Chapter 9
"Let me get this straight. You're telling me, he watched over your drunken self, proceeded to drag you to your room when you wanted to continue to drink and when you asked him to stay he did?"
Hermione summarized Sunday morning over tea at a small coffee shop. I had owl'd her the day before but with the kids, she wasn't free until today. She was tapping her fingers as she processed all that had happened Friday night up to the point of Draco apparating.
"Yes."
"Yet somehow you are convinced that he isn't attracted to you?"
"Yes."
"Merlin Eva! You must be blind if you can't see he has the hots for you!" Hermione exclaimed dramatically causing two older ladies to glare.
"Do you have to shout it?!" I grumbled, fidgeting with my glass, "There's no way. Plus, even if it was true, I have a business/client relationship, I could lose my job!"
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Look, he's had a thing for you since the day you transferred to Hogwarts. Don't tell me you don't remember how he went out of his way to corner you in private even though you were friends with us. I don't think that attraction changes just because time passes and we've suddenly become adults."
"I dunno Hermione. I just feel like… like it's too good to be true. You know? I mean, since he came parading back into my life we've hit it off as if we've been friends this whole time. I don't want to ruin that because I'm over analyzing the situation. Plus, if you remember correctly he dumped me back at school."
"You're not over analyzing! For god sakes just fuck the guy and you'll see he's been dying to do the same. You can't even use that in your argument you ended up finding out that the only reason why he dumped you is because of his family and him joining Voldemort's side to protect his mother."
"You spend too much time with Ginny."
Hermione sent me an evil glare and mumbled something under her breath. I didn't understand how she was so sure about her views about Draco. He flirted with a lot of girls, there was no way this was any different. I didn't believe it for a second but knowing Hermione I would have to let it drop or she would spend the rest of her free time explaining why she was right.
"Can we just move on to something else." I remark playing with what was left of my blueberry muffin.
"How is your work going for his company?"
I shrugged glancing down, "It's good. A lot of hours. Grootpan has been on me since the beginning. He's afraid I'm going to fuck it up somehow."
"You're not going to mess anything up, if anything you'll show Grootpan that Wizards and Witches are just as capable to do this line of work as Goblins." Hermione encourages.
"I don't think anything would change his mind. Other than that, it's going well just finalizing the paperwork for the Companies investment."
"Okay well it sounds promising. On another note did you hear what else happened on Saturday morning?"
"No? Do I want to know what happened?" I asked raising my eyes brows; this had to be about Lavender and Blaise.
"Ron and I were hanging around in the hallway, waiting for Harry and Ginny when we heard a commotion coming from two rooms down." Hermione began, leaning in as she continued the story, "All of sudden the door is thrown open with Lavender rushing past us! She was still in last night's clothes… she looked dreadful! The poor girl."
"Did we know what she was upset about?"
"Not really but I would guess that it had to of been about her fooling around with Blaise. They were snogging all night when we were all down stairs and I don't remember ever seeing him leave."
"Hm. Well I'll have to ask Draco if he knows if Blaise was the cause. He commented the same thing that morning." I remark thoughtfully.
"Well, keep us in the loop on if you hear the whole story."
We chatted for a few more hours, catching up and talking about life- which of course meant gossiping about the latest news. I was glad to be back in London and having the time to hang out and have girl time. When I got home I owl'd Draco telling him that I had some updates on the whole Lavender/Blaise debacle. I didn't have to wait long when my owl came back delivering a message.
Unrolling the parchment, I read his response: Free for coffee in an hour?
I laughed to myself and scratched a short reply asking him to meet me at, Lucy's. It was an out of the way locally owned shop that I usually hung out at. After freshening up I apparated to a spot nearby. Glancing about as people strolled the sidewalk, enjoying the warm evening as the sun began to set.
"Can I get a medium cappuccino."
"Sure. Anything else?"
"Add a medium black coffee and I'll pay the bill."
Swiveling around I found Draco standing behind me with his hands shoved in his pant pockets smiling politely at the girl at the cash register.
"You don't have to pay." I remarked stepping off to the side so he could step up to the counter.
"I've got it." Draco remarked handing the girl money before glancing sideways at me, as if to say drop it.
After we grabbed our coffees I let Draco pick a spot near the back where we could left alone and not have a lot of people overhear us.
Settling into our seats I took a sip as I gathered my thoughts on where to start, "How was the rest of your weekend and lunch with your son?"
"Good. I took Scorpius out to eat and spent way too much time at every shop imaginable. The kid is insatiable. You know, I don't usually go out regularly like I did Friday night." Draco remarks causally, running his hand through his hair.
