I got really excited about this fanfiction and went ahead and wrote the second chapter! (But really the first) So hopefully you'll enjoy and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter series

It was the paws kneading her face that woke Hermione up, not the tranquil water music flowing from the speakers of her beat up alarm clock. For a moment she had no idea why her small apartment smelled so strongly of black coffee and why seemingly hundreds of papers were strewn across her bed, but then the memories of the all-nighter she had pulled surfaced in her mind… or what she had planned to be an all-nighter.

One glance at the clock told her that her alarm had been going off for about 20 minutes. She had exactly one hour to round up all the papers into a pile that somewhat represented its intended order, make herself (and her hair) look presentable, and get to work on time. Probably doable.

She hopped out of bed, placing a somewhat disgruntled Crookshanks in her previous place, and raced about throwing on clothes and taming her hair, all with that annoying water music floating around in the background.

The project that had kept her up the night before hadn't necessarily been anything special, just a master bedroom remodeling project for a new client somewhere over in Ireland, but here recently even the small stuff was big. Because Hermione was sure a promotion was coming up. She could feel it.

The big shot executives, the ones even above the men she worked for, had started smiling at her. Smiling. People had also started calling her Ms. Granger, a step up from the extremely unprofessional 'Hermione'. In all honesty outside of the office she preferred the latter, but with the new introduction of the former she knew something big was brewing.

And in her line of work, at the level she was performing, big could very well mean getting someone else to make every day humdrum calls to the hundreds of clients calling in. But in the back of her mind, Hermione was crossing her fingers for something different.

With all those thoughts dancing in the back of her mind, Hermione tossed a cup of cat food into Crookshanks's bowl before leaving her quiet apartment for the bustling city streets.

Hermione had grown up in a small suburb, quiet and relatively boring and Hermione had thrived in that environment. So when she had moved out into the bustling city to pursue a job at one of the top design firms in the country, she had left more than a couple heads reeling. Her parents, and especially Ron and Harry, had been nothing but supportive, but there were those promising her nothing but failure.

Sometimes, when she would go home, she'd make sure to don her most expensive suit before deliberately walking in front of their house. Just to show them how wrong they had been about her.

But nevertheless the city had proven difficult at first, she wasn't going to lie. There were certain things that took some getting used to, for instance the transportation. Her hometown hadn't had a tram, or even a taxi. She had acquired Crookshanks after a fairly terrifying run in with a taxi, needing something to offer her some amount of physical and mental support. But after several weeks all of the sounds became somewhat of a lullaby, a sound that transmitted frequencies of life.

And as she click-clacked her way into the sky high office building she knew that she had made the right choice. But of course she always made the right choice.

The polished metallic letters spelling out 'Harmon and Rugby Designs' created a tone for the entire company, telling anyone entering the building to stand up straighter and make sure there weren't any wrinkles in their clothes. Every surface was clean, every piece of furniture matched perfectly with the pieces surrounding them, it was like the poster child for modern city skyscrapers.

I waved at the lady at the front desk, and received a genuine smile in return just as my phone buzzed in my purse. I waited until I was safely behind the shining metal elevator doors before digging it out from under all of the papers in my bag, to see that I had three texts. Two from Harry, one from Ron.

Harry: My fingers are crossed for you Hermione! (Text one)

Harry: I know you'll do well. Call me when you're out! (Text two)

Ron: Gud Luk (in typical Ron fashion, as short and sweet as possible. Still, a nice gesture and the fact that he actually remembered spoke louder than the words on the screen.)

Hermione shot back texts to both, reassuring Harry she would call him, and thanking Ron, before the doors glided open revealing the floor that at the moment controlled her life.

Walking through the halls was a completely different experience from outside the walls of the building. The only sounds were the rings of phones, soft padding of patent leather shoes, and hushed voices of coworkers collaborating and tossing ideas back and forth. It was wonderful.

Slipping into her small office gave her a moment to clear her thoughts, to organize the check list of things in her mind.

Put the papers in order because she knew for sure that they were not in order.

Go over a simplified version of the outline before going and meeting Mayerly.

Don't panic

Reapply deodorant

Smile

She had just finished step one when without knocking Mayerly, her supervisor/boss, burst into the room. He made a simple gesture with his finger, beckoning her to follow him, and before she knew it he had left the room and was moving rather quickly down the halls. Several things were running through her mind, such as curse words and spinning doubts, but loudest of all were the fervent prayers that the papers were in order. Because it would suck if they weren't.

"Granger?" Mayerly had gotten far enough ahead that his raised voice did not sound loud, far enough ahead that Hermione was walking as fast as she could without running.

"Right behind you sir." Which was a lie.

"Set up in this room Granger. I'll be in shortly." She obediently entered the room, wondering vaguely why he wasn't going to go into the room with her right then. She shrugged it off though, it wasn't that big of a deal, and it would give her time to think about her speech.

Mayerly was one of the most laid back supervisors, which had always made Hermione's job easier, but not at the same time. Because it was times like this where those laid back meetings were going to be thrown out of the window, if he was bringing someone else with him she was going to have to step up her game.

Ten minutes passed by and hundreds of papers were neatly placed on the table, creating a mosaic of numbers, colors, and shapes. She was ready, she was going to kill this. That is until Mayerly's calm voice echoed through the room and she turned around to greet him.

Because when she turned around it wasn't only Mayerly who was standing in from of her, a tall emerald eyed stranger was also with him. And in that moment she realized she hadn't put on deodorant. Ugh.

There you are! I hope it's good, this chapter took me a while longer to write than usual but hopefully you guys will enjoy it. Let me know what yall think!

Much love to everyone