A/N: I imagined Hermione's apartment is located on the High Street in Diagon Alley. Since I could only find a few known addresses for certain stores, I will leave her exact location up to you, dear readers.
Standard disclaimer with all that implies ie I am not JK Rowling, I make no money from this and anything you recognize belongs to her.
"What do you mean you have a job with Malfoy," Ron all but yelled, his face an alarming shade of puce. "I thought you were coming to the Ministry with Harry and me."
The trio, along with the addition of Ginny Weasley, were seated in The Three Broomsticks at a table that they'd claimed during their tenure at Hogwarts. Harry, for his part, only looked slightly put out and hadn't said a word, only his emerald gaze displaying his thoughts.
"Ronald, you knew I wasn't coming. I told you that a year ago after I left Hogwarts and before you tripped and fell into Pansy Parkinson."
Ginny stifled a laugh, her hand rising to cover an impish grin.
"But Malfoy," the redhead whined. "I thought we'd decided to stay away from his kind."
Hermione shook her head. "No, you decided. I decided that I wanted a job doing what I love. I thought you'd be happy for me. I have a new apartment, finally moving back into Wizarding London and am going to make a more than decent salary using my brain. For Godric's sake, Ronald, I don't understand the problem!"
Ron looked at Harry with a lifted brow, his bright blue eyes focused on the raven-haired young man. "Harry, talk some sense to her! She's too daft to listen to me."
"Did you just call me daft, Ronald Bilius Weasley," Hermione snapped as her small hands slapped down onto the table top. "This from a man who couldn't keep it in his pants for longer than a minute and who couldn't have made it through his education without me?"
Harry took that moment to interject, "Hermione, I don't think he meant it like that."
He trailed off as Hermione speared him with her simmering gaze, her nostrils flared with anger. Her voice was calm and collected when she spoke again, each word dropped into the silence like glass.
"How else could he have meant it, Harry?"
"Well," the young man stammered. "I just think that the whole idea has been a bit of a shock. I mean going to work at Malfoy Enterprises doesn't sound like something you'd do."
"And how would you know, Harry? Where have you and Ronald been for the last six months of my life? Have we done anything beyond exchanging owls?"
Both young men looked abashed.
"Exactly. I don't want to work at the Ministry, at least not where they want to put me and both of you know it. Can't you just be happy that I am excited? Is that so bloody difficult?" The last query had just the slightest touch of reproach and made both young men feel awful enough that they had no more words. It was Ginny who broke the impasse.
"Well, I am excited for you, Hermione. When are you moving and are you going to invite me to see your new place after you get it all set up?"
"Sure!"
With that change of subject, the foursome turned their conversation toward lighter fare and by the time they'd parted ways, Hermione felt just a bit better. Not that their opinions would have changed the course of her journey, far from it. She knew her own mind and no one could tell her what was right for her. She would not let them.
The next few nights were spent packing her small apartment and ridding herself of the vast accumulation of odds and ends she gathered over the past year. She found pictures she'd not seen since Hogwarts, books that she'd thought lost, pages from the Prophet, even an old bag of runes for casting. She had no idea why she'd held onto the latter but she felt that there must have been a point and so, though she removed most of the detritus, she kept the small, shaped stones in their velvet bag and stored them in a nearby box for transferral to her new home.
She'd figure it all out later.
By Friday, she'd moved to the new apartment; a two bedroom with a dining room, kitchen, living room, loo, and den with high vaulted ceilings and thick, wall to wall, cream and brown carpeting. Since most of her furniture did not go with the general elegance of her new space, she'd sold off most of her old stuff and gone shopping. She had spent a vast quantity of galleons (earned from the Ministry for her role in stopping the war) on furnishings like a lovely tweed covered couch, loveseat, and chair in a gorgeous shade of chocolate. End tables made of gleaming cherry complemented the space and that particular mixture of wood and furniture color was carried throughout her dining room before continuing into the second bedroom which she had turned into a small library, complete with wall sconces and small table lamps.
Her bedroom was the most relaxed room in the apartment with a canopied bed in oak, a matching chest of drawers and a rather large walk-in closet. Her old school trunk was placed at the foot of her bed and covered by a hand-knitted afghan in pale blue, gray, and white; one of the few things she had left from her mother, a gift for her thirteenth birthday. Pillows to match the afghan were tossed haphazardly on her king-sized bed and the large bay window was covered by a set of sheer blue curtains.
It was quiet.
By the time she'd finished, the apartment showcased her personality and preferences to a tee. Splashes of red and gold could be found in almost every room including her den which had been turned into a home office. That room housed a dark cherry desk as well as reference shelves filled with books, stacks of parchments, a magically run laptop and printer, myriad quills and muggle ink pens and, oddly enough, Crookshank's old food dish.
