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Chapter 4

When Draco woke up the next morning, he found himself thinking about all that had occurred the previous night. Go figure that it would be his dead mother and some sarcastic ghosts that would flip his world upside-down.

Things had been going fine in his life, not great but well enough. He was CEO of a company; he was rich and could get just about everything he wanted. Everything but the one thing he had always wanted most. Damn Granger, he thought. He'd always liked her; he just never could show it.

Growing up, things had been tough for him, much tougher than you would imagine life could be for somebody like Draco. People like Hermione seemed to think that he was served everything he could ever want on a silver platter. Not that that wasn't always true, but growing up the son, and only heir of the Malfoy's wasn't always a joy ride.

It'd been instilled in his head, practically since birth that muggleborns were just filth, and not worth associating with. He'd spent the greater part of his childhood believing just that. It wasn't until he went to Hogwarts that he saw just how wrong that was. Hermione showed that to him, she just didn't realize it.

She always beat him in everything, except potions of course, but that was only because he was Snape's godson and was favored by him. Not only did she have the top grades, but she was also a muggleborn. It contradicted everything his father had ever taught him.

In school, Draco had always had to act the way he did to her, not because he wanted to though, but because he had no other choice in the matter. If his father had found out that he was in love with a mudblood, things wouldn't have been good. It was safer for everyone if he kept what he felt hidden.

Draco laughed bitterly to himself. He had done a pretty good job of it too. Not only did Hermione hate him, but she also slapped him in 3rd year, quite a job that had done to his ego.

Up until this point, Draco had been somewhat content with letting things stay as they were. He'd always assumed that Hermione, being who she was, and being the brightest witch Hogwarts had seen in many years, had already settled down with someone, and was living a rich, fulfilling life. Quite a shock it came to him to see that her life was no walk in the park. He could only imagine what it must be like for her. Not only was she a single mother raising a young child, but her fiancée had also been killed in the war, and her father had died of a stroke. And of course, not getting a raise in all of the time that she had been working for the ministry couldn't have helped at all.

Draco had resolved to himself that he wasn't just going to settle for how things were between them now. He was now more determined than ever to change the long-standing animosity that existed between himself and Hermione. First though, he needed to talk to Blaise and figure out some way that he could offer Hermione a job, without her declining. With the way things stood between himself and Hermione at the moment, he couldn't be sure that she'd accept. Jacob had said that Blaise was friends with Ginny. Draco would have to talk to him later about offering Hermione a job. He wasn't sure what he was going to tell him though. He was still debating whether or not to inform him about the visits he was getting from the ghosts. Wizarding world or not, traveling through time with ghosts was a pretty strange ordeal.

Draco looked down at his magical wristwatch that he was wearing.

"Damn it!" he swore when he saw the time. He had exactly seven minutes to get to a meeting. He jumped out of bed and threw on some of his finest dress robes. He didn't even have time to eat before going. He didn't even realize how caught up in his thoughts he had become. He had been up early, solely for the purpose of having enough time to prepare himself for his meeting.

By the time that Draco found himself in the meeting room, it was almost exactly eight, which was when the meeting began.

Draco hated meetings. Rarely did they tell him something that he didn't already know. It was even worse being CEO of the company at times like these, because he was the first person that the people in the meetings would look to when they needed answers. The first hour or so of the meeting went exactly as Draco had expected it would. Nothing important was said, or at least nothing that he would consider important enough to be discussed in a meeting. Finally towards the end of the meeting, Blaise said something that almost made Draco spit out the coffee he had been drinking.

"Claire Penworthy is pregnant and is leaving her job to become a stay at home mother."

"She's what?" Draco sputtered.

"She's pregnant," Blaise repeated calmly.

"Why am I just hearing about this now?" Draco asked furiously.

"We just found out this morning." Blaise said. "We'll need to find somebody to take her place."

Draco groaned. This day was not starting off good. He may not of liked Claire all that much, but she was one of the reasons that Malfoy Inc. was doing as good as it was. She may have been one of the biggest airheads that he had ever met in his life, but even Draco had to admit, that when it came to work she was smart. Draco was surprised to learn when he had first met her, that she had been valedictorian of Beauxbatons. But once he had seen her working, he knew just why she was. She was smart, really smart and cunning too. He had seen her make deals with clients that Draco himself had thought impossible. Now they would need to replace her. It would be impossible to find someone as good, unless…

"Zabini, I need to talk to you after the meeting." Draco said. "I think I may know who we can get as a replacement for Penworthy."

Blaise looked suspicious but nodded and turned back to the other people in the meeting.

Once the meeting was over- "And a good riddance too," grumbled Draco- Blaise came over to talk to him in his office.

