Chapter 2

Hermione's little apartment had two rooms and a corner kitchen. It was thread bare and grey, but it was home. Edna and Delia were waiting for her each night when she got home. Hermione would cook dinner, then the ladies would inevitably fall asleep. The lamps she had charmed to glow after hours was the only light available.

Mostly Hermione would read in the evenings. Neville would borrow books from the Hogwarts library for her. Mudblood quarters was noisy in the evenings as those seeking more dubious entertainment consequentially ended up there. The thin walls also left most of the neighbours business privy to all and sundry.

The restrictions on her wand made a good fire hard to come by, but fire wood could be bought at a price and Hermione's job kept them warm enough during the most bitter winter nights.

She'd ended up taking care of the two ladies as they had no other alternative. They were too old and infirm to work and had no other means of supporting themselves. There was no else to take them in. Edna had been married to a half blood wizard who passed away seven years ago, but they had not children which could help her now. Delia was a spinster, who worked in the Department of Law Enforcement for close to fifty years. With the new world order, the pension that had been promised to her failed to materialise.

Work and two elderly women for company made for a pretty lonely existence. Hermione's parents were still in Australia, unaware of her existence. Sometimes she wondered what had happened to her house in the muggle world, maybe it had been rebuilt after it was burned down during the war. It had been a few years now since she had been in the muggle world last. She wondered how it had changed. Over time it had come to be seen as a paradise, where you could do as you wanted. It wasn't a surprise that some would risk the hunt for it.

Seeing Draco had brought back a lot of memories. It really hadn't been that long since her school days, but she was so insulated in her life, it was starting to become quite small. She didn't read the Daily Prophet anymore, so the news outside of her small existence was usually only things she overheard from the customers.

It had been news when he married, but other than that, she had heard relatively little. Seeing him brought up a lot of old wounds. New ones as well. To her, he had been the poster boy for this type of society since she had entered this world at eleven. He had always been so sure that he had been right and she had lost in the end. Growing up, she never realised that people could actually treat other people this way. It was such a foreign concept and she had always thought that it was a bit of a put on, but now she knew better.

All these thoughts kept her up that night. She just couldn't fall asleep. She had stopped crying at the unfairness of it all a long time ago. She realised that there was just something her mind had to process before it will relent and let her sleep.

She was tired the next day, but it was uneventful. The next night she slept like a baby. The same the night after and the night after that.

A week later, however, she was greeted by the same blond head sitting outside in the cold sunlight.

"Ah Granger." He said teasingly when she went outside to take his order. Hermione's heart had dropped when she first laid eyes on him. She had considered ignoring him, but not seriously. He's not worth it, which had literally been the mantra of her life.

"How can I serve you today, sir?" She said with a curtsey.

"Oh, I don't know." He said with an evil little smile. "Maybe you could polish my booths."

"That is not what we do here, sir. We serve baked goods. Perhaps you can try down by Gambol and Japes, there is typically a shoe shine vendor there." After pointing out the direction, she returned inside.

Draco did not leave. He waited a while and then called her back out with a curl of his finger.

"I don't think I dismissed you." He said in arrogant crisp tones.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my understanding was that you were misguided." She said with the smile she reserved for difficult customers.

"Don't get lippy." He said.

"Sir!" She said with mocked shock. "I would not dream of getting lippy to a valued customer. We treasure each and every customer to our humble establishment."

"I'm pretty sure this isn't your establishment mudblood. You just serve here, like an elf serves. That is what vermin does." He said with hostile glee.

Hermione had to bite her tongue to stop herself from responding in a way she wanted. "And how can I serve you today?" She repeated.

He glared at her for what seemed like a whole minute. Hermione hadn't looking into his eyes throughout the whole encounter, but she would feel the glare and its attempt to burn her skin.

"But you are most welcome to just sit here if none of our products appeal to you." She said with a smile.

"Watch your back, Granger." He said and stood up. He walked away without looking back and Hermione sighed her relief. She knew she had been pushing it. Old habits died hard and her natural instinct was to stick a metaphorical thorn in his side and twist it for all its worth. She hadn't said anything that could directly be labelled as irresponsible, but she had gotten close to the line.

She blew off the implied threat, hopefully she'd get lucky and never see him again. If the fates would give her one thing after all this awfulness, that would be it.

But she was not so lucky. He was back a few days later.

"How can I serve you today?" She said with a plastered on smile as she greeted him. She couldn't understand why he was back. This was not the kind of place his kind normally frequented.

"A coffee." He said without looking at her.

Hermione walked back inside and went to prepare the coffee. She brought it outside and placed it down in front of him.

"Will that be all?" She asked and was waved away.

After about 10 minutes, he waved her back.

"How long have you been working here?" He asked.

"About two years." She responded. She didn't want to answer but couldn't see any way around it.

"Come for a drink with me tonight." He said. It sounded like an order. Hermione was shocked that Draco Malfoy would ask her out for a drink. Pureblood only ask mudbloods out for one reason, and it wasn't for a nice catch up. She just hadn't expected that from him, the one who was always convinced he needed a shower if she so much as accidentally graced him.

"I'm sorry." She said with a blush. "I am not allowed to fraternise with the customers."

"Oh come off it." He said. "I'm make it worth your while. You should be honoured that I would consider spending time with you."

Hermione was mortified. She knew exactly what he had in mind. He certainly hadn't been the first to ask. Normally she would smile and say she was involved with someone, which wasn't true but most seemed to accept it. Some would push, but she would just keep smiling. With Malfoy, she wanted to laugh in his face and tell him where to stick it. It would be too much of a risk.

"I'm sorry, I am involved with someone." She said with a sweet smile. It didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Hmph." He said derisively. "Who would get involved with you?"

"You'd be surprised." She said, because many pureblooded wizard under 60 seemed to have tried. Most of them had arranged marriages established for financial or social benefit, but it seemed to leave the marriage a bit short in the more physical department, or so Hermione thoughts. Otherwise they were just all cheating bastards.

"If there is nothing else I can get for you today." She said with cheer and started to walk inside.

"I haven't dismissed you yet." He bit.

Hermione rolled her eyes while facing away from him, but she had the sweet smile plastered on her face when she turned around again.

"Look at me." He ordered. She complied, staring into the cold grey eyes she had squared up against so many times during school. "I always get what I want."

"And I would be honoured to provide you with anything this fine establishment produces."

She saw a tiny curl in his sneer telling that she might have amused him. Professionalism really could deal with anything. She was actually proud of herself for never losing the serving mask. If anyone could reduce her to street brawling, it would be Draco Malfoy, but she had survived this scrape pretty well. What was he thinking, she was the debate queen, she could logically argue to convincingly establish that aliens were invading the earth and they were all going to be turned into drones in a couple of days. She indulged in a daydream of Malfoy being turned into a drone.

"We're not done yet." He said and stalked off. Hermione watched him leave. His robes billowed behind him as he took large purposeful strides away. His hair was a little longer than it had been at school.

It sounded like a threat. He had threatened her last time he left as well. He threatens, then hits on you, then threatens. Hermione could only shake her head and clean up the coffee cup he left behind.