Don't you love me anymore?

CHAPTER TWO

"Do you think you'll be fine getting all the potions ready by yourself or would you require assistance?"

"No, sir. I'll be fine," Hermione said, and she quickly exited the office.

She couldn't stand speaking to her superior who was a true asshole despite his impressive medical credentials. She hated the perverse looks he gave her and the way he always talked to her condescendingly. She wasn't an idiot! In fact, the media had dubbed her "The Brightest Witch of the Age" during her years at Hogwarts. It infuriated her to no end that Mr. Torham treated her so disrespectfully, but it was one of the only flaws to her job. She loved working at St. Mungo's and had even agreed to work overtime today, and make new potions for the hospital. She had to work isolated on the restricted floor though, because there were no empty chambers anywhere else. Hermione had only been to the restricted floor twice before, and all she knew was that there was some sort of curse down there and it wasn't safe for patients to be down there. She had been assured though that it was safe for healers and healthy people to go down there. It had turned into a storage area and she remembered it being kind of eerie. Hermione was beginning to regret not asking for assistance…

Two Hours Later…

Hermione had almost completed all the potions she had been instructed to make. It was kind of like potions class all over again with Mr. Torham being Severus Snape. She had to admit though that she missed potions with Snape…

"Hi, Hermione."

Startled, Hermione glanced up at the intruder. She had thought she was the only person on the floor. "Gosh Ron! You nearly gave me a heart attack, what are you doing on this floor? This is off-limits! And you are neither staff nor authorized personnel!" she shouted, incredibly angry that Ron had somehow bypassed the wards of the restricted hospital floor.

Ron simply shrugged. "Wasn't too difficult, he said. "In fact, I dare say it was quite easy," he added, with a smirk. Ron, if possible had gotten even taller since their days at Hogwarts and his lanky body had filled out due to the rigorous Auror training he had to endure a few years ago. Even though he was leaning against a wall, he still towered over her and this was just a tad intimidating. Ron seemed to sense her discomfort and he smirked again.

"Ron, one of these days you're going to regret crossing me!" Hermione retorted, hardly amused at his obvious cockiness.

"I doubt it," Ron said happily. "I adore you when you're angry," he added with a wink.

Ron was at his worst again. He was so used to the attention and praise that he got from female admirers from being a famous auror and Harry Potter's best friend and all, that sometimes he forgot that she wasn't some mindless twat but his best friend, and this was not appropriate.

Actually, she was beginning to wonder if he did all this flattering and flirting (that he had been doing a lot of lately) on purpose and not merely stupidity.

"Ugh, what do you want," she replied, finally.

"Oh, I'm glad you remembered that I'm still here."

Hermione sighed and moved towards the sink. They were in a tiny chamber near the fireplace that flooed them back to the main floors. It contained two nice long worktables and a sink. It was a room perfect for making potions. But not for having conversation.

"Look Ron, as you can see, I'm really busy so please just spit it out!" she retorted, annoyed at his sarcasm.

"Natalie and I broke up," Ron said. Hermione looked away from washing her hands and to his face, to see if he was upset. He wasn't. He was examining his fingers, in fact.

Hermione was Ron's only female friend and he liked telling her about relationship troubles and asking for her advice. In the past, she had been happy to help when he had had real genuine relationships but now he had turned into a kind of person who just had one-week stands. In other words, a total man-whore.

"Well you seem very heartbroken about it Ron," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, thought she was different, you know, she seemed smart," Ron replied. He was looking at her now. "Are you even listening Hermione?"

"Yeah, yeah, what is it Ron?"

"Nothing, was just checking to see if you were listening," Ron replied. She glanced up at him again. He was looking at the potions she had made in distaste.

"So you came all the way to my work and broke into the restricted floor just to tell me that your latest slut broke up with you?" Hermione asked. She couldn't fathom why he had bothered to go through all the trouble.

"Did you say slut?" Ron asked, laughing.

"What's so funny about that? It's true, and you know it," Hermione mumbled, annoyed at his arrogant laughter.

"Yeah, but you never…"

"Save it, Ron, and do something productive. Can you pass me that cauldron on your right?" she demanded. She still had one potion to complete and Ron was distracting her. Malfoy had got a reservation to a fancy muggle restauraunt downtown and she didn't want to be late.

"Sure, sure, what's the rush," Ron asked, handing her the cauldron. He was watching her work in an obvious frenzy now that she had remembered the reservation.

"Got a hot date," Hermione replied, smiling for the first time since Ron had intruded.

"Really? With who?" Ron asked, raising his eyebrows. He was sitting on a stool next to her now watching her prepare the ingredients for the last potion.

"Who do you think, dimwit. Draco, of course," Hermione said, thoroughly exasperated. Ron could not possibly have forgotten that she had been dating Malfoy for the last three years, of course for he had been against it from the start. Actually, Hermione remembered an incident when he had even resorted to begging her not to date Malfoy because he was devil's spawn, or something stupid like that. Harry, on the other hand had been perfectly okay with it. A year later, she could even say that Harry was supportive.

"You're cursed or completely bonkers, that's the only explanation for it. I can't believe that you're still with that prat, Hermione. Do you know what uproar he caused at the ministry yesterday? Hear about that? Yeah, I doubt your boyfriend told you about that," Ron said, nastily.

Hermione wondered what trivial thing Ron was talking about now.

"No he didn't. Why don't you tell me about it?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Yeah I'll tell you, alright. Someone has got to. That's actually the real reason I came down here today. Harry was too scared, a matter of fact, the idiot," Ron said laughing.

"What?" Hermione asked, bewildered. She stopped chopping the tadpoles to look at Ron.

"Malfoy's funding a new initiative: House elf training," Ron said, grinning from ear to ear.

"What? Are you kidding me? What rubbish!" Hermione said laughing. Ron was just trying to annoy her, is all, if the huge grin on his face was any indication plus she knew Draco would never do something that stupid. Ron's grin faded. "I'm not kidding. I overheard him talking to Minister Shacklebolt, they are making this facility for house-elves complete with…"

"Oh my gosh!" Hermione squealed, dropping the knife she was holding. Her heart swelled. Draco was putting her idea to action! She hadn't even thought he had been listening when she had told him the details. She had told him that it would be amazing if there was a house-elf rehabilitation center for all the poor elves that her organization S.P.E.W. was rescuing from abusive homes. She had written a letter to the Minister about it a year ago, but had not gotten any reply. And she had been so busy with work that she had forgotten all about it…until now.

Maybe the minister would allow S.P.E.W. to head the project? Just the thought of it made her want to sing. Finally, some progress in her fight for house-elves everywhere!

"And they were using all these code names like H.E.R. which obviously stands for…" Ron was bantering, having not noticed her outburst.

"House-Elf Rehabilitation!" Hermione squealed, her suspicions confirmed. Draco was indeed going to fund a rehabilitation center!

"What?" Ron asked, confused. He seemed to have come out of his trance.

Hermione squealed again and threw her arms around Ron and gave him a hug. "This is great news! I'm so excited! This is great news for me, S.P.E.W. and house-elves everywhere!" she shouted in glee.

Ron looked at her in confusion and seemed to be processing the last minute slowly in his head.

"Oh," he said.

"Oh, be more enthusiastic would you! Stop always trying to discredit Draco! It always backfires on you," Hermione said, laughing.

"Yeah, he can do no wrong," Ron grumbled, slumping in his seat.

Hermione grinned. She couldn't wait until she got off work so she could shower Draco with kisses he so rightfully deserved.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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