A/N: Sorry sorry for making you wait so long for an update. I love being a mom but sometimes these kids just wear me down. I'm so happy to finally get this chapter put out because it's really a turning point in the story. I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!
Oh yeah, I still don't own Harry Potter.
Hermione didn't know how to process the events of that night at the pub.
So she simply didn't.
She threw herself into work, tracking down the owners of the escaped unicorns and issuing them citations for failing to report the herd's disappearance. She checked in with Hagrid for tea on Tuesday and they walked through the forest so she could see that the unicorns were safely settled into their new environment. Feeling rejuvenated in a way that only a trip to Hogwarts could accomplish, she went into work on Wednesday to finish her report and hand off the unicorn case file to her supervisor so he could close the case.
Hermione took the downtime that came between cases to organize her cubicle. She had let it get out of hand with clutter. There were notes stuck to the desk and walls that were from cases that she had passed along months ago. She disposed of the outdated notes, filed the ones that were still of use, and scourgified everything so that it was basically sparkling. Hermione made a quick mental note to bring a candle tomorrow because she hated how sterile her cubicle smelled after a good scourgify.
She leaned back in her chair and admired the neatness of her desk. She had only two personal touches added to her cubicle. On the wall to her left she had stuck a copy of Rose's quidditch photo and on her desk next to her jar of quills she had an outdated family photo of her, Ron and Rose. Rose was no more than six in the photo. Hermione had insisted on taking them into Muggle London to go to a commercial photographer to get the picture taken. Ron had raised his eyebrows but given in when Hermione said that with her parents gone she wanted to make sure Rose got exposure to the muggle world every now and then.
She looked at the picture for a few minutes, contemplating what to do with it. It was so outdated that she felt as though she needed to do away with it, but she also felt bad removing the only sign of Ron in her workspace. She wavered back and forth in her decision before snatching the picture and tossing it into her bag with finality.
She had just started to go through the files in her drawers when there was knock on the side of her cubicle and she saw Enoch Thomas leaning against it, waiting for her attention.
"Mrs. Weasley, good job on the New Forest Unicorn case. I just finished closing it out. Now, I'm afraid that we have a shortage of cases right now. Flannigan is handling the centaur case in Southampton, Owens has the pixie case in Ottery St Catchpole and since you refused to work on the werewolf registry, it seems that I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. The boss man says that you have to either work on the werewolf registry or pack your things."
Hermione had been nodding along with him but at those words she stopped nodding as she processed the meaning behind them. "Sir," her voice shook as she choked the words out that she never thought she would have to say, "are you letting me go?"
The pity in Enoch's eyes said enough. "I'm sorry, Hermione. If you refuse to work on the werewolf registry, then there just isn't enough work to go around."
Anger flamed up inside of her. "But I have seniority! I've worked in this department for nearly ten years! Flannigan has been here for six and Owens only three! Why am I the one being let go?"
"Well," he said hesitantly, eyes looking everywhere but in her face, "you happen to be the only one who tries to get a say in the cases you take. Everyone else in the department has put their time in with the registry except for you."
She let the words sink in. This job had beaten her down and worn her out and now she was at a crossroads. She could either give in and go against her every belief and work on the blasted registry or she could accept her fate and allow them to fire her. She thought of the promotions she had been passed over for, the long hours she had put in when she was new to the position, and all the things she had missed out on when Rose was a baby because of work.
With those things in mind, she summoned something she hadn't felt in a long time. Her Gryffindor courage.
"Well," she spat out, rising out of her chair and standing as tall as she could, boring her eyes straight into his, "I'll have my things packed up here in a few seconds. As you can see I don't have very much here." She summoned a box and threw her teapot, tea cup and Rose's quidditch picture into it. He looked almost nervous at her outburst. She picked up the box and brushed past Enoch and straight out of the department, leaving Mr. Thomas staring after her with no choice but to watch her go.
The box was just for show, of course.
She put Rose's picture and the tea set into her beaded bag before disposing of the stupid box and using the ministry exit for what would most likely be the last time. By the time she had reached the streets of London, she was seething with anger. The nerve of them!
She had worked so hard at that department! She had missed Rosie learning to crawl. She had lost countless nights of sleep when she had been assigned the werewolf registry before she finally had enough and refused to work it anymore. She had been laughed at for bringing up house elf rights and she had allowed them to beat her down and shut her up in a way that ashamed her in hindsight.
