Summary: When Hogwarts announced their need for a new Potions professor, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger were deemed best for the job. Each was desperate to have the job, for different reasons, and since there's only room for one of them… chaos inevitably erupts. DM/HG with hints of RW/PP.
Chapter Two: That Mysterious Conversation at the End of This Chapter
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There were only three things in life that could ruin Draco Malfoy's perfectly pleasant persona: seeing bloody Gryffindors, seeing the holier-than-thou-yes-we're-still-golden-even-after-all-these-years-Golden-Trio, and seeing one of the holier-than-thou-yes-we're-still-golden-even-after-all-these-years-Golden-Trio.
Guess why his perfectly pleasant persona had just been ruined. Just guess.
"Why hello, Hermione Granger," he said, sending her a venomous, deadly smile that he wished was literally lethal so she would drop dead and leave him be. "If you're here to inquire about the job, then better go home – the position's just been filled." Draco widened his smile to reveal gleaming teeth. "By me."
She stood there, with her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide enough to look like saucers on her face. "I—I don't believe it," she muttered. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I believe," he drawled lazily, "that even before you posed that question I already gave you an answer." Seeing the blank look on her face, he continued, "Job, Granger. Does that word ring any bell in your still-bushy head?"
Still with the blank look. "You're applying for the job?"
Draco gave a dramatic shake of his head. "Again, I already gave you an answer to that. What part of 'this position's just been filled by me' didn't you understand?"
"And again with the 'I don't believe it.'" Granger slammed the door behind her, stepped into the room and looked around. "Where's Snape? I'd like to talk some sense into him."
"He's getting my contract. I'm going to sign it, you know." He brandished the quill he held in his hand. "I know that part's pretty clear, even to slow people like you."
She snorted. "Fat chance you are. Snape has to be insane to hire someone like you."
Well, we are talking about Snape here. "Are you saying that you're doubting my ability to impart upon the younger generation the knowledge they need?"
"Hell, yeah." There was that annoyingly smug expression on her face that he'd love to remove. Preferably with his wand.
"What about you, Granger?" he asked, sinking deeper into his seat and making no move whatsoever to offer the empty one beside him. He pocketed his quill. "What made you think you're better suited for the job?"
She spotted the chair and sank on it, anyway. "My qualifications aren't something I'd like to discuss with you, as you are not the person I'm going to impress."
He smirked. "Well, thank your lucky stars I'm not, because I don't think anything you do could impress me."
Granger sighed. "Sod off, Malfoy."
"I will if you'd leave."
She faced him, a small smile lurking at the corners of her lips. "Why? Do you feel threatened by me, that if Snape knew I was applying then he'd give me the job and forget all about you?"
"No, not really," he retorted. "I just feel annoyed because you're… well, here." Draco gave a theatrical sigh. "Granger, Granger. Eleven years hadn't done you any good, did it? Still the vexing know-it-all, I see."
She pursed her lips. "Still the stuck-up prat I remembered you to be."
Not allowing himself to be outdone, he retorted with, "Mudblood."
Granger glared at him. "Merlin, what are you, twelve? It's been years since it stopped being about blood and you know it."
He raised his brow. "I know that. But I also know that calling you 'Mudblood' annoys the hell out of you. Oh, look. There's that pout, the flashing of your eyes, the—"
"Well," came the oily voice of Snape, "isn't this just a sight to see."
Granger jumped to her feet and said, "Professor—"
"I would prefer it if you'd call me 'Severus', Miss Granger," he answered, sending her a deadly glare and walking slowly towards his table.
She blinked. "Severus," came out of her mouth tentatively. "I'm here about the—"
"I don't need you to tell me what you're here for, since there could only be one reason why you are." Snape took his seat.
Draco watched, with an odd, familiar sense of joy as Granger turned an entertainingly pale shade of red. He'd forgotten how much of his childhood bliss came from seeing Snape humiliate a Gryffindor. Thankfully, he was reliving it now.
"Now why don't you sit down, Miss Granger, and tell me why in Merlin's name should I hire a Gryffindor to teach Potions."
She took a deep breath, and words immediately tumbled from her mouth. Draco faked a yawn that Snape caught, and the oily smile on the older man's face told him that the professor wasn't listening to a word she was saying as well.
"—and, with the experience I gained from dealing with children, I know that I could make them understand the complexity and importance of knowing how—"
Just to spite her, Draco faked another yawn that he made sure she saw. Granger rolled her eyes and continued with her useless and highfaluting words.
"—Severus, I assure you that if I get this job, I would be giving my best—"
"Yes, yes, very well," said Snape, waving his hand dismissively in the air. "No need to elaborate." He placed his hands under his chin and studied her intently. "Miss Granger, I believe—"
Suddenly, she leaned forward and gripped the edge of the table so tightly her knuckles were white against her skin. "Please, sir," she said low. "I have another reason why I should have this job."
The desperation in her voice surprised both Draco and Snape. "And what is it, may I ask?"
She cast a look Draco's way. "I—I need to tell you this in private."
He snorted. "Tough luck, because there's no way I'd—"
"Give us a moment, Mr. Malfoy."
Draco looked at him incredulously. "What?"
