Chapter Five

Hermione

True to his word, the letter from Malfoy was sitting on her desk Monday morning.

"Miss Granger

Thank you for your offer of employment with the Ministry of Magic.

I accept your offer.

D. Malfoy"

So now all Hermione had to do was actually find him a job. She left the letter on her desk and went to Septimus Seaton's office, knocked on his door and peered in. It was piled high on every side with parchments, books, scrolls. All of them looked incredibly ancient.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" the old wizard looked at her over his glasses.

"Septimus" she began "I want to hire another clerk to help Angelina. She is really getting swamped trying to catalogue all the documents we are getting in to the department. I think another clerk would really help."

"I agree Miss Granger. Establishing the new department has been a challenge for me at my advanced age. Thank you for taking notice of this situation. I leave the hiring of the new clerk in your capable hands". Septimus returned to his reading.

She returned to her desk and composed a reply to Malfoy.

"Mr. Malfoy,

Congratulations on your new position in the Department of Magical History. Please report to the Ministry tomorrow morning at 8am sharp. I will meet you in the lobby.

H. Granger

Ministry of Magic, Department of Magical History"

She addressed the envelope and placed the letter in the outgoing mail chute. It would travel to the central mail room where a Ministry owl would be assigned to deliver it that day. She leaned back in her chair and smiled.

Draco

He was in his apartment, still unwrapping packages from that weekend's shopping trip. He unwrapped one package and thought, now, where did this confounded thing belong? The shopping trip with Granger was great, but now he couldn't remember where she said all these different things would go in his apartment. He was just getting ready to shove the packages into a corner and deal with them later, when an owl tapped on his window. He went to the window; cursing as he stubbed his toe on something she had called an "end table". He would have to get used to walking around this new furniture. He opened the window and the little owl stuck out her leg. He removed the letter attached to her and she immediately flew back to the Ministry, ready for another assignment.

He sat down at the little kitchen table. She had wanted him to buy a new one, but that would have been too heavy for him to carry up and down Diagon Alley. He unrolled the parchment and read the letter. So I start tomorrow, he thought. And he leaned back in his chair and smiled.

He arrived promptly at 8am and found Granger, as promised, waiting for him in the lobby. He felt a little uncomfortable though. Was everyone looking at him? Wondering why Draco Malfoy was in the Ministry of Magic? He watched the faces of the people passing by and realized no one seemed to even notice him.

She approached him by the new fountain in the center of the lobby. He greeted her, "Good morning, Miss Granger".

"No need for that, Malfoy" she said. "I won't be your boss or anything".

She turned to walk away and he followed her, smiling faintly. She escorted him past the security wizards and they got on to an elevator. She said "Magical History" and the elevator began to whiz down and then sideways, then down again for a short time. It stopped and they stepped off. He followed her down a long hallway. She stopped in front of an office, knocked on the door and stuck her head in.

"Septimus?" she said.

"Please come in Miss Granger" came the voice from inside.

She stepped in the office and motioned for him to follow her. They stood in front of the desk of a very old wizard. Draco felt like he should know him, he had at least seen him before, he thought. But he couldn't place the face.

"Septimus" she began, "this is the new clerk I asked you about hiring. His name is Draco Malfoy. Draco this is the head of the Department of Magical History, Septimus Seaton".

"Malfoy, you say?" asked Septimus.

Draco froze. Was this it? The part where someone finally throws him out of the Ministry because of who he was, and what he and his family had done? He felt like the air had thickened.

"Yes Septimus, Draco Malfoy. I am certain he is the right one for the position" she replied to the old wizard. "I'll just leave you two to get acquainted. I have a pile of work in my office to get through." She turned and left, closing the door behind her.

Septimus looked Draco up and down. Finally he said "Please, sit down my boy". He flicked his wand and a chair appeared in the middle of the ordered chaos of the office. Draco sat.

"So, Malfoy" he began. Here it comes, Draco thought.

"Do you know what we do here in the Department of Magical History?" Septimus asked.

"Uh, no sir. I guess it has to do with Magical History, though?" Draco offered.