When had she lost sight of her values? She had known she wasn't happy in the department for years and yet she had never once considered walking away because she truly had no other options. She knew she could easily get a teaching job at Hogwarts but she just didn't see herself as a teacher. She was too impatient with people who didn't understand the material and she knew she would burn out within a year.
The streets of London were almost empty as most people, both magic and muggle, were working. She wandered aimlessly through the streets of London before she eventually found herself at the apparation point.
Without much thought, she landed in Hogsmeade. She walked the familiar cobblestone streets until she reached The Dragon's Nest. Hermione pushed on the wood door without much thought and found herself walking straight into it. Stunned, she backed up a bit. Of course! It was 2pm. Not exactly prime pub time. She cursed softly to herself and jumped when, from above, she heard a familiar French accent.
"Such language Hermione! It's unbecoming of a woman!"
She put a hand over her eyes to block the sun and looked up at the brunette whose head was sticking out of the window above the pub. "Oh hush, Fiona! I've heard you say that and more when you drop something behind the bar!"
Fiona laughed and threw her head to the side, motioning to Hermione, "Come around the side of the building. You'll see a door. It's warded, but I invited you in so it should be unlocked."
"You live here?"" Hermione asked in surprise. "How did I not know this?"
"You never asked!" Fiona laughed with a shrug. "Now get up here!" With that she disappeared back into the building, shutting the window behind her.
Hermione walked around the building and saw a door she had never noticed before. She twisted the knob and pushed through the doorway and was immediately presented with a set of stairs. She followed them up and found herself in a neat little flat.
"Welcome, cheri, to my wonderful home!" Fiona exclaimed, walking up to Hermione and pulling her in for a hug. "What brings you here so early? The pub doesn't open for another few hours."
"I was officially released from my position at the ministry today." Hermione said for the first time out loud. Saying it made it all the more real and she suddenly felt dizzy at the thought.
"Oh no!," Fiona exclaimed, taking Hermione's hand and leading her to the small bistro-style table in her kitchen. "What was your position? You don't seem like the firing type! Tell me everything." Fiona sat across from Hermione and leaned forward, waiting for Hermione to explain.
Hermione opened her mouth. Then she closed it.
She took a deep steadying breath and again opened her mouth. This time, words tumbled out. "I worked in the magical creature division. They fired me because I refused to help them round up werewolves. I gave them ten years! Ten years of my life wasted!"
Hermione's voice was steadily increasing in volume, but Fiona only waved her wand in the direction of the kitchen and suddenly the tea pot on the stove sprang to life, warming water for tea as Hermione continued her rant.
"I missed my daughter's first steps! Her first word was "bye bye" as I was leaving for work one morning!"
Fiona shook her head at the thought but said nothing, allowing Hermione to continue.
"I did everything they asked! Took every single case and the one time I put my foot down and refused to work on something they fired me!" Hermione's hair had come out of the bun she typically wore it in to work and was now frizzing out spectacularly in a way that was reminiscent of Snape's potions class. Hermione took in a shaky breath and sat back in the chair and closed her eyes. She counted to 5. When she opened her eyes,Fiona was preparing two cups of tea which had just been levitated to the table.
"Sugar?" Fiona asked, raising her eyebrow in question.
"Yes, please. And a touch of milk."
Fiona nodded and splashed some milk into the cup before sliding it over to Hermione. They sat in silence for a bit, sipping their tea and processing Hermione's outburst.
Fiona spoke first.
"Well, what do you know about mixology?" Fiona asked, with a glint in her eye.
Hermione let out a harsh laugh and ran her fingers through her hair, still trying to calm the frizz. "What, like, coming up with drinks like you do?"
"Yes," Fiona nodded, "and no."
Hermione raised her eyebrows at Fiona. "Continue."
"It's researching ingredients that would give off the effect you want the drink to have and then testing them to see which fits with the drink best. There are certain ingredients that may produce the results you want but that have adverse side effects. So you have to test numerous recipes before finding an ingredient that would make the drinker glow."
Hermione leaned forward at the word "research." Now that was something she could do.
Fiona continued, "There's crushed fire crab claw. That would make the drinker glow and project a color changing aura around them. The downside is that fire crab claw can cause the drinker to also breathe fire."
Hermione's eyes widened at the thought.
"So we need to add something that will cancel out the fire. I've found that crushed Yeti teeth work very well and when crushed together with the fire crab claw completely cancels out the fire breathing."
"Wow," Hermione breathed. "Sounds fascinating!"
