Hidden Agenda Chapter 5: Back to Work, a harry potter fanfic

Back to work

'Um…Minister…'

Hermione looked up from her work to see her personal assistant, Colin Creevey, peeking from her office doorway.

'Sorry to interrupt, but he's here…again.'

Hermione gave Colin a fixed smile. Over the past four days, Draco Malfoy had, without fail, shown up at the Ministry with the request to see the Minister of Magic. Hermione had also, without fail, refused to see him.

'You know the drill, Colin.'

Colin gave a small nod and disappeared from the door.

Hermione tried to get back to her work, but after she blotted the parchment for the third time, she put her quill down. Despite the constant rejection, Draco had adamantly insisted on waiting until such time as the Minister was free to see him, and only left each day when the Ministry closed to visitors. Hence, Hermione had had to put up with Draco's continuous presence in her Ministry for the past four days. Needless to say, it had not been a very productive week. She should have known it wouldn't be easy avoiding Draco, particularly after what Hermione now referred to as 'the reception'.

After the horrific episode at the reception, Greg had kindly taken Hermione home. As usual, he had tried to invite himself in, but pleading illness, Hermione had sent him off home. Once she closed the door, Hermione had pulled at the steel band on her wedding finger. She had pushed thoughts of how it could have possibly sat on her finger without her notice for so long, to the furthermost corners of her mind. All she wanted was to get the damned thing off.

The ring caught against her knuckle, but Hermione wrenched it determinedly. She gasped as it finally came off, flexing her fingers against the pain. Hermione refused to think about it, so strode into her bedroom and dropped it into the drawer of her bedside table. She gratefully peeled off her torture device of a dress and padded into the bathroom in her underwear.

As Hermione turned on the tap of her shower, she noticed her hand was trembling. She was utterly unsettled, and she knew Draco's ring was entirely to blame. Hermione felt somewhat overwhelmed by the irrational fear that had suddenly settled on her. Though she hadn't taken note of the ring over the past years, now she had taken it off she felt as if something was missing. Unable to shake the feeling, Hermione flicked the taps off, pulled on her dressing gown and walked back out to her room.

Without understanding her own actions, Hermione found herself rummaging through her chest of drawers until she came across a long chain. She reached into the bedside table for the ring and strung it onto the chain, before slipping the necklace over her head. Tucking the chain underneath her dressing gown, the ring fitted snugly against the valley of her breasts.

As she fiddled with the chain now, Hermione thought she had been right to slip the ring onto a chain. It sat invisibly under her work robe, but the metal that dug into her chest provided her with a constant reminder of Draco's desertion. With Draco unwilling to fade pleasantly into the background she couldn't afford to forget it.

Another knock at her door pulled Hermione out of her thoughts. This time Colin walked into the office with a piece of folded parchment in his hand.

'Mr Malfoy wanted me to give you this, Minister,' he said, and waited as Hermione took the note and read it.

How long will you run and hide?

Hemrione ground her back teeth, 'Send him in!'

Colin jumped in surprise before scurrying out to oblige. Hermione crumpled the note in her hand. If he had the nerve to swagger into her office she would damn the consequences and punch him in the nose.

Much to her disappointment, he didn't swagger; Draco simply followed Colin into the office wearing an unreadable expression. Hermione waited until Colin left the room, before she barked, 'What do you want with me, Draco?'

'What do I want with you? My, my, someone's getting a tad pompous, aren't they?' Draco uttered sardonically, 'Contrary to popular belief, Hermione, the world does not revolve around you.'

Hermione's eyes flashed with anger and Draco had to fake a cough to hide his smile. She pulled herself to full height in her chair and picked up her quill, holding it tightly.

'Be that as it may, Mr Malfoy, but I am the Minister of Magic. Thus this Ministry and anything within the bounds of this Ministry does revolve around me. And I would prefer it if you would revolve around me at a more prudent distance. Get out Draco. You've wasted enough of my time. I don't want to see you in my Ministry again.'

'So I suppose a job at the Ministry would be out of the question, then?'

