A discovery or two

Hermione lay awake for hours that night wondering what to do about the WIMIC situation. She was contemplating whether or not to go to the ball with Draco.

'It's just one night' she thought to herself. 'One night in exchange for the rest of my life. No more being discriminated against.'

The Weasley's were in the breakfast nook in the kitchen the next morning when she woke up. She thought of what she wanted for breakfast as she made her way over to the white stove with the frying pan. She flipped her pancake and then got herself the other seat at the nook.

'Whats on your schedule today Hermione?' asked Fred.

'Oh, I was just thinking of going out looking for a job today.' She replied.

The twins exchanged knowing looks with eachother, and Hermione caught this.

'What?' She asked "Don't you think I can get a job?'

'Well, it's the fact that you are muggleborn that will make it difficult for you.' Said George cautiously.

'Well I don't see what the problem will be. I am perfectly qualified to do any job whatsoever.'

'Its just… well… I can see that you are determined. Just be careful Hermione.' Said Fred.

When she left the house and made her way to Diagon Alley, she couldn't get the words out of her head 'Just be careful Hermione.'

'I will' she whispered to no one in particular as she made her way toards the Leaky Cauldron.

She waved a cheerful hello to Tom and went on her way to Draco's room. She knocked and waited, wondering if she was doing the right thing.

When he answered the door, it was obvious that he had just gotten out of the shower, because his shirt wasn't fully buttoned and his hair was still wet.

'I see that you have returned. Have you gotten an answer?' He asked as he moved aside for her to step inside.

'Yes, I will go to the ball with you.' She said unenthusiastically.

'First lesson: Speak properly. You must sound enthused at all times, with no dragging sound in your voice.' He said simply.

'And how exactly am I supposed to do that?' She asked

'At least make it seem like you want to be here. I know that you would probably want to do anything other than this to get your "status" changed, but you know, this wont be all bad.' He said.

'Alright. But please don't try to change me too much. I hate it when people do that.'

'Deal, just as long as you can act in the proper manner at the ball. I have a practice party lined up, and with some of that hair slicker that you used for the ball in our fourth year, then not a soul will recognize you.'

'There is one more thing.' She hesitated as she said this. 'I cant dance.'

'Well, that will be a bit of a problem, now wont it.' He said with a saddened tone.

'Yes, but I am sorry I wasted your time. I will…'

'Oh no missy, you aren't going anywhere. Like I said, I am in a pickle, and you are my only way out of it. I won't let something like you not knowing how to dance stop you. I am going to teach you how to dance.'

'You, Draco Malfoy, would honestly try and teach me to dance? I am like a duck with 4 left feet. Impossible. I know.' She smiled at Draco and he returned the same smile.

' Meet me back here tomorrow at noon. I have to go sort out a few details about the dancing and getting you fitted.'

'Oh, please, don't bother with the fitting. I don't really need it I don't think.' She said.

'Yes, you do. Every woman at this ball gets specially fitted and they have a registry so that nobody gets the same dress. Yours of course will be custom, but it will be registered all the same.'

'I really don't-'

'Yes, You do need it.' Draco said, cutting her off. 'And you and I will have to make a few appearances before the ball within the week leading up to it, so I will supply you with ample money to go shopping for clothes for those occasions.' He handed her a small bag of money.

'And you will need to be telling the Weasley's something, a reason for you being away all of the time.'

'Yes, I told them that I was going out job hunting today.' She said.

'Well, that will go perfectly. Tell them that you found a job being someone's personal assistant, that way if they ask who, you can say that they wish to remain anonymous to the world at the time.'

'Won't it seem a little too suspicious?'

'I am sure it will not. They haven't always been known to mark things down for being scams.' He said. 'However performing the scams is a completely different answer.'

'I will come back tomorrow.' She said. 'Noon.'

'I promise I will get your card changed. Why you didn't just check pureblood or half-blood to begin with, I shall never know.'

When she headed back towards what she called home, she noticed a group of middle aged witches gathered around the Weasley's shop. She approached the building herself, and noticed that they had converted half of their shop into a home decorating shop.

'Paint that will go on anything, I do say. I just don't understand why we cant magic it up?' Said one witch with a child.

'The powers from magic will mess up the magic that is in the a paint. It is a very complex composition.' Said Hermione.

'And what would you know about this stuff and putting it up?' the witch asked.

'Well seeing as I live with the Weasley's, and seeing as I grew up with muggles, I dare to say that I know quite a bit about it.' She said.

Hermione walked into the shop and found it bustling with the usual young kids, but also with a large group of witched and wizards mingling about.

'I see you have decided to open the home décor bit of your business?' She asked Fred as she approached the counter.

'Yes, we say the effects that it had on you, so we decided to sell it.'

'Well, where do they get the muggle painting supplies from?' she asked.

'We invested into a small company, just outside of the ally, and they sell paint supplies there, they save 25 off of all things that they buy there while they have their coupons with them.' Said George just emerging from the back room dragging a kid by the ear.

'I caught this one trying to nick our invisibility hats. He thought that he could disappear.' He added on.

"We also get 25 of the money from sales when the customers present coupons there, but I'm sure they will be getting big business.' Said Fred.

When Hermione decided that it was time to grab something to eat it was already about 4 o'clock. She grabbed the small bacg of money that Draco had given her, and headed out to where the ice cream parlor used to be.

It was now converted into a small sandwich store, where they made you your sandwich right in front of your eyes. She ate the delicious ham and turkey sandwich and then decided to go for a peaceful walk around the alley.

She walked around, and looked at the different shop fronts. The shop that had formally been Olivander's was now called Crikey's Antiques, and through the window, she saw an odd assortment of different types of objects.

It was almost as though the shop was calling her name, so she walked through the front door and closed it to the sound of the bell ringing.

There was an old lady sitting behind the desk who hardly even noticed her entering the shop.

Hermione turned right and started looking around, at the different objects in the shop. On one side it was mostly old furniture and random trinkets, but on the other it was small, more interesting objects. She found a box of old wands from many years ago.

Each wand had a tag attached to it, stating the witch or wizard whom it belonged to. She was lookgin through them when she came across a familiar name.

'Merope Gaunt' was what the tag said. She picked up the wand and brought it over to the counter.

'Ah, I see you have an interest in old, beautiful things.' Said the lady in a soft whisper of a voice.

'Yes, it is beautiful. I was wondering how much it would cost?' Hermione asked.

'Well, seeing as I can tell that you are really interested, I say 7 galleons.'

'Well, I don't even know if this wand will work for the person I wish to buy it for, how about five galleons?'

'Alright' said the lady 'it's a deal. But keep your hands on this one, it is a real treasure.'

'Oh believe me, I will keep my hands on this one.' She whispered as she walked out of the shop.

Hermione then rushed back to her place and almost ran to her room. She took the wand out of the brown sachet the lady had supplied and examined it more closely.

On the handle there were small flowers almost emerging from the wood, and as her eyes traveled towards the tip of the wand she noticed that the flowers became golden in colour and smaller. She looked on the tip of the wand and she saw that there was a small flower there.

She then flipped the wand and saw, that on the base of the handle there was the Slytherin coat of arms.

I hope that I still have some people that will be interested in this story, even though it hasn't been updated for a while. I like the story line and I have decided to get back into writing it.