I am not JK, therefore I own nothing you recognise.

The next morning Hermione woke to a banging headache and a distinct queesy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Groaning she forced her eyes open, only to squeeze them shut a second later. The curtains were open a slit and the light was forcing itself into her head. She groaned and turned the other way, suddenly realising Ron wasn't there. She sat up quickly, breathing quickly as her body threatened to dispel what was left over from last night out of her body. She looked at the clock and shrieked as she saw that it was past eleven. Just as she was about to jump up she noticed a note on Ron's pillow.

"Hermione,

You came in drunk at two thirty. You collapsed on the couch. I moved you to our bed and sent an owl to your office telling them you're ill and won't be in until tomorrow.

You're welcome.

Ron"

Hermione sighed and relaxed back into bed. She couldn't believe it, she'd come in steaming drunk in the early hours of the morning and Ron had still sent a note into work getting her out of work for the day. She lay there for a long time just thinking. She thought of all her friends and their families, and how things had changed very little since the end of the war. She couldn't believe just how much she'd changed in the last month. It seemed a long time ago that she was sat in the living room that early morning, thinking of her life.

When Hermione sat up, she knew what she was going to do. She just didn't know how or when she would. She got out of bed and made her way downstairs to the pantry in the kitchen, inside she rummaged around and finally found what she was looking for; her hangover kit. Paracetamol, Ibuprofen and a hangover potion patented by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Usually she doled out the medicines to Ron, though every now and then she had a girly night with Ginny and some of the girls from school, on these nghts she usually ended up worse than Ron and Harry. Over the years she had built up quite a tolerance to alcohol and could easily keep up with Harry, if not Ron.

After about ten minutes Hermione felt much better and decided to start cleaning the house, seeing as each time that she'd tried to recently she had been interrupted. The kitchen was done in about an hour, as she decided to clear out the cupboards and the pantry of all the things she knew they wouldn't eat, or that had gone off. The bathroom took a little more time as she cleaned out all the hair for the plughole and polished the mirror and the tiles, as well as the usual bathroom routine. The spare room she used magic to clean, as no one ever went in there. In the master bedroom she used a bit of both. She used magic to strip the bedclothes and put clean ones on, something she could never quite get the knack of. On the mirror fronted wardrobes she used good old fashioned elbow grease to clean off all the smears from their fingerprints. She hoovered the floor and changed the net curtains that hung in the window. She decided to open all the windows in the house to let some fresh air in, as the house held a faint smell of smoke.

She finally got onto cleaning the living room when she heard a knock at the door. She still had a cloth duster in her hand as she opened the door to see Draco Malfoy standing there. He smirked as he saw her face pink from the exertion of the cleaning, her hair frizzy from not having had a shower yet. She frowned and beckoned him into the living room, setting down her cleaning things as she followed him. As she did she detected a faint smell coming from his direction.

"Malfoy, are you wearing Davidoff aftershave?"

"What? Oh yeah I am, why?"

"Oh no reason, I just like it is all. I tried to get Ron to wear it but he says it's too fruity."

Draco laughed and shrugged before walking into the kitchen. He took two glasses off the draining board and quickly dried them before pulling out some muggle whiskey. Hermione, who was still feeling the effects of last night slightly, bawked at the sight of the alcohol. He poured two healthy measures and walked back to the living room. He sat down and held one glass out to Hermione.

"I've got some bad news. I was trying to figure out if I should tell you or not, and if I should how I should tell you. I think the best way to do it is to just come out with it... I heard my boss talking to someone today in work. He said that the Minister now realised that they can't afford all these new ministry departments, all the new staff since the war. Well, not all of them... But a lot of them. He said your department is going to be abolished and anyone who needs financial help has to report direct to the minister. He also said that he doubts the people in your department will be offered jobs in other sectors."

Hermione stared at Draco in shock. She knew her job was only going to be on a temporary basis but had always been promised a follow on job from hers.

"Are... are you sure?"

"I'm afraid so... My job's getting finished too, they're just going to get aurors to ward all the places where evil artefacts are found so that no one can get in... A lot of the new aurors are going too... Apparently it's more financially viable to have less, more experienced aurors rather than training new ones..."

"Is Ron...?"

"I heard his name mentioned... Because he was suspended he might be the first to go..."

"Fuck!"

Hermione flung herself forward and wrapped her arms around Draco's neck. Startled Draco didn't react for a second, before encircling his arms around her back and hugging her tight. Hermione inhaled deeply, trying not to cry. Instead she almost moaned aloud at the smell from Draco's neck. Her eyes snapped open and she tried to stifle a giggle. Draco tried not to breathe in too much, Hermione hadn't had a shower yet and smelt of smoke and booze from the night before.

She leant back and smiled apologetically before downing the drink Draco had poured her.

"I suddenly feel very scummy... Do you mind if I go and get a shower?"

Draco shook his head as he sipped on his whiskey and she ran upstairs and jumped into her newly clean shower. In lightning quick time she was done, she used a drying spell on herself which she didn't normally like doing as it dried out her skin but desparate times call for desperate measures!

All in all Hermione and Draco spent quite a cheerful afternoon together, as cheerful as they could be when they both faced the prospect of being unemployed. After a while Draco looked at his watch and stretched.

"I really better get going, if I'm losing my job I need to jiggle my finances around."

Hermione smiled and stood as he did, walking him to the door. Before he opened it she hugged him again and smiled behind his back. He squeezed her tight and let go far too early as far as Hermione was concerned. She opened the door and he stepped out, twisting as he did so and he disappeared right in front of her eyes.

Hermione closed the door and leant her back onto it. Since when did she like hugging Malfoy?

A/N: Sorry it's been so long! I've been really ill and had complete writers block! Sorry!