Dribble 4: September and a Sickle Part II
~500 words
"Malfoy?!" Harry's voice is high and shrill. "You're having lunch with Malfoy?!"
Hermione doesn't even glance from the document she's proofing. "And why's that a problem Harry?"
"Why's that– Why's that a problem?" For a second, it seems like she's shocked the speech out of him and he flounders. "Because it's Malfoy! What, do you need a reminder on how spoiled and mean and bullying he was? Maybe you'd like an essay, Hermione: twelve inches of parchment detailing all the horrible things he's done?! And now – lunch?!"
"Well that's a bit hypocritical of you to say," she responds coolly, "considering how well you get on with Dudley now. Didn't he used to beat you as a kid?"
"Dudley?!" Harry sputters. "That's different! Dudley was young and foolish and had terrible parents that enabled all his childish atrocities! He just didn't know any better! Of course, once he grew up–"
This is the point where Hermione glances up with an amused expression and Harry realizes he's making her case for her. He picks at a cuticle and finally concedes with a huff, "Oh, alright. I guess he deserves a chance, although why you would ever want to–"
"I want to," she interrupts hotly, "because of the irregularities he discovered in our budget! Harry, did you know that several of the companies we contract are overcharging us by at least 300%? I didn't. I'm drowning in work, so I've never even had the chance to look at our department's accounting practices! And here comes Malfoy and tells us that the company we pay to deliver food to our orphanages – the ones that house children whose parents died in the war! – well that company is bleeding us dry! He laid it out, facts and everything, and then offered us a cheaper alternative of a higher quality, while I just sat there, flabbergasted! All together, his proposals will save our department up to 300,000 galleons a year! Do you know what that means? It means we will be finally able to afford sending kids to Hogwarts not looking like...well, like Ron did in first year, with his secondhand robes and hand-me-down wand! The children will have new books, not old ones with torn-out pages and scribbles in the margins; new cauldrons, not ones that leak and tend to explode; new–"
"Ok, ok, ok, Hermione, I get it!" Harry exclaims, raising his arms in surrender. Hermione snorts and then, with a tilt of her brow, imperiously accepts his unconditional capitulation. "Just making it clear for you," she rubs it in smugly, reveling in her victory. It doesn't last long, however.
"You just wait till Ron finds out about this," Harry mutters under his breath, but the witch hears and groans audibly.
Ron. That'll be a problem.
Written because y'all motivated me with your requests for Pt 2 =)