Chapter 7.

Pansy made her way up to the offices of Malfoy & Granger. She was a little put out that they had held off for so long before calling her in to sign the paperwork for the stupid wolf cure staffing issue. She picked a stray piece of lint off her coat as she arrived in the reception area and roamed up to the secretary desk for Hermione.

To her complete disappointment, it was the secretary formerly shared by Draco and Hermione.

"What happened to Delacour?" Pansy said abruptly, startling the young secretary from the paperwork she was carefully reading.

"Oh- er—Ms. Delacour? She's got a more senior role here now, working closely with Mr. Malfoy with strategy," the girl stuttered. Pansy rolled her eyes, taking off her coat and throwing it roughly on the girl's desk.

"Great, take care of this, will you?" Pansy said with a scowl, "And tell Granger I'm here and don't like to be kept waiting."

Pansy paced the hallway for a moment while the girl immediately scrambled off. She smirked, it was always hilarious terrorising the junior staff at Malfoy & Granger. The added bonus was that it drove Granger up the wall. The secretary returned in an instant.

"Er, Ms Parkinson, Ms Granger can see you now, do you w-want anything? Water? Coffee?"

"Coffee. Black." Pansy barked, shouldering past the secretary and into Hermione's office. Hermione was sitting behind her impressive desk (Draco's interior design no doubt), a stack of papers neatly in front of her. Hermione had always been infuriatingly over-prepared, even at Hogwarts. It had always irritated Pansy.

"Hello, Pansy," Hermione said with a light smile and a neutral tone, "I have the paperwork here for you to sign."

Pansy matched the light smile and sat in the chair opposite Hermione's desk, holding out a ready hand as the secretary rushed back in with her coffee.

"There clearly has been a misunderstanding," Pansy drawled, "I thought it was clear from our last meeting that I would prefer to deal with Delacour."

"So I gathered," Hermione replied with a look of distaste, "Unfortunately, Fleur has taken up a position elsewhere in the company."

Pansy sipped at her coffee, "Mn, that's a shame, because I fail to recall the attraction for my business signing this agreement to move any Death Eater affiliated staff off your projects,"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Are we really going to play this game, Pansy? I'm the one in charge of dealing with your company."

"Maybe its time for a change? I would much prefer if Delacour dealt with us from now on," Pansy said with a smug grin. Hermione looked like she was barely containing her temper at the moment.

"No way, Pansy," Hermione said firmly, crossing her arms tightly across her chest.

Pansy frowned, before placing her coffee mug on the desk. She stood up and began to walk for the door of the office.

"That's a shame, I didn't want us to sever ties with your company, but here we are," Pansy shot over her shoulder. This was entirely calculated, the ace up her sleeve. She knew her company was the only manufacturer in the market that could meet Malfoy & Granger's needs. They needed her.

"Pansy, wait."

There it was. Pansy stopped, still facing the door, a triumphant grin adorning her face.

"Great. Tell Delacour to meet me for dinner to arrange signing the agreement. I'll send through the details."

Hermione was seething as she explained it all to an irritatingly understanding Draco and Fleur. Both nodded calmly as she explained Pansy's stunt.

"No problem, I do not mind being the contact for her business," Fleur said dismissively, before turning back to some blueprints that Draco and her had been working on.

"Fleur! She's into you!" Hermione exclaimed. Draco looked up with an amused look on his face.

"Jealousy suits you, Granger," he smirked.

"Hermione, many people are into me, it doesn't mean I can't work with them," Fleur said with an unaffected smile.

"But… But I just don't trust her!" Hermione said, throwing her hands up in the air.

"You're too protective of me," Fleur replied, "Let me just get the signature."

"Fine," Hermione sighed, blowing a stray strand of hair off her face. There was no point arguing with Fleur when she was determined. If Hermione was being honest, it was kind of nice that Fleur had bounced back enough that she was eager to help.

"You can trust me, even if you don't trust her," Fleur added firmly, smiling at Hermione. She leaned in and Hermione immediately relaxed. Fleur's soft lips brushed her own very lightly before she moved back again.

"If you two are finished mounting each other in the workplace," Draco interrupted.

"M-mounting?!" Hermione spluttered, turning beet red. Draco and Fleur laughed at her discomfort. "Oh shut up, you two," Hermione muttered, recovering, "You two becoming friends was the worst thing to happen to my dignity."

Pansy sat drumming her fingers at her desk impatiently. Delacour was late. She looked down distastefully at the paperwork. Unwanted, but a necessary incentive to get Delacour to see her since she had ignored her flowers.