"It sure is," Fiona nodded in agreeance. "So, what do you think? Want to be my research partner? I'll match what you were making at the ministry so you wouldn't be taking a pay cut. And for any drink you completely finish you will get a percentage of any sales once its on the market."
"Oh, Fiona, that sounds wonderful! But I couldn't possibly accept! I have no formal potions training. I wouldn't even know where to begin."
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong, Hermione! All you need to begin is an idea. And I have a feeling you have plenty of those." Fiona smiled warmly at Hermione.
"So I would just think up a drink, research how to prepare the drink, and then experiment?" It sounded a lot like what Weasley's Wizard Wheezes did to come up with their products. Hermione laughed. "I'm a bit of a perfectionist, Fi. I don't think I could handle all of that trial and error."
Fiona grinned. "Consider it a lesson of life then. Get you to, how do you say... loosen up a bit. Come on, I'm having trouble juggling the orders of my marketed products and finding time to work on new stuff. You would really be helping me."
"Well," Hermione hesitated. Ron would certainly have a thing or two to say about her accepting a job preparing drinks for a living. He wouldn't ever understand that it was actually a research position. Then again, Ron wouldn't even think about her opinion if he ever decided to switch jobs. "All right, Fiona. I'll work with you."
Fiona clapped her hands and rushed into the kitchen. Hermione watched in amusement as Fiona fumbled with two champagne glasses before giving up and just silently levitating them to the table. She laughed and looked at Hermione over her shoulder. "Honestly, I don't know how muggles do anything without magic!"
Hermione laughed. "They don't know any other way. Trust me, I try to keep a balance of magical and muggle ways of living, and it's tough."
Fiona came back over to the table with a bottle of champagne tucked under her arm and nodded. "Oh I'm sure. They're impressive. Muggles. I swear, it would be a punishment worse than Azkaban to send a pureblood to live life as a muggle with no magic. They would be completely helpless."
Hermione hummed in agreeance.
"Well, anyway," Fiona said as she uncorked the champagne and poured two glasses. She held her glass up to Hermione. "Toast to this new partnership?"
"To our new partnership!" Hermione lifted her glass and clinked it with Fiona's. They both drank deeply from their glasses.
"Right then! Follow me!" Fiona exclaimed as she rose from the table and crossed the apartment to a door that was tucked away in a back corner. "All right, this," she said as she pushed the door open, "is where the magic happens."
Hermione followed Fiona into the workshop. She couldn't decide where to look first. There were bookshelves stuffed with book after book on everything from muggle alcohol to herbology and botany. There we numerous potted plants and even a tree growing in the corner. One wall was covered in dark walnut cabinets that Hermione assumed contained the numerous ingredients that Fiona, and now she, would be using in her experiments. And in the center of the room was a work table with four cauldrons. Three were empty but one was bubbling and emitting a color changing vapor. Hermione looked at Fiona quizzically. "I don't have a name for it yet, but yes, that's the color changing potion I told you about."
"So you basically brew the potion and then mix it with the alcohol?" Hermione asked as she stepped closer to the potion to inspect it. It was an iridescent pearl colour and smelled like snow, presumably from the Yeti teeth.
Fiona nodded and moved closer to the work table. "So you are free to use anything in this room. There is a desk just there," Fiona pointed to a walnut coloured desk which matched the ingredient cabinets, "with plenty of quills and parchment for you to keep notes. And please, please keep good notes. There's nothing worse than finally figuring out the correct ingredient ratio but not being able to remember it because you didn't write it down."
Hermione nodded seriously. "I used to colour code my Hogwarts study guides. Trust me, I can take good notes and I'm excellent at staying on task and organized."
"Wonderful! We'll work together well, then." Fiona smiled at Hermione. "Well, you're free to get started today if you would like to. Otherwise, just give me your address and I'll get our floos connected this evening and you can come by tomorrow to get started." She gestured to the work table. "I have these standard pewter cauldrons, as well as a store of some silver and gold ones for finicky ingredients. But it you have any preferences to your materials, feel free to bring your own or write up an order slip, and I'll grab it for you when I do an ingredient run. Order forms are also in the desk."
Hermione nodded and waited for Fiona to continue.
"Pay is every Thursday. I can deposit to Gringotts for you if you give me your vault number or I can just write up a pay slip for you to take to Gringotts yourself, whichever you prefer." Fiona put her hands on hips and glanced around the room. Looking satisfied, she faced Hermione. "All right, i think that about covers it. Any questions?"
"Do you have any ideas you haven't started researching yet? I can start on something like that first and once I get the hang of it then come up with my own idea?"
