AN: Hello everybody! Now ... before you start yelling at me, I just want to say that I'm super, super, super sorry! Things have been a little hectic lately, and I've been really busy. But winter break is coming up soon, so hopefully I'll have another chapter out by then. Well, hope you like this chapter!

Chapter Nine

A Fish Out of Water

Hermione thought about what Ginny had said long after she left The Leaky Cauldron. Would Draco really care about Alexia if he found out about her? Ginny was right, it would be good if Alexia's father was in her life. Hermione certainly didn't want her to grow up without a father figure, and truthfully, she wasn't sure if Harry and Ron were enough. They were practically uncles to her, but it wasn't the same as actually having a father.

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"Do you NOT understand what I'm saying? All I want is some coffee! How many times do we really need to go over this? It's the third time this week! I told you, I NEED coffee on my desk every morning at ten o'clock sharp! It is now 10:06!" Draco Malfoy was currently IN Hermione's office, ON Hermione's leather chair, with his feet on her solid oak desk.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" asked a bewildered Hermione as Draco's secretary ran out of her office in tears.

"Hermione! Just the person I wanted to see!" replied Draco with a smile that easily turned Hermione's legs to jell-o. "Our most respected minister is throwing a ball!"

"Oh?" said Hermione, half-listening to him as she shoved him off her chair. "And what does that have to do with me?"

"Well, you're invited of course!"

"I could have easily found that out when the invitations arrived. You're not my owl Malfoy, you don't have to inform me of these kinds of things," she said as she looked through the papers on her desk.

"On the contrary, I have a proposition for you."

Hermione looked up, eyeing the devious grin on his face. "And what exactly is it?"

He drew himself up to full height, his grin growing larger, making him look even more handsome, if that was possible. Hermione quickly looked down and tried not to blush.

"I propose that we go together."

"And why would I want to do that, Draco?"

"Why would you pass up the chance to go to a ball with a devilishly handsome man like me?"

Hermione looked up at him again. For a minute, she was tempted to say yes, but then she remembered that it was Draco Malfoy.

"I'm sorry, but I'll have to pass on your offer." she replied, slightly regretting her answer. She continued to read through her papers and Draco stood there, gaping like a fish out of water.

"Are you serious? You're passing? On ME? But I'm ... ME!"

"Hmm ..." She replied distractedly.

"Hermione! You're not listening to me!"

"Listen, Draco, why don't you just go find yourself some tart to go with? I'm sure you have a lot of those lying around." she said as she got up.

"Are you saying I consort with harlots?"

"Of course not Draco!" she walked over to the door with a report in her hand, readying to hand in to the minister. "I'm saying you're a ... a man-whore."

She walked out, leaving behind one angry Draco Malfoy.

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Hermione walked over to Fudge's office, only to find out that he was out. She walked over to his slightly ditzy secretary, Sharon.

"Hey Sharon, do you think you could give this to Mr. Fudge when he's back?"

"Sure darling," she replied without looking up from her Witch Weekly Magazine.

"Thanks," said Hermione, walking back to her office. When she got there, she was relieved to see that Draco left her office. That was a good thing, since she now had a tendency to turn to jell-o in his presence.

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Draco was angry, really angry. Currently, he was pacing in his office, muttering to himself. Hermione had just rejected him! Who would be stupid enough to do that? She had to go to the ball with him, because ... because ...

He stopped pacing. Why did he want to go to the ball with her? Well, that was besides the point. The fact of the matter was, he had to go to the ball with her ... He just had to. The only problem was that she didn't want to go with him. Good thing he had a plan.

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Hermione returned from her lunch break feeling full, content, and satisfied. She just had a rather pleasant meal with Harry and Ron, and she handed in her goblin report to Fudge before lunch, 4 days early.

She was on her way up to her floor when the elevator doors opened.

"Good afternoon," greeted Cornelius Fudge brightly as he entered the elevator.

"Good afternoon Minister," she replied.

"I daresay you've heard of my ball, Hermione. It's my 24th anniversary."

"Congratulations sir."

"You're too kind. So I take it Mr. Malfoy asked you to the ball already? He was quite determined to take you, you know." He said, chuckling.

"Well, he did ask me, but I turned him down," she replied.

"Really? He must have been disappointed." Hermione smiled meekly in response. "No matter, I'm sure you youngsters will find another date easily. Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading your report. I just talked to Sharon a few minutes ago, but she said you didn't turn it in yet. It surprised me, you usually turn in reports days early!"

Hermione froze. "Sharon said I didn't turn it in yet? That's impossible! I turned it in before lunch!"

"That's rather peculiar. I suggest you check in with Sharon again. Perhaps she misplaced it. She tends to do that frequently," He said, frowning.

Hermione nearly ran to Sharon as soon as she got to the elevator. She was still behind her desk, this time, reading an issue of the muggle magazine, Vouge.

"Sharon! What's going on? You told the minister I didn't turn in my report!" she panted, slightly out of breath.

Sharon looked up from her magazine, looking guilty. "I'm really sorry Hermione, but, well, Mr. Malfoy took it..."

"Malfoy? Why'd he do that? Why did you let him?"

"I'm sorry Hermione, but you know how absolutely handsome he is! He was flirting with me and telling me that he just wanted to see your report really quick, and I didn't think he'd take it! I'm sorry!"

But Hermione had already started walking towards Draco's office.

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Hopefully this chapter wasn't too bad, I know it's short, but I'm suffering from a bit of writer's block. Hope you aren't too upset!