Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. JKR is the queen of the Harry Potter universe!
A/N: I'm changing Gina's name to Nina to avoid any confusion with Ginny. I did that completely unintentionally!
Chapter 7: A Conflict of Interest
Hermione woke up at 6 the next morning. As much as she hated to admit it, she wanted to look nice for Draco. 'No, not for Draco,' she mentally berated herself. 'It's not a big deal; besides, he's married.' Nevertheless, she went to take a shower, already missing Angelo's morning greetings. She magically shaved before walking into her relatively small closet. She decided on a high-waisted, professional-looking, black, Oscar de la Renta pencil skirt she had splurged on during a shopping trip with Ginny, who claimed she looked amazing in it. She grabbed a mulberry-colored, silk, Ralph Lauren dress shirt she loved, which had ½ sleeves, mock-pearl buttons, and a large bow adorning the scoopneck. Then, using her wand, Hermione twisted her hair into her signature bun, but wrapped a brain around it and let a few tendrils hang loose. After that, she donned pearl studs, a simple silver/crystal watch, and her signature silver pinky diamond ring, her coming-of-age gift from her mother. She then exited her bedroom, and found it was 7:06. She grabbed her files and map and shrunk them to fit in her black leather briefcase, in addition to grabbing a few cookies to eat later, in case she got hungry. After donning nude stockings and black patent leather heels, Hermione grabbed Angelo's school bag and lunch and flooed to Nina's apartment , before walking to the apparation point disapparating to the café she agreed to meet Draco at, Café d'Etoile.
Hermione arrived 7 minutes early and sat at an outdoor table. A waitress came over, and she ordered un café au lait and un chocolate chaud. She had no idea how Draco took his coffee, but ordered un café noir for him, in addition to a basket of baguette with strawberry jam and butter. Draco arrived fashionably late, as usual, just as Hermione received their order.
"I hope one of those is for me?" Draco asked in a teasing tone as he made his way to the table where she sat. 'Damn! She looks hot!' he thought to himself, before banishing those thought to the furthest recesses of his mind. He smiled, though it came out as a sort of a grimace.
"Uhm…Yes!" Hermione exclaimed, too preoccupied with ogling Draco's muscles underneath his silvery-colored shirt. She snapped out of her trance and pushed the black coffee towards him. "I had no idea how you took you coffee…so…"
"No problem. I always have it black," Draco took the coffee and sat down, taking a baguette slice and covering it in butter. He gestured for a waitress.
"What may I get you?" she asked flirtatiously, with a heavy French accent. Draco rolled his eyes He was a married man! Though he wouldn't be for long, if he had any say in the matter.
"Deux muffins cerises et deux scones aux framboises, s'il vous plaît," Draco asked in flawless French.
"Oui, bien sûr," she said, before walking away.
"Muffins and scones?" asked Hermione suspiciously, narrowing her eyes. How did he know cherry muffins and raspberry scones were her favorite?
"Yes, do you have a problem with it?" Draco asked nonchalantly, feigning disinterest. Though he'd never admit it, he had been observing Hermione walking to her office, oftentimes with a hot drink and either a scone or muffin in hand. A few times, he had been in the café when her assistant…Sarah? Sophia? Whatever her name was, ordered either a raspberry scone or cherry muffin for her boss, if Hermione came in late.
"N-no! Of course not," Hermione stammered.
"They're my favorites anyway, and I think you'll enjoy them," he lied. While they were very delicious, he preferred the fruit tarts.
"Alright. So about what you wanted to discuss… Would you like to start now?" she inquired.
"Let's wait for the food." Once the muffins and scones arrived, Draco leaned back in his chair and took a sip of coffee. "What I'm about to tell you needs to be kept in the strictest confidence, whether or not you agree to take it on," Draco said, leaning in to whisper. Hermione looked surprised but nodded and took out her wand and waved it a few times before putting it away. Draco looked at her peculiarly. "What'd you just do?" he asked, as he didn't see or feel a change in anything.
"Oh, just a handy spell Harry discovered in 6th year that hinders eavesdroppers."
"I see. Anyways, if you would sign this contract that prevents you from speaking about it, we can begin."
"And the…ahh 'insurance policy'? I don't normally sign random contracts, you know," she teased.
"It's pretty much just a selective Tongue-Tying Curse…" he said, not willing to go into extensive explanation.
"Clever—"
"Who would've thought, the day Hermione Granger complimented me," he said with a smirk. Hermione threw him a pointed glare.
"Who would've thought, the day Draco Malfoy came to Hermione Granger asking for help of all things," she countered.
"Touché!"
"Anyways, before I was oh so rudely interrupted, I was going to ask how it was 'selective.'"