"So you said you know somebody we can get as a replacement for Penworthy?" Blaise asked his friend. He was a bit suspicious, especially since Draco had come to that conclusion barely a minute after he had found out that she was leaving in the first place.

Draco nodded. "Do you remember Granger, from Hogwarts?" He asked Blaise.

"Hermione Granger? Valedictorian our graduating year?" Blaise asked his friend.

Draco nodded.

"That's who you want to replace Penworthy with?" Blaise inquired. "She was top of our grade. Don't you think that she already has some job with some large company or something?"

"Actually," Draco told Blaise, "I've found out that she's working in a small department in the Ministry of Magic, and hasn't had a raise since she began working there."

"How would you know this?" Blaise asked skeptically.

"It's a long story, a very long story."

Blaise was curious to know more, but didn't inquire further. "Alright then," Blaise said, "But what makes you think she's going to say yes to you. Didn't she hate you in school?"

"She did," Draco said, his trademark smirk appearing on his face, "And that's precisely the reason that she's not going to say no to me. I'm not going to convince her to work for us, you are."

"And how exactly do you propose I do that?"

"You're friends with Harry and Ginny Potter, correct?" Draco asked.

"Yes, but I don't quite see where this is going." Blaise replied.

"And who's Granger friends with? Think Zabini, who did she hang out with in school?"

"Are you proposing that I use my friendship with the Potters to try and convince Granger to work for us?"

"Well, sort of." Draco admitted, "But I don't it'll take too much convincing. Once she sees the paycheck I think she'll agree. I just don't want her to think that we're not serious about this, and that is why I want you to become friends with her first."

"Fine," Zabini grumbled, "But why is it that I still think there's more to it than what you're telling me?"

"Because," Draco responded, "You're paranoid. Now get back to work, and remember, if you don't get Granger to accept this job offer, it'll be your head." Draco said coolly.

Blaise rolled his eyes as he walked out of his office. Malfoy was something else all right. Blaise smirked. Sometimes he thought that maybe Draco would be in a better mood if he could just get a life, and Blaise was going to help him do that, he just needed to figure out how.

After the workday had ended, Zabini decided to send a letter to the Potters. Zabini pulled out a quill and some ink and began writing. He would send it out with his owl Da Vinci. Hopefully somebody would be home to get the letter. The sooner that he got Hermione to accept, the better it was for him. Lately it seemed, Draco wasn't in the best of moods, and keeping him waiting for something didn't seem like the greatest idea.

Harry or Ginny,

When you get this letter, please reply back A.S.A.P. I need to talk to you about something concerning your good friend Hermione Granger.

-Blaise

Blaise rolled up the piece of parchment and attached it to Da Vinci's leg. "Take this to the Potter's house." He told his owl, "And be quick about it."

Da Vinci hooted in response and set off to bring Blaise's letter to the Potters. Content, Blaise went off to do other things while he waited for a response.

Meanwhile, at the Potter's house, Ginny was home attempting to cook dinner the Muggle way in the kitchen. Ginny jumped up as the fire alarm began going off.

Ginny quickly doused the smoke with her wand, and pulled her charred chicken out of the oven. In the midst of trying to clean up the mess, Ginny saw a small brown owl waiting outside her window, a letter attached to its leg.

Putting down the chicken on the counter, Ginny went to go let in the small owl.

"I recognize you." Ginny said aloud. "You're Blaise's owl aren't you? Da Vinci?"

The owl hooted. Ginny untied the letter and quickly read through it. She scribbled a short response and attached it to Da Vinci's leg. "Take that back to Blaise," She said. "Oh and wait, before you go," Ginny ran off into another room and came back with an owl treat, "Here you go," she said with a smile. The owl devoured the treat before returning back home.

Now that the owl had flown off, Ginny turned back to the mess she faced in the kitchen.

"Oh dear," she said surveying the damage. The chicken was now black and burnt to a crisp and the room was still filled with wisps of black smoke. The kitchen was also covered in water, the product of Ginny's attempt to put out the chicken that was on fire.

"Now I know why it is so much easier cooking the wizarding way. I guess I'll just have to use magic to make something for dinner tonight." She said to herself.

Back at Blaise's house, he sat reading The Daily Prophet as he waited for Da Vinci to return. It hadn't even been ten minutes, before Da Vinci returned with a response.

Blaise thanked the owl and read Ginny's reply.

Blaise,

I'm not busy tonight if you would like to join me for dinner at my house. Harry won't be back until later tonight, as he's working the late shift at work, but I can try and help you with whatever it is that you need to discuss.

-Ginny

P.S. You don't need to respond unless you can't come; otherwise I'll be expecting you.

After reading the letter, Blaise went to prepare himself for dinner. Blaise threw some floo powder, and after stepping inside his fireplace, yelled out 'The Potter Residence'.