"Hmm," Fiona said, as she walked to the desk and started rummaging around the files there. "I've been thinking of a truth telling wine, something fun for a girls night type thing."
She moved a few more files around. "Um, I'm trying to come up with a drink that would calm the nerves of people who are on dates and need to relax a bit." She opened a drawer and grabbed out one more file. "And I'm toying with a voice changing potion, something fun for parties." She stacked the three files neatly and walked to Hermione, handing the stack of files to her.
Hermione took them and flipped through them.
"Anything interest you?" Fiona asked as she closed and locked the desk drawer.
"I'm intrigued by the truth telling wine, but I think it would be a more difficult recipe to master. How about I start out with the calming drink. I can think of a few ingredients that i want to work with." Hermione handed the other two folders back to Fiona and tucked the calming drink file under her arm and headed for the door.
Fiona followed Hermione out. "I feel like we should shake hands or something." Fiona said and extended her hand to Hermione.
Hermione chuckled and grasped Fiona's hand, shaking it in what she hoped was a professional manner, and grinned. "I'll stop by Obscurus Books on my way home and get some books to use for research and I'll be here tomorrow morning. What time?"
Fiona shrugged. "Oh, whenever. You're more than welcome to stay home and research if you would like to and only come here for the practical portions. You can always owl me your notes from that day. Otherwise just pop in around 10. That's usually when I get started."
"Ok great. And Fiona?"
"Hmm?"
"Thanks."
Fiona nodded. "It's no problem. I'm overdue to bring someone on to help out."
Hermione thanked Fiona again and bid her farewell before going out the door and down the stairs. She thought about stopping into The Dragon's Nest since she was right there, but the thought of running into Malfoy sent her mind reeling. Instead, she turned and headed back to High Street. She grabbed a herbology book and a potions book from Obscurus Books before making her way home.
She had a pep in her step that she believed she had lost long ago. She admired, for the first time in what seemed to be forever, the color of the changing leaves. Halloween was upon them and Hermione had hardly even noticed. It was one of the few weekends that Rose stayed at school, as they held a masquerade dance and had a huge feast.
As expected, Ron didn't take the news of Hermione's career change well. They had a huge row that ended in him storming out and not returning until the next morning, when he simply went upstairs, changed into his work robes, and left again without a word to her. Hermione went to the bedroom to tidy up after he went to work and expected his robes from the night before to smell like a pub. When she wasn't hit with the scent of alcohol and tobacco her brow furrowed and she brought the robes up to her face and inhaled deeply.
Nothing. Not even the scent of her lavender scented laundry soap. It was almost as though Ron had scourgified himself before coming home, but she couldn't think why he would do that if he had just went out drinking and crashed with Blaise like he usually did after their big fights. She wasn't sure what it meant, but it was needling into the back of her mind. She pushed the thought aside and finished tidying up the bedroom before descending the stairs and heading to her office.
Hermione relished the work she was doing. It was like solving one huge logic puzzle. We want the drink to do one thing, but this ingredient causes this reaction, so we need to bypass it somehow. Her head was constantly swimming with ingredients and side effects and random potion ingredients. She was now owling not only Fiona, but also Neville about the herbology ingredients, and even Luna to get information on the more "obscure" magical creatures she could use in her concoctions.
She breezed through the three drink concepts Fiona had presented to her. Halloween passed, along with most of November. When the first Christmas tree went up in Hogsmeade as she was making another trip to the bookstore, she realized she had not done any Christmas shopping. She made a note to remind herself to talk to Ron about Rose's gifts, and to ask Ginny what the boys would like for Christmas.
She was reading a book that had been written about blast-ended skrewts. Apparently, a spectator from the TriWizard Tournament was quite intrigued by the cross-bred creature and had decided to do some in-depth research on them. Hermione was considering using some skrewt scales as an ingredient in her newest potion, but she needed to know more about what possible side effects there were first.
She was setting up in one of the booths by the window when she saw a shock of blonde hair pass by the window. She froze. There was only one person whom that hair could belong to and she hadn't seen him since that almost kiss at the pub.
The longer she avoided it, the more nerve wracking the possibility of seeing him became. She knew it was silly. He probably thought nothing of the incident. She wondered if he even noticed her absence in the pub.
She shrugged. It didn't matter, really. She was so busy with her research that she didn't even think about going to the pub most days. Still, it was hard to ignore the heat she felt when she remembered the way his hand had felt in hers that night. She shook her head and gathered her books,shoving them into her bag. She needed to talk to Ron about Christmas gifts.
