My Deepest Love
By: Gopher2806
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own plot.
O.X.o.x.V.x.o.X.O
"Miss Granger?"
"Yes?"
"Mr. Philips is on line one for you."
Hermione sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, she could feel a headache coming on. And talking to Mr. Philips wasn't going to help. She sighed once more and lifted her wand to her head and muttered a quick spell.
"Thank you Diana." she said at last through the speaker too her left.
Picking up the black phone on her large oak desk, she pressed the flashing red light down at the bottom and put a fake smile on her face and some cheer in her voice. "Hello Mr. Philips."
"Ah, Miss Watson! So glad I could get a hold of you!"
Hermione tried not to gag at the cheerfulness in her client's Mr. Philips voice.
"Glad that you got a hold of me too Mr. Philips. Is there anything Watson-Inspection can do you for you?" she asked regretting those words.
Ever since Mr. Philips had contacted her little private inspector office she owned, he seemed to be abusing her help. She clenched her fist. She had opened this little business to help the people that the Ministry wouldn't help. The name had been a joke, yet people had thought it was her last in the name so they called her Miss Watson. And she didn't care to correct them. It was something that in the end helped her in her line of work.
"Well I was wondering if you could come over to the house to check out the place for me, incase there's someone broken into my home or something."
"For the last time Mr. Philips, our protection charms are state of the art, I designed them myself. No one could have gotten into your house unless they knew the self deactivation code." she said.
"Well," he started out again, "I also have someone for you to meet. A future client of yours perhaps?"
Hermione bit her lip, she did need the extra cash flow at the moment with the renovations she was giving the office at the moment. This wouldn't be happening though if her accountant had actually done his job. She wondered sometimes if he hated her and was purposely trying to sabotage her company. Weird things had begun to happen around the office. She had almost lost a couple of her clients because she screwed up by giving them the wrong protection charms. That had almost cost her. Yet her accountant just shrugged it off, even though all this had started to happen when he begun to work for her after her old one fell suddenly ill.
Yet a nagging feeling said to turn down this job, no matter how tight the bind was that was wrapped around her little business. But she really did need the money. If she didn't get any income soon, she might have to close down the business for a short while. And then she might loose some of her customers.
God help her now.
"I'll be there around five." she grounded out.
"Perfect! We'll be waiting for your arrival Miss Watson." and with that she heard the click of Mr. Philips phone.
Hermione let her head drop onto the hard desk, ignoring the pain. What had she gotten herself into? Was it hell? Or maybe it was punishment for her sin at Hogwarts? Did the big guy really count those things from her school days? Oh god, she didn't know and she didn't care. All she knew was that maybe she should have listened to what her mum had always told her as a little girl.
"What comes around, goes around Hermione, remember that."
"Yes mama." she whispered to herself looking at the picture of her and two of her old friends.
O.X.o.x.V.x.o.X.O
Mr. Philips house had never seemed that big to Hermione from the outside. But once she had stepped inside, she had felt like she had entered a whole new world. That's when she knew Mr. Philips would be an excellent client. Though now she kicked herself in the butt.
She did so just for kicks on the street in front of Mr. Philips house to see if it really did make her feel better.
It did.
Walking up the three stones steps placed in front of the two storied, brown house she pressed the little gold button to her right and took a step back and waited. The big wooden oak door opened seconds later and she stepped in. Her coat was then taken from her by her client's butler, who she in return gave a small smile. She and Henry had become very close since she had begun to work for Mr. Philips. That's what had made the job bearable. He would always talk to her while she worked or made her a snack when she had to work through the night to install the protection charms.
"Thank you Henry." she said.
"Your welcome Miss Watson. Now if you'll follow me Mr. Philips is expecting you in the parlor." Henry said spinning on his heel and walking down the hallway.
"Which parlor?" she asked.
Henry stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. "The Gold Parlor."
That was all Hermione needed to know that the person Mr. Philips wanted her to meet was of great importance. The Gold Parlor was only used when guest who were high up in the wizarding world was important. When she had come to visit Mr. Philips the first time she had been brought to The Bronze Parlor. That had irked her for a couple of days. Though at the time of her meeting with her client, she hadn't known till Henry had explained it to her when she found two more parlors in the house while placing charms. She had almost walked right up to Mr. Philips and told him to shove the job up his ass, but she hadn't. And now she was regretting having not told her client to shove it.
Hermione kicked herself again.
Henry just gave her a weird look and opened up the door for her.
She gave a smile to Henry once more. "Thank you."
