At precisely 1 pm the following day Draco reluctantly found himself back in St. Mungo's outside of Hermione's office door. He'd dressed in pristine black robes again and not a blonde hair was out of place. Blaise was with him, dressed in his advocate robes, as it was the middle of his work day, and raised his hand to knock on the door before he lowered it and looked at Draco.
"You're going to do this mate," Blaise told him. "You're going to do this and then in six months you can go back to being the smug anti-muggle son of a bitch you've always been."
"I can play nice with the Mudblood," Draco replied glaring at him.
"You have to stop using that word," Blaise answered with a shake of his head.
Satisfied Draco would at least somewhat try, Blaise knocked on the door.
"Come in," came Hermione's voice from the other side.
Without looking at Draco, Blaise turned the knob and pushed open the door. Blaise walked in first, followed by Draco and sat in the chair on the right in front of her desk and Draco sat in the chair on the left. Hermione waved her hand and the door shut.
"Blaise, I wasn't expecting to see you," Hermione said with a smile, adjusting her pale green Healer robes. "How are you?"
"I'm doing well, Hermione," Blaise replied, returning her smile. "I figured on the first day I should make sure that Draco didn't get lost."
"I'm sitting right here you know," Draco said with a scowl. "When did the two of you become so chummy?"
Hermione raised an eyebrow and looked at Blaise expectantly. "You didn't tell him?"
"No," Blaise said with a shrug. "Didn't think he was ready for that."
"Didn't tell me what?" Draco asked looking at Blaise.
"You should tell him," Hermione answered, speaking to Blaise but looking at Draco. "I'd love to see his reaction."
"I'll tell him later," Blaise said giving her a look. "Now you two should get to work."
Hermione smiled at Blaise again and nodded. "You're right, come along Malfoy."
"Tell me what?" Draco asked again, ignoring Hermione and staring pointedly at Blaise. "What the bloody hell aren't you telling me?"
"I'll tell you when I come back for you tonight," Blaise said. "Behave for Hermione."
"I'm not a bloody child," Draco replied.
"Your shift finishes at 8, right Hermione?" Blaise asked, ignoring Draco.
"Yes, that's right," Hermione replied amiably. "We'll see you then!"
Blaise gave Draco one last look before standing and exiting the room. He shut the door behind him, leaving Hermione and Draco alone in the room.
"Now let's get one thing straight, Mudblood," Draco started to say but Hermione cut him off.
"Yes, let's get a few things straight," she said strictly. "Rule number 1: No calling me that name. Not ever. A slip up here and there I understand, after all, it's ingrained in you to be a supremacist ass but you will not call me that name. You are to call me Ms. Granger, Granger or Hermione if you need to address me. Understood?"
Draco opened his mouth to respond but Hermione continued before he could answer.
"Rule number 2, you will treat the interns with the same respect. They are all fresh out of the St. Mungo's Healer program and are here to help me with my work. They will be kind to you, you will be kind to them, and our work day will go smoothly."
"I don't care wh-," Draco started to say but Hermione kept going.
"Rule number 3, my work is confidential, only those involved in the project know the specific details and it has to stay that way. If you leak any information from my work that will be enough for me to return you to Azkaban. You will of course be credited if you contribute anything of value to my work."
"If?" Draco snorted. "You're lucky to have someone of my abilities working with you, mudbl-ah-Granger. Additionally, I doubt any of the work you've done is substantial enough to even warrant being leaked to the magical community so you really don't have to worry about me telling anyone what a failure you are."
"Your opinion means so much to me," Hermione replied disingenuously. "Continuing, rule number 4,"
"Bloody hell, how many rules do you have?" Draco exclaimed.
"Four," Hermione answered. "I can write them down for you if you can't keep up."
"I can keep up," Draco said annoyed. "Carry on."
"Very well," Hermione replied. "Rule number 4, no visitors. No one is allowed in to my lab area other than myself, the three interns, and now you. If you meet someone, you are to meet them in the main area."
"Fine, fine," Draco replied. "Any other rules?"
"That's all for now," Hermione said and stood. "Come with me, we'll get you started."
Draco rose and followed her out of her office. They went down the hallway and stopped before a glass door.
"Stand next to me," Hermione said.
"Why?" Draco asked, unmoving.
"The door has to recognize that you're here and scan you to assess who you are," she said irritated. When Draco still didn't move, she grabbed his arm and yanked him next to her. "Just stand in front of the door, Malfoy."
Draco wrenched his arm away from her. "You don't need to touch me," he spat.
"Do as you're told and I won't have to," Hermione retorted. "Now face forward and stand still."
The door hummed and Draco felt as if something passed through him. A moment later the door slid open and Hermione crossed through. Draco followed.
"Quite the security setup you have, Granger," Malfoy said. "Confusing since I doubt you have anything of value to protect."
Hermione ignored him and led him into a small room off of the main corridor. Draco walked into the room and stared at the ten neat stacks of paper about 3 meters high on the small brown desk at the center of the room.
"If you think I'm sorting papers," he told her. "You're crazier than I thought."
"You're not sorting papers," Hermione said with a shake of her head. "While I understand that the Minister expects us to work together, you don't know anything about my work, so you can spend today familiarizing yourself with everything I've done to date as well as what I plan to do next."
"You want me to read all this?" Draco said incredulously. "That will take hours."
"Yes, it will," Hermione said cheerfully. "This should take you until my rounds begin at 5. I'll take you with me on my rounds. After that you'll have a half hour to eat dinner then you'll return here and finish reading."
"This isn't working together," Draco argued. "We're supposed to be working with each other, not me sitting around reading."
"This is the setup for us to be able to work," Hermione replied, intentionally omitting the word "together". "You can't work if you don't know what I'm doing. Do you have any questions?"
Draco stared at the pile of papers and Hermione could see him debating whether or not he wanted to say something. He chose silence as his response and he turned his back to her and sat the desk. Satisfied, Hermione walked out of the room.
"You have got to be kidding me," Draco moaned the moment Hermione shut the door behind her and left him with the stacks of paper. "Leave it to the bloody bookworm to have ten stacks of research. And all of it is probably bloody shit. This chair is so uncomfortable, I at least need a proper chair. Oh bugger it." he ranted.
With another moan, Draco stared at the piles looming over him. He realized they had numbers charmed on them, 1 through 10, to indicate what order they were to be read it. "Right to left, 1 through 10, thanks Mudblood," he muttered. "Like I couldn't figure that out on my own. I am exceedingly smarter than you."
Resigned, he picked up the first set of papers from the top of the first stack and began to read.
A/N: Hope you like what you're reading so far! You get two chapters from me tonight because I'm in a rush to upload the story before school starts. I love reviews and hearing what you think! Enjoy, enjoy!