Hermione made her way to the apparation point, each step causing a little more dread to build up. She hadn't mentioned Rose asking about having a sibling yet, but she knew she should before the holiday. he wasn't looking forward to it. The rejection of it alone was heartbreaking, but there was a small chance he would consider it, if he thought it would make Rose happy.
Ron was sitting on the couch watching tv when she came home. She walked right passed him to her office, where she put all of her research files and her new books onto her desk. She went upstairs to change into sweatpants before heading down to face him.
"Ron, can you turn the tv off? I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things involving Rosie."
Ron raised his eyebrows, but nodded and pointed his wand at the television and it clicked off.
Hermione sat gingerly on one of the armchairs by the fire place and took a deep breath.
"Well first," and easiest, she thought, "we need to sort out Rose's Christmas gifts."
Ron nodded. "All right. Well, Quidditch supplies, obviously."
"Yes," Hermione agreed. "I'm not quite sure what else she needs, so I'll let you take control of that portion of the shopping."
"I can do that. What else? Clothing? Books? You can get both of those things."
Hermione nodded. "She's pretty well past the toys stage, so I'm at a loss for much else to buy for her. A practice potions kit, do you think?"
Ron thought about it. "I think that would work. Tickets to one of those muggle shows you always take her to?"
"I'll have to see what's playing but yes, I think that would work." Hermione had pulled out a pad of paper from her bag and was jotting down the ideas they had discussed. "Would you want to come with us or would it just be her and I?"
"Just the two of you, I think. I'll get her Harpies tickets?"
Hermione wrote that down. "I'll have to look up their schedule for you but yes, that should work."
"I think that's enough presents for this year." Ron said, already turning back to the television, about to turn it on.
It would be so easy to just get up and walk away, allowing him to dismiss her. But she couldn't. She promised Rose she would talk to him about this and she had never broken a promise to her before.
She coughed. "Ron? There's something else. Rose, um. Rose wanted me to talk to you about something."
He put his wand down and turned to face her again. "Oh?"
"She asked me a while back why she doesn't have a sibling. She said she's lonely when she comes home, with no one to play with."
"Not this again, Mione!" Ron shook his head angrily. "Lonely?! She has James and Albus right up the road! She doesn't have to come home every weekend! She can go to a friend's house if she wishes to."
"Yes, but she asked me, and I promised her I would discuss it with you."
"Giving her false hope because you know full well what my answer is!" Ron's face was now as red as his hair.
"This was always my fear, Ron. I spent so much time in my room when I was younger, wishing for a built in play mate. You don't understand how lonely life can be as an only child, Ron!"
"I'm not discussing this! You know what it would entail! We can't just fall into bed together and then nine months later have a baby. And what would people think, you working with alcohol as a living and being pregnant! Would it even be safe for you to be around half of those ingredients that you fiddle with if you were pregnant?"
"Of course it would be safe, Ronald! And if for some reason it wouldn't be, then I would allow Fiona to handle those ingredients and I would only do what my healer deemed safe, even if it was just researching throughout my pregnancy and then returning back to the practical applications once the baby was born."
Ron shook his head. "Merlin, you've actually thought this through! Get it through your head, Mione! It's not going to happen! We are NOT having another baby!. Ever!"
And with that Ron was off the couch and out the door before she even fully processed what had happened. She collapsed into tears. She didn't know what she expected. There had been a part of her that had hoped that if it was something Rose wanted, he would at least be open to the idea. But he had shot it down even more harshly than before.
Hermione pulled herself together and brewed a cup of tea. She watched a bit of television. She flipped through her herbology book, marking several pages she wanted to come back to when her head was more clear. Eventually, she found herself just watching the snow swirl outside her living room window. When night fell, she pulled herself upstairs and into the shower. Then she crawled into bed, with no sign of Ron at all.
The next weekend was December first and Hermione went out to do all of her Christmas shopping for Rose. She also found a new sneakoscope for Harry, a pretty emerald green robe set for Ginny, a toy wand for Albus and a quidditch book for James. She still had the whole Weasley clan to buy for, and of course, Ron. She supposed she should get a gift for Fiona, as well.
She spent the first week of December in full decoration mode. She hung stockings, put up the tree, and strung garland and lights throughout the cottage.
The first Thursday in December, Rose was having a Quidditch match with the Irish wizarding primary school, O'Flannigans. Hermione decided to stop by and watch the game. She hadn't seen Rose play competitively yet and she found that she was really looking forward to it.