"Sounds like he really enjoyed the two of you going out and doing something together. Oh, I know, most of us don't usually get that crazy and with everyone in the same boat with kids- well. I'm sure you understand."
He laughed lightly, "Yes. Having a kid does change things but let's cut to the chase. What did you hear about Lavender and Blaise?"
"Well…" I dived into telling him everything that had happened on Saturday after he had left and all that Hermione told me earlier today about the whole rumor. He seemed amused by all of it as I told the story.
"I'm not surprised by this." Draco finally states, finishing his coffee.
"No?"
"No, I'm sure you have guessed that Blaise is a- non- commitment type of guy."
"Well, I guess I can only hope that Lavender realized that and the worst case is, she found out that morning. I'm not sure if anyone saw Blaise." I began placing my empty cup down, "Maybe Monday we'll find out what Blaise has to say about the whole thing? I can't believe that tomorrow is Monday already, the weekend went by too fast!"
He smirked softly as he regarded me, "Blaise probably won't bring it up with you around because she is one of your friends."
"Damn. That's probably true. You'll tell me, right?"
"I'll keep you posted about it. I have to admit, hanging out with people that I spent hating as a kid was a little weird."
"Hopefully it wasn't terrible but a lot has changed since we were kids. Most of us have let that stuff fall away."
He nodded, "Still strange, I was half expecting them to hex me still."
"They were told that Blaise would show up and even though they weren't expecting to see you, they aren't that cruel. Plus, they knew that I was working for your company as the new 'investment handler' so they knew we were on speaking terms with each other. Anyway, hopefully they didn't scare you too much."
"They are much different than my friends. They don't shy away with showing their emotions…. whatever it happens to be at any given moment." Draco remarks shaking his head.
I couldn't help but laugh because it was true, "Yes, we are not like Slytherins. They're great though and they'd do anything for you if you'd ask."
We continued to chat, grabbing another cup of coffee as we talked about what we knew about our old school mates and how much time had passed. He only briefly talked about Scorpius but you could tell by the way he talked about him that Scorpius means the World to him.
"Thanks for meeting up and for paying for my coffee." I remarked as we stepped outside the coffee shop.
"No, thank you." Draco remarked smirking at me as he teased, "I enjoy getting a chance to talk and get on better terms with you."
I smiled softly, trying not to let his comment affect me but failing miserably as I respond, "We should maybe do this more often then."
With a broad grin he winks as he replies, "I'll see you on Monday Eva. Enjoy your evening."
...
"Oh, good you're in."
I exclaim in excitement when I opened Draco's door and found him hunched over his desk working on paperwork. Ignoring his shocked look as I strode up to his desk and dumped a ledger over his work as he made a huff of annoyance.
"Since you seem so adamant about pulling me from my other work, I guess I'll bite and respond. What did you need?" Draco drawled glancing up at me, his eyes sparking in amusement.
"I think I found something else that seems to follow the same pattern as the ledger where you found the mistake." I reply grinning cheekily at him as his face turns to surprise as he glances down at the ledger.
Walking around the desk I leaned over him and pointed over at a figure listed on the ledger. The ledger was like all the others but what I noticed was that there were withdrawals in increments that were similar and wedged near deposits where you wouldn't even notice the withdrawal if you were just skimming it.
"To me these two figures look exactly like the figures around it. Almost as if it was planned that way." I remarked leaning back and falling silent as he skimmed over the ledger.
"It's quite possible. Did you already make a copy to hang it on the board?" Draco asked, tearing his eyes away from the ledger and then up at me.
"Yup. I know I interrupted you but I wanted to run some ideas and thoughts I had about this mess."
Pausing for a moment, Draco finally looked back up at me, "Sure, give me about 10 minutes and I'll come over to you."
"Okay great!"
I replied leaning back down to grab the ledger off his desk. He grabbed my arm before I could pull the ledger up. Confused I trailed my eyes from his hand up to his face, searching his eyes for what he needed.
"I'm impressed in how quickly you've been at finding clues." Draco states softly.
"Thanks. I hope I'll be able to help you more with this and stop whatever is going on."
I reply, frozen for a moment underneath his gaze. Both shocked at the compliment that I was not expecting at all and my body refusing to move under his gaze and physical contact. Neither of us had moved to break contact. I wondered briefly what was going on in his head and if he was having the same reaction I was having.
"I have no doubt that you'll be able to help us get to the bottom of this." Draco finally responds, breaking whatever had us frozen in place as he let my hand go.
"Well let's wait and see." I remark softly pulling the ledger to my chest and turning around.
What the hell just happened?! Groaning I tried to shake the feelings away as I stepped into my office. Why did this keep happening?! Maybe I am just creating something that isn't even there with all my friends making this into something. That had to be it. There's nothing going on between us, no special connections. Taking another deep breath, I dropped the ledger onto the table and collapsed into the chair, rubbing my head. I needed to stop getting distracted and move pass this…whatever this is.
