Chapter 1-Comfort in the Arms of a Dragon

She laid in her bed, finishing up her summer homework. True, it was only two weeks into vacation, but as always, she liked to be ahead on her work and studies. Anyway, she was thinking about getting a job this summer to keep her occupied, since she had nothing better to do anyway. There was a small city outside of Diagon Alley that she had heard of that had some nice coffee shops and book stores that she might just find a job opening at.

She ran a hand through her bushy brown hair as she closed her last book and placed it neatly upon her shelf next to all those from the previous years. A sigh happy sigh escaped her lips as she recognized a tiny owl approaching her window. It was Ron's owl, Pig. She opened her window and allowed it to enter her room. It zoomed around wildly after it dropped the letter into her hands. She opened it and read:

Dear Hermione,

How's your summer going? I was wondering if you wanted to spend the rest of vacation at the Burrow with Harry and me since we are graduating after this year and all and it's our last summer together. I know Mum and Dad would love to have you. Harry and I will be waiting for your reply. And Ginny says hi. Hey, look, that rhymes. Oh well. Just send your response back with Pig.

Love,

Ron

Hermione smiled and quickly wrote a response. Of course she would spend her last summer at the burrow with her two best friends. Once she had fed and sent the feisty owl out of her room, she headed downstairs to tell her parents that she was going to spend the summer at the Burrow.

Jane and Harold Granger knew how important it was for Hermione to spend the summer before her seventh year at Hogwarts with her two best friends, so naturally they consented and told her to pack her things. For the rest of the day, all she could do was smile. She really did have a great life.

Draco Malfoy sat at his desk quickly going through his homework. He hated putting things like that off until the last minute. From down the hall he could hear the moans and screams of his parents as they were "coming together" as they liked to call it. It made him sick listening to it. Couldn't they at least put a Silencing Charm around the room or something? He shuddered as he finished the last of his Transfigurations homework.

After placing his book neatly on his bookshelf, he opened the door to his balcony and looked up into the starry night sky. It really was a nice night for a broom ride. He grabbed his new Nimbus 2004 and kicked off. Immediately, the wind began whipping across his pale face and blowing his silver-blonde locks out of his eyes. His silver eyes shined like the stars as he looked down to the streets below.

For Draco, these nighttime rides were release. This was beauty. This was freedom. The world from above was so much more pure than the world from the ground. True, he loved his position on Earth. He loved being a pureblood. And he loved knowing that once he was out of school he would take his place in the Dark Lord's inner circle, beside his father.

Everyone knew who he was. He laid it all out for everyone to see-a cruel, evil, little bastard, who would do anything to get his way. Some people thought it was a façade, that he was hiding something. The truth is that's the way he always had been and that was the way he liked it. The thing that really annoyed him though was when people assumed that his father bribed Dumbledore to make him Prefect or to get onto the Slytherin Quidditch team. Those things he did on his own. He was in fact, quite smart, and was an excellent flyer. Acting came along with the package, but that was a Malfoy trait. Malfoys get what they want when they want it. Draco lived and breathed that rule since the day he was born and it was not something he was likely to forget anytime soon.

When he returned to his room, the house was quiet. He breathed a sigh of relief and flopped down on his bed. It was going to be a long summer if he didn't have anything to do, so he thought about getting a job. Knockturn Alley was always a possibility, but he didn't know if his father wanted him to have that reputation already. Longhorn City maybe. That was right off of Diagon Alley and there were plenty of coffee shops and bookstores there. He was sure he could find something.

Hermione had found a job at a small bookstore/coffee shop right in the center of Longhorn City called the Flowing Fountain. Some days she worked in the bookstore and others in the coffee shop. It all depended on where they needed help, so she was never really bored. There was always someone in the store to talk to and she always seemed to find herself wrapped up in an intellectual conversation with someone or other.

Harry and Ron thought that she should be spending more time at the Burrow with them, but they didn't get on her case about it because they understood that she wanted to get some financial stability before she went out into the real world.

After about three days working there, she had just finished ringing out a book for a nice old witch, when she saw a familiar face walk through the door. It was not, however, one she hoped to see until she was back in Hogwarts. He walked straight up to the counter.

"Got any job applications, Mudblood?" he inquired.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Malfoy, I cannot be of service to you if you are going to be your typical, rude self. I have much more important things to do," she replied sweetly with a smile.

He became quite irritated with her aloof response, but decided to play along with her game. "Okay then, let me start over, if you will. Good morning, Miss Granger. May I please have a job application?"

She chuckled to herself and waved her hand in a circle. An application suddenly appeared before Draco along with a quill and a bottle of ink. "Now, that wasn't so hard. Kindly step aside and fill that out, so that I can get to the next customer. Thank you!"

Draco rolled his eyes and moved over two steps, so that he was out of the way, but could hear what Hermione was saying to the customers who were making their purchases. The application was longer than he had expected. It asked him about what his parents did for a living and how his grades in school were and if he had taken any illegal substances. It was like an interview on paper.

Once he was finished, it asked him to sign his name and then look in the box on the next page for further instruction. He turned the page and saw in gold ink:

Accepted! Please hand in your form to Miss Granger and have her point you to the office.

