CHAPTER TWO

"Mr. Malfoy is from the Tech. Department." Explained Kingsley.

It was quite hard for Hermione to believe she had forgotten such a visually striking person. Draco Malfoy was a very handsome man. Tall and blonde with a toned slenderness to him. His arms flexed under his shirt as he shook her hand and a gentle scent of cologne reached her. He smelled amazing.

Hermione blushed and looked down as she realized she had been shaking his hand just a second too long. Mr. Malfoy looked even more uncomfortable than he had before. Well, at least he isn't in my department, Hermione thought.

"He'll be helping you get to know your office gadgets."

SHIT.

"Fantastic!" Hermione grinned, avoiding the beautiful man's eyes. "To be frank, I don't remember anything about my job… but I've been picking things up very quickly and I'm confident I can retrain with ease. Sometimes all I need to do is try something and I can do it without thinking, even if I can't remember being able to."

After having discussed the basic requirements for her role, Kingsley seemed content with Hermione starting straight away.

"You learned fast the first time you started; I don't see why you wouldn't do just as well this time."

"So, can I start today?"

"Of course," Kingsley smiled, "Mr. Malfoy will show you to your office."

The blonde-haired man stood up and walked around the desk to meet her, getting close enough now to see how stunning his grey eyes were. Hermione was going to have a hard time concentrating.

"Shall we?"

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As they walked through the busy corridors of the ministry, Hermione tried a few of times to make conversation, only to be met with stiff one-word answers. She must have fallen out with this man at some point, there is no way a friend would be acting like this.

They stepped into a lift; Draco pressed the button and then turned stiffly towards the doors.

The lift was surprisingly small considering how many people must use it each day. They were the only two in there yet they were only a couple of feet away from each other, which made the silence all that more unbearable.

"So, did we go to school together?" Hermione tried again. There was a slight pause where Draco just looked up at the ceiling.

"Yes." he answered bluntly.

"Which house were you in?" Hermione pressed, taking half a step closer to see his face properly. His chiseled jaw was tensed.

"Slytherin." He ground out.

"Oohhh…So we were rival houses." Hermione clicked her fingers and nodded to herself. "Is that why you're being off with me?"

Draco's head snapped round, and he looked at her for the first time since they had left the office. His forehead was creased between the brows, the only place where he showed any sign of aging.

I've said something wrong, Hermione thought.

He opened his mouth to make a retort but before he could, the lift doors opened to let in two witches Hermione recognized.

A rather beautiful blonde who, upon seeing Hermione, gasped and turned immediately to whisper in her mousy brown-haired friend's ear. And to think, Hermione had thought going back to work might be a step away from all the gossip. Turned out she couldn't go anywhere without wide eyes and sharp tongues.

The witches turned their backs on her, but their whispers interrupted the silence for the last few seconds of their journey.

'Did you hear?'

'I couldn't believe that—'

'—and then the doctors—'

Draco was eyeing them with more distain than she thought somebody was capable off. He stared down his nose at them, not that they noticed. They were much too busy discussing Hermione's life right in front of her.

As the lift pinged and the doors opened on Hermione's floor, he stopped just in front of them. They closed their mouths immediately and looked at him like a puppy that just got caught pissing on the new furniture.

"It would do you girls a great deal of good to practice some grace and subtlety." Draco sneered at them.

The two witches looked like schoolgirls being told off by the Head. The blonde had a face like a slapped arse, but kept her mouth shut tightly.

The brunette stared at her feet. She glanced up at Hermione and, for a brief second, she thought there was going to be an apology, but she just looked at her blonde friend and then back at the floor.

Draco and Hermione left the lift and walked down the hallway without another word, but Hermione felt like her body was humming. Maybe it's because it's her first day back, she thought, maybe it will die down. They stopped at a door that had her name magically embossed in gold.

"This is your office." Draco gestured to the door.

"Yes, I had noticed." Hermione pointed at the letters, a smile tugging at her lips.

Draco's eyebrows hitched up a bit. "Astute as ever, Granger." He opened the door and held it open for her.

"Thank you, Draco." Hermione said as she walked through the door, breaking into a grin when he looked totally shocked. Did she not normally call him Draco? Come to think of it, he had just called her Granger. Maybe she'd overstepped a line.