When Blaise stepped out of the fireplace into the Potter's home he was surprised to hear Ginny yelling in the kitchen.

Curious, he went to go see what was going on. What he saw as he stepped inside the kitchen was definitely a sight to see.

From what Blaise could see, it looked like Ginny was in the middle of setting out places for dinner when her cat Chestnut ran in. Of course that wasn't the only thing that ran into the house. Chestnut ran in carrying a dead mouse in his mouth, and was also soaking wet from the snow and slush outside. Following the cat was Harry's dog James who was chasing the cat, and was also covered in mud and slush. The two animals ran around the kitchen tracking a huge mess all over Ginny's once clean floor. Ginny appeared to be trying to shoo the dirty animals back outside by means of an ordinary broom, and from what Blaise could see, it didn't appear to be working all that well. Blaise decided to intervene before things got much worse.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Blaise whispered quietly, levitating both the dog, cat and dead mouse back outside. He said another spell and the kitchen returned back to new.

Ginny turned around embarrassed that Blaise saw her pitiful attempt at getting the animals out of the house. Blaise gave her a warm smile, and began laughing.

"Thank you," Ginny said to him. "I must have forgotten that I was a witch for a second."

"No problem," replied Blaise.

"Sit down," Ginny said. "Dinner should be ready in a minute, unless I have any more interruptions." She laughed as she said that.

Once the dinner had been set out, thankfully not burnt this time Ginny began talking to Blaise.

"You said in your letter that you needed to talk to me about Hermione?" Ginny began.

Blaise nodded. "You do know that I work at Malfoy Inc.?" he asked her.

"Yeah."

"Well, today we found out that Claire Penworthy, one of our best employees is leaving to have a baby and become a stay at home mother, and now we need somebody to fill the position. Draco, he's CEO as I'm sure you obviously could of guessed, wants to offer the job to Granger. Hermione," he corrected himself. "It's a really good paying job, with great benefits." He told Ginny.

"Oh my gosh, that's great news!" Ginny exclaimed. "Hermione could definitely use a better job than the one she has now."

"The only thing is," Blaise said. "Malfoy wasn't sure she would accept the job if he offered it. I know there was a bit of rivalry between them during their Hogwart's years, which is why he gave me the assignment of getting Hermione to accept. The only problem is, I don't really know her all that well, which is why I need your help."

"Of course," Ginny said. "I could introduce you to her. I think you two would get along well."

"Good," Blaise said, "Because trust me, Draco seemed pretty determined for Hermione to have the job and it wouldn't be a very good thing to upset him. He's been a bit on edge lately."

"Don't worry," Ginny assured him, "Hermione hates the job she has now, and she hasn't had a raise since she began working. I'm sure she won't refuse the job offer, especially since she's also providing for Aedin and her mother."

"Aedin?" asked Blaise, confused.

"Her daughter," Ginny explained. "She's five."

"Who was the father?" Blaise asked.

"Seamus Finnigan, but ever since he was killed in the war, Hermione's been taking care of Aedin alone. It's been hard for her, and that's why she could really use this job."

Blaise nodded. "Well then," he said, "It seems that Hermione accepting works out for everyone. Malfoy gets a new employee, Hermione gets a better job, and I get to keep mine."

The conversation shifted after that. The two discussed current affairs in the Wizarding world, the ministry, and even talked a bit about Quidditch, before Blaise said he had best be going. Ginny agreed to talk to Hermione and find out when a good time was to introduce them.

Draco Malfoy sat in the dining room of his manor, eating the feast his house elves had prepared for him. He had just finished the main meal and was currently in the middle of eating his desert. The food he was eating reminded him of the meals he used to eat at Hogwarts. The only difference was that he was eating it alone. Not that he minded of course. Eating alone seemed like a big improvement over eating with Crabbe and Goyle everyday.

Draco hadn't heard from Blaise yet, but then again, it had only been today that Draco had told him to get Granger to accept a job offer to work at Malfoy Inc. Draco figured that if Hermione accepted it would have a few benefits. Not only was she one of the brightest witches Draco had ever met, but also he hoped that he could get to know her better, and quite possibly change her opinion of him.

Tonight would be the last night that Draco would be visited by those crazy ghosts his mother had sent to help him. And not that he would ever admit it to anyone, but the ghosts had helped him so far. Draco couldn't help but wonder what the last ghost would show him in the future if Draco didn't change how his life was going now.

Right now it was only eight, which gave Draco four hours to get some rest before he had to meet the last ghost. To help him get to sleep faster, Draco took some deep sleep potion. He made sure to take only a small dose though. It wouldn't do him any good to be sleeping through the final ghost's visit.

Draco had barely pulled the covers over him before he felt the effects of the potion taking affect on him.

