Chapter Two
Hermione wandered around her office. It was only moments after she had employed Draco and she knew, moments before Ginny Weasley would come in.
It happened within a matter of seconds.
Ginny came in without bothering to knock. Her eyes were flashing. "Hermione," she said dangerously. "There was me, thinking you were in love with my brother! How foolish I was!" she said maliciously. Hermione bit her lip.
"Ginny, listen to me –" Ginny cut her off. "I am not going to listen to you," she said. "I thought you were my friend, and I thought you loved Ron! How can you – how can you employ the person whose father was responsible for all the pain we went through?" Ginny sputtered out.
Hermione remained silent. She was afraid to speak, afraid to admit her weakness. Her weakness for Draco?
Ginny cast a hurt and angry look at Hermione before storming out of the room. She slammed the door. Everybody outside glanced at the pair.
Hermione sat down and sighed. She was afraid of even admitting it to herself. But she did have a weakness for Draco. She knew deep down in her heart that Draco was a good man. He only had the misfortune of being born into the wrong family, and brought up with the wrong values. And after the war, it was only worse. Everything Draco had been brought up to believe in had been proved false. He was forced to fit in with a group of people that he had been raised to hate.
She leaned back in her chair. She loved Ron, she told herself, but was there any harm in employing Draco? After all, he had completely nothing to do with Ron's death, she told herself firmly. Almost completely nothing. Ginny's voice came back to haunt her. He just had happened to be the son of the very man who had single-handedly killed Ron and Bill Weasley. And Ginny happened to be the type who carried grudges all the way to distant relatives of anyone who did evil. Was she?
Images of the war flooded back to her again. It was a sad war, even though the Light side had won. But the war had taken away many innocent victims along with Voldemort. It was like some kind of cruel punishment, Hermione thought and chuckled.
No war is ever good. And there is no such thing as fighting for peace, she thought sadly.
Draco tried hard to concentrate on his work, but he couldn't. Earlier on he had witnessed the row between Ginny and Hermione with a pang of guilt in his conscience. They must be fighting about me, he thought. He himself had wondered why Hermione had agreed to employ him. Lucius Malfoy's face had swam into Draco's thoughts.
Up till now, he had wondered if he had made the right choice.
Before the war was over, Draco had gone over to the Light side. He could not bear the guilt of belonging to the side that had killed one of the greatest wizards on earth. Draco had a quarrel with his father the night before he went. He remembered it clearly. And the day after, the war ended and his father had been taken to Azkaban. He hadn't seen his father since.
Draco had sworn to his father, on the night they had the fight, that he will never again call Lucius 'Father'. Again, he wondered if he had made the right choice. He missed his father badly – no matter what his father did before.
Draco shook himself from his thoughts and looked up. There, in her office, was Hermione. She was looking out from her window. She looked lost. Probably thinking of Ron. The guilt came again.
Draco wasn't wrong.
Hermione stared out of the window listlessly. Despite what Ginny had said earlier on, she missed Ron so badly. She just didn't want to admit it.
Ron.
A tear rolled down her cheeks. Hermione brushed away the tear.
She couldn't remember what happened during the war. There were only memories of Ron – flying on his broomstick, the two of them on a date to watch the Chudley Cannons, the orange Chudley Cannon gear that had clashed horribly with his hair, the day he had finally plucked up the courage to say "I Love You", the day they had made love to each other all night, the day when Ron came back all muddy and grumpy because he had lost a Quidditch match to Harry – all the memories came flooding back into her mind. She stared out of the window and realized that everything was becoming blurry. There must be fog, she thought in some surprise.
It was only later when she realized that she was crying.
Draco lifted his head up again. He knocked over his coffee.
There was a general murmuring throughout the office as he approached, with a slight smile on his face.
Draco, in the meantime, tried making himself inconspicuous. Draco even wondered if he had time to Transfigure himself into a potted plant when he noticed Draco.
His face fell. But he continued determinedly to his destination.
Draco's heart fell as well. He hadn't expected a warm greeting. But he didn't expect to be ignored.
There was a knock on Hermione's door.
Hermione hurriedly brushed away the tears. She muttered a spell that automatically redid her makeup. Redodnis.
"Come in!" she called, her voice quavering slightly. The door opened and he came in.
JE: Ooh, who's the 'him'? Kekeke.
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