Chapter 21

A/N: Hello readers! I know it's been forever, but a new chapter!

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, and thanks to everyone for the patience.

~Frosty

First thing the very next day, Hermione and Draco were called into their new boss' office.

"Maybe he's finally pulled his head from his arse and is ready to actually do his job," Draco said with more than a little bit of doubt.

Hermione shot her partner a censoring look. He wasn't doing himself any favours by presenting a hostile front to their new superior. It was a wonder Draco managed to keep a job considering his issues with authority figures.

When Hermione and Draco entered the office, they were faced with a man completely changed from the nervous wreck they'd been expecting. Maybe there was hope for their new department head after all.

"Take a seat," he said as soon as they entered. It wasn't a request. Gone was the weak-willed man eager to use them for the respect they had in the office.

"Before either of you say anything, I want to introduce myself." He gave Draco a pointed look. "My name is Aidan Blackleaf – Mr. Blackleaf to you two. I'm going to be around for a long time, so it's best that you get used to it now."

Draco raised his eyebrows, almost impressed. The man had probably taken some kind of courage boosting potion. People built a tolerance to those things pretty quickly, so time would tell if Blackleaf's newfound stones were really his or just something magically created.

While Draco leaned back in his chair, looking surly and doing his usual antagonising authority figures routine, Hermione nodded respectfully. She knew Draco was thinking a potion was involved in the man's sudden change, but she liked to give people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it had just taken Blackleaf a day to get used to his new position and now he was going to be a competent boss.

"Good," Blackleaf said, making clear that the matter was closed. Without the sweat stains and nervous trembling, he actually looked older. He appeared to be in his forties with a bald spot on top of his head and a thin moustache. His eyes were the vibrant blue of a husky and had no trouble meeting Hermione's and, more importantly, Draco's stare.

"Now that we have the pleasantries out of the way, there are a number of things I would like to discuss with the two of you." He reached to a piled of folders on his desk and opened the top one with a practiced snap.

Draco's eyes immediately glazed over with disinterest. He had nothing to do with the paperwork side of their job and had no intention of starting just because their new boss suddenly decided to start doing his job.

"What things?" Hermione asked. She had a much better idea about what was in the files than Draco. If Blackleaf was actually reading through her reports, especially the ones pertaining to Kate and the mess she had created, they were probably going to have a problem.

"There are a number of holes in your reports. For instance, you have made numerous trips on Ministry time with Ministry issued Portkeys, yet there is no indication of the purpose for these outings in your paperwork. This behaviour raises some questions."

Hermione decided that she liked Blackleaf better when he was terrified and incompetent.

"We were following leads related to the case," she said firmly, making sure to meet his eyes so that he could read the truth in them.

"I want to believe that, Miss Granger, but I'm sure you understand that this looks bad. If you two weren't so well respected and working on such an important case right now, I'd suspend you while you're both investigated."

Now Draco was paying attention. His eyes narrowed and his lurched forward in his chair, staring down the smaller man. "We're being investigated?"

"Yes you are, Mr. Malfoy. Both of you are being investigated." Blackleaf didn't cower in the slightest at Draco's transparent intimidation tactics.

Worried that her partner was going to assault their boss, something that would definitely lead to their suspension, Hermione put a restraining hand on Draco's arm. Blackleaf's eyes immediately zeroed in on the contact.

"There's one other thing I would wanted to discuss with you both."

Hermione cringed. She knew that Draco was already taking the investigation against them personally, anything more from this newly confident boss of theirs and Draco was liable to snap. Despite his recent attempts to reign in this temper, there were still limits.

"What would that be, sir?" Hermione asked, praying that it wasn't what she thought it was.

"In light of the fact that your incomplete reports make it seem as if the two of you are taking little vacations around the world when you should be working – not only that, but charging these trips to the Ministry, I have decided to enact a policy against inter-department relationships."

Shrugging off Hermione's restraining hand, Draco surged to his feet, reaching inside his robes – either for his wand or his sword, Hermione wasn't really sure. She hoped it was the sword; he wasn't actually wearing the thing, so he could reach for it all he wanted and no one would lose their head.

