Hermione called to Harry, "Remember Harry 1 pm!"
"Yes Hermione I know. I'll see you then." Harry closed the door to her office, with a grin on his face at Hermione's constant reminders. She could hear his footsteps walking away in the opposite direction.
She sat in her seat and played with her bracelet, like she often did in circumstances like this. It wasn't much really, just a rose gold chain that wrapped around her tiny wrist. But the best part was the charm at the end of it: a lavender hibiscus tilted upwards extending it's beautiful petals and pistol. Given to her by Charlie, Hermione's boyfriend, who knew her favorite flower was a hibiscus and her favorite color was purple or more specifically lavender.
She had been dating Charlie for two years now and loved every minute of it. Not just him though, she had been promoted to Minister of Magic just a year ago, and her schedule had been busier than ever. However, nothing of the sort that Hermione couldn't handle of course.
She picked up the folder of papers Harry had just placed on her desk, and walked over to the couch at the side of her office. Due to being minister she had many privileges regarding what she could have in her office. Her favorite being the plush white couch, that she often used to make calls, take interviews, or the occasional nap from staying up until 2 am the night before. She also had a small table that she kept her weekly doughnuts on, which were obviously of utmost importance to stay close to her special couch, so she could grab one at several times during the day. She had slightly translucent silver curtains that she had put up on her slider door that opened up to a small balcony, that she never even knew existed until she had gotten the job. The curtains were also charmed to swing wide open during warm, sunny days and cover back up during cloudy, cold days (a charm she was very proud of). On those sunny days, when she had brief moments of peace, she would often spend a few moments at the balcony soaking in the sunshine and drinking her iced coffee, before she remembered the load of work she had waiting for her and rushed back in hurriedly.
She looked through the teal folder, and smiled appreciatively at how neat it was kept then reminding herself to actually read the notes Harry had written just for her. They were all in Harry's messy, yet legible scrawl that Hermione had gotten used to reading by now. She once again smiled at one that said this is just in case they ask the handsome Auror department head to relay the second wizarding war's ministry employee repercussions. She smiled at more notes that he had written before grabbing a chocolate sprinkled doughnut and settling back down again.
She took a big bite of her doughnut, not minding the sweet stickiness on her fingers, and continued to flick through the folder with her other hand.
The lunch that Harry and Hermione were attending that day was a very important one. It was an exclusive with the Daily Prophet about changes she had made since becoming minister, hence the reason why she was extremely nervous. Thankfully Harry had to be there because he was head of the Auror Office and they would also be asking for updates since the second wizarding war and how auror proceedings had changed since then. She and harry had remained close since the war, and she was glad to have him during the interview to help her if needed.
She was close with Ron after Hogwarts too, in fact she still was best friends with him at the moment. But it had got awkward for a bit between the three of them, when Hermione and Ron had broken up 2 months after they had gotten together. It was great towards the beginning, but fights broke out so much that they finally decided it wouldn't work. Of course Hermione had felt heartbroken afterwards, but she didn't cry about it so much that it was pathetic. She was a grown woman after all.
But now Ron and her were great friends again. He worked in the Auror department and him, Harry, and Hermione would all have lunches sometimes. They would laugh and smile so much, just like old times, that Hermione couldn't help but put on an even wider smile and give them a huge spontaneous hug. The boys would call her mad and cheesy and groan loudly but they would just grin and laugh it off like always.
She had finished her doughnut, but her stomach still felt empty. Glancing at the clock, she realized it was only 11:22. She sighed, and this time not even hesitating, grabbed another doughnut, maple this time (her favorite), and began to enjoy her snack once more. She could most certainly not wait another hour and half to eat, and resumed eating while looking through her papers.
A few minutes later, she heard her secretary's familiar buzz and got up and answered it.
"Yes Loraine?" she pressed the button and waited.
"Hello Miss Granger. Your 11:30 appointment is here. Can I send him in?"
She froze, her hand hovering next to her open mouth about to take another bite of her doughnut. Suddenly she remembered, her eyes widening with panic. She had an appointment with an auror from Harry's department. The interviewer from the Prophet requested some personal anecdotes regarding aurors in their field, so she had just told Harry to send the most experienced auror, other than him.
She had completely forgotten about her appointment with the auror. Why didn't her bloody secretary remind her this morning? She then checked her desk for the schedule Loraine had handed her every morning. Today was no different as she completely ignored it like she usually did, because she always remembered all her meetings to the dot. Shaking her head, she scanned her schedule and finally saw right in the middle was her appointment with Draco Malfoy.
She ignored the fact that her secretary had indeed given her a reminder and the fact that she had somehow completely forgotten about her appointment. She focused only on rereading the name next to the appointment several times before it slowly sank in. Draco. Malfoy.
Draco Malfoy? She began to mutter out loud. "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no no no no. Why him. Why the bloody hell him."
Stuffing the rest of her doughnut in her mouth, she quickly straightened papers all around her desk and looked around for a napkin for her sticky doughnut fingers.
