Author's Note: Thanks for the response so far! We will start seeing more Draco/Hermione moments soon, yay! Please review, it means so much, and is also more motivation to get the next chapter out quicker :)

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter franchise.

Draco was in his office completing some more paperwork Bullham had dug up for him to fill out. There was a knock at the door.

"It's open," he called, absently, not looking up until the door had clicked shut again.

"Hi Draco." It was Lila, hovering nervously in the doorway. "You wanted to see me?"

"Take a seat, Lil," he murmured, looking up and smiling to ease her nerves. She did as he asked, relaxing visibly. Draco set down his quill, eyeing Lila closely. "How's your day?"

"It's going just fine," Lila replied, looking slightly taken aback. "I've had a busy morning, working on that other account."

"Ah, yes. That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Draco paused. "How's that coming?"

"Alright," Lila said, hesitantly. "Truthfully, the team is moving slower than I would have hoped and I can't complete my part until some other things have been sorted out. I have been hoping things would be in order by tomorrow so I could come in on the weekend."

"I see," Draco murmured, making some notes in a notebook. "And were you not laughing at me just last weekend for spending time in the office?" he teased, an eyebrow raised.

"I suppose so," she said, flushing red. "That was a joke, really. I mean, it's my birthday this weekend, but I don't have any plans for it, so I was thinking I would just make sure I get my work done and -"

"Slow down, Lila," Draco cut off her rambling. "I wasn't aware it's your birthday. There isn't a need for you to have your work done by this weekend, take some time for yourself."

"Well, yes, it's tomorrow. But my family doesn't live here, and most of my friends are away." She shrugged. "I didn't plan anything since birthdays don't mean that much to me."

Draco frowned at the young girl, panicking herself unnecessarily over her work. He leaned forward, meeting her eyes.

"Why don't you let me buy you dinner tomorrow? Twenty is a big number, regardless of what you think." Draco knew it was unorthodox to make such an offer, but if the poor girl had no family and friends around for her birthday, he wanted to do something nice for her. And he couldn't help himself to think that a four year age gap didn't seem as unreasonable as five.

"I don't think -" she paused, staring curiously at Draco. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I am," he murmured, brushing it off. "I mean it, don't spend your whole weekend working, please. If anything needs to be done on our side I would like to think I am capable enough to handle it."

After a pause, Lila laughed, finally relaxing into her usual laid-back self.

"Well I won't spend all weekend working." She smiled. "And tomorrow sounds lovely."

"Great," he said. "Then I will see you tomorrow morning at the meeting. Provided I get through all this paperwork."

Recognizing the subtle dismissal, Lila stood and walked to the door. She paused, as if about to say something, but then left, closing the door quietly behind her.

Without delay, Draco got back to his work. Hambone would have his head if it wasn't complete in time.

Astoria flooed in at promptly 9:00 PM that evening, clutching a bottle of wine. She smiled as Draco kissed her on the cheek, then poured two glasses.

He felt his body and mind slowly unwind with the alcohol and conversation with an old friend, once more grateful for her offer.

"Draco," Astoria began as they were beginning their second glass of wine. "I did want to meet with you for a reason."

"What is it?" he asked, setting down his glass.

"Well, you know I enjoy what we do," she said, a light flush creeping into her cheeks.

"As do I," he replied after a pause, wondering where she was going with this.

"I don't want to give that up, but..." she went on quickly, "I've met someone. A bloke at work. I had my eye on him, thinking he had never even noticed me, and then he asked me out on Tuesday. We had a really nice time."

Draco was pretty certain that wasn't what he was expecting her to say. A part of him thought maybe she wanted to be in a relationship with him. It hit him harder than he expected, though not because he had any real romantic feelings for Astoria. Maybe it was that she had met someone and he hadn't.

"I'm happy for you, babe," he said finally, seeing that she was waiting for a response. He hoped he looked and sounded sincere.

"Thanks Draco," she grinned, sighing as in relief. "I wanted to tell you in person. I wasn't sure if you would be mad."

"Mad," he scoffed, shrugging it off. "I wouldn't be mad for your happiness. You're a good friend."

"You too, Draco."

After Astoria left, Draco sat, deep in thought, for a long while before he went to sleep. Usually when he and Astoria had drinks he didn't go to bed alone.

Of course he was happy for her. Maybe it just reminded him that he was alone.

Draco had dated many women over the years, but he always felt as if he never really grew close to anyone. Each relationship was always missing some unknown element, that he wasn't sure actually existed.

