A/N: There are no particular warnings this chapter heeds.

Chapter Two:

All morning, Hermione Granger found herself pacing. She moved from room to room, glancing in every mirror around her flat to check her appearance. She was absolutely certain that her boss, Draco Malfoy, would accept nothing but the absolute best from not only his employee's work, but also their comportment. She'd decided on a black blazer and pencil shirt, as well as a baby blue button up dress shirt. Her make up was light and her hair was down and tamed.

Finally, the time to leave rolled around, and she couldn't avoid it any longer, unless she wanted to be late. Which she would never have, thank you very much. She gathered her belongings and headed to her fireplace to use the Floo Network. Her pulse quickened as the green flames engulfed her, her palms beginning to sweat. She had no time to panic, however, as her body was vacuumed through to the Ministry of Magic and she had to walk forward and make her way to her new office.

Stepping onto the elevator, she was propelled upward and backward until she jolted to a stop at level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Taking her final deep breath, she walked through the doors to her subdivision's office, only to be met with the sight of her fear himself, checking his watch. "Promptly at nine," he stated, a smirk forming. "Not a second early, not a second late. Amazing."

Hermione couldn't help it, she smiled. "Where do I begin?" She asked him, looking around at the lofty office. There were many people, all who seemed to be on phones, doing paperwork, or studying charts. It was a rather busy place.

"First, a tour," Draco said, turning on his heels to show her around. She followed close behind him. "This is the Investigation Department, a subdivision of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Here, we track down criminals who commit injustices against our laws. These breeches of the law can be minor, like a stolen lollipop, or they can be major, like robbery at wand point. Some cases may be fatal. Whatever the crime is, we send out our best men for the job. They take care of the dirty work while we stay behind and organize it from here. So far, with my help along side everyone else, we've caught and captured seventeen previous Death Eaters, all given proper penalties for their crimes against the Wizarding World." She wanted to ask what he had given for his own crimes. He wasn't exactly innocent in the outcome of the war.

She let that thought go; people changed once Voldemort was gone, and he was not an exception. Sure, many of those people were under the Imperius Curse, but what Draco had suffered was far worse. At any moment in which his loyalty faltered, he or someone he loved would lose a life at the flick of a wand – simple as that. Hermione realized that it was wrong of her to think of him as guilty.

At the end of their tour, which took a while as the office was considerably large, Draco showed her to a pair of dark, wooden, lacquered doors. "A bit of a surprise..." he smirked, opening them up. Behind them was another office, this one just as busy as the last one, but with far less desks. In this room, people with scars, missing legs, frowns, and glares all bustled about, talking loudly and all together. She did recognize a few people from school, and a few older faces from three years ago, but the most exciting part about the whole room was –

"Harry! Ron!" Hermione called, a wide smile brightening up her face. The two heads of black and red hair turned to the voice with confused looks, which turned to joy in a matter of seconds.

"Hermione!" they shouted simultaneously. They outstretched their arms to welcome her in a hug. They bombarded her with questions, wondering how she was, why she was here, where she had been. Admittedly, she fell off the radar just to take some time to herself, keeping minimal contact with just about everyone during that time so she could sort herself out. She read plenty and kept up with news, and even managed to take up cooking as a pastime.

One thing that was subtle but noticeable was the way Ron looked at Hermione. It made her slightly uncomfortable. Yes, they had dated for their final year and slightly after, but Hermione wasn't in the right mind to be dating after everything that happened. Especially Ron, dealing with the loss of his brother. But the look in his eyes gave her the feeling he hoped things would improve in their relationship, and she hoped it was her paranoia. She had lost feelings for him, sad as it sounded. Three years of separation and being on your own can change the way you view relationships. Personally, she wanted to wait a while before delving into a relationship of any kind.

She kept her chat as brief as possible, wanting to move along and get to work. She obviously still cared about her friends and she was excited to see them, but she was also excited about starting her new job and focusing on something other than her past.

She returned to her boss, who was casually leaning against a door frame waiting for her. He gave Harry and Ron a polite nod before returning to his office and closing the large doors behind the two of them. Weaving their way through the busy office, they moved to another set of doors. These were proportionally smaller, while still being grand and large. "This is my office," he told her, opening the doors a little dramatically. They revealed a shiny black office which was brightly lit despite all the black floors and furniture. The walls were an emerald green – he was still a Slytherin at heart. There were marble columns placed periodically around the office – which was circular. It was also notably immaculate. There was a warm fireplace near his desk which emitted green flames.

"Very similar to the Slytherin common room," she said, looking around and admiring the glimmer everything seemed to have.

"And how would you know about that?" he asked, a teasing tone to his voice.

She shot him an annoyed look. "I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."

He chuckled, crossing his arms. "Well, you're right. I styled it that way because I miss my Hogwarts days. Everything was simpler."

She took in what he said and took a deep breath in, letting out slowly and nodding carefully. "So, where will by office be?"

He gave her a soft smile and pointed to the smaller desk over in the corner. Her eyes widened and she looked at him bewildered. "Seriously?" she spluttered out. He nodded.

"You'll be my second in command, basically. Almost like a secretary but with far more power, duty, and salary. I need help keeping up with the immense amount of crime we face, though numbers have dropped drastically. Your job is to help me run things. Knowing you and what you've done in the past, I have no doubts that you'll be perfect for this position."

Stunned, Hermione grasped desperately for words, coming up with nothing. Instead, she just removed her trench coat and placed it on the back of the cushioned seat behind her desk. She took a seat and looked at all the papers surrounding her, trying not to freak out. This was the last thing she could've anticipated.

A/N: So sorry for the wait, I had to suffer through finals. Hopefully I can find more time to write this, I am enjoying writing it and coming up with ideas as I go along. Let me know how you like it!