Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
AshleyPorter: Hermione is definitely a bit dense, but like they say love is blind.
Obnoxiously Peachy Twit 2008: I'm glad that my story was able to move you so much.
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angelps7: many thanks for reading and on a personal note, I sincerely hope that your crush will return your feelings.
Lady Zymurgy: Here's the overdue chapter ten. Enjoy.
Chapter 10Lavender's eyes glittered with glee, as she admired her latest present from one of her secret admirers. She gingerly lifted up the necklace up to the light and watched glinting stones. Lavender looked into the mirror after holding the necklace up to her throat. She giggled like she was a little girl and spun her chair around once.
"Lav, what are you so happy about?" Harry said, walking into her office.
"Harry!" Lavender jumped in surprise before turning her chair around to face Harry. A flood of thoughts ran through her mind, but quickly came across one that she deemed suitable and her expression changed into one of mischief.
Harry frowned seeing the reel of emotions passing across his girlfriend's face. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Oh, of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Lavender said with a half smile. She let out a sigh and "accidentally" dropped the gift. "Whoops, clumsy me."
Harry reached down and picked up the necklace. He handed it over to her after letting out a soft, hmm. "Must have cost a fortune."
"Not at all." Lavender said waving the comment off. She put the piece of jewelry on her desk and said. "It's actually a gift from an…" She paused. "An admirer of mine."
Harry cleared his throat. "An admirer?"
Lavender nodded. "Yes. Why is there a problem?"
"No, but I'd rather not have my girlfriend receive gifts from other men." Harry said.
"Well, I can't really stop the presents from coming if they want to show me their devotion." She said crossing her legs. "Besides, I would prefer our relationship to allow some- degree of flirtation of sorts."
Harry was struck speechless, which gave Lavender the opportunity to continue speaking. She looked up at him with a look that she considered seductive. "Unless, I can get devotion large enough to show me that I'm truly loved."
Realization dawned on Harry and was soon followed by disgust. "So what you mean is that you want expensive gifts. Is that it?"
"You didn't have to put it that way, but simply put yes."
"You know what Lavender, I was starting to get a certain feeling from you lately and this just proved it." Harry said, his voice cold. "I don't think that this relationship will work."
"What?" Lavender screeched. "You can't be serious."
"I'm sorry, but this is this end." Harry said and exited the room, leaving an extremely furious woman in the office.
"Ugh, I'm exhausted." Hermione said after the fifth hour of spelling.
Draco checked his watch and agreed. "You're right. We should go eat lunch."
He gathered the other employees in front of the building. "Starting now there will be an hour's time for lunch. I'll see you all later."
Although no one voiced their thoughts out loud, it was apparent that they were all waiting for a break. They headed off to the nearby restaurants and cafés for a bite to eat.
Hermione put away her wand, wondering what she should have for lunch. She caught Draco looking over at her and asked. "Do you need something?"
"Actually yes, do you want to go eat something?" Draco said offering her his hand.
Hermione laughed at his gesture at being chivalrous. "Even though, I'm a muggleborn. witch"
"Really Granger, you should know better than to think that I even care about magical heritages anymore." Draco replied with a smirk.
Playing along with his previous action, she took his offered hand. "Then I have no problem in joining you for a meal."
Draco led her to a quaint restaurant that overlooked the beach. Hermione gazed out the window, when she was interrupted by Draco's question. Hermione shook her head. "Sorry, wasn't paying attention. What were you saying?"
Draco raised an eyebrow. "I asked you what you wanted to eat."
"Oh right." Hermione said scanning through the menu. "Um, I'll have the club sandwich."
The waiter who was standing by their table wrote the order down and asked Draco what he would like. He said that he would like the same thing and the waiter left.
"Are you excited at all that the portkey is almost ready for use?" Hermione asked, sipping her tea.
"Was that a rhetorical question?" Draco replied.
Hermione put down her cup and said. "Answering my question with another question doesn't give me an answer."