He wasn't desperate or anything ridiculous like that. He had plenty of opportunities to take women to bed. Sometimes he just wondered if he would ever find anyone who would make it feel worthwhile to take things further.

With that sobering thought on his mind, Draco fell into a restless sleep.

Friday came and went at such a pace that was almost a relief. His team had spent the better part of the day holed up in the board room, discussing ideas and information, breaking only for a hasty lunch.

Draco was right in suspecting that the concept wasn't formulated quite yet, though it was getting close. After spending two hours working with Granger and Baxter as they projected various thoughts and images onto the wall, he was starting to feel as if they might be able to pull this off.

Of course, Granger's attitude still left something to be desired. After he had invited her along to Hogwarts he had hoped she might relax towards being on his team, but this hadn't been the case. She worked well enough with Baxter but seemed a little too tense while he was there to be considered coincidental.

Draco found himself wondering what her problem was with him, after all he had tried to show her he had changed. Where she had been after the war ended while Draco had immediately found a job, attempting to sort out the mess of his life which he had been left with.

Eventually her cold demeanor wore on him and he left the two alone, meeting instead with Keats and Pucey. Lila had been fluttering back and forth with her other team on her former job.

Finally she scurried back into the board room close to the end of the day, meeting Draco's eyes with her wide, anxious ones.

"Draco, I am so sorry," she began quickly. "We are so near finished, I should be able to complete my part by Monday."

"Lila, what did I tell you?" he asked, his tone dropping. "Don't worry about it. I don't intend to keep you from finishing your work. I know when you are completely back with us, you will give it everything you have. That's why I wanted you on this team."

She paused, her gaze relaxing, smiling at him.

Draco looked away, catching Granger staring at him, a curious look on her face. He met her eyes, his own narrowing subconsciously and Granger quickly looked away.

Turning back to Lila, Draco lowered his voice so only she could hear him.

"I'll floo in tonight," he murmured. "At seven?"

She nodded, her lips curving into another quick smile.

"I'll see you then," she replied, before taking a seat, proceeding to work on her financial sheets until the end of the day.

Draco relaxed, leaning back in his chair.

He and Lila had just completed a delicious meal, partway through a second bottle of wine. Draco's head was starting to feel fuzzy, and he knew by the way Lila was giggling that she was on the same path.

He really ought to stop now, or at least slow down. He was her boss, after all. But the way she smiled at him felt so delicious. He poured her another glass of wine.

"Happy birthday, my dear," he held up his own glass, and she clinked it with hers, grinning before tossing back the entire glass.

"Thanks for dinner, Draco," she replied happily. "This is really good wine."

"Yes, it is, and you're welcome." Draco paused, slowly taking a sip of his own wine. He really should call it a night before things got unreasonable. Before he could re-consider, his mouth opened again. "A friend of mine is having a party. Would you like to go?" She stared at him, her eyebrows raised briefly before she recovered.

"As your date?" she teased, looking away from him. Her cheeks had flushed pink.

"Sure," he replied hesitantly, swallowing. "As a friend, as whatever you want to call it."

"Okay," she said, smiling. Draco paid their waiter and walked Lila outside of the restaurant. He felt a little unsteady on his feet, noting that she too stumbled in her high heels. Before he could give it any further thought, he apparated them to Blaise's house. He came across his friend as soon as they entered.

"Blaise, this is Lila," Draco introduced, walking up to his friend.

"I'm his date," she giggled, making air quotations at the word.

"Really?" Blaise asked, looking skeptically between the two. "You're too hot for Draco."

Lila's jaw dropped, flushing at Blaise's openness. He shot her a wink.

"Watch it," Draco tossed back, grinning.

"No, seriously," Blaise continued, "where did you meet?"

"Lila and I work together," Draco informed him, starting to dislike this conversation.

"Hardly," Lila cut in, snorting. "He's my new boss."

"You can't date your boss," Blaise said instantly, shaking his head, smirking.

"We aren't -" Draco began, but Lila cut him off.

"This isn't a date. I had nothing to do for my birthday so Draco took me for dinner," she explained, smiling up at the blond. She looped her arm through his.

"I need a drink," Draco said gruffly, an unpleasant taste in his mouth. Lila stared at him a moment, before going with him, shooting Blaise one last smile. Draco made a beeline for the kitchen, intent on some of Blaise's finest firewhisky.

"Draco!" he turned at the sound of his name, and the unpleasant taste turned to a lump in his throat. It was Astoria, dragging a tall bloke along behind her.

"Draco, this is Matthew," she announced, grinning widely.

"Good to meet you," he said shortly, grasping the other man's hand in a quick shake.

