Bad Luck Chapter One

A young woman strode purposefully down a busy street in the Central Wizarding District of London. She had a cup of coffee in her left hand that she was sipping occasionally and in her right hand she held a folder filled with important looking documents.

She looked to be in her early twenties and was dressed in a crisp, fitted suit jacket and a pair of beige tailored pants. She had long, wavy brown hair with subtle golden highlights and a sprinkle of freckles on her otherwise clear skin. She wasn't particularly pretty – instead her attractiveness was due to the air of self-confidence and independence that she radiated, which most of the young women of her age seemed to lack.

Her name was Hermione Granger.

She crossed a side street and then entered her office building through a revolving door. She smiled at the security wizard who was stationed in the lobby.

"Good morning, Frank." She greeted.

"Mornin' Ms. Granger!" He replied heartily.

She waved goodbye to him as she stepped into the elevator and the doors closed. She hummed to herself as she pressed the button for her floor and a cool female voice sounded in the elevator.

"You are now leaving the Lobby."

As the elevator rushed upwards at an amazing speed, the young woman flicked through her folder to check that it was all in order. She stepped out of the elevator as the doors opened for her and once again she heard the voice,

"You are now at the Legal Department, on the 72nd Floor. Enjoy your day."

A smile graced her features again as she entered the office, thinking to herself how lucky she was to even be here, working in this prestigious company. She absolutely loved her job as a lawyer and to be working as one in Macmillan International was a dream come true.

It was a company currently headed by Ernie Macmillan, her former schoolmate at Hogwarts and had been passed onto him by his father after he had graduated. When Hermione had finished her Wizarding law degree, Ernie had immediately offered her a job in the Legal Department at his esteemed company, which she accepted happily. She had realised that Law was the right career choice for her due to her work for S.P.E.W – fighting for justice for the House Elves and now she was being paid a handsome salary to do what she loved.

She was quite satisfied with her life at the moment – she owned a nice apartment, she still close to her best friends, Harry and Ron and she really enjoyed her job, which was quite uncommon in the modern society.

The only thing that was missing in her life was romance.

Hermione sighed.

She didn't like to think about it, and she frequently overworked herself to avoid facing the reality that she was alone in this world, in a sense. Her friends were always there for her but always teased her about being a workaholic – not that anything had changed since Hogwarts. She smiled at the thought of her best friends Harry and Ron, two of the best Aurors that the Ministry had ever seen and was looking forward to meeting up with them after work that night to catch up.

She thought that today was shaping up to be another enjoyable day as she offloaded her folder onto her sturdy mahogany desk and allowed herself a moment to gaze out of her window down into the bustling street below. She felt so accomplished, successful and satisfied with her position in the world.

Yes, apart from the lack of romance, life was good for Hermione Granger.

Unfortunately, her perfect life was just about to come crashing down around her.

Hermione was hard at work when her boss, Ernie Macmillan sent a flying memo down to her office. She was slightly puzzled since she and Ernie hardly had contact with each other unless there was a major legal issue to be dealt with or something really bad had happened. It was not the former, so that meant that something catastrophic must have happened to him or god forbid, to Macmillan International.

She accepted the memo rather apprehensively but it was too vague for her to work out why he had sent it in the first place.

Hermione,

Please come up to my office ASAP. I need to discuss something with you.

Ernie.

Within seconds, she was already in the elevator again and before the doors closed she got a glimpse of the rest of the Legal Department, all working diligently as though nothing was wrong. Hermione tried to calm herself down – after all, what could possibly be wrong with one of the Wizarding World's most powerful companies? Maybe she was just overreacting to Ernie's memo, perhaps he only wanted to discuss a trivial issue with her like what colour tie he should wear with his shirt or something…

The door opened at the 100th floor of the building and Hermione stepped out into the waiting area outside Ernie's office. A prim looking secretary sat behind a desk overflowing with paperwork and was filing documents when she entered.

"Oh, hello Ms. Granger. Mr. Macmillan said to let you in straight away – just knock and enter." The secretary said kindly, gesturing to the door.

Hermione smiled politely at her and then took a deep breath before rapping crisply on the door.

It opened almost immediately and a hassled looking Ernie appeared.

"Hermione! Excellent – I see that you got my memo. Do come in." He said pompously.

She obliged and stepped into his office, closing the door behind her.

"Good morning, Ernie. What did you want to discuss?" asked Hermione briskly, not wanting to be held in suspense any further over the matter.

"Ah. Perhaps you'd like to sit down before I say anything?" Ernie replied, motioning to the chair on the other side of the desk from him.

Hermione took a seat and then looked expectantly at her boss.

"Well?"

"Well…I don't know where to start." Ernie said nervously.

"The beginning would be a good place to start." Hermione responded sarcastically.

Ernie sighed.

"Okay, well over the weekend I received a letter from…an old acquaintance. It contained some sensitive content about our time at Hogwarts, my personal life since then and even about this company that I would not like the rest of the Wizarding World knowing about."