"Fine." Draco relented. "There's no doubt that I'm anxious for the key to be completed. I think we'll be done with it by tonight."
"Thank you." Hermione said, as her plate of food was placed in front of her. She turned her attention back to her companion. "I agree. We only have to hold interviews to hire people to operate this now, right?"
Draco nodded. "Yeah, and I already scheduled the first few to go today."
"That's good. I had no idea that you were so organized."
"Obviously." Draco said.
By seven that night, the portkey, which was in the shape of a shoe, was finally finished, just in time for the start of the interviews.
Draco saw Hermione stifle a yawn as the first person walked in. He whispered in her ear. "If you're tired, you can go to bed. I can handle the three interviews."
Hermione whispered back. "It's no problem. We'll be finished in about an hour at most anyway."
"If you're sure." Draco said before greeting the first interviewee. "Hello, my name is Draco Malfoy and this is Hermione Granger."
"It's nice to meet you both." The woman said with a slight nod. "Let me introduce myself, I'm Genevieve Douglass."
Hermione smiled pleasantly at Genevieve. "Good evening. I'll ask the first question. Why do you want this position?"
The other woman though for a moment before giving an answer. "It's because I want to be a part of this revolutionary project. I believe that this system will benefit all wizards and witches alike."
The rest of the interviews went off without a hitch, but that did not stop Draco and Hermione to be mentally as well as physically drained by the end.
"I need a drink." Draco said as they got into a taxi.
Hermione scolded him. "You shouldn't drink so much, it's bad for your health."
Draco grinned at her. "I didn't know that you cared so much for me."
"Don't be silly. I would say this to any one of my friends." Hermione said, but couldn't hide the hint of a blush on her face.
Draco replied like he didn't notice her flushed face. "Well then, I'm honored to be considered a close enough friend to receive such wonderful advice."
As they entered the hotel lobby, Draco asked Hermione. "You tired?"
"Why?" Hermione answered.
"I'm honestly not too tired and was thinking about going to the beach for a bit." Draco explained. "I was wondering if you wanted to join me."
Hermione pursed her lips and thought it over. "All right. Just give me five minutes to get changed."
Within five minutes she came back downstairs in a pair of shorts and a tee shirt. "We can leave now."
They walked to the other side of the hotel and went outside where the hotel beach was located. The two found a cool sandy spot to sit on. They sat in silence for a while before Hermione spoke up, a bit hesitantly at first. "Malfoy, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"I talked to Harry last time and-" Hermione began, and Draco visibly stiffened when he heard Harry's name. "He said that he didn't send any flowers or a gift at all yet."
"Really?" Draco said trying to change the subject.
Hermione gave him an accusing look. "You're ignoring the issue here. I know that there's something I'm missing here."
"Oh?"
"Of course. How is it possible that I received gifts from Harry when he said that he didn't give them to me yet?"
Draco sighed in defeat. "All right. I'll tell you the truth. Those gifts were actually from me, but the only reason I lied was because I didn't want to see you upset."
"That's really sweet, but you didn't need to do that." Hermione said Draco's words impressing her.
Draco was getting embarrassed and got up to leave. "I'd better get some sleep." After his brief goodbye, he quickly walked to his room.
Hermione laughed knowing that Draco left because he was uncomfortable with her gratitude and headed to her room as well.
She took a quick shower and hummed while she was drying her hair off with a towel. She was thinking about how great a day she was having and about the next day when Harry would come to visit. She thought that nothing could bring her down.
There was a loud banging on her door that shocked Hermione out of her fantasy. She draped the towel over one of the chairs in the room before opening the door.
"You! It's all your fault." Lavender said angrily her eyes bulging out and red from her fury. "What did I ever do to you? You ruined everything."
A/N: I apologize for ending at this point, but I'm a bit busy at the moment. I thought that it was better to have something than a slightly longer chapter after a few more weeks. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. As always, read and review!