Her office was a surprisingly nice size; large enough to house a two-seater sofa, her desk and a large bookcase full of books and files. It was simply decorated with white walls and wooden floorboards and it smelled like old books. Hermione took in a deep breath. This felt more like home than her home. How depressing.

There were two pictures on the walls, both landscape paintings. There was a rich desert, boldly coloured in crimsons and umbers that made her feel warm and adventurous. Next to it, a misty forest with muted greens and greys she could have sworn she could smell. It was calming, yet fresh.

They pulled at her emotions, but that was all.

Hermione wandered pensively around the foreign room, looking for something to jog her memory. Draco stood by the door, seemingly understanding what she was doing.

"Thank you for standing up for me." Hermione ran her finger along the spines of her books. "With those women in the lift." She turned around to find he had taken a couple of steps into the room.

Draco shrugged, looking out of her magically manipulated window at the city. "It was nothing. Gossips bother me."

"Well, I appreciate it regardless." Hermione moved towards her desk and gasped. "That's a computer!" she shouted, pointing at the monitor and bending down to look at the system.

"Yes, well done." Draco said sarcastically.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I mean how is there a computer? In the Ministry of Magic?"

"We figured out how to create a bubble shield around technology to keep out magical interference." Draco explained coming away from the window.

"That's incredible! Who's we?" Hermione asked. The handsome blonde looked extremely uncomfortable with the praise. Or maybe he was just uncomfortable having to talk so much.

"Theo and I worked on it together. It's still fragile though, you can't have your wand too close to the hard drive or the magic will delete your files." Theo? Sounded familiar.

"Noted." Hermione pulled out the desk chair and sat down. "Does it work like a regular computer?"

"Yes."

"Okay, so what's my password?"

"What do you think your password is?" Draco enquired.

Hermione turned to look at him, a confused expression on her face. Was he just trying to be difficult?

"You said sometimes if you just try something you can do it." Draco pulled out his wand and replicated her chair to join her at the desk. "So just type it in."

Hermione looked at him, then at her keyboard. He had a point. She had done just that with recipes and hobbies. Why not a password? She pulled herself in closer and clicked on the password box. Without giving herself time to think, she started typing and got access on the first attempt. A huge smile of accomplishment took over her face.

Suddenly, she was thrown back to her teenage years. It was during the summer holidays and she was crowded around the family computer with her dad, playing a card game. Poker! She was playing poker with her dad.

Just as suddenly as the memory invaded her thoughts, she fell back into the present.

"I can play poker!" Hermione yelled abruptly, her voice most likely carrying all the way down the department hallway. She turned around to Draco to find him looking surprised and possibly a little concerned.

"That's… nice." He said. "Are you okay?"

Hermione laughed. "I'm fantastic!"

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After a couple of hours together, a few awkward silences and several mistakes, Hermione felt like she was ready to jump in the deep end.

"You're sure you know what you're doing?" Draco asked. He was still very reserved but in the time he had been there, his formal appearance had loosened slightly and he was leaning on the desk with his ankle on his knee. His trouser leg had slid up to reveal a pair of red socks. Hermione smiled and looked back up to his face, finding that he was watching her. Then she remembered he had asked a question.

"Oh yes, I'm sure I'll be fine. I really appreciate your help, Draco." Hermione blushed. She looked up again and he was still looking at her. There was a tense moment where they just stared at each other. His light eyes were shockingly light; they were intrusive, like he could see through her own eyes into her soul. She opened her mouth to say something, she had no idea what was going to come out, she just needed to break the tension. Luckily, she never had to find out. Before she could say a single word…

"Well, hello there!" a voice interrupted from the doorway.

Hermione jumped out of skin and spun around to find a dark-haired, olive-skinned man standing outside her office. He looked so familiar, but she just couldn't place him. Draco hadn't even flinched. He simply tipped his head towards the door, causing a few strands of platinum hair to fall into his face.

"How may I help you, Theo?"

"Theo…" Hermione thought aloud, "Oh, Theo Nott! I remember you! We had Muggle Studies together in… Third Year?"

Theo laughed as he stepped into the office with a confidence that just resonated from him, like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Well, I only did it for about a week before my dad found out about it." Theo announced with pride. "He was so pissed off."

"Yes, I remember the howler." Draco added.

Theo beamed with joy at the mere mention of it, like it was one of his biggest accomplishments. Hermione wondered if Theo's father was one of Voldemort's followers, or just somebody who couldn't abide muggles, but daren't ask.

