Ekaterina's Disclaimer: I own this just as much as I own an authentic Victorian ball gown. In other words, not at all.

Mimiona's just spectacular Disclaimer: Imagine, for a second, a pomegranate. Imagine the nice, soft, juicy seeds, the amazing ripe fruit.
There, now that I've got you all hungry for pomegranates, here's a pomegranate!

And now that you're distracted with that pomegranate, I will go steal the characters.

Hehe :D

Blossom's Disclaimer: *Dials 9-1-1* Hello? There's a Mimiona stealing characters from Rowling here. Please come quickly.

Amber's Note: People, I'm back!...Not like you knew I was missing though... After being dumped by my precious granddaughter just so she could go off and leave her own grandfather in aching pain, I have a broken heart. Well, anyways! For the 0.0001% of you that actually realized I was missing, I feel like I owe you an explanation. I won't be here for a while with my dry and sarcastic humor (heaven knows it's a horrible thing), and I'm also really sorry to the author authors of this story (you can whip me with a wet noodle later, guys) but I promise I'll be writing more as soon as second semester starts for me and I get my grades stabilized. I'm sorry! Btw, Ekaterina's lying. Her English is as fluent as...well, as fluent as English can be!

Ekaterina's Note: Heya! I just want to apologize for the lack of updates, school has been rather trying :) Hmm. My English is perfectly awful so I'm tying to improve while writing here too... Oh, and I moved my personal one shots to a different account- Grimm' :) check it out? :3 OH, today was our first pep rally of the year... the marching band was awesome, but the dance team had the skimpiest outfits ever :l it was really weird. Haha, so thanks to everyone reading, favoriting, alerting, and REVIEWING. I love you all very much! Wow, this was a long time ago... Sorry for the slow updates! But it's winter break now... Hm nothing new really, check out Trans Siberian Orchestra, they have amazing music :D much love!

Blossom's Note: Hi everyone! Oh, goodness, there has been a LOOOONG break between our updates, but we've been kinda busy with schoolwork. Unfortunately, our days are filled with homework, study, extra-curricular, study... well, yeah.

But readers! Please review and comment and favorite and alert! Thanks to those who already have! 3

ChApTeR 9: GrYfFiNdOr TiEs PaRt 2

There was an awkward silence around the table. Here they were, a group of friendly coworkers out for a Valentines dinner, ready to gossip about their boss all night- well, not all night, just enough to get it out of their systems- when the devil himself showed up.

"Hermione..." the team's seeker, Marilyn gave a false smile through clenched teeth. "You're here...with Mr. Malfoy..."

"Err..." Hermione racked her brains for a suitable response to the expectant faces looking up at her.

"Draco's dating Hermione!" Of course, Brynn simply had to use her hello

hellosing-song voice to say that. Hermoine couldn't help but give a small laugh which was immediately drowned by the sound of the peals of laughter produced by her friends.

"Ahhaha... Nice one, Brynn... Hehe, but no, seriously, why's he here. I mean, one night without our boss?" Jared wiped tears of mirth from his cheeks.

Draco frowned a bit, these people were not taking the situation seriously at all. They simply thought he was a party crasher right now.

"Er, no, I am dating Draco," announced Hermione with an exasperated look on her face. Draco took her arm and hooked it onto his as if to support her point.

Marilyn stared at them with wide eyes. Jared was gaping and Brynn was obviously snickering into her firewhiskey.

"Heeeeermiiiiione... Is there something you've been hiding from us?" Lilian raised an eyebrow and smirked. It was pretty obvious that Brynn had told her that Hermione and Draco were dating.

Nick winked at Hermione before saying in a fake-innocent voice, "No! It can't be!"

Brynn burst into peals of laughter that she tried (not-so-successfully) to turn into a coughing fit.

Draco sighed. Of course, he had been expecting a somewhat startled reaction, but this was... He looked around, finding that it was awkward of him to be standing around doing nothing. It was obvious that no one was going to invite their boss to sit with them, so he invited himself and his "girlfriend" to the table.

Marilyn looked curiously across the table at Hermione and Draco, who were sitting rather awkwardly next to each other. "When did this happen?"

Draco started, "None of your-"

Hermione elbowed him and interjected, "Oh, we started dating about two weeks ago, about when I first started working here." She cracked a forced smile.

Jared nodded, though he still seemed shocked. "Um, well, according to rumors, weren't you guys like sworn enemies or something ever since Hogwarts?"

"Well, benefits of knowing your enemies better..." Draco said. If he was going to do this, why not do it properly.

Jared still looked at them suspiciously.

Draco brought his arm around Hermione. "Honestly, I think we realized that we got along quite so well until we met again recently! I don't know how... Hermy... and I never realized our wonderful friendship." His voice was practically dripping with dry sarcasm.

"...Hermy?" the rest of the group chorused in amusement and confusion.
Hermione shook off his arm. "Well, you see, Grawp the giant was the first to call me that. He had a sort of maternal affection for me and I suppose Draco just has the sense of a giant."