He nodded and left her to the wolves, shutting the door tightly behind her. Hermione took a deep breath and turned around to face Mr. Philips and her future client perhaps. What she didn't expect to find was a memory sitting down in front of her drinking a cup of tea out of fine china.
Hermione's eyes widened and she took a step back. This could not be happening. No way was this happening, she tried to reassure herself. It had to be a dream. So she pinched herself.
"Ow." she muttered rubbing her arm.
"Miss Watson are you alright?" Mr. Philips asked raising a bushy eyebrow at her.
"Fine." she smiled.
"Won't you sit and join me and Mr. Malfoy?" he asked indicating to a seat beside who she feared was not who she had hoped.
"Of course." she said with another fake smile.
Moving slowly across the room she felt like hell was coming upon her. But she did it, she sat down in the chair all while she keeping her cool. Even though on the inside she was screaming and crying. They weren't suppose to have met. He was going to be running his families business company and now Quidditch company. And she was running her own little private business where she made sure was far from away from reaching his ears or any other of her past friends ears. Yet here they were.
She bit her lip. God she hoped this meeting would be over soon, and most importantly she hoped he wouldn't recognize her. She had changed over the years. Not much, but she had changed. Her hair wasn't frizzy, she had managed to tame it, well at least on a good day of the week. And her body had changed. She wasn't the stick little girl everyone had seen in school and she wasn't so awkward with her looks anymore either. The confidence sprout had fully blossomed making her less insecure and more secure with herself. She was happy. And she didn't want him ruining that.
But he had also changed she noticed out of the corner of her eye. He was even more godlike then what he had been in school. And she cursed upon Merlin that he hadn't turned ugly after all those years like she had hoped.
" A cup of tea Miss Watson?" Mr. Philips asked awakening her from her deep thoughts.
"Yes please." she nodded.
He nodded back and poured her a cup and handed it over. She took it gratefully. She could do with a nice cup of tea. Raising the cup to her lips she took a tentative sip before setting it down in her lap.
"Now, to business." she said, hoping her eagerness to escape the meeting showed in her voice.
"Of course." Mr. Philips smiled.
How could the man be so cheerful all the time she wondered taking another sip.
"Mr. Malfoy, why don't you explain why you might need Miss Watson's help." Mr. Philips said with that damn smile still upon his face.
"Of course." Malfoy said.
She shivered slightly. God how she had loved his voice, even now it was like candy to her ears. If only he would say her name again. She shook her head; no, that was a long time ago. A different story that should not be repeated now. Besides she was sure he was still with that dark haired girl that she had seen years back. Plus there had been some gossip magazine her secretary Diana had been reading about a week ago. She had been handing Diana some papers when she had seen the magazine. At the time she had shrugged it off. It was his business not hers. But now, it seemed to put a heavy weight upon her chest.
Come on Hermione, get it together. You're all adults now, put the past to rest.
She relaxed. It was right, that little voice in the back of her mind. It was the past, not the here and now. And now she had her job to do. Besides, whether he recognized her or not who's to say they couldn't get along on a professional level now, they were both adults now afterall.
"Miss Watson?" Malfoy called giving her a little shake.
A blush arose to her cheeks and she moved away from his touch. "Sorry about that, long day."
Taking a calming breath she turned to face him now. She tried not to get caught up in his features, especially his grey eyes. But it was hard, the temptation seemed so sweet to do. Yet if she did so, then she might not get Malfoy has a client and she needed the money she reminded herself.
Putting on her best professional look she smiled and nodded for him to continue. "You were saying?"
He gave her a quick hard look and did as she requested. "As I was saying, my whole company might be in jeopardy."
"When you say jeopardy what do you mean?" she asked.
"I mean my company is being sabotaged." he said simply.
"Why do you think this?" she questioned taking a sip of her tea and setting it down upon the coffee table.
"It started a couple of weeks ago when my plans for Gringotts was misplaced and not found until ten minutes before my meeting I was to have with the head of the bank." He explained.
"That doesn't justify your thought Mr. Malfoy. Anyone can do that. I've done it. It's a small human mistake everyone makes." she said her expression going blank and her mind settling into business mode.
He seemed a little irked at her remark but she shrugged it off. He could get over it. It's not like she was the little meek shy girl he knew from Hogwarts anymore.
"I don't Miss Watson." he said with a soft growl.
She just raised an eyebrow at him, a retort laying heavily upon her tongue but she bit it back.
"Go on."
"Then a couple days later all the files in my office went missing."
