Mimiona's Disclaimer: I own Harry Potter and his entire univer- BOOM! *little pieces of Mimiona sway down to the ground...*

Blossom's Disclaimer: Oh, goodness, Mimiona's disclaimer is gory. :(

Anyway, whatever belongs to Rowling is hers. We won't try to steal it...yet.

Ekaterina's Disclaimer: We solemnly swear that we own Harry Potter. Tee hee, my favorite disclaimer if you have not noticed yet :D.

Mimiona's Note: I'm a Libra! Hehe...

Blossom's Note: Alright! I got google chrome and it's SO much better! It makes writing super faster, too! Oh, and thanks to everyone that reviewed! Much love 3

Ekaterina's Note: Ah, we published the last chapter faster, but somehow it was waaaaay longer ^^'. We spent a good amount of time deciding on the house elf's name... Momo is a very cute name, don't you think? On a more serious note, Reviews! I know this is a bit like nagging, but really, reviews are what we dream of! Pleaaase? With dramione on top? :3 3 Thank you to DutchyGirl, hp1234567fan, Kallisti's Avengeance, and ClarissaJackson. If I missed anyone, please give a shout and I'll be sure to fix that :) DutchyGirl, I think you're amazing for reviewing every chapter. Thanks! Oh, we were reviewing the history of Rome, and our teacher asked me who supposedly founded it. I said Romulus and Remus. He responded, "Well, they left Remus quite out of the chapter! It's terrible!" So, I yelled out, "They left out Tonks too!" Only about half our class got it but it was amusing none the less :)

ChApTeR 6: By ThE pRiCkInG oF mY tHuMbS...

Hermione checked herself for the last time in the mirror. What was she thinking? It was like a mouse walking into a lion's mouth- sorry, snake's mouth. Obviously it wasn't what it seemed to be. She was still confused, bewildered, to be exact. Mr. X = Draco Malfoy? What kind of equation was that, anyway? Hermione wanted to write "false" next to it and get it over with, but she found herself fixing her necklace instead. What was she even expecting? That the ferret would be nice, let her rent a cheap luxurious room for a while? Eh-hem, no way. So why was she doing this? Uh, she had no idea. Sighing, Hermione tucked her wand into her purse, just in case.

Hermione made her way downstairs, attempting to look graceful, maybe even- dare she say? Sexy. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs, the she found a note taped to the end of the banister.

Dear Hermione,

I expect you to be shocked. But I want to tell you that this isn't a mean joke, or a prank. I... I think, if we could try, we could honestly get along. I would like to get a chance to speak with you, so, we're going to eat dinner together tonight in a rather pleasant place- hence the dress. Maybe, we could forget all differences for an evening? I would like to properly meet you, and I mean you, not the muggleborn, know-it-all Gryffindor from Hogwarts. But as the you now.

~Draco Malfoy

Hermione snorted. Of course. How Draco Malfoy. "I would like to get a chance kill you, or at least seriously maim you, so I will demand that you wear this dress and that you eat dinner with me." Basically summarized the entire letter. But still, at the end, he did seem genuinely interested and thoughtful. So maybe that was why she found herself, much to her surprise, walking to the main hall to be picked up by Mr. X.

Her heart pounding despite herself, Hermione walked into the hall. It was decorated magnificently, with flowers and candles. A brightly lit crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. She turned around and surveyed it with surprise and mild shock. Up till now the hall had been quite plain, styled with renaissance murals on the ceiling and pillars decorated with different Greek dieties and flowers. It was impressive, if not a tad bit dull for her tastes.

However, one thing was missing. The Slytherin himself.

Hermione looked up as footsteps sounded down the hall. As much as she hated to admit, he did look rather dashing dressed up, silky blonde hair... greyish eyes... ack, no, those thoughts were so not going to infiltrate her currently, relatively sane mind. Trying to cover up her 'mild interest', she said curtly, "You're late, Mr. X."

"That's Draco to you, love," replied Draco without a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Oh please, bring me a basin. Are you trying to make me gag or something? What do you mean, 'love'?" Hermione scoffed.

Draco turned to Hermione, very obviously looking up and down her body. She self-consciously crossed her arms. He looked up at this, and caught her eyes. "Are you feeling ill?" he asked finally, in a voice that reflected some degree of concern.
Hermione ignored his comment and glared at him. "Shall we get going?" she asked rather coldly.