The occupants of the table stared at the two who were now glaring icily at each other in an attempt to insult the other while maintaining what might or might now seem to be affection.

"Right, right! Of course!" Brynn said, glaring at Hermione the message, "You two don't seem like you are dating!"

Catching the look, Hermione grabbed Draco's arm. "You know I'm kidding, right, dearie?" she asked in a sweet voice.

Draco gaped at Hermione. "What?"

Hermione jabbed Draco. "Oh, I knew you would know I was joking about the Grawp thing! You always knew what I really meant..." She forced a smile.

"Right, of course," Draco said gruffly.

Brynn laughed awkwardly and, attempting to lighten up the mood, started, "Ooh! Let's-"

"Hermione? Draco?" a dreamy voice cut Brynn off.

"Luna! Is that you?" Hermione stared at the petite blonde in front of her. Luna had not grown much in the past years, but she had maintained her usual quirkiness.

"Oh. The school nutcase!" Draco said cheerfully, earning him a smack from Hermione.

"Oh. The school bully..." Luna answered back dryly, giving Draco barely a glance.

"Touche..." he said, narrowing his eyes. Luna simply gave a blissful smile an rearranged her long hair around her black coat.

"I'm actually working at Gringotts now..." Luna announced.

"Ohhh! That's wonderful, Luna. Are you here with someone today?" Hermione beamed at the woman.

"Oh, yes, a colleague of mine and I are trying to decipher a few runes here. See, look at this..." From her handbag, Luna fished out an old piece of parchment and gently opened it to show the text.

Hermione peered at the words. "They aren't English, definitely."

"Well, yeah. We figured that out." Luna smiled brightly and added, "Actually, we even determined it was Latin." Draco raised an eyebrow.

Before Hermione could respond, another girl came rushing in. She was panting a bit and seemed to be a bit disorderly. Her blonde hair was dyed various colors and was falling out of her messy bun while papers were stacked precariously in her arms.

"Luna! Sorry sorry, I got caught up in the notes on page 8794 that I lost track of time!"

Luna whispered to Hermione, "She's a bit...out of it..."

Hermione stifled a laugh; it amused her that Luna was calling someone, "Out of it."

Luna smiled. "Everyone, this is Karen, she's my partner in deciphering the codes!"

Karen beamed at the group, she appeared to be younger than them, although probably about a couple years. "Nice to meet you all! I'm Karen!"

Pleasant introductions were made and the two were invited to join the table. They took two chairs next to each other but close to Hermione and Draco, who were looking over at the papers in interest.

"Latin...right..." Hermione said. "Well, I didn't study Latin very deeply, but I can recognize a couple things here and there. It seems like a bunch of...well...Latin."

Draco sighed. "And I thought you were the brightest witch in our generation. Here, let me read it."

Hermione stared at her "boyfriend." "You can read Latin? Impressive..." she said.

"Here...that means farm, that says twelve years..." He proceeded to go through the paper and point out words.

Meanwhile, Luna and Karen were talking excitedly. "Well, we've got a translator right here! We can finally know what this means!" Luna laughed.

"Where did you find this?" asked Draco, puzzled at the meaning. "It doesn't make any sense...at all."

"Well, it was in a rather rural area down by Ireland... I think it was what used to be a farm," Karen explained.

Luna jumped up and down enthusiastically. "Draco! Can you write down the romanization for the Latin on this parchment?" She took a scrap out from her bag and handed it to Draco.

Grumbling, Draco took it and started to write out the sounds on it. Every so often he bit his quill and glared at the paper.

Karen high-fived Luna. "LUNA! You've got awesome friends! They're so smart!"

Luna brought her eyes to the earnestly working Draco. "Right."

"But I'm just wondering why it was in a such a common- that is, old common? Language to translate. There are many people who could have translated that... unless it was meant to be read?" Hermione puzzled.

Draco's eyes widened. "Wait...oh Merlin..."

Luna began reading the parchment before anyone could stop her.

"Wait, Luna-" Hermione started, but Karen joined in the chant, and the two finished reading the romanized Latin.

Two seconds later, Hermione and Draco were sitting in the middle of a green, grassy field with the sun beating down on them and sheep bleating peacefully beside them. Draco turned around in horror, what once might have resembled his manor was now a giant Malfoy Barnyard. The rest of the quiditch team was slowly appearing around them and yelling in confusion. Hermione buried her head in her hands, she should have known that wherever Luna was, trouble was sure to follow.

E/N: Hey, sorry for the late and short update, things have been hectic... Um, so we were thinking that this was getting kinda cliche, so it was time to spice stuff up xD Therefore, they have been cursed to remain on a farm in a rural part of Ireland until they figure out how to get out. It was that or becoming professional assassins and murdering corrupt politicians... ^^' So please continue to read and review!