The quill in Hermione's hand snapped under her tightened grip. She swore softly as the brittle plume cut into her palm. Without a word, Draco stood and grasped her cut hand in his. Their eyes met and Draco raised his eyebrows at her, as if daring her to pull away. When Hermione didn't move, Draco drew her hand towards his lips. She could feel the heat of his breath on her fingers as he whispered unintelligibly. Hermione struggled to fight the childish urge to pull her hand away but before she could say anything, Draco's whispers stopped. He folded her hand into a fist and Hermione pulled it back sharply, avoiding his piercing stare. She brushed her fingers over her newly healed palm, frowning in confusion. When Hermione looked up at Draco, she saw that his gaze had flickered to her unadorned left hand. Completely unbidden, whispers of Draco's decade-old words came to mind: Received upon birth; removed only in death.

Hermione had long speculated about how Draco had managed to remove the ring. Nevertheless, she still had to stifle a gasp when she looked down to his hand and noticed for the first time that Draco's index finger was indeed missing.

Draco's entire demeanor seemed to change as he noticed the direction of her gaze. With a fixed smile, Draco reached into the folds of his black robes and pulled out a flattened scroll of parchment, throwing it onto Hermione's desk. Hermione simple stared at the scroll that rolled in front of her, making no move to pick it up.

'So I guess I'll be seeing you around…Minister.' With a curt nod, Draco turned to leave.

'No, you won't Draco,' Hermione stood up and growled, but he had already left the room.

Drawing a deep breath in order to calm herself down, Hermione sat back into her chair and looked down again at her completely healed palm. She didn't want to think about how Draco had done it. She didn't want to think about Draco, full stop. She allowed herself a frustrated yell and a good hard thump on the table before she regained her composure. She knew she should simply sweep Draco's scroll away and return to her work, but curiosity got the better of her. Conjuring herself a cup of tea, Hermione reached out for the wrinkled parchment and unrolled it.

As she scanned the contents of the scroll, the cup in her hand trembled, spilling tea everywhere. Quickly placing the cup safely back onto the desk, Hermione cleaned up the mess with a flick of her wand, before storming towards her fireplace. Reaching into the pot sitting on the mantel, she grabbed a handful of green powder and threw it into the fire.

'Harry! Get in here now!' she stuck her head directly into the now-green flames and screamed the command. As Hermione glared at the fireplace, jaw clenched, a large shape appeared and seconds later, Harry Potter was clambering out of the fireplace, shaking the ash from his robes.

'You summoned?' he smiled but upon seeing the ferocious expression on Hermione's face, the grin slipped. Harry held up his hands in a defensive gesture, 'Hey, I'm a newly wedded man. You can do me no harm. You wouldn't want to leave poor Ginny a widow, now would you?'

'I'm certainly contemplating it,' Hermione said gravely.

'Ouch, Hermione,' he laughed as he thumped his chest with a fist. However, when his friend didn't reply, Harry finally realized that this meeting was a serious one. 'What's wrong?'

With a hardened expression on her face, Hermione all but threw the scroll of parchment at Harry. 'I want you to explain this to me.'

'They look like references to me, Hermione,' he said quietly as he read the scroll.

'Don't play games with me, Harry. I expect better of you.'

'What do you want me to say?'

'I want the truth, Harry! I want to know why this is the first time I have been informed of Draco Malfoy's interference with Auror matters. Why, as the head of the Auror division, you failed to inform me that my Aurors have been saved on countless missions by an outsider!'

'It started five years ago, before you were Minister…'

'But it didn't end five years ago.'

'Would you just listen, Hermione,' Harry shouted back at her in frustration. Hermione pursed her lips and turned to take a seat. Harry followed suit.

'As I was saying, it started five years ago. You remember Kingsley's last investigation? He was on the verge of retirement and we were tracking a series of muggle attacks and rapes. He'd finally tracked it down to a former death eater, surprise, surprise. It should have been a cut and dry case and Kingsley wanted to handle it himself, but I wouldn't let him. When we got there, it was too much for even the two of us. It wasn't, as we had suspected, just the one warlock but a group of them. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Malfoy taking each of them down. He literally saved our lives…'

'And you didn't think –.' Hermione demanded, but clamped her mouth shut again after a hard glare from Harry.

'I'm not stupid, Hermione. Of course I was suspicious of his motives. I thought he'd definitely use the episode against me, but he just disappeared. I'd seen how shattered you were when he left you, so there was no way in hell I was going to tell you. Over the years we had a few close shaves, and Draco kept turning up at the opportune moment like some ugly Superman. The man saved my life twice, and all he asked for in return was that I didn't tell you.'