"Well, it's nice seeing you again." Hermione smiled politely, "It's nice remembering somebody from work actually."

"It's nice to see you back. You should pop down and see us in the lab some time." Theo replied sincerely before turning to Draco, who was looking at him like he'd just invited Hermione to a crack house. "Speaking of the lab, that's why I'm here. I need your help with the hex proof materials."

"I'll be down in a minute" Draco ground out, "we're just finishing up."

"Alright, I'll see you around, Granger." Theo looked and them both with a smirk before leaving. A heavy silence sat between her and the handsome blond for a moment.

"He seems nice." Hermione said awkwardly.

"Yeah, he's alright." Draco offered a forced smile. "Are you sure there's nothing else you want to ask me before I go?"

There was a lot of things she wanted to ask him, Hermione thought. Like why he smelled like fresh apples or whether his hair colour was natural.

"Nope. I think I'm all set." She said instead.

"Okay, well you know where to find me." He stood up to his full, intimidating height and vanished the chair he had duplicated. He had almost made it to the door before Hermione just couldn't stop herself.

"Draco…" She croaked, clearing her throat awkwardly. He stopped and turned around to look at her, his face still expressionless. "Do you have a problem with me?"

The question threw him off for a second and he looked genuinely surprised and uncomfortable. He looked away into the hallway and then down at his feet. He didn't respond immediately, which made Hermione fidget in her seat.

"I'm sorry, I know that's a weird thing to ask but… well I don't remember… and, well, you seem off with me." Hermione looked down at her lap and fiddled with the hem of her skirt. "Whatever it is, I won't ask again. I just… need to know."

The following silence seemed to go on for so long she thought he had left. She looked up expecting an empty doorway but what greeted her were a pair of ice like eyes just staring at her.

Draco sighed. "I don't have a problem with you Granger." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I just… look maybe you should talk to your friends about me."

Hermione's brow furrowed. Why would she need to talk to her friends? Why couldn't he just tell her himself?

"If you still want to talk to me about it after then… fine."

Then he turned and walked away.

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After a very successful first day back picking up old reports and reacquainting herself, Hermione felt renewed. This was normal, this was where she belonged.

She packed up her things, ready to head home when she remembered what Draco had said to her. So instead, she picked up a quill and parchment and wrote a quick letter to Harry asking if she could pop in.

Barely a few minutes after she had sent off her owl, she received a reply inviting her over immediately. She grabbed her bag and made her way to the atrium to use the floos. She must have stayed later than she had thought as she hadn't seen anybody the whole way. By the end of her walk, she was anxious. The room was lit only by the green glow of the floo networks, creating ominous shadows and shapes.

Don't be silly, she told herself, you're in the Ministry. This isn't like before, you were out on the street. You're safe.

She was right in front of the floo when a hand grabbed her by the elbow. Scared out of her skin, Hermione dropped her bag, pulled out her wand and spun around in half a second flat.

"Oh Merlin, I am so sorry." Mariella's face was screwed up in a mortified expression. "I wasn't thinking! I didn't think! I'm so sorry!" She was holding out a quill that must have slipped from Hermione's bag. Hermione lowered her wand and let out a relieved laugh that sounded very close to a sob.

"It's alright," she said, "I just got myself all worked up. Thank you."

"No, I really am sorry. I should have said something instead of just grabbing you like that!"

"Honestly, it's fine. You were just trying to be helpful."

Hermione took the quill, noticing as she did that Mariella had a silver charm bracelet on. An eagle with a blue gemstone for an eye caught her attention. "Oh, were you in Ravenclaw, Mariella?"

"Call me Ella," she smiled, "that's what my friends call me. And yes, I was. I was a couple of years below you."

"Oh, I see…"

"Anyway, I must be heading off. I'll see you soon. Sorry again."

The women headed off to their separate floo networks, sharing a small smile, before leaving for their destinations.

Hermione came through into Harry's front room and brushed the dust off her jacket. Greeting her were Harry, Ginny and… Ronald.

"You worked late." Her husband grumbled.

"How was your first day back?" Harry asked. Hermione ignored Ron.

"It was fantastic, I got right back into it."

"That's great!"

"I do have a question though."

"Go ahead."

"Who's Draco Malfoy?"