Snape looked bored as he said, "A moment, Draco. I will call you as soon as Miss Granger is done telling her little secret."
Draco glared at Granger, but it was a wasted effort since she wasn't looking at him. "Fine," he rasped out, slowly rising from his chair.
Before he stepped out of the room, Draco heard Snape cast a silencing spell, and he cursed the old man for not letting him eavesdrop on the conversation.
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"What is it?" Snape drawled, looking very bored as he spoke.
Hermione sighed. "I—I don't want to resort to telling you this, but with you so close to hiring Malfoy I—"
He raised his brows. "And what made you think I was close to hiring him?"
"He—he said you were going to fetch his contract, and—"
"Miss Granger," said Snape slowly, "are you saying that I am biased? That I was going to hire the first person to walk in here without wanting to see the others?"
"No! It's just that—"
"Your secret, Miss Granger. I'd like to know it now please, before I think that you are deliberately trying to invent this secret of yours to manipulate me into hiring you."
I wish he'd let me finish a sentence! Hermione resisted the urge to glare at him, and instead took her bag to retrieve an envelope from it. "Here," she said. "Read it, and you'll know why I just have to get this job."
Snape took the letter from her and read it. His eyes widened slightly, and before long the letter was handed back to her. "Someone's stalking you," he stated.
"Yes." She frowned. "It started happening about three weeks ago. I was still employed as the Runes Translator for the Ministry, and almost on a regular basis that letter kept coming to me. I—I tried everything I could to discover who sent it: locator spells, handwriting tracers, even hunting the owl delivering it, but—" Hermione shrugged helplessly.
"Have you tried alerting the authorities? Or Mr. Potter, perhaps?"
She couldn't miss the malice in his voice as he said Harry's name. "My friends know about this, but they can't do anything as well. And believe me, we tried everything."
Snape furrowed his brows. "Forgive me, but I still don't see the reason why I should give you the job just because someone's stalking you."
You would if you have anything resembling a heart! Desperation clawed at her as she lifted the letter. "This is the reason I resigned from the Ministry. Whoever wrote that knows I'm working there, and I know that working at Hogwarts would help avert the threats to my life. Please Sn—Severus. Give me a chance. All I need is some time to figure out who's behind this, and after I do, you're free to hire anyone to replace me – even Malfoy."
His eyes rallied back and forth from the letter to her face. He took out his wand. "Finite Incantatem." He replaced it in his robes. "Mr. Malfoy, you can come in now."
Seconds later, Malfoy stepped into the room. He slipped on the chair beside her without a word.
Snape looked at him, then at her. "I'm still not convinced," he began.
From the corner of her eye she could see that Malfoy was grinning triumphantly, and he sent her a smirk that she would love to erase. Preferably with her foot.
Her face fell. "But—"
"Do not interrupt me." Snape stood and paced. "As I was saying, I'm still not convinced why I should hire one of you."
Malfoy's face fell as well. "What?" he squawked. "But Snape—"
"Severus."
"Snape," he repeated intentionally, "you told me I didn't need to elaborate on my credentials because you thought I was perfect for the job!"
"You are," Snape affirmed. Hermione rolled her eyes. "But with Miss Granger's condition… complicating matters, shall we say, and the undeniable fact that you're both applying for this job because of self-serving reasons, I am torn."
Malfoy looked every inch like a person with his dignity questioned. "Self-serving matters? Of course not. I'm merely doing this for the sake of the children whose lives I'm going to touch."
"How… unselfish of you."
"More like sickening," she muttered under her breath.
Snape chose to ignore her. "But I cannot overlook the fact that you, Draco, want this job because of certain needs that you feel this profession could fulfill."
Hermione raised her brows and looked at Malfoy, who was pointedly ignoring her as well. What needs are those, I wonder?
"You are both equally suited for the job." Snape waited for reactions to this statement. Hermione was doing her best to not rebuke it, since she and Malfoy were definitely not equals on any level. And judging from the look on his face, he was clearly thinking the same thing. "All right," Snape said, his expression like that of a person doing the greatest sacrifice of his life. "I'm going to give you both a chance to handle this position."
"Both of us?" she and Malfoy blurted out at the same time. They exchanged deadly glares afterwards.
"Yes. Both of you. Now, here are my terms…"
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"Where are they now?"
"Hogwarts."
"Wonderful. So everything's working out as planned?"
"Perfectly well, I'd say. As you ordered, the ad in the Daily Prophet was erased just after the two of them read it. I can assure you that no one else got hold of that job opening."
"And Snape?"
"He's doing everything he's told to. He's explaining our terms to them as we speak."
"And Draco and that… that woman, what's her name?"
"Hermione. Hermione Granger."
"Ah, yes. Her. She's the Muggleborn witch, right? Yes. Very well. Are we assured that they're both going to accept our terms?"
A pause. "They should. After all, they were both driven to the brink of desperation. They'd do anything to get that job."
A chuckle. "And desperate they both are. I can't wait to see how this turns out. A lesson to both of them, I know this will be."
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Author's Notes: Hooray! Thank you to those who reviewed the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed this as well. Stay tuned for the next one, okay? ;)