Draco smirked, "After you, milady..." She looked up in surprise as a side door swung open majestically, leading out to the backyard. There was a small square with a neat sign reading, "apparation station."

"You have an... apparation station?" she asked skeptically. "What's that even used for?"

"No questions, unless they relate to us right now," he said absentmindedly while running a hand through his hair. Hermione was intrigued. How did it stay so perfect? Hers, if treated that way, wouldn't last neatly for a minute.

She raised her hand experimentally and ran her hand through his hair as if patting a dog. "Ooooh, nice, Malfoy!" she giggled. He looked at her like she was insane, and gave a little cough but decided to ignore it for the time being. Hermione brought her hand down quickly. "Well, what are we doing now?"

"Still didn't catch it? We're apparating," said Draco with another smirk.

"And where are we going?" asked Hermione.

"No more questions. Come on." With that, Draco grabbed Hermione's hand and started half-dragging, half-pulling her to the "apparation station.

"WAIT, Stop! Stop!" Hermione demanded.

Draco halted in his steps, and Hermione wrenched her hand out of his grasp.

"What? Why?" Draco asked, his voice expressing mild curiosity, as if he really didn't know why Hermione didn't want to go.

"Why? Why? You seriously have no idea why I'm so confused?"

Draco nodded and sort of shrugged.

"For one thing, you're demanding I do this and that without a single bit of explanation!"

"Well, I want to get to know you."

"Right, because stuffing me in a dress-", which was actually quite gorgeous, she grudgily admitted to herself, though wouldn't admit it even if at gunpoint, "and then saying that we are going for dinner impromptu is so not confusing," sighed Hermione exasperatedly. "The only explanation I got was 'No more questions.'" She glared at Draco before continuing. "And now I'm apparently spending my New Year's eve with my childhood arch-enemy!"

"Er...Fresh start?" he offered with a peace implying shrug.

Hermione stared at him, "Honestly, you can be so clever in studies and such, but when it comes to common sense, you're quite lacking. I guess you really don't get it, huh?" She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay, you have tonight to prove yourself. If I still hate you, I'm moving out. I'm only going along with whatever evil scheme you have because of the letters."

Draco beamed, "Brilliant! So can we go now? Our reservation is in exactly one minute."

"Wha-" Hermione was cut off as he apparated them both to their destination.

Hermione looked around confusedly. They were in a dimly lit room; there was a dining table in front of her. Candles were set in elegand holders on the table, and foods of different sorts were being carried around by pleasant looking waiters to other couples at their tables.

Draco walked up to the reception table, "Hello, reservation for Malfoy-"

"Ooooh, Mr. Malfoy! Of course, of course. Please, follow me!" the woman at the desk eagerly leapt up to lead them to their table.

"We arranged everything as you instructed, I hope you don't mind the other tables near you , we are quite busy due to the occaison of the New Year..."

He allowed a small smile and glanced at Hermione, "Is it fine?"

She didn't bother asking, she was too busy gaping at the scenery from the balcony.

"Oh... I can see all of muggle London from here," Hermione gasped in delight.

Draco rolled his eyes, "Yeah, do you want to sit here or somewhere more... secluded?"

"HERE!" she squealed enthusiastically. Draco nodded and the woman seated them.

Hermione stared at the man across from her. Definately the same stuck up kid from school. But hotter. And less rude, if that was believable. Well, at least so far. She wasn't really sure what to say, so far she had made three comments on the view before lapsing into an awkward silence. She shifted in her seat, this was really wierd.

Draco scrutinized the lady across from him. She was still like the wary know all, but prettier. Her hair was smoother and longer, in slight caramel waves. At least she wasn't as arrogant as she had been in school, that would have simply been troublesome. He smiled and decided to pick up the lingering conversation before it really got uncomfortable.

"So, Hermione," he started as the food arrived, "how do you find my choice of dining?"

"Very nice," she responded politely. If she was going to do this, she was going to be as civil and distant as possible.

Draco raised an eyebrow, "Two words? Am I really that awful company that you don't want to talk to me?"

Hermione flushed a bit, "No, it's not, well, I...I was... Well... um..."

Draco interrupted her speech of ums and wells. "Let's eat," he said curtly. "The food is getting cold.

And the two ate their pasta in an awkward silence for some time.

"Uh, well, Draco," Hermione winced at the name. It felt sort of weird to say it. "Tell me a bit about yourself." She only said it to break the silence; she never knew that no sound could be so loud.

