Hermione felt a twinge of guilt as she tied her letter to the owl. She had never been the type of girl to use men for her own selfish purposes. In school, other female students were always playing the boys to get their way. Sometimes they did it just for fun. In the world after school it only seemed to get worse. Hermione liked to think she only needed her brain to get what she wanted, and she wasn't cruel enough to toy with others' emotions. However, this time she had no other plan.
After her not so pleasant and very public breakup with Ron, Hermione refused to date. That didn't exactly mean she wasn't pursued. Many young men in the Ministry found her intelligence an attractive quality, and had no problem telling her so. She had been politely turning them down for years, before going home and resuming her pitiful social life.
Once such young man was Danny Kershaw. He had been a Ravenclaw student, but he had been working in the Department of Magical Transportation for a few years. He was part of the club that never seemed to tire of Hermione's rejection.
Hermione chose Danny based on specific criteria. She found him a bit dull, but he was clever enough to hold a conversation that could hold her attention. She also rarely saw him or had any reason to interact with him professionally, which would make it easier in the end. All around, Danny Kershaw was a regular and not very newsworthy guy. Exactly the type she ought to be seen with outside of work.
Her plan was simple. She sent him a letter asking him to dinner on Friday evening. She would alert the paparazzi anonymously, then watch the rumors of her and Lucius fade into obscurity. Once that was accomplished she would politely tell Danny it wasn't going to work. He would go back to his life, and she would go back to having a personal life that wasn't anyone else's business.
Ginny came by, and Hermione confided to her about the plan.
"This seems a bit overcomplicated, love. Did you ever think of, oh I don't know, actually dating someone? It can't be that bad. Besides, what is so horrible about being seen out with Malfoy?"
"What is so bad is that he is Lucius Malfoy. I know we are trying to reform him or whatever, but the fact remains. I don't want all the rumors to overshadow the good work we are doing with this project. And you know I'm not ready to date yet. The right person just hasn't come along, I guess."
Ginny shook her head, but she didn't say anything else about it.
Draco had given Lucius an entire profile on Hermione. Her love of books, her love of cats, her sharp intellect. For someone who hated the girl, his son seemed to know quite a bit about her. Lucius would not be able to fool her as easily as he did others. This complicated his plans a bit, and he needed to tread carefully.
She obviously wasn't going to drool over him like other women tended to. It was also likely she would catch onto his ruse sooner or later. It was possible she already had. The key would need to be patience. He would lay low, do his job with the project, and wait.
Something would come to him, as it always did.
He decided to head to the Ministry that afternoon and get back to business. Maybe after a day to cool down she would be slightly more amicable.
Lucius often listened to conversations as he walked by. It started out as a way to belittle lesser wizards by catching bits of their drivel, but it often proved to serve other purposes. The conversation he heard in the Ministry elevator was one of these instances.
"So I hear you finally wore Granger down. Nicely done, Kershaw. I don't know how you did it." A young man whispered to that boring transportation researcher.
"Yeah, it was actually rather out of the blue. I just received an owl from her last night, asking me for dinner on Friday evening. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure she was… still available."
Lucius was fuming. This would completely ruin all his progress. He could not let it happen. Who did the scrawny little fool think he was anyways?
Had his mind been working properly, Lucius would have realized that Hermione had every right to date men her age. However, the less rational and more impulsive part of his brain usually won out, and he found himself quite angry at her, for daring to date other men when he was trying to cleverly make it seem like they were an item without her noticing.
The rational part would have called it jealousy, but it was being wholly ignored.
He managed to regain his composure as he reached her office. He would deal with the other problem when he had more time to decide on the best course of action. For now, they had actual work to do.
Lucius opened the door without knocking. After all, there was no work he could be interrupting, to his knowledge.
"Just waltzing on in, I see? Are you expecting me to give you a desk next?" She didn't even bother to look up at him. She must have known.
"If not a desk, a larger chair would be nice."
She stifled a laugh. He imagined just how ridiculous he looked in the tiny plastic chair. He was going to have a word with the manager of this office and ensure more suitable furniture was purchased.
"What exactly are you doing here Malfoy? I believe you were going to owl me with our next meeting date. Did all of your owls die?" She smiled at her own remark. Obviously she had only managed to calm down slightly. She was still bitter. When she was bitter, she began to sound a bit like him, and that made him uncomfortable.
"I do not believe we should put off work. We need to make more progress. We do not want anyone to lose interest in the beginning. Once we are sure we have a following we can begin to space out our events and create a bit of suspense. For now we need to continue luring them in while we have the support of the media."
She was silent for a few minutes, likely debating whether or not to agree.
"Yes I suppose you're right. I did have an idea that would involve much less preparation, but it is a bit risky."
She opened up her folder and began shuffling papers.
How adorable, he thought, she thinks risk is something that concerns me.
"Alright, what is it then?"
"Well I was hoping to teach them about muggle art. You may know that it is very different from that of wizards, and it plays an important part in both muggle culture and history."
"Yes, Miss Granger. Despite being a pureblood, I do know a thing or two about muggle art. I come from a very prestigious family, and some of our less notable family members occasionally went off the deep end and began collecting it."
What he didn't say was how absolutely boring he found it. The images didn't even move.
"Oh that is wonderful! Then it is likely some of the other families already know a bit, and there might be an interest! I want to get rid of the idea that muggle art is boring just because it doesn't move."
Honestly, sometimes he was sure she could read minds.
"You mentioned risk?"
"Well yes. You see, I don't really know how bring the art to the wizards. Most art galleries require admission, and I really don't want to have to teach everyone about muggle money before we go."
"They charge you money to go look at art that doesn't move?" And he thought they were crazy before.
"It's an experience. Many of the paintings are very famous. Muggles give quite a bit of credit to the people who create the art, so getting to enjoy their work is worth the fee."
He could see the desire to explain at length in her eyes, so to save himself the pain of pretending to listen, he decided it was best to agree with her idea and busy himself with finding a way to make it work.
"Do not worry your pretty little head, Miss Granger. Making things happen is my specialty. Or have you already begun to forget who you are dealing with?" He smirked. Sometimes taunting her really was too easy.
"Oh great, because you think I need you to swoop in and solve all my problems? I don't, Malfoy, and lucky for you I've already thought up a way around the fee problem. I said most galleries require admission, but I know of one place where that will not be a problem."
"And where would that be, Miss Granger?"
She smiled, and it made him rather uneasy.
"Don't worry your pretty little head, Malfoy." She went back to her work, as if to dismiss him, but he would not give in so easily.
"I would prefer knowing exactly where we were going before we begin planning the event. We are a team, after all. Perhaps if you are free this Friday evening?"
She dropped her papers and looked up at him suspiciously.
"Actually, I have something on Friday. Despite what I'm sure you were used to, I do not drop everything the moment you want something...and speaking of dropping everything, I have other work to do. I will look into our event location and we can touch base next week to continue planning. Good afternoon, Mr. Malfoy."
This time, he acknowledged her dismissal and left the office with a nod. He did not need to discuss anything else with her. By Friday evening he would know exactly where they were going for their event, and all his other problems would be solved in turn.
A/N - So sorry this took so long! I fell out of it for a while and had a difficult time getting back at it. Hopefully things will move more quickly. Thanks for all the reviews, favourites and follows! Also, a big thank you for the congratulations!