'And you trust him?'

'Whether I trust him or not is between Draco and myself,' Harry said quietly, 'If Draco's asking you for a position as an Auror, you're going to have to make that decision for yourself. But I'm asking you to put your personal feelings aside and keep in mind that we are in serious need of decent Aurors. We've been understaffed for years, and for you to turn away a perfect candidate because of personal misgivings would be folly.'

Hermione rubbed at her temples as she comprehended the truth in Harry's words; much as she hated to agree. 'I should have you suspended for with-holding information,' she muttered.

'At least, I'd be able to take Ginny on that honeymoon she wanted.'

Hermione reached out to take Draco's scroll back from Harry. Her eyes scanned the contents once more before she threw it on her desk.

'Fine! If he has been such a great help to the Ministry these past years, why not let him join up?' she uttered, 'Tell Malfoy that he has a position as an Auror under your supervision, and Harry…if anything goes wrong –.'

'Tell him yourself, Hermione. You can't avoid him forever,' he interrupted softly, 'Right now, I'm heading home to my wife and we're going to Bora Bora.'

Hermione scoffed at that. As if Harry ever willingly took more than a day off work. Harry turned to leave the office (in the conventional manner) but stopped at the door.

'Listen, Hermione. I'm sorry. I realize now that I should have told you, regardless of whether you were ready to hear it or not.'

Hermione saw the sadness in his eyes, and felt guilty for heaping her mixed emotions on her friend.

'Get out of here, Harry,' she said with a smile, 'Before I really suspend you.'

As soon as he shut her door, Hermione summoned Colin into her office.

I want you to track Draco Malfoy's every move over the past ten years. Get it to me as soon as possible,' she commanded.

She needed all the ammunition she could get.

On Friday morning, Draco arrived at the Ministry at his now usual time of 10:30am. However, contrary to his previous visits, today he was sent straight into the Minister's office. He sat down before a tense looking Hermione, and smiled.

'I'm glad you've finally come to your senses.'

'Gods, Draco, must you drawl every single word? Why do you have to sound so damned cocky all the time?' Hermione snapped.

Draco's eyes narrowed dangerously but he chose to ignore her comment.

'I assume this meeting is not for you to enjoy the pleasure of my company, but to discuss my wish for a position at this Ministry,' he said tersely, 'So let's get straight to the point. It's hardly recondite work, Minister. I may lack any formal qualifications but I make up for that in experience: if you would consult my references.'

'Oh, I've done more than consult your references, Mr Malfoy. I'm well aware of your "experience". You've been tracked from Tibet to Tasmania trading as a mercenary. Not to mention your interference in Auror affairs.'

'My so-called interference saved the lives of many of your Aurors. They certainly appreciated my interference.'

'Nonetheless, your family history and track record for disappearing hardly gives you credence.'

Hermione had wanted to see how far she could push Draco, but as soon as the comment was out of her mouth she knew she had gone too far. Draco stared back at her gravely before standing up out of his seat.

'You've clearly already made your decision, Minister. I sincerely hope I haven't wasted too much of your time or distracted you with my presence this past week.'

As Draco strode towards the door, Hermione closed her eyes against the guilt she felt. This was an entirely professional decision; she shouldn't have let her personal feelings interfere.

'Wait!' she sighed, 'I apologize. That comment was out of hand.' Hermione waited for him to turn around before she continued, 'Report to the Aurors division on Monday. Like all Aurors you'll begin with a trial period under the supervision of Mr Potter.'

He responded with a brusque nod before turning again towards the door.

'Be aware, Draco, that I did not make this decision lightly and Harry won't be the only one watching you.'

'Waiting for me to slip up right?' he muttered softly, 'Well, you're in for some disappointment, Hermione.'

'I'll only be disappointed if you make me regret my decision to hire you, Malfoy,' Draco didn't respond. He'd already left the room.

Hermione suppressed a strong urge to throw something at her closed door. Draco was getting far too used to walking out on her.

A/N: I'd like to say a gargantuan thank you to all my readers, especially those of you who have been reviewing. It's y'all that truly motivate me to keep writing (And I think you know how much motivation I need). Thank you again. I really hope you enjoy this chapter. It was one of the first chapters I wrote for this storyline (thus explaining why it hasn't taken me five weeks to update ;0)) in a sudden burst of inspiration.