Draco played with his fork with a bored expression, "I told you about myself in the letters. I want to know about you, you never said anything about yourself."

"That's only because you knew everything already."

"Oh yeah. My brilliant deductive skills. I forgot," he said dryly.

"Fine, here. Hi! I'm Hermione Granger, nice to meet you. I'm currently 23, saviour of the world, best friend to the biggest celebrity, and just quit working for the crappiest quidditch team ever! I also recently learned that the person I loved since fourth year actually never liked me, but his beautiful stylist! How about you?" Now she just sounded angry and bitter, she realized, and plastered a smile onto her face.

Draco looked at the fake smile on her face with sympathy. "Draco Malfoy. Aspiring to charm Hermione Granger," he said shortly with flash of a grin. Hermione gaped at him and spluttered. He called for the check and paid while she tried to compose herself.

As they walked out of the restaurant, Draco looked down and smiled a bit at Hermione's still pink face. It seemed that Ron hadn't complimented her much, hence the great reaction.

Hermione noticed the smile and blushed a bit harder.

"Is something wrong?" he asked innocently. "Maybe it's the cold turning your cheeks pink."

She held her burning cheeks, mortified, "Ah... Yeah, must be the cold..." Feeling her face grow even hotter, she looked away. Draco smirked.

"Oh look! Fireworks!" Hermione exclaimed, thankful for the distraction.

Draco stared at Hermione. "Oh yes, beautiful. But not as gorgeous as you," he said with a smile that looked more like a smirk.

Hermione burned scarlet...again. "Shut up," she said.

Draco looked at her with fake wonder. "Really? I don't know, you seem like you like me talking...seeing as you turn pink every time I say something."

"Ass."

"I am quite awful, I know," he chuckled and looked at his wrist watch. "Oh my, exactly one minute to New Years!

"New Years?" Hermione narrowed her eyes at Draco, who was advancing closer to her.

He leaned in even more, eyes sparkling a bit, "You do know what happens when midnight strikes, right?" he asked, almost in a whisper.

Hermione stepped back and hissed when she hit the wall behind her. Draco leaned in a bit farther.

"What happens?" she whispered warily, her heart pounding.

Draco smirked. "We go home and get a good night's sleep so you can prepare for work day after," he said briskly, he patted Hermione's head like one would to a child, then grabbed her arm and apparated them home.

"Night!" he said cheerfully, with an evil grin. He sauntered into the house, leaving a bewildered Hermione standing at the "apparation station."

Hermione plopped onto her bed, thoroughly confused. What had happened tonight? Draco seemed different...grown up...Yet he teased her possibly every moment of the evening; making her blush was probably his greatest pleasure in life. She glanced down and realized she was still wearing the silver dress. She dressed into her pajamas absent-mindedly and got into her bed again. Trying to clear her mind, she grabbed Hamlet and opened to her page.

"Doubt thou the stars are fire;

Doubt that the sun doth move;

Doubt truth to be a liar;

But never doubt I love."

Not finding it fitting for her mood, she picked up Macbeth and turned to a random page.

"By the pricking of my thumbs,

Something wicked this way comes."

With a quiet yelp of surprise, she got a papercut on the edge of her thumb. Grumbling, she sucked on her thumb and pouted at the page; something evil had to Malfoy. Draco Malfoy, the dragon of bad faith... Sighing, Hermione closed the book and brought the covers over her head.

Hermione woke up to the sound of the wind rustling the trees outside her window. She felt pleasantly rested. Opening the closet to dress, she found herself gazing at the silver dress from yesterday. She gently fingered it before changing into her formal robes; today was her first day of work for the Misty Mermaids.

By the time she walked out of her bedroom, she was neatly dressed, her hair combed back and tied into one ponytail that gave her a sophisticated look, and she had applied some slight makeup to her face, with some glittery eye liner and a dash of lip gloss.

There was someone seated at the dining table when she walked into the kitchen.

"Draco?"

"Finally up, Sleeping Beauty?" he asked in a bored voice.

Hermione flushed and seated herself across from her. "I didn't sleep for that long! Ooh, pancakes!" she said, just to say something.

"Eat. Today's the first day of work for you; can't be hungry," Draco said, dumping a pile of pancakes on Hermione's plate. "Here, there are some strawberries and blueberries, and the pitcher has the maple syrup."