"Well, if you mention anything of the case really, besides for a few exceptions like whom you're working for and impersonal things, you will be subjected to the curse of 5 minutes. It will no longer apply once the case is completed, or if we void it."
"I see." Hermione signed the contract and said, "So, we ought to begin." She leaned forward expectantly.
"Well…you know my wife Astoria, correct?" he began.
"By name only, but yes."
Draco took a deep breath before continuing on. "We haven't been getting along lately, if you know what I mean." Hermione nodded. "And we've decided to a split," he finished rather hurriedly.
"Oh! A divorce?" Hermione looked relieved.
"SHH!"
Hermione glared at him. "I told you I put up a spell already, unless you doubt either my sincerity or my aptitude with magic."
"No, neither."
"I just thought…the way you were going on, like, I dunno…you injured her or something!"
"I would never abuse a woman," Draco said, dead serious.
Hermione was taken aback by the severity of his tone. She blinked rapidly before saying, "Well, you want me to take the case, I presume."
"Yes!" said Draco, looking relieved. "Jameson is intolerable! I'll just have his assistant transfer the papers to Sarah—"
"Sophie," said Hermione sharply.
"Sure, whatever," said Draco, brushing it off. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Hermione cut him off.
"Wait, so you say Mr. Jameson has already begun a drafting of the contract?"
"Don't you know how rude it is to interrupt?" said Draco irritatedly. "But, yes, he has."
Hermione giggled. "You obviously don't know much about law, do you?"
"What do you mean?" Draco asked rather dumbly.
"You can't transfer cases if you've already had someone start it."
"What?" he shouted. "I've helped at the family firm before, and the lawyers have done it loads of times!"
"That is understandable. However, business contracts are a bit different. They are allowed to be transferred due to the nature of the work. Also, all you lawyers transferred contracts within Malfoy Enterprises, correct?"
"Yea, but they've sent it to other companies!"
"Of course. But, those companies haven't had control over the cases, have they? They merely are able to review it and sign it. I could look over any contract, but I wouldn't be able to edit or write it without writing a note to the lawyer or lawyers in charge. Plus, personal contracts are quite different from business contracts. Business contracts allow for outside sources to read it, due to the mass of people involved. But, personal contracts are only between the lawyer and the clientele."
Draco still had the expression of someone who'd just been stunned.
"I'm afraid I can't help you there, Draco." She smiled apologetically.
"I see." He stood to leave, but paused as he recalled Blaise's words from last evening: 'I'm afraid it's almost too late. If someone hasn't filed a report by now, it's a bit dubious that they will. You can't just count on the goodness of a person to just file a report. You dunno what could've happened to Scorpius by now. Maybe you need to expand beyond that fail of a PI team…Get the Aurors involved, maybe more of the Law Enforcement officials. Draco snapped out of his reverie and saw Hermione staring at him with a peculiar look on her face. He lifted his hand to check if there was something on his face. There wasn't. Hermione giggled again. "What?" he exclaimed.
"You just kinda spaced out there for a while…" she said, smiling.
"Oh," said Draco, a bit embarrassedly.
"Oh my! Look at the time! We ought to go!" said Hermione upon seeing the time on her watch: 8:17 A.M.
"Of course," Draco signaled for the cheque. He slapped down 2 galleons and grabbed Hermione's hand and almost dragged her to the Ministry's entrance, but not before wrapping her scone in a napkin.
"Meet me in my office in 30," said Draco, with a steely glint in his eye. She nodded, slightly bewildered. After flushing herself into the Atrium (they really ought to develop a different way!) Hermione marched into her office and unpacked quickly, before grabbing a notepad and pen and going to Draco's office.
Once Draco arrived at the floor of the Auror Department, he dropped off his stuff and called for Blaise. Blaise arrived looking a bit confused.
"I've taken your advice," said Draco. Blaise still had no idea what Draco was talking about until Hermione entered the room. Thus, Draco and Blaise began Draco's story, about his search for his missing son, and how they needed help.
As the conversation progressed, Hermione became more panicked (she carefully hid her emotions, however). Scorpius…could be Angelo! It's now even more likely!
"Draco…do you have a picture of the boy?" she asked tentatively.
"Yes. Here." Draco pulled out a photograph of his son, Scorpius. Hermione took it in her hand and looked down. It was her Angelo!
A/N1: According to JKR, 1 galleon= 5 pounds. So, 10 pounds is about $16.10. :]
own. It was her Angelo!
graph of his son, Scorpius. Hermione took it in her hand and looekd , however). raco'story, into her o
A/N2: Hehehe… cliffie! OK, well I'll be working on "Runaway" while I'm at camp. Sorry (in advance) for being absent! I promise to write a lot! Please Read and Review! 3