"I think I can see where this is going. You're being blackmailed and you want me to help get you out of this?" Hermione interrupted.

"Actually, you're only half right for once, Hermione." Ernie chuckled humorlessly.

She couldn't stop a scowl coming to her face at that comment and he took the hint, and continued on with the story.

"I am being blackmailed but that's not why I asked you to come up here today. The person who sent me that letter had a proposal for me – allow their company to take over Macmillan International and all the evidence that they had of my…personal affairs would be destroyed. I know that this may sound completely ridiculous, but I agreed to that offer."

"What!" Hermione exclaimed, "How could you do that, Ernie! Surely whatever was in that letter couldn't be worth what Macmillan International is worth to you and your family?"

"I absolutely cannot let the contents of that letter leak out to the public otherwise my reputation is irreparably damaged, Hermione. By allowing the blackmailer to take over this company, I am saving my own neck as well as all of my employees'. I'm doing it for the sake of the company and its not like I'm going to leave MacMillan International – I will just be sharing the power with someone else." Ernie explained.

"I still don't understand why you're telling me this if you don't need my advice on the matter. I was much better off not knowing the reason for the imminent takeover of the company." Said Hermione indignantly.

"Well the thing is that the blackmailer happens to be an old acquaintance of both of us. I thought that it would be best for you to find out his identity before the rest of the company did." Ernie replied softly.

And at that moment, as if on cue, the door opened and a man stood framed in the doorway.

The first thing that you noticed about him was that he was fairly tall and had a subtly toned body. The second thing that you noticed was his uncommonly pale skin and his distinctive facial features.

He had silvery blond hair that was no longer gelled back as it had been in his schoolboy days, but hung freely around his face now. His face had become more mature, but was still pointy (or chiseled, depending on your preference) and his trademark smirk was in place, as usual.

"Draco Malfoy." Hermione gasped in complete astonishment.

She hadn't seen him since their graduation from Hogwarts five years ago and to have him standing there now, barely a few meters away from her caused unbidden memories to come back to her.

"Oh, Granger. What a pleasant surprise." He acknowledged icily in response.

"No…it can't be…" Hermione muttered to herself, looking pleadingly at Ernie for an explanation.

"Erm, yes. This is the new head of Macmillan International, Hermione. You do remember Draco Malfoy don't you? He was in Slyther-"

"That's quite enough, Macmillan. Granger obviously hasn't forgotten me in a hurry – there is no need for you to re-introduce us. Now if you'll excuse us, Macmillan, Granger and I need to have a little talk." Draco interrupted coolly.

Ernie attempted to glare at Draco but failed miserably – acknowledging that he was in no position to argue with the new head of the company. Hermione was slightly puzzled as to why Malfoy wanted to talk with her, but composed herself as well as she could.

"I'll just be waiting outside to talk things over with you later then, Malfoy." Ernie mumbled as he closed the door behind him.

Draco smirked as the door shut before turning his attention to the shocked young woman sitting before him. She hadn't changed much since Hogwarts – she'd matured physically but other than that, he could still see the feisty spirit that she had been known for at school. He was equally surprised to see her here but unlike her, he was enjoying every bit of tension that came with being in the same room as one of his former enemies after so long.

"W-what are you doing here!" Hermione burst out angrily.

"I am the new head of Macmillan International, Granger. I thought that was fairly obvious already." Draco replied smartly.

"Oh don't act so smug about it. Ernie told me how you blackmailed him into it." Hermione spat.

"Well blackmailing is only a means to an end. I was only trying to expand my business empire – nothing more." Draco answered calmly.

"Oh, so you weren't satisfied with your own company's performance so you're taking over Ernie's! Just because it's better than your stupid Malfoy Incorporated doesn't mean you have to come barging in to control it!" Hermione said shrilly.

"I wanted this company, Granger. Now, I have it – and nothing that you say can make me feel guilty about it or change the fact that I am now your boss." Draco's smirk broadened into a malevolent grin.

Hermione's eyes widened – as she hadn't really considered that he now had authority over her in the corporate environment.

"Well then, Malfoy - I quit. I would rather die than give you the chance to boss me around." She snapped at him fierily.

Draco arched his eyebrow at this response. He had expected her to be angry over the turning of tables but she was reacting more dramatically that he had thought she would. Then as he surveyed her thoughtfully, an idea began to form in his mind…

"Suit yourself, Granger. If you want to leave, then leave. Just don't expect any mercy when you come groveling back to me, regretting your decision." Draco drawled.

Hermione glared at him before saying,

"Don't stay up waiting for me to come back, Malfoy – because it's not going to happen! Good riddance!"

Then she stormed out of Ernie's former office, leaving a very amused Draco Malfoy behind.

A/N: Yay! Finally a new story! This story is different from my other two stories because I try to aim for a different setting each time for Hermione and Draco. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed that chapter and please review so I can see if I should bother continuing on with this story.

Thanks!

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