Draco had been in the middle of a very nice dream, one were he was ruler of the world, when the third ghost came. The third ghost's approach to waking Draco was quite simple. He poured an ice-cold bucket of water over his head.

"Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Draco yelled as he shot up so fast that he hit the top of his bed. Now not only was he soaking wet and freezing, but he also had a sore head. Draco reached over to his nightstand and using his wand, dried himself off.

"Let me guess," Draco said irately to the third ghost. "You thought that was the best way to wake me up?"

"No. Just the fastest," the ghost replied. "By the way sir, my name is Jonah."

"Pleasure," Draco said sarcastically. "Can you just show me the future and get this over with? I'll be glad when I'm done with the lot of you ghosts. If my mother wasn't already dead, I think I'd kill her."

Jonah looked insulted. "Hmph, be that way then. It doesn't matter to me." Now Jonah looked like he was going to cry, if ghosts could that is.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Don't get all upset," he said. "I didn't mean it. Could you please show me the future?"

Jonah smiled, "Why most certainly sir. You should have said so. Grab on."

Draco grabbed onto the young ghost's robes and prepared to be taken to the future.

For some reason, the trip didn't seem to be quite so bad, but maybe that was just because Draco was getting used to the strange way of traveling.

The first place Draco and Jonah landed was at what looked to be a funeral home. Draco gulped. He wasn't quite sure he wanted to go inside.

Jonah skipped merrily ahead. "Coming?" he asked Draco cheerfully.

Draco looked at him in amazement. He was happy at somebody's funeral? This was definitely one messed up ghost.

Draco assumed he had no other option than to go inside. What he saw though wasn't quite what he expected. It was his funeral, but that wasn't the strange part. What was strange was that there was almost nobody there. Blaise was there, along with a few of Draco's workers, including Claire Penworthy and her husband, but other than that there were very little people there.

"Why are they the only people at my funeral?" Draco asked Jonah.

"Did you expect more?" Jonah asked. "All of your friends came."

Draco looked around and with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach realized that what Jonah said was true. Those were his only friends, and it seemed that if Draco didn't do anything to change that, that was how things would remain.

"Let's go," Draco said to Jonah. "I get the picture. If I don't change things, I'm going to remain alone and virtually friendless."

Jonah nodded. Draco grabbed hold of his robes, dreading what else was to come.

As they were traveling through time Jonah said to Draco, "I must warn you, but the next thing I'm going to show you may be upsetting."

That didn't help the feeling of apprehension that Draco was feeling in the least. If anything it made him feel ten times worse than he did before.

The second place Draco landed was once again at a funeral home. He had already seen his own funeral, so whose was this?

Slowly Draco went inside, and what he saw shocked him.

Lying inside the coffin was none other than Hermione Granger. A young Hermione Granger, who looked no older than she was now.

Unlike at Draco's funeral, this place was packed with people. Draco recognized the Weasleys, and the Potters among others. He also saw Hermione's mother holding a sobbing Aedin.

"What happened?" Draco asked Jonah urgently. "How come she's lying there dead? She's too young to die!" He exclaimed.

"She was murdered." Jonah said, "By her boyfriend, Ben Jameson."

"No, that can't be," Draco said. "She's going out with him this coming Saturday. I may not of liked him, but that was only because she was on a date with him. He didn't seem like a bad person."

"He wasn't." Jonah said, "At least at first. So you must imagine the shock it came to everyone when he murdered her. But it can be changed you know, and you're the only one who can do it."

"How much time do I have?" Draco asked, "How much time until he murders her?"

"Seven months." Jonah said. "Nothing will happen to her in the next seven months, but you have to change what will happen after that if you want Hermione to live."

"Of course I want her to live!" Draco exclaimed. "Please, tell me, how can I change this?"

Jonah just looked at him sadly before transporting him back home. "I'm sorry," he said to Draco, "But I can't tell you that. You're going to have to work that one out on your own."

Draco nodded. "Goodbye Draco," the young ghost said. "And good luck."

And after those final words, Draco was left alone to deal with what was to be the future, unless he could change it, which he fully intended to do. Now he just needed to come up with a plan as to how he would go about it.

Draco lay awake for the next few hours thinking. He decided that tomorrow he would have to talk to Blaise and explain everything to him. He wouldn't be able to do this alone. But as for right now, Draco needed sleep. And so, consumed by his own thoughts, he drifted off, now more determined than ever to change the future.

A/N: Well? Surprised at the future? Now that this chapter has been written, I have a better idea of where this story is going to go. Now the only thing left for you to do is review. Please review, even if you haven't in the other chapters. I want to know your opinion of this chapter, especially on what Jonah showed Draco. Thanks!

-Kasey