Why would Harry send Malfoy of all people. She had seem him around the ministry loads of times, strutting around like the peacock he thought he was, yet she hadn't actually ever spoken to him since the Battle of Hogwarts. The papers she had read about him clearly stated that he claimed he had left his ways and begun a new chapter of his life. But, if Hermione was being honest, she knew she probably wouldn't believe it even if she saw it. Yet here he was coming right now, maybe he really was the most experienced in the department and that's why Harry sent him. But couldn't he have at least given her a warning that it was Malfoy.
"Miss Granger, is everything all right? Can I send in Mr. Malfoy?" Loraine's crisp voice brought her thoughts to the present and she rushed back to the phone, having moved around the room using her wand to try to tidy things up.
"Err yes...just uh, " she quickly inspected her office once more and deemed there was nothing else she could really do at this point, "Yeah go ahead send him in."
"Great, he's coming in."
Hermione still wasn't able to find a napkin for her stupid fingers and settled on licking them and wiping them on the thin tablecloth that held her box of doughnuts. She could almost see her mother shaking her head at her obnoxious manners if she were here, which Hermione smiled at the thought of.
There was a knock, and her smile faded as she stared at the door noticing the large shadow behind it. She walked up and opened it to find a very bored looking Draco Malfoy. His hands were in his pockets, and was leaning slightly on the doorframe. His mouth was in a fine line, one word from tipping into his infamous sneer. His eyes were grey, devoid of all emotion, like they always seemed to be, and if it weren't for his raised eyebrows he would've been wearing his masked neutral face. The thought of an appointment with old Granger probably brought down his spirits to plain bored. The only thing that surprised her was his hair. It was still shockingly white blonde like it had always been, but instead of slicked back or hanging over his eyes it was now styled and didn't look ... terrible. She glanced back to his eyes and realized he wasn't even looking at her. He was peering around her office, apparently judging her in the process by the looks of it.
She cleared her throat, and his eyes snapped to hers.
Her mouth felt dry and couldn't think of what to say after acknowledging him in so long, and decided on a curt, "Hello."
One of his eyebrows raised and he tentatively replied, "Hi," as if he were expecting to have more of a conversation at this point.
Professionalism settling in, she cleared her throat once more and began walking to her desk. "So Malfoy, as you know I-"
"Malfoy? Shouldn't it be Mr. Malfoy?" he interrupted with a smirk. "Or Draco even? I thought Ministers had to be professional and connect with their employees."
At the back of her head, she noted that it only took him about 15 seconds to interrupt her and revert back to his school self. Then she remembered there was nothing to actually revert back to as he was still the same git he was back then. She smirked at her own thought, and turned back to face "Mr. Malfoy".
"Well then would you like me to call you Mr. Malfoy or ... Draco?", she paused, feeling weird saying his first name.
"I mean Malfoy's perfectly fine, if it means I don't have to call you Minister Granger and all," he said while turning around slowly to finish his inspection of her room.
She rolled her eyes at the comment, remembering how Harry and Ron had teased her the same way when she had gotten the promotion, by putting Minister before her name whenever they possibly could.
Ignoring him, she resumed her professionalism and spoke again.
"Right ok then Malfoy, as I was saying I-"
"This is a nice office you have here."
Hermione's head came up to meet Malfoy's eyes, and was torn between reprimanding him for interrupting her and wanting to clarify the fact that he actually complimented her. She didn't stay confused for long, because when she opened her mouth to reply, Malfoy made the decision for her.
"But of course my bedroom's three times the size of this, so not too impressive." His smirk remained on his face while now inspecting his fingers as if he was positively bored at the sight of her.
Having enough of this already, as she actually had more important things to work on, she put her head in her hands before uncovering herself to look at Malfoy with a hard glare.
"Anyway, let's just skip the casual comments, " her voice lingered at comments, as she could tell that Malfoy's words wouldn't certainly be just that. "Have you written your personal anecdote that I asked for?"
Once again, he was acting like a child and proceeded to look everywhere but her face. He had wandered over to her table where she kept her precious doughnuts and looked in the box.
"Mind if I have one?" he asked. She could see his hand already reaching to grab one.
"Yes, sorry I'm saving some for my friends." she lied sternly, daring him to take one. Yet it seemed like she hadn't even spoke. Malfoy went on and took the doughnut anyway while Hermione sighed frustratedly.
Quite frankly, she felt the urge to slap the donut out of his hand, but she stopped herself. Somehow she thought it might contradict her calm image.
He took a bite and barely had the sense to look guilty as he looked back at Hermione. "Hmm? Oh oops, but it's quite alright. Potter and Weasel don't need the extra weight anyway if you know what I mean." He ended with a pointed look at Hermione, as if she should agree exactly with what he said and as if he hadn't just insulted her friends right in front of her face.
"Well I'll just be on my way then." He took a paper out of his robe that she assumed was his anecdote, and plopped it on a bunch of other papers littering her desk that she would sure to be confused with later. Without even sparing a second glance, he swiftly left her office, leaving Hermione more confused than ever.