"Ah...Thanks," Hermione said. She carefully cut a piece of the pancake and tasted it. Mmm, not bad, she thought. It was light and warm, almost melting in her mouth. "It's good," she said, a genuine compliment. "Did you make it?"

Draco nodded. "Yup, out of the pancake mix."

Hermione coughed. "Pancake mix...? This fluffy goodness came from pancake mix?"

He chuckled. "No, actually, Momo made it, not out of pancake mix. You still take things so seriously," he said.

Hermione looked at the pancake she was eating. "A house elf made this?" she asked.

"That's right. Are you gonna refuse to eat again?" he asked, smirking.

Hermione paused, seriously considering the matter, but then shook her head and bit into another piece. "Nope," she said, after swallowing. "Maybe next time, when I don't have work."

Draco peered at her. "Well, I see you've learned to be a little more practical. Say, do you have make-up on?" he asked. "Hmm, looks nice."

Hermione choked on her strawberry.

Draco handed her a glass of orange juice. "Are you okay?"

Hermione coughed, spraying orange juice everywhere.

Draco grimaced before clearing the table and his face with a flick of his wand. "I dare say that you have had enough breakfast," he said.

She nodded, her deadpan. "I think I'll go now. Don't wanna be late," she muttered before apparating.

Hermione entered her new building with slight caution, this was going to be her new job for Merlin knew how many years, and she had better not screw up on the first day. It was also New Years day, and being a tad bit superstitious, she believed that if this day went well, so would the rest of her year.

She walked to the desk at the lobby, "Hi, I'm Hermione Granger. I'm here for the new PR job position of the Misty Mermaids?"

The man behind the desk smiled and directed her to the fifth floor. As she entered the pearly, shell styled elevator, Hermione marveled at the beauty and elegance of the building. The edifice was tall and majestic, the walls and floors made of what looked like black onyx and pearls. There were large windows every so often, giving the impression that she was in a high class hotel rather than an office building.

As the elevator gave a light sound alerting her of her arrival. Taking a deep breath and praying that she had made the right decision, Hermione stepped out. Taking brisk strides down the hall, she walked into the room that had a number of people milling around and talking, and a door with a plaque reading her name as current head of Misty Mermaid PR.

Our dear heroine cleared her throat, "Hello! I'm Hermione Granger, new PR head..."

She was relieved as she got to know the members on the public relations team; they seemed like nice people, quite friendly and considerate enough to try to make her feel less nervous. So far, so good, although apparently it being her first day of work didn't excuse her for the work. The first thing she saw as she walked into her new office were stacks and stacks of various papers that she needed to fill out, read, decide, or otherwise shred in the paper shredder.

Midway through her day, a memo flew onto the office desk, it was a paper folded into the shape of a crane. The people looked at Hermione expectantly, so she picked up the paper and unfolded it.

Miss H. Granger:

Floor 9, Room 913. Meet your boss! 3:00 PM today.

~ You're Boss.

"Aw shi-!" she hissed. In her excitement to start work, it had completely slipped her mind to meet her new boss. She checked her watch, 2:50 PM. Still enough time to run up and make up for it without seeming as rude as she had probably come across as.

"Um. I neglected to meet the boss," Hermione said in explanation to her curious coworkers.

Someone coughed. There was some awkward shuffling until someone suggested that she left, for he probably would not appreciate being kept from lunch.

Floor 9, the door at the end of the hall, room 13. 13, the unlucky number, too. Hermione sighed in front of the door; this had better go well. Checking her reflection in a hand mirror from her purse, Hermione tentatively knocked on the door.

"Just a moment!" called out a voice. She could hear the dull buzz of conversation.

"Alright, come in!" the voice called again.

"... and give that letter to Sherry before she leaves with them for Peru tomorrow..." she could see a blurry figure through the wrought iron partition gate, it was in an oriental fashion. As to not intrude, she glanced around the elaborate room, the walls were a warm sort of brown, a wooden border engraved with what appeared to be dragons circled where the ceiling and walls met. There was a creme sofa against one wall and a window stretched across the other, giving a clear view of most of the city. The other two walls were quite simple, one with a mural of what appeared to be Paris in darker shades of brown.

Growing impatient as the voices were still talking, she peered around the partition in hopes to catch sight of her new boss without being seen. Blonde hair. Tall figure. Not good. Emmitting a sort of half strangled scream, she glanced at the two people in the room. One was a woman, small and slight, she looked an awful lot like Myra, except her hair was a lighter shade of brown and her eyes were a chilly blue. It was a bit disconcerting. The other character, on the other hand, was not who she expected to see.