There was a hesitant rap at her door and her secretary popped her head in, fear marring her features. The Parkinson's had always insisted on running the family business in a hierarchical fashion, with all those reporting to them fearing them.

"Erm, a Fleur Delacour here for you, ma'am," the secretary squeaked. Pansy couldn't even remember her name.

"Thanks," Pansy said, without looking up. Her head snapped up mere seconds later as a click of heels announced Fleur gliding into her office.

"Bonjour," Fleur greeted with icy politeness. None of the friendliness of the other evening, Pansy noted with annoyance.

"Delacour," Pansy smiled, watching Fleur sway towards her. Merlin, Veela really were enchanting. Pansy couldn't take her eyes off the blonde.

"You have some papers to be signed?" Fleur smiled, settling herself in the chair across the desk from Pansy.

"I haven't heard from you since the other night, Delacour," Pansy cut in. Fleur looked a little surprised at this, but the icy veneer quickly hid this again.

"It was a lot of fun," Fleur said neutrally, "But we were just innocently flirting, non?"

Pansy frowned. She drummed her fingers on the desk again.

"Mn, yes, but you see I don't think I will be signing these papers unless you go on a date with me," Pansy replied. Fleur's brows knitted momentarily.

"I am sorry, but I cannot," she said finally, with a degree of caution. Pansy's suspicions were immediately ignited.

"Why on Earth not? You've dated half of London from what I've heard, barely staying with them for as long as five minutes," Pansy spluttered. Fleur looked surprised.

"Mn, as exaggerated as that claim is, I have turned over a new leaf," Fleur said finally, "I am seeing someone and have no intention of seeing anybody else."

Oh bloody great, Pansy thought crankily. The one time Fleur is off the market is when Pansy is interested in her. The only thing that could make this situation worse is if the person she was seeing was… No… She was awfully defensive about Fleur dealing with her…

"Its… Its not Granger, is it?" Pansy asked, not even bothering to hide the disgust in her voice. Fleur's face was still. She looked mildly uncomfortable.

"Ah… Oui. I am seeing Hermione," Fleur said finally. Pansy slapped her desk in annoyance.

"Come on, Delacour, you can do better than that mudblood," Pansy scowled. Fleur wrinkled her nose.

"My own blood is far from 'pure'," Fleur replied, arching an eyebrow, "And I do not care for bigotry..."

"I don't care that you're half-breed. Go on a date with me," Pansy interjected. Fleur crossed her arms, frowning at Pansy calling her 'half-breed'.

"Non," Fleur replied more firmly. Anger flitted across Pansy's face.

"You think you're too good for me?" Pansy suddenly snapped. Fleur raised an eyebrow, granting Pansy her trademark icily arrogant gaze, but otherwise did not reply. Pansy stood up, pushing her chair back dramatically as she did.

"You think even Granger will look past what you are because of her obsession for magical creature charity?" Pansy hissed between gritted teeth. Her eyes were darker than Fleur had seen them before, but Fleur was unperturbed.

"And what exactly am I?" Fleur drawled, crossing her legs and leaning back against her chair.

"A fucking mess. A broken mess." Pansy spat, her voice getting dangerously low, "I know you and Weasley did something fucked up and you can't live with yourself because of it. He killed himself and you were heading that way with the partying anyway because you're just as guilty as him. What makes you think that anyone will see you as anything more than what you have done? Granger is a success… How long do you think she'll waste time with a mess like you? How long before she just 'becomes too busy' for you?"

Fleur paled, significantly, and Pansy knew she had hit her intended target.

"Y-you don't know what happened," Fleur said with faux confidence, but her stutter and pallor revealed she was shaken.

"Don't I?" Pansy said, quirking a smile. Fleur paled even more.

"You can't… Nobody can know…" Fleur muttered, panic-stricken. Pansy's grin widened.

"No problem, Delacour…" Pansy sneered, "But in exchange… I won't be signing this contract… and you need to break things off with Granger."

Fleur fell silent again, looking down morosely. Pansy smirked. She had Delacour right where she wanted her.

Hermione headed into the office late the next day. She had stayed up all night waiting to hear from Fleur, who had not come back to the office after meeting with Pansy. She had barely walked into her office when a rather harried looking Draco burst in after her.

"Where have you been?!" he demanded, agitated, "You never arrive this late."

"Yeah, well, I had a rough night," Hermione sighed, running her hand through her messy hair.