"Did you talk to your secretary?" she asked picturing a blonde with big boobs and a head full of rocks.
"Martha is over 60 and has been working for the company for over thirty years, she would have been fired by now if she had done something like this before I came into the family business." he said, his eyes turning to steel.
Well, that shot down her vision of his secretary.
"Relax Mr. Malfoy," she shrugged, "I'm just making sure the first incidents were closely inspected."
"Well it's the next event that makes me think my company is being sabotaged."
"And that would be?"
"The new broom designs from Quick Silver Brooms were all burned one night."
"Interesting." she commented quietly to herself.
"Interesting?" he questioned.
"Yes, its odd that something that drastic would happen after small things like some files going missing. Do the incidents afterwards get worse? "
He shook his head no. "There was only one more incident after the burning. One of my head chiefs of the production of our new broom, he suddenly fell down the stairs and has yet to recover from his concussion."
"Even with the magic?"
"Even with the magic."
Hermione bit her lip. It did kind of sound like someone was trying to sabotage his company. And by the sound of the injury on one of the head chiefs of Malfoy's company, it sounded kind of serious. She shrugged mentally, she could always hang around the company for a week and get a feel of the whole situation. Besides her schedule was free for the next week, it would keep her busy.
"Well, if its okay with you I can hang around your company for a week and place some protective charms around the place." she offered.
"I don't need some of your wimpy charms or your snooping Miss Watson. I can place my own charms. I know the inner workings of my company better then you. What I need for you is to tell me how to deal with this little problem." he snapped.
Touchy, she thought to herself keeping her expression cool and blank.
"Then I don't know why you're meeting with me Mr. Malfoy, obviously you have the company's problems contained." she shrugged.
"Because I would like your opinion." he breathed through clenched teeth.
"I gave you my opinion Mr. Malfoy, my charms are specially designed for this kind of stuff. They've been tested time and time again and have shown brilliant results. Besides, what you call snooping, I call investigating. And I'm very good at it. But since you seem not to be taking any of what I'm giving you, then I won't waste any more of your time and you mine. Good day Mr. Malfoy." she nodded at him. " If you'll excuse me now, Mr. Philips I shall go check the charms for any indications of tampering." She said standing up and exiting The Golden Parlor.
Henry was standing with the door open for her as she walked out. Obviously he had heard the whole conversation and must have agreed for he had a smile on his face as she walked by. They didn't call her back and she didn't care if they did. That man was infuriating, she had forgotten that part.
"He'll come around Miss Watson. Your little business is widely known up in those high circles. He knows you're one of the best." Henry told her with a kind smile after he had shut the door to the parlor.
"I don't know if I should be grateful about that Henry." she frowned.
Henry just laughed and moved past her, leaving her to her own business.
Hermione moved down the hallway to the first charm she had placed which was in the kitchen. She would work from the back to the front, from the bottom up. It took her no time checking the charms for any tampering. All she had to do was tap the charms and see if they flashed green. If they did then no one had broken in. But if they flashed red then someone had broken in and messed with the charms. A very highly unlikely thing. The only time charms had ever flashed red on her was with her first client, Mrs. Williams, god rest her soul.
The old woman had been kind to her, letting her investigate to see who was stealing her money. And from there the clients just began piling up. It turned out Mrs. Williams was high up there in the wizarding world. She still visited the older woman to this day having had some tough times, Mrs. Williams had been there for her listening to her problems.
She hadn't visited her for two weeks now. Maybe tomorrow she should stop by and see if she wouldn't mind a chat. Yes, that sounded like a good plan for tomorrow afternoon, she thought to herself climbing up the steep stairs to the second floor.
Once on the floor she began her work with the rest of the charms. Having to be careful in these rooms with the more pricey objects. She had almost knocked over a blue vase. The thing had reeked of money. Luckily she had caught it before it had hit the floor and no one had found out about her little episode.
The rest of the rooms she visited were all full of things like that vase. And she was fortunate that she didn't knock over or break any of those items. Nor did she plan to in the future.
Each room went by quickly until she came to the one room that had always had her questioning. It was a dark grey room at the end of the hallway, opposite to Mr. Philips room. Only a couple of paintings, a lone bed and a dresser stood in the room. Had someone lived in the room and died? Sometimes she felt a presence in the room with her. And having grown up at Hogwarts she sure as hell believed in ghosts.