"This is Lila. Lila, this is Astoria, a friend from school."

Lila's eyes flickered quickly from Astoria to Draco and back, before she offered a brilliant smile in return.

"Great to meet you," she said softly.

"Likewise," Astoria said in return. "Draco, I didn't know you were bringing a date!"

"It was a last minute thing," he said, not bothering to correct her like he had Blaise.

"Well, I'm glad to see," Astoria said, meeting Draco's gaze for a moment, her eyes concerned. Draco returned the look with a tight smile.

"We were just on our way for a drink," Draco informed the pair, slipping his hand into Lila's, giving it a quick squeeze which she returned.

"See you around!" Astoria replied, walking off, chatting animatedly with Matthew. The man appeared quite smitten with his friend. Good for her, Draco thought.

Clearing his head, Draco turned back to Lila once they had reached the kitchen, and she was regarding him closely. He realized he still held her hand and let it go.

"What is it?" he said.

"Was that Astoria Greengrass?" she asked, biting her lower lip.

"Yes, do you know her?" Draco replied, surprised.

"No," Lila said quickly. "It's just - I heard you two were engaged."

Draco's eyebrows shot up, his mouth dropped open and suddenly he was laughing, enjoying himself for the first time since he had arrived.

"You can't tell me you believe a word you read in Witch Weekly!" he exclaimed, taking a seat on a bar stool at the island.

"Well, no, not really," she murmured lamely, giving him a weak smile.

"Astoria and I are just good friends," he assured her.

"Sure you are," Lila rolled her eyes. "That was a bit too awkward of a chat to be between just friends." She looked at him pointedly.

"Alright, fine, we used to mess around but that was it," he admitted, running a hand through his hair. He really needed that drink.

"Are you sure?" she asked softly. "You don't seem like that was it."

"We were friends first and foremost, Lila," he informed her. "It just ended recently, that's why that was awkward."

"How recent?" she asked boldly, flushing pink.

"Yesterday," he said, swallowing heavily. Her eyebrows raised and she looked away from him into the floor.

"Is that why you invited me to this party?" she asked softly after a moment.

"What? No, of course not. This has nothing to do with her. I invited you for the same reason I invited you to dinner; so you could have a good time on your birthday."

"Oh," she smiled, "well I'm having a very nice time, thanks."

He flashed her a quick grin, walking over to Blaise's liquor cabinet and rummaging through it, returning with two glasses of whisky.

"You know, Draco," Lila began, sipping her drink, "there's something about you. You're very good with people, the way you took charge of our team so fast. I think you'll be a great leader."

"Thanks," he said, blinking, surprised. "But tell Granger you think I'm good with people. She'll laugh in your face."

"She doesn't seem to like you very much," Lila admitted. "I heard you two knew each other at school?"

"That's putting it mildly. She and I were enemies. I was in Slytherin and she was in Gryffindor, she was best friends with Harry Potter, you know. I made her life hell." He shook his head, wincing at the memory.

"I can't picture that," Lila shook her head. "You've been nice to me since I first started."

"That's because I thought you were pretty," he admitted. She flushed, taking another sip of her drink.

"Well, Hermione's pretty too, isn't she?"

Draco thought about it for a moment, taking a swig of his drink. Was Granger pretty? He supposed so, though he couldn't recall having ever thought of her like that.

"She is now, I suppose," he said finally. "She wasn't anything special at eleven. The only time I even saw her clean up was at the Yule Ball in our fourth year. I guess she looked good then but I had too much pride to admit it."

"Sounds like you were a pretty crazy kid, Draco," Lila teased, grinning.

"You don't know the half of it," he said in return, laughing. "That was a long time ago. The war is over now. I've tried to build myself a new life and a new reputation but no matter what I do, Granger will always see me as a stubborn Slytherin."

"I don't think that's true," Lila reasoned. "I think once she sets aside that image of you she'll see that you've changed. If you want her to, that is."

"Maybe," he replied distantly. He finished his drink. "You're pretty damn smart, Lil."

"Why, thank you sir," she mocked, pouring him another. Suddenly she bit her lip, looking up at him. "I have to ask – what's going on with us?"

Draco swallowed. He knew what she meant. There was something between them.

"I'm not sure. I like you, Lila, it's just..." he trailed off, running a hand through his hair.

"I know," she replied, giving him a sad smile. "I wish we had grown to know one another better before you became my boss. Maybe things might have been different."

Her revelation tugged at something in his chest, but he smiled.

"You're too young for me anyway," he joked, and she laughed.