"You can't do that," Hermione said to Blackleaf, just as distraught as her partner.

Blackleaf ignored her completely, which wasn't surprising when Draco was so close looking so murderous. It seemed he'd been reaching for his wand after all, and Hermione put herself slightly in front of Draco, blocking the line of fire between him and Blackleaf.

"I'm well aware of your recent trouble with the Aurors, Mr. Malfoy," Blackleaf said with surprising calm considering Draco was on the verge of forgetting about weapons and strangling the man with his bare hands. "Hexing me will not make this go away. I've discussed everything I've just told you with the Minister, and he approves."

The Minister would have to approve of such a controversial policy before anyone would accept it. With so many people employed at the Ministry, it wasn't uncommon for spouses to meet while working in the same department and continue working together after marriage.

Hermione was taken aback that Blackleaf had enacted such a policy for their department. A new policy hadn't been created as a direct result of something she had done since her time at Hogwarts when she and her friends were always narrowly escaping death.

Draco's reaction to Blackleaf's announcement was much less mild than Hermione's. He looked like he was about to kill someone – more so than usual, or even a few moments ago.

Worried that Draco was going to get himself arrested, Hermione shifted herself further in front of Draco, completely blocking the line of sight between him and their boss.

"Go to the Auror training room," she ordered quietly. Hopefully, Draco would be able to work off some of his anger in a controlled environment. If he was lucky, he would find seasoned Aurors there to duel; it wasn't fair of her to unleash Draco on green Aurors or – Merlin forbid – trainees when he was in such a violent mood.

"I'm not just leaving after he tells us something like that," Draco growled.

"I'm not asking you to accept what he's said, just to leave until you have control of your temper." She stared up at him pleadingly, trying to make him understand that lashing out at their boss was the very last thing they needed at the moment.

After a few nerve-wracking seconds, Draco huffed out an angry breath and stormed out of the room with only a glare towards Blackleaf.

Hermione sagged with relief and took her seat once more. Shrewdly, she examined Blackleaf for a second time, noticing the intelligence in his eyes, something that had previously been hidden by his anxiety.

"Were you deliberately trying to get him to lose his temper?" she demanded.

Blackleaf shook his head, looking almost regretful. "No, though it was interesting to see just how short his fuse is. Moss made this department a laughingstock with his laziness and horrible leadership. I'm going to change that. You and your partner are just the starting point."

"What changed?" She was thinking once again of the shaking, nervous man that he'd been on his first day.

"I'd just been promoted when I asked you two into my office," he said, looking uncomfortable. "I spent the whole night reading over files that Moss clearly hadn't bothered to so much as peruse and it was just hitting me how big of a job I had cleaning up the department." He actually blushed and looked down at his desk before he uttered the last part of his explanation. "Plus, I sometimes get a little crazy when my blood sugar gets low."

Hermione was willing to bet that it was something more than low blood sugar that had inspired the shocking change in this man. She wasn't, however, going to press her brand new boss, someone who could make her life very difficult if he so chose. In the event that he was using some kind of magical crutch to alter his personality, the truth would eventually come out. There just wasn't much she could do about it in the meantime.

Besides, dealing with him when he wasn't trembling was more comfortable for everyone.

She was really more concerned about his new policy ideas anyway. While she sort of understood his motivations, she didn't appreciate being investigated by the Ministry like she was some sort of criminal.

"There's no chance you're going to rescind the no dating policy?" she asked. The investigation she could handle, but now that her relationship with her partner had changed, especially since they were expecting a child, there was absolutely no way that they could go back to their former platonic relationship.

"No chance, Miss Granger."

Hermione nodded. Very well. She'd go see the Minister about this new policy before she went to retrieve her partner from the training room. If Blackleaf wasn't going to change his mind, she'd go over his head. Normally, she didn't like using her war hero status or personal relationship with the Minister to her benefit, but this was important.

"And how do you plan on enforcing this policy?"

"I'm glad you asked," Blackleaf said, looking pleased with himself. "While you and your partner are working, you will have a second pair of partners working with you at all times. If these two notice any inappropriate interactions between you and your partner, they will report it to me and you and Mr. Malfoy will be suspended."