But there was something about the presence in the room that wasn't quite right. Something that set the whole thing off and left her feeling uncomfortable. Was the ghost a bad ghost? That thought had always crossed her mind. And why the ghost hadn't made an appearance had always sent shivers down her spine. Sometimes she even thought it hid from her, waiting in the room to kill her. Odd things always happened in that room to her. Some that could have left her seriously injured.
Like that one time where one of the large paintings in the room flew across the room and almost hit her. Luckily she had ducked to grab her wand that had fallen from her grasp. That little accident had left her shaking. Of course she had said nothing to Henry or Mr. Philips. She thought she had just imagined it because the painting had returned to its original position on the wall in a blink of an eye. But the one after it convinced her quickly that something else was in the room.
The bed had flown up and attacked her. Luckily her reflexes were up to notch since the war with Voldemort. She had quickly yelled a protective barrier in front of herself. The bed had bounced off and crashed to the floor. No one had come to check on her, thank god. She didn't know if she could have explained what had just happened.
God she hoped nothing like that would happen to her today. She was really in no mood today having to put up with Malfoy and Mr. Philips. Between the cheerfulness of her client and the arrogant asshole she use to love, she didn't know which one was worse.
The door to the room was different from the others. She had noticed that the first time she had seen the room. The door was a dark wood, she didn't know which one. And it had an odd design on it, like an etching of some sort. But the drawing was too worn to really tell what it was. The handle to the room was a golden color, something that the other handles weren't.
Taking a deep breath she slowly opened the door and stuck her head in. Seeing nothing flying towards her she continued in at a slow pace. She also kept her wand out in front of her body incase something did fly out and attack her.
"Listen ghost, or whatever you are, I'm not in the mood for any flying objects or something. Just let me check out the charm and be on my way." she called out.
Hearing nothing in reply she moved towards the bed and crawled underneath it to reach the hidden charm. At the time it seemed like a good idea to put the charm underneath the bed. Now it seemed like the worst.
She tapped the charm quickly and watched as it flashed green at her. She sighed gratefully and pulled herself out from underneath the bed. Dust covered her from head to torso and she frowned. Standing up she dusted off the dusk from herself, sneezing a couple of times while she did so.
"Do you usually hide your charms in such secretive places?" a deep voice spoke behind her.
She squeaked and spun around with her wand held out in front of her body once more. But she relaxed once she saw it was only Malfoy. For a second she thought the presence in the room had actually spoken to her.
"Usually I just hide them wherever feels right to me." she shrugged.
He shook his head and moved towards her. She in return took a step back. Malfoy raised an eyebrow and just reached out from where he was standing.
"You had some fuzz in your hair." he muttered showing her.
She nodded.
"Is there some reason you came up here?" she asked clearing her voice after a few moments of silence.
"Yes." he answered stuffing his hands into his pockets. "I was wondering, if your schedule isn't too busy, that you could take on my case?"
"Don't you need to know how much I run for before you ask me that?" Hermione asked.
"I'm not short on money, Miss Watson." he growled.
She held up her hands. "Okay then. When would you like me to come out to the company?"
"Next week would be good." he said.
"It's a deal then."
She held out her hand for Malfoy to shake. He looked at her hands a couple of moments before he took it. She smiled and held onto his hand lightly. But suddenly he jerked back and she saw him wince. She guessed he hadn't seen her ring.
"Sorry." she apologized holding up her hand to show him her ring. "My ring seems to have attacked you."
His eyes zoned in on her ring and then a weird look came into his eyes.
She in return gave him her own weird look.
"Well okay then, I'll see you next week then. If you need to get a hold of me, just give me a call or something." she smiled over her card to him.
He took it gingerly and nodded. "I'll call in and set something up with your secretary."
"Of course." she replied walking past him.
"Good day, Mr. Malfoy." she said over her shoulder before she disappeared out the door.
"Good day Miss... Granger." he whispered to the empty room before he too disappeared out the door.
O.X.o.x.V.x.o.X.O
Author: So we got our two betas, thank god, I can breathe easier now.
-Draco and Hermione are talking in background in hushed voices-
Author: Dear lord what the hell?
Draco: We want a raise.
Author: faints
Lemon: Well this is an interesting development. Oh well, till next time folks.
Hermione: Oh! And review! She might wake up faster.
Draco: Review now mortals or he-who-must-not-be-named will rise to get you!
Hermione: Oh please, give it a rest and let the people review.
Draco: Whatever.
Lemon! Bye till next time!
Lemon: PS thank you to our new beta! She helped BIG time, please stand up and take a bow!
cherryfaerie: -bows-
Lemon: Till next time!