"You're probably right. At least we're on the same page. I want us to stay friends," she said.

"So do I," Draco nodded. He held up his glass to hers with a wink. "To friendship."

Cruelly, the weekend sped past, leaving Draco rushing into the office early Monday morning, eyes dark and hair disheveled. He wondered idly if this new job would turn him into a coffee addict as he clutched his paper cup desperately.

"Malfoy!" He looked up at his name being shouted across the office. It was his boss, Bernard Bullham, walking towards him with a sheet of paper. Draco followed him into his office, curious.

"Look at this," Bullham demanded, placing the sheet of paper onto his desk. Draco quickly perused it, eyes widening. It was a letter to request transfer off of Draco's team, signed from Hermione Granger.

Draco felt his face hot with anger. After all he had tried to do for her to be accommodating and to make her feel good on his team.

"I'll talk to her," he said, snatching the sheet of paper rather harshly. Bullham just raised an eyebrow and nodded, sitting at his desk.

Draco didn't trust himself to see her in front of everyone so he waited until he was safely in his own office to send her a memo.

Ten minutes later there was a knock on his door and he swung it open, anger still coursing through him and a bit of something else.

She stood in the doorway, arms folded, looking contemptuous. Holding himself with as much dignity as he could muster, he gestured for her to enter the room, closing the door quickly behind her before he turned to her.

"What is this?" he hissed, clutching the sheet of parchment.

She was silent, staring back at him. He could see she was starting to crack. Finally she rolled her eyes.

"This isn't working. I told you from the start that it wouldn't, and you disregarded my words. This is my solution." She looked away from him, digging her toe into the floor nervously.

"A solution? I'm sorry, Granger, but I obviously wasn't aware that this was still an issue. I thought you were working fine with everyone?" His anger gave way to interest. Was he really that bad to work for?

"I do get along fine with everyone else. You get along fine with everyone else. It's just you and I. We will never get along, and we will never be friends!"

"Damnit Granger, open your eyes!" he said, anger seeping back in. "Don't you see how hard I'm trying to make this work? I chose you to be on this team because I wanted you on it. Because you're the best we've got."

"Obviously I'm not the best or I'd be in this office," she retorted bitterly.

"Is that was this is still about?" he asked, bewildered. "Trust me, this job blows. I've barely slept in a week."

She was silent, still looking at the floor. Draco took a step closer, and she looked up at him, wary.

"Granger, I want you to see that things have changed," his tone softened as he spoke. "I want you to see that I have changed. Back in school I was an arse to you, and for that I am sorry."

Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open, about to speak, before she closed it.

"I'm not that boy anymore," he continued. "I hoped by putting you on my team I might be able to show you that."

He stared down at her, her big brown eyes, the curve to her brows, her parted lips.

Isn't Granger pretty? Lila had asked him on Friday night. It hit him suddenly like a sack of bricks at this moment. Granger was beautiful.

The thought made him instantly uncomfortable and he took a step back away from her.

"You know, when I told Harry and Ron about this, they were furious!" she said, finally able to speak. "They wanted me to quit."

"What do those two know about it?" he asked dismissively. "They would tell you to quit, because they haven't grown up. They don't work here."

"But they are my best friends, even so," she shot back. "They have my best interest in mind."

"No they don't," he shook his head. "And you can't just quit."

"Can't I?" she said. "Do you know how many job offers I received after leaving Hogwarts?"

"So what are you doing here then?" he asked. Her attitude was wearing him down. "If you had all these great and wonderful alternatives."

"I was indisposed," she bit out, frowning.

"What the fuck does that mean?" he returned, growing irritated with her stubbornness.

"It means none of your business!" she said, flushing red.

"Where were you after the war ended anyway? Why did it take you a year to get a job?" Now he was genuinely curious.

"That," she muttered, her voice now calm and cold, "is not your concern, Malfoy."

"Alright, I shouldn't have asked." He held up his hands in defeat. "But Granger, don't quit and don't transfer off the team either. Give me another shot. Besides, if you go now we'll lose too much time trying to replace you. I don't particularly want to be fired if we lose the job."

"Fine, I'll give it some more thought," she finally conceded. She turned and walked from the office, and Draco closed the door behind her. He couldn't stop himself from sneaking a quick glance at her bum as she walked away. It was nice, she was in good shape. Not that it made a difference to him.

Draco settled himself into his desk, bitterly realizing his coffee was cold.

He pulled out his Diagon Alley folder, making a quick schedule for the week and sending it out to his teammates. Then he looked over Lila's financial sheets and got to work on his own part.