On Sunday, she'd invited a small group of her friends, including Luna and Neville, to a housewarming party and by the time her guests had left, after spending a few hours talking and laughing gaily, she was exhausted and more than ready for a bath and bed. Alas, that was not to be as she had some unexpected visitors show up at her front door at half seven, namely Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott.
"Granger! Open up."
'Why is Malfoy here,' she wondered even as she hurried to the entrance and opened the door to greet him. Of course, she hadn't been expecting to also greet the tall, lanky young wizard who would be her boss for the foreseeable future but she mentioned not a word, only ushered the pair inside.
"Very nice setup, Hermione," Theo complimented as he stepped into the entryway, his dark blue eyes flashing, almost gaily. "We were in the neighborhood and figured we'd-" He paused as Draco stepped inside and shut the door behind them. The momentary silence was not oppressive but it did add a touch of oddness to the proceedings.
As Hermione led the pair toward the living room, Hermione found her gaze drawn to the tall blond as he allowed himself a chance to check out his surroundings. She saw the quirk of his eyebrow as he took in the many instances of gold and red and that drew an answering smile to her features. What had he expected? She was Gryffindor, after all.
"Aren't you going to offer us some tea?" Draco asked, gruffly, even as his startling wintry gaze met her own. "This visit does have something to do with work, you see, and I felt a quick meeting was in order."
Hermione nodded. "If you would follow me to the kitchen?"
As the two young men sauntered behind her, Draco found his gaze trapped by the swell of Hermione's hips and the slight sway of her walk. It took him a moment to realize that she'd stopped and that Theo had settled himself at a granite-topped island surrounded by four bar stools upholstered in a deep red leather. The quick grin his friend shot in his direction, once he noticed Draco's lack of proper attention, only drew a scowl to the young Malfoy's features.
'Dammit.' The gray-eyed male growled to himself. 'Pay attention!'
"Have a seat gentleman and I will get the tea started."
With a flick and swish of her wand, she wordlessly prepared the tea, while plating up some homemade macaroons. Within minutes, a tray, ladened with a pot, cups, spoons and the rest had settled before the young men and Hermione had seated herself across from them, her slim fingers already preparing her own cuppa. Long moments later, after the first sip, the taller of her two male visitors began to speak.
"We've come to talk about the intellectual property of your proposed wolfsbane potion," Theo stated. "We are unsure if you want further payment for the rights to it."
Hermione frowned. "I assumed I was developing it for Malfoy Enterprise, therefore the rights to it would belong TO the company. After all, I will be using funding provided by you," here she nodded to Malfoy before continuing on, "And am reasonably sure that my salary is a good recompense for anything I might discover or put into practice. All I would ask is for the potion to be reasonably priced so that werewolves would be able to afford it."
Here Draco interrupted, "Will we need volunteers for the trials once you have a workable, viable potion?"
"I believe that would be the correct thing to do, Malfoy,"
"Call me Draco," he growled.
"Um Draco," she hesitantly offered. "After all, I do not want to put the company at risk nor encourage an outbreak of attacks if the potion does not work as intended. However, I am sure we are at least six to nine months away from those trials."
Theo smiled. "Have you been working on this in your spare time?"
"Yes. After Harry and I co-sponsored Lupin's law, my thoughts turned to the wolfsbane potion. He had such a hard time with his change and the ingredients made the whole thing far too expensive for the average wolf to afford, at least until recently when the new law went into effect and changed the way wolves could interact with the general populace." She paused, as a look of genuine sadness ghosted over her elfin features. "I want to help them, you know, in honor of Remus. Making things more affordable and controlling the pain of the change seems to be a good first step."
Both young men nodded and finished their tea. Soon enough, the pair rose and prepared to leave. It was Draco who turned to ask if they were allowed to use her floo to get home. Hermione nodded and offered a brief smile, "But of course, you did provide my home, after all."
She did not notice the look Theo chanced in Draco's direction.
That was probably a good thing.
She would have had questions.
So did Theo.
"What did she mean, Drake," he asked as they stepped from the floo into the library of the Manor. "Did we provide that apartment for her? I thought that place was one of your old hideouts?"
Draco scowled. "Shut it, Theo, and don't tell her any differently. I want her there, end of story."
"You don't think," Theo trailed off, his dark blue gaze flicking over Draco's mostly composed features.
The man with the platinum hair simply shrugged and answered, almost laconically, "I don't know and it does not matter. That's where I want her. The place has been sitting empty for months and she made it look homey." He paused. "I should probably ask Tobias..."
The two blonds (one platinum, the other a rich honey shade) sat together and sipped firewhiskey. Their conversation was almost non-existent with only the slightest murmur of sound as they waited for their unofficial third to join them. As odd as it was, once the two wolves had taken Theo into their confidence, the duo had stabilized. It was Tobias who had drawn attention to it and the duo, now a trio, figured that, between the three of them, they covered heart, mind, soul as well as pack structure, strength, and placement.
Maybe, just maybe, the trio of young men could figure out Draco's response to the witch.
Or maybe not.