"Oh, don't be smart boy. Of course it has to do with Magical History." Draco reddened slightly

"After the extensive cooperation between the Ministry of Magic and the Muggle government that was required during the last wizarding war, a new bond of trust was formed between us. The Muggle Prime Minister has allowed the Ministry of Magic unprecedented access into the archives of Muggle history. We are cataloguing these records and doing a complete and thorough review to try to discern wizarding influence in Muggle history that was previously unknown to either world. Your job as a clerk will be helping Angelina catalog these documents and prepare them for review."

"Oh" Draco said. "Sounds interesting."

"You bet Merlin's beard it's interesting!" exclaimed the old wizard. "For example, we have found evidence that Anne Boleyn may truly have been a witch after all!"

"Who was a witch?" Draco asked.

Septimus sighed, "Young people. Go on Malfoy, go find Angelina and get to work then. Apparently you have a lot to learn."

Draco rose thanked Septimus again for the job and left his office to find this Angelina person.

Hermione

She stood up from her desk and stretched, reaching her arms high above her head. She loved this job, maybe too much, she thought. She often found herself so deeply engrossed in her work that she simply sat at her desk for hours on end. As a result she frequently had a sore body by the end of the day. Stretching her legs, she left her office to find Angelina and Draco, to check on how his first day was going.

She walked down a long gallery filled with tables. Each table was covered with boxes and boxes of old documents. And this wasn't even all of them, she thought. This collection only covered the Muggle years 1000-1600. She hoped she could live as long as Septimus had, because that was probably the only way she would see this work to completion. She heard two people talking off to her left and turned that way.

She saw Angelina and Malfoy's heads bent over a document. Angelina was showing him how to read the document, how to discern the age and subject of the paper. Sometimes if it wasn't clear from the actual text of the document, magic would have to be used. They looked up as she approached.

"How's he doing Angelina?" Hermione asked.

"He's doing very well! Turns out he's a natural at using magic to reveal the information about a document." Angelina replied.

"Oh, well, Well done you" Hermione said to Malfoy. She wanted to be complementary without sounding condescending. He smiled at her. Merlin, she thought. Calypso was right, he is kind of gorgeous.

"Granger, can I talk to you for a second?" Malfoy asked.

"Sure, why don't I show you my office?" was her reply.

They walked down the long gallery to her office. They went in and sat down.

"So, Granger I need your help again" he said.

"Again?" she asked with exaggerated exasperation.

"Well, it's an extension of the first favor actually. I have all this confounded stuff in my flat, but I have no idea where any of it belongs."

"Oh!" she laughed. "I see. Ok, interior decorator Granger at your service then. Should I come by this evening?"

"Sure tonight would be great."

"See you then" she said as he left her office and returned to the document cataloguing with Angelina.

Draco

What was an interior decorator? Who cared, she was coming to his house tonight. He was sure he had a hint of a blush on his face, so he took a walk around the "Hall of Documents" he had begun to call it, before he returned to Angelina. They finished up for the day.

"Great work Draco" she told him as the parted ways in the lobby. "See you tomorrow!"

He nodded at her, stood in line for a Floo and headed home.

Around 7pm there was a loud crack outside his door, followed by a knock. He opened the door and there was Granger, dressed in green again.

"See," he said, "It suits you". Did she blush just slightly?

"Oh this old thing" she said. "I was in such a hurry when I got home I just put on the first thing in my closet".

They walked in to his apartment, towards the pile of purchases. He kicked that cursed table again and yelped.

She laughed "Are you ok?"

"I keep kicking the bloody thing!" he growled.

"It's not supposed to go in the middle of the floor, Malfoy! It's called an end table because it goes at the end of the couch!" She raised her wand, said "Wingardium Leviosa" and moved the table to the end of the sofa.

"There!" she said, "Just where it should be."

"Alright" he said, "Let's get the rest of this stuff out of my way now".

They worked companionably together until about 10pm. Once everything was in the place Granger had envisioned it, the place actually didn't look half bad. Almost like a home.

Granger stretched and yawned. "I'd better get home" she said. She pulled her wand out to disapperate. "Goodnight Malfoy" she said.

He walked over to her. He took her hand in his. "Granger, thank you again. The place really does look good." He leaned towards her and kissed her cheek. When he pulled away, there was no missing the blush on her cheeks. She muttered a hasty "You're welcomegoodnight" and disapperated.

Draco looked around his apartment and smiled. Now he was surrounded by things she had picked out and placed. Her presence filled his home. How would the nightmares fare in this battle?