"What are these ideas that you're having?"
Turning around I found Draco strolling into the room and walking up to the cork board looking over what we had pinned up.
"I wanted to ask you a few questions that I thought might help us either eliminate possibilities or if we're lucky, lead us in the right direction."
"Okay?"
I roll my eyes at him but respond, "We need to know who has authorization to make investment transactions for the company and who has access to the Gringotts accounts that hold money or investments. I think if we can make a list of who's involved we can see if anything traces back to them or if it's a dead end. Now that I found another section where money has been moved, I think it's safer to assume that someone is behind this."
"Well there are a few obvious names that come up but I would need to ask Kerry to pull the H.R. files on the people in that department, so we don't raise any concern." Draco answers walking over to the table, searching for blank parchment, "The most obvious is that both Blaise and I have the authorization to make investment transactions but I do have employees, like your current job that oversee researching and contacting potential parties for investment purchases."
"Well let's get Kerry to bring those files in so we can look at each of the people and how long they've been here at the company. Whoever is behind this has been around for a while and very familiar with the stages investment money goes through." I remark glancing as he scratched down his to do list.
"I agree. I have the information for the people who has access to the Gringotts accounts so let me go look for that. There's not many who have access to it."
"Well at least we can narrow down this search and see what happens."
"We also should start talking about continuing the paper work for Gringotts. Both to make you our investment handler and to talk about the paper work for setting up an account with Gringotts."
"Oh yeah! God, I completely forgot all about it!"
He chuckled softly at my surprise, "It's fine, Gringotts has been sending me paperwork all week to officially add you on as the companies Gringotts handler."
"Well I'm glad I wasn't completely disregarding my other work. I should probably head there tomorrow morning so that I can start the paperwork for what type of investment you'll handle." I remark thoughtfully.
I couldn't believe I forgot all about setting up the accounts. I wonder if Grottpan is going to lecture me on this new involvement with the Malloy Company? Groaning I realize that I have too much on my plate.
"That would probably be the best thing. Stopping back at your office there will look good and keep Grottpan satisfied that all of this is real." Draco states watching me closely.
"I still can't believe all of this." I remark motioning to the stacks of ledgers around us, "I mean I never would have expected myself to be here. Do you have any idea on who this might be?"
"I have a few theories but I want to be sure before I say anything out loud. Either way I have a feeling that whoever is behind this, uncovering them won't be the end."
….
"Where have you been all week?"
Glancing up from my desk I found Jacob strolling into the room before settling in a chair. I had gone into Gringotts Thursday morning to still show face and to begin the paperwork for the Malfoy Company.
"I've been held up with establishing what the Malfoy Company is wanting to do so I've been at their office. How's that new project going?"
He shrugged, "Eh, it's a low-key investment for a wizarding bank in Scotland. Nothing as good as the Desmarais account."
"Sounds more like a job you're overqualified for. Did Grootpan say why he put you on the case instead of someone with less experience?"
"You know how he is… so no, he didn't say anything. Maybe it was just to give me a breather after how long the Desmarais account took?" He remarked, pausing for a moment. "There's a rumor going around that a firm in Bulgaria is shopping for a new investment fund. According to Phil who manages accounts for them state that they were watching all the news with Desmarais." pacing as he continued to explain, "I'm thinking Grottpan is giving me this low-key job to buy time to get that firm in Bulgaria to bite especially now that the news broke that the Malloy Company is already signing up."
"That sounds like that could be possible. Is there any way to get Grottpan to speak about if this Bulgaria firm is a legitimate rumor?" I question, hoping to see him move on to something good.
"I dunno. I'm laying low for now. I figure buttering up to stay in his good graces and watching to see if I could sneak this up as a topic is the best plan."
"If you want I can speak Draco and see if he's heard any rumors?" I offered, figuring that if anyone knew he would be at the top of the list.
Jacob turned back to me at my suggestion, wide eyed in hope, "Could you? That would be great!"
"I'll send an owl of anything I hear."
"You're the best! You know that right!" Jacob exclaimed leaning down to pull me into a half hug.
"Yeah, yeah."
He waved goodbye shortly after and I went back to finalizing the contract between the Malloy Company and Desmarais. It was taking twice as long because I would keep getting distracted thinking about my other job. With how sensitive this case is turning out I needed to keep it not only organized but safe.
Owling Hermione, about meeting for lunch tomorrow I hoped I could get her help in making not only a secured notepad but if there was more security I could enhance it. I should probably talk to Draco about how secure our offices were.