"You weren't the only one," Draco said grimly, nodding for Hermione to follow her. They walked over to Fleur's office, where Draco looked around carefully before pushing the door open and ushering Hermione in.

"Fleur!" Hermione exclaimed, recognising the figure lying on the small couch in the corner of the office. Fleur was wearing the same outfit she had been wearing the previous day, albeit dishevelled. Her long silver-blonde hair was swept messily to cover her face from view. She said something unintelligible.

"She's really out of it," Draco said, nodding at the coffee table in front of the couch. Hermione noted an empty gin bottle and what looked like remnants of some lines of powder.

"What the fuck," Hermione whispered before rushing to kneel at Fleur's side. She brushed Fleur's hair off her face. Fleur was pale and she appeared disoriented.

"You said she wasn't partying anymore," Draco interrupted, folding his arms, "I love indulging as much as the next person… But this kind of look first thing in the morning isn't a good look for the firm."

"Fleur… Fleur, what happened?" Hermione asked with concern, cupping Fleur's cheek. Fleur smiled the wide smile of intoxication.

"This is just who I am, Hermione," Fleur slurred. Draco shook his head and left the room quietly, leaving Hermione to deal with the situation. Something was going on and if anyone was going to get it out of Fleur, it would be Hermione.

"Fleur, you need to sober up," Hermione said softly, "How about you go back to mine and have a hot shower then sleep it off?"

Fleur nodded, pulling herself up into a sitting position.

"I'll get someone from the office to walk you there, I'm really sorry but I have to get to a meeting," Hermione said before adding, "But we can talk about this when I get home, I promise."

"Of course," Fleur said with a sad little smile.

Hermione had just managed to find someone to accompany Fleur home, cleaned up the mess in Fleur's office and grabbed her paperwork in time to make it to the meeting room two floors up. She sat down next to Draco, panting.

"Relax, the others haven't arrived yet. Did you manage to sort things out back there?" Draco said, turning to look at Hermione intently.

"Its under control," Hermione sighed, worry returning to her mind as she thought about the state Fleur had been in. But she didn't have time to dwell, as the people they had been expecting entered the meeting room. Draco nodded encouragingly at Hermione before opening the meeting.

It was late by the time Hermione made it home from the office. She hoped Fleur would still be awake so she could get to the bottom of what had caused Fleur to get in such a state. Upon opening the door to her place, however, it became apparent that Fleur had never entered the premises at all. There was no trace of her anywhere. Hermione Flooed the employee that had walked Fleur home, who confirmed that they had left Fleur at the mailbox before apparating back to the office. Where was Fleur then?

Hermione spent much of her evening checking everywhere Fleur could possibly be before she resorted to checking the bars. Surely Fleur wasn't partying a second night in a row?

At the third bar, Hermione had all but given up hope of finding Fleur and was considering heading home to try and get some sleep before work the next day when she saw a familiar flash of silver-blonde hair.

"Fleur?" Hermione called through the crowd as she headed towards her. With a swish of silver-blonde and intoxicating perfume, Fleur turned to face Hermione, unsteady on her feet. She was with a group of similarly intoxicated witches and wizards.

"Hermione," Fleur giggled. Her pupils were huge and she had a drink in her hand, "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you the same thing," Hermione asked, narrowing her eyes at the gaggle of people Fleur was with, before pulling Fleur away to a corner of the bar to talk, "What's going on with you?"

"Wait, I know why you're here," Fleur continued, ignoring Hermione's question as she slurred on, "Because I'm your little charity case,"

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, furrowing her brows. Fleur took a swig from her drink before Hermione snatched it out of her hand.

"You like… You like helping magical creatures don't you?" Fleur slurred, "An' now you 'ave a fucked up Veela to be your project,"

"Fleur, you're not fucked up," Hermione tried to soothe, but Fleur became agitated.

"You know what I did," Fleur interrupted.

"Fleur, that wasn't your fault," Hermione tried to reason. Fleur shook her head.

"I'm just as guilty as him…" Fleur said, before trailing off. Hermione took both her hands in hers.

"You're not, Fleur," Hermione replied, "Come on, come get some late dinner with me and we can go home and talk it all out."

"Non, Hermione, I cannot go with you… I cannot do this anymore,"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, releasing Fleur's hands.

"Its over, Hermione. I don't want to date you anymore," Fleur said firmly, "Just leave me be."

With that, she pushed past Hermione and headed back towards her group of intoxicated companions.

Hermione watched her leave, speechless.