Chapter 12 of I Work for You:
Summary: Draco hires Hermione to be his 'wife' so his boss will approve of their deal. Only, Draco didn't expect to fall in love with Hermione. DM/HG.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. This fanfiction is also based on the movie Borrowed Hearts. I do not own that, either.
Recap from Chapter 11:
Draco sat down in his study, listening to the quiet music played from his stereo.
All of a sudden, a message flashed out of thin air, and into Draco's face.
"Hermione … in … danger…" it read.
"Hermione's in trouble!" he said to himself.
Chapter 12:
Hermione picked up the note and read, "I know who you are. I know everything about you. I'll spill your secret out … the secret that you're with Draco Malfoy."
Hermione didn't feel at all scared. In fact, she chuckled at how nervous she was before.
"So who are you? My stalker?" she yelled out loud, her head tilted, facing the sky.
"Hermione!" cried a voice. "What are you doing?"
She turned, and smiled when she saw Draco.
"Oh, nothing. Some idiot wants to try scaring me. Look," she said, beckoning him towards the note in her hands.
"If you're not upset, why did the message say you were in trouble?" Draco asked himself.
"Message?" asked Hermione, feeling confused.
"Yeah! Message!" Draco said. "Um, before you left, I put a charm on you so that if you got hurt, I would be alerted immediately."
"You put a charm on me, eh?" Hermione asked.
Draco nodded; he did not know that Hermione was grinning.
When he finally realized that she fell silent, he looked up.
"Why are you grinning?" he asked, frowning.
"Ha, Draco! You care for me!" Hermione squealed.
"Uh, Hermione?" he asked, "Wh…"
Before he could get another word in, he found himself being hugged, tightly.
"Hermione? Are you okay?" he asked.
"Of course I am!" she said.
"You're acting like a lovesick teenager," Draco concluded.
"Oh," she said, and she released him.
Draco, seeing that her face was downcast, he said, "Not that I … um, don't like it!"
Hermione looked up and smiled, "Sorry, I guess I overreacted."
"But I still don't know why the spell went wrong!" he said to himself.
"Who cares?" asked Hermione.
"Let's go back home," suggested Hermione.
"But you don't care about the note?" asked Draco.
"I thought you were a Slytherin, Draco," said Hermione, lifting up an eyebrow.
"Okay! Well, I'm just worrying on your behalf, since you don't seem to care…" Draco said.
"Come on!" she said, and with that, Draco apparated Hermione and himself back home.
"You really need to get your Apparating test," Draco grumbled, once they stumbled into Draco's house.
"Okay … when is a good time?" she asked.
"Now is a good time!" came a voice from behind them.
"Oh, hi Minister!" said Draco and Hermione.
"Hermione," he said kindly, "You can take the test whenever you want. I know you've been practicing, and since I'm here right now, why not take it now?" he asked.
Hermione's eyes opened wide.
"Okay!"
Draco shook his head.
"You can take the test, but I have to get back to work."
"So, you passed huh?" asked Draco with a grin.
"Yes! Did you think I would have failed?" she asked.
"Of course not!" Draco cried, with a look of mock horror on his face. "If Hermione failed, then the wizarding world would be doomed. I would be doomed!"
Hermione smiled.
"Let's go out and eat tonight."
Draco shrugged, "All right."
After a long lecture from Antonio, about him telling Draco to tell him when he would not need to cook dinner, Hermione and Draco finally escaped.
"Draco! Why didn't you tell him?" she asked, smiling.
"Oh, so is it my fault?" he asked.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "We sound like an old married couple."
"Old, no … married … yes," said Draco with the familiar Dumbledore twinkle in his eye.
The two went inside the limousine, and Hermione thanked the driver who was opening her door.
"Where is Percy?" she asked. "I haven't seen him for such a long time."
Draco shrugged.
"I think he finally got himself a steady girlfriend."
Hermione giggled at the thought of Percy with some girl having a romantic conversation.
Who would have thought Percy would have changed so much?
The car pulled up in front of a restaurant.
"Moonlight Garden Café?" asked Hermione with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, the food's really good."
The two went inside and Hermione was surprised to see fire torches lighted up the restaurant.
"Can't somebody get hurt?" she asked to Draco.
"Oh, of course not. The fire is not real," interrupted a waiter.
Hermione turned toward the waiter.
She started to glare at him for interrupting her, but instead of glaring, she frowned.
"Chris?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"
Chris smiled wickedly.
"I'm here because this is where I work. Never thought that I would bump into you here, Hermione," he said.
Draco looked between the two of them, and concluded that Hermione did not like Chris.
"If Hermione doesn't like this guy, whose nametag says 'Chris,' then I don't either," he thought.
"Excuse me, but we'd like to sit down and enjoy our meal," said Draco.
Chris seemed to notice that Hermione had come with a man and he said, "Oh, sure."
He led them to a table that was really close to where the waiter's sat.
As soon as Chris left, Draco said, "Who is he? I don't like the way he looks at you."
Hermione frowned, "Is this restaurant still in the wizarding world?" she asked.
Draco nodded.
"I never…" she started.
"What?" asked Draco.
"Um, he was my old boyfriend," Hermione said softly.
Draco felt his fists tighten up, but he told himself to calm down.
"He was my boyfriend when I came back from seventh year at Hogwarts."
"Oh," said Draco.
Hermione was about to tell Draco that she wanted to leave, but just then, Chris came towards their table.
"Are you ready to order?" he asked, his eyes on Hermione.
Draco spoke up, "Yes, I'll have the prime rib with the Caesar Salad."
Chris scowled, as if Draco was forcing him to look away from Hermione.
"Okay, and Hermione?" he asked.
Hermione frowned, "I'll have the same."
Chris took the menus from the both of them, and left, giving Hermione a wink.
Draco frowned, "I don't like that guy."
When they got their food, they quickly gobbled it down.
Draco paid the bill, and the two left the restaurant when Chris wasn't looking.
"Who is he?" asked Draco once again, as soon as they were in the car.
"He's my ex. I told you."
"Did he?" asked Draco.
"If you're talking about my virginity, no."
Draco sighed in relief, not knowing that his breath had been held.
"Were you thinking that he took my virginity away?" asked Hermione.
Draco nodded.
Hermione laughed, "Well, I'm still a virgin."
"But anyway, there was something about Chris that always made me … I don't know. I remember one time…"
"What?" asked Draco.
"He just is very overprotective of me. He gets really jealous, and that was why I broke up with him," she said.
Draco frowned, "What is up with him?"
"A few days later, I found myself missing him. So I went back. It was like that everytime! It was as if he put a spell on me to always come back to him. I don't know, but sooner or later, I couldn't take it anymore, so I went into the Wizarding World, and I guess the spell wore off."
Draco thought for a minute, "I think you were under his influence."
Hermione nodded.
"Wow, it must've been tough! Did he ever … abuse you?" Draco asked.
Hermione shook her head, "No, he was a good guy, but he was really jealous. I remember one time, I was talking to a guy that I met at a bookstore, and he walked in. All of a sudden, he pulled me away, and gave me a big lecture!"
"Well, I'm glad you got away," Draco said, and he pulled Hermione into a hug.
"Away?" asked Chris to himself.
"No, I am not going to lose Hermione again!" he said aloud.
"Chris!" shouted his boss. "If you're done talking to yourself, there are some guests waiting to be served."
Chris rolled his eyes, and went back to work.
Author's Note: Please read and review.