Not surprised by the magical form, he asked Hermione where the back office was. "Well, what you do is, you go through the first book case and make a right then a quick left then go straight for two book cases and turn left make the next right and go right again after the row of books on how to cook your father's big toe. After that you'll see a sign for the loo and then there should be a sign for an office, but that's not the office you're looking for…" She began to laugh at the blank expression on his face. "Just joking, Malfoy. All you have to do is go upstairs and it's the first door on the right."

"Not funny, Granger," he mumbled.

"Maybe not. But your face sure was."

"Shove off." With that he turned on his heel and headed up the stairs to the office.

Hermione shook her head. "Next."

A tiny old witch came up to the counter with a big spell book in hand. "Is that your boyfriend, deary?"

"Malfoy! No way! He and I have been enemies since the day we met. He's never liked me and I've never liked him. That's the way it has to be," she explained simply as she rang up the book.

"The way it has to be? I'm not quite sure I understand," the witch said.

"Well you see, he comes from a highly distinguished pureblood family and I'm Muggle born. That's 4 Galleons."

As the witch fished through her bag she said, "That's quite a shame, you two seem like you would make a rather cute couple." She handed Hermione the four coins. "Snakes may not be trustworthy, but you can always find comfort in the arms of dragon."

Hermione was perplexed by what the witch had said, but before she could respond the she had disapparated. All Hermione could do was sigh and put the Galleons in the magical drawer. Now she would have to work with Malfoy all summer. There was really no escaping that slime ball.

Draco came down the stairs about twenty minutes later and hopped over the counter to stand beside Hermione. She glared at him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Well the man upstairs told me that you've only been working here for three days, but he also told me that you already know what you're doing better than anybody else, so he told me to be your shadow for a couple of days until I get the hang of things."

She sighed and looked upwards, hoping that this wasn't happening to her. "First of all, Malfoy, no jumping over the counter. You open it and walk through just like everybody else. Second of all, if you are going to shadow me, then I expect you to listen to me and not make fun of my heritage. Third, you are not just going to stand there. I am going to make you help me. Got it?"

"Fuck, Granger, no need to get so nasty about it."

"And no swearing inside the store. There are little children in here and they do not have to hear your potty mouth all day."

Draco couldn't help himself, he started laughing and he couldn't stop. Hermione was so glad there were no customers at the time. "What, pray tell, is so funny?"

"Potty mouth, Granger? That's a good one." He was still laughing.

Hermione smiled sheepishly. She hadn't really thought about it at the time when she said it, but now it did sound quite juvenile. Draco looked at her then stopped laughing. He had let his guard down in front of the one person he had always tried to remain stoic in front of. Now what would she think of him.

"You know I've never really seen you smile," she admitted a bit nervously.

He shrugged. "Not many people have. It's not something I like to do. It shows people that I'm weak."

Hermione was now very perplexed. "How does a smile show that you are weak?"

"Malfoys don't smile." The tone in which he spoke made the whole thing very final, so Hermione didn't dare push him any farther.

She was glad when a customer walked up to the counter. It was a young man with light brown hair and a screaming baby in his arms. Hermione smiled sweetly to. "Hello, sir. Rough day?" she asked as she took the books from his other hand.

"How'd ya know?" he replied jokingly.

"Woman's wisdom. Will this be all today?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Okay. That will be 7 Galleons please."

He shuffled around in his pockets while she placed his books carefully into a bag. Once he had found his coins, he handed them to her and she handed him the bag. "Have a nice day," she said.

"You too."

She placed the coins into the magical drawer as he disapparated out of the building.

Draco just looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"What is it now, Malfoy?"

"Do you talk to all of the customers that come over here? I mean honestly. Must you be so nice to everyone?"

"Malfoy, this is a customer service job. That means you have to have a relationship with the people who walk in and out of here. You cannot blow them off like they are one of those morons you hang out with in school. These are real people who have jobs and families. You need to treat them with respect. Or is that too difficult for you to understand?"

"No, Ms. High and Mighty, it's not. I will try to work on my public relation skills for you if you'd like."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Just take the next customer, Malfoy."

Draco saw who the next person was. "It would be my pleasure."

A young with long, black hair and amber eyes walked up to the counter. She had pale skin and a slim waist. Her chest was large and her robes didn't cover much of her body.

"How may I help you?" Draco asked pleasantly with a smirk pulling at his lips.

She just glared at him and placed her book on the counter. Draco glared at Hermione and she just shrugged, grinning wildly.

"Will this be all?" he asked.

"Yup," she said shortly.

"That's two galleons." She handed him the coins and he handed her the book in a bag and watched as she disapparated.

Hermione was laughing by now and Draco was glaring at her. "What in the hell was that all about!" he demanded.

"Oh, nothing. She goes for girls, that's all." The horrified look on Draco's face was priceless. Hermione wished she'd had a camera for that particular moment in time.

"You are such a-a-a WITCH!"

"I'm glad you finally noticed."

After showing him how to lock up, Hermione disapparated back to the Burrow while Draco went back to the Malfoy Manor. Both were thinking about how they were going to make it through the summer working next to the other the whole time.