too many problems but I do need to check or the quality may suffer."

Draco was staring at her and she held his gaze. After a few seconds he nodded. "Very well but first you should see the dragons."

"Errrmm…" Hermione stuttered over her reply and then was immediately annoyed at herself.

"Or else how will you be able to judge if the background is suitable?" Draco looked at her questioningly.

Hermione wondered if he was being pedantic on purpose or if this was actually how he acted around people. It was as if he was king, his opinion unquestionable. She decided on another tactic.

"Good point," she said. "A bit like matching shoes to a dress." She stopped writing on the parchment and raised her eyes to him to gauge his reaction. For a moment she thought he was going to ignore her but she then saw his eyes flicker and he gave a small sniff.

"Good analogy," he said and she saw a very small smile play around his mouth before it set into a line again. He seemed to pause for a second and Hermione thought he was going to say more but he didn't. Instead, he stood up abruptly. "We will visit all the dragons tomorrow. Can you be ready for 8am? Wear suitable clothing – it will be cold and muddy." He stood up and looked for her acknowledgement, so she nodded. "Toby will arrange for your dinner to be bought to your room tonight if that's suitable?" Draco was already walking away from her. "Goodnight, Miss Granger."

Hermione stared at his back for a moment then came to a decision.

"If I could ask something else….," she said and he stopped walking and turned around.

He raised his chin questioningly. "Yes?"

"Can we call each other our actual names?" Hermione asked. "Draco and Hermione?"

For the first time tonight, she saw the façade slip as Draco's expression showed his surprise.

"I'm not sure that's suitable."

"That's a shame – I think I've had enough Granger and Malfoy to last a lifetime," Hermione shrugged as she said this.

Again, she saw surprise in his face before his mask came down and he answered her.

"I think it's a sign of respect – I like all my staff to call me Mr Malfoy."

"I'm not one of your staff," Hermione pointed out.

"You are while you are working under my commission."

"But as you rightly pointed out, it isn't your commission, is it?" Hermione wasn't quite sure why she was pushing this point so hard but she just felt like he shouldn't have the upper hand in everything. In order to do her best work, she needed to have some control. She couldn't read his expression and when he didn't respond she sighed, picking up her parchment and quill. "It would have been nice to draw a line under our past but I'll obviously do as you ask. I'm not here to rock the boat. Goodnight."

"Wait…."

She heard him and glanced back – he was running his hands through his hair as if the whole conversation was torture to him. He gave a small sigh and nodded his head, as if he'd just come to a decision.

"I see your point about the past," he hesitated again. "In front of the staff I will have to insist on you calling me Mr Malfoy," another pause, "but if we are alone then I am happy for you to call me Draco." He gave another nervous sniff.

"And you'll call me Hermione?"

"Of course. Only when we are alone."

Hermione nodded. "Okay, thank you."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Hermione watched him leave the room and smiled to herself. The days of Draco Malfoy having it all his own way were gone. Hermione had started as she meant to go on.