"Wait, you work here too?" she gaped at the man in front of her.

"Honey, this is your boss," the woman answered sympathetically.

"You didn't know? Malfoy Industries funds various quidditch teams, well actually most quidditch teams, minus the Chudley Cannons...You happened to choose Misty Mermaids; the Blackbeard Pirates were on level 4, so you would have ended up here one way or another," Draco drawled.

"You...fund...the Misty Mermaids?"

Draco nodded impatiently. "Basically, we basically give money to the quidditch teams to get back even more money. So all games, projects, activities that the teams do are monitored by us; we don't want our money going to waste."

Hermione turned and rested her forehead against the cool wall for support. This was NOT happening. Hopefully, last night had really messed with her head and this was all some sort of crazy dream. She started hitting her head against the wall in the hope of waking up.

"Graaaaaanger... I'm bored, let's have lunch!" he called out in a mild tone.

Shit. Not a dream. She turned around with the biggest, childish pout Draco had ever seen. He burst into chuckles, which he tried to turn into discreet coughs, and turned to the table.

"I hate you," she muttered savagely and sat down.

Hermione walked into the house past eleven PM, completely exhausted. First day of work, so many things to do. Papers stacked up on her new desk, in her new office; meeting all the players; getting to know the situation with the past public relations manager (which was terrible); fixing the various arising problems; working non-stop after her stressful lunch, and not taking a break up until now... Her head throbbed, she felt a little warm. Life, in short, was HELL.

Sighing, she started to make her way up the stairs. There was a crack, and Draco Malfoy appeared before her. Hermione didn't even look up.

"How was your first day of work?" he asked with a cruel smile.

"Terrible, thanks to my boss," she muttered before continuing up the stairs.

"Was it that bad?" Draco asked with a smirk.

"Oh, I don't know. I've been working eleven hours straight after lunch break; I'm better than ever!" Hermione said sarcastically. "Move."

Draco looked at Hermione's face. She really didn't look too well; he decided to let her off for now. "Alright," he said, and apparated away.

Blaise:
How the hell you you expect me to charm a witch who blushes at every compliment I give her and then gets suspicious and rude when she thinks I'm going to kiss her? Mate, she's lovely, but ginger didn't do a very good job charming her. It's going to take a lot of work to get her to interact with me properly first. Oh, and today she learned that I'm her boss...

-Draco

Dear Harry,
Did you hear? Hermione's Mr. X turned out to be Draco Malfoy! And her boss, guess who he is! Draco Bloody Malfoy! I'm seriously tempted to go and beat the guts out of Blaise, bet he set this up so we could lose! I'm simply furious that Hermione is living with that arrogant bas- *coughs* right, I'm trying to curb my swearing habit. The children were a bit shocked when I gave a steady steam of curses when the bludger hit me yesterday. Don't want to frighten them... Anyhow, I'm sad that we missed New Years with Hermione. Remember I sent the letter a couple days ago? Well stupid Ron intercepted the letter, and he wrote to me saying that if Hermione wanted to get revenge on his team because they were awful, then he wouldn't be having any of it. Stupid git. As if it was about his team, as sucky as it is. Anyway, we should go visit Hermione soon. Now that we're back at Hogwarts Ron can't stop our letters anymore. I'll see you later today, then.

Much love,
Ginny

Dear Ginny,
We are going to be paying a visit to Malfoy Manor tonight. I sent an owl after reading your letter, hope you don't mind. I want to persuade Hermione to move again, we can support her if she needs it, but there is no way that she is going to be living with HIM. I know, we supposedly solved all our problems, but... I don't quite trust him right now with the bet and everything. I don't want Hermione broken hearted again, I was so relieved that she got over Ron so well, but that Blaise really screwed things up. We'll have to talk things over with Malfoy tonight, to see how he managed to get Draco into the mess, too. And yes, it was awfully horrid of Ron to stop all our letters. Anyhow, I think Malfoy said it would be a casual affair of coffee and tea, be ready by 6, if you can.

Loads of love,
Harry

(A/N general: So, another rather longish chapter! Haha, this one was fun to write, it's been a while since we had conversations without letters. We will still have letters, but not necessarily between Draco and Hermione. OH. Draco Malfoy= Dragon of Bad Faith in French. Thought that was amusing. :) Review, our dearest readers, it will make us happier than you know)