She mentioned it to Ron but he just nodded and said nothing else. If he ended up going with her then so be it, but she wasn't going to beg him.
The match was a good one. Rose flew beautifully and she heard other parents complimenting her on how well she played. In the end, Rose's school caught the snitch and they won. Everyone was talking and laughing as they made their way from the pitch back into the school. They had to exit through the floo in the school's great hall. As Hermione descended the Quidditch stands, her heart sped up as she caught sight of a familiar head of white blonde hair in front of her.
Furiously, she pushed through several people, apologizing along the way until she was beside Malfoy. She grabbed him roughly by the arm.
"Ok, Malfoy. What gives! I stop going to the pub, so now you come to my daughter's school?!"
Malfoy looked at her in shock. "What? No, no, Hermione. You have it completely wrong!"
She crossed her arms. "So you mean to tell me it's a complete coincidence that you happen to be at my daughter's school, watching her quidditch match on the same day that I'm here?"
Malfoy laughed. "That's exactly what I'm telling you." he motioned for them to walk together, so she fell into step beside him.
"Well, Malfoy. I'm waiting for an explanation."
" I have a business contact here. The potions teacher has a little side project that he wants my company to invest in. We had a meeting this morning during his free period. He invited me to watch the game and I accepted. I had no idea your daughter even attended school here, let alone that she played quidditch."
Hermione thought about it. She didn't remember ever actually discussing Rose with him, other than in very brief passing. Was there a chance this was all some crazy coincidence?
When he saw that she was still eyeing him suspiciously, he shoved his hands in his pockets and said frustratingly, "Look, its not like I haven't wanted to see you, all right? But i'm not a stalker, Granger. If you were avoiding the pub, then that's your choice. Makes sitting alone at a bar without drinking alcohol a bit more uncomfortable for me with no one to talk to, but I've dealt with worse."
They were almost to the school now. She shook her head. "I'm not avoiding the pub."
Malfoy raised an eyebrow at her.
"I'm not!" she raised her voice indignantly. "I got a new job and I've been quite busy. I work from home more often than not, actually, but it keeps me busy and by the time I'm finished I'm ready to just crash."
"Lots of time with the Weasel, then? Cozy evenings at home rekindling the romance?" Malfoy sneered as they finally reached the school and made their way to the floo in the Great Hall.
Hermione side eyed him. "Actually, no. He seems to be going out with Blaise after work more often than not now. We hardly see each other. Not that it's really your business, Malfoy."
Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks. "Did you say Blaise? Blaise Zabini?"
Hermione turned to reply and noticed him standing in the middle of the corridor staring after her with a peculiar look on his face. She backtracked to him as the crowd swarmed around her. "Yes, Blaise Zabini. What of it? They meet for drinks after work regularly."
Without warning, Malfoy had grabbed her arm and hauled her into an empty classroom next to where they were standing. Hermione glared at him, looking quite harassed.
"What's the meaning of this, Malfoy!?" she shouted, shaking out of his grasp and trying to make for the door.
Draco stepped in front of her, blocking her way to the exit. "Hermione, there's no way Ron has been meeting with Blaise after work."
She crossed her arms and glared at him as he paced nervously in the empty classroom.
"What do you mean, there's no way? It's why I hardly ever see Ron. Either he's out with Blaise or he's at Harry's."
Draco was shaking his head and wringing his hands, looking pained.
"What's going, Malfoy?" she asked warily.
"Hermione, there's no way Blaise would ever willingly get together with Ron outside of work. He can't stand him. Ever since the incident last year where Blaise was almost killed at that bed and breakfast in Cainesbury because Ron was too busy sweet talking the front desk attendant to have Blaise's back."
Hermione felt her jaw fall open. "I don't- I mean… I never. He never… What are you talking about?"
"You don't know?" Draco asked incredulously as he stopped pacing to stare at Hermione with eyes as stormy the skies of London.
Hermione shook her head slowly.
"He faced an inquiry at work, Granger. They had to go back and interview all parties present that day to get an accurate description of the events that took place. Of course, once I found out that Lavender Brown was the front desk attendant that Ron was chatting up, I knew it was all over. She defended him and said that it was all her fault, she made him stay and talk to her because she was terrified to have a criminal in her hotel."
It was after he finished explaining what he knew that he noticed the color had drained from Hermione's face. He crossed the room and gently laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Granger? Hermione? Are you ok?"
She slowly nodded her head. "Did you say Lavender Brown was the worker at the bed and breakfast?"