Author's Note: I know I'm a horrible person for taking so long to update. But you might be happy to hear that I have two more one-shots written (by hand, but they won't take long to type). I was gonna do a triple update but then I thought I'll put the other two up in maybe a week since they go together; this one is more of a stand-alone.

On another note, I swear this happened to me. Well, it was far more awkward and a lot funnier, but I'll ramble about that at the end.

Summary: Sometimes she was above while he was below and then there were other times when he was above and she was below.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all.

Hermione Granger had been working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement---sub-division Improper Use of Magic Office---for several years now. Her days were long and always full of work to do. It was a rare occasion indeed for Hermione to have a day devoid of reports to write, reports to examine, and angry clients to deal with (who always came with complaints of unfair rulings or sentences that were too light on a perpetrator).

None of this particularly bothered Hermione in the least; she was a good worker who was extremely thorough in her reports and firm in her standings against all those angry clients. She felt that her day was wholesome and invigorating; she could not imagine herself in a career that kept her bored out of her wits with not the slightest bit of entertainment.

During the busy time of a typical workday for Hermione there was only one hour of reprieve from her reports and clients: lunch. Hermione, being the smart woman that she was, made sure to pack a healthy, balanced meal. She always spent her lunch hour in the Ministry's communal cafeteria instead of in her dingy office because she very much enjoyed the company of her coworkers.

Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil both worked in the Department of Magical Transportation. Lavender spent her time regulating the Floo Network while Parvati spent her days testing and failing (and occasionally passing) students learning to Apparate. The two girls naturally had dozens of tales to tell over lunch---one apparently saw as much stupidity in that department as Hermione often saw in her own.

Hermione's third companion, unusual though it may seem, was none other than Draco Malfoy. He worked in the Department of Magical Games and Sports working with the various sports officials and Quidditch busybodies that were constantly coming and going. While Draco was still a haughty, spoiled brat yet the war had matured him a great deal nonetheless. Hermione had felt rather sorry for him when she realized he was still shunned by many people (for his admittedly deplorable actions) and had decided to extend a hand in friendship out to him.

Initially, this hand was scorned and insulted; the result was exactly how he had acted in their schooldays and it was exactly what Hermione had expected his first reaction would be. She refused to give up though and everyday made a point of eating lunch with him. Lavender and Parvati could not help but notice this new and surprising development and, being the nosey ladies they were, decided to accompany Hermione in this endeavor to see everything first-hand.

It was an odd friendship that had formed between them. Often, Hermione and Draco reduced to insulting each other over stupid conversations---they nearly came to blows on one memorable occasion. The only thing (ironically enough) that kept the four of them together was a simple card game.

They played Prez on a daily basis. It was quite the novelty among them, seeing as Hermione had had to bring in a deck of Muggle cards and painstakingly teach them the rules of the Muggle card game. Lavender and Parvati were nothing special---they were mediocre players that rarely won. But Draco had become quite good in a very short time (seeing as he had initially rejected the idea of playing a Muggle card game) and seemed to have an enormous amount of luck. He and Hermione competed for first and second place during every round with a passion that seemed most unusual.

"Looks like your winning streak is over, Granger," Draco smirked after another consecutive win.

"I'll beat you next time, Malfoy," Hermione assured him pleasantly. She passed the deck to Lavender to shuffle and deal out.

"I never thought Hermione would lose," Parvati observed, "She won so many games lately."

"She had to lose sometime," Lavender shrugged.

"She can't always be on top," Draco said seriously, "Sometimes she has to be on the bottom. She was above me for too long---it was certainly time that she learned her place is on the bottom!" The girls, to Draco's confusion, could not stop laughing and Hermione had turned a dark shade of crimson. "What's so funny?!"

I'm not kidding; that really happened to me. We were playing cards during class and our one friend said almost exactly what Draco said (I made Draco say it in a more demeaning way I guess). My friend couldn't look at anyone; when the bell rang she grabbed my arm and dragged me out of class. We were laughing so loudly that I think the whole school heard us and wondered what was wrong with us.

It was funny though; I don't think he even realized how awkward it sounded (well he might have after we had finished laughing).