That was just unreasonable, and Hermione was an expert in reason. She was starting to suspect that her new boss was determined to have her and Draco suspended. He probably thought it would be much easier to sort out the department if he didn't have to keep tabs on them. Still, it was unprofessional of Blackleaf to be so determined to have two of his employees out of work just to make his own job easier.

"Who are the pair assigned to us?" she asked, trying to will away the angry flush in her cheeks. It didn't do her any good to let the bastard know that he was getting to her. She was supposed to be the even-tempered one.

He looked at a spare bit of parchment on his desk. "Trish Wormwood you know, and her partner is a new transfer to our department. A former Auror Smith? He volunteered for the position. He said he's worked with you and Malfoy in the past."

Hermione paled. Ares was back and wanting to work with them? That probably wouldn't end well. Nonetheless, she would at least be able to confront him. Maybe he'd give them some answers.

Compared to Ares, Trish was certainly a lesser danger, but the woman was known to break a nail and cry for half an hour. She was almost certainly going to be a liability in the field.

"When do we start working with them?"

"I'm not completely unreasonable, you have the rest of today to talk this over with your partner, calm him down. I don't want him having any issues with them."

By that he clearly meant that he didn't want Draco attacking anyone.

Hermione nodded and stood from her seat. "We're not going to forget this treatment," she warned as she exited. As an afterthought, she added, "Sir."

Hermione left the Minister's office even more frustrated and angry than she'd been after seeing Blackleaf. She was glad that she'd seen the Minister without Draco; the man's adamant refusal to even consider rescinding Blackleaf's new policy would have only angered her partner. Apparently the Minister wanted to present a united front with his newest department head, never mind that he was doing so at the expense of two dedicated employees.

Defeated and angry, she headed to the beverage cart to get her and Draco some tea. They could both use a cup of hot relaxation after they day they'd had.

She was the only one in line at the coffee cart, so she had the full attention of the person behind the counter.

"What can I get you?" he asked with a dazzlingly white smile. The man was gorgeous in an androgynous way. He had high cheekbones, skin the colour of espresso, and a voice like caramel. No wonder he'd had the confidence to hit on Draco when he was at his most unapproachable, the man probably wasn't used to being turned down.

Hermione placed her order and then watched to make sure that he prepared the tea properly. Knowing Draco, an improperly prepared cup of tea could end up being the straw that broke the camel's back.

"You're new here," Hermione commented to make conversation. Honestly, she was stalling a little, not wanting to tell Draco about Ares, their new babysitter.

The man nodded and flashed that smile at her once more. "Yep. Apparently they were having problems keeping the cart staffed."

She sighed at the reminder of Draco's reign of terror. "That would be my partner's fault. He has this thing with his tea being perfect at all times, and an attitude problem to go with it."

The smile was back along with a knowing look. "Tall, blond, and handsome, loves to throw around the term 'beverage slave'?"

"That's him. I'm sorry if he upset you."

"No need to worry, I've dealt with his type before; willing to push, but never prepared for me to push right back."

For the first time since she'd left Blackthorn's office, Hermione felt a little lighter. She grinned at the man. "He was certainly thrown off balance when he came back from that confrontation with you. I think you may have broken him from his horrible treatment of the coffee cart attendants."

The man, whose name tag identified him as Toby, looked pleased. "I was only being honest. If he were so inclined, I'd let him do whatever he wanted."

"He's taken," Hermione said. It wasn't really a warning since she knew that Toby had no chance with Draco, she was just letting Toby know.

Toby raised an eyebrow. "By you?"

"Yes."

Finished making the tea just the way Draco liked it, Toby handed her the two cups.

"You lucky woman. Is he as good in bed as I imagine? I bet he's got this whole alpha male thing going on, all possessiveness and stamina."

Hermione blushed, not willing to divulge the details of her sex life to a complete stranger. Toby was wrong though, Draco's anger issues stemmed from horrible events during the war. They were a big part of his personality, but he had a lot